Although few think of it and fewer still look deeply into the matter, there were ponies in the land BEFORE the events celebrated in the Hearthwarming Pageants. What happened to them? How was the land empty and yet filled with the good things that enabled the ancestors of Equestria to survive?

Heather Bloom knows. She lived through those terrible times. Love Poison did more than create the Changeling kind. Those who, with help, survived as the Poisoned became the Heart Keepers of her people.

Tam lost his beloved Annie to a Failing O' the Lairds in the far northern dales and has Heather Bloom serving as Heart Keeper to him, sustaining him in his grief.