The plan was originally to hop on a train and take it back to Ponyville, so we went South-West to the nearest train tracks. Once we were there though, we decided that taking the risk of train-hopping with a metric fuck ton of gold was a bit too extreme; so we voted to take a hike instead.

We each had our own reasons. Steel wanted some fresh air, which was easy to understand since he had been confined in jail for nearly a month; for me, I was just hoping that I might could heal faster if I stayed active.

From the tracks, we came upon a pretty ancient trail on the treeline of a forest.

"Appleloosa," Steel looked at a rotting sign, sticking sideways out of the ground. "The hell? That's not close to Baltimare whatsoever. What do you think, Cross?"

"It's probably just an outdated passage, Steel. The thing looks like it's before our life time." I shrugged and started down the trail.

Steel nodded in agreement and came with me. "Yeah, it's possible. We can hold our own, regardless."

The entire environment was just so wild and overgrown that everything seemed to get dark. Trees were so close together that their branches intertwined, roots were growing in and out of the ground, and the only thing keeping us on the path we were travelling was the difference between sunken soil, and vines and weeds.

We must have been moving faster than either of us were aware of, though, because we traversed the forest in what felt like an hour; the sun was still high in the sky, just slightly away from where it had been before, when we trotted out of the woodlands and into a clearing.

A wide river was what we were immediately greeted with, upon breaching the woodlands. The trail we had been following would have faded entirely in the earth, had somepony not taken the time to line it with stones.

In the distance we could see more trees lining the horizon, indicating yet another forest; our attention was too centered upon the old boat coming at us from across the river for us to even think about whether or not the trail extended across the water.

My eyes narrowed to better focus on it. "I can make out a lone stallion, and.. a bunch of jugs? The hell is he transporting?"

"All we can do is wait and see, he doesn't look like a problem," Steel shrugged kind of carelessly. "Even if it is a problem, it won't be a big one. Just something in our way."

Sometimes the way he speaks, seriously bothers the hell out of me.

"Mhmm, just a minor inconvenience," I agreed and repeated him.

He took a few steps closer to the edge of the river and sighed, mumbling under his breath. "Such a fucking smartass sometimes."

The stallion waved over at us as the boat grew closer. When it finally came to a stop and slapped against the river bank, he enthusiastically quipped, "Can I interest you fellers in somethin' special?"

"Alcohol?" I raised a brow, and the stallion beckoned us over to check out his stuff.

Steel and I looked at each other, shrugged, and boarded the boat.

Upon taking one glance, and one whiff of the liquid inside of a jug, Steel turned and snapped at the stallion. "Are you stupid? The hell are you doing selling this stuff!"

Out of curiosity, I ignored the cowering pony and opened one of the jugs to get a smell of it's contents. It was a strong aroma, sure, but it didn't seem like it was a problem in my opinion.

"Just tryin to keep the family afloat is all.. I know it's illegal, I know, but it's my only option. I've been put outta work!"

Steel looked him up and down.. then shuffled to reach under the rolled tent and into the duffle bag to retrieve a little bit of gold.

"It ain't much, but it should put you in a better position. Seeing as how you're already risking a lot by helping to make an illegal substance available to the public, you should know that this gold is clearly not earned. Now, you won't say one damn word about this, or ever meeting anypony today, right?" Steel spoke as though he was making a deal through threats.

"No–"

Steel interrupted to stop him from saying more than he had asked. "Well good. With that out of the way, can you take us to the other side of the river?"

With a quick nod he informed Steel that he'd have to finish his transport, despite having more than enough money to never come back. He swore that after this final delivery he'd give up the business, though, and that was all Steel wanted to hear.

The pony hastily makes his way over to the captain's quarters of the old and neglected steamboat, and slowly turns it around.

Steel and I stayed at the stern of the ship, and began to talk. His actions had kind of surprised me.

"I've never seen you so generous. What was it that changed?" I asked.

With a sigh he looked forward, avoiding my gaze. "My father used to sell Griffon's Brew. Supposedly it was outlawed fifty years ago, or something like that."

This surprised me even more. I'd never heard much about his pops, at least not anything aside from when I was informed that Steel and Rose came from different stallions.

A part of me wanted to ask more about him, even though I was aware that I'd be pushing it... And might've gone through with it, if it wasn't for the great feeling of solemnity that seemed to be possessed by the atmosphere.

It was a reminder that sometimes, it's best not to press into sensitive subjects.

