Fluttershy sat in her throne, nervous. Very few ponies obeyed her rule, and telling them that Discord had put her in charge didn't help. She was doing the best she could, and managed to get almost a hundred ponies on her side. They were all housed in the palace, using the powers Discord had granted her. She had discovered them gradually, from the ability to spontaneously create food to the ability to return to her throne when in danger. The latter had been discovered after a group of unicorn nobles reacted negatively to her claim to the throne. Fluttershy may not have been outgoing, but she was smarter than she was given credit for. She quickly realized the advantage in controlling the castle, and the throne room in particular. She gazed down at the dozen ponies that slept inside the room with her and sighed. The five guards she had recruited were very good at protecting her, but she was afraid that even they could be overcome by the thousands of Discord-hating ponies inside. She also had a few medics, a dozen or two nobles, but a majority of her subjects were common ponies, including Pony Joe. A few children even joined her! Most ponies only joined her for the free food, but at least two of the guards were there to protect her because she was the current ruler, even if her right to rule was debatable. As a leader, she had functioned fairly well over the last month, uniting a hundred ponies under her rule, and keeping the castle free of enemies while taking in ponies who wanted to join. She heard a knock on the doors to the palace, and she answered it politely and quietly.
"H-hello? Is anypony there?" she whispered, opening the door. In front of her, she noted with a squeak, was several hundred nobleponies and their servants, with Prince Blueblood at the front.
"We wish to talk to the False Queen, Fluttershy. Go and get her, servant. Now!" demanded Blueblood rudely.
"Oh, my... You're speaking to her..." Fluttershy whispered.
"We demand that you surrender the palace, and all who dwell within, to me. I am the true ruler here, as the closest living relative of the late Princess Celestia."
"Oh, but she no longer rules, and the new ruler of Equestria, Discord, rules now, and he appointed me ruler of Canterlot. Also, she's still alive, and you're not really her relative, Prince is just a title."
"She cannot be alive, she would overpower the False King Discord if she was alive! A False King cannot appoint a new ruler, and the title makes me her relative. Now, surrender before we are forced to attack! I would rather not get my hooves dirty." Blueblood haughtily demanded, his head practically vertical.
"I'm sorry, I can't let you do that. I can't let you hurt my subjects." Fluttershy responded in a slightly louder tone of voice, but still quieter than most ponies talked usually.
"Then we will have to take it by force. Servants, attack."
With that, the Nobles' servants combined their telekinesis to keep Fluttershy in place, while a pegasus Royal Guard stabbed at her with a spear. Fluttershy squeaked, closed her eyes, and vanished in a flash of light. Discord, who was currently at Ponyville, felt his ward activate and teleported to just outside the throne. He looked in concern at Fluttershy.
"Are you okay? What happened this time?" he asked, genuinely worried for his one and only friend's safety.
"I-I d-d-don't think I'm o-okay." Fluttershy shuddered. "S-s-something is w-w-wrong..." she gasped out, clutching her chest painfully. Discord snapped his fingers and checked her vitals, finding no heartbeat. He quickly realized what had happened when he saw a rock in place of her heart... He turned towards the ponies, some of whom had been awake, some of whom were waking, and some who had just come in, including Blueblood.
"WHO LEVITATED A ROCK INTO WHERE HER HEART WOULD BE WHEN SHE TELEPORTED BACK HERE?!" Discord roared angrily, and physics began to warp around him. The ground began to disintegrate beneath him, and particles swirled around him. His eyes went white, and his entire body was the very image of rage.
"I arranged it." Blueblood declared proudly, head still in the air. "She was only a commoner, and she obeyed you. She deserved it. And if you're all powerful, why don't you just bring her back?" he asked arrogantly.
"Even I can't bring ponies back from the dead, that's why I never killed anypony. Death is no fun." Discord shook himself, rage building. "YOU KILLED HER! MY ONLY FRIEND! YOU'VE ONLY PROVED THAT I CAN'T CUT YOU ANY SLACK AT ALL!"
His rant was interrupted by titters of laughter from the stupider nobleponies, upon the mention of him only having one friend. The wise ones began to look afraid, and attempted to shush the others, hoping for a reduced sentence that would not come.
"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! FOR FIVE SCORE, DIVIDED BY FOUR... NO, THAT CURSE WOULD BE TOO LITTLE. I BANISH YOU TO TARTARUS FOR ALL OF ETERNITY!" Discord roared. With a snap of his fingers, Canterlot was empty, and Tartarus was full. Only Discord was left, sobbing over the dead but unmarred body of his only friend. "Oh, I'm so, so, sorry Fluttershy. I can't help feeling that this is all my fault, and I could have prevented this somehow." he snapped his fingers, and the rest of the Mane 6 appeared in front of him. "She's dead, killed by the nobleponies of Canterlot. May they rot in Tartarus." he said with a growl.
The Mane 6, or Mane 5 now, cried for a while over their dead friend, ending in a group hug. Finally, Twilight spoke what they were all thinking. "C-c-couldn't you have done something to prevent this?" asked Twilight, tears streaming down her face.
"I thought my teleportation ward would have been enough. I probably could have, if I had not been so short sighted." sobbed Discord. Then an idea struck him, and he stopped crying and stood up straight. "What would happen if I were to become un-chaotic while stoned by the Elements?" he asked determinedly.
"You would probably break free. You would lose most of your power over chaos, but you would retain your immortality and non-chaotic powers, including teleportation and ordinary magic, but you couldn't warp physics any longer." responded Twilight, unsure where this was going. Her head was cocked ever so slightly to one side, attempting to guess what was to come.
"I want you to freeze me in stone. I'll come out when I'm done needing chaos. Try to keep the garden as orderly as possible, okay? I should be immersed in order. Maybe I'll finally find out why you love it so much." Discord chuckled.
"We can't do that without an element of Kindness. With F-fluttershy dead..." Twilight had to choke back a sob as she mentioned Fluttershy, nearly bursting into tears again. "Speaking of that, we need to b-bury her." Twilight could not hold back her tears, and she remained crying for the next minute. Discord attempted to comfort her with a well placed paw on her back. Surprisingly, it was still attached to her body.
"Then I'll just have to wait until you have one. However, I should wait away from ponies, so I don't accidentally cause any more pain. The moon's looking pretty good this time of year!" Discord said, and was about to snap his fingers to create an umbrella and sunglasses. He stopped just before his fingers came together and sighed. Only for Fluttershy, he knew, would he be willing to give up everything. Why did I have to wait to learn that until she was dead?! he asked himself mentally, giving an audible sob. "When Fluttershy's funeral is ready, a letter would be appreciated. S-she was my only friend..." Discord whispered trembling slightly. His voice grew stronger with his next statement. "You will have semi-immortality, all of you. It will... run out, after a time, but it should keep you around for a good six or seven centuries. Hopefully, you can find a Kindness by then. The first thing I'll do on the moon is set up a ward that will drain my ability to perform chaos, that will be broken by me becoming orderly. Send for me when you have a new Bearer."
With his final sentence, Discord prepared to teleport to the moon. He was stopped by Twilight, asking a question: "Discord, why are you doing this?" Twilight asked, still uncertain.
Discord stared at her, a determined look on his face. "Because it's what Fluttershy would have wanted." he whispered softly, before turning around. One snap later, and he was on the moon, and Equs was returned to normal, with only three differences: Fluttershy was still dead, the Nobleponies were still in Tartarus, and Discord was sobbing on the moon next to a rock with his chaos-sapping spell.