It had been about a week since the Mane 6 returned from their latest Unity Quest in Egypt, where they worked together with Mystery Inc and a bunch of new friends in order to solve the mystery surrounding a curse within Cleopatra’s tomb that a bunch of treasure hunters accidentally released.

But fortunately, everything worked out in the end, like it was supposed to, and Sunny and her friends now had the first of a few pieces to a map that would lead to the alicorn realm of Skyros... and Sunny's long-lost mother, Velvet Starscout, who Sunny longed to have back more than anything in the world.

Unfortunately, there was another thing that concerned the Mane 6, other than when their next Unity Quest might be and if it might be with Alterro.

It was... Allura.

Ever since she found out her brother was responsible for igniting the next Unity Quests for her newfound friends, Allura had been feeling pretty down. Not even Twitch could cheer her up.

Izzy came down almost every day to bring her some fruit and tell her stories to cheer her up, and while Allura appreciated this, she couldn't get rid of the Alterro sized hole left in her heart.

That was when Sunny got an idea.

She and her friends still needed to tell Spike, Blaize and the rest of the dragons on the Isle of Scaly that Allura and Twitch had been reformed, and about their most recent findings on their Unity Quests, and then she thought... what better way to do that then to bring Allura and Twitch to the Isle of Scaly so they could prove it?

Hitch, Izzy, Pipp, Zipp and Misty personally loved the idea, and when they ran it past Allura, she and Twitch talked it over (well, she talked-- Twitch more or less chirped) and they agreed.

So it was settled-- the next day, they would head out to the Isle of Scaly for a weekend visit, and hopefully... Allura might feel better about the only family she's ever known wanting revenge on her.

XXXXXXXX

Allura was silent during most of the flight to the Isle of Scaly, simply fiddling with a ball of ice she had made in her paws, and Twitch lay curled up sleeping underneath her wing, even snoring a little bit.

The fact that Twitch was sleeping was a relief to Allura, but... there were still a lot of lingering thoughts left in her mind.

Alterro was the only family she had left. If she lost him...

“Allura?”

Allura snapped out of her thoughts when she felt some gentle hooves on her shoulders, and when she looked up, she looked to see Izzy and Misty glancing at her in concern. “You okay, Allura-Bura?” Izzy asked softly. “You seemed kinda out of it for a second.”

However, Misty seemed to sense what the true reason behind Allura’s distance. “Is it Alterro?”

“Well, to be quite honest... yes. I just... can't believe my own brother wants revenge on me, after all that we've been through,” Allura shook her head in sadness. “When we were cubs, we were the best of friends. We were supposed to rule Leopardia together because neither one of us wanted to feel superior to the other. To see him act... even worse than I did...”

Sunny, who was coming into the lounge area from the main cab, frowned when Allura said that before she trotted over at sat in front of Allura, a gentle and supporting smile on her face. “You know we don't blame you for all the things you did before, right?”

“I know you don't, but... others might not be so forgiving,” Allura said cautiously. “What about your dragon friends? They must think I'm the worst being in the realms for what I've done.”

“Okay... Blaize and Lava might think that at first,” Hitch said slowly, “but their leader, Spike? He's pretty chill when it comes to these things-- we should know. He's went through a ton of battles similar to what we did with Alterro and Opaline. If anyone understands what it's like for a villain to reform...”

“It’s Spike,” Pipp finished. “And if Spike is okay with you being on our side...”

“The other dragons will be too,” Zipp said from where she was driving. “Count on it.”

Allura sighed sadly as she nodded in response to the ponies' reassurance. “I sure hope you're right about this...”

XXXXXXXX

It didn’t take much longer for the Mane 6, Allura, Twitch and Sparky to get to the Isle of Scaly, and not long after the Marestream landed and they all got out, they saw the figure of the Dragon Lord came flying into sight.

Spike had the appearance having four legs and a pair of wings and horns. On the sides of his head are fins, purple with green membranes, and he had green tinted horns, alongside some purple dots below the horns as well, tan underbelly and purple scales.

