Everypony present had stopped eating to look incredulously at Emerald who merely looked at each of them in turn.

"King?!" Shining Armor yelled incredulously as he began coughing after choking on food in his mouth.

"Indeed." Emerald replied with a smile tugging at the corners of his muzzle at Shining's confusion. The room was silent again and Emerald took another bite of food. He looked up at the sound of a quill scribbling on parchment and saw Twilight scribbling frantically while looking up at him every so often. He looked around and saw that all eyes were on him and put his fork down and waited.
And waited...
And waited...

Emerald sighed and cleared his throat, "may I help any of you?" He asked his onlookers. He looked at Celestia for a moment as she looked to the other ponies and looked to Cadence and Shining Armor. Cadence opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Twilight.

"So are you a Bat-pony?" Twilight asked with fascination in her eyes. Emerald looked at Twilight and shook his head while smiling,

"No, young one, I am not." He replied while gauging her reaction to being called 'young one'. Her smile fell and she looked at him with a hint of anger and pointed at him.

"Don't call me young! I'm twenty four years old! Plus, I'm Princess Celestia's pupil." Twilight said with a huff. Emerald chuckled,

"Child, I foal-sat Celestia. Also, I thought females didn't want others to think they were old." Emerald said as he regained a neutral expression. Twilight's eyes widened with surprise before blushing and Rarity nodded.

"Very true darling, but, how old are you?!" Rarity asked. Emerald looked at rarity.

"I am forty four thousand, seven hundred and fifty two years old." Emerald replied. "Wait, that doesn't count my time of absence." Emerald said "how long was I gone for " he then asked Celestia. She smiled sadly,

"You were gone for ten thousand years, Emerald." Celestia replied. Emerald slouched back into the chair and looked vacantly at the ceiling with a drawn out combination of a sigh, a groan, and a hiss. He sat back up and looked at Celestia,

"So, what has happened while I have been absent?" He asked with a slight frown on his muzzle that betrayed the emotions he felt.

"We had to fight a few villains and save Equestria a few times, no biggie." Rainbow Dash said while looking at her hoof in a boasting manner.

"What happened to Ruby?" Emerald asked with concern, disregarding Rainbow's comment. various scenarios began running through his mind at the possibilities.

"She awoke a few hours after you disappeared and flew off with two Dracorn and two Dragosai guards and disappeared into what is the present day Ever free Forest." Celestia replied with a sympathetic frown. Emerald sighed in relief at the knowledge that Ruby was safe. Remembering the initial question, he turned to Twilight,

"I am a Dracorn." Emerald said.

It took Twilight a moment to remember what she had asked him and immediately jotted his answer down on the parchment.

"So, uh, what is the Draconian Empire?" Twilight asked, her fascination returning. Emerald's smile returned and he cleared his throat,

"The Draconian Empire was a massive city-state empire located south of here. Us Dracorns and Dragosai lived there for a few hundred thousand generations, constantly expanding the walls to create farms and buildings." Emerald replied while nostalgia hit him like a tsunami.

"I am sorry to cut this short, I believe that we royals aIl need to go to Canterlot for important business or to return home." Celestia said as she stood up, Cadence and Shining Armor doing the same.

Twilight and her friends also got up,

"And I'll be able to participate this time!" Twilight said with excitement, but Celestia shook her head.

"You will be able to go to the peace council next time Twilight." Twilight frowned before nodding in acceptance.

"Ah yes, the Peace council," Emerald said as he too stood up after taking one last bite of his meal, "This will be interesting after ten millennia of not participating in one." The group of royals and the five other elements then walked to the train station; accompanied by a squad of the Crystal Empire's guards When they got there though, Emerald stopped, his eyebrow raised. "Am I correct to assume that this is a means of transportation in this age?" Twilight giggled,

"It's a train!" Twilight beamed, "It's top speed is thirty miles per hour! And I promise it's perfectly safe." Twilight reassured. Emerald shrugged and got aboard with the others.

"NEXT STOP, CANTERLOT!" The conductor yelled from his place at the front of the train. Emerald watched out the window as the train began gaining speed. Applejack sat down next to Emerald.

"This must be really strange fer yall. Ain't it?" Applejack asked.

"Very much so, all though, it is exhilarating to see so many new things, so many new possibilities." Emerald replied without looking at her.

"By tha' way, I'm Applejack." She said, holding out her hoof. He looked at her hoof for a moment with a confused expression before bumping her hoof with his own.

"Well met?" He said while Applejack chuckled at his confusion. Applejack then frowned at the memory from when he lied about the stench Rarity had pointed out earlier.

"Tell meh the truth. What was tha' smell earlier?" Applejack asked, pleading for a truthful answer. Emerald was silent for a moment before he turned to look at Applejack.

"After I was done battling Sombra, I incinerated his corpse." Emerald said with the most emotionless stare she had ever seen. She paled significantly and audibly gulped. Emerald turned to look out the window and saw a city in the distance. "Celestia, is that Canterlot?" Emerald asked while pointing to the mountainside city. Celestia nodded and Emerald's gaze fell back upon the marble city. "You didn't spend too much on that did you?" Emerald asked with a smirk. Celestia groaned,

"Yes, I know Luna and I both owe you eight thousand bits each.That's the only reason we slightly hoped you didn't return." The mane six plus the two rulers' eyes widened, not catching what she mumbled.

"WHAT!!!!!!" They yelled simultaneously. Emerald chuckled quietly and looked at them. He had ; in fact; heard what she had mumbled, and didn't really take offense to it.

"You see, Celestia and Luna both said that they would never become rulers of a country and I said that they would, so we bet that if I won, they would have to pay me eight thousand bits each. If they won, then I would pay them eight thousand bits each, and I won!" Emerald said cheekily. Before the ponies could reply, the doors opened,

"CANTERLOT!!!" The conductor hollered at the trains occupants as the group got off of the train, Emerald being beside the three older rulers in the front while Twilight strayed closer to her friends.

"Twilight, I really don't trust that pony, he seems very suspicious to me." Rarity said, the rest of the group nodding their heads in agreement to this statement. They then turned their attention to the path they were heading on to the castle. In the front, Emerald was taking the stare of the nobles and merchants as the group walked the streets. Eventually, the group reached the entrance to the castle and were greeted by guards on either side of the doors. They saluted the princesses and Prince as they passed while wearily eying Emerald. The group reached the throne room and the elements of harmony, minus Twilight, were dismissed to their quarters for sleep while Luna joined them to go to the dining hall to wait for the other rulers to arrive.

The first ruler arrived around ten minutes later, the Zebrican cheiftess Koros, the others arrived shortly after. The Griphon Duke Ironbeak, The Diamond Dog king Mosaic. The Minotour ambassador Iron Will. The Changeling King Thorax, and the Dragon Lord Ember. Everyone sat down and the doors closed. Smiling, Emerald sat up straighter. With such a diverse group, things were bound to get interesting.

Author's Note

Here it is, tell me if there are any errors in this chapter!