illynx,

That I thought I was suited to be queen, her brain whispered to itself, the chiming laughter of the healer and her words like blades of ice fracturing and driving themselves deep into the golden mare's ego. They chilled her heart, honed the edge upon her already keen loathing of the grulla healer and all of her blasphemous kin; it steeled a part of Illynx that she was not aware had remained vulnerable, every slice of the dragon's claws into her beautiful golden lace back hardening her vehemence. Never again would she rush into battle full of pride, such a sense of invincibility; for all that she had learned in her life, she still knew absolutely nothing compared to this slippery matron, to even the younger Psyche. That she had ever believed herself to be her friend's equal now hurled emotions at the former corporal like salt in a wound, more agonizing this lie of her entire existence than all of the pain that Zaffre could ever bring her.

His screams assaulted her ears, which she promptly flattened down on the top of her head with as much force as she could, saving her from the reverberations the cry would have inflicted on her eardrums, not that noise hadn't already started to capriciously bounce about her head. The call from Smoke was muffled by her defense to the sharp noise, but still caught, the subsequent movement of the dragon all the informants she needed to know that her time to utilize her rage was now at hoof. The grey streak that was the healer burst from behind the cover of the tree, drawing Illynx's focus to the movement, her angle suggesting that her circle would be broad; the Gilded Blade ignored the screams and the graceless dismount of the dragon, focusing instead upon the true source of all of her hatred. Her back limbs spread wide for balance, pivoting her front half about thirty-five degrees to the left while trying to remain as close to the ground as possible without sacrificing any speed in the process, gingerly avoiding applying too much weight to her right ankle as all four hooves met soil.

Disgust covered her face as she angled her horn at the oncoming mare, hoping to gouge her neck, shoulder, any part of the earth wench she could bring to weep as her own back now did. The gashes burned as oxygen hit them, with every movement they cried out for compassion from the enraged unicorn, but she could not be redirected by such complaints from her own body. The healer slammed into Illynx's chest, her face turned to the left in just enough time to spare her features from impacting the charging mare's shoulder. The force rattled through her, further bruising the flesh that had previously been damaged by hooves, shoving the mare violently backwards and partially to the left; her front left leg reached out to support her weight, the mist of the forest displaced and twisting beautifully through the air in swirls as more earth ripped open beneath dragging hooves.

She was tired, but once more her anger ruled supreme over her being, her brindle pattern now shining burgundy from the blood and sweat as it stretched across her bending sinew, the mare reaching out with her teeth to grasp for the soft flesh behind Smoke's elbow, or the equally tender skin above it as the healer's front half rose into the air; she hoped they found purchase, and if they had, that the rising frame of her opponent would intensify their damage, but all concerns for whether or not her strike had been true were rushed away by the words tumbling from the grulla's mouth as her hooves lashed air. Bracing herself for the assured complaints of her right ankle and shoulder, the golden soldier drove her front half hard to the right and propelled her entire body forward instantaneously, hoping to shove her taller frame into the general area from the back of the ribs to the front of the hip while taking several hard kicks along her spine behind her withers, mostly on the right side; the impacts send trills of pain through her, but Smoke's statement had provoked a beast much larger than physical discomfort. "Your home?!" she nearly frothed in response as her body angled itself for potential impact, "I was born here, in this very forest!" Her breath came heavy as she recoiled from the side of the thickly built healer, her final words spat at the ground as blood trickled down her sides, "And you are a fool if you ever think it will ever truly be yours."

[ 4/4 : 797 words; yeah I cut it close there. xD And I'm too lazy right now to post a summary. :3 ]
[ EDIT: I should have posted a summary. -_- Edited where my derp fingers wrote right when they should have put left. ]

intending to burn - pretending to fight it
everyone learns faster on fire