Riverponies

Chapters

chapter 1
Towboat pickin' up barges
Upriver to Ponyville

chapter 1

It was three in the morning, way before Celestia rose the sun when my alarm clock started beeping. I stirred a little and my eyes popped open when my marefriend's orange diesel scented hoof bumped into my muzzle while she was stretching. Looking over at her in the little light in the room I could make out her horn sticking out from her wild brown mane.

"Time to get up, Propwash" I said as I gently shook the orange unicorn mare.
"Errhhgg, aw, do I have to get up Twin Screw?" she asks groggily already knowing the answer.
"Yes, we gotta take a barge to Maresburg today" I say shaking her with my yellow hoof.
"Ok, fine" she says as she slips out of the white covers revealing her wrench cutie mark.
I get out of the bed and look at my self in the mirror. My bright yellow coat looked dull in the low light and I could barely see my cutie mark of a towboat. The day I got my cutie mark my uncle Mudwater Screw was letting me help take a barge to Maresburg on the towboat the M/V River Mare. He trusted me enough to let me slide the two barge tow around a bend, I guided the two, three thousand ton barges and the River Mare through the curve without hitting any sandbars.

The moment we got through the curve he said "Congratulations Twin" as he pointed to my flank. It was a wonderful day that day. A few months later he let me name a boat he had just bought so I named it the M/V Mud Apple.

Propwash trotted back into the room and she asked "Are we going to get breakfast on the way to the boat or...?".
"We'll stop and pick up some donuts, I packed our lunches last night" I said as I brushed my green mane.

"Ok, got it" said the beautiful mare.

"Yup" I replied.
I've known that mare since we were fillies, she was a born to an engineer and a waitress and we met on a summer day watching towboats pushing barges on the Ponyville river.

Flashback

She was trotting along the riverbank chasing one of the tows when she bumped into me that summer day.
"Oh, sorry, are you ok" she asked shyly.
"Oh, I'm fine, what's your name" I asked the orange filly.
"It's Propwash, what's yours" she asked with a smile slowly appearing.
"My name is Twin Screw, are you watching the boats?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah, my daddy is a deckhand and chief engineer on Mudcolt" said the filly.

"Cool!, my uncle is captain of the River Mare" I said with excitement.
"Maybe I could ask him if he could let you come for a Maresburg trip, wanna be friends?" I asked.

"I'd love to be your friend" she said.

End Flashback
"Are you ready Props?" I called to Propwash from the front door.
"Yeah I'm ready" she said as she galloped to the door.
We exited the double story timber framed house and walked under the early morning moon. Few ponies were out at three-thirty in the morning except the occasional shop owner or late night partier. We arrived at Joe's Donuts 24/7 to purchase donuts and coffee.

"What can I get ya this morning?" asks a brown stallion.
"I'll have two glazed donuts and some coffee" I respond in a confident tone. Donuts line the pastry shelves and around the donut shop chairs and tables sit a top the white tile floor.

"I'll have three glazed donuts and three chocolate ones plus some coffee" says Propwash.
"That'll be ten bits please" says the stallion. I pull the bits out my saddlebag and place them on the glass counter, the brown stallion hands us two bags and waves us off.

We eat our breakfast before we arrive to the tin roofed building that serves as the Mudwater Marine office. It's four o'clock in the morning and sun don't rise until about five. I unlock the door and rush to my slot. In my slot there are papers with orders for the barges that we needed to pickup. After reviewing the orders I step out the office and lock the door.
"Looks like a rock run today" I say flipping through the papers in front of Propwash.
"Well, it'll sure make them turboes whistle" replied Propwash.
I unlocked the gate and we trotted onto the dock. The M/V Mud Apple slowly bobbed up and down in the gentle swells of the river, silently, waiting for us to start her engines. Propwash was first to step on deck, as soon as I got on the feeling of floating was immediate and I thought "Ah, back at my secondary home".

We headed down to the engine room where two steel behemoths resided. The lights were on because the boat was plugged into an outlet on the dock but while we were running the power came from the main or backup generators.

"Looks like we got a full tank of fuel, now lets fire 'em up!" said Propwash in a somewhat raspy voice.

"Let's make 'em roar" I say.
The unicorn puts her hoof on the starting switch for the main generator, the high pitched squeal of the starter motor is follow by a rumbling hum. After a few minutes it was time to start the twin one-thousand horsepower engines built by the Equestrian Locomotive Works.

Propwash couldn't start both of the engines at the same time because it would blow a fuse with all the amps it would take to start them. She put a hoof on the starting switch and there was a high pitched squeal, then a loud rumble pierced the still morning air surrounding the vessel. Following the same sequence the second engine started up, the engines were loud at first but after fifteen to thirty minutes of idling they would quiet down.

