//------------------------------//
// A Few Shakes Short of a Sockhop 
// Story: Cryo-7 
// by Metal Pony Fan 
//------------------------------//

	Once she was outside, Ribbon ran.  She picked a direction, took off, changing direction every time any living thing came near her.  She ended up near an out of order escalator, so she ducked into the alcove behind it, just behind a garbage can.

She huddled close to the wall and squeezed her balled up sheet to her chest like a plush toy.  "I should have waited," she whispered to herself as she rocked in place.  "I should have waited until it was empty before coming here.  Wait until midnight, and use the automated systems, that's what I need to-"

She stopped as she felt two minds approaching her.  The were idly chatting, but one of them was giving off a strong feeling of disappointment.  Ribbon stayed quiet as they walked up to the garbage can.  They didn't notice her.

"I can't believe I listened to that guy," said the first voice, the disappointed one, "this was a waste of bits."

"That Protein-Pro pony?"  The owner of the second voice was curious.  "It's not that bad is it?"

"Here, you try it."

Ribbon tasted something bitter, and heard the owner of the second voice equate the taste to vomit.  Then, the nearly full shake splattered against the side of her head.  The hard plastic cup stung, but she stayed quiet.  The cold slop stunk, but she didn't move.

The two walked away almost immediately after tossing the drink.  They hadn't noticed Ribbon.  They didn't even realize that they missed the garbage can.

Ribbon buried her face in her sheet.  "Next time, I just have the order delivered to my quarters."  She tensed up.  Someone had heard her, and that pony was wondering what she had ordered.  Even worse, that pony was thinking of asking about it.  She was also thinking about asking why she ran off so suddenly.  "Wait, Annabelle?"  Ribbon lifted her head.  "What are you doing here?"

The blue nurse responded with genuine confusion.  "Why would you even ask that?  First off, can't you tell?  And second, what the hell happened to you?!"   She sat down next to Ribbon and took the sheet from her.  Then, she started clearing away the lumpy brown goop that was plastered to the younger nurse's fur.  "You ran off like you were being chased or something, and now your eyes are all red and puffy like you're about to cry.  Lily and I were worried about you."

Ribbon stared at her in surprise.  "You were."  She smiled.  "You were."  She hugged Annabelle, smearing her with protein shake.  "Thank you so much, I needed that right now.  This is the first time since I moved to Delta that anypony besides Growl has been genuinely worried about me.  Thank you."  Ribbon pulled back as soon as Annabelle noticed that the shake was transferring to her.  "Sorry, I forgot about that."

Annabelle sighed.  "Yeah, you seem like the type who would."  She wiped herself off on the sheet.  "So, how were you able to pull of that stunt back there?"

Ribbon shook her head.  "I didn't use an enhancement spell, like you're thinking.  I don't even know any."  She waited until the other nurse thought up another possibility.  "No, I am not on steroids.  I don't take any medications."  She waited again.  " Nope."  Another wait, another idea.  "How is that even possible?"

Annabelle shrugged.  "It's about as plausible as your explanation that you're some sort of super soldier."

"So, that's how she was able to wreck that thing back there."  Softy peeked out from behind the garbage can.  The roly poly little dragon waddled up to the two nurses.  "I figured it had something to do with what Clak was on about, hearing, and understanding, and whatnot."

Ribbon was surprised by the small drake's appearance.  "Where did you come from?"

"Ah, I was right."  He tapped the side of his head.  "You're a psychic, so you're confused by my apparent lack of thoughts.  Pretty impressive, huh?"

Annabelle scratched her cheek.  "Wouldn't that just make you an airhead?"

"What?  No!"  Softy tapped the back of his claw in the palm of the other.  "Apparent!  A!  Par!  Ent!  It seems like there's nothing, but there really is something."

Annabelle giggled.  "Calm down there, Tiger, I'm just messing with you."

"Oh."  Softy scratched at his neck.  "Ok."

