Rise Of the Dragon Queen

by Mystic Sunrise

Five Heads? Not Always Better than One

Pumpkin stifled a yawn, as she looked around the clearing the group had come to. "Is there any reason you dragged us out of bed so early, Pearl? The sun's barely up yet."

Pearl grinned unrepentantly, fluffing her wings in excitement. "I think it's we test out what Tiamat can really do! We haven't done anything since the wedding. I'm getting bored just sitting around all day."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Because we haven't needed to. I'm all for knowing more about what we can do. But couldn't we have done this in the afternoon?"

Lavender gave a knowing look. "Says the mare who stays up all night reading?"

Twilight gave her a flat look. "Touché." She sighed. "And I would be lying if I didn't say I wasn't curious and had a ton of questions." She pointed at Pearl. "Like. Can any of us be the central head? Or is it always Pearl?"

Pearl rolled her eyes. She rather liked being Tiamat's central head. And their body was red. Didn't that answer the question by default? But a part of her was curious as to if any of the others could take her place.

River tapped her chin. "And there is something else. Are we running the risk of completely losing ourselves? If we become Tiamat more and more often? I haven't felt anything like it since we got back from Canterlot. But it's been bugging me."

The girls shared a concerned look. It was something that they had all been thinking of, in fact. None of them felt anything that would suggest that could happen. But the thought remained.

Pearl tapped her chest. "I can feel everything she is within me. Her power, her strength, and her wisdom. But I've never felt like she was trying to overwrite me. That I'd be subsumed into her conscious."

Twilight nodded. "I've felt the same. Her soul is our soul. This isn't reincarnation. We are not Tiamat reborn into five different bodies. I'm not sure what this is, or why we were chosen to be Tiamat."

Pumpkin gave her a look. "Do you think we'll ever know for sure?"

Twilight shrugged. "I don't know. But just knowing somethings about what we can do would be nice. It's been driving me nuts since the Changeling Invasion."

Lavender gave the area around Canterlot the stink eye. "Do you think we got the whole hive? There was a lot of them."

Pearl shook her head. "Doubt it. If Chrysalis was as smart as she liked to think she was, there were still changelings left behind at the Hive. Plus their newborns and whoever looked after them. I doubt Cheeselegs was that stupid."

Pearl was rather proud of herself for that, as the girls giggled. She had been spending time with Fluttershy recently. And while the shy Pegasus wasn't fully happy about what Tiamat had done, she still understood why she had done so.

Pumpkin stretched her legs. "So. Should we get started then? Ponies are going to start wondering where we ran off too if we stay out here long enough. I get enough weird looks as it is."

The girls nodded. Having no real idea of how to do it, they took up spots next to each other based on where their heads were when they were Tiamat, and let their minds reach out to each other. Soon their bodies began to glow and merge together into a familiar large form and shape.

Within a few moments, Tiamat had taken shape once more, as the glow around her body vanished. Opening her eyes and looking around, she was surprised by two things right off the bat.

One was that she was still five minds, all sharing the same body. The girls had not Mind Melded into their Hive Mind, which was their most powerful form. Strange. But it still felt right like this.

The other shock was, as Twilight and Pearl turned to look at each other, was that Twilight's Black head and Pearl's Red head, had switched places. Now the Black head was Tiamat's central head, while the Red head had moved over one spot. The rest of the girls were still where they normally were.

Twilight rolled her eyes, careful where she pointed her horns. "Well. I guess that answers that question," she hissed. "This feels weird."

Pearl gave her a look. "How do you think I feel? Maybe this is normal. But this is still weird for me," she grumbled. "How did we even do that? I didn't think of it, and you didn't, Twilight."

"Does it really matter?" Pumpkin asked, glaring at the two with a frigid look. "Can we focus on what we came out here to do? I'd rather not listen to you two argue all day."

Twilight and Pearl rolled their eyes. "Point taken," Twilight mumbled. "So now what do we do? We didn't spend enough time like this last time. We were just one mind for most of it."

Lavender lowered her head so that she and Twilight were eye to eye. "You tell us? You're the central head now. I get the feeling that you have more control of our body than normally."

The girls nodded. Twilight blinked as she looked down at their body. It did feel like she had more control over Tiamat than she normally did. Normally, she could only move her head and to a limited extent, their right-left, and right rear legs. "I don't know, girls. It does feel like I have more control than usual. But I'm still worried."

Pearl and Pumpkin nuzzled her, their looks softening. "Come on, Twilight. You've got this. We believe in you," Pearl whispered. "We wouldn't all be here if we didn't. You brought us together. We believed you when nopony else did in Canterlot." She grinned. "So come on! Take us for a test drive!"

Lavender nodded, as she and River joined the cuddle pile. "Besides. The worst we can do is have a good laugh at how clumsy we are, later. And really. Who's going to critique us?" She asked with a knowing smile.

Twilight blushed, as the girls giggled and pulled back. "Fine, fine. But if this doesn't work, I'm blaming all of you," she grumbled. But her smirk said how she really felt about all of this.

Closing her eyes, Twilight concentrated on just walking for now. Flying could wait for later. Assuming this even worked at all. Her other heads followed suit. After a moment, they all felt Tiamat take a tentative step forward, all four legs moving together naturally. Soon, Twilight was able to walk around the clearing like she had been doing it her entire life.

For the others, it was a strange feeling. They could all feel their body moving, and to some extent, they were able to move it with Twilight. But Twilight was mostly in control.

