Of all the things Shining Armor and Cadence had been on the lookout for while traveling to the Crystal Empire, a fully operational customs station was not one of them. King Sombra, yes, windigoes, definitely possible, but signs of a functional government were completely out of left field for the Royal Couple. After putting down "diplomacy" as their intentions, they were taken to meet the "Head of Provisional Government". This turned out to be everyone's favorite character in this story, if everyone's favorite character in this story is Karkat. Mine is probably Kate or Spike, but I'm the Narrator, so don't mind me.
After introductions and some joyful pointing out of his nice suit, Karkat exposited on what was going down. After the Royal Wedding, he had headed up north to where he knew from his timeline (Equestria-811) the Crystal Empire was to be ready for its reappearance, which he knew the timing of since he had personally witnessed the event while dealing with his King Sombra. Karkat proceeded to dispose of this timeline's (Equestria-616) Sombra. The Crystal Ponies, being grateful for the deposition of a much-hated tyrant, had proclaimed Karkat to be in charge of the place. Not really wanting to mess things up on a national level yet again, the man had agreed to the post only until the Crystal Ponies had formed their own government, which he had to help with due to no Crystal Pony knowing much of anything about government. Currently, Karkat was working to make a system something like that of the American government, because it was what he knew best, while looking for international recognition of the Crystal Republic, as it was now called.
Being fairly out of their depth at this point (and possibly slightly impaired in judgement from the toils of travel and/or the high number of reflective surfaces in the ramshackle conference room), the Royal Couple decided to consult with Princess Celestia on the issue. Two weeks later, Equestria officially recognized the independence of the Crystal Republic. Celestia had enough trouble running the territory she already had, and delegating looked more and more unattractive. She would hold off on creating more Alicorns for a while. Karkat, as it happened, was elected President of the Crystal Republic for a total of two four-year terms and stepped down after his 2nd term to give the masses actual involvement in their government. He was well-regarded by history for not ruining a fledgling nation and giving it the opportunity to develop itself. The Crystal Republic eventually became a leader in architecture and electricity-based technology. Turns out Crystal Ponies are piezoelectric. Who knew?