Starlight Glimmer poured over her paperwork, pen floating through the air. As Principal of Twilight's School of Friendship, she had a lot of very important papers to ponder. But this stack of essays was especially exacerbating. Applebloom, the typical teacher of the History of Equestria class, had been called off on a super secret friendship mission with her fellow friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Starlight Glimmer, being the overachiever that she was, had agreed to cover all of the crusader's classes.

She was midway through a monotonous essay on The Incredible Effects of Alliteration (a title far more fascinating than the essay itself) when Sunburst burst into the room. He was positively panting, his magic elevating a peculiar poster. "Starlight!" he said, through heavy heaves, "There's been an announcement! There's going to be gubernatorial election!"

Starlight raised an eyebrow. "A governor? Doesn't Ponyville already have a Mayor?"

Sunburst wiped some sweat from his brow. "It's a declaration from the Canterlot Castle!" He placed the poster on top of her stack of essays. "The territories have grown too large and too populated recently. There are over a hundred cities and towns, each with their own mayor - or mayor-ish position of power. It's too many creatures for any collective decision making. So they're electing governors to manage a dozen districts or so. The Mayors represent the townsfolk, the Governors represent the Mayors, and then Canterlot represents the Governors."

Starlight read over the poster, which had a map of Equestria and some of the surrounding lands. Each new section - called a "state" - was outlined with a thick border. Ponyville was the center of a state called Ponyton, which contained the Ghastly Gorge, the Rambling Rock Ridge, the Everfree Forest, and White Tail Woods, as well as some of the surrounding cities.

"Why are you bringing this to me?" Starlight asked.

"You should run!" Sunburst said, smiling.

Starlight blanced. "Oohhh no, I can't possibly run for Governor of Pony... Ponyton? Oh, we're definitely going to have to change that name."

"You could change the name if you were the pony in power," Sunburst smirked.

Starlight sighed, and lifted the poster off her papers. "I'm already far too busy being Principal of the School of Friendship! Look at all these essays!"

There was a sudden pop, and a plume of smoke, which cleared to reveal The Great and Powerful Trixie - Starlight's other best friend. Trixie coughed, waving away the smoke, and then spoke in her squeaky screechy voice. "Did somebody say... Power? Ooooh, a poster!" Trixie took it from Starlight's magical grasp. "Governor of Ponyton? What's a Ponyton?"

Sunburst reiterated the declaration to Trixie, who ooohed and ahhhed. At the end, she turned to Starlight. "You should do it! You would be fantastic! And you could rename Ponyton. No offense, that name has GOT to go. It sounds like somepony just made it up on the spot!"

"No!" said Starlight, although she agreed about the name of the new state. She gave up on her grading of grating essays. "No politics, no power, no Ponyton! I am principal, I have far too many responsibilities and not nearly enough abilities to run for Governor."

"I could be Principal!" said Sunburst and Trixie in unison. They awkwardly smiled at one-another, barely containing the sudden competitive energy that sprung to life between them.

"I'm too busy!" Starlight reiterated.

Trixie leaned in. "Come on, you've been complaining lately that this job has become boring. Besides, if you want to follow in Twilight's footsteps, becoming a leader of a larger land is your next step!" Trixie knew exactly how to get under Starlight's skin.

Starlight frowned and tapped her chin. "I suppose I have been Principal for nearly ten years now. Perhaps it is time for me to move on to something greater." She couldn't lie, the prospect was promising. She did used to run a whole town, after all. Granted, her strategy at the time had been... bad. But she was a changed pony! She had learned so much from everypony about friendship. And deep down inside, underneath all of her insecurities, she still had a little leader in the back of her brain, pining for power.

"But how will I campagin when I have a school to run?"

Trixie and Sunburst exchanged a glance, smiled, and exclaimed in unison, "Leave it to us!"

