//------------------------------//
// That's Not Good 
// Story: The Insane Art Teacher 
// by Ironskull 
//------------------------------//

"What is so bad about Spike being lost in your house?" asked Twilight as she followed Discord through his living room.  "There isn't anything dangerous in here, is there?"

"It shouldn't be dangerous, no, just so long as he stays behind the safety rails."

"Safety rails?"

"There's nothing dangerous on the other side of them, I assure you," Discord said quickly.  "You see, a house like this that is built into the ground can easily become waterlogged after a good rain.  In order to solve the problem, there is a big cistern that collects rainwater and flows through a barred tunnel and back outside into a valley behind my house, where it evaporates."

"How clever!"

"Indeed.  However, I need access to the cistern in case anything should ever go wrong, so it's built underneath a rotunda that has the rest of the rooms of this house branching off from it.  When it rains, you can actually stand in it and watch the water flow down the walls."  Discord stopped in front of the only remaining door in the living room which he had not opened yet.  "It hasn't rained recently, but I give you... the Cistern Chapel!"

He opened the door up and Twilight stepped inside and gasped.

The room inside was actually quite enormous.  It was cylindrical in shape and had one spiral ramp running along the wall that had several doorways as it descended.  Although none of the doors were at the same height and therefore there was no real way to determine the number of floors, Twilight could see as she approached the safety rail that the part of the ramp that she was on looped under itself two more times.

The ramp never actually touched the wall, however, except for in a few places where it was suspended by white supports.  There were more supports vertically as well.  In the places where there was a doorway in the wall, there was a short bridge to cross to get onto the ramp, and Twilight also saw that there were sorts of awning over the doorway that would redirect the water that Discord had told her would run down the wall and ensure that it didn't fall over the doors.

The bottom of the ramp ended with a small platform overlooking a pool of still-present water.  Just as Discord had said, there was indeed a barred tunnel on the opposite side of this platform for the water to escape to.

"This is remarkable!" cried Twilight, admiring Discord's creative architecture.

"I'm glad you think so.  It's not often that I get to show this stuff to others.  Oh, and by the way."

Instead of speaking, he continued by simply pointing up at the ceiling.  Twilight looked up and saw that the ceiling was painted.

It was a painting of the human Discord.  It depicted him grinning and reaching out with his hand...

And pushing every single button on an elevator.  There were a lot of buttons.

Suddenly, Twilight was startled to hear a noise like a trumpet being played off key, seemingly coming out of nowhere.

"What was that?" she asked in confusion.

"That would be my doorbell."

"You have a doorbell?"

Discord didn't answer her, but instead turned around and went back through the door from whence they had come.  Twilight followed.  He walked to the door to the entrance and opened it as well, and walked up the steps to the final door, which he used his key to also open.

"Fluttershy!" he cried in happiness.  "How nice to see you again!"

Twilight looked past him and saw that Fluttershy was indeed standing outside, holding a box.

Fluttershy noticed Twilight standing behind Discord.

"Twilight?" she asked in confusion.  "What are you doing here?"

"Oh!" said Discord, realizing that this was a problem.  "Er-"

"It's fine," said Twilight.  "To tell you the truth, I don't actually go to CHS.  I only came here because Sunset stole my crown and Discord decided to put up with me until I leave."

"Hang on!" cried Discord.  "You're still telling me that you're still sticking to the story that the crown is yours, and that Sunset stole it from you, even though I know your secret now?"

"Yes.  That is why I have to get it back!"

"Hmm.  How could you have owned a crown that looks exactly like the one Principal Celestia made for the fall formal?"

"I don't know, but I did!"

"Well, I am inclined to believe you, but this presents us with a new problem.  Although I believe you, I can't simply give you your crown back without completely irrefutable proof.  You can still get the crown back by winning the title of Fall Formal Princess, and I would love to help you with that, but I can't do very much to help you without making it look like I'm playing favorites."

"Um, was this a bad time to visit?" asked Fluttershy.  "I brought a little something for Pinkie and The Brain, but I can come back later."

"I wouldn't dream of it, my dear!" cried Discord.  "Please, my house is your house!  I mean, I gave you a copy of my key and everything!"

"I know," said Fluttershy.  "But I still don't want to walk in on you unannounced.  I only have the key with me in case of an emergency."

"Well, now that you're here, maybe you can help us find Twilight's pet dog, Spike.  You see, he appears to have disappeared and-"

Discord abruptly stopped talking and looked at Twilight nervously.

"Oh no!" cried Fluttershy.  "Is the poor dear lost?"

"Oh not at all!" said Discord, more hurriedly.  "In fact, he's only been missing for about five minutes now.  But I just remembered, perhaps you shouldn't visit right now after all.  We can find him on our own."

Twilight hated to see Fluttershy turned away like this.  "Wait, Discord, don't send her away.  I'm sure that Spike will be on his best behavior."

Discord gave her a look.  "Well, if you say so.  Do come in, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy came through the doorway, which Discord locked again, and then followed as Discord led them back into the house.

