Shimmer stepped out of the shower and quickly dried herself off with a towel.
Tonight's client hadn't wanted a very long session, but there wasn't enough time to slot in anyone else, so Shimmer was already putting on her casual clothes before anyone else came into the changing room.
Rainbow's shift was also due to end soon, and Shimmer made her way towards the back entrance of the Sapphire to meet up with her. There was still enough time for them to go out, maybe have a late night snack.
Her planning was interrupted by a familiar voice at the counter. "Aqua, my dear, how goes business tonight?"
"Fancy Pants!" Aqua said, and Shimmer rounded the corner to see the receptionist waving at the newcomer. "How can I help you?"
Fleur de Lis, who was standing beside her husband, smiled. "Is notre petite diamant here? We have been trying to schedule a session with her for several weeks, but it seems that, ah, business is closed for Rarity."
Aqua grimaced. "Sorry, but Rarity isn't seeing visitors right now."
"I see." Fleur pursed her lips. "Please send her our love, then."
As Aqua nodded in response, Fancy Pants' head turned as his eyes locked in on Shimmer like a hawk. "Ah, Shimmer!" he called out, waiting. "It's good to see you again."
Shimmer nodded politely. "Thank you, Lord Fancy Pants."
Fancy Pants scoffed. "Please, just call me Fancy. How are you doing this fine night?"
"I'm doing well, thank you," Shimmer replied. "I just finished my shift."
"Capital!" Fancy clapped his hands together. "Fleur and I were hoping to head out for a night on the town with Rarity, but it seems she's indisposed at the moment. Would you care to indulge in some drinks with us? Your beau is invited as well, of course."
Shimmer hesitated. Her first instinct was to say no — spending time with a client outside of work could be a tricky business, and involving alcohol...
On the other hand, Rarity had managed to maintain a friendship with these two for several years, and Shimmer knew she wouldn't have allowed them to do anything untoward with her. Rainbow would also be there to make sure there wasn't any funny business.
"I would love to," she finally replied, smiling. Fancy and Fleur seemed like good people, and it would be nice to spend time with some people outside of the Sapphire. "Let me just go get Rainbow."
"Well, my dear. I think you'll find that quite hard to beat."
Shimmer scoffed, picking up her last dart. "Hard, but not impossible." She took aim, lining up the shot and making a few false starts, before releasing it in one smooth throw.
The dart sailed through the air, embedding itself in the board a scant half-an-inch away from the edge of the bulls-eye. "Drat," Shimmer muttered, her motherly instinct stopping a worse curse from escaping from between her lips. "Almost had that."
Fancy Pants chuckled. "It was a valiant attempt. I believe we are tied now, yes?"
Shimmer nodded. "Another round?"
"A moment, if you please." Fancy picked up his empty glass. "I believe I need a refill."
With that, Fancy made his way towards the bar, where Fleur and Dash were chatting together while downing their own drinks at a much faster rate than her and Fancy. They exchanged a few words, and Fancy gave his wife a quick peck on the cheeks before returning with a full glass of cider.
Shimmer has already retrieved their darts from the board, and handed Fancy his. "It's my turn to go first this time," she said.
Fancy nodded, taking a delicate sip from his glass. "Very well. Shall we begin, then?"
Shimmer nodded, letting loose the first dart and scoring twenty points. "Okay, it's your turn now."
As he set down his drink, Fancy glanced towards Shimmer. "So, as I was walking past our better halves, I overheard them speaking of Rarity and Twilight Sparkle. I take it that Lady Celestia's current student is the reason why our dear friend has sequestered herself in the Sapphire lately?"
Shimmer thought carefully about her response. As kind and respectful as Fancy Pants was, he was still an outsider, and above all else, discretion was prized at the Sapphire Carousel. What was spoken within those walls was not meant for those outside to hear.
But, Fancy was also a good friend to Rarity. And Shimmer didn't see why she couldn't gossip a bit to a concerned friend, especially given Rarity's own penchant for gossip. Perhaps she'd get some good advice out of it as well.
"Twilight found out about Rarity's job," Shimmer explained, finishing up the last of her drink. "She couldn't accept it, so they're not... seeing each other anymore."
Fancy Pants sighed as he made a half-hearted throw, barely hitting the dartboard with his shot. "That is most unfortunate. I had hoped that the apple would have fallen farther from the tree. It does explain what I overheard from Rainbow Dash and my dear wife. I must admit, I am disappointed in Miss Sparkle — she seemed much more accepting than her mentor. Ah, well, Rarity is a strong woman, and I have no doubts she will persevere through this trial, especially with such good friends such as yourself."
Now it was Shimmer's turn to sigh. "I do wish I could do more for her. And not just her." She spared a glance at Rainbow, who was engaged in a rather animated conversation with Fleur. "It's been hard for Rainbow too. She liked Twilight too, and thought of her as a friend. Having her cut off contact is — I know she tries to hide it from me, but I can tell she's still really angry at her."
At this point, the game had been mostly forgotten. Fancy looked at her with kind eyes, a sympathetic smile on his face. "I can't say I blame her. Fleur and I do not have the highest regard for those who live in the Solar District."
"I just..." Shimmer paused, realizing that she was pouring her heart out to a client whom she had barely spoken with ever since she'd taken them on as her first clients. Still, Fancy had been nothing but polite and understanding, and Shimmer knew that many in the Sapphire respected him. "Rainbow has been there for me whenever I needed her, and now it feels like she needs me, and I can't help her."
"One thing I have learned in my many lucky years with Fleur is that one person cannot bear the burdens of another completely." As she spoke, Fancy glanced lovingly at his wife. "Even in the most perfect union, your partner will always have needs that you alone cannot fulfill. As long as you don't try to stop from having a life outside of yourself, it should all work out."
He let out a deep chuckle. "Lord knows I wouldn't have the fortitude to endure half the things Fleur finds herself embroiled in when she disappears for a night on the town with her friends in the Dragon District. I only need to be there to bail her out of jail when the need arises."
Shimmer raised an eyebrow at that. "Fleur's been arrested before?"
"My darling wife has some rather strong opinions on what constitutes acceptable civil disobedience," Fancy explained. "And she's found some like-minded souls whom I've learned not to ask too many questions about."
"That's... nice?" In truth, Shimmer wasn't really sure what to say to that. She'd already known that Fancy and Fleur weren't like the others who lived up in the Solar District, but this was something else.
Fancy nodded. "Quite." He gestured towards the dart in her hand. "I believe it's your turn, dear."
"Oh, right." Shimmer took aim once again, just barely missing the center with her throw. "So really don't mind your wife running off with a bunch of, ahh, colorful characters?"
A shrug from Fancy. "I trust her, and I want her to be happy." His throw was much better than his previous one, landing on the ring outside the bullseye. "Ah, it seems I'm back in this match."
"I guess so," Shimmer replied. She stared into her empty glass. "It really is that simple, huh?"
"Love rarely is," Fancy replied. "But in this case, yes, I believe so. Do what you can for your beloved, and trust her to find others to share her anger with."
"Well, I guess she has the others in the Sapphire for that," Shimmer allowed. She raised her glass. "I'm just going to get a refill real quick."
As she made her way over towards the bar, the conversation between Rainbow and Fleur became audible. "Ah, you see, a knife wound need not end one's life," Fleur was saying. "As long as one takes care not to pierce that which is vital for life, one can leave a most effective message this way."
"I dunno." There was a slight slur in Rainbow's voice as she replied. "There's something really satisfying about making someone eat a knuckle sandwich. Also, how do you know so much about stabbing people, anyways?"
Shimmer was close enough to see the worrying gleam in Fleur's eyes as she spoke. "Your establishment, they specialize in la petite mort, but my associates deal in the grander kind."
"If you and your associates decide to pay Twilight a visit, can I come too?" It was at that very moment that Rainbow noticed Shimmer approaching, and a guilty expression flashed across her face as she quickly turned back to Fleur. "Uhh, so that we can talk, of course."
Shimmer simply smiled and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend, pressing a quick kiss against her cheek. "I'm just here to get another drink," she said. "Glad to see you and Fleur are getting along, though."
Rainbow nodded. "She's pretty great."
"Merci, mon amie." Fleur gave a gracious bow. "Ton amour is a delight as well, Shimmer."
"Well, I hope you two keep having fun." Shimmer grabbed her refilled glass. "I'm going to go back to my match with Fancy."
"Please send my husband my regards, chérie," Fleur said.
"And show 'em how awesome you are at darts too, babe," Rainbow added.
"I will," Shimmer said to both of them before making her way back to the dartboard. She took a long drink, downing several gulps of beer before glancing up at her opponent. "Did you know that Fleur and Rainbow are planning to rough up Twilight?"
Fancy shrugged. "They both love Rarity far too much to hurt someone she loves, no matter her sins." He paused. "I hope."
