Bastian followed Alice as she led him to her house. Once there they entered it and were at once greeted by a large fluffy gray and white tabby cat.
"Bastian, this is Dinah, my cat," Alice said.
"She's so nice," said Bastian as he petted Dinah and she purred and rubbed herself up against his leg.
They then walked further into the house and on entering the kitchen Bastian met with, who he knew without a doubt, was Alice's mother as she looked just like Alice's twin separated by about thirty years.
"Mom, this is Bastian," Alice said. "He's my new friend I just met at school. He helped me out of a bad situation and I wanted to invite him here. I hope that's all right."
Alice's mother smiled warmly at them and said, "Of course it is. Why don't I bake up some brownies for you two?"
"Thanks, Mom! That'd be great!" said Alice.
"Yes, thank you, Mrs. Miller," added Bastian.
"I'm just gonna go show Bastian my room now if you'll excuse us," Alice said.
They then left the kitchen and Alice led Bastian upstairs to her bedroom. They entered and Alice gestured across the room towards her mirror.
"There is our gateway to Wonderland. Come with me," said Alice.
Bastian followed her slowly as she approached her mirror and as she reached it she held out her hand in front of her and then as she touched the glass he watched in astonishment as the glass softened and rippled like water and Alice stepped right through the mirror and vanished into it. He hesitated for a split second before he too held out his hand in front of him and stepped through the mirror.
When Bastian came out through the other side of the mirror he found Alice waiting for him in what seemed to be the midst of a forest clearing with strange-looking trees and mushrooms.
"Well, Bastian, welcome to Wonderland!" Alice said smiling from ear to ear. "I'm sure you'll like it here and you'll find everyone here to be just wonderful! Come with me, I'd like to introduce you to the Queen. The Palace is this way."
They then started off in a direction leading Westward out of the forest. They hadn't gone very far when they saw someone speedily coming up from ahead of them. He looked to Bastian like a tall furry white rabbit moving upright on roller blades and wearing a black vest and matching bow tie with elbow pads and knee pads on also.
Alice stopped at once when she saw him and smiled as she called out, "Mr. Rabbit over here!" and waved to him excitedly.
The Rabbit sped up to them and slowed down as he approached and stopped in front of them. He smiled and nodded at Alice and then looked curiously at Bastian.
"Welcome back, Alice," he said. "It's good to see you. And who, might I ask, is this?"
"Mr. Rabbit, this is Bastian my new friend at my new school," Alice replied. "Bastian, this is Mr. Rabbit, the Queen's right-hand rabbit."
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Rabbit," Bastian said as he and the Rabbit shook hands cordially.
"The same here," replied the Rabbit. "Any one who is a friend of Alice is a friend of mine too."
"I was wanting to show Bastian around Wonderland," Alice went on. "And we were just about to go to the Palace to see the Queen."
"I can take you there," said the Rabbit. "First, though, I must deliver these invitations."
"What kind of invitations are they?" asked Alice.
"They're to the Queen's first annual Royal Ball," replied the Rabbit. "All the other Kings and Queens surrounding Wonderland have had them for so long that now Her Majesty has reached the point where she simply must join in."
"That's so cool!" said Alice.
"I was just on my way now to the Hatter's," said the Rabbit. "So would you like to come along?"
"Sure," said Alice. "I'd love for Bastian to meet Mr. Hatter, and Mr. Hare as he should be there too at this time."
Bastian agreed and so they all headed off in the direction of the Hatter's. When they got there Bastian saw a very tall house that was shaped much like a top hat and found in front of it was a very long tea-table at which there was sitting a tall and lanky man wearing a bright purple suit with a large white top hat. Beside him there was another figure who he knew at once must be the Hare.
When they came into view, the Hatter and Hare promptly jumped up from their seats and clambered up to them.
"Hey! Alice!" the Hatter exclaimed delightedly. "Long time no see! And who is your friend here?" he asked looking toward Bastian.
