Alright, a little sooner than I first assumed, but here's the first chapter. And yes, as promised, it's much longer than the opening. I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written. Who knows how many words the whole thing will total up to. Now, just so that if you care, to me, the first chapter of a story is the most important, along with the ending. If I don't like the opening, I'm not going to like the whole product, even if the rest is good. So, I've done my very best, but here's the first chapters. Hopefully you think it's decent.

So, like I said, some episodes I'll base slightly off of Rai, this being one of them since the format made so little sense in the 4kids version. But, I'm keeping most of the 4kids dialogue, just tweeking it to make Stella sound less like an airhead. Also, points go to whoever figures out which line of this I based off on Rai.

Just as note, I know this chapter had a lot of Bloom, and I'm sorry for those of you who think she gets the spotlight to much, but it was unavoidable. I tried my best to bounce back and forth between her and Stella, but even then, still kind of Bloom-centered. But, starting next chapter, we'll hear more about the other girls, okay?

Now, let's jump right into it, shall we?


Chapter One:

It Feels Like Magic

The bright sun rose over the pleasant city of Gardenia, California, proving that today, just as any other day, was to be beautiful, and special. But nobody knew just how special the day was to be.

Mrs. Vanessa Summers(1) opened the bedroom door and peered at the bed, where she found her sleeping adoptive daughter, Bloom. Her daughter was lying peacefully as she reclined on her bed. Vanessa noticed her book of fairytales on the ground, indicating Bloom may have spent the last night reading it, which was strange. Bloom hadn't been interested in fairies in years. What had suddenly brought up her love for them?

Mrs. Summers could remember when Bloom had been young, when she'd still loved to play and always talked about how when she grew up, she wanted to be princess, or a singer, or anything else like that, just as most young girls did. Vanessa could not help but miss those days. Back then, her little girl had always went to her, and to her husband, Mike, for help, but now, Bloom was nearly all grown up, and soon, she'd be going off on her own. She would give so much just to have her daughter's childhood back, but what was done was done; the past had come and went, and Bloom was now a sixteen-year-old, and a well-raised one at that.

"Bloom!" Vanessa now said, knowing quite well that her daughter was a light-sleeper. "You'd better get up, or you're going to be late."

"School?" Bloom gasped as her bright blue eyes popped open and she jumped out of bed. "Why didn't you get me up before? The alarm should've gone off." She paused to look at her alarm clock. "Oh no, I'm so late!"

Vanessa watched with a pleasant smile as Bloom went from going into the shower in her bathroom, drying off her hair with a towel, and getting dressed in what just had to have been record time. As Bloom slipped her hair out of her shirt, she instantly realized what was going on.

"Wait a minute." She slapped her hand against her forehead. Why had she been so stupid? "School doesn't start for another three weeks! Mom, that was so mean!" She finished giving her mother an unpleasant look.

"Well, for the past week you've been doing nothing other than sleeping the day away," her mother defended. "I had to do something to get you up."

"Well, ha-ha, very funny. While you think up your next prank to pull on me, I'll be in bed," Bloom replied, climbing back into her bed and resting her head against her soft pillow.

Vanessa sighed as she crouched down and picked up Bloom's book. "Fairies?" she asked. "You haven't been interested in those since you were a little girl."

"I just wanted to read it," Bloom answered sleepily as she attempted to keep her eyes closed from the bright sun shining into the room.

"Well okay." Vanessa turned to her daughter, and after a moment of hesitance, she pulled the covers off her.

Bloom groaned. "Mom, I'm tired. Please, just twenty more minutes?"

Vanessa thought it over. She wanted Bloom to stop sleeping in so much, but if she forced her to get out of bed now, she would probably end up being tired all day, and she knew her husband had things he wanted for Bloom to do that day. Finally, she relented.

"Alright, but after that, come straight down for breakfast and say hello to your father before he leaves for work."

"Fine," Bloom agreed, giving her a thumbs up before shoving her pillow over her head as she made herself more comfortable. Some comfort at last, she thought.

Vanessa shook her head as she walked out of her daughter's room. Just thinking about fairies reminded her of how her daughter had been adopted. Vanessa knew that she had to tell Bloom sometime, but she always ended up putting it off, afraid of how she may react.

She will know when she's ready. Vanessa decided. When the time is right.


Once her twenty minutes were up, Bloom climbed out of bed, and went downstairs, as promised. As she walked into the kitchen, she could not help but yawn out of weariness.

The first thing she saw was her father, Mike, dressed in his work clothes. Mike worked as a firefighter and often worked almost ten-hour days, but this, along with the income from Vanessa's flower shop, gave the Summers all the money that they found necessary.

"Morning Dad," Bloom greeted as she watched him read the morning paper.

