"Left stitch over, set it in... now to finish the hem and…”

When one is a designer, they must put their whole heart and soul into their creation. To strive for anything less than perfection is to be lacking. And when one miserably fails to achieve anything close to perfection…

“OH BUCK ME SIDEWAYS!!”

The implications on the designer are nothing less than maddening.

Which is why Rarity swore, in a particularly unladylike manner. And then immediately checked to see if her younger sister was still around.

Her second swear had less to do with her feelings as an artist, and more with dealing with the aftermath of this particular mistake. In hemming a dress, especially a formal one, there are several layers that have to be cut and sewn, as it isn't just taking a pair of scissors and cutting out the bottom part until you have it where you want. Some of the layers can be cut easily, while others have to be precise and easily able to fit with the other layers as well. If you cut wrong on a layer, it could mean disaster for the entire dress. Oh sure, you can make a quick stitch and hide the cut, but in the high stakes of fashion, anything out of the necessities of the sewn portion of a dress can be easily seen by a critical pony.

And no pony could be more critical than your clientéle. Especially the current client of the dress.

With a huff, Rarity dropped the scissors in her telekinetic grasp and just sulked. She glared at the dress, as if it would mend itself.

This particular client was already a pain to handle; now with this little cut, they would probably not even want the dress at all. Or— even worse —dare to order another one and subject Rarity to even more torture.

Sighing, Rarity stood up from her sulking and went upstairs to her room, intending on getting some stress relief.

While most mares going to their room for stress relief would mean one thing (one really long and pleasurable thing), Rarity had another stress reliever. One she absolutely was keeping.

Rarity crept upstairs. On a too-small stool, at a too-small desk, sat the large, but not hulking creature that gave her salvation. It’s bare, hairless upper body was tightly bound with toned muscles that would put stallions and even some minotaurs to shame. Just looking at it made Rarity begin to flush with... respect. Yes, respect was what it must have been, as ladies don’t succumb so shamelessly to their base emotions.

“Ayadi?” Rarity called out to the strange beast, biting her lip, and looking at him with pleading eyes. She still wasn’t sure if she was saying his name right, or if that even was his name, but at this point, he knew to come to the strange foreign word.

Whistling a little tune from her youth that also meant she needed him, the creature dropped the current gem sculpture he was doing (she could never understand exactly what each sculpture was supposed to be, but if he can mold and cut the gems to actual figures, they would make quite a pretty bit), walked over to Rarity, and picked her up. They went over to her bed, with the creature setting the unicorn on his lap.

Then he began to relieve her stress.

"Ooo, a little bit harder, dear," Rarity purred. She practically felt like putty in the creature's hands as he scratched the back of her ears with his fingers. Then she actually purred as she unconsciously nudged her head farther into his hands.

The first time that the creature scratched her head, she was caught completely by surprise. She hadn't expected it to act so close to her, still thinking it was something of a wild creature. But after he was done scratching the first time, she wanted more. She didn't know what was exactly happening, but she knew that after a good scratching session, a lot of her worries and stress was gone for the day. It was like a trip to the masseuse in the spa, except this one was free with a few attachments, and he had muscles.

Ooo, fine muscles.

Rarity laid back into the shirtless embrace of Ayadi. While she didn't want to actually try any sort of relationship with him, even though he's all but shown that he's just as sapient as ponies were, it didn't mean she couldn't appreciate a fine figure of any male that was pleasing to the eye.

She could feel some of his chest muscles move on her back, each stroke of his hand moving her head back and forth. What? She was allowed to indulge herself like this.

The first few times they had started this routine, Rarity did feel she was taking advantage of the poor creature, but Ayadi explained with the few words he could use that he didn't mind the role. He said she was more like a cat than a pony sometimes.

She took it as a compliment. Purring like she was now didn't help to stop those ideas anyway.

The shirtless aspect was another thing she felt was unnecessary, as at first she didn't even ask for him to take his shirt off. The first time he did, she almost all but fainted at the sight. Later though, he told her that he also didn't mind not having his usual shirt on. Ayadi explained to her that he "do not have shirt most time anyway". He still kept the headscarf on him, but she learned to accept the interesting choice of fashion quickly enough.

She swore she had seen the same style of head pieces on Saddle Arabian tourists, but she didn't linger too long on it.

Oh, oh, he's going for the neck, that's it...

