The first step into the darkness was a wonderfully triumphant moment. Only a line divided the rest of the world from the Sanctuary, but it felt as if there was a great divide, one which Ampere eyed for a moment before gathering the strength to cross. She knew what the outside held in store, she had passed into it often enough when overwhelmed with moments of weakness during her stay in the caves, and each time had been disastrous.

Yet the caves were no better in their own right.

Breathing deep, as if preparing to plunge into cold water, Ampere too the leap of faith. In that moment she put her fate in the hoofsteps of the divine palomino, trusting in his judgement; it was not an act she took lightly, never having the bravery to lean so wholly on someone else before. It was unknown, and because of that, it was frightening. Today though, it felt right. He was delivering to her everything she had been wanting since being forced into the underworld and she would be a fool to decline it for the sake of independence and trivial fears.

Each step behind him was a stiff motion as her muscles were pulled taut with worry. She visibly winced, as if expecting to be torn apart by some infected lingering just outside the cavern entrance. After a few strides and her remaining life however, Ampere released her breath, not even aware she'd been holding it. With that exhale all of her tension, her grief, her doubt, it just fell away. In response Ampere stretched out her wings, marveling in the freedom.

She turned her head to the new dawn, gasping at the beauty of its spread and the meaning behind its arrival. The light seemed to burn away the clouds of discord that had cast deep shadows upon the region, cleansing portions of their homeland. Sadly the same could not be said of the wraiths, whose horrible armor did not chink beneath the sun's presence, but instead recoiled from it like heretics, lost in the shroud of mayhem. Ampere watched them fall to the wayside with a buoyant sorrow; they would all need healing sooner than later, especially to secure the success of their topsoil herds. Shadow.

"I am truly in the presence of a god, Ampere recognized. Where there had once been a sour disregard she now felt a shy hesitation, as bashful as a filly standing before a colt for the first time. It didn't help that he was a handsome god, though if she had the mindset she would have realized no deity was particularly ugly, at least not physically so.

Occasionally she glanced back at Africa, the unsteady whisper of the girl's single wing reminding Ampere that she did not share this moment alone, for which she was grateful. Ampere might have had reservations about the grey mare's ruined appendage and her shared bond with a bird, and though those issues remained buried beneath Ampere's skin, their importance was dwarfed by the glow of the Sun and the warmth of companionship.

Africa's presence was especially appreciated when their journey came to a halt at the rim of the desert land. For a moment Ampere wasn't certain they'd gone the correct way, so different was the Throat that lay before them. It had never been a home for Ampere, so she could only imagine the effects of the changes upon Africa, but even so the strangeness of it all struck Ampere to her core. "So this is the cost," she murmured as her gaze swept the landscape, rimmed with a sadness like grey rain. So much had happened to her here - was it all so easily forgotten with a rising sea? "Gaucho..."

A stiff wind rolled across the red dunes, mixing with Ampere's mane and causing her to turn her head down. "We will not fail," she said after Africa, a stubbornness coloring her tone. The darkness had enveloped them for a reason, she would not let its need arise again.

Intending to look at Africa now, Ampere found the crown weighed heavily on her poll. Its weight would be a constant reminder - was that why he had bestowed the circlets to them? Never forget....
Ampere licked her lips, anticipation roiling in her gut like bad grass.

"Let us discuss the new age of the Dragon's Throat."

In life, change is the only constant. Those that fail to adapt, die.

It is a simple, fundamental law that Ampere had learned well as a child - life on the move meant nothing much was stationary but the faces she traveled with, and even then, age and illness take their toll. So it was that she regarded her new role with too much insensitivity to the traditions and the leaders previous. How could she when she had never known them?
Even Gaucho was naught but a pool-side fantasy to her, his title having fallen to the wayside of the red dust.

Perhaps the changes to the scenery were of a better blessing than Ampere or Africa even realized. With the warped waves and the sea-eaten shores they would be but one difference among many, easier to digest in the fell swoop that would be "welcome home!". It was fine enough to stand here alone, talking long into the afternoon, but it would be something else entirely to do the same with the herd. Before long they would stand under the scrutiny of their fellows, lifted up by a divine wing but little else in the eyes of those they governed. What would they have to provide when that time came, two sultanas the herd did not necessarily want?
They would have to inspire a sort of confidence and faith, like the Sun God had in them. Together they would lead their herd through the dark and into the brilliant light. A few of them might be blinded at first, but eventually they would warm to the rays.


