The Flower Blooms Twice Chapter 6

Apple Bloom stared around her as the Changelings began to close in on her, separating her from her friends.  Sweetie and Scootaloo tried to reach her, but the mass of dark bodies blocked every attempt.  However, Apple Bloom wasn't going to go down without a fight.  As the Changelings leapt towards her, she spun, kicking out with both hind legs, rearing up to strike with her forehooves, viciously head-butting others.  However, as she fought, she could feel the ferocity beginning to affect her mind, as she bared her teeth in a vicious snarl.  She lunged forward at a Changeling that was rearing up to strike her and sank her teeth into its neck, tearing its throat out as green blood spattered her face and the grass.

She stepped back, shocked at what she had done.  I...I just killed somepony.  I...I didn't mean to...  She stepped back, away from the still shaking body as more of the Changelings piled onto her.  She struggled, but she could no longer bring herself to fight with the same intensity as before.  She stared around at the Changelings that had fallen around her.  She could easily count 10 unconscious, 8 wounded, and the one dead.  She shuddered.  She couldn't believe that she had done all that.  It was one thing to fight, but...she couldn't believe she was a killer.

She suddenly heard a scream.  "SWEETIE BELLE!" she called out, once more struggling against the press of bodies holding her down.  She managed to buck quite a few off of her, struggling towards the source of the scream.  She wasn't going to let her friends get hurt, no matter what.  Clenching herself, she felt energy coursing through her body, focusing at the tip of her horn.  Throwing her head back, she let out a scream of rage.

A fiery explosion erupted from the tip of her horn, blasting the press of Changeling bodies off of her.  She gasped for breath, both from exhaustion from the blast of magic and from having the air crushed out of her from the press of bodies.  She searched around, but she could see no sign of Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle, or anypony else for that matter.  All she could see were the Changelings surrounding her, cutting off all escape.

Gritting her teeth in determination, she vainly buzzed her wings, knowing flight wasn't really an option.  "Well, come on then," she said to the Changelings.  "Either attack or run.  I'll take on anyone!"  She reared up, letting out a battle cry.

"No, you won't."

That cold voice hit Apple Bloom like ice in her veins.  Shivering, she turned towards the source as the Changelings parted to let her see.

Across the empty space she saw Queen Chrysalis, staring down at her regally.  Behind her, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity were affixed to the side of the Library by the green goop Changelings used to trap ponies.  Twilight herself was trapped within a cocoon that hung from one of the library's branches.  At another part of the clearing, Apple Bloom could see Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo struggling against 8 captors each.  Scootaloo still had her teeth dug into the neck fin of the one trying to hold her head still.  Apple Bloom couldn't see anyone else.

Applejack, looking across the clearing, met Apple Bloom's eyes.  "Apple Bloom?" she whispered, shocked.  Rainbow and Rarity immediately turned to her, surprised.

Queen Chrysalis stepped forward.  "Ponyville is under my control.  Soon, all of Equestria will follow.  Do you think one rogue stands a chance against me?"  She locked her eyes on Apple Bloom's with an intensity that rivaled Fluttershy's Stare.  "Obey your Queen!" she commanded, her voice echoing inside Apple Bloom's mind as it did in her ears.

Apple Bloom wilted under the force of the command, feeling it press into her through the hive mind, trying to suppress her will, supplant her heart, control her.  As she began to falter, she thought of everyone in Ponyville - nay, across all Equestria - who was counting on her to stop this.  Whether they knew it or not, she was their last hope.  She thought back to the last Apple Family Reunion, and the face of each and every family member filled her mind, even the faces of the parents she would never know.  As their images ran through her mind, she drew strength from them.  Thinking of the other Crusaders, the ones they looked to, and the Harmony Bearers, Apple Bloom shot to her hooves and looked Chrysalis defiantly straight in the eye.

"I ain't got a queen!" she proclaimed.  "Just a Princess!"  She paused.  "Wait, umm, Princesses...well, there's four now, or is Cadance an Empress?  Well, and I also do what Miss Cheerilee says, and Big Mac, and mah sis.  Can't forget Granny..."  She blinked.  "Aww, shoot.  I screwed up the dramatic moment."  She looked up at Chrysalis pleadingly.  "Can I get a do over?"

Applejack managed to free a hoof to smack it against her forehead.  "Yeah, that's mah little sis, alright."  This was greeted with a chuckle from Rainbow Dash and an amused "Eeyup!" from nearby.

Chrysalis stared down at Apple Bloom.  "You expect me to, what?  Just stand here and let you keep trying until you get your dramatic speech right?"

