“We can’t do this… we can’t do this… there’s no way we can do this…” Twilight hugged her tail closer to her body and willed her mattress to swallow her, “No no no no no, what was Celestia thinking!?” There was a gentle knock at her door.

“Twilight, you okay?” It was Spike. Twilight covered herself thoroughly with a pile of blankets and made no response as her number one assistant quietly pushed open the door. “Starlight’s gonna be back with the others soon, we’ve gotta be ready!”

“Twilight’s not home right now,” the pile of blankets moved slightly, “Please leave a message at the tone… beeeeeep…”

“What?” Spike clambered up onto the bed and gave the pile a hearty shake, “Come on, stop messing around.” Twilight’s head poked out from the small mound of blue and purple cloth.

“I’m not messing around, I’m, uh-” She faltered before Spike’s judgement and attempted an uneasy smile, “Studying?”

“Sure you are, that’s why there’s so many books under there with you. Oh, wait,” Spike yanked the blankets away, “There aren’t.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t make you cuter, Spike.”

“Good thing I don’t need to be any cuter. Listen, I know you’re nervous about this, but even if Celestia didn’t like your advice she wouldn’t ask you to do this if she didn’t think you could. She cares about Equestria more than anything! If she thought you and the others would destroy it, she would never have ordered you to lead it. What sense would that make?” Twilight continued to silently look up at her assistant as his gaze softened, “You’re the smartest, most capable pony I know, and I happen to know some pretty great ponies. I get why you’re afraid, but you don’t need to be, and if you really think about it you’ll realize that too. Now are you getting up or do I need to start threatening your quills?”

Twilight hesitated for a moment, then lowered her head in defeat and sighed.

“Fine, I guess it can’t be helped.” She stood and stepped to the floor, shrugging off the blankets, before taking a deep breath and steadying herself, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t make you cu-” She cut off Spike’s mockery by turning to him and gently placing a hoof on his arm.

“No, Spike, I really mean it.” She smiled at him. Her eyes were watering a bit, “I genuinely have no idea what I would do without you. Thank you.” After a momentary pause, he returned the smile and put a claw on her hoof.

“No sweat, Twilight, I’ve always got your back. What are number one assistants for?” Twilight lifted him onto her back and turned back to her bedroom door.

“Come on,” A little bit of confidence crept back into her voice, “We’ve got some friends to rally.”

The halls of the castle were vast and quiet as Twilight and Spike made their way to the map room. She took her time, soaking up the energy of this place. It was no Golden Oaks, but it was still her home, and had been for some time. Now her and her friends would need to go to Canterlot, and she had no way of knowing when she would see Ponyville again. She stopped by the map room door and gingerly rested a hoof on the crystalline wall beside her. She could feel the magic in it, flowing through the structure like blood, and a faint pulsing, like a heartbeat. It could be said that her castle was like a living thing, but Twilight thought otherwise; the heartbeat was not her castle’s, but Ponyville’s. A town, a community, is alive in so many ways, so very much like a thinking, breathing organism, every street an artery and pony a cell. She’d spent such a tiny portion of her life here compared to Canterlot, but now the capital felt more foreign than Ponyville ever had. Going to Canterlot would be even harder for the others to accept, she thought. They were the more integral of Ponyville’s cells compared to herself. Their lives here were more than studying friendship; they had jobs, homes, families, responsibilities. She was about to ask them to put aside all of that for who knew how long. Burying her doubts, she pushed open the door and entered the map room.

The others had yet to arrive. As she approached the round table at the room’s center, Spike slid from her back and took his seat next to hers. She sat down on the cushion, her back against the cold stone, and leaned on one hoof, looking over the arcane map of Equestria and its surroundings. Her country, its land as vast as the sky, its culture and history as deep as the sea; quite a lot to be protected by seven little ponies and a dragon, but they’d done it before. Dangling from the ceiling above her, hung from the gnarled roots of Golden Oak, were the constant reminders of all that she and her friends had accomplished together. The elegantly faceted slivers of crystal jingled faintly as the door opened again, and the castle’s lonely, thoughtful silence was swept away by the sounds of friendship and love as the most important ponies in her life greeted her in their own familiar ways.

“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie bounced up and down and around the room, “You’ve been shut up in here all week, ever since you got back from Canterlot! I mean we were all super worried and I just kind of assumed you were sick but I was also thinking what if she’s not sick and there’s something else going on and-” Pinkie sprang across the table and landed in her chair, never breaking her stream of consciousness.

“She’s right, darling, you must tell us what’s been bothering you. It’s simply not good for you to hold your troubles in.” Rarity, in contrast, moved gently and elegantly as she took her seat.

