//------------------------------//
// Ch 6: Electric BOO-galoo 
// Story: A New World, An Old Haunt 
// by Professor Frogenshtein 
//------------------------------//

Professor Frothing Stein looked upon the scene before him, and felt his heart warm; a sad yet beautiful moment of friends reuniting after death.

It's really too bad they're blocking the doorway, though.

"Professor Grand Duke? Not to be rude, but would you care to introduce us?"

Dante jumped a bit, then turned to me with a sheepish grin.

"Right, sorry, I forgot you were there for a sec." He gestured to the large animate statue. "This is Goliath. Goliath, this is Professor Frothing Stein," he said, indicating the stallion, before floating over to the other masked spirit.

What was her name? Binocular fright? Stein simply could not remember.

"And this is Queen Banafrit."

Stein put a hoof to the side of his head. Right, right. Well, I was close.

Stein had not been anywhere near close.

Well you're ugly.

That was uncalled for.

You're right, I'm sorry; you're a perfectly handsome narrative, and I bet the lady narratives all line up to meet you.

Please just stop.

Good idea.

Queen Banafrit perked up slightly at her mention, but quickly hid it with an air of regality.

"And what position does this 'Goliath' hold in your royal court?"

There was a moment of hesitation before Lucius cut in.

"He's our... Um... Head of security! Yes, he defends the castle with an iron fist!"

Frothing Stein snuck over to Jack. "He's not really a Grand Duke, is he?" He whispered.

"Dan buddy? Depends who you you ask; D seems to think he's royalty, and rumor has it that an aegislash can sense leadership qualities."

"And what do you think?"

"I think Dan buddy's head-over-tail for that queenie gal, and I'm not gonna mess this up for him."

"Fair enough."

A third voice cut in.

"Are pony and pumpkin coming inside?"

The two looked up; Ravid was staring pointedly at them from the now clear doorway.

"Right, of course."

"A-heh, yeah."





I was glad for a good many things right now. I was glad because my house was, by some miracle, on this other world. I was glad because Lucius was a grade-A wing-'mon for giving Bana-- Bunny the house tour, and that angel of beauty seemed to like me. I was glad because we'd found Goliath, another of my oldest friends.

Mostly, I was glad because my hat collection was still intact.

"My hats! Oh yes, how I've missed you." I placed my purple top hat on my head. "It still fits! Another miracle!"

"Is Master talking to hats again?"

I whirled around; Ravid was behind me, and Frothing Stein was next to him. I hid my fez and my ten-gallon behind my back.

"Maybe-- I mean no-- I mean-- IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"

Stein chuckled a little. "It's alright," he said, stepping further into the room, "all proper gentlecolt scientists have their own eccentricities. I love the top hat, by the way."

"Great minds think alike." I gestured to the top hat on Stein's head, which was actually very similar to my own. "Why, if I had a moustache, we could be twins!" I said this in jest, but as I remembered my own hairless lips, my face fell.

The professor seemed to notice this. "I was going to say, about that..." He began to idly scan the walls. "I'm a bit of a potions pony myself; if you like, I could whip up my patented Moustache Elixir."

I was suddenly grabbing his face, my eyes barely an inch away from the lenses of his goggles. "You can do that?!"

"Absolutely. Could you show me to the kitchen?"





I didn't know I could float that fast while carrying a whole pony. Of course, I didn't know ponies were so light either.

I fetched a mug from the cabinet and watched as Stein pulled all manner of beakers and test tubes from his lab coat, mixing in spices and ingredients I'd never heard of.

"Milligram of mandrake root, two teaspoons of poison joke extract, three and one seventh petals of heart's desire, a written invitation to the gentleman's ball, a few Moustachium shavings, and a quick spell while it simmers..." Stein's horn glowed purple as he muttered something under his breath. "Now for the final ingredient..." He pulled a metal flask from his lab coat, unscrewed the top, and turned it upside-down over the mixture.

Nothing came out.

"Oh goodness, I forgot..." The professor turned to me with a sheepish [mareepish?] grin. "You wouldn't happen to have any liquid courage around, would you?"

"Liquid courage?" I frowned. "You mean alcohol?"

"Yes. I've been trying to cut down, you see; I'm researching ways to get ponies drunk without using the stuff, to prevent hangovers and blood poisoning incidents you know."

