(Emerald's POV)

I awoke with a heavy groan as I shifted in discomfort. I felt the fluffy cushion underneath me; not quite registering what it was due to my hazy mind and slow thought process. The creator-forsaken sun is shining right into my eyes. With another groan, I used what strength my exhausted body had left to roll over so my eyes were no longer in the light and gave a content sigh.

My ear flicked as the door opened. I cracked an eye open to see an earth pony mare with a peach colored coat and brown mane and tail wearing a maids outfit walk into the room. A unicorn stallion with a dark brown coat and a green mane and tail wearing a white jacket followed the mare into the room with a clipboard.

"Mmm uh ulp' you?" I rasped, my sentence muffled by the pillow that covered my muzzle. The stallions eyes widened for a second before he smiled,

"Ahh, I'm glad to see you're awake." He said, "are you feeling well?" I groaned before lifting my head enough to be heard clearly,

"Yes, but may I have a glass of water." I asked, my voice low and grating from the lack of use. The mare nodded with a small smile before turning and walking out the door.

"Would it be alright if I used a scanning spell to check you for any damage?" The stallion asked. I nodded before resting my head back onto the EXTREMELY comfortable pillow. I heard the sound of magic activating and felt a wave of energy pass over me. I managed to open both of my eyes fully and watched as he eyes closed and hummed in thought. "Well, there seems to not be any fractures in your bones and no signs of broken or strained ligaments." He said before another wave passed over me.

"What was that?" I asked after shifting my head so my voice was not muffled by the pillow.

"That was a spell that views the target's magic levels," he frowned, "all the magic levels are balanced like an Alicorn's is, except a spot right beneath your chin that has a higher level than anywhere else in your body." He raised a brow, "is that normal?" I nod.

"Yes, it's a trigger most Dracorn have that allows them to change from." I reply. He looks at me skeptically,

"Really, into what?" I grin, showing off my white fanged teeth.

"A True Dragon." I reply. He opens his mouth again but is cut off by the maid entering the room with a glass of water. She handed it to me and I thanked her.

"I was told to tell you that the princesses will be here soon to check on your condition." She said. I nodded as she left the room.

"Since I am in good condition, may I leave?" I asked the stallion. He nodded,

"I just need to get the sign out sheet and you'll be free to leave."

'I guess I'll be out before they can get here.' I thought. The stallion left the room and I relaxed be for turning my head to look out the window. I estimated that it was about noon one-ish and relished the feeling of the bed one last time before attempting to sit up. It didn't work... I tried rolling backwards a little bit before throwing myself foreword. That also didn't work... I then used my tail to grab the side of the bed and throw my hind legs off the edge. While it worked, I accidentally used too much energy into the swing, and I flopped onto the floor.

Groaning once again, I stood up slowly; sounding out a series of sickening cracks that resounded throughout the room. I exhaled deeply and ruffled my wings. The stallion walked back into the room; carrying the clipboard and a pen this time. Using his magic, he levitated both items over to me which I took with my wing claws. I looked at the document on the clipboard, and filled it out.

Name: Emerald Dragonheart
Age: 54,752 years
Sex: male
Race: Dracorn
Estimated height: 20 hooves
Estimated weight: 189 lbs
Oddities: "Form Trigger"
Reason for monitoring: Unconsciousness by exhaustion

I looked the form over one last time before I handed it to the stallion. He took it
"Thank you very much, you are free to go." He said before leaving the room. I too walked toward the door and left the room. I had not in a guest room that I had asked Celestia to put me I; but had been in a hospital room, and was now in the medical ward within the castle. I shook my head with a sigh before walking out of the medical ward, and into the labrynth of a castle.

(Celestia POV)
The Noble thanked me for my time before walking out of the room. The great doors at the end of the hall closed, yet I could practically hear the nobles huff of frustrated arrogance that I refused his request.
He asked for my blessing to take down several orphanages and replace them with taverns and bars for the nobility. I moaned in exhaustion and rubbed my eyes with my hooves. All of the nobles that came to the daycourt must have conspired amongst themselves as all of them proposed the same thing.
"No doubt, they will come back during the night court and try to coax Luna into agreeing." I thought with disdain and sympathy toward my sister. The doors opened and one of the guards posted outside of the door came in and said,
"Your highness, there is no more business left for the day court." I gave a genuine smile at this and sighed in relief.
"Thank you, you are dismissed for the day." I told him before he nodded and left. I stood up from my throne and exited the room from one of the side doors. 'the garden sounds like a serene place to be right now.'
I walked the halls for a few minutes, knowing the way by heart. There were times when the day would get too stressful and the garden would be just right to calm me down and allow me to relax. I came to a four-way intersection and turned right to go straight to the garden.

