The Intake: a period of several days for new and old students to arrive and familiarise themselves with the campus, and get caught up before classes start, so they don't spend the first few classes trying to swap summer-break gossip. It also serves for school clubs to do their 'come join us' pitches, or get set up for the year. Classes start the day after the Welcome Back Party.

- Alfea College for Fairies: An Introductory Pamphlet

A month after Stella and Bloom's unorthodox meeting, Bloom stared down at her suitcase.

This was it. It was time to become an adult in the weirdest way possible: by literally traveling to another planet to learn about magic.

She was worried. Everyone else had eighteen years of magical experience on her, and she hadn't really been away from her parents for longer than a week. She had virtually no experience in the real world - hell, she didn't even have a credit card! How was she supposed to function on Magix?

Fighting this sudden surge of anxiety, she closed her suitcase and poked her head into Stella's room, eyes widening as she saw Stella's version of packing: clothes were flying into her luggage haphazardly, with no organization whatsoever. She was glad her mom was out getting groceries, or she might've had a heart attack at Stella's complete lack of discipline.

Stella caught her expression and smiled sheepishly. "Hey, Bloom," she said, blushing. "I've never had a good grasp on household charms, to be honest. That's more Mom's style."

Bloom shook her head fondly; after a month, Bloom was closer with Stella than she was with any other person in Gardenia, even more than Selina. "Didn't you travel anywhere as a royal?"

Stella snorted. "The heir to the Solarian throne always has to stay inside the castle," she said, and didn't explain why. From her face, Bloom wasn't sure she wanted to know.

It was then that Bloom heard the garage door open, and her anxiety returned with full force. Stella was always good at distracting her, but apparently not good enough. Mike and Vanessa had talked Stella into letting them go to Alfea ages ago, and they'd already packed. Now that they were here, it was time to go.

Her parents retrieved their suitcases and everyone stood uncertainly in the middle of the living room, looking at each other. This is it, Bloom repeated to herself.

Stella threw her ring into the air and they all watched as it transformed into a staff, blurring slightly. "Anyone forget anything?"

At the shakes of the Peters' heads, Stella hefted her staff high above her head, and suddenly the air swelled with power; as Stella had instructed her, she grabbed hold of both of her parents, who were carrying her luggage because of this requirement. The magic still swirled in the air, waiting to be released. Bloom reached out with her own magic - something that had taken her weeks to master - and touched it, a jumble of nerves and excitement. Later, Bloom would mark this moment as crossing the threshold into adulthood.

"Magix!" Stella called, voice distant and close at the same time, and the magic Bloom had tentatively been interacting with (it felt like sunlight) grabbed a hold of her and whisked her away.

"Bloom? Bloom? You can open your eyes now."

Stella, Bloom identified the voice, and blinked, shaking her head. The trip had been pretty comfortable - just a flash of warmth - but Stella had warned her to not open her eyes until she gave the okay. Apparently, actually seeing the inside of a wormhole was not advised.

"I'm fine," said Bloom unnecessarily, getting up. Almost immediately, she could notice a difference. The air in Magix was sort of sweet-smelling and completely devoid of any pollution, something that made her smile; she also felt heavy, because Magix's diameter was about one and a half times bigger than that of Earth's. It was a struggle to get up.

"Bloom, I told you to drink the gravity-adjusting potion," said Stella, sounding vaguely disapproving.

Bloom shrugged, still feeling strange and lethargic. It seemed that her parents had remembered, though, as they got up with no problem and looked around with wonder on their faces. Bloom, unused to seeing this childlike expression on them, dragged her eyes up from the ground and stared.

Magix had white buildings that contrasted with green plants everywhere. It looked a lot like the concept art for eco cities that Bloom had come across when she'd researched global warming for a project. Her eyes went wide as she took it in; there were impossible feats of architecture held together only by magic, people levitating from building to building and specific balcony entrance points; it was at turns amazing and overwhelming. This is another world, thought Bloom, the realization hitting her suddenly, and she felt foolish for thinking it would be anything like Earth, especially with some of the outrageous hair, eye, and skin colors she spotted, even people completely nonhuman.

