Harmony Lane [Finished]

Sky looked rather shocked at what Starry told Kes, to make somepony cry. Like hell she will let her have the satisfaction of Sky to cry, This will really get out of hand sooner or later, now that she has a metal bat. best not to keep the Starry waiting on the dare now, making sure she is ready for the push ups.

And she began, Doing the pushups, "one,two,three,four,five,"

Sky counted as she kept doing push ups. "six,seven,eight,nine,ten," Sky thought about what she would do to starry if she ever had the chance.

"eleven,twelve,thirteen,fourteen,fifteen," Sky was feeling a twinge of anger.

"sixteen,seventeen,eighteen,nineteen,twenty." The pain was starting to set in but it was still no deterrent to stop.

"twenty one,twenty two,twenty three,twenty four,twenty five." Muscles were starting to tense.

"Twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty," no way she was going to quit now.

"thirty one, thirty two, thirty three, thirty four, thirty five," The pain is getting to much.

"thirty six, thirty seven, thirty eight, thirty nine, forty," Anger was set in.

"forty one, forty two, forty three, forty four, forty five," The pain was getting unbearable,But she would not let Starry see those tears. Or kes for that matter, didn't matter already close to the goal.

"forty six, forty....seven,for...ty........eight, .....forty.............nine,....................FIFTY!" Sky finished falling onto the ground, muscles burned, Stiffed, and ached.

"your....not...going to.....see......me..........cry..." Sky said in between the heavy breathing she had to do, all she felt was anger. blood boiling anger, but she put on that little grin to mess with starry.

"100 WING UPS, NOW!!!" Kes roared out yet again, pulling out his full volume and aggression. It didn't matter what Sky thought she could do, Kes would break her like a twig. It was only a matter of time.

If he had to he would take more drastic measures to see that it happened sooner, but first he wanted to see just how long Sky would last. He'd take it easy for now, just keep barking orders out one after another, then he'd kick it up a notch when that stopped working.

And with that Sky used to her wings to push herself up, and she began.

"one,two,three,four,five,six,seven,eight,nine,ten,eleven,twelve,thirteen,fourteen,fifteen,sixteen,seventeen, eighteen,nineteen,twenty." These are a little faster and easier to do, something that didn't bother her.

"twenty one, twenty two, twenty three, twenty four, twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty, thirty one, thirty two, thirty three, thirty four, thirty five, thirty six, thirty seven, thirty eight, thirty nine, forty." Sky barley broke a sweat, Wing ups. She had to carry her own body weight everyday, this was easy stuff.

"forty one, forty two, forty three, forty four, forty five, forty six, forty seven, forty eight, forty nine, fifty, fifty one, fifty two, fifty three, fifty four, fifty five, fifty six, fifty seven, fifty eight, fifty nine, sixty." ok now, Sky started to feel something in the her wing.

"sixty one, sixty two, sixty three, sixty four, sixty five, sixty seven, sixty eight, sixty nine, seventy, seventy one, seventy two, seventy three, seventy four, seventy five, seventy six, seventy seven, seventy eight, seventy nine, eighty." this is getting old, she started to get tired.

"eighty one, eighty two, eighty three, eighty four, eighty five, eighty six, eighty seven, eighty eight, eighty nine, ninety. ninety one, ninety two, ninety three, ninety four,"

"ninety five," Sky felt her anger to the max, pissed off at Starry for that take back.

"Ninety six," and again anger took over.

"ninety seven," Sky's eyes were of rage.

"ninety eight," She just looked at starry.

"ninety nine," not moving them from her.

"one...hundred"Sky finished and fell to the ground, this was in fact easier as she did this everyday. (flying)

"Your not going to make me cry, just give up and move on." Sky tried to plead with the unicorn.

Starry grinned deviously. She didn't care about this griffon, he was no friend of hers, even though a faint voice in her head spoke to the contrary. This griffon wasn't her friend, none of these ponies were. She had tried making friends, and it had failed for the last time.

What this griffon was doing was making Starry smile, his shouts were music to her ears. She wanted to make somepony as miserable and broken as Starry felt, and Kes seemed to be the perfect instrument for the job. Maybe he took pleasure in causing misery as well, or maybe he was simply committed to the mission. Either way, Starry had made a note to herself not to cross him. She might not call this griffon a friend, but Starry was smart, and she knew her limits.

"Try something more drastic," she advised him.

