As a result of Starlight's actions in the past, history has been altered: Twilight's castle is gone, leaving only the Cutie Map; much of Ponyville has been abandoned; Sweet Apple Acres is now an industrial apple-processing plant; and the Crystal Empire is encroaching upon the rest of Equestria, They find AJ and big Macintosh and Aj explains that when the Crystal Empire returned King Sombra forced all of the Crystal Ponies into his army and began to wage allout war against Equestria