Anything Twilight said was cut off by a book being clumsily thrown at her face.
"Guys, wait, if we just take a second to assess the situation we can figure this out," Twilight said in a worried tone. She did not mean to have this happen; she just was going to show Cadence a few of the spells that she was fixing, and when it came to the last spell, she mistakenly cast the spell without double-checking it.
"How did this happen?" Cadence asked though it was Spike's mind inside her body. One hypothesis she was more than sure that was true was they did not retain their own voices when the switch was made, which could lead to some confusion and doubt if it was really something that happened. "I hope you know how to fix this, Twi."
"I s-second that." Spike said back, barely able to stand on 'his' two feet and his legs shaking along with Cadence doing the same before resigning to just sitting down awkwardly. ''What magic did you mess with that you probably had no business meddling in?''
Twilight clicked her tongue and turned her head to the desk where she had her spells. The true fact of the matter was more of . . .well, she didn't know. The spells that she was given were more along the lines of harmless, and plus she figured that she would have a lesser window for error than the one that was just made. ''It seems that the spell to enable the user to hear the thoughts of others ended up switching both of your minds into each other's bodies; but why?''
''Well, did you end up casting the spell at one of us, with the hope that we could be able to read the other's mind while I was asleep?'' Spike asked, just sitting down as he attempted to gain his bearings in being an Alicorn. ''Did anything like that register in your mind when you did that?''
That particular thought did not cross the mind, or at least it did not right away. Twilight's thought process to the entire spell was to see the likelihood to hear the thoughts of another pony that the spell was directed at, though it seemed to attach itself to Spike and Cadence. ''I don't think so, but at any rate; it doesn't seem to show a way to reverse the spell. . .'' Twilight said, catching the pair's attention.
''W-What do you mean? You have to fix this, Twilight. I can't be a dragon. I have an empire to attend to; a husband and a little girl! How can I explain this to them when they see me?!'' Cadence groaned, on her feet and claws like a pony, though it only felt slightly more strange this way as opposed to being a pony. There was less of a straining point when she extended and retracted, so that was a plus. Then she suddenly realized her tone of voice at her disapproval of being a dragon. ''No offense, Spike.''
''None took, ''Spike said, agreeing with his sister in law. This was something was sure to not last long, if the pair had to endure this. It felt weird enough being taller than what he was used to, but also for him to have a horn and a pair of wings only added to his discomfort. But strangely, there was a small part of him that felt some enhanced sense of peace and frustration at the same time, almost as if both were canceling the other out. ''But I agree with Cadence; how soon do you think you could have a reversal spell ready?''
That was something that Twilight did not want to tell the pair. She could already see the gears turning in her head about what it would take to fix this. And she knew neither of them would like to hear it. Curse her thirst for knowledge!
Chuckling a tad, Twilight faced the pair. ''Well, that is dependent on what I can get in time to fix it. I'll need to consult my tomes to see what ingredients I'll need to fix this. That, and I may need to consult Zecora as well.''
''And about how long do you figure that will take?'' Spike asked.
''I don't know, 2, maybe 3.'' Twilight said, beginning to look in a few of the spellbooks that she had, her mind wandering away from their question.
''2 or 3? What, hours, days, weeks?!'' Cadence asked with a trace of fear in her voice.
''Months, at best if Zecora and I can't make heads or tails of it, and that isn't to say it'll work even if we do find something.''
. . .
''What, was it something I said?'' Twilight wondered when the pair looked at her with the widest of eyes before looking at each other and Twilight promptly met with another book to the face.
''What do you mean? Can't we just consult Princess Celestia and Luna on this? Shouldn't they know what to do in this situation?'' Cadence attempted to walk as Spike normally did, with some difficulty without falling over. ''The Royal Archive should have all you need to find out what to do in this situation, you know,'' Twilight clicked her tongue before going back to her books, though with a noticeable slower sense of urgency.
