For Freedom!
Applebloom struggled with all of her might against the horde of changelings that had pinned her down, managing to throw them off of her with a surge of enhanced strength. She panted heavily before bucking a changeling in the jaw. Her legs took the creature's jaw off with the boosted power, giving Bloom a chance to see what was happening around her.
Captain America was being bombarded from all angles, with only his stubborn spirit keeping him from collapsing. Chrysalis above them was simply smiling at the carnage, victory written on her face as the Captain struggled with blow after blow. And finally there were the ponies, all of whom were still running around with terror in their eyes as the changelings fired at them with reckless abandon.
'Have...to figure out a way to stop them. Can't...fall here. Not while mah sister still needs me!' With the last of her fading strength, Applebloom dragged herself over to where the crystal floated, noting that the changelings seemed far more focused on bringing the Captain down than to pay her any mind. With burning muscles and screaming nerves, Applebloom slowly pulled herself across the metal floor, careful to avoid as many hooves as she could. Yet after nearly being trampled to death in order to reach the crystal, she finally managed to be next to her sister.
"Applejack...it's me. Can ya hear me?" Applebloom asked the mare within the crystal as AB was forced to use the machine ensnaring her sister to pull herself up. The orange mare said nothing in reply as Applebloom held a hoof to the crystal, tears starting to form in her eyes as she stared at the figure within. "It's...really you right? Not one of the changelings in disguise? Please...if ya can...answer me."
The crystal gave no answer. Yet the reflection of Applebloom in the crystal saved her life, for it also revealed a changeling that was about to impale the mare from behind. Applebloom ducked down just in time to avoid the horn of the changeling, which imbedded itself in the crystal instead of the pony. Applebloom snarled as she wound up a punch to knock the changeling's head off, but before she could throw it a surge of electricity shot forth from the machine below and into the changeling. Applebloom watched with wide eyes as the lightning struck the changeling dead in the armor, causing it to writhe before the surge of electricity killed it.
"Their armor..." she whispered to herself when she relazied what the electricity had been drawn to, an idea forming in her mind as she glanced at the machine. Her brain began to fire on all cylinders while she began to repurpose the machine in her mind, but a cold realization overcame her as she gazed up at her sister. "Ah can use the electricity from this machine to fry the changelings. But if ah do...what will happen to you?" she whispered to her sister.
The crystal pony said nothing in reply, but once again Applebloom could see a reflection within. It was the reflection of Captain America, using his body as a shield to protect the ponies/changelings from the blast of magic that Chrysalis rained down on them. Her eyes widened with horror as, despite the horrible injuries he had sustained, he continued to protect both friend and foe alike. Yet without the shield, he was forced to resort to using himself as one.
"Is that what yer trying to tell me? To save him?" she asked the crystal Applejack. The reflection grew even clearer in response and the cries of the Captain's pain rang in her ears. Tears began to pour from AB's eyes as she was forced to make the hardest decision of her life. But then she steeled her resolve and tore off the panel of the machine, knowing what she had to do.
\/
/\
Rogers roared in pain as another changeling fired a burning spell into his leg, collapsing him just in time for Rogers to receive a right hoof to the face that knocked him flat. Yet despite the searing pain and the laughter of Chrysalis, the cries of the endangered ponies forced him to rise once more.
"You do not learn, do you Captain?" Chrysalis taunted while Rogers glared up at her through a torn mask and bloodied eyes. "But that is a trait all you heroes share. You're incredibly stubborn, to the point of stupidity. After all, one that was smart would know that it would be far wiser to stay down, instead of getting up only to be hit once more. Didn't your mother teach you at least that much?"
Rogers response was to spit out a bit of blood before a thin smile creased his face. "Lady, you know nothing about my mother. Because that woman, God rest her soul, taught me a far different lesson than what you learned about staying down," Rogers replied, his smile turning into a snarl as he forced himself up once more, strength flashing in his eyes again. "I wasn't taught to stay down. I was taught-"
What his mother had taught him Chrysalis would never know, because at that moment a giant flash of lightning went off within the factory. Chrysalis had just enough time to register the flash before arcs of lightning shot forth from the machine that held Applejack aloft, arcs that tore through dozens of the ponies and punched holes through their chests. Chrysalis was just about to cry out before the ponies all shape-shifted back to their changeling form, not one of the dead being a pony.
"No...NO! That isn't possible! How did you-?!" Chrysalis bellowed with fury as she tore her gaze from the Captain and towards the mare in the suit, who smiled up at her with a cold grin. "You...you killed all of them," Chrysalis realized with horror, glancing around at all of her charred soldiers.
"Eeyup. Turns out that the armor that yer soldiers wore conducts electricity something nasty," Applebloom smirked with fire burning in her eyes before motioning for Chrysalis to bring it. "But now that we've squashed the drones, ah think it's time we finally swat the queen that's been giving us so much trouble."
