The Sun Never Sets

by Mr Fislewait

Industry and Generosity (Part Three)

While the rest of the Empire seemed to have fallen into darkness and misery the palace retained much of its lustre. Lights shone in the windows and hallways while the crystal interior had been polished to an eye catching sheen. It would have almost seemed serene and harmonious if it wasn't for the fact that the only ponies present that weren't unicorns were the custodial staff, a team of rough looking pegasi. As I walked the palace halls looking for the desk I was meant to check in at I noticed that there were three distinct types of unicorns. The first were haggard, tired looking creatures that reminded me of myself, the only real difference being that their cutie marks were proudly on display and clearly unmarked. The second group still had bags beneath their eyes but they walked around with a sense of arrogance, raising their noses and looking down upon the rest of us, coupled with their fanciful manner of dress I gathered that they were the affluent and the nobility. The final group (and clearly the minority) were twitchy creatures with blood shot eyes and ragged manes, even they had no brands on their cutie marks but instead bore track marks, bloody noses or other signs of drug abuse.

"Excuse me, darling, if you are looking to check in for the evening you need to come over here!" A voice called to me from across the room inviting me towards a small desk situated in one corner. Sitting there with a smile upon her face was none other than Rarity. She looked a little more run down than when I had met her in Nightmare Moon's world but she appeared a great deal happier. I slowly walked across to her and she passed me a signing in sheet which I promptly filled in.

"Hi there," I mumbled, a little uncertain around this new Rarity. "I've uh... never done this before so would you mind filling me on the details?"

"But of course!" Rarity said with a genial smile, her voice upbeat and chipper She levitated a scroll out of her desk and passed it across to me. "This is the spell you shall be assisting with, now if you are magically inclined then feel free to go through the normal steps of the spell, but if that is too much for you no need to fret, just feed your magic into the spell and the more experienced wizards will do the rest. We shall be starting in about ten minutes, you can either wait out here until then or go straight on into the ritual chamber," she pointed her hooves towards a large set of open doors that lead into an open air chamber, a few of the other unicorns had already gathered inside it. "After the spell is done you are welcome to stay for tea and scones and we have beds set up just down the hall if you need a rest from casting the spell, we simply ask that you be out of the palace by nine in the morning."

I nodded along politely as I read over the details of the spell. It was actually remarkably simple. It wasn't something that every unicorn would be able to do but I imagine that if they read over the scroll then any unicorn with magic as a special talent would be able to carry it out. The real problem was that it required so much energy to use it, to safely cast it I imagine you would need dozens of unicorns all working together, looking down the check in list I counted only fifteen.

"How is this supposed to work?" I asked pointing at the scroll. "By the looks of things we would need at least twice the number of unciorns we have here just to move the sun, let alone the moon."

"Quite," Rarity replied in a very matter of fact manner. "That is why we have an additional two teams working simultaneously with us from Canterlot and Appleloosa while the moon teams work out of Vanhoover, Manehattan and Baltimare." Rarity frowned and blinked at me a couple of times. "You really weren't kidding when you said you were new to this were you?" I shook my head. "Well we can always use more talented young unicorns to help keep the sun moving. Now you will likely feel a little sore and drained after you are done casting the spell but don't worry, that is perfectly normal. Now let's not keep the others waiting," Rarity shooed me into the chamber where the other fourteen unicorns were already waiting to start.

The 'chamber' was really just an extended balcony, hanging out across the city and giving us a clear view of the sun in the sky above us. It was simple and fit to its purpose, permanent runic scrawlings having been engraved into the crystal floor to assist in casting the spell. At the center of the group stood a wizened old unicorn who could have probably passed for Starswirl himself if he were to dress up for the part. He was a gruff old stallion who had no time for words and instead pointed everyone into their places and expected for us to do the rest. He barely gave us time to get into position before he began channeling the ancient spell to raise the sun, for that first try I didn't even bother trying to cast it along with him, instead I watched and learned while channeling my own magic into strengthening his spell. By the third day I would be casting alongside him but for my first few attempts I was content to simply lend my own magic to his.

Raising the sun was without a doubt the single most strenuous spell I have ever had the displeasure to cast. It wasn't just that it was exhausting, it was also painful. Oh so very painful. It started as a dull headache, a light throbbing at my temples. The pain slowly magnified and moved to the base of my horn, slowly creeping up its length until the entire horn felt like it was being crushed by an immense pressure. Next came a burning sensation across my skin. A light tingling at first but quickly building in temperature until it felt as though I was standing inside of an oven. I quickly felt as though I had my limit but then, without warning the spell stopped and I collapsed to the ground. Around me the other unicorns had all similarly collapsed but many of them were already pulling themselves back up and heading towards the door. Our leader nodded in approval and I realized that without me noticing the sun had gone down and the moon had risen in its place. In total the spell couldn't have taken more than three minutes but it had felt much longer.

