Allura sat quietly in the frozen beach cave, with all four paws curled under her body and her eyes closed. Her tail drifted from side to side lazily, but still on alert in case something happened. Twitch was asleep as well, having spent most of the day partying at the Boardtrot, while Allura avoided eye contact with the ponies.
The icy leopard, free from distractions for the moment, allowed her mind to wander. She wanted nothing more than to seal up the cave entrance and never open it again, making sure she never saw another irritating pony for the rest of her life. However, she knew that she and Twitch still needed to eat, so there wasn't really anything she could do. At least that pesky sextet of ponies seemed to have finally figured out that she didn't want anything to do with them anymore, so they were leaving her alone now.
"Hello? Allura?" came a voice from the cave entrance, followed by the faint sound of hooves on sand.
Allura mentally cursed. She had to jinx it, didn't she?
Her eyes slid open, and she rose to her feet, barely making a sound as she did so. With a flap of her wings, she took off, concealing herself near the cavern ceiling among the icicles. The element of surprise would be useful in scaring off whichever infernal pony had decided to disrupt her sleep. Soon enough, the blue unicorn with the bushy red mane came into view, walking slowly through the cave and looking in every direction.
"Allura? Are you here?" she called out once more. Then she caught sight of Twitch, who miraculously hadn't woken up yet, and flinched backwards. She took a few steps backwards. "Maybe this was a bad idea..."
"Oh, you have no idea," Allura growled, before zipping forwards. She pounced on the ground in front of the unicorn, making her leap backwards in fright. Satisfied, Allura drew herself up to her full height, and glared. "Why must you ponies constantly intrude on my privacy?!" She spoke in a harsh whisper, not wanting to wake Twitch.
"I'm sorry!" the unicorn squeaked, though not too loudly. At least she managed to catch onto Allura's intent. "I know you prefer to be left alone, or left alone with Twitch, but I wanted to talk to you."
Allura narrowed her eyes. "What do you ponies want from me this time?" she demanded. "I suppose the rest of your friends are waiting to see if you don't come back, you...what was your name again?" She realized she'd barely heard this pony talk.
"Misty," replied the unicorn. "And they don't know I'm here. I came on my own. Everypony else is asleep."
Allura stared into Misty's eyes, searching for any signs. There were none, at least none that she could see. She supposed there was no real reason for Misty to lie.
"Alright, Misty. What do you want from me?" She popped the claws out on one of her paws, in a small show of intimidation.
"I don't want anything from you. I just wanted to talk to you. To see if you needed...well, anything. I know you're not happy here, but—"
"Well, I will give you credit for being the first one to catch on to that," Allura sneered. "Though that doesn't erase the fact that your idiot friend Izzy destroyed the Nova Charm, cutting me off from the only way I could ever go home!" She was having trouble keeping her voice down as angry memories bubbled to the surface.
Misty flinched, but she didn't break eye contact. "Yeah, I can see why that would hurt," she replied. "But maybe that wasn't the only way you could get back to your home. Maybe, if you asked us for help, we could find another way."
Allura rolled her eyes. "I've been wandering for longer than you've been alive, Misty," she growled, beginning to stalk around the unicorn. "In the decades I've been searching, the Nova Charm was the only thing that could possibly possess the power to get me back to my homeland. Not to mention, ponies despise me. Even while fighting with each other, they still found time to hate me. Ponies may no longer fear each other, but that means nothing to me. Even if I were to ask for help, I'd be driven out of town. You'll have your friend Zipp to thank for that."
"Zipp told you she was sorry," Misty insisted. "Besides, we let you into the Boardtrot, and nopony panicked. Have you ever tried actually asking for help?"
"I refuse to sink low enough to ask a species such as yours for help, Misty." Allura was behind Misty now, but the unicorn didn't turn around. "You'll recall how much ponies were at each other's throats for differences as small as wings and horns. Do you really think they'd accept a creature as different as I?"
"But we overcame the hatred between the three tribes!"
"True. I won't deny that. But what's to stop that hatred from coming back?"
Misty frowned. Allura guessed she hadn't expected this much resistance. She expected Misty to turn around and storm out of the cave, head held high, in that self-righteous way ponies did. However, the unicorn instead took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.
"I'm sorry you've had bad experiences with ponies, Allura," she began. "That must've been hard. And, while my friends and I would work to stop it, I guess we can't guarantee that ponies wouldn't become divided again. Still, being all alone, with no one on your side...that's not an easy thing to live with. I think we could find a way to help you get home if you let us."
Allura tilted her head to the side, raising one eyebrow. "What would you know about being all alone?" she demanded.
"Let's just say I've been there," Misty replied. "I had nopony on my side for the longest time. I was fighting just to survive. But when I hit my lowest point, Sunny and the others were there for me. They helped me, and I'm sure they could help you. What have you got to lose, otherwise?"
Allura frowned. She wanted to use her mind control magic to brainwash Misty into forgetting this cave existed, to send her on her way and pretend this conversation never happened. So why couldn't she do that? Were Misty's words actually getting to her? For reasons she didn't know how to describe, when Misty claimed she'd been solitary as Allura was now, she wanted to believe the pony.
Misty finally turned towards the cave entrance, but kept her eyes on Allura. "I won't demand or force you to do anything you don't want to do. But believe me when I say I've been where you are now. Well, maybe not exactly where you are, but close. And it's always better to ask for help than to try and fight it on your own." Then her head turned, and she trotted out of the cave, leaving Allura and Twitch alone.
Allura watched her go until she was no longer visible. Then she looked at the sleeping Twitch, the one friend she had left in this world. She thought of Alterro, who she didn't know if she'd ever see again. Then she laid down on her stomach, curling her body around Twitch. She doubted she'd be getting much sleep tonight. Misty had given her a lot to think about.