“You totally missed the awesome routine I showed off to everypony yesterday!” Rainbow did a tight loop just beneath the ceiling decorations, the breeze from her wings jingling the memory crystals again, before landing in her chair.

“Heya, Twi, feeling any better today?” Applejack took her seat and adjusted her hat, tilting it back slightly to get a better view of everypony.

“I made scones.” Fluttershy placed a small basket on the map table and sat down, “They’re a little dry, I’m sorry…”

“I’m sure they’re amazing, Fluttershy.” Starlight’s horn flared briefly and a simple wooden chair appeared in an empty space at the table. She took her place next to Twilight and Spike. Twilight took a deep breath, then cleared her throat and looked around the table at her friends.

“So, you’re probably wondering what the urgent business Starlight told you about is.” She began. They all nodded. “Well, I’m afraid it’s both incredibly simple and dreadfully complicated.” She produced the letter from Princess Celestia and had it passed around the table so each pony could read it for themself. When it had made its rounds Starlight wordlessly passed it back to her.

“Now, Twilight,” Applejack broke the silence, “Ah don’t mean no disrespect by this, but uh, ya don’t suppose that Princess Celestia may’ve gone just a little crazy, do ya?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Ah mean tha last six months’ve been pretty hard on everypony.” Applejack continued, “This jus seems, I dunno, kinda drastic.”

“Applejack is right,” Rarity leaned forwards, resting her chin on her hooves, and looked over to Twilight for answers, “What are we supposed to do that the Sisters can’t?”

“I’ve thought a lot about that,” Twilight looked up from the letter, “And at first I didn’t understand it either, but then it hit me. It’s not really about our knowledge or expertise. The government already has ministries and civil servants who know all the ins and outs of their jobs; they’re the ones providing the experience. Princess Celestia wants us at the top because whoever is up there is the face of the transition. As the Elements of Harmony, we might as well be national symbols. The Elements represent what binds Equestria and its ponies together, through any hardship. What we’ll need most right now is unity, patience, and cooperation. Clearly Princess Celestia believes those are things our presence can provide.”

“Do you really think everypony could start fighting if we don’t do something?” Fluttershy’s voice was shaking. Twilight hesitated, but then nodded; the truth was best.

“That’s why I advised Princess Celestia to step down in the first place. Something had to be done to reduce the tension, or things could have ended very badly.”

“Things could still end badly,” Applejack scowled, “Ah don’t like those EDU upstarts just tryna change things all willy nilly. Equestria was fine how it was, dammit! What’ll we do without the Princesses next time somethin like Tirek comes a’knockin?”

“Well maybe if any Princess other than Twilight actually did something to save Equestria the EDU wouldn’t-” Rainbow Dash, who was now angrily hovering above her chair, stopped herself when Twilight held up a hoof for calm.

“Personal feelings aside,” She looked both AJ and Dash in the eyes, “Fighting won’t help anypony. Talking will.” Her two friends stared daggers at each other.

“Twilight’s right,” Pinkie interjected, “We’ve gotta forget about all this boring political stuff and stay together on this! We’re, like, the very best friends in all of Equestria! If we can’t put something silly like politics aside, how is anypony else supposed to?” AJ and Dash’s gazes softened.

“Yer right, Pinkie,” Applejack lowered her head, her hat shadowing her face, “Ahm sorry, Dash.”

“Yeah, uh, me too.” Dash sheepishly landed back in her seat and looked at the floor, “Sorry, AJ.” An uneasy silence descended over the room; nopony would make eye contact. Starlight gently slid Fluttershy’s basket across the table and produced a small, white, fluffy scone from inside it. A soft crunch cut through the quiet and bounced off the walls.

“Wow, Fluttershy, these are really good.” Starlight’s eyes widened. She slid the basket to Spike, whose reaction was much the same.

“You don’t think they’re too dry?” Fluttershy perked up a little at the praise.

“No way!” Spike took a second one and passed the basket to Twilight, who quietly took one as well, “These are almost as good as mine!” The basket slowly made its way around the table, and the awkward silence was shredded by the sounds of chewing and contentment; baked goods always go such a long way towards relieving tension.

“On another note,” Rarity finished her scone and swallowed, “Even if we do accept that reasoning, that we’re the best choice to bring Equestria together, we all have a lot to do here in Ponyville. I have Carousel-”

“Ah’ve got the farm-”

“I’ve got the Wonderbolts and the weather patrol-”

“Mr. and Mrs. Cake always need my help at Sugarcube-”

“I need to take care of my animal friends-”

“We can’t simply put all that down and run off to Canterlot, darling.”

