//------------------------------//
// Orchid and Water Lilly 
// Story: Empress Dragon 
// by Mystic Sunrise 
//------------------------------//

As Celestial settled into her new form, Orchid and Lilly shared a look. Something seemed to pass between them at that moment, and they both nodded before moving closer together.

Cosmos seemed to have seen it as well for she gave them a knowing look. "Do you girls want to try next?"

Lilly nodded. "Sure. I mean, how hard can it be?"

Orchid smiled. "Besides, it does look like fun. And we do not want to be left out of it. Is it the same way you told Celestial?"

Cosmos nodded. "Just let the feeling flow through you, and the rest will happen on its own," she said, as she and everypony else took several steps back, just to be safe.

Closing their eyes, Orchid and Lilly concentrated. For a time, nothing seemed to happen, and they wondered if they were doing something wrong. And then, it happened. To them both at the same time.

Twilight watched in shock and awe as the changes began for both of them. "Um. Is that supposed to happen to them?"

Cosmos shook her head as she too watched as their forms began to change. In more ways than she had expected. "I do not know. I have never had two sisters become Exarchs together. So, this is new for me as well."

Twilight gave her a worried look. "Should we be worried though? Do Orchid and Lilly even know what's going on to them?"

Cosmos shook her head. "No. They will not feel the full change until it is fully done. I am not sure how they will take this though."

It was a feeling that Blaze, Blister, and Nimbus shared as well, as they shared a confused look among the three of them. Even to them, this was not something they had ever expected.

And as the changes progressed, the three of them felt Orchid's and Lilly's dragons arrive on the scene and latch onto their respective Exarch. The power around the two seemed to grow as they did so.

After a time, the glow around the two faded to reveal their new forms, and the shock for all went through the roof at what they all saw at that moment.

Orchid and Lilly opened their eyes. Orchid opened to see a Black Dragon snout before her. She let out a happy squeak as she felt her dragon look up at her. She felt the love that passed between them at that moment.

Lilly too opened her eyes. She saw a Copper Dragon snout before her, as well as the love that passed between her and her dragon as the two of them looked at each other. But when she and Orchid turned to look at each other, they were surprised at what they saw.

The two of them had been fused together, the necks of their dragons ending on a body that was evenly split between black and copper colors. Their dragons were as confused as they were it seemed, for the two of them also shared a confused look.

Despite the weirdness of the situation, none of them felt uncomfortable in their new bodies. In fact, it felt right all around. Maybe this was normal? Or what was even normal for them anymore? It was hard to tell.

***

For Onyx and Shimmer, this was weird on a level they had never expected. As far as they knew, this was the first time this had ever happened to any Exarch's dragon. Let alone two of them.

It was only weirder since they had not known each other before now. But that was not much of a surprise. Very rarely did it ever happen that one dragon would know another in any particular group.

Not only that but to Shimmer's surprise, Onyx was much younger than she was. She did not look it, but she just barely older than Blaze himself was. Her body though was that of an adult.

Well, her half of their body was an adult at least. And despite the oddness of what was going on, both Shimmer and Onyx were comfortable in their now shared body. They gave each other a smile, even as Cosmos flew up to Orchid's and Lilly's eye level.

***

Cosmos gave the two before her a thorough look. "Okay. This was not expected. Like, at all. But we can still work with it."

Lilly gave her a look. "You mean, this never happened before?"

Cosmos shook her head. "No. Then again, I have never had sisters be Exarchs together before either. Maybe that has something to do with it? I am not sure yet."

Orchid gave her a look as well. "So now what do we do?"

Cosmos smiled. "Well. I say the two of you need to figure out how to do literally everything together now. Walking is just like how you do so as a pony. Just, watch where you are going."

Lilly and Orchid shared a look. "How are we supposed to do that?" Lilly asked.

Cosmos shook her head as she gave them some distance. "You will have to figure that out on your own. We will not be able to help you as much as we might have been able to."

Orchid and Lilly could not help but gulp at the thought, but they decided to give it a try, nonetheless. Closing their eyes, the concentrated on just walking for the moment. For a moment, nothing happened.

But then, Orchid felt Lilly take a step. It felt like her own foot, but she had no control over it. A second later, she felt her feet move as well.

Lilly felt Orchid's feet move as well, even as she felt her own two move. At that moment, something passed between her and her sister, and within a few moments, all four of their legs were moving. Coordinating all four to walk together wasn't as easy as it looked to the others.

Twilight could see that all four of them were not having the best time of it. Even with as little as she knew of this situation, she could not see how something could go wrong before it went right. And in the end, she was right.

"OW!" Orchid yelped, as Onyx winced, as Lilly's feet stepped on their tail.

Lilly for her part winced as well, as did Shimmer. "Sorry! I didn't know it was there. How the hay did I feel that too?"

Orchid gave her a flat look. "Don't look at me."

Of course, at that moment, with neither of them paying attention to where their feet were going, their front legs tripped over each other, and Lilly and Orchid fell to the ground with a resounding thud.

"Ow," they both moaned from underneath their dragon heads. "That wasn't very graceful."

Cosmos sighed as she landed next to them. "This could take a while."