Once they got to town, Judy stepped up to a ticket booth, with Fru Fru riding on her shoulder.
"One ticket to Zootopia, please," Judy requested the ticket agent.
A tough-looking buffalo frowned down at the bunny. His name tag read Agent Bogo on it. "Exit visa?" He asked, gruffly.
Judy narrowed her eyes. "Exit visa?"
"No exit visa, NO TICKET!" Agent Bogo snarled, before slamming the shutters in Judy's face.
A stunned Judy flinched back. "Hmph!" She gave an irritated sigh, and thumped her right foot angrily.
"Oh, sugarplum!" growled Fru Fru.
"Psst," An elderly female quill named Quilda came up behind Judy. "See Nick Wilde. He can help," she whispered.
"Where can I find him?" asked Judy.
"At the old Palace," said Quilda. Then, she quickly added, "But you didn't hear it from me."
"Oh," Judy nodded, understanding.
"Go," the quill gestured her. "Go, go, go."
"Hmm, Nick Wilde," Judy thought aloud.
Meanwhile, Nick and Finnick were at a theater, sitting at a large table with stacks of resumes and 8x10 glossies, holding auditions for girls to play a Judistasia look-alike as they planned.
Nick had an enormously long list of names in front of him. A roster, which spilled out onto the floor in front of him.
"Nice, nice. Very nice," Nick told their next tryout, sarcastically.
"And I look like a princess," the actress claimed. "And I dance like a feather!"
"Okay, umm," Nick crossed off the actress's name - the second to the last name - off the list. "Thank you. Thank you. Next please!"
The last Judistasia-wannabe came onstage in the spotlight. A chubby male cheetah named Benjamin Clawhauser, wearing a headband with pink bunny ears on it.
"Grand Pop-Pop!" He dramatically started, swaying his hips. "It's me, Judistasia!"
Nick and Finnick stared at Clawhauser, disgusted. This wannabe was clearly not right for the role. Plus, he was a dude.
Finnick groaned and put his head down on the table.
"Oh, brother," Nick moaned to himself.
Shortly after the auditions, the two con artists were leaving the theater, and began to head out down the street.
"That's it, Nick," Finnick said, disappointingly. "Game over. Our last kopeck gone for this flea-infested theater, and still no girl to pretend to be Judistasia." He tossed away the resumes of the actresses who tried out.
But Nick wouldn't give up so soon. "We'll find her, Finnick," he informed. "She's here somewhere, right under our noses." He pulled out the music box from his pocket to show Finnick. "Don't forget, one look at this jewelry box, and the Emperor will think we've brought the real Judistasia."
As they were leaving, Judy was walking by. She stopped to ask a nearby male moose for directions. "I'm looking for the palace-" Judy was cut off when Nick bumped into her. "Excuse me!" She told the fox, rather annoyed.
"And before she catches on, we'll be off spending 10 million rubles," Nick finished, as he and Finnick left.
Judy turned back to the moose. "Do you know where it is?"
"There's nothing there," the moose answered, pointing down the direction the palace was in. "No, no, there's no one living there. Go on."
Judy nodded a 'thank you' to the moose, before heading down the path. Unknowingly, the same one Nick and Finnick were walking down.
Later that afternoon, Judy arrived at the palace, which has been long abandoned since the execution of the royal Hoppses.
She and Fru Fru moved cautiously towards the front entrance, where the doorway was boarded up.
"Ooh, what a pretty large palace!" said Fru Fru. "Let's see what's inside!"
Before Judy could say anything, Fru Fru ran through an opening at the bottom of the door.
The rabbit went over, and tried to peek inside between the boards to find her companion. "Fru Fru!" She called. "Fru Fru! Fru Fru, where are you?" She pulled on one of the boards, trying to pry it off. Eventually, it came loose, and it broke off.
"Whoa!" Judy fell backward with a loud crash.
Inside the palace bedroom, Nick and Finnick were eating pawpsicles.
Nick heard the noise, and stood up startled. "Did you hear something?" He asked.
"No," said Finnick.
Still, Nick wanted to find out what it was he heard. It seemed clearly obvious to him that someone had broken into the palace.
In the meantime, Judy entered the vestibule of the palace.
