Following the accident in the Dragon Lands, Cadence came to the oddly understanding conclusion that the entire situation with having their bodies switched due to Twilight's incompetence affected Spike more than she thought. She figured that all of the crazy adventures, and near-Equestria-ending scenarios that he experienced with Twilight and her friends would only serve to make him more resilient against anything less tame.
This, however, was not the case on account of Spike possibly making an enemy of the ruler of The Dragon Lands in the span of about 3 seconds.
''Did we get turned around at that last crossing? I'm sure I remember there being a pineapple-shaped rock on our right when we first came this way.'' Spike said frantically, Cadence's mind working into overdrive to get her brother to calm down and understand that their present situation was not, in fact, bad. ''Hopefully, we can get what we need and be done with this whole thing.''
Cadence seconded the idea, only she failed to vocalize it on account of her thoughts about a separate issue of her own coming to her mind after Spike 'acquired' the Bloodstone Scepter, and looking back on the entirety of their. . .experience since becoming the other was just that.
They were becoming the other, in some ways. Spike had yet to notice it, but his suddenly growing pair of dragon-ish teeth and his feathers becoming scalier were cause for concern. On her side of the problem, she only noticed her wings changing and her claws thickening and elongating a tad, seeming to move towards the shape of a hoof.
Whatever pony had the brilliant idea to create such a specific spell, for a specific occasion, with even more specific conditions seemed all too. . . easy. Almost Discord levels of play.
''At this point, your guess is as good as mine, but I think we should slow down and think about the situation for a second!'' Cadance yelled, more than sure that her pleas were unheard, which left her no choice. ''This'll hurt me more than it's going to hurt you!'' Cadance had a moment to let her words sink in. ''W-Wait; wouldn't you hurt more than me? I mean, you are in my body, so wouldn't it be it's going to hurt you and me more than. . .me?''
As you can see, the pair were indeed, not in the right headspace to do much of anything.
CRASH!
Except for crashing, of course.
''U-Ugh. W-Why does everything always hurt?'' Spike asked with his face neatly in the dirt. ''Cadance, you ok?''
Barely managing to lift a claw in response, Cadance slowly raised her head so she could get a better look at where their combined stupidity landed them. The Castle of The Two Sisters.
''W-What. . .how? W-We?'' Cadance asked, wiping her eyes to lay her eyes on something that she would not have thought possible. ''Did you fly that fast, or are we just that-''
''-Probably the second thing,'' Spike mumbled. Slowly raising his head, Spike suddenly felt a nagging feeling that Twilight might not have the same idea. ''Oh, now I see what you meant. Well, to be fair, this is just the place we need.''
''Is that because of that time Rarity 'improved' Ponyville because of a book that you gave her?'' Cadance annoyingly asked, her memories flooding back to that particular day that involved the purging of a lot. . .and a lot of dark magic. Princess Celestia had a field day with that report. ''Please don't tell me that you're thinking of going in there to find something that could make this worse?''
''Honestly, 50/50.'' Spike said.
''Spike!''
''Ok, fine, then what do you think we should do? We're down an artifact that we need to change the two of us back to normal, and-''
''-And Twilight herself couldn't bother to come here since she was closer versus having us fly like maniacs just to get back here?'' Cadance asked, walking over to the entrance of the castle, noting the weathered structure that managed to stand the test of time. Even though she never had the pleasure to walk these halls in their heydays, she was able to tell the amount of history, love. . and mistakes that were present. ''And yes, I do know she's busy preparing things on her side, I just want this to end.''
''I know, sis. Me too,'' Spike agreed, rubbing his tense jaw. No matter how much closer the pair came to an answer, the universe always seemed to have a counter ready and waiting for them. He wondered if the constant climb up the proverbial mountain would ever stop. ''Well, it's no harm in taking a look to see if anything can help us.''
Cadance shook her head as she walked inside, maneuvering around fallen stones and holes in the ground to proceed toward the throne room. ''Famous last words, I just hope Twilight is doing better than use at this point.''
Ponyville. . .
Twilight walked back into the library, her mind doing donuts. She became convinced she would have grey hairs in her mane before she got to the actual age where it was all but certain. Even though all appeared to be going well, on the inside was Twilight panicking. She never meant for things to get as out of hoof as they have; everything done was all to push the concept of magic further.
What rotten luck.
Two out of the three artifacts were needed to put the entire crazy situation behind everypony, and then. . .Twilight didn't know. On one hoof, two of her family members would be back to normal, and the crazy story of this bad spell would be over. However, on the other, there was a small part of her that also, strangely became kind of numb to the world-ending problems.
That wasn't wrong, right?
From time to time, Princess Celestia did allude to her more or less thriving when the chips were down; from dealing with Nightmare Moon, to Discord, to Queen Chrysalis, to Parasprites, Dragons, and so on and so forth. While in the beginning, a nervous wreck, Twilight always came around when her friends or Equestria were in danger. This would be no different.
''Spike, Cadance, I'm sorry. . .'' Twilight muttered to herself, resolving to herself that she would take more precautions in the future so that nothing like this would happen again under her watch. On her end, everything was done, the only thing that needed to be done was to meet up with Spike and Cadance and to close the chapter on this unfortunate, albeit, a bit silly of a story.