He looked up and smiled. "Good morning Bloom. Get enough sleep last night?" he teased. He knew she did; she always did. In addition, usually, it was much more than enough. She slept so much that Mike wondered how she managed to stay awake during the day. It was a good thing he had talked his wife into waking her up on time this morning.

Bloom did not seem to find his joke funny. She joined him at the table and thanked her mother when she sat a plate of eggs, toast, and bacon in front of her. She was not very hungry, but something was oddly telling her that she needed to get a good meal. It was to be a long day.

"Bloom," Mike, said, "before you go off and do what you want, I want you to clean your room up a little. Okay?"

Bloom swallowed her food and nodded. "Yes Dad. After that, I think I'll take Kiko to the park."

"That sounds nice," Vanessa smiled as she joined her family. "But don't stay out to late, dear."

"I won't Mom," Bloom assured her. She loved her parents, but sometimes, she wished they did not care so much about her safety. She was sixteen, after all. Surely, that is old enough to decide whether or not you're safe, right?

Bloom finished her breakfast as her parents continued to eat and have a small conversation. She put her dishes into the sink and rinsed them off. She could do the dishes later, to show her mom that she cared.

She wiped her hands with a paper towel and threw it away, proceeding to return to her bedroom. She walked up the stairs, gripping the railing as she walked two steps at a time. She reached the top in a few seconds and walked down the hallway and into her own bedroom.

Once there, she saw her little pet rabbit, Kiko, sitting up on her bed. "Hi Kiko," she said, walking to the bed and petting the bunny. "Did you miss me?"

Though she knew rabbits could not talk, Bloom watched Kiko do what she assumed was his sign language for "yes".

"How sweet," she smiled, picking him up and setting him on his basket. She looked around her room, and picked up her book of fairytales. Just that night around eleven o'clock she had read the tale of a beautiful fairy princess.

Just thinking about it took Bloom back to when her mother used to read that story to her every night. She remembered how Vanessa always told it. "Once upon a time," she would say, "in a beautiful kingdom lived a princess…"

"But not just a princess!" Young Bloom often interrupted. "A fairy princess. Isn't that right Mom?"

Vanessa would nod. "That's right." She continued reading. "The princess's name was Colleen, and she was a beautiful, smart, and a magical fairy princess. When she grew older, she fell in love with a prince…"

Bloom recalled how her mother would next explain that an evil girl from another kingdom, who also loved the prince, envied the princess. Therefore, she cursed the princess, by making her lose her magic powers.

"And the only way they could be returned is by what, honey?" Mrs. Summers would ask her.

"True love's kiss!"(2)

"That's right, and when the prince kissed Colleen, they fell madly in love, got married…"

"And lived happily ever after!" Bloom would finish. The ending was always her favorite part of the story.

Bloom laughed to herself as she thought about all those memories of her childhood. Because of those stories, for the first several years of her life, it had been Bloom's wish to be a fairy princess when she grew up, and to marry a prince who she could live happily ever after with. Now older, Bloom understood that wishing such a thing to happen in the real world was ridiculous, but it was still nice to dream.

Bloom set the book back on her shelf, where it belonged. She remembered how her mother had asked her why she was so into reading her fairy books so much. The truth was she did not know either. She just got this feeling, this compulsion, advising her to read up as much on fairies as she could.

Bloom continued by cleaning up the rest of her room. She looked out her window and watched as her dad drove out of the driveway, clearly headed off to work. She smiled. She remembered her father being a firefighter as long as she could remember. It would feel so strange if he suddenly were to retire and go into another field.

Once her room had officially been deemed acceptable, she walked out of her room, Kiko following behind her obediently. She walked back downstairs and saw her mother.

"By Mom," she told her, "we're off to the park. We'll back soon."

"Okay," Vanessa said. "Have a good time."

"We will!" Bloom called back.

She and Kiko walked out to the garage and Bloom pulled out her bike. It had been a present for her fourteenth birthday. She loved her bike, and had spent many days that summer riding it throughout her hometown.

She got on, set Kiko carefully into the basket, told him to hang on tightly, and set off.


Bloom knew Gardenia to be a pleasant, well-run city. The people were friendly and since it was located near the Pacific Ocean (So close, in fact, there was a beach right on the edge of town), the whole town went through a yearlong summer, and Bloom liked that. She had visited other places in the country that had snow, and liked it, but always was happy to be back at Gardenia, where she could act as if it was summer no matter what day or month it was.

Once Bloom had walked onto the sidewalk, she stood her bike up and walked it down the street, deep in thought. Why do I keep feeling like something is going on today? She kept asking herself. Today is just as any other day…isn't it? Oh, I don't know. I just wish I-

"Hey Bloom," an annoying voice spoke, distracting her thoughts.