''Is she doing this to us, right now?'' Spike asked, moving over to the dragon with exaggerated movements. The more he tried to walk, the more he found it to not be as difficult as he thought, just he would have to keep track of where his hoofs were going so he wouldn't trip over himself.
''It looks like it. I mean, I can't be you, and you can't be me, no offense but I don't the Crystal Ponies will take too nicely to their leader suddenly forgetting her duties and having a completely different voice; they'll know something is up.'' Cadence huffed, already thinking about the current situation and what could befall the pair in their respective lives if they were forced to deal with this for any period of time beyond his, or even worse; forever! Shining Armour would definitely know that something is wrong, and also Flurry Heart; granted she was not that old, but she would already have some time of bad feeling from the Alicorn not sounding like she was supposed to be.
''Preach to the choir on that one; I can't be you! I don't know the first thing about magic! I'm pretty sure I can't even fly with these wings!'' Spike said, attempting to unfurl his wings, but only succeeded in making them jot out and shake back and forth before he stomped around a bit in order to get them to stop and relax, catching the attention of Cadence looking at him strangely. ''Sorry.''
''When it comes to consulting the princesses, that already was thought of since Princess Celestia already took the time to look up what she could to try and she sent these scrolls to me in the hope that I could be the one to figure it out, so there's not much when it comes to that regard,'' Twilight said with some disappointment, but still continued to look in some of her books. ''The two of you will just have to figure this conundrum out while I work on this reversal spell.''
''Are you serious?!/I know you're not being serious!'' Spike and Cadence got up in Twilight's face; the unicorn's book in her magic dropping to the floor. ''We can't do this! Everypony will instantly know that something is wrong from the first word either of us speaks!'' Spike began to panic more and more. ''I can't be The Princess Of Love! I don't know the first thing about love, or how to tend to subjects or anything like that. I-'' Twilight cut the dragon off. Well, Alicorn in this case.
''-I understand how the both of you are feeling-''
''-No, you do not, this is why we feel so strongly about this, Twilight. Cause you don't know,'' Cadence interrupted, huffing a bit of pink smoke of out her mouth.
Strange.
''-Regardless,'' Twilight continued. ''This is the best option that we have at the moment, so it seems that the two of you will just have to develop some sort of excuse and learn more about what the other does and commit it to memory. Just long enough for me to figure something out.''
''Really?'' the pair asked, the blandest of expressions on their faces.
''Really,'' Twilight replied matter of factly. She then shooed the two out of her study and downstairs to formulate something on their own. ''Don't worry. You definitely got this.''
. . .
''Aren't you at least going to say sorry for what you did? You ruined our day to relax and hang out.''
''And I am sorry for that, and for this little mix-up with the spell,'' Twilight stopped at the top of the stairs, turning around and facing the pair for a second. ''I know I may not be panicking like guys are, but worry not. I know I can find something to help put things back to the way that they were. . .but honestly, they're not that bad. The worst is that you're stuck this way.''
''That's the worst thing?'' Spike asked sarcastically, dragging his voice before sighing and lowering his head, to which Cadence walked over and laid a claw on his back. He then looked over to his sister, which was also himself, and shook his head even more. This was going to be a process. ''Think we should get started?''
''Yep.'' Cadence replied, turning around with the drake to go outside, albeit slowly and slightly wobbly for both of them. ''Anything I should know about being you?''
Spike walked outside of the library, the sun's rays laying across his body and providing a small amount of warmth. ''You're gonna have a craving for jewels, or anything if you're given a lot of stuff. And also on occasion, peanut butter, and hay sandwiches.''
''. . .Need I ask?'' Cadence stopped and looked very confused before shaking her head of that thought. Ugh.
''Nope,'' Spike replied, almost falling over as Cadence hopped on his back and stopped to adjust himself before walking again at a slow pace. ''What about being The Princess Of Love? Will I be feeling things more?''
''Like you wouldn't believe, Spike. Like you wouldn't believe.''