Child of Music 1: Shattered

The clop of hooves filled the street as several ponies went about their daily business in Canterlot. Two such ponies were Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, who were walking together down a sidewalk to avoid carriages. They both had saddlebags filled with stuff they'd bought on their outing together. "I'm having a wonderful time with you today Vinyl," Octavia began. "I've truly needed some peace in our time spent together."

"I noticed after the turn out at your concert this afternoon. I still can't believe you were able to put on such a straight face with how much you were freaking out before the concert. And when you got off that stage you nearly feinted!" Vinyl's horn glowed as she lifted a juice box from her bag and stuck a straw in it, floating it before Octavia who paused at the odd obstacle. "How about some refreshing cranberry juice to cool your nerves?"

With a smile Octavia happily sipped from the juice box. "Why can't you be proper and polite like this all the time Vinyl?"

"Because it's not who I am." Vinyl tossed the empty box into a nearby trashcan. "But it's who I can be, when my girlfriend needs it." Octavia's ears folded back as she blushed and looked away with a soft smile. "Now that I've taken you out for a peaceful walk and some shopping, maybe you could do something for me?"

Octavia's gaze squinted as she glared at Vinyl. "I knew there was a catch. What is it you want?"

"I want to take you in here." Vinyl pointed upward with her hoof to a sign overhead that read 'The Crop.' When Octavia saw the sign her face flushed red and steam seemed to trail from her ears. "The owner, Velvet, is a sell mare. There's plenty we could use to spice up out time in the bedroom together."

"But Vinyl, I'd rather cuddle than have sex!"

"I'd rather cuddle 'then' have sex. We wouldn't need to make love though, there's plenty of things we could do. I happen to know there's some lacy things in here you'd look heavenly in. So what do you say?"

Octavia felt the pressure on her as Vinyl stared into her eyes, even more so when she took off her glasses and gave her a pleading look with her ruby reds. in the end, Octavia hung her head said, "No Vinyl... I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm ready for that yet." She looked up expecting a sad and disappointed look from Vinyl, but was shocked to find the Unicorn looked furious. "Vinyl? What's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that you never want to go beyond cuddling with me! We've been officially dating for over a year and you still won't even let me rub your flank unless I force it on you, and you always make me feel guilty about it! Why won't you make love to me? Why won't you let me take our relationship to the next level? What are you hiding from me?" Octavia tried to look away, but the spiky haired girl stayed in her face with tears in her eyes. "Don't avoid me! Tell me! Please! Just tell me! Is there something wrong with me? I can change Octavia, whatever the problem is!"

The sophisticated mare took a deep breath and sighed. "Vinyl... I want to have a child." The blue haired unicorn looked shocked, and her expression immediately became rather hopeless. "I want to have a filly and raise it, like a mother. I can't do that with another mare. I'm sorry Vinyl, I knew when I agreed to date you that it would end up like this. Perhaps I was wrong to give this a chance."

Vinyl backed up a few steps and said, "Wrong?... You think it's wrong to follow your heart and be with who you love just because you can't have children? That's not fair, Octavia! I've known you my whole life, and I've loved you for at least half of it. You gave me a chance and I've tried so hard to show you how much I love you, and perhaps earn that love back."

"I do love you Vinyl!" Octavia stated with tears in her own eyes now. "But ever since I was a filly I wanted to be a mother. That's something I can't be if I stay with you."

Vinyl's pupils seemed to shrink as her jaw dropped. "If?... Octavia... no... please don't break up with me! I don't need sex! W-We can just adopt a filly!"

Shaking her head Octavia stated, "It's not the same Vinyl. I want the child to be a part of me. Please, try to understand."

"Oh I understand! If I was a stallion then everything would be fine! Instead you're going to ruin everything we've ever had together just to conform to how society expects you to be!"

"Vinyl, please! Calm down!"

"Don't you tell me to calm down!" Vinyl threw her glasses on the ground and gave them one firm stomp with her front hoof. Her nostrils flared with her breathing, which slowed to a stop as she stared at the shattered glasses. She slowly looked up to see Octavia was staring at them as well, heart broken. "Oh god... Octavia, I can fix them! I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Octavia placed a hoof to Vinyl's lips to cut her off. "You monster! Now I see how much you truly care about me. It's over Vinyl. Good bye." The sophisticated pony twisted around so fast her tail smacked Vinyl in the face and she stomped away down the street.

Rubbing the space on her cheek the tail smacked Vinyl cried out, "No wait! Octavia I was just angry! Come back Octavia! Octavia!" Her eyes faded from red to magenta as she sat where she was and slowly floated all the pieces of her glasses into one of her bags. They had been a gift from Octavia before her first show, to help her with her stage fright, and she'd worn them every day since. When she shattered that gift, she knew she shattered Octavia's heart.