Apple Bloom nodded happily.  "If'n it ain't too much trouble!"

Chrysalis' eyes narrowed to angry slits.  KILL HER! she commanded silently to her swarm.

As the Changelings began to leap at Apple Bloom, an image leapt to mind.  She remembered seeing once, in Twilight's lab, a glass globe with a metal sphere in the center.  Lightning leapt from the metal sphere to the globe, focusing on anything that touched the globe.  While the lightning in the globe didn't hurt, she imagined that - with magic and without glass - it could hurt a lot more.  She locked the image in her mind as she focused on her magic, remembering the feeling of the power focusing in the tip of her horn.

A green field appeared in a sphere around her.  When one of the Changelings touched it, a bolt of green lightning leapt from Apple Bloom's horn to strike the Changeling, sending it flipping back, charred and twitching.  Ten more Changelings were blasted back in the same way before the rest of the swarm began to hesitate.

Apple Bloom could see Chrysalis was getting angry.  She also knew she couldn't keep this up forever.  Working with magic like this was really tiring.  She needed some way to change the odds.  Remembering the way Chrysalis had been giving commands, an idea came to her.  "What'sa matter, Chrissy?" she called out, making her tone as mocking as she possibly could.  "Don't wanna get your own hooves dirty?  Or are ya chicken?"  She began to cluck, raising up on her hind hooves to make wing motions with her forelegs.  At how realistic her clucks were, she quickly glanced down at herself to make sure she hadn't turned into a chicken.

What happened next caught Apple Bloom completely off guard.  All Changeling activity in the town ceased.  The Changelings stepped back, forming a solid black ring around Apple Bloom and Chrysalis.  Even the ones who had been standing with Chrysalis as an honor guard backed up.  However, it seemed that Chrysalis was just as shocked by this behavior as everyone else was.

"What?" Chrysalis demanded.  "What do you think-"  She froze as a look of understanding - followed by one of unadulterated fury - crossed her face.  "I see.  So that's how it is."  Without warning, she charged Apple Bloom.

"Yah!" Apple Bloom cried, leaping aside.

Chrysalis stopped her charge and spun, striking at Apple Bloom with her hooves and horn.  Apple Bloom did her best to evade, but it was plain that Chrysalis was a much more experienced fighter.  She was at a major disadvantage.

No! she thought to herself.  I can't let it end like this!  If only I could do tricks like Scoots.  If she were in this position, she'd just-  Suddenly, without realizing what she was doing, Apple Bloom sidestepped one of Chrysalis' strikes, flipped onto a forehoof and spun, striking Chrysalis in the face several times with her hind hooves before doing several back flips to gain some distance.

Apple Bloom stared down at herself.  "Did I just...?"  She saw a dark orange energy in the gaps of her body, beginning to fade.  "How did...?"

Snarling, Chrysalis charged Apple Bloom again.  "Die!" she snarled.

Could it really be that easy?  Filling her mind with when she'd seen Big Macintosh working in the fields, she leapt aside quickly.  Red light filled the gaps in her body, and just as Chrysalis rushed by her, she struck out with both hind hooves, hitting with nearly as much force as Big Macintosh could bring to bear.

Chrysalis rolled across the ground, coming to a halt.  She stood up slowly, clutching her side where her chitin was cracked, green blood beginning to leak out.

Apple Bloom smirked at the Queen.  "Eenope!" she said with a smirk.

Big Macintosh chuckled from nearby.  "That's mah lil' sis!" he called out proudly.

The Changelings seemed to agree with his assessment, as a concerted hiss erupted from the gathered drones.  Chrysalis eyes narrowed in fury, although - surprisingly enough - a hint of fear began to show as well.  Spreading her wings, she took to the sky.

Apple Bloom gulped.  She still didn't know how to fly.  There was no way she'd be able to follow Chrysalis into the sky.

Seeing Apple Bloom's fear, Chrysalis laughed.  "Is that the best you can do, little foal?" she called mockingly.  She fired a blast of magic down at Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom dodged to the side, and continued to dodge as more blasts followed.  "I'm only 12!" she called out to Chrysalis.  "What's your excuse?  Forget your glasses back home?  Or couldn't you ever hit the broad side of a barn?"  As a piece of rubble kicked up from another magic impact, Apple Bloom spun and bucked it, sending it flying straight into Chrysalis' eye.

Chrysalis reared back with a scream, clutching her face in pain as mocking laughter erupted from the crowd.

"Yeah, you show her Apple Bloom!" Applejack called out.

"Give her the old one-two!" Rainbow shouted out.

