Time, is a tricky thing. In the heat of the moment, in battle especially, time seems to become more and more elastic, as if the God of the Spark himself had decided to interfere. There were moments when Phae’s mind with a cold calculating clarity had the perceived time to transpose Faelene onto Aisha’s form, yet other moments seemed to whirl by too quickly for comprehension. Where the difficulty lay, was in the objectivity that physics demanded upon their bodies.

Phae would have thought it would have been impossible for the mare to buck due to the compression that Phae’s hooves would have caused on her back, not to mention that she was only afforded milliseconds of reaction time, as Phae’s body sailed through the air. Nonetheless, she could feel the air changing around her hind hooves as Aisha’s legs lunged out, aiming for her chest and under belly, and missed their target, for a second time, due to their height differences. There was simply not enough time between Aisha’s horn cutting Phae’s back left leg, and Phae’s back right leg connecting with the mare’s back, for Aisha to buck and connect with her chest and belly, as she intended.

Without a moments pause, Aisha was once again charging at Phaedra. How this mare was able to push through the pain she must have felt, Phae didn’t know, but it was a handy trick. Phae hadn’t landed too far from Aisha, and the only saving grace of her clumsy leap over the mare, is that there wasn’t much time for Aisha to build up speed. Sadly for Phae, the dark mare had changed her battle tactics. She felt Aisha skid to a stop at her side, kicking up more soil than she would have thought possible, given how hard the ground was. Phae was expecting the mare to buck again, based on how this spar had proceeded, and was caught off guard when she reared. A more experienced spar-er could probably have foreseen and planned for this difficulty, but Phae could not, as she was incredibly inexperienced.

What was she even doing this for? She had felt so confident when she first stepped onto the battlefield – as if beginner’s luck was something she was owed, guaranteeing that she would come out of this on top. Now, not only was she bruised and bleeding, but she could no longer recall what had driven her here in the first place. The maddening anger and frustration she felt for Tolio and Faelene had ebbed away, replaced with fear and physical pain instead.

She raised her muzzle towards the sky as she felt Aisha’s hooves grazing her chest as they rose upwards and began thrashing. Pinning her ears back partly out of anger, and partly to minimize the risk of having them bit, she reared as well, extending her wings to aid with balance. She felt Aisha’s hooves and forelegs interlocking with her own. Using this to her advantage, she leaned in, teeth bared hoping to grab any amount of flesh that she could latch onto. She aimed bites for the mare’s throat, out of reach of her thrashing forelegs, and her ears, using her height to her advantage. She grunted each time Aisha’s forelegs connected with her chest. Gasping, she tried to draw a breath in between biting lunges, feeling as though the wind was constantly being knocked out of her. She leaned heavily into Aisha, partly trying to stifle the blows from her forelegs, but partly to remove the weight on her back left side, the muscle of which was threatening to give out.

Being able to take the berating of her chest no longer, Phae pushes away from the mare, awkwardly twisting herself around. As her hooves hit the ground, she felt an enormous tightness in her chest, due to Aisha’s knees pounding there. She raised her right wing, which was conveniently coloured white, to signal the spar was over. ”Okay, okay!” She gasped, her voice coming out in raspy, ragged breaths. What was I thinking?! She wondered incredulously, lowering her nose to inspect the wound on her back leg.

Suddenly she heard Stella’s frantic chirps from the sidelines. Turning, she realized the little bird must have been squawking the whole time, but Phae had not registered the sound at all. Nodding, her bonded practically tripped over herself as she launched her small body into the air, flying to Phae as quickly as she could. Gently, unsure of where her bonded was in pain, Stella landed on her wither, chattering angrily at Aisha. Raising her muzzle, Phae exhaled, sounding exhausted. How long had this spar lasted? Surely it was only minutes, but it felt like hours.

[WC: 786.

Character Summary: Aisha’s buck misses Phae completely, as Phae is already over her by the time her legs extend. She is surprised by Aisha’s rear, and is hit several times in the chest before she rears as well, aiming to bit at Aisha’s throat and ears, before finally turning away as the pain in her leg grows too great.

Attack: 4/4
Defense 1/1

I hope that was an okay spar! I was my first one, so thank you Pheonix! I think this is how they typically end, from what I've read. I’ll edit the thread to have it judged.]

I did my best, it wasn't much.
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you.
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah