Coming Up Dry (Spring Tide)

[King Tidal Wave]

Nothing. Trying to get information about the Grey Shadow from Bridledale's had ended up being mostly a waste of time.

Getting to speak with the right employee had been a task in of itself, one that had eaten up a good chunk of Spring Tide's day. Because most of the employees were busy working, Spring Tide needed to speak with the manager. But the manager had other matters to attend to, so instead he would need to speak with the assistant manager. The assistant manager, however, was on lunch, though Spring Tide was assured he would be back soon. When he finally did arrive back from lunch, there was a mishap in the perfume department that required his attention. Only after that was resolved did Spring Tide get to sit down in his office to speak with him.

"Which position were you applying for again?"

Finally, after much, much anticipation, Spring Tide was allowed to speak with one of the employees: a scared-looking, middle-aged mare who worked one of the registers. She was given fifteen minutes to answer Shade's questions in the back of the store.

The mare had little information to share, however. She had been working the day before the heist, and was scheduled to work the day after, but she knew very little about the Grey Shadow himself. The best she could give Spring Tide was her run-down of the events, mainly information Spring Tide already knew or was common knowledge by now.

By now it was early evening, and Spring had little to show for it. After that experience, maybe he needed to change his way of going about this. Interviewing other store employees, even police officers, would likely get him a similar result. He needed a source with info that hadn't been made public yet. Someone the other papers hadn't gotten to already, or perhaps simply wouldn't.

[Spring Tide]

But who?, Spring Tide thought to himself as he sat on a bench next to a nearby carriage stop. The only other person he had thought to ask that likely wouldn't have been questioned yet would be Lady Rainlock. The problem with that was that she likely wouldn't bother to see a nobody like him. He had nothing to offer her for her time, and no good reason for her to waste it on him.

Trying to get answers from the good folks at Bridledale's had been difficult and had yielded very underwhelming results. It had also taken up most of the day. By this point, Spring was tired and wanting a warm meal. Reporter work really wore a pony out it seemed.

In all honesty, Spring had no reason to not try to schedule an appointment with Lady Rainlock. Maybe she would be willing to grant an audience to a complete stranger whose sole intention was to interrogate her and waste her time. Unlikely, but possible. After all, the worst she could do was say no, at which point he would come up with a new plan.

The manager at Bridledale's had thought Spring Tide had been looking to apply for a job there. He mused that perhaps if the reporter job didn't pan out, he could try to get into retail. Heck, even a job at the port wouldn't be that horrible. He loved the ocean, the sound and the smell of it always invigorated him. No doubt they could always use somepony with telekinesis or just a strong back to move goods throughout the city. But he would only quit if he were faced with some insurmountable obstacle that left him without a clue as to how to overcome it. Like say, if the city sank into the ocean or something. Although even then, he would probably try to figure out a water breathing spell and use it to rescue people from the depths. Maybe ponies would give him information if he saved them from drowning...
Regardless, it would take something big to get him to give up his hunt for the Grey Shadow. 

 Although Starlit Square would be unlikely to have malcontents around, the city was known to become much more dangerous once night had fallen. He hoped the carriage would come soon.

[King Tidal Wave]

Several other carriages came and went as Spring Tide waited, picking up passengers either waiting before him or rude enough to snipe the closest one that stopped within their vicinity. The hectic pace and movement of ponies and traffic around him continued like clockwork. Busy, busy clockwork, belonging to a complex, organic machine. If there had been any lull in its activity between when he entered Bridledale's and now, it wasn't noticeable.

Eventually a carriage did seem about to stop for Spring Tide, it's driver beginning to pull up to the curb where Spring and other ponies were waiting. But before the prospect of catching a ride was realized, a sound in the distance brought the carriage driver to a stop. And not just him. Within seconds, the traffic, the ponies, everything had come to a quiet halt. Everyone was now looking in the direction of a residential district on Manehattan's outskirts, where a loud 'boom' had just emanated.

