"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much."
~Jim Rohn
I frantically pulled the next ream of cloth over towards me, a dozen plans already running past my eyes as I readied myself for the task ahead. Work could often times be a cruel mistress, even brutal at times. That didn't matter, my task was known to me and I had no other choice but to complete it.
My newest client had made a fifty thousand bit contract with me for a new line of clothing and there was no way in hell I was going to let her down. If I couldn't complete the tasks assigned to me, then I had no place in this business. That left one option: Succcess. Stitch by stitch, I wove my talent into the craft, putting everything I had into it. This was all or nothing!
Sweat dripped from my bangs into my eyes as I concentrated. My vision was starting to grow fuzzy as I tried to keep myself focused, but it didn't seem to be enough. Long hours of gruelling work had taken their tole and my mind was having trouble not lapsing. I bit my lip as I realized what I was in for.
"You can't stop now, Rarity," she said behind me. I tried to ignore her, but she was just as present now as she'd been the day I started. I almost turned to look at her, but I knew she wouldn't be there. The mare was always just beyond sight, never quite within my field of view. It didn't matter, I knew exactly who she was.
"You've got to keep going Rarity. Keep going or you're nothing."
I gasped as my magic drove the needle a little to far into the cloth I was holding. I pulled my hoof away to find a new line of red coming from the pinprick. It didn't matter, it was just one of many. There'd been many times I'd hurt myself sewing and there'd be many more before the work in front of me was over.
"Keep going, Rarity. Why do you live if not to please?"
Purpose was a cruel mistress, always standing there behind me to give me a reason to keep living. She was my worst tormentor and my closest friend. She hurt me, she helped me. I owed everything I'd become to her and yet I never quite satisfied her. Purpose was a sadistic slave master, and I was alright with that.
My eyes started to tear up as I drove myself onward. It didn't matter, I had more in me and I'd be damned if I wasn't going to show it. If I couldn't complete what I started, what use was I? It did not even merit speaking. Still... a break would've been great. Yes, just a little break and maybe some sleep.
"So you give up just like that? You and I both know that if you stop now, you won't be able to finish this in time. She expects it tomorrow!" the mare behind me said.
"I need some rest. I can't keep going like this!"
"You disappoint me, Rarity. Have you not faced things harder than this? You faced down vicious dragons, malicious spirits, and endless hordes of changelings without even batting an eyelash and yet here you are, scared wimpering from a little hardship? You're pathetic!"
"I-I can't keep going, it's too much!"
"It's only too much if you let it be. Here you are, cowering behind your own need for the luxuries of life. You don't need them, Rarity. You've never needed them and you can't start doing so now. There's a task to be done and only you can do it."
I knew she was right. She was always right, after all. I bit my lip before driving back to the task at hoof. I wouldn't hide behind my soft sheets when I wasn't done! There was something that needed to be completed and only a little time to do it. She was right, I had faced far worse and come out unscathed. If I could do that without backing down, there was no reason I couldn't do this! A few days without sleep was no real skin off of my nose. Still...
*Crack!!*
"Aaahh!" I cried out as I felt the lash leave rivets in my flesh. It stung for a few moments before subsiding. I felt a little more awake now that I knew the mare behind me had a whip. Perhaps I wasn't quite as tired as I thought. The mare behind me chuckled darkly as she watched how easily I slipped back into my work.
"There, was that so hard?" she asked. I knew she was smirking behind me. I knew it and I hated her for it. She was enjoying the pain she caused me, there was no denying it. She took an intense pleasure in my deress and as much as I hated it, I knew why.
The mare with the whip behind me was what kept me ploughing forward, what drove me to do what everypony assumed I did of my own volition. They always assumed that fashion was an easy, frivolous thing. It was something that could be slapped out with no effort, a child's play compared to the intense complexities of their obviously more strenuous job of digging ditches or caring freight. They couldn't have been more wrong! This was not a task for the feint of heart.
"Rarity?"
I looked over my shoulder to find my little sister had come home early. I chuckled softly. She was such a darling, even with her antics and her penchant for reckless behavior.
"Sweetie, Darling, what are you doing here so early?"
"What do you mean 'early'?" she asked, looking somewhat confused.
"Well you're here right now and..." I looked over at the clock to find it was already well after five in the afternoon. "Huh... I suppose you're not then. Well how was school, Dear?"
"Oh it was fine! Mrs. Cheerilee gave us a special lesson on Equestrian history and the Treaty of Gryphus. You wouldn't believe how ridiculous ponies were back those days! Why did we spend nearly a hundred years at war with their empire just over a border dispute? That makes no sense!"
"Uh huh," I said, placing my focus back on my work as I tried to settle her rant on the backburner. As much as I loved the darling, she really could really ramble at times. "Go on."
"Well if that wasn't absurd enough, what actually made them stop the war wasn't the heavy casualties they'd been facing nor the diminishing population because of that but because of the financial burden it was putting on their economies. Neither government payed any regards to all the ponies and gryphons that died for them to stay in power, they just stopped for the fucking money!"
"Sweetie!" I scowled.
"Oops. I'm sorry sister, I won't say it again."
"It's okay, it's just a word. Still, I'd prefer if you wouldn't use it so loosely."
"I won't, Sis," she said, an embarassed blush spreading across her face. "Well as I was saying, they settled the war just to-" I quietly droned her out as I got back to my duties. I'd occaisionally glance up or utter a soft 'Uh-huh' from time to time to make her thing I was actually multi-tasking while I sewed. It seemed to work just fine, and pretty soon she'd finished her rant on random historical trivia.
"Well I'm gonna go see my friends now, okay Sis?"
"Sure, Sweetie! Just be careful, okay?" I replied. Just as I was turning back to my work I found a small pair of hooves wrap around my neck. I felt my little sister's chin nuzzle against my own and for a moment all was still and quiet.
"I love you, Rarity," she said and I felt like my heart could burst. She pulled back and looked deep into my eyes. "Don't forget that, okay?"
"I won't, Sweetie," I said, smiling back down to her. We met each others' eyes for a moment before she trotted off to find her friends. Of all the ponies I held dearest to me, my sister took the cake.
"Ahem!" a voice behind me uttered. "I believe you have something else to be doing right now!"
"Can't I have a moment to revel in the love of my own sister?"
"Not if you want to get the project done on time!" came a nasty reply. There was a moment of silence before the voice softened a little. "I know why you love her. She is a darling filly, if a bit naive at times. Maybe she even starts to give you something your parents never could... But regardless, feeling nice about the foal won't help you finish your work."
I mused about it for a moment before saying, "Maybe it does."
"What was that?" she asked.
"Nothing."
"Well then get back to work!"
I did just that, but not before a small smile played onto my lips. Maybe I'd be tired when this was all over. Maybe I'd wish that I'd never gotten into fashion and felt drained of all my energy at the end, only to have to get up the next day just to do it all over again. But none of that really mattered. I was loved, despite what that cursed mare behind me might think. I knew what I had to do and I had someone there behind me to help me do it. Besides, I knew the mare's name by heart.
The mare behind me was Rarity.
