The soldiers were getting more and more nervous. They didn't have my unfailing conviction that everything would turn out alright! Well, sure, there were a few little times I got down in the dumps, but there were too many counting on me, and I wouldn't mess it up.

I also had an idea. I went to Aiko first. "Hey!"

She smiled at me. "Good evening, Pinkie. You look like you have an idea."

"I do!" I clopped my hooves. "We're going to use our new friends, and let our old friends go."

She tilted her head a little. "I'm afraid I don't understand entirely. How do you mean?"

I pointed to the sailors/guards. "Let them go back to Japan, and get a ride from the ponies to China. They can get us there without making a fuss. When you were underwater, they helped, right?"

She gave a hesitant little nod. "One was... They were kissing me, and I could breath through it."

"Great!" I trotted to the guard rail. "So they can take us there, no problem, and without a whole boat giving us away."

She hurried after me. "There are a few things you're not thinking of. We'll want the radio, and diving through the water may harm it and any other electric supplies we bring."

I huffed at her. "Really? They break that easily?"

She didn't looked entirely certain. I patted her on the shoulder. "I'll check with them first." Our aquatic friends could wait a moment. I hurried over to the soldiers with a smile. "Hey guys! Question for you. Will our stuff get hurt if we go in the water?"

The friend of the sea-horse'i'fied soldier looked at me. "What, the radio? Should be fine so long as you leave it turned off until you get out of the water. They're made to be water proof."

"Great. What else would we be bringing?"

He frowned. "Not much. You'll have to secure most everything else on your own. Why?"

I waved a hoof. "Let me make sure this plan's gonna work, but I think it will. Can I have the radio now?"

"Well, I suppose. Now's as good as any to show you how it works."

"Great idea!" I sat on my haunches and he produced the brick that he called a radio. He showed me how to work the knobs, which buttons to press and when, and how it basically worked. "We'll be listening on this station, and this one. If you can't get an answer on one, try the other. If you can't get either, we're out of range, and you're on your own."

I tucked the radio into my mane for safe storage. "Got it. Be right back." I returned to the back of the ship, where Aiko was waiting. "Alright, got the radio and it's safe. Now let's make sure our new friends are alright with this." I reared up onto the railing and leaned over. "Hey! Come on up!"

A pretty purple seahorse hopped up. "Hiya!" He grinned at me. "Oh wow, they weren't kidding, a real land pony. What's it like, having four legs?"

I tilted my head at him. "What's it like, having two legs?"

He shrugged a little. "Got me there. Nice to meet you! What's up?"

I liked him and giggled at his good attitude. "Well we were wondering if you guys would be willing to carry us to China instead of using this boat. It'd be faster and avoid getting these guards in trouble. You'd be heroes!"

"Heroes?!" He tilted his head left, then right. "I'd like that. Would I get a mate?"

I blinked at the question. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt." I wasn't the kind of mare that'd throw themselves at a stallion with a war story, but there were others, perhaps. "Ask the others and make sure they're alright with it."

"Got it!" He flopped back into the water.

Aiko rolled a hoof. "Now you can tell me what you said. You were talking too quickly for me to keep up with."

That whole language thing! "How do humans have so many languages? That has to get in the way so often! How can you invite your neighbors to parties if they can't understand you."

Aiko smiled a little. "We don't often send invitations across the sea for a party."

I leaned towards her. "Maybe if you did, there'd be less languages, and less fights."

She raised a hoof. "I will concede that, now please tell me what you two were discussing and what he said."

So I did tell her. "He's making sure they're alright with the idea. Are you ready?"

She took an uncertain step back. "How will we survive on our own?"

I rolled my eyes. "Shoulda thought of that long before we got this far. Look, you have Pinkie on your side, and she isn't going to let anypony hurt you. Where's that mare that was ready to go?"

She took a few slow breaths before she nodded. "Right. We have to do this. I'll inform the soldiers." She trotted away, her wings ruffling in that little nervous way I've seen pegasi and alicorns do. Twilight was always cute when she did it.

With a splash, my purple friend returned, and he had two friends, a yellow sea mare and a red one. They grinned at me in unison. "We're ready!" They sang together. The purple stallion reached out for me. "I'll carry you. Since your friend is larger, both of them will take her. If we get tired, others will swap with us."

