To say half the girls were confused was an understatement. Emerald, Celestial, Orchid, and Water Lilly could only look at the two massive dragons with filly heads growing out of them in shock.
Diamond, Ivy, Ocean Breeze, and Moon Petal though looked slightly put out by it all. "You just couldn't wait to show them off could you?" Moon Petal asked.
Amber shrugged her whole body. "Nope. It's not like you guys weren't waiting for us to try this out either. I just beat everypony to the punch."
Cosmos rolled her eyes as she landed before the girls. "And I really couldn't argue with that." She said as she looked around. "Where's Twilight?"
Emerald smiled. "On her way. We didn't want to risk it and bring her with us our way. I don't even know if she can."
Cosmos nodded. "If she knows what's about to happen and prepares she can. But that can wait for now. She might be interested in this."
"All of it though?" Diamond asked. "This is quite a bit to take in for someone new. Look at how Megan, Danny, and Molly took it."
"How did they?" Celestial asked.
Ocean rolled her eyes. "Once they figured out it was us, they took it rather well. I'm glad Megan didn't still have the Rainbow of Light though when they did."
"The what?" Orchid asked.
"Think along the lines of the Elements of Harmony. Same idea, but only one person ever used it." Cosmos explained.
"So what happened to it?" Lilly asked.
She shrugged. "I took it back into myself. It was a part of my own power Megan used at Midnight Castle. She asked me the same thing once, and I told her the same."
"How did she take that?" Twilight asked as she came up to the group, out of breath and her mane going in every which direction possible.
Cosmos chuckled. "Rather well, all things considered." She looked Twilight up and down. "What happened to you?"
Twilight poked the ground with a hoof with an embarrassed look on her face. "Got in a fight with a tree and lost," she mumbled, but not quietly enough as everyone burst out laughing. Even Blaze and Blister couldn't help but laugh.
Cosmos got her own under control after a moment. "Well now that we're all here, we can get this party started right."
Twilight's brow rose. "What party? And why are we all... out... here?" She finally noticed the two dragons behind Cosmos. "... Meep." Was all she could stutter after that.
Cosmos rolled her eyes. "Don't worry they're friendly." She looked up at them. "Come on down here you two, I want everyone to hear this."
Twilight took several steps back as the two lowered their heads down to their level. Her brain came to a screeching halt as she saw Crystal and Amber's heads coming out of their foreheads, both of them smiling. "What?"
Ivy chuckled. "Don't worry, this is normal for us. I mean besides having different colors and breath weapons." She looked at Blaze with a smirk. "Or in Crystal's case a boy dragon."
"That'll make things fun." Moon Petal said with a devious smirk. Crystal just stuck her tongue out at all of them.
Cosmos smiled. "Now now you two. Time for a lesson." She gestured at Blaze and Blister. Yes, this is something we can all do. Like Ivy said though, we don't all look the same when we do this."
She gestured at her first Exarchs. "Five of you already know what it's like that very first time. But I'll explain it again. We do not take any dragon that exists on Equus when we do this. They all come from a special place."
She gave Amber a hard look, one Amber couldn't hold for long as she bowed her head. "There is a reason we don't do this very often." She tapped her own head. "If by some chance someone is able to get to your pony head while in this form and is able to draw blood, you will go berserk."
She shook her head. "It's called Blood Frenzy. You lose all sense of yourself and attack anything you can, killing anything that moves."
Diamond sniffed. "It's happened before. Only one thing stopped it."
Twilight was afraid to ask, but she couldn't help herself. "What was it?"
Cosmos bowed her head. "Me. Only one thing will snap you out of the Frenzy. I have to put myself in the line of fire, and it will only work then if there's a chance you can come back to yourself."
"And if not?" Celestial asked.
Cosmos sniffed, memories she had long suppressed coming back. "Then I will put the lives of everyone else before what I want or wish, and I will put you down. My power is the only thing that can kill an Exarch. Everything else is just an annoyance."
Ocean sniffed. "It's happened once before, where one of us went on a rampage." She looked at Amber, whose own eyes were filled with tears. "Amber stopped before it got that far, but the damage was done."
Amber nodded. "I went into exile for, I don't know how long, but I couldn't bear to be around anyone after that. I didn't want to face the girls. I didn't want to face my empress. I didn't deserve to be an Exarch after that, but they eventually found me and brought me home."
Cosmos nodded. "It worked out only because I made us all swear to never use that form again unless there was no other choice. Some of my advisors wanted something more severe as a punishment, but in the end, that was all. Plus two full centuries of nothing but community service for Amber."
Everyone shared a look. "And now we can all do this?" Orchid asked.
Cosmos nodded. "Yes. Aside from that one bad thing, it's actually really fun to do. And then there is a form we can all share together." She clapped her hooves excitedly. "I'm not sure how we'll all fit, but we will."
Crystal nodded. "I'm loving this. Come on guys, don't leave me hanging here."
That seemed to lighten the mood a bit. "So then, how do we do it?" Lilly asked.
