The panicked teleport of Queen Stella Iah Aequionoctium Domus-Solina VI of Solaria to Albion is one of the strangest cases of 'happy accident' in recent history (which is saying something). The fact that she landed in the only city on the entire planet where not one, not two, not three, but four magic users resided, and that she happened to attract the attention of possibly the most powerful of them, is something so strange that people have started basing conspiracy theories around it. In fact, all the circumstances surrounding Queen Pyra/Bloom Moirekleyn-Wyrnia-Peters I of Eraklyon's introduction to the Magix Dimension is so unbelievable that people are still assigning researchers to investigate it, despite the fact that all involved parties have repeatedly insisted that it was just a series of fortunate events, as it were.

- The Winx Club: The Strange Story of the Heroes of the Magix Dimension, Stolitsa, Zenith

Bloom Hope Peters did not anticipate starting her summer vacation with being woken up for school, but of course it was only a joke. Her Filipino mother, Vanessa, a woman with nut-brown skin and darker hair that just brushed her jaw, was not particularly fond of 'wasting time' sleeping in, and, in hindsight, Bloom should have seen this coming. She never forgot to set her alarm... not after what had happened last time.

Bloom tried to be amused as she collapsed onto her bed, wincing as her sopping, tangled hair stained the back of her shirt with water. "Not funny, Mama," she moaned, accompanied by a halfhearted attempt at glaring.

Vanessa chuckled. "What were you even doing last night?" She surveyed the room, her eyes landing on an upside-down book. She picked it up, her voice the epitome of amusement crossed with disdain. "Fairies: Myth or Reality?" She sighed. "Bloom, you know you're getting too old for these kinds of things. You're eighteen now; a legal adult! You're going to college in two months! I really thing it's time you put this fairy obsession behind you." This conversation was not new to either of them, but Bloom couldn't help it. It was like something in her very soul was calling to her, telling her that something amazing was out there. Of course, she would never voice this sentiment to her mother. Vanessa was a very no-nonsense woman, and this calling would have fallen perfectly in her definition of nonsense.

Vanessa shook her head. "Sorry, hon," she said, and, in an effort to cheer her up, she said, "We have a surprise for you downstairs!"

Bloom blinked and leapt up from the bed, scrambling to tame her still-wet-and-tangled hair in the shortest amount of time possible. A surprise meant that her life had the potential to be a little more interesting than usual.

When she finally finished drying and brushing out her hair, she took the steps two at a time and barreled out the door, only to be confronted with... a cherry red bike.

Bloom's face lit up. They'd been in a tough financial spot when she'd turned sixteen, so she didn't have a car, and while they were better, they were still recovering. The fact that her parents were so thoughtful in the face of their troubles that they'd remembered she'd wanted a bike - in her favorite color, too! - was heartwarming.

She threw an arm around both her parents. "It's perfect!" she gushed. "Thank you!"

Mike and Vanessa grinned at each other, relieved that she'd appreciate it instead of wondering why they hadn't gotten her a car yet. Bloom dashed back into the house to get her rabbit, Kiko, and put him in the basket of the bike, and together, they kicked off.

~oOo~

"Hey, Bloom!" a girl called. Bloom grit her teeth at the nasally voice and determinedly kept pedaling, trying to avoid confrontation. Her former best friend, Mitzi Meyers, was a real piece of work, and Bloom wished she'd never left Selina, her one true friend, for the so-called 'popular' crowd. Selina didn't deserve that and Bloom was amazed she hadn't realized that Mitzi was a complete bitch sooner!

"Hi, Mitzi," she sighed resignedly, when it became apparent that Mitzi wasn't going to leaver her alone. The dark-haired girl slowed her hot pink scooter down to a snail's pace to keep talking with Bloom.

"Still don't have that car? You know, if you hadn't stabbed me in the back, I might have been willing to lend your family some money, and then you wouldn't look like a complete dork." Unfortunately, Bloom was not good with comebacks. She never had been and never would be, and that was just an unfortunate fact of life that she'd learned to get used to long ago.

"While I appreciate the sentiment," Bloom lied, gritting her teeth, "I like this bike. Um, see you later, Misty," she said, using the nickname Mitzi had hated from kindergarten when nobody could pronounce her name right. Mitzi snorted derisively and zoomed away. At least her scooter looks hideous, Bloom consoled herself.