"We're at the teleportation point," Stella was explaining to her much-less-sluggish parents, "just beyond the shields. It wouldn't be safe letting people teleport right inside the school, even if we're living in a time of peace."

"It does seem awfully quiet for so near a big city," said Mike, shaking off his awe and looking at Stella expectantly.

Stella laughed airily. "Well, Red Fountain's a military school, no one would dare anger the CT residents, and us fairies can hold our own in a fight, too," she said. "No one's insane enough to seriously attack Magix without serious backup, and it hasn't made enemies with any of the other planets. Anyway, we should probably get you fully enrolled." She linked their arms and led them to the entrance of the grand (and pink-tinted) school.

Eldora frowned as she sensed a great disturbance on the magical plane. That couldn't in Gardenia - the only other mage beside Selina and herself was…

Bloom.

Suddenly panicked, she felt for the energy's source and, sure enough, it was centered on Bloom's house. The last she'd heard of the Peterses was that Bloom was going to some fancy college, and while Eldora had initially been worried, she'd learned an associate of hers was stationed there.

The Peterses did not know Eldora; in fact, she was willing to bet no one in the town did, perhaps the entire world save for a few. She took a post-it from her car and scribbled down a note. She'd passed off the rumors of Bloom's new friend and the strange circumstances that surrounded it as just that - rumors - but now she cursed herself for her shortsightedness.

Mr. and Mrs. Peters,

If anything unusual happens at your house, contact me. I am a special agent, you could say, and I deal with in these things.

The rest of the note was her contact information.

In the end, no one knew where Bloom had come from. The only planet that had predominantly redheads was Domino, which had been wiped out centuries ago in a mass genocide.

Meanwhile, Faragonda frowned. Bloom's power was immense; in fact, she had not felt power like this for many, many years… in fact, she'd not felt power like this since Marion. Of course, they'd already established that Bloom's features predominantly resembled that of a Dominian, and she had a fire source, which was another characteristic of Dominians… but it couldn't be. Flashes of that horrible battle, of that last flash of light she'd seen from her spaceship, of the ghostly form of dear Daphne, made into a ghost so young, swirled around in her mind.

The memories rarely made an appearance, but when they did, they were horrible.

No, Faragonda comforted herself; this was just her searching for remnants of her friends in anything she could.

Bloom could not possibly hold the Great Power. After all, she was an Earthian. What would the Great Power be doing on Earth?

"The Trix are legendary," Stella was telling Bloom. "They got through the shields on the second month of their first year."

Bloom's eyes were huge. She knew Stella was trying to distract her from the fact that she could only stay as long as she could transform by the end of the first semester, but it was still turning around in her mind. How was she ever going to manage that? The knowledge that it usually came to fairies once they hit their teens only stung. Of course, it was Griselda who'd added this clause. Bloom wasn't looking forward to having her classes. At least Stella had vouched for her, and when the Fairy of Celestial Lights, the most powerful student in possibly the entire dimension, called someone powerful, you listened.

The goodbyes with her parents had been bittersweet, and she tried not to think about them.

"On the plus side, our dorm has the best views of the grounds," Stella was saying when Bloom tuned back in. they turned a corner, and there it was: the Wings Dormitory.

The Wings Dormitory:

Miss Willow Gaimonos of Lynphea, Fairy of Plants

Crown Princess Stella Iah Aequinoctium Domus-Solina, Fairy of Celestial Lights

Miss Kazuko Kikitan of Melody, Fairy of Music

Miss Bloom Peters of Earth, Title Yet to Be Decided

Lady Titania Xeneterian of Zenith, Fairy of Technology

"Oh, boy," Stella sniffed. "We have a Zenithian Lady. That means she's going to be a stuck-up genius."

