We flopped out onto the dark pebbles under the pier. I rolled up onto my tummy and gave a good shake, sending water everywhere and getting dry in a hurry. Reaching into my mane, I pulled out two trenchcoats and set one aside while clambering into the other. Some gloves I got from the hospital covered my hoofsies and a mask went over my snout and bam! I was practically a human! Oh wait... I got out some boots and hopped into them with a bounce, covering my hind hoofsies from view. "Ta da."

Aiko tried to do as I did and shook around, but the water didn't want to come off her so easily. She used her magic to sort of pet herself, running out the water a little with every stroke. "Do you have gloves and boots for me? I'd ask how you carried it all here, but I've given up trying to figure you out, Pinkie. Do all the ponies of your world act this way?"

"Gosh I hope not." I tilted my head at her before I set her boots and gloves out for her, along with a big round hat made of straw. It was supposed to be from China. "This'll hide your horn, and it looks super specific to here."

She reached for it and set it on her head. It had to angle forward a bit to hold her horn properly, but it fit. Soon she had the rest of the clothes on, and was balancing awkwardly on two legs. "Alright, how do I look?"

I tapped my chin. "Why don't you lean on me and keep the hat down. You can be my grandmom, and that'll explain why you don't talk much and why you're all wobbly."

"Great idea." Aiko smiled before she lowered her head out of view and slid up beside me. She threaded a leg around mine, leaning on me for support, and we finally emerged into the light.

"Hey!" I craned my head to look up and saw a man scowling down at us. "Get outta here! This isn't a public beach!"

I nodded at him and looked away quickly. "Sorry, we'll leave right now." I started to guide Aiko off the beach, towards the road that was just beyond it, up some stairs. The man glared at us, but seemed satisfied that we were leaving, so didn't pursue the matter, or us!

Aiko leaned in a bit closer. "I can't understand a word they say. I'm counting on you, Pinkie."

I smiled at her. "Of course, grandma," I said in Chinese before switching to Japanese. "I'm counting on you too. As soon as we find a nice safe spot, we should see how many ponies we can find. So far, things look pretty relaxed. That guy was just working, not running from ponies or anything like that. Maybe it didn't happen in China?"

Aiko glanced around from under her straw hat. "That could be good or bad news. We need a place to lay low."

A car rumbled past us, headed for the same pier we just came from. This part of town seemed mostly quiet. Only people who had specific things to do were around, which made us stand out. That was bad. I pulled Aiko by her arm, guiding her a little faster towards the city proper. "We should get to where there are more people."

"More people? We want less people," she hissed at me in a whisper.

"Says you. It's a lot easier to hide in a crowd than an abandoned street." Looking around, I saw a bus turn away from the ocean and start rumbling in towards the city. There was a stop not far from it. That would be so useful, if only... "I don't suppose you have any money?"

She sighed a little. "Chinese money is different from Japanese money, so no."

They have as many kinds of money as languages? "How do you get anything done around here?"

There was a group of people idling around a door, eating lunch I think. They had a radio playing while they chewed, speaking in Chinese. "If you see foreign nationals, report them immediately at..." It began giving numbers. They laughed about it, but one of them noticed us and snorted, nudging his friends.

"Hey look, there's some foreign nationals now."

"Ha. You're joking!" His friend looked at us as we walked by. "Hey! Where are you from?"

Aiko stiffened against me, knowing we were being talked to, but probably having no idea what was being said. I squeezed her gently through her twined legs. "Oh, I'm just walking my grandma around. She likes the smell of the sea."

They seemed to buy it, clapping one another on the shoulder and forgetting about me quickly. One of them waved at the bus. "You should take the bus back. It's a long walk to anywhere if you don't have a car."

"Oh, uh, good idea, but I kinda went and dropped my bus fare..."

He frowned a little at me. "Oh, that's rough." He fished into a pocket and produced a few bills that he held out towards me. "Here."

"Fāng, you're too nice." His friend nudged him. "I'm surprised you didn't end up in a horse camp already."

I let go of Aiko and quickly snatched up the bills in my glove. "Thank you very much!" Horse camp? "What's all this about horse camps?"

Fāng cocked his head a little. "You didn't hear about it?" He grabbed his abandoned sandwich to nibble on it. "Where they send people that get the horse sickness. Don't get off at the third stop, right in front of one. Kind of eerie if you ask me."

