"Get away from her!"
With one almighty sweep of her leg, she kicked away several of the creatures that attempted to sneak up on the girl.
"Wow, thanks!" the blonde exclaimed.
"Don't thank me yet!" Bloom felt slightly worried as the two larger creatures set their sights on her.
"Troll, go take care of the human!" the yellow one growled.
The blue thing lumbered forward at her.
"Don't you dare come any closer!" Bloom snarled.
"Oh yeah? What you gonna do, human?" the troll sneered as it lifted its rather large fist.
Bloom dropped to the ground and narrowly rolled out of the way of the creature's fist, the impact of which she could have sworn caused a small earthquake.
Her eyes widened at the sight of the small crater in the ground where her head had just been mere seconds earlier.
"If I'm not whacked today, it'll be a miracle..." she muttered.
The troll went at her again and although she still lay on the ground, slightly winded, she raised her right hand.
"I said: get away from me!"
A powerful blast of fire erupted from her hand, slamming into the troll and throwing it several feet into the air.
It fell back to the earth with a loud thud, causing the ground beneath them all to shake again, with its body smoking all over and its hair on fire.
"What in the-" the yellow creature turned to stare at her.
"What the hell did I just do?!" Bloom looked at her hand as if it was an alien object she was seeing for the first time.
While its back was turned, the blonde blasted the yellow creature in the back, sending him sprawling into the air and landing next to the troll with an equally loud thud on impact.
"Take that, ogre!" the other girl exclaimed. "You will never get your hands on the Sceptre of Solaria!"
She blasted away a few more of the smaller creatures. "And neither will you, ghouls!"
"Hey. You okay?" she strode over to Bloom, offering her a hand and clutching the Sceptre tightly in the other.
"Define okay..." Bloom grumbled as she accepted the girl's helping hand and got up.
"Take care of the human, huh? Guess Earth isn't as magic-less as it was thought before!" the girl taunted the ogre and troll, her Sceptre trained on them.
"What the hell does she mean by that now? Surely she can't be..." Bloom barely had time to process that thought when two of the ghouls lunged for her leg.
She managed to blast one away in another blast of flame, but the other managed to tear a good chunk off one of the legs of her jeans pants.
Bloom scowled. And it was one of her favourite pairs too...
"We'll get that Sceptre from you yet, Stella of Solaria!" the ogre growled as he, the toll and the remaining ghouls disappeared in a flash of black light.
"That's Princess Stella of Solaria to you!" the blonde exclaimed.
She waved the Sceptre and it changed into a ring, which she promptly slipped onto her right ring finger.
"Finally. A girl can't make a portal to her school anymore in peace, it seems..." a golden light engulfed the girl... Stella... and when it cleared, her hair was loose and she was wearing an elaborately designed orange and silver top and skirt set with silver sandals that looked like she walked right off the runway at New York Fashion Week.
Minus wings.
"Any longer fighting them and I may have passed out. Or worse..." she wobbled.
"Whoa, got you there, Stella..." Bloom caught the swaying girl.
"Thanks. Oh..." Stella moaned.
"We need to get outta here. I'm sure somebody would have seen all the explosions or heard 'em and the screaming and shouting going on by now. I totally ain't in the mood to be hangin' around to deal with coppers..." Bloom helped Stella over to where she'd dropped her art supplies and gathered them up quickly.
She slung the bag over one shoulder and helped up Stella with her free hand. "My name is Bloom, by the way. You said your name was... Stella, huh?"
"Yeah..." Stella groaned. "Where are we going? Where are you taking me?"
Bloom paused. There was no way in hell she could take Stella to her home, especially with her pops doing what he was doing there today...
"We're going to my Aunt Vanessa's house for a visit..."
"What were you thinking, just bringing a random stranger here, Bloom?!"
"Well, where else was I supposed to take her?! Was I supposed to just leave her there?!"
Bloom and Vanessa stood in the living room of Vanessa and Mike's living room having a... spirited debate in Italian.
