Winx Club A Different Way AU: A Dragon Awakens

by RayeWonderland

Bloom, a teen girl from Earth discovers she has magical abilities and enrolls in the Alfea College for Fairies. Along with her newfound friend Stella, a fairy princess, Bloom meets her other flatmates Flora, Musa, and Tecna. Together, they form the Winx Club and fight off the wicked Trix! This is a rewrite and I don't own anything from the Winx Club franchise.

3. Chapter 3: Magix!

Summary:

The next day arrives, Bloom and Stella are introduced to their new apartment flatmates, Musa, Tecna, and Flora. The girls then go for a day out in Magix City, but along the day of fun comes danger and the meeting of three witches after Stella's ring. Will Bloom and the girls make it out without getting hurt? Check it out here.

A/N:

Welcome back, everybody! It's so great to see you again! Did you enjoy chapter 2? I sure hope you did because it was fun writing it and now onto the action-packed chapter 3 where Winx Club meet the Trix.

I really hope y'all love this chapter or at least like it because as usual, it was fun writing it.

This is a rewrite. Changes have been made that conflict with the original canon, characters are different so please go in knowing this, whether you like it or not please understand this is a rewrite.

Edit: This story was originally in parts, but I decided to just make them whole chapters instead of two parters because the other format was a phase I was trying and not one I liked. So enjoy my long ass chapters now lol.

Co-writers:
Ditzy_Diva_315
Nadia

Chapter 3: Magix!

The next morning, Alfea was buzzing with the sounds of new and returning students checking in and heading to the amphitheater for the assembly meeting that was starting in a few minutes. Stella and Bloom found that no new roommates had arrived during their slumber and got ready for the day. With the free time they had, they walked down the long halls as the Princess gave Bloom a quick tour around the school. The place was like Hogwarts, but somehow more awesome to be in.

Stella pointed to a glass door with comfy-looking chairs and tables being viewable through the glass. "There's the Crescendo Café, where you can enjoy a nice cup of tea while listening to music or you can play something yourself for the patrons. Lots of girls love hanging out here."

Bloom gasped fondly remembering the music bar back home. "You have your own cafe?"

"Eh, it's all right," Stella shrugged somewhat uninterested. They turned a corner and came across double doors on the left side of the hall. "That over there is the library. I don't use it that much, but it's basically like every library: It's full of books and used for studying and homework. Boring stuff really."

"Uh-huh," Bloom said, scratching her head. "It might take some time before I fully remember where everything is."

"I know, but trust me, you'll get used to the topsy turvy layout," Stella reassured, turning a corner with Bloom following behind. " All new faces get lost around here, even me. This place is basically a bleeding maze."

Bloom sighed as she scratched her head. She still wasn't used to being a fairy, and now here she was, going to a huge fairy school with over a dozen rooms to explore on the first floor alone. She had to keep reminding herself this wasn't a dream. Stella nudged her back to reality as they kept walking. Bloom paused as she noticed that she would have walked face-first into a pole if the Princess hadn't stopped her. Bloom chuckled embarrassed but amused at the same time. All these thoughts were distracting her.

"I know you have a lot on your mind, darling, but relax, you're going to be fine," Stella reassured with a smile.

Bloom's shoulders slumped. "I hope so."

"If it makes you feel any better, I love your outfit," Stella complimented. "I adore the crop top."

"Oh… uh, thanks," Bloom said, rubbing her arm awkwardly. She stared at her outfit, unsure of what the big deal was. The crop top was black with yellow sleeves. Despite this, you could still see her shoulders, as the sleeves had been cut to show them, just as Bloom had fixed them when she originally brought the top from the thrift shop. A small, black choker with a blue heart hung around her neck, along with a longer necklace with blue jewels. She loved to wear jewelry like that, she felt it always completed her look, There were multiple hoop earrings in her ears. Her flared blue jeans slightly sagged from her hips, covering part of her black sneakers. "You don't look too bad yourself."

"Why thank you!" Stella said, spinning on her heel and showing off her light green halter top, orange skirt, and matching orange wedge heels. She started waltzing around the hallway so Bloom could get a better picture of her outfit, but the spectacle only made her laugh.

Bloom still wasn't sure whether she wanted to befriend the Princess given her fickle temper and eccentric behavior but the girl was interesting to talk to. So, she was, at least, reassured she wouldn't dislike her as a roommate.

"You're already becoming a great bestie," Stella said, wrapping her arms around the girl's waist.

Bloom playfully pushed the slightly glittering Princess away, though the gesture was not in a rude way. She just wasn't used to having someone act this friendly around her for this long, unless it was her parents. "We're not besties, but I do tolerate you."

Stella laughed with a wink. "And I, you. Now come along, let's hurry to this boring meeting before we're late. Although I don't mind being late. I really don't want to go to this drab conference."

Bloom shrugged. "It's just a quick meeting," she said, following closely behind Stella, who seemed to remember her way around the halls of the large school. "It's probably important."

"Yes, for you newbies, but not upperclassmen such as myself. We've already done this song and dance."

"Not that I want to play devil's advocate, but maybe they want to introduce new teachers and rules," Bloom argued. "Like...don't blow up a potions lab… to create a new shade of pink!"

Bloom immediately burst into fits of laughter as she was reminded of what Stella had told her yesterday. She hadn't got the full details of it, but just the fact she attempted to create a new shade of pink without any training, supervision, or just another student to help her sent the artist into another round of hysterics. She couldn't stop picturing her hair being blown back like a goofy cartoon.

Stella froze, then turned to Bloom, her face beet red in anger. She stomped over to the tittering girl who tried and failed to hide her laughter. "I told you to keep that to yourself!" she angrily whispered, checking over her shoulder if anyone was around to hear them. "It was a complete accident that I don't need to be reminded of."

"Okay," Bloom said, restraining herself. "I promise I won't laugh about it anymore."

Bloom crossed her fingers behind her back as she kept laughing in her head. Stella couldn't read her thoughts after all.

"Right well-," Stella was interrupted by a loud siren-like bell going off and echoing down the halls.

Bloom covered her ears as the ringing from yesterday's travel started up again thanks to the bell. "Why?!"

"That's the bell, get used to it. It's how they alert us about class changes, meetings like this, and drills… so many freaking drills." Stella said, speeding up her pace. "What that means right now is we have two minutes before they open the doors to the auditorium."

"Thanks for the heads up," Bloom said, following close behind.

"Anyways, you might be right," Stella said, going back to their previous conversation about the meeting. "Other students - students who aren't me, of course - need to be reminded about rules and whatnot. Maybe we'll get some exciting news. A cooler teacher this year would be nice, to start."

"Not exactly what I meant, but that's the spirit," Bloom replied. She hoped she could avoid that annoyance that had to deal with back on Earth.

The two girls picked up the pace as they got closer to the meeting entrance. When the two finally entered the main hall where the auditorium entrance was, a large crowd of female students eagerly waited for the wooden auditorium doors to open. Bloom noticed all the different-looking students gathered together, clad in exotic clothes and accessories. She could hardly keep track of it all. Some girls were interacting with others while some stood by themselves, something she could sympathize with.

Bloom spotted a few eyes on her from a couple of girls around her but ignored them. She pretty much expected this, she realized it was her looks and the fact she did stand out like a sore thumb, it was kind of easy to tell she was the new girl. Stella seemed to take notice as well as she immediately looped her arm around Bloom's and pulled her closer to her hip. She felt kind of annoyed but played along. Still not agreeing on the namesake the Princess had given their companionship, but she did appreciate her protectiveness.

"There are so many girls here," Bloom remarked, looking over the crowd. "This feels so weird."

Stella giggled as they casually walked around the room. "I understand. I felt the same way when I first started here, but it's totally ace - we're going to one of the best fairy schools in the galaxy. Isn't it ace?"

Stella's golden eyes seemed to twinkle as she stared deep into Bloom's making her strangely uncomfortable.

She's so perky! Bloom thought in her head with a chuckle.

Bloom shifted her eyes. "Uh… very ace."

The Princess sighed happily. "I'm just so excited to be back here, honestly. Girls training to become powerful fairies at one of the best universities in the realm. The best part is, everyone here is kind and cheerful, so there's no need to worry about any annoying twats. You'll love it here, darling." No sooner had Stella said that when a girl bumped into her, causing both girls to glare at each other.

"Watch where you're going!" the girl with light brown hair snapped, with a thick valley girl-like accent.

"You bumped into me! If anything, you owe me an apology!" Stella huffed. The girl simply smacked her lips in response.

"Are you daft? Treating the Princess of Solaria like this is an insult to the Queen!" Stella retorted.

"Princess? Sure, and I'm the queen of Zenith," the girl scoffed with a smirk. "Regardless, I'm not from Solaria and you bumped into me so… screw you." The girl turned on her heel and sashayed away.

Stella stood there speechless beside Bloom, who had been silently watching the scene. She patted Stella on the arm before saying, "So, was that the kind side or the cheerful fairy?"

Stella refused to answer and simply recomposed herself.

A bell went off a second later causing Bloom's ears to ring again. The doors to the auditorium opened and students flooded in to take their seats. Most of the first years sat up front, while the older students sat in the back. Stella led them to two seats in the back, not wanting Bloom to be stuck sitting by herself in the front row. Once everyone was seated, Faragonda, Griselda, and a group of people walked across the overhead balcony a moment later. Bloom surmised the others were also faculty members.

Griselda approached the podium and spoke into the microphone. "Students, quiet down. today's meeting has started. Quiet down, please."

The students continued talking. She groaned, turning towards Faragonda. The white-haired woman gave her a thumb up for encouragement. Griselda reluctantly went back to the noisy audience.

"I'd like to start so we can leave quickly," Griselda said, aggravated. The deputy headmistress calmly cleared her throat as she adjusted the microphone, before she roared, "WOULD YOU ALL SHUT YOUR FILTHY MOUTHS!"

The booming voice of the deputy headmistress echoed through the amphitheater immediately silencing everyone's incessant talking and scaring the staff, minus Faragonda who seemed to be shaking her head and laughing. "Thank you."

A second time, Griselda cleared her throat and then tapped on the microphone a few times before talking. "Students, let me start by going over the rules you are to follow. The first rule: You must follow all the rules in the code of behavior! I will not repeat myself on this. This school requires discipline and obedience, which means no use of illegal drugs, no drinking alcoholic beverages, no loud music, no selling makeup or graphic items, at all! I don't want to see one Glossy Musings mascara on the premises! No being out past curfew, no arriving after curfew, no skipping classes, no dangerous weapons on the premises unless it is an absolute emergency, no thefts, no mistreatment of other students, no fights with other students, and absolutely do not go to any clubs, nightclubs, lounges, host clubs, or bars! I don't care what it's called, do not go there!" Bloom shook her head, laughing while everyone else remained cautiously silent. Stella clapped a hand over her friend's mouth to silence her so Griselda wouldn't notice. "If you break any of these rules once, you will receive ten demerits; a second time, twenty; a third time, your magic privileges are suspended for a week. If you still continue to repeat this behavior, you face the risk of being expelled."

The assistant headmistress paused to catch her breath. "Last rule, to make sure you ignorant children understand this - and I cannot stress this enough: Do not, under any circumstances, use unauthorized magic at any time! The only place where you can display your magic is in a classroom with a faculty member present. There's a certain Princess here who can vouch for that."

Bloom giggled. "You are never going to live that down, are you?"

Stella rolled her eyes while checking her nails.

Griselda cleared her throat. "This will be your second home for the next five years, but do not take that for granted or I will personally lead you to the front gate." The woman adjusted her glasses and after a second her face seemed to light up happily as she held out her hands in a dramatic fashion. "Now, without further ado, welcome your highly esteemed Headmistress of Alfea, Headmistress Faragonda!"

As Faragonda approached the podium, a few claps and cheers were heard for the woman. Faragonda fixed her glasses before talking into the microphone. "After Griselda, I don't know if I'll be able to give a better speech. You sure know how to put fear into the new students, don't you, Jeanie?" she jested, turning towards her. Griselda just huffed, annoyed. "I hope she didn't frighten you too much."

Stray chuckles came from the audience as they began to feel a bit more at ease.

"What she forgot to say is, welcome to Alfea, the best fairy school in Magix! It's also the only one, so we've got that going for us!" The headmistress giggled. "I'm Ms. Dorothea Faragonda, your headmistress. I'm an Alfea alumna and former fairy godmother, and I can tell this year will be a splendid one. Some of you will battle evil, others will grant wishes, and many are Princesses that will rule over your respective planets someday. Each of you is unique, you all have different sources of power and diverse origins, but our mission is the same…"

"…to help each of you be the very best you can be!" Faragonda and Stella said at the same time.

"She really loves saying that," Stella added, resting her head on Bloom's shoulder.

"Former godmother?" Bloom whispered, shaking her head. "Cinderella was real. I knew it!"

Stella chuckled.

"I don't want to carry on too long, so allow me to introduce you all to our staff. You've already met me and this is my Deputy Headmistress, teacher of combat magic, and authority of disciplinary punishment, Jeanie Griselda." Faragonda motioned her hands towards the deputy who stood and waved while being met with very little applause. "Next is Professor Maize Wizgiz, our teacher for transformation."

A man of short stature, sprouting an orange beard with matching orange hair and pointy ears stepped forward. He enthusiastically waved to the students.

"Quick question, Stella," Bloom whispered to Stella who had her eyes closed. "Am I looking at a leprechaun right now?"

"If it's Wizgiz then yes," Stella replied. "He's funny, you'll have a great time with him."

Bloom blinked while trying to remember his name while at the same time, mystified that leprechauns also exist! While she kept mulling this over, the next teacher was introduced.

"Calypso Palladium, teaching alchemy, and magical theory."

A very slim and tan-skinned man with neck-length brown hair stepped forward. He had matching pointy ears like Wizgiz but was much taller with smaller ears. His clothes were muted browns. He waved, looking somewhat flustered.

