The year is 506 AC (After Chaos) and 310 years after the defeat of Nightmare Moon. The nation of Steelshod, nestled between peaceful Equestria to the southwest and the powerful kingdoms of Magia, Hoofswell and Cirrus to the northeast, has been a place of war and power for as long as anypony can remember. It is a land of shifting allegiances and violent combat, a nation where Warlords vie for power over ever-malleable holdings in order to impress their fickle leader. Duels to the death, cutthroat court intrigue and violent betrayals are almost commonplace in the lives of the ponies of Steelshod, and the ponies who live there are more than eager to continue its bloody traditions.

Amid the chaos and violence, a mare named Sabersong finds herself cast out of the service of her lord. Injured, lost and alone, she struggles to accept the fate that has been dealt to her; the fate of a wanderer, a warrior with no place to call her own in a world where a warrior's place in an army was everything.

Yet even as she despairs, her heart lost in the twisting paths of the forest of her life, fate is busily molding her into what she is meant to become: a mare who carves her own way in a nation of pre-set destinies, a unicorn who challenges the way things are done, and a pony who finally can answer the question that haunts her night and day:

'When does the lotus flower bloom?'