Judy removed her scarf, as she crossed the floor to the stairs. Going up the steps, she looked back towards the entrance so she would know how to get out. Once on the second floor, Judy turned back to head towards the large palace open door.
"Hello?" Judy called out. "Anybody home?"
No answer.
"Hmph, seems like no one's home," Fru Fru shrugged.
Going into the room, now partially destroyed, Judy examined it to what appeared be an old dining room.
Fru Fru followed the rabbit. "Ah...ah... AH-CHOO!" She sneezed.
Flinching, Judy looked down at Fru Fru and put a finger to her lips, gesturing her to be quiet. "Bless you," she quickly added.
"Sorry," Fru Fru apologized. "It's all this dust!" She looked around the dining room. "What a shame," she said, sympathatically. "All these things look so nice, and still, they've clearly been forgotten. I can only imagine what this palace was like before... everything changed."
Approaching the dining table, Judy bend forward to inspect a dusty old plate. She blew the dust off of it, and picked it up to take a better look at it, aside from her own reflection. For a moment, she thought she saw what looked like an image of a father rabbit dancing with his young daughter.
Judy blinked. But then she shook the feeling away. "Hmm." She set the plate back on the table.
"Judy! Look at this!" called Fru Fru.
Judy looked up see a dusty cabinet full of china bowls and plates decorated with dancing bears. Entranced by all the chinaware, she went over to take a closer look.
"Judy?" asked Fru Fru. "Are you okay?"
"This place," Judy said, as she looked around. "It's... it's like a memory from a dream..."
She looked at the pictures of bears and swans on a vase, and softly began to sing:
"Once Upon A December"
(Judy)
"Dancing bears, painted wings,
Things I almost remember,
And a song someone sings,
Once upon a December,"
As Judy was singing, she wandered out another open door and found herself on the top of a huge staircase.
It led to what was once a grand ballroom.
Stopping at the large landing halfway down the steps, Judy removed her coat to reveal a tattered light brown dress, and swayed from side to side.
(Judy)
"Someone holds me safe and warm,
Horses prance through a silver storm,
Figures dancing gracefully,
Across my memory,"
Judy let her imagination take advantage of her; she envisioned the ballroom as it might have been. She could see it transform to its once splendid glory. Ghosts of dancing rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, sheep, weasels, badgers, raccoons, possums, otters, squirrels, and other small mammals dressed in fine evening clothing floated down from the inside paintings high above near the ceiling.
Fru Fru watched in amazement as to what Judy was doing. All the shrew could see was the rabbit dancing around the decrepit room by herself, unable to see the ghostly animals.
Judy slowly made her way down the stairs into the ballroom, as the ghostly mammals gracefully landed on the ground and began to waltz. They even gave a glow to the interior of the ballroom.
A raccoon couple and hedgehog couple both floated toward Judy, and gave her bows and curtsies.
(Judy)
"Someone holds me safe and warm,
Horses prance through a silver storm,
Figures dancing gracefully,
Across my memory,"
Judy kept singing her song as several royal rabbits hopped out of the giant grand frieze of the royal Hopps family.
Three female rabbits dressed in elegant gowns approached the daydreaming bunny. One rabbit in a pink dress placed a pearl necklace on Judy, who spun around as she danced, until her rags magically transformed into a lovely sky-blue dress with indigo ribbons.
(Judy)
"Far away, long ago,
Glowing dim as an ember,
Things my heart used to know,
Things it yearns to remember,"
Judy danced around a bit with a male rabbit dressed in a red suit, and then she danced with a different rabbit wearing a blue suit just as the spirits of Stu and Bonnie Hopps appeared in the crowd.
The dancers bowed and curtseyed as respect for the rulers.
Judy broke away from her dancing partner as Stu approached her. He slowly danced with the female rabbit.
(Judy)
"And a song,
Someone sings,"
Stu leaned forward and gently kissed Judy on the forehead. Releasing her from their embrace, he slowly back away.
(Judy)
"Once upon a December,"
Judy made a full curtsy to the father figure before her, and sat down in the center of the dance floor.
All the spirits began to vanish, one by one.
Fru Fru watched the entire scene, and sniffled a few tears. "Oh, that was beautiful, Judy," she crooned. "Wherever did you learn that song?"
"I..." Judy blushed. But then she tried to think of where she had heard this song before. "Someone must have sung it to me a long time ago."