The Ripple Effect

2. Ask the Lonely

The first day in the realm of Magix turned out to be an exercise in the surreal and paranormal. After going through the standard orientation lecture, meeting with the headmistress, and being assigned a room (conveniently with Stella), Bloom and Roxy were taken on a walking tour of Magix proper by Stella. The pair of Earthlings soon discovered that while burgers and fried poultry (whatever it was certainly wasn't a chicken) translated across all corners of the magical dimension, pizza had yet to catch on here like it had on their home world. Explaining to Stella exactly what a pizza was without the culinary item to display proved to be a tricky task, and up until they found the one restaurant in all of Magix that served it, the blond princess was convinced it was some sort of sandwich. Now that she knew what it was and had sampled some of it, Stella was hooked and eager to try more 'crazy Earth food' (her words, not theirs).

Today, however, was the official start of classes, and not all of the girls had the same schedule. This landed Bloom in Defensive Battle Strategies 101 all by her lonesome during second period. Unlike her first class (Magical History part 1), Defensive Strategies actually involved physical exercise. Students were paired off and asked to attack or defend using the basic spells that the professor demonstrated. While Bloom managed to conquer the 'attack' portion of the lesson, 'defend' still managed to elude her. Fortunately for her, her partner (an average-looking brunette named Candice) was patient with her and even offered some pointers.

Other students were not so lucky. During the fourth (or possibly fifth; she'd lost interest in counting and focused more on throwing up a damn shield by this point) attempt to block the other girl's attack, Bloom noticed that one particular pair of witches weren't playing by Professor Grimm's rules of conduct. A small girl with short, blood red hair and freckles was throwing shields up as fast as she could, but none of them was strong enough to repress the onslaught of energy blasts from her assigned partner. At first, she ignored it, but when two rounds later the small girl's shield fell completely and the other girl continued to attack, she decided to intervene.

"Aww. Is the poor little pixie-lover too tired to fight back?" The attacking witch taunted, not having noticed Bloom's approach. This witch had long-ish lavender hair and cold gray eyes. "You're not worthy to call yourself a witch!"

"That goes double for you, bitch!" Bloom roared, launching a fireball at the lavender-haired bully. The poor little redhead had been forced onto the ground once her shield gave out earlier, and she watched with wide turquoise eyes as Bloom came to her rescue. "Why don't you pick on someone who's more your size?"

"An Earthling? Please! You're more pathetic than little miss Mirta!" The gray-eyed girl scoffed, having narrowly dodged Bloom's attack.

"Pathetic, huh?" Candice was nowhere in Bloom's line of sight anymore. She'd probably gone to get the teacher, not that it mattered. This git was going to need a plastic surgeon once she was finished.

Warm energy, licking wildly at her skin like ocean waves, pulsed from her body in an angry aura. She would not stand by and watch a classmate be bullied like this. "Let's see who's the pathetic one." Two large balls of energy formed in her hands, and both were soon thrown at the taller witch standing in front of her. The other witch had a shield up, but it failed to hold up once Bloom decided to keep pitching fireballs at it.

Out of defenses, the other girl let out an ear-splitting shriek and went on the offensive. Balls of gray energy hurtled toward Bloom, but this time (likely out of anger and stubborn force of will) the fire witch managed to get a shield up to deflect the attacks. A protective bubble of burning orange energy surrounded Bloom and Mirta.

"ENOUGH!" Professor Grimm's deep voice boomed. "STAND DOWN, THE BOTH OF YOU!"

Bloom held her aggressor's eye contact, not willing to drop her shield until the other girl stopped attacking completely. Reluctantly, the bully powered down and turned to glare at their instructor. With a sizzling hiss, Bloom's shield fizzled and dissipated. She was too hyped up on adrenaline to be afraid of the teacher, but Mirta stared at him with wide, scared eyes.

"That's better!" Their teacher barked. "Now would one of you please explain what happened here?"

"I was trying to get this loser Mirta to throw up a decent shield when the Earth freak started attacking me!" the gray-eyed girl protested, trying to bend the truth.

"The hell you were!" Bloom glared at the girl defiantly, ready to throw an honest-to-god punch if she needed to. "You knocked her to the ground without a shield and were still launching energy blasts at her!"

Professor Grimm glared at both of them, apparently weighing their stories against each other. "Atara, I'm disappointed in you." He stated, glaring at the purple-headed girl. "Someone of your status should know better than to pull these kinds of stunts in class."

"Hey, shouldn't she be getting the lecture here?" Atara pointed an accusatory finger at Bloom. "She attacked me!"

"Only so you'd leave Mirta alone!" Bloom protested, the ambient temperature around the group heating up a few degrees. "What did she ever do to you?"

"She's an embarrassment, just like you are!" Atara hissed.

"That's quite enough from you ladies!" Grimm growled. "Candace, take over with Mirta for the remainder of the period. You two, to the headmistress's office!"