Bloom walked her bike into her own little safe haven: Gardenia Community Park. The park was a completely green area with only dirt trails, and when Bloom felt to her special spot, it felt like anything could happen, a feeling Bloom reveled in, considering how ordinary her life was.

She leaned her bike against what she considered her tree and settled down to crunch an apple, letting Kiko out of the bike's basket. Tossing the core into a trash can a ways away, she came back to find Kiko in a frightened state, curled up into a little ball and letting out noises of distress.

"Kiko? What's wrong?"

Kiko whimpered and pointed his nose towards the trees, which suddenly loomed ominously instead of being the warm and comforting sight Bloom was used to. She swallowed at the strange sort of energy coming from the trees and looked at Kiko uncertainly; no wonder he was distressed!

Suddenly, a high-pitched scream came from the trees, followed a roar and various strange sounds. Bloom gulped and looked from Kiko to the forest, repeating the gesture at least three times, debating whether or not to see what was going on. Empathy or logic? Empathy or logic?

Eventually, empathy won out. Bloom took out her phone and dialed 911, dialing but not calling, just in case there was an emergency. She slowly crept towards the source of the noise, her resolve weakening with every step. Did she really want to do this? Did she really want to play hero? Shouldn't she be realistic for once?

Oh, screw it. I'm not realistic at all.

Bloom sprinted towards the source of the noise, only slowing when she saw a clearing. Smiling nervously at Kiko, who made several more noises, the positioned behind a tree, swallowed her nerves, and peeked out from behind it.

For a minute, she thought she was still sleeping.

A girl in a strange orange, red, yellow, and silver outfit with wings - with wings! - wielded a strange-looking staff against a horde of odd purplish-magenta creatures with spine-chilling yellow eyes.

Bloom pinched herself. Hard.

She slapped a hand over her mouth to cover her shriek and watched the rapidly-bruising mark on her arm. Definitely not a dream.

She turned reluctant eyes back towards the scene, where the girl had lifted her nose in the air. "Get back, foul beasts! The power of Solaria will soon overpower you!" Raising her staff, she commanded, "Rising Sun Burst!" A wave of light extended from her staff, destroying five of the - ghouls? Yeah, ghouls - with its light.

The girl fluttered into the air with wings that shouldn't have been able to support her and speared the beasts with light from above, but it was obvious she was running out of energy fast. That was when Bloom knew she had to do something; she'd never been one to stand by when injustice was right in front of her, and besides, something was calling her to the girl, a bond that Bloom couldn't explain but knew in her heart of hearts was there.

Picking up a strong-looking branch and feeling exceptionally stupid, Bloom stepped into the light, brandishing her branch. "Hey, freaks!" she called, and felt a strange sensation building her stomach. "Leave her alone!"

As the ghouls charged towards her, Bloom settled into a batting stance and showed the ghouls exactly why an artist like herself was the best bats-woman on her school's baseball team.

~oOo~

Blinking hazily at the mysterious girl who'd come to her aid, Stella forced herself to focus while the ghouls were occupied with the girl. SHe drew strength from the sunlight and gathered her magic. "Moon's Cold!" she screamed, the light destroying a significant chunk of the ghouls. Stella sighed in relief and turned her attention to the unknown third party to thank her. Before she could, though, the ogre who'd been hiding in the shadows stepped into the light.

Stella glared at him hatefully. "Finally decided to reveal yourself, tall, green, and ugly?" she sneered. "The power of Solaria's so gonna flatten you!"

"What she said!" the girl said, obviously with no idea what she was talking about, which made Stella wonder just where she'd landed. She shoved that thought to the back of her mind; for now, she needed to focus on the ogre. She had to commend the girl for her bravery, though. Not many non-magicals would go up against an ogre. Stella was forever grateful.

However, the ogre seemed to completely ignore her and charged right at the girl, whose hands shook and dropped her stick. She looked panicked, but the ogre had her cornered. He picked her up by her wrists and waved her around. "Better to take care of any witnesses before I kill the Crown Princess over there," he growled. The girl's eyes widened, filling with tears.

"I knew I should have left well enough alone," she muttered, her voice breaking. "I don't want to die. I never said goodbye to Mama and Daddy."

