//------------------------------//
// Ch 6. To the Doc's! 
// Story: Switching Up the Beats 
// by Dizzylightning 
//------------------------------//

Ch 6.
The work at the comic shop went on long into the night. When Octavia emerged, stretching and yawning from the back, she found Vinyl curled up in a stack of comics. She was snoring softly, one of the articles lying pressed against her face. She giggled at the image of herself lying in a pile of comics, in such disarray. She strolled over and gently moved the comic, planting a kiss on Vinyl's now exposed nose. The gray pony woke slightly, returning the kiss. She yawned and got to her hooves. "What time is it Octi?"
"Well past two in the morning."
"We'd best get home then, if you're all finished."
"We're not entirely done," Drama said, shaking her head, "I'm afraid I made a bit of a debacle on the casting runes and now we're, as we say in the business, 'fixing it in post.'"
"It's not major, but we have to get the timing readjusted, if we don't you'll be stuck like this until it wears off... in a month." Stan said.
"A MONTH! YOU SAID TWO WEEKS!" Vinyl said, bolting up and staring at Drama.
Drama backed up, "whoa!" She raised and lowered her hooves in a calming motion, "relax, breath, calm-down..."
"We're fixing it Vinyl, don't worry, we'll have it done before our concerts." Octavia said, hugging her mare.
Vinyl started to say something, but when she opened her mouth, she immediately closed it again. She ran over behind the counter and buried her face in the trash can. An audible hurp sound emerged from behind the glass display. Octavia put her hand on her back, "are you okay?"
Vinyl nodded weakly, another heave came before she could verbalize an answer. After a few minutes she finally stopped. "I'm fine," she said wiping her mouth off, "I don't know what's going on, I felt fine all day."
"Except this morning..." Octavia said worriedly, nuzzling her shoulder, "maybe we should take you to the doctor in the morning."
Vinyl curled away a little bit, "I don't know Octi, going to the doc in your body, that'd feel... weird..."
"I know but I think it's for the best."
"You should also go get some sleep in a proper bed," Drama said, walking towards the door, "you can use my room at the hotel since it's just down the street a little."
"Where will you stay?" Vinyl said, looking at her friend.
"I'll couch surf at Stan's tonight."
After hugging her friend in thanks, Vinyl and her mare left the shop. They walked down the street a little ways, past the cafe they had visited just a few hours before. The hotel was one of the nicer ones in Canterlot. It was about six stories tall, and fairly wide. The key identified the room as "625." The two walked into the darkened lobby, a gray pony at the desk looked up as the two passed. "Can I help you ladies?"
"We're just headed up to our friend's room." Octavia said, showing him the key.
He nodded and went back to reading his comic. A few seconds later he looked up again. "HEY, YOU'RE NOT..." he said running over towards the pair, Octavia braced for an ensuing lecture. The stallion came up to their sides, "YOU ARE!" He clocked his hooves together. "You're Vinyl Scratch and Octavia!" He said.
The pair looked at each other with a grin, relieved that no yelling was about to occur, "Yes we are." said Octavia holding out her hoof.
The stallion blinked, pointing towards Vinyl, "I thought you had the accent..." He said raising his eyebrow. Before she could answer however he dropped back into fan-boy mode. "OH MY GOSH, YOU AND DRAMATIC ENTRANCE ALL STAYING IN MY HOTEL!" He was practically dancing at this point, "will you sign my albums."
Both mares were extremely tired, but neither willing to disappoint the eager fan. He handed them the two records. Vinyl got one of Octavia's and vice-versa, the two shared a glance and traded the albums. "What'd you do that for?"
"Well," Vinyl said, quickly searching for cover, "Uh this will make them rarer... many people have OUR records signed by us, but not many have one's signed by our spouse and us TOGETHER!" Vinyl said hoping her rouse would work, "that'll make 'em rarer!"
The stallion pondered this for a second before deciding she was right. Vinyl popped the pen into her mouth, scrolling her signature carefully (having been a long time since she wrote like this,) Octavia started to do the same, before she realized the stallion was expecting to see her use her magic. She visualized the pen scrawling her neat signature along the cover, it worked. The pen delicately scrolled out her signature. They traded again and repeated the signing process. The stallion almost fainted upon receiving his albums back. That being concluded, the exhausted mares bid him goodnight, and headed into the elevator. Vinyl leaned against Octavia on the way up. The white mare was glad her own body was so light, otherwise she probably would've collapsed under the mix of exhaustion and Vinyl's weight pressing against her.
