Tinkerbell proudly admired her latest invention. It was a system that allowed fairies to communicate without having to be in the same room. It was genius! Now all she had to do was test it. As she reached for the talker her name was called.

"Tink!" said a voice. Two voices actually. Clank and Bobble. You almost never saw the two apart. Clank was a large pixieman with black hair that was mostly a mess. Not the brightest when it came to anything other than making stuff. His best friend was Bobble, who was the exact opposite of Clank. Bobble was a short, twig-like pixieman with messy auburn hair and glasses made of water droplets.

Tinkerbell looked up to see the two flying above the workshop. Their faces were horrified as they stared into the distance. Curious, she flew up next to them. "You might want to see this," Bobble said, pointing towards the edge of the Hallow.

Tink gasped at what she saw. All along the edge of the Hallow things were dying. Tink flew higher to get a better view. Once she was high enough to see she stopped. A ring of death was growing around them. The snow of the Winter Woods had become grey and black. The flowers in Sunflower Meadow were decaying at an alarming rate. The water of Springtime Square had become a sickly black-green. The Autumn Forest was turning brown then black.

Tinkerbell hurried over to a nearby water source and examined it. It was the same color as the water in Springtime Square. She stuck her fingers in the water to discover that the color stuck to her hands. It was a slick, liquidity substance. When she tried to wipe it off it refused to leave her skin.

"There you are!" said a soft voice. It was Silvermist. She was a water fairy. Her hair was like a black river flowing over her shoulders and down her back. Her voice was soft like a creek. Now it seemed like panicked rapids. "Do you have any idea what's going on?" they both asked. Realizing that neither had an explanation, Tinkerbell took charge. "It's happening all over Pixie Hallow. Go find the others and meet me at the Tree," she said, taking off towards the Winter Woods.

When she reached the border she immediately went to the speed wing-frosters. They cover her wings in a protective layer of frost to protect them from the cold. She zipped through the woods, looking for a certain fairy in the snow. She made her way to The Keeper's house and darted inside. Her wings began to glow and sparkle as she made her way to the center room.

In the room stood two fairies: The Keeper and Tinkerbell's twin sister, Periwinkle. The Keeper was a stout pixieman with white hair, like most winter fairies, and glasses. He carried a staff that was both a symbol of his authority and a tool used to help him get around. He looked awfully old, something you normally couldn't see in fairies. He was very friendly and prefers to be called Dewy. Periwinkle was slender, like her sister, with blue-bell eyes and wings, which were also glowing, identical to Tink's. Her dress was a soft blue and a style that mimicked her sisters.

The two were frantically looking through piles upon piles of books for something when Tinkerbell flew in. "Peri!" Tinkerbell called, flying through the door way. "Tink!" her sister said, rushing over to her. Tinkerbell didn't waste any time. "Is it happening here too?" she asked. The Keeper shyster his glasses, "If you are referring to the Black Snow, then yes." Tink was confused, "Black Snow?" Her sister shrugged, "That's what we're calling it."

Tink shivered. She only now realized that she had no jacket was would probably freeze to death if she stayed much longer. "Well, what ever it is, find out as much as you can and meet me at the Pixie Dust Tree. And bring Lord Milori. It's happening every where," she turned to leave, but not before being handed an emergency coat for 'warm-fairies.' She thanked the two and left to find the others.

She left through the fall border, seeing that that was closer to Tinker's Nook. She found Clank and Bobble rather quickly and began explaining that she was going to get "Intel" on the death ring and they needed to find stuff out about what it's doing to the hallow. She didn't get much further than that before her attention was whisked away by a certain boss fairy.

Fairy Mary was in charge of the tinkers and was quite fond of Tinkerbell. She was a plump fairy with chestnut colored hair that was often in a bun. Kind but strict. That was her policy.

"The Queen wants to see us for a meeting about the... You know," she said, "Bring your friends and your sister. While your at it, might as well bring the Keeper and Lord Milori. Save us a trip." Tinkerbell felt proud for thinking ahead. She flew side-by-side with her teacher. "Already done. I sent Silvermist to gather the others while I was in the Winter Woods." Fairy Mary temporarily looked at her student in awe, "Well, aren't you ahead of things?"