Oh, and elves are here too. Bloom thought in her head. What's next, a dragon?

Much to her disappointment, the next teacher wasn't a dragon, but a woman with long silver-gray hair, wire-rimmed glasses, wearing a deep scarlet suit and matching hat. Bloom watched as she stepped forward. Her name was Professor Rosemund DuFour. She had a strange aura about her that Bloom couldn't pinpoint exactly, but she did look cool.

I'm getting Carmen Sandiego vibes.

She smiled warmly at the students. Faragonda continued with the ten teachers, each one having a different look to them as many of the students at Alfea, such as Zelda Sparkle, Robbie Islebloom, Aeden Limegrass, Ella Forest, Ebony Rosefluff, etc. Every name sounded exactly how Bloom imagined it would in a magical world: Weird and somewhat amusing.

"These inspiring and genius teachers will be helping you in many subjects this semester," Faragonda said after introducing the main staff. "Our other staff consists of the librarian Persephone Barbatera and the school nurse Willow Ophelia."

A thin lady with big, round glasses and large puffy dark magenta hair, with a matching blue skirt and blouse, stepped forward, flanked by a taller woman who had a well-defined jaw and orange-brown hair. They both curtsied.

"And finally, our wonderful school chef, Cruz Sfoglia."

A short man with unruly black hair and a thick mustache came forth last with a serious look on his face before quickly bowing to the students.

"All right, now that you've gotten to know all the teachers, it's time to dismiss you, but before I do that, I'd like to remind you that every faculty member will always be here to help you. Feel free to explore your surroundings, but be very careful. Many dangers are lurking around."

"'And be wary of the Witches of Cloud Tower'. Just wait for her to say that," Stella said.

"And make sure to be wary of the witches of Cloud Tower," Faragonda echoed.

"Witches suck!" A girl yelled from the audience, gaining a few cheers from the girls around her. Bloom shook her head and Faragonda seemed to agree as she stared sternly at the girl for a long second, making her shrink back.

"Be wary, not rude. Let's make this a joyous year! Use every opportunity to connect to your spark and have a wonderful day and semester!" Faragonda lifted her right hand and launched the room with firework-like sparkles, causing the students to stare, awestruck.

Bloom rubbed her eyes in shock. Faragonda just made fireworks with her hands?

"All right, the light show's over! Everyone is dismissed for the rest of the day. Be prepared for classes at eight in the morning!" Griselda finished, causing the flock of noisy students to immediately disperse.

"Oh, it's finally over with." Stella yawned, lifting her head off the girl's shoulder. "I told you this meeting was pointless."

"Um… did Faragonda shoot fireworks through her hands last year?" Bloom asked standing up with Stella.

"Nah," she replied. "Last year, there was a barrage of sparkles that got stuck in your hair if you sat up front."

"Oh, of course… guess she likes to change it up every year," Bloom said, continuing to stare at the front stage. Faragonda turned in her direction and even though they were far away, the old woman waved at her. Bloom waved back with a smile. "They seemed to have prepared us for all kinds of stuff instead of just being a fairy." she stood up scratching her head. "I guess you're here to prepare to be a Queen or something?"

"You bet. I'm going to rule the Kingdom of Solaria soon, but I do hope to learn some fighting skills along the way," Stella admitted. "I don't want to be some defenseless Princess all my life like my mum and her mum and my dad's mum, which is why I must learn to fight to protect not only myself but also my kingdom."

"That's pretty admirable." Bloom complimented, causing the shimmering girl to beam. "So, what do you want to do now?"

"Well, it's too early to go clubbing, which isn't freaking allowed," Stella held up her arm as an invite for Bloom to join her. She shifted her eyes momentarily while making an annoyed look, but relented and looped hers around the Princesses who then led her through the throng of students. "Let's go see our new flatmates!"

...

When the two girls returned to their apartment, the door was already ajar, sounds were coming from Bloom's room and the vacant room adjacent to hers.

"Wow, they're already here," Bloom said, listening to the muffled voices when a loud squeal came from the leftmost room. "Somebody's already excited, too."

"I just hope our mates are more fashionable and livelier than those boring tossers I had to deal with last year," Stella replied.

"I kind of agree with that, Princess," Bloom said, chuckling, "but I'm mostly worried about Kiko. He usually gets nervous with a bunch of strangers around."

"That little kitty is probably sleeping through all this noise," Stella nudged the girl with a sly smile before adding, "That's what those little buggers do all day, right?"

Bloom rolled her eyes. "You know - " she was ready to correct the Princess before being interrupted by a frantic meow coming from Bloom's dorm room. Kiko raced out of the room and jumped into her arms, shivering frantically.

"Come back soon!" a voice from the room shouted back.

"Hm, seems like he's already met one of our new flatmates," Stella said before heading to her room. "Good luck with that."

Bloom sighed before checking Kiko, who was still visibly frightened. She kind of felt the same way with all these new fairies around her, she patted his head softly.

"Aww, are you okay, little guy? What did you do in there?" Bloom cooed, scratching the kitten's neck to calm him down. "Let's go see this new roommate together. I bet she isn't that bad."

Bloom reluctantly went to her new room, cradling the large cat. Her shoe crunched atop something unfamiliar and she froze. "What the-"

"Hey, watch where you're stepping," a high-pitched voice said. When Bloom looked up, her eyes widened, realizing it hadn't come from a person, but a Venus flytrap with large eyes and jagged teeth. "My vines are very sensitive."

Bloom gulped. "Di- Did you just talk?"

"Well duh, of course, he talks. He's one of my creations, after all," Bloom heard another voice say from behind her. She slowly turned around, fearing what might be there, but only found a skinny girl with tan skin and long honey brown hair with blonde bangs at her sides. Her jade eyes sagged with bags around both eyes like she hadn't slept a wink in the past year or so. She had a small smile across her face as she stared dazedly at the goth girl. "Have you never seen a talking Venus flytrap before?"

"Um, not really… you have?" Bloom questioned trying to avoid eye contact with the moving flytrap.

"Hm, about five this year," the girl said, sounding unsure. She talked somewhat slowly like she was figuring out what word to say next. "Someone who hasn't seen a talking plant… weird. Well, you should probably watch where you're going in those sweet sneakers, some of my plants can be like, a tad bit miffed when you step on them. By the by, are those vegan or recyclable?"

Bloom looked down at her Adidas sneakers, unsure of how to answer the question. "Uh… I'm not sure. I got them from a thrift shop," she said, taking a few steps backward as the girl stared at her up and down. She couldn't help but feel like she was being studied before the strange girl planned to pounce on her.

"Cool, you're a vintage goth," the hippie nodded. "I like that."

"Th- Thanks," Bloom mumbled. The girl started talking, but the vintage goth wasn't listening. She couldn't stop herself from staring at the girl's strange outfit. The girl was wearing a green off-the-shoulder midriff with puffy sleeves and a fuchsia-colored, strawberry-print wrap short skirt, and a pair of pink open-toed wedges. She also couldn't ignore the way the girl spoke; it was slow and had the typical Californian accent she had heard before, but this girl clearly wasn't from Earth. So far, she had heard two girls with valley girl accents. Bloom shivered at the thought of hearing that accent in a magical world. She couldn't really think of anything to say next as she was perplexed by who was standing in front of her. Her silence seemed to bother the girl as she waved her hand across Bloom's face.

The ditzy girl snapped her long, bony fingers for a response. "Hello, you there?"

"Uh, yeah, I was thinking about something else," Bloom said, blushing. "What did you say?"

"I was asking you, is that big fluffy cat yours or did you bring in a stray?" the girl asked. "He's, like, totally adorable and precious. I tried to brush his fur, but I think I startled the poor thing." the giddy girl held her hand out for Kiko to sniff it, but the orange Maine Coon simply hissed at her, snuggling closer to Bloom's chest. "I'm okay with him not being yours, but I would check with Faragonda."

"Yeah, he's mine," Bloom said, tightening her grip around Kiko causing him to trill in protest. "And he's allowed to be here."

"Wow, really, sweet," the strange girl paused. "Well, I do have to apologize, my plants mistook him for a toy and tried playing with him."

"They what?!" Bloom exclaimed. She turned towards the living plants and glared at them angrily. Most seemed to be scared by her reaction, but after a moment Bloom came to a realization. "I'm glaring at flowers."

The naturist giggled. "You're funny. Hey, what's your name?"

"I'm Bloom Mason, and this is my cat, Kiko. It's… nice to meet you."

"Oh, you're my new roommate, sweet," her new roommate said, nodding slowly. She limply took Bloom's hand and shook it, slowly, it was almost like everything around Bloom had stalled weirdly. She was slightly uncomfortable with how long the handshake felt. The girl's hands were so long, cold, and bony. "I'm Flora Rosa from Linphea. I'm training to be a nature fairy. It's great to meet you."

"Right..." Bloom said, releasing her grip from the cold hand. She took a few steps away from the girl.

"Now, Blossom," Flora said, immediately saying her name wrong. "I saw you had already brought your stuff before I arrived and that was really great and all, you have some like, nice accessories and such, but I noticed you put it on the left side of the room." Flora let out a sad sigh as if she was about to deliver bad news. "That didn't vibe with my energy, so I took the courtesy to move your things to the right side of the room."

How is that a courtesy to me? Bloom subconsciously thought with a raised eyebrow. "That's funny, I could've sworn I meant to put my stuff on the left side."

"Yeah, I know, and again, so sorry, but here's the deal, Blossom," Flora reasoned, causing Bloom to cringe with the second mispronunciation of her name. "My aura and body must be aligned to the left. Like at all times, the center of my universe is even aligned to the left. It's like what warms my soul and keeps things in check."

"Isn't the point of alignment that you're CENTERED?" Bloom asked, incredibly confused.

Flora giggled with a nonchalant hand wave. "Alignment doesn't have to be literal, silly."

"Oh, right, I'm the dumb one, my bad," Bloom said, trying not to let the sarcasm drip off her tone.

"It's all right Blossom, we can't all achieve enlightenment," Flora excused, patting the vintage goth on the shoulder.

"It's Bloom, and my head hurts," Bloom said, mulling over what was presently happening. "Anything else?"

"I'm glad you asked. I have a few ground rules. I don't lend people things, so I'd very much appreciate it if you didn't touch anything I own, and I'll keep my hands off of your things accordingly. Now, the do not touch rule goes with my second rule. You see these plants here," Flora's arm swept over her wide selection of potted plants. "These are mine and I take good care of them, so do not harm them in any way. They can also be super mean if you like, cross them. Plus, they are super important to me and my studies. I mostly use them for making potions, medicines, or cosmetics, which you can use if you ask because I don't mind sharing my remedies, unlike my other stuff. I care for my plants like they're my babies and I expect the same respect from you if you don't mind."

"All of those plants are yours?" Bloom worriedly questioned, taking a few steps away from the tangle of talking plants and vines. "And are they all staying here?"

Flora nodded with a slow blink. "You bet," she replied. "I grew them myself. They were a murder to bring here, but it was literally worth it. Just don't bother them and we won't have a problem. M'kay?"

This was the weirdest conversation she'd ever had, and that was saying a lot. Even Mitzi hadn't been this strange.

"Odd… but sure, whatever," she agreed, realizing that being diplomatic was the best way to go.

"I just adore flora and vegetation," Flora giggled again, but Bloom wasn't sure at what. "Like for instance that spiky one over there is a Dahlia Crenata. if you prick your finger on the tip of the spike, it'll make you violently ill. I'm talking vomit everywhere in an instant. Isn't that fascinating?"

Bloom looked down at Kiko, who seemed to share the same bewildered look she had about a poisonous plant being in their new room. She now had a new fear that made her cuddle Kiko closer to her chest, but this time he really didn't mind. "Yeah… poisonous plants that possibly kill me are great. You know what, I have to go somewhere else because… I just have to go."

"Hurry back, Blossom."

I gotta get out of here before she starts analyzing my chakras. Bloom thought, racing out the room. As she left, she bumped into another unseen body and closed her eyes dreading she might've bumped into another plant. She recoiled in fear.

"Oh, God, please don't prick me with your spikes!" Bloom exclaimed, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Spikes?" a high-pitched voice questioned. Bloom slowly opened her eyes and was met with two girls standing in front of her, each with a vaguely concerned expression on their face. The first girl was towering in height, lanky, and had short magenta hair styled into a pixie cut. She was wearing a purple, white, and green striped tracksuit and matching sneakers.

The other was a pale, petite girl with blue hair separated into two short pigtails. She had cute, round wire-rimmed glasses perched on her nose. She was wearing a red crop top, a pair of blue baggy jeans filled with pockets, and a pair of reddish-purple sneakers. She had features that Bloom could only describe as Japanese, but this girl had probably never stepped foot in any part of Asia. The girl's eyes shifted towards the tracksuit girl concerned, but she had a wide smile on her face, seeming unfazed at what transpired.

"I'd wear them but I'd probably poke myself all day," the blue-haired girl giggled.

"Spikes are pretty impractical if I do say so myself, so I'm glad we didn't prick ya," the tracksuit girl said with a dry thick southern accent.

Bloom's mouth dropped at hearing the tall girl speaking in a strong southern drawl. First the Princess's British accent and now this? There were different accents and dialects like there were back on Earth. She had to shake her head twice just to adjust to that fact.

"This is kind of the part where you introduce yourself and your feline," the southerner said, after a few seconds of awkward silence.

Say something, stupid!

"Oh, right, yeah …sorry, just got caught off guard by… your… voice…" Bloom bit her bottom lip. "Anyways, I'm Bloom Mason, this is my cat Kiko and if you haven't realized it already, I'm very new here."

"Why that ain't a problem at all," the girl said. "We're all new here; sho't stack and I haven't even been to Magix before."