With that, Stella vowed to herself that she wouldn't let this girl die. No one regretted helping her. "HEY, OGRE!" she screamed. "TAKE THIS! STARLIT ATTACK!"

The ogre turned his head at just the wrong moment; the beam flew past him and right into the girl instead. Stella's eyes widened with horror. No, no, no, she chanted in her head. No.

But the girl didn't seem to be affected. Instead, something seemed to have clicked inside her, and her eyes shone with power as she seemed to absorb Stella's spell instead of being blasted. Stella leaned forward, intrigued. Did the girl have magic?

She turned to the ogre and snarled, "Let. Me. Go!"

Stella's eyes widened as a huge amount of energy exploded from the fairy - of course Stella knew she was a fairy, her energy was too Light to be anything else - and a thick ribbon of light pushed the ogre back, momentarily blinding him. He screamed, and if Stella squinted, she could have sworn that the ribbon of light had the head of a dragon.

"Minions! To me!" the ogre said hoarsely, and all the ghouls scampered to him. He brought his hands together and disappeared. Coward.

Stella swayed and the girl rushed to her, gently laying her down on the grass. "You okay?" she asked.

Stella closed her eyes and turned her face to the sunlight, drinking in all the energy she could before answering. "Yeah, I'm fine now. Um, I hope you don't mind me asking, but where am I?"

The girl sounded and looked slightly hysterical when she said, "Gardenia, California." When Stella made a confused face, she elaborated, "United States of America..." Stella still didn't get it. "Planet Earth?"

Stella's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh, I haven't heard of you, so you must be an uncharted dimension that doesn't know about magic." She nodded, muttering to herself.

"Hold up, hold up, hold up," the girl said, raising her hands. "Um, what?"

Stella rubbed her face. "Um, magic exists."

The girl stared at her. To prove it, Stella threw her staff up in the air, where it shortened into a ring, which she caught and slipped on her finger. The girl rubbed her temples; Stella couldn't blame her.

"Uh, I come from a planet called Solaria, which I'm the Crown Princess of. I was going to the planet called Magix to attend the Alfea College for Fairies, but someone hijacked my teleport and brought me here. My name's Stella."

The girl paused for a minute as this all sunk in before sighing and sticking out a hand. "I'm Bloom."

Stella and Bloom smiled uncertainly at each other before Stella decided to break the silence. "Um, can you show me some local star charts? If I want to get back on familiar ground, I need to know where I am first, and the name Earth isn't exactly ringing any bells."

Suddenly, Bloom burst into a round of hysterical laughter, and after a moment, Stella joined her. "God, I never thought this would happen to me," she gasped, and Stella grinned insanely at her. "You might want to change into some less... opulent clothes, though."

Stella clicked her fingers and was dressed in a pretty short dress. She grinned at Bloom. "Um, I don't know how to get you home," Bloom said. "I came here on a bike."

Stella waved her hand. "That's not important. What's important is that you explain how you have magic on an uncharted planet."

Bloom had kept glancing down at her hands like she'd never seen them before. "...I don't know," she confessed. "I mean, I was adopted, but as far as I know, no one else on Earth has magic."

"Well, I learned last year that magic reacts to emotions," Stella supplied. "So maybe, because you were in a life-threatening situation, your magic reacted?"

Bloom shook her head. "It only really happened when you shot that spell," she said. "I've been in stressful situations before, though admittedly none of them were life-threatening." (Here she momentarily had a horrible flashback to finals week.)

Stella nodded, humming. "Well, I read somewhere that magic reacts to magic," she said. "So maybe your dormant magic reacted to mine?"

Bloom nodded. "That must be it." They both ignored the strange looks from the townspeople as Stella rode on the handlebars of Bloom's bike.

~oOo~

Bloom pushed open the door and ushured Stella inside, who was still a bit weak from expending all that magic fighting the ghouls and the ogre. "Hey, guys!" she said to her parents, trying to sound cheerful. They raised their eyebrows. "This is my friend, Stella. She got heatstroke and I offered for her to crash at my place until she feels strong enough to go home."

This was the lie they'd come up with on the way back; Bloom was usually a shit liar.

Stella collapsed onto the couch, smiling weakly at Bloom's parents. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Peters."

