Many years ago, shortly before the birth of one Twilight Sparkle, Celestia, ruler of Equestria, found a small item in a forest. That item? An egg. Around the same time, Celestia, ruler of Draconica found something small in a forest. A pony.
A thousand years after the events in Ponyville, Spike wakes up to find the world a very different, dangerous place. Now he has only one question, and his quest for the answer will take him across Equestria: whatever happened to Twilight Sparkle?
With her new apprenticeship under Nightmare Moon, Empress of Equestria and Queen of the Eternal Night, the orphan filly Twilight Sparkle plunges head-first into the conspiracies, secrets and intrigues of the Empire.
Three fillies from the future find themselves trapped in the past among familiar strangers. Can they return to their own time without changing the fate of the world? Probably not.