The dispassionate manner in which Megaera responded only fueled Ampere's righteous anger. She knew now, more than ever, that Megaera was bluffing so well she had herself fooled. Ampere knew a thing or two about that, so she'd just have to try that much harder to knock the sense back into the bay mare.

It almost worked too, for a second at least. Ampere managed to push Megaera back a step, but it was like that lost ground terrified the mare, whom abruptly scrambled to feint to the side and run for it. As if Ampere thought with a growl, her small body nimbly following suit, her focus razor sharp on the Sunspear so as to catch the slightest twitch of her evasive hide.

Yet Ampere followed too close, her pursuit too reckless as she blindly clawed for her friend and failed to see her as an opponent. Those back feet fired out and struck Ampere dead on her left side as she tried to angle in and cut Megaera off by ramming her shoulders against the Sultana's haunches. Ampere hadn't even noticed until she felt the punch, utterly solid, sink into the girth area just behind her forelimb. The pressure forced all the air out of her lungs, forcing Ampere to pull up short as she gasped for breath, her head slung low while her flanks heaved with shaky, shallow breaths that rasped through flared, desperate nostrils. Every inhale expanded the battered skin on her side, the swelling immediate and growing as a deep bruise began to form; blood vessels rupturing beneath the black of her coat. The pain went deep, radiating out into her muscles, stiffening her, but fortunately avoiding any damage to her ribs.

Yet, Ampere was smiling.

Once she got over choking, the blue mare's head lifted parallel to the ground, tracing the form of Megaera as she tried to retreat. There's the fire, Ampere thought with sort of twisted satisfaction. Still not enough though, she's still running the wrong way. Ampere couldn't catch her, not yet in her still winded and throbbing state, but she could still affect Megaera.

Reaching out with her magic, like invisible hands, Ampere attempted to yank on the electrical chains that rattled inside the Sunspear's body, as they did in all bodies. That leg there? Electrical impulses from the brain tell it to lift and bend and fall, and Ampere could strum those energized strings better than an air guitar. Smiling, as she walked steadily towards Megaera, Ampere attempted to seize control of Megaera's limbs- to stop those impulses, to stop that running, that walking, that cowardly retreat.

In fact, Ampere was trying to make her turn back around. It took concentration, but Ampere had plenty of that to give Megaera in the moment, and so she narrowed the blue of her gaze as she focused on singing a song into Megaera's body, her magic a new brain to direct those impulses.

"Now I know you never back down from a fight," Ampere rasped, her lungs still recovering. "So this must be some bad shit, but it won't go away just because you do." A deep frown streaked across Amperes face, "trust me. You can't run away from your feelings, so might as well turn around and fight them." Fight me.

Ampere stepped into a hidden dip in the sands and abruptly jarred her leg. The unexpected and strong impact that reverberated up her body forced her breath between her teeth as her injured side pulsed in agony at the shock waves. Ampere's focus waned in that instant, a grimace pulling her features and her mind taut with pain.

"You feel like everyone hates you, because you hate you." Ampere kept talking, forcing the conversation through her clenched teeth. She thought maybe she could fire Megaera up with the match sticks she was spitting out. "It's better to assume that, isn't it? Because if they don't hate you, then you feel guilty. You feel like you don't deserve anything less. Because if they don't hate you, then maybe it's because there's something worse."

Ampere reached again for her magic, but this time it was to unsheathe the metal dagger by her wings. A quick flick of the electric currents around the blade, controlling it, and it was sailing through the air with the tip aimed towards Megaera. She wasn't here to kill the mare, but some danger might spice up her responses.

"It might mean they don't care, and that's a helluva lot worse than hate."

I care.
The dagger carried that message, she hoped.

In the tree, Kygo hunkered down with a squawk, wary of Gwahir.

---

Oops I forgot this last time :x

A: 2/4
D: 0/1
W: 799/800

Holds Meg <3