She kicked her leg a little bit like a dog, earning a deep little chuckle from her stress reliever. Rarity would have blushed in embarrassment if she wasn't trying to figure out what exactly she was stressed about at the moment. Guess it was the magic of those fingers to make her completely forget anything about the day, and instead focusing on the bliss of head scratches being giving to her by a hunk of a creature.

She can indulge herself now and then. Usually daily.

Suddenly, a loud knock downstairs, along with the ringing of a doorbell, made the duo freeze. She wasn't expecting any appointments today, so who would have the nerve to interrupt one of the most important routines in her day?!

"LADY RARITY BELLE, LIVE UP TO YOUR ELEMENT OF GENEROSITY AND DELIVER TO ME THE HUMAN NOW!"

Oh. It was Princess Celestia.

"Princess Celestia?! What does she want with me? Human? Does she mean you, Ayadi?" Rarity pointed towards the creature that was currently holding her in his lap, not exactly trusting of the voice outside.

Hearing harder and more determined knocks, Rarity gulped in fear before jumping off Ayadi's lap and quickly making her way downstairs, not wanting to draw out more of Celestia's random wrath.

Opening the door slightly to peek her head out, the white unicorn looked up to see one of the worst faces a pony could ever see.

A determined and angry Princess.

"Where. Is. He?" Celestia asked in an ominous and demanding tone.

"He? Um, I'm sorry, but you've caught me at a bad time, princess. Not that I wish to waste your time, or imply that my time is more important than yours, of course, but see-"

Celestia leaned forward and sniffed Rarity (in a rather unladylike and un-princesslike manner, the unicorn thought) and glared at her. "I can smell someone else on you. It doesn't smell like a stallion, or even a pony for that matter. Where. Is. He?"

"I... um..." Rarity was at a loss for words. She had never seen or even heard of the Princess acting this antagonistic towards anypony, even if it was for something she wanted. Not wanting to be suddenly banished somewhere for not immediately complying with the irate princess, the unicorn decided to show Ayadi to the princess, hoping that the 'human' thing Celestia was referring to meant him. Although what exactly she was planning to do with a human, Rarity couldn't figure out.

"Just... please, you must understand, I'm really sorry about not telling you or my friends about him, Princess Celestia," Rarity began to explain, opening her door wide open for the Princess to come inside. Celestia marched inside and looked around the boutique quickly, before practically stomping her way upstairs. "I was going to tell the girls about Ayadi later on, honest! It's just that I've been swamped with so much work lately, and he never really expressed interest in going outside, and the only one that does know about him is Sweetie Belle but I told her not to tell anypony else only because-"

"Madha?" an accented male voice called out. Celestia's eyes opened wide before practically barging into Rarity’s room, and gaped at the creature. Ayadi returned her shock with a look of his own, a mix of bewilderment and fright at seeing a new pony outside of Rarity and Sweetie Belle up close to him.

Ayadi had seen some of the ponies outside, and compared to Rarity, he thought all of the ponies were as small as her. Seeing a bigger pony standing in front of him, one that was more horse than pony and as big as one, surprised the poor thing, and he gripped a chair after seeing the longer horn this pony possessed compared to Rarity’s horn.

If the horse charged, that horn could probably impale him.

That wasn't the only surprise though. Much to his and Rarity’s shock, the Princess of the Sun squealed so loud that a window might have shattered. Celestia quickly trotted over to the creature, then walked slowly around him while he stood in fear like a statue, not wanting to draw any sort of angry attention. A quick few glances at the new pony, however, made him fear even more for his life.

For a creature like him, he was very much unused to being looked at as prey.

"Princess Celestia..." Rarity spoke up from her shock. "Is this creature called a human? The one you had been looking for?"

"Yes, he is a human, and a very... well made one at that. Thank you for keeping him, Rarity, but I shall be taking him off your hooves now."

Before Celestia had a chance to do anything else, Rarity zipped straight up to the human, holding her legs out in a protective stance as she glared at Celestia. "You are not taking Ayadi from me!"

Celestia, for her part, was both stunned and slightly surprised at the courage of the mare to protect the human, even defying her commands. Of course, the mare couldn't honestly keep him.

She's waited hundreds of years for another human to come. She wasn't letting this one go.

"Rarity... you are trying the patience of a mare who has waited for far too long for another human companion. Please, give him to me before I am forced to take drastic action."

"What in the... what is so special about this human that you want him so badly?" Rarity asked, still holding her stance while the human looked back and forth between the two mares, trying desperately to understand the tense words between them.