"Willow or Kazuko or I might assume the same about you, Stella," Bloom pointed out. She shrugged as Bloom pushed the door open.

The dorm was beautiful.

Light filtered in through the huge glass doors leading to the balcony in the common space, which was equipped with a kitchenette, coffee table, sofas, and a carpet. A beautiful vase of flowers sat on the table, ones which Bloom didn't recognize. The room was decorated in shades of blue, white, and pink. "I told you it was the best dorm in the castle," Stella said smugly when she spied Bloom's awed look. "Ooh, I have a room to myself!"

"Are you kidding?" Bloom exclaimed. "I bet the dorms aren't this good at Harvard!"

"You must be the Earth girl," said a new voice, poking her head out of the room Bloom was sharing with Willow.

Willow was short, about Stella's height, and plump with a sweet face framed by bangs and an open expression. Her sclera was green at the edges, and her dark hair quickly faded to a lighter shade at the tips. Her skin was light brown, tinged green at the fingers, cheeks, and knees, and she had a pretty smile. "That's me," Bloom said awkwardly, sticking out her hand. "I'm Bloom, but you already knew that."

She curtsied. "I'm Willow, but you also already knew that." A smile played across her features

"And I'm Kaz!" someone said loudly, barging into the room and almost bowling Stella over. "Sorry," she said, not sounding very sorry.

'Kaz' had slanted brown eyes and was even shorter than Stella and Willow - even smaller than Bloom had been in middle school. Her dark hair, sort of blue, was piled in two buns on her head and when she smiled, Bloom tried not to stare at her sharp teeth. Her skin was golden and she was wearing a Swords and Poppies t-shirt, which Stella had gushed about as all the rage as they'd walked to the dorm.

She was the only one in the room without pointed ears.

"You do not appear to feel genuine remorse," a cool voice noted, and their last roommate - Titania - stepped into the room, tall and with a shock of pink hair. Her face was completely unreadable as she deposited her suitcase in the room she shared with Kazuko.

She shrugged.

"Um, you guys seem to already know that I'm from Earth-" Bloom began.

Willow waved a hand. "Yeah, we got the notification," she said. "They're keeping it under wraps but people might start asking questions if you act too ignorant. We'll brush any insults off but there are a lot of powerful people here who could seriously screw you up."

Bloom smiled gratefully. "Thanks."

"By the way," Kazuko said, sounding curious, "what happened? We only heard that you guys were attacked, which resulted in your powers surfacing."

"We should go out to eat," said Titania. At their blank looks, she shrugged. "What? I have read that eating over food is a good way of forming emotional bonds. I do not want to go the year without knowing the people I am living with."

The bus was both self-driving and solar powered, something that made Bloom smile as they all settled into their seats. No one paid them much attention except for Stella - "Is that the Solarian Heir?" - but even that wasn't that much of an issue, since Alfea had a lot of royalty and other important people attending.

"So, about the attack?" Kaz asked.

"We need to tell them," said Stella. "If we get attacked again - not that it'll happen, I always have protection - they could be targets."

One long story later, Kaz, Willow, and Titania were sitting, wide-eyed. Well, not so much Titania, who seemed incapable of emotion, but her hand was twitching. "We should tell you about Magix," she concluded. "If whoever sent the troll after you wants to finish you guys off, they will probably go after people who do not seem to know much about our dimension as opposed to knowledgeable people."

Bloom nodded. "Okay."

"I'm, as you already know, the future Queen of Solaria," said Stella. "Solaria has two suns and a lot of moons, and it's very rich. It's mostly hot and dry desert, and most of the magic users who hail from there have titles relating to the sun, moon, or stars. I have all three, making me the Fairy of Celestial Lights."

"That's another thing," Bloom interrupted. "On the pamphlet with all of our names, it said you all were the fairies of blank. What does that mean?"

"Basically just magic you're more attuned to," said Willow. "From your story, you might be a fire fairy, since that was your go-to when you were panicking."