"Show her you know how to party!" Pinkie called out.

"Give that fashion faux pas the boot!" Rarity called out.

"You can do it!" Fluttershy called quietly.  "Woohoo!"

Other cheers began to ring out from the gathered ponies, ones not so easily recognizable.

"You can do it, Apple Bloom!"

"Show her what you're made of!"

"Do us proud!"

"She wants to get rough, show her you're tough!"

"Put her to her end, my young friend!"

"Show her how great and powerful you can be!"

Apple Bloom wasn't sure who started it up, but a chant suddenly began to echo through the town.  "Ap-ple-Bloom!  Ap-ple-Bloom!"  Ap-ple-Bloom!"  As the beat of the chant repeated over and over again, Apple Bloom could feel the flow of energy from the town - the raw positive energy and community love focused on her - flowing into her body, focusing once more into her horn.  She gathered it all in, everything she could grasp.  A small sphere of green electricity formed at the tip of her horn and began to expand.  When she'd gathered all the power she could and it was the size of a softball, she launched it into the air towards Chrysalis.

The sphere flew up at incredible speeds, but Chrysalis saw the attack coming, and flew to the side.  A concerted gasp of shock filled the town.

Chrysalis laughed at Apple Bloom.  "What was that about my aim?"

Apple Bloom grinned.  "I wasn't aiming for you."  She pointed upward.

Unnoticed by everyone present, the launched sphere of magic had flown into the one cloud that was never out of the sky, Rainbow Dash's napping cloud.  The cloud had absorbed the sphere, turned green, and begun to spin.  Clouds were being drawn into the spinning green cloud from all over the area, especially from over the Everfree.  As the clouds merged with the spinning cloud, they turned a dark green and entered the spin.  Before long, a massive green storm cloud spun over the entirety of Ponyville.  The sphere of lightning Apple Bloom had shot into the cloud was interacting with the mystical energy inherent in the weather, building up until sheer momentum of natural forces turned it into a sheer destructive juggernaut.

A green lightning bolt arced out of the clouds, aiming for Chrysalis.  She did her best to dodge, but it was the first of many bolts arcing through the air, from cloud to cloud, arcing downward to strike at the Changeling Queen as she continually dodged.

Apple Bloom stared up at the sky.  While it was obvious that the storm might eventually destroy Chrysalis, in the process it would likely destroy much of Ponyville in the process.  Her trump card was too powerful, and had turned into a wild card.  There was no telling what would happen now.  She needed to find some way of getting up there, getting control of the storm, and stopping Chrysalis before wind funnels started to form.

A lightning bolt suddenly flashed down, striking the hillside on Ponyville's outskirts.  A large boulder broke free and began to bounce down the steep hill, rolling towards the town square.  Apple Bloom noticed that it was bouncing straight towards the catapult Rainbow had built to allow Applejack to launch her into the air for a trick.  For some reason, it had never been taken down.  A desperate plan began to form in Apple Bloom's mind as she raced for the catapult, hopping onto the launch end.  Well, if this works, I'm in the sky and I can try something else crazy.  If not, I'm a pancake.  Apple Bloom shuddered at the thought.  Well, at least I like pancakes.

Shaking that thought away, she focused herself, buzzing her wings slightly, trying to prepare for the launch.  However, before she was fully prepared, she heard a crash from behind her, and found herself propelled forcefully into the air, flying straight at Chrysalis.

The Changeling Queen turned and saw Apple Bloom flying towards her.  With a snarl, she sent a blast of magic at Apple Bloom.

In desperation, Apple Bloom fluttered her wings and - by sheer blind luck - managed to barrel roll out of the way of the blast.  However, she was unable to stop the spin.  "Iiiii'mmmm gonnnaaaa huuuurrrrllll!!!" Apple Bloom screamed out as she squeezed her eyes shut, doing her best not to lose her lunch to the spin.  Cupcakes tasted much better going down than coming up...unless you were Pinkie, in which case they somehow came up whole and unblemished.  She never did make sense of that.  Why was she thinking about this?

She suddenly felt something gossamer thin against her face, and felt it tear.  Hearing Chrysalis scream in agony, Apple Bloom opened her eyes.  She had flown horn first, spinning rapidly, right through Chrysalis' right wing, tearing it in half and practically out by the root.  The impact had slowed her upward flight, allowing her to coast upward slowly.  She stared down at Chrysalis as she fell.  Chrysalis snarled up at her, screwing up her face in concentration.  Magic began to gather at the tip of Chrysalis' horn.