(Emerald POV)
I had been wandering the halls in a frustrated state for what seemed like hours to me; but was probably only a few minutes. I looked up from the tile floor to see Celestia turn a corner in front of me, and was now facing the same direction as myself. I saw her open the door the hall led to and walk into what I assumed to be a garden from the brief glance I had before the door closed. I grinned before walking down the hall and following her outside and into an expansive garden. It had lots of different types of flowers and trees that blocked my ability to see Celestia.
Bounding along the ground for a few paces, I lept up into the trees, and began leaping from Branch to Branch at a fast pace before seeing Celestia through the leaves. I slowed my pace as to not make any sounds that would alert her to my presence.
She eventually stopped and lay down, leaning her body against the tree as a content smile adorned her face. I lept into the tree she leaned on and looked at my forehooves as claws made of my name sprouted from my hooves; my back hooves doing the same. I slowly and carefully leaned down from directly above her, and grabbed onto The side of the tree with my forehooves, followed by my back hooves. I wrapped my tail around a tree branch higher up, then silently began to crawl down the side of the tree.
I climbed down far enough so that my head was level with her and leaned in so that our muzzles was inches apart.
"Boo!" I yelled. She simply opened her eyes and her smile became a smirk of victory.
"I knew you were there." Celestia said. I pouted as she continued to give me a smug grin. I have a huff before doing a backflip and one hundred and eighty degree turn; landing in front of her. I gained an expression of curiosity as I rased an eyebrow,
"Where are the other rulers?" I asked.'I haven't seen a single one of them since last night.'
"They returned to their respective lands." She replied, "though they wanted my sister and I to pass along their gratitude, depending on which one of us is awake at the time." I nodded. Turning around, I walked over to a tree opposite of Celestia and sat down facing her. We sat there for a few minutes with our eyes closed; simply enjoying the nature around us.
A slight vibration in my skull made my eyes snap open as I whipped my head to look toward the general direction the southern horizon was. Celestia opened her eyes due to my sudden movement. She opened her mouth to ask me what was wrong and I cut her off by raising a hoof. And waited...
We didn't wait long as soon enough, a small wisp of green magical fire flew down and in front of Celestia before becoming a rolled up scroll.

(Celestia POV)
I looked at the scroll that had appeared in front of me. It was from Twilight. I opened it.
"What does it say?" Emerald asked. I cleared my throat before reading,

"Dear Princess Celestia, as you know, the Great Dragon Migration is occurring tomorrow and I was wanting to inform you that two dragons flew into Ponyville and invited Spike to join them.
I am a little hesitant to let him go after what happened last time he went. What do you think I should do? Your fellow princess and ex pupil, Twilight Sparkle."

I finished reading. I summoned a quill and piece of blank parchment and began to think.
"I could go with him." Emerald said; interrupting my thoughts, "to watch over him. It would also give me more knowledge of modern day..." He trailed off; looking for a word.
"Workings of society?" I asked him. He nodded.
"Yeah, that..." I giggled and he gave me an unamused look. "I woke up not even two hours ago. My mind is still waking up." I just smiled before looking up at the sky.
"Even us multi-millennia old beings can be just like normal beings sometimes." I said. He also smiled before looking up at the sky as well.
"Indeed Celestia. Indeed." He had a somber expression on his face for a moment before he put on his mask of content neutrality. His may have been better practiced than mine, but I could see that he wasn't reveling his true emotions. "Well..." He said before standing up, "I'm going to get a meal, I haven't eaten yet." He began walking toward the castle doors, but stopped before turning back to look at me. "Don't forget about that letter." He joked, I looked down to see the parchment and quill still in my magical grasp. He continued walking and entered the castle halls. I rolled my eyes and began to write my response to Twilight.

(Third POV)
Twilight sat at the table with Spike as he ate a hole of gems and she read a history book. She was looking for one topic in particular... The Draconian Empire. She had been searching for the past four hours and still couldn't find a single trace of it, nor its inhabitants. She sighed in near defeat before a flash of golden light appeared in front of her face; temporarily blinding her and making both herself, and spike fall out of their chairs. She hesitantly looked up from her place on the floor to see the end of a scroll sticking out over the edge of the table. She stood up and shook myself off before taking the letter and opening it. Spike had gotten up and was looking at Twilight expectantly.
"Well?" He asked. She took a breath of air,

"Dear princess Twilight, I can understand your hesitation knowing what happened last time. It is still up to you to make that choice, but know that King Emerald Dragonheart has volunteered to accompany Spike should Spike be ok with that. If so, please tell me what time Emerald will need to be there so that I can inform him. Your friend, Celestia."

Twilight finished. Spike looked confused,
"Who's Emerald Dragonheart? And I didn't think Equestria had a king." Spike said. Twilight shook her head,
"He's the king of a lost empire, almost like the Crystal Empire," Twilight replied, "but not only has it been gone for longer and still hasn't returned, it's occupants are a pony sub-race that isn't in any known documentation of any kind." Spike raised a brow at this, but didn't interrupt her, "Emerald is a sub-race known as a Dracorn, which is like a combination of an alicorn, and a dragon." Spike thought about it for a moment but eventually decided.
"Sure!" He said with a smile before going back to finish his bowl of gems. Twilight also smiled before going upstairs to get parchment and a quill to write a letter back to Celestia.

