"Is she going to be ok?" Twilight asked.

"Fortunately, yes!" Dr. Stable said. "She was really lucky; the knife missed her heart for half an inch. She will soon be well, don't worry."

Twilight sighed in relief. "That's good."

Rainbow Dash was sitting beside the bed, holding Applejack's hoof.

"I tried to be a fair player." she said. "Tried to be a nice mare. But no more! Pinkie Pie asked for it. First, Rarity, and now Applejack too. I will never forgive her. She's going down!"

Slowly, Applejack opened her blue eyes.

"Ra... Rainbow Dash...?"

"Applejack! Are you ok?"

"Whatever do you mean, darling? Did something happened to Applejack?"

"But... You're Applejack."

"Stop speaking nonsense, darling. I will always be your good friend Rarity!"

"Wha-What are you talking about, Applejack?"

"What are you talking about? And why do you keep calling me Applejack?"

"Because that's you!"

"No, I'm--" she looked at the mirror Rainbow Dash was holding in front of her face. "WAHAHAHHH! WHY AM I APPLEJACK?!"

"I think you've been driving Rarity's car for far too long, Applejack. Now you're not only acting like her, you also think you're her!"

"But I am Rarity. Quickly, ask me something that only I-- I mean, Rarity could answer."

"Uh, ok." Rainbow Dash looked around, then pointed at the blanket. "What is this made of?"

"Cotton fleece, obviously." she answered without even thinking twice. "Anypony could answer that question, ask me a harder one!"

"Anypony, but not me. Nor Applejack, so I guess I believe in you." she turned around and looked at the door where Twilight and Dr. Stable were talking. "Uh, Twilight? Can you come here for a second? Rarity woke up!"

"You mean Applejack, right?" she asked while approaching them.

"I know what I said."

Vinyl slowly opened her eyes; the world was really bright, which meant that her shades weren't on her face.

"Turn off the sun..." she mumbled while covering her eyes with a foreleg before coughing.

"Vinyl!" Octavia almost shouted before hugging her friend.

"Octy? Where are we?"

"In the hospital, of course. You almost died on that island!"

"Well, I do remember falling on the sea... But how did I got out of there?"

"That was thanks to me." Lyra said while entering the room. "You're so lucky I know how to teleport, or you would be deeper in the ocean than a sunken ship!"

"Heheheh. Thanks a bunch, Ly."

The mint unicorn hugged both the white unicorn and the light grey earth pony. "Not a problem. And how are you feeling?"

"Much better, thanks."

"Since you're feeling better..." Octavia slapped Vinyl's face.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"For being stupid!"

"When?"

"All the time, but specially when you decided to join that tournament for such a stupid wish!"

"Wait a second there, you know my wish? How?"

"You sleeptalk. A lot!"

"I... I do?"

"The slap was for joining that dreadful contest instead of asking for my help. If you truly want to not be addicted to those drugs, all you had to do was ask me, we could get you into rehab in no time at all."

"I... Didn't wanted to bother you."

Octavia hugged her again. "You could never bother me, Vinyl. You can be annoying, yes, but a bother? Never! I would go to Tartarus and back for you, Vinyl, because..."

Vinyl blushed. "O-Octy..."

"Because you're my best friend!"

It felt like she got stabbed in the chest. Vinyl collapsed back in bed and groaned, covering her head with a pillow.

"Friendzoned..." she mumbled.

Octavia looked at Lyra. "Was it something I said?"

Lyra simply shrugged while trying not to laugh.

Pinkamena watched the ponies in the hospital from a crystal ball; her new horn was glowing, powering the ball.

"So, she survived, huh? Well, good for me, I guess. She will surely join the next contest and try to win her body back. Now let's see: Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Rarity will absolutely participate. If none of them discover what the three fillies are doing, they will participate as well. And there's Discord. He probably has a trick or two up his sleeve, but without his magic, he is as dangerous as a fly. But I better keep an eye on him, though. I wonder what he's up to..."

Suddenly her magic started flickering and the crystal ball stopped broadcasting what the others were doing. She groaned.