Chrysalis' response was to bellow with an unholy fury before lunging at the mare that had killed her soldiers. Applebloom replied to the challenge by hurling a supercharged hoof towards the queen of the bugs, but instead of shell her hoof collided with solid vibranium. Applebloom let out a string of curse words that would have shocked her sister if she was able to hear.
"Seems that the reports were right. This is an incredible shield," Chrysalis chuckled as she hefted the disc once. "I didn't even feel that blow, which I know would have hurt otherwise. Come on brat, let's see how well you do against your ally's tech."
Applebloom spat to the side before she threw out a low left shot, which Chrysalis barely managed to deflect with the shield. Applebloom gritted her teeth in pain as her blow bounced off the shield. The pain didn't phase her for long, because she followed up the left with a right hook that caught Chrysalis off guard. The Queen snarled with rage as her head was snapped to the side, sending her skidding onto the ground while she lost her grip on the shield.
"Come on! Now's y'all's chance to get out of here!" Applebloom cried out to the ponies, motioning for all of them to head for the exit. The ponies heeded her advice without a moment's hesitation, racing towards the exit in a stampede. Applebloom waited until the last of them had headed out before she raced to the crystal, letting out a sigh of relief when she saw her sister was unharmed.
"Don't ya worry Applejack, ah'll get you out of there in a moment," Applebloom promised as she began to mess with the machine once more. Yet before she could make any progress, a blast of magic caught her in the back and slammed her head into the metal. Applebloom groaned in pain as she forced herself back up, shaking the pain from her eyes before she was slammed once more into the metal.
"You...are going to pay," Chrysalis seethed with venom as she slammed her hoof into Applebloom's skull, bouncing the mare's head off of the metal plating. Bloom let out a groan as blood poured from her nose, barely able to register that Chrysalis grabbed her by the throat and held her up. "You are going to pay for the damage you brought to my factory. For the lives of my changelings. For starting the Crusade! For-!"
"FREEDOM!" Chrysalis turned around just in time to receive a shield to the chin that hurled her into the air. Captain America then lifted his shield before throwing himself into the air after Chrysalis, driving his shield into her while yelling-
"STARS! AND! STRIPES!" Each word was followed with another blow from the shield, and on the third blow the Captain struck with such force that Chrysalis was practically launched into the ceiling. Captain America then crouched down next to Bloom and offered her a hand, one that she shakily took before being yanked to her feet.
"That was smart work there, soldier, thinking to get the hostages out of the way while you had the chance," the Captain praised Applebloom before another unholy scream drew both of their attentions back to the Queen of the Changelings. "Now what do you say we squash this bug once and for all?"
"Are...ya sure...yer up for it?" Applebloom panted wearily, her eyes gazing over the multiple burn marks and stab wounds that covered the Captain's body.
"I've never been more sure of anything...watch out!" Roger's tackled Applebloom to the side as Chrysalis hurled blobs of magma at them, roaring with fury while she lifted more of the searing liquid with her magic. "We need a way to either shut down her magic or get her in close. My shield can handle the heat of the magma, but it can't stop it from pouring onto us. Can you do something?"
Applebloom shook her head to clear out the pain while she began to glance around. Her weary eyes began to perk up when she noticed multiple parts and pieces around that all began to come together in her mind. She then glanced back at the machine imprisoning her sister one last time, the final pieces of her plan falling into place.
"Buy me as much time as ya can. Ah can deal with her magic soon enough." Her word was good enough for Rogers, who forced himself to charge at the changeling queen despite the burning agony that coursed through every vein. Chrysalis bellowed with fury at the Captain as she began to fire spell after spell at him, never paying any mind to what Applebloom was up to.
"Ah'm sorry Sis," she apologized to the mare in the crystal as she began to yank wires free from the machine. "But ah have to stop Chrysalis here and now. And ah have a feeling, that if ya were able to talk to me, ya would tell me to stop her instead of save ya."
With a roar of pain, Rogers slid underneath of a tidal wave of lava, able to feel the searing heat of the liquid through his suit despite not being physically hit by the stuff. But in order to avoid the next wave of burning liquid, Captain America had to throw himself off of the island and onto one of the conveyer belts, where he shakily rose to his feet as Chrysalis landed on the other end of the line.
"It's the end of the line for you, Captain America!" Chrysalis howled as she tore the chunks of metal on the belt and hurled them down at the Captain. He deflected the first wave before rolling out of the way of the second, slipping the shield off of his arm and winding up a throw. Upon spying Chrysalis' horn begin to glow, the Cap slid the shield back onto his left arm with narrowed eyes. "That's right Captain. You know full well that if you throw your shield at me, I'll simply take it from you once more."