Bloom knew that voice all to well. Yes, it was Mitzi all right. The spoiled, rotten, richest girl in all of Gardenia. Mitzi had long, black hair that reached almost to the ground, and she wore glasses, but they looked more like fashion glasses than real ones, and her outfit was usually her simple pants and shirt. It seemed that today, nothing about that had changed. In short, Mitzi was beautiful, but she was not someone you would call "nice". Bloom knew that for sure. How Mitzi managed to get away with calling her names was beyond her. Couldn't she just give her a break? At least once? However, today did not seem to be that break she desperately wanted.

Bloom stopped as soon as she heard her voice and listened as Mitzi immediately insulted her bike. "Isn't it time to send that two-wheeled relic to the junk pile?" she asked, looking down at her through her glasses, obnoxiously as always.

"There's nothing wrong with this bike!" Bloom insisted. "My dad got it for me."

"Oh, you poor girl," Mitzi said sarcastically, adjusting her spectacles again, this time in a completely rude way. "Of course, I don't mean poor as is not rich." Bloom stared at her in amazement, and it soon turned to rage. "Even though that is what you are."

For a moment, Bloom wished that she did have powers. Then she could maybe turn Mitzi into a monkey, or worse. That would teach her a lesson. Why had she put up with her for so many years? Bloom knew that eventually, she was going to have to tell Mitzi off…just not today.

"Hey fellows!" Mitzi suddenly called out, only then did Bloom see the van, and two men stood behind it, carrying a purple scooter of some sort. It obviously must have been Mitzi's. "Careful with my scooter."

Bloom smirked. Why am I not surprised? She stopped when Mitzi turned back to her and pretended to be slightly interested, just to humor her.

"It's brand new, you know," the other girl bragged smugly as she turned back around.

Bloom could not help but have a tiny bit of a smile as she decided that she leave Mitzi. She had promised Vanessa that she wouldn't be gone for too long. "Well, see you later, Mitzi," she said, getting onto her bike and riding onto the street.

Bloom kept turning thoughts over in her head as she rode through the city. Things are just way too complicated. I'm looking forward to when everything makes sense again, and I can go back to having my regular lifestyle.

Trying to distract herself, she paid attention to the many familiar buildings that she passed. She passed the smaller area of town, which was closer to where she lived, and ended up in the greater half. It was over here that her high school was: Gardenia High. It was not your most prestigious academy, but it did have a good curriculum. In fact, most of the teachers there also worked as professors at the neighboring university.

Bloom continued off into the city of Gardenia. The Sun hang high in the blue sky, shining brightly. It was a beautiful day. She had made a good decision in getting out on a day like this.

As she rode by, she passed a small shop, which was owned by one of her parents' friends, Mr. Alfonso Genero. "Bloom," he called out, waving to her, "say hello to your mother for me!"

"Will do Mr. Genero," she promised, "see you later!"

She continued on, feeling almost as if she were flying. She knew her thoughts would seem silly to anyone else, but it was that very feeling that made her like to go off and ride her bike so much. She felt free. She felt as if she were soaring through the air. If it were not dangerous, she could close her eyes and picture herself, high in the air, so high she could touch the clouds and feel more of the sun.

Though she never liked to think about it much anymore, Bloom remembered when she had told a majority of her thoughts to her ex-boyfriend, Andy. He was a charming guy. Sure, he had glasses, but that did not deter his good looks. They just simply were not right for each other. Bloom wondered how Andy was doing now. She hadn't heard from him since he'd broken up with her right before school ended. Just like any other year, he and his family took a trip. This year they went to Hawaii. Bloom planned to question Andy as soon as she heard he had returned.

After how long she had already traveled, it was a mere short mile left until she had reached the small Gardenia Park. It was a simple area. Bloom had always loved coming here.

She parked her bike up by a tree. As she did, she told her little bunny, "Go find an acorn, Kiko, and I'll toss it around with you." She pulled an apple off one of the trees and wiped it off on her pants.

She sat down and made herself comfortable at the back of the tree, in front of her bike. She noticed Kiko had wandered off on his own, but he did this quite often, so it was not a big deal to her. She picked up her large apple and bit into it. Just as she expected, it was sweet and juicy, just the way she liked her apples.

Shortly after Bloom had taken a bite, Kiko appeared, scared and shocked. He ran up to her and shook her pant leg. She wasn't worried. "What?" she asked, not affected by his fear. "Did you see one of those scary squirrels again?"

He didn't seem to lighten up. "Alright," she sighed, "I'll come and see."

She followed him as he swiftly ran. He led her up to an empty area, and she took a peek not expecting to see anything out of the ordinary. Nevertheless, as soon as she saw the blonde girl with the wings on her back, hitting small red creatures with some type of power, she knew that this was not an ordinary day like she had thought.


Stella had been fighting the ogre and the ghouls, and it seemed that the ogre was not at all pleased that she was taking down his minions. However, it still confused her. There is no way an ogre would want a scepter, so who did? And why?