"I know right? Isn't it great?" TinkerBell then realized what she had said, "Well, not the whole "Death Ring" thing. That's not great. That's bad. But me being on top of everything? That's pretty cool." She rambled about how she touched the slick water and gone to the Winter Woods and how they had this thing called "Black Snow." Fairy Mary rolled her eyes at the girl's rambling, but didn't say anything.

They flew into the meeting room inside the Pixie Dust Tree. The Pixie Dust Tree was a magical tree that gave the fairies Pixie Dust, the source of their magic and flying. It could only be grown from the tree. Inside the tree was the Queen's chambers and the meeting room, a wide, spacious hole carved out from inside the tree with many windows to the outside. There was also the dust pool and the pavilion, where new fairies found their talent.

Three of the Ministers were already in the room. Spring, Summer, and Autumn. Spring was a tall pixieman who was dressed in flower pedals with a flower crown on his chestnut hair. Each of the Ministers were dressed similarly only the outfit matched their season. Autumn was brown, orange, and red leaves. Summer was green leaves and pink lilies.

Queen Clarion was also in the room. Her dress and crown were made of pixie dust that seemed to flow endlessly off her shoulders. The dust was gold and seemed to sparkle with every movement. She was being bombarded with questions and reason for why it could be happening. Relief temporarily shown on her face when TinkerBell and Fairy Mary flew in.

Tinkerbell flew up to the Queen, "I've already sent for everyone. They should be here soon." Just as the words left her lips, someone flew in. She had a long, auburn braid that went down to her ankles and a dress made of brown leaves. Her name was Fawn, an animal fairy. In her arms she held a sick firefly. "Blaze!" TinkerBell exclaimed, taking her friend in her arms. "He tried to drink the water," Fawn said. "Is it affecting all the animals this way?" the Queen asked. Fawn grimly nodded. "It's not just the animals," said a southern voice. The voice belonged to Rosetta, a brunet garden fairy. "My poor tulips are shriveling up!"

She was followed in by Silvermist and Iridessa. Iridessa was a shy light fairy dressed in yellow. "I just don't get it," she said, "Everyone else seems to be having problems, but nothing seems to be wrong with the light and air." A blur of black and purple zipped through the door. "There's something in the air. Makes it hard to breath," Viddia said. Viddia was a fast-flying fairy. She tended to be more negative than the rest. She bent over in a coughing fit, trying to catch her breath. "It doesn't seem as bad down here," she added after a moment. The ministers all exchanged worried looks. "Clearly, this is much more serious than we thought," said the Minister of Autumn.

They all jumped slightly when they heard an owl "hoot" outside, but seconds later Tink's wings began to sparkle. Periwinkle flew in, followed by the Keeper, aka Dewy, and Lord Milori who had both ridden an owl to the Tree. Peri and Dewy both had frost on their wings to keep them at the proper temperature. Lord Milori had no need for frosted wings because he had already broken his wing many years ago. He often covered his wing by wearing a cape that he rarely took off. "How bad is it?" he asked looking at the Queen. It was no secrete that they loved each other, but still had their own duties to attend to. Queen Clarion shook her head sadly and glanced over to TinkerBell's suffering friends.

Silvermist had the strange substance from the water on her hands and, no matter how she tried, couldn't get it off. Fawn was petting Blaze and Rosetta was mimicking her actions with a sproutlett. Viddia was still wheezing while Irridessa patted her back.

"The water is infected with something that seems to be hurting the plants and animals and the air is unbreathable in higher altitudes," the Queen said. "We noticed." The queen moved her gaze to Dewy, "Keeper. Do you have any ideas why this is happening?" Dewy scratched his chin and began racking his memory. "I do remember reading something about this somewhere," he muttered. "Reading?" Tink asked, "Don't you write the books?"

"Most of them, yes, but there are some that were written by the first fairies. Most of those books are long forgotten, kept locked away to avoid damage. I believe there might be something..."

"Very well," Queen Clarion said, "Tinkerbell, I want you and your friends to keep track of what is happening throughout the hallow. You are to report to one of us the minute you hear of new developments. The rest of you, come with me and we shall see what we can find."