Steps that normally clacked and clanged through the caverns where they all huddled like refugees were eerily quiet here. Voices that overlapped each other until they became a muddled pool of sound were naught but faint whispers echoing through here. Ampere quickened her steps, painfully curious about this back section of the caves where it seemed few came to travel - and she soon knew why.

A wall of darkness greeted her at the end of the tunnel, though the air did not smell damp or stale, the way a corner or a small space might. Ampere craned her head forward, but as much as it seemed like it, the darkness was not a living thing and did not draw back from her touch. Instead she withdrew from it, her breathing increasing. What is this? her mind asked, curious, but frightened after what darkness had done to her thus far.

She licked her lips, weight shifting anxiously and her wings ruffling against her sides. "I could go back," she murmured, comforted by speaking aloud, as if she were not so achingly alone in these halls packed with horses. No she thought stubbornly, she wanted to know what was in there.

An idea sparked in her mind them, almost literally, as she began to collected the sand and the pebbles mixing int he archway of the murk. Blue electricity popped and buzzed into life as Ampere turned the organic matter into energy, colliding it together into one large mass and shaping it into a small bird with a flick of her tail. The creature constantly hummed with an electrical current and occasionally arcs of lightning would snap from its rough outline. Ampere laughed at her new friend as it zipped around her, its wings flapping needlessly, just for show.

It whirred past her into the dark, its light scattering the blackness only so far, but far enough to see it extended quite a ways. Steadily Ampere slipped in after her creation, drawing up more sand and rocks to create a second bird as she did, so that the two of them were fluttering all around her. For the first time in a long time her heart was airy, lifted in her chest.
"I can fly in here," she breathed, excitement bubbling inside her as she watched her electric birds soar up higher and higher. Ampere released a loud whoop and flicked her wings open, pumping them at her sides and shoving off with her hooves until she was unsteadily airborn. There were no wind currents however, and before long Ampere was earthbound once more, her weight too much for such a dead zone of air.

Still, she kept trying.

A voice whipped across Ampere's concentration, though it was with some welcome relief as her hooves sunk into the sandy surface a second time. The original hope that had been budding in her chest was quickly turning into despair. Finally a space large enough for her to stretch her wings and reach, yet still it was not enough; the caves taunted her.

Her head turned towards the sound of the mare's greeting, the gentle slope of her neck shifting under a sea of tangled mane. One of the birds flew closer to Ampere, illuminating her features which were otherwise swallowed by the dark, even the electric blue. The second bird drifted towards the stranger, its song the constant hum of energy. "Hello," Ampere returned, quiet in her moment of grounded turmoil. Still, she was interested - with as many horses as were packed into these crags few bothered to hail greetings, so Ampere took note when one did.

"Yeah," she explained, the word almost a laugh as mirth colored it and gradually lifted her from her self-pity. "Do you like them?" she asked, grinning as the second bird flitted away from her to dance around Alysanne. They had no mind, no heart, no soul of course, but Ampere liked to play with them as if they were real, breathing life into every spark that composed them until they twitched and flapped like the real thing - at least until a snare of electricity arced out of the side. She'd mostly grown use to that by now.

"They help light the way... but haven't been much use in defeating the darkness," Ampere said, growing more quiet again. Her words suggested at something greater than this pitch black room; she had not been able to fight the wraiths. That more than anything was bothering her. Ampere had always turned to the skills of her magic and body to get her through any troubles she encountered, but this one resisted all of her tricks and she felt utterly powerless and completely trapped. Just like Oxy displayed...

Ampere sighed, shaking her neck as if that simple movement might disperse the misery bogging her soul. The darkness had infected more than the land, it cast a shadow over her thoughts too. "They showed me this place is big enough to fly in at least, but, the air is too still." Ampere's voice inflected with a childish pout, the blue mare biting onto a flare of anger - anything to drive away the rain clouds of her somber conscious.

By the Gods she needed fresh air and someone's ass to kick or else she'd go mad.

It was easy to take magic for granted, especially your own. It was so common place, particularly around Helovia, that Ampere had stopped paying much mind to it, a danger in and of itself. Certainly magic could be beautiful and helpful, but sometimes it was too much for a horse to control, be it by mistake or otherwise. All this time she'd been worried the caves would erupt with a common sickness with everyone in close quarters, or a war to break out from an argument - it was probably more likely someone would blow up their shelter.

