Things were going swimmingly in Rustywall Manor. The latest strawberry harvest brought in a bumper crop that topped previous records. Benjamin Bunny hopped up and down, clapping his paws. "Oh golly oh gee, isn't the Earl going to be thrilled to pieces when he sees all the luscious, red ripe berries!"
The three youngling bunnies danced around papa. "Indeed!" they cried in unison, their fuzzy heads swimming with thoughts of strawberry jam, strawberry tarts, and just plain strawberries. For every bunny worthy of the name knows there is nothing so fulfilling as a ripe, red strawberry, topped with a sprinkling of powdered sugar.
It was such a perfect moment. But like most perfect moments, the seeds of evil waited just under the surface waiting to germinate with a bit of rain of laxity, some nitrogen based fertilizer of opportunity, and whatever else it needed.
Standing in front of his huge gothic mirror, Villain Ratsneak stood, paws upraised so that his overly polished and sharpened nails glistened in the drunken light of the candles.
"Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the evilist one of all??"
"Evil, Ratsneak, I do vow, but I am eviller far than thou!"
At this, the rat--for such he was--bared his fangs, grabbed up a mace, and smashed the mirror into a million angry fragments. He cackled as he danced with glee amidst the million warped reflections of his evil, evil leering face.
And just to make sure his confirmed status as the evillest of the evil and vilest of the vile remained unstained by virtue, he strode malevolently over to the dartboard where a painting of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit smiled sweetly.
"Your Luck has just run out along with your copyright protection!" he cried, throwing three darts that landed devastatingly in the centers of his blue eyes and pink button nose.
"And as a warning to magic mirrors everywhere, my next nefarious plot will forever cement--or is it mortar?--my reputation! Today, Rustywall Manor! Tomorrow, the world!!"
