Ponies start disappearing, businesses are destroyed, and a group calling themselves "The Architects" are claiming responsibility. The Equestrian Guard has no leads, no suspects, and no idea what to do. The Princesses turn to a special section of the Equestrian Security Agency: Third Echelon. Officially, they do not exist, all their operatives are disavowed, and all their actions condemned. They have access to a tool trusted to no one else: the Fifth Freedom, the authority to uphold the law by breaking it, to protect information by stealing it, to save lives by taking them.