"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.

Next Chapter: Pixar Pal-A-Round (Rainbow Dash & Sunset Shimmer) Estimated time remaining: 30 Minutes