"I see him shirtless and in your chambers. What you have been using him for, I will use him as well."

"What? Are you implying that you used humans to scratch your head and help you calm down? And I'd hardly call it 'using him' he agrees to do it as well."

To both Rarity's and the human's shock, Celestia recoiled. "You mean... you only had him pet you? Nothing more... forward than that?"

"Er, yes, just some scratches to the ear and neck. Does wonders for helping with stress, you know."

Celestia bent her head down to mutter to herself, “ Oh, that's not the only relief he can provide, but...”

"So, nothing more than scratches then?" Celestia asked again. At this point, Rarity wanted to retort that she sounded like a broken record, but she held her tongue at the moment for the slight chance of instant banishment happening right after.

"Yes, scratches, petting, it sounds degrading when you think about it, but it is quite fun and relaxing."

"But... no shirt!" Celestia all but squeaked. Rarity, while not a stranger to being caught outside of their comfort zone of a conversation, still silently marveled that the princess of all ponies was acting like a filly being caught doing a bad act.

"He says he rather likes not wearing one. He never wore one a lot where he was from, or so I believe he was trying to tell me."

"'So you believe? Can he speak Equestrian?" Celestia asked, her haunches all but loosened now. Rarity also backed down, only standing in front of the human as she normally would, but she still held her mental guard up. The human still didn't understand barely anything the two ponies said, but was glad the situation seemed to be calming down.

"Well, no, not exactly. He speaks another language, but I have not been able to discern any of it aside from a couple words. He is slowly understanding some of our language however."

Celestia looked back at the human. Gone were the eyes of lust the mare had before, now replaced with an inquisitive edge. Ayadi, however, still held his guard up, with the way she practically stared into his very being.

Her eyes trailed up to see the headscarf, and they widened for a brief moment. She stepped forward towards Ayadi, but Rarity stepped back, her head bowed low in a defensive stance. Seemed she was still wary of what the princess would try to do.

There goes the easy way. Perhaps I can guess the language, if that keffiyeh is any indication...

Celestia spoke again, but it was with words that Rarity had never heard before. The human, however, stood rigid as a statue behind her, raising his hand in some sort of gesture, but it died in his hand just as words died on a lip. Ayadi spoke in what Rarity assumed was a full sentence of his language. However, it sounded dissimilar to the words and pronunciations that Celestia tried.

Celestia raised an eyebrow, before speaking with the same tone and same pronunciations as the human.

"What are you two saying?" Rarity asked. She loved hearing foreign languages, but she never liked being cut out of a conversation whenever foreigners starting speaking in their own language behind her back. Or, over her head, as the case was with the human and Princess Celestia now.

"His language is like a Saddle Arabian variant, with some differences in structure. The first sentence he didn't understand but still recognized, and he asked if I spoke in his language, to which I replied that I did. The keffiyeh is what gave it away, really."

Saddle Arabian? So she was right that his headscarf was similar to something on Equestria. She had suspected that Ayadi may have been from a different world, considering how he managed to grasp a few ideas in Equestria but not others, but she didn't even think to test out if his language was close to another's.

As she was pondering this, Celestia and the human continued their conversation, with him daring to go up close to the princess without a second thought now. Rarity sat back, trusting by the atmosphere of the conversation that Celestia wasn't going to try anything.

With a passing thought of her stomach rumbling, she looked towards the clock on her nightstand to see it was getting late. She rose up and trotted towards the doorway, looking at the two other occupants. "Let's continue this, er, conversation in the kitchen. My sister is sleeping over with her friends at their clubhouse, and we still have leftovers of the pasta from last night, so it shouldn't take too long to cook."

While it wasn't restaurant quality or even royal quality cooking, Celestia could appreciate a bit of home cooking every now and then, as she continued to listen to the human with some pasta in her mouth.

For her part, she translated what exactly Ayadi had been wanting to explain about himself since he came to Equestria. Yes, came. Apparently, he was on some contraption that could fly humans on its own without magic or other pegasi (Celestia couldn't exactly translate the word right) when they went into some strange storm. While the pilot tried to fly away, it was as if they were sucked in, as if there was no way they could ever steer away. The contraption was torn apart, and he believed he was going to die in the middle of it all until he was found by Rarity.

