Another side of the story

Celestia paced around the Canterlot archives, a royal guard by her side. She took an old book off the shelf and flipped through the pages.

"This one, too." She said, lifting the large hardcover book up and putting it in the guards saddlebag.

"How many do we have so far?" Celestia asked the guard.

"Around fifteen, your highness... But, why do you want to burn all these books?"

"You need not know, Basil. Go give these books to Chess, he'll burn this batch for you."

Basil sighed and walked toward Chess, another royal guard.

"Hey, the Princess needs you to burn these." Basil said, putting the books into Chess's saddlebag.

" Why does she want to burn all these books?" Chess asked curiously

"I tried asking, but she wouldn't tell me why."  Basil responded quietly.

Another royal guard marched into the Archives, toward Celestia.

Celestia whipped her head around to face the guard, a book in her mouth.

"What do you need? I gave you no permission to enter the archives."

"My apologies, Princess...but it's urgent."

"Very well. Continue."

"Princess Meamore Cadenza is at the Main door. She says she needs to speak to you."

Cadence?! What does she want? Celestia thought, turning to Chess and Basil.

"You two." She said, glaring at them.

"Y-Yes, your highness?" Chess stammered, while Basil said nothing.

Celestia gave them both a sweet smile before walking toward them.

"It's almost Lunch break for you two, isn't it? You must be hungry. Go take a break from work, I'll be waiting here for you two in three hours or so."

With that, Celestia trotted out of the archives, her head held high. The guard who had given her the message followed her

a few hoofsteps before running ahead of her, stopping Celestia in her path.

"What now?" Celestia asked him impatiently, rolling her eyes.

"Uh...I was just wondering, do you want to see her yourself, or should I go deliver her your message?"

" I will go greet her myself, you're probably just looking for a pay raise. Go make yourself useful and lock the archives for me, will you?"

The guard stood in shock for a moment then bowed to her. "My apologies, your highness..." he said, then trotted back over to the archives. Basil and Chess stared at the guard as they walked out of the archives, allowing him to lock the door.

Once they got away from him, Chess started what Basil called Chess's his well- known "Motor-mouth setting."

" Do you realize how LUCKY we are the princess said that? I mean, really, how many other guards does she just give random three-hour breaks to? I'm probably going to just relax the whole time, I'm not even hungry yet... it's not close to lunch, Celestia was probably just trying to find an excuse to give us a break because she likes us so much and we've-"

"Chess, are you even a little bit suspicious what she was doing with all those books?"