Hello, hello. On with the story. And as for the questions to do with the rest of the Winx: yes, yes and yes! And no, there isn't going to be any magic in this story.

Beauty From Pain

Meanwhile, in Solaria…

"LET THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF PRINCESSES COMMENCE!" Princess Stella of Solaria yelled in front of her four friends. They stared at her blankly.

"Okay, first of all, the last time we did this was a week ago. Annually is per year." Stella's pink haired friend, Princess Tecna of Zenith stated, from the stool of Stella's dressing table.

"And it's barely a conference, we're just hanging out, aren't we? Damn, if this is a conference then I'm unprepared… Wait, who holds in conference in their bedroom anyway?" asked Princess Musa of Melody.

"It's not a conference sweetie, Stella's just being far too ceremonial again," Princess Bloom of Sparx laughed.

"Well can we do something other than staring at Stella then?" Asked Princess Layla of Tides.

"Are your eyes hurting from my radiance?" Stella asked, flipping her golden locks over her shoulder.

"No, they're hurting from your ugly face." Layla smirked; they all burst out laughing, apart from Stella, who threw a pillow at Layla.

"PURE JEALOUSY." Stella frowned, "I'm calling it a conference because I feel like, as princesses, we're not aware of what's happening in the world." A few of the girls nodded and murmured in agreement.

"I'm aware." Said Tecna, everyone averted their eyes to her.

"You ARE?" Musa asked. Tecna nodded.

"Aren't you? You're going to be running your nations one day, you have to know about politics else your countries will go down in flames!" Tecna exclaimed.

"Well miss know-it-all, share your wisdom." Said Stella.

"Well let me see…" Tecna pondered, tapping her chin, "Aha! You'll NEVER guess what's been going down in Lynthea," she grinned.

"You mean that waste land?" asked Bloom.

"What do you mean that waste land? It used to be beautiful, up until the queen died. Princess Flora even used to be in our group. Don't you guys remember? She was the one with the casting vote when we were deciding what to name ourselves." Layla said, shocked that no one else remembered.

"Oh yeah! We were about eight, and Stella got SO upset when we didn't choose her name," Musa laughed. Stella pouted.

"Oh come ON! The Stella-Bella sunshine troop is WAY better than just plain old 'Winx,'" Stella scowled.

"That is not true." Bloom snickered, "Anyway, I think I remember Flora… Brunette, green eyes, liked pink and flowers…"

"That's right!" Layla beamed. "So what's been going down in Lynthea then, Tec?"

"Well now that you girls are actually listening to me again, I will tell you." Then took a slight pause.

"Get on with it!" Stella said impatiently.

"King Devereux is dead!" said Tecna. The girls stared at her.

"Oh…" Was all Musa could say. Bloom looked down, Layla looked up, Tecna fidgeted with the hem of her dress.

"Okay, I'm going to be the one to say it." Stella said, breaking the silence, "It's for the best of Lynthea that he's gone.

"I second that," Musa agreed.

"Totally." Said Layla.

"What about Flora? She has no family left, right? What ever happened to her anyway?" Bloom asked.

"Well, according to my sources. Flora's husband to be, Prince Elliot-,"

"EW. I met Elliot at the my dad's birthday party a couple of weeks ago, he was SUCH an arsehole. He kept flirting with me, right in front of Brandon!" Stella scowled.

"Hey that happened to me too! On the same day… What a freaking enormous tool!" Musa fumed.

"As I was saying, Prince Elliot was supposed to take over, but the king's will, which entitled him to the country, was mysteriously destroyed. So Flora is now the queen of Lynthea. I also heard that she totally burned him in front of the crowd and banished him from Lynthea!" Tecna explained.

"When did all this happen?" asked Bloom.

"This morning."

"This morning?"

"SHE'S THE FREAKING QUEEN OF LYNTHEA?" Stella exclaimed. "I thought I was going to be the first when I married Brandon!"

