Due to how well received my headcanon version of Vinyl Scratch's parents were, I decided to take a crack at another set of parents for a canon character. Everyone, meet Steel and Ivy Melody, my version of the parents of Octavia and her twin sister, Fiddlesticks . :3 Ivy is a mule if you're wondering about her long ears, however she's actually deaf so her family learned hoof-language to make communication between one another seamless. While her deafness doesn't bother her, nor does it bother her family, what DID bother her was the fact that she could never hear her husband's or daughters' voices, her hear either of her daughters' music. That, however, changed when the family scrounged up the money to get her some state-of-the-art hearing implants as a surprise for her birthday, and the very next day she was able to hear her family for the very first time. Needless to say, it was an emotional day for them. ;_;As for some background on these two, Steel was once a part of the high class, his parents owning a prestegious gem-mining company with him first in line to inherit the company of his two siblings, a younger brother and sister. He met Ivy around the age of 20, when she worked at a library. When he first saw her he was intrigued by her and decided to attempt a friendly conversation, only to discover the mare was deaf (since he didn't know hoof language then she wrote it on a piece of paper). Despite the language barrier, the two of them got to know each other over passing notes back and forth until finally Steele had to leave. He immediately came back the next day. And the next. And continued to do so over two weeks until, finally, her ultimately decided to learn hoof language so they wouldn't have to continuously pass notes to communicate. He bought a book, took lessons, and even asked Ivy to help until he could finally communicate with her without stumbling over his signing.They became best friends for 5 years, something his parents didn't really approve of due to Ivy being a lower class than them. Their dislike for Ivy grew as Steele began turning down the hooves of daughters of other high-ranked business ponies, instead preferring to spend his time with Ivy. What he didn't know was that he was steadily falling in love with the mare, until he had an ephiphany of sorts one day. That very day wasn't all that special, just the two of them getting their routine hot chocolate and dounuts at their favorite cafe when Ivy simply looked up and grinned at him after signing she was happy. His heart skipped more than a few beats, and it was then he found out just how deep he fell. He opted not to say anything at first, scared he'd ruin one of the only true friendships he ever had, until Ivy eventually confronted him about it. Instead of telling her outright he was in love with her, he opted to ask her out on a date instead. One date became two, then five, ten, until eventually the two became a full-fledged couple. At this point Ivy was more than a little smitten with the stallion.But Steele's growing relationship with the mare was something Steele's parents heavily looked down upon, especially since he has been voicing his reluctance to take over a company he never wanted in the first place. The day Steele brought Ivy to meet his family (at Ivy's insistance) was probably one of the worst, yet best, days of his life. The day started out tame enough; Steele's sister and brother warmly welcomed Ivy to their home and treated her like any other. His parents were polite, if cold, and despite Steele's worry it seemed like it'd go fine. It went downhill, however, during dinner.Despite not being able to hear Ivy could read lips easily, and Steele's parents made a rather hostile jab at her status as a "commoner", a deaf one to boot. Ivy signed a polite response that Steele translated (after Ivy insisted he stay his own rebuttals to his parents' rudeness), but the remarks only got worse from there. It reached the lowest point when his mother called Ivy a "mutt", which was definitely the last straw for the both of them. Steele got into it with his parents that eventually became a shouting match; Ivy didn't need hearing to know that it was bad, whatever they were saying (their mouths were moving too fast for her to read at that point). Steele ended the arguement with a biting remark before escorting Ivy out of his home and back to her own, seething over the things his parents said. They spent the rest of their day simply lying together and talking and reassuring one another, until Steele eventually decided to go back and settle things with his parents.Long story short, Steele basically told his parents he was in love with Ivy and did not want the company. His parents basically threatened to disown him if he remained with the "commoner", how dare he reject the company for some low life. Steele retaliated by basically saying "Disown me then. Don't ever speak to me again until you treat my girlfriend and I with respect".The two of them got married shortly after and Ivy gave birth to twins, Octavia and Fiddlesticks. Due to him no longer having access to his family's stiped (aside from the help his siblings gave him), Steele took up a job as a postal carrier, which payed well enough to take care of the bills but hard times were still seen. Despite it all, the two were beyond happy with one another, and to this day they still are. C:Sorry for the long post there though; I kinda got carried away with their backstory. >.>' I hope you enjoyed it anyhow, and as always, feel free to ask me questions if you have any! :3