Short stack nodded with a wide grin.

"Y'all can call me Tecna, Tecna McCormick," Tecna introduced, slapping her hand against the girl who kept a tight grip on her feline. "It's a wild pleasure to meetcha."

"You… too," Bloom said, struggling to match grip with Tecna's rough hand. For someone lanky, she had a strong grip. While they shook, she noticed a long scar wrapping around the southern girl's left forearm. She attempted to avoid staring at it, but Tecna caught her eyes looking at it and she smiled.

"I see yo' spotted my mark," Tecna said, rubbing the scar.

Bloom quickly turned a shade of pink. "S-sorry," she stammered. "I didn't mean to stare."

"Aw shucks, it's okay, girl. This here is a friendly reminder of my first battle," Tecna replied, slapping the girl on the back. "And this ain't nothin' compared to what that lil varmint got after I was through with 'er. "

"Cool," Bloom said, amazed. Her eyes shifted to the blue-haired girl who had just been standing there silently. Awkwardly, she smiled in her direction, feeling a twinge of guilt at not having noticed her sooner. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

The girl took a deep breath as her eyes widened in a mixture of excitement and joy. "Hi I'm Musa Tori, but my friends call me Musa and since we met, you're my new friend so call me Musa!"

"Nice to meet you, Musa..." Bloom said as she held out her hand, she was doing a lot of handshakes today. What she didn't expect was for Musa to tightly grip her hand and begin shaking her eagerly. With the amount of force Musa shook it with, Bloom felt like her arm might come off. Geez, this girl could shake hard! What was with all the forceful handshakes today?

"You are so pretty, has anyone ever told you how pretty you are? And I love your outfit, so fashionable, you really rock the collar, what's it called? A choker? Why do they call it that, you're not being choked or you wouldn't wear it, right?" Bloom nodded, still shaking. "OMD, I love your fluffy big cat, he's like a little baby tiger. He's so adorable. OMD, it's so nice to meet another new roommate! I'm so glad we could meet and share a room and talk and OMD!"

Bloom and Kiko each felt their bones rattle as Musa continued shaking her hand. "Th- thank you, could you let go? I kinda feel like my arm is about to fall out of its socket."

"Sorry!" Musa quickly let go of Bloom's hand, her smile unfazed. "Might have gotten a bit carried away. I'm just really excited to meet everyone!"

"Yeah, I can see," Bloom said, rubbing her arm. "Nice to meet you too."

"She did the same thing with me," Tecna said sympathetically. "I'm surprised she matched my grip."

"Aww, thanks!" Musa exclaimed, covering her cheeks shyly. "Oh, and this is my new best friend, Tecna!"

"We already did introductions, sho't stack," Tecna said, elbowing the girl playfully. "And friends? Yo' ain't even taken me out to dinner yet."

"I can! What do you like?!" Musa questioned, placing a small smile on Tecna's face.

"Oh, Blossom, another thing," Flora said, walking out the room with a watering can. Bloom's shoulders slumped annoyed. "I work on a strict vegan diet, so try to abstain from eating meat near me, just for the first few days."

"Yeah, I'm not doing that," Bloom shook her head. "This is my new roommate, Flora. She still can't get my name right. It's Bloom."

Flora waved away that complaint with a giggle. "Names aren't an important necessity in life."

"What?" Tecna questioned.

"She's been like that for the last five minutes," Bloom mumbled.

"You can call me whatever, as long as we're friends and also super nice to meet you! You are also gorgeous!" Musa said, making Flora smile softly. The blue-haired girl spoke with a perky tone like one of those children's hosts or the show about that young explorer who had neglectful parents, it was adorably saccharine. "OMD, this is great, new friends here and we're going to grow closer with each day! I love it!"

Bloom took a step back with a twinge of annoyance as the girl flailed her arms energetically.

"What is with all the noise out here?" Stella said, sashaying out into the room. "Oh my, new flatmates. I didn't expect any guests today."

"You came here with me," Bloom pointed out. She had seen Stella poking her head from her room a second ago and it was pretty obvious she had been listening in on the conversation the whole time.

"Oh, Bloom... shush," Stella insulted, stepping in front of her. "Why, hello everyone, I'm Princess Stella Davenwood, you may have heard of me. Crowned Princess and future queen of Solaria, the best planet in the Magix realm, and your new flatmate. Now you don't have to praise me or treat me any differently for being a Princess. I'm just one of you, except I'm a noble Princess, of high stature, and heir to the fabulous Davenwood royalty."

"I'm sorry, what were you again?" Bloom joked, pretending to scratch her head.

"I think she said she was a waitress or somethin'?" Tecna added in mock confusion.

Stella crossed her arms and glared at the two, unimpressed.

Musa gasped, bouncing over to the Princess who stared at her warily. "Oh, I know all about you, you're just as pretty as you are in the pictures!"

This girl sure did like complimenting other people's looks, no matter who they were. Bloom chuckled at the thought of Musa trying to compliment someone like Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars.

Stella blushed. "Well- I mean- I mean it's very obvious."

"You're like a real Princess, I'm standing before a real-life Princess and you're such a socialite," Musa complimented. "You're so lucky and fortunate and-"

"Oh my God!" Bloom criticized, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Bloomie, stay out of this," Stella said, waving a hand at Bloom to silence her before saying to Musa. "Do go on."

"You also blew up a potions lab last year that got you expelled, but then I heard your father donated a computer lab so they let you back in," Musa added innocently.

Stella's face turned a bright shade of pink as all eyes were on her and not in the flattering way that she hoped. She had told her to go on, after all, so there was nothing she could say in her defense.

"Funny. You left out the part about the computer lab when you were telling me this," Bloom said, stroking Kiko's head with a mischievous smile.

"Enough about information none of you should know about." Stella shot Musa a glare, but the blue-haired girl seemed unaware of her mistake. "Where are you gals from?"

"Titania. Good ol' Titania. My home, my lan', that's why I got such a thick drawl. I know, going for th' stereotype ain't I?" Tecna chuckled while brushing back her short hair. "Y'all best get used to it, though."

"Linphea," Flora piped up. "It's a nature planet and it's truly beautiful."

"I am from Melody, but who cares? I'm focused on the fact I'm in Magix and not only that but with a Princess. It is the most awesome thing to meet a real-life Princess! Awesome or terrific… awesomerific! Yup, definitely awesomerific!" Musa effused, bouncing on her toes. Stella beamed from the compliment, causing Bloom to roll her eyes. "I'm just so glad to be here at Alfea, the best school in the entire realm. I never imagined I'd be stepping foot in this place, let alone enrolling as a student. And now here I am! This is the best!"

"Okay Musa, Musa, Musa! You're at a twenty right now," Bloom said, trying to match Musa's perk before switching back to her snark. "I need you at an eight."

"I wish I could, but I'm perpetually stuck on one setting. At least that's what my papa tells me," Musa giggled. "Where are you from, Bloom?"

"Uh…" Bloom trailed off unsure of how to answer the question after the terrified reactions from Faragonda and Griselda yesterday. Her eyes shifted towards Stella as a cry for help. She couldn't think of anything to say as the other girls waited for her response.

Stella smiled reassuringly as she moved to distract the curious crowd. "Sorry to cut you off darling, but I have an announcement to make. Musa, Tecna, Flora, Bloom with introductions out the way, would you darling gals like to accompany me to dinner tonight? My treat."

"I knew you were eavesdropping," Bloom said as she realized the girl had known all their names without ever actually getting them. Stella simply shrugged with a sly smile.

Musa on the other hand gasped with excitement. "Get out! A Princess treating us to dinner!"

"Yo'd really do that fo' us common folk?" Tecna asked.

Stella nodded. "It's the least I can do. So be ready at five and wear your very best. I'm going to take you somewhere fantastic tonight!"

"Wow, that's totally sweet," Flora said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, I really appreciate that Princess," Bloom said with a wink. Silently thanking her new friend for covering for her.

"Hey, it's the least I can do." Stella shrugged. "Now if you all will excuse me, I have to finish the latest touches to my halter top and matching skirt. Ta-ta, ladies."

The Princess sashayed back to her room leaving the four girls to themselves.

"And I'll meet up with y'all later, currently I gotta get the rest of my room organized before the next thirty minutes pass," Tecna said, walking away from the remaining girls to her room.

Musa gasped, remembering something. "Oh, I've got to finish up too. Gotta make sure all my books, LPs and EPs are in alphabetical order. See ya later, new buddies," she said, skipping in the same direction as Tecna.

"All right, just us now," Flora said, adding more weight to an already awkward room. "Come on, Blossom, I'm going to introduce you to every flora to get you better acquainted. It'll totally ease the tension."

"Right, I'll be in there in a second, just need a moment alone," Bloom excused herself.

"Hey, of course, I'll be waiting in our room when you're ready," Flora nudged the vintage goth, then casually walked away, humming absently to herself.

Alone with her cat, Bloom brought Kiko close to her face as she said, "Well, little guy, those are our new roommates… what do you think?"

Kiko let out a soft meow before placing his paw on Bloom's nose as a sign to reassure her.

Bloom giggled. "I think so too."

"Blossom, my friends are waiting," Flora called.

Bloom groaned. "It's Bloom!"

...

A few hours later, Bloom was sitting on a bench in the courtyard, by herself, sketching the crystal fountain in front of her and listening to music. The glistening water from the three-tiered fountain streamed down like rain on a pond. She made sure to capture the sparkling crystal and rippling water. Even though she was trying to keep the sun out of her eyes, sketching made her feel calm. The people talking and passing by didn't affect her, she kept her mind focused on the sketch, and that's how she got her best work done.

While her hand curved on the next line, she felt a sharp tap on her shoulder, causing her hand to jerk while holding the pencil and leaving an unwanted mark on her sketch. "Damn it," she muttered under her breath.

She angrily removed one of her earbuds as she turned half her body to face the person behind her. It was Musa, who looked surprised before waving nervously.

"Hiya," she greeted, looking sheepish. "Mind if I sit?"

"Well, you've already interrupted my drawing, so why not," Bloom offered, erasing the mistake on her sketch. "What's up?"

Musa swung her feet across the bench, narrowly missing Bloom's head, thank goodness. She plopped into the empty spot eagerly. Once she heard the question, she placed a finger on her chin and stared up at the sky. "A lot, actually… some clouds...the sun, and-"

Bloom couldn't help but laugh, apparently, that phrase hadn't translated to this world yet, or maybe whichever planet Musa was from did not use this phrase. "No, I mean to say, what have you been doing?"

"Oh, duh," Musa giggled. "Nothing much, I just finished organizing my LPs. By the way, you're really good at drawing."

"Thanks," Bloom said with a small smile. "It's mostly just a hobby."

"That's a hobby for you?" Musa exclaimed. "It almost looks real; you could sell that and make tons of money."

Bloom blushed; her hand stopped drawing as she tried to figure out what to say. She felt awkward when people talked about her art, good or bad, she cleared her throat before saying "Thanks, uh... Musa, was it?"

"Yup, to remember my name just think of music. Musa, music, Musa, music, Musa, music-" Musa repeated until Bloom covered her mouth.

"I got it," Bloom replied, removing her hand. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Yeah. You ready?"

"Ready for what?" Bloom questioned; her eyes focused back on adding the next line to her fountain sketch.

"Stella's big dinner - remember," Musa reminded her as she wrinkled her nose and tapped her wrist as if there was a watch there, "I should really moisturize more."

"Oh right, well, let's get this over with," Bloom said, rubbing her head. She was interested in the dinner Stella was offering to her and her new roommates, but mentally she wanted to draw and then rest; she still wasn't used to everything around her on this new planet, but perhaps a night out in a new town would be fun too.

"I'll walk with ya," Musa said, hopping from her seat. "Come on, Picasso."

Bloom shuffled her sketchbook and pencils in her hand while chuckling. "I just have to drop this stuff off in my room-"

Musa quickly snatched the items out of the surprised artist's hands and began whispering. Before Bloom could question what, she was doing, in an instant, her art supplies magically vanished into thin air. She restrained her mouth from dropping open.

"How- how did you do that?" Bloom asked, shocked. "Did you send them to another dimension?"

Musa giggled. "If by "other dimension" you mean your bedroom, then yes. Yes, I did."

Bloom stared at the girl confused, unsure of what to say, her earth behavior was showing. She couldn't control it, she knew people could teleport, but she didn't know you could do it without a magic staff or gate ring.

"It was just a simple teleportation spell I learned in grade school," Musa said as Bloom muttered confused. "It works on minimal items such as art supplies. But do not ask me to teleport your cat, the spell doesn't work on living things… learned that the hard way." she cocked her head. "I was just trying to save you the trouble, but...you haven't learned that yet?"

Nice one moron.

"Uh…" Bloom trailed off once she realized what had happened. She still wasn't ready to tell anyone she was from Earth yet so she had to think of something fast. "Home school! I was, uh, homeschooled by my… mom and most of what she taught me was basic stuff. Teleportation just never came up."

"Oh, okay, that makes sense," Musa nodded.

"It does?" Bloom questioned, eye-widening. "I mean, of course, it does, because it's the truth! N- now let's hurry to the girls before we're late."

Bloom speed walked away from the blue-haired girl, avoiding eye contact. Musa followed behind her, apparently satisfied with the answer she'd been given.

While the two girls walked across the cobblestone path of the courtyard towards the iron gates of the school where the bus stop was, they spotted Stella, Flora, and Tecna who were busy talking. Tecna and Flora were dressed in the same outfits they had on earlier, unlike Stella who had on a tight orange dress matching loafers and a large pair of multicolored sunglasses.

"And then- why, hello, ladies," Stella greeted Bloom and Musa while removing her shades. "Ah, yes, you've decided to dress in your casual attire as well. Am I the only one who dressed formally?"

"If you call what you're wearing formal, then sure," Bloom jested. "Do you have anything else in neon orange?"