"Eerie isn't the start of describing it." One of his friends frowned. "It's not natural, people turning into not-people. Happened to my uncle. They clubbed him and dragged him away, never saw him again."

"Get out!"

"It's true, I swear."

I slipped away from them as they debated over how right the stories were. I'd heard enough. I hooked a leg with Aiko and led her to that bus stop on the same way as the bus headed into the city. "I know where we need to go," I whispered in Japanese. "All the ponies are being held in not-fun sounding places. We should check it out, see what it's like. Maybe you can help them."

Aiko nodded slowly. "I've been trying to focus. It's not empty. I can feel a pull from some of them, but they're far away."

I pointed at the bus stop with a glove. "Three stops away, apparently. Let's go say hi. We're not going to want to just, you know, walk right up to them. I bet they're like Japanese Soldiers, which means they won't appreciate funny business, which is a shame. That's the best kind of business if you ask me."

She reached for the bills I was holding and her magic plucked it from me. "What did you tell them to get them to give you Chinese money?" She turned it around, holding her gloves at about the right place, but holding it really with her magic. "At least we can ride the bus."

"We just have to wait for the next one." I saw a schedule and went over to peek at it. Ugh... "Which is in a half hour..."

We settled on the bench to wait and Aiko flopped over on me. "I'm going to see if I can't figure out more. If we need to move, give me a shake."

She faded out to sleep, or meditation, or whatever you want to call it when a unicorn was really stretching out with their magic and feeling around. It was times like that I could see why a pony might get a little jealous of unicorns, especially alicorn sorts, but even they couldn't do some of the things I could, so hey, we can't do everything! That'd be boring anyway.

I spent the time watching the road. There were more cars and trucks rolling by. I really wanted to know what was in them.

A sudden loud bark shook me and Aiko out of our respective thoughts. A person wearing very severe clothes was trying to go into a building, but his dog was looking at us and barking up a storm.

"Down!" He yanked the dog's leash and forced it into the building, leaving us be. Phew!

Aiko cocked her head slightly. "Did the dog smell us?"

"Maybe." I shrugged a little, trying to relax again. "We have to be careful. As soon as we're close, we should find somewhere to hide."

"Agreed."

The bus rolled up and stopped right in front of us. Three people got off before we could clamber on. I stuffed the money into the slot and it gave a beep that I hoped meant it was enough, and we went to find a seat. Despite the bus going way out to the docks, there were plenty of people, and we ended up having to stand. Poor Aiko rocked dangerously every time the bus hit a bump or slowed or sped up. I tried to support her as best I could without looking too obvious about it.

We arrived at the first stop and some more people got on, making it more packed. Then the second stop saw more boarding. We were on our way to the third stop when the bus lurched as it swung to avoid something I couldn't see. Aiko lost her footing and crashed to the ground of the bus, her pony legs exposed for all to see.

Some did see it and started backing away from her like she was on fire. Word started to spread fast. "Horse disease! She has it!"

I grabbed for her and ran to the front of the bus. Everyone parted for us, trying to avoid catching pony, except the bus driver. "You need to sit down and wait for the police."

Nuh uh! "Stop right now! We're getting off."

"I'm not allowed to do that."

The other passengers began to scream and shout at the driver in a rough cacophony.

"Let her get off!"

"Get her away from us!"

"We don't want to get horse sickness!"

"Moron, stop the bus already!"

When one of them brandished a small knife, the driver reweighed his options and brought the bus to a sudden top, sending many to the ground in a fresh wave. I took the chance given and bolted through the open door the moment it was clear, hauling Aiko with me. I hefted her right up onto my back and piggy-backed her in a hustle away from the bus. I dashed around a corner and kept right on going. I didn't even start to feel safe until we had a few blocks between us. I sank to the pavement beside a building, heaving for breath.

Aiko slid off of me and slowly stood up. "I'm sorry about that... Some good news at least."

Still panting, I smiled a little. "What's... that?"

"I feel them. We're not so far anymore."

Author's Notes:

Contact made, of a sort.

1: Go scope it out!
2: Organize them to break themselves out.
3: Maybe we can convert all the guards...
4: Time to sneak in and pretend to be one of the prisoners a while.
5: No time! Let's mark where this is and find others.