"What you said earlier about Dwight, after we had gone back for the gold..." Steel began, but trailed off waiting for a response.

"What he said in the Empire, or what I told you about my life?" I spoke blankly, unsure of where the conversation was going, but still not liking it.

"Your life–" He shifted but his gaze remained on the water, "I don't mean to intrude, but.. I think I can understand you a little better. We are nothing alike at all, but we have that family problem to relate to. I just wanted to show you that I'm not simply a hollow shell, made up of aerodynamic metal and hatred."

"Like I said, Dwight kinda raised me. He wasn't my father, hell, my dad's been dead for a long time now. I never knew him, not a name, not even what he looked like. But according to my mother, I looked just like him. But then, she left too — not dead, but hell, she may as well be for all I know."

Steel nodded and raised his head up to glance at the sky. "In a way, I guess it does make me more fortunate. But there is one other thing we have in common.. We were both outcasts."

Somehow he managed to catch my interest with this, so I looked forward and perked an ear up to let him know that I was listening more closely. "How so?"

"Well," He sighed, "When I was a colt, the town was mostly earth ponies. Pegasi weren't really around much, and they definitely weren't residents. Eventually that changed, but my father was the first real full on pegasus resident in Appleloosa... I'm sure you can imagine how that went."

For a minute he was silent and I wasn't sure if he was gathering words or just having a moment, but either way I remained patient until he spoke again. "Pegasi weren't accepted as town residents until after my father died– and even then there was mixed emotions on the subject for a few years."

"Was he—" I had began, but Steel interrupted me.

"I don't want to talk about it." He said, in a very straightforward manner.

I slightly shook my head and gazed down to watch the water. As much as I wanted to express my empathy, I felt like he already knew it.

My mind drew back to the alcohol, probably in an ill effort to change the subject, but still it pestered me. "So, what exactly makes this 'Griffon's Brew' so illegal?"

Steels haunches heaved in a sigh. "For starters, it's highly flammable. Secondly, it's extremely potent for us, but for them? It's like a wine. It takes seven pints to get a griffon drunk, and four pints to get 'em tipsy, but it only takes 1.5 pints to give a standard sized pony a hangover."

"Three cups is all it takes? Hell, I'm tempted to buy a jug off of him just for special occasions."

"Just don't let Rose see it," he warned. "Ironic enough, that's the stuff ol' Bush Briar gets shitfaced off of."

One would have to be a downright idiot not to see the hints being given, suggesting just how badly Steel hated Griffon's Brew.

"In that case, I'll stay away from it. The last thing I'd want to do is hurt Rose like that."

The old, creaky boat slowed as it approached the river bank; all the way up until it once again found its place against land.

"Ya keep following the trail from here," the captain said, approaching us. "It'll take ya straight through the forest, and lead y'all to Dodge Junction."

We thanked him as we made our way off of the boat, and resumed our little hiking trip following the stone-lined path.

Author's Note

(For context on this chapter, Griffon's Brew is my take on moonshine.)

In the process of writing this chapter I kind of sorted together the timeline a little bit for both this story and the sequel to it (that I plan on writing after). I figured I would let you all in on it so that it might make a little more sense if you are trying to compare it to the timeline of the show. Basically this story takes place in the normal universe, but I will be labeling the sequel as Alternate Universe. Try to stay with me here, and follow along:
This story takes place after the coronation of Twilight, and before the Tirek event/Twilight gets her castle.
Shortly after Twilight gets her castle in the show, they meet Starlight Glimmer. This will have still happened in the sequel, just under different circumstances.

However... Due to events that will take place, the Cutie Map will be used for more than just one purpose, unlike in the show. More tasks are given to the Mane 6 through it, and sometimes they will have to be split up to take on two tasks from the map at once.

This way, it allows me to have a time jump between this story and the sequel, for literary and story building purposes. Make sense?

Since it's a change from the show, I will have to place the sequel under the 'Alternate Universe' tag, like I said.

Just thought that I would clear this up, since I (personally) wanted it to make sense to an extent, and because I'm trying to really make my own, first, real story. It's more than fine if you don't get the whole timeline idea, you will still be able to enjoy the story regardless! I won't focus on the aspect of the map too much, but it allows me to still keep some of the mane six involved in the story, while simultaneously attempting to stick true to events that take place in the show, even if said events might not be mentioned or might not have an impact on something in the story.