Spike smiled as he landed in front of the group, happy to see them after a long time of being apart. “Sunny, ponies. Welcome back. I see you've brought guests.”

“We have,” Sunny nodded politely. “Dragon Lord Spike, I'd like for you to meet Allura and Twitch... the newest residents in Equestria.”

Allura bowed first, and Twitch immediately followed after, both of them being a bit intimidated. “It’s... a pleasure to meet you, Dragon Lord,” Allura said politely. “A real honor, actually.”

Spike chuckled warmly at this. “No need to bow to me. I've heard quite a bit about you both, and I can tell that you two have come seeking forgiveness from me and my fellow dragons.”

Twitch nodded nervously in response to this claim. “Um... uh-huh.”

“Well, then let’s see if I can get the rest of my dragon friends here to meet you,” Spike said politely. “I'm sure they would be eager to put the last behind us. At least... a majority of them would.”

Spike then lifted his head and blew out a beacon of green firs into the sky, hoping his fellow dragons would see it and come to their location.

And then, after a few moments, that's exactly what they did.

The first to fly into sight was Luxxe, who had scales that were a gold color with a lighter yellow underbelly and with red claws. There are purple and pinkish shading on her wing membranes, along with her horn having similar color. Her hair is a gradient of red to orange. Her cutie mark is a dark red spiral on a red base.

The second to fly in was Leaf, who had scales that were a shimmering green with a pink underbelly and shading on his wing membranes. He does not have hair and his horns are tinted with the similar pink. His cutie mark is a green and yellow leaf.

The third to fly in was Fountain, who had scales that were blue with a light green underbelly and shading on her wing membranes. Her hair is a mix of blue with lines of light purple within it. Her horns are tinted with the same light purple. Her cutie mark is two waves.

The fourth to fly in was Tumble, who had scales that were light orange with blue tinted horns and pink eyes. His wings are blue, turquoise and orange and he has turquoise blue claws. His cutie mark is three gusts of wind.

The fifth one to fly in was Jade, who had scales that were mostly pink with blue spikes and claws and tinted horns while her hair is purple. Her wing membranes are pink with white and blue edges on them, and her cutie mark is a blue diamond surrounded by purple and white diamonds.

The sixth one to fly in with Lava, who had scales that were burgundy, along with orange eyes and a dark blueish underbelly while his horns are shaded with grey. His wing membranes have the same color in the middle and on the edges. His dragon fire is a very dark red color. His cutie mark is a paw print.

And last, but certainly not least, was Blaize Skysong, who was hot pink tinted horns, underbelly and scales and a short aquamarine mane. Her wing membranes have stripes of orange and aquamarine as well, and her cutie mark were four differently sized diamonds.

“Blaize! Dragons! It's so good to see you again!” Misty said warmly as they all landed. “It sure seems like it's been a while.”

“Good to see all of you too,” Tumble said warmly before his eyes fell on the nervous Allura and Twitch. “Oh! And... I can only assume this is...”

Blaize immediately snarled and got her wings flared up, to protect the other dragons in case things went south. “Leave the Isle of Scaly at once, snow leopard! For the crimes you've committed, you'll know no--”

“Blaize, Blaize, calm down!” Jade said soothingly, trying to get Blaize to settle down some before she did something irrational. “Let’s just hear the snow leopard out before anyone does anything... erratic.”

Blaize snorted in displeasure, but ultimately did as Jade asked, settling down slightly and giving Allura and Twitch some space.

Fountain then decided to speak up. “So... why are you and your bunny friend here, Allura?”

“Well... thanks to Sunny and her friends, Twitch and I have seen the error in our ways,” Allura began to explain. “And... while I apologized to the ponies of Equestria, I felt the need to apologize to you, their dragon friends, as well. So... I'm truly, truly truly sorry for all the crimes I've committed to these six ponies and the friends that they've met on their missions. I hope you could find it in your hearts to forgive me.”

The dragons seemed to glance at each other and then at Allura for a few moments, unsure of what to believe, and wondering which one of them was going to make the first move.

