//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Everything Shall Burn 
// by ScorpionFire 
//------------------------------//

Princess Celestia looked out onto the dark land below her. It wasn’t often she got to ride in her chariot during the night, but she had a specific date planned for her ‘redecoration’ of her sky. And it was extremely soon.
Turning her attention back at the sky, she spotted the faint cloudy texture of her destination, Cloudsdale. It was always the best place to go if you wanted tweaks in the weather, although it was ruinously expensive for any normal pony. But as a princess, Celestia could get away with paying very little, or not at all. It really depended on her request. Sure, it was abusing her position a bit, but who got hurt? The Pegasi get a lot of money either way, from their flying schools and the such.

Celestia smiled as she remembered the flying school she had set up in Cloudsdale. The Solar Sky Training School, she had called it. She had intended it to be only for the most skilled or more upper-class flyers, but now several other types of Pegasi were being able to get a few years of training. This was because of a thing Luna had invented called ‘Scholarships’. Apparently, every year 29 instructors go to 29 different flying schools with one scholarship each. If they spot a good flyer, they offer the scholarship to them, and most of them accept it.

This act was one of the many things that made Luna more popular than Celestia. Most ponies (including Unicorns and Earth ponies), had complained about the pressure that was put on somepony to complete the trial test successfully. True, it was a highly difficult agility test, along with several workshops and a written essay plus a full on booklet test, but it was a school intended for the most skilled. Wonderbolt material, even. So of course it was going to have an expensive fee to attend. But nopony would take that as an excuse why poor Pegasi couldn’t get the training and job offers they ‘deserved’.

Celestia was jolted out of her mental rant about Pegasi when her carriage landed in the docking area of the Tornado Carriage-port. Turns out, many ponies took carriages to and from the cities in the sky, so they made airports for them. And named them absurd names. And only Luna got exclusive docking stations, Celestia had to use the ‘commoners’ docking stations. Not very proper of royalty, however ignored they may be.

Celestia gently stepped off her gilded carriage, and waited for her guards to unattach themselves from the front of her carriage and join her. Unpopular as she was, there have been several attempts to assassinate her, and she wasn’t taking any chances. Perhaps after the few alterations to the sky, her subjects would love her like they did when she defeated Discord.
With Luna.


 ~~~ 


The time taken to get the Weather Office took a lot longer as it normally would, mainly because Celestia kept getting distracted by the beautiful sights in Cloudsdale. The city was adorned with flowers, and the clouds were crafted into intricate shapes. Stalls and shops popped up at every corner, the alluring smells of the food products hitting Celestia’s nostrils like a barbecue on a fine summer’s day. It was so hard not to stop and buy that corndog or the bright bouquet from the sweet old pony. But she had a job to do, and she must do it fast. Or else Luna would raise her sun again, and give her a huge rant on the responsibilities of being the co-ruler of Equestria.

Turning a corner, Celestia spotted the brown door of the Weather Office. She nodded her head towards the door, and her guards immediately went up and opened them to make way for Celestia. She smiled at them, and continued her way. The Pegasi she wanted to see worked on the seventh floor, so Celestia had to take the lift. It was highly awkward, standing in an enclosed space with two guards and a lot of random ponies. But Celestia just couldn’t go and jump out of the window and fly to the top, could she?

Slowly, the lift rumbled to life. Other ponies left and got in, but eventually it reached the seventh floor. Celestia exited the rickety lift, and made her way to the McCann office. Michael McCann was the owner, and he was in charge of all the custom weather tweaks. The business was thriving, but Michael was having trouble with prices. Only rich ponies could afford to twist the weather, and many thought the city of Cloudsdale was too ‘uncouth’ to make a visit. He was constantly lowering the prices, and setting out many advertisements to get more customers.

‘Hmm… maybe I should pay in full today…’ Celestia thought, as she tapped gently on the door with her golden shoes hooves.
‘He is struggling… and all the freebies won’t last much longer if I keep abusing my position.’
As Celestia was about to knock again, a slightly tired orange Pegasus opened the door. He looked like he was going to snap at the unfortunate pony that disturbed him, until he noticed the princess of the sun standing at his door.
“Good evening, Your Highness!” Michael gabbled, bowing lowly while stepping to the side slightly.
“It gives me great honour to have you as a customer for my business. Sit down, sit down!”

Celestia made her way over to the comfiest chair she could find, and nodded at her guards to stay at the door. Even though she was very careful with protection, she wanted her new ‘redecorations’ to remain a secret. Michael shut the door carefully, and made his way to the dusty filing cabinets on his side of the large oak desk. He took a few seconds searching, and pulled out a big cerulean folder. He dusted it off and laid it on the desk, opening the pages and flicking through them.

“Let’s see… ah! Your last request was about 3 months ago.” Michael noted quickly, surprised at how fast Celestia had come again to request weather changes. 
“Oh yes, I do believe that was the rain for the new roses in the gardens.” Celestia calmly replied, revealing a large velvet bag. She counted out about 70 bits, and laid them on the table.
“I also believe the price was 70 bits, so here you go.”
The orange Pegasus quickly took the money and put it in his drawer, turning his attention back at the older pony in front of him.

“Ah, thank you, Your Highness!” Michael exclaimed, happy he had actually gotten the full price for his work this time.
“Now, what plans do you have for the weather this fine night?”
Celestia carefully took the sheets of paper out of her saddlebags, setting them down on the table. She looked at them nervously; as if she wasn’t certain what her fellow Pegasus would think of them.

“What if my plans will be impossible to pull off?”