She noticed that a few ghouls were coming by her, so she quickly avoided collision and pounded her specter on the ground as she shouted, "Solar-wind blast!"

The ghouls ended up going right back at the ogre. He looked at her with intense anger, as if his eyes were glowing. When one of the ghouls ended up in his hand, he snapped it, and its particles disappeared into thin air.

That's useful to remember, Stella thought, but she still needed a plan to take care of them. She was so tired already. Who knew if she would win this fight or not. Oh, why had she decided to not pay attention to the lesson on battling forest creatures?

She decided that if she was very unlikely to be able to fight this ogre off on her own, maybe she could scare him. Yes, that had to be it. She thought about what to say. It had to be brave, she decided. In addition, realistic, yet still sound like herself, even though she knew for sure that she would never meet this ogre again.

"Newsflash Mr. Hideous," she told him, "the power of Solaria is so going to flatten you." If she could, Stella would have slapped herself for how that had come out. For one thing, calling him "Mr. Hideous" sounded childish, but what made it worse was that she had even pronounced her own realm's name wrong, and she was the princess!

In addition, her bad remark seemed to affect her progress on this fight. Next, the ogre growled, which she had to admit, frightened her a little, and charged after her. "You're the one who's going to get flattened!" he insisted, as he ran into her, causing her to be sent flying, and she landed on her back.

"You're finished, little fairy girl," the ogre told her. "Now ghouls, bring me her scepter!"

Normally, Stella would've stood back up in a situation like this, and flew into the air for protection. She knew the ghouls couldn't get her from there. But this ogre had hit her so hard, she felt terrible pain, and struggled to attempt to sit up. By the time she had tried, the ghouls attacked her, and bound her limbs.

"I'm warning you," she said, her voice muffled, "you'll never get away with this!"

"I think I just did," the ogre replied as one of the ghouls handed him her scepter. "Your scepter's ours!" he declared, getting into her face. "And you're history."

Stella looked up at him, clearly afraid now. She had lost her scepter, and even though Stella loathed admitting it, without the ring/scepter of Solaria, her powers were weak. Therefore, now that they had her scepter, she pretty much had no way to defend herself. They won.

Or so she thought.

"Leave her alone."

The ogre, just as Stella, had been surprised to hear the voice. Stella turned around to see an Earth girl with bright, long red hair, blue eyes, and she wore simple clothing, that was also blue, but a lighter tint. Stella grew worried. If this girl had seen the ogre, this meant she had seen her, too. That was not good. She could get in huge trouble if the faculty at Alfea found out that she had given herself away to a human. She already had given herself a bad name with the potion lab incident, and the last thing she needed was to give them yet another reason to reconsider giving her another chance.

"Come get me," the red-haired girl finished. Then she seemed surprised. "Wait, did I just say that?"

For an Earth girl, she sure is brave, the princess of Solaria thought. If she was from this planet and suddenly saw magical beings having a battle, she would have just run off, pretending that she had not seen anything. But this girl was different.

The ogre got up, continuing to glare at the girl. "You sure did." He growled again, and grabbed the girl in his hand. "You should learn to mind your own business!"

The mysterious girl most certainly didn't like that the ogre had grabbed her. She struggled. "Let go!" she shouted, and when she did, Stella swore that she saw bursts of magic knock the ogre onto the ground.

"Get back!" she rebuked as ghouls ran to her, and they, too, ended up on the ground from one of her attacks. Stella was stunned. This girl was from Earth? How did that make sense? This was supposed to be a non-magical planet. But, Stella knew that she was right in thinking that this girl was powerful.

Stella noticed the girl show some serious skill as she nailed one of the ghouls. Now that she was freed, Stella got to her feet and picked up her scepter. "Wow," she complimented, walking up to the girl, "you've got winx, girl, major winx."

"What?" she gasped. "Me? What do you mean?"

The ogre seemed to think that he had things, even though he just lost respect from being knocked down by an Earth girl. Sure, she was a powerful one, but an Earth girl nonetheless.

"Laugh all you want, fashion fiasco," Stella said. "You're going down!" She meant this literally, as power came from her scepter, and knocked the ogre flat on his back. She smiled. "I suggest, you like, get out of our realm. Now."

"Watch it," the girl warned her as Stella saw the ghouls approaching her again. She gripped her scepter tightly.

"Don't worry girl," she assured her. "I've got this one covered."

Using her scepter as it charged up, Stella twirled it around shortly before blasting some of the ghouls with a fierce attack of her sun-based magic.

It appeared that the ogre had given up. "We'll meet again, Princess Stella," he said, as he and the rest of the ghouls disappeared.

"I can't say I'm looking forward to that," Stella told the Earth girl. However, she did not get to hear her response, for she soon collapsed from exhaustion.

