"The old me?" Pinkie Pie sneered before Fluttershy could respond, although the others could have sworn that they saw Pinkie's eyes cloud with sadness for a brief moment before it was once again replaced by hatred. "The old me was nothing but a pink moron, bouncing around all happy-like and completely oblivious to the world! All the old me ever cared about was parties and smiles!"

"Parties an' smiles are better than murder an' blood will ever be!" Applejack growled, beginning to lose her cool again.

Rainbow Dash gulped; she knew it wasn't going to be pretty once Applejack completely lost it. After all, she herself had been subjected to her wrath earlier, and it definitely wasn't a memorable experience.

Pinkie's eyes narrowed to slits, but she didn't respond and instead opted to retrieving her fallen knife, the silver blade shining as menacingly as ever.

Applejack, noticing this, immediately backed up a few steps. "Don't ya dare do what Ah think yer about to, Pinkie."

"And what'll happen if I do?" Pinkie snorted. "You were scared of this knife at first sight, Applejack! You're such a scaredy-pony!"

The farmpony gritted her teeth, her anger growing with every passing second. Being hit with the usual insults was a big predicament of its own already, but being called a "scaredy-pony" really crossed the line, especially since it was what she considered the worst insult of all time.

Rainbow Dash could only watch as Applejack fought her inner rage, struggling to tame it. She definitely doesn't want to lose it again, even though Pinkie would get a pretty good beating if she did, the pegasus thought, shivering slightly.

"Aww, what do we have here? Does the Element of Honesty want to kill me, her best friend?" Pinkie remarked snidely, a smirk on her face as she observed Applejack's losing battle.

"Ya... little... PINKIE PIE!" Applejack snarled as she charged, her emerald eyes blazing with malice.

"Applejack, no!" Rainbow Dash lunged forward, snatching the end of Applejack's tail in her mouth.

As expected, Applejack tried to shake the pegasus off, now snorting steam as she did so. "LET. ME. GO!" she roared so deafeningly that even Pinkie recoiled in shock, eyes wide.

However, as loud as it was, it still ceased to break Rainbow Dash's determination. "AJ, look at yourself! You've lost control two times in a row now! Sure, you almost killed me back there when you first lost it, but if I let go of you right now... Pinkie's gonna die for real! You said yourself that you saw hope in her! You said yourself that she was breaking free of whatever's controlling her!"

Time seemed to stop right then and there, an eerie silence descending upon them that masked all noises so well that you could even hear a pin drop.

A moment passed.

Then two.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the pony they all least expected to do so broke the silence.

"Pinkie Pie," Applejack said slowly, fixing her gaze on said mare.

Panic immediately struck Rainbow Dash as she clamped down even harder on Applejack's tail, fearing the worst. To her surprise, however, what she envisioned never came to be.

"Pinkie Pie," Applejack repeated, her tone firm. The same determination that Rainbow had displayed earlier now burned behind her own emerald eyes. "Ah know the real ya's in there, Pinkie, so ya better listen good: don't be afraid to give whatever's controllin' ya a good buck to the face! We're all countin' on ya!"

Author's Note

Sorry about how short this chapter is! I didn't have much time today due to real life affairs, and since I can't get on during the weekdays, I decided to cut this one down by a few paragraphs so you wouldn't need to wait until next weekend for a new chapter.

Anyways, Chapter 4 should be released on Friday, October 9th if all goes well.