Apple Bloom struggled to gather her magic, but it was all she could do just to keep her eyes open.  However, a small spark of magic formed at her horn.

She flinched as a blast of electricity ran through her body.  A bolt of lightning from the storm had struck her.  What surprised her, though, was that the lightning hadn't been painful.  It had been...exhilarating.  She saw that the small spark of magic at her horn had expanded from the lightning strike.  She held up her horn.

Lightning began to strike her rapidly, focusing on the tip of her horn as the magic of the storm focused into her small frame.  The storm slowly began to dissipate as the motive magic force that drove it was absorbed into Apple Bloom's body.  She began to flinch, though, as there was more magic here than her small frame could safely hold, and she was in danger of overloading.  The sphere of magic at the tip of horn reached the size of a beach ball as the clouds above her lost all trace of green.  Slowly, she flipped over in the air until her horn was pointed straight at Chrysalis.  As Chrysalis fired her last ditch spell to try and kill Apple Bloom, Apple Bloom released the gathered magic.

A massive pillar of green light shot down, completely consuming Chrysalis' spell as it drove her down to the ground and then into it.  Apple Bloom didn't see it, however, as the recoil of the spell sent her flying into the air and scattered the clouds across the continent.  Apple Bloom flipped end over end as she shot upward into the sky until she was thousands of feet in the air, on the verge of unconsciousness.  As her upward momentum ended, she began to fall towards the ground.  The rushing wind through the holes in her body slowly brought her back to consciousness.

She blinked her eyes at the view of nearly the entire continent laid out beneath her.  "Huh...pretty..."  She suddenly realized that she was falling to certain death.  "Oh.  That's...that's not good."  She blinked for a time.  "Well, if this is how I go...at least I saved everyone, right?  It's not like..."  She blinked a few more times.  "Wait.  Changeling.  I have wings."  She chuckled to herself.  "Funny how I forget these things.  Well, no time to learn to fly like when your life depends on it."  She glanced around at the completely empty sky.  "And it's not like I've got anything to crash into up here."  Closing her eyes, she began to flutter her wings.

While she was able to generate some lift, it wasn't enough to halt her downward movement, and her lack of control in the air caused her to move around erratically.  "I hope I figure this out soon!" she cried out as she dipped and spun through the air as she continued to drop.

A black shape rocketed up towards her from the ground.  It was a Changeling, bigger than others she'd seen, nearly 3/4 the size of Chrysalis, and everything about this one seemed to scream male.  He shot past her, halted in midair, then shot down towards her.  Positioning himself carefully, he slipped under her than gained lift until his back was right up against her stomach, her legs splayed out on each side of him with her face against his neck fin.

"Take hold," he said commandingly, "and rest your wings."

She recognized his voice, even though it was spoken now and not in her head.  It was the Changeling who had identified himself as High General Coin.  Stopping the movement of her wings, Apple Bloom took hold of his neck fin with her teeth.

Coin began to accelerate the buzz of his wings, rapidly slowing their downward movement, showing perfect control as he approached the ground.  He came in for a gentle, perfect landing in what was left of Ponyville Town Square, near the center of the circle of Changelings which remained as they had been.  However, the entire area surrounded by them was now a crater.  In the center of the crater lay Chrysalis.

She lay there, groaning in agony, unconscious.  There were cracks in the chitin all over her body.  Her mane was a mess.  All four of her legs were broken.  Her horn was cracked along its entire length.  She was more than six feet deep into the ground.

Apple Bloom slid off Coin's back, shocked at what she'd done.  She walked forward to stare down at the broken body of the Changeling Queen, her own body shaking visibly as it took all her strength to stay standing.

Coin, meanwhile, had turned his head away.  He seemed to be conferring with someone, but Apple Bloom couldn't hear anything.  She struggled to make contact with the Changeling hive mind, but found herself blocked.  She stared up at Coin - who towered over her without trying - somewhat nervously.

High General Coin then nodded.  He turned to face Apple Bloom...and lowered his head to the ground in a submissive bow.  Long live the Queen! his voice echoed in her mind, a powerful affirmation.

All the Changelings in Ponyville faced Apple Bloom, lowering their heads to the ground in absolute submission.  Long live the Queen! their voices cried out together in her mind, as she felt them anchor themselves to her.

Long live the Queen! the voices echoed, coming to her from all across Equestria.

Long live the Queen!

Long live the Queen!

As Apple Bloom heard the voices of the entire Changeling swarm calling out to her and felt their minds anchor to her own, she reacted as any filly thrown into this situation could be expected to react.  Clutching her head in pain, she screamed and fainted.