The Friendship Court had ended for the week, and Princess Twilight Sparkle was bored out of her mind. Some days she wondered why she had ever thought this was a good idea.

Court had been the same as it usually was. Small problems that were easily solved and left both parties in a better mood than when it had started. Usually followed by a trip to Sugarcube Corner to celebrate.

Not that Twilight didn't mind of course. It was her role as Princess of Friendship, after all, to help ponies solve their friendship problems. But it was still tedious hearing the same things over and over again. It was enough to drive anypony mad.

How Celestia, Luna, and Cadance didn't feel the same was beyond her. At least Cadance had Flurry Heart there on hoof to help her. As much as a teenage alicorn ever could help anyway. Who knew natural-born alicorns aged so slowly? If Celestia and Luna had, they had not told anypony this bit of news.

"So what am I? Chop celery? I thought I was more than that to you, Twily."

Twilight smiled at the new voice. The effect of it coming from the back of her head had long ago worn off freaking her out every time she heard it. Even though she still found strange somedays.

Just as well too. The two of them shared everything after all, and it was not fair to Lumena to keep freaking out every time she said something. As Twilight had more than once over the years. Usually after having forgotten that she was there at all.

Lumena, though, had a way of making everything sound better. No matter what it might be, or how bad it got. Maybe even better than Pinkie Pie once had. It was one of the reasons she and Twilight got along so well.

On top of them literally sharing everything below their heads. An effect that still freaked out someponies the first time they saw the pair, though most of Ponyville had long ago grown used to the two of them and the bond that they shared. Equestria was slower, but they too had mostly grown used to the sight.

"Easy for you to say. All you have to do is sit through government meetings. For which I am eternally grateful I might add," Twilight grumbled as she turned to a mirror that sat next to her throne. It was one of the easier ways for her and Lumena to see each other.

Lumena could have easily been mistaken for a much older version of Princess Twilight herself. The fact that Twilight's head seemingly grew out the back of the other mare's head only added to the idea. Though who was actually growing out the back of who's head was anypony's guess.

Lumena giggled. "You are welcome. Speaking of which, I have several today."

Twilight sighed in annoyance. "Oh, right. Do you want to switch now, or wait until we arrive in Canterlot?"

Lumena shook her head, sending Twilight's mane all over the place. "No, we can wait. Unless you want to do it now?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I would rather do it now if it's all the same to you. I am beat today. The court was more tedious than usual today for some reason. Or maybe it's just Friday. And I hate Fridays. Even more, than I do Mondays."

Lumena's smile dropped. "You know that you are more than welcome to join in, you know? Celestia wishes you would stay awake and participate. You have every right to. Just as much as any of us. She misses you."

Twilight's ears fell, as did her gaze. "I know, and I miss her too. But this was our agreement. I will handle things in Ponyville and with the Friendship Court, while you handle anything in Canterlot. It's worked for both of us so far." She smirked. "Besides, I know you will wake me up if I really need to be there. Let us not change that now."

Lumena sighed as she closed her eyes, as did Twilight. One of these days, she would get Twilight to see the sense in this. "Fine, fine. See you later tonight then."

Twilight's smile grew as she and Lumena began to glow before their heads switched places so that Lumena's was now in the driver's seat of their body.

Lumena blinked several times as she readjusted to being the dominant goddess in her and Twilight's body. It never got easier for them. Even after a century and a half of doing this. Maybe one day it would not feel so weird for the two of them. They could hope so anyway.

Lumena did. For Twilight's sake more than her own. She had always tried to make her transition into the driver's seat of their body as seamless as possible. And Lumena hated herself for the fact that she could not. No matter what she tried. She owed so much to Twilight. She did not want that debt to forever be unpaid. That was wrong.

While Twilight had never said anything. It had never become comfortable for her to become a passenger in her own body, where she had little control over what happened. And she had never been a fan of the idea that Lumena owed her a debt of any kind. It was one of the few things that they vehemently disagreed on, and more than likely always would.

Not that it bothered either Twilight or Lumena all that much. They got along great on just about everything else. Something like this was hardly something to tear the two of them apart over. Something that both Cadance and Flurry Heart had told them both many times.

Lumena stood from her throne, stretching her great wings as she did so. Her train would leave soon, so she had a few minutes to get ready. Spike was off visiting the Dragon Lands this week, so she would be going to Canterlot alone. While he hadn't said why he was visiting, Twilight had a good guess that it had something to do with a girl. Lumena hadn't been able to hold back her giggles at the thought when she'd first heard it.

Teleporting to her and Twilight's room, Lumena grabbed her saddlebags, careful not to wake the sleeping Twilight as she set them around her haunches. She already knew that she had everything she needed, and the last things were her train tickets. One for her, and one for Twilight. No matter what they looked like, or what someponies argued, the two of them always traveled individually. It was only right after all. They shared a body. But they were still their own separate ponies.

The thought made Lumena remember all that had happened to her since the day she and Twilight had come together. It had been a crazy ride for the both of them, to say the least. Not least of which was Twilight learning to live with sharing everything about her body with another. But that other was incredibly old by most standards, even though Lumena did not look like it.

Old enough, it seemed, to have watched more than one universe grow into life, before dying. Lumena didn't remember much of her life before she merged with Twilight, but she remembered enough. Some of which she saw when she met with Celestia and Luna, and to a lesser extent with Cadance and Flurry Heart came to visit.

Never often enough. Either for Twilight or Lumena.

Author's Note

An old idea of mind from 2019 on my DeviantArt account. Back when writing on that site still made sense. Thought it was time to bring it here. So here we are. There are changes from the original story. Cover art was done as a Commission by Not Quite Equine during November. Way better than what I had in my head.

This does ignore everything from Season 8 and Season 9. So no School of Friendship and everything that came with it, and Twilight does not rule Equestria. Not that it couldn't happen in the future. But not yet. Movie is also canon.