Alysanne was so enthralled it took Ampere by surprise, though in a pleasant way that made Ampere preen. "Do you not have magic?" she asks, beginning to walk closer now that the stranger had been decided as appealing and perhaps even, a possible friend, a rare thing for Ampere. Although, her question might be ruining that prospect. It was possibly her youth that made her naive to sensitive topics, but more likely a personality defect.

The mare didn't seem to have much experience with magic, at least Ampere thought so, as her question drifted through the dark. Ampere laughed gently, "Of course, they are electricity," she said matter-of-factually. "They would not be of much use otherwise," she murmured, almost perplexed by the notion there were nothing but ornamental. She was naive to the implications of what she said; for her it was very simple and how she has been raised. The world was hard and you needed to be tough and willing to fight to survive. There was beauty of course, and she could appreciate it, but that's why flowers were eaten and thorns were not. Magic and beauty was worthless to her if they did not cause hurt; for that reason Ampere generally assumed everyone else's magic did the same.

The birds drifted away now that the two stood close. Ampere could just barely make out parts of Alysanne, aided by the passing glow of her creations as their light continued to explore the cave. An ear flicked towards the mare before her as Ampere's attention followed her birds, listening as Alysanne spoke with a sensible optimism Ampere had been lacking lately. She grimaced at herself, frustrated with how easily she was feeling defeated and pitiful. Her gaze traveled back through the dark, searching for the mare's face, wanting to give her a smile for her advice. "You're right," Ampere agreed, her wings whispering as feathers brushed across each other, the appendages being lifted and stretched towards the dark ceiling. "I think this room may become my favorite for that very reason, even with the dark." Still a nagging part of her thought, unwilling to concede so easily, it would be nice to fly again.

Maybe she'd have to risk the top world again, just once. She needed to find Mesec anyway...

Her memory flashed an image of Brighid and the wraith, but she swallowed it down with an audible gulp, happy to be distracted with Alysanne's well-mannered formalities. "No," Ampere laughed gently again, amused at the notion of her spark sparrows having names. "They've no need of such," she explained, dropping her thread of control with them so that they dispersed with a final pop of electricity and were no more. The darkness descended rapidly, its absence of light blinding in a way that made Ampere's eyes hurt. She blinked, quickly crafting a new creature from the sand.

The blue light unfolding from the morphing sand merged into one, sparking mass that gradually shaped itself into a rabbit at Ampere's whims. She sent it hopping around by their hooves, the sand shifting only slightly with the passing currents. "They are not alive after all, they are not companions..."

The blue pegasus watched her static hare race around the room, her thoughts drifting along with it, wondering of the poor creatures bound to horse's souls being cooped up here with them all - or worse, sent out into the apocalypse by their cowardly bonded, like Midas. She was glad she'd nothing but her lightning, it was as it should be.

"I'm Ampere."

It was interesting to learn that Alysanne had magic. She seemed so intrigued Ampere could only assume it was one of her first experiences with the elements, but perhaps just the particular ability caught the girl's eye. "Don't we all have that magic?" Ampere responded with a smirk when Alysanne spoke of her ability, swishing her tail to further the point. She did not mean to be cruel, just trying to stay light. She was sure fertilizing the earth would always prove helpful too, in it's own way. Ampere remembered too well the feeling of near starving in the endless night, and even now, fungi and moss were losing their taste and abundance.

Their topic of discussion continued on, leaving Ampere once more in stunned wonderment at her newest acquaintance's ignorance to the ways of godly powers. Alysanne seemed not to understand why magic would have to cause harm, but Ampere could not fathom why it shouldn't. She let a pause fall between them, trying to phrase herself carefully so that she might best explain. "There is a saying I know," Ampere began, glancing towards the mare and her blue-lit features. "Force without justice is tyrannical. Justice without force is powerless." Ampere let her voice drop away, giving Alysanne time to ponder that phrase with her own thoughts before Ampere coloring it with her's. "I'm trying to establish justice among this world. Too often do the strong get stronger and the weak get weaker. Someone has to step in, someone has to establish ethics... but alone, with only words, it is too easy to ignore what is right."

Ampere thought of the countless times she had tried to tell others of their cruel ways with companions. She had sobbed, she had screamed, and she had pleaded, but it was only through fighting had she made any headway worth noting. She knew now what she had always known but been too afraid to recognize. She could not do this alone. There was more to force than only magic.

"Do you believe in justice, Alysanne?"
Would this mare be more than a chance meeting in the dark?

Ampere was hopeful when Alysanne seemed curious, not hasty to butt in her own opinion or to reject what Ampere had to say. She thought she had judged this mare correctly and was grateful when it proved correct, thus far.

