That night there was many a party amongst the earth ponies, now that they had gained the legal right to use magic to manipulate things like unicorns. Even Applejack allowed her workforce to stop work for a day and have not only a party, but an apple feast, with cider as well. This was almost unprecedented for Applejack of all ponies to do this. She invited Trixie Lulamoon to be her guest of honor. "Trixie, I may be a rich earth pony but I have longed to use unicorn magic and would pay you well-let's say...five thousand Equestria bits.You deserve it." Trixie stared at her wide eyed. Five thousand bits was more then she got from a major show after taxes and the payment of the venue owner.It would keep her in apples and other food for a long while.She happily taught Applejack the spell and the party went on long into the night.
The next day Applejack had all her employees lined up in front of her and picked out ten of them to stand behind her. "Right, the rest of you are now redundant, you will get two days severance pay. If you're wondering why, me and Big Mac and ten of you can now do the work of hundreds using unicorn magic."
All over Equestria the farms and other businesses that traditionally relied upon earth pony lifting to do the heavy work suddenly found that as low-level magic took a lot less energy then physically holding things, one pony could do the work of ten.
Large numbers of earth ponies now found themselves made unemployed, and although they tried to get other, better, jobs, few managed to do so. Most bosses on land tended to be unicorns, who despised the "uppity"in their eyes earth ponies who thought themselves equal to the unicorn race. Within a year many an earth pony was homeless and reduced to begging, stealing, or eating grass. Celestia, as Aurora's student, could see her rather more often then most ponies, often as often as once a week.
One day she asked her "Princess, is there anything you can do about the plight of the earth ponies? I heard only one in five now has a job and the normally very low crime rate of Equestria is rocketing to the ;point that there have even been murders happening. Could you please either make a law saying businesses should hire a certain quota of earth ponies, or establish benefits for the unemployed?"
Princess Aurora sighed. "Celestia, it is your and Trixie's fault. You urged the earth ponies to think above their station and they didn't think it through properly. What they are going through is simple economics, businesses are not charities and will always want to employ as few workers as possible. What stopped them hiring unicorns is that most unicorns had better things to do with their time then pick apples or drag around heavy carts. Now that one worker can safely do the work of five without burning out in the process, of course unemployment has risen. And no, I won't do either of your suggestions. The first would be unfair to the owners of businesses who may hire and fire whoever they want to. The only things they cannot fire for is a refusal to take part in crime, or for giving evidence in court or to the police or the royal guards or me, and I want it to stay that way, The second would destroy discipline and the work ethic, as almost nopony in the lower jobs would want to do them if they could get bits or food for free, and our society would collapse."
"But Princess, the earth ponies are starving. There are too many of them chasing too few jobs. Sooner or later they will call for real for your government to fall."
"And I will ignore them unless they get violent or riot, in which case a few new statues will soon be decorating my royal gardens or if the Elements are on the blink, Foalsom Prison will be full to bursting with the ringleaders. From what you told me earlier, in a changeling cocoon you thought you were ruling Equestria. If it is that pleasant, why not take a pilgrimage of earth ponies who are doing very badly here with my permission to the lands of the Changelings? I will open a hole in the force-field for you to leave. That way, if what you have told me is true, nobody loses. You get to be the ruler of Equestria in your dreams, the Changelings get free food, perhaps to the point that their Queen becomes friendly with Equestria and the force-field can be lowered, and Equestria can get rid of it's useless eaters in a nice way. Every statue in my gardens was once a dissident, and they are all still alive sealed in stone, unable to move or speak, unable to scratch an itch or roll their eyes, baked by sun, freezing in the winter, only able to see what they are facing and to think. Some have been that way for centuries. It would be a pity to add you to their number, which is what I will have to do if you start causing trouble again. Think about that."