Before questions could be asked, another boom had sounded. And another. Boom. Boom. Boom. A relentless string of 'booms' thundering from the outskirts, its repetition sounding now like the ominous beat of a war drum. Finally it ceased, leaving the ponies in Starlit Square in a tense, confused silence.

But not for long. To fill the void came the rising blare of war sirens, and with them, panic. The city's line of defense had been breached. The dogs had somehow gotten past what everyone had thought was an impenetrable barrier. And how foolish they all looked now, continuing their lives as if Manehattan was the exception to this war, and that what had occurred in Fillydelphia and Canterlot could not happen here.

The Rainlocks had failed. The Diamond Dogs were on their way to kill every pony in Manehattan. And everyone in Starlit Square knew this. In a flash the scene had turned to chaos and panic. Ponies traveling in two directions were now moving in every direction, clamoring towards the nearest buildings, their homes, the harbor, anywhere they thought they'd be safe. The machine was spinning out of control, its clockwork broken. And Spring Tide was in the middle of it.

[Spring Tide]

It had been annoying that ponies cut in the line to take the carriage meant for Spring
Tide on two occasions. He knew that everypony wanted to get home by this time of day, but they didn't have to be rude about it. Finally, a carriage came and parked in front of Spring.

Before he could move towards it, there was a sound. It came from a great distance away, yet it was loud and distinctive enough to bring the masses to a halt. Everyone stopped to look and to listen. A moment passed. The sound repeated, then once more. Then twenty times more. They came in a great staccato, those terrible reports. They ceased as soon as they had began, leaving the ponies present at Starlit Square in a tense and confused silence.

Those sounds had been explosions, Spring realized.

The silence was replaced with sirens, the sort that one hears in an emergency, and chaos ensued. Ponies who had moments ago existed in a calm and orderly state now were in a state of panic and discordance. The city was under attack, the diamond dogs had found a way through the defenses, and they would soon be able to run rampant among the civilian ponies of Manehatten.

The crowd pushed against each other trying to move in every direction at once, any direction that would lead them to safety. Spring began to run up the street. Several faster ponies pushed past him. He made a right at the corner. Two carriages crashed into each other and scatted their occupants across the street with various injuries. Spring could not stop to help the ponies because of the sheer number of bodies pushing him forward. Ponies shouted and cried out, some in pain, while the sound of hooves thundered up the street. Above the sound of his hammering heart, Spring could hear very little. 

His main objective was to get away from the madness of the crowd. Spring turned down an alleyway. He emerged on another crowded street and continued running. He turned onto a side street and only stopped when he was standing in the doorway of a diner. There were less ponies running around here. The unicorn took time to catch his breath and to gather his wits.

The sounds of fighting had been coming from the outer section of the city where the Rainlocks had their defenses. Ponies were fleeing, likely to their homes to gather some possessions or their family members. Spring had never lived through a battle; he had taken pains to avoid war at all costs. There had been a brief time when he first took refuge in Manehatten during which he had considered sailing away to another land, perhaps to the Griffon lands, or to the Zebra Savannah to visit his mother. He had put off leaving, deciding to see how things were in Manehatten. Spring eventually got caught up in the illusion of safety that all inhabitants of the metropolis deluded themselves into believing. He like thousands of other ponies believed that the war could not touch them, that they were safe, and that they could carry on with their lives and ignore it. It was likely too late to escape at this point. 

As a biologist and an outdoorspony, Spring knew that there were three things that any creature required to survive: Food, water, and shelter. It was a safe bet that a warzone qualified as a survival situation. But where would he be able to find these things? A grocery store might have food, if it hadn't already been completely ransacked. The same could also be said of clean water. However, it may be possible to get water from any number of buildings later on, provided the plumbing worked. But what of shelter?

More explosions sounded in the distance. There was no time for thinking, and little time to prepare. Spring pulled out his maps and searched for a nearby grocery store. Once he found one, he put his maps away and made haste for the repository of consumables.   

[King Tidal Wave]

The nearest grocery store brought Spring in a direction neither further or closer from the explosions he had just heard. This also meant that he had to push himself through perpendicular to the direction most of the ponies were running. Everyone was showing little regard for ponies they bumped into, the more desperate ones going so far as to shove ponies out of the way. Perhaps it was a miracle Spring Tide didn't get trampled.