"There's a lot," Ampere responded at first to Alysanne's question, though she knew it was too broad to be anything but useless. "Those who are stolen and can't break free, those who go hungry, those who are enslaved..." Ampere recalled her success in getting Shadow free of her captor after being kidnapped from her herd. At the time Ampere had only done it to use Shadow as a bargaining chip for information, but the mare had proven a useful ally and for that Ampere reconsidered her motives, led mostly in part by her increasing drive to free the companions.

"Many don't seem to realize what exactly entails bonding to a companion." Ampere began carefully, though she knew she would not be able to maintain her composure for long with this topic. Still she would try, remembering too well her previous attempts at explaining and their failures - it helped that Alysanne seemed unbonded, so far. "A creature that would otherwise have lived its own life is chained to one's soul, its emotions, its thoughts, its entire existence intertwined with the horse it bonds to, a horse which typically makes all the decisions on their conjoined life. That alone is terrible sounding enough, but then these companions are frequently pitted against larger opponents in battles as an advantage for the horse! I even know of one that was being sent outside the Sanctuary, risking its life among the wraiths because its bonded was too scared to leave the safety of the caves where the infected cannot enter." Ampere finished with a derisive snort, thoroughly disgusted by everything she just had to explain.

"It is a greedy and selfish habit that the horses of Helovia participate in, disregarding the desires and well being of the companions they so readily enslave." The electric rabbit near them had begun to spark and pop actively, its outline frequently blurred by the angry energy feeding off Ampere's heightened emotion. At times the hare seemed to morph into a monstrosity, its blue shape clawing to consume anything near by with an electric sizzle. Realizing she was growing hot again Ampere quieted down, shaking her head at Alysanne's query on the wraiths. "They don't seem to be able t-"

Just then a shout arose at the side, a name being flung frantically about the pit from where an orange, flickering glow emanated. Ampere startled at first, her wings ruffling at the abrupt clamor, but just as quickly she settled, though her ears had sunk against her neck and remained there for a while, coaxed upright only at Alysanne's encouraging voice as she called out to the strange horse. Ampere wasn't certain how the girl failed to see their little blue nightlight, but all the same she flicked her tail and the rabbit went bounding off towards Aurelia, intent on leading her back towards them.

Ampere was sad to see the light glow, its absence plunging her and Alysanne into complete darkness.

The blue rabbit of lightning follows the aureate mare, though she seems not to notice and soon enough produces a light of her own. The orange and red glow competes with the blue of Ampere's, but the pit is all the more comforting for it.

Ampere falls quiet as the two mares share a reunion. She turns her gaze away, feeling awkward as she watched and listens to them rejoice - when had she ever felt that way towards anyone, or at least, expressed it? Even in the company of others loneliness found a way to plague her. She hated it.

A quiet sigh tumbled from her nares and she busied herself by playing with her blue hare. She sent it scurrying around between their feet, its electricity humming like a heartbeat and popping like a cry of delight. Ampere smiled, relishing for the first time in the long time the beauty of her ability rather than the power. Maybe Alysanne had a point after all.

Her name pulled her back into the conversation. Her head turned easily on the slope of her neck, the blue of her gaze piercing through the encompassing darkness, lashes blinking against the harshness of Aurelia's glow as it contrasted heavily with the endless void of no light that was this place. What an off area for such friendly and bright personalities to be greeting.

"Hello," Ampere intoned as Aurelia introduced herself and Alysanne provided explanation. She smiled slightly, though it was probably lost in the dark; her expression was little more than a glaring smudge of blue in this place.
"I'm trying," Ampere murmured in response to Alysanne's last words, but the passion had been deflated from her voice. "I admit I don't know everything about them," Ampere began, her tail whispering over her hocks as she swished it in idle thought, "Though I mean to find out all that I can, and I know that there's more to them than most horses realize." Ampere glanced between Alysanne and Aurelia, wondering just what sort of horses they were when it came to the enslavement of souls. She had met plenty of individuals with pleasant dispositions, but it did not stop them from carting around their eternal pets. Ampere didn't understand how she was the only one disgusted by it.

"It's true, what you say Alysanne," Ampere began, referring to the end of their conversation prior to Aurelia's entrance. "There is love, but love is many things and is born for many reasons. I can't help but wonder why a horse cannot simply love and befriend another horse, that has their own free will and the ability to walk away, instead of magically entwining souls with an infant creature that knows no better."

Ampere offered no answer to the question she more or less posed. She did not have one, did they?