"Yeah, ain't yo' wearin' a hide tight mini dress," Tecna said, moving her hand up and down Stella's dress. "Yo' don't have anythin' to say about my attire?"

"It's gorgeous on you," Stella replied, though her tone of voice suggested it was anything but. "Well, anyway, I'm glad you two made it; the bus will be here any second now."

"There it is now," Flora said, pointing down the road.

"I love perfect timing," Stella said with a smile. "This is going to be the most eventful night ever!"

"Right, right, right," As the bus approached, there was a minor, but the one noticeable thing that Bloom hadn't seen on buses back home. "Wait a minute, is that bus floating ?" her eyes widened.

"Of course, why? Is it not supposed to?" Flora asked, sounding slightly concerned... well in a monotone way. "Did I miss something, did we change how buses work, and I was never told?"

"Don't hurt yourself thinkin' there, yer right," Tecna said. "Have yo' seriously never seen a bus before?"

"Not one that floats!" Bloom exclaimed, taking a step back.

That comment gained numerous confused stares from her roommates and some students who happened to hear her. Bloom could feel the blood rush to her cheeks as the bus came to a stop.

Stella wasn't fazed and simply stepped in front of Bloom, "This is not a spectacle, you can get on the damn bus now!" she insisted, waving her hand at them.

The other girls gave the Princess an annoyed look, but turned away and boarded the bus.

"Some people can be so judgmental," Musa said, shaking her head. "It's all right if you haven't seen a bus, Bloom."

"I've seen a bus before!" Bloom defended still staying behind Stella. "I've just… never been on a floating one. Are those things safe?"

"Yeah, there's nothing to worry about, Bloom. Don't be scared. I've taken them all the time." Musa grabbed the worried artist by the hand and led her closer to the bus. "It's nice, isn't it? I like the colors."

Bloom nodded, her face pale. "I'm sorry, it's just… these usually have wheels where I'm from."

She frowned as she heard her conscience chide her again, Why the hell do you keep talking?

"Wheels? Wow, wheels ain't been used on a bus fo' the last eighty years on Titania alone an' that's the so-called hick side of the planet," Tecna said, climbing aboard the bus.

"To be fair, it's not the weirdest thing about her," Flora said boarding behind Tecna.

Bloom groaned while being led onto the bus by Musa. She just wanted to slink away in embarrassment.

"Ignore them," Stella said, patting the girl on the back. "Come on, it'll be a safe ride and you got me to keep you calm."

"Right," Bloom replied.

As she dejectedly walked past the bus driver to search for an empty seat, the man stopped her, "Uh, excuse me, you forgot to pay."

"Oh… yeah…" Bloom said, feeling like a deer in headlights. "...How much?"

"Two dimars."

"Shi-oot, dimars, I totally know what those are!" Bloom said, trying to act knowledgeable after embarrassing herself twice already. The girls already on the bus stared at her annoyed, some put their hands up in frustration as they waited for the blushing artist to pay the driver. "And you see, I-"

"Will be covered by her new best friend," Stella said gracefully handing the bus driver a thick, gold-colored coin. "That should be the proper amount, good sir."

"Fine with me," the driver shrugged, depositing the cash in a coin machine.

"Uh, thanks, Stella," Bloom said as the girls moved down to find seats before settling in the back of the bus. Girls gave them some quick glances of concern and aggravation. "I'll try to pay you back."

"For that much?" Stella said, shocked. "That wasn't even chunk change for me, love. There's no need to thank me; I was just helping you out."

Bloom sighed, taking a seat next to Stella. "Yeah, I forgot I'm pretty much broke here."

"Did you forget to go through the currency exchange?" Musa asked, with a smile on her face. "I almost did."

"So did I," Tecna chuckled, taking a seat next to the blue-haired girl. "My momma had to text me a reminder befo'e I even checked in."

"Um," Bloom paused for a moment, caught in the spotlight. "I can explain why later, but that's sort of what happened."

"You've never seen a floating vehicle and you forgot to do your currency exchange?" Flora said. "Where are you from?"

"I said I'll tell you later," Bloom muttered, looking out the window. The bus jolted forward as it began floating down the cobblestone road. She gulped nervously as she watched the trees pass by. "So, how long is this bus ride?"

"Just fifteen minutes," Stella replied, patting Bloom on the hand.

The five girls sat in silence for a while as the bus slowly floated down the forest road. Bloom noticed the ride was much smoother than any car or bus she had taken back home. Still made her uncomfortable being on a floating bus, but as she kept staring at the trees her nerves started to calm.

"So…" Stella started, fiddling with her fingers. "Any of you gals figure out your Spark yet? Mine is light, obviously."

"Plantlife… or, as it's called, nature manipulation," Flora answered next. "I can talk to plants, nurture them, control them, and fight with them. Simple stuff, really."

"Sono-kinesis. It basically means I can control sound waves, music, and sonic pressure," said Musa. "It's pretty neat, and I can play almost any instrument in a flash."

"Fire… I think," Bloom answered carefully, and the others seemed satisfied with this response.

"My powers are technology and electricity manipulation," Tecna said next. "It comes in handy, especially when repairin' a truck, buildin' small machines, or givin' my siblin's a li'l electric sting. I don't want to keep usin' it for such simple things, which is why I'm going to Alfea."

"Wait… yours is technology?" Stella said with a surprised look.

"Yep, what did you expect it to be, agriculture?" Stella bit the bottom of her lip, and Tecna groaned. "You're the third person to react like that. Ev'rybody assumes I'm some ignorant hick who doesn't know how to use those 'high falutin computers and talky boxes because I'm from Titania'," Tecna exaggerated the last part, making the girls giggle. "Well, that there ain't the case. We may not use technology for ev'rythin', but I'm incredibly savvy with it."

"Well, you're not helping your case by using incorrect grammar," Stella jested, giggling.

Tecna rolled her eyes. "Button yer lip, you."

"All right, all right, I'm sorry. You don't have to get your knickers in a bunch. I've just never been to Titania, but I've heard… things about it," Stella sheepishly said. "Zenith is pretty, though."

"Gee, thanks," Tecna snorted.

"Smooth," Bloom sarcastically said to Stella, gaining a bump in the arm from the slightly embarrassed Princess. "Um, what's Zenith? Is that a town in Titania or something?"

Stella raised her left eyebrow while looking at her judgmentally. "It's fine if you ask, but not me?"

"Yup," Bloom replied dryly.

Tecna stared at the two girls oddly, but then answered the question like she hadn't heard that last part. "My home planet, Zenith has two sides, Zenith and Titania. I'm from Titania and it ain't really known for being technologically advanced and whatnot, unlike Zenith. That's all ya'll need to know."

"Oh," Bloom replied, mentally noting that fact.

"Excuse my outburst, I just get heated when folks bring that stuff up," Tecna apologized, brushing her hair away with her hand. "Now, Bloom yo' said yer spark was fyre?"

Blooms shrugged. "I think so, not really sure yet."

"Bloom was homeschooled," Musa whispered.

"Really now? Yer ineptitude makes a little mo'e sense," Tecna said. "Sorry if that was hurtful."

Bloom shrugged. "Not the worse I've heard, won't be the last."

"Yeah, you're at Alfea after all, one of the best fairy schools, like ever," Flora said, cracking her knuckles. "You'll totes be able to hone your spark soon enough."

"I sure hope so." Bloom sighed, glancing out the window at passing trees and surreal scenery. The rest of the trip went on mostly in silence, with the occasional small talk about the school and news about different planets breaking it.

...

Bloom jumped off the bus and stretched her legs as the group exited the bus. She looked around Magix City and couldn't believe what she was seeing. Scratching her head, she wasn't sure what to say. While the city wasn't completely normal like Earth, it wasn't what she expected. She thought she'd find a fairytale world filled with castles and carriages. This place reminded her of home, except with flying cars and buses.

Musa was the opposite. She gleefully skipped around, amazed at all the colors and buildings around her. "I'm in Magix City. I never thought I'd see this place in real life! It's like a dream come true!"

"What do you think, Bloom?" Stella asked, sliding next to her bestie.

Bloom blinked twice. "To be honest, I'm kinda disappointed with how ordinary this place is. This is the capital of Magix? The most enchanted city in the universe? Seriously?"

Tecna tilted her head confused before her eyes shifted to Flora who simply shrugged in response.

"What did you expect?" Musa asked, scratching her head.

"Dragons, unicorns, horse carriages, waterfalls, giants, flying brooms, stuff like that," Bloom replied.

Stella sighed while Flora, Musa, and Tecna burst into laughter. Bloom's eyes shifted unsure of what was happening, but after ten seconds of laughter the blood started rushing to her cheeks again, clearly, she had said something wrong.

"You's making me laugh now, fyrecracker," Tecna said through chuckles. "Horse-drawn carriages? What time period do you think this is?"

"I'm so afraid to guess," Bloom mumbled under her breath.

"I don't know where you're from, but all that stuff you heard is from non-magi fairy tales. People here can use magic whenever they want to, but don't expect to see anything like that stuff," Flora explained. "No dragons, no waterfalls, no unicorns, just simplicity."

As Bloom still looked confused, Tecna wiped a tear from her eye. "What in tarnation else did you expect, floatin' buildings?"

"No…" Bloom's eyes shifted nervously.

"There is that town, Harmony, that has a couple of floating buildings; those require lots of magic and it's not the most practical thing. It's mostly just for looks," Musa explained while taking pictures with her cell phone. "Unicorns and dragons aren't really found in towns or cities, either. It must be different from where you're from."

"Um… yep," Bloom sheepishly said, feeling her cheeks get warmer, especially when she heard continuous laughter from Tecna.

"Oh, I needed that," the farm girl said, stifling a few more laughs. "Fyrecracker, you are too funny."

Well, I'm thoroughly embarrassed.

Stella pulled the girl closer to her side before whispering. "You really should keep your ignorance about Magix to a minimum."

"Right… shut up," Bloom replied, pulling out her phone. "Where is this dumb restaurant anyway?"

"The Veil, it is a few blocks away and you're going to love it," Stella beamed, leading the girls to the place. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun!"

"No, this is going to be awesomerific!" Musa said, skipping along the path. "I can't wait to fill up my belly!"

"Yeah, I need somethin' to grub on. My belly's growlin' more than an angry mutt," Tecna said. "This Veil place better have some tasty meals."

"Do they have pizza? I could really go for a slice right now," Bloom said, rubbing her stomach.

"Piz-za?" Stella cocked her head. "That messy confectionery filled with nothing but calories? No, they don't have that mess."

Bloom stared at the girl, simply blinking in response. She had never heard someone describe pizza that way.

"Well, to be fair, vegan pizza is a thing," Bloom responded, checking her phone for texts.

"Vegan pizza? OMD, I could totally try some vegan 'za," Flora agreed brightly. "If we do some searching, we can totally find a restaurant that serves it here. This is Magix after all, they have everything!"

"I am hankerin' for a meat lovers now," Tecna agreed. "What about yo', sho't stack?"

Musa nodded as well. "I'm game for anything, as long as it's with my new friends."

"We are not passing up the Veil for ridiculous common piz-za," Stella said, slightly offended. "I made reservations; do you know how hard it is to make reservations at the Veil on last notice?"

"Aren't yo' a Princess?" Tecna asked. "That shouldn't be too hard."

"Not the point," Stella said. "Look, let's put it to a vote, the elegant Veil where they treat you like royalty or gallivanting around town searching for a… piz-za place."

Tecna and Flora raised their hands for pizza while Musa and Stella raised their hands for the Veil.

Tecna stared at the chipper girl. "Musa, you just said it didn't matta."

"Yeah, but she's a Princess I can't really say no to her," Musa answered, gesturing to Stella to prove her point.

"Thank you, Musa," Stella said, patting the girl on the back. She turned towards Bloom who had her eyes focused on her phone, waiting for any texts or calls from her parents. "Bloom, you're the deciding factor."

"What?" Bloom lifted her head confused. "Oh right, um well I suggested it so, pizza. Come on Princess, leave your corner and enjoy some 'za with your new… bestie."

Bloom tried to not shiver in embarrassment after letting the word bestie escape her lips.

"You're just saying that 'cause you want junk food," Stella pouted for a second, but then she grinned, "And I'll take it, piz-za it is! Come, ladies, to the nearest junk food establishment!"

The group walked down the concrete path to find delicious pizza while Bloom kept her eyes on her phone, mindlessly following behind them. Musa bounced over to her and nudged her with her elbow.

"You excited, Bloom?" she asked.

Bloom shifted her eyes from her cell phone, to Musa. "Yeah, definitely, this is going to be fun. Fun. Fun. Fun."

...

Georje Larysa was a normal, simple man who sold eyeglasses for a living and considered himself an expert at making them. He wasn't particularly famous for this job, but his business was still popular enough that he had a loyal clientele. He had one rule - to always make sure his customer left pleased and that had worked out for him. The job wasn't always pleasant, not too demanding though and he'd always have a nice chat with his customers.

Today was not one of those days.

His usually filled business was practically deserted except for Georje himself and a disgruntled and towering, bandage-clad ogre impatiently waiting at the front. Georje hastily hurried to repair the ogre's glasses. He wasn't sure about his ogre knowledge but knew they didn't look happy by default and could recover from almost any damage. The process was draining, tiring and quite itchy, and this made the already temperamental being even more frustrated. Georje wasn't prepared to have his only business destroyed by an ogre's budding fury.

"All right, I'm finished. H-here you go," Georje stammered, handing the creature a pair of wide, rectangle-framed, light purple glasses.

"These are purple," Knut grumbled, sounding annoyed.

"Uh, actually it's mauve, which you could technically call purple. It is a chic color for frames these days," Georje explained. "They help bring out your eye- uh… I mean hide any unsightly marks."

"Are these the only frames you have?" Knut asked impatiently, examining the frames.

