"So, um, Pinkie, now that we made it over to Fantasyland... uh... which ride did you want to go on f-"

"TEA CUPS!!!"

Fluttershy didn't have more than a split-second's chance to respond before Pinkie seized her by the arm and hauled her to the gate in front of Mad Tea Party. The line was relatively short — it wasn't the busiest season of the year — but Fluttershy felt her confidence drain as she looked at the spinning cups and felt a sensation in the pit of her stomach.

"Well, come on! Let's get in line!"

"Gee, Pinkie, I don't know... I've been good at handling fast rides ever since our trip to Equestrialand, but..." Fluttershy's voice inched down to a whisper. "I'm not sure I can handle all that spinning very well."

"Aw, Fluttershy! I can help you with that, silly! We'll get in line and I'll tell you what to do! It's so much fun!"

"If you say so..." She hesitantly followed Pinkie down the ramp to the back of the line. She stared out onto the platform where the riders were currently disembarking. Most seemed okay, but a few looked a little wobbly, and Fluttershy started to feel that queasiness again until Pinkie plopped a hand on her shoulder.

"Okay Fluttershy, listen up! The way to not get dizzy on this ride is- oh no, the line's moving! Quick!"

Fluttershy was pulled forward again as Pinkie's hand dropped from her shoulder to her forearm, and the two girls dashed to the bottom of the ramp to be assigned to their cup. Before Fluttershy could even comprehend what had happened, they were seated in the ride and the door to their vehicle was shut. She instantly felt the jitters.

"Okay!" Pinkie jumped right back into where she left off. "Like I was saying, the way to not get dizzy is-"

"Ohhhh!" Fluttershy interjected, having looked down at the wheel at the center of the cup, which had a large arrow and the words "Turn This Way To Go Faster!" in three spots along the center. "So it's all through this wheel? If we don't turn it, it won't go so fast?"

"FLUTTERSHY!"

"Oh, sorry. Go on," she said as she looked up sheepishly.

"It won't spin as fast if you don't turn the wheel that way, but it'll still spin, silly! What's more important is-"

The loudspeaker suddenly blared with Alice's voice, which, mixed with the music, made hearing Pinkie basically impossible. "Welcome to the Mad Tea Party, where everything is quite... mad! To ensure your safety, please remain seating with your hands, arms, feet and legs inside while your teacup is spinning. And please do watch your children." Fluttershy started to tune out as her mind wandered off to ponder the resemblance between the "Alice" voice and Rarity's.

"Well, it's off to the Tea Party! Please say hello to the Mad Hatter!" the voice concluded as Fluttershy snapped back to reality.

"...on me. Got it?" Fluttershy suddenly realized with horror that she'd missed Pinkie's explanation.

"What? Oh no! I didn't hear anything you just said!"

"What?! Alright, let me start over-"

Unfortunately, just then, Fluttershy could feel the platform start to move, and the teacup began to spin clockwise. "Oh no..."

"FLUTTERSHY!" Pinkie shouted, and Fluttershy obligingly snapped to attention even as the cup began to speed up. "Focus. On. Me. Okay! Just keep your eyes on me and I won't move! If you're focused on me, you won't notice anything else as much!"

"Okay... I trust you..." Fluttershy kept her eyes trained on Pinkie, who was holding in place even as she let her own eyes wander around and enjoy the experience. Fluttershy's confidence began to rebuild as the background faded out of existence. It's just a simple game of concentration. Nothing to it.

Unfortunately, that concentration was broken when Pinkie noticed something behind the gate, which was at Fluttershy's back at the moment, and leaned over dramatically to wave. "HI SUNSET! HI TWILIGHT!"

Caught off guard, Fluttershy turned to see them without thinking and completely disoriented herself. She only caught a blurry glimpse of the two other girls waving before flipping back around. "Pinkie!" she hissed.

"Whoops!" Pinkie exclaimed nervicitedly as she resumed her original position. Fluttershy felt her heart rate start to fall a bit even as the spinning continued, her eyes closely locked on her friend. Once she felt sufficiently relaxed, she let herself slowly begin to take in the larger view around her, and realized she was able to look around without feeling ill. Keeping her eyes focused on Pinkie had helped her mentally register that, even as the world moved around her, she was still simply seated in one place. It wasn't real motion sickness like Applejack had had on the boat; it was just her expectation of it. And now that she knew, she simply let that fear go.

After another minute, the spinning began to slow and come to a gentle stop. Pinkie leaned forward. "Weeeelllllll...?"

"I, uh... I guess it wasn't so bad after all!"

"There you go! Told ya I would help you through it." She opened the door to the cup and bounced away, and Fluttershy followed.

"Hi Pinkie! Hi Fluttershy!" Twilight said as the two crossed through the exit gate. "How was it?"

"You didn't look so good out there, Fluttershy, are you feeling alright?" Sunset asked.

"Well..." Fluttershy replied. "I wasn't at first, but I got through it. And I couldn't have done it without Pinkie Pie!" She threw her arm around Pinkie's shoulder.

"Aww, it was nothing." Pinkie smiled.

"I hope I didn't ruin the ride for you by making you sit so still."

"Of course not! It's not like I was gonna stand up while it was spinning anyway, it'd be crazy for me to do that again! And helping you made it all worth it." The two giggled and hugged.

"So where to next?" Fluttershy asked.

"Let's do it again!"

"Uhhhh...." Fluttershy's eyes widened momentarily, but then she perked back up. "Why not?"

As they turned right at the end of Main Street and the Tomorrowland entrance came into view, Rarity was giggling as Sunset swiveled around to face her and made ridiculous hand motions while declaring "Welcome to the world of TOMORROW!"

"Goodness, I had no idea the world of tomorrow would look so dilapidated and aesthetically confused. Perhaps we in the designing profession shouldn't be so forward-thinking after all."

"Aw, c'mon, it's supposed to look kinda retro, they can't just constantly overhaul the place to fit every new definition of the future."

"No, but I mean just look at the state of this area!" Rarity exclaimed as they began to circle around the Astro Orbitor. "You've got all these concrete pillars from an old ride simply left in place to rot in plain view!" She motioned to the abandoned PeopleMover tracks running through the middle of the land. "It's absolutely garish! Not to mention the blue and green of the Buzz Lightyear ride completely clashing with the black of the Star Wars ride just across from it — neither of which seem especially futuristic to me as much as mere space fantasy — but I digress, it's just plain-"

"I'm sure they'll take all your concerns into consideration, Rares. I hear Disneyland loves to hire people whose first day working at an amusement park ended with them getting their manager fired."

"Pffff- That wasn't my fault! She's the one who decided to act like a supervillain in front of a crowd of people! I can't control it if the park owners didn't find us making friends with her onstage enough to compensate for her reckless endangerment of visitors!"

"And hiring managers are well-known for their nuance. Anyway, let's get in line," Sunset said, motioning to the entrance for Astro Orbitor.

Rarity looked up at the tall, rotating, Jules Verne-inspired ride structure. "Ah yes, speaking of conflicting design elements... why would they ever make this ride the focal point to the entrance of this land when it's so clearly out of sync with everything around it? The design has plenty to admire on its own terms, but it's just such a visual clash!" She made a gagging sound as Sunset laughed.

"Alright, come on, you can complain more in line," the redhead responded as she motioned Rarity into the entrance.

After getting through to the ride platform, the girls sat down in adjacent rockets, Sunset in front and Rarity behind. They looked back and forth at each other and waved as the loudspeaker played the safety instructions, and the ride started shortly after their seatbelts were inspected. Naturally, Sunset instantly raised her seat all the way to the top while Rarity elevated herself more gradually as the rockets began to spin around. The view of the castle courtyard was nice, but every time she was facing Tomorrowland, Sunset couldn't help but agree with Rarity a bit. Why didn't they just tear down all that old ugly track?

After the ride came to a stop and they'd both disembarked, the two walked over to each other and headed for the exit. "How was it for you?" Rarity asked.

"Honestly... less than I hoped. Just didn't feel like we were high up as I’d wanted to be. And every time we were facing away from the castle I was thinking about what you were saying on the ground. It is kinda ugly."

"Really? I completely forgot all about all that silliness," Rarity said with a goofy grin. "I was just enjoying the thrill of being up in the air!"

"Of course you were." Sunset internally rolled her eyes at herself for letting herself get so distracted from simply having fun. "Don't I feel ridiculous."

Sunset felt Rarity's hand on her shoulder. "It's nothing to fret about, darling. If everyone experienced these rides the same way, they wouldn't need to have so many different ones. And I’m sure I’d have felt differently if I was from a world where I could take a chariot to a city in the clouds."

"I guess you're right.

"Of course I am, dear. And I'm flattered you were thinking of me."

"Cute. I'm meeting Twilight over by Snow White next. Want to follow along?"

"Why not? I've no idea where Applejack's gotten off to, I suppose I can follow you while I wait for her text. Lead on!"

And the two of them strode back toward the castle.

Due to FimFiction regulations, I cannot include the lyrics to the titular song of this ride in the actual story. So to understand the full impact of the setting on Rainbow Dash's psyche, feel free to play it yourself, cranked up to full blast, while reading this.

"Hey, Bulk, y'know... when I said I'd go on a ride with you, I REALLY didn't think this was what you had in mind."

Rainbow Dash looked up with mounting dread at the childish, yet somehow creepy, facade to it's a small world. It just felt... off. Everything about this ride looked off. She made an audible gulp as Bulk Biceps motioned for her to get in line.

"Aw, c'mon Rainbow! It's my favorite ride! I have the song in all my workout playlists! Can't say no to a CLASSIC!"

I would if I hadn't already given my word, she thought. Being the living symbol of loyalty definitely had its drawbacks. She sighed and followed Bulk down towards the back of the line, wincing as the hideous music became steadily more audible as she went along.

As they neared the boarding area, Dash looked down at the boats headed into the ride, filled with a mixture of pity for the poor souls within them mindlessly floating towards their doom and self-resignation knowing she'd quickly find herself in their position. Soon — too soon — they were at the front of the line, waiting for Charon's ferry to whisk them to the underworld.

"WOOHOO! YEAH! SMALL WOOOORLD!" Bulk cried boisterously behind her as the boat approached. The previous passengers disembarked and Dash, steeling herself, stepped inside.

She quickly found herself squashed against the left side of the boat as Bulk climbed in beside her. "Uh, Bulk, I, ummm... really need some space", she groaned weakly.

"Sorry, my bad. I'm just TOO EXCITED!" he shouted as he scooted to the other side, enough to turn some of the heads in front of them. Rainbow Dash's face turned pure crimson.

"I... I can see that." Just before the boat started to move, she heard a musical swell, swiveling her head over to the facade where a set of doors were opening. The music transitioned into a march as several rows of figurine-esque animatronics with the ride's signature dead-eyed look began to file out and disperse. Oh, please tell me that's not what we're in for.

Rainbow Dash wasn't completely unfamiliar with it's a small world, of course. She'd been exposed to the song growing up, that endless, haunting tune — Bulk had even played a discordant rendition of it on his violin during the Battle of the Bands — but she'd never ridden the ride before and didn't quite know what to expect. But she knew there were dolls, a lot of dolls. She didn't have a problem with dolls per se, but if they all looked like those...

The boat began to float forward into the garden as Bulk began to shake with anticipation. A voice came over the speakers. "Welcome to it's a small world. For your safety, please remain seated throughout your voyage, keeping your hands, arms, feet and legs inside the boat at all times, and please, watch your children. Thank you." Dash found it worrisome that any of those facts needed to be clarified on a slow boat ride.

They floated through a garden area, where Bulk pointed excitedly at various animal-shaped topiaries while Rainbow Dash started trying to recall the best breathing exercises she could apply here. Within a minute, she could see they were headed towards a tunnel, which, appropriately enough, appeared pitch-black inside. She braced herself as they went through.

