Meanwhile...
Signature Sandwich stepped off the train into the bright sunlight his one bag in tow, and a breeze catching his unbuttoned black over-shirt. A change in the train routing had ended up forcing his train to run long into the night, and thus was the reason why he was only just arriving in Canterlot. As he shook his head to clear his sleepiness he looked around the platform to see that all around him life was bustling with activity. It was a refreshing thought in his mind, and yet it was bittersweet as he walked out of the station.
He realized the difference almost instantly, as he walked into a town of gaudy looking and presumably wealthy ponies. They all felt so fake to him, but admittedly he could occasionally see some that didn't fit that social norm. Yet, they were few and far between. This town has changed, and not entirely for the better I'd say. It's all about the newest fad fashion, the money, the utter arrogance.
All the forest green stallion could do was sigh as he began his march towards Canterlot Castle. Even with all of the false ponies around him, his memories of this town from years ago still stirred within him. They were memories here that he would always keep, for better or for worse. As he walked slowly along the main street his mind drifted back in time, to the day when he wandered aimlessly into town, as a simple youth of this lifetime searching for answers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
31 Years Ago...
A brash and bedraggled young stallion of twenty-three wandered into town with an electric guitar slung across his back covered in a brownish white cloth. He was a travelling virtuoso, a musician by choice of trade. He wore a black t-shirt and torn up black denim jeans as the heat never bothered him anyway. His thigh covered by his jeans was barren of any cutie mark to tell him what was next for him in life, and he wandered to find his newest purpose taking jobs wherever he could. The forest green stallion with his electric yellow mane moved through the crowd aimlessly, but with a mock purpose written in his body language.
"Got a feeling this town is where I'll find myself." the younger Signature Sandwich declared looking up at the grand castle of Canterlot. "Maybe I'll even earn my right to walk in there at will."
The crowd he moved through seemed so lifeless outwardly, and he felt deep down they needed something to invigorate their souls. Something he could give them, if he only had the means from which to do so. Yet, he had no intentions of doing that and being a young stallion didn't help his lack of aspiration. The masses around him began making him feel uneasy so he rapidly found his way out of the main street and onto a side road that he hoped would take him to some sort of solitary part of the city.
As fate would have it, it did lead to somewhere solitary and rather uninhabited. It was a small, overgrown park that seemed out of place among the tall brickwork buildings of the city, but here it stood proudly among the structures resisting the changing world around it. This fact brought a smile to the stallion's face, just to know that nature still had as much personality as any living pony today was refreshing. As quite as it was here compared to the rest of the city, the stallion felt he could manage a nice little nap.
He then heard something he never expected to hear nearby, it was an angelic voice that almost instantly drew him forward. Through the thick brush he waded to find the source of the voice, practically in a trance. Before he had fully realized what was happening, he came to another clearing where a pristine white pegasus with a light sky blue mane sat upon a stump singing. Signature felt his heart racing at the mere sight of her, and he couldn't help but reach for his guitar to announce his presence.
Removing the covering revealed a tie dye, glossy, multi-shaded blue guitar that had strings and frets that looked relatively worn. It was his guitar that he aptly named, The Rainmaker. He had owned it since the first guitars were made, and he had named it with an inherent trait he had always had when it came to playing guitar like instruments. Her eyes had been closed, but he would open them with his music. Taking his pick in his right hand keeping his eyes upon her, he stepped forward and began playing his melody.
She opened her eyes and stared directly into his as he played. They were a beautiful shade of green that made them look like flawless peridots. At first she seemed shocked by his sudden appearance, but he could see it in her eyes that that feeling quickly faded as he played his melody. His accuracy and effective fretting skills that had taken him many years to develop to perfection, had spoken louder than words to her it seemed. They did not break eye contact the entire length of the song, and as the last note faded off softly she just smiled at him warmly.
"You have quite the lovely voice there miss..?" Signature took a chance at breaking the silence by inquiring her name.
She laughed lightly before replying, "Silent Storm. Thank you for the compliment, but your guitar playing skills sound like they're second to none..?"
The mare had given him her name and now wanted to know his, the forest green stallion didn't know why this exhilarated him so much. This feeling was so new to him, but it mattered little as he naturally gave his name to her.
"Signature Sandwich." the stallion answered with a smile. "It really is a pleasure to meet you Silent Storm."
"Likewise, Signature Sandwich." she said still not breaking eye contact with him. "Though the name is odd for one with a guitar playing talent isn't it?"
"Well I don't have a special talent yet, my guitar playing is more of a hobby." he answered her with a laugh. "What about you, Silent Storm doesn't fit a mare with such a powerful voice."
She laughed, "Well my excuse is almost the same as yours, singing is more of a hobby for me. I'm actually a weather pegasus, in fact my whole family is!"
The two conversed for quite a long time maintaining a distance from one another physically, but it didn't seem like that would last much longer with how well they got along. It seemed like no other pony knew about this park they were in as they went undisturbed for hours. Finally, she stood up and stretched out her body, unfurling her wings for a moment. When she was done she looked directly at Sig.