"It comes in three other colors but those are out of stock," Georje explained, taking a step back. "Y- you'd have to wait a few days."

Instead of the ogre getting angry though, he just sighed while perusing the other frames. His only working eye glanced out the window while he was looking and he froze.

"Did you see them?" Knut asked the glasses salesman.

"Who?" Georje asked.

"The girls, the fairies, one of them was blonde and the other might've been a redhead," Knut said, shaking, "You saw them walk by, right?"

"Uh, maybe… there are a lot of fairies in this area, especially since the new school year started."

"I'm aware… and if you'll excuse me…" Knut shoved the new glasses into his pocket. "I have to run, thanks for the glasses!"

"Hey, wait you need to pay for those— Oh, who am I kidding?" Georje sighed while feeling relieved. "At least he didn't wreck my store."

Outside, Knut snuck into an alley, breathing heavily.

"I found them, yes! I must call my mistresses." He dug into one of the pockets on his overalls and pulled out a large phone. He mashed a couple of buttons and then put the phone to his ear.

"Knut, so disappointing to hear from you," a gruff, female voice said from the other side of the phone. "This call better be good or I'm going to turn you inside out so many times you won't see straight for a year."

The ogre gulped. "Apologies again for my last failure, your wickedness, but I have great news," he said subserviently. "I saw Princess Stella with some girls. They're here in Magix City. Meet me at the Witches Alley immediately… or as fast as you can."

"The bimbo's in Magix, of course," the voice over the phone cackled. "Start of the school year and she's probably ready to party. This is almost too easy. Knut, keep watch on them until we arrive. Unless that's too complicated for you to do."

"I can, I promise," Knut said as kindly as he could, but his face betrayed a dark, frustrated grimace.

"Excellent. First, we're going to catch her, take her scepter, then crush her into fairy dust." The voice cackled once more, causing Knut to pull the phone away from his ear. There were only so many times he could hear that sound without his eardrums smarting. "But Knut, if you fail us once more, I'll beat you so hard you'll never have to worry about wearing glasses again."

Knut tried to envision that threat for a second then shivered in fear. "Got it, no glasses! Won't fail!"

The call ended with that confirmation. Knut grumbled a few curse words as he shoved the phone back into his pocket. He took a deep breath and went down the alley to follow the girls.

...

"Wow, this is fantastic!" Musa exclaimed in-between chews of her pineapple pizza. "There are so many flavors in my mouth."

"That can't be that appetizing since you got piz-za with just pineapple on it," Stella said, already having taken a few nibbles from her vegan cheese pizza slice.

"It's the best and you'd love it too," Musa said, taking another bite.

"I can't believe yo' and Flo'a got the most basic slices I've ever seen. They have a meat lovers pizza; it has five types of meats!" Tecna critiqued, chowing down on a large slice topped with a multitude of dubious-looking meats.

"Hey, veggie pizza is good, too, and you don't end up with indigestion later," Flora reasoned.

"Yes, I agree," Stella nodded. "How is that quadruple-stacked heart attack?"

"Delicious," Tecna smirked.

Stella giggled. "Bloom," she said, staring at the distracted girl whose eyes were still focused on her phone. "Bloom, dear, what do you think of your slice of junk food? It was your idea after all."

"Huh? Oh, uh, it's not bad," Bloom mumbled, taking a small bite while keeping her eyes on the phone, but didn't show any interest in eating the food. "Really, chewy."

"Somethin' on yer mind, fyrecracka?" Tecna asked her mouth uncomfortably full.

"Swallow before you speak," Stella ordered, wiping away pieces from Tecna's pizza debris. "Or at least cover your mouth."

"Betta?" Tecna replied, swiping a hand across her lips.

"Much," Stella said. She looked over at Bloom as the girl kept her eyes on her phone. "Is something wrong, Bloom?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing, I just think … well… it's just," Bloom paused feeling her cheeks get warm. "I'm starting to miss my parents, is all."

"Aww," Musa cooed.

Bloom groaned furrowing her eyebrows annoyed. "I've just never been this far away from them before and seeing all this stuff reminds me of home. I mean, it's not like I miss them that much..."

Musa giggled. "Hey, it's okay if you miss them. I'm homesick, too," she reassured. "Why not call them now? That always helps when I'm far from home and my papa."

"I mean I guess I could give them a quick call, if you guys don't mind," Bloom said, looking around at them for consent.

"Calling your parents is totally fine," Flora said, with the other girls nodding in agreement.

Bloom dialed her parents' number but was met with no reception. "Odd, it isn't working. I'm not even getting a signal."

"Let me see it," Tecna said, holding her hand out. Bloom handed the southerner the phone. "I love examinin' these things… what in the omega." The girl stifled a few chuckles while still looking over the phone.

Bloom cocked her head. "What's so funny?"

"This "Phone" is damn near ancient technology. Mah Pa wouldn't even use this."

"But… it's the newest model!" Bloom exclaimed, offended. "And it's not that funny!"

"You forget, that's the most recent on Earth, love," Stella whispered to her cross bestie. Bloom made an angry expression and then punched the girl on her arm. Stella rubbed her arm unbothered but bruised. "Okay, unwarranted, got it."

"Faragonda said she had it covered," Bloom said aloud. "Even if it is ancient technology, she said she'd fix it."

"It might take a day or two before this junky phone is fully operational, I reckon," Tecna theorized. "Which is why yo' do this a week ahead of time."

Bloom angrily snatched her phone back from Tecna's hand. The technologically intelligent girl's eyes shifted to Stella who smiled nervously.

"So, do you have another way I can call them, Tecna?" Bloom asked through gritted teeth.

"There's a telephone booth down the corner on the left side of the street. Take this," Stella replied handing Bloom a gold-colored coin.

"Thanks, Princess. Once again, you're a lifesaver," Bloom said before getting up from her seat. "I'll be right back." She gave her roommates a quick wave as she walked out of the restaurant.

"She's a dark one, what's up with our roomie?" Flora questioned when her roommate was gone.

"Yeah… no offense, but yo' sure she's a fairy?" Tecna added. "And not a… Yo' know?"

"Shock, how dare you accuse Bloom of such insults?" Musa said, covering her mouth. "She may be odd, but she's not a… W.I.T.C.H."

"Darlings, darlings, don't be so hard on her. She's far from home and new to this place," Stella defended her. "I'm a little surprised she's a fairy too, but she's not that bad. You shouldn't be judging a book by its cover."

"I see your point," Flora agreed. "I just hope she doesn't set any of my plants on fire."

"She won't," Stella said laughing before pausing. "I mean… I don't think she will."

"How did y'all even meet?" Tecna asked.

"I'll have her explain that when she gets back. I've told you enough," Stella said, gleefully taking another bite from her cheese pizza.

Bloom stood at the phone booth, which she was surprised this magical world had and that it was still in use, nervously twirling the beaded chain on her choker. After a second, she was greeted with her mom's familiar voice, "Hello?"

"Hey, mom? It's me, Bloom."

"Bloom? It's you! Mike, she finally called!" Vanessa shouted into the phone. "It's so good to hear from you. How is school? Are you doing well? How are your new roommates? Did you eat yet?"

"School is fine so far. I'm doing well. My new roommates are... interesting, to say the least, and we're out for dinner right now. Did you know pizza existed here? It's pretty interesting that Italian cuisine migrated to Magix."

"You left the school?!" Bloom heard her father call out from the other side of the phone.

Good to know he heard me. Bloom thought chuckling.

"Nothing bad has happened," she reassured them. "I'm actually surprised at how normal Alfea and this city are. Aside from the floating cars, everything is pretty normal. Normal buildings, good, but weird food, and regular dorms."

"That's good!" Vanessa said happily.

"She's not with any boys, is she?" Mike questioned; his voice suddenly closer to the receiver.

Bloom resisted the urge to groan. "Of course not, dad, I'm just with my roommates who are all girls."

"Oh, thank God, because you don't know any of these boys, they could be murderers or liars!" Mike exclaimed.

"You're right in my ear, honey," Vanessa chided, annoyed.

"Dad, I'm fine," Bloom reassured, twirling the phone cord. "Don't make me regret calling you guys. I did miss you though, and wanted to see how you were surviving without me."

"We miss you too, pumpkin," Vanessa cooed. "We tried calling but you didn't pick up so we were freaking out and thought you forgot about us, but thank God you didn't or we would've been lost!"

Her mom chuckled nervously as Bloom could hear her dad sigh, probably rubbing her back to calm her down.

"Right, well I'm fine and I'm glad to see you're okay and not acting crazy."

Vanessa giggled. "We're just glad you seem to be having a good time. Don't worry though everything is okay here. Your father and I are just having a little fun ourselves," her Mom giggled again.

"Ew," Bloom gagged. She tried not to imagine any weird situations that her parents were up to. "Moving on, classes start tomorrow morning. I'll make sure to keep you posted."

"Okay. Also, great news, the house is fully repaired thanks to those magical people, they came right over and spruced everything up. They even fixed the TV," Vanessa recounted.

"Wow, really?" Bloom asked, surprised. "That's the least they could do after coming so late."

"I know, right," Vanessa said with a sigh. "Oh, and a couple of your friends came by to see you, but we told them you're going to a boarding school out of the state. It's the best thing we could come up with."

"Great, now they're going to think I did something wrong," Bloom jested leaning against the phone booth. Her expression quickly froze in shock when she noticed something strangely familiar from outside the booth. "Um, mom, I've gotta go, my roommates are calling me. I'll call you when I get back to Alfea. Love you. Bye."

"'Kay pumpkin. Love you too. Bye."

With that, Bloom hung up and stared down the alley on the opposite side of the street. She was sure she saw that ogre who had attacked her just two days ago. There were possibly more ogres in this world, but the one that passed her had injuries that matched the ones the ogre had. She raced across the street, determined to figure out what that beast was up to this time.

She snuck into the opening of an alley, trying to remain silent, and looked around the corner. It was filled with trash cans and piles of opened boxes and sure enough, not far down stood the same ogre who had attacked Stella. She spotted him walk into another alley and heard a different, raspy voice say, "Well, look who freaking showed up. You took your precious time I see. Did you find the bimbo?"

"I a-apologize about that, my enchantresses," the ogre stuttered.

Bloom made sure to stay hidden, ducking behind a corner, and peeked out to see who the ogre was talking to. It was standing in front of three girls, whom she judged to be about a few years older than her.

One girl standing in the center had pale skin and a menacing scowl on her face, which stood in contrast with her light blue midriff tank top and matching skirt with a black diamond-studded belt, and dark blue stiletto boots. She seemed to like the color blue since the makeup she had on consisted mostly of blue shades. Her hair, on the other hand, was an impressively long silver-white and in a ponytail that stopped at her waist.

On her left was another girl with yellow-tinted glasses that didn't hide the look of indifference on her face. Long, straight chestnut brown hair reached down to her back. She had fair skin that stood in contrast to her dark purple makeup and indigo tank top connected to a choker, purple bell bottoms, and matching boots.

The last girl to the right was much shorter than the other two and unlike them, she had tan skin. Her hair was an unruly dark blue frizzy mess with lavender bangs to each side. She had on a maroon crop-top with a metal loop that connected to her choker, with a matching mini-skirt and high-heels. Even her makeup was maroon.

Bloom tilted her head at the strange color-coordinated outfits each girl wore, slightly impressed with each design.

"Always groveling. Did you find them or not?!" the white hair girl demanded.

"I found them, my enchantress. It was really hard keeping up without being spotted," the ogre feebly explained. "You understand, right? Right?"

"He's been following us?" Bloom shivered to herself.

"I guess that's smarter than what you've been doing lately," the girl with the yellow glasses said. "We wouldn't like a repeat of last time, which from the looks of it… didn't go over well."

"Yeah, you look like shit," the tan girl said bluntly.

"Thank you for reminding me, mistress," the ogre grumbled.

"Enough about you, what information do you have for us?" the long ponytail girl demanded.

"I spotted Princess Stella with four other girls on Baton Avenue before heading to a restaurant. She might be wearing her ring… I honestly wasn't able to tell with the one working eye," the ogre explained. "And I think that Earthling girl was with her."

"Hm, we have both the Princess and that meddling girl together," The silver-hair girl said, her leer spreading wider. "This is almost too easy."

"I've gotta warn the others," Bloom whispered, still trying to listen in while not being noticed.

"Knut, that earthling girl you mentioned, you said she had orange-red hair, right?" the girl with the yellow glasses questioned, tilting her head.

Knut nodded.

"Hm… sisters, I think we're being watched," the glasses-wearing girl whispered to her sisters. "I'll take care of this."

"Make it quick," the frizzy-haired girl winked.

The girl readjusted her glasses before waving her hands across her body and vanishing in thin air. The remaining group casually stood there waiting.

Bloom's eyes widened. "Where did she go?"

"Surprise," Bloom heard a voice say from behind her. She turned to see the mischievous girl staring at her with an evil look on her face. The girl covered the girl's mouth before she could yell and shoved her into the alley. "Look what I found, girls!"

"Yeah, we knew she was there," the pale girl said, matter-a-fact. "If you gave me another minute, I could've snatched her myself."

"Beat you to it," the bespectacled girl said with a smirk. The fair-skinned girl dragged Bloom over to the group and tossed her onto the ground. The three girls encircled her. "Knut, was this the earthling you came across?"

Knut examined Bloom with his one good eye then growled. "That's her."

The silver-haired girl smirked. "So, you're Stella's new bestie?"

"Wh-who are you?" Bloom asked, fearing for her life. She regretted leaving her friends to follow this ogre on her own.

"Who are we? Who are we ?" the silver-haired girl mocked before laughing along with her sisters. "We're the witches of Cloud Tower and…" She pressed her boot down on Bloom's hand so she wouldn't try to crawl away. "I'm Icy, the girl to my left is Darcy and the girl to my right is Stormy. Don't worry about remembering them. After we're done with you, you won't remember a thing."