She was quickly filled with regrets as that sickeningly saccharine song boomed all around her, and, once removed from the light of the sun, the look of those figurines mutated from somewhat uncanny to outright disturbing. It wasn't right, it just wasn't right, what am I doing here...

Fluttershy had mentioned wanting to ride this ride, and Dash could imagine being able to power through this with her. Being able to hold onto her, to have her reassurances whispered in her ear, to be inspired by her exercising her confidence when her own nerves were failing... none of that was going to happen with Bulk Biceps, for an overwhelming multitude of reasons. Still, the grey musclebound figure was clearly in his happy place — maybe she could coast off of his positive vibes?

Any hope of such a thing dissipated when they entered the next room, the Arctic room, where Rainbow Dash realized that first room, filled with a number of flat cardboard-looking figures, was just the warm-up. This was the real deal, and now the dolls were full-bodied and moving. She felt her skin crawl. The song was different now — sung in a language she didn't recognize — but not different enough.

Come on, Dash, you’re awesome, you can handle a few creepy dolls, you got this, you got this you gotthis yougotthis yougotthisyougotthisssssasdfghahwa

The room was mercifully brief, but the transition to the next room nearly made her shriek. It was a human-size figure of a Canadian Mountie with a comical mustache, which kept being pulled up and down to reveal a circular maw with a pair of beaver-like teeth.

Feeling herself shivering, she hesitantly nudged Bulk. "I gotta get off of this thing!" she whisper-shouted.

"We can't get off, Rainbow! We've got five more continents to visit!"

"Five more..." Dash quickly shut her eyes and started one of her breathing routines. It wasn't working. She'd promised her friends after the cruise incident to not be so overzealous about looking for Evil Magic everywhere, but she swore she could sense it here. Nothing else could explain this place or its hypnotic effect on Bulk and the others... nothing!

She couldn't take it anymore. The singing, the dolls, it wasn't her, it was too much, it-

She felt around her neck. The gem! Where was it?

And she realized with a gulp she'd given it to Fluttershy a few minutes before meeting up with Bulk Biceps.

Thankfully for the other riders, the song was there to drown out the screaming.

Fluttershy was waiting at the exit as she saw the boat with Bulk Bicep's towering figure pull up. She watched him get up and exit, and then saw-

"Rainbow?"

Dash looked wobbly, disoriented. She stumbled off the boat in a daze, clinging onto Bulk's shirt as she followed him up the steps toward the exit. When she saw Fluttershy, she sprinted forward and nearly tackled her to the asphalt.

"Dashie, what happened?"

"W- w- w- w- world, laughter, tears, share, small, dolls, dolls, DOLLS! Elephants, kangaroo, walruses, queen of the hippos! Birds, giraffes, penguins in hats! HAHAHAHA! More dolls, I love dolls! Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink!"

"Huh? What are you saying, Rainbow?" Fluttershy looked genuinely horrified as Dash gave an unhinged smile.

"LIZARD QUEEN!" And Dash snatched her gem from Fluttershy and zipped away, before reappearing behind her a second later, looking noticeably healthier.

"What is going on?!" Fluttershy shouted, disturbed.

"Sorry, I, uh... needed to clear my head after that. It was... it wasn't my favorite ride ever..."

"Hey Rainbow Dash!" came Bulk's voice. "Thanks for going on the ride! Told you you'd like it! Even I didn't think you'd start singing along, though. Bye!"

Rainbow Dash's eyes twitched as Bulk walked off toward the Matterhorn. "Don't ask."

"You were sing- WHAT?"

"I said don't ask!" And Rainbow zoomed off for another lap of the park.

Applejack was still puzzled on how she'd ended up on Star Tours by herself.

It wasn't strange that she was here -- she'd grown up with Star Wars, revisited it often and her family even had some vintage videotapes of the original trilogy. She'd seen most of the newer movies on opening night and could even go head-to-head with Twilight in main series trivia, as long as it didn't delve into the comics or books. When Sunset, upon the dimensional transplant's first exposure to the series during one of their movie nights some time after Camp Everfree, asked why Applejack was such a fan, the farmgirl hadn't even gotten a chance to answer before Rainbow Dash butted in with a snarky response.

"Yeah, Applejack, what could possibly appeal to you about the movies where a kid living an ordinary life on the farm gets special magic powers and joins a team to save the universe from evil?"

As silly of a simplification as that was, Applejack couldn't help but agree a bit with that assessment.

But how did she end up here alone when everyone in the group was a fan? Just a whole lot of bad timing. Rainbow Dash had planned to meet her, but instead wound up texting her that her stomach was too upset (I told her not to eat any of that overpriced manure from those crummy Tomorrowland foodrinkeries, Applejack thought) for a motion simulator ride. Fluttershy was watching Dash, Twilight and Sunset were getting their own food in Frontierland and Rarity and Pinkie were in line somewhere else. So Applejack went alone, taking some dramamine to avoid the motion sickness that had felled her on the cruise.

Thus, when Applejack was being sent to her "gate" to await boarding, she was delighted to see two familiar faces in front of her.

"Lyra! Bon-Bon!"

Lyra whirled around. "Oh hey, Applejack!"

"Well, shoot, ain't this a funny coincidence. I don't think I saw either of you in line at all!"

"Us neither," Bon-Bon replied, "but we weren't really looking, to be honest."

"Heh, that's fair. Lots to see around here, I s'pose..." Applejack trailed off when she noticed the two were holding hands. "Like each other, I'm guessin'."

"Huh?" Lyra took a second to process. "Oh, right."

"Ah, don't mind me. Just a little bit j- happy for you two, I guess."

"You're not dating anyone?" Bon-Bon asked. "I kinda thought- never mind."

"Well..."

Applejack was interrupted by the start of the pre-show video. C-3PO was having a misadventure in the cockpit of their "speeder" before another robot popped in to give the safety instructions. But Applejack was mostly just lost in thought, and had to be pulled back to earth by Lyra, who was motioning at her to follow after the doors to their seats opened.

After she sat down and put on her seatbelt, she noticed one of the staff off to the side motioning at her. Lyra leaned over, tapped Applejack on the shoulder and whispered "Hat!", motioning to the basket below the seat. Blushing a bit with embarrassment, she complied and put her signature piece of clothing away, before putting on the 3D glasses.

Lyra and Bon-Bon were whispering to each other as the lights cut out, before the small screens off to the side showed 3PO getting himself roped into the role of ship's pilot (Typical!). The central screen opened up, and the simulator began to jolt and rock as they were ushered out of a ship's dock -- only to be interrupted by the arrival of Darth Vader and the Empire!

"Halt! Prepare to be boarded, Captain!" Vader declared.

"I'm afraid there's been a terrible mistake! I am C-3PO-"

"We know you have this Rebel spy on board!" The side screens lit up again, and Applejack looked over to see... Bon-Bon? Applejack and Lyra both started laughing at the image, clearly taken just a minute earlier, with Lyra elbowing Bon-Bon in the ribs. Bon-Bon, however, seemed to be taking the accusation of being a spy a bit too seriously.

"What? Me? I'm not a spy! Who told them I was a spy, huh? Who ratted me out- I mean, why would they say that!"

"It's just part of the ride!" Lyra laughed incredulously at her girlfriend's reaction.

"Right, exactly! I'm not a real spy, or my name isn't Swee- BON-BON!"

Applejack and Lyra's joy was starting to turn into concern, but any weird thoughts they had were dispelled by the simulator kicking into action, as Vader swung them around with the Force before R2-D2 used the ship's guns (interesting inclusion for a tour vehicle, though then again it is the Star Wars universe) to blast their way past the Imperials and launch into hyperspace toward a randomized destination.

The first stop took them to Kashyyyk, where they followed scout troopers on speeder bikes through the thick jungle and endured a Wookiee landing on their viewscreen. Even with the meds, the rocking and 3D wasn't doing Applejack any favors, especially when they "braked" suddenly, but she was enjoying the experience enough to not regret it. Soon they were back in space, and receiving a holographic transmission from Yoda! (Not doin' a very good job of staying in hiding, aren't ya? Applejack thought.)

"On your ship, one loyal to our cause, do you carry."

"The spy!" 3PO replied.

"Mmmmm. Deliver her you must, or all is lost."

"If I had a nickel for any time the agency said that about me, I'd have no nickels." Bon-Bon mumbled under her breath, but not as quietly as she thought as Lyra's bafflement continued to increase at an exponential rate.

"To your R2 unit, coordinates I will send. May the Force be with you."

3PO launched them into hyperspace again, depositing them in Geonosis, where they were greeted by Jango Fett and a barrage of blaster fire. The simulator tilted back and forth as they swerved to avoid asteroids, then somehow found themselves inside the second Death Star(???) before escaping, detonating one of Jango's seismic charges and launching once more into hyperspace. They soon arrived at the Rebel fleet, with Admiral Ackbar greeting them on the side screen.

"Star Tours! We were concerned about you! Is our agent safe?"

"Safe, but perhaps a little shaken." 3PO replied. (That's a bit of an understatement, Applejack thought as she noticed Lyra and Bon-Bon getting into a heated whispering match next to her.)

"We are grateful you made it. You are all heroes of the Rebellion!"

"I rather like the sound of that! Now be careful out there, all of you. The Empire is watching." And with that, the screen closed back up, the lights came up and the ride was over — for Applejack, anyway. For Lyra and Bon-Bon, the questions that had arisen onboard didn't look to be going away anytime soon.

As Applejack deposited her glasses in one of the bins, Lyra approached her. "Hey, sorry if we made you feel a little awkward in line earlier. It's your business, obviously. We didn't mean to butt in."

"Naw, you're fine. Hope you and Bon-Bon, uh, get whatever happened in there sorted out."

"Yeah, that might... uh... take a while."

Bon-Bon, standing to the side a few feet away, shouted "Hey! It was just a weird ride moment! I'm fine!" But Applejack noticed she was backing away.

"No no no, you get back here and explain yourself! First you won't watch any Bond movies with me, and now this? I said get back here!"

Applejack giggled as the two of them continued to bicker all the way out into the gift shop.

In a sense, Rainbow Dash knew she shouldn't really be bothering with this ride — at least, not this early in the morning. Soarin' was a popular ride, sure, but even at peak hours, it didn't draw crowds nearly comparable in scope to the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy or Midway Mania. Indeed, when she'd gotten up early to take advantage of the extra hour of park activity offered to hotel guests (which Fluttershy and even their fellow hotel roommate Pinkie Pie were more than happy to sleep through), it'd been with the intent of riding one of those. But, upon reflection, neither of those would really be that fun without one of her friends, either to compete for a higher score with on the latter ride or to watch them scream as the elevator plunged during the former.

Soarin', on the other hand, was the perfect solo experience for Dash. It didn't matter who you were sitting next to or what they were doing; the emphasis was on your immersion, on your own sensory experiences. Feeling the weightlessness of being suspended in the air, getting lost in the giant visuals, being entranced by the majestic musical score and physically transported by the scents. She'd never thought about it that way before, but in a sense, it really was her favorite ride at the park.

So when she'd found herself wandering over to Soarin' without even consciously deciding to, she didn't turn around. But when she entered into the queue and reached the end of the (fairly short) line in the mock-hangar area, she was very surprised to find a familiar head of perfectly-maintained aquamarine/neon pink hair directly in front of her.

"Principal Celestia?" Rainbow Dash didn't so much speak the words as let them tumble out of her mouth.

Celestia, who'd been lost in thought looking at the photos of aviation pioneers displayed on the walls, jolted back to earth in surprise and turned to look at the source of the voice. She smiled. "Why, if it isn't Rainbow Dash! What a nice surprise! You never quite struck me as the 'get-up-nice-and-early' type."

Rainbow smirked. "I am when I want to be. None of my friends were today, though."

"I know the feeling. I wasn't even going to try to get Luna to join me at this hour. She's always been something of a night owl. I think coffee's the only thing that keeps her functioning during the school year."

Rainbow suppressed a guffaw at the thought of her Vice Principal partaking in the night life scene.

