- Story by Christina Rice, Art by Tony Fleecs
Winter arrives in Equestria and the Mane 6 are about to have their first day of fun when suddenly Spitfire shows up with an official order to Rainbow Dash as a Wonderbolt: to travel to the Mt. Everhoof in the Yaket Mountains to try to get Soarin' to come back. Spitfire believes Soarin', who messed up at a recent Wonderbolts show, is trying to prove himself, and figures he will listen to Rainbow Dash over herself.
Rainbow Dash quickly sets off, and manages to make it through numerous storms that circle the Yaket Mountains to an isolate airbase/tavern run by Jett Glider, which serves as a hub to send out difficult deliveries to the nearby pony and yak populations, particularly of the rare everplant that grows only in this area and has numerous medical uses. Soarin' soon arrives after another dangerous delivery mission, and Rainbow tries to talk him into returning back home instead of continuing to push on these dangerous flights, but he insists he must stay.
The next day, as storms sweep over the area, Derpy Hooves arrives with mail from Yakyakistan that the equine flu has started spreading, and they need a supply of everplant quickly. Rainbow refuses to let Soarin' go off alone to collect the plant, and the two set off. They are both battered around by the storms and take shelter as they wait for the worst of the storm to die down, where Rainbow Dash learns that Soarin' is not only upset at himself for messing up the last show, but also when Spitfire nearly replaced him at the last Equestrian Games. Rainbow Dash tries to explain how important he is to the Wonderbolts and particularly to Spitfire, who doesn't have the same emotional openness to express this to Soarin'. Realizing he is truly needed, Soarin' agrees to return after completing the delivery.
They return to Jett's tavern to find Spitfire waiting there for them, summoned through a letter Rainbow had sent via Derpy. Spitfire apologizes to Soarin' for several incidents, including her snubbing of him for the Equestrian Games, which he readily accepts. The three of them set off into the clear skies as they head back home.
Tropes appearing in this issue:
- Bad Guy Bar: Jett's tavern, to some extent. The patrons are certainly a rogue's gallery of ponies and other species, including at least two griffons and a changeling, though if any true villainy is happening, it's not clear.
- Call-Back: This issue is based directly on the main plot points of the "Rainbow Falls" episode. It also makes nods to "The Super Cider Squeezy 6000" (in Rainbow Dash's love of cider), and "Newbie Dash" (referencing her "Rainbow Crash" nickname).
- Fix Fic: An official one toward the episode Rainbow Falls which was often criticized about Spitfire's attitude in trying to replace Soarin with Dash for the Equestria Games. This issue shows that there's still some lingering resentment from Soarin from that after he messes up a flight routine, hence why he wouldn't leave the mountain. At the end of the issue, Spitfire personally apologizes for that and admits that wasn't fair to him after seeing how greatly it affected him.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: Soarin' reveals that, unlike Rainbow Dash, he had to work hard to become a Wonderbolt, leading him to take is failures very seriously, regardless of how minor everyone else insists they are.
- Innocently Insensitive: Spitfire sends Rainbow Dash to deal with Soarin' thinking he was still upset with her, which he misinterpreted as her not caring enough to deal with him in person.
- Noodle Incident: The Wonderbolts show Soarin' messed up is mentioned repeatedly, but without any details.
- Ship Tease: Rainbow Dash and Soarin' are shown getting along throughout this issue, despite there being no romantic gestures between them. In fact, Rainbow refuses to let Soarin' go out into the snowstorm alone.
- Unstoppable Mailman: After establishing that only the strongest flyers could make it though the extreme weather of Mt. Everhoot, with even Rainbow Dash struggling to do so, Derpy Hooves manages to deliver messages to and from twice without being any worse for where.
