In a valley locked away from the rest of Equestria once lay a perfectly ordinary-looking house, the single backdrop against which the scene of the young alicorn Swirl Mist’s foalhood unfolded. She lived perfectly unaware of the world outside the yard, or even that ponies other than herself and her mother even existed. When the spells holding her suspended in oblivion finally broke, she was thrown into a world far unlike anything she'd ever known. But Misty would soon discover that not everyone is born with a hero's mettle…