"So what brings you to this ride?" Celestia asked. "I'd have thought you'd be more interested in something a bit more intense."

"Well... don't get me wrong, I do love those rides too. But I have always kinda had a soft spot for stuff like this."

"Flying?"

"Not flying, exactly. I don't really like being super high up in the air where I can't see the ground, and I definitely wouldn't want to have to deal with all the controls on an airplane."

"Really? How interesting."

"People always seem surprised when I say that. I told Princess Twilight once and she went kinda cross-eyed for like a whole minute." She laughed a bit at the memory. "But I do like hang gliding. I've done a bit of training and it's super fun. There's no worrying about fancy controls, everything's done through your body and you get to really enjoy the sights."

"So a ride like this is a natural fit."

"Ha, I guess so."

Celestia laughed. "I've actually always been into flying, in all honesty. I knew teaching and education were my calling early on, but I used to have dreams about being a pilot as well. It's been a fascination of mine, and I did take some small-aircraft lessons at the airfield in Hope Hollow. I'd hoped to get a license one day, but my career got the better of me. Still..." She shrugged as the line took them down the hallway.

Dash smiled. "I mean, there's always time, right?"

"Perhaps."

They reached the end of the line and were directed to a waiting area to watch the customary safety video from "Chief Flight Attendant Patrick", who had an oddly familiar voice. They then filed into the main room to their seats and buckled up. Dash could see the excitement on Celestia's face as they began to lift up and were moved into position for the ride.

Everything about the experience was just how Dash remembered, the swooping visuals taking her away as they flew through the Arctic, past medieval castles, across the savanna, past historical wonders of the world and more. The simulated wind and scents gave her a genuine thrill, even if it couldn't quite compare to a real gliding experience. But she did find herself looking over quite often at her seat partner, who was laughing and enjoying herself like a little girl on a playground swing. It was a surreal sight to see such genuine joy on her principal's face, rather than the kind, occasionally bemused sternness she was careful to maintain professionally.

And when the ride came to a conclusion when they flew above Disneyland itself, Dash swore she heard Celestia say "awww" as the seats descended back to earth, and she had to cover up a snort.

After they'd exited, Rainbow couldn't hold back the question. "So... are you really interested in flying planes, or do you just like being up in the air?"

Celestia blushed, realizing how loud her cheering had been. "Oh, well... I do genuinely enjoy piloting, but sometimes I do wish I could just... sprout wings, the way you do sometimes."

"Y'know..." Rainbow thought back to the cruise incident. "Sunset might know a place where you might be able to do just that."

"What? Oh. I couldn't, that's... hmmm... oh gosh... I shouldn't... Well, that idea's definitely going to be in my head for the rest of the day. Gosh. But it was so nice to see you, Rainbow Dash. I wish you and your friends the best!"

"You too, Principal Celestia!" Rainbow waved goodbye as the older woman walked away, her mind clearly racing at a mile a minute.

As they stood in line, Sweetie Belle couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed as her older sister was very visibly holding her nose. "Can you not? People can see us."

"Darling, please, you know I wouldn't if I could help it, but I feel a bit nauseous with all these petrol fumes in the air! What city of the future reeks like a gas station spill?"

"I don't care much for it either, but if it's that bad, then why'd you even want to go on this ride?"

"For you, of course! I know how much you've been itching to drive a car yourself..."

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes so hard she nearly blew a blood vessel. "You can't seriously think this is the same thing."

"Well, pssh, no, of course not dear, but-"

"I don't get it! Why does no one in this family think I'm ready to learn to drive a real car? Just because you never bothered doesn't mean I shouldn't get to!"

Rarity stopped pinching her nose and got serious. "Look, Sweetie Belle, it's not my decision to make! And I apologize if my lack of interest in automobiles means our parents aren't prepared to handle yours. I... I can't speak for them, but I'll admit it does feel rather surreal to think of you as being old enough for something like that," she mused as the line moved forward.

Sweetie Belle looked indignant. "What do you mean?"

"Yes, you're only two years younger than me, but we're practically from different generations! You never even had a MyStable account, for heaven's sake!"

"That's because MyStable is ancient! It's just a bunch of old fogies spreading unbelievable rumors and laughing at recycled memes — I'm pretty sure you're the only one in your class who ever had an account there! No one uses it!"

Now it was Rarity's turn to look indignant. "Pssk — well, some of those old fogies happened to quite appreciate my designs!"

"And how many followers does @Rarity4U have on there compared to SnapGab and Ponygram?"

"Hmph. Point taken."

"And when you were my age, you were already fighting evil magic with your friends! But I can't drive a real car?"

"Oh, ffff, well, I didn't start doing that by choice..." Rarity sighed, her face fallen. "Look, Sweetie Belle, we're almost to the front of the line. I promise we'll talk more about this later. Let's just... enjoy the drive for today, okay?" She smiled hesitantly.

Sweetie Belle sighed a bit before returning the smile. "Of course, Rares. I don't mean to throw all this on you, I just... I just don't wanna be treated like a little kid anymore."

"And you're right to feel that way. And... for what it's worth, I did lie a little when I said this was for you. I'm still not very interested in learning to drive a real car, but... I wouldn't mind getting behind the wheel here." She pinched her nose again as she caught another whiff of ozone. "Even with the smell..."

Sweetie Belle giggled as they climbed down the steps, where they were ushered to their vehicles. Rarity was directed to the front car on the left track while Sweetie Belle was placed right behind her. Rarity leaned to look behind her, and the two sisters waved at each other before being motioned forward.

Even Sweetie Belle could admit that, if nothing else, it was certainly a pleasant ride. She'd never admit it to Rarity, but she was still having to figure out which of the pedals was which (not helped by the vehicle's seemingly superfluous third pedal), so it was nice to have a judgment-free zone to get a reminder. She followed along behind Rarity as the track weaved underneath the monorail and through a nice shaded garden area. Rarity's hand would pop up every so often and wave; with the stench of the fuel much less of an issue now that they were separated from the others, she was sure Rarity was enjoying herself. Her sister might prefer riding in limos, but she knew Rarity understood where she was coming from in wanting that freedom of being behind the wheel herself.

It was a nice several minutes of pseudo-driving, but all things must come to an end, and soon the two were caught in the traffic jam leading up to the ride exit. Sweetie Belle was careful in inching up behind Rarity's car, not wanting to give her an excuse to dismiss her vehicular desires by accidentally bumping into her. (Unfortunately, the driver that arrived behind Sweetie herself was not so considerate, giving her an upsetting jolt.) The fumes returned in full force, and at one point Rarity leaned over again and made an exaggerated gagging motion, making her sister laugh. However, she apparently let her foot off the brake in doing so, as her car rolled forward before banging into the one in front of it.

"Oh, so sorry! My bad!"

They eventually reached the exit and disembarked. As the two climbed back up to the rest of the park, Sweetie Belle turned to Rarity. "So did you have fun?"

"Oh, of course, darling."

"You know, we can save that chat for later. I'd rather just keep doing stuff with you here right now."

Rarity beamed. "Why certainly, Sweetie Belle. I'm always happy to do things together with you."

WARNING: This chapter contains discussion of and MAJOR SPOILERS, INCLUDING THE ENDING for Spider-Man: No Way Home. If you haven't seen the movie, skip to the final page break (a.k.a. the third section) to just read about Sunset and Sci-Twi on the W.E.B. Slingers ride. And don't bring up No Way Home plot points in the comments without spoiler tags!

Also, note that this isn't representing my personal reaction to No Way Home, I enjoyed the movie a lot.

"How is the line this long!" Sunset shouted after she finished getting her boarding group confirmation scanned and walked down the entranceway to join Twilight. "What's even the point of waking up at the crack of dawn to get in the Virtual Queue-thingy just to have to stand in a very not-virtual line! In a not-especially-well-shaded area!"

"It was hardly the crack of dawn, Sunset," Twilight replied. "Besides, we're lucky. Poor Rainbow Dash didn't get accepted for a boarding group this morning, and now I just got a text saying she lost again at the noon queue opening! What a mess..."

"I guess you're right... that is awful for Rainbow. I know she's really been looking forward to this. She is our second-biggest Spider-Fan, after all," she said as she nudged Twilight on the shoulder.

"What? She's more of a Spider-Fan than me! I just love the movies, she gets all the actual comics and stuff."

"Really? Because you crushed her at all the Marvel stuff last time we did a trivia night. And don't go acting like you don't read comics, I've seen your stash!"

"Whaaaaaat, those?" Twilight blushed as they reached the back of the line. "Those aren't mine, they're... Spike's! He loves comics!"

"Can Spike read?"

"After how long I spent trying to teach him? He better!"

"And was it before or after he started talking that you tried to teach your dog to read?" Sunset said cheekily, miming scribbling notes on a clipboard.

"Stop mocking me, you're a magic talking horse!" Twilight fumed, and her visible pouting made Sunset snort.

"Magic talking unicorn, thank you very much. Quick, the line's moving!"

"Huh?" Twilight snapped back to reality and noticed the empty space in front of her. "What, all of five people? Real big move there."

"Welcome to Disney."

"Touché." They moved forward, and the family in front of them noticed and turned to them.

"Fun line already, right?" The father, a tall portly middle-aged man with a cheery attitude who looked like he'd dedicated hours to memorizing the encyclopedia of Dad Jokes, asked.

"Uh, you said it," Sunset replied uncertainly.

"Name's Chip Easygoer. Always nice to talk to new people in long lines, I always say. You two big fans of Spider-Man?"

"Casually. I'm Sunset Shimmer, and this is my partner Twilight Sparkle. She's the real Spidey super-fan," Sunset responded as Twilight's blushing intensified.

"You seem familiar. Have I seen you on TV anywhere?"

"Uhhhh... maybe? I mean we are in a band?"

"Naw, that's not it. You both kinda remind me of those real-life superhero girls from Canterlot, I think. But that's probably just a coincidence, ha!"

"Ha ha!" Sunset laughed unconvincingly as Twilight hastily stuffed her gem necklace into her pocket. "How strange, no one's ever said that to me before!"

"Oh well. Speaking of strange, as in Doctor Strange, you girls must have seen that new Spider-Man movie that just came out! What'd you think?"

Sunset started to form an answer before finding herself freezing up. Twilight noticed and snapped to attention. "What, us? Of course we saw it! It was... good!"

"We all loved it, didn't we?" Chip asked as he motioned toward his family. "Such a good time, all those bad guys, and the three Spider-Men fighting them all together, and wow that ending..."

Even with the noise of the line, Twilight could hear Sunset's heart rate start to pick up. "Uh, yeah, totally!" she said as she stepped over to Sunset's side and put a hand on her back.

"Uh... is something wrong?" Chip cocked his head. "Was it something I said? I didn't mean to pry, it's okay if you didn't like it or-"

"No, no," Twilight stammered, "it's fine, really, it's-"

Sunset finally spoke up. "It... it's not you. Or the movie, really, it's just... I used to have a lot of, uh, really bad dreams that were a lot like how the movie ended. It wasn't pleasant. It's not the movie's fault or anything, I just... yeah."

"Oh." Chip's face fell a bit, and as the line started to move again he decided not to follow through on further questioning. "I'll just... leave you girls be. Hope you enjoy the ride!"

"You too," Sunset replied weakly as Twilight hugged her.

"You okay, Sunset?" Twilight asked as she looked her partner in the eyes.

"I'll be fine, I just... I should've been more prepared for that, it's a Spider-Man ride. I just really don't like thinking about what I put you through that night..."

"It's okay, Sunset. You know that. As many times as I've been vulnerable with you... you're allowed to be vulnerable too."

"Still..."

The buildup to No Way Home could not have been better. Twilight, naturally, had fought through website server crashes and slow speeds to snag two IMAX tickets for opening night. (Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had gotten tickets for an adjacent regular-auditorium screening around the same time.) While Sunset had been caught up on the MCU courtesy of Dash and Twilight, she hadn't seen either of the two Spider-Man film series that preceded her arrival into the human world, so Twilight had marathoned them with her the weekend before release. They were all set for the perfect night.