After a while exploring the nearby forest, Twilight had grown used to being to handle Tiamat like she was, and even the rest of her friends had begun to relax, their worries mostly put to rest.

Unfortunately. Maybe they had relaxed a bit too much.

Comfortable with her ability to walk now, Twilight wasn't really paying attention to where she was going and tripped over a massive fallen tree that was blocking her path, sending her falling toward the ground.

She tried to arrest her fall. But the girls all had different ideas of how to stop falling flat on their faces. And when five minds all have different ideas of how to stop their body from falling over...

Twilight squawked as she finally lost her grip and gravity took over. Her massive bulk crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom, sending every animal and bird for miles, running for cover. Pearl's, Pumpkin's, River's, and Lavender's, heads, all became entangled in the mess. None of the girls were able to pull themselves out easily.

"This is so embarrassing," River grumbled, as she pulled her head out from under a wing. "Nice going, Twilight."

Twilight just gave her a dirty look, as she tried to push Pearl's head off of her own.

---

It took longer than any of the girls cared to admit, but they were finally able to untangle their heads from each other and turn their body into a sitting position. Easier said than done with their size.

"Let's hope we don't do that every time we're Tiamat," Lavender said with a huff.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I said I was sorry, okay?! I didn't see that damn tree. And I didn't hear you girls say anything about where I should be walking."

The girls hung back slightly. None knew why. But a feeling of subservience to Tiamat's central head filled them. None of them, of course, were subservient to anyone. Let alone one of their own. But the feeling remained.

For Twilight, she could feel almost the same. But for her, the feeling was that the others bowed to her in this form, and when she was the central head. She would never, ever, say that aloud of course. She loved the girls too much. They were supposed to be a team.

None of them were more important than the others. And so, Twilight crushed the feeling with contempt. But she knew it was still there, deep down inside her. She wondered if Pearl felt the same when she was the central head?

Pearl, in fact, did know what that felt like. It wasn't something she liked to think about.

Twilight's look softened. "Come on, guys. We're a team, remember? And I admit that I really should've been looking where I was going. But that's why we came out here, isn't it? To get to know more about ourselves in this form? About Tiamat?"

Pearl giggled, as she nuzzled under Twilight's head. "Point. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying that. Or not being the central head."

The others giggled, as they joined in the hug. "Yeah. This is too much fun. Sure you made a bubu, Twilight. But any of us could have done the same thing," Pumpkin added. "Don't forget. You brought us all together that night. Not just in Canterlot. But in Ponyville as well."

River and Lavender nodded. "Speaking of Ponyville, though. The whole town probably heard that. How are we going to explain that to Mayor Mare?" River asked.

Lavender snorted. "Why do we have to explain anything to her? Ponyville knows who we are now." She gave Twilight a knowing look. "You're a national hero three times over, Twilight."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I know, Lavender. Ponies tell me that every day. No matter how much I tell them I'm no more important than any of my friends." She smiled at all of them. "That includes you, girls."

The girls blushed. An impressive feat considering their hard scales. "So what do we tell them, then?" Pearl asked.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "That we just tripped. It's not that big of a deal." She sighed. "I can already hear Rainbow and Pinkie laughing at us for not watching where we're going." She grinned at her friends. "So. Are we going to sit here all day? Or pick up where we left off?"

The girls nodded, Pearl giving her a pointed look, as they stood back up. Twilight took the hint and continued down the path they had been following before all of that mess.

As they continued, growing more and more comfortable as Tiamat with each step they took, Twilight, Pearl, Pumpkin, River, and Lavender, all shared a similar thought.

They still didn't know much about what their new form meant, or what it meant to be Tiamat. Nor did they have any true idea of what the future might bring for any of them. But they knew one thing for sure. In their hearts, and in Tiamat's heart.

They looked forward to whatever the future might hold.

---

In Golden Oaks Library, a letter materialized in a burst of Dragon Flame Mail, dropping onto Twilight's writing desk as it did so. It bore Princess Celestia's personal seal. A small portion of what was written was visible near the top.

'My dearest Twilight. You must come to Canterlot at once.'

Author's Note:

So, yes. I did switch Twilight's Black head with Pearl's Red head. I've seen some artwork of Tiamat from Wizards of The Coast where Tiamat's heads are in a different order. This is where this came from.

The debacle at the end there is to show that, while the girls are really coordinated as Tiamat. They've still not worked out all of the bugs and how they work while in that form. Especially when they're five minds. Not one.

Comments

[Samurai_Arashi]

Pearl shook her head. "Doubt it. If Chrysalis was as smart as she liked to think she was, there were still changelings left behind at the Hive. Plus their newborns and whoever looked after them. I doubt Cheeselegs was that stupid."

Ha! Cheeselegs! I like using that on Chrysalis

[Sigmacipher]

Pearl shook her head. "Doubt it. If Chrysalis was as smart as she liked to think she was, there were still changelings left behind at the Hive. Plus their newborns and whoever looked after them. I doubt Cheeselegs was that stupid."

Yeah no, as much as Chrysalis thinks she was, she was by no means smart, I mean the only reason she got as far as she did was because the ponies are just as dumb as she was.

[DocFlareon]

Lose the ponies, be the Dragon Mother Queen (and goddess) forevermore. The Five and One of you will be happier and more fulfilled that way.

[dragonus85]

What little I know if tiamat is that she can change the color of the 5 heads at will. And all that really does is the types of dragon breath she has access to at any one time. Admittedly I don't know much. But a massive 5 headed dragon tripping over a log is funny.