The Earth girl, Bloom, went to her aid and watched as the fairy's clothes changed into a new outfit that seemed rather strange. The ogre had called her Princess, so maybe this is how royalty dressed from wherever she was from.

"Are you okay?" Bloom inquired, as if the girl was going to answer her. She turned to her rabbit. "We'd better take her home. She needs major help."


"So she's been asleep for twelve hours because she's a fairy?" Mike asked Bloom that night. "Is that like a Goth or something?"

Bloom had immediately taken Stella back to her house. It had been hard to strap her onto her bike with her, but after some time, they had made it. The first thing she did was lay the fairy on the living room couch and she had not left her side since.

Her parents had been asking her questions ever since she got home about whom she was and what she was doing here. Bloom had simply told them the truth: she was a fairy, and she needed help. It seemed that Mike was being extra stubborn today on what he did and did not believe were real. He was not hearing any of it.

"I'm talking real fairy, Dad, with a scepter," Bloom answered. "Magic powers and fluttering wings." She sort of sighed as she added in the last part. "She's amazing."

"You must have a very high fever," Mike insisted. "I think we should call Dr. Silverman."

It caught them all off guard when the fairy suddenly woke up. Stella opened her eyes groggily and looked around at her surroundings. "Hey, good morning."

"It's evening, hun," a voice behind her corrected. She turned to the arm of the couch she was laying on to see a woman that she guessed was the Earth girl's mom since that girl was here. "How do you feel?"

Stella thought about it for a moment. "Fine now," she replied, sitting up and adjusting her crown. "Thanks to this girl right here," she added, pointing to the red-haired girl. "My name's Stella," she introduced.

"Hey there, Stella," the girl smiled. "My name is Bloom."

"Let's call your parents, now, shall we?" Bloom's mother suggested.

"I'm afraid that's easier said than done," Stella replied. "I mean, let's face it, they live almost six other realms away, in a kingdom called Solaria." Normally Stella would have never opened up to a bunch of Earth people, but than again, it wasn't everyday that she got her life saved by an Earth girl, either.

Stella tried to explain how she had gotten here when Bloom's dad seemed to be tuning her out. "Oh boy. Oh boy." He approached the phone. "I'm calling Dr. Silverman. We'll see if he can figure out why the two of you are seeing things that aren't there."

Stella scowled. She knew that this might seem a little farfetched to humans, but after all, why else would she be dressed with a crown if she weren't a princess from another realm? Why couldn't he just accept that?

Then she realized that if he made that call, they'd probably hall her off to some mental institution, and then she would probably never get to Alfea, or even back to Solaria. Therefore, she decided, that she needed to stop him. Thinking quickly, she used her magic and changed his phone into a cabbage and carrot.

He gasped as soon as he realized that they had changed. "Huh?"

"You still think we're out of our boards?" Stella asked using typical slang she had heard in the cities of Solaria. She had never known anyone who lived in the capital like herself to talk like that except for some of her friends, like a younger girl named Nova.

"Whoa, that was so awesome!" Bloom exclaimed

"You're the one who's majorly awesome, Bloom," Stella told her. "Just earlier today, she saved me from this ogre who attacked me. She's really powerful."

"It's true," Bloom agreed. "But I don't know how I did it."

"It's like I told you this morning, Bloom. You're loaded with magic."

"Me?" Bloom felt as if she were flying right then. She saw stars, and many beautiful colors. Right then, things felt so right.

"Hey, I have a great idea," Stella said. "You should come to Alfea with me. It's the best magic school in the whole universe."

"Hold it!" Mike cut in. "My daughter's not going to another realm!"

"Well, you don't have to decide anything today." She turned to Bloom and stood. "I'll stay the night since it doesn't seem like it would do me any good heading to Alfea at this hour. Then, you can make your decision. Mind showing me your room?" she asked Bloom.

"No problem."

The two girls headed up the stairs. They'd only known each other for a short amount of time, but Bloom knew that from how they had just hit it off in the living room that this was the start to a beautiful friendship.

She led Stella up the stairs and through the hallway. The fairy seemed to be paying attention to everything she saw, but Bloom had to remind herself that Stella was from a whole other planet; a princess no less. Surely, she must live in a fancy palace of some sort. Well, that explained why she was so into reading fairy books lately. It was sort of foreshadowing to her meeting a real fairy princess.

Bloom opened her bedroom door and Stella instantly reacted, fascinated by her room. "Hey, cool room Bloom. Wow. You should totally bring it to Alfea. A quick packing spell and it'll fit in a handbag."

"Stella, I don't think I'm going to Alfea."

"Huh?" Stella was confused. Bloom was her friend and she had powers. So what was wrong?

"I don't think I have powers anymore. I mean, I know I fought that ogre in the park, but now…" She pointed to where her pants ripped.