And for a good two hours of the movie, they'd gotten it. They'd thrilled to Peter Parker's exploits fighting villains from franchises past, marveled at Spider-Man and Doctor Strange in the mirror dimension, felt the heartbreak when Peter lost someone close to him and cheered when the Spider-Men united. The energy of the crowd lifted them, and they were hanging on every narrative turn. And then...

And then Peter Parker decided he was going to allow Strange to erase him, his entire being, from the collective memory of the entire universe. To allow his friends to forget him, to forget they were ever friends, and lose everything they had together. Because he'd meddled with interdimensional magic in a world that couldn't handle its effects, and had to pay the price.

And Twilight's blood turned to ice.

She didn't have to move her head even slightly to feel Sunset's pulse start to quicken, to hear her breathing become audible, to sense the hairs on her body starting to stand on end. But she looked over anyway, and she could start to see the panic emerge, the weight of what was happening onscreen slamming into Sunset like a freight train.

Twilight leaned over and whispered. "Sunset... we don't have to stay. We don't have to watch this. We can leave, it's okay. I promise it's okay."

"No..." Sunset replied in a soft, ragged breath. "No, I have to see this. If I go now I'll never be able to stop thinking about it, I'll have to watch it again anyway, everyone will be talking about it..."

Twilight wasn't satisfied with that response, but she didn't know what she could say to convince Sunset to leave. So she looked back up at the giant screen, where Peter was assuring MJ and Ned he'd make them remember him, somehow. And she heard Sunset start to sniffle as another whisper escaped her lips.

"I’m glad he gets to say goodbye…"

Twilight pulled her empty soda cup out of the armrest and placed it in the popcorn tub beneath them, then pulled the armrest up. She scooted closer to Sunset and wrapped an arm around her, hoping the physical knowledge that she was still here, still with her, would give her the comfort she needed to pull through. It wasn't enough. By the time Peter was walking down the streets of New York, unknown by all, Sunset was sobbing in Twilight's arms as her deepest, darkest fear played out on an IMAX screen for an enraptured crowd.

And when MJ and Peter's reunion came without a hint of recognition on her part, echoes of the beach and the parking lot tore through Twilight's skull, and she felt her own heart shatter.

After the two stabilized their emotions a bit, the rest of the wait in line was fairly uneventful. Chip had found games to play with his family in front of them, so the two mostly just looked at the various bits of plot exposition for the ride scattered around the queue, texted their friends to figure out where to meet them after they finished, and had a quick phone call with Spike back in Canterlot. (Sadly, Disney's rules on pets did not make exceptions for those of the talking variety.)

They finally made it inside the show building, where a holographic Peter Parker and the AI S.H.A.R.I.N. explained their mission. (Sunset rolled her eyes a bit at yet another cheesy "just a normal tour, but now everything's gone wrong!" theme park ride plot.) Basically, one of Peter's science projects, a self-replicating "Spider-Bot", was now self-replicating at an alarming rate, threatening to destroy the entire "Worldwide Engineering Brigade" campus and beyond; but, with the help of personal web-shooters the riders would now be given, they would team up with Spider-Man to take the bots down before things got out of control.

As they moved toward the ride vehicles, Sunset elbowed Twilight. "You know, self-replicating robots kinda feels like something you would do."

"What? No it doesn't! In case you forgot, I'm a responsible scientist, thank you very much," Twilight replied as she made a mental note to reconsider the duplication feature she'd conceived for Selfie-Bot 4.0.

"Whatever you say," Sunset laughed as Twilight scowled.

They were given their 3D glasses and ushered onto their ride vehicle, essentially a large windowed box with a camera to watch their movements and some displays featuring their individual scores. They were transported through the interior of W.E.B. headquarters, catching glimpses of Spider-Bots in the piping, before parking in front of their first 3D display screen, where Spidey saved them from an attacking bot and implicitly invited them to join him in fighting the rogue droids in a warehouse area.

"Remind me how we're supposed to do this again?" Sunset asked, befuddled.

"Just start flexing your arms like you're shooting webs!" Twilight exclaimed as she started doing exactly that. Digital webs started flying wildly across the screen, only somewhat matching her movements. Sunset quickly followed suit, and together they caused all kinds of onscreen havoc as they started yanking boxes and crates everywhere and blowing up the bots.

As they wrapped up the first screen, Twilight looked down at the scores. "How are you doing better than me? You were just randomly punching the air!"

"Hey, if it works, it works," Sunset smirked.

"Hmph," Twilight pouted as Sunset patted her on the back. The vehicle pulled up to the next screen, for which Sunset tried to better imitate her partner's "refined" flexing technique. More chaos ensued as a much larger Spider-Bot emerged, which the two had to web up and knock over before they progressed further into the attraction.

"You know, you don't have to let me win," Sunset teased as she looked at the scores again.

"You're lucky this ride doesn't allow friendly fire."

"Geez, you're getting too competitive. I'm not letting you watch me do online multiplayer stuff anymore, I'm a terrible influence."

"Grrrrrr...."

They reached the third screen, and Twilight's flexing was suddenly supercharged. She was getting so aggressive Sunset genuinely started to worry she'd pull a muscle. Still, she wasn't about to cede her dominance, throwing her own arms back into the fray. However, they were starting to ache, and, by the time they were through, Twilight had made up quite a bit of ground.

"Ha-HA!"

"Hey, don't count me out yet," Sunset rebutted. "Even if my arms feel a bit like wet spaghetti now..."

Unfortunately, Sunset realized too late that she'd been suckered, and that her girlfriend had stealthily pulled her punches those first two screens while Sunset burned herself out. And so Twilight near-singlehandedly took down the mammoth Spider-Bot on the final screen and pulled into the lead as Sunset watched with her jaw dropped.

"Good game, Twi." Sunset caught her breath as the vehicle pulled away from the screen and back toward the boarding area.

Twilight turned and beamed. "You know, just because you can read anyone's mind with that necklace doesn't mean I don't know how to play with yours."

Sunset gave a wry smile. "Nobody likes a sore winner... But that was really cool."

Shortly after, they disembarked and were back in the heart of Avengers C.A.M.P.U.S., trying to figure out where to head next. "Was it worth getting up early for?" Twilight asked.

"Definitely. And... thank you."

"For what? For getting the boarding passes, for the competition, for-"

She was cut off when Sunset grabbed her by the sides and gave her a kiss on the lips, then pulled back and radiated joy at her. "For the amazing new memories you give me every day."

A huge grin spread across Twilight's face. "You too, Sunset," she replied before returning the favor with a kiss of her own.

"I dunno, Pinkie, doesn't this seem a little... tame for people our age?" Applejack asked, looking up at what had to be the slowest-moving drop ride she'd ever seen. It looked nice, she could admit, and it was decently (if far from intimidatingly) tall, but the seats descending at a gentle, highly-controlled rate didn't look like they'd do much to satisfy her itch for something thrilling. Especially when she'd been on similar rides at the county fair that offered a much more satisfying plunge.

"Well, yeah, but I thought you'd like it! It's pretty, it's tall, and the name sounds kinda like something you'd say!" Pinkie grinned.

"Now wait just an apple-pickin’ minute, Pinkie, what in the dang-blasted heck would make ya think I'd ever say somethin' as ridiculous as 'Jumpin' Jellyfish'? Criminy, just what in tarnation..."

"Beats me!"

"And you took us in this line because you thought I'd like it?" Applejack replied, baffled. "You don't even want to be here?"

"I don't mind! Besides, all the other lines are like totally huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-"

"Guess you got a point there. Well, they're about to let us on anyway, so I s'pose it's too late to back out now."

"uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-"

"PINKIE!"

"-uge right now. Sorry, what were you saying?"

Applejack drew Pinkie's gaze to the irate-looking cast member frantically motioning for them to board.

"Whoops! My bad!" The two of them got onto the platform and Pinkie bounced to her seat, Applejack following shortly after. Once they'd been securely strapped in, the seats began to rise, and Applejack couldn't help but smile a bit as Pinkie, even knowing this wasn't the most exciting ride, cheered as though it were, and the slow elevation was building to something incredible.

It was a solid view, Applejack noted. They were looking out over Pixar Pier, with a nice look at the action on the nearby swings, the ferris wheel and the Incredicoaster. It was just before sundown, and the sky was a brilliant shade of orange for the magic hour. It gave her a nice feeling just to be there, with Pinkie by her side.

Unfortunately, that feeling was disrupted by the drop, which, for what it was worth, was a bit more sudden than Applejack was expecting based on what she'd seen from the ground. It was too quick, though; they didn't fall very far before gently slowing to a halt and going back up. Pinkie, though, seemed determined to make it feel epic for Applejack, crying "Whee!" and putting her hands in the air each time.

"Thanks, Pinkie."

"No problem! Wheee!"

Just a few unexciting drop cycles later, they were already going back to the ground. The safety instructions came up on the speakers: "It looks like your jellyfish are all jumped out! So please stay seated until your jellyfish comes to a complete stop! To release your safety belt, push the red button..." Applejack noticed the speaker’s voice oddly resembled that of Cozy Glow, one of the 8th graders she'd recently taken on a tour of CHS during a prospective-student event.

The pair disembarked, and once they'd left the attraction Applejack put her hand on Pinkie's shoulder. "Hey, I hope I didn't make you feel bad or anything about the ride choice. Even a kiddie ride is fun with you, y'know. You didn't have to scream yourself silly to make me feel better."

"Aww, it wasn't just for you, Applejack! Sometimes screaming for nothing is just fun! And it's a lot less totally awkward to do it on a ride like that than doing it just anywhere. Or in The Little Mermaid ride. They really don't appreciate it there."

Applejack started chuckling. "That... that's very true Pinkie. Glad I could give you a fun place to cut loose."

"Nooooo problem! Hey look, isn't that Rarity over there?" Pinkie asked, motioning vaguely.

"Jumpin' jellyfish, where?" Applejack wheeled about, looking. She didn't see her anywhere. She turned back and Pinkie was giggling nonstop.

"Told you it sounded like something you'd say." And the giggling turned into uproarious laughter as she saw Applejack steaming.

Twilight and Fluttershy ambled into the showroom for the Enchanted Tiki Room and sat down on one of the benches towards the back, away from where most of the families in the showing were gathering. Twilight was moreso simply following Fluttershy than making a seating decision herself, being a bit more invested in finishing the Dole Whip she'd bought outside.

"Thanks for coming with me, Twilight." Fluttershy whispered. "I didn't want to ask Dashie to sit still in a room for a long show like this, but I didn't want to go alone either."

Twilight swallowed the last spoonful, then turned and smiled. "Hey, no worries! I was hoping to do this anyway!"

"Oh, really? I didn't realize you were excited for this, I'd have asked earlier!"

"Oh, of course I wanted to see this! Animatronics like they have for this are basically old robots, and it's not often you get to see almost-70-year-old robots that are still active and this well-maintained! Well, not literally, obviously they've done refurbishments and replaced figurines over the years, but still, incredibly old-school robotics technology! And when you think about the effort it took to get a show like this coordinated well before you could ever have computers controlling things... it's fascinating stuff. I read a little bit about it but I've been eager to see it in action."

"Wow, it really does sound like it's perfect for you when you put it that way," Fluttershy mused. "I just wanted to see all the cute birdies."

"I mean, that's always a plus." Twilight giggled, and after a moment Fluttershy did likewise.

With everyone seated, a cast member walked in and issued a command, and at once the animatronic macaws in the center of the room began to "wake up". Twilight noticed they weren't speaking in stereotypical parrot-speech, but rather in an assortment of human accents. She leaned over to Fluttershy and whispered, "Is that really what parrots sound like to you when you hear them talk? For-real talk, not 'polly want a cracker' talk, that is."