"Besides, it's not like I could take her to the hospital. Oh hey, doc. We just came from fighting off some ghouls, an ogre and a troll. How? Magic fire and freaking laserbeams! Oh, and she's a fairy princess. Had wings and everything!"
"Really." Vanessa raised an eyebrow.
Mike simply sat on a couch nearby, watching the two females go at it.
"Really! Why would I tell such an outrageous lie? You know me better than that! And of course, calling the cops was outta the question..." Bloom folded her arms and stared her aunt down.
"True. I want to believe you, but it's just so hard to believe..." Vanessa relented, switching to English.
"Maybe you should go check on your friend, Bloom. I for one am not going to believe a word you say about that girl until I actually see some magic..." Mike said.
"I don't think I'd expect you to. Earth has been without magic for so long..."
Bloom, Vanessa and Mike looked up the stairs to see Stella coming down towards them.
"I couldn't introduce myself earlier since I was out cold, so... I'm Princess Stella of Solaria. You're Bloom's aunt and uncle, right?" Stella paused at the bottom of the stairs as Bloom walked over to her.
"Yes..." Vanessa answered hesitantly.
"I'm a fairy, you see. I was on my way to Alfea College for Fairies from my palace... well, technically my dad's palace since he's the King of Solaria and I'm just the Crown Princess when I-"
"Fairy? College for fairies? Princess of Solaria? I don't believe one word..." Mike folded his arms and narrowed his eyes at her.
Stella narrowed her eyes right back.
"I believe her. She had wings and everything and was throwing spells all over the place like nobody's business!"
"She's right. Bloom saved my life. With all that fire you were throwing around, you'd definitely be a fire fairy and a damn strong one too!" Stella declared.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Bloom's eyes widened. "Back the hell up. Me, a fairy? No fucking way."
"Of course you are! The way you channelled your magic out there was totally fairy!"
"Prove that magic exists." Vanessa interrupted.
"Very well." Stella shrugged.
The coffee table turned into a giant teddy bear, the flowerpot in the corner grew legs and began to tap-dance and Mike's hair began to cycle through various neon colours.
"Believe me yet?" Stella snickered at Mike's dumbstruck expression and Bloom joined in the laughter.
Even Vanessa cracked a smile. "I believe you. Now, Bloom, I think it's time we call your parents..."
"Oh hell. Pops and Ma are gonna kill me for being so reckless!" Bloom exclaimed.
"Not if I have anything to say about it! Your recklessness saved my life!" Stella exclaimed. "Speaking of parents... It's been hours since I was supposed to be back in Magix City! They will have declared me missing by now!" she suddenly looked extremely worried.
"Don't you have some sort of magical space phone to call them?" Mike asked, his hair still changing colour.
"That I do, but it got roughed up. Don't know if it will still work..." Stella looked unsure.
"Well then, figure it out. Meanwhile, Bloom?" Vanessa looked at Bloom sternly.
"Aye. Fine! I'll call him and tell him to come over here. The problem is gonna be convincing him to come over without telling him why exactly, since I'm pretty sure he ain't gonna believe this for himself until he sees it with his own peepers..." Bloom relented as she left the room to find her cell phone.
Vanessa and Mike looked at each other, then at the Solarian princess awkwardly.
"So..." Mike spoke up after a beat. "Princess, could you put my hair back to normal please?"
Shrugging, Stella snapped her fingers and his hair went back to its natural blond and remained like that.
"Thank you." Mike looked rather relieved as he caught his reflection in the coffee table.
"You're quite welcome..."
"Now, I've seen a lotta things that the average teen about these parts don't (and that's even with New York State being up there in terms of weird shit), but I still don't get where the magical fairy fire powers came from..." Bloom looked at her hands in awe as she and Stella sat in the backyard on a wooden bench with the blonde trying to teach her a few spells.
"Oh, those powers of yours were always there. Just took the anger you were probably feeling to get them out." Stella shrugged.
"And how come I don't get a pair of pretty wings like you did?" Bloom asked.
