My thoughts are not on my opponent during this battle. Even as she speaks, my mind has already shifted; I do not hear her words. Svetlana is little more than a moving target in my mind, and while she may have strategy and plans when it comes to this battle, the only care I have is myself. The beat of my heart, what I am fighting for, the driving force behind my attacks: they are important. The enemy you are facing can use as many manipulations and plots as they want, but to be a great fighter, you must understand your own body. Understanding my limits is all that matters. She may analyze me until her brain begins to boil, but I am a simple creature.

Do not fear the fight. Fight to protect. Protect those you love. Love those who are worthy of your life.

This fight is tricky, though. The rain is blinding, the way it falls from above and tugs my blonde mane over my face in heavy streams. It sinks from my feathers down to the skin, down to the bone, chilling me and making me shiver even as I fly onward. I think not of the distractions, only the beating of my heart like a drum in my chest and the smudges of clarity I see through rain. I am strong. My muscles will hold. I can survive the chill of spring rain; I have survived worse. Without much visibility, my teeth meet flesh, tear skin, and I feel the hardened bone below. The scrape of flesh on my teeth shakes my skull unpleasantly. My neck retreats from Svetlana's, and I move forward, legs retracting just long enough to lunge out in search of flesh. I feel the force of another pushing back, my legs meeting my mark, then slipping of the soggy frame of the mare. There was no time to consider the damage dealt.

I continue to fly, glancing back to see the movement of this other mare, but she has disappeared up into the ceiling of clouds above us. She was fast for a mare who does not have the wind on her side. The rain will not permit me to stare above, even if the clouds would, and I feel a moment of panic rise in my chest as my heart quivers in a speeding tempo; I have lost sight of her. I try to soothe myself, looking down at my legs still outstretched and breathing steadily. Lightning. The sky lights up above me, and I see a shadow upon my leg - a wing. "Bitch," my whisper lost to the clouds, my wings turning, right wing pointing to the ground as the left stabs into clouds above me, cutting a path as I continue to soar. I tilt sideways, the lummox sinking down where I had been. Crackle, BOOM! The thunder shakes my body, but I do not relent.

I continue my swerve upward, losing myself in the clouds, a mist that I cannot see through. There is a light around me, reminding me that above these clouds the sun still shines. I stare up toward it, my body upside down by normal standards now, but the wind carries me yet, a faithful servant, allowing me to curve down into the open air once more. I had no way of knowing if Svetlana would be close, or even where I had ended up after my spill into the clouds above, but my dark eyes located her contrasted body quickly. Luckily for me, the mare was a sizable amount larger than my own compact frame, and her massive black wings acting like a demented beacon. All the better for me to target you with, my dear. Without thought, I dive downward to where she was, front hooves extended once more. This time, I approach roughly from her left side, the angle sharp as I zoomed in from above. I aim for her left shoulder; perhaps, if I struck true, I could ricochet off of her in the sky to escape. I prepare my legs, readying them to meet her muscular frame and use my own strength to bounce off, hopefully sending her spinning in the opposite direction as I scraped away from her. Once more, my teeth snap toward her face and ears, another warning for her to keep her teeth away from my own skin.

If I was not so pissed off to be fighting in the middle of a thunderstorm, I might actually be having fun.
""

[ 2/4; 798 words ]