Click, click, click, click, click.

The annoying sound is drowned out by the blood pounding in her ears, but she knows it is there--it hurts. Her left wing continues to click as she flaps hard, sweat dripping from her frantically moving body. Her hard hooves pound against the ground every couple hundred of feet. She cannot stay in flight: she keeps dropping, galloping, kicking off, gliding, and repeating. The cycle hurts, but she cannot stop. No, there will be stopping until she knows she is safe. She breathes now like a thoroughbred finishing the longest race of its training, her nostrils flaring. She is moving so fast and so hard blood starts to drip from her nose--a blood vessel has popped. Despite the pain, the mare pushes on.

The trees that come towards her come fast and hard, beyond her control. To her, it had only felt like a second ago she was pushing herself forward through a field, but now she was dodging the obstacles of a forest. Flapping hard once, twice, three times she lifts herself off the ground briefly. Gritting her teeth she pushes her athletic, sore body towards the sky. Clearing the canopy she lets temporary relief fill her, but suddenly the only thing in her eyes is fear. Her wings stop moving up and down, and she is losing altitude fast. Her head tilts towards the canopy of the trees as they come closer, closer. Gasping, the mare does the only thing she can do--tuck her wings and legs in tight.

The descent is quick and hard, but her body ricochets off of tree branches like a pinball. Smaller branches crack and fall with her, others only absorb her momentum and weight and throw her away hard. It feels like a lifetime before she finally crashes to the ground, a bruised and bloody thing. As she lays on the ground, her left side completely smashed into the forest floor, she uses the rest of her will power to keep the tears at bay. With each second passing they threaten to spill over, expose weakness to the unfamiliar forest--but, no, the mare is too stubborn for that. After a great deal of time passed, the mare finally pushes her body to stand.

She braces herself as she walks, slowly but determined. Her whole body screams, and she wonders if the predators are going to gather in hopes of feeding on her bloody carcass. Not today. She thinks arrogantly, pushes herself forward still. "Unfamiliar world--bring me winged safety." The mare finally calls out, stopping, and she rests against a massive tree at the edge of the forest.