"Well, at least they're having fun, I guess." Shimmer shook her head, trying very hard not to think about the various crimes her beloved was planning with her first client. "Is it my turn yet?"
The rest of the match passed with little incident, Shimmer and Fancy casually discussing the latest proposed education initiatives that Fancy was spearheading while they continued to vie for dominance on the scoreboard. It was quite nice to hang out with someone outside of the Sapphire, and Fancy was a pleasant-enough conversation partner.
Just as Shimmer clutched the win with a bulls-eye and was about to challenge Fancy to another round, a hush fell over the entire tavern, the wave of silence creating a palpable tension in the air.
Shimmer glanced at Fancy, and followed his gaze over at the familiar pair by the bar. Rainbow was standing very still, her eyes glinting dangerously as she glared at the man in front of her. "You wanna say that again?" Her voice rang out very clearly in the quiet of the room, a fiery anger in it that was propelled by the alcohol in her blood.
The man, who looked too drunk to know better, did exactly as Rainbow asked. "I'm just saying, I got no problems with taking a whore to bed, but I'm not about to let my son marry one, y'know? The boy's delusional if he thinks she won't leave him the moment she finds a better—"
Rainbow threw the first punch before he could finish the ill-advised sentence, and things got very loud after that.
To her credit, Rainbow also immediately glanced towards Shimmer when she realized that her little altercation had become a full-on bar brawl, nodding to herself when she saw Fancy pull her into a corner to keep her safe before throwing a powerful haymaker at the man approaching her from the left.
Meanwhile, Shimmer couldn't keep her eyes off of Fleur, whose fighting style could only be described as a dance, her lithe body weaving between her assailants to deliver precise blows against them.
"Ah, it's just like that time in Eventide Isle," Fancy said. "I see Fleur hasn't lost her touch since those assassins attacked us." He glanced over towards Shimmer, and his calm gaze brought comfort to her soul. "Will you be alright, my dear?"
Shimmer nodded. "This isn't my first bar fight," she said weakly. "I can hide out until it's over."
"Jolly good, then." Fancy patted her on the shoulder before getting up and cracking his knuckles. "In that case, I believe I shall relive some old memories with my darling wife."
It took another fifteen minutes before security was able to stop the fighting, at which point Fancy, Fleur, and Rainbow were all very roughly escorted outside the establishment, with Shimmer following behind after apologizing and paying for their tab. Fancy had already paid her back, and the four of them made their way back towards the Sapphire.
"Sorry about that, Shimmer," Rainbow said for the third time as they enjoyed the cool night air. "I didn't mean for things to get so crazy."
"It's alright," Shimmer replied, careful not to press against anything sensitive as she held onto Rainbow's arm. "Does your shoulder still hurt?"
"Yeah, that's gonna be sore tomorrow." A wince as Rainbow pushed a finger against it. "Good thing I don't have to work then, but I'll have to take it easy on my workout." She waggled her eyebrows. "Unless you wanna do another kind of exercise with me while I'm recovering in bed."
"Let's see if you can even move when you wake up," Shimmer replied. She looked up at the entrance to her home and turned towards the other couple with them. "Thank you for a great time, even if it ended early."
"It was our pleasure," Fancy replied. "And I'd love a rematch if you ever find time in your busy schedule."
"And Rainbow," Fleur added, smiling widely. "You are always welcome to join us in the Dragon District when there are wrongs to be made right."
"Thanks," Rainbow replied. "I'll keep that in mind." With that, they said their final goodbyes and parted ways for the night.
"I'm glad you made a new friend," Shimmer said as they made their way inside the Sapphire.
"I told you Fancy and Fleur were pretty cool," Rainbow replied. She stretched out her limbs and winced again. "So, my everything hurts right now. Wanna help kiss it better?" Even despite her pain, she still had that cocky swagger that had become endearing sometime in the past couple years.
Shimmer laughed. "You know what, if you still want to do it once your hits catch up to you, then sure, I'll try not to kill you when I rock your world."
"You're the best, Shimmer." Rainbow leaned down to press a kiss against her lips, and Shimmer could clearly see her discomfort at the pose.
A weight lifted from Shimmer's heart as they made their way towards the dormitories. Yes, it was true that she wouldn't be able to meet every one of Rainbow's needs, but Fancy was right. They had good friends who would make sure they could live their lives to the fullest.
And right now, Shimmer really wanted to see if Rainbow could make it to their bedroom so she could take care of their other needs tonight.