Common

(cw for strong language)

The multicolored stallion shoves against her, trying still to push her towards the sea, but Valentina holds fast, her hooves sinking further and further into the earth below them. Her muscles strain with the effort, and her breath comes in sharp pants. She's preparing to brace even harder - and then, after she manages to catch a bit of his stupidly-pretty face with her teeth, he lets go, moving from her side so quickly that she almost falls again, stumbling into the space he'd left behind and clumsily righting herself.

At his question, she scoffs, opening her mouth to respond, but before she can muster up the breath for it, he continues. What he says shocks her to the core. Is she hearing him correctly? Her eyes narrow, suspicion rising in the vacuum left by her unspent rage. She tosses her head, energy crackling like lightning down the soft curve of her spine, and looses it with another sharp snap of her tail against her flanks. When he's done, she immediately starts in on him: "As -" she says, squealing in frustration at the fatigue in her voice, "as she should! This whole thing is your fault!

"You want to know what my problem is?" Valentina hisses, brown eyes locking onto him like a missile finding its target. "You are! You started it, you keep dragging it out, and you are the one thing keeping me from seeing my family!" She takes a few harsh breaths, lifting one of her pale front hooves to step towards him - then reconsidering, her tendons aching in protest as she puts it slowly down.

The soreness of her legs, however, has no effect on her sharp tongue. "I should find your sister," she says, "and tell her everything you've done, but thanks to you, I don't have time." The small mare pivots, reorienting herself, and throws a cutting glance towards him, her ears lacing into the sweat-damp tangles of her mane. "I'm leaving."

Maybe he'd learn from this. Maybe he'd remember her, and treat the next mare he barged into with a little more respect - or maybe he wouldn't. Valentina didn't care what he did. As far as she was concerned, he wasn't her problem anymore.