"So," Annabelle pondered, "you blocked her telepathy, did you?  Care to share the details of this amazing feat?"

Softy smiled as proudly as his short stature would allow.  "Never underestimate dragon magic."

Annabelle nodded sarcastically and leaned on the poor dragon, squashing him like a pillow.  "Yeah, you just keep saying that, don't you?  Well, I want specifics, not catchphrases."

"Ok!  Ok!"  He squawked.  "It's body modification magic!  I just change my scale structure to interfere with mental and magical wavelengths.  Just get off me!"

Annabelle obliged with a polite smile.

"Damn," he sputtered and muttered, "and I thought dragon females were scary."

Annabelle positioned her hoof above his head, as if she was going to lean on him again.  "I'm sorry, what was that?  I didn't quite catch it."

"Nothing," he mumbled.

"I thought so."  Annabelle replied, shining a hoof against her chest.  "Don't overestimate a mare's patience."

Ribbon watched them silently, with more than a twinge of jealousy.  They could talk to each other, bicker and banter, even lie.  They could get to know each other slowly, over the course of time, revealing themselves as they wished.  She would never get to know somepony like that.  And she would never get to feel the simple pleasure of a successful white lie.

Another presence approached them, from the far side of the escalator.  The mare was wondering where every pony ran off to.  "Lilybelle?"  Ribbon called out, "We're back here."

The pink nurse stopped at the escalator.  She looked up and down the ramp, then behind her.  "Where?"

"Behind it," Annabelle added.

Lily edged her way around the escalator, trying not to draw any attention from the other shoppers.  Fortunately, most of the crowds had dispersed after the contest ended.  "What are you guys doing back here?"  When she peeked over the garbage can, she added, "And what the heck happened to Ribbon?!"

"We were about to ask."  Softy looked up at Annabelle, then added, "Well, I was.  I don't know about her."

The blue nurse gave the plump dragon a solid whack on the head.  "I was getting to it."

"Hey, that hurt."  The tiny drake cradled his crown and stared up at her.  "Why do you keep doing that?"

Annabelle shook her head.  "Didn't your friend call you the strongest dragon on the station?  You can't take a little love tap from a mare that is most likely several times weaker than you?"

"Not in this form," he retorted.  "I'm pretty much a fancy doll like this.  The only thing it's good for is letting me into tight places."

"Well, not the only thing.  You are kind of cute like that."  Annabelle shrugged.  "So, what do you really look like?  I mean, you said you had five forms, but we've only seen two, this one, and that tall one."

"That was my power form."  Softy jabbed at the air with his pudgy little arms.  "You're just lucky that Drayk let you go first.  I would have taken that target out on the first hit.  I might have even taken out the wall behind it."

This prompted an eye roll from Annabelle.  "You're going to be a sore loser about it, aren't you?"

"Not at all."  The little dragon tried to cross his arms, but they didn't quite reach.  "I'm just going to make sure that the three of you stick to your promise."

"What promise?" Lilybelle asked.  "And no pony's told me what happened to Ribbon yet."

"I'm ok."  Ribbon finished wiping herself off and stuffed her sheet in the garbage can.  "I've never had so many ponies worry about me after knowing what I am.  Thank you."  All she had now were pieces of plastic, one red, one blue, and two yellow.  She offered the blue and yellow pieces, the bitcards she had won, to the others.  "Here, you can have these.  I'm just going to go back to my quarters."

Softy grabbed the blue card and turned it over in his claws with a whistle.  "A hundred bits, huh?"  He threw it back at the rainbow pony.  "Unacceptable!  The bet was for drinks, and I'm holding you to it."  He turned his back on her.  "Don't think you can make a bet with a dragon and not follow through."

Annabelle smiled and tossed the yellow chip back as well.  "He's right Ribbon.  It would be a stain on our honor if we backed out now."

"A stain on our honor?"  Lilybelle raised an eyebrow at her cousin.  "Seriously?"  She shook her head and offered her yellow card back by hoof.  "Ribbon, I don't know what happened, mostly because nopony will tell me, but I can't take this.  I want to, and I guess you already know that, but I won't."

