Sunset was currently lying on the rooftop, her arms crossed behind her head like Rainbow Dash liked to do. The girl had separated herself from her friends temporarily, as she was contemplating the situation she and Twilight were in, something she had already done at least a dozen of times today. A sigh escaped her lips as she was checking the time with her phone, something she had also done at least a dozen of times today. The reason she did the latter was obviously that since it was her duty to lower the sun now, she had to constantly keep track of the time of the day in order to prevent the stunt she did this morning. Sunsets and sunrises for that matter where not instantaneous. That was a fact she had completely forgotten this morning and the results were all over the news. Even now the news outlets were showing repeated camera footage of the sun, not the earth, moving at high speeds into just the right position for the next day to fully begin. One has to remember that both the sun and the moon were gigantic. From the perspective of a human on earth, it would have looked like the sun had been moving about as fast as a human who casually took a stroll in the park. This couldn't be further from the truth.
Sunset had never really considered this, but given how fast the gigantic fireball had moved, she must have used a lot of power in order to accomplish this feat. That is not to mention the sheer distance from earth to the sun. Just thinking about sent shiver's down Sunset's spine. There was a quote from a comic that came to mind when she thought about all of this: "With great power comes great responsibility." This was something she would have scoffed at in the past, but it was pretty much something she had to consider now more than ever.
Another sigh escaped her lips. She wondered how Princess Celestia and Princess Luna handled this responsibility each and every day. Then again, they had been doing this for ages, so it was probably routine for them by now. There was a good chance the two didn't even remember how it was raising the sun and moon respectively for the first time.
Another look at her phone revealed to Sunset that it was almost time for her to start the thing she was named after. She had done some research previously, namely checking out records of the exact times each and every day the sunset and sunrise would start. Obviously, she had some leeway, as there was no telling how those people had decided that this was the exact minute the sun started setting. Still, it was good to have some kind of set time to start the process of setting set sun. Which she would do now.
The Equestrian stretched her arms before she got off the ground with her phone in her hand. She sent a quick text in the chat group she and her friends used, telling them where she was and what she was about to do. After having done that, she pocketed her phone, took in a deep breath with her mouth and let it out slowly through her nose.
"Hey Sun, are you there?" she asked into the air.
~I am here, mistress. Have you finished your preparations?~
"More or less," Sunset now thought in the direction of the sun. It was still kind of alienating to her that the sun had an actual conscious now. "I think I'm going to need your help again. Just like you helped me this morning."
~Of course, Mistress. I will do my utmost to ensure we will be successful today.~
"Alright," Sunset said out loud and nodded, more to herself than the sun. "Let's see if I got this." With those words being said, Sunset began channeling the magic through her body. It was different from her pony form, as with that she just needed to channel it through her horn. But in the human world magic worked completely differently, to the point where she had to improvise or just let the magic do its own stuff. Like right now. Once the magic started flowing through her body, it continued to do so without her doing anything. As the magic flowed, it also changed Sunset. From seemingly one moment to the other, in a flash of light, Sunset changed into her angelic form, complete with the outfit and the wings. The girl also found herself hovering in mid-air, without even flapping her wings. Though the laws of physics were the least of her concerns right now. She looked up into the sky, in the direction of the one star that allowed life to flourish on this planet. Time to get that very same star moving.
Sunset was about to "outstretch" her mind, so to speak and "get a grip on the sun", again so to speak when she found herself to be interrupted by the sound of the doors to the rooftop opening.
"Hey Sun, wait for- whoa!" Rainbow Dash interrupted herself when she saw that Sunset had already transformed into Daydream Shimmer, no one knew who came up with that name. Sunset or Daydream for her part turned around in mid-air and smiled softly, as she saw not only Rainbow Dash, but also the rest of the Rainbooms entering the rooftop.
"Hey Sunny, isn't it a bit early for sunset?" Pinkie Pie asked, pointing a finger at the side of her head.
"I have to agree with Pinkie Pie dear, it's a tad early, wouldn't you agree?" Rarity followed up the question with one of her own.
"Easy there, girls," Daydream held up her hands in a pacifying matter. She then went on to explain that she was not actually setting the sun in the way her friends expected her to do, but rather that she only planned on getting the sun moving very slowly.
"Er... so why are ya doing that?" Applejack asked. "No offense, but it kinda sounds like a wasted effort to mah."
"Yeah, see here's the thing. Usually, the earth moves on its own, making it for its inhabitants appear like the sun is slowly moving on the horizon," Daydream explained. "Since that isn't happening anymore, I have to initiate this on my own."
"Do you really need to do this?" Rainbow Dash asked with crossed arms. "Like AJ said, it still sounds like a wasted effort to me."
It was Twilight who decided to answer this one. "Rainbow Dash, we can't skip anything in the day and night cycle. Do you not remember how everyone reacted when the sun and the moon were stuck in one place?" The girl felt the need to rub her forehead. "Which is so illogical in of itself, it's still giving me a headache," she muttered more to herself, than anyone else. "In any event, what I mean is that people panicked, actually if you look into the news, you will see that they're still panicking."
Daydream nodded in agreement. "It will take a lot of time for the people to get used to all of this. And if I just skip something, even if it seems mundane, it will only cause more distress around the world. Heck, you should have seen how heated the discussions I have seen on lifestream."
"Er... no thanks. I let you handle the egghead stuff." Both Twilight and Daydream rolled their eyes at the unnecessary comment Rainbow made.
"Right. Anyways, I better get to it, before someone not from Canterlot High sees me in this outfit." Daydream gestured down on herself."
"I think she looks beautiful," Fluttershy whispered to Rarity, who wholeheartedly agreed. Sunset in the meantime had returned her attention to the sun and was once again attempting to get a grip on it. It wasn't exactly like putting your fingers around a ball, but it was an adequate way to describe what Sunset did at this very moment. Once she managed to put her invisible hand around the sun, she started to pull or rather push it in the direction it needed to go. The angel-girl could feel the sun contributing to the effort, not by moving by herself, but rather supplying her with a seemingly endless amount of magic. It not only made the task that much easier but for the couple of seconds she and the sun had this kind of connection, Daydream felt like she could just incinerate the world with a mere snap of her fingers. Luckily this time she managed to resist the temptation and managed to get the sun moving. Of course, it wasn't visible to the naked eye, but Sunset had managed what could be considered to be the easy part of her job. She immediately transformed back in front of her friends, gently landing on her feet.
"Alright," she nodded satisfied. "easy part done, now we gotta wait, 'till Sunday."
Twilight audibly gulped. In only a couple of hours, it would be her turn.