"Hey, I dunno how you feel about it but..." she paused shyly a slight blush coming to her cheeks before going on, "...would you like to maybe, sit closer together? Of course it would have to be on the ground, but you know if you don't want to I--"
"I would love that more than you know." the forest green stallion cut her off knowing all too well the spiral of rambling she was going into.
He walked over and leaned his guitar against the stump she had been sitting on before settling down on the ground. When they sat together it felt too right to be this close, it was almost scary how strongly he felt about this. Since she had suggested this though, maybe she was feeling the same? The sun began to set in the distance and at this point they were so close they were touching. Her lilac dress draping over his leg innocently. As they watched the sky turn a golden orange he felt her lay her head upon his shoulder, and his heart skipped a beat.
What is going on here, why do I feel like my soul is about to burst in happiness?
"Is this okay?" Storm asked softly looking up at him.
Signature laughed at himself and looked down into her eyes, "Yeah. Yeah it is."
The pure white mare wrapped one of her wings around his back and they just increased how close they were to each other. It seemed like only seconds though before they were interrupted by another stallion barging into the clearing furiously. By now the sun had practically set, but it was still possible to see the new pegasus on the scene.
He was also a pristine white pegasus, but he had a jet black mane. He was wearing a black leather jacket over his yellow lightening wrangler work shirt, and he moved forward so quickly because of his black cloth pants. If he was a lightening wrangler then they were shock reducing. It was hard to see his eye color in this light but he didn't need it to know that the stallion was quite irate. This was going to turn into a fight that Sig had no intention of dealing with.
"What the hell do you think you're doing with my sister?" the white stallion roared loudly.
As the both of them got up to converse with the new pegasus, he straight up pegged Signature with a vicious punch to the eye. The pegasus had asked a question, but he had no intent of hearing the actual response. The earth stallion caught himself before falling and turned back to face the one that assaulted him only to find that Storm had already pounced him and was now beating him up.
"Dammit Tempest how many times have I told you not to just assault the stallions I choose to get close to!" she roared with a burning conviction. "Talk with them first you rock headed lummox of a borther!"
As she finished her sentence she landed a nasty shot to his cheek, and Celestia knows that it would be swollen by morning. Just because she was wearing a dress didn't mean she couldn't kick your flank into next week, Sig made that mental note frequently. Once she was done with him and got off of him she stepped away not even offering her brother a hand up. The forest green stallion took his opportunity to make an impression by offering a helping hand.
"Hey." he said holding out a hand to the battered pegasus. "Name's Signature Sandwich."
The white pegasus looked at him with a cocked eyebrow for a moment before reaching up and taking his offer, "Tempest Wing, but you can call me Ace."
They smiled at one another devilishly, they both for some reason found understanding of each other in that act. It was in that moment they knew that it would be impossible to be rid of one another. Best friends, until the end of their lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Signature now stood in the very park he met Silent Storm and Ace in. It had still managed to resist the changing city around it, but this was mostly due to his influence within the castle of the sisters. He enjoyed the memories as he continued along, that had only been his first day in Canterlot. The next few months held even more surprises for the sandwich making stallion, none of which would have been anticipated in the least.
He, Ace, and Storm frequently met in this park during that time as their friendship blossomed. It was during this time Sig learned that Ace was actually a talented vocalist in his own right, singing seemed to run in the family at this point. He remembered showing the black maned pegasus that he could play guitars, and shortly after that the idea was posed to him of starting a band.
They had agreed that they needed at least two more members in order for it to work so they began searching. Fate looked like it wanted to intervene as the forest green stallion found both of the other members that would eventually make up their band. Even though Ace always tried to find the members he lost out to the forest green stallion's luck.
Sig looked up to the partially cloudy sky and wondered for a moment as to why he had so easily agreed to the idea of forming a band with Ace? It had only been a week since they had met at that point in time, but it had felt like he had always know them. Especially Silent Storm.
"Maybe it was because I wanted to spend more time with you, Silent Storm." he muttered to himself taking a moment to let the natural sounds around him melt into one melody.
Well that aside, I think it's time to move on.
The stallion decided it was time to leave the park and continue on his trip through the city to retrieve his trusty guitar. Although the journey had turned into a walk through of all of his old memories of the city. He knew where the memories would end up though, a place where his tears would always fall like rain. It was why he left his old guitar here in the city where it would always be raining for him.
It was midday now as he passed an older derelict library, one that he remembered quite vividly. It was an old red brickwork structure with two benches on either side of the doorway. Back when he was younger he had always thought it would fall apart before he turned fifty. Looks like he had been entirely wrong, and in fact it looked like it hadn't changed since the days of his youth. This building had to be synonymous with bizarre occurrences, and the memory it was tied to took form in his mind.
"This is where I met Redd." he mused aloud to the empty street. "Man it was the biggest accident in the world to find him. I mean I just wandered in there cause I was bored at the time."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A month after last flashback...
