The silence and tension returned to the room. Everypony looked at each other; some in wonder, some in surprise, and one in pure fright. This one was Pinkie Pie, and she was standing upright on her two back legs, her limbs sprawled across the door, blocking it from being opened by anypony.

"No! Don't open it!" she shrieked out of nowhere.

"Pinkie!" Twilight Sparkle scolded. The fear in her voice was now audible, and it worried everypony, as Twilight was most always brave in the face of danger. "We need to open the door and get out of here!"

"PLEASE! NO! DON'T DO IT!"

"Pinkie Pie, you can't expect for us to stay in here forever." Rarity took a practical approach to the situation, which was also uncommon.

"Please! For me!"

"Yer requests are gettin a little strange, Pinkie Pie." Applejack added, starting to head towards the door. Twilight held her back.

"Wait, Applejack." she said, stopping her friend in her tracks. "Let Pinkie give us a reason for her strange behavior."

She turned to Pinkie Pie, who was gasping for breath, tears streaming down her face.

"So?"

"NO TWILIGHT! JUST DON'T GO OUT THERE!"

The five other ponies looked at each other in worry. Perhaps Pinkie Pie was just having a psycho moment, which she did sometimes. They decided with a nod that whatever she was freaking out about, they could deal with. After all, they had saved Equestria countless times - what "horrible" thing could Pinkie possibly be afraid of?

"I'm sorry, Pinkie Pie," Twilight sighed, "But we need to get out of here, and that door is the only way." Twilight, using all of the magic she could muster up, aimed her horn at the door to the waiting room and blew it open, somehow leaving Pinkie Pie unscathed, but even more afraid.

"Why couldn't you just do that before?" Rarity scoffed to herself, yet still loud enough for Twilight Sparkle to hear.

"Well aren't cha glad she didn't?" Applejack countered as they stepped into the sunlight.

"I sure am." Came a casual and familiar voice from above them. Fluttershy disappeared behind a tree, and slowly, knowing that her doom was imminent, Twilight Sparkle looked up.

"Discord." she hissed upon seeing the Draconequus' distorted face, though she didn't need to see him - she had recognized his taunting voice.

"Oh, I see you remember me, Twilight Sparkle." he mocked her. Twilight remembered the time when they first met him, many years before. He had taunted and intimidated them by knowing their strengths and weaknesses - now it was not such a calamity, as most did; they were now practically legendary in all of Equestria.

"What do you want, Discord?" Rainbow Dash was now nose-to-nose with the beast. Her friends could tell that, like always, she was not afraid.

"I've already gotten what I want, Rainbow Dash." he replied, vanishing and reappearing a few feet behind her. "Well, part of what I want anyway."

"What in the hay is going on here!" Applejack was obviously confused.

"Why don't you ask Twilight Sparkle, honest Applejack?" Discord mused, now laying in a banana hammock that was hanging from two cotton candy clouds. "I'm surprised that she hasn't figured it out yet."

Suddenly, it was as if a light bulb had flickered on above Twilight Sparkle's head.

"You called for us to be in the Waiting Room, Discord, not Princess Candence!" she realized, furious. "And you locked us in there in hope that we'd be friends again - just so you could tear us apart once more." Twilight sneered that last sentence, incredibly angry and perplexed that anyone could ever be so ignorant.

"Exactly right, Twilight Sparkle!" he praised her. "I knew that with your knowledge you could figure out my plan… well, too late, anyway. But it's a start!"

"You are so cruel! …But there is one thing I don't understand." Twilight was deep in thought. "How did you return?"

"Ah, simple!" Discord practically sang out, swinging back and forth between the clouds. "When you all split apart and lost your friendships, the Elements of Harmony lost their power, causing chaos to return again." The ponies all looked at each other with fear, and then with confidence. Discord was a thing of the past - they had already defeated him before!

"We beat ya once, Discord, and we can beat ya again!" Applejack warned, getting in her fighting stance alongside Rainbow Dash.

Discord just chuckled.

"Ah, you ponies make me laugh!" he cried out. "Sure, you can try to defeat me, but don't think that you're going to be using the Elements of Harmony. You need all six for it to work."

"What are you talking about?" Rarity laughed nervously, shifting her eyes to each of her friends.

"There's a traitor in your group."

The ponies suddenly realized their fate too late. They all turned to Pinkie Pie, who could only stare back at them in defeat.

"You promised to join him, Pinkie?" Twilight asked her old friend, choking back a sob - We're going to lose.

"I had to!" she cried. "You were all gone and fighting, and I had no one to have fun with! When Discord came along he promised me Chocolate Rain, and Cotton Candy clouds and endless fun! I was weak. You don't understand… I was so alone, and he fooled me! He never said that you guys would be involved!" Her friends could only stare at her with disbelief.

"A deal is a deal, Pinkie Pie." Discord growled. She got up and began to walk towards him.

"What was worth trading for Chocolate rain? What exactly did you promise him, Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow Dash asked, the tension rising in her voice.

"T-to," Pinkie stuttered. "To destroy anything or anypony who got in Dicord's way."

Discord suddenly appeared next to the five now helpless ponies, Pinkie Pie in his clutch. "And don't forget, ponies." Discord growled, his tone rich with a sense of finality. "You never break a Pinkie Promise."