There are certain things that are risky, and other things that are flat out stupid. I am not sure if my hooves met her jaw, but perhaps if they had, she would learn not to bite at a horse's legs without fear of retribution. As I curve in the air, rivaling an acrobat in my quick movements, my hooves come to slam onto her shoulder. Somehow, the mare has been angled such that just this pressure from my body is tugging her down in our fall. Even though my teeth to do make contact with the soft black feathers, I am still pulling her down, down through the clouds. Crackle, boom! Lightning lights up the entire cloud, a flash of blinding white, and I am reminded that we are vulnerable up here in the kingdom of heaven during this storm. It is not my wish to stay attached to her for long, though, not without a sure grip on her wings. Instead, I curve my own wings, stretching them out horizontally and gliding easily off.

My path is altered, carrying me off of her, straightening out my flight even as we spill back under the clouds and begin to be flooded under a storm of fresh rain and thundering booms. The calm, serene world above the clouds was gone, and now our turmoil was brought back to a more fitting scene for the final stage. Svetlana has rolled, a late attempt to shove my own body from hers, as I have already freed myself from her mess of a body. Had I maintained my straight path, her hunt for my feathers might have succeeded. However, unlike this wench, I had fought Adalwulf the Steadfast. The missing primary in my left wing, hardly noticeable to all except myself, was never to grow back since the poison of his mouth had ruined the cuticle of my flesh, tearing out feathers that would never return. I had learned my lesson during that battle on the Cliffs to always protect my wings. A love of flying being the incentive.

My reverie is shattered as I hear her squeal, eyes scouring a mess or rain for her body, and immediately tip a wing downward toward the earth below, my body careening dangerously. I have no fear; I was not so easily knocked from the sky. The rash movement brings my body around, Svetlana's massive wings slapping my head with a strong downstroke. The sodden feathers had more weight, and I will dare to say it was quite painful, like the crack of a strong whip. Perhaps under my chocolate coat a black eye would form, and I close my blue eyes and try to steady my frame in the air, gritting my teeth against the sting of pain. Her teeth, previously reaching for my delicate wings, come to land upon my ass on the right side. They do not catch a grip on the wet skin, but only suit to irritate the area already injured by her ogre hooves earlier, a sting of pain new and sharp radiating from my backside.

Who would have known that the girl would be a literal pain in my ass instead of just figurative?

I right myself in the air after passing the girl in the sky, unsteady and weak winds finding me finally after our plunge from above the clouds. I glide, breathing heavily and shivering in the fresh spring rain.
""

[ Closing defense; 599 words; 1/2 magic]