Was saving Mirta really worth a trip to the principal's office and making an enemy on her first day of school? One look into Mirta's scared but grateful eyes informed Bloom that yes, it was indeed worth it.


"I must say, I never expected you to be the first one in detention." Stella remarked. The three suitemates were currently eating lunch in the cafeteria.

"I did." Roxy held her fork up. "Although, I think this is a new record. Usually she waits until after the lunch bell rings to get into brawls."

"Har har." Bloom grumbled, looking grumpily up at her best friend. "I just hope that Mirta girl is okay."

"Why was the other girl picking on her anyway?" Roxy frowned. "I mean, I know why you and I get snide remarks, being from Earth and all, but what did Mirta do?"

"Atara called her a pixie-lover, whatever that means." Bloom scoffed. Stella groaned.

"Bloom, I hate to break it to you, but Atara's the status quo around here." The blond looked at the other two. She knew the other girl from the various cabinet meetings her parents hosted with nobles from other realms. Lady Atara of Isis belonged to a very old and influential family on her home world. The girl was a stuck-up narcissistic brat, but that seemed to be the norm for nobles from Isis. "Witches and fairies tend not to get along well. Witches who are open to being friends with fairies get picked on."

"What about you, the witch who went to fairy school?" Bloom taunted.

"No one has been stupid enough to pick a fight. Yet." Stella absently nibbled on her salad. "Eventually one of the sophomores is going to recognize me, but I'm a Royal and Royals don't take crap from cranky peasants."

"So, you're going to adopt Bloom's favored strategy and beat the crap out of them." Roxy surmised. "Nice going, Stel."

"Hey, it's Mirta." Bloom suddenly looked across the cafeteria. Roxy and Stella followed her gaze, looking over the small redhead in question. She was seated across from a taller, lankier witch with wild green hair and facial features that Roxy thought vaguely reminiscent of the Native American tribes back on Earth. Not a classic beauty by any standards, but she could be attractive enough, with a little help in the hair and makeup department. The taller witch, seemingly at a loss to stop Mirta from sulking, ignored her companion's mood.

"One sister witch is hardly strong enough to keep away a full coven, no matter how strong a bond they share." Stella remarked, studying the pair. It seemed to her that Mirta and her seating companion had known each other a very long time and were possibly from the same realm. "They're painting a huge target on their backs, sitting alone like that." Not that it was any of her concern…

"They shouldn't have to sit alone." Roxy stated, boldly rising to her feet and walking toward the two lonely witches despite Stella's protests. Being the lonely kids at lunch was never fun, and neither was getting picked on. Nobody ever stood up for Bloom or herself back in Gardenia, but she would be damned if she stood by and did nothing while two girls like themselves went through the same hell.

Mirta never looked up, never even acknowledged that Roxy approached the table, but her friend did. The green-haired witch's posture instantly changed from 'guarded' to 'predator here'. Roxy held her hands up to show she meant no harm. "Hey, it's Mirta, right?" She asked, looking at the redhead as Artu moved closer to her.

"Who wants to know?" The other witch at the table asked in a low voice, obviously trying to protect her friend. Roxy tried to keep her voice calm and soothing.

"I'm Roxy from Earth…My friend Bloom kinda saved your friend from getting pummeled and humiliated during second period." She jerked her thumb back at the other redhead, who was likely staring at the amethyst-eyed teen as if she'd suddenly started breakdancing in the dining hall. "Oh, and this is my Familiar, Artu." Roxy was feeling proud of herself. She'd remembered two of Stella's instructions on making introductions to other witches.

Mirta stiffened ever-so-slightly as Artu laid his head in her lap and looked up at her with big brown eyes, asking to be petted. She smiled and obliged him, looking at Roxy for the first time. "I didn't expect anyone to help, and certainly not that violently."

"Bloom tends to get a little…agitated whenever she sees someone getting picked on." Roxy explained. "It happened to us a lot back at our old school. Of course, when she gets agitated, she starts fights. Now that she can start them by throwing fireballs at people, she's found a whole new world of ways to wind up in detention."

"Was that the only reason you came over here?" The other witch asked, still behaving as if Roxy were a threat.

"No, I came to ask you two to come sit at our table." Roxy stated. "And no, it's not out of pity. You two remind me of how I used to be, and I won't let anyone else go through that social hell if I can help it."

"What's it to you?"

"I don't see the need to explain myself any further to someone who won't even tell me her name."

"Lucy, now what is it to you if we suffer?"

"My own continued good karma, for one thing. Plus, it works to your advantage to sit with us today. With Bloom, Stella, and myself helping to watch your backs, there's less chance of you getting cornered after class and having the crap beaten out of you."

Mirta replied before Lucy got the chance. "I…I think I would like to meet your friends." The small redhead looked up at her. "Are you sure it's okay to sit with you guys?"

"Why wouldn't I be sure?" Stella would just have to deal with it for now, if she didn't like it. Just until the pair found a third witch to join their coven. Then they would be able to stand on their own. "Now come on! We don't have much of a lunch period left!"