Back on his world, he was a model for magazines, making Rarity remember the time Fluttershy was a model for a short period of time. The human's experience was different, however, in that he was with different photographers instead of just the one like Fluttershy had. The price of being a model in Ayadi’s world was apparently a very high one, as he barely had any time to himself, always being pushed towards the next photo shoot. He wanted to be an artist, something that he admired in Rarity with her dresses (the unicorn had to hide a blush creeping on her face as Celestia told her that), but barely had any time to explore what aspect of art he wanted to focus in. His parents forced him to get into the modelling business if only because he was unusually more handsome than most people around him, and it was a quick way to honestly get a lot of money.

When questioned about why he didn't feel like going outside and seeing Equestria once he got his bearings at the boutique, Ayadi replied that he liked the isolation if specifically because he didn't have any cameras flashing at him or any person trying to get into either his money or his pants.

Sometimes it was both. And by women and men too.

Rarity had to stifle another blush and a brief bit of anger at any female that dared to take advantage of her human.

Finally, the questioning ended at whether or not Ayadi would like to stay with Rarity. The unicorn almost flipped in sheer joy when he said he would like to stay at the boutique, as he was okay with scratching her every now and then to help her stressful days at work. With a rise (and a brief flash of sad disappointment, or so Rarity would swear), Celestia declared that the human could stay with Rarity, on the condition that her friends would know the next day about him. She also promised that she will try to enchant a necklace that the human could wear so that he could speak in his language and other ponies would hear it as Equestrian, and vice versa. It would be a welcoming gift for the human in Equestria, if long overdue.

Rarity coughed into her hoof when Celestia emphasized the overdue part a little too much.

With a goodbye and a thank you, the Princess was led outside of the boutique, where she took off in the direction of Canterlot, eager to get to her sister and lower the sun to start the night. Closing the door, Rarity told Ayadi that they should be getting ready for bed. Of course, the human tilted his head in confusion at her because he didn't understand most of the words she said, and she desperately wished that the necklace could come as soon as it could.

After they each took a shower, Rarity went up to her bedroom, and beckoned Ayadi to follow her. With some gesturing and repeating of words, she told him that she would like him to sleep next to her, instead of using the horrid guest bed downstairs that the unicorn should have replaced long ago. The human, not seeing any problems, took his side of the queen sized bed without much thought, facing Rarity's side of the bed.

Rarity hesitated as she climbed in her own bed, realizing that this was technically the first time she would share the bed with a male. However, any lingering thoughts died when she assured herself that Ayadi wouldn't do anything rash.

So she promptly tried to snuggle herself underneath his grasp, making him grab her and pull her close to his chest. Which was shirtless as he slept.

What? She can indulge herself however she wanted.

In Canterlot Castle, high up in Celestia's bedchambers, a king-sized bed had its space barely taken up by even a pony as large as an alicorn.

Princess Celestia tried to sleep, and the bed and the covers and the pillows, all fit for royalty, should have helped her. Instead, the size of all three reminded her that she was the only one using them.

She didn't have anyone to share the bed with her again.

The princess, instead of sleeping, cried. She cried for having to sleep in an empty bed again. She cried that one of the most compassionate creatures she had known was not with her now.

She cried that she wasn't chosen.

She heard a pop in her room, and she rose up from her bed to see her sister, Princess Luna, standing in front of her bed. Her horn was still alight as she walked up to Celestia on the bed.

“Sister? We heard thee sobbing and we came to investigate…” Luna looked to see her sister practically cuddling the non-existent life out of one of her pillows. With what she heard Celestia was going to do earlier that day, the night princess sighed. “We figured as much.”

“You figured what, Luna?” Celestia asked.

Luna levitated a big bowl of neapolitan ice cream, her sister’s favorite. “Do you want to talk about boys, sister?”

Celestia thanked the gods she had such a wonderful sister.

“And then, and then, he just straight up chose to stay with heeeeeeer-rrr-rrr!” Celestia sobbed into Luna’s barrel, the sisters cuddling together on the bed as the sun princess took another scoop from the ice cream bowl. That bowl was supposed to last a few weeks of a nightly cup, and yet her blasted sister had almost eaten it all already.

Luna sighed. “It's okay, sister, it's okay. Just let it all out. Let it all… oh…”

The night princess looked down to see her chest covered in mucus, the elder sister deciding to use her as a tissue.

“Whyyyyyyy!?” Celestia cried. Luna sighed again as the sun princess sobbed into her fur again, spreading the mucus everywhere.

This is going to be a long night...