"I suppose," said Bloom, who had an unhealthy fascination with flames when she was younger. She'd constantly been going to stick her hands in them and it had taken her parents a worrying amount of time to teach her that it was not, in fact, okay.

"I'm from Lynphea," Willow continued. "It's only slightly less bigger than Solaria and its land is almost completely covered with greenery. Most magic users from there have titles relating to nature. It's pretty temperate."

"Melody is part of the Harmonic Nebula. Other planets include Harmony, Adagio, Sonata, Aria… well, you get it," Kaz said at Bloom's bemused look. "Melody's a little more cold than warm, but some areas approach tropical. Most magic users from there have titles relating to sound. My dad" - and Bloom noticed a pained look on her face - "is from Zhen, which has a big civil war going on-"

"But the White Horse somehow got its hands on Zhenese Argali meat," Stella interrupted, gushing. "It's to die for, and I don't know how they did it, but you're going to love it!"

"Thank you, Stella," said Kaz, annoyed.

"Zenith is freezing," said Titania bluntly. "Its magic users most have sources relating to STEM, I believe your planet calls it." She said no more on the matter. "By the way, Bloom doesn't have any Astrals, does she? How's she going to pay for Argali meat, of all things?"

"That's not a problem," said Stella, grinning. "Bloom, I am now officially your fairy godmother."

Bloom could feel her face scrunching. "I dunno, Stella. I could get a job to pay you back!"

Willow shook her head. "Hon, you already don't know anything about magic. You're not going to have time to catch up if you get an after-school job, too." She sounded so motherly Bloom was momentarily reminded of Vanessa, and she almost cried.

"Here's what you should do," said Kaz, surprising everyone who'd thought she hadn't been paying attention. "You agree and let Stella treat you, and then you can pay her back after you graduate and you get a job."

"What do fairies do for jobs anyway?"

Titania looked curious. "What do Earthians do for jobs? I can't imagine it would be much different. Some people research new transformations, some people become Guardian Fairies, who are part of the elite protectors of their planet, et cetera. The only difference is people whose magics are tailored to specific things are more sought after. There was a big social revolution by people without enough magic to cast spells, but other than that, there's nothing different."

Bloom raised an eyebrow. "'People without enough magic'? I thought there were people with and people without."

Titania scoffed at the idea. "Everyone has a little bit of magic in them," she said. "Even Earthians. Maybe someone's really good at making jam, or always knows how to brighten your day, or has a super green thumb. That's their inner magic. If their atmosphere was inundated with magic like ours is, some of them would manifest."

As they got off the bus and made their way to the White Horse, right on the shore of Roccaluce Bay, Stella changed the subject. "Back to more important things: the ball!"

"The ball?" Bloom asked, alarmed.

Kaz snorted at her expression. "Word."

"Oh, yes!" Stella gushed, taking her hands and spinning her around as they settled down. "The Welcome Back Party! And the Red Fountain boys are going to be there!"

"What about the Cloud Tower girls?" asked Bloom, thinking their exclusion was supremely unfair.

"They used to come, but they pulled too many pranks," she said. "Enough about them. Girl, we need to get you a dress!"

"We should come back tomorrow," Kaz interjected, looking like she really, really didn't want to stop for dress shopping this time in the evening. "It's getting late."

"A logical idea," Titania agreed. "By the way, Bloom, if you need any help with your magic, we're all here."

The unexpected offer from the girl who looked like she couldn't care about anything made her smile in the face of her panic. "I need to get my Magic Winx by the end of the month," she admitted. "I haven't even deliberately cast a spell yet - one that wasn't in the heat of the moment."

"We'll help," said Willow, like she was making a pledge.

"Totally," Musa said.

"I think this is the start of a wonderful friendship," Stella announced gleefully, looking around at them.

They made an odd group, Bloom would reflect many years later, but there in that high-class restaurant, eating things her younger self hadn't known the names of while the sun was setting, it was most certainly the start of something wonderful.