Bloom chuckled despite herself, her tone wavering. "Icy? Stormy? Those are your real names? Did your parents just pick out random things that popped into their heads or do they hate you?" she asked, ignoring the pain in her hand. "How is Darcy the only normal name in the mix?"

Icy's pale face turned a bright pink along with Stormy's while Darcy covered her mouth in shock.

"Where the hell do you get off saying such insults to a senior witch?" Icy snapped, pressing down a little harder on Bloom's hand, making her wince.

"Sorry, forgot to give a shit," Bloom hissed while trying to pull away.

Icy growled then kicked the cross girl to the floor.

A plan was forming in Bloom's mind as she lifted herself off the ground and wiped away the blood from her lip. She started laughing, like nothing they did could faze her. If she just pretended none of this was frightening her and that she had more than enough power to hurt them, maybe they would eventually leave her alone. It was a gamble since having only discovered her powers three days ago, there was no way she could defeat these three on her own. "You think that hurts me? I'm a fairy, I can take you down with one flick of the finger."

"Come at me then!" Icy said, holding her hands out.

Bloom desperately tried to call upon the same power she had used against the imps, trying to scare the witches. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she concentrated, she couldn't even create a single spark to attack the witches. The power she possessed only two days ago didn't seem to be around anymore.

Icy approached the girl, kicked her down, and placed her boot across the nervous girl's back. "Typical fairy trash, all talk, and no bite."

"Oh, you're right, I'm no good. I'm worthless. Your scathing words have hurt my wittle ol' feelings," Bloom said with a mocking sad tone. She started chuckling hoarsely to hide the pain in her spine.

"Icy, please let me deal with this one," Stormy begged, clenching her fist.

Icy simply held up her hand to silence the cloud-haired girl. "I got this. Listen fairy, we're not after you, all we want is the Princess's ring and you can either help us or else."

Bloom scoffed. "I may not know Stella that well, but I'm definitely not letting three witches — sorry, meant to say bitches— hurt her!" she tried her hardest to sound defiant, but that was a little difficult with a boot on your back.

"You think calling us bitches is going to upset us?" Darcy questioned, unfazed.

"Well, it stung a little, won't lie." Stormy pouted.

Icy sighed. "Stormy, shut up!" She rubbed her forehead as she turned to the ogre with a menacing scowl and shouted, "Knut, go find those girls and try not to take all fucking day!"

"On it." Knut hurried out of the alley; gleeful he could finally get away from the witches.

"While we wait for that oaf, we will stay here to keep an eye on our ginger-haired fairy," Icy said, pressing her boot down deeper into the girl's back. "Now, what shall we do first?"

"You can do whatever you like, but don't expect me to cower and quiver like a little girl. I'm not afraid of you coven wannabees. No matter how deep you dig those things you call shoes into my back," Bloom taunted, feeling less brave than she looked. "This isn't even the worst pain I've been through today."

"You sure do love mouthing off, don't you?" Darcy said, sounding intrigued.

"Yeah, I do that with assholes," Bloom snidely replied. "Uh, ice chick, could you adjust your boot? I have some lower tension in my back."

"Why you-" Icy started, digging her heel deeper in the girl's spine. Bloom could feel every painful twist of it. She squeezed her fist, resisting the urge to scream out in pain since she didn't want to show weakness in front of the sinister witches.

Bloom was only able to muster out a weak, "Yup, much better."

"This ginger bitch is getting on my last nerves," Stormy seethed. "Can we do something to shut her up?"

"Hm, I think I have an idea," Icy replied with a smirk. She removed her foot from Bloom's back. She stayed down, unsure of what might happen next, but the white-clad outfit witch wasn't in the mood for waiting. She grabbed the girl by her hair, pulling her up from the ground.

"Hair pulling, that's a new one," Bloom said trying to untangle her hair from the girl's grip.

"Shut it, you weak-willed fairy!" Icy said, pulling the girl closer to her. "Listen, we are only after Princess Stella's ring, you really have no involvement in this which means we can let you go if you help us."

"Help you?" Bloom questioned, her eyes narrowing.

"Yes, let the bimbo Princess come to us and we let you go. Never to deal with us again," Icy offered.

"Looks like you'll have to fight me then," Bloom replied without a second thought, stomping on Icy's foot. The witch screamed as she released her grip on the girl's red hair. Bloom stumbled backward. "I don't know what you want with her ring and I really don't care, but I'm not going to let you hurt her while I'm still standing."

Even though she wanted to get away from the witches, who seemed ready to beat her up for Stella's ring, she couldn't let the Princess get hurt. They weren't exactly the best of friends yet, but Stella had helped her when her family was in danger - albeit because of the Princess herself - so the least she could do was return the favor.

Icy smirked. "What's one little weak fairy going to do?"

Bloom simply smiled before quickly charging at the witch and tackling her to the ground. She pinned the furious witch's arms behind her back while laughing. "That's what one weak fairy can do, even if I'm not using my powers."

Icy glared at her sisters who had been silently watching the fight. "Are you idiots just going to stand there or help me?!"

"Oh, right," Darcy and Stormy said in unison.

Stormy held out her hands and caused a strong gust of wind to send Bloom flying back into a wall. She slid down groggily. Bloom glared at the cloud-haired girl and tried to charge at her, but the witch managed to grab the fiery fairy by the arm, spun her around, and knocked her to the ground.

"That's how you dodge someone," Stormy said with a smirk. "Make sure to take notes, sis."

"Oh, shut up," Icy snapped, standing back up. She glared at Bloom. "All right, now I'm pissed."

"Well, more pissed than usual," Stormy said, crossing her arms.

"Not the point!" Icy hissed. She moved her attention back to Bloom, who was still on the ground and struggling to crawl away. Icy stalked over to her, cracking her knuckles. "Fairy, do you seriously want to test my patience? Now, whatever your name is, there are three of us and one of you. Do you really want to keep this up?"

Icy gave her another kick to the stomach that caused Bloom to clutch it in pain if only she could transform right now. She wasn't going to let the witches see her fear though and casually stood up, breathing heavily.

"If it means protecting Stella, then yes," Bloom said. "Or you could just let me go and pretend like this meet-up never happened."

"You already know too much," Icy said, stepping closer to the girl.

"Clichéd much?" Bloom mumbled before attempting to punch Icy.

Icy dodged then elbowed the girl in the back, acquainting her to the ground once more. Icy chuckled, circling around the weak and shaking girl who struggled to regain her footing. She seemed to revel in the girl's pain. The other witches just stood on the side, laughing as well.

"Aww, what happened?" Icy said, pressing her foot down on Bloom's spine again. "I thought you were going to stop us with the flick of a finger."

The fire was growing again, but Bloom still couldn't muster up enough of it to defeat the witches. She wasn't backing down though as she stumbled over to the girl with the long ponytail, trying to regain her footing.

Icy simply stood there, patiently waiting for another hit her way. Her malicious grin turned into a snicker once she noticed she had the upper hand. She placed a finger on Bloom's head before saying, "How are you gonna protect the Princess if you can't even protect yourself. This is almost adorable. What a strong wittle fairy you are, I'd love to keep going, but let's end this my way."

"What… could you possibly… do to me now?" Bloom asked weakly.

The ice witch leered before slamming the raging fairy against the wall she was thrown at by Stormy earlier. She then violently struck Bloom in the stomach. Not only did she feel the punch, but she also felt something frigid crawling down her legs. Looking below her, she was frightened to discover that ice was encasing her body from the waist down where Icy struck her. Bloom attempted to break free, but even with all of her strength, the ice was too thick for her to make a scratch.

"Stop this!" Bloom demanded, clawing at the ice. All that did was chip her nails and cause her more pain.

Icy laughed evilly at Bloom's futile attempts. "I wouldn't try scratching the ice, fairy. All you're going to do is chip a nail."

Bloom glared at the girl, before yanking at Icy's long white ponytail with her unfrozen hands. "I'm not letting you hurt her!"

"Oh, fairy's getting mad, is she?" Icy said, snickering. "Us hurting that Princess is the least of your worries, brat!"

She struck Bloom again in the chest and this time, she could feel the ice enveloping her upper body. Before she could scream one last time the ice-encased her body fully, freezing the girl into a giant icicle. A small puff of air escaped her frozen lips as Icy leered at her creation.

"Damn, I'm good," she said.

"Yeah, want to have us do more next time?" Darcy pouted; arms crossed. "I didn't even get to do anything, sister."

"Not my fault you decided to be useless today," Icy replied with a shrug.

Darcy was about to respond but was interrupted by Knut running back into the alleyway, trying to catch his breath. He met eyes with the angry witches who acted like they had been waiting for him for hours when only a few minutes passed.

"What took you so damn long?" Icy asked.

"I had… a little trouble… finding them your enchant- What happened to her?!" Knut exclaimed now noticing the frozen Bloom stuck to the wall like a fly caught in a sticky trap. He gulped nervously fearful the same would happen to him.

"I turned her into an ice sculpture, what else is new?" Icy said, nonchalantly. "Now did the Princess follow you or not?"

"Sh- she should be here any minu- aaaah!" Knut was cut off being sent flying back by an energy blast of light that knocked him to the ground with a loud thud.

"Excellent. They're here," Icy said, slightly annoyed. "Thanks for the protection, Knut."

Knut let out a small whimper.

"Bloom! Bloom! Bl-" Stella shouted as she and the other girls hurried around the corner before stopping when they saw what was before them - three witches, the ogre, and Bloom encased in ice on the wall with a permanent look of anger and pain on her face. Stella covered her mouth in shock. "Oh no."

"You like what we did to her?" Icy asked, staring at Bloom. "She's much quieter now."

"Let her go!" Stella demanded, clenching her fist as they started to emit light energy. "If you don't, I'll-"

"Stop right there," Icy said, putting a hand up. "Wouldn't want to come any closer, something bad might happen to her. Like smashing her body into tiny pieces."

"Don't you bloody touch her!" Stella said, stalking toward the girls.

"Oh, look, Princess, I'm touching her, I'm touching her," Stormy said, poking the frozen girl in her eye. "Hey, maybe we could turn her into a tiny figurine."

"Oh, we could make her into a keychain if we want," Darcy said, walking forward. "The possibilities are endless if you don't want to hear us out."

"Piss off, I don't want to hear a damn word you twits have to say," Stella said defiantly. She was ready to attack as light once again formed around her hands. "Now. Let. Her. Go!"

"Aw, you're trying to be threatening. That's adorable. Well since you want to act tough, why don't I make that ice thicker," Icy said in a disturbingly calm way. She raised her index finger. "It'll make it harder for you to try and free her and I think she'll have some breathing issues too. Your choice."

Stella tried to block out her words, but the thought of Bloom encased in more ice, unable to breathe, made her back away from the witches as the light around her hands dimmed.

"That's what I thought," Icy replied with a sneer. "As I was about to say, all you have to do is hand over your ring and I'll unfreeze her. You should make your decision fast too. I don't know how long she'll last on ice."

Stella stared at Bloom then down at her ring. Her hand began to shake as she contemplated giving it away to save Bloom, but her father had entrusted her with the ring because she would become Queen someday. At the same time, even though Bloom was cold towards her, she saw her as a friend. She made a promise yesterday, to protect Bloom no matter the costs, and sometimes, protecting your friends means you have to sacrifice. That thought made her decision as she began slipping the ring off her finger until Tecna stepped in front of her.

"All right, I think that's about enough," she said confidently. "Do y'all seriously think there was a chance she'd give up that easily? You think a lil' ice will stop us from kickin' your asses?"

Icy cackled. "Oh please, do y'all reckon a group of pathetic fairies will stop us?"

"We're standin' right here," Tecna said, widening her arms.

Icy rolled her eyes. "Come on, would you fairies just stop, this is a losing battle and you know it."

"Yeah, do you seriously think you can stop three senior-level witches? We have the upper hand here," Darcy agreed.

"This is just embarrassing," Stormy added.

"You're just scared we can defeat you," Stella said, triumphantly securing her ring. "If you hadn't noticed, your ogre is already on the ground, so that just leaves - " she said, pointing them out as she went along, "one, two, three witches to fight."

"Seems like a fair fight to me," Flora chimed in. "I don't mind taking down a few evildoers who froze my new roomie."

"And I've been fixin' fo' some action all day!" Tecna said, pounding her fist against her open hand.

"Yeah, we've got fairy power! You don't scare us," Musa cheered, jumping up and down.

Icy glared at the girls for a second before throwing a hand in the air, "Okay, so you want to do it the stupid way. Fine. I try to be nice and this is what it gets me." The ice witch shook her head and walked over to Bloom. She stared at her and then the angry Stella. "I can see why you're friends with her."

"That, and stupid begets stupid," Darcy added with a chuckle, making the other witches cackle with her.

Stella, who had already turned her ring into a staff, was seething with rage as the witches kept laughing at her while Bloom was turned into an icicle. She wanted to keep her promise of protecting Bloom and a group of 'senior witches' wasn't going to stop her.

"We got this, Stels," Musa said quietly, placing a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder.

Stella turned toward her roommates with a cocky smile on her face. The other girls nodded in response. In a flash, each girl transformed into their fairy forms.

Stella was wearing the same orange crop top, shorts, and knee-high boots. She turned to see the other girls and smiled.

Flora's outfit was a sparkling fuchsia and orchid one-piece off-the-shoulder mini dress with a pair of shorts underneath, and matching fingerless gloves and ankle boots. A green choker adorned with a pink four-petaled flower was wrapped around her neck. There was a small round pouch hung on a loop about the waist of her dress. Her wings were lime green.

Musa's outfit consisted of a sparkling red top with a translucent pink belt, a matching mini skirt with magenta shorts underneath, and knee-high wedge boots of the same color. A pair of purple headphones rested atop her head and purple ribbons were wrapped around her forearms. Her wings were a translucent bright blue.

