Twilight Sparkle, a young professor from New Canterlot, has come to Pony Island. Her research suggests that one of the families living there is unwittingly holding an artifact from before the flood; such an ancient relic could not only shed some light on how ponies lived back then, but might also reveal some of the lost magics of the old realm. Even if it's just another dead end, the subject might help her to earn her doctorate, and that's always a good thing.

So it is that she finds one of the fabled Elements of Harmony. It is promptly stolen by a pirate.

And the adventure that follows sets her on the path to a destiny greater than she ever suspected...