"Your father told you that you're not allowed to be queen until you become 30, AKA not until you're mature enough." Musa smirked.

"Well how mature is Flora then?"

"How should we know? It's been a long time since any of us have seen her." Said Layla. Stella held her chin thoughtfully, and then a sly grin grew on her face.

"Oh Stella, what are you thinking?" Bloom giggled.

"Oh, nothing…"

"Ahaha, but seriously, what?" Tecna asked.

"How about the Winx go on an undercover mission?" said Stella.

Back in Lynthea…

Everyone had gone back inside, apart from Flora, who was still walking around the garden. She was trying to take in everything that had happened that morning.

"How on earth am I going to fix an entire nation? I'm not a freaking politician… I don't even know if this place HAS politicians." Flora groaned, "I need help," Flora spun round when she heard some rustling in the bushes behind her. "The wind." She said to herself and carried on walking, but then she felt the strong force of five people pushing her to the ground.

"AMBUSH!" One yelled.

"Stella, why did we have to jump on her again?"

"WAIT WAIT WAIT WHAT'S GOING ON?" Flora exclaimed, "WOULD YOU MIND GETTING OFF ME? I DON'T THINK I CAN BREATHE!"

"Whoops, sorry about that." They apologised and got off her.

"See Stella? I told you it was a bad idea."

"Oh shut up Tecna."

"Who are you? And why are you wearing combat outfits and army make-up? Is this a really bad attempt at an invasion or something?" Flora asked, as one of the girls helped her up.

"Stella here demanded that we spend hours getting ready. I don't think even she understands why."

"Wait… Stella? Princess Stella? Princess Stella of Solaria?" Flora asked.

"The one and only!" Stella posed.

"And you must be…" Flora looked around at the rest of the girls, "Christ I haven't seen you girls since I was a kid!"

"You mean you remember us?"

"It's hard not to remember the Winx Club!... And there hasn't really been that much to remember. Come to think of it, hanging out with your girls is one of the only fond memories I have…" Flora blushed slightly.

"Aww! Girl, we have SO much catching up to do! You are an honorary member of the Winx Club of course! You won't be full fledged again until we've fully caught up, due to your absence," Layla hugged Flora tightly, "I really missed you, I was always so curious about where you had disappeared to…"

"I missed you so much too…" said Flora. Just then, Helia came into the gardens.

"Flora, are you okay? I heard someone yell 'ambush'… Wait, where did you girls come from?" Helia seemed a bit bemused.

"Hey Flora, who's the cutie?" Stella jabbed Flora sharply on her waist, Flora lightly stomped on Stella's foot.

"This is Helia, he used to be a servant in the palace but I abolished that system this morning. Now, uh… well I haven't actually decided on a position for him yet."

"How about king?" Musa asked loudly, the girls burst out laughing, Helia raised his eyebrows and Flora blushed.

"Girls! Shh!" Flora said through her teeth, "Anyway, Helia, this is Stella, Musa, Layla, Tecna and Bloom."

"Oh, you're all princesses, aren't you? Would you like something to drink, or-," he was cut off by Flora.

"That's not your job anymore, you've got to get used to that,"

"I still can't believe it," he laughed, "But do you girls want anything to drink?" Flora rolled her eyes.

"I think we're okay," Layla laughed. Helia nodded.

"Wait, what are you girls doing here anyway? And why are you in military get up?"

"Did you not hear me yell ambush?" Stella asked.

"Okay okay, I'll leave you girls to it. I need to get back to Cira anyway." Helia waved everyone off and jogged back into the palace. As soon as he was out of the picture, all the girls turned to Flora with a sly smile on their faces.

"What?" asked Flora when she noticed they were staring.

"You like him, don't you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The cute boy who was just here. You liiiiiiiiiiiiiiikkkkeeee him, don't you?" Stella cooed.

"Well… He's nice but… I don't…" Flora struggled to speak actual sentences. Did she like Helia? She had been comparing him to Prince Elliot the entire time, and with that sense she definitely liked him. Every time Flora got to know something more about Helia, it just made her like him better.