"This is Bastian, my new friend from my new school," Alice said. "Bastian, this is Mr. Hatter, and this is Mr. Hare."
"We're so pleased to meet you," said the Hare as he and the Hatter shook Bastian's hand in turn. "We're always glad to have more guests at our tea parties. Because as you can see there is plenty of room for more."
The Hatter nodded and said, "So, Welcome to the tea party!"
Bastian smiled. "I think I'm really going to like it here!"
The Rabbit cleared his throat and said as he approached the Hatter. "I have come here to deliver to you your royal invitations to Her Majesty's first annual royal ball."
The Rabbit handed the Hatter and Hare each two pink envelopes with a heart seal on them which they both opened.
"Oh boy!" said the Hare. "Now we're gonna be at the top of society!"
"How true that is," said the Hatter with a smile. He then looked as if he had suddenly remembered something of importance. "Oh, and this reminds me I haven't read the rest of my mail today yet!"
He then went quickly to his mailbox and pulled out a single white envelope from it. The others all gathered around him as he opened it and read it silently. They then all watched in astonishment as he fainted quite suddenly just as he reached the end of the letter.
"Oh my! Are you all right, Mr.. Hatter?" Alice asked as she knelt next to him along with the others.
The Rabbit and the Hare then pulled the Hatter up to his feet again. The Hare began to fan his friend's face with his handkerchief and then his eyes opened slowly and a smile played out on his face as he looked at them all.
"Oh, hi everyone!" he said. "I just had the strangest dream ever! I dreamed that I had just got a letter from my old schoolmate Rachelle and that she said she was coming to visit me!"
The Hare picked up the letter the Hatter had dropped and looked over and then said, "Well, actually that is just who this letter is from and that is just what it says."
"Oh!" The Hatter fainted again but this time he was caught at once by Alice and Bastian.
"Well, what is wrong with her coming to see you?" asked Alice in puzzlement.
"What's wrong," said the Hatter as he stumbled to regain his balance, "is that she was not just my schoolmate, she was the girl I secretly admired for years! She and I were in high school together and I loved her so much but I never knew if she returned it. Though I tried to spend as much time with her as I could we ended up separating when I went off to hatter school and she went off to hair styling school. Since then we've been too far away to reach each other, and now she's coming to see me again after all this time!"
"Well, it seems to me that should make you happy," said Alice. "I mean you do still like her, don't you?"
"Of course I do," said the Hatter. "I just don't know if she still likes me."
"But why does she want to come and see you now of all times?" asked Bastian.
"Well, I don't know," said the Hatter. "But I suppose it must be for a very important reason. Oh dear, what am I gonna do?"
"I have an idea!" said Alice brightly. "Why don't we go see Mr. Caterpillar? I'm sure he'll have some good advice, as well as a good story for you."
To this they all agreed so they went to the giant mushroom forest where they found the giant green caterpillar who was looking at a large photograph of a ravishing ladybug.
"Hello, Mr. Caterpillar," Alice said.
"Oh! Hello, everyone!" said the Caterpillar. "I was just admiring this autographed photo I was lucky enough to have sent to me from my favorite movie star, Lola Lei Ladybug! Now what can I do for you?"
"Mr. Hatter has a problem he'd like to ask your advice for," said Alice. "Someone he went to school with and was in love with is coming to visit him."
"Well, that sounds like a cause for rejoicing to me," said the Caterpillar to the Hatter.
"I know," said the Hatter dejectedly. "But I'm not happy about it though because I don't know why she's coming or what she expects from me after all these years, or for that matter what I should expect from her."
"Ah, I see," said the Caterpillar. "Well, just have a seat here and listen to this story."
So they all sat down on nearby mushrooms while the Caterpillar opened up one of his books and read them the following story.
