Claudius Hoofingar is the only Earth Pony in his family, save for the one ancestor from which he got the Earth Pony trait. He looks up that ancestor in Canterlot University's Ancient Archives Library after a strange dream, and ends up stumbling across a centuries-old conspiracy involving a spell that altered the very anatomy of time. Claudius embarks on a grand adventure that will determine the very fate of Equestria, as it slips into its darkest hours. Will he be able to save Equestria, or will he need to be saved from himself?