"I need to get the hang of this if I want to host my own Twisted Metal!"

Pinkamena poked her horn a few times until the magic started flowing again.

"There, all better now!"

The crystal ball started working again, this time showing the Throne Room in Canterlot.

Discord was on his knees in front of the Royal Sisters, who were looking down at him; Luna was angry, but Celestia was simply looking at him, expressionless.

"Thou must be very brave, Discord, to come to us, barking like a dog, begging for thy life." Luna said. "If only the Element of Generosity still lived at the Element of Laughter hadn't been corrupted, We wouldn't let thee speak the smallest of words before sending thee back to thy stone prison! We should slay thee, but We do not intend on lowering Ourselves to thy level."

"Please, Princess, please, listen to me! I'm sorry about everything I did and I will pay for my crimes in due time, but first you need to listen."

"What do you want to tell us, Discord?" Celestia asked.

Luna looked at her sister. "Nay, Sister! We shan't let Discord poison our ears with his fiendish words."

She looked at Luna. "Sister, it's our duty as the rulers of Equestria to hear what everything our subjects have to say." Celestia looked back at Discord. "Even those who have an inglorious past."

"Thank you so much, Celestia!" Discord said with a smile. "I always knew there was a reason for you to be my favorite Princess."

"Just tell us what you have to say." the Sun Princess coldly said.

"Oh. Yes. Right. It's about Pinkamena. She has my powers. All of them. I don't have nothing left. I can't even create a single cotton candy cloud."

"Serve thee right!" the Moon Princess said, pointing at him.

"But she's nothing like me. She is not there for the thrill of the game, like I was. I saw it in her eyes, she wants blood!"

Celestia nodded. "Yes, and the remaining Elements of Harmony will--"

"They won't do anything!" he said. "I've been watching them. Even after what she did, they still consider her their friend. But she needs to be stopped, because she's just like-- No, not like me. She is worse than me!"

"And what do you suggest?"

He finally stood up. "Let me help you! I know how a psychotic mind works. I met plenty!"

"Do you really expect us to join forces with you? After everything you did to us and our subjects?"

"I'm powerless now, Princesses, remember? Not a single ounce of Chaos Magic left in my fingers. Once everything is over, I will gladly submit myself to Equestrian law and let you punish me the way you see fit."

"It's a rather tempting offer, but I need to ask you one thing: why do you want to help us?"

Discord sighed and lowered his head, his eyes closed. "Because I finally saw how horrible my contest truly is."

"He lies!" Luna nearly shouted. "Sister, can't thou see that his words art dripping with poison? He only wants to gain our trust so he can backstab us."

"I am not naïve, Sister. I know better than to trust Discord. But I am willing to give him a chance to prove that what he says is the truth."

"He does not deserve a chance, Sister!"

"Nightmare Moon didn't deserved a chance either." she said. "But I gave Twilight and her friends the opportunity of using a different kind of magic against her instead of stepping in and sending her back to the moon. Now you are back here and we're together once again. What if I didn't gave her this chance of dealing with a different foe with a different purpose than mine?"

Luna sighed. "One chance, Discord. Thou art going to help Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash. If victory is achieved by any of thee, thou art going to wish for Twisted Metal to be over. After that, thou art going to undergo a trial. Are We clear?"

Discord saluted her. "Crystal clear, Princesses!"

Celestia smiled. "Dispatch a guard to Ponyville, Sister. Tell him to ask the Elements that, once they're fully recovered, to come her and meet their new teammate."

"Immediately, Sister!"

Luna got up and left the Throne Room. Neither her nor Celestia saw Discord's fingers crossed behind his back.

Author's Notes:

Fun fact: I wanted this to be the title of Chapter 6, but it would be a humongous spoiler (with the word "Sweet" repeated several times, you probably could already guess who the winner would be). And since I don't trust my memory, I added this chapter before even start to writing the previous one! Mother Faust damn my bad memory and bless my creativity.

And I wrote this chapter while watching a horror movie about scarecrows.
I.
Frigging.
Love.
Scarecrows!
Maybe I'll add a Scarecrow racer later on the story.