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// Repeated Bad News 
// Story: How Far Does Loyalty Go? 
// by Faith Everlasting 
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	“WHAT?! She’s WHAT?!” I slammed my hooves into my desk and snorted in rage. The iron horse shoes splintered the newly sanded wood and I grumbled a small complaint to myself. Thunderlane cowered as bits of wood went shooting out at him, some of them even penetrated his coat, but he did not cry out. I smoothed down my mane with my hoof and tried to remain calm. “What did you say that she’s doing?” I repeated.
“She’s made a… therapy group, if you want to call it that,” Thunderlane replied. “Apparently, she’s taking in disabled pegasi from across Equestria and saying that they’re still worth something,” I snickered at their naivety.
“A ‘therapy group’? For disabled pegasi, you say?” Thunderlane slowly nodded his head, afraid that I might lash out again. I sighed and placed my head in my hooves, directing my elbows to the places of the desk that weren’t splintered. I tried to think about the situation at hoof, but so many things were distracting me! Spitfire’s captain jacket felt large on my body and made me hotter than I already was in that stuffy little office. I glanced at the walls which were covered in Wonderbolts portraits, including Rainbow Dash’s picture. I picked up a paper weight on the desk that was shaped like a lightning bolt, paused for a moment, and then threw it at Rainbow Dash’s portrait, making it shatter and fall to the floor in a thousand pieces. I then took of Spitfire’s jacket, sighed once more, and stood from my desk. 
“What do you suggest we do, Thunderlane?” I asked him.
“Nothing, ma’am,” I snorted at his ridiculous answer.
“’Nothing’?” I advanced on him, making him tuck his tail between his legs and take in a gulp of fear. “I wanted Rainbow Dash to be grounded for life!” He quivered in my shadow and took in another gulp.
“But she is grounded for life, ma’am!” He protested.
“Not just physically! Emotionally as well! I don’t want her to feel any joy, any happiness; I don’t want her to feel anything!” I slammed my hoof into the ground so hard that it sent jolts of pain up my own leg! I grimaced at the sensation, but then pushed it out of my mind for now. 
“You’re getting distracted from the big mission, ma’am,” Thunderlane tried to remind me. “He just wanted Rainbow Dash out of the way. She was the most likely pony who could stop us. I’m starting to feel like this is all personal to you now!”
I ignored him. “What can we do to stop her? What can we do to make sure that she doesn’t do anything like this ever again?” I started to sound like a rambling, insane pony and I could even feel my heart began to pound heavily in my chest.
“Kill her,” Thunderlane said in a frustrated tone. 
“That is an option, but it wouldn’t make me feel better. I want her to be dead in life!” Thunderlane looked confused, so I stopped consulting him all together. “I could maim her again until she can’t even walk… no. That’s stupid.”
“Maybe you could take one of her-“
“Shut up!” I interrupted as Thunderlane attempted to speak. But then he gave me an idea. “Maybe I could take one of her… friends…” Thunderlane looked even more confused now, but he didn’t speak which was fortunate for him. 
“Who is Rainbow Dash’s best friend?” I demanded him to answer. He looked flummoxed and he shifted his gaze from right to left as he tried to figure it out.
“She has five best friends,” He answered.
“I know! But who is her best friend! Even in a large group of friends, there is always one that stands out above the rest!” Thunderlane did not reply. “Who does she spend the most time with?” His head shot up and a smile was etched on his face. Clearly he still wanted a piece in destroying Rainbow Dash’s life even when it wasn’t supposed to be our focus now.
“Applejack and Pinkie Pie,” He chuckled under his breath.
“What? What about them?” I asked him.
“They’re both earth ponies!” He chuckled maniacally once more.
“You’re point being?” I was becoming frustrated.
“If you can’t kill Rainbow Dash, then why not kill one of them?”
“What would that do?”
“Crush her spirit… for good,” I paused for a moment, taking in this new plan. Thunderlane continued to cackle to himself as I paced the floor, sweat began to drip down my brow as I thought long and hard.
“Crush her spirit, you say?” I repeat.
“Yes,”
“Kill one of them, you say?”
“Why just one?”
“How would she find out?”
“She’d see it with her own eyes!” Thunderlane extended his wings in pleasure at the thought of his idea. He even pranced about the room for a good solid 10 seconds flat.
“You mean we’d kill both of her friends and have her watch?” I pondered the notion in my head and then smiled. “I like it,” Thunderlane beamed with pride and got ready to take off into the air to fulfill his mission. “Oh, and one more thing,” He looked back at me, still beaming. “Make sure that Rainbow Dash sees you taking them away. I want her to hear their cries of horror!” With those words, Thunderlane took off into the sky, calling three other ponies to assist him.
I slowly walked back over to my desk and sat back down in my chair. I felt… light. Like a burden had been lifted from my shoulders. I looked back at the wall behind me and smiled with pride. Spitfire’s wings were mounted on my wall and soon there would be two more souvenirs to add to my collection. I flapped my wings gently to hover up to the disembodied wings and I gently stroked the soft feathers.
“You were the first to go, Spitfire,” I said to the prize. “And now Rainbow Dash will truly be grounded!” I let out a stereotypical evil laugh, but it was all that I could do not to control it! It felt good to be bad! Good to be insane! Good to be a murderer! And it sure felt good to be the cause of another pony’s drop into insanity as well!