Simmons sat in silence at the back corner of the boutique, doing an expense report for Rarity. He had made a list that kept track of how much she had spent on fabrics, how much she earned from her clothing and what materials she still needs to acquire for future orders. When he had finished, he checked it multiple times to make sure there were no inconsistencies and everything was correct. Satisfied that his job was complete, he looked outside to see the sun just barely poking out over the buildings that surrounded them. He let out a soft sigh.
"There goes another night of doing work," he yawned, stretching his forelegs.
He quietly headed towards the room over, knowing that Rarity was still asleep. Once he went inside, he grabbed a pair of apples and a pear from the cupboard and put them on a small plate. He then walked back into the other room and placed it on the table he had originally sat at, slowly eating his small breakfast, knowing it would be enough to last him until lunch. As he finished his meal, he noticed a figure moving towards the door to the shop, so he hastily trotted towards it and opened the door. The figure, as he expected, was a gray pegasus with wall-eyes holding a medium sized package.
"Good morning!" she smiled lightheartedly. "How are you today, Simmons?"
"Pretty good," he said quietly, looking at the delivery he knew was due to arrive. "Rarity?"
"No, silly, I'm Derpy. Remember?" she chuckled, tilting her head at the red unicorn.
"No, I know. It's just..." he stopped and shook his head, knowing how to deal with people and ponies like her thanks to Caboose. "The package is for Rarity, right?"
"Oh. Yeah," she said sheepishly, holding the parcel out towards him.
Simmons rolled his eyes and took the object out of her hooves with his magic, eyeing it curiously.
"You look really tired," Derpy said with a smile.
"That's probably because I stay up all night doing work that nobody else bothers to do," he sighed, gently placing the delivery on the table behind him. "But I don't need much sleep anyways. I'm used to working overtime."
"Why does nopony else do it?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Because it doesn't really need to be done that fast. I just like to get things out of the way early, then check them over a bunch of times to make sure everything is perfect."
"Oh," she chuckled, reaching into her bag to pull out the clipboard she kept inside. "I can see why nopony else wants to do it. It sounds boring."
As she took it out, she opened her mouth to talk to him, but Simmons instantly grabbed it with his magic. He grumbled softly as he signed it on the bottom, confirming that they had received the package.
"Have a nice day, Simmons!" Derpy said with a half-wave as she flew away, only to hit one of the banisters that held up the building. She quickly recovered and began rubbing her nose, smiling awkwardly. "I'm okay!"
"I know you are," he said, closing the door. Turning towards the stairs, he cleared his throat. "Rarity, there's a delivery for you."
He then rolled out of the way as a white blur zoomed down the stairs, right towards the parcel on the table. As Simmons got up, he shook his head when he saw Rarity tearing open the package, smiling widely.
"This is fantastic!" Rarity said excitedly as she threw the scraps of wrapping paper into the trash. "Now we can start to put the final touches on those outfits Flint ordered!"
"Yeah, but that stuff was pretty expensive," he grunted, lifting the report he had written into the air.
"You know it has to be just perfect, Simmons," she smiled, glancing at the report suspended in front of her. "Price is no object when this particular job will bring in more business."
"I know, and I like having everything be perfect too, but that stuff costed more than everything else you've spent this month..." he said, walking next to her to look at the material.
From what he had written in the report, he knew that this was a rare piece of fabric that was made exclusively by a handful of ponies. Because it was for an order for pre-Celestia reign clothing, she had ordered a small amount of fabric that was made the exact same way it was made back then. He still felt that she could have ordered cheaper stuff that looked identical, but she wanted to go for genuine, antiqued authenticity.
"Come now, Simmons, you know it's for the best," she said calmly, folding the material back up and placing it in it's box. "The outfits, as well as the fabrics used, are all kept in my room, locked inside a cupboard. What could go wrong?"
"For one, the mailmare isn't the most stable of pegasi," he said. "And two, the fragments are back and they love to cause trouble."
"I understand Derpy may not be the most reliable of ponies when it comes to how she goes about her business, but she takes her job just as seriously as we do. As for the fragments, well... they have no real reason to come after my clothing. Thanks to you, I am sure I will never have to worry about O'Malley coming here over taxes."
"Sigma is the one I'm worried about. He's friends with your sister, so he has access to this place if he ever needs it."
"Sweetie Belle does not have a key to my room, nor do I think that Sigma would wish to cause trouble. The only trouble he's been interested in was the Alpha, but by the sounds of things, he is no longer interested in that."
"That was the only thing he was interested in for most of his life. What gives you the idea that he's no longer interested now?"
"Sweetie tells me that Theta and Sigma are happier now that they're back. More than they were when they were originally here. I believe after that whole ordeal in Canterlot, he lost interest in it, what with being trapped in stone and all that."
"Just because he seems happier doesn't mean he is. It could just be him pretending."
"Simmons," she said firmly.
"Fine," he sighed reluctantly. "I'd just hate to have wrote up all your expenses only for us to have to order more expensive stuff. I already stayed up all night last night prep-"
"You stayed up with no sleep again?" she asked, raising a brow.
"Yeah, but-"
"No buts. You know I told you that you do not need to do that," she said seriously. "I told you that it could wait until later. Staying awake for more than thirty hours at a time is not good for your health."
"Neither is sleeping twenty hours of the day," he countered, thinking of Grif. "At least I actually get work done during that time."
"That may be true, but I'm worried that it will catch up with you one day," she tutted, looking at the bags under his eyes. She quickly shook her head and began to smile. "But enough about that. I am going to start putting the finishing touches on the suits and dresses, so you can look at them afterwards and offer your opinion on them, seeing as you do not sleep during the day."
"Sounds good. I'll be down here," he said with a nod.
As soon as Rarity went upstairs and went into her room. the door to the boutique swung open and Rarity's younger sister came through, panting heavily.
"Oh good, you're awake!" Sweetie Belle said. "Simmons, are you busy?"
"Not anymore, I just finished-"
"Great! We need your help with something over at Sweet Apple Acres!"
"Did O'Malley start a fire?" Simmons asked quickly, looking for far off smoke over the the buildings.
"No, Sarge just told me he wanted me to get you. He said it involved the fragments or something like that," she said, then looked towards the door. "I don't know what he means, and I'm not sure how important it is, but he sounded pretty serious."
Within the span of a second, Simmons had already zoomed out the door and was making his way over to the farm at a fast pace.
"Guess it is important," Sweetie Belle said happily, following after him at her own pace.