In Bumbleland, the Sunstone's terraforming of the frozen forest into somewhere lush and warm is proceeding apace… too apace, in fact, as the plants around it are growingly dangerously hot. A minion raises this issue to Queen Bumble, but she dismisses the issue. Meanwhile, Morning Glory is trapped in a cage guarded by Sting, and manages to strike up a heart-to-heart with him. He reveals that he cannot fly — or, rather can but doesn't, because he's a bad flier. Morning Glory, by means of a song number, convinces him not to be ashamed of this and that one needs to practice at things they're bad at in order to improve. She also gets him to be her friend… although this doesn't keep him from slamming her back in her cage when the song's over, since he's still supposed to be her guard.
The little ponies reach Flutter Valley, and are confused to find it charred, smelly, and empty of flutter ponies. The mystery is resolved when the witches turn up, exposit their plans, and try to capture them. The ponies evade them for a while but are captured in Ahgg's webs, after which Hydia invites them to watch Flutter Valley's last sunset.
Back in Bumbleand, the Sunstone's heat has reach critical levels and set the place ablaze. After an attempt to contain the fire, Queen Bumble orders a general evacuation while they wait for the fire to burn out. They don't bother to inform Sting, though, who comes to investigate the smoke and finds that everyone left without him.
This episode contains examples of:
- Acrophobic Bird: It's revealed that Sting can fly, but refuses to do so. He's a very clumsy and awkward flier, and prefers to stay on the ground out of shame.
- An Aesop: During Sting's conversation with Morning Glory, after he mentions that he stopped trying to fly because he was bad at it, she drops a moral about how if people only did things they were already good at, nobody would ever improve at anything.Sting: I used to fly, but I wasn't very good. So I just don't do it anymore...
Morning Glory: Gee... if we only did things that we were good at, we'd never try to make ourselves better. I think you should try again! - Befriending the Enemy: Morning Glory tries to befriend Sting in order to get him to let her go. It doesn't work — he remains loyal to Queen Bumble in the end — but it sets the seeds for his actual redemption in the next episode.
- Blind Obedience: Sting is grateful to Morning Glory for teaching him how to fly and claims to be her friend, but he still refuses to let her out, because he has orders to follow.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Morning Glory engages in a peppy song number with Sting, helps him get over his issues with self-worth, and strikes up the beginning of a friendship with him. He still locks her back in her cage when the song is done, as his years of faithful service to Queen Bumble and standing orders to keep Morning Glory from escaping didn't vanish over the course of a few minutes.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Happens to Morning Glory when she ends up back in the cage right after nearly getting away.