"Once there was a little rabbit named Bosco who was friends with a little rabbit named Brenda. They did everything together. They grew up together and became very close friends. Then one day Brenda had to move away from Bosco. Bosco was very lonely for a long time until one day when he also had to move away and where he went he found Brenda again. He decided right then that they should never be apart from each other again and so he asked her to marry him. And so she did. And they lived happily ever after. The end."
As the Caterpillar closed and put down his book everyone around was rather misty eyed. The Hatter looked to be deep in thought and he also seemed to be more at ease now. Then he stood up and said brightly,
"Well, now I now what to do when Rachelle comes! And I also know why she's coming! Thanks a lot, Caterpillar! You're a real pal! Now come on, Hare, we've got some work to do now!"
So then while the Hatter and Hare hurried back to the Hatter's, Alice and Bastian went with the Rabbit as he continued to deliver out the royal invitations to the Queen's ball. Their next stop was at the home of the Walrus. They found him outside puttering in his garden where he grew purple potatoes.
"Hello, Mr. Walrus," Alice said.
"Why, hello Alice, and Rabbit. And who might you be?" he asked looking toward Bastian.
"This is Bastian, my new friend," said Alice. "I'm showing him around here."
"Well, it is a fine pleasure indeed to meet you, my young friend," the Walrus said heartily as he and Bastian shook hands.
"I am here to give you your royal invitation to Her Majesty's first annual ball," said the Rabbit as he handed the Walrus the envelope.
"Oh my! How unexpected and delightful!" the Walrus exclaimed happily. "Pinniped and I will R.S.V.P. right away!"
Bastian gave him a questioning look as Alice explained, "Pinniped is his invisible friend."
They then moved on and their next stop was at the home of the Tweedle brothers, Dum and Dee. As they approached their house they heard a lot of noise coming from inside. The Rabbit stepped up to the front door and knocked on it. There was then a loud crashing sound heard coming from within. Then a few moments later the door was opened by the Tweedles. They were each wearing a pair of dusty and worn white overalls over worn out blue shirts.
"Oh my!" said the Rabbit. "I'm not interrupting anything important, am I?"
"No," said Dee. "We were just in the middle of fixing up our house from top to bottom. You see, we just got a letter from our parents saying they are coming to visit us soon and we want them to see that we really do know how to take care of ourselves and our home."
"The sounds you just heard was Dee vacuuming and me dropping a pile of books," Dum explained.
"Oh, I see," said the Rabbit. "Well, here is your royal invitations to Her Majesty's first royal ball."
"It must be just awesome to have your parents coming to visit you, isn't it?" asked Bastian.
"Well, I wish we could say yes," said Dee. "But we happen to have the most annoying and overwhelming parents this side of Wonderland."
"As kids they always treated us like babies all the time, even in front of our friends," added Dum. "And they wouldn't really let us grow up and when we were finally able to move out and into our own place it was still on the condition we always stay together and that they call us every day. Now they've finally got the nerve to come and visit."
"Well, perhaps you could invite them to the ball?" suggested the Rabbit.
"Well, they might be able to see us more as adults there," said Dee thoughtfully. "But then I sure wouldn't want them to embarrass us there either."
"We'll be there though," said Dum. "We are after all the Wonderland reporters."
Then after they had said goodbye to the Tweedles, Alice and Bastian went with the Rabbit to the Palace where they found the Queen in her throne room waiting.
"Well, Your Majesty, all the invitations are out and the guests here have all R.S.V. I'm happy to say!" announced the Rabbit."
"Fabulous!" said the Queen with a beaming smile. "Just think, I'll soon have my name at the top of the list of the most elegant and regal royalties cover!"
"Your Majesty, may I introduce my new friend, Bastian," Alice said cordially. "This is his first visit to Wonderland."
"Oh! Nice to meet you!" said the Queen to Bastian. "Would you like to come to the ball as an honored guest?"
"Would I?! I'd be so honored, Your Majesty!" Bastian said with a bow.
