Pursuit of Harmony (Ended)

Fillydelphia. The city of scavengers and first on his list of places. He had been welcomed into the camp of the Steel Rangers. He had been staying there a few days, doing odd jobs for them to repay them for food and board. He told them a few stories about the happening around the wastes. You'd be surprised how much those power suited pones love to gossip and know things. It must be in their bones to seek and enjoy knowledge. Stormy was chat to chat till the sun went down.

Stormy waved good day to his comrades as he set out into most compared with the pits of Tartarus themselves. Few Rangers said he stick around learn a thing or too. Stormy had to refuse. H would never gain his armor by sticking around here. Perhaps he'll return when he did though. They looked like they could use it. He watched one fire fight erupt and it was something else. The place was a radioactive war zone. Stormy broke though a nearby window of a shop and flashed his light inside. Te thing appeared to be a small shop of some sort. Perhaps there would be the prize he wanted most of all. Cola. Stormy had loved that sugary substance sense he was little foal.It was his main thing he looked for most days.

He knew a laser gun wasn't going to be in some shop. He dug through the debris and looked around. "Ahahahahaha! Yes!" He had found a delightful little chest. All black and unharmed like the many broken glasses and the rotten wood. He hummed a little tune as he tried to open it.

Cross Roads sat silently in the back of a small shop, pouring over various maps by candlelight when *Crash*, he looked up quickly blew out the candle. Placing his hood over his head, he wasn't about to let any raider take his claim.

Silently he approached the door to the front of the shop. Whoever broken with would soon learn Cross was not a foe to be reckoned with... Gritting his teeth, he slowly pushed the door open. There was a large figure in the shop humming loudly and making quite a ruckus. No hostile would be making himself so obvious of a target.

Cross came out the doorway and figured he should probably catch the big colt's attention but the size of the beast was staggering. Cross just stared wide-eyed at the big fella humming and using a bobbypin to pick open a lockbox that he himself had been tackling with for days.

"Ummm....Hello?"

Stormy was in the middle of opening it when he heard a hello from behind him. The bobby pin make a small *snap*.

He turned with a grin plastered on his face. Stormy looked around few times then to the door the colt had come from. "It seems I have broken into your temporarily home. My deepest sorry to you."

Stormy had lived long enough to gauge a situation. This colt clearly wasn't a raider, or else Stormy would have a knife in his back. In fact he looked a little confused. He must be a seeker of rare treasures like he was. Stormy had been looking for someone to trade with.

"This isn't my home," he stammered. "I'm just resting here while I study my maps, is there anything I can help you with? my name is Cross Roads"

The unicorn felt a load of tension lift off his shoulders, this large muscular earth pony didn't come off the least bit hostile. But as soon as Cross gazed down to his flank he began to worry again. There was a cutie mark matching the steel rangers logo. Last thing he needed was a steel ranger taking anything he finds.

But perhaps they could work together on Cross's next destination...

Stormy had a little twinkle in his eyes at the word maps. It was rare to have such a helpful tool like a map.

"Maps you say? How interesting of a profession to wield."

Stormy saw the colt's body language had became less tense. He could see the clear relieve on Cross Roads's face till he took a quick look at Stormy's cutie mark. Which wasn't strange. One can learn a lot from a cutie mark.

With a quick thought before he spoke on. He added to his responds to the questions more the likely in the colt's mind. Every word he spoke came smooth and flowing from him. He was a silver tongued colt.

"Ah, I see you know the meaning behind the symbol on my flank hrm? I am from the Steel Rangers, but not really one of any sort of title or prestige."

No point hiding this fact from the colt. He didn't feel the need for such things like lying at the moment. Besides the colt clearly knew what it was already. It was wore right on his face.

He spoke on without giving you time to respond. He is a talkativee one.

"Also to your other questions regarding helping me, it seems your just the prefect fit. I need the safest way out of city." Stormy grinned as a ending thought came to him. "

Isn't fun how coincidental the world works? AHahahhaahaha." He laughed a jolly laugh for a few moments. Stormy rarely met other ponies and in this sort of world a nice chat was hard to come by at times.

He went on....and on and on...

The words were lost on Cross, but he did manage to catch his name

"Stormy!" he stammered

"Yes..?" he replied mid-sentence

Me and my companion need some assistance with a certain task in a certain place, and sadly I cannot pay you now, I'm hoping it can...how you say... a fruitful relationship and we split our findings?

before Stormy could reply, he shouted "You accept!?!?! excellent!! Sky get out here and welcome our need friend, he looks parched bring out a Sparkle-Cola!"