"We don't get many parrots at the shelter, actually, Canterlot has a lot of strict policies about bird ownership. We did once have a budgie for a little bit that had a thick Manehattan accent, though."

"Weird..."

Soon the first song had started, and Twilight was studying the movements of the birds closely, paying special attention to some of the background birds that were around her. She noticed one had malfunctioned; its jaw was hanging open slackly and its only movements were bobbing its head up and down. Beyond that, though, everything seemed to be working perfectly, and despite having described it herself moments earlier, Twilight was quietly astonished, fascinated at the idea of how much coordination it would have taken to program and synchronize all of these birds' performances so many decades ago.

Fluttershy, meanwhile, wasn't quite as enraptured by the show as her seatmate was. It was cute, certainly, but it seemed constantly hearing animals talk in daily life, with far less inane banter and musical numbers, had taken some of the novelty out of the premise. Still, at least the birdies were as cute as hoped. This must be how Twilight feels when we see a serious sci-fi movie that gets the science wrong, she thought aimlessly.

Soon a second song had begun, with a multicolored jet of water from the central fountain reaching up towards the ceiling, then descending in sync with a rotating platform containing a multitude of additional white birds. Fluttershy was starting to feel a little understimulated as it went along, thanking heavens she didn't insist on Rainbow Dash attending. She'd have zipped out of the room minutes ago.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen," one of the accented macaws announced, "we have somethin' really big for you!"

"I bet," Fluttershy mumbled sarcastically.

"Huh?" Twilight was pulled back to earth at the sound of her friend's voice, and she turned to look at Fluttershy, who was trying to hastily put on a smile. "You okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Fluttershy whispered. "I suppose I'm just not getting as much out of it as I'd hoped. And it's not really my kind of music."

"Well, I don't want you to be bored..." Twilight whispered back with concern. "If you need to step out, I can come."

"Oh no, it's not that bad! I don't want you to leave when you're enjoying it. Besides, I don't mind getting to sit for a bit after how much we've been walking today."

"I suppose that's fair."

As they'd been speaking, the central platform had retracted back up into the ceiling, and several smaller platforms with robotic plants had lowered in the side areas. Fluttershy looked and noticed the flowers' petals were shaped into faux-lips and had begun to move for their song. Talking plants? Now that's just absurd.

Twilight caught her eye, and she noticed the other girl now looked like she had seen a ghost all of a sudden. Her eyes were wide and her hands were gripping the bench. "Uh... Twilight? Is something wrong?" Fluttershy asked with concern.

"Wha... what do you mean?"

"The bench is starting to levitate."

"Oh." Twilight gently brought the bench down to the ground, grateful no one else had sat with them. "Well... remember the time I told you about when Principal Celestia asked me to take care of her garden and some Equestrian magic got inside?"

"Yes..."

"The flowers here kinda look exactly like those did and it's giving me some really not-happy flashbacks."

"Do you want to leave?"

"Yes!" Twilight whispered forcefully.

The two of them stood up, snuck around to the back door and nudged it open, sneaking out with minimal disturbance. They managed to find an empty bench and sat down.

"Well," Fluttershy said with a smile. "I suppose not everything here can be a winner."

"I guess not," Twilight smiled back. "Still, I'm glad we got to not-have-fun together."

"I can't think of anyone I'd rather have had not-fun with in there," Fluttershy replied as they both laughed.

"Wow. I really can't believe you're gonna do this without a poncho, Rarity. You." Pinkie exclaimed as she stepped onto the rotating platform toward their circular raft.

"Darling, what they charge here for a glorified trash bag is highway robbery!" Rarity said as she followed behind. "Besides, it completely clashes with my ensemble! And I have everything I need for this ride right here with me. I've got my towel to sit down on, I'm wearing shoes I already plan to dispose of, and I have my gem to protect me from any splashback. Poncho, ha!"

"Whatever you say..." Pinkie grinned wickedly where Rarity couldn't see it. The cast member gave them the go-ahead, and they stepped aboard. They wound up completely alone on their raft, as the group behind them was rather large and wanted to ride together.

"Ooooooh, it's looks like it's just us! We're gonna have so much fun together!" Pinkie cheered.

"Indubitably, Pinkie." Rarity silently cursed that she'd forgotten to account for her socks as she stepped into the waterlogged raft, instantly drenching them through her shoes. No matter. They're replaceable. She summoned a diamond shield and dragged the edge of it carefully across the back of her seat, scraping all the water off. Then she delicately arranged her towel and sat down atop it, facing Pinkie on the opposite side directly.

The cast member who walked over to examine their seatbelts seemed very irate that Rarity had taken so long just to sit down, but she was quickly buckled up and ready to go. Pinkie was snickering as she looked at Rarity, exposed to the elements, but Rarity took it in stride.

"I'm telling you, Pinkie, I'll be just fine. You'll see," she said in a sing-song voice.

They floated to the end of the platform, where a cartoonish "gold miner" voice greeted them with the safety instructions. "Greetings, rafters! To assure a safe trip, remember to stay seated with your seatbelt fastened, keeping your hands, arms, feet and legs inside the raft. And be sure to watch your kids! Oh, and never forget -- don't feed the bears!"

"Y'know," Pinkie mused. "Someone really ought to give Fluttershy that advice sometime."

Rarity laughed. "Unquestionably."

They drifted down a smooth patch of artificial river toward the viewing area, and Pinkie quickly spotted Applejack, Sunset and Twilight waving to them from the pavement above. "Hi everyone!" she shouted, and Rarity craned her head around to look at them. She observed that Applejack appeared to be laughing, while Sunset and Twilight seemed to get nervous looks when they noticed Rarity visibly unprotected from what was to come.

"Cowards!" Rarity shouted as they floated past. "You dirty cowards, I'll show you who's not afraid of a little water!" Pinkie had approached Rarity to ride with her only after getting rejections from the three who were now looking down on them from above, Applejack due to motion sickness concerns and Sunset and Twilight citing "common sense". But Rarity? Hah! If she'd survived wearing suede in a rainstorm at the Starswirl Music Festival, she could survive a mere raft ride in casual (for her, anyway, and obviously impeccably chosen) wear.

They got their last glimpse of their so-called friends as they drifted into a structure, inside which the ride turned into a ramp taking them upward. Rarity had her first chance to test out her shielding strategy when they passed under the building's exit, which had some water dripping from it; she deflected it easily.

"Might want to save some of that energy for later..." Pinkie said in a sing-song voice of her own, to which Rarity simply rolled her eyes.

The raft continued to climb upward, and Rarity took a moment to enjoy the picturesque treescape around them. The sun was shining brightly, and she almost felt tempted to lie down and sunbathe. But the steady clanging noise made as they ascended kept her focused. Pinkie, meanwhile, was simply cheering and hyping herself for much-anticipated thrills.

They reached the top and were greeted with a gentle glide down to the river, which banked to the left. Rarity got a bit of goosebumps, though, when she heard a distant sound of growling, which grew louder as they floated along. "Ah, Pinkie, there isn't a, um, animatronic grizzly bear or anything on this ride, is there?"

"Uh... I'm not sure! Wouldn't that be a fun surprise, though?"

"Ah, haha, not really, Pinkie, I'm afraid not." She gulped as she saw they were headed towards a cave underneath Grizzly Peak, and the growling, seemingly formed by the wind itself, bore down upon them at increasing volume. "Oh dear."

Rarity gripped the two seats beside her tightly as they passed through the cave, but there was no menacing bear waiting for them inside, and she breathed a sigh of relief as they exited. However, leaving the cave marked the beginning of the "rapids" portion of the ride, as the water became much choppier and the experience much bumpier. Renewed noises heralded the first major drop, directly facing Rarity and to Pinkie's back. They tilted downward, and Rarity conjured another shield as they hit the bottom. Unfortunately, the water hit from a few more angles than she was expecting, and a spray managed to nail her in the face.

"Wheee! That was fun!" Pinkie shouted excitedly as Rarity coughed and sputtered, feeling her makeup starting to run. She groaned, thinking through ways to adjust her deflection strategies.

They entered a short "mine shaft" area, and now the water had become very choppy indeed. Much as she hated to admit it, Rarity hadn't really thought through the "rapids" part of a rapids ride, and the increasingly violent movements were not helping her in figuring out a plan to protect herself. They'd picked up speed, and now Pinkie had her eyes shut and hands in the air, cheering joyfully. They were bouncing off the sides of the attraction like a ping pong ball, all while repeatedly jolting up and down and up and down...

And then, suddenly, the water calmed, disappointing Pinkie. Rarity felt her danger sense go off. If the water wasn't choppy anymore, that meant another drop was almost certainly upon them! But now she'd been flipped around and was facing the direction they'd gone, not the way they were going. She leaned around but couldn't get a clear view.

And now they were suddenly spinning rapidly, and in the quick glimpses of the scenery she could get she realized they were indeed about to go down another drop; but they were still spinning as they started to turn, and in a flash of horror Rarity realized there was no way to predict from which directions she'd be struck. Panicking as they tilted down, she tried to summon a larger shield, a miniature variant of the dome she'd constructed at Camp Everfree, but she couldn't angle it correctly against the seat, leaving her sides almost totally exposed.

The results were tragically predictable.

Pinkie was absolutely covered in water, the blowback from Rarity's shield spraying her way and leaving her hair, face and shirt waterlogged. She didn't care in the slightest, continuing to cheer. Rarity, meanwhile, had been soaked all across her lower half, and she screamed as she felt the freezing water that was now absorbed into her outfit.

"Wasn't that fun?"

"PINKIE! I. AM. DRENCHED!!! My best-laid plans have gone dreadfully awry! We have to go back to the hotel immediately, I can't be seen in this horrific state!"

"I mean... I did tell you so."

"PINKIE!!!"

The water had become choppy once again, and soon Rarity saw they were headed for a jet of water blasting up from the middle of the ride. "NO! Nonononono!"

She quickly summoned another shield, and since the water was only coming from one direction, it was mostly successful in its job, though she had to carefully maneuver it along as the jet of water sliced across their raft.

Soon they had passed underneath the bridges for the queue and caught up with the other rafts awaiting their turn to exit. About the only thing Rarity had managed to successfully protect was her hair, which made for a surreal contrast against the rest of her drenched body. Pinkie was still giggling, having been soaked even further by the jet of water.

"Aw, c'mon, Rares, you don't look that bad! You look like someone who's been having fun!"

"FUN??? You call this FUN?" Rarity replied as she pulled the towel out from under her and frantically tried to dry herself off. "I am soaked to the bone, my outfit is ruined and I completely failed to show any mastery over my powers! What good are these shields if I can't even stop a little splashback?"

"Rarity..." Pinkie was interrupted when they reached the platform and had to disembark. As they got back to solid ground, Pinkie tapped Rarity on the shoulder, and the fashionista stopped to look at her friend, who was smiling at her.

"Rarity, I had fun. I had more fun because you were there. And I think, in your own way, you were having fun too."

Rarity slowly smiled back. "Perhaps you're right, Pinkie. Even if I wasn't enjoying myself conventionally, I was trying to challenge myself. I did step outside my comfort zone, willingly. Deep down I suppose I knew what I was in for, or otherwise I'd have bought one of those ridiculous ponchos just to be safe."

"Exactly!" Pinkie replied as they got back to the main path.

"Thank you, Pinkie. But I still must insist we go back to the hotel before anyone-"

"Rares?" She heard a familiar accent, and her blood went as cold as her waterlogged clothes.

"Well, I'll be," chuckled Applejack, who was standing directly across from the ride exit. "You look wetter than a drowned-"

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Rarity shrieked as she ran off into the distance, leaving Pinkie in the dust, unsure exactly what had just transpired.

Sunset was looking quizzically at Rainbow Dash as they stood outside the entrance for Pixar Pal-A-Round, an attraction whose name Sunset was finding rather confusing as she struggled to find any Pixar theming on the ride from her vantage point. "So... you were really excited to ride a ferris wheeel?"

