Far off in the distant north, beyond even the Crystal Kingdom's reaches, a lone city sits at the edge of the sea, one of the last of its kind. Cicero, a city still standing from the time of the original Crystal Empire, before the rise of King Sombra, lies practically untouched by the outside world. But an assassin of unknown origin seeks to bring upheaval to the city, and begins murdering several important political figures. Princess Celestia sends a marshal, one of Equestria's finest soldiers to get to the bottom of the mystery. This pony must delve into a hive of scum and politics before reaching the end. But what he finds may not be what he wants to find. After all.

We fear the dark for a reason.

Maelstrom is a unicorn living in Equestria during a dark time. Unicorns are outright ostracized by the rest of ponykind, and an unthinkable evil lies on the boundaries of the country, lying in wait for its next time to strike. Maelstrom has lived at Canterlot Academy, the only place where unicorn children are allowed to be. They are not allowed to study magic, for fear that terrible punishments await those who do. He lives out a dreary life at the Academy, shunned by pegasi and earth ponies, and left out by even unicorns. He has only one friend, a pegasi by the name of Aurelia, but even she is in danger of being taken away from Maelstrom, as the Unassailable return once again, threatening to destroy all of Equestria, and this time, they just might succeed. But this time, Maelstrom is sucked into the conflict, and ready or not, he will fight.

This is his story.