They finally reached the sixth floor. Walking down to the room, they opened the door and flicked on the lights. The room was beyond nice, it's furnishings consisted of: a large desk (topped with scripts, photographs and design notes,) a full dresser and closet (both filled with odds-and-ends of costumes,) two end-tables with nice white lamps on them, a queen-sized bed, and a unicorn-magic-air-conditioning unit. Vinyl opened the door to the bathroom and looked at the tub. "I think I might take a bath before I turn in," Vinyl said, clopping across the bathroom tile. She paused for a second, "Octi, could you help me run the bath." She said, trying to figure out how to work the dial without her magic.
The white mare nodded, walking over towards the tub. Vinyl slid down into the bottom of the white basin. "Tell me when it's just right."
Vinyl sat testing the water as it flowed out, "there." She said, leaning back into the tub. Octavia plugged the tub, and let it start filling. 
She then did something Vinyl wasn't really expecting and slid down into the spacious tub with her. Both had room to lie back until their shoulders were covered in the luxurious suite's tub. Octavia wished the water was a little warmer, as she knew Vinyl often did, but she snuggled up against the other mare in the water all the same. Both sat letting the warmth soak into their bodies, and relaxing all of their muscles. Octavia picked up the small bar of soap in her magic and told Vinyl to roll over. Without questioning, or opening her eyes, the gray mare obliged. Octavia lathered Vinyl's back with the soap, before gently taking her hooves and running them in gentle circles just beneath her shoulders. There was an audible pop, as Vinyl let out a moan of relief. The bath and massage lasted for almost a full hour. When the two were done they emerged from the tub, stepping out onto the mat outside. Octavia, without even putting much effort into it, popped the plug from the drain. She helped Vinyl towel down, before drying herself. Finally it was time to settle into that big luxurious bed. The two slid under the sheet and blanket, snuggling into each other and a few of the many pillows that topped it. With one final kiss, the two drifted off to sleep.
In the morning, Vinyl awoke to the smell of maple syrup. She found a plate of waffles sitting on the end table next to her. She started to sit up and grab the food, but she got interrupted in the process. Every part of her being screamed for her to run to the bathroom. She barely made it before heaving once again. The room door opened and Octavia's voice could be heard. "Sorry I had to run out again, I realized I'd forgotten to get you some juice." Her hoof steps paused outside the bathroom door. "Not again... You poor thing."
Vinyl was too busy to answer. Finally though, she opened the door. The smell of waffles making her mouth water even through the taste of vomit. She sat at the table, in the comfy recliner, and brought her breakfast with her. Without even pausing to say thanks to the mare in front of her, she tucked in. As she was eating, she felt a hoof placed gently on her forehead, followed by a long kiss. "Hmm..." Octavia sighed, "you're not running any fever, I suppose that's good at least." She sat next to her mare on the floor, nuzzling her shoulder. "And even though you're throwing up, your appetite actually seems to be in good order."
Vinyl finished the food, placing her hooves on her stomach as she blinked. "Wow, I don't know what it was about that, but it hit the spot..." Vinyl said, "thank you for thinking of me Octi." She said, remembering that she had gone immediately from the bathroom to the table without even a word to her mate.
Octavia shifted back to a standing position, "I called the doctor, and told her your symptoms, she said she wanted to see you as soon as we could get there." She paused, tapping her chin, "She didn't really sound concerned though, so I guess whatever it is it's fairly minor."
After waking up a little more, and having a couple cups of coffee (which is pretty much the same thing in retrospect,) the two mares headed out of the hotel. The doctor's office was on the other side of town, closer to their home than the hotel. They made finally made it to the doctor's office, both a little hot from the day's sun beating down on them. As they walked in, the white mare behind the desk smiled. "Welcome to Canterlot Family Health, who may I ask is checking in?"
"Octavia Melody-Scratch." Vinyl said, walking up to the desk.
"And do you have an appointment?" The nurse said, flipping through some papers.
"No, the doctor said she wanted to see her as soon as she could." Octavia said, walking up to the counter.
"Alright, let me go check with Dr. Remedy and I'll be right with you." She disappeared into the back for a second. Before the mares could even sit in the waiting room chairs, the nurse motioned for them to come back into the back area.
