The next pinpointed Talisman was in Micronesia, at the bottom of the ocean. As such, the first hurdle Jackie had to deal with as far as acquiring the Talisman occurred before the trip even began. "How am I supposed to get proper deep diving gear for you three?" he asked of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, staring around the shop as they packed. "I walk you into the store, they will see ordinary children, and give suits to match Jade's, which you can't wear. Only way to avoid that would be to walk into the store without your Normalcy Pendants, and the consequences for that could be disastrous."
"Couldn't you take us in and ask for a custom fitting?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously. "Maybe they won't even realize what they're making for us as they get the measurements?"
"That's...probably stretching things a bit," Jade offered worriedly. "I'd actually be worried about how powerful the pendants are if they pulled that off."
"Well, none of us know enough about sewing or fabric or engineering to make our own scuba suits!" Scootaloo complained. "So what are we supposed to do?"
"Wait until Tohru finds out Valmont's sending him to Micronesia, come to the conclusion we'll be there too, and get suits in our sizes without questions asked through sheer intimidation factor just to make sure we don't drown if we end up fighting?" Apple Bloom suggested diffidently.
Jackie rolled his eyes. "Apple Bloom, I know you have this...odd bond with Tohru, but I seriously doubt that could happen. What even made you suggest it?"
"Because he's at the door with a large package in his arms," Apple Bloom explained, pointing.
Tohru gave Apple Bloom a brief smile, then dropped the box in Jackie's arms with his usual scowl. "I was never here," he stated bluntly before turning and stalking away.
Jackie blinked in shock for a time. Setting the box down, he opened it up to find three filly-sized scuba suits. All three had flippers on all four hooves, one had an extra bulge to the helmet for Sweetie's horn, and one had extra flaps for Scootaloo's wings that would buzz with her movements, letting her speed herself along as she did on her scooter. "...that's going to take some getting used to," he stated finally.
"Well, if he's that worried about them, he can't be all bad, right?" Jade offered hopefully. "Maybe we can even flip him to our side-"
"Nuh uh," Apple Bloom interrupted. "He's honor bound to serve Valmont until that honor is betrayed, or he's dismissed. He won't change sides. Pretty sure the only reason he can do this much is because Valmont didn't order him not to act to keep us out of environmental danger." As everyone stared at her, she shrugged. "What? Mind link, remember? Ah don't know his thoughts, but Ah know how he thinks."
"You gotta be kidding me..." Jackie groaned. However, he wasn't about to turn his nose up at this...once he'd had Captain Black scan the suits for bugs. Maybe it would even make Captain Black realize that talking candy-colored ponies were magical.
...he wasn't holding his breath on that, though.
Fortunately, there had been no tracking devices of any sort in the filly-sized scuba suits. Unfortunately, Captain Black didn't notice anything else unusual about the suit configurations. As such, the group of five made their way to the designated location, ready to dive for the Talisman.
Jade had the camera, snapping pictures of everything as they swam down to an underwater ruin nearly overrun with coral, seemingly frozen in time. Seeing how the four youngsters were marveling at the sight, Jackie could only smile indulgently, letting them enjoy it. They had several hours of air, and they weren't deep enough to worry about decompression, so he could let them enjoy themselves, as long as they were careful.
Once they were at the bottom, he directed each of them to take a different area. "Remember, you must be careful shifting the silt and soil aside when searching for artifacts." Sweetie Belle and Jade nodded, each of them pulling out their little brushes, Sweetie in her magical aura and Jade in her hand. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, however, had greater difficulties as they lacked either method of holding the tool. "Umm...Apple Bloom, you stay close to Jade, Scootaloo stay close with Sweetie Belle. You should be using the buddy system anyway."
Nodding, the two pairs swam off while Jackie focused on the hill he'd decided to start with. Much to his frustration, Jade found the Monkey Talisman before he'd even begun to dig. Still, he didn't want to discourage the happy children, so he smiled and led the way back to the boat. If the Dark Hand didn't show up, they could always look for more artifacts...
Unfortunately, as they swam for the surface, Ratso, Finn, and Chao came into view swimming towards them. "Go, go!" Jackie ordered. "Split up! Stick to the buddy system!" The two pairs of children immediately split off from each other while he went straight for the thugs.
As they swam for the surface, Apple Bloom got an idea. Closing her eyes and clinging to Jade, she focused her magic into the water around her, unsure how well it would work. Sudden screams from below caused her to look down, where Ratso, Finn, and Chao were now fleeing from attacking seaweed. "...not what Ah was goin' for, but Ah'll take it."
Before long, the four kids reached the boat, with Jackie hanging behind to make sure the thugs didn't catch up to them. As they climbed aboard and shed their helmets and flippers, Jade pulled out the Monkey Talisman. "One more for the good guys-" Her voice died at the sound of familiar heavy footsteps.
Tohru held out his large hand. "The Talisman," he offered, his voice sounding almost bored.
At that point, Finn and Chow leapt out of the water and onto the boat. "Here's this song and dance again," Finn groaned.
"How many more times are we going to have to do this?" Chao grumbled.
"At least four," Scootaloo offered. "Three more Talismans, and then once when we clash somehow to determine who ends up with all 12, since you guys have two to our seven."
"Let's make it three to six," Tohru stated flatly. "That way, no one has to get hurt."
The girls glanced at each other, trying to come up with a plan.