Ampere's lips pursed in quiet thought as she watched the bird nuzzle Africa's mane. The sight of the creature brought a sick sensation to her gut, her sides clenching like she had colic; she swished her tail in irritation. Africa's words provided a welcome distraction and Ampere forced her gaze to the mare's eyes, focusing on the golden irises and the emotions swept up within them. "Whoa re you?" Ampere wanted to ask, remembering their first encounter in the forest - a rash judgement on her part, but a sour grudge held by the other. "I suppose I'll find out," Ampere thought, her lips twitching with a sly sort of smile, excited for what was to come.

She hoped she had the patience for it all.

"It's what I do best," Ampere replied steadily, inclining her head somewhat. "As you may recall..." she tilted her face to the side, her expression framed by the wild marking on her left side, its chaotic imbalance telling of her personality. Africa continued, telling of her own worthlessness on the battlefield, a fact which concerned Ampere for multiple reasons. At her core she was feral, even a crown would not change that, and with that came the basic ability to survive, included among-which was fighting - though Ampere was not nearly as apt at winning as she was with starting tussles. To her those survival abilities were a key priority for every horse.

"We might pretend we are civilized," Ampere began after a stretch of silence following Africa's last words. "When something goes wrong however, we are all still the same - wild and panicked. Our gilded walls will tumble down, and with them, our sensibility and manners." Ampere snorted softly, thinking of the apocalypse they had just endured. It was a wonder more of them hadn't died in the caves, locked together like moles. "...for that reason it is imperative that every horse in the herd know the basics of fighting. It could save lives one day." Ampere tried to soften the serious tone she had taken with one of her rough, messy grins, the kind that lit up her face more than it already was. "But I will tend to the soldiers for the most part. We will conduct routine patrols and training and try and involve the rest of the herd as it is able."

She wondered then what Africa was good at, or what she wanted to have control over. Ampere knew nothing of healing and her stealth ability was sorely lacking, though she felt if you were a good enough fighter you didn't truly need either. Still, they were important in their own right, weren't they? "What of the arts for healing and stealing, are you familiar with them? I've stolen a few times, but nothing I'd call a talent." She wouldn't even mention her lack of ability at mending, that would be obvious enough. There was more too, but Ampere wasn't familiar with all the typical ranks of herds, each region had its own ideas. She shifted her weight, wings fluffing against her back as she got comfortable. "You lived here before, didn't you? What rank did you hold then?" Perhaps that was a better starting point.

"Whatever we decide," Ampere started after a moment of quiet, her gaze since having wandered the landscape. She brought it back sharply now, the blue alive with a fierce steel forged within her heart. "We must let them be free.". Ampere held Africa's gaze for a long while before letting it slide away, though the passion remained thick with her voice. "I have known too many herds that are more akin a prison. We all have duties, but their voices must matter and their actions, we must must stand behind them whatever they may be. In the face of any outsider we stand as a family - in those moments, where our bonds will be tested, ranks mean nothing, only the dust on your coat matters." She smiled into the wind, closing her eyes against the sensation, craving the freedom of flight but resisting the urge to burst into the sky to feel that which she spoke of. "We must teach rather than punish... and for that reason I cannot rest at ease until we have a Tamer." Here Ampere's gaze flicked back to Africa, her resolve unyielding. "Someone who will be knowledgeable on companions and teach the masses. Too freely do the horses of Helovia take the lives of the small creatures and chain them to their souls, expecting no repercussion for such selfish actions. If they must bond, they must train and understand the act they commit for eternity."

The blue of her gaze took on a hooded appeal as Ampere watched the grey mare before her. Africa was untangling the truth of their past in the silence that followed the storm of Ampere's words. In that time the small pegasus visibly struggled for self control. She'd let herself get too swept up in the fervor of her idea and her hope. She could barely stand to look at Africa, blinking hard each time the bird's shadow washed over her. It pained Ampere. She felt a gnawing deep within the recesses of her chest, both cold and hot simultaneously.

Africa finally grasped the motivation for Ampere's attack on that fateful day, but it was not enough. The one-winged queen continued to stay short sighted. Her desperate cry for understanding was nothing but an excuse ringing hollowly in Ampere's ears. Carefully Ampere took a step back, her muscles taut with the patience she was practicing, though her feathers had gradually begun to bristle as Africa continued to try and explain. That her words tripped over one another did not assuage the Mother of Companions in the least, though the one-winged queen's tone resonated with her honesty.

Ampere had known many an honest horse, it did not make them right.

"DO NOT ASSUME I KNOW NOTHING!" Ampere shouted, finally unable to contain herself when Africa provided her final statement. She may not have intended anything by it, but the emphasis on you seemed patronizing. It reminded Ampere too closely of the sternness with which Evangeline had admonished her in the Threshold those seasons back.

