~90 years before Littlepip's adventure, a harsh winter is on the horizon for the ponies of Whinneyapolis. The days are getting shorter, the nights darker, and the temperatures far, far colder. Refugees have been abandoning their homes in droves, seeking safety in numbers at the shanty town outside Equestria City, the largest settlement in the north. As the shanty town grows and the weather worsens, so do the tensions between the refugees and city folk. In the midst of it all, a strange cult has arrived, spreading the good word of their god to the vulnerable ponies. At the behest of an old friend, a hermit living outside the city reluctantly comes to investigate and is set against forces far deadlier than a baleful winter.