"Oh Flora… What are you pondering?" Musa smiled.

"No! It's just… I…"

"It's okay Flora. WE'LL help you get him." Bloom grinned.

"I didn't even say I…"

"MISSION UNLOCKED!" Yelled Stella, "HOOK UP FLORA WITH CUTE SERVANT BOY!" Flora quickly put her hand over Stella's mouth.

"Not too loud!" Flora said through her teeth. The rest of the girls burst out laughing.

"My god Flora, you can't half keep a secret!" Tecna giggled.

"What do you mean?" asked Flora.

"We've been here for about five minutes, and we already know who you like!"

"I DO NOT LIKE-," Flora stopped when she realised the rest of the girls were giving her a 'don't bother hiding it' look, "Okay, fine, maybe. But…"

"Flora, don't even bother with the 'I can't date him because of my status' thing, you're a freaking QUEEN now, you can do what you like!"

"Oh yeah I can can't I…" Flora said quietly, it was true that she had been completely oblivious to this for the past couple of hours, "I guess it's still a lot to take in!"

"Anyway, before operation 'hook Flora up with cute servant boy', we've got to get on with 'operation catch-up'!" Stella said as she grabbed Flora's arm and dragged her into the palace, "Now's the time when you start dragging me because I have no idea where I'm going!"

~o~o~o~

"So you're telling us you haven't been allowed out of the castle walls since you were eight years old? And THAT'S why we haven't seen you since then?" Bloom summarised. Flora nodded from her bed.

"Yep, that's pretty much it."

"Wow… Why couldn't we come here?" Musa asked.

"Well, my dad didn't really want me to have friends. He said that they'd steal my focus. I would understand that, if he actually gave me something to focus on… Which he didn't."

"DAMN that guy was a bastard!" Stella exclaimed.

"STELLA!" Layla said through gritted teeth, "Be a little more sensitive about it, he was the last of her family,"

"Well, actually…" Flora began, "Okay, I really need to get something off my chest. I thought it would be a secret I could take to the grave with me, but I don't think I'll be able to keep it for long without breaking down completely."

"WOO! A secret! Tell. NOW." Stella said, as she got comfortable next to Flora.

"You're not going to like it, and you're not going to like me for it. But please, don't think any less of me for it, and don't tell anyone."

"Of course not," Layla smiled.

"I killed my father." Flora said as quickly and as quietly as she could, if you weren't listening then you could have missed it. Everyone looked at Flora, a little terrified.

"You're not going to… Kill… Us are you? Bloom said, breaking the silence.

"Why on earth would I do that? I only killed him because if I didn't, the execution would go ahead and Helia's little sister Cira would be dead by now!"

"OH MY GOD!" Layla exclaimed, letting out an enormous sigh of relief, "For a moment there I thought you meant you killed him because you were power-hungry and wanted to be queen! Not because you needed to save someone else!"

"So you don't think less of me?"

"Of course not! It takes a really strong person to go through something like that, besides, it was for the good of the nation." Musa smiled reassuringly, "But maybe you shouldn't mention this to anyone else, you wouldn't be arrested, but… I don't know. Murder isn't a good look for anyone."

"I feel disgusting. I'm a disgusting person." Flora cried as she buried her head in her pillow.

"Flora, stop that right now!" Stella rubbed her back comfortingly, "You are going to make a great queen, and everyone is going to love you. You're going to be the saviour of Lynthea, and you're also going to be drop dead gorgeous when I'm finished with you!"

"Leave it to Stella to change the subject from murder to make-overs…" Tecna sighed.

"Who can blame me?" Stella grinned, gabbing a hairbrush off of Flora's dressing table and started to style Flora's hair up.

"Now, on to operation 'HFUWCSB'!"

"And now she's abbreviated it." Musa muttered. Flora just laughed.

"It's amazing how much you guys haven't changed!"

A/N:

So, old friends huh?