It's been seven years since Equestria's surrender in the disastrous Crystal Wars. Celestia has been banished to the sun for a thousand years, and Emperor Sombra rules from his iron throne in Canterlot. His hold on Equestria is tight, but on the far fringes of the his Empire, lawlessness still thrives.

After the defeat, Crystal War veteran Rainbow Dash is trying to make her way in this dark new world. Operating her small airship The Alicorn, she and her rag-tag crewmates will take any job, legal or not, to keep food on the table and fuel in the tanks. Sombra may have won the war, but he can't take the sky.