Cross removed his hood, smiling for once, this streak of luck was never going to end. The odds of running into a perfectly healthy and strong earth pony! Ooooh how fortunate, and a pegasus. This trip would be very fruitful indeed, perhaps with these two he could even begin realize his dreams.

From the room in the back Sky appeared from doorway carrying a sparkle cola. "yeah yeah Cross,im..com....ing." Sky's eyes went wide with the size of the stallion, who was about twice the size of cross, and his face showed innocence.

Sky quickly regained her composure and managed to put a hoof out to introduce herself to the Stallion. "Hi im Sky and what is your name." with the held out she hoof, offering the Sparkle-Cola to him.

Stormy grew a greedy look as he took the Sparkle-cola. He loved soda with all his heart and he hadn't stumbled upon one in a about a week. He turned to the filly with a warm smile.

"Hello Sky, my name is Stormy and thank you for the cola. Did you know my mother was going to name me Sky if I came out a filly? Wait, I'm sorry there isn't any way you could of know that. Silly me." He grins as he uncaps the bottle and drinks deeply from.

"Ahhh, tell you what Cross Roads. I'll help you with any-sort of thing you wish. All I ask for is if by chance we come around some rare pre-war tech I can get first hoof on it, also I'll work for Sparkle-cola if we don't. AHahahahahahaa." Stormy wasn't a Merc of any kind. Bits weren't the thing on his mind.

Cross Roads smiled and just stared right back and replied, "...Sure!" not letting anything on to this earth pony

But deep down Cross Roads had even more loathing for the Steel Rangers than he did for the Twilight Society. He'd allow Stormy to take any metal objects, but arcane tech was strictly unicorns only! Once Sky and Stormy introduced themselves, Cross began.

"Alright according to one of my maps 2 miles northwest of here, theres a rock farm with a tree...but this is no ordinary tree, underneath it is supposably a small bunker for a family of four built under orders of the Ministry of Morale but I can't find any more details than that..." he lied

"It is my hope that the post-apocalyptic supplies included cache of weapons for defense and perhaps more, but the tree is linked to a security system and theres no telling whats been occupying the house for the time being"

He looked at Sky and Stormy and raised his hoof at the both of them in triumph.

"But I believe there is nothing that can stop us, we are here to show the wasteland that we are a force to be reckoned with." And without notice he jumped on the table aiming at the sky with full confidence, nearly causing Stormy's Sparkle-Cola to drop before he caught it like as if it were a newborn filly.

Sky stared at him wide eyed, but said nothing, she looked at him on the table which he was still pointing to the Sky. She sighed, " so whats out first move if we wish to make it to the rock farm." Sky said with a serious face.

"And how are we going to get past the Raider infested ruins that block nearly every route into and out of this city." She said with a less than enthusiastic mood.

Stormy grinned as he took the soda back with nod of thanks and drank from it. It seems the individual he had stumbled across wasn't just a scribe, but someone with a lot of knowledge. Very detailed and secretive knowledge. How interesting. He seem to have a passion soul. Many passionate souls were driven by Love, Duty and Bits. The only question that remained is which one was it?

It was clear he didn't seem to want to let Stormy in about anything. Understandable, Many missions like this were better when you didn't know what you were getting into. Besides they had just met. Trust wasn't big factor in talking. Stormy had always been told not to trust locals, but Stormy had sort of ignored such things. He could always see that little good in ponies, though that tended to get him into trouble when faced with seeing the darker side of a pony.

He took this all in and replied, "Well Sky makes fair point about the raiders, but I'm sure one with maps has a less known way out of the city yes?"

Stormy grinned as he sipped his drink. He would prefer not to deal with raiders. The Rangers were trying to clear them out of the city. They would very angry if they saw him with them. Might even mistake them for slavers that had caught him or something. Those front line fillies tended to shoot then ask corpses the hard questions

"Haha have yee little faith in me Stormy??!" Where we are going we won't need maps. It is not quite so far as you might imagine!" He grinned. He wrapped Stormy around the shoulder before he could react and with other hoof place a shovel onto his chest.

"O woe is me if we cannot discover a way to avoid stepping on grounded tainted ground that these so-called raiders plague" he motioned dramatically.

"But fear not, I have a solution!!" he stated loudly as he threw back on his hood.

And for quite a few seconds the entire room was silent, and began smiling a little too supisciously at Sky.

"Cross?..."
-------------------------1 Hour Later------------------------------

Sky lied exhaustively on the ground, hopefully still breathing, which Cross would normally be concerned with. But he had an act to pull.

"Stormy, go knock on the door, perhaps we could rest a spell if we don't get any trouble, I watch Sky" He pointed at the house with a Napoleon Pose, smooth move.