"It's not a ferris wheel, Sunset, it's a sliding wheel! The gondolas all slide back and forth really fast all the way around and it's super fun! Just look!"

Sunset took a closer look at the wheel and saw what Dash was talking about. While some of the gondolas that were more towards the center seemed mostly stationary, the ones on the outside were swinging dramatically as they ascended and descended.

"Oh. I see. I... think I've heard of these, isn't there a famous one over near Manehattan?"

"Uh, maybe. But that one's there, this one's here! Come on!"

"Hmmmm..." Sunset hesitated. She was gonna regret letting Pinkie Pie talk her into getting all those sweets earlier, wasn't she? After a moment, she steeled herself and marched forward. "Bring it."

"Now that's what I'm talking about! Yeah-hah!"

As they waited in line, Sunset got curious again. "So... what about this ride is supposed to be Pixar, other than its on Pixar Pier? I don't really see any theming on the wheel itself, and the other side had a giant Mickey Mouse face."

"Ummmmm..." Rainbow pondered. "I think there's some character decals or something on the gondolas? I think it used to be named something else. I think most people just call it the wheel."

"Weird."

Once they made it to the front, Sunset could see what Rainbow was referring to; each of the gondolas had a small cutie mark-ish emblem of a Pixar character (at least she assumed they were Pixar characters; she hadn't seen the studio's entire catalog) on their front. Another small detail she noticed was that the English safety instructions were given by Dory from the fish movies she and Fluttershy had watched at a sleepover, while the Spanish ones were given by Miguel from Coco, which was one of Applejack's favorites.

Soon they were directed onto their gondola, which bore the image of a one-eyed green face that Sunset didn't recognize. She sat on the side facing the inside of the wheel while Rainbow Dash sat on the side looking away from it. She noticed motion sickness bags were available inside the gondola. Cute.

"You ready, Sunset?" Rainbow asked, looking pumped.

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

"Hey, you got this! I mean it's not much of a thrill if there's not some chance of getting a little queasy, is there?"

"I suppose not, which is probably why I just went around playing carnival games when we were at Equestrialand."

"So why aren't you doing that here?" Dash asked, motioning to the stands across from the wheel.

"Because I went around playing carnival games at Equestrialand." Sunset shuddered at the idea of ever playing a ring toss game again.

"Well, anyway, I- whoa!" The swinging began, and Rainbow, caught off guard, was suddenly holding tightly onto the seat as Sunset watched the gondola fling into the inside of the wheel at what seemed like nearly a 90-degree angle, then swing backward just as quickly. And then repeat. And repeat.

She turned her head to the left to look at the view, but it was going too fast to make anything out; she got brief glimpses of Grizzly Peak and Guardians of the Galaxy -- Mission: BREAKOUT!, but mostly she just saw a smear of motion. It didn't help that all the windows had a grating that greatly reduced the view. She turned back toward Rainbow Dash, who was looking a bit less confident.

"I thought you'd ridden this before!"

"Kinda... but I was really young so my parents would only let me on the stationary gondola."

"WHAT?"

Rainbow grinned nervously. "But, I mean, so what? It's a bit... weirder than I thought, but it's not that bad!"

Sunset had to admit it wasn't affecting her quite as badly as she'd worried about earlier, but at the same time she wasn't finding swinging around like this especially whimsical. Especially with the sheer repetition of it all, with no soundtrack beyond the distant strains of the music blasting from the swings behind her and the screams emanating from the Incredicoaster.

By the time they'd reached the ground again, they weren't especially nauseous, but they were a bit woozy and disoriented. The two of them had a bit of an odd time finding their footing after stepping back onto the ground and ambled their way back to Pixar Pier.

"So..." Sunset asked.

"Not quite what I imagined."

"Not enough of view with the grating and the swinging."

"It was fun at first, and then it just kept going."

"Yeah." They laughed a bit, before Rainbow looked up.

"You know what always makes me a little queasy?" Rainbow asked. "Whenever we transform."

"Really?" Sunset asked, curious.

"It's fine when we just pony up and all. But the whole thing we do with the geodes? There's like a weird moment in the middle where I just get this really gross sensation in the pit of my stomach like I'm about to puke or something. But then when we're all powered up I'm fine again."

Sunset thought for a minute. "Yeah, okay, I kinda know what you're talking about. It's not especially intense for me but I can see where it could be."

"I mean you have been through a lot bigger transformations than me. Like how did it feel when-"

"Dash, if you're about to ask about how it felt during the sophomore Fall Formal, I'm just gonna tell you right now that you absolutely do not want to hear the answer. You will puke."

Dash smiled awkwardly. "Okaaaaay then. Uhhhh... I think Pinkie's still over at Ghirardelli's."

"We probably shouldn't have left her there alone. Lead the way." And they set off back towards Pacific Wharf.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Twilight groaned as she stood in line alone in the Mr. Toad queue in Fantasyland.

"You know, you wouldn't have had to if you'd let me try my plan..." Spike's voice crackled in through her earbuds.

"That plan never would have worked. Why do you always insist on a fake mustache plan as if that has ever or will ever fool anyone? You are a dog. You are very obviously a dog. A dog with a mustache is still a dog."

"But this mustache was really convincing! It fooled Gummy and Boulder!"

"I'm not even going to begin to get into the list of things wrong with that statement..."

"Alright, alright. Let's just see if this works!"

"Fine..."

As she entered the ride building, Twilight reached into her bag and pulled out something special she'd been working on to allow Spike to enjoy some of the rides. It was a custom camera she'd programmed with a variant of the SelfieBot OS, with all the livestreaming and video capabilities she'd introduced in the second iteration for the Starswirl Music Festival, but intended for use in more low-light areas.

Oh, and the camera wasn't mounted to a drone. It was mounted to the brim of a baseball cap. A cap that, as soon as Twilight put it on her head, immediately began to slump downwards with the weight of said camera.

I really should have thought that part through a bit harder. Always the little things... Twilight mused.

She adjusted the camera's position a bit to keep it balanced better, then switched it on. She connected to it through her phone and gave the command to start broadcasting.

"Alright, it should be live now. Can you see?"

"Can I see the guy standing in front of you really likes his Hawaiian shirts? Yes I can."

"Good, it's working." The hat suddenly slumped forward again, and Twilight had to grab it to keep it from falling off her head.

"Woah!"

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna have to hold this manually. I really should've spent more time testing this in action, but it was a pretty last-minute project."

She took the hat off, gripping it from underneath where the brim met the body of the hat rather than trying to separate the camera from it. She made it to the front of the line and was directed into her car.

"Alright, I'm gonna put the hat back on and try to keep my head really still. Can you still see?"

"So far, so good."

"Alright, we're about to get started. Hopefully the low-light features work as well here as they did during the limited testing I could do."

The car jolted forward and immediately took a hard right into the main ride. They drove through a pair of thin doors into the Toad Hall library, where the cardboard-cutout-looking MacBadger was teetering on a ladder, before zooming right again and curving around more of the manor. Twilight was having a hard time putting her money where her mouth was in staying still, sliding around from side to side with all the fast turns and having to grip the brim of the hat not simply to keep it stationary, but to keep it from toppling over.

"How's it looking?"

"A whole lot of motion smears, camera noises and bad lighting."

"I'm doing my best!" Twilight hissed. She was getting sick of trying to keep the cursed thing on her head manually when an idea popped into her head. "Of course! Why didn't I think of it before? Hold on, Spike, I'm gonna try something here."

As the car exited Toad Hall, Twilight took off the hat, placed it on the seat beside her and, focusing her powers, levitated it to her eye level. It was working! Even as the car weaved and turned as they traveled through the countryside area of the ride, the hat was holding in place next to her.

"What about now?"

"I... I think it's working! Still dark, but it's not blurry. I can see the police guy in front of us."

"Excellent. I'll work on the lighting." She pulled out her phone again as the car whipped past the policeman and traveled down toward an angry cardboard-cutout farmer, playing with the settings until it looked more suitable. "Should be good now." Just as she said this, the car whipped into a u-turn and Twilight nearly knocked the camera over. "Sorry."

She gripped the handlebar in front of her to steady herself as they u-turned again into a hallway full of cartoon explosives. A "brick wall" opened up before them to reveal a room full of strobing effects, which she knew could only be causing more problems for Spike.

"Aah! It's just a whole bunch of bright lights all of a sudden! What's happening?"

"We blew up all the dynamite in the last room, I think. Now we're in the city!" The car was swerving rapidly to avoid more cartoon police and wound up entering what looked like a pub; Twilight was having a hard time paying attention to the storyline of the ride when she was having to expend an increasing amount of energy keeping the camera levitated properly.

"Geez, this ride is too fast, how's anyone supposed to follow what's going on?"

"Maybe someone could if she wasn't having to try and keep this camera running..."

They passed through another set of doors into a courtroom where they were immediately pronounced guilty of something, then turned a hard right onto... railroad tracks? She could hear the telltale noises and saw the lights up ahead simulating an oncoming train, but all she could think about was how it was yet another blow to the low-light settings. Which promptly got worse when the strobing started up again to simulate the collision.

"We just got hit by a train, by the way."

"I figured out that part."

They turned right again into a red-lit cavern filled with... demons? "And now we appear to be in hell. Which is frankly where I belong for thinking I could pull this off," Twilight grumbled.

They whipped left a few times, and Twilight caught a brief glimpse of a green dragon bearing down on them before they made a right turn back into the loading area. "Alright, show's over," Twilight said as they got within viewing range of other riders; she dropped the hat/camera back onto the seat, gathered it up and shut it off, stuffing it into her bag. She got out and exited the ride.

"Yeah, so..."

"I mean I could kinda see what was happening every now and then. It was just too low-lit, except when it was way too not-low-lit."

"Yeah, I'm, uh... not trying that again."

"What?! Not even for Big Thunder Mountain?"

"I can't wear this heavy thing on my head on a roller coaster, I'll break my neck! And I certainly can't levitate it when there'll be someone sitting next to me! Face it, we tried, it didn't work."

"Awwwww..."

"I'll try to work on some improvements when I get back, okay?"

"...fine. But I still say the mustache plan would have worked!"

"Goodbye, Spike."

"Bye, Twilight!"

Twilight took the earbuds out and set off back towards the castle.

"Maybe I should've gotten a churro too," Fluttershy mumbled as she and Applejack wandered through Frontierland, past some of the cheering patrons on Big Thunder Mountain. "This popcorn smelled good, but it's awfully dry."

Applejack laughed. "No kiddin'. Here, go ahead, I don't need any more of this stuff anyway," she replied, handing her the churro after tearing a last chunk for herself.

"Huh? Oh, I don't... alright." She gave into her impulses and immediately took a bite off of the end. "That is good. A lot softer than the ones Pinkie liked that they had at the Festival."

"I tried tellin' Sunset that, but that girl sure can hold a grudge against food. Still doesn't like fizzy cider, either. I thought that was just her actin’ tough before we made friends, but go figure."

"So where do you want to go when we finish?"

"Well, I was maybe thinkin'... oh hello?"

"Hello what?" Fluttershy looked over at Applejack, who'd clearly spotted something.

"I know what we can do next! Come on!" Applejack darted off toward a structure with a white sign and blue borders, decorated with... were those fireworks? Fluttershy ran along behind until she could see the words on the sign a little better: "Shooting Exposition".

"A shooting gallery?" Fluttershy asked, surprised.

"Why not?" Applejack asked. "Don't ya remember when we used to go to summer camp together when we were little? You never wanted anything to do with archery for some reason, but you sure could handle a rifle at the range!"

Fluttershy looked down at the ground. "Don't remind me."

"I never really understood why you never took it up as a hobby!"

"People said I was a natural. They wanted me to go on hunting trips." She shuddered.

"Aw, to heck with them. No need to shoot animals when targets exist. Want to see if ya still got it?"

Fluttershy hesitated. "What do the targets look like? They're not... cute little bunnies, are they?"