The younger nurse pushed her hoof away.  "But, I don't usually shop here.  After I pick up my order, I might not come back here for a few months. These expire tomorrow.  They'll just go to waste if I keep them."

Lilybelle shook her head.  "Not if you use them today."

"Yeah," Annabelle pointed at Ribbon, "you still need some clothes, but now they're free!  How awesome is that?"

Ribbon looked down and smiled at the memory that Annabelle's question brought up.  "My mom would say, it's almost as awesome as she is."

"You're mother's a Pegasus, isn't she?"  Lilybelle rubbed her forehead before gesturing towards Annabelle.  "Our dads are pegasi, and that sounds like something they would say."

Ribbon nodded.  "She is."  The bright filly scratched at her sticky fur.  "Um, I'm going to go clean up.  This stuff is starting to itch."

Softy raised a claw.  "I can take care of that."

All three mares looked down at him.  "How?" they asked.

Lilybelle looked over at Ribbon.  "What are you asking for?"

"Dragon magic."  Annabelle pulled Softy over to her and knocked on his head like it was a door.  "He did something to his scales to block her telepathy.  Hey, Lilybelle, think we can do that with our fur?"

Lilybelle closed her eyes and rubbed her hoof on her snout between them.  "Hold on, back up.  What is going on?  I swear, Ribbon, you have been turning things upside down ever since that day we treated Astral.  I mean, you show up in the commissary wearing a bedsheet for a dress, then you beat a professional fighter in a test of strength, and now you're sitting behind a garbage can, covered in goop and crying over five hundred bits in free shopping.  And that was all in the space of, what?  An hour?  Less?"

Annabelle nodded slowly.  "That sums it up pretty nicely.  You should write those abbreviated versions of books that you get when you're too lazy to read the whole thing for class."

Lilybelle sighed.  "I'm going to ignore that, Anna, but you know what will happen if Growl catches you using those."

The other nurse nodded.  "I sure do."  She made a motion across her neck.  "That's why I hide them under your bed."  She emphasized the, "your," with a poke on her pink cousin's chest.

Lilybelle wasn't amused in the slightest, and batted the hoof away.  "If that's true, I'm burning them the moment we get home."

"Ladies, can we please focus?"  Softy broke away from the group and gave himself a bit of room to stretch out in.  "Ribbon needs to clean up so she can spend her money.  And, as for me..."  He back flipped, curling into a ball and bouncing once before exploding into smoke.  A slick, streamlined dragon stood silhouetted in that smoke.  Still blue, still striped with yellow, he was roughly pony sized and shaped, but with mildly angular features that lent a dangerously reptilian air to his being.  "I'm just waiting for my drink."

"Oh my gosh!"  Annabelle giggled.  "That's so cool.  You're secretly handsome."

Softy blinked, angles softening as his scales flattened out.  His air of mystery and danger faded with his smokescreen, leaving him looking like a mynar in an aircar's landing lights.  "Secretly?" he muttered.  "What the hey is that supposed to mean?"

Lilybelle dismissed his question with a wave of her hoof.  "Just ignore eighty percent of everything she says.  You'll get ulcers if you try to keep up with everything that comes out of her mouth."

The dragon nodded.  "Uh-huh.  Well, now that I'm back to normal, I can help Ribbon get cleaned up.  After that, we can get our drinks."

"So, that's your true form?"  Annabelle tapped the scales on his shoulder and ran a hoof over them.  "You're scales are so smooth.  They're hard, but they feel soft.  So warm, too."

"Um, thanks."  Softy looked away with a blush as the mare started rubbing her cheek against his shoulder.  "Um, how long are you going to do that?"

"Oh!"  Annabelle pulled her head back quickly.  "Sorry!  It just felt so nice, I couldn't help it."  She looked away as well, and lowered voice.  "And I didn't exactly hear you complaining."