Stormy wondered if he spoke from perfect Equestrian to rural back lands for fun or he was from the such areas. Perhaps when the time is right he would ask.

Stormy gazed at the door with suspicious. Ponies with adventurous hearts can't resist a door. He was drawn to just open it, but stopped as he checked the lock. It wasn't much to look at in the ways of hard to pick. It's just it was likely if you opened the door there could be turret sticking in your face.


Stormy felt like he was bait for turret bullets as he knocked at the door. He wondered what purpose there was in knocking on it when he could pick more then likely. Then again if someone was in there they would be more then mad if they broke in. Not that it wasn't uncommon for such things to happen.

Stormy pounded a few swift times and backed up in case they needed to see his face through any sort of peek hole.

Amity was sleeping on top of a table when he heard a knocking at the front door. This surprised him. Why where there people here? Quickly putting on his cloak again and unlatching his switchblade, he sneaked over to a nearby hole in the wall trying to get a good look at who might be out in this area.

All he caught was a Unicorn cloaked in red, a pegasus collapsed all over the ground and a rather large earth pony.

An earth pony with a cutie mark that not many bore.

'Oh great.' Amity thought. 'What do they want?'

He contemplated his next course of actions. Thinking for a while he slid back into the shadows without making a sound. What ever it is that they wanted, Amity was going to figure it out somehow.

"Nobody home!?, great! don't mind if...I...Do...He said as he tried to buck the door to no avail." He looked at Stormy who returned a confused look.

Cross sighed, he pulled out a bobby pin and went straight to work, luckily it was an old house and in...*click* 5 mins he managed to get the door open. He walked in, with the floor groaning after each hoofprint.

"Stormy, would you kindly bring Sky in...?" he asked aside without turning back. The house appeared deserted and there seemed to be some food too. Cross pulled back his hood and had already set down his pack on the table. Had he been more cautious without dropping that act.

He would have found it suspicious that the table was the one piece of furniture that didn't have dust on it.

Stormy was tad confused at his sudden actions. He hadn't even tried knocking twice. Quite rude not to least wait a bit. Stormy would of scolded him entering a house like that is beyond unsafe, but he wasn't sure the colt would like him talking Steel Ranger tactics. They weren't a favorite faction and he'd prefer not have to reveal anything about them. THey'd get really mad at him if he went around running his mouth.

"Sure I'll get her." He said whimsically.

He lifted Sky on his back with whispered of thanks for taking them here as he looked at the old house. He walked slowly to prevent from dropping Sky towards the open door. Everything seemed fine so far. Stormy closed his left eye as the sun beamed down at him. The thing was always in the wrong place when he needed to see well. Someone should really control that thing, Put it in a reasonable spot.

They didn't look hostile at all, but that was just a first impression. Everypony knows not to judge a book by it's cover. So Amity decided to play it safe as he observed the trio rummage through his piles of trash.

Amity exhaled quietly as he lay back.

-and knocked over an old room lamp. The lamps long burnt out bulb hit the floor with a resounding *crack*.

'So much for years of stealth training...' Amity muttered as he fled deeper into the house using his wings to assist him in bounding down the hallways. They had to have heard that, and no doubt they would soon be looking for the cause of the noise. Better not stick around.

*Crack* and with that Cross's head snapped to the hallway with a light bulb lying on the floor. He could have swore he saw something move but all that was within his sight was a curtain on an open window, 'must be the wind' he thought and continued to rummage through the goods, even finding a lone sandwich which he devoured with ravenous hunger.

"mmh....Hey. Mmh...Stormhmhy can..hmm go check that?" he mumbled with a mouthful of bread.

Still, it was dark and he wasn't about to let Stormy take that risk alone, so he dusted himself, stood himself up, casted light and used his telekinesis to whip out his father's baton.

"...maybe on second thought...I should go first"
and so he began to slowly creep down the hall, shining radiance through every nook and cranny he passed.

Stormy unceremoniously put Sky on the table with wince as he patted her with a sorry. He hadn't meant drop her on the table so hard and cause the wood to groan from the force. He had heard the smash of the light bulb and grin grew on his face. It seems they clearly weren't alone and either they were planning surprise attack, or they were hiding. Which would be very smart considering there were three of him and they were unsure if they were hostile.


Stormy without another thought moved to the hall as Cross Roads had stalked pass him. The colt was ambitious. Which can be a wonderfully dangerous trait for one to have. He liked it.

As the colt walked Stormy said with a echoing voice down the hall so it was clear to hear. His voice had a sort of enchanting tone to it. Like one who had prepared what to say beforehand.

