Baile de Muerte

A chamber orchestra assembled around a large head carved from stone. They began playing the 2nd movement of the 7th symphony with unusual ferocity. The air around the stone seemed to become heavier, and a faint glow began to emanate from within.

***

The Evil Prince was dressed in an elegant silver ballroom gown. He stepped into the courtyard and began dancing. One by one, the people around him lurched to a halt, turning to stone. His steps became wilder as the courtyard filled with twisted statues.

***

Moptop took a ring from Ellynnorr's right hand and placed it on her left. "With this ring, I thee wed." The assembly seemed satisfied.

***

A young princess chased Moptop through the garden and around the house, waving a wand. Moptop soon grew tired of the game and picked the girl up, whereupon she transformed into a cherub. Moptop flung him into the air.

***

"Go do something!" shouted a trio of women. Moptop hesitantly approached the deformed baby perched on top of the closet.

"Uh, you have to come down from there. . . ."

"No!" screamed the baby. Moptop picked him up. The baby had several arms.

When Moptop walked through the doorway, he became young again. He gathered near the window with several talking animals and a green creature in a purple robe. Outside, the pink clouds turned ever-more-ominous shades of red.

***

The Evil Prince continued dancing until he made his way to the giant stone head. The strains of music grew louder and the dancing grew more frenzied. The head glowed brightly, colors flashed through the sky, and the current dimension began to burst apart at the seams.

Grassroots Campaign

A small crowd was approaching Moptop's ranch, and he wasn't sure why. He leaned back in his rocking chair and noticed a small object in the sky, which was approaching quickly and steadily. Squinting into the sun, Moptop realized that it was a small airplane.

The plane touched down quite close to the ranchhouse--enough to make Moptop rather nervous--but it skidded neatly to a stop just before the front porch. The hatch opened and revealed the pilot to be none other than Pon Raul.

The crowd had obviously gathered to hear Pon Raul speak, so Moptop offered his porch as a platform for the speech.

Dr. Raul warmed the crowd up with a few jokes about grasshoppers.