Apple Bloom and the Floating Windmill

Chapters

The Floating Windmill
Forgotten Homes
Exhalation
Meeting
Arrival and Ascension
Infected Canterlot
Aftermath, the Epilogue.

The Floating Windmill

This morning was the same as many mornings before it, the farm was thriving and the windmill was turning. I was taking care of my daily chores like watering seeds, gathering apples and eating breakfast, the usual farm morning stuff.
This kind of morning wouldn't be interesting at all if it wasn't for the fact that I was the only one capable of keeping the farm going... Also the farm kind of floats.

Granny Smith has always made sure to remind me of the 'old days' when the farm was on the ground and everypony lived happily in a nearby town. She loves telling stories about what life was like when she was younger, living on the ground and taking care of the farm herself.

Granny Smith hasn't been feeling well for a while now, she says it's the same illness that my parents had, it's called 'The Pestilence' and it's the entire reason we live on a floating island in the sky now. The farm isn't that big but it's enough to grow the food we need while also not being too much for me to take care of, even if it is hard work.
Sometimes I think about what it would be like if The Pestilence had never come to be and I was living on the ground with Granny and my parents, it's probably not something I should be thinking about too much but it's hard not to consider a better life.

The basket was finally full of apples, a good amount all things considered. I was standing in middle of the few trees we had on our island, I turn around and begin walking back towards the house. The house isn't that big but it's sturdy and cosy in a way. I reach the front door of the house, pushing it open and walking into the empty living room, continuing into the kitchen and placing the basket down on a table.

I sat down at the table and stared out of the window, I began to think about my family and how little I truly knew most of them...
My parents had died when I was young, they were cheerful, hopeful and caring... That was what Granny always said anyway. Not long after I was born, they both became infected with The Pestilence, Granny tells me I also had a sister, after our parents became ill, she left the island in the middle of the night looking for a way to cure their illness... She never came back.
Not long after she disappeared, our parents passed away and it was just me and Granny Smith taking care of the farm.

I often wonder what my sister was like, Granny says a lot of nice things about her but it would've been nice if I had gotten to know her myself.

The house was quiet and peaceful, despite everything that could be better in life, the farm wasn't a bad place to be, not perfect but it was as safe as possible and we had enough of what we needed to survive. I walk back into the living room, walking through another door into a hallway and I climb the stairs. Ahead of me is the door leading to Granny Smith's bedroom, I reach for the door handle and push it open gently.

Granny Smith is lying in bed as usual but she looks worse today, I approach the side of her bed as I consider what to say.
"Heya Granny, are you feeling any better today?" I ask her with a small amount of hope in my voice, even though the answer was obvious.
She slowly turns her head to look at me and opens her mouth to speak. "Apple Bloom... I need to talk to you about something very important..." She pauses for a second, when I don't reply, she continues. "The Pestilence isn't going to get any better and I don't know how much longer I have to explain all of this so I'm just gonna tell you now. A long time ago, when I was a lot younger, I spoke with the princess... I asked her to make a deal with me and she agreed that she would do what she could to keep you and your sister safe from The Pestilence until I was gone. I kept this a secret ever since but it's