"Excuse me, if there is a pony or any sort down there I'd like to say first and foremost the intentions of the individuals are not hostile. Also I'd like to express my sorry for breaking into your house." Stormy stopped as he thought on what to say. He was going to say something like come out or something, but that sounded sort of suspicious. His voice carried though the halls.

"My new friend here is currently coming down the hall and I'd ask you humbly not to shoot him." Stormy wasn't going to risk Cross Roads getting caught by some pony. Stormy was in bad position for a hostage situation or if they killed Cross. Besides it would be silly considering he had no intention of killing anyone. Also he wasn't sure if Cross was a trigger happy type or not when someone came up behind him.

"My new friend here is currently coming down the hall and I'd ask you humbly not to shoot him," the voice said from down the hallway.

Amity sighed silently as he hid, maybe they weren't hostile, but that doesn't defeat the fact that they were still had a reason for being here.

And Amity intended to find out why.

Seeing the unicorn approaching from down the hallway wielding a baton, Amity bounded down the hallways until he made a full circle. He observed from behind as the unicorn's horn lit up with magic and shone in every spot and creves. With one fluid motion, Amity flipped out his switchblade and slipped it back into his cloak. Amity then sneaked around to the large room where he was sleeping only moments before and approached the earth pony and the sleeping pegasus calmly.

"What are you doing here?" he said blankly. He moved his gaze from the earth pony to the pegasus while keeping his ears trained on the hallway behind him.

Stormy had a wide grin as he looked back to Sky on the table then to the colt before him. He has in-tuned eyes, perhaps that was just a factor for one who has seen a bit to much. Stormy wondered often wondered what story his eyes told.

"Well we heard about some supplies could be hidden nearby and basically were here to obtain. Pretty much just a scavenging party. Well from what I have been told." He grinned once more as he tried not to breath in to much dust. His mother always said it would block his lungs.

Now that he thought about it. It was likely it was a joke about when he was little he wouldn't stop talking till he needed to breath. Stormy closed his left eye as he looked over the colt. He seem to be quite calm being this close to Stormy.

Most were shocked by his tall, looming self. This one must have some formal training or be really hoofy in close combat. Most show fear when they were close to do fear on him slamming his powerful hooves on them, which Stormy preferred not to have to do. It's fun what you can learn about one by how they hold themselves.

"Naturally I'd ask you what you are doing here, but it's quite clear you seem to be living here by your bed head. AHahahahaahaa!"

His hair was quite messy in Stormy's eyes at least. Not that Stormy was the picture of proper hair care hismelf.

Cross overheard Stormy fall behind but this was no time to be playing games, he had to do search of the entire house while Stormy was simply chattering away relentlessly. Every Room contained very little in the way of furnising or possessions, the only evidence he could find was a small torn photo on the floor. He lifted it up to his light at statered at it, it was a family. However 4 of them had dull grey coats while another had a pink coat and mane. Strange, Cross believed this might be significant and the filly seemed to look familiar, but nonetheless he packed it, only to forget its existence from the time on.

Every step, every room flowing with new light, the floor creaking. Cross Roads had completed his search and was turning back when...

"Hey Stormy, I believe the house may be cl---" He ended when he saw his new friend talking someone he knew, someone he remembered really quite well, someone who's presence in this part of the wasteland was a complete surprise.

Amity craned his head over slowly to see that the red-cloaked unicorn wielding a baton had approached him from behind. Sub-consciously, Amity pulled out and unlatched his switchblade in one fluid motion.

"Who is he?" Amity asked calmly as he tossed the blade up in the air and promptly caught it with his mouth. He wasn't liking the looks of this, he was cornered. This reminded him a lot of his younger years of training. He sparred with earth ponies and unicorns before, but these two didn't look that threatening at the moment.

Still, Amity could feel himself tense slightly as he moved his ears between the two like he was taught, awaiting an answer before even thing of letting his guard down.

Stormy watched as the knife sail out of his cloak into his mouth. He was trained in close combat. He even seem to have a sort of second sense for danger. Which was strange considering Stormy was trying his best to pose no threat. Perhaps he baton wielding friend was the one bring the hostile aura out?

"That is Cross Roads. He seems to be looking for stuff. He is nice colt so far. I don't think will need to learn the function of knife today."

He hoped.

Cross saw who it was, why it was his old friend Amber! He chuckled to himself as the baton compacted itself onto his belt.

"Why if isn't who i think it is?" He stated quietly as he removed his hood. And there the two stood staring at each other with blank expressions on their faces.

"I've seen you've already met Stormy, one of my new compatriots, what brings you here?"