Cross has sat backed in horror and shock as Sawdust chugged a punch bowl, puked on Bakewell, Starry turned whacked, Kes made Sky do wing-ups. Slowly Cross was getting angry, more and more ponies we're getting hurt, and slowly but surely the party host seemed to be turning a bit more sadistic.

Cross let out a growl, and sprung up from where he was sitting, viciously roaring at the crowd

"Alright you dregs....you know I've been sitting here...looking at you pitiful excuses for ponies just go on and suck the morale out of the room, I don't know how the hell you each managed to do it, but somehow I'm not feeling just quite so...jolly anymore, which is interesting since I'm Ministry of Morale and this considerably bad for the war effort....Now would everypony....would you kindly lay on the floor with your limbs behind your back while my Self-Esteem Squad secures you? and don't think of running, theres another 6 surrounding the building" Releashing the growl Cross smirked and let out a small chuckle...

...The steel rangers then revealed cuffs and marched over to the perpatrators

Techno ran around the counter as Shutter had another migraine. "Okay, bit worse than I thought. Here, let's sit down for a bit." he said, starting to lead Shutter to the waiting area with several plush chairs. After they were there, he considered what Shutter had said. He took a quick glance out the window. Buildings obstructed a lot of the view, but he could see no clouds in the sky, and a few on the horizon, as Shutter had said.

"I know that the war's going on, but of all places, why would they want more patriotism here? Don't we have enough as it is?" he asked, Harmony Lane being practically the MOST patriotic district in Manehatten.

Sky just lay on the floor, following the orders made by the MoM agent. finally this came to an end, any longer and this would taken a turn for the worse.

"Thank you." Was all Sky could manage from the floor, to thank cross.

Amity had already sneaked out of the room during the game since no pony really picked him during that time. (*Sniff sniff*) With the rangers in the room being in their was just to risky, and he was already taking a big risk just staying in the room. Quietly stepping out of the room and opening and closing the door whenever the gryphon shouted an order, Amity barely heard the order to restrain the party goers.

With a sigh of relief Amity bounded down the hallway until he got to his apartment. Swiftly pulling out the keys he opened the door and promptly shut and locked it as he stepped through.

Now time to plan ahead.

"..Aha...I-it's not really that they want more patroitism here...but that the brass want the patriotism from here in other places. Some higher-ups, probably from one of the ministries, want a full journalist's report on Harmony lane, that can then be used as the example of what everywhere else should be...to inspire other ponies to work harder for Equestria...."

Shutter explained, as he took a seat on one of the chairs, still massaging his headache with his hoof. It was funny...the more he talked about why he was there, the more the pain seemed to go away.

"However, the deadline is coming up, and as I said before, I'm stuck! Those things I mentioned before? Not helping my creativity one bit...I just can't find the few paragraphs I need to finish up this report!"

Fantastic! Luna damned FANTASTIC!...I go to a party and then THIS!...now I'm gonna get arrested then fired....and I didn't do A BUCKING THING...when this is all over...I'm NEVER going to another party. EVER."

Scrap followed Cross's orders and got down on the floor like instructed-maybe if he didn't resist then they'd let him off easier...

Kes offered only a blink in response to Cross's order. Arresting him? They were going to try and arrest him? Now Kestrel knew something was up. Steel Rangers were not this subservient.

The Bird had a way out of this though, A little loophole in MoM policy. All Recon was taught to use this in case MoM decided they wanted to try and arrest them for something.

The Gryphon pulled out his dog-tags and held them up for Cross to see.

"Kestrel, First Sergeant. Force Recon. You have no authority to arrest me."

Cross looked at the Gryphon, was a true policy, besides, he wasn't concerned with the bird, he wasn't causing too much trouble and he was soldier, he was a patriot.

"Alright, Heartbreaker, please leave Sergeant Kes and start wrapping this up....and where is that potato thief!?!" Cross roared as he looked around the room looking for Amber pony. Apparently some of the ponies were beginning to surrender but Cross was still pissed. His vision was starting to get fuzzy, and some of the walls were beginning to stir out like a fuzzy television.

He didn't care, as long as he got this done. Slowly as quickly as it came, his breath slowed and his vision returned...watching the arrests initiate....

Touching. They were touching her. Sawdust was the first to visibly and severely freak out. "STOP TOUCHING ME!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. Slipping out of the armored mare's attempt to grapple her to the ground. Once free she started to flee, running for the door to the basement.