She didn't return home after that. She knew Octavia wouldn't want to see her right now. Instead Vinyl made her way to a modeling agency. The guards didn't stop her, and everyone there stopped and stared as she walked in and sulked to the back. She made her way to one of the back rooms and stopped before an office door that read 'Photo Finish.' She gave the door a light knock and waited a few seconds before she got an answer.

"Ach! Who is interrupting mein break? Can't you all wait for me to make ze magiks?" Photo Finish opened the door and gasped to see who was there. "Vinyl? What are you doing here? Where are your glasses? Where is the red in your eyes?"

With a weak smile she replied, "Hi mom. Can I come in? I need someone to talk to."

"Ja ja, come in come in!" Photo Finish stepped aside allowing her daughter in and shut the door behind her. Vinyl took off her saddlebags and dropped them in the floor, before she plopped lazily on the couch in her mom's office. Photo Finish silently removed her glasses and set them on a desk, sitting in a chair upright and crossing her hind legs, placing her hooves together before her face as she seemed to be analyzing Vinyl. A poodle jumped up on the couch and gently lapped at Vinyl's back hooves. "You never visit me unless you be having the big problems. What is wrong mein daughter?"

"I had a bit of a falling out with Octavia-"

"Ah yes, your filly foolery. Please, go on go on."

Vinyl shot her mom a glare for interrupting, but Photo Finish didn't seem to mind it. She tried to shove her mom's affectionate poodle away gently before she continued. "She says that she wants a filly, and that's something I can't give her! When I realized that meant our time together was for not I got angry and broke the glasses she gave me! I'm so stupid, but I couldn't help it! Then she broke up with me! It's not fair mom!" She sat up in the couch and her tears from earlier were renewed. "Why shouldn't two mares be able to be together just because they can't have fillies of their own? It makes me so mad!" She pounded her hooves on the couch, and then leaped off to buck down a table with a vase on it. "It makes me so mad!" Using her magic she threw a flower pot against the wall next to her mom, splattering dirt on the wall. "So freaking mad!" The poodle rubbed against her, and in her anger she threw it with her magic. It flew with a yelp, and then shattered like glass against the wall next to Photo Finish.

"I like that enchanted poodle figuring you know." Vinyl was shocked to see her mom stayed completely calm through her tantrum. "Vinyl, getting so very angry is not what you should be doing. Come, lay on mein lap."

"Aw mom, I don't want to-"

"LAY ON MEIN LAP!"

"Yes mam!" Vinyl shot over her mother's lap, who immediately grabbed a brush from her nearby vanity mirror and began to brush her daughters hair back. "You are having such bad style. I wish you'd let me just give you ein makeover." She gently laid the brush down on her daughters back. "Now Vinyl, you are ein very intelligent mare. I'm sure there are plenty of ways for you and Octavia to be having the child, you just have to think of them. Ich habe searching for ein way for you to be having the child myself, and I have some books you could be using in mein folder on ze table over there. Do some reading, and perhaps you can be finding ein way to have ze fillies with Octavia."

Vinyl stared in shock at the stack of books on the aforementioned table. "Wait a minute, you've been researching this? But why mom?"

"Because ich been wanting ze fillies too. Now, one last thing." Photo Finish picked the hairbrush back up and gave her daughter a spank on the flank with it causing her to jump a little and cry out. "Zat was for breaking your glasses and your girlfriends heart. I'll get them repaired, but don't be doing this again."

With a pout she responded, "Okay okay! I'm sorry! Sheesh." Vinyl was shocked to receive a second smack from the flat end of the hairbrush. "OWW! What was that one for?!"

"Zat was for breaking mein poodle. Now off with you, mein lunch break is over and I must make... ze magiks!"

Vinyl climbed off her mother's lap, rubbing her flank with a grumble, while Photo Finish put back on her glasses, as well as the shattered remains of her daughters, and left the room. There were all kinds of books in the stack: Spell books, encyclopedias, and even ones on ancient mythology. Being a unicorn she started with the spell books of course, but the closest thing she could find was a gender changing spell. The problem is it's magic far beyond her own skill level, and she didn't want to change her gender anyways. The encyclopedias spoke of several studies on the matter, and while there were scientific ways to accomplish what she wanted, she wasn't comfortable with any of them. In the end if she was going to help Octavia get her child, she wanted it to be a part of her as well.

