Tales of the Sapphire Carousel: The Chef's Guardian

by Undome Tinwe

Chapter 5

"Okay, so I think you put this number on line one-fifty, then add these two numbers together for line one-fifty-six."

Dash grabbed another sandwich and wolfed it down with terrifying speed as Shimmer squinted at the lines she'd pointed out. "Okay, so that means this number is bigger than that number," she said, scribbling out the arithmetic on a separate sheet of paper. "Is that good?"

"Umm, yeah." For a moment, Dash stared at the complex list of instructions that had come with the tax form. "That means, uhh, you subtract this number from this number to get the amount that the government owes you."

"Oh!" Shimmer beamed as she wrote down the final number. "That's great!"

Dash smiled as well, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "It's pretty sweet. Though, you should probably get that double-checked by Lily. Or, y'know, hire one of the accountants the boss recommends to do this."

"I'll see if Lily is willing to help." She was getting better at trust, and she knew Luna wouldn't recommend anyone who'd take advantage of her, but she'd had one too many bad experiences to trust an outsider in a suit and tie.

"Bring her some of these sandwiches and she'll do anything for you," Dash replied, grabbing another and actually taking the time to savour it, much to Shimmer's delight. "So, what're you gonna do with that money?"

"Well, I..." Shimmer paused. She'd never had the luxury of considering that question before. For the first time, she had money she didn't desperately need for survival, and she could use it for anything she wanted.

Well, within reason. She was a responsible woman, with a son she needed to take care of. She needed to think about both their futures, another boon that working at the Sapphire had granted her.

"I've been thinking about taking cooking classes," she said, her voice dropping low, as though she didn't want anyone else to hear. She shouldn't have to feel bad about it, but after being valued only for her body for so long, it was still hard for her to think of improving her own skills at things beyond her former profession.

Of course, she didn't need to worry about Rainbow Dash thinking it was a waste of time. Still, she felt her heart lighten when the guard grinned. "That's an awesome idea!" she exclaimed, her eyes growing wide with excitement. "I mean, you're already so good at cooking. With a few lessons you could probably become one of those fancy world-class chefs!"

The sincere enthusiasm warmed her soul. "They're pretty expensive, though," she said. "This will cover the first couple lessons, but I'll need to save up for a while before I can take more."

Dash shrugged. "Maybe you could ask the boss for a raise? You totally deserve one, with how good your cooking is."

"Oh, she's already been far too generous," Shimmer replied. "I don't think she'd appreciate me trying to take advantage of that generosity."

"Do you think she'll let you pick up some more shifts?"

Shimmer shook her head. "She wasn't even planning on hiring a cook, remember? I wouldn't want to take away hours from anyone else."

"You could ask Rarity if she needs an assistant for her shop," Dash suggested, gathering the example tax return she'd been using to help Shimmer with. "Are you any good at fashion stuff?"

"Not really, no." One of the sheets floated away from Dash's pile, and Shimmer's eyes widened at the numbers on the page. "My stars!" she gasped. "That's certainly a lot of money."

"Huh?" Dash glanced at the page that had slipped out. "Oh, yeah, that's Autumn's return. She let me borrow it to figure out how to fill it out with you. All the girls make about that much, I think. Comes with basically having two jobs and being able to charge what they charge, I guess."

"How much do they make?" It hadn't ever come up in her conversations with the others, but now Shimmer couldn't help but wonder.

Dash told her the average price the girls charged per hour, and she gasped even louder.

"I could easily afford my classes if I..." Shimmer faltered, the words finally catching up with her head.

Rainbow Dash was quick to pick up on her thoughts as well. "No," she said firmly, staring her dead in the eyes with an unwavering gaze. "I'm not going to let you go through that just so that you can start taking classes earlier."

Shimmer bristled at her tone and words. "You won't let me?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "And just what gives you the right to decide what I'm allowed to do?"

To her credit, Dash realized her mistake quickly. "I didn't mean it like that!" she protested, holding up a hand in a placating gesture. Her ethereal wings flapped in agitation as well. "I just—" she faltered. "It's my job to protect all of you, right? That's what the boss pays me for. And that means making sure none of you get pushed into taking any clients you don't wanna. No matter what the reason."

Shimmer's voice softened. "I appreciate all you do for us, Rainbow, but there's nobody here to force me to do anything. You know the Lady wouldn't stand for it."

Rainbow Dash grunted. "I guess. And it's not like you'd ever want to get back into that side of the business anyways."

For a moment, Shimmer almost agreed with her out of instinct. But something held her back. Memories of the times she'd spent with the other girls, watching them chatter about their work and all the ups and downs of the trade. And how it made some of them feel.

"I don't know," she finally said. "The Sapphire isn't like the other places I worked for. If I could— if, maybe, going back to my old job here could help me take back that part of me, turn something terrible into something good, then..." she trailed off and shot Dash an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I'm rambling now."

"It's cool," Rainbow Dash replied. "And I guess there's a couple girls like you here who, uhh..." She floundered, and Shimmer decided to take pity on her.

"I know," Shimmer said. "They've been really inspiring to me, and I wonder if I could be like that too." Seeing how much Ripple Seas and Autumn Haze loved their jobs had Shimmer hoping that one day she'd be... better.

"Well, it'd be pretty awesome if that happened," Dash said, "but it's still totally cool if you don't feel safe doing it."

"I trust you to protect all of us." The admission surprised even Shimmer, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized it was true. Rainbow Dash cared about everyone in the Sapphire, and she wasn't going to let a single one of them get hurt.

In her usual manner, Dash puffed up at that. "It's true, I'm pretty good at my job," she declared proudly.

"You are." A wicked thought entered Shimmer's head, and before she could help herself, she did her best to grin seductively. "And you definitely deserve a reward for it. If I do get back into the business, I'll be sure to give you a great discount." She winked, and a thrill of absolute delight surged through her when Dash's face turned bright red.

Ever the quick-wit, Dash recovered and managed to reply with a casual smirk that was marred by the blush that hadn't completely faded yet. "Nah, you're worth paying full price for." There was barely a stammer in her voice, but it was definitely there, and Shimmer basked in it.

"Aww, you say the sweetest things," she teased. "Thanks for all the help, Rainbow. You're a great friend."

"Anytime." Rainbow Dash grabbed the rest of the instructions and sample tax forms. "Well, I gotta return these to Autumn. See ya around."

As Rainbow Dash left the room, Shimmer committed to memory the image of her blushing face. For a moment, she had felt... normal. No, that wasn't the right word. Nothing about this place was normal, and it was all the better for it. But Dash's reaction, and the knowledge that Shimmer had the power to elicit it, gave her a sense of control over her life that she craved.

And she wanted more of it.

Maybe going back to her old job wouldn't be that bad. Not if it let her feel like that again, and not if Rainbow Dash would be there to protect her. And maybe, just maybe, Dash might be interested in being a patron of the Sapphire...

The mental image came unbidden to Shimmer, and she quickly shook her head to clear it. Yes, they were good friends who teased each other, and Rainbow Dash was a very attractive woman, but at the end of the day, Shimmer knew her competition, and didn't want to get her hopes up.

Though, that didn't mean she couldn't think about it in the safety of her own imagination.

Shimmer collected her own forms and returned to the dorm to check up on her little Glass Shard, her mind churning with possibilities for her future.