As she ran her face was set in a rictus of fear, eyes wide, pupils dilated and her mouth slightly open showing off teeth tightly closed against each other. Her gait was much less of a proper sprinting gallop and more a scramble past chairs and things set up for the party as she bee-lined for the door.

Starry sighed, shortly before rolling on her back and permitting the steel rangers to cuff her hooves. There was no logic in trying to resist arrest. She had no ace up her sleeve, and there was no smarter course of action for which Starry would be better off taking. 'Figures, Cross tries to ruin my fun. The jerk.'

She opened her mouth to speak, from her position on the floor. "Dumb move, Cross. My father works for the Ministry of Arcane Sciences, and when he finds out what's happened," When he found out what happened, Starry would be in for the scolding of her life, but Cross didn't know that, "You'll rue the day you ever pinned that badge to your chest!"

Cross smiled as Starry threatened her from the floor, this felt much better. No more idiots, no more bullshit, no more letting trash take control of what was going on. He laughed as she cried out in vain, the steel rangers took a moment to halt as he walked over, his boots eye level with Starry as he stood down, met her gaze, and grinned. He used his magic to lift his earpiece down.

"See this Starry?..." Cross waved the earpiece in front of her face, then some audio began to play:

"With that in mind, I dare you, Mr. Griffon, to make somepony here cry. Somepony weaker than I am."

This recorded everything that went on here tonight, and don't worry, I'll have some words with Mr. Colt Johnson, you'll get out of this, barely....but Harmony Lane is my territory, for you see Starry, MOM policy lets me 'clean up the recordings if necessary, as long as its all part of went down here tonight now yo-" Cross heard a shriek as a mare escaped a ranger's grasp and tried making way towards the door.

"STOP TOUCHING ME"

*FLASH*, he now stood in front of the only doorway, reavishly laughing as his baton released from his belt and and waved, releasing the mechanism to extend the steel rod.

"Stop Sawdust....the Ministry of Morale is only here to help" Cross's grin and glowing red eyes weren't helping his case any, but he wanted them to fear him....that felt much more satisfying. If he couldn't earn their respect, he would in turn, take control for himself, causing fear was a pleasure all on its own.

Kes returned his dog-tags to their proper location around his neck and stepped back from the fray, letting MoMma's boy Cross try and make everyone in the room panic.

It was honestly pathetic to watch.

Bakewell submitted grudgingly just like everypony else in the room. She wasn’t scared, but at the same time didn’t particularly want a drove of MoM rangers trying to find her.

As Cross hassled poor Sawdust, Bakewell let out possibly the loudest sigh imaginable from her location on the floor as she rolled her eyes sarcastically.

“Gee, Mister MoM. I understand that you can’t really see due to that blinding cloud of ego surrounding you at all times and everything, but that mare you’re intimidating did absolutely nothing wrong that she could control. If you’re going to start arresting ponies for having to throw up then what’s next, going to the rest room? Breathing? Being invited to a party? Oh wait, you’ve already done that one!” She laughed. Maybe if she could distract Cross long enough, Sawdust could get away and do something super secret.

“It’s sad, really. You’re so hilariously angry and you haven’t even had anything bad happen to you! Do you see me fuming? I got thrown up on. Do you see Sky pissed? She just did several pushups! What about Scrap Parts? He got kicked. Sawdust got drugged and bloated. You? The worst thing that’s happened to you consists of me answering your questions! Yet you’re easily the most pathetically infuriated out of us all.” She paused long enough to snicker. “Guess some ponies just never grow up.”

Sawdust came to a rough stop and started backing away from Cross Roads, "No-no-no-no-no! You're already in my head! Isn't that enough!" Her eyes darted around and around until they spied a grate in the wall, an air vent, she looked at it several times, hoping to draw attention to it, then she'd try and rush past the MoM agent blocking the door. No grin, no nothing, her face was still an image of terror, she wanted, no, she needed to get away. It was bad enough they were in her head doing something to it, couldn't they leave her alone otherwise?!

Cross's laughter stopped as a scrawny little yellow mare tried to rush past him and he held the baton against her to hold her off, then he grinned as he got a nice creative idea...straight from Starry's dossier.

Cross wrapped the puny yellow pony with magic and he dragged her over to the rest.