"Trust me Bloom," Stella assured her. "Someone with magic like you have doesn't lose their powers. They're just rusty from sitting unused for so long." Stella couldn't help but feel bad for Bloom. She had spent her whole life living with magic and she never even knew it. She could only imagine how the red-haired girl was feeling now.

"Do you think I'm like the girl in this book?" Bloom asked her, holding up her book of fairytales. "Because she was very powerful, but she was a princess."

"Let's see." Stella accepted the book and began to flip through it, glancing at the pictures but not noticing that much on what was on them. "Kind of, but it was written by humans. You're a lot better than that. And more fashionable." She closed the book and set it down.

"Wow," Bloom said, staring off into space. "I can't believe that I really do know magic, and have-what did you call it?-winx."

"Yes," Stella answered. "The magic has always been inside you Bloom. It's like my fairy godmother-nanny-used to say, 'You just need to get the perfect experience to find out what you're really capable of'."

Bloom wondered about that. Magic seemed so complicated to her, but of course it was. She had not known anything about her powers for sixteen years. What was she supposed to know? What could this all mean?

"Magic seems hard to figure out," Bloom sighed.

"No, not really. You just have to master it with a little practice. Now try this." Stella turned to a recycled coffee cup that held Bloom's colored pencils. Using her powers, she combined them together into one big pencil. "It's a simple matter-merge exercise. Now you give it a shot."

Bloom stood and walked over to it. Bloom was nervous, and not sure she was able to do it, but if she was ever going to figure her powers out, she had to practice. Therefore, she did her best to imitate Stella's hand movements, but no matter how hard she tried, the pencil stayed in the same form.

She sighed and sat back down on her bed, defeated. "I don't feel anything."

"You just need practice," Stella told her. "It's really no biggie." With a simple hand gesture, the giant pencil danced around until the pencils had separated again and landed back in their cup. "That's why you have to come with me to Alfea. We have the best teachers there who can surely get you zapping stuff like any other fairy."

"What's it like there?"

Stella thought about that. Bloom was raised her whole life as any other human, so it seemed complicated to explain a whole other realm to her. But, after a moment of thoughts, she put the right words together.

"Well, it's not all that different from your regular high school on Earth from what I learned in one of my classes last year," she answered. "The only real differences is that Alfea a private girl's school in a realm called Magix and we all study magic and the realms instead of your regular curriculum."

"That sounds so cool. Are there any other schools in this Magix place?" Bloom inquired.

Stella nodded. "There are like six or seven. I can't remember which. But, there are three main ones: Alfea, Cloud Tower, and Red Fountain. Cloud Tower is a school for witches, and Red Fountain is a school of heroics and bravery, for specialists."

"So, a specialist is like a knight?"

"Well…sort of. To become a knight, you have to have a certain title and be a squire first, but anyone can be a specialist as long as they train in it. There are lots of hunks over at Red Fountain too."

"That sounds kind of cool. Are witches mean?"

Stella instantly nodded. "Oh yah. They're not exactly evil, but they certainly do enjoy torturing the fairies, but don't worry Bloom, as long as you can hit them with magic, they don't do much. The headmistress would report it to the Magix council if things got out of hand, and then Cloud Tower could get in trouble."

Bloom sighed. Things seemed so strange. From watching cartoons and reading books, she always assumed that fairies and witches were exactly like they showed, but now that she was speaking to a real-live fairy, she guessed that a witch must be like Stella; a pretty normal person, just with magic.

"Those heroes sound cool. Are they like any guys around here?"

"Yep. Hey, mind if I invite some?"

"You can do that from here?"

Stella nodded. She snapped her fingers and made a cell phone appear right into her hands. She typed in a few words and made the phone disappear again. "It's all set. They'll be in here a little bit."

Bloom felt so weirded out to know that some specialists were coming to her house. To take it off her mind, she changed the subject. "So, where is Alfea anyway?"

"Well, it's in Magix like I said. To get there you just go to the Interrealm of the Enchanted Ring and then you…" Stella paused. "Well, you can officially find out tomorrow, but I could show it to you."

"How?"

Bloom watched as Stella pulled out something that looked like a carpet. "This is an express portal," the fairy princess explained. "We could just go to Alfea, but they wouldn't let me in at this hour, so I have it set that we can appear into a virtual illusion of it, just so you can take a look. Come on, it's cool." Stella stood on top and Bloom watched as she began to sink inside. "Now follow me."

Bloom reluctantly copied her and sunk down until she had arrived in a foresty area filled with pine trees. She looked at a large, pink building with towers sticking out. It reminded Bloom of what she imagined Princess Colleen from her story might have lived in.

"There it is," Stella, pointed out. "The famous Alfea castle."

"Who goes here?" Bloom could not help but ask.

