To say that the auditions for Duchess Fluttershy were going well would be a complete and utter lie. The coffee had run out halfway through viewing. 50 actresses, and Discord could sense Shining Armor’s patience and stamina wearing down. And he couldn’t blame him.
So far, out of those 50, only 10 were actually pegasi. Of those 10, three were naturally yellow with pink manes. The rest of the actresses were either earth ponies or unicorns, some with horrible die-jobs and fake wings, and some didn’t even try. For Celestia’s sake a griffon showed up. A griffon. Discord had half a mind to just turn back into a draconequus and scare everypony- and griffon- out. But that would put a wrench in his scheme.
“Nice, nice, very nice. Okay! Um…Thank you!,” he called out to the actress as she trotted offstage. He crossed out her name with a flourish.
“I look like a duchess and I dance like a feather!” she called out before disappearing behind the curtain.
“O-kay,” Shining muttered,” Next, please!”
A slightly older pegasus slowly walked onto the stage, a long brown fur coat trailing behind her, a cigarette holder protruding from her lips. Once she reached the center, she flew a few feet into the air. She wheezed, gasping for air.
“Mother it’s me,” she said, dropping the coat to the ground, revealing a shorter version of a sailor’s dress, “Fluttershy.”
She waggled her hips, and took a long drag off the cigarette.
"Oh brother,” Discord murmured as he crossed off her name, and Shining slumped onto the desk with a moan.
Later as the two exited the theater, Shining sighed, going through the photos of the girls.
“Well, Discord, we’re done for. I’ve no more money now, we no longer have the theater and still no one to pretend to be Fluttershy,” he said tossing photos into the air and shoving a few in the other’s face.
“Oh, don’t be such a downer. She’s here somewhere right under our noses!” Discord replied, leading Shining down the alley, “Remember, one look at that box and Celestia will think we brought the real Fluttershy.”
They bustled down the path, narrowly avoiding a yellow pegasus as Discord continued.
“Before she can realize what’s happened, you’ll be on your honeymoon, and I’ll be free!”
Flowing Grace stared at the strange two, before turning back to the few ponies in front of her. She had gotten herself lost, and had no idea which way to go. She had tried asking for directions, but had clammed up before she could even get close enough to them. Angel impatiently tapped his foot on her back, as though trying to urge her forward.
“Um, ex-excuse me?” she practically whispered. Fortunately, it was loud enough for the ponies to hear. They turned towards her, and seemed to glare her down. She started to murmur an apology and back away, but Angel slammed his foot hard onto her back. She stopped backing away and continued. “I’m looking for the Ponyville Palace?”
“It’s that way,” one of them said, with a nonchalant wave of his hoof, “Don’t even bother. No pony lives there anymore.”
Despite his statement, Gracie quickly found her way there. The palace was beautiful, even though somewhat dilapidated. She couldn’t shake a sense of familiarity as she wandered around the outside, trying to find an entrance. In her daze, she barely noticed as Angel hopped off her back and through a boarded up window until she heard the sound of clattering wood.
“Angel!” she whispered, running to the window. “Angel, where are you?”
She leaned against the wooden boards, peering inside for a minute before trying the pry the boards away. A tough pull, and they flew off, sending Gracie to the ground and landing with a shatter. She landed with a cry.
Back inside, Shining Armor looked up from his tea in surprise. From his years of training, his ears were finely tuned to hear even the most quiet sounds.
“Did you hear something?”
Discord looked at him sideways from behind his glass of chocolate milk and shrugged, “Nope.”
Shining Armor set down his glass with a sigh and got up, leaving the room with Discord not far behind him.
Meanwhile, Flowing Grace had made her way inside, and was exploring the castle. The rooms were mostly dark, very little light filtered in through the windows. Cobwebs and dust covered almost every surface. Tables, chairs, tapestries, along with other objects, laid in disarray.
“Hello? Anypony home?” she called out into the emptiness. She looked up a flight a stairs to see Angel on the level above her, waving her over with his paw. She galloped up the steps to catch him. Being alone in that place put her on edge. But at the same time, it felt like she had seen it before. Once she had caught up with the white rabbit, they both traveled down the hallway into a small parlor.