Meanwhile, in Canterlot...
(Emerald's POV)
I walked through the halls of the Canterlot castle once more. I had just finished a filling meal in the dining hall and simply set out to roam. I eventually came across a door that had heavy reinforcement enchantments practically slathered all over it. I also sensed a sound dampening spell that only allowed me to hear a few whispers of what lay beyond. I walked up to the door and knocked. After a few minutes of waiting, I was getting impatient. I knocked again; harder this time... no one came to the door. I tried to open the door, but found that it was locked. A maid walked by and I asked her what was in the room I failed to enter.
"It's the training room for the royal guard." She said. I thanked her and she continued on her way. I looked back to the door and frowned. I raised my hoof and concentrated on flowing my magic into my hoof. My hoof began to glow green with the color of my magic and I then reached out...
And touched the door...

Ponyville
(Third POV)
Pinkie Pie was baking in the kitchen with Mr. Cake when she suddenly got an itchy muzzle. She felt a sneeze coming.
"Ah... Ah... AHHH... FUS RO DA!!!" she sneezed; startling Mr. Cake so much that he jumped into the air in fright.
"Pinkie, you almost have me a heart attack." Mr. Cake scolded her. Pinkie smiled apologetically,
"Sorry, it was called for." Mr. Cake just shrugged before going back to work.

Canterlot
The doors were blasted off their hinges and flung across the room; scattering the guard and disrupting their session of training. Emerald stepped inside and looked around. Seeing the guards recovering, he took the broken doors in his magic and levitated them over to the door frame; picking up fragments of the door along the way. He activated a transmutation spell and the doors became reattached to the door frame, albeit the door was now open. The guards unsheathed their real weapons and got into stances; thinking that Emerald was an intruder. Emerald shrugged.
"I tried knocking." He said, "none of you opened the door." The guards faltered a little bit before sheathing their weapons and picking up the practice ones that littered the ground. With an order from the captain, the guards resumed their training. Emerald watched them for a few hours before walking to the other side of the room where a table was. On it was multiple rolls of parchment, ink wells and quills, drill routines, and notes on the individual guards in the squadron.
Emerald took a roll of parchment, and dipped a quill in the ink well before writing a routine for one on one combat, and prototypes for new weapons. He put the used parchment on an empty area on the table and put the quills and ink wells in their respective areas before leaving the room; closing the doors behind himself.

Celestia was making her way to the dining hall for dinner when she bumped into Emerald.
"Ah, there you are." She said, "I was about to ask for somepony to find you." Emerald raised a brow before looking outside a nearby window. It was soon to be night.
"Huh, I watched the guard for longer than I thought." He mumbled before looking to Celestia. "Alright then, onward!" He said with a grin. They then made their way to the dining hall where Luna already sat, looking like she hadn't gotten a good sleep. Her expression brightened when Celestia and Emerald entered the room.
"Good night sister of ours and Emerald." Luna said with an exhausted cheer. The pair sat down next to and across from Luna. Emerald gave a concerned look to Luna,
"Are you ok Luna, you look exhausted." He asked. She nodded with a small smile before sipping on a warm coffee. A waiter arrived and asked them what drinks they wanted to order. He had an accent that Emerald could not identify.
"I will have a glass of warm milk she said before whipping her head to look at Emerald with an embarrassed blush. He sported a large grin on his face and leaned toward Celestia,
"Still drinking warm milk before bed Tia?" He asked with no little amount of mirth in his voice.
"Y-yes," she said; looking away before mumbling, "it calms me down and helps me sleep..." he laughed,
"You know I'm just teasing you," he said before his grin faded into a smile as he turned his attention to the waiter, "I will have a glass of Red Eclipse if you a have it." The waiter grinned,
"We just got a new shipment in from the Cinder Oaks Winery." He said before walking back into the kitchen. A few minutes later, they got their drinks and ordered their food.
"Uugh. Night-court is going to be a drag tonight." Luna groaned, "I can just feel it." Celestia looked apologetically at her but said nothing. The groups food came and they told each other tales of their day, with the exception of Luna who told tales of the dreams other ponies have had. Eventually, Celestia and Luna stood up and began to make their way toward a set of double doors at one side of the room. Emerald followed them out the doors and onto a balcony where they stood side by side before activating their magic at the same time. Slowly but surely, the moon and sun began to rise and fall respectively as night blanketed the land of Equestria.
Emerald smiled warmly and clapped while leaning against the doorway. Luna bid them good night and made her way toward the night-court.
"Twilight said that Spike would be ok that you accompanied him to the Dragon Lands. You'll need to be in Ponyville by Eleven tomorrow morning. Also, you can sleep in the western V.I.P rooms." Celestia said before going to her room. Emerald was halfway to the guest wing before he stopped, his mind telling him that something was not right. He sighed before closing his eyes and allowing his senses and subconscious to lead him through the halls of the Canterlot castle...
And directly toward the room Luna was holding the night-court in...

Author's Note

I do not own any references I may use unless I say that they are mine.
Please enjoy and tell me if any mistakes are present.