I waved to Propwash gesturing that I was going up to the helm because the roar of the engines in the engine room drowned out all other noises. She nodded and then turned away to check the various gauges and things that needed to be monitored. The helm was the highest place on my boat. It was a stilt mounted helm, which means it was mounted atop trusswork which was bolted to the top of the second deck. I had trotted up the stairs to the helm when I saw a brown colt wearing a life vest trotting to the vessel.

"Hey Winch your late!" I yell.
"Yeah, I know, we ain't gotta shove off 'til five and I'm here at four-fifty though" the brown colt yells back.

The brown colt with a darker brown mane boards the boat. By now the engines have warmed up and the sun began to show on the horizon. Propwash came out of the engine room and on to the main deck. I signal to her and Winch to take off the mooring lines.

Author's Note

Hope you like it so far. Any suggestions or questions could be written in the comments.

Towboat pickin' up barges

Propwash and Winch unplugged the boat from the dock outlet then took off the mooring lines. They then signaled to me that the boat was free. I maneuvered the boat with the flanking and stern rudders to point upriver, then applied fifty percent full throttle to carry out the first orders of the day. It didn't take long to find the hay barges that needed to be dropped off in Maresburg.
"The barges are over there" I yelled to Propwash as I pointed a hoof toward two hopper barges.
"Okay, we're ready, your driving this thing" she yelled back.
The hay barges, even though they were fully loaded, sat fairly high in the water. I steered the Mud Apple to the end of the box barge and planted the push knees into the end of the barge. The deckponies pulled cables from the winches on the barge and the boat to the cleats and other tie downs. When the end of the cables were secure they tightened them with the ratchets on the winches.
Propwash signaled for me to reverse a little to tug on the lines to make sure they were tight enough. So I slowly applied throttle and like always the lines held and I got a hooves up from the deck boss. The deckhooves trotted to where the box barge was attached to the end of the rake barge, tightened all the cables that needed to be tightened, and inspected all the hatches. Propwash then made her way up to the helm.
"Everythings is ship shape, now lets get this tow to Maresburg" said Propwash.
"Well, I'll radio ahead to the drawbridge, then we'll shove off" I replied.
I tuned my VHF radio to channel 09 to radio to the Ponyville drawbridge tender. It was roughly five-thirty in the morning.
"This is the M/V Mud Apple, captain Twin Screw, I am requesting you open Ponyville drawbridge" I say over the radio.
"This is Ponyville drawbridge tender on duty, give me two blasts and I'll open it for ya" replies the bridge tender.

I slid the barges away from the dock and applied twenty percent throttle heading downriver toward the bridge. I blasted the horn twice, heading toward the bridge at three knots. The sun was still barely peeking over the horizon so the floodlights were still on. The drawbridge began to raise and by the time the bow of the first barge reached it, it was all the way up. Below Maresburg the river was large enough for bigger towboats and tows, also the name of the river changed at Maresburg, it changed from the Ponyville river to the Pegasus river. Mudwater Marine handled most if not all the traffic above Maresburg.
The river trip from Ponyville to Maresburg was only about thirty miles so a round trip could be made in a day. The M/V Mud Apple steadily chugged south at seven knots after we left Ponyville. To the ponies that never seen a towboat and barge on the river before it probably looked like we were moving a steel monster with no wheels by just sliding it across the land. When we came to Everfree bend I used the stern rudders to adjust the angle of the tow. On the gentle curves of the Ponyville river it was easy to fall asleep at the helm but a good captain never did that because sooner or later you would be run aground on the shore.

By 7:00 AM, Celestia's sun was up, the floodlights were off, and some miles had passed. Propwash decided to come up to the helm to keep me company, while Winch was trying to find stuff to keep him busy, like painting, sweeping, and boring stuff.
"Hey captain" said the orange unicorn.
"Hello, Props, how are the engines doin'?" I ask.
"Their doin' fine, ELCO sure knew how to make diesels, these things probably still have decades of life to live" said Propwash.
"This boat was over forty when my uncle bought it, that was fifteen years ago" I replied.
"I remember fifteen years ago, you were still my best friend then, two eight year old fillies just having fun" said the unicorn.
"Yeah, I remember those days to, then we got to be put on the employee roster when we were sixteen" I said.
"Your uncle Mudwater sure is a nice stallion" said the unicorn.
"He raised me, my parents didn't want anything to do with me, he was like a father, I know I've told you that a million times" I said, a little sadly.
"It wasn't your fault, look at where you've gotten yourself, you've got a boat, a damned good income, and you've got me" said the brown maned unicorn trying to cheer me up.
"And you bring happiness into my life" I said as I got up out of my chair and hugged the unicorn that smelled of diesel, oil, and mud.
"Well, I should, go check the engines and the tow, but I'll be back up here" she said, as she hugged me back then broke the hug. She then trotted back out of the helm to the engine room.
The hours passed and a little after 10:00 A.M. we were in Maresburg. Over the intercom on the boat I said "All crew please report to the helm". The pony from the boiler deck came up to the helm.
I asked, "Do you ponies want to get our northbound tow then have lunch or the other way around".
"Let's do the hard stuff first, I want it to be easier after lunch" said Propwash.
"Okay, and where in tartarus is Winch?", I asked calmly with a hint of annoyance in my voice, Propwash shrugged in response.
"Take the tillers", I ordered Propwash.
"Okay, captain" she said.
I got out of my chair and trotted down to the main deck. After a minute or two I found Winch on the stern of the vessel snoozing away. I left him, then returned with a five gallon bucket. You can probably figure out what happened next...
"What the hell!" he screamed.
"No sleeping on the job, we got barges to drop off, lazy flank" I yelled at the young stallion like a drill sergeant.
"Okay, jeez", he said.
I trotted back up to the helm and relieved Propwash of steering the vessel.
"So we gotta land this tow at mooring buoy 15" I said.
"Okay, I'll be on deck" she said.

