With her cutie mark flying ahead of her now glowing with the multicolored magic of the Unity Crystals, Opaline felt a renewed sense of purpose as she galloped towards the frosty white shield that had encased the large building up on the hill.

She had not felt this determined since she had departed Skyros so long ago, and right now, she was not certain at all where she stood on her belief on fate and destiny. Had she come down here, believing it was her right to rule, only for her to be called upon now, in Equestria’s sudden hour of need from this otherworldly force?

If so, where was the choice? Where was the hope and strength gained from believing she was doing the right thing?

Although she was initially prepared to charge right through the dome of wind and ice, she skidded to a halt when her cutie mark, glowing with the prisbeam magic, slammed into the dome, and was seemingly stopped in its tracks.

The sphere’s magical glow intensified, but that did seemingly little to nothing at overcoming the barrier.

Opaline flared her wings out, wanting to do something, anything other than stand here, useless.

“Tell me how to help! I want to help!” She pleaded up at the sphere.

She focused, trying to keep the sense of panic from breaking through to the surface as she heard the Windigos roar in defiance on the other side of the shield. She looked down at the peytral around her barrel, as the flames still flickered within, with one slot still empty.

“What can I do? What else is needed?” She asked the echoes within.

“Unity,” Twilight’s voice replied.

Opaline was confused and frustrated. Didn’t they have that? Wasn’t that what her mark had gone up the tower to get? What more could it need?

The answer came in the sound of galloping hooves approaching from behind her. She turned, and saw Misty come through the blowing ice. The unicorn looked up at her with a mix of uncertainty and hope, before she looked up at the glowing cutie mark, and the shield it was attempting to get through.

Then, fighting against the cold, Misty took a deep breath before closing her eyes.

“I might seem a little quiet, but my strength is very real. When my cutie mark comes to life, my heart helps me feel!”

For barely a second, Opaline wanted to scoff at the short chant, but then the girl’s cutie mark on her flank began to glow, and sparkling energy began to float from her up and over to the mark pushing against the shield.

The two pegasus siblings were next to come through the blowing frigid air. They came to either side of Misty, and likewise closed their eyes in concentration.

“I’m a princess of a different kind. Always trying to figure out why. When my cutie mark comes to life, I blast off bravely across the sky!”

“I’m a stylish pop star princess. My voice makes me strong. When my cutie mark comes to life, confidence is my song!”

Their cutie marks also began to glow, and send sparkles up to her own mark.

For barely an instant, Opaline fought the urge to roll her eyes.

This was just as preposterous as the song they all sang.

The earth stallion with the baby dragon and rabbit on his back and the jam-filled-tub-flinging unicorn were next, coming to Opaline’s left side.

“I sparkle like the stars, ‘cause I’m always super glittery. When my cutie mark comes to life, watch this brilliant creativity!”

“I’m the pony of the law, coolest dragon dad you know. My cutie mark comes to life, and my kindness overflows!”

Lastly, she turned to her left and saw Sunny Starscout, with her ethereal glowing wings and horn. The mare stepped up to her left side, looked up at her with another uncertain, but determined smile, and closed her eyes.

“I’m all three pony kinds wrapped up into one. My cutie mark comes to life with hope as bright as the sun!”

Suddenly, in what could have passed for a sunrise behind them, Opaline turned again, and saw the crystals atop the lighthouse fire a prisbeam out over the town, right at the shield, and it hit where her mark was pushing against it, and at last, the dome shattered and collapsed, revealing the large factory at the top of the hill, as well as the trio of ghostly equines galloping in the air above it.

Opaline was expecting the cutie mark to continue forward, so her eyes widened in surprise when it began to slowly descend towards her. The sphere that had encased it began to crack, and as it slowly dropped to the front of the peytral, it shattered and fell away, and what had been jet black within the confines of the sphere was now full of color; a lavender horn with blazing blue wings.

Opaline drew in a gasping breath as her mark settled in to the center socket, and she felt a familiar, almost overwhelming warmth envelop her.

To Tartarus with it… If it worked, it worked.

She closed her eyes, and concentrated on that warmth.

“I spent my life in the dark, obsessed with fulfilling my Skyrosian birthright. With the guiding fire of my mark come to life, I can finally embrace the light!”

Sunny watched in stunned silence with her five friends as all in the next moment, Opaline’s spread wings came alive in a blazing blue fire, along with her eyes and horn, and the five flames in her peytral burst forward, leaving trails of multicolored fire in their wake as they surged up to meet the trio of Windigos that were rapidly descending towards them.

With one strong flap of her wings, the orchid alicorn joined them in the sky, her horn ablaze and sending bolts of pyromancy spells out, causing the Windigos to pull out of their dives to avoid them. But as soon as they scattered, the trails of flames from Opaline’s peytral were there to meet them, cutting their escape vectors off and slowly but surely forced them up towards the eye of the storm they had come out of as the surrounding sky was alive with a rainbow of flames. The spectacle even brought some other citizens out of the warmth of their homes to gaze up at the fiery light show.

After one last collective scream of defiance, the corralled Windigos were pushed back through the eye of the storm, before the five flames began spinning around the center, and everypony had to shield their eyes from the blinding explosion of light that disintegrated the storm overhead. The rapidly warming air turned the blowing ice into rain, and the ground became wet as the ice that had covered everything began to melt as Maretime Bay was almost instantly returned to the dark of night as the trails of fire faded away.

As Sunny's heart pounded against her chest, her eyes darted to and fro, looking up at the night sky for any sign, she caught a glimpse of Misty, seeing her face full of worry as the unicorn was looking skyward doing the same thing.

“Opaline???”

Author's Note

Well, here's the second part. I'm hoping this climax is what you were all hoping for.

I'm also really hoping that the cutie mark chants were a little more impactful when they are used once, and only once.

Where do you think it'll go from here to wrap up? I'd love to hear suggestions! Thanks for reading so far!