Harmony's Peril

"More cake and balloons!" Pinkie emphasized.

"No no no! Pinkie the decorations simply must have more class! And we need actual food for the guests, not just cake!" Rarity countered.

Rainbow humphed. "I'm tellin' you, we should totally set up that skate park! Ponyville needs to scream: AWESOME!"

"Ah told ya Rainbow, that just ain't practical! We only got three days to prepare!" Applejack sighed.

"Um maybe we should... compromise?" Fluttershy suggested.

"When it comes to elegance, you can't compromise darling." Rarity pointed out.

"UGH!" Twilight moaned so loudly that it echoed around the room. "We've been sitting in this throne room for hours and we still can't decide on something! When the mayor asked us to come up with ideas for the Five Days of Fun, I didn't think it would be this hard!"

Pinkie Pie bounced off of her throne onto the map table. The map shimmered a bit and then went still. "Five whole days where nopony has to work and we get to play games, eat yummy snacks and have FUN!!"

"And when the city tourists arrive Ponyville needs to be the funnest place in all Equestria! Funnest... hmm is that a word?" Rainbow put a hoof to her chin.

"No it's NOT a word." Twilight said rolling her eyes. "Look I know things have gotten boring lately, what with no new map adventures and the changelings turning good, but that doesn't mean we need to turn Ponyville into a mad house. Fluttershy is right, maybe we can compromise-"

Twilight was cut off as an ear splitting shriek rang out, and the castle began shaking. She covered her ears and looked around for the source of the noise. The shriek seemed to be coming from... the castle itself. An inky blackness began to spread throughout the cutie map, covering the miniature buildings a dark shadow. Pinkie leaped off the map with a cry of distress and cowered behind the throne. The blackness didn't stop at the map, and spread throughout the room as the castle continued to shriek. Soon the once crystal white room was patterned with black veins snaking their way out the door. The shrieks and shaking subsided, leaving Twilight and her friends looking completely freaked out.

"What the hay was that!?" Applejack exclaimed.

"The whole castle is... black! Couldn't it at least have changed to a brighter color scheme?" Rarity asked sadly.

"It sounded like the castle was shrieking... like it was in pain." Rainbow observed. "Something's definitely wrong with it. I didn't even know castles could scream!"

Pinkie was curled in a ball near her throne, shivering. She muttered, "A darkness returned, he comes to unravel the balance..."

"Pinkie what does that-" Twilight began. She was cut off as the doors slammed open and a worried looking Starlight galloped in followed by Spike.

"We were working on those magic lessons-" Starlight panted.

"And I was helping!" Spike added.

"And the whole castle started screaming-"

"And shaking!" Spike chewed on his nails.

"And everything just turned bl... oh you already know." Starlight sighed and facehoofed.

"But what I don't know is why. In all the time I've had this castle, this has never happened! It's almost as if the castle had been corrupted somehow." Twilight puzzled as she began pacing in earnest.

Fluttershy got off her throne and began hovering, looking nervously at the black floor beneath her. "Well the darkness began spreading from the map. Maybe that means something?"

"Maybe, but WHAT?" Rainbow stomped a hoof in frustration.

"You know ah think maybe we ought to leave the castle fer now... in case it starts shakin' again?" Applejack suggested. Everypony nodded their heads in agreement and left the throne room. As Twilight walked toward the main entrance, she saw the rest of the castle had suffered a similar fate to the throne room. The walls and floors were almost entirely black, overshadowing the once beautiful crystal shine. If Twilight had to describe her transformed home in one word... icky. They trotted (or walked in Spike's case) out the main door and just far enough from the castle so they could see the entire building. From the outside, the castle looked even worse. The crystal building was patterned with the same black patches as inside, but the most repugnant part was the tree portion. The bottom tree-like part of the castle seemed to be decaying, as cracks appeared in the shiny bark and yellow ooze secreted out.

Pinkie stuck her tongue out. "Eugh!" Everypony seemed to share the sentiment.

"It looks like the castle was the only thing affected. Everything else seems to be fine." Starlight observed. She was right. The beautiful grassy land and small cottages around the castle seemed to be normal, looking as pleasant as ever under the mild sunlight of the early afternoon.

Twilight suddenly became aware of a rythmic galloping noise behind them. Everypony turned around nervously to see who was approaching. "Zecora?" they asked together in surprise.

Their zebra friend came to a halt in front of them, panting with exhaustion. "My friends I came as fast as I could! I'm afraid the situation is not good."

"What's wrong Zecora?" Fluttershy asked.

"The Everfree Forest is not as it should be. I saw from my hut a sight quite sad to see." Zecora said dejectedly. "The forest, it seems to be dying. If I said any less I'd be lying. Trees rot, plants wilt and I do not know whom or what holds guilt."

Spike glanced back at the castle. "Zecora tells us the forest is dying, right after our castle becomes all blackened and nasty. Do you think they might be connected?"

"Connected? Connected..." Twilight muttered. "Connection! There must be a connection!"

"Um Twilight that's what I said."

"No no, I'm talking about a much bigger connection. The map and the castle are connected to the Tree of Harmony! So... something must be wrong with the tree!" Twilight theorized.

"It would certainly explain why the forest is dying. The tree must be affecting it." Rarity added.

"If something is wrong with the Great Tree, then beside it is where we should be." Zecora suggested.

Twilight nodded and levitated Spike onto her back. "Zecora's right, if something's wrong with the tree, we might be able to help. We've got to hurry before something else happens." As they galloped away toward the forest, Twilight glanced back sadly at her ruined home. She had a feeling it would be the last time she would see it for a while.