"I can't believe this," Lilybelle groaned quietly, "they're flirting."  She tapped her hoof against the ground.  "Excuse me, but can we please get Ribbon cleaned up now?  You said you had some sort of magic for it, or something?"

"Oh, right!"  Softy cleared his throat.  "Dragonfire."  He blew a tiny puff of turqoise flame into the air.  "Every dragon has some sort of special property to their flame.  The honored ancestor of my clan taught me how to use mine, so I can do a lot of different things.  But, for right now, the important thing is that my flame only burns what I want it to.  I can burn that shake off without even touching Ribbon."

Lilybelle looked over at the messy nurse.  "Ok," she said hesitantly, "if she's ok with it, then get go ahead."  She looked back at Softy.  "But, if you burn her, I'll burn you.  So don't mess up."

"Heh, heh.  Yeah."  Softy scratched his neck.  Then, he pointed at Annabelle.  "Are you related to her by any chance."

Lilybelle sat down and crossed her hooves.  "We're cousins."

"Ah.  I would have guessed sisters."  He coughed dryly and looked over at Ribbon.  "So, are you ready?"

Ribbon nodded.  "I am."

"Ok, then.  Just stay calm, I'll start slow."  He blew a small amount of flame at Ribbon, barely more than a candle's light.  It landed on her chest and burned away the sticky brown residue of the energy shake.  Then, it quickly died, leaving clean, cyan fur behind.

Ribbon felt the spot with her hoof.  "It was cold.  This is the first time I've ever seen dragon flames.  Is it always cold?"

"Sometimes."  Softy chuckled.  "You know, that's the calmest I've ever seen anypony around dragonfire.  You didn't even flinch.  Most ponies, and even people and other dragons shout at the very least when it touches them."  He continued slowly, burning away the rest of the shake small bits at a time.

"Yeah," Annabelle agreed, "you are unexpectedly stoic, Ribbon.  And unexpectedly emotional as well.  And a little bit of a squealing fangirl when it came to KaliKokuu.  What was that about?"

"Oh, that."  Ribbon chuckled.  "Well, he isn't just a fighter.  I mean, he's a great fighter, better than any other in his weight class, but look at this."  She gave Annabelle the red plastic square she had with her.  "It's a copy of his latest album!  He even signed it!"

Annabelle stared at the little square, a standard sized entertainment disc.  It's label read, "KaliKokuu, Live with the Canterlot Charity Orchestra, Contemporary Human Jazz with a Curaxxan Flair."

Annabelle sighed.  "You've got to be kidding."

"Why?" Ribbon asked.  "He's good, really good.  I already have a copy, so take that and listen to it.  Just make sure you return it."

"She can do that later," Softy insisted.  "I got the last of that gunk off, so we can go get our drinks now."

Ribbon looked over her clean fur with a smile.  "Thank you.  All three of you, thank you for helping me.  I-"

Annabelle stopped the younger nurse with a pat on the back.  "Thank us after we get through shopping."

"Yeah," Softy agreed, "and don't forget, you owe me smoothies."

"Smoothies?"  Lilybelle asked.  "Your choice of any drink in the commissary, and you pick smoothies?"

"Yes!" Softy answered with determination, clenching his claw into a fist in front of him.  "Blueberry!  Blueberry smoothies from Pop's cart on the second level, the one tucked behind the cargo handling supply shop."

Lilybelle leaned back.  "Um, ok."

"Oh, yeah!"  Softy snapped his claws a few times.  "I almost forgot.  Clak got called away, and Drayk had to go translate for him.  They won't be coming along, so I'll take their smoothies too."

Annabelle nodded happily.  "That sounds good.  What do you think, Ribbon?  Lilybelle?"

Ribbon nodded slowly.  "I think that sounds fine."

Lilybelle scoffed.  "I think you're all crazy."

Annabelle laughed and trotted off.  "Thanks, Lily, you flatter me."

Softy laughed and followed her.

