by Libbylawrence
Times present, 1986:
In a sunny realm that was an odd mixture of fairy-tale romance and modern Cubist whimsy, a beautiful blonde teenager lounged on a throne. She wore a filmy harem girl outfit, and she was pouting.
“Bored! Bored! So very bored!” she pouted. Near her, an old man with a bald head and the bright features of a child or an innocent dozed. She had schemed to marry the senile old king of Zrfff only for the wealth, glamor, and power she gained as the new queen, but the gold-digging imp hadn’t realized how boring her sham marriage would be.
“It’s not easy being queen of the fifth dimension, is it, pumpkin?” asked an odd little man in a derby who suddenly appeared.
“Daddy!” she squealed, clapping her hands gleefully.
“You look lovely as ever, but you seem troubled,” said Mr. Mxyztplk. “Is married life with our befuddled king not suiting you?”
The Yellow Peri, his youthful daughter, said, “In a word, no! I’m so bored. What good is it to be the adored ruler of this place if there’s nothing fun to do? Oh, Daddy, I know! You always used to amuse me by telling me stories. Could you?”
Mr. Mxyztplk grinned. “Surely, princess! How about the tale about when I met your dear mother? It involved Superman and his colorful pals!”
The Yellow Peri nodded. “Oh, please do! I just tried to make Power Girl marry a humanoid version of her own rocket… but she saw right through it!” (*)
[(*) Editor’s note: See World’s Best: Power Girl and the Huntress: Power (Girl) Mad.]
Mr. Mxyztplk chuckled. “That’s daddy’s girl. Remember — mischief, but not real harm!”
As his lovely daughter contentedly reclined in her chair, listening eagerly with her legs tucked up under her, the fifth-dimensional imp began his tale. “Once upon a time, in the year 1946, most of us here in the land of Zrfff were contented. I was, since I had recently pulled a few pranks on Superman with the help of Susie, Lois Lane’s precocious niece! (*) He tricked me into saying my name backwards, of course, but, hey, that’s part of the grand game! Well, anyhoo, not all of us were happy, since one neighboring realm was a place of dark magic, and it seeped over into our place at times.”
[(*) Editor’s note: See “The Mxyztplk-Susie Alliance,” Superman #40 (May-June, 1946).]
“Kind of like giving us bad moods?” asked Peri.
“Yep! But in this case, it drove a lady friend of mine to some serious trouble! Her name was Miss Gsptlsnz, and something just drove her mad one day. She said the word which lets us fifth-dimensionals go to Earth, and she decided to pursue an agenda of pure evil. She wasn’t doing this of her own will, though — she was under the spell of one from that Darkworld I spoke of.”
The Peri shivered. “Ooohhh! Scary stuff!”
Her father nodded. “Scary, but beautiful in the end, since it brought your mother and me together! And so Miss Gsptlsnz flipped, and on Earth she went to a place well known to another of us fifth-dimensional types: a small, hick town called Appleville!”