"Those mice appear to be missing at the moment," Discord said, looking around the living room.  "Oh well.  You can leave your present on one of the coffee tables, Fluttershy.

"What is that, anyway?" asked Twilight.

"It's a tube network for them to climb inside," explained Fluttershy as she set the box down.  "You see, in the wild, mice are prey and they hide from predators inside holes dug in the ground.  Even though they don't have any predators here, their natural instincts still urge them to find narrow places to hide.  They will feel right at home!"

"How thoughtful!" remarked Twilight.  "And knowledgeable!"

"I do pride myself on being a good caretaker of animals," said Fluttershy.  "Speaking of which, we should find your dog!"

Twilight and Fluttershy followed Discord through the doorway into the cistern again.  When they were inside, Twilight realized that she could hear a strange and constant noise.

"What is that?" she asked.

Discord scrunched up his face.  "If that's what I think it is...  Oh no!"

Suddenly, the man started running down the ramp at a sprint.

"Discord!" cried Twilight in surprise, trying to run after him.

Unfortunately, since she was unused to her body still, she tripped and fell.

"Are you okay?" asked Fluttershy, helping her to her feet.

"I'm fine," said Twilight.  "Luckily, the floor even in here is carpeted, so I just have a mild carpet burn."

She looked down the ramp.

"Which way did Discord go?" she asked, not seeing him.

"I suppose we should go toward that strange sound," said Fluttershy.

Twilight started jogging down the ramp, restraining herself a little more in order to keep from tripping.

She found Discord easily.  He was standing just inside of the doorway of one of the rooms.

The room inside appeared to be a storage space for unused furniture, as there were various chairs, tables, shelves,  and other things stacked together in strange combinations that Twilight had come to expect from Discord.  She also saw that the thing which was making the strange noise.

There was an enormous row of dominos sitting on the furniture, zigzagging every which way an branching off to cover nearly every nook and cranny of the room.  And they were in the process of falling down.

Just a short distance from Discord was Spike, sitting on the floor and looking at Twilight rather guiltily.

Discord was staring at the scene open mouthed, but said and did nothing.

Until finally, all of the dominos had fallen down.

"That..." he began weakly.  "That took me weeks to set up.  And I wasn't finished yet."

"I'm really sorry!" cried Spike.  "I didn't realize how much it meant to you, I just looked in here and it looked so cool and I sort of nudged it without thinking about the consequences!"

"Spike can talk!" cried Fluttershy in shock.

"He can indeed!" cried Discord in a tone of frustration.  "But that doesn't mean that he knows how to keep his paws to himself!  Why, I ought to-"

"Mister Discord, please!" cried Fluttershy, stepping between him and Spike.  "He didn't mean it!  He said he is sorry!"

Discord looked down at Fluttershy.  "I-  I-  Argh!" he moaned.  "Blow me to Bermuda!"

Something extremely strange started happening.  Before their eyes, Discord's body changed shape, his head becoming more narrow and his feet growing wider.  Within seconds, his whole body looked like a cone.  And then flames appeared underneath his feet.

"What in the world?!" cried Discord, no longer angry, but clearly very panicked.

The flames grew more intense and he started to rise up into the air.

"What's happening to me?  ARGHHHHH!"

This final scream accompanied his body suddenly shooting into the ceiling at high velocity, but instead of being stopped by it, his body appeared to drill straight through it.

Large clumps of dirt started to rain down from the ceiling.

"What just happened!" cried Fluttershy hysterically.

"Well Twilight," said Spike.  "It looks like Discord does have magical powers after all.  But it doesn't look like he's ever used them before."

"Fluttershy!" cried Twilight.  "Please calm down!  I know what happened to Discord!"

"You do?"

"I do!  You see, one of the fall formal crowns is actually a magical artifact!  Well, to be honest, both of them are.  Discord appears to have absorbed at least some of their power!"

"Given the circumstances, I think I will choose to believe you," said Fluttershy hurriedly.  "But what do we do now?"

"We shouldn't leave Discord's house.  There is a good chance that he will use magic again to bring himself back.  But you are right, we can't just do nothing!  That phone of yours gives you the ability to contact people who are far away, correct?"

"Yes?"

"I need you to call Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack, and tell them to meet us here!  Tell them that it's an emergency!"

"You want me to call all of them?"

"Yes!"

"Alright, I'll do it, for Mister Discord's sake."

Suddenly, there was a noise of splintering wood from the living room.

Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other in shock before running up the ramp once again.  Spike was left behind for the moment.

When they reached the top of the ramp, they hurried into the living room and saw that it was not Discord who had caused the disturbance at all.

Sunset Shimmer was standing in the room, leaning on the handle of a sledgehammer.  The doorway to the entrance was smashed to pieces.

"I never should have let that madman out of my sight!" she cried.  "I saw what just happened outside and I know that he somehow managed to tap into the power in my crown.  Now then Twilight, exactly how are we going to get my crown back?"