Random Equestrian government department

Just a little something I thought up earlier...

The Department of Aerial Settlements is, like the Weather Office, one of the more notable bodies established as part of the forced breakup of the excessively-powerful Ministry of the Skies in the mid-Celestian era. It's remit is the oversight of the functional and safety aspects of all cloud cities, towns and villages in Equestria, as well as the "designated peaks" (a handful of mountains and pillars settled or used by pegasi and considered more part of the sky than the land). While it does also have a nominal authority over skyburbs and standalone cloud homes, it rarely involves itself with them directly nowadays, although it's role in setting nationwide minimum standards for cloud construction means it's still quite relevant to them.

Technically, like nearly all government departments, the DAS's "main office" is in Canterlot. In truth, though, said office is in fact a small annex staffed by half a dozen minor functionaries and mostly ignored even by the Deputy appointed by the Department Chief to fill the body's seat in the Chamber of Officers. The Chief themselves and the main headquarters are of course found in Cloudsdale, while their records are archived on one of the older, now mostly abandoned designated peaks. Windsoar and Las Pegasus hold branch offices, and most cloud towns at least have a DAS pony or two working out of the town hall.

Naturally, the Department's employees are overwhelmingly pegasi, but one does see occasional exceptions, whether it's a unicorn secretary in the Canterlot office or a griffin manager in a Vanhoover cloud town.