Tecna's outfit was the most distinctive. It was a sparkling lavender full-body suit with powder blue sleeves, a thick purple whip wrapped around her waist, and matching ankle boots. Her hair was covered by a lavender helmet with a lime green tear-shaped brooch on it. Her wings were a dark purple.

"Wow, we look fabulous!" Stella complimented.

"I hate it when they do that!" Stormy exclaimed, rubbing her eyes. "Give a girl a warning before you do the light show!"

"You're just jealous you don't look as good as us," Musa said before sticking out her tongue at the witch.

Icy and her sisters groaned.

"I do not have time to deal with these idiots. Knut, get the ring!" Icy commanded.

"Gladly," Knut growled. "Princess, you're going to pay for the damage you've done to me."

"Um, how are we going to defeat him?" Flora questioned worriedly.

Before Stella could answer, Knut charged at the girls at full speed. The girls jumped out of the way of his attack, causing Knut to run past them and nearly stumble.

"I got this one. Static Sphere!" Tecna called out an attack. This caused a girded sphere to surround Knut. "That outta hold him off for a fine minute."

Her claim was proven wrong as Knut easily broke through the net without hesitation. Tecna's face turned pale.

"Quickly, does anyone know an ogre's weakness?" Musa asked, floating.

"Um, I did hear they sensitive to sound an' smells," Tecna answered, trying to evade the beast.

"Sound? Really? In that case…" Musa's bright grin returned to her face. She then let out a long, loud whistle.

The high-pitched whistle resounded across the alley. Sound shockwaves shot toward the massive ogre causing him to stop and claw at his ears in pain. Knowing that her attack worked, Musa quickly clapped her hands, causing the ogre to wince while trying to keep his ears plugged.

"Thanks, Musa. Now it's my turn," Flora said, taking a step forward. With a smooth practiced movement, she pulled yellow dust from her pouch before shouting, "Golden Pollen!"

She blew the dust towards the disgruntled ogre and a vine burst from the ground, grabbing the ogre and wrapping it around his waist. Flora calmly moved the vine with one hand before tossing the creature behind her and into a wall, bringing the entire foundation down upon it in the process. The poor ogre let a defeated whimper, giving up on getting back up. At this point, he just resigned to what happened.

"Please don't tell me that just happened," Icy mumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Let's hire the ogre, that'll be a smart idea," Stormy mocked. "Ugh, what a fucking moron and waste of money!"

"I don't want to, like, interrupt your towering fury, but could you please give us Bloom back," Flora asked, slightly unaware this was a terrible thing to ask.

Stella and Tecna shared the same facepalm.

"Give her back?" Icy said in a mocking tone. "How about you take this instead!" she conjured ice shards and hurled them at Flora. Stella and Musa quickly dodged the oncoming ice before they could be hit. Tecna quickly grabbed Flora and tossed them both to the ground.

"Flor'a," Tecna started. "Next time, think befo' you speak?"

"Right, sorry," Flora said, giggling nervously.

"You think just because you defeated that hulking moron we'll give up?" Icy questioned, stalking towards the girls ready to fire more shards at them. Her eyes filled with hot fury. "Now give me that ring!"

"Why do you want my bleeding ring so badly?" Stella asked, covering her ring hand. "It's not worth much and you tossers definitely can't accessorize with it."

"It's not fashion-based, you bimbo. Look, I'd rather not waste any more of my time with you idiots," Icy replied taking a step closer to the fairies. "Just give me the ring or else your friend over there is going to have some serious frostbite."

"You can't get away with this," Stella warned, pointing at the evil fiends. "I may not fully know who you wretched witches are or where you came from, but be warned my father's got an army that can take you down in five seconds flat. Now, who sent you?!"

"We're from Cloud Tower." Stormy unintentionally answered. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Oh… I thought you were spies for one of my father's enemies," Stella answered, taken aback by their honest answer. She recovered quickly. "Cloud Tower was my second guess. Thank you."

"Yeah, figures," Flora agreed with a nod.

"Yes, thank you, sister. Now they know what school we go to!" Icy scolded. "Dumbass!"

"Hey I am not a dumbass, we can just wipe it from their minds once we get the ring," Stormy questioned. "You told the ginger our names!"

"You did do that," Darcy agreed, standing on the sidelines.

"Because she won't remember anything! I froze her!" Icy reminded Stormy as the fairies watched on silently. "We don't need them knowing beca- forget it!" she turned towards her sisters who were unfazed by her outburst. "This is not the place to argue. I'll deal with both of you after we're done with the fair- ahhhhhh!" She was interrupted by a purple whip wrapping around her waist and sending a surge of electricity through her body causing her to collapse to the ground.

"Huh?" Darcy questioned, startled.

"There's mo' where that came from," Tecna laughed, drawing back the electrified belt whip to her side. "Y'all talk too much. Yo' ramble about kickin' our asses and then start yackin' away."

"You're right about one thing, we should be kicking your asses," Stormy said with a smirk. She held up her right hand as lightning formed around her fingers. "Lightning Flash!"

Stormy released the lightning from her hand, aiming it toward the girls. Flora tackled Stella down to the pavement before one of the bolts could hit her in the chest. Musa and Tecna managed to evade the bolts as well. Stormy cackled preparing to aim more lightning at them.

"I should probably be doing something because I really don't have time for this," Flora mumbled, pulling out a few seeds from her pouch and tossing them over at the witches. "Ivy Ropes!"

Vines quickly started sprouting from the ground at a quick speed and grabbed Icy, Stormy, and Darcy by their hips and hoisted them into the air. The vines became tighter as the witches struggled to break free.

"This can only hold them for a little while…" Flora said, struggling to keep multiple ropes in control. "Stella, get to Bloom. Try to unfreeze her and get us out of here now!"

"On it." The staff-wielding fairy nodded and sprung towards their frozen companion. Musa flew over as well. "Don't worry Bloom, I'll get you out of this ice prison… I hope."

Stella carefully placed her hand on the frozen girl's forehead and a bright glow started to emerge from her hand, attempting to melt the ice.

"Ooh," Musa said intrigued but jolted once Icy roared in anger causing giant chunks of ice to form from her hands towards Musa and Stella. The blue-haired girl was able to repel them back with a sonic wave. "Stella, you might want to hurry up."

"I can't do this in a few seconds. This ice is pretty bleeding thick!" Stella exclaimed angrily.

"Isn't there a way you can take her with us?" Musa questioned continuing to dodge the ice attacks.

"I can't… she's stuck here," Stella shakingly replied. "And I'm kind of under pressure with all the ice being thrown at me!"

"I won't be able to keep this going for long," Musa said, sending another sonic wave across some more ice chunks. "Okay, she's frozen to the wall, that's true, but if you try hard enough, you can take all of us out of here. You can do it, you're a Princess after all."

"You better do something. I can't hold them up much longer!" Flora said, straining to keep the vines in the air and moving them away from Stella and Musa.

Stella gulped nervously but spun her staff in the air before placing it firmly on the ground. She kept her hand placed on the girl's head before shouting. "Let's get out of here, ladies!"

The other girls raced over to her and in a bright flash of light, the group, along with Bloom, teleported away. The vines wilted away once Flora left causing the three witches to drop onto the pavement.

"Get off me, you idiots!" Icy grumbled, pushing the brunette and frizzy-haired girl off her back. "Shit, they got away."

"They took the ginger fairy, too?!" Stormy exclaimed once she saw their ice hostage was gone, only leaving an empty hole where Bloom was. "Dammit, that was our leverage!"

"Guess your ice wasn't strong enough for the Princess," Darcy said, laying on her back and staring at the sky, defeated.

Icy glared at her. "We were so close to taking that ring!" she exclaimed, infuriated. "Those damn fairies!"

Darcy stood up, rubbing her shoulders. "Sisters, I think we underestimated those fairies," she hypothesized. "They had to be first years, yet they had some experience."

"Oh, please, they were just lucky," Icy said, rolling her eyes. "They may have gotten away this time, but that mistake won't happen again," she cracked her neck to remove a crick before turning towards her sister. "Now let's get out of here before someone spots us."

...

After successfully escaping the witches, the girls landed in a clearing in the middle of the Enchanted Forest. Flora, Tecna, and Musa toppled over on the ground in dizzy exhaustion, de-transforming. Stella fell over as well since her hand was still stuck to the frozen girl's head.

She breathed a sigh of relief before realizing Bloom was still encased in ice, albeit this time not stuck to a wall. Gasping, she yanked her hand away from her head, wincing from the freezer burn left from it.

"A little help here," she begged, struggling to lift the heavy ice-covered girl off the ground.

Tecna staggered over and helped lift Bloom off the ground without trouble. The ice-covered girl was able to stand up although this was because her feet weren't on the ground, a solid block of ice kept her suspended.

Musa skipped over, seeming to get over the effect of the trip, and waved her hand across Bloom's face, but the girl's eyes didn't move. "Poor Bloom, we gotta get her out of this ice."

"Don't worry, I got this," Stella replied. "I need one of you to stand behind her though."

Musa eagerly ran behind Bloom's back and held out her arms. "Ready."

"Okay, time to use a little solar heating!" Stella said, placing her hand back on Bloom's forehead. A bright light began to form from Stella's hand and her eyes began to glow a bright yellow. It took a few minutes, but the ice slowly started to melt away.

"It's workin'!" Tecna said happily.

"Of course, it is," Stella confidently said, but she sighed quietly once she saw a spot of Bloom's fair skin appear on her forehead.

As the ice started to melt away from Bloom's face. Water droplets covered her as she started blinking her eyes and quickly shouted, "Let me g- wait, wait, wait what's happening?"

"I'm thawing you out," Stella replied. "Don't move, or this is going to take longer than it already is."

"Huh?" Bloom muttered, noticing the Princess was in front of her with glowing eyes. She tried looking around, but her neck was stuck. "What are you doing?"

"Unfreezing you, I just told you this," Stella repeated, shaking her head.

"Are your eyes gl- glowing?" Bloom questioned, squinting her own eyes.

"Yes, impressive I know," Stella said, flattered even though it wasn't a compliment. "As I said though, try not to move you were frozen for only minutes ago."

"I was frozen?" Bloom questioned groggily. As the ice melted around her chest, she noticed the cold situation she was in although she didn't remember why. "Oh right… something happened… all I remember is being with three people and then everything got really, really c- cold. Di-did s-something ha- happen?

"Yeah, an ice witch froze you to a wall. And obviously, it was because they wanted my ring. Bleeding witches," Stella explained, continuing to melt the ice. "I'll get you out in a pinch though."

"All right, but wh- where am I?" Bloom asked fretfully. Her teeth were chattering. "We're n- not st-still in that alley, are we? It- it was an alley… I th-think."

"Don't worry, you're away from those witches," Musa reassured. "Thanks to Stella, she was able to transport us away from them."

"Th-thank goodness," Bloom turned her head to see the blue-haired girl behind her. The girl eagerly waved at her. "W-why are you be-behind me?"

Musa shrugged.

"You'll find out in a minute," Stella answered. "Can you remember anything else about those witches?"

"Wh- whoa, wi- witches? Awesome," Bloom said, cold air escaping her lips. It just dawned on her that the girls who attacked her were witches, but her memory was still foggy.

Stella and the others sighed with a smile.

"Totally not awesome," Stella said grimly. "One of them froze you to a wall. Can you remember anything else?"

"N-no, I c-can't really remember th-that much except there were th-th- three pe-people… gi-girls I th- think th-they at-attacked me. Th-they wan- wanted s- something," Bloom stammered, shivering. "My he- head hurts."

"Reckon yer sufferin' some memory loss," Tecna guessed. "That's probably from bein' stuck in ice."

"That's gr- great! I can't remember wh- wh- who attacked me, I'm re-really c-cold an' kind of damp," Bloom lamented frowning.

"Let's not focus on that," Flora said, standing up. "Right now, we have to get you to the nurse- um… like where are we? Didn't you jump us to Alfea?"

"Um, sort of…" Stella hesitated, looking away from the girl. Even though her eyes were glowing, Bloom knew the Princess was shifting them nervously "We should be twenty minutes away from Alfea."

"Why didn't you gate us to the school?" Flora asked, exasperated.

"I tried, but it's kind of hard to focus on a location when ice is being hurled at you while you're attempting to free somebody from being trapped in bleeding ice!" Stella exclaimed, aggravated. "You try gating under pressure!"

"Yo- you're y- yelling right in my f- face," Bloom stammered, flinching from the loud noise hitting her sensitive ears.

"Sorry, love," Stella apologized. "Look, Flora, whenever I gate jump in a hurry, it affects my concentration and my landing can be a tad bit off."

Flora scratched her head. "That's kind of an understatement."

Stella groaned. "Can't you just be happy that we're close to Alfea at least?"

Bloom flinched again, squinting her eyes. She wanted to be under her warm covers instead of damp, in the middle of the woods and having an aggravated Princess with glowing yellow eyes yelling in her face.

"Eh, don't sweat it, Stel. We were able to get away from those psychos an' that's all that matters," Tecna assured the Princess, slapping her on the back. "Just deal with Bloom and get her out of that ice prison. It ain't healthy bein' covered in it fo' so long. My cousin spent five hours playing in the snow with no mittens and when that boy got back in the house, he had frostbite for a week."

"Th-thanks for the story, Te- Tecna, th-that makes me-me feel s- so much better," Bloom sarcastically stuttered as more ice melted down her knees.

Her hands were free, but they felt numb, her whole body felt so numb from the arctic temperature she was in that she could barely move. With the last piece of ice melting away at her feet, the dizzy girl swayed back and forth trying to keep her balance. Musa kept her arms held out ready to catch Bloom, but as the girl's eyes rolled backward, she collapsed forward onto Stella nearly toppling them both over.