"I don't really drink myself, but I do keep some in the fridge--" I stopped as I opened the door on the refrigerator; there was a gaping hellmouth inside. I closed the door as I heard a chuckle, and I rolled my eyes.

"What's the password?" Asked the fridge.

"Tesla, you have 10 seconds to hand me the emergency booze before I revoke your cookie privilege for the next month."

The door immediately swung back open, and a brown glass bottle floated into my hands. "Actually it's 'swordfish', but you were close enough."

"Thank you," I said, handing the bottle to a bemused Frothing Stein. "By the way, it's good to see you; I'll have to introduce you after this potion is done."

"Potion's done!"





"And if you look to your left, you'll see our extensive collection of portraits. Yes, the eyes ARE following you."

Queen Banafrit looked with feigned interest as the Grand Duke's advisor led her through the mansion, both of them riding on the head knight like some sort of canoe. The portraits were nice, certainly, but the queen's mind was occupied by other matters.

Specifically, the Grand Duke.

It was obvious that he, like so many others, had become entranced by her beauty. But unlike the suitors she had turned down in life, Dante seemed to have a certain air about him. He was obviously from a different era, and only recently deceased; though his pokémon saw him as their master, Dante clearly saw them as his equals, and had a deep bond with each of them that could be formed only in life. His comforting of the Golurk had demonstrated his compassion, and the discovery of his odd 'castle' had shown that the fates favored him. He was knowledgeable, but not boastful; he was eccentric, but not insane.

And yet Queen Banafrit felt there was something missing, some vital part of himself that the Grand Duke had yet to find.

"And for our final stop on the tour" said the one called 'Lucius', "we take you to the kitchen, where all manner of delights and delicacies are prepared. While our full crew of master chefs is unfortunately incomplete, we should still be able to whip up a dish good enough to wake the dead!"

Any further comments were cut off by echoing, almost maniacal laughter from beyond the kitchen door.

"Stein, you're a GENIUS!"

Lucius rushed ahead into the room with interest, Durendal escorting the queen in behind him.

"Yo boss, what's the haps? D and I were just finishing the queen's tour."

"Excellent!" Dante was facing away from them as he spoke; there was a confidence in his voice that had not been there before. "I want her to see this."

The queen floated forwards. "What has happened, Grand Duke Dante?"

"Fairest Bunny, my queen," he began, still facing away from her, "when I first laid eyes upon you, I was still but a boy, too timid to chance my feelings upon beauty such as yours. But now... Now I have become a MAN; a KING!"

At this he spun around, and Banafrit saw his newfound confidence in full; he held himself more regally, and there was determination in his eyes. There was a proud grin on his face as he mimed placing his hands on his hips.

That was incrediy cheesy.

Frothing Stein shut up, since this was not his section.

Oops, sorry again!

Just forget it.

"What has prompted this change?" Asked the queen.

Dante's smile faltered. "Can't you see? It's obvious." He indicated his mask.

Queen Banafrit looked down at Dante's golden human face.

"You grew a moustache?"

Dante's confidence seemed to wither, and he shrank in on himself. "Well yeah I..." He looked down and made to twiddle his thumbs. "I always kinda really wanted a moustache..."

Lucius jumped in to stop the awkward silence. "I for one think it looks magnificent, boss."

"Quite," added Durendal, "very regal, Sire."

Banafrit started; the sword had just elbowed her in the side.

"O-Oh-- yes, of course, you look very handsome."

Dante smiled, a light blush on his cheeks, before looking up suddenly.

"That reminds me-- Lucius, come with me." The gengar melted into his shadows. "You two wait here," he said, rushing off, "I found another one of the team."

As the self-proclaimed now-king went to the back of the room, Banafrit whirled to face Durendal and glared the sword right in the eye.

"Allow me to inform you," she hissed, "what will happen if you ever touch me like that again."





Lucius and I returned with Tesla in tow, introducing him as our 'chief of technology'. Bunny looked delighted to meet him, but Durendal was shaking for some reason.

"Hey D," I asked, "is something wrong?"

He didn't look at me, staring straight ahead. "Please excuse me, Sire," he replied, floating through the door to the living room (or the 'unliving room' as I called it), "I need to go shine my shield." As he left, I heard him muttering something about a "rusted butter knife".

"What's his problem?" Wondered Lucius.

Bunny tilted her head and smiled. "I do not have the faintest idea,"