Cosmos smiled broadly. "It's easy really. But let's do this one at a time." She looked between them. "So, who wants to go first?"
Celestial wasn't sure why she did it, but she didn't regret it. "I'll do it." She smiled. "What do I do?"
Cosmos smirked as she stepped back and gestured for everyony else to as well. "Just concentrate on a feeling of change, and it will do the rest." She chuckled. "And watch out for the bump at the end."
Celestial wasn't sure what that meant, but she did as she was told and closed her eyes, focusing on a feeling of change. For a moment nothing happened, and she worried that she was doing this wrong.
And then she felt something big latch onto her, before beginning to merge its form with hers. Even with that, she felt her own body begin to grow rapidly. She faintly heard Twilight's shocked gasp before it ended.
Even with a warning, the lurch that sent her head rocking back and forth was a surprise. "Ow. That hurt." She mumbled as she heard someone new chuckle below her.
Cosmos snickered from the ground. "I told you to watch out for that bump at the end. You can look now Celestial. Your new friend wants to meet you."
Celestial nodded as she opened her eyes, and couldn't help but let out a happy squeal of her own as she got a look at her own dragon body, or as much as she could see from up here.
Like Crystal and Amber, her pony head emerged right above the eyes. Her own body was a silver color and off the bat, Celestial could tell hers was female.
It was a bit of a surprise when her dragon opened her own eyes and watch them shift to a green color like her own as she looked up at her. Or maybe this was normal.
What stood out for her though, as she looked around, as easily as when she was still a pony, was how much bigger she was compared to Crystal. Amber was still larger, but Celestial chalked that up to her age.
Celestial watched as Cosmos flew up to her eyes level and scratched her chin. "Okay, I have an idea what your breath weapon is. Silver usually means cold-based attacks, on top of your natural weapons."
"What about my horn?" Celestial asked as she looked up at it. Her unicorn horn hadn't changed shape, but she could now feel much more power behind it.
Cosmos nodded. "It still works as you know it too. That won't change. Just like how Amber is usually the better flyer of us being a Pegasus."
Twilight wished she had brought a notebook for all of this. This was far more than she thought she'd get when she had come out here, but something stood out as she pointed at Celestial. "You said cold. Celestial doesn't look like any silver dragon I've read about, except for color."
Cosmos smiled. "Their attacks are based on the ones you know. They're just adopted for an Equestrian style dragon now."
Twilight scratched her chin. "How does that even work?"
Cosmos shrugged. "I have no idea. It's just how it's always been for us." She looked at the remaining girls now. "To make this easier, we'll all assume our Dragon Form, and then I'll explain the rest of what this all means."
The girls shared a look. To four of them, this was normal and it would feel awesome to let their own out after so long without doing this at all.
But for the other four, this was a big step, so nopony said anything for a few moments. But in a silent way, it was said between the first four that the new girls would go first.
They couldn't wait to see what they looked like.
Celestial winced as Orchid and Lilly once again nearly tripped over their own four feet. It hurt to watch them like this. But what could do? She was still getting used to the new feeling of being like this. Not that it was unpleasant or anything. Far from it in fact.
It was still odd though, being in the driver's seat, so to speak, of a dragon. Even if she had been so grateful so far since the change. What had surprised her the most though was her age. Their body was young by dragon standards if Celestial remembered right.
Her dragon's mind though was another story. She was old. Old even by dragon standards. If Celestial was guessing right, she might be as old as Amber's. In mind if not the body.
"I have a name dear. Just don't call me she please."
Celestial blinked. That was new. Where did that come from? And why did it sound so close? Like it was in her head?
"Well, I am in your head. Kind of. Just like your in mine. I think. Oh, this gets confusing so fast."
Celestial blinked as she looked down. Her dragon was giving her a kind smile. It finally clicked whose voice that was.
"That's you?" She thought back. "How are we even doing this?"
Her dragon's smile grew. "We can all do this. None of us know or why we can. But we do. It's a good way to keep some things to ourselves."
Celestial thought about it. It made sense in a way. She looked at Crystal and Amber. "Do the others know about all this?"
"Amber I'm sure does. As well as Diamond, Ivy, Ocean Breeze, and Moon Petal. Crystal will if Blaze ever works up the courage to tell her," her dragon replied.
Celestial's brows came together. "How do you know his name?"
"Smell. We can talk via smell. It's something I believe all dragons can do. Much easier than talking sometimes."
Celestial processed this for a moment. Odd yes, but what did she know about dragons? "So what's your name then?"
Her dragon smiled as she looked up at her. "My name is Nimbus. At least that's what it is in Equestrian. It's a bit more complicated in Draconic."
It was a beautiful name Celestial admitted. And it fit her so well too. She wasn't sure why, but it just did for sure.
Nimbus blushed at the praise. She wasn't sure where her name came from. For as long as she could remember it had been hers. And it always would be. Her draconic name didn't really translate well into Equestrian. It was probably the same with Blaze and Blister.
Nimbus couldn't be sure for she didn't ask either of them. It wasn't her place too. If they did share it, then she'd accept it.