The mooring buoys weren't really hard to find as most of them were already being used by various other barges and tows, one of which we'd be picking up. Maresburg was the river equivalent of a large railyard, here the river got really wide and many barges and tows were moored here waiting to be picked up by other boats. I maneuvered the tow to the mooring buoys assigned in the paperwork while Propwash and Winch put mooring lines on the large red buoys. The two barges lashed together were about four hundred feet long.

After they tied up the barges to the buoys they began loosening the cables that bound the M/V Mud Apple to the barges. First the cables extending from the barges to the boat were untied from the cleats on the boat, then the cables that extended from the winches on the boat were untied from the cleats on the barges. Then just as the motion from the river forced the barges away from the push knees, the remaining crew on the tow jumped onto the towboat. The two deckhooves then trotted up to the helm to check in.
"Well good job you two, now we just gotta pick up 'em gravel barges" I say, as I move the boat back into the main channel still heading downriver.
"Then lunch time!" replied Propwash.
Tender boats were common in Maresburg shuffling barges around for outbound tows, most of them bound for Las Pegasus. After about fifteen minutes I spotted the box barge and rake barge full of gravel bound for Ponyville. I then swung the boat over to the barges and pressed the push knees up to the stern of the heavily laden barges. Gravel is a lot denser than hay so the barges of course sat lower in the water, so low it seemed they were overloaded.
"Tie that tow up, then we can eat c'mon!" I said excitedly.
"Aye, aye captain" the two deckhooves said as they rushed out the helm.

They looped cables around the cleats and then tightened them up with the winches. Propwash signaled for me to test the cables and I reversed the boat, and like most of the time the cables were good and tight.
"Lunch time!" I said over the intercom just before I trotted out the helm.
"We'll have an hour to rest and then it's heading up river, it's about twelve" said Propwash.
"Yeah, if we're lucky we'll be back in Ponyville by five, and shut down by six" I said.
I grabbed my daisy and daffodil sandwich, then tasted the flowery goodness. Propwash grabs her donuts and sandwich, while Winch has a hefty veggie burger.
"Them barges look a tad bit over loaded" said Winch with a little concern.
"Well, they are but we should be able to make it without sucking too much mud" I say.
"Should we cut the lunch break short so we can get home earlier?" asks Propwash as she finishes her lunch.
"Sounds like a good idea, I can't wait to have a cold cider" I answer.
So as soon as we finished our meals, I got back to the helm and the tow was untied from the mooring buoys.