As Signature pushed open the door of the decrepit looking library he never expected to find anyone inside the dusty run down building. He came upon a blood red unicorn stallion with a blue mane that had electric blue streaks striking through his mane. He was moving all about the shelves and drawers digging up documents scanning them over and moving on to the next item as dust flew about the air. The unicorn seemed to be mumbling to himself as he went, and Sig wandered about close to him somewhat interested in the stallion's aura.
"My first big story in the newspaper, I gotta get it right." he muttered dusting off a book he levitated with his magic. "But rock music is still so new to Equestria...I still gotta find the roots of it to be able to elaborate on history."
"Um excuse me, didn't know anyone else was here." Sig piped up to let the red stallion know he was there.
"Oh this will never work!" he shouted in frustration dropping all of the materials he held as he slumped onto the ground. "I'll never be able to write an article on rock music when it's still so new."
"Hello, are you tuning me out?"
"They probably just gave me this article knowing I'd fail to produce anything worth their time..." the red unicorn lamented facing away from Sig still.
The forest green stallion walked up behind him and spoke with an odd conviction, "Then why don't you join a rock band and find out first hand?"
The blue maned stallion jumped in surprise falling over into the sea of papers and books he had created. He managed to pull himself together though getting back to his feet quite quickly. His eyes were candy apple green as he analyzed the earth pony before him. He wore a button up white shirt that had gold yellow linings, and professional black slacks that one would wear for the certain job they had. He also had a pair of reading glasses that hung now from his neck.
"What did you say about joining a rock band?" the unicorn questioned sheepishly.
"Well you won't ever find out about something like music unless you experience it with all your heart and soul first." Signature reasoned. "By the way I'm Signature Sandwich, you are?"
"Redbook, pleasure to meet you." the unicorn answered shaking the other stallion's hand. "So are you an expert on music or something to make a suggestion like that?"
"Something like that, or better yet I'm an experienced guitar player to say the least." he replied.
"Oh wow, can you tell me more about it then?" Redbook's inquisitive nature took hold. "What it feels like, the sound of it, the very essence of it?"
"Nope, go pick up a guitar for yourself and find out." he shrugged as he turned to leave. "You will know the guitar for you when you see it. Find me once you've gotten that far and it may be worth my time to tell you. That is, if you haven't found it already."
"I don't understand, wait don't leave I have more questions!" the red stallion shouted as Sig left the library.
As he walked away that day, he had a gut feeling he would see that unicorn again. The forest green stallion wondered deep in his mind, what guitar would Redbook pick up if he even did at all? Signature had taken a leap when it came to the brief conversation he had just had with the unicorn, and yet something told him it would pay off in the end.
"Redbook huh?" he contemplated. "Redbook...hmm...Redd. Why does it feel so nostalgic to use that name?"
As he left the memory fast forwarded about two weeks later to show him the day Redbook found him again, or the day that Sig found him again. The blood red unicorn was sitting on a bench outside the library bracing a guitar on his leg as he strummed the strings softly. He seemed to be free style practicing on it, but as Signature got closer he saw exactly what guitar he was holding.
"Yo, Redd you've got quite the rare guitar on yer hands there." the forest green stallion announced.
"Oh really Signature, what's so special about it?" he replied looking up nonplussed.
"You have one of the first Steady Flow precision bass guitars ever made there." he answered impressed. "I'm pretty sure of that in fact. Mainly cause they were all starburst nocturne purple, which yours is definately that color. Where did you find it, and better yet how did you afford it?"
"Found it at a thrift shop actually, and I didn't have to pay that much as two weeks ago it was thrashed." Redd answered a light building in his eyes. "Is it really that rare a guitar?"
"There are only fourteen left in existence, so yeah it is." the electric yellow maned stallion said. "So, you really restored the entire thing yourself?"
"Yeah it wasn't easy to do, but I just felt I should do it myself...can't quite explain why." the unicorn sighed pitifully despite his achievement. "I've even picked up how to play a little bit, but it just doesn't sound...you know, right. I need to be able to incorporate the sound of a full band behind it."
"Want to put a band behind it then?" the earth pony suggested slyly.
"What exactly are you sayin'?" Redbook said looking up in surprise.
"Well me and my friend Ace are trying to put together a band, and we need a dedicated bassist." he invited. "What do you say Redd, wanna be a part of something?"
The former bookworm didn't even think two seconds about it before answering Sig.
"I'm in!" Redd answered a fire in his eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It had been a leap of faith that Signature took, and he was rewarded for it in kind. The band came together almost as if it had always been meant to be. Within the first month they had a vocalist, guitarist, and bassist. That left a skilled drummer, as a drummer would form the entire backbone of their music. Redd, having the intellect that he did would make the suggestion that would inevitably lead them to their wild drummer, Brimstone Beats.
As Sig looked up into the sky, he decided it would be best to go check into a hotel until tomorrow. He could always resume his search tomorrow, there was still plenty of time left ahead of him. He got up from the bench in front of the library and strode off to find a hotel with vacancy. It would be an interesting trip through his memories getting to Canterlot Castle tomorrow. A visit to the amphitheater would be the best next stop for him, empty or not.