"I'll take a look." Applejack walked over to, peeked in and walked back. "Naw, no animals. Except for an owl, but the targets don't actually react when you hit 'em. It's just a red light that goes on and off."

"Okay... you go first though."

"Sounds good to me." They walked over to the gallery, where Applejack loaded two quarters into the slot and picked up one of the model rifles, which had a thick black cable attaching it to the structure. Fluttershy looked inside and was spooked when she saw the setting. It was a night scene in an old west town, only it looked more like a ghost town; there were a few model buildings, but most of the targets were gravestones. A train lit up with targets occasionally appeared in the distance, as did some ghostly specters of skeletal riders.

"Applejack!" Fluttershy whispered nervously. "You didn't mention it was a haunted shooting gallery!"

"I didn't realize, I was only really lookin' for animals. I thought the gravestones were just buildings at first."

Fluttershy shivered. "And the gravestones are targets? That seems rather morbid..."

"Alright there, settle down. Let's see how good a shot I am. I've been doing more archery practice ever since the Friendship Games, but it's been a while since I held a gun."

Carefully aiming, Applejack took her 20 shots, hitting about 12 times; she wasted several trying to nail the train in the back. "Pretty good, considerin'. You wanna go?"

"Well, I guess..."

"You don't have to if you don't wanna, Fluttershy."

"No, it's okay, I'd like to."

Applejack loaded in another 50 cents and handed the gun to Fluttershy, who hadn't held anything that even looked like a rifle since long before high school. She got into position, looked out into the spooky scene, and breathed.

She hit 18 out of 20 shots.

"Wowie!" Applejack shouted as Fluttershy put down the rifle. "That's some good shootin' right there!"

"Thanks," Fluttershy said, blushing slightly. "I missed the first one because I kinda forgot it wouldn't have an actual recoil, since, y'know, it's not actually firing. But it wasn't hard to get used to!"

"Aw heck, Flutters, now I really wanna do that with you for real. You haven't missed a beat!"

"Gosh." Fluttershy mumbled. "You really think so?"

"I'm a bit rusty myself. I know you feel a little awkward with it around other people, but maybe if it's just people you trust not to put pressure on you, it could still be fun!"

"I'll... I'll think about it." Fluttershy smiled, and the two of them giggled as the ambled back into Frontierland.

It was nighttime at Pixar Pier, and the roller coaster, ferris wheel and other structures were lit up brilliantly, giving an entrancing look to the carnival-themed area as Twilight and Rarity stood in the Incredicoaster line.

"To be honest," Twilight mused, "I never really thought of you as the roller coaster type. I was a bit surprised when you said yes."

"Well, truth be told, I'll admit I haven't gone on many -- the last time I even went to an amusement park as a guest was quite some years ago, I'm afraid. I'd hoped I'd be able to ride some during my downtime working at Equestrialand, but, well, life intervened."

"I still think we should have gotten better compensation for that incident than just two free passes. There were seven of us, and we saved a whole crowd!"

"Alas... but ever since then, I've been craving a little bit of a thrill like this."

"Well, you'll certainly get it, this is the only ride in either park with a loop." Twilight laughed. "Honestly, I half-wondered if you wanted to go on this ride because you thought of Edna as a role model."

"Who?" Rarity asked blankly. "Oh right, from the films. Not at all, actually, frankly I don't think much of her fashion sense at all. I mean what sort of depraved mind gives a blanket no to incorporating capes into their design?"

"A depraved mind who doesn't want a shocking number of fashion-linked fatalities on their conscience?"

"Oh pfffkt. Please, darling, if those superheroes couldn't handle the responsibilities inherent in proper fashion then they weren't worthy of their mantle."

Twilight laughed as they walked up the steps toward the loading area. "I seem to recall Applejack telling me about the time you were tossed around onstage like a ragdoll with a giant magnet because you insisted on wearing a metallic outfit."

Rarity scoffed. "THAT was DIFFERENT!"

"Whatever you say," Twilight chuckled as Rarity fumed at the memory.

After a few more minutes, they were directed to their seats in the center of the coaster and boarded, Twilight on the left and Rarity on the right. They stashed their geodes and bags in the seat compartment and Twilight put a strap on her glasses. "You ready?" she asked.

"Positively. I can't wait."

The coaster left the launching area and traveled leisurely past the first show scene, taking them underneath a bridge before parking them just right below and to the right of the boardwalk, level with the water of the pier. As Dash Parr's voice came on the loudspeaker to give them a quick safety warning, Twilight looked to her left and spotted a familiar face waving at them from above.

"Head back, face forward and hold on! 5, 4, 3, 2..."

"Hey Applejack!" she shouted. Rarity whipped her head to the left, trying to find where Twilight was looking, and-

"1, GO!!!"

Rarity was caught completely off guard as the coaster shot forward like a bullet, the lights of the pier becoming a blur as they were launched upwards into a tunnel. The jazzy action score from the movies boomed behind them as they flew out back into the open, tilting over to Rarity's side. The lights on each side of the track enhanced the feeling of speed as Twilight started to cheer, while Rarity was starting to feel like she'd unwittingly signed on for astronaut training. She had just a quick second to recover and catch her breath as they reached a short flat portion of track.

"Isn't this fun?!" Twilight shouted.

"It's-"

She lost track of whatever she was about to say as the coaster again zoomed forward, the track leaning first to Rarity's side, then to Twilight's before they slowed for an uphill climb through another tunnel. Right at the end of the show scene inside, they tilted downward and barreled forward.

Can't say this isn't what I asked for... Rarity thought, or at least that's what she would have thought if she'd had the capacity to think at that moment. The sensation was overwhelming, the sheer speed and intensity coursing through her. She felt her hair whip and flow freely; she experienced the loss of control over movement, and, after a moment, let that desire to simply be carried through whatever happened next take hold. Twilight's joy was infectious; soon she was similarly cheering and holding her arms high.

Just in time for the loop.

Rarity snapped to attention as the 360-degree rotation loomed upon her, maintaining a nervous, if still excited, grip on her seat as they climbed up and around. But just as soon as it started, it was already ending; they were flying down the other side of the loop towards another tunnel, and Rarity let go again. Twilight, meanwhile was entirely lost in the experience.

They coasted at high speed through the tunnel, which was lit up almost psychedelically; they then zipped through a gap in the structure to the other side of the coaster, and were now riding just above the boardwalk; the lights of the carousel, ferris wheel and carnival games flashed past them. Then, after a series of up-and-down drops and climbs, they were now zipping between the struts of the coaster above, tilted to Twilight's side. Rarity was pulled back to reality again when she noticed a series of bright flashing lights; her heart sank as she realized they'd just been photographed.

Following a final series of twists and turns very low to the ground, they finally reached the end, grinding to a halt. Rarity watched as Twilight slowly came back to earth, somewhat groggily, before looking over at her friend with a wide giddy grin.

"Well?"

"It was quite a rush, dear, I must admit. Even if I was mildly terrified on that loop."

"Ha! That's the best part!"

"In a sense, I suppose."

"Ah, quit acting so regal about it. Don't think I didn't notice you giving in just like me."

"Well, I wouldn't put it that way. Simply... enjoying the moment."

"I figured you would."

They reached the loading area, retrieved their items and exited back out onto the boardwalk.

"So you said you saw Applejack over here?" Rarity asked.

"She sure did!" Applejack's voice came from behind, as Rarity suddenly felt a strong hand on her shoulder and jolted. "How'd you girls like the ride?"

"It was..." Rarity fumbled for words. "Quite enjoyable, I suppose?"

"You certainly seemed to be enjoying yourself in the picture," Applejack said, pointing to the photo booth, where both Rarity and Twilight were making decidedly undignified expressions.

"Oh dear..." Rarity mumbled, before she came to a horrific realization. "My hair. Oh goodness, my hair! Someone get me a mirror!" She ran off fumbling through her bag as Twilight and Applejack both snickered at each other.

"She never changes, does she?" Twilight asked.

"Nope. You just gotta love it."

"I can't believe no one else wanted to do this with us!" Sunset shouted as she and Pinkie stood aboard the slow-moving raft taking them from New Orleans Square across the river to Tom Sawyer Island.

"Right?" Pinkie exclaimed. "It's like they just want to stand in lines all day! I mean anyone knows I appreciate standing in a good old-fashioned line, and cataloguing and categorizing different kinds of lines, and making videos about lines, and standing in line with you even when I already have the object you've been waiting in line for, but..."

"But we can't just stand in them all day!"

"Exactly! So why not just spend a bunch of time running around an island full of fun pirate stuff!"

The two forcefully high-fived each other.

"Alright," Sunset said intensely. "We've had our coffee, we've had way too many sweets for this early in the morning, and we are ready to go. Now let's run around and see everything this place has to offer before we crash!"

"YEAH!"

They watched as the raft slowly approached the island dock with feverish anticipation. As soon the gate was opened, they dashed off to start their explorations. They ran up the steps to the first location they encountered, Lafitte's Tavern, where they were disappointed to learn they couldn't actually go inside the building.

"Awww..." Pinkie moaned.

"Arrrr, it seems there'll be no plundering any grog for our return voyage here today, matey," Sunset replied in an atrocious pirate voice, which made Pinkie burst out laughing.

They darted back down the steps and found themselves in front of a cave. They peered in to find a wooden gate with "DANGER - KEEP OUT" written across two boards that formed an X. "Geez, there's gotta be some places we can actually go, right?"

"Never fear, matey," Sunset replied. "I be confident we'll yet find some treasure, arrrrr."

They returned to the path and noticed a small waterfall to their right. "Ooooh, fancy!" Pinkie said as she stood and admired the sight for a moment before moving on.

They soon came upon Dead Man's Grotto, a large cave adorned with a sign bearing the name and carrying two lanterns underneath. Above and to the right, the girls spotted a small additional sign reading "Beware!"

"Avast," Sunset cried, "I do believe we've located an abundant source of treasure!"

"Wow, are you really gonna keep that up the whole time?" Pinkie asked.

"No, not really," Sunset replied, dropping the accent. "I was already feeling like I was running out of pirate phrases."

"Well, either way. Let's go!"

They crept inside, wandering through a set of tight and dimly lit corridors before finding their way to the interior. Ghostly voices whispered as they passed by a display Dead Man's Chest and pressed on. Soon they were in front of gated window featuring much apparent treasure within. Above was a sign with a predictable message: "Beware the Cursed Treasure." Turning to another window nearby, this one with a chest filled with gold coins and a crowned skull to the right, they noticed a slat underneath the window through which they could reach inside.

Pinkie quickly stuck her hand through, and from the window Sunset saw the treasure vanish, leaving only an empty chest and bare skull! "Pinkie, stand up and look here!"

"Huh?" Pinkie obliged, removing her hand. The image of the treasure returned. "When you stick your hand through the slot, all the coins and things disappear!" Sunset stuck her own hand in and out several times and watched a big smile spread across Pinkie's face.

"Ohhhh, that's so cool, Sunset!"

After a few more times playing with the effect, the duo moved over to the next window, featuring a digital pirate ghost guarding more medallions. They then found another sign: "A WARNING to them what breaks the Pirate Code; Behold the fate of any thievin' scoundrel who dares to steal a shipmate's plunder. Signed, J. Gibbs." To the right of the sign was a moaning animatronic pirate prisoner, bemoaning his lot in life. A window high in the cell revealed the full moon, and the pirate's form became skeletal, delighting Sunset and Pinkie.

They ambled back outside the cave into the light of day, then took the steps up toward Smuggler's Cove. As they reached the top, they saw a bridge to their right, but before that they found another area off to the left. Darting up the steps, they soon found themselves underneath a large treehouse.

"Oooooohhh..." Pinkie looked at the tree with awe. "Do you think we can climb it?"

"Ummmm..." Sunset thought. "I'm not sure. I'm guessing probably not. There'd be an easier way to get up there if they wanted you to."