"One thing," sang red mare. "We want one human for every one of us that has to help."

The yellow one nodded quickly. "We'll love them and welcome them as family."

I swallowed heavily. "I can't exactly promise that, and I don't like making promises I can't keep." I waved a hoof at them. "A Pinkie Promise is a solemn oath."

Purple stallion frowned at his friends. "You didn't mention this part."

Yellow waved a at him. "That's because you're kind of dumb."

He deflated at the insult.

Red nudged Yellow. "She didn't mean it like that." She glared at Yellow until she looked away. "You're fine. We just thought we could expand the family a little, right?"

Yellow perked up. "Right! Can't you even get us one?"

I held up my hooves. "If I see a chance, I'll send one to you, but I can't promise any."

Red and Yellow pouted a little, but when Aiko returned, they turned towards her with smiles instead. "Ready."

Aiko flicked her ears a little. "Good evening... What did they say?"

I moved to the Purple one. "It's time to go. Everything in order?"

"All set as it's going to be." She took a little breath, kind of like how Cadance liked to. Maybe it was an alicorn thing? She approached the two mares who grabbed her as the stallion grabbed me. Suddenly it was cold and wet. We were sinking into the water, then he smooched me. Air began to flow from the kiss, like I was above the water, so I held him gently as he swam and tried to breath normally. Hopefully Aiko wasn't freaking out too much, but she'd already been down here once, with the sea horses no less! I'd have to have faith in her.

The boat would turn away without us, only to return, uh, some time... later? I should maybe have listened to that part. Hopefully Aiko did more than I had? We'd find out! If we did everything right, it wouldn't matter when they came back. Hay, maybe we'd talk some sense into them and by the time the boats came back, we'd greet them as national heroes. Wouldn't that be something?

Probably not.

I dared to open my eyes and I could see mostly a lot of dark. Looking down, the sea floor was so far away that it was just more dark. But then some fish swam by. There were all kinds of fish. Bright fish, not so bright fish, all glittered a little, light bouncing off their scales.

The dock was coming up. How could I tell? The first time we veered to avoid a boat. Then there was another, and another. We were definitely getting close to where we wanted to be. There were countless boats in a jumble, but then we passed them, and the boats after that were much more neat and tidy, in nice little rows. My ride pulled me along and gave a squeeze before he lifted up, breaking the water with a quiet splash.

We were under one of the piers. Red and Yellow emerged, holding Aiko between them. Red drew back from her kiss with Aiko with a smile. "That wasn't too far."

Purple nodded quickly. "All safe and sound, and I..." He turned to the others. "Sisters, I feel them."

Red and Yellow nodded as one. "Plenty of people to bring to the family."

Aiko smiled at me. "We made it. Tell them thank you."

Ah, right. "Thanks, but please don't take the people."

All three glared at me. Purple splashed a bit in the water. "Why not? We carried you all the way here."

Red bobbed her head. "We did our part, let us have fun. It's for their own good."

I waved my hooves frantically. "You'll make a big fuss and they'll get scared and then they'll probably catch us. None of that, please... If you wanna wait and see if one falls or jumps into the water, that's fine, but no grabbing, no squirting."

"What are you arguing about?" Aiko tilted her head. "You look upset."

The three sighed as one. Yellow nodded at me. "Fine, just for you. We'll come back after you're gone and see what we can find." She grinned, showing off sharp teeth. "So get going. Good luck."

I turned for the rocky shore under the pier. "Come on, Aiko. Let's go and keep a low profile. I have some disguises, but we have to get out of the water before we do that."

"Oh, alright." As I hoped, she seemed to let the topic of what we were talking about drop, and swam after me as I backstroked to the shore.

Our mission had begun!

Author's Notes:

Oh man, how to approach this?

1) Use your eyes! Look and see what's going on.
2) Use your mouth! Hit up a local and see what they say.
3) Use your hooves! Get away from the dockside as quickly as possible.
4) Use your tail! Maybe... they like that kind of thing? Wait, this is a terrible idea.
5) Use your horn! I mean Aiko's horn! Let's start feeling for local pony populations.