Chapter 11: 10 Years Later

Fluttershy and Pinkie raced down with the rest of the ensemble to the auditorium. They were performing "Hamiliton" this time. They were doing a dress rehearsal since opening night was in two weeks. The ensemble was the same as it had been ten years ago, except Spoiled Rich had left some time ago, but the leads had changed. Cadence and Shinning Armor had married and gone to live elsewhere, Chrysalis returned home, Trenderhoof moved on to another opera house, and Luna had stayed but Luna was no longer acting. Blueblood, on the other hoof, was still acting there. The new leads are Rarity, Fancy Pants, and Sugar Belle.

"Alright everypony, I have an announcement," Celestia declared. Everypony on stage froze and grew silent. "Thank you. Now as some of you probably know there have been rumors going around that I am retiring. Well, they are true. I am retiring and handing the opera into the hooves of my sister, Luna, and..."

"US!" two stallions exclaimed as they jumped on stage and slid on their knees for dramatic effect. Confetti exploded around them as they did. They then got up, took off their hats, and gave a slight bow.

"Everypony allow me to introduce Flim and Flam," Celestia said.

"What?!" one of the janitormares exclaimed. She dropped the broom she was holding and ran up closer to the stage. "Miss Celestia, with all due respect, you can't! They're con artists! They tried to con my family out of our farm!"

"Ah, Miss Applejack," Flim said. They both bowed to her.

"It's a pleasure to see you again," Flam added. Applejack gave an almost growl.

"Applejack, I understand your concern but we need Flim and Flam's expertise to help improve our sales," Celestia told her. "And they have a reputation of doing that." Applejack sighed.

"Okay, Miss Celestia," Applejack responded. "Sorry about that." She went back to work but she glared at the brothers out of the corner of her eye.

"Anyways, I'll be back to see how "Hamiliton" goes," Celestia said. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye," everypony called. Celestia flew out of the room. Luna walked up to Flim and Flam once her sister had left. She was levitating a letter with her magic.

"Now before we get started I have a letter for the two of you," Luna told them.

"Really?" Flam said.

"Who's it from?" Flim asked.

"It's from the Opera Ghost," Luna answered. She broke the wax seal, opened the letter, and read it aloud. "Welcome to my opera house. I hope you enjoy your time here."

"HIS opera house?" Flam muttered.

"All I request is that you continue to leave box 5 open for my personal uses," Luna read. "And you continue to pay me 500 bits every two months..."

"500 bits!?" the brothers exclaimed.

"And that you do your best to make this place and its operas fantastic," Luna read. "Sincerely, Opera Ghost."

"500 bits!" Flim exclaimed. "What's HE gonna do with all that money?"

"I'm sure you can afford it," Luna said. "From what I've heard you have a rich patron."

"Oh! Right! Brother, we've forgot to introduce him," Flim said.

"Well we'll just have to fix that, brother," Flam responded. "Now everypony, please welcome..."

"The one..." Flim started.

"And only..." Flam added.

"Strong Wood!" they both said. Everypony, except for Fluttershy, who was in shock, clapped as he walked in.

"Fluttershy why aren't you clapping?" Pinkie whispered. "Have you met him before?" Fluttershy nodded.

"Yes," Fluttershy answered. "We met when we were foals. He actually helped me find Angel."

"Yes, well, thank you Flim and Flam," Strong Wood said. "My family has always supported the arts and I'm glad and thankful that I get to carry on the tradition. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get going." He walked right past Fluttershy as he left.

"Now Rarity, would you please sing "Think of Me" for us?" Luna asked.

"Of course," Rarity responded.

"Oh boy," the other janitormare said. "Better get the ear plugs in."

"Good idea, Rainbow," Applejack whispered back. They put in their earplugs and continued working. They didn't put the earplugs in because Rarity was horrible singer. They just got tired of hearing these songs over and over again.

"Think of me," Rarity sang. "Think of me fondly when we've said goodbye." Rarity winked at Luna and Luna nodded.

"That's the signal," Discord said to his replica. So they let go of the ropes holding a set piece above Rarity.

"Remember me, once in a while, please promise me you'll..." She saw the set piece falling. "Ahhh!"

The original Discord grabbed his rope which prevented the set piece from falling on top of Rarity. Half of it had landed on the ground but no pony was hurt. Once Rarity had moved out of harms' way, Discord let go of his rope and rest of the set piece fell onto the stage.

Everypony was in a state of shock, except Luna. They then began to whisper amongst each other.

"Do you think it's him?" Sugar Belle said.

"Who?" Blueblood asked.

"The phantom of the opera," Pinkie told him. "Daddda." Rarity was terrified and angry.

"That's it!" she declared. "I'm done! Goodbye! You'll have to find yourself a new lead!" Rarity marched out of the room and slammed the door.

"Well that was a disaster," Blueblood said.

"Well, brother, it looks like we'll have to refund all our tickets for this opera since we've lost our star," Flam said.

