Soft Speak, an Earth Pony of tradition, leaves Equestria as it enters an industrial boom to travel the world and learn of other cultures. He returns home two decades later after learning that his father had passed away. Upon arrival though he finds that the Equestria he had known has radically changed. New technologies and mass consumer culture has led to the rise of racial and class conflicts and new political ideology struggles with with the old ones. Displaced, Soft Speak travels across the country trying to find where he belongs this new Equestria.