Author's Note: There will be a livestream on YouTube to celebrate the release of this new chapter at on 1/8/2021 2PM PST (in one hour!). Link in bio!
Silver, Ancrua, and Bloom walk out to the Alfea courtyard to find it once again deserted.
"Where is everybody? The Club Fair starts any minute now," Bloom wonders aloud.
"You sure we have the right day? Maybe the Club Fair's tomorrow and we just got the wrong information…" Silver trails off as she's ignored by the other two.
With solemn silence around them, Bloom places down the Club Fair supplies she'd been carrying, "Well, that doesn't mean we can't still set up, right girls?"
Silver's eyes light up immediately, as she cheers, "Yeah! Let's do this!"
Ancrua raises an eyebrow, and puts her hands on her hips. However, as she watches Bloom and Silver unfold the small table that'll support their booth, she sighs, "Alright…"
"C'mon Ancrua, show some spirit! We can do this, we just have to set our minds to it!" Bloom encourages her, as Ancrua starts to hang the banner.
Ancrua twists her lip, "You're starting to sound like a motivational poster."
Just as the girls finish setting up, a familiar pair of pink heels walk through the grass toward them.
"So, this is the state of the Alfea Club Fair? This is not a good use of the main courtyard," Balena shakes her head to Breezy.
"Yeah...not good at all," Breezy mumbles back.
"Welcome to the Winx Club booth! Would you like a flyer?" Bloom greets Balena, completely unsuspecting.
Balena yawns, before pointing her finger at the booth. A spark of rainbow magic flies out of her finger and travels to the stack of flyers sitting on the table by Bloom. When the spark hits the stack, the flyers go flying, exploding everywhere.
"Breezy, show them where they should put their flyers," Balena commands.
Breezy shoots a burst of magic out of her hands, sending the flyers scattering all over the courtyard. Silver starts running around, catching as many flyers as she can.
"How...how could you do something so mean?! You can expect to hear from Headmistress Faragonda for that!" Bloom declares.
Balena laughs, "Go ahead, report me. You have no proof. Besides…"
Her expression instantly changes from one of premeditated cruelty to one of pure innocence, "It was just an accident, Headmistress."
Balena cackles, before walking off with Breezy. As they leave, Breezy glances behind her, taking a look at Silver and Ancrua scrambling to collect the flyers. She doesn't dare look for very long, and turns away just as quickly.
"Some of the flyers flew off to the other side of the courtyard, I'll go get them," Ancrua offers, as she runs off.
As Ancrua reaches Alfea's gate to pick up the last of the flyers, a large shadow looms over her. Shaking, Ancrua takes a swallow before glancing upward to find a giant spider only feet away. Screaming, Ancrua alerts Bloom and Silver, who spot the creature.
"Bloom! Ancrua's under attack!" Silver cries, grabbing her shoulder.
"You're right! Time to transform!" Bloom declares.
Both Silver and Bloom transform, and fly off to ward off the spider. Bloom is the first to fire,
"Dragon Heart!"
An arch of burning red fire shaped like a heart appears, and launches at the spider. It hits the monster at full force, but doesn't seem to faze the creature at all.
"That's not a very strong creature...my magic should have easily taken it out," Bloom figures aloud.
"Maybe that bottle tied to its leg is protecting it!" Silver points to the red potion tied to its leg.
The spider spits a red haze at Ancrua, and her eyes are suddenly turned red. She turns around to Bloom and Silver, and with the monster no longer attacking her, she stands.
"You're an incompetent leader, Bloom! And you deserve to be taken down!" Ancrua declares.
Bloom gasps, "What are you talking about, Ancrua?!"
Silver grabs Bloom's wrist, "Look at her eyes, Bloom! You didn't cast a protection spell over Ancrua, that creature's dark magic is affecting her!"
Ancrua snarls, and tranforms into her Winx form, "Time to take the both of you down!"
She flies up over the spider, as the spider charges both Bloom and Silver.
Silver aims her hands at the creature, "Moonlit Blast!"
Bloom aims along with her, "Fire Ray!"
