The cold air stung at her wounded shoulder as the wind brushed through her feathers, bodice melting into the night sky and she felt comfortable with the cover it brought her. If anything the moon would be her giveaway, if only nature deemed this night a cloudy one, Ghost would have been completely at ease slipping into the darkest of shadows. Yet, it was not to be and she thundered on, her mind captured in her next move that aimed a flashing hind leg for the rear end of Seele. I'm sorry my Queen, this is quite rude of me she thought with a tinge of amusement, it was a strange thing to be fighting one's own Commander after all. Then again, etiquette was something battle took no heed to, another little lesson learnt for the cadaverous mare. However, there was more to the mighty Seele than first met the eye and Ghost was about to find out firsthand as she sucked in a sharp breath and her face contorted into a strange mixture of fear and wonder.

It was like the essence of her was being taken away, sucked from her bones and her bodice. Everything that was and is that made up Ghost was being torn from her very tissue. It hurt, but not in the physical kind of way, her mind was being starved of her being and it was confusing, who was she? For moments Ghost did not know, the world was a stranger, there was recognition, but no connection. A brush of a hoof as for some reason she made contact with a mare whose face she knew, her name was Seele and she was authority, but the ebony mare felt nothing. Everything looked monochrome, no vitality in her being; a true soulless ghost who looked upon the land with beautiful eyes of depravity. Her nose bunched up and her ears slid back, this feeling was awful and numbed her completely making flight difficult and her movements became odd and uncoordinated.

Hooves touched the floor and soon she was running on the earth and her face, contorted with anguish, turned to see the advance of her glass hoofed adversary who bared upon her, glittering weapon glaring. Ghost attempted to take flight again, keeping her cantering momentum through the turn which saw her face Seele, slamming wine ended wings down and rather clumsily hovered upwards as her devious sparring partner went for the game ender with her upturning slice. The horn grazed against the underside of her barrel as she lifted her wings up once more, the young mares face seemingly destined to remain in a contorted painful position as Seele's horn was lucky and found purchase on one of her red coloured feathers as they were lifted back upwards. On reflection, Ghost would probably think it was glorious, but in the reality of it she was hot and hopelessly confused with whom she was and what was happening?!

Wincing as she came to ground again, her attempt to make herself air bound coming hopelessly to a quick end, she turned back towards where she thought Seele was rather sluggishly this time, her body still a container with no life. However, even a soulless ghost like herself knew a pony could never scale the heights of a horse. Using this simple knowledge and wary of Seele's horn this time, the sprite dug in her hooves, raised her wings and lifted off the ground with her fore. Aiming for the left this time, Ghost flashed her hooves towards the upper back or shoulder area of her opponent, hoping to gain an advantage through height and repay Seele for the wound inflicted earlier.

[617/800 words]
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