The grocery store was a small, corner-of-the-block operation, tiny enough to see the entirety of the store from the entrance. Despite the size, there was definitely food and water here. Fruit, bread, soda, a knocked over display of hay-bars (now with real hay). But there was only one or two ponies here trying to grab as much as they could before scurrying back outside. It seemed most everyone else was more concerned with getting to safety than getting food. And any store with big glass windows exposed to the street didn't exactly scream safety.

There were a few ponies here though, most notably a family of four earth ponies composed of a mother, father, and two colts. "Get to the back," the father said breathlessly, urging his wife and children forward. "Maybe they have a freezer or something where we won't be found." The other ponies in the store seemed to have either overheard him or gotten the same idea, for soon they had followed the family into the back.

[Spring Tide]

It was challenging to reach the grocery store. The crowds were relentless, and Spring Tide had not yet mastered the art of walking through one. It did not help that many of them were running flat out in fear. If he were more sensitive about personal space, the bumping, pushing, and shoving that occurred within the mass would have been much worse than it had been. Fortunately, he reached the other side of the street with no more than a few bruises. He groaned slightly while rubbing his new injuries and glanced upward envious of the ability of the Pegasi to avoid such a cluttered mess.

The grocery store was much smaller than he had been expecting. Even more perplexing to Spring was the minimal occupancy of the premises. He was assuming that there would be many more ponies in the store stocking up on supplies, given the situation. Two ponies were stuffing saddlebags with pickle jars and fresh apples, while a family stood in the back catching their breath. After a moment, they decided to go into the back to see if they could hide in one of the freezers.

Spring approached the fruit table and began packing apples and oranges. He took several loaves of bread, and stuffed as many of the hay bars as he could into his right bag. The other two ponies apparently decided that the family had a good idea and followed them into the back.

Once satisfied with his provisions, Spring began drinking as much water as he could from his canteens. He sought out a sink and refilled them as soon as they were empty. He could not predict the next time that he would be able to find fresh water, so it was important to make sure he rehydrated after all of the running around he had done. He ate a few of the apples and flowers that were unattended on the counter. Since there was a surplus in the store, he might as well make sure he was fed and watered before leaving.


Explosions continued to sound in the distance and the crowd was boisterous as ever. The frantic pace that Spring's heart had pulsed at had settled down while he took time to scavenge for supplies. He was still suffering anxiety from the impending wave of Diamond Dogs that were soon to descend upon his location, but he could think more clearly at least. He stood in the doorway, unable to depart. Something nagged at his brain, something he could not leave without dealing with. Spring was determined to survive the coming ordeal, but his kind heart would not let him leave the other ponies behind without making sure they would be safe. He turned back into the store and headed for the rear in search of the frightened family. 

[King Tidal Wave]

The back-end of the grocery store was mostly filled with boxes and crates, filled with grocery items yet to be stocked on the shelf. The things here were much less rummaged through, the few ponies bothering to grab provisions likely sticking to the front of the store before scurrying away.

The only other item of real interest was the freezer door at the far end of the room. Large, metallic and imposing, the door stood out like a sore thumb. Through its small window, Spring could just barely see one or two ponies through the thick, iced over glass. He could hear sounds of talking coming from inside, too muffled to make out.

The door has been left barely open, it's edge being the only thing sticking out from the wall. Spring could likely get inside if he wanted to, though whether the other ponies would let him was another thing.

[Spring Tide]

The provisions were more substantial in the back of the store, if not more organized. There was little time to waste, and Spring Tide would not waste it on sorting through boxes. He turned his attention to the object of his detour, the freezer. Spring Tide supposed it was still operating because the small window was iced over. Between the temperature within and the fact that it was quite conspicuous, it was an awful hiding place. It had merit for a hasty barricade between oneself and a Diamond Dog berserker, but not as a shelter. No, a good place to inhabit would have to be clean, dry, and be large enough for the ponies living within. It should have ample supplies of food and water and provide protection from both the elements and predators. Or so the book had said. Spring had yet to think of a suitable location for his going to ground.   

