Starting From Scratch

Quick author's note: This is based around the time when Vinyl and Octavia first started living together. (At the point of friendship but before the understanding of each other's practices and ways of life.)

Vinyl's P.O.V

"Hey Vinyl!" I heard my friend call. I stopped the disks and took off my headphones.

"Yeah?" I replied quickly, not wanting to get out of the music creation zone I was in.

"Come down for a minute I have to talk to you about something!" Octavia called back. Groaning in frustration I laid my headphones down on the turntables and switched the speakers off before walking carefully around my equipment towards the door.

"She is probably gonna scold me for leaving more than my share of crumbs in the toaster. Again." I thought to myself as I jumped down the stairs two at a time. I moved through the porch taking care not to knock over Octavia's impeccable horseshoe stacking as I made my way to the kitchen. "Why do these fancy ponies even have four sets of shoes?" I wondered, not understanding why they were so involved with what I call the finer farts.

"Ahah! There you are. What took you? Did you get caught up in all of those cables?" Octavia teased, hiding how she was frustrated with me very poorly.

"Tavi why don't you take that bow outta your.." I trailed off as I saw my friend shoot me a look that I am sure could give a royal guard shivers. "Heheh. What I meant to saw was stop being so critical about everything I do and the way I do them. Whadda you want?"

Octavia huffed in frustration but replied anyways. "My cousin is coming over for a while, and I want you to be on your best behavior! He doe-"

"Oh great, another fancy pony in this house. That is definitely what I need." I thought sarcastically.

"Please PLEASE do NOT insult him or his instrument I-"

"Oh yeah cause I am gonna insult him and get him in my face over a four stringed ear killer that is the Cello. OH CELESTIA! WHAT IF HE PLAYS THE VIOLIN!?" I thought, horror spreading through my mind as all of the horrid squeaking and squawking that came along with that violin concert Octavia had talked me into going to.

"His name is... Vinyl dear you look like you've seen a ghost, are you alright?" Octavia asked me.

"The horror- I mean I am fine Tavi, just keep talking." I replied quickly.

She shrugged off the beginning to my answer and finished what she was saying. "Ahem. His name is High Strung and I want you to pick him up at the train station in... OH CELESTIA YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" she screamed, almost giving me a heart attack. "His train is arriving in an hour!" Octavia said, grinning at my frustrated look. "Oh come on you can't be the only prankster." she said.

"Huh, well next time you pull a prank try to keep a defibrillator close to ground zero 'kay?" I replied, walking back towards the porch and up the stairs, ready to drop the bass extra loud just to make sure my best friend can hear it.

(=}===

I tapped my hoof repeatedly on the train station's concrete floor. I checked the clock for the tenth time since I had been there. So that was a lot for three minutes. "Come on stupid train! I have some turntables to get back to!" I grumbled impatiently. However right after I said that the familiar sounds of the Ponyville Express invaded my ear canals, making sure to shoves it's *CHUGGA CHUGGA!* straight into my brain.

The train rolled into the station and stopped with a horrible screech and the doors opened. "This can only end badly." I muttered as the first passengers started getting off. I could barely see anypony through the bustle but it was pretty evident who was heading towards me. "Who the heck is this guy? A fan?" I thought as an eccentric looking stallion walked towards me, a smile plastered on his face despite how heavy his guitar bag looked. His coat was an icy blue and his mane was a snowy white. His eyes matched his coat which was uncommon in most ponies but I guess white eyes wouldn't look too good. I looked around him as well as to my sides but he was the last one left with any music bags.

He finally reached me and stood there in front of me, staring at me. "I guess you are my tour guide." he joked. I was pretty amused.

"High Strung?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. Wait, did Octavia not describe me?" he asked me.

"I kinda zoned out." I said with a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Ahh oh well, lets get going shall we?" he said, readjusting his guitar bag.

"Why aren't you carrying that with your magic?" I asked, pointing at the horn sticking only slightly out through his messy mane.

"Meh, this stuff is heavy and levitation isn't my strong suit believe it or not." he said as I got up off of the bench.

"What is your strong suit than?" I asked him, still happy I didn't have to listen to the wailing of a violin.

"Pyrotechnics." he said with a grin. I looked back and saw his cutie mark, two guitars crossed over a exploded firework.

"What was your biggest job?" I asked him, curious about his work.

"An Iron Mare concert, blew the roof off of the place." he replied with a grin.

"Whoa! You worked with Iron Mare? That's awesome!" I exclaimed as we got onto the main road.

"Yeah it was pretty cool." he said, looking up into the sky as if his memories were displayed there. "You probably haven't heard of me but I am actually not here to visit but here to do a show." he said.

"What is your stage name?" I asked him, readying my brain for memory mode.

"Ice Cold." he said quickly, pointing over at a flyer that was conveniently taped to a pole.

The 'C' was backwards in both words and the 'L' was capitalized, the bottom part angled downwards with the 'D' supposedly hanging off of it. "I think I heard of you from somepony." I told him, remembering that logo from a long time ago.

"You have? That's pretty cool how word has reached out here." he said, looking around at his surroundings as we rounded a corner.

"Where do you normally perform?" I asked him. "It couldn't be Canterlot. All they like is classical music." I thought.

"I usually do bar gigs in Fillydelphia, however I recently hit the somewhat big-time. I am here for the end of my short month long tour." he replied as we reached the house.

"That's cool, anyways we're here." I said to him, heading towards the door.

"Sweet place." he replied, looking at the outside. I noticed his eyes focusing on one spot, the outside of my room. "Why is there so many power cables hooked up to there?" he asked.

"I play Dubstep and House music." I replied.

"Right." he said, understanding.