"Well, who's gonna stop me if I wanna try?" Pinkie said cheekily. Sunset laughed.

"C'mon, Pinkie," Sunset said as she grabbed her by the arm of her shirt and pulled her along. They descended back down past a squall towards the bridge, which bore another warning: "Don't Rock or Sway Bridge".

"Are they ever gonna let us have any fun?" Pinkie moaned, then smiled as Sunset giggled.

"Nope. It's a villainous conspiracy to snuff the fun out of this whole area. Trust me, I know all about villainous conspiracies."

"You don't say?" Pinkie snarked with a grin.

"Like my villainous conspiracy to make you walk over this bridge before me," Sunset said as she lightly nudged Pinkie backwards onto the bridge, which turned out to be much sturdier than implied by the warning sign and the ropes supporting it.

As they walked across, they noticed the wreckage of a ship to the left; in the center was a flooded hole with a pirate skeleton and some open boxes of coins. They exited the bridge into Smuggler's Cove, where they found a set of bilge pumps. Pinkie and Sunset each took one side of the left one and started pumping, which the soon realized was emptying the water out of the ship; more of the skeleton was revealed, and a second skeleton emerged on the other side.

"Aw, now Mr. Skeleton's got a friend!" Pinkie cheered.

"Unless he's got a bone to pick with him," Sunset replied. She looked and saw Pinkie glaring at her.

"You're too young for dad jokes, Sunset."

"I mean I gotta practice if I ever want to be an expert, right?"

"No one should be an expert at dad jokes, SunShim!"

"Hey, no need for that!" Sunset laughed. "Anyway, speaking of bones, look at that cage over there!"

Pinkie looked around and spotted what she was referring to, a round rope cage built around bones and skulls similar to those seen in the Dead Man's Chest movie. Pinkie quickly darted inside and insisted on a picture. Sunset obliged, before Pinkie then returned the favor.

Walking further, they found a capstan wheel and turned it; across from them, a nearby crane hoisted a large treasure chest from a shipwreck, with a skeleton clinging to the bottom of it. "Aaaah, scary skeleton!" Pinkie yelled, and the chest dropped back into the water.

"There's been skeletons all over the island, Pinkie!"

"Well, yeah, but that one looked at me funny!"

Exiting Smuggler's Cove, they found themselves crossing a pontoon bridge, with came with yet another warning: "If ye go this way matey and yer boots get wet it's yer own fault!"

"That sign can't tell me what to do!" Pinkie shouted defiantly. "I'll blame whoever I want to blame for my wet boots!"

They stepped onto the bridge, which, true to description, was only supported in parts, leading to a much more rickety walking experience as the boards sunk downward underneath them. They barely managed to avoid getting their shoes soaked. Afterwards, they next entered the Shipwreck Den, a large structure modeled after, well, a wrecked ship. Inside they found an odd set of wall drawings depicting dancing skeletons, whose movements Sunset clumsily attempted to re-enact to Pinkie's amusement.

They ascended the steps into the light and wandered around the area above the den, which was littered with small telescopes and other playground-type features for kids. They got to a less-crowded area and stood looking out at the river towards where the boats had launched.

"I know we said we'd do the whole island, Pinkie, but I'm starting to feel like I'm coming down from our sugar high," Sunset mused. "Do you want to head back to the rafts?"

"Yeah, I think so." Pinkie yawned. "I think I could probably stand to be in a line or two."

"Sounds good to me." The two of them got to the end of the platform and walked down the steps to the exit. They set back off past the Fort Wilderness building and headed back towards the landing to await the next raft.

"Thanks for coming with me, Sunset." Pinkie smiled warmly as they kept walking. "It's nice to just be able to run around like this sometimes and not have to worry about rides or big crowds."

"Not a problem, Pinkie. I feel the exact same way."

They stopped and hugged each other for a nice, relaxing moment before continuing on.

Rainbow and Applejack had made it through the extended outdoor queue and were now standing just outside the entrance to the main show building for Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. Yet even with all the time they'd had to discuss, the argument they'd begun nearly the instant they'd entered the line was still at a stalemate.

"Oh come on, Applejack, just admit the only reason you like Indiana Jones more than Daring Do is because he wears a fedora instead of a pith helmet!"

Applejack scoffed. "Now, while I'll certainly admit he's got the superior fashion sense, that's hardly the only thing that makes him the better character-"

"Puh-lease!" Rainbow said as they entered the indoor queue area. "You just can't get the kind of depth into Indiana in those movies that you do with the Daring Do books! Her adventures feel lived-in and exciting, like something that really happened to someone no matter how crazy it gets! You get to feel the energy of everything she does! Indiana Jones is just a fun action blank slate! He barely even does anything to change the plot in Raiders!"

"That's just plain ol' bupkiss!" Applejack replied. "For one thing, Marion would've been killed by that creepy hat guy if Indiana hadn't gone to the bar, and who knows what would've happened to the Ark if they weren't there when the Nazis opened it! Second off, Indiana's got plenty of character, it's just shown to us through performance rather than spoonfed in overly-detailed silly first-person narration!"

"Silly!" Rainbow looked appalled. "Don't pretend you don't like those books too!"

"I like 'em fine, I just don't get as weirdly defensive about 'em as you do. And quit actin' like you weren't just as excited to ride this ride, which, in case I need to remind you, is an Indiana Jones ride."

"Well, yeah, because I just pretend it's a Daring Do ride."

"Aw, for the love of... will you just keep up with the line, please?"

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash noticed the line in front of them was practically in the next room, and the patrons behind Applejack were staring daggers at her. "Ah, heheh, sure thing," she said as she sheepishly backed toward where she was supposed to be standing.

They continued to wander slowly through the extended, highly detailed queue, which weaved around detailed sculptures and murals and through tight hallways of rock and bamboo. Further down, they entered a cavernous area with stalactites hanging from above and ominous warnings posted around. And all the while, the argument went on.

"Now, I'll admit I'm not really qualified to judge the attractiveness of Harrison Ford," Rainbow elaborated, "but you can't deny that Chestnut Magnifico-"

"You can't say that one's a better character than the other just because she's played by your celebrity crush, Rainbow," Applejack groaned.

"It just makes it a bit easier for me to put myself in her adventures!"

"I know. I found some of your little 'self-insert' stories where you 'met' Daring Do."

"WHAT?!! Those were private!"

"You read my diary when you were supposed to be helpin' me set up the stage for the school play!"

"I was helping you set up the stage for the play! And I didn't read the whole diary..."

"'Least I know I write better than you," Applejack snarked as Rainbow fumed.

They had walked past a hallway filled with skulls impaled on spikes and were now entering the preshow room. "Don't think you've heard the end of this," Rainbow hissed before they turned to watched the video projected on the wall, featuring Sallah from Raiders and Last Crusade.

"Welcome, my friends, to the Temple of the Forbidden Eye! Here, in your transportation devices, are ingenious pouches for safekeeping your earthly treasures when the journey becomes a bit... bumpy!"

"That means your hat, AJ!" Rainbow explained facetiously.

"Thanks."

"Your offroad journey is high-speed and turbulent, going over rough and rugged terrain, and then suddenly you are turning sharply and dropping suddenly! It is unlike anything you have ever experienced, I assure you!"

"You took your motion sickness meds, right?" Rainbow asked, and this time the concern was sincere.

"Yeah, I'm good," Applejack replied.

"Oh, I am envious of the wonders that await you -- if you avoid the eyes of Mara." After a moment, the show looped back around to the start.

"Huh. I figured that would be longer," Applejack mused.

"Yeah, it kinda feels like there's stuff missing."

They passed through the rest of the room, went up the steps and were then directed to their ride car, styled as the kind of grungy offroad vehicle you usually see in adventure movies, and, true to instruction, Applejack placed her hat in the safety bag attached to the seat in front of her. With a jolt and a final seatbelt check, they were off.

Sallah's voice returned. "Ah, hello, hello! Oh, my friends, the brakes may be needing a little adjustment, easy on the curves!"

The car swerved into the darkness, which was then illuminated to reveal three gates before them; they were headed for the central one. An ominous voice boomed: "You seek the treasure of Mara! Glittering gold! It is yours..."

"I gotta bad feelin' about this..." Applejack whispered.

"That's the wrong Harrison Ford series!" Rainbow replied.

The gate opened, and the car climbed up towards the giant image of a face -- the Mara that had been teased throughout the preshow, Applejack deduced. Dramatic music blared over the speakers as the spooky voice boomed again. "You looked into my eyes... your path now leads beyond the gates of doom!"

"Well that's not fair, how are we supposed to avoid looking when the ride parks us in front of it?" Rainbow noted.

"Pretty sure you're missin' the point of a ride, Dash."

The car jolted left into a dark hallway lit with streaks of lightning across the wall; the hallway expanded to reveal giant images of snakes bearing down on them. At the end of the hallway was Indiana Jones himself -- well, the animatronic, anyway -- though his voice was distinctly not that of Harrison Ford.

"We've got a problem here! Up to the left!"

The car followed Indy's command, which seemed like less-than-stellar advice given they then emerged into a large, cavernous room, of which only a small segment contained any flooring. A monstrous version of Mara's face loomed before them, a presumably dangerous beam of light shooting from the sculpture's right eye. Across from them, another ride car was driving across a rickety path, its interior bouncing up and down even as the wheels stayed solidly on the ground, revealing the mechanism for how they were jolting so much in a basic-safety-standards compliant ride. They were flung to the left as the ominous Ark theme from Raiders blasted around them, and the car shook violently as they passed through several spooky scenes in quick succession.

"Bumpy ride, huh?" Applejack mused.

"Applejack," Rainbow whispered, "I think I'm gonna need you to fix my spine after this..."

After a few more turns, they suddenly found themselves in pitch blackness, before the car headlights revealed a section of wall lit up with the image of tons of bugs. The noises evoking the insects made Rainbow Dash's skin crawl, before they turned again and found themselves on the bridge they'd seen from across the room earlier. Jets of flame erupted from beneath them as they zoomed across the bridge, then turned into a room filled not just with images of giant cobras, but also a gigantic cobra animatronic.

"Snakes... you guys are on your own," the voice of "Indiana" unhelpfully piped in.

"Bet Daring Do could handle some silly snakes," Rainbow snarked.

"Not the time!" Applejack hissed as the giant snake bore down on them, before the car sped off to the next sequence. The car continued to jolt and bounce as they barreled downhill through areas lit with red stones and ghostly images, before being deposited in another dark room. This time, the car only stopped briefly before continuing on in the darkness, hurling them around while Applejack and Rainbow could only guess which direction they were going to be tossed next. Finally they came to a hallway lit up with skeletal images; as they passed through, jets of air passed around them, evoking the image of poison darts launched from the walls narrowly missing them.

They came to a stop in front of Indy, who was dangling from a rope above them. Unfortunately, accompanying him was the gigantic boulder from Raiders, which started to roll towards them -- and the car moved forwards. They suddenly went downhill just in time for a near-miss with the boulder, which loomed large before them in several flashes of light before they apparently escaped being crushed.

"Does that thing just follow him around everywhere?" Rainbow asked.

The Raiders March played triumphantly as they met Indy a final time, standing before the now-stationary boulder. "There. That wasn't so bad... was it?"

"I think he's talkin' to you," Applejack hissed as Dash rolled her eyes.

They returned to the loading area and disembarked; once they got to the ramp leading out to the exit path, Rainbow leaned over and did a quick stretch to pop her spine back into place.

"A little too much shakin' there for you?"

"Maybe a little," Dash replied sheepishly.

"Was it awesome enough for your standards?" Applejack said with a wry smile.

"Well, sure it was awesome... but just imagine how much more awesome it could've been if that was Ahuizotl chasing us instead of some random statue face?"

"Here we go..." Applejack strapped herself in for more as they began the long trek back to Adventureland.

Taking a short hiatus after this chapter for some necessary relaxation and to work on some other stories. Hoping to be back with another batch of 16-17 rides by April!