The soldier scampers forwards after her attack and the ensuing bucks, which means that Ampere's lashing hindlegs mercifully miss her head. That would be most embarassing, to be knocked sparko by the flying crap-dispenser. Dominus presses close to her leg, lending her his strength for these final few seconds. His confusion is evident, radiating down their bond. "Why wing-horse say those things? She say I have no life - she think I'm dead?" Nyx wants to touch her muzzle to him, to caress and comfort him, but she can't. Not when Ampere could come to enact revenge at any moment. She doesn't understand, she mentally replies to him. I love you.

"I love you even more than noms," he replies, and this brings a smile to Nyx's face. It gives her a second wind, and through the sweat and pain she breathes, preparing to weather the final storm. She wheels around at the heavy thud that indicates Ampere has landed, tail arching and lashing to dispel the flies that persecute her frothing flanks. "You clearly have no life if you think you can judge me," snarls the silver soldier, eyes narrowing as she stares into the dust cloud created by the other's landing. What's she planning? "Ever thought about getting laid? A good hard knobbing might lighten you up a bit!" Her words are venomous, but her exhaustion is evident in them - she stays still, chest heaving, deciding to let Ampere come to her. Tire the black bitch out that little bit more.

But there is no sign of her foe. Bollocks. Instead, an unseen force slams into the ironheart, something she could never have prepared for. A startled hiss leaves her and she stumbles, powerless against the electric blast. Her legs flail, slaloming on shit, trying to keep her upright as she drunkenly lurches...

Then there is a thud, followed by an agonised whimper, as her desperately pedalling limbs smack hard into Dominus. Her precious bonded had still been fawning about her legs, unable to move in time, as oblivious to the magic as Nyx had been. One hoof stomps down on his tail, another kicks him hard in the ribs and she trips, barely staying on all fours. Her movement jars the shoulder muscle of her left foreleg and it immediately tightens, yet her concern is far more for Dominus. The usually proud white lion lies in a crumpled heap in front of her, and the second she has her balance again she hobbles over to him, nosing him, nudging him, feeling his agony inside her head, inside her body, a million times worse than any injury to herself.

And she did it.

"He's not my fucking slave!" she damned near screams after the retreating form of her foe. "If he was my slave I wouldn't give a shit that he's hurt!" Dominus manages a weak growl, staggering drunkenly to his feet and favouring one paw, his bruised tail curled around a hock. "Had worse," he says, but Nyx knows he is just putting on a brave face.

Casting an evil glance at the distant figure of Ampere, Nyx lowers her head and helps Dominus clamber onto her shoulders, as she did when he was a cub. Her precious. His pain distracts her from her exhaustion, her sweat-soaked, shit-stinking coat, her pulled muscles and multiple injuries.

He is her world.

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Closing defence - 641 words

Good fight Blu!