"Oh, guess you didn't need to stand there, Musa," Stella said, holding onto Bloom. "You okay, Bloomie?"

"S-so c-cold," Bloom said, continuing to feverishly shake. "Th-th-th-thanks, for ca-catching me."

"You're welcome," Stella said, lowering Bloom to the ground. "Here, sit down for a minute."

"Sh-shouldn't we get back to campus?" the shivering girl asked.

"Shush, just sit here and relax," Stella hushed, rubbing her back. "We're not in that much of a hurry, right girls?"

"Yeah, we good," Tecna said with a smile. She elbowed Flora in the hip who impatiently had her arms crossed.

"Ow, uh, yeah, fine. It's not like we're missing curfew or anything- ow!" Flora said, before being elbowed in the hip again by Tecna. "What? I was just stating the obvious. She can still relax."

"Say it betta next time," Tecna scolded.

"St- Stella, th- those girls… th- they wanted your ring, they wanted me to help them," Bloom paused, still shivering. "I f- fought back; g- guess I c- couldn't h-hold th- them off f- for long."

"Aww, you did that for me," Stella said, smiling and rubbing Bloom's back. "You're so brill, but what happened is over with. What's important is that we're all safe and my ring is safe."

"That's gr-great, but I'm st- still f-freezing," Bloom said. "I've never been th- this cold before."

Right now, Bloom was missing the beach vacation after all, the worse it got in California in terms of cold weather was a light flurry, not full-on ice on your body.

Flora calmly walked over to Bloom and squatted down next to her and started rubbing her back. "My warm energy will heat up your body, no worries, my mom taught me this."

Flora placed the chilly girl's head on her chest while humming softly. The other girls stared at her oddly as Bloom's eyes shifted nervously.

"This isn't working, but I do feel uncomfortable now," Bloom said, still shivering. "C-can I ha-have a cu-cup of coffee? C- coffee's warm."

"A brisk walk through the forest should help warm you up," Musa said, optimistically. "Guys, we have to keep her as warm as possible until we get her to the nurse."

"Then we probably shouldn't be sittin' here," Tecna mentioned. "Stella, yo' think you can gate us closer to Alfea?"

"Afraid not," Stella answered. "Gate jumping takes a lot out of me. I need a couple… hours at least if I want to do this again," she explained. "If I try again, we'll most likely end up farther away from the school."

Flora placed her hand on Bloom's head. "If that's the case, then we need to move fast."

"I don't th-think I can w- w- walk," Bloom admitted. "My legs are s-s-so c-cold."

"I got this," Tecna smiled. She walked to Bloom, reached underneath her legs, and casually lifted her up. Her eyes widened as she kept shaking. "I carry lotsa animals and equipment back home," Tecna simply said. "I reckon you're actually lighter than I figured you'd be."

"Gee, th-thanks."

"You're colder than a pole in the middle of December."

"I'm aware," Bloom replied dryly.

"Yo' know this reminds me of the time my cousin Jeffery was messin' with the pigs back at my family's ranch. That boy sure was dumber than a sack of shit, he was," Tecna started walking down the long path towards the school and the others followed suit. "It all started on a hot Monday mornin'."

"I really don't need to hear this story," Bloom said.

"Well, you're gonna listen because this is a long walk back to school, fyrecracker," Tecna said, adjusting the girl's weight under her arms. "Now as I was sayin'."

Bloom groaned as the other girls resisted the urge to start laughing. This was going to be the longest walk of her life.

...

The sun had already set when the five girls finally arrived at the Alfea courtyard. The weakened Bloom was still being carried by Tecna. Fortunately, nobody seemed to be outside.

"The coast is clear," Stella whispered slowly walking across the courtyard.

"Halt!" A voice commanded from behind. Stella spoke too soon.

The girls froze in fear at the booming voice, too afraid to turn around.

"It's Griselda, isn't it?" Stella asked although she already knew the answer. The group slowly turned around and found a furious deputy headmistress, with Faragonda behind, marching towards them. They all shared the same disappointed sigh.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" the deputy asked, her voice sounding both worried and frustrated. "Where have you been?"

Faragonda, who was walking slowly, met up with her deputy, she asked. "Why hello ladies, lovely night, isn't it?"

"Faragonda, you're ruining my moment," Griselda said. "It's obvious they're arriving on campus way past curfew."

"I'm aware, but it's always nice to greet people," Faragonda said. "And you girls have clearly had a rough night."

"Sup, Faragonda," Bloom waved.

Faragonda waved back with a smile.

Griselda placed a hand on her forehead before demanding, "I want an explanation this instant!"

"Funny story-" Stella started before being cut off by Griselda.

"I've heard enough from you for one day," Griselda grumbled, putting her finger up. "One of you other girls, explain, now. Starting with the girl carrying Miss. Mason. Firstly, why you are carrying Bloom in the first place?"

"Um dawgone it… well you see Ms. Griselda…" Tecna began. "Bloom was attacked by witches from Cloud Tower. I reckon they wanted to take Stella's ring, so they used her as bait and trapped her in ice, so we had to save her."

"Yep, so we had to use our magic to stop them. Bloom could've gotten severely hurt from being trapped in ice if we didn't. You understand, right?" Stella said, sincerely.

"I guess," the deputy said, her expression darkening. "Did you get their names?"

The girls shook their heads. Griselda narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Miss. Mason, you were the victim of this attack, do you recall anything that happened?"

"I th- th- think they said their names to me bu-but I don't remember who they were," Bloom said. "It's all a bl-blur."

"Yeah, she was frozen for a long time, so she forgot a lot of what happened," Musa explained. "If it wasn't for Princess Stella she'd still be trapped there and those witches would've hurt us too."

Stella patted the blue-haired girl on the back, causing her to beam with pride.

"That story sounds good to me," Faragonda said with a nod.

"I guess," Griselda said, mulling over the situation. "Very well, then, Faragonda and I will deal with this accordingly."

"With tea and cookies, of course," Faragonda said eagerly.

Griselda rubbed a temple on her forehead. "Yes. For right now, take Miss. Mason to the nurse and then go right to bed." With that finished, the deputy marched off in a huff.

"Ta-ta ladies," Faragonda said with a polite wave before following behind her angry friend. "Jeanie, wait up."

"Stop calling me that!" Griselda exclaimed.

"You love it," Faragonda giggled.

Stella smiled. "That was easy."

"Shouldn't we have told her about the ogre?" Musa asked, leaning to the girl's side.

Stella covered Musa's mouth. "Musa, love, we already got off the hook tonight. We can tell her about the rest of that hogwash tomorrow," she explained. "For now, let us proceed to the nurse's office and then relax for the rest of the night."

"Sounds good to me," Tecna agreed with a sigh as they made the long walk to the nurse's office.

...

"You're from where ?" Flora asked Bloom, who was resting in one of the nurse's beds.

"Earth," Bloom replied, looking out the window. "It's a planet that's not in this realm. That's where I met Stella."

Her body tensed as she expected another set of horrified reactions like the ones, she got from Faragonda and Griselda. Instead, the three girls simply stared at her silently with the same plain expression.

"Really?" Tecna said, slouching on a chair. "I've read about that place befo', but to my memory, there ain't no magic there."

"She's right. They all disappeared centuries ago," Musa confirmed, twirling her hair. "I read somewhere that Earth was a place where magi and non-magi lived together until an evil group attacked the non-magi and then the magi they saw as inferior or the ones who protected the magi. Then a war happened with a bunch of magic fighting and stuff. When the war ended, both non-magi and magi agreed to separate. The non-magi kept earth and the magi there came back here."

"Basically, and they erased earthlings' memories and made them think it was make-believe to not cause another war," Bloom replied before taking a long sip from her incredibly chocolatey-flavored coffee. "You guys aren't freaking out about this?"

"Why would we?" Musa asked with a shrug. "Being from a planet outside the Magix realm is awesome!"

Tecna and Flora nodded in agreement.

"Huh, well this is refreshing," Bloom said adjusting the small blanket on her body to keep her warm.

"I do have to ask if you're from Earth, how do you have powers then?" Musa asked.

Now it was time for the girls to stare at Bloom confused.

Bloom groaned. "I don't know," she answered. "All I know is she was being attacked and I was able to make a firewall to stop these imp things from killing us both. And I can't even do that anymore!"

"You're just a beginner, Bloom," Stella reassured the girl, putting a hand on her shoulder. "That's why I wanted you to attend Alfea."

"I thought you wanted me to come because you were afraid to be alone," Bloom joked, gaining a playful shove from her bestie.

"Shut up," Stella giggled. "You're all right, but let's not get cocky. You should be thanking me for bringing you here. In fact, if it wasn't for me, we all wouldn't have met."

"And fought an ogre," Flora added.

"Along with takin' down some witches," Tecna also added.

"Yeah, and we were awesome at it!" Musa chirped.

"At least you got to use yours," Bloom said, pouting. "And I could've done without being frozen solid and barely remembering anything."

"Other than that; pretty good day, right?" Stella asked, a small twinkle of hope in her eyes.

Bloom shrugged placing the coffee mug on the adjoining table near the bed. "Yeah, I guess."

Stella giggled then wrapped her arms around her bestie to hug her. "I'm honestly just glad you're all right, bestie."

"You have three seconds to let go of me," Bloom said, struggling to breathe. The Princess quickly released her tight grip around the girl. "And knock it off with the bestie talk."

"Not gonna happen, bestie," Stella teased.

Bloom rolled her eyes. "Anyway Stella, you have to tell me, do you have any idea why those witches want your ring so much?"

"I keep telling you I don't know." Stella sighed. "It can gate people and enhance my magic, but lots of artifacts can do that. I don't see why they want mine."

"Accordin' to my research," Tecna said, checking for information on her watch, "It's also a treasure to Solaria, so they might want it for ransom."

Musa looked on thoughtfully. "If that's true, then they're risking a lot by doing so. Stealing a royal artifact can have them face some serious imprisonment time. You sure there isn't anything special about it?"

"If there is, I don't know about it," Stella answered, but when she was met with questionable stares, she added, "What? My father never told me and I only got the ring two years ago."

"Maybe he's waitin' 'til yer powerful enough to control it fully," Tecna suggested.

"He did entrust me with this ring and made it very clear, and these are his words," Stella cleared her throat. "'Never, ever bloody lose that ring, or I will be very disappointed and you don't like me when I'm disappointed.' and I was like 'I know father, but you can't be disappointed in me. I'm your perfect daughter,' and then he said, 'Don't you say facts right now, I mean what I said.' and the conversation ended there." she recounted putting on a deep thick British accent when imitating her father's voice. The other girls stared at her unsure of what to say before Bloom chuckled.

"I like your father," she said.

"He's a pleasant man I'll be honest," Stella replied with a boastful smile. "Enough about that though, I'd rather not focus on that tonight. I just want to hang out with Bloom and keep her company," Stella wrapped her arms around the girl who gave her a soft smile. "She needs me."

"You're touching me again," Bloom said, pushing the Princess back. "I'm good. Well, I'm feeling warmer, so that's a start." She brought the blanket up to her shoulders. "Anyways, I thought I should tell you all this in case you guys started asking questions. That way we get a few obstacles out of the way."

"We really appreciate that," Musa said.

Flora nodded.

"Just don't get yo'self kidnapped again," Tecna said, punching the girl lightly on the arm. "All that fightin' took a lot outta me."

The other girls laughed before they spent some more time with Bloom and asked her many questions about Earth and life there. Bloom answered every question she could thoroughly enough until the nurse told the rest of the girls to leave so she could rest.

"One hug before I depart?" Stella asked after the other girls left.

What is with this girl and hugging? The redhead wondered in her head.

"How about a fist bump?" Bloom replied, holding up her fist. When the Princess stared at her in confusion, the redhead laughed. "Just bump your fist against mine. You better hurry. This offer is only valid for tonight."

Stella smiled. "Fist bump, it is," The Princess made a fist and held it close to the redheads, knuckle to knuckle, but she wasn't sure what to do next. Bloom laughed again, before finishing off the fist bump and then pulling back.

"There you go, Princess," Bloom said, relaxing in the bed, "Now leave. I must get my beauty rest."

Stella waved with a smile before leaving the room. Bloom sighed, staring at the ceiling. It had been quite an eventful day for her, although that didn't feel like too much of a good thing.

...

"Cookie?" Faragonda offered, placing a plate of cookies in front of Griselda's face.

Griselda stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "I told you about my disdain for sweets."

"Oh, I'll get you someday, Jeanie," Faragonda cheerfully said, placing the plate down on her desk. "I was able to contact her and she promised to look into it, but you never know with her. She said everyone was checked in before curfew and none of the girls remember the witches' names. It'll be hard to pinpoint who they were." She took a sip of her tea. "The only thing we have to go on is that there was a reported commotion in Magix City but everyone involved was long gone when the authorities arrived."

Griselda sighed, scratching her head. "Then there's nothing we can do for now. I will be questioning each one of them tomorrow, though."

"That's all we can do," Faragonda said. "It's funny, the semester has barely even begun, and we already have a commotion on our hands."

"Funny? More like exasperating," Griselda mumbled. "There is always something. We should come up with a punishment for them breaking the rules, something slimy."

"Jeanie, please, they've been through enough today and just need to rest. They must be exhausted after that fight. At least they didn't blow up another lab." The headmistress chuckled. "That did produce an interesting shade of pink."

"I'm glad you see it that way," Griselda mumbled, sipping her tea. "This is going to be a long semester."

...

End

Okay, great news, expect Chapter 4: Save the First Dance next week because I wrote a couple of these ahead of time! I may be only one woman, but writing is fun sometimes and this was fun to do!

Seriously though, Chapter 4 will be coming out and be posted for your reading pleasure. So just hang in there and wait for me to post it. I sure hope you guys like this story of mine because this is really freaking fun writing this!