The room was covered in large paintings and tapestries, and hoof-carved tables and chairs were scattered about. A long table covered with delicate plates lined windows. Everything was covered in a fine layer of dust and cobwebs. Flowing Grace gentle flew up, just a foot off the ground, her wings sending webs and dirt flying. She picked up one of the small plates on the tables, wiping it off with her hoof. Once clean, it shone, shining her reflection back at her. For a moment, she thought she saw something else on the porcelain- the figure of an older stallion lifting a small pegasus up in the air, both dressed fit for a ball. She shrugged and placed the plate back on the table. Angel looked up at her curiously. She shook her head once or twice before walking back towards the door where a small vase stood in front of a mirror. It was painted with delicate swans, bears, and twisting vines of flowers.
“This place…it’s strange. It’s like a memory from a dream,” Gracie said slowly, tracing the gilded wings of the swans. She began rocking back in forth.
“Dancing bears, painted wings- Things I almost remember…And a song somepony sings, once upon a warm summer,”she sang, swinging away from the vase to the door. She left the room, and headed down a flight of steps into what was once a grand ballroom. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, just barely glittering in the light from the tall windows on each side of the room. Just above them were large paintings of elegantly dressed ponies dancing. She shed her coat, hat and boots on the landing, leaving them in front of a large painting.
“Somepony holds me safe and warm,” she continued, flying into the air, wrapping her arms around her, “Horses prance through a silver storm. Ponies dancing gracefully- across my memory!”
She spun, and flung her hooves out towards the dance floor. In a giant burst of dust, the paintings came to life, the couples danced, floating down to the floor below, or even landing next to Gracie herself. The elegantly dressed figures bowed and curtsied towards her, and she bowed back. She flew down the steps herself, landing among the others. Gracie spun and danced, trying to soak up as much as she could. Angel watched from the top of the steps, confused as to what she was doing.
“Somepony holds me safe and warm. Horses prance through a silver storm!” she sang again as the large painting from the landing came to life. Five ponies, about her age galloped down the steps to her, while the remaining three slowly descended. They swarmed around her, giving her necklaces, bracelets, and the purple alicorn placed a small tiara on her head. “Ponies dancing gracefully- across my memory!”
As the five ponies were swept away with dance partners, Flowing Grace spun again, and suddenly was wearing a long, golden dress that glittered and felt lighter than air. She found herself being grasped in the hooves of one of the stallions from the paintings, leading her into a dance.
“Far away, long ago! Glowing dim as an ember!” she sang as she danced from partner to partner, ignoring the large space opening around her as ponies moved, bowing to a gray unicorn, and two white and blue alicorns. “Things my heart used to know! Things it yearns to remember!”
The tall gray unicorn stopped next to her, and her partner left. The unicorn gently took her, and slowly danced with her. He looked kind, and strangely like the figure she saw in the plate just minutes before, but something in her mind felt she knew something more than that.
“And a song somepony sings!” she slowly sang as they stopped. He stooped and gently kissed her forehead. She stepped back a few feet, curtsying. “Once upon a warm summer!”
She stooped down to kneel on the floor, head bowed as the three smiled down warmly at her.
“HEY!”
Everything burst to nothingness, the ponies disappearing back to their paintings, and the dirt and webs returned as Flowing Grace was startled from her dream. She looked up to to the source of the voice to see a strange creature and a white unicorn standing at the top of a set of stairs near the back.
“What are you doing in here?” the creature shouted, pointing at her. She gasped, and sprung to her hooves, running towards the landing.
“Hey!” Discord yelled, flying off the steps to the floor. Shining Armor galloped after him. The draconequus chased her up the landing trapping her in front of the painting. “Stop! Hold on a minute.”
He heard her whimper as she turned to face him, her pink mane, covering her face.
“How did you get in….here…” he stammered out as she raised her head to look at him. She was by far one of the loveliest ponies he had seen. But not only that, as she stood next to the painting, she stood side by side with the figure of the Duchess Fluttershy.
And they were practically identical.