The previous night, they had all gone to sleep in Ponyville, safe and secure. Now, they awake in a clearing in an unfamiliar forest.

The world has changed. The year is on a completely different calendar. Civilization consists of three small cities divided by a quartet of lakes. The local ponies' customs are achingly familiar and yet completely alien, particularly in the way they keep the races seperate and worship two completely unknown Alicorns called the Wardens. But worse still - this new world is under attack from familiar foes, and Twilight and her friends are the only ones who can defend it.

Yet there's something wrong about this all, something being hidden from them, and Twilight is determined to find out what - no matter what it takes.