The ponies who took shelter inside the icebox clearly did not know these things and had even left the door ajar. That was just begging a dog to come investigate. Spring Tide approached the freezer and called upon his magic to influence the matter of the door. He pulled on the handle and it opened further. When the inhabitants of the freezer were visible, Spring quickly looked them over and asked "What are you doing in here?"

[King Tidal Wave]

Shortly after Spring began to tug on the door with his magic, he could feel the door being tugged on from the other end. It was mostly likely a pony, panicking and trying to get the door shut. At least, that's what the hushed dialogue that followed seemed to indicate.

"Stop that! It's just a pony, let him in."

"What?"

"It's a pony. Let him in."

"And what if there's a dog out there?"

"There's not! Just let him in!"

Finally the door gave way, and Spring was left staring at about half-a-dozen ponies. The approximately half-a-dozen cold, shivering ponies, which included the family of four, were also left staring at him.

"What?" one of them, a blue unicorn asked in response. "What do you mean? We're... we're-"

"We're trying to stay hidden until the Rainlocks get this taken care of," interjected a red, female unicorn. "So did you want inside or not? We're not keeping this door open much longer, so hurry up and decide."

An explosion sounded from outside the building, though where exactly was difficult to tell. It wasn't in the immediate vicinity, but it was clear if anything that the diamond dogs were certainly on their way.

Not a moment after the aforementioned sound had caught his hears, the blue unicorn instinctively began trying to shut the door. It took a light whack from the red pony to make him stop. "Bauble!" she hissed, quickly turning back to Spring Tide. "You want in or not?"

Behind the red unicorn Spring Tide could a few stacks of boxes and mostly full metal shelves. But more noticeably was the family of four earth ponies. The two colts seemed to be sobbing, as could only be expected, while the parents were trying to calm them. The blue and red unicorn, however, seemed far more concerned with what Spring's answer was going to be or whether he was going to keep holding them up from shutting the freezer door.

[Spring Tide]

    Six shivering ponies in a cold metal box. No way out except the one door, limited food inside, a small amount of water from ice melt. Unless the ponies huddled together for warmth, they could die from the cold. Spring Tide did not want to get into that ice box.

    The unicorns in the entrance were anxious to close the door with or without him. It was very courteous of them to offer him a place inside. The family in the back were scared, the colts crying while the parents tried to reassure them, though they didn't seem to be holding up so well either. Spring Tide debated for a moment what he would decide when he heard the explosion. This one was closer than all of the others, possibly only a few blocks away. The Diamond Dogs had almost reached them. The clock was ticking.

    "Come with me, I implore you! If you stay here, you will either be found by dogs or freeze to death in there. The dogs have penetrated this far into the city. Our best chance is to get as far away from them as we can." Spring hoped that his words were making sense to the ice box stowaways.


    "Come with me if you want to live," he pleaded. "I know a place where we can be safe, but we need to leave now!" He had in fact thought of a place that might serve as a suitable refuge: The docks. There would likely be many warehouses and containers to serve as shelter from the elements, plenty of places to hide, and the ocean was close enough that Spring Tide would be able to properly defend himself. He could find the way using his maps, but first he needed to escape the coming flood of Diamond Dogs. He prayed to the spirit of Harmony that the unicorns and family would heed his words and leave with him. If they did not, he may have wasted valuable time he needed to escape. 

[King Tidal Wave]

"The dogs are already here!" the blue unicorn insisted.

"If you ask us to go out there.. that's a death sentence. Okay?" the red, female unicorn added. "You think that family's going to be able to outrun the dogs? I don't even think we can. Any of us get spotted, we're done for. The odds are better for us in here, waiting it out, until the Rainlock's clean up. Especially after we find the shut-off for the cooling. The dogs don't-"

The sound of another explosion cut off the red unicorn, causing her to glance over Spring Tide's shoulder for a full second. "The dogs don't know we're in here. I don't think they're going to look. You want to try your chances on the streets, that's your decision. But if you stick around here, you're pointing them right to us. And I swear if we get discovered because you wouldn't amscray, I will buck you into the next tartarus over."

