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