"They are wrong" Ampere's thoughts whispered, the low volume not to be mistaken for calm. She knew she did not know everything, but neither did they. Ampere was working to remedy her lack of knowledge, hungrily feeding on any data she could gather on companions. And what did they do? Shut themselves out to lessons and truths, believing their bond alone informed them of everything, then having the gall to lecture her.

Black wings rose like an unholy halo around Ampere's head, the tips fluttering blue in the breeze that rolled through the desert like the dragon exhaling. "There is more to the act of bonding then you realize and it is exactly because I am unbonded that I can understand. Do not think for a second that there is no alternative to this path that YOU chose. You have stolen your companion's very soul, a lifelong crime for which you are not exempt!" Sparks began to form from the dust that moved at their feet. "What right do you have to take his life? What right does anyone have?"

By now the sparks had gathered into a ball, churning before Ampere like a miniature tidal wave. Her mind hummed over its trigger, but she withdrew from it. Africa's crown gleamed in the dawnlight, its metallic shine reminiscent of the metaphorical gun she held. This is not the way she realized for the countless time, some wiser part of her finally getting a toehold among all the reckless and rash decisions whirling within her. Ampere backed away further, her wings dripping limply to her sides and her gaze sliding from Africa to caress the orange horizon. With a final snarl of electrical sound the orb dispersed into the ground.

It was quiet.

"Yes," Ampere said at last, her tone reserved, gentle. "That's exactly what a Tamer would do. Teach everyone."

Her wings shuffled against each other as she threw them back against her back. The sands swayed under foot with currents of air, each lifting her mane in a steady lull against her neck. It comforted her, reminding her of the ceaseless motion in the Endless Blue, where the sea and the shore fought their endless battle, much as she did. She smiled faintly, missing Mesec and his gentle demeanor, his velvet touch, his kind warmth...

"Stealing should be done carefully," Ampere provided, returning to their prior discussion as her head turned to face Africa once more, the clear and calm of her irises returned, placid like the Oasis. "It is not right to take anyone's freedom, no matter the cause. Information on the other hand, is pivotal." Ampere did not mind the need for stealing if it was to take a prisoner out of their chains, but the idea of kidnapping revolted her. The stealing of knowledge and goods however... she had relied on that often in her youth for both entertainment and survival.

Hurriedly she moved to the next topic, not wanting to delve too deeply into ethics once more, at least not with manners to be minded. She just might have to spar with someone after this to relieve some tensions born of a crown. "All for good purpose" she reminded herself.
"What are your plans for our neighbors?" Ampere asked openly, already having some of her own ideas but willing to hear Africa's plainly first.

Ampere was not anything more than what you saw. She was loud, rash, impatient, promiscuous, temperamental, and untrained. It was those qualities which most often seemed to push others away, and by which she was most often judged by. Yet Ampere was also young, smart, generous, loyal, passionate, and willing. She was the first to admit her faults, and the first that was willing to change them, as much as she was able.

Hardly anyone ever gave her the chance.

They saw only a lightning bird and hated her for her noise, her color, her hostility - unwilling to see the child that she was wandering, lost and broken, alone and afraid. Ampere fought so fiercely because it was all she had known, and because it was all that had kept her safe in the past. She preached so tirelessly because she knew the worth of freedom and what its absence was like, and its was a cruelty like none she would ever wish upon another.

No one even tried to understand, why did they expect her to?


Ampere's gaze turned away, unable to meet Africa's after the fear she had seen there, quickly hidden behind a wall of tough-jawed stubbornness, but there no less. Ampere never wanted anyone afraid of her. Terror in it's own right was another form of enslavement.

Ampere sighed, not knowing how else to explain herself.

"That would be for the best," Ampere agreed as Africa lightly suggested she handle most political matters. Diplomacy was not Ampere's strong suit, she fully understood that. She glanced up, hating the reserved voice Africa had taken on and the caution in her gaze. "I never wanted this!" Ampere wanted to tell her, but the crown on her 'brow kept her quiet.

Africa continued, though as she began to talk about the Basin Ampere's attention shifted from herself back to the conversation. As if jolted by something her head whipped around, her electric gaze holding Africa firm. "What did you say?" Ampere whispered, nearly cutting off Africa's final question. "Supremacists? Basin?" The word of that awful land jogged her memory abruptly and she recalled her trip the winter world, when companions and boundaries of Helovia had still been so new to her. She'd been chased out, never knowing she was lucky to endure only that.

"I've been there," she said more calmly as a grimness settled in her. She frowned as she considered the new information. "Once. It was beautiful, but the patrol chased me off..." she glanced at Africa, her 'brow knitted with intense thought. "Most patrols would do the same to a stranger, but you say they are supremacists? How do you know this?" It was not that Ampere was skeptical of Africa's information, but that she was in disbelief such horses existed, and that they were allowed to continue doing so.