Chrysalis laughed maniacally as she took to the sky, levitating anything that she could get her magic on to hurl at the Captain. "And since you can't throw your shield, you have no way to strike me from all the way up here!" she cried with sheer menace as she ripped one of the massive cauldrons off of its line and dropped it down in front of the Cap. Rogers was forced to sprint back up the conveyer belt as gallons of molten magma consumed the belt behind him. Pouring the last of his strength into his legs, Rogers kicked off of the conveyer belt and grabbed hold of a catwalk above him.
"Impressive Captain. I'm amazed you have the strength left to perform such a feat," Chrysalis taunted venomously while watching the Captain pull himself onto the catwalk. "But it seems...even that inhuman strength of yours has a limit. Not to mention with all the blood you have lost, you can't possibly have much more in the tank. You're time is almost up."
"I'll admit Chrysalis, I haven't been pushed this hard in a while, even with the serum in me" Rogers admitted as he stared down the queen, the flames of courage still burning bright in his eyes. "But this isn't the worst situation I've found myself in. Am I tired? Of course. Have I lost blood? Room's spinning as we speak. But Red Skull did this to me with an army backing him. And do you know how that turned out for him? He went down, just like you will. You just don't realize it yet."
Chrysalis bellowed with hate as she tore a conveyer belt completely off of the line, screaming with wrath while she lifted the metal structure over her head. "I will not be bested by a hero once again, especially one that cannot use magic!" she screamed with fury as she prepared to throw the belt...only to take a blast of concentrated energy right to her side. The queen howled with pain as she spiraled down into the metal floor beneath her, slamming onto her side as the metal belt crashed onto another line.
"Did ya forget about me, Chrysalis? Ah'm insulted," Applebloom said with a large grin on her face and an even large weapon in her hooves. "Sorry about the delay Cap, just had to put the final touches on this bad boy. Say hello to the force gun."
"Hello, force gun, glad you could join us," Rogers chuckled weakly before Chrysalis shot into the air once more, her bloodshot eyes glaring murder at the mare.
"I'll kill you for that!" Chrysalis bellowed with unbridled hatred as she hurled herself towards Applebloom, who gritted her teeth as her gun started to charge up. But Rogers realized with a glance that her gun wouldn't charge in time to save her. So the Captain did what he always did in a dire situation: He hurled his mighty shield.
Chrysalis' horn was just about to fire before the vibranium shield slammed into the side of her head, turning it at a different angle so the spell missed Applebloom completely. Before she had a chance to recover, the Captain tackled her out of the air, using what little strength he had left to drag her back down onto the conveyer belt.
"How?!" Chrysalis bellowed as she struggled to push the human off of her, but even with the loss of blood and painful injuries, Rogers grip was unbreakable while he held the queen down. "How are you fighting back?! I had you beaten! You had lost!"
"And right there is the answer. Because you underestimated us...the same way I underestimated you," Rogers admitted to her. "But you can't underestimate us heroes, because even if we only have a one percent chance of victory...we can make it one hundred!"
While Rogers said this, Applebloom glanced up to see that a cauldron was resting right above the pair of them. Realizing what to do, Applebloom took aim at the chain dangling the cauldron in the air and fired. A scowl crossed her face when she saw that all her gun did was sway the chain, which remained intact. Then she glanced beside her and spied the Captain's shield.
Rogers growled when Chrysalis dug her fangs into his shoulder, retaliating with multiple punches to her skull. Chrysalis freed her teeth and aimed her horn at the Captain, but the two ceased fighting when they heard the sound of metal shattering and both looked up to see a massive cauldron filled with magma falling towards them. Rogers, who had been in life and death situations far more than Chrysalis, was the first to react and he poured all of his remaining strength into a headbutt that snapped the queen's head back.
Captain America then hurled himself to the side, leaving Chrysalis to look up through blurry eyes just in time to see the cauldron crash down on top of her. Rogers rolled to a stop while the cauldron crushed Chrysalis, squishing her instantly and spraying green blood all of the Captain's suit.
"Like...I said. You go down like the rest," Rogers panted out before the platform he was standing on lurched beneath him, making him realize that the extra weight of the cauldron was sinking the metal floor he was standing on. Pushing himself past the exhaustion, he grabbed hold of the nearest hand hold and slowly pulled himself up. But just when his stamina was about to run out, Applebloom extended a long piece of pipe towards him. "Nice shot soldier," Rogers panted when he pulled himself up onto the catwalk with Applebloom.
"Thanks..." she muttered in reply as she hoofed the shield to the Captain. The both of them took a moment to rest before an explosion went off, turning both heads back towards the factory in time to see that most of the belts and machinery were beginning to explode. "We need to get out of here. Before we join Chrysalis."