She finally gave up and just flipped through the books on stories of legend and fantasy from times of the past. She skimmed through a few finding them a little interesting, but nothing even remotely relative to her situation. Then one title caught her eye: "The Child of Music." She didn't have any other leads so far,  so she decided to give it a look. One part she read caught her eye:

[i]...Even though Honey Interlude had been discovered to be infertile, Accelerando refused to except that they could not have a child. He prayed to the goddess of Harmony Grove for a way to have a child, and she spoke to him. He was a musician, as was his wife, so if they played a duet before her that showed their love for each other strong enough, then their music would give birth to the child of their dreams. Accelerando rushed home to tell his wife, but Honey Interlude was skeptical at first. Eventually he convinced her to come with him with her instrument of choice to the grove, and it was there that they played a private song for the goddess herself. It was the most heartfelt performance they ever made, simply due to their love for each other, and the first time they'd done a full song together. And when the beauty of their music flowed through Harmony Grove, they were shocked to see a child born from the Serenade Tree...[/i]

That was all Vinyl had to read. It sounded like a fairy tale, but many stories had turned out to be true. Theirs was a magical world they lived in, and anything was possible. She searched for a atlas to see if Harmony Grove was a real place, and much to her surprise it was! In fact it was only a few miles East of Canterlot, near a small village she knew to be Serenade, which she assumed the tree was named after in the story. Or the other way around, either way she knew it to be a village of bards. It was a peaceful place where people played music and sought inspiration.

Vinyl stashed the book in one of her saddlebags and quickly put them back on, rushing out of the room. As she approached her mom she held out her glasses and said, "vinyl, I have had your glasses repaired by-"

She snatched the glasses with her magic and slipped them on, cutting off her mom. "Thanks mom, gotta go, bye!" She used her magic to change her eyes back to their red shade, and quickly made her way home. When she got there she had trouble mustering the will to open the front door. The lights were out throughout the house, except for one faintly visible to their bedroom. She slowly made her way to the light, her footsteps obvious, as she entered her bedroom to see Octavia on their bed. Her eyes were red and puffy and she looked like she was expecting her. Vinyl assumed she heard her coming down the hall.

"Well, look who decided to finally come home. It's almost dark outside. I suppose you think that because you got your glasses fixed that I'll forgive you for breaking them?"

Her tone was harsh and hurt at the same time and it made Vinyl Cringe having to listen to it. She folded the glasses with her magic and set them on the nightstand by their bed. "Octavia I-"

"I'm sorry." Vinyl looked up shocked, not expecting to hear those words from Octavia. "Getting mad just because you got mad wasn't going to fix the situation. I over reacted in breaking up with you and it was wrong of me to do it. I didn't mean it Vinyl, and I shouldn't of said those things. As much as I want a child I want you more, and it's about time that I treated you with the love you deserve."

When Octavia opened her arms as if expecting an embrace, Vinyl was driven to tears before she rushed over and tackled her mate onto the bed. They cuddled silently for a what felt like hours to Vinyl, before she finally said, "I may have a way for you to have both."

Taken aback by this statement, Octavia asked, "What do you mean?"

Vinyl took out the book she'd gotten from her mother and opened it to the story of 'The Child of Music.' She tapped it and said, "Read this story." Octavia did as she was asked, taking out a pair of reading glasses and going over it carefully. She finished blinking and lowered her glasses a bit looking at Vinyl as if she didn't believe she was serious. "Hear me out Octavia. This is the only way we might be able to have a genuine child together. Harmony Grove is real, it's not far from Serenade. Please, give it a chance before you dismiss it. What do we have to lose anyways? If it doesn't work then all we did was take a break from Canterlot to play some music together in the forest, but if it does work... we could have a child born of you and me together. Our music is our soul, and we'd be making a child together with our very souls! So what do you say?"

Octavia chewed on her glasses a little, thinking it over for a minute. "You make it sound so poetic, which honestly impresses me coming from the wild one of the two of us."

"It helps to have such a poetic, melodious, and not to mention beautiful-"

"AH!" Octavia booped her lover on the nose with her glasses. "Save the flattery. I'll do it. To be honest, I'm desperate, and this could be our only hope. I'll do my best to believe in a fairy tale long enough to play beautiful music in this enchanted grove. But it's late, so we should wait until tomorrow."

This earned an extra tight snuggle from Vinyl. "Thank you love! And I promise we'll figure something out even if it doesn't work. One way or another you're having a kid, even if I have to get my buddy Neon Lights to-"

"Vinyl!" Octavia's blush had reached a record red.

"What? I work with the guy, he's cool. I'm sure he'd be willing to donate to a charitable cause." Vinyl nudged Octavia, obviously teasing her and reveling in her reaction.

Octavia's brow furrowed, but then something caught her attention and a smirk grew across her lips. "So I can see you visited your mother today."

This shocked the unicorn of course. "Yeah I did. How did you kno-OWWW!" A sharp pain shot through her flank, and she looked back to see there were a couple of red prints where her mother her smacked her with the hairbrush earlier. Octavia was pressing her hoof into one. Vinyl blushed and said, "Cut that out!" Octavia stuck out her tongue, something Vinyl found adorable despite how teasing it was, and smacked her hoof against the mark. "OW! That's it, if you get to touch my flank like that I get to touch yours!"

"Wait, what?!" Octavia finally let go and tried to squirm from under Vinyl, squealing when the wild pony blew a raspberry on her tummy. "You know I hate that! It tickles!"

"Oh I got your tickles!" Both girls laughed their heads off as they playfully wrestled for a while, soon running out of energy. After that they just cuddled until sleep consumed them both for the night.