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I didn't bother joining the others for the promised 'tea and scones' instead retiring straight to bed. The beds were remarkably more comfortable than I had been expecting them to be. They looked like simple cots but the mattresses were soft my tired body appreciated them immensely. In any of the other worlds I would probably have chosen to sleep in late on a bed like that but instead I was promptly roused at five in the morning to come and assist with raising the sun.

I followed the servant who had come to wake me downstairs and saw that once again Rarity was on the desk at the reception. This time she
had a large mug of coffee on her table.

"Hey, Rarity," I yawned as I approached her, "got any more of that to go around?" I pointed at the coffee with hungry eyes.

"There are cups just over there... Sunset, wasn't it?" I nodded as I levitated a small cup of coffee off of a nearby table and began taking deep mouthfuls of the bitter liquid.

"You know, dear, you don't need to be up this early. I did say that you only had to be out by nine remember?"

I shook my head. "I remember, but I needed to get up to help raise the sun." with a dull thunk Rarity dropped her mug onto the table and stared at me in disbelief.

"Darling, I know the job pays well but you really should take breaks between castings. Why, most of us try to keep it to once a week, twice at most." There was a touching look of concern in her eyes as she examined me from head to tail. "Now I know a lot of us have fallen on hard times as of late but really even a single casting's pay should tide you over for a little while. If you are desperate for money then I can see about booking you another casting later in the week but I can't in good conscience allow you to do this to yourself." I turned my eyes away from her and stared backwards at my covered flank. Maybe there wasn't any great world destroying monster ruling over this Equestria, but evidently the ponies in charge here cared little for the well being of others, I began to wonder how long Thrifty Mill was expecting me to last here.

"Now then, how about I move you to this open spot on-" While I had been looking at myself Rarity had been flicking through her schedule for the coming week. Turning to see why she had stopped speaking I noticed that she had begun quickly flicking back and forth between the pages, repeatedly stopping and then continuing to the next page. She dropped the notes and stared at me, her mouth twisted into a grimace and a look of horror on her face. "Darling, for some reason I have you booked into every casting for the foreseeable future, mornings and evenings."

"That sounds about right," I nodded grimly.

"But why? No amount of bits could possibly be worth putting yourself through that."

"It's not exactly my choice anymore," I sighed raising the hem of my cloak to show Rarity the numbers branded into my flank. Rarity let out a high pitched scream and I dropped the cloak back into place before anypony else turned to see the source of the commotion. Once she had managed to collect herself Rarity leaned across the table to me and resumed speaking now in a hushed whisper.

"You signed into a work contract? Why in Equestria would you do such a thing? You're a unicorn!"

"I didn't know any better," I whispered back with a shrug of the shoulders. "That and I didn't have any bits. It seemed like a good idea at the time and if I hadn't done it then..." I paused and stared around the room to make sure nopony else was paying attention. "I did it to pay off the contracts on three fillies, Rarity. Fillies! They have them working on these huge machines down in the city and there's no safety precautions whatsoever! The whole place is a death trap!"

"You'll kill yourself though! Now I appreciate that it was a very noble gesture but if you keep this up the stress will kill you!" she was visibly shaking in her seat at that point.

"If they were left working where I found them I bet the work would kill those fillies too. One life for three? Sounds a pretty good trade from where I'm standing," I neglected to mention that I wasn't planning on sticking around long enough for the stress of casting to kill me.

"You know the three of them?" Rarity queried.

"Yes, but I only realized that after I'd payed off their contracts," she shook her head trying to understand what I had done and I realized I needed to try a different tactic. "Rarity, do you have a sister or daughter?"

"Yes, a younger sister, Sweetie Belle, she's a unicorn like all of my family."

"What if she had been born an earth pony, Rarity? What if she ran away from home and then one day you found her working in one of those factories under a contract?"

"Well," she puffed out her chest, "I would get together all of my bits, sell my belongings if need be and pay off her debt!"

"What if you didn't have any bits though, Rarity?" she shrunk a little at that. I'll admit that the question hadn't been fair, I knew she had a little sister after all, but it seemed my point was starting to hit home. "Kids shouldn't have to go through that, Rarity, nopony should. Maybe someday the unicorns will realize that but right now? Right now I'm ashamed to have a horn." With that I walked away from here and towards the ritual chamber to help raise the sun.