"Wait...what about...your sister?" Rogers managed to pant out as Applebloom wrapped his arm around her and began to drag the both of them towards the exit. Applebloom turned her gaze away from the Captain and when he glanced over at the crystal, he saw why. For floating inside the crystal was no longer a pony, but a changeling instead.
"It was a trap, just like Belle said," Bloom whispered weakly. "Mah sister really is dead."
"Maybe so, but she'd be proud of you for today," Rogers weakly comforted her with a smile. "You saved a lot of lives, you put an end to this factory and you managed to stop Chrysalis. That's something worth smiling about in my book." Applebloom looked at the Captain for a moment before a thin smile crossed her face.
"Ah guess we did do good."
"Yes we did. Now let's hope we can get out of here before the place comes down on us. Because we can't die yet."
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So AJ really is dead. Drat. I was hoping that she wasn't, as well as the other girls not being so.
But such is the way of war.
And for the valiant Applejack, the other Ambassadors of Harmony, and all the fallen of Equestria, a moment of silence.
Okay, that's the two bitches down. Now we just have the other three to go.
Any bets to as which of the three remaining Tyrants is going be the next one to go?
I get the feeling that with the death of Chrysalis neither Sombra and Tirek are not going to be happy at all. Hope will now spread like wild fire because two of the Dark Lords are dead with a third beaten hard it will motivate everyone in the world. My gut reaction is Tirek will be next as Sombra is usually our authors go to big bad.
6630046
Poor Applejack well since this is now part of marvel ther will be probably something resurecting her but it will take some time.
6630160 Indeed.
*removes hat and holds ot over her heart*
someone read the evil overlord list good job sombra
Bitter Belle: "So, I was right huh? She really was dead and it was a trap?"
AppleBloom: "Yes... you were right. But since we were already in the area we figured we might as well kill Chrysalis while we were there. Also, we got takeout. You fine with Ling-burgers? They're fresh."
Bitter Belle: ...wat
Applejack truly would have been proud of Applebloom for making such a sacrifice like that to save them all. Sadden, but proud of her to make the big play to save the day.
Nice update and interesting developments. Still, it does have a bit of hope for the rest of the Six, right ?
I mean there has to be hope for them to survive after all this time, right ?
Please do keep up the good work upon such a great tale like this one.
6630046
I've got the feeling that Sombra's going to be last. The confrontation with him just seems to be the one that the story is building up the most.
Why do I have a feeling this is going to end with Ahuizotl in a fedora and trenchcoat at an airport trying to leave the country while he's still alive?
6630406 I have a feeling that you may be right about that.
If that's so, then which one between Tirek and Ahuizotl is going to be the next to fall?
And by "fall", I mean permanently.
As in ... taking an eternal dirt nap.
6630552 If he's not dead by the end of this, your feeling might be right.
But we'll see.
6630368 As a Starcraft player, all I can imagine is Raynor and Findlay doing this to Matt Horner.
Raynor: Hey, Matt.
Matt: Jim, what the hell did you-
Findlay: *Holding up fingers as he speaks* Crashed on the planet, tried to find a way off, ended up discovering a Zerg hive, squashed that hive, and waited for you to pick us up.
Raynor: We got takeout, Matt. Ling-burgers.
Matt:... what.
Hey, where'd the end of the chapter go? That was the best part!
Well Cryssy You are dead! Not big surprise!
Dang like button, only works one time
6630729
Wait, is a Ling-burger an actual thing? I was just making a joke about how there were so many fresh Changelings lying about going to waste. Cool. I made an unintentional reference. Yay.
6637950 Yeah. You make them by mashing Zerglings through a meat-grinder and slice it into patties.
YES! I've been fucking waiting for one of these.
6630046
I got ten bucks on Tirek!
Your.
Comma or period.
'Crushed" seems more appropriate.
Kinda wished AJ plus the others were still alive.
Also would have been a good opportunity for the Avengers to come in!
7128988
I agree.
As much as I understood Applebloom killed her sister in order to save Captain America since he was the only hope?
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Did it had to be as dramatic as possible?, with everyone they like dying and no one important surviving?
I kind of believe her saying Belle was right, only means that she either is telling herself that and wanting the other to believe it instead of her admiting what she had to do, or the Applejack was a picture created by the crystal or a changeling.
edit : still I need to give a "nnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooo" to honor Chrysalis a last time after her death and the death of one of my favourite Villains.
I mean yeah, it really is a smart move to eliminate the operators of: atomic radio-friendship-ish bomb... but only for time being.
Sure, they're probrably all dead, but how long would it take for six more ponies with the same characteristics of the bearers to be born? And surely in such a chaotic world they would be a bit more... lets say 'rough' than the previous ellements
Oh hey there wasn't a Deus ex machina. Good on ya, mate ( •w•)b