Vanessa went into the kitchen to get a glass of water while Mike kept his eyebrows raised and sat across from them. "Bloom, I'm not sure I believe you," he said honestly.

Of course. She would never lie and get away with it.

Bloom and Stella exchanged a look, and Stella gave the most imperceptible of nods. Bloom sighed and turned back around to where her mom had returned from the kitchen, handing her friend a glass of water. She sat down next to Mike and Bloom laced her hands together, unsure how to phrase it.

Ultimately, she just copied Stella.

"Magic is real."

Mike blinked and Vanessa put a hand over her mouth. Vanessa looked at her carefully. "Honey..."

"I'm serious," said Bloom. "Stella, show them."

Stella lifted her head and wrapped her hands around her glass, closing her eyes. Suddenly, a glow enveloped the glass, and it turned into a book. Bloom's parents stared. "It's best to rip it off like a Band-Aid," Stella said. "Take as much time as you want to let it sink in." She followed this up by turning the book back into a glass. "Damn, I wish some teachers had been here to grade that. That was a perfect transfiguration, if I do say so myself."

She and Bloom exchanged grins.

Mike shook his head. "Listen, honey," he said, "you know how you were adopted?"

Bloom blinked. "Yeah?" What did that have to do with anything?

"The night I found you in that burning building, it was almost like a shield was protecting you," he revealed. "I convinced myself that I was imagining it, but I've never been able to get it out of my mind, and, well, now..." He looked at Stella, then at the glass.

Bloom's mouth fell open. "Stella... I may not be from Earth."

Vanessa blinked. "What does that mean?"

Bloom realized she hadn't explained the entire situation to them and looked to Stella for help, who immediately began speaking. "Well, basically, there are other planets out there with magic," she said. "I'm the Crown Princess of a planet called Solaria, and I was teleporting to another planet called Magix to go to Alfea College for Fairies when my teleport got hijacked and I ended up here, fighting an ogre and his ghouls. Your daughter here found me and totally helped me fight them off with her magic!"

Mike's mouth fell open. "It can't be..." Meanwhile, Vanessa started fussing over a very flustered Bloom.

"But it is," Stella said passionately. "Your daughter is powerful!" She blinked as if remembering something. "Speaking of which, I should totally take you to Alfea. Headmistress Faragonda has a lot of political clout as a Nymph, so we can see if she can find out anything about a missing eighteen-year-old fairy."

Vanessa pressed her lips together. "I'm not sure..."

Bloom looked at her parents pleadingly. "You said it yourself this morning, Mama," she said. "I'm an adult now, and I can make my own decisions. And I want to know my biological family, if they're out there."

Vanessa and Mike looked at each other before Mike sighed. "Of course, honey. We'll support you in any of your choices, okay?"

Bloom's smile could have put the sun to shame, and Stella would know. She hated to ruin the tender family moment, but she really needed to see a star chart. "Hey, um, could I see star charts? To figure out where I am? Please?"

Bloom seemed to come crashing back down to earth and she smiled sheepishly as she pulled out her phone. "Yeah, let me just..." She trailed off as she typed it in.

A few seconds later, Bloom pulled up a few images and gave her phone to Stella. "Here, do these work?"

After a few minutes of studying them, Stella almost dropped the phone in her shock. "No. No. No. This can't be possible."

"What can't?"

Stella swallowed heavily. "I'm on fucking Albion?!"

"Stella! Not in front of my parents!"

Stella registered somewhere in her mind that she probably shouldn't have said that, but she was too caught up in her unpleasant surprise. "Albion," she said, rubbing her eyes, "was annexed from the Magix Dimension centuries ago after the eradication of the Earth Fairies. If the ogre and his minions would have been victorious, sure, my family would have scoured the uncharted planets, but they wouldn't touch Albi- er, Earth."

The room fell into a heavy silence.

~oOo~

"Knut!" an icy voice snapped.

The ogre that had tried to attack Stella stepped into the light. He swallowed nervously; he was dealing with temperamental, powerful people, and that was never a good combination, especially factoring in the detail that he had failed in his mission, he'd been on the receiving end of their wrath before, and they didn't think too highly of ogres.

"Report!" This voice was more smooth and melodic, like a dangerous lullaby. This voice always reminded Knut of poisoned honey.

