Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4519633-20141022032431/@comment-5106672-20161129024507

My interpretation of that scene was that Zelena knew she could not kill the EQ due to the doppleganger thing, so she'd rather go out quietly maybe fearing the EQ would target the baby as retribution if she put up a fight. Which would be useless anyway because at most she would have had to poof away and go on the run, and that's hardly an option with such a young baby.

Also, I think Zelena is facing a similar dilemma as Regina in S3: she has fuelled her magic through negativity for years and is afraid that tapping into it more than strictly necessary would bring it all out again. It is not explicitly stated, but the show has been pretty consistent with showing magical characters are at their weakest when they're doubting themselves. Post-S2 Regina is not a lousy sorceress, she's just not confident enough to be the end game sorceress she used to be as the Evil Queen. Zelena is now going through a similar phase.