Just to clarify for the judges-
Setting: Veins of the Gods
Weather: Birdsong start - endless night, moon and stars out, still cold. Some wind.

Prior Injury: Ampere has burns on her front hooves and fetlocks from the lava monster RE.

Prior Attack: Ampere lunged at Hespera within the thread, but for the sake of making judging easy, Wanda and I agreed the attack would completely miss. So rather than starting with the two of them circling each other/far away, they are already in close proximity, but that attack and Hespera's evasion of it shouldn't really apply to the rubric at all, same as a horse warming up their muscles/circling doesn't really apply, just helps set up the following moves better.

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Hooves scatter on the lava-warmed plateau, their harsh connection with the uneven surface bringing a sharp jab of pain to the over-worn toes and the sensitive nerves within the burned hoof wall. It makes her unsteady for a moment, her balance swaying as the feverish pitch of a battle rises behind her on the wings of screaming griffon.
It reminds Ampere how she longs to return to the embrace of the sky; to rid herself of gravity's chains and the weight that accompanies them.

Somewhere within the din caused by the furious creature and the rush of blood in her ears, Ampere catches the racket of Hespera's voice, nearly hysterical with outrage.

Ampere smiles into the night.

She shifts her head to throw a haughty glance of blue over her shoulders. Her mane tangles with the gaze as the wind stirs, coaxing her feathers with some ruffling.
The ache to fly is nearly palpable.

"I pick fight," Ampere retorts, her body already in motion as she surges forward, wings increasing in size as they unfurl from her sides and snare the wind. They slow her down though, dragging in the current while her stride, shortened and sloppy from sore toes, cannot give the needed speed fast enough.

Hespera sweeps in quickly, her short build so similar to Ampere's gives her the power to move low and swift. Ampere cannot hope to squeak by on physical talents alone in this fight, she has no given advantage for once.
Hespera's horn jolts forward like the crack of lightening it resembles. It drives into Ampere's left flank just as she shoves off the ground with the coiled muscles of her well-shaped ass. The blade doesn't slip in deep as it was not Hespera's intent to stab, but since her target was altered so radically its angle is not as true and its point is hungry, as most unicorn horns are. Ampere feeds it readily, black splitting open a seam of crimson that trails down her hide as the wind lifts her to safety.
It will bruise and soon harden with a scab, but otherwise is too superficial to impair Ampere the rest of the fight.

Wings beat hard and heavy as Ampere labors to get airborne. She kicks out in reaction to the pain in her left haunch, the blindly sailing hoof perhaps connecting with some front section of Hespera as she rears up.
The height Ampere achieves is enough to keep her free of Hespera's jaws, once more targeting a region already out of reach.

For a moment Ampere is taken away from the battle as she revels in the domain of the sky.
The weightlessness of flying gives her an ecstasy that numbs the aggravation of her burns and allows her to forget the angry flesh of her flank. Her wings, though strained in the rush to give her this moment, now stretch on the endless plain of the world and relax as she glides. Ampere tilts her head into the sensation of wind pouring over her body, of her mane tapping against her nape and her tail slipping between her thighs.

She is happy.

All too soon the reality of the moment is eager to return. The bliss shatters into... feathers.
Wings rebuff her face, which recoils with a snap towards her chest, eyes pinching tight, as Otienu arrives in a flurry. They do not hurt, only startle.
His anger tears at Ampere's heart and she does her best to barrel past him, unable to launch any offensive at the misguided creature. Even now he struggles to fight against whom would be his savior, so wrapped up in the unfortunate bond he shares with Hespera he cannot untangle his own emotions from her's. They share the rage of the moment and as a pair respond with all their available equipment.
For Hespera, sadly, this means using him.
To her he is equipment.

Ampere screams, her chest ready to explode with the unfairness and cruelty of it all.

She drops suddenly, turning on her right wing as it tucks to her side. Her body flattens into a line so akin to an arrow that her forehooves are the tip and her feathers the fletching.
As she nears the ground both wings snap out, her rump feathers also flaring up to gather the wind and slow her momentum.
It's too late to stop, but Ampere doesn't want that. She intends to drive her hooves into the back of Hespera's skull, much like she did to the lava monster. Her feathers only parachute to keep herself from splattering on the ground. Part of her maneuver depends on ricocheting off Hespera back into the air with fast-pumping wings.

Ampere grits her teeth, anticipating the backlash of pain.