Knut swallowed. "Um, I didn't get the scepter-"

"WHAT?!" the voices bellowed at once, joined by a third.

"There was a complication! We were fought back by an Earthian!"

"You were overpowered by a weak, magicless Earthian?!" the third voice shrieked, crackling like lightning with her rage.

"But this wasn't just any Earthian, highnesses! This Earthian had powerful magic!"

"That's all well and good, Knut," the first voice sneered, "but the only question is if you can find them again and get the scepter. Remember, we only keep you as long as you're useful."

Knut swallowed. "I can, highnesses. I got a few strands of the Earthian's hair. To us, this means nothing, but to a Hunting Troll, this is an important clue."

The second voice hummed. "Proceed, Knut."

"And this time..." the third voice began.

"Don't let us down."

~oOo~

Stella sighed and sat straight up, lifting her head with a newfound confidence. "Well, what's done is done. The point is he's gone now and we defeated him; now, I just need to figure out a route to Magix." She grabbed a paper and pen, courtesy of Bloom, and started scribbling down inane figures. "I need to compensate for your mass, Bloom," she said distractedly. She whipped out her phone to make sure it had properly adjusted to their location - the middle of cosmic nowhere.

"Those seem like some pretty complicated calculations, Stella," said Mike. Vanessa and Bloom agreed.

"Yeah, and meanwhile, I barely got through eighth grade algebra!" Bloom joked, to the amusement of her parents.

Stella blushed and waved it off. "It's pretty simple where I come from," she lied and quickly changed the topic. "So, what's fashionable around here?" Bloom gave her a suspicious look.

Vanessa chuckled. "Before we talk about that, how about we get some pizza? It's good to eat heavy food after a heavy conversation."

A few moments later, Stella was raving over the Earthian delicacy. "Ugh, this is so good!" she moaned. "You know, I didn't expect such an uncivilized realm to create something so scrumptious, but here we are. I really must commend whoever came up with this. Who knew cheese on sauce on bread could be so good?"

"Amen," Bloom agreed, and earned only a funny look from Stella. The tips of her ears pinked. "Uh, sorry. I forgot you weren't from around here. It's basically a word of agreement."

Stella shrugged and accepted it. "Ugh, who's having a party?" Mike groaned. "What's with all the thumps?"

Both Bloom and Stella sat straight up and exchanged alarmed looks, and the minute they made eye contact, the front door was torn down.

A huge blue monstrosity had arrived, and Bloom screamed along with her parents. Stella restrained her reaction for their sakes, but in a normal setting she probably would have done the same; instead, she yelled, "STELLA, MAGIC WINX!" A blur obscured her, like Bloom's brain refused to process what her eyes were telling her. Then Stella was dressed in the same outfit from early, complete with her small wings. She quickly took off her ring and threw it in the air, watching as it elongated into a staff.

Bloom's parents would have gaped, but it was a fight-or-flight situation, and they'd chosen to fight. Mike had gotten an old axe and a broken broom from the storage closet, which he and Vanessa respectively brandished.

Stella fluttered into the air, whipping out her phone and calling the emergency line (123). "Emergency line, how can we help you?"

"I'm on Albion. A Hunting Troll has broken down the door and I have three innocents with me. Get here quickly." She sent a thread of her magic through the phone line so that they could find her quicker; she knew how these things worked. She was the Crown Princess of Solaria, so she kind of had to.

The robot on the other end didn't react at the mention of Albion and said, "The authorities will arrive quickly." The line went dead.

Stella swallowed and readied her magic. "Eclipse's Ring!" she bellowed, and a ring of light came out of her staff and encircled the Hunting Troll, which subdued it for a moment as she thought quickly on what to do.

Meanwhile, Bloom tried to channel that feeling she'd felt when driving away the ogre: the feeling of sinking into a warm bath. She remembered the fear she had, the desperation, the power she'd felt when she'd absorbed Stella's blast - and suddenly, a stream of fire came out of her hands and toasted a few ghouls that were sneaking up behind her parents. She stared at her hands and whooped in joy.

"See?" Stella called. "Once a fairy, always a fairy!"

