As Emerald seemed to be alright for the moment, Twilight turned to Cosmos, a rather devious look in her eyes. "Well?" She asked, trying hard not to smirk. But it wasn't working.
Cosmos blinked. "Well, what?"
Twilight gestured to the girls before them, her smirk growing wider. "Why not try yourself. You said you didn't know what would happen when you tried your own out. Why not join the club?"
Cosmos gave her a flat look, while Twilight just smiled. She had been different ever since they had returned from the Human World and their heart-felt talk with the human Crystal. But Cosmos would be lying if she said she was not curious at all at what would happen when tried out her own Dragon Form. It had been so long since she had done so. It wouldn't be hard of course.
But therein lay a problem. Her dragon had departed to join with her old form when she had first left this universe. And Cosmos had no idea of if she would return now that she had also returned. And if she did, what that would mean for her Exarchs? This was uncharted waters for all of them, and there was every chance something could go wrong, and that Equestria would pay the price. How they would pay the price if something went wrong now.
It had happened before. While she and that particular set of Exarchs had settled well into their own Dragon Forms and eventually their Empress Dragon Form, something had gone wrong during it. There had been no rampage, thankfully, but their minds had been altered by their time in those forms. Not for the better in any case, for all of them in the end. That had been one of her darker personas. More draconic than a pony in many ways. She wasn not sure how that had happened.
They all had been. One of the girls had even been made Dragon Lord in that universe. For the better, as it turned out, for when the time came for Cosmos to take over the ruling of that universe, it had no gone over well with some. Not with the Nobility as it turned out, like here.
But from a threat, Cosmos had never seen coming, nor had Equestria as it had turned out. But that was a universe she tried not to think about so much. It wasn't one she was particularly proud of, though from what she had heard when she visited her Exarchs in their afterlife, nopony had ever said anything against them when they had heard of it.
Cosmos didn't think the same would happen here, of course, she hoped, but the danger remained. Especially considering now that she had twice the usual number of Exarchs. That would make their Empress Dragon Form interesting, to say the least.
Twilight could see that Cosmos was thinking about something and held her tongue for the moment. But her question would not leave her alone, and so she kept up her look at the older mare.
Finally, Cosmos sighed and smiled. "Oh, alright. I am curious to see where this goes for me. I have not done this in so long, and I have no idea of what mine could even be like now. My old dragon left when I first did."
Everyone stepped back farther than usual now as Cosmos spread her wings. "Is that a bad thing?" Ivy asked.
Cosmos shook her head as she began to glow. "We are about to find out."
The group watched as she began to grow, taking on a draconic shape, just like the others. Nothing seemed to be any different from the girls already in this form, even if Cosmos seemed to be getting bigger than even Amber and Blister, who shared a surprising look between them.
After a moment the glow faded from Cosmos' new form, and every jaw dropped in shock at what they now saw had become of her. Not that she now looked like the others, or that her dragon was a Gold one or even its size. No, those they could make sense of. If only with great difficulty. It was what was in the dragon's chest that shocked them all. Even her first Exarchs were as shocked as the others. The Element of Magic now sat fused into the dragon's chest, perfectly aligned and sized for the dragon herself. It did not appear to be painful or discomforting to the dragoness in question it seemed, but the girls could be wrong.
Cosmos opened her eyes and looked around and felt her own surprise rise. Her dragon was new, something she had expected might happen in this case, and she could feel the Element of Magic fused into their chest. Unexpected, but she could get used to the feeling. Especially seeing as it did not hurt her dragon at all.
No, what really shocked her was herself in fact. Her head still sat where the others did in their own forms, but now? She no longer looked like the regal mare she had become since her rebirth. No. In fact, Cosmos now looked like she once had while she was still Twilight Sparkle. Something that she had never thought possible, let alone could happen. The Cosmic Crown had also vanished from her head, though she could still feel it.
Her dragon, Dazzle, looked up at her with a smile, one that Cosmos was happy to return. No matter what may have changed with her, she still felt the same love for her new dragon as she once had for her old one. She flexed her wings, testing to make sure she still knew how to do this, and began to take small steps around the now crowded clearing. Cosmos soon had herself walking like this was an everyday walk in the park for her.
She looked around at the other girls. While she was used to being bigger than them when in her normal form, it was something else when she was in her Dragon Form. But it was to be expected as well. It came with what she was.
For Dazzle, this was something else altogether. Something that she had never dreamed of. Even in her wildest dreams, she had never expected to be in this position, and she was honored beyond belief.
Growing up with her friends, nothing had ever marked her out as one that would one day be like this. It was the same for each and every dragon chosen for this honor. None had known they would be elevated above the rest.
Despite that though, Dazzle did not hold herself above those around her. She would not, nor could she. Even if she had wanted to, her own nature made sure she would remain humble and not hold it over the others.
The Element of Magic fused into her like it was, was also something she had not expected. Then again, no dragon who took up this role was ever the same twice if the rumors were true, and Dazzle had to give some credence to them, now that she was in the spot.
As her eyes fell over Blaze, Blister, Nimbus, Onyx, and Shimmer, and finally Rime, though, each and every one of them bowed their head in deference to her. Only Amber though knew what was coming and had braced herself for the sudden shift.
The girls all shared a confused look between them at the sudden movement that they had no control over. It was a one-time loss of control in this form though unless something happened that put their own lives at risk.
Cosmos watched as the girls' dragons all bowed to her own. It was something she had never grown used to seeing. She never lorded it over her Exarchs of course, but their dragons always bowed and deferred to her own every time they first met.
Dazzle, as her own dragon was called, was all that her first had once been, aside from their different colors of course. As the two of them shared a loving look, Cosmos was happy with how this had turned out in the end.
She closed her eyes and whispered in the wind. "Thank you, for everything Cinder. I will see you again. I hope you and Dazzle will become closer when that time comes."
From a great distance, Cosmos heard her first dragon respond, sending her one last pulse along their connection, reaffirming her love through their bond, one last time, before the connection went cold.
Cosmos let her tears fall at that, as the last personal connection she held to her first life was lost for all time. Even then though, she smiled, for she knew that the day would come when she would see Cinder again.
Until that day though, she would cherish and love Dazzle as much as she once had Cinder. To do otherwise was an insult to her memory, and Cosmos would never do that to Cinder. Nor to any dragon she might have joined with.
From a place beyond space and time, Cinder watched as Cosmos settled into her new Dragon Form with a smile. One tinged with sadness. She would be lying if she said she did not miss what the two of them had once had and shared.
But there was no doing them over again. Those days were long gone now, and nothing would or could bring them back. And if Cinder was being honest with herself, she was glad of that. Her time with Cosmos had been the best time of her life. Not even the before time, when she had just been another dragon waiting for the right time, could compare to the time she spent with Her.
It was a feeling all the dragons who had gone before her shared. Every color of dragon lived here, and Cinder had gotten to know most of them since she had arrived. All had similar stories to her own. It was something that bound them all together, in a bond that went beyond family or friends, but one that went deeper. One they could never really explain.