The red unicorn took in a breath and exhaled through her nostrils, attempting to calm herself. "This door's closing in two seconds. And then it's staying closed until this whole thing blows over. Hurry up and decide if you want in."

[Spring Tide]

    Time it seemed was not on his side. Spring Tide realized his folly when the red mare pointed out the fact that the family wouldn't be able to outrun the Diamond Dogs. He was in his prime and got plenty of exercise, yet that might not even be enough to outrun the invaders. He really didn't like the cooler, but he may have no choice but to embrace it for the time being.

    Another explosion, this one so close he didn't dare guess its distance forced his decision. If they were able to cover that much ground in so short an amount of time, he wouldn't stand a chance out in the streets. The best he could do was to try and keep the unicorns and that little family safe for the time being. He climbed into the large metal contraption, moved to the middle of the small room and sat. "Close the door. And kneel down, I could see you guys from the outside through the little window while you were standing."

[King Tidal Wave]

The two unicorns had the door shut not a moment not a moment after Spring Tide had stepped inside. "He's right," the red unicorn spoke. "Keep out of sight of the door. And keep your voices down. Any luck finding the temperature control?"

"Not yet," came a voice to Spring Tide's left. It was what a white-pelted, middle-aged earth pony with a short, tan beard and mane, who was currently pushing a stack of boxes to the side. Now that Spring was inside, the freezer was larger than it had appeared from the outside. Not considerably bigger, but large enough to easily hide the earth pony and the dark purple, female pegasus standing next to him. The only other items of note were the boxes and metallic shelves holding various food items lining the walls and middle of the freezer. There was also the family of earth ponies, of course. "It'll be in here somewhere."

"Are you sure?" asked the blue unicorn. "What if it's on the outside?"

"It wouldn't be," answered the white earth pony. "If someone got stuck in here they'd freeze to death."

"But who would get themselves stuck in a freezer?"

"Hey!" interrupted the red unicorn, "Remember what I said about keeping quiet?"

[Spring Tide]

The freezer was cozy. It was larger than it had appeared, or at least it had hidden more ponies within than Spring Tide had originally thought possible. He was surprised to find the white Earth pony and purple Pegasus inside the freezer along with the Earth pony family of four, and now three unicorns. He decided to not ponder the improbability and to focus on what was going on.

The inside of the freezer was well below the freezing point of water, as evidenced by the ice that had formed on the walls. His breath fogged as he sat there enduring the cold and listening to his fellow freezer ponies. The white pony was looking for the thermostat of the freezer so that he could make the space habitable. A sensible action. Spring Tide didn't know very much of anything regarding machinery. He was thankful that somepony did, although where this stallion had learned these things was a mystery to him. 

Sitting on the cold metal floor had already grown uncomfortable. The chilled air ruined one's sense of smell and Spring could hear very little from outside the box except for the machinery operating. He moved over closer to the white stallion. "Is there anything I can do to help you out?" He quietly asked. He did not want to make too much noise, lest he be berated by the crimson mare like the other unicorn. 

[King Tidal Wave]

"Helping find the temperature control would be a start. It's gotta be behind one of these shelves or something. Here, help me clear this one out." The white earth pony began removing several boxes and packages of frozen goods from a metal shelf near the wall, setting them down on the floor beside him. "Name's Bolt by the way. That's Marina," he spoke, indicating towards the dark purple pony. The female pony gave Spring Tide a nod, but other wise remained silent.

A louder boom sounded from outside the freezer, causing one of the unicorn colts to begin sobbing louder. "You take him, take Metro," Spring Tide could hear the father whisper, seeming to pass the quieter of the two colts off to the mother as he focused his attention on comforting the other, trying to coax him into calming himself.

The blue unicorn was stationary, turning a panicky gaze between the freezer and door and the unicorn family every few seconds. The red unicorn, meanwhile, had her attention locked on the blue one, seeming wary of what he might say or do next.