Bloom channeled the feeling again, and again, and again, destroying multiple ghouls. Mike and Vanessa beat them back with their 'weapons', and even Kiko bit any ghoul getting too close to Bloom. He had very impressive teeth and always left marks. Suddenly, Bloom felt glad she was always too lazy to take him to the vet to get his teeth checked, even though she knew it was probably a very bad pet-owner thing of her to do.

"Hey, Crown Princess! Your knights in shining armor are here!"

Bloom and Stella turned to the four boys who'd arrived. Mentally, Bloom labled them as Dreamy Blond, Brunette, Grouchy Purple, and Shy Glasses. Bloom snorted before Stella could say anything. "Took you long enough," she said, blasting the ghouls. "Well? Are you going to help or not?"

Dreamy Blond raised his eyebrows in interest but turned his attention to subduing the troll. Grouchy Purple shot out some rope and wound it around the blue monstrosity's top half. "Hah! No need to worry, guys, I've got him."

"Riven-" Shy Glasses began, but Riven was pulled by the troll and skidded across the concrete. He got up, unfazed, and Bloom raised an eyebrow. Those ridiculous spandex suits must have been stronger than they looked. "Riven," Shy Glasses continued, "you're supposed to go for the feet." He raised an eyebrow at Brunette, who plunged his glowing green broadsword into the Earth, making cracks spread across it. Riven and Dreamy Blond continued fending off ghouls.

Shy Glasses shot at the troll's feet until he fell into a crack, and then he bound the troll from head to toe in strange bronze rope. Stella and Brunette immediately started checking each other out. Bloom snorted into her hand.

"Hi," Dreamy Blond said. "I'm Brandon, that's Timmy, Riven, and the pervert over there is Sky." He addressed Shy Glasses, Riven, and Dreamy Blond in order.

"I'm Bloom and this is Stella, which you probably already know," Bloom said. Brandon snorted and tilted his head towards Sky and Stella, who were very not-subtly flirting with each other. Bloom grinned.

"What kind of fairy assignment must you be on the way out here?" Timmy asked, surveying the primitive (in his eyes) scenery.

Stella half-lidded her eyes and played coy. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Thanks for the help," Bloom added, involuntarily ruining the effect. "Bye."

"Bye," they chorused, except for Riven, and they disappeared into a red light, taking the troll with them.

"You know," Stella said to Mike, who had already taken up a broom, "if you would let me use magic, we could do this a lot easier."

Mike shook his head. "I think we've all had enough magic for one day," he sighed. "Besides, this way helps me think."

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Mike, swallow your masculine pride and let her help! Besides, we could see what Bloom will be learning at Alfea."

Stella waved her hand and they all watched as shattered pieces of glass welded together and the cracks in the sidewalk sealed like they were never there. Bloom shook her head. "How did no one hear us?"

Stella snorted. "Please, literally everyone magical except you set up silencing charms before they did anything. Not that that's a dig at you," she hurried to assure when Bloom pinked. "Anyway, I should probably get around to calling Headmistress F." She bowed out and took out her phone, waiting with bated breath.

"Hello?"

"Headmistress, it's Princess Stella."

"Miss Stella! We were worried sick about you. What happened?!"

Stella sighed. "Someone hacked my teleport and I ended up on Albion, of all places. There, an ogre and his ghouls attacked me. I was losing until another girl showed up, surprisingly with magic. She helped me beat them back. Since Varanda dropped out, and I was coming to you to find someone to fill her place anyway, I was wondering if it could be Bloom. She seems really powerful, even with no training." The royal family of Callisto had agreed to pay for whoever came along to fill Varanda's place, so Bloom wouldn't even have to pay.

There was silence on the other end, then a quiet hum from Faragonda as she thought. "You know what, Stella? I agree. We'll iron out the details once she comes."

~oOo~

Author's Note:

Not too happy with this chapter, but after the sixth time rewriting it, I figured it would do.

Yeah, Alfea's going to be a real college, so Bloom's a full-fledged adult at eighteen and one of the oldest in her age group since she was born in December (this is canon, check the Wikia). I'm going off the California cutoff, which is September 1st. Also, to get a good idea of Stella's fairy form, just go to emsartwork on Tumblr and see her revamped Magic Winx, Charmix, and Enchantix redesigns. I'm actually going off of her a lot for the descriptions here, so you might want to see the Winx's information pages too.