Vinyl was ushered into an exam room, and she parked on the exam bed. The nurse placed a sphygmomanometer cuff onto her forehoove (to take her blood pressure,) while simultaneously holding a stethoscope to her chest with her magic. She wrote down results on her chart, and then placed a thermometer in her mouth, her temperature (as Octavia thought) was normal. The nurse took a few more triage readings before setting the chart in a shelf on the door. "The doctor will be right in with you." The nurse said, walking away.
She was right with them, only a few seconds after the nurse left then the mares' doctor walked inside. "Hello Octavia, how've you been?" She said, hopping onto a stool in the center of the room, "Your mate tells me you've been having some stomach troubles."
"Yeah, but for most of the day, like right now, I feel fine."
"So when's this affecting you?" The doctor said making notes
"Well it's been mostly in the mornings, or when I wake up from sleeping for more than about an hour."
"Huh... Any other problems, diarrhea, gas, any bloating or cramping besides the normal?"
Vinyl shrugged, "No not really."
"Have you eaten anything you normally wouldn't, traveled anywhere outside of Equestria recently?"
"No, I've stayed near Canterlot for the past couple months, before that we were both on tours but only in Equestria."
The doctor nodded, before she stood up again, "Well, from what you're telling me I can't find any illness, but I would like to run some tests." The doctor made some notes, "I'm ordering a urinalysis and a blood test, to see if anything comes up on either of those." The doctor smiled "It was nice to see you two again, we'll have to catch-up when I've got more time." The doctor said, placing her chart back in the shelf, "A nurse should be by to collect the samples in a moment."
Vinyl curled into a ball, she'd had a life-long fear of needles. Octavia moved over, and began rubbing her back. "It's okay." She said.
The unicorn nurse returned, with a small tray. She used her magic to tie a small yellow band around Vinyl's foreleg, before using her magic to locate a vein. Vinyl buried her face in Octavia's chest as the nurse swabbed her arm. She squeaked softly when the needle went in, not wanting to look as the small test-tube filled. The nurse applied a cotton ball, and then pressed a band-aid against the test site. Vinyl finally peeped out from her mare's chest, accepting the small cup the nurse handed her. After filling and returning it, the nurse said the tests the doctor ordered shouldn't take long, and could be done in the in-house labs. The two were told to go back out to the waiting room. A few hours later, the nurse poked her head through the door again "You can come back now, she's got your results Mrs. Octavia."
This time they were ushered back into the back office, the one where the doctor conducted the business end of things instead of dealing with patients. The doctor came through the door, and looked at Vinyl sitting in the chair, slumped and looking worried. "Well," the Doctor said, "Why so worried? The news is good, in fact it's wonderful."
Vinyl perked up a bit, looking at the doctor puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"Well, all the tests line up, your symptoms match and we caught it early."
Now Vinyl was really puzzled. "What the heck are you talking about?" an edge of panic creeping back into her voice.
The next sound anyone in the waiting room heard was Vinyl's voice (wielded by Octavia,) screaming "I'M WHAT?!" Octavia calmed down, breathing slower, "sorry, I mean, she's what?"
"Pregnant!" The doctor said grinning.
"Wha... How... I mean... We're both..."
"It's perfectly normal, when a unicorn falls in love, sometimes their bodies magic can make it happen. I assure you, you're BOTH going to be the foal's parents." The doctor said, patting Vinyl's stomach gently.
Vinyl could hardly believe what she'd just learned. Suddenly she had a pressing question, "Uh... Doc..." Vinyl said, rubbing her mane with her hoof, "A friend cast a spell on us recently, causing us to swap bodies for a while... Do you think that will, you know, affect the baby in any way?"
"I was wondering about the whole accent thing..." The doctor mumbled as she scratched her chin, "I might have majored in Magic-specific medicine," she said, "but I've gotta be honest, I've never thought of this being a possibility before." Her smile came back though, "I'll tell you what I think though, I think that since the spell only affected you two in the first place it will probably only affect you two again." She moved her hoof on Vinyl's stomach, "besides Oct... I mean Vinyl... The baby's protected fairly well, it shouldn't be any harm." The doctor paused "How long have you two been switched?"
"About three days or so."
"There's your answer, it didn't affect her the first time you switched, I doubt it will affect her the second time."
Vinyl and Octavia finally let the news take hold, as they relaxed. "We're going to be, mummies!" Octavia said, hugging her mare.
Vinyl giggled slightly, "Hey, you can definitely have your body back now... I think I want to go through this on the OUTSIDE!" The three laughed as the doctor congratulated the two, as they left the office.