"You know what, better yet, get the rope and string them up to the support beam, we'll hold them here until backup arrives." Cross let out a slight chuckle as Bake tried to taunt him while Sawdust struggled. Once, the rope was secure around Dust, he turned to Bakewell.

"What do I care Bakewell? I'm having way too much fun. and if its any consolation, according to Starry's dossier, this was where the party was going to end up anyway, so I suggest you make the most of it too"

That's when the hyperventilating started. Sawdust's chest rose and fell far too rapid for her to get anything from the air so briefly in her chest, but she couldn't calm down enough to slow down. Frankly she couldn't concive of calming down, something terrible was about to happen, she knew it in her bones. This was when terrible stuff happened, though she couldn't put her hoof on what. Briefly her mind skittered past an image of a metal collar, but its relevance was lost as the world started to lose its color.

In short she was having a full bore anxiety attack, the closest thing to a heart attack minus the heart fibrillations. She sank to her haunches, head darting around the room, around herself and to others, giving ponies brief panicked pleading looks before realizing they were in just as bad of shape as she was. She started muttering in a chant, "Somepony help me. Somepony help me." Fast and quiet.

Starry snorted. "Look at this little princess. So frail, he has to call backup to handle a few mares. And I don't believe your little dossier there has anything in it about this party. When you're as smart as I am, you don't need to write these things down."

It might not be wise to talk back to a MoM agent, but Starry had a plan. Not a 'clever escape' sort of plan, that was impossible, but Starry was going to do whatever it took to belittle this jerk as much as she could. She felt he deserved it, after abducting her from her own party. Er, arresting her.

"And hey, baby, why don't you just step back from the princess over there and let these gentlemen truss you up like the turkey you are," she was talking to Sawdust, "don't worry, I'll hold your hand if baby gets scared."

Starry was genuinely taunting Sawdust, but a little part of her really did hope that Sawdust did as Starry told her to. Maybe some vestige of the mare Starry had been didn't want to see Sawdust kill herself at Starry's own party.

Kes upon seeing that the only other pony he had encountered that seemed to know what was going on, start to have what could only be a panic attack, he took action.

"Oi, shes mine Momma's boy. Got a few questions for her." the gryphon grumbled out, already moving forward to collect Sawdust. Again he was exploiting a loophole in policy. Force Recon could take into custody any that they saw fit to grab, and Cross couldn't do a damn thing about it.

“Yeah. I guess you are. Only somepony as cruel as you could find enjoyment out of that Bakewell scoffed, nodding her head towards the hyperventilating Sawdust.” In actuality, only a small part of her animosity towards Cross was from his treatment of Sawdust. Had it the unicorn been any other pony, she wouldn’t have cared as much. Something about Cross rubbed the mare the absolute wrongest way possible. She hated the unicorn in the absolute worst way, and she didn’t even know why. She was glad that Kes was trying to take Sawdust away, but mostly because it meant Cross would be forced to give up plans he clearly wanted to execute.

“What happened to bullies being the biggest losers?” Bakewell muttered, attempting to cast a sideways glance towards Starry.

Sawdust was too busy freaking out to notice specifically who was taking her away. If her hooves hadn't been tied up she'd be beating them against Kestreal with all the force she could muster. As it was she continues to freak out though her hyperventilation goes down to a less unconsciousness inducing level.

Assuming that Kes does indeed lead her off she speaks once they have left the main group, "W-what are you going to do t-to me!" She says, now more on the verge of tears than the anxiety attack she was having a few moments earlier.

Kes ignored the question, instead continuing on towards his final destination; his apartment. Reaching the door the big gryphon would reach down and grab the key around his neck, placing in the the lock, and giving it a swift twist.

The door swung open silently a moment later, and soon enough Kes and Sawdust were in his home behind closed doors.

The gryphons apartment was spartan to say the least. There was hardly any furniture or decoration. A big couch in the living room sat across from a medium sized TV, a terminal sat flickering on a table off to the right of that.

The Kitchen/dining room was all but empty of anything major. A blender and a microwave being the only obvious appliances around.

Kes set dust down on the big, rather comfortable, couch and then turned and walked into the kitchen. He knew exactly which cabinet to look in for what he wanted; a simple glass, which he would then fill with water.

"M' gonna take your cuffs off now." Kestrel stated, his cold gaze locking on Sawdust's own. It was his way of saying 'chill out, or I make you chill out'.

He walked back into the Living room and set the glass down on the coffee table in front of the couch, just out of reach of Sawdust.