---

Over the next few months, gubernatorial campaigns sprung up in all corners of Equestria. Campaigns were run left and right. Some creatures were strong and genuine. Others were wily weasels, bringing out blackmail and burying their opponents with outrageous claims. Mayor Mare - who was also running for Governor of Ponyton - was a lot of things. Kind, intelligent, and a good leader. One thing she was NOT was a weasel. This trait was challenged two weeks before the election, when a stack of photos and documents was set on her desk. She sifted through them to find none other than her opponent - Starlight Glimmer - in front of a line of tense ponies. All of those ponies bore the same cutie mark - a black Equal sign.

"What is this?" asked the Mayor.

Her assistant's face turned red and looked at the floor. "Evidence, Madame Mayor."

"Evidence...?"

"Against Starlight Glimmer," the assistant added. "Many moons ago, she ran a town in the North with an iron hoof. She- well, she stole everyone's cutie marks."

Mayor Mare went pale. "She.... she what?"

The assistant pointed to a particular page. "Here is witness testimony from a traumatized townsfolk. They have concerns that her campaign is a secret attempt at bringing all of Ponyton under her fascist rule. What if she's going to steal everyone's cutie marks again? What if she's out for power?"

The Mayor shook her head. "That's impossible. She's the principal of Twilight Sparkle's school! THE Twilight Sparkle! There's no way Twilight would let such a pony have power in her own school if she didn't trust her." But doubt was already creeping into her mind. What if her assistant was right? What if Starlight was secretly sneaking around directly under Twilight's nose, looking for a way back into power?

No, this couldn't be. The Mayor refused to take such easy bait. "Take a letter to Princess Twilight, please," the Mayor said. The assistant nodded and used her unicorn magic to pick up a paper and pen. The Mayor dictated:

Dear Princess Twilight,

I'm sure you're aware of Starlight Glimmer's recent run for the seat of Governor of Ponyton. My assistant has brought to me some important information from Starlight's past. I would like to discuss these documents with you face-to-face.

Your friend.
Mayor Mare

The assistant rolled up the letter, sealed it with the stamp of Ponyville, and brought it to the mayor's personal postal pegasus pony. The pegasus packed the paper and peeled off for Canterlot. Within an hour, Princess Twilight had appeared in the mayor's office.

"Thank you for your discretion, Madame Mayor," Twilight said. She trotted over to the desk. "What are these?" she asked, sifting through the documents. "How did you get these photos?"

"Did you know about this?" Mayor Mare inquired.

The purple princess sighed and sat down. "Yes, I did," she admitted. "My friends and I are the ones who freed the town from her wrath. And then I..." She hesitated, but knew that honesty was the best option. "I... sort of battled Starlight through multiple timelines... but she's reformed!"

Mayor Mare raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? I don't want to bring up anyone's past in a weasely way, but I want to ensure that the citizens of Ponyton are protected from peril."

Twilight looked into the Mayor's eyes, and through this eye contact, communicated an unspoken certainty. "I am absolutely sure. Starlight Glimmer has been completely reformed. And while you are also a wonderful leader and would do fantastic as the Governor of Ponyton, I assure you that should my student Starlight win, Ponyton will not fall to the same fate as this Town did so long ago."

The Mayor was reassured. "Consider my lips sealed on the matter, then."

But the mayor's assistant, who eavesdropped on the other side of the door, was not.

---

The day of the election was here, and Starlight hid in her room. The recent allegations against her - leaked from an anyonymous source that Mayor Mare had denied any involvement with - were all true. She wasn't just going to lose the election, she was going to lose all of her friends.

Trixie burst into the room. "Starlight! Come quick!"

"Noooo," Starlight sobbed. "I don't want to face them. They're right - I am a horrible pony. I should've never run for Governor."

"No, Starlight! You won!"

Starlight shot up in her bed, and in her excitement, she teleported the few feet to Trixie's side. "I won?? But how??"

---

Ponyton politics experts wondered the same. For the next few weeks, they polled as many ponies and creatures as they could. The resounding response changed their understanding of politics for ages. "What about the allegations?" they'd asked. "What about Starlight's past? Do you really think she's reformed, as Princess Twilight said?"

Most of the ponies had no idea what the experts were asking. Many of them were shocked to hear the news, but most of them shrugged. The response from the vast majority can be summarized as this:
"Oh, I don't follow all that. I just thought Governor Glimmer had a better ring to it."