Bloom's beam of fire energy combines with Silver's light energy and knocks the spider back, but Ancrua gets ahead of it and attacks.
"Showering Rains!" her bolts of water magic fly down on Bloom and Silver, and Bloom puts up a shield to protect them.
Even as Bloom and Silver are protected by Bloom's shield, Ancrua flies toward them, using her spell as a distraction to tackle Bloom mid-flight. She grabs Bloom and throws her upwards, and when Bloom stops herself with her wings, she looks down to find Ancrua is already going after Silver.
"I don't wanna hurt you Ancrua!" Silver shouts, as she tries to keep away from her friend.
"Aren't you and Bloom the perfect pair, both so ditsy and optimistic. With you leading the group, nothing will ever get done!" Ancrua growls at her.
Ancrua charges her spell, "Mega Storm!"
"Shield of Light!" Silver puts up a shield just as Ancrua's magic hits her.
She's pushed back by its power, and Ancrua keeps the blasts coming, until Silver's shield shatters away. Ancrua then flies at Silver, grabbing her by the shoulders and pinning her to the ground. She smirks, before charging another spell in her hand.
"No!" Bloom flies in and pulls Ancrua off of Silver just in time.
In all the chaos, no one had noticed that the giant spider had gotten back on its feet, and as Bloom pulls Ancrua off of Silver, it fires the potion at Bloom, hitting her in the back. Bloom's transformation fades away, and she collapses to the ground.
Silver catches her, as Ancrua approaches the both of them, both of her hands blazing with her magic. But just as it looks like Ancrua's about to attack, the red fades from her eyes, and she collapses to the ground.
Silver sets Bloom down, and flies up to face the spider. She fires several blasts of energy, but none of them seem to affect the monster. The creature spits a knot of spider silk, knocking Silver to the ground and pinning her to the floor. It crawls up to her, raising one of its legs to crush her.
Silver reaches her hand out, "Diamond Destruction!"
From out of the ground, white crystals begin encasing the spider's eight legs. The diamonds grow up the monster's appendages, keeping it from moving. The spider struggles, trying to get out, but the crystals advance up the monster's body until it's completely covered in diamonds.
Silver slams her hand onto the ground, breathing a sigh of relief as she spots Headmistress Faragonda and Assistant Headmistress Griselda running towards them.
"Girls! What happened?" Faragonda cries.
Griselda helps Bloom onto her feet, "A monster broke into Alfea during the Club Fair. It attacked us...it...did something to my powers."
Faragonda waves her hand over Silver, and the spider silk around her disappears, "Yeah, and it took control of Ancrua too."
"I...I don't know what happened," Ancrua mumbles, trying to stand.
"It must have been that Witch from earlier! Silver's sister!" Griselda accuses, turning to Faragonda.
Bloom shakes her head, "Griselda, I don't think Jade had anything to do with this. This was certainly the product of dark magic, but just because Jade is a Witch doesn't mean she's responsible."
"I agree, Bloom," Faragonda speaks up, "but Jade is the only Witch who was on campus before this happened, plus she has a personal connection with Silver and Ancrua. We can't rule her out as a possibility."
"I'll contact the Headmistress of Cloud Tower right away," Griselda tells her.
"Until then, we have the monster trapped in Silver's diamonds. We could study it, try to figure out who summoned it," Bloom suggests.
Faragonda nods, "Good idea Bloo-"
Just as she speaks, Faragonda's eyes glow red, and Bloom gasps.
"There'll be no such thing!" Faragonda aims her hand at the diamond-encased monster, and the object explodes into a blaze of light, disappearing completely.
"I will not have Alfea's reputation tarnished by a freak accident. Griselda and I will handle this internally. Is that understood?"
Bloom takes a step back, "Y-...yes Headmistress."
Faragonda turns around and walks away, as Silver approaches Bloom, "I don't understand, Bloom. Wouldn't Headmistress Faragonda want to find out who's behind this?"
"I can understand why Faragonda would want to protect the school, but we still need to find out who did this," Bloom figures, assuming a thinking position, "time for a little independent investigation."