Stella laughed. "I know it seems pretty intimidating to know that this is the kind of place where people get educated, right? Well, many people think that Alfea is only for royalty, but it's not true. Most are princesses, yes, but there are several who aren't and many end up becoming better fairies than the princesses."

"Is Alfea like a regular high school?" Bloom asked.

"Yes, but it has only three years instead of four." Stella replied. "That's because the earliest you can get in is at age sixteen, and for most high schools, that's like sophomore age."

"That makes sense. How old are you Stella?"

"Seventeen," the princess said. "But I'm not on sophomore level. I'm repeating last year because of something that happened, something I did."

"What'd you do?"

Stella smiled. "Let's just say that what I did was so bad, I would've never been allowed back if I wasn't a princess." Stella could have told Bloom, but if she was going to come with her to Alfea tomorrow-and Stella just knew that she would be- she would find out anyway.

"Well, the hero boys should get here soon so let's go back to your room, okay Bloom?"

Bloom nodded and Stella demonstrated how to go back through. In a matter of seconds, she was back in her bedroom.

The rest of the time, Stella and her chatted until they heard something. They gasped, both realizing that this meant that Mike and Vanessa could be in danger. "Let's go save your parents Bloom!"

Bloom agreed, and the two of them took off through the hallway and down the stairs. Once they had arrived, they saw the ogre and his ghouls again, and this time, there was a blue creature Stella recognized to be a troll. She realized that the ogre had used it to track their scent.

It seemed that the troll had been smashing things, and Bloom could see her parents shaking. She felt like doing the same thing.

"Tell us where the girls are or you're ghoul food!" the ogre yelled just when they had arrived.

While Bloom was ready to go cower in a corner, Stella reacted, no longer afraid. "Turn around, sunshine!" she said, getting their attention.

"It's them!" the yellow ogre pointed out, stating the obvious.

Stella walked up to them. "I guess someone didn't learn their lesson." She pushed her Solaria ring into the air as she shouted, "Sun power!"

Once again, the room lit up with orange light as Stella's regular clothes faded and were replaced with her fairy outfit. As soon as she had transformed, she flew up to the troll and kicked it right in the face.

Bloom was amazed. Stella must have been very brave to just go up and kick the troll, knowing that she would make it mad. However, what puzzled her most was how she had done that. That changing into an outfit with wings. Was this one of the things Bloom herself would be able to do with magic?

Bloom walked up to Stella having no idea what else she could do. "Bloom, I'll handle them," she directed. "You take care of the ghouls."

"But how?"

"Just do something."

"Okay," Bloom replied, running. The ghouls followed her and lured her out of the house.

While Bloom had been running, she turned to the yellow ogre. "Take that!" she said, spelling him with her powers.

She was pleased to see that he went out of the house completely. While she celebrated, the troll approached her and she was sent through the window herself, landing hard on the ground.

The troll walked out and neither Stella nor Bloom knew what they could do. They just gasped as they waited to be hit again, but it did not happen, when out of nowhere came a lasso.

"Hey, Princess Stella, I hope your friend is the pretty one in the blue pants," a familiar voice said. Stella looked up and was relieved to see the specialists. Good thing she had invited them. She realized that it had been the blond-haired Prince Sky of Eraklyon speaking and she noticed that he had referred to Bloom as "pretty". She would tell her friend about that later.

"Yah and not this ugly guy at the end of the leash here." She saw that it was a magenta-haired boy named Riven who had caught the troll.

"Ditto that," a carrot-headed boy with glasses named Timmy agreed. Though he was stereotyped as a nerd, he also excelled in his battle classes.

In addition, with the others had come her crush, Brandon. He was a dreamy boy with chocolaty-brown hair and eyes that matched. Moreover, it was not just his looks and his biceps that made Stella attracted to him. It was his voice, too.

"All right," Sky continued, "I suggest a three-proge rescue op."

"Forget that," Riven disagreed. "I got this puppy rapped up all by myself."

"Dude," Brandon pointed it, leaning on his high-tech sword. "One summer at a swashbuckler camp doesn't mean you can go solo on a troll." Brandon closed his eyes and shook his head when he watched Riven fly off from the troll's tugging. Brandon sometimes got tired of Riven's stubbornness. "I rest my case."

Bloom and Stella watched as Riven landed right by them. "Here's a tip," Stella told him. "You may want to listen to your teammates."

Riven rolled his eyes.

While the others battled, things kept getting heated. When the other guys needed help, Riven stood and said, "Stay here. This won't take long."

Stella and Bloom did listen to his advice, but they got up first. Bloom had noticed the blond boy. He was just so attractive. But, he was way out of her league. After all, he was a hero and she was just some girl from Earth.

