//------------------------------//
// Diamond 
// Story: Empress Dragon 
// by Mystic Sunrise 
//------------------------------//

As the girls struggled to get themselves back on their feet, a thought came to Twilight. "Was it this bad for all of you when you first did this?"

Diamond rolled her eyes. "Oh no. We were way worse than this." She nodded toward's Cosmos, who was having no better luck than the others in getting their shared body upright again. "I think we had it worse though."

Twilight was confused by this as she gestured at the struggling dragon. "How could you guys be worse than this?"

Ivy rolled her eyes. "Cosmos still was not fully into her new form at the time. We did not know it then, but it takes time for her powers to fully come into their own. Even less so in this form."

Ocean tapped her chin. "And since it was her first time with her full powers in this universe, she did not have all her memories of before coming here. At least the ones that would help her and us with this. I think she said something about it being a safety lock on herself."

Moon's ears fell. "She told us a story once. About another her and another group of Exarchs. Ones we have never met. Something went very wrong when they were in their Empress Dragon form for the first time."

Twilight gulped in fear. "What was it?"

Diamond shook her head. "We don't know. Whatever it was, it changed them. They completely lost themselves to that form. They still knew who they were and each other. But they totally and utterly refused to ever separate back into their normal forms ever again and ate anypony who suggested they do so."

Ivy nodded with a frown. "Imagine an Exarch. Now imagine one of us in our Dragon Forms all the time. Now imagine all six of us merged into one body, each of us with two breath weapons. Our dragons and ourselves."

Twilight could and did imagine that. Her eyes shrunk in horror at what that could mean. It was not a pretty picture. "What happened to them?"

Ocean sighed. "Equestria got a leader that combined the intellect of six ponies, one of them a goddess, and the strength and power of six dragons. One of whom is more than a match for the Dragon Lord. Equus got its leader. But not like she should have been."

Moon looked over at the girls, who were only now just slowly getting to their feet. "They were never despots or tyrants though. You think that Spike is bad when he's being a pain, though? Times that by six. Cosmos swore after that, that she would slow all of this down. So another group would not go through what they had."

Twilight's heart fell, as she looked back at the girls, who finally got to their feet. "I guess that makes sense. What about you girls then?"

Diamond chuckled. "Oh we were never that bad. We did not know any of this until much later of course. But I think we did pretty well. All things considered." She rolled her eyes as Twilight sat down, eager to hear the story from all of them. "It went something like this."





Diamond turned to look at Cosmos, as Amber struggled to get back to her feet. "Is it always like this?"

Cosmos nodded, brushing her blonde mane out of her eyes. "Yes. It is why I prefer to do this someplace out of the way. Much less chance that we hurt someone by accident. Or worse. We can take it. Others can't, and I will not risk that."

The girls shared a look. That did not sound fun at all. "So what do we do now? How do we know what we will look like?" Ivy asked.

Cosmos grinned, her tail (as blonde as her mane) wagging in excitement. "That's what makes this so fun! We don't know what kind of dragon we will get! It's boring if we knew ahead of time."

"Where do they come from though? She does not look like any dragon on Equus," Ocean asked, pointing at Amber's.

Cosmos nodded. "That is because she is not. None of our dragons come from Equus itself, but from someplace else. It is hard to explain it myself. Ask yours when you meet them."

Moon and Diamond shared a look, even as Amber began again to trot around the clearing, this time with much more confidence. "Are you always like this?" Moon asked.

Cosmos giggled. "Yes. Yes I am. So who wants to go next?"

Diamond rolled her eyes as she stretched. "I'll go. It does sound like fun. We can't let Amber have all the fun now can we?"

"I heard that!" Amber's voice shouted down to them with an annoyed snort.

Cosmos rolled her eyes, beckoning the others to give Diamond plenty of room, something they happily did. "Just follow what I told Amber, and the rest will fall into place."

Diamond wasn't so sure of that, but she had seen that the same had worked for Amber, so maybe it would work for her? Closing her eyes, she concentrated. For a moment, nothing happened, and then Diamond felt it. Someone had answered her call.

A moment later, her whole body rocked back and forth as her dragon latched onto her. She felt her whole body begin to grow in size and power. A moment later, her transformation ended with a jolt, sending her head rocking back and forth. "Ow," Diamond groaned.

Cosmos chuckled as she flew up to her eye level, her blue eyes taking in the sight before her. "Well. This is a nice surprise. I have not seen a Brass Dragon in a long time. For me or an Exarch."

Opening her eyes, Diamond saw at once that Cosmos had a point. Her dragon was brass in color. As her dragon's eyes opened, they changed to the same lavender color as Diamond's own. There was love in that look, one that the mare was happy to return, even if a lot of this did not make much sense. She had a question though. "How many kinds of dragons are there?"

Cosmos sighed, as she landed on her snout. "Ten. Dragons are divided into two familes." She nodded toward Amber. "Amber's dragon is part of the Chromatic Dragon family. Which includes Black, Blue, Green, Red, and White, dragons." She tapped Diamond's snout. "You though, Diamond, have joined with one of the Metallic Dragon family. They have Brass, Bronze, Copper, Gold, and Silver, dragons."

"Which ones have you been?" And how did I get a boy? Aren't they all girls?" Diamond asked, settling herself back as much as she could.

Cosmos tapped her chin. "Four. Two from each family. I do not have any control of what kind of dragon I will get, however. Nor for each of you. It is more fun that way I feel. And there is a very small chance that an Exarch or I will bond with a boy dragon. Most are indeed girls. But there is nothing preventing a boy joining with you."

Diamond snorted, a spurt of flame coming out of her nose. She blinked in surprise as she did, but it felt natural all the same.

Cosmos giggled. "And you breath fire. Be careful where you aim it though. We do not need anyone hurt. Unless they totally deserve it of course. Then you can roast them all you want. More so if they are really bad."

Diamond and her dragon rolled their eyes. They could not argue with that. "So do I just do what Amber is doing?" She asked.

Cosmos nodded as she lifted off her snout. "Just follow what I told her, and it will come to you. Your unicorn magic has also recieved a huge boost in power. So please be careful if you use magic anytime soon. You are still not used to it."

Diamond gulped, as her dragon gave her a worried look. She had not even thought about what this might do to her magic. But now that she thought about it, she could feel how much more powerful her magic had become. Her magic had never been strong before this. Oh sure, she had never been a slouch either. But she would hardly call herself the best magic user around.

Now though? Diamond had never thought this much magic was possible. It was almost too much to believe. But there it was.

For the moment though, she pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated on just walking. The rest could wait for later. Closing her eyes, Diamond willed herself to walk. After a moment, she felt her body begin to move. In a moment, she felt like she was still a pony and wa walking as she normally did.

She giggled as she opened her eyes and looked around. Her dragon's head turned with her. Strange. But like all of this, it still felt natural. Maybe she would get used to it in time?

Having seen the trouble Amber had in that first few moments, Diamond took her time and watched where she was going. She didn't hear any indignent squawks from the rest of the girls, and she didn't feel anything go squish underneath her feet, so she must have been doing something right.

Amber just gave her the stink eye. "Showoff," she grumbled. She was allowed to be a little jealous, wasn't she?

Diamond just stuck her tongue out at her, earning a round of giggles from the rest of the girls, as Cosmos landed beside them, unable to not giggle as well.