30 years before the events of the Day of Sunshine and Rainbows, and the Equestrian Wasteland is much the same as it’s always been. Except it’s not. Not in a mysterious section of the wasteland known only as the Zone, where only the craziest of ponies live. The most prominent slavers in the Zone have stepped up their "recruitment". The ponies of the Zone are struggling to get by with their rapidly dwindling resources. A strange light has appeared in the sky that has not been seen within living memory. And violently thrust into this new world is Buckler, a (now ex-) slaver with a talent for shields. The Zone, and the Wasteland, will soon be changed forever, and there won't be any place in a world of corruption and evil for a pony whose calling is protecting people.