Sunny made her way down the beach at a steady trot, her gaze unable to avoid glancing over at the Boardtrot.

The damage was immediately noticeable; the ice sheets that had resulted from the Windigo storm had damaged support beams, splintered several areas of walkways, and a few sections of the park had sunk almost entirely into the bay when the ice melted in the aftermath. Engineers had been so busy the last day determining total damages up in town that there hadn’t been any time to even begin inspecting the amusement park yet.

Sunny continued past the entrance gates to the park, to a small cavern around the bend. It was occasionally used as a camping spot for beach parties and Filly Scouts, but for the past few weeks, it had been the shelter of one Allura.

Once Opaline and the alicorn spirits had sent the Windigo’s packing back to whatever ethereal plane they had come from, they had found both the orchid alicorn and the snow leopard up on the roof of CanterLove Studios… And Allura was in much worse shape than Opaline had been, which is why her rabbit, Twitch, finally opened up to Hitch about what had been going on.

“Opaline is awake… And rather remorseful,” Sunny began when she saw Hitch and Zipp standing vigilantly next to the prone Allura laying on the cavern floor next to a fire. “Any change here?”

“Well, she’s still breathing, so… No, no changes so far,” Zipp replied.

Twitch chattered as he sat up on Hitch’s back.

“We’ve done all we can, pal. It’s up to her to pull through. If she does, then the important question is ‘will she be cooperative?’. Because I don’t want any more of this mind-wiping nonsense,” the sheriff told him.

“Problem is, we don’t have any way to keep her from doing that if she feels like it,” Zipp replied.

The voices were apparently enough to get the leopard to begin to wake up, because she began to stir. With a shiver, she slowly opened her eyes, and the blurry trio of ponies slowly cleared in her vision.

“Ugggh… Get away from me… Leave me alone…” she said, her voice shivering and hoarse.

“After what you almost did, I don’t think so. Stay still, your body temperature is still dangerously low,” Hitch said.

“Do not command me,” Allura replied. "You are content to see me trapped here… I will get home… One way or another...”

Twitch hopped off of Hitch’s back, scampered past the fire, into the leopard’s vision.

“Twitch…” Allura said, relieved to see him.

“’One way or another’?” Zipp asked, her tone half-mocking. “So the whole ‘half-frozen to death’ up on the roof was just a clever ploy? Twitch told us what you were trying to do. You found the pieces of the Nova Charm all over the Boardtrot, and you used them to open a portal. A portal that you thought would take you home. But what came out of the other side could have wiped out every living thing on this side. Yourself included. So maybe it’s time for you to stop and listen to the ponies here who actually take care of each other. We could help you if you just gave us a chance!”

The leopard laughed weakly.

“So all the loving little ponies of Maretime Bay would just welcome me with open hooves? Conveniently forgetting all of the videos you’ve made over the last few weeks that made them so terrified of me?” Allura asked, her icy stare piercing the pegasus’ heart.

“What choice do you think you have?” Came another voice from the mouth of the cave. The ponies and rabbit looked, and saw the towering silhouette of Opaline enter the cave, followed a moment later by Misty. “She’s told me what you’ve been doing. Stealing food, wiping ponies’ short-term memories, leaving them standing out in the middle of nowhere wondering how they got there, and now, finally, ripping open a portal to let world-ending spirits pass through. I don’t know you, and you don’t know me, but answer me this one single question, Allura; what would have happened here if I hadn’t shown up? You’d be nothing more than the highest corpse in the land up on that roof, slowly surrounded by countless more. Would that have been enough to make your brother proud?”

Opaline’s harsh words made everyone in the cave remain silent for several moments, broken only by the crackling flames of the fire and Allura’s labored breathing.

“Still, she’s right,” Zipp said.

“What?” Sunny asked.

“About me. About my vlogs. There’s staying safe, and then there’s fear-mongering. Maybe I crossed that line without realizing it. I’m sorry, Allura,” Zipp told her.

“Even if you do accept their help, Allura, we promise nothing. There may be no getting back to your home and your family, and if that is the case, that is still no excuse to meddle in magic you do not possibly comprehend, and condemning this realm to certain death,” Opaline continued.

Allura winced. The words stung.

“Step back,” Opaline advised the ponies present, her horn lighting up.

No sooner did Sunny, Hitch, and Zipp step back, did Opaline fire off a spell at the fire. The flames turned from orange to blue and purple, and a sparkling magical bubble popped into place around the fire and the leopard and rabbit next to it.

“The fire is enchanted and will last for days, as will the magical field. I can try and make enchanted charms which would be an adequate defense against her mind tricks,” Opaline told them.

Zipp and Hitch were still not used to the alicorn being helpful all of a sudden.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat this,” Opaline said, returning her attention to the leopard now magically encased next to the fire. “You may have to start over here. Away from your home, and away from your family. The sooner you accept that, the better. It won’t be easy, it may even be the hardest thing you’ve done. But make no mistake, I will not let you endanger Equestrian lives again. Take this time to talk to the only friend you’ve currently got. Ask him how he certainly would have perished in the blizzard had he not taken shelter in the lighthouse with them.”

The alicorn figured that was enough for now, and turned to leave the cave, followed by Misty, Sunny, and Zipp, leaving only Hitch in front of the bubble.

“We’ll make sure you’re given food and water while you recover,” the sheriff told her, and then headed out to the beach, where he decided to stand guard, while his friends headed back into town.

Author's Note

Well, if it wasn't completely and totally obvious, the leaked animatic of TYT S2E29 really kickstarted this chapter; before that, I had absolutely no idea what I intended to do with Allura. I wasn't even intending her to survive, before a pre-reader suggested it.