“I know, I’ve thought about that a lot, believe me.” Twilight took a deep breath, bracing herself to give them the worst part of the news, “But Celestia isn’t asking, she’s ordering. We don’t have a choice in the matter. I’m sorry. I’m willing to do anything I can to help each of you figure out a way your jobs can get done without you, but we are going to be in Canterlot in two weeks. That’s just how it has to be.” The room went quiet again.

“Well,” Rarity looked thoughtful, “When you put it that way, I suppose I could get somepony to take care of Carousel while I’m gone. I can’t be the only fashion forward pony in Ponyville.” The others murmured in assent, all thinking of their own plans for who could help take over their work while they were gone.

“Ah guess Applebloom’s gettin old enough to help out more around the farm.” Applejack added, though she looked slightly concerned at this prospect, “And I could ask some other Apples to come in and help out some.”

“There’s plenty of other weather ponies, even if none of them are as awesome as I am, and... I guess I can put being in the Bolts on hold, if its for the good of Equestria.”

“The Cakes can hire someone new, I guess they’ll be okay without me for a while.”

“I could ask Dr. Fauna to watch my animal friends for a bit.”

“Thank you.” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank you all so much for being so accommodating.”

“Well of course, silly,” Pinkie laughed, the others joining in, “We’re your friends! And it wasn’t a choice, but the friends part is more important!” The others agreed heartily, and Twilight felt like her heart was going to burst. After a moment, Starlight cleared her throat and dropped a stack of thick manila folders onto the table.

“Now that we’ve gone over the basics of Celestia’s orders,” she began, “We need to figure out who’s going to be responsible for what. Twilight and I have already discussed this some, and we both agree this isn’t the time for any kind of radical restructuring. Therefore, we’ll be keeping the pre-existing ministry structure of the government; all that’s left is to decide who’s minister of what. We’re also fortunate enough to be inheriting the pre-existing government budget for this year, so that’ll help ease us into things.”

“Starlight and I will be serving as Vice Head of State and Head of State, respectively, and Spike will be my Chief of Staff.” Twilight added, “I have some ideas about what roles would be best for you all, but I want your input too.”

“Um, excuse me, but what are the options?” Fluttershy had raised her hoof like she was a filly in a classroom.

“And are any of them not incredibly boring?” Dash faked a yawn.

“Dash, this is the future of Equestria we’re talkin about, ya could at least try payin attention…”

“Ugh, it’s like being back in school.”

“Girls, please.” Twilight motioned for calm, then gestured to Starlight, “Could you give us a summary of the different ministries?”

“The names are pretty self explanatory, but we’ve got the Ministries of Security, Defense, Economy and Development, Agriculture, the Interior, Foreign Affairs, Education, which was formerly the Equestrian Education Association, Public Services and Labor, and finally, Law and Justice.”

“We have Security and Defense Ministries?” Dash said in disbelief, “Why don’t they ever stop us from getting invaded?”

“They don’t get a lot of funding.” Starlight grimaced, “I mean, it’s basically just the Wonderbolts and the Royal Guard, and look at them. The Wonderbolts are more performers than soldiers, no offense, and the Guard still use weapons we imported from Griffonia two centuries ago. How the hay do you even hold a spear with hooves?”

“That always confused me too.” Pinkie made a few experimental attempts at positioning her hooves in a manner capable of reliably gripping a spear, “I guess the Unicorns could do it fine, but they’ve got magic, so what do they even need spears for?”

“We’ll get to the Defense Ministry later. I don’t think anypony here is a particularly good fit for it, or there are at least better options.” Twilight shuffled through some papers, “We’ll probably have to look elsewhere for somepony to lead it. But, moving on, I already know one appointment for sure. Who better for the Ministry of Agriculture than Applejack?”

“Aw shucks, Twilight,” Applejack removed her hat and held it over her heart, “Yer confidence means the world to me. Ahd like nothin better.”

“Good, one down.” Starlight said as Spike scratched out a note on a piece of parchment, “Any other shoe-ins, Twilight?”

“I’m still torn between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash for Interior.” The two Pegasi perked up at the sound of their names.

“What does Interior do?” Dash asked.

“Nature related work, mostly, taking care of the land and environment, developing Equestria’s natural resources, keeping tabs on animal populations, which is of course why I thought of Fluttershy, but they’re also responsible for the weather and issuing assignments to local weather patrols, which is why I thought of you.”

“Getting to work with animals and plants every day would be nice.” Fluttershy smiled, “It’s already what I’m used to, it’d be like hardly anything changed at all.”

