Suspended magically in the air around Flutterby Falls School, the infamous stone dragons thrum with excitement and suspense as queues of Fairy families from all over Spirata Planum await their chance to see inside the school.
A dark-skinned Fairy named Opal Rain grins broadly at her mothers as they fuss over her natural curls, twisting them in the fashion of a dandelion flower. She bats them off good-naturedly, flitting between stone dragon and her mothers, taking in the beauty around her.
Ahead, the yawning entryway to Flutterby Falls School. Solemn, thin of tie and moustache, a male Splat Teacher greets the prospects with a frown. Opal grins and speeds forward, leaving her mothers behind to speak with the teacher as she flies through the arch and out into the courtyard at the school’s heart.
Around her, other students exclaim and point at the strong architecture so different from their own but Opal only has eyes for the twin fountains.
One, a soft-featured and kindly dragon, with water spilling from its mouth in glistening plenty. The other, a razor-toothed stone beast with cruel eyes gouged from stone vomiting red hot lava in glooping heaps.
Opal flies upward, joining a gaggle of prospective students as Mrs Potts – a middle-aged Fairy with peach dress and golden wings – beckons them inward.
Twisting through vertical halls and diagonal rooms, they flit to a halt in front of the white-haired librarian who opens a hatch above them with a flourish, revealing a most unusual library…
Curved walls stretch off above them for as far as Opal can see and grates on the ground let in air currents which send students whirling and whooping up into the distant books lining the walls.
Shouting from outside draws their attention and the Librarian bids them step into an air current, keeping their wings close to their bodies as they’re propelled to the very top of the library. With a gasp of joy the prospective students fly on a puff of wind out the top of the school, back amongst the parents and other prospects who flit out of their path in surprise.
Opal joins her mothers, holding their hands, expression alight with the charm the school has created in her. They look on, eyes shining with pride that their daughter may be one of the few best and brightest chosen to study at this illustrious school.
A gasp ripples amidst the crowd as above appears the very best of the Painters. Flying high above them, Prismsprayers at the ready, the Painters weave in and out of one another, their wings caught in the sunlight and dazzling the awed onlookers.
As one, they press lightly on their nozzles and the tiniest spray of Chroma hangs in the air, a web of rainbows dancing on the feet of the Painters who seem to tiptoe on the edge of radiant colour.
Gathering speed, the Painters fly fast as light spelling out a giant ‘WELCOME’ in the sky. Opal gawks with the rest, her brown eyes alight with the passion of the Painters.
Far below, waiting in the courtyard, a serious faculty gather and, led by Dr Cornelius Hue, make their sombre way out through the arch and fly to one of the stone dragons which encircle their magical school.