But ultimately, it was Luxxe who came forward and looked down at Allura and Twitch with compassion on her gaze. “If Sunny and the others believe that you've changed, then... I'm willing to give the two of you the shadow of a doubt. Who else is with me?”

The other dragons spared glances at each other before Jade decided to raise a paw. “I will.”

“...me too,” Tumble said after a moment. “As will I,” Spike added with compassion, prompting Fountain to nod in agreement before they turned their heads to Lava, Blaize and Leaf, who still seemed a tad reluctant to say if they trusted Allura and Twitch fully or not.

However, after a moment, Allura sighed dejectefly and hung her head low. “That's all right, I understand. It'll take some time to regain some trust, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes.”

“Uh, speaking of time, and whatever it takes,” Zipp said uneasily, “you guys meeting Allura isn't the only reason we're here. We have another villain to deal with... Allura’s twin brother, Alterro, and he's looking for the lost alicorn realm of Skyros, hoping to take it over.”

Leaf's eyes widened in surprise when he heard this. “Seriously?!”

“Oh, you've got to be kidding me...” Blaize scoffed under her breath. “Another furball you ponies have to deal with!”

“Dragons, dragons, please!” Spike tried to calm the dragons down before things could escalate. “No one needs to panic-- I'm sure that Sunny and her friends already have a plan in place to defend Equestria and Skyros from this Alterro character, right?”

Hitch nodded in confirmation. “We do. Sunny has been given one piece of a map that will lead us to Skyros. All we have to do is find the rest of the pieces before Alterro does, and we should be able to get to Skyros and warn the alicorns, and... potentially Sunny’s mother, about Alterro's incoming threat before it's too late.”

“Not to mention the citizens of Equestria still have their training worked out,” Misty added. “...I honestly never thought that the ponies of Equestria would have to use their training, but... you can never be too sure about these things, right?”

“Right,” Sunny nodded. “All we have to do is wait for another sign from the Unity Crystals, and then we can go from there.”

Suddenly, Luxxe gasped as she suddenly pointed something out. “I don’t think that’s gonna be too long of a wait-- look!”

Truth be told, the Mane 6’s cutie marks were glowing once again, and that meant the portal could be opening up any minute… and that also meant Allura and Twitch might be stuck with the untrusting dragons until they got back.

Nevertheless, Allura was willing to do whatever it took to be forgiven for her mistakes, so she cleared her throat and looked to the Mane 6. “Well… you ponies have fun. We’ll be waiting right here and ready for updates when you get back.”

“Uh… Allura? You might wanna look at your own cutie mark before you say something like that,” Pipp advised with a little smirk. “It’s glowing too! And so is Twitch!”

Allura looked down at Twitch and her cutie mark to discover Pipp was right-- both of them were glowing, and that was when the portal chose to appear not too far away. “So… Allura and Twitch are going to be going on their first Unity Quest ever?” Jade looked at her fellow dragons in surprise. “This has to be a moment of truth! Maybe if Allura and Twitch do good on this mission, we’ll know that we can trust them!”

Blaize hummed in suspicion before sighing reluctantly. “Okay, okay… I guess that is a good way to see if they’re trustworthy or not. But if they aren’t, I have full permission to light their tails on fire!”

“We’ll see who’s gonna be on fire after this is over, Blaize,” Fountain said with a bit of a cheeky look. “Count on it.”

“Good luck, ponies,” Spike said warmly. “And be safe out there, all of you.”

“Don’t worry, Spike. I think we’ll be fine,” Izzy smiled. “So… let’s go?”

“Let’s go!” Sunny cheered, and the rest of the ponies followed her into the portal, with Allura and Twitch hesitating before following them inside.

Allura knew that this Unity Quest could be the start of her internal reformation, and she knew that she and Twitch couldn’t mess this up…

…otherwise, they would never be able to forgive themselves.

Author's Note

Happy New Year's Eve, everybody! This is the last chapter I'll probably ever post before the beginning of the year, so be ready for some brand new chapters in the new year!