//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Everything Shall Burn 
// by ScorpionFire 
//------------------------------//

Princess Celestia grumbled, and slowly lifted her head. She didn’t need a mirror to see the tangled up fluff that was once her beautiful pink mane, because ever since she had started having nightmares, her hair always managed to get knotted. It was a pain to brush, even with her extraordinary magic.

But her hair could wait. Even though her subjects mostly ignored her sun, she needed to raise it anyway. Even if they didn’t, she enjoyed the light and warmth like it was her own child. And like any child, it needed attention and love, exactly what Celestia gave it.

Pushing the glass doors that lead to her balcony open, she slowly walked outside, into the slightly lighter night. She sighed, and closed her eyes, willing her magic to work. Like any child, the sun did have tantrums, and often refused to do what Celestia told it to do. But after many hundred years of experience, she managed to coax it to wake up from its slumber in a matter of seconds. Respectively, the moon sunk down into the horizon, guided carefully by Celestia. Even though she was skilful with her sun when raising it, the moon was slightly different. Not only with the moon being slightly smaller, Celestia had to carefully conceal the stars and adjust the heat slightly to meet the day’s needs. It was ever so complicated.

Seeing the sun taken care of, Celestia decided now was the time for untangling her messy mane. It would be a nightmare, but she must keep up her appearance. Not only was it an important part of the monarchy, but her parents were coming to visit in a few weeks for the Winter Moon Celebration. She knew that they would be updated with all the new gossip, so if the servants had seen her acting so unbothered towards her looks, her parents would immediately be on her case. That, and she was trying to make her mane look more impressive than her sister’s.

~
“Good morning, Your Highness!” chirped a small voice.
Princess Celestia looked down from the table, her train of thoughts interrupted. She was about to snap at the unfortunate pony, before she realised it was probably her maid asking what she wanted for breakfast.

“Oh… good morning, Spring Melody.” Celestia replied to her trusty personal maid. Celestia considered the light orange Pegasus one of the few who understood her thoughts on the night and day.
Spring nodded, and took out a little notebook kept handy in her saddlebag. Celestia recognised it; it was the notebook where important things meant for her were written down. Spring would then recite the new contents from the red book to her at every meal, take replies to the original sender and make appointments for her that concerned important events like court, a special celebration or an opening of a memorable building. Those sorts of things.

“Thank you, Your Highness!” Spring Blossom replied, flicking through the notepad.
“Now, let’s see… aha! Princess Luna said she won’t be able to join you for the banquet this evening. Seems she has to design a new constellation for next week’s festival…”.
It was then Spring lowered the notepad to look at her sun princess, who looked away with an expression of slight annoyance on her face. This always happened when Luna was called off to some important job that involved the night, since nopony ever asked Celestia to make anything special happen during the day, or even her own festival.

“Ahem… and it seems you have a letter from your parents concerning their visit…” Spring continued, picking out a small envelope and pushing it onto the table for Celestia to read later. She then scanned the rest of the page, and was slightly shocked to find no other appointments had been requested. Even with her low popularity, Celestia was normally involved a lot in important events, even ones which were not about or for her.

The light orange pony gently folded the notepad back into her saddlebag, signalling to Celestia that announcements were over, and it was time to eat. The pink-maned pony turned her expression of annoyance around to one that was slightly happy, since the palace always served the best meals that got her put of the worst of moods. And all it really took was a meal that involved bananas in some way.

“I do hope you remembered to order that shipment of Crystal Bananas last week like I asked…” Celestia reminded her maid, and all Spring said was:
“Of course, Your Highness! They are ready to eat, at the peak of their ripeness!”.

Reassured that her favourite treat was safely stored in the kitchens, Celestia closed her eyes and leaned further back into her cushioned chair. It was often hard to decide what to eat, since diets were strictly enforced and it was rare that the princess’ could steal a snack to cure their hunger between meals.

“Hmm… I’ll have one bowl of banana bran flakes, toast with apricot jam and a cup of tea, please.” Celestia decided. It was hard cutting down on bananas, but her advisor Citrus Fruit had warned her eating too much of her favourite fruit would not end very well. Plus, apricot jam was an appetizing delicacy, and tea was equally scrumptious. Why not have them all?
Spring Blossom nodded, and broke off in a skip to the kitchens to deliver the order. She knew her sun princess hated waiting for her meals, and always tried to get the food made and served as fast and gracefully as possible. After all, being the personal maid of one of the most powerful alicorns in Equestria didn’t come very cheap.

Meanwhile, Celestia’s gaze followed the orange pegasi down the hallway, keeping her soft magenta eyes on her until she was no longer in her eyesight. She then sat back upright, and looked at all the glass windows adorning the grand hall, where she and Luna normally ate. The majority of them depicted all the successes of the royal sister, plus other important events in Equestrian history. There was the defeat of Discord, the discovery of the Crystal Empire, the discovery of the Elements of Harmony… many events. Celestia wondered how the ponies constructed such beautiful works of art.

While looking at the window depicting the discovery of the elements, Celestia noticed something. Was it her, or did Luna look like the most beautiful of the two? And why way SHE the one holding the tiara? CELESTIA was the one who found them and used the tiara! Luna herself only wielded two of the elements, while Celestia took control of the other four. 
 'How come Luna get's all the credit for everything I've done for Equestria?...'