“As much as I like doing weather, I don’t know anything about the rest of what you said.” Dash folded her forelegs in front of her chest, “You should probably give that one to Flutters, she’ll be better at it. Besides, it sounds kinda boring…”

“Alright, Fluttershy for the Ministry of the Interior then.” Spike made another note.

“I think that was the last one where we had any obvious answers.” Starlight added.

“Wait! What about me!?” Pinkie almost jumped out of her seat, like she’d sat on a tack. Starlight raised an eyebrow.

“Did you have something in mind?”

“Uh, duh! Who saved Equestria from having a war with Yakyakistan? Who’s an honorary Yak?” Pinkie looked around the room, as if waiting for someone to answer her questions, “I did and am! Pinkamena Diane Pie!”

“That’s a very valid point,” Twilight rubbed her chin, “You did normalize relations with Yakyakistan for the first time in almost a century. Pretty impressive work, considering everything that happened.”

“So does that mean I can do Foreign Affairs?” Pinkie looked on expectantly. After another moment of contemplation, Twilight nodded and was immediately tackled into a classic Pinkie Pie hug.

“Oh, let her up, Pinkie,” Starlight giggled, “She can’t breathe. Assassinating a Head of State is a serious crime.”

“So that’s Agriculture, Interior, Foreign Affairs… what about Public Services and Labor?” Spike asked, making another note on the parchment.

“Ahem.” The room’s attention turned to Rarity as Pinkie finally released Twilight and returned to her seat, “I believe I could be of use in that department. After all, I am the Element of Generosity.” Her words hit Twilight like a lightning bolt.

“Damn, why didn’t I think of that? Of course, that makes perfect sense!”

“More generosity isn’t always the answer.” Starlight spoke hesitantly, “The government has a limited budget, we won’t be able to help everypony as much as we might want to.”

“I trust Rarity to make the right choices. She’ll know where our help will matter the most.” Twilight gave her friend a warm smile as Spike made another note.

“Thank you, Twilight. As Celestia is my witness, I will not let you down!” Rarity made the gesture of a Pinkie Pie Promise.

“Which just leaves Rainbow Dash,” Spike read over his notes, “And the remaining ministries are Security, Defense, Education, Economy and Development, and Law and Justice.”

“Twilight,” Rainbow’s voice had an edge of concern to it, “Are you sure I’m even gonna be any help? None of these sound like something I’d be good at…”

“Uhh-” Twilight hesitated and looked to Starlight for assistance.

“Hmm,” Starlight’s eyes lit up, “How about Security? The Minister of Security needs to be somepony who can be trusted implicitly, and who better than the Element of Loyalty?”

“Starlight, you’re a genius!”

“Security, huh,” Rainbow appeared lost in her imagination, “I guess that wouldn’t be so bad. Fighting bad guys, saving the day, keeping ponies safe; I could get behind that.”

“Perfect!” Twilight clapped her hooves together, “Then Rainbow Dash will be Security Minister, and that takes care of everypony. Spike, Starlight, I’ll meet with you two later to figure out who we can bring in for the last four positions.” They nodded in agreement.

“I was already looking into possibilities for all the posts, just in case, and I believe I have some good options for those last ones.” Starlight shuffled through her notes again.

“Great, I think that takes care of all our official business for today. Does anypony have anything else to add?” Twilight looked around at her friends. They all shook their heads, “Alright, then I’ll just leave you with this. We’ve saved Equestria a few times now. We’ve faced some unimaginable challenges, seen things and gone places we never could have dreamed of just a few years ago. But this, this will be our greatest trial yet; we must save Equestria from itself. I know I can count on all of you, and I know we can all count on each other. We will succeed.” The others nodded, their eyes filled with confidence and determination.

“Yer darn right we will!”

“Hell yeah!”

“I have nothing but confidence in us.”

“Woohoo! Responsible government party!”

“I’m just glad I can be there with you all.”

“Just think of it as a different kind of adventure!”

“Yay.”

“That is all.” Twilight smiled, “I know you have a lot to take care of before we can go, so get to it. We’ll leave next week, just before Princess Celestia set the transition to begin.” The new ministers dispersed back to their homes and families, to make their arrangements, leaving Twilight, Starlight, and Spike in the castle.

Author's Note

Edit 4/29/2021: Just some minor alterations while I procrastinate my real work, I swear I'm never happy with anything. Editing is Magic.

Edit 5/23/2021: Another editing run-through and some little fixes for things like Twilight briefly forgetting the existence of the Ministry of Education.

Edit 6/1/2021: I was rewatching S5E1 and realized the chairs in the map room have cushions, oops.