Ribbon waited behind with Lilybelle.  "Um, Lily?  I wanted to ask you something."

"Me first," the pink mare said.  "Why did you come out to the commissary?  You never go out in public, so why all of sudden?"

"That's kind of what I wanted to ask you."  Ribbon's head tilted to the side and she squinted at her fellow nurse.  "You did that on purpose, didn't you?  Thinking instead of speaking.  Why?"

Lilybelle shrugged and smiled like a fox.  "You're the telepath.  You tell me."  She nodded towards Anna and Softy as the two picked up speed in their hunt for blended fruit.  "Let's go before they completely leave us behind.  You can answer my question as we walk."

"Too late.  I think they've forgotten about us."  Ribbon pointed as the pony and dragon started racing to the escalator.  "We know where they're headed, so we can catch up later."  The telepath twiddled her hooves , nervously passing an awkward moment to put her thoughts in order before speaking.  "Actually, Lily, the reason I came to the commissary and the thing I wanted to ask you are kind of connected.  You know that colt who's always doing the repairs around medical, the pinto?  This is gonna be way more blunt than I want to put it, but do you like him?"

"Uh..."  Lilybelle chuckled.  "Yeah, that sure was blunt."  She scratched at her mane.  "You'll be able to tell if I'm lying, so I guess I have to be honest with you."  She took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and let it out with the words, "I don't really know."

Ribboned listened quietly and waited for her to continue.  The conflicting mish-mash of thoughts she was receiving from the other mare was too confusing to make sense of.

After a moment, Lily let out a single sharp laugh followed by a sigh.  "You know, it felt pretty good to finally say that out loud.  I mean, I don't dislike him, but I don't know him well enough to say whether I like him or not, especially not in like a romantic way.  I was always so focused on getting through medical school that never really put much thought into any of this before.  Objectively speaking, I'm not opposed to the idea of a relationship, and he is mildly attractive.  Plus, when I looked up his repair log on the computer, it showed that nothing he fixed ever needed additional repairs, so he seems to have a good work ethic and an eye for detail.  I wasn't able to find any other information though."

Ribbon blinked.  "You looked up his repair log?  Are you even allowed to do that?"

"Probably not?"  Lilybelle shrugged.  "Look, I wasn't kidding when I said I focused on medical school.  This whole possibly maybe dating somepony is one hundred percent brand spanking new to me, and I have to admit, it's sort of freaking me out.  I don't have any information to go on, so I, um, sort of muck it up as I go."  The nurse's eyes brightened as she got a sudden idea.  "Hey!  Do you think I could get your help one of theses days?  I want to talk to him and see if he fakes being interested in things."

"What?  No!"  Ribbon shook her head.  "That's a terrible idea!  What if he doesn't?  Then you'll feel guilty.  And if he does, it may be because he wants to be nice.  Then you'll still feel guilty."  The rainbow unicorn sighed sadly.  "I shouldn't have asked."

"Why did you?"  Lilybelle prodded the younger nurse with a hoof.  "It didn't seem like you were all that interested in a yes or no answer.  What gives?"

Ribbon winced.  "Promise not to freak out?"

Lilybelle nodded hesitantly.  "I'll try not to."

"I wanted to listen to your thoughts for a moment."  Ribbon looked down.  "I was hoping it would help me make sense of mine, sort them out, or something like that."

"You wanted to listen to my thoughts after asking if I liked..."  The dots connected pretty quickly for the pink nurse.  "You have somepony you like, and you don't know what to do."  Lilybelle laughed into her hoof.  "Oh, man, did you ever pick the wrong pony for advice.  I'm pretty confused about my own love life as it is."

Ribbon gave a tiny nod, lips pressed together in a thin, sheepish smile.  "You're more of a help than you think."

Lilybelle gave the junior nurse a small pat on the shoulder.  "You're welcome, I think.  But, that still doesn't answer my question.  Why did you come here in the first place?"

The colorful unicorn smiled.  "I need to pick up some jewelry I ordered."