Upriver to Ponyville

Heading upriver with the two barge tow, we were traveling at eight knots. Smoke was pouring out the exhausts from the giant ELCO diesel engines as they worked hard to push six thousand tons of gravel. We left Maresburg at twelve thirty, cutting lunch break in half just to get home quicker.
"Propwash to the helm please, Propwash to the helm please" I said over the intercom. About three minutes later she came to the helm.
"What do you need captain?" she asked somewhat annoyed.
"I need a piss break, were you in the middle of something?" I asked.
"Not really, the engines seem to be doing fine, and we have bout six-tenths of a tank of fuel" said the orange, brown maned unicorn.
"Okay, well take the tillers 'cause I need a piss break" I ordered her as I jumped out the seat and ran to the bathroom.
Towboats don't have steering wheels, well when somepony says wheel we think they are referring to the propellers because that is a nickname for propellers. Instead towboats have tillers which are basically steering sticks, there are four of these sticks, two for the flanking rudders and two for the stern rudders. After going to the bathroom I decided to check the engine room, as usual the deafening noise of the engines made me surprised Propwash hadn't lost all her hearing (She had already lost some).
"Hey Props I'm back" I say leaning on a brown wooden cabinet inside the helm.
"Well okay then, take your chair back" she says lifting herself out of swivel chair. I get back in the chair and resume my position.
"Do you think you could stay up here and keep me company?, your always on the boiler deck and I need help to stay alert" I asked her.
"I'm not paid to keep you company, I'm paid to maintain engines and make sure Winch isn't snoozing" she says with a smirk.
"Your paid to do whatever the hay I tell you to do, it's my boat and I'm the captain, you can check the engines ever fifteen minutes" I said with a fake looking evil smile.
"Ok, fine. Just keep your eyes on the muddy water" says the orange unicorn.
"Remember that day in high school, when you asked me out?" I ask with a smile.
"Yeah, I do. I was really nervous because you were another filly" she said as her faced blushed.
"Well, I loved you as a friend, us being a couple is kinda just like our friendship but with more kissing and cuddling", I said letting out a chuckle. We had a long conversation interrupted every fifteen minutes to check the engine room. Sometimes I thought those diesel engines were like foals to her. We eventually ended up kissing, her lips tasted like a mixture of oil and donuts. I had one eye on the river another on her, a forehoof on the tillers and another wrapped around her.
"Damnnn, keep going" said a familiar voice.
"Winch, what the buck?, haven't you heard of privacy?" I screamed at the deckhand.
"Let's forget this ever happened" said Propwash.
"Good idea" I agreed.

That whole incident was around three o'clock and we were about fifteen miles downriver from Ponyville still chugging along with the engines at eighty percent and the speedometer reading eight knots. We slid across the farmland passing fields of hay, orchards, farmhouses and barns. At about four o'clock five miles downriver from Ponyville I heard a loud scraping noise and felt a jolt as the barge struck the bottom of the river. Since it didn't completely stop the boat I made the conclusion that it was only at a single spot so I cranked the throttle up. Propwash rushed up to the helm and busted through the door.
"Did ya feel that?" asked Propwash.
"Yeah, they put too much gravel in those damned barges" I said with a flustered tone.
"Do you think that there will be too many problems before we get to Ponyville?" she asked.
"A few shallow spots yeah, but I have the engines at ninety percent so we'll just plow through it" I answered.
"Okay captain" replied Propwash as she trotted back down to the engine room.

The barges were to be dropped off just downriver of the drawbridge at the Ponyville gravel company docks, so luckily we didn't have to go to much farther. The barges drafted and extra foot with the extra gravel so a couple more shallow spots were found with the extra heavy barges. At about four forty-five the Ponyville gravel docks came into sight.
"Winch, Propwash, the destination is in sight. please get on deck" I order over the intercom.

The deckhoof, and the deck boss trotted to the port side of the tow. I maneuvered the tow to sit against the gravel unloading dock. The tall gravel unloading crane loomed above us. Stallions were on the docks waiting for my crew to toss the mooring lines to them. Propwash tossed and inch thick mooring line like it was string to one of the stallions and Winch did the same.

"Another day, another tow, and another couple grand in my pocket" I thought to my self. The stallions on the docks shook hooves with Propwash and Winch as they untied the towboat from the barges. I tuned my VHF radio to channel 09 and called the bridge tender.
"Hello, Ponyville drawbridge, this is the M/V Mud Apple, captain Twin Screw, I'm requesting for you to open the bridge when you see me over" I radioed to the bridge tender.
"Ah, this is bridge tender on duty, give me two blasts when your ready" a mare replied.
Propwash gave me a hooves up to back away from the tow, so I reversed the boat then maneuvered it into the center of the river. I blew the horn twice then waited for the drawbridge to open. As soon as I noticed that it began to lift I proceeded at three knots. By the time the Mud Apple was at the drawbridge it was fully opened. The Mudwater docks were just about a hundred feet upriver from the drawbridge.
I effortlessly moved the tillers as if they were extensions of my hooves, the boat glided to the dock like a hockey puck on slippery ice. Propwash and Winch tied up the mooring lines, while I shut off the radar and other navigational equipment. After the mooring lines were tied Winch called it quits and left trotting off down the dock back to the office. I trotted down to the boiler deck to watch the mare of my dreams shut off the engines. On the way there I plugged the Mud Apple into the dock power system. I loved everything about her from the way she starts the engines up to the way she shuts them down. She pressed both of the shut off buttons with her magic, then proceeded to shut off the generator.

"Hey Props", I said.
"Hey, did you plug her into dock power?" she asked with a little concern.
"Yup", I replied.
"Well let's go home" she said with a yawn.
We turned the last lights off and left the engine room, then we stepped off the boat. After a long day of working on the river all I wanted to do was go to bed with my mare by my side.
Where there are big rivers and money to be made, you'll find a breed of sailorpony hauling passengers and freight. Where a river does wind across the land, riverponies work moving barges dodging the bars of sand. I'll be a riverpony until the day I die, maybe I'll push barges on that river in the sky.

The End