When she saw one of the boys get hit, Bloom suddenly put her hands into a position that was unfamiliar and said, "Leave him alone!" as she shot the ogre with an energy blast.

"Awesome shot there, Bloom," Stella smiled.

Bloom gaped at her and looked at her hands as if they would give some indication on how she had done it. "It just happened."

"Like I said: you've got winx."

"Back off shorty," the ogre warned Riven.

"You're the one who's gonna back of, ogre, or I'm gonna put my 'stinkus removus' spell on you and you're going to end up smelling like you just took a bath."

Whether it was Stella's threat or he was afraid of the odds, the ogre ended up disappearing.

"I knew that would scare him," Stella laughed victoriously.

Stella walked Bloom over to the specialists. She had a dreamy look in her eyes as she told her, "Bloom, these are the Red Fountain guys I was telling you about."

The guys said hello and Stella introduced them all one by one. "Meet Riven." Bloom looked to the magenta-haired boy and he continued to scowl. Bloom realized if this was how he behaved at the first meeting that he was probably just this type of guy.

"Brandon," she continued. Brandon posed with his sword making Stella thinking he was even hotter than she had remembered.

"Timmy." Timmy gave a sweet little smile.

"And Prince Sky."

Prince Sky gave a salute along with one of his signature smiles. "How're you doin'?" he asked, sounding smooth. Bloom could not help but think that he was much more appealing than her ex-boyfriend had ever been.(3)

The troll tried to escape, but one of the guys cuffed his neck. "Not so fast tough guy, you're coming with us." Sky told him.

"Yah," Brandon agreed. "You've done enough damage for one day, pal."

It was only then that Mike and Vanessa emerged out of hiding. They had slipped out a window while Stella and Bloom had distracted the ogre and his friends. The two appeared to be very frightened, which all but Bloom had expected.

"Where're you guys taking him?" Bloom asked as she saw the troll be tied up by some type of device and a portal emerged.

"We'll bring him back to Red Fountain." Riven replied. "They'll probably send him to a creature preserve."

"So long!" Brandon called.

And just before the guys had disappeared, Sky said, "Bloom, I sure hope I see you at Alfea!"

Bloom smiled back in reply. Once he and the others had disappeared, she thought, I hope that too.


Just as Stella had promised, she ended up staying the night at the Summers' house. She stayed in Bloom's room and zapped in a temporary bed. She and Bloom had spent some time talking about magic and boys before they finally did go to bed, but it was worth it.

Stella had convinced Bloom to pack a bag, just in case. Even if her parents did not let her go to Alfea, Stella wanted Bloom to come visit her in Solaria sometime. She didn't see the harm in that.

The next morning, Stella sent away her temporary bed and used her powers to change back into her regular outfit, which consisted of a shirt that was as thin as bikini top and a shorter-than-average miniskirt.

After her hair and everything had been done, she walked in the living room and saw Bloom's father, Mike, sweeping away some broken glass. "Hey, Bloom's dad," she asked, "Why don't you let me whip this place into shape with a little magic?"

"I've had enough magic," he replied, but was interrupted by Bloom's voice. He saw his daughter and wife, but Bloom was holding a valise. "Why do you have a suitcase?"

"Just in case you guys let me go with Stella," his daughter answered. "Then I'll be packed."

"I know you're way more grown up then we thought you were, and you have a special gift, but we still have to check the school out and find out more about Alfea."

"If it's anything like Stella says it is, you'll be in for a wonderful adventure," Vanessa added.

"How do you we get there Stella?"

"My scepter can handle it," Stella replied, taking her ring off her finger. "Hold on tight everybody. Sun power!" Once the ring was her scepter again, Stella conjured up her powers and the Summers family and little Kiko found themselves surrounded by what they did not recognize as magic.

It was only a matter of seconds when they landed in a valley of some sort, surrounded by beautiful mountains and pine trees that were so amazing, Bloom swore she saw them sparkling.

"Wow," Mike said when he landed. "Would you get a look at this place?"

"Come on," Stella urged. "Alfea is just up ahead. Follow me." They all stood up and followed.

Bloom took in the deep, pleasant aroma and surroundings of the outskirts of Magix. Just being in another realm felt amazing. Looking up into the sky, she knew that great things were going to come out of her being here, and…it felt like magic.


(1): It was never officially stated in the show what last name Mike and Vanessa have, so I picked Summers since I thought it sounded nice.

(2): If you ever saw Disney's, Enchanted, you for sure know where I got that line from.

(3): When I first saw this episode, I thought it was strange that Sky saluted like that. It just seemed...awkward. I don't really know why, but I thought it would've been better if he'd just went, "Hi", or "Nice to meet you".

Alright, I checked this chapter a few times over for spelling and grammar mistakes, but if you see any, please tell me. I don't want to spoil your read with my errors. So, as always, read and review.

Next chapter: "More than High School"