"Simple! You unlocked your powers, not your fairy form. Every fairy starts with a basic fairy form like what you saw me in. I'm sure you'll look gorgeous in yours. Anyway, with more training and experience, you could totally earn Enchantix and-" Stella's explanation was cut short by the sounds of screams and loud bangs coming from the house.
"What in the hell?!"
These were the first words out of Bloom's mouth as she took in the sight of her aunt and uncle's living room looking like a warzone.
"What...?" Stella's stunned expression matched Bloom's.
"Creatures... like the ones you described... They're here looking for both of you!" Vanessa exclaimed.
Bloom and Stella tensed.
"What? Where?" Before Bloom could look around, she heard the ogre's voice saying: "Right here, Little Red!"
And she was suddenly pinned to the floor by a dozen ghouls.
She screamed. "Get off, get off! Get your filthy claws off me! Come on, goddamit! Where's the damn fire power when you need it?!"
A bright golden light filled the room and seconds later, all the creatures were blasted off her.
"I hope those things don't carry some sort of magic rabies..." Bloom thought, taking in the scratches all over her body.
"Come here to attack those nice people and try to take my Sceptre, huh?" Stella stood in her fairy form, Sceptre pointed at the ogre and troll who appeared in a shattered (no doubt by their sheer size) doorway. "Well, you'll get it over my cold, dead body!" she snarled.
"We'll be glad to oblige." the ogre growled.
"Guns don't work on them, Bloom! At least, not ours! Their skin is too tough!" Mike limped out of another room.
"Well, that sucks..." Bloom eyed the troll wearily.
"Bloom, you think you can take the ghouls on?" Stella whispered.
"I can try." Bloom clenched her fists.
"Let's rumble, you freaks. I ain't about to go down without a fight!" she ran outside and the ghouls followed.
"Holy hell. How many of these things invaded the house?!"
Bloom punched, kicked, threw rocks and the occasional fireball at the ghouls, but when she destroyed one, it was as if several more came to take its place.
The ground shook violently and Stella came crashing out a back window, sending glass flying everywhere.
"Whoa, what happened?" Bloom ran over to her, blasting away the ghouls that tried to lunge for her.
"Tried to call for help, but the fuckers smashed my beautiful phone to pieces!" Stella snarled.
Bloom noted briefly that apparently on Solaria they had some of the same swear words that they did on Earth...
"Come on! We can't let them get your Sceptre! You just gonna let 'em win? I sure as hell ain't!" Bloom helped her up.
"My Highnesses want that Sceptre and I'm gonna get it whether you want me to or not!" They heard the ogre's voice yelling.
The ogre and the troll smashed through the back door.
"And Little Red will pay for interfering!" the troll growled.
"Like hell you will!"
"Get away from my Principessa!"
Several loud bangs rang out in the night and both ogre and troll fell, bleeding.
"What the f- Ma! Pops!" Bloom ran over to them.
Both Mr. and Mrs. DeLuca were still holding their S&W500 revolvers firmly.
"Now this I really would have had to see to believe. Ogres, ghouls and fairies? Anybody who tried to pull a fast one on me with this stuff... I'd have 'em sent to the local loony bin!" Victor eyed the fallen ogre and troll over Bloom's shoulder.
"Are they... are they dead?" Stella asked, eyes wide.
As if in answer to the blonde fairy's query, the ogre groaned and struggled to get to his feet.
He clapped his hands and a dark light engulfed him, the still troll and the remaining ghouls and they disappeared.
"Finally they're gone! I hope we never have to see them again!" Stella exclaimed.
"That... cosa blu you most certainly will not, Signoina Fata..." Giada finally relaxed and put away her gun, as did her husband.
"Bloom... mia cara figlia... care to introduce your friend with the wings and explain?" Bloom could tell from his tone that it was a command and not a request.
"Um, well..." Bloom glanced at Stella nervously. "I... uh..."
Bloom found herself speechless for the first time in her life.