"Refund a full house?" Flim said. "That's bad for business, brother."

"Wait, Fluttershy can sing it instead," Luna told them. Fluttershy grew riged.

"An ensemble girl? Don't be silly Lulu," Flim said.

"It's Luna," Luna corrected. "And she's been taught by a great teacher."

"Really? And just WHO is this great teacher?" Flam asked.

"Well, um, he's not exactly well known sir," Fluttershy answered.

"Well, go ahead and sing," Flim said. "This might be somewhat amusing." Fluttershy gulped, closed her eyes, and saw Discord?

"It's alright my dear," Discord assured her. "I've casted an illusion spell. It's just you and me. No pony else. Now sing." Fluttershy took a deep breath and began to sing with her eyes still closed. "Think of me. Think of me fondly when we've said goodbye." The cast, except Pinkie, the brothers, and Applejack, who had taken out her earplugs, were surprised at beautiful her voice was. Applejack nudged Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow, Rainbow!" she whispered. Rainbow took out her earplugs grumpily.

"What?" she said.

"Listen," Applejack said.

"Remember me, once in a while, please promise me you'll try," Fluttershy sang.

"Woah," Rainbow said. "She's actually pretty good."

"Then you'll find, that once again you long to take your heart back and be free," Fluttershy sang. "If you ever find a moment. Spare a thought for me."

It was opening night and Fluttershy was singing the rest of the song on stage with her eyes open.

"We never said our love was evergreen or as unchanging as the sea. But if you can still remember, stop and think of me. Think of all the things we've shared and seen. Don't think about the way things might have been. Think of me. Think of me waking silent and resigned. Imagine me trying to hard to push you from my mind. Recall those days, look back on all those times, think of the things we'll never do. There will never be a day when I won't think of you!" The audience clapped and Strong Wood's eyes widened from box 4.

"Is it possible?" he said. "Can it be? Fluttershy? Bravo!" He then left his box and flew out of the opera house. "Taxi!" One stopped and he climbed inside. "The nearest flower shop please."

"Flowers fade. The fruits of summer fade. They have their seasons so do we. But promise that some time you will think of me!" The audience clapped. Fluttershy smiled and she saw that her friend in box 5 was cheering the loudest.

"That was amazing, Fluttershy!" Pinkie exclaimed. They were walking to Fluttershy's new room, which was Luna's old one. They were still wearing their costumes.

"Thank you Pinkie," Fluttershy responded. "You did good too."

"Well done." They turned to see who had spoken and saw an old friend behind them. "You certainly blew me away."

"Twilight!" the two exclaimed. They hugged their friend.

"Hey, can I get a hug too?" a small dragon asked.

"Of course Spike!" Fluttershy exclaimed. She hugged the small dragon. "It's good to see you too."

"Oh girls I've miss you so much!" Twilight said.

"We've missed you too," Fluttershy responded.

"Yeah, soooooo can I throw you a 'weclome back' party?" Pinkie asked.

"Of course Pinkie," Twilight said.

"Great! It's at 5. See you then!" Pinkie told them before racing off to get the supplies. Twilight smirked. "Nice to see that she hasn't changed. Anyways, congratulations on getting the lead."

"Yeah, I'm surprised Rarity didn't get it though," Spike admitted. He had "Rarity" very dreamily.

"Well she was originally but then she quit due to an "accident"," Fluttershy said.

"What do you mean "accident"?" Spike asked.

"Well Luna, Rarity, and D—Gus Tenor arranged for an "accident" to happen so that I could get this part," Fluttershy explained as they began walking to Fluttershy's room.

"Interesting, do they know that you know?" Twilight asked. Fluttershy nodded.

"I was pretty upset at them at first for doing that but now I realize that it's not so bad," Fluttershy responded. They had reached Fluttershy's bedroom. "Well, I've got to change. Then you can tell me all about magic university."

"Alright, see you in a bit," Twilight said. Fluttershy opened the door, went inside, and closed it behind her.

"Well done my dear." Fluttershy turned to see Discord standing in the middle of the room. She smiled.

"Thank you," Fluttershy said. He pulled out a red rose and held it out for her. "Oh, thank you." She smelled it. "My favorite."

"So we're still on for tea tonight, right?" Discord asked.

"Of course," Fluttershy responded. "Though I might be a bit late. Pinkie's throwing Twilight a 'welcome home' party at 5. So I'll come once I'm done." There was a knock on the door.

"I believe that's my cue to leave," Discord said. "Goodbye my dear." He went into the hallway that led to his "room".

"Goodbye Discord," Fluttershy responded. Another knock on the door. "Coming!" She quickly slid the mirror back into place and went to the door and opened it. She saw that it was Strong Wood holding a large bouquet of flowers of many variety but not one of them was a rose. "Strong Wood?" He nodded.

"Hi Fluttershy," he said. "It's been a while."