Issue 123: The Spell of Time

The Spell of Time is the one-hundred and twenty-third issue of the Winx Club Comic Series.

Synopsis
Fed up with the Winx constantly hampering their plans, The Trix decide to make another bold move by traveling into the past before each of the Winx Club's founding members had met. There, they plan to split them apart to make it so the girls never met, which would cause the Winx Club to never exist or rise against them. Once the Winx begin to suffer the effects of the Trix's tampering, they are sent back into the past by Faragonda to correct everything before the future is permanently altered.

Plot
The story opens up with the Trix hovering over Alfea as Icy expresses her overwhelming hatred for the school. Stormy wonders why Icy brought them to the source of their hatred as she expresses her own distaste for the school's colors and the pampered fairies that attend it. Her hate quickly consumes her as she begins to count over the ways she could blow the school away, but Icy grabs Stormy's hand full of lightning before she can do anything and insists that it would be a pointless effort as the Winx would just fight them and win out. Darcy is shocked that Icy of all people would think that they are inferior to the Winx and calls her out on it, but Icy clarifies that the Winx's source of strength is their friendship. She also points out that their friendship can also be used as a weakness and comes up with a plan to use it against them. Stormy makes a smart remark about Icy and her "brilliant plans" but Icy quickly shuts her down and explains that the only reason they are at Alfea is because she has found a way to dissolve the Winx Club for good with a time spell. Stormy is quick to pointing out the risks in using a forbidden spell and Icy confirms that she is aware of them. She then goes on to coax her sisters into working with her as they will be traveling back in time to before the members of the Winx Club had met each other: their first days at Alfea. Darcy catches on to Icy's train of thought as she realizes that the Winx Club would never exist if the girls never become friends.

Soon after, in Tecna and Musa's room, Tecna comes rushing in after hearing Musa in what sounds like trouble and asks her what happened. Musa explains that her guitar disappeared while she was composing a melody in honor of the Winx Club's anniversary and Tecna quickly takes notice of how all of Musa's possessions have disappeared! As Musa wonders where all her things could have gone, Tecna proposes that they get help from Bloom and the others to see if it was a joke from a jealous fairy or something else, however, when they step outside of their shared dorm, they are slammed with vines and bugs coming from Stella's room!

Tecna asks Stella of what is going on as Stella dashes out of her room claiming that it suddenly turned into a jungle. Stella then stomps over to Flora and demands to know if she is pulling a prank on her, but Flora claims that while she would have liked to touch up Stella's room with more flowers, she was not the one who turned her room into a jungle. Just then, Kiko leaps out of Bloom and Flora's room screaming and hides in the corner of the room near Stella's door. Bloom asks what Kiko could be scared of and goes in to check her room with Stella, only to find a baby dragon sleeping in a nest where Kiko's bed should be!

The dragon wakes up from the sound of Stella and Bloom's screams and begins to breathe fire at them in a rage. The two fairies quickly escape the burning room and head for Faragonda's office to tell her what is going on.

And so, in Faragonda's office, Headmistress Faragonda explains to the Winx that their rooms, as well as the rest of the school, are being faced with strange magical alterations. When asked how all of this is possible, Faragonda reveals that all of the changes are related to the Winx Club as everything is returning to how it was before they formed the group. Back to when they hardly knew each other; when the Winx Club did not exist! Aisha finds herself agreeing with Faragonda's statements as none of the changes have affected her as she had not arrived to Alfea when the Winx Club was formed.

Stella then asks Faragonda if there is a possible way to remedy all of this and Faragonda has the girls follow her into a room to give them the Stone of Memories to help them travel back in time to find who or what is behind the strange alterations. Before they take the Stone, Faragonda warns the Winx not to interact directly with their past selves and explains that, if they do so, the consequences would be unpredictable and dangerous, even to the point of breaking the natural flow of time. With all of this in mind, Bloom grabs hold of the Stone of Memories and the Winx are thrust into the past as Faragonda wishes them luck.

Soon enough, the six fairies find themselves just outside the school gates of Alfea and conclude that their travel into the past was successful. Stella wonders if they really are in the past, though, as the school's appearance has not changed, but all of her doubts are quickly cast aside once Tecna points out their past selves just behind them!

Bloom gets a little embarrassed by seeing her past self and how lost she was and begins to get a little nostalgic over how much time has passed since then. Stella then tells Bloom that she also remembers this day vividly, confessing that she was actually devastated by her expulsion the year before and even considered giving up her dreams of becoming a Guardian Fairy, but Bloom somehow found the right words to comfort her and ease her of those worries. Stella then starts wondering if she can show her past self of how much she got to learn at Alfea, but Bloom stops Stella in her tracks, reminding her of Faragonda's warning. Musa points out that while they cannot interact with their past selves, they can still interact with each other's past selves to prevent from looking suspicious, and so Bloom tasks Musa, Stella, Tecna and Flora with mingling amongst the fairies around the main gate while she and Aisha investigate by using the secondary entrance.

Shortly after the Winx split up, Faragonda, Palladium, Wizgiz and Griselda arrive at the main gate and introduce themselves to the incoming freshmen. During Faragonda's introductory speech, Icy has Darcy disguise the three of them as fairy freshmen so that they can traverse the school without looking suspicious. Shortly after disguising themselves, Darcy notices the younger Musa and Tecna interacting.

It turns out that Tecna had approached Musa, amazed by her ability to play any instrument she wants, and Musa tries to ease Tecna's excitement by claiming that it is normal for her since she hails from Melody, a realm of music. Tecna then asks if Musa could play something from her favorite genre, techno-pop, and Musa happily obliges by conjuring up her guitar. As she plays, Tecna becomes more and more impressed, but the two of them are quickly interrupted by Icy claiming that Musa has no talent, further insisting that she should give up her dreams of becoming a Guardian Fairy if that is all she can do. Darcy and Stormy surround Tecna, laughing at Icy's comments, and the three witches are successful in causing Musa to leave the school.

Meanwhile, somewhere else outside of the main entrance, Stella catches sight of Professor Wizgiz and Tecna advises for her to try and not get noticed. Unfortunately, it does not work as Wizgiz recognizes Stella immediately and greets her. Stella then decides that this would be the best time to show Wizgiz what she can do as she is no longer the naive and inexperienced fairy she once was. Flora tries to get Stella to fall back on her plan but Stella has gotten herself too riled up and tries to transform herself into a gigantic creature. Sadly, Stella turns herself into a monkey by accident as Wizgiz advises for Stella to study more.

As he leaves, Stella laments on how humiliating that was as Musa points out that she has always been a disaster when it came to metamorphosymbiosis. Just then, Flora notices a group of fairies laughing at Past Musa and realizes that she is leaving the school! Musa proposes that she and Tecna form a friendship knowing how risky it would be and Flora lets the two of them know that she and Stella will try to keep an eye out for the three fairies that drove Past Musa away.

Past Musa makes it to the bus stop just outside of Alfea and is approached by Tecna, unaware of that fact that she is from the future. Tecna asks why Musa is leaving and Musa insists that the three girls from earlier are right about her not being good enough to become a Guardian Fairy. Tecna quickly realizes that Musa's possessions disappearing in the present was a result of Musa being bullied into leaving Alfea, and tries to convince Past Musa into staying as her talent in music is equal to her talent in magic. Musa takes this the wrong way, believing that Tecna agreed with the three girls, until Tecna corrects herself by claiming that she can recognize Musa's exceptional talent in both music and magic. Musa thanks Tecna for her kind words, recognizing her to be a true friend, and apologizes for lashing out.

The two of them then walk elsewhere to mingle as Tecna gives a thumbs up to Musa who returns the signal as she passes by with Past Tecna.

Meanwhile, inside the halls of the school, one fairy openly expresses her disdain for Stella's egotistical personality. Another fairy whispers to her friend that Stella is the Princess of Solaria, but her friend is not convinced and believes that Stella's status as princess only makes her even more presumptuous.

In that moment, Flora passes by a disheartened Stella and tries to cheer her up by telling her that the girls talking about her are just jealous of her. Realizing that they have not been introduced yet, Flora introduces herself to Stella and confesses that she has been wanting to compliment her outfit for a while now. Stella ecstatically thanks Flora for the compliment and reveals that she was the one who designed it, choosing only the most valuable fabrics Solaria had to offer.

Suddenly, the two of them are interrupted by Icy and Darcy cutting in, insisting that Stella get lost because she is bothering Flora, causing the Solarian Princess to leave again feeling worse than before. Flora tries to reach out to Stella, but she is pulled aside by Stormy and Darcy who insist that she has no need for someone as superficial as Stella, as they share her interests in flowers, puppies and nature. Icy then suggests that Flora touch up her dorm with some flowers and points out that she could create a whole jungle filled with real plants and bugs thanks to her powers. Flora admits that the thought would be nice but fears that Griselda may get mad at her and so, fed up with trying to convince her nicely, Icy uses her dark magic to place Flora under her control, tasking her with turning Stella's room into an inhospitable jungle. With Past Flora under their control, the Trix rush over to Bloom's room complete their plan.

Later, Flora and Stella notice a flurry of vines stretching from the balcony coming from their old room and fly up to see what is going on. When they reach the balcony, they look in to see Past Flora turning Stella's room into a jungle and realize that this must have been what cause Stella's room to suddenly become a jungle in the present. Flora also senses dark magic emanating from her past self so Stella hops inside to stop her while posing as her own past self and tasks Flora with keeping watch outside. Acting quickly, Stella clears Past Flora of her mind control and tells her of how she was able to rid her of her curse. Recollecting her thoughts as she recovers from the mind control, Past Flora remembers a girl with "an icy stare" and Stella suspects that the girl Past Flora had met last must have been Icy in disguise, quickly realizing that the Trix are the culprits behind the chaotically changing past.

At the same time, the Trix have already broken into Bloom's room and are kicking Kiko out of his bed to turn it into the baby dragon's nest. After turning the bed into the nest and planting the dragon in place, Icy is confident that the dragon will cause everyone in the school to fear the power of the Dragon's Flame as the dragon burns the school to the ground. This would cause Bloom to feel so guilty that she would leave Alfea for good. The Trix then watch as the baby dragon flies out of the room window and immediately goes on a rampage outside, breathing fire at nearby students.

Bloom and Aisha catch sight of the baby dragon's rampage and try to figure out what they should do as Faragonda uses her magic to shield the students from harm. Aisha brings up how they cannot transform into their Bloomix without running the risk of drawing attention to themselves and the rest of the Winx quickly regroup outside. Tecna pulls Musa away, insisting that they cannot intervene, and Bloom tells her friends to have faith in the Winx Club of the past to solve this problem. Just as Stella agrees with Bloom, the Winx of the past all gather outside and transform into their Winx forms together.

Quickly combining their powers, the Winx of the past are able to make the dragon disappear and keep their school safe from harm. As the Winx of the present marvel at how in-sync their past selves were, the Trix realize that, as beginner fairies, the Winx of the past would be no match for them now, and so they ditch their fairy freshmen disguises, ready to wreak havoc. Luckily, the present-day Winx Club catch the Trix flying after their past selves and knock them down with a powerful blast of magic. Knocked to the ground, the Trix try to figure out who it was who attacked them until Darcy realizes that their time spell should expire soon. Disgruntled at having yet another one of their plans end in failure, the Trix are thrown out of the past and back into the present now that their spell has fully expired.

With the Trix gone, the Winx prepare to return to a less chaotic present. Before leaving, though, Bloom takes one look back at their past selves and confidently proclaims that nothing will ever tear the Winx Club apart now that it has been formed.

Spells Used

 * "I order you to transmute your friend Stella's room into an inhospitable jungle!" - Used by Icy to control Past Flora's mind.
 * "Flora, return to yourself!" - Used by Stella to bring Past Flora back to her senses.
 * "Disappear, Dragon!" - Used by the Winx Club of the past to make the baby dragon disappear.

Mistakes

 * On page 16, as Past Flora compliments Past Stella on her outfit, she calls it a dress, even though the outfit Stella wore at the time was a green tied tank top and orange skirt.

Debuts
None.

Characters

 * Winx Club
 * Bloom (Past and Present)
 * Stella (Past and Present)
 * Musa (Past and Present)
 * Tecna (Past and Present)
 * Flora (Past and Present)
 * Aisha (Present)


 * Enemies
 * The Trix
 * Icy
 * Darcy
 * Stormy
 * Animals
 * Kiko (Past and Present)
 * Baby Dragon (Past and Present)


 * Alfea Staff
 * Headmistress Faragonda (Past and Present)
 * Professor Palladium (Past)
 * Professor Wizgiz (Past)
 * Griselda (Past)

Trivia

 * This is the only time that the Winx's old Season 1 outfits and Winx forms are shown in Season 6.
 * Although, only Bloom was shown in both her Season 1 outfit and her Winx during the animated series in a few episodes.
 * This also excludes Aisha's initial appearance and Winx form as she was not a founding member of the group and did not appear until Season 2.
 * The Trix teleported themselves during the Winx's first weeks at Alfea before the Winx Club was officially formed. That means that they had placed themselves back into the years where Season 1 took place before the episode "Welcome to Magix!" or Issue 3.
 * However, Bloom claims that the Winx Club had been formed at the very end of this issue, which can be confusing as she is claiming that the club was formed earlier than established.
 * This is also odd considering how the Winx Club of the past gets rid of the baby dragon by using a Convergence towards the end of the issue as the Winx did not even know about Convergences at the time of their club's founding. They only became aware of them by their second year thanks to Faragonda's classes.
 * This would also mean that they effectively used a Convergence for the first time without any issues on their first day of school, whereas, in the animated series, their first Convergence blew up in their faces.
 * How Flora and Stella met was different. Originally, they met in their dorm rooms and Stella was not being criticized by other fairies.
 * Another inconsistency would be during the last phase of Icy's plan where she plants the baby dragon in Bloom's room to make her fellow students fear the Dragon's Flame. No one in Magix, including Bloom, learned of her mysterious power source until after it was stolen by the Trix.