The shadow-mare had not expected her arrival to go unnoticed, but she felt a fiery twinge of irritation all the same as her Doctor announced their presence to the world. Of course, she was hardly surprised, as d'Artagnan's loyalties had always been with Mauja rather than his relatively new Lady; still, she had rather hoped to arrive without trumpeting their unwelcome appearance. It was too late now, however, for it would be of little use to return to his side and reprimand him, and so with a resigned sigh, the jackal shifted her attention once more to the darkened sky.

She had fought skyrats several times before, but only one had been a true contender, and that had been Kri. It had been before the endless night began, in broad daylight, and thus it had been easier to spot her foe. This darkness, though helpful in concealing their movements, made her uneasy, for she knew that any ebony-hued combatants could approach just as swiftly and silently as they. As so she scanned the skies, imagining a flicker of movement here and there, paranoia lending a hand in her mind's rampant wanderings. She continued ever forward at a steady trot, auds swiveling to and fro, searching for any sign of movement.

Was that a whoosh of wind she heard? Instinct instructed her to lunge to the right, though she had not seen the enemy; a single hoof traced a line along her ribcage, drawing blood in the form of a relatively shallow cut. She cursed silently, for the warning provided by the sound of the skyrat's dive had not been quite enough to allow her to completely dodge the blow. Wings flared above and around the dark queen, precariously placed to halt the feather-brain's downward momentum; the jackal shoved herself forward, kicking up as she did so, aiming her kick at the skyrat's fragile, extended appendage. The injury that she had received was shallow and unlikely to affect her battle strategy, but if she could break or badly bruise this idiot's wing, the other mare would be unable to flee. She twisted her head to the side as she kicked in an attempt to catch a glimpse of her attacker; as she had feared, the combatant was pitch black, blending almost perfectly with the night and placing the Empress at a distinct disadvantage. The Lady of the Basin and soon-to-be ruler of Helovia pressed on all the same, undeterred by her stroke of bad luck.

A wild, predatory grin flashed onto the shade's face, quickly morphing into a rather terrifying grimace as the her back legs met the ground once more; a step forward was taken, and then she whirled around in a half-rear. She pushed forward (though not as forcefully as she would have liked, what with the sandy, crumbling footing that she found herself on) and tucked her cranium to her breast, aiming her horn directly at the skyrat's heart. She hoped to catch the inferior off balance and drive her weapon down into the soft tissue of the mare's chest for the kill. As much as she would have loved to torment the ugly thing, she had a war to win, and that would not be done in one battle. Impatience drove her now, and a will to find a more worthy opponent (not, she had to admit, that one was to be found in this tainted land). If she could pull off a quick, clean kill, her regime would begin that much more quickly.

[Invasion Type: Traditional, SWP Applies
Time frame to start an invasion or defense post is from now until August 22.

Setting: Dragon's Throat borders, traveling toward center; midnight, cloudy.
Buffs: Endure

587 Words
1/4 Attacks
0/2 Magic + 0/1 Extra Magic Use (Herd Champions)

Psyche awaits a defender.]

"Talk talk talk."

The retaliatory buck had met thin air as the skyrat struggled to remain aloft, but as the shade plunged her horn toward the exposed breast before her, she had the immense momentary satisfaction of knowing that she was about to cleanse the world of one more inferior. But the impulsive wave of achievement was short-lived, for no sooner had she begun to celebrate than her foe rose several inches into the air, and her horn scraped along the underside of the chest rather than spearing through flesh. The momentum was too great, her reactions too slow, and she watched with horror as the skyrat's hooves descended towards her face. Her front pistons stiffened as they impaled the shifting sands, her cranium dropping towards the ground (and, unfortunately, her attacker) with the force of gravity as she did so; her rear end slid until it almost scraped the sand, and she scrambled desperately, trying to find an escape. But the flapping wings surrounded her, creating a cavern through which she could not break free, and the feather-brain was on top of her, and her hind legs were coming at the Empress full-force -

And there was nothing she could do.

There was a sickening SNAP! and the Lady's eyes widened as she watched the upper half of her jagged horn splinter. It fell then, flipping and spiraling in midair until it stuck, quivering slightly, in the sand.

The skyrat had lifted and hovered somewhere above, but the Empress did not immediately move. She seemed frozen, immobilized, as she stared at her shattered crown, uncomprehending. How could this - this hideous, mutated canary have stolen the one thing that she fought for? How could she, the Lady of the Basin, the Dark Empress of Helovia, lead her race, touting the superiority of a horn, but not having a full one on her own head with which to rule? Who would follow her, after the battle, when they saw naught but a broken, splintered, six-inch-long stump where her glorious, beautiful horn had been?

Who was she, without her crown?

But this was battle, and although her bloodlust had been replaced with a numb sort of nausea that had nothing to do with physical pain, she could not allow herself to stand around and wait to die. She had made a promise to herself and to her followers. She would not stand aside and allow her fellows to fall around her without putting up a fight, and so not a fraction of a second had passed before she made herself close her eyes, focusing hard on the magic that dwelled deep within her bones, the magic that had been restored with the reappearance of the moon in the sky. Though the goddess hid her face on this night, the shade's powers swelled stronger than ever, and as she began to shrink and morph, she let loose a furious, cold, high-pitched gale of mirthless laughter, the likes of which had never been heard from her before and, with any luck, would never be heard again.

The time that the feather-brain had taken to restore her own balance had given the shapeshifting magic time to take hold. In the place of the pitch unicorn that had stood in the sands previously, a black jackal with glowing orange eyes crouched, tongue lolling and teeth showing in a wicked, feral grin. "But darling," she made herself say, allowing the fiery passion of her loss to bubble up within her, rendering her vocals nearly unrecognizable in the insanity that took them over. "How could I be the coward when you're the one running away? Come down and PLAY, rat!" The words turned into a snarl, the grin into a grimace, and the featherbrain fell from the sky, reaching for the scrape that she had opened previously. The Dark Empress dropped to the ground and the bite whistled through thin air, for her jackal form was much smaller, more flexible, and more agile than her unicorn self. As the mare scooped away, aiming a kick towards her, the jackal flattened herself to the ground once more, this time readying for her own assault.

As the leg with which the skyrat had kicked retreated into the night air, the shade pushed herself forcefully from the ground after it, opening her jaws and hoping to close them around the offending limb, to rip flesh from bone, and, if she were very lucky, to do some permanent damage. It was not as satisfying, perhaps, as ripping the bitch's wing from her body, but it would suffice - for now.

[Invasion Type: Traditional, SWP Applies
Time frame to start an invasion or defense post is from now until August 22.

Setting: Dragon's Throat borders, traveling toward center; midnight, cloudy.
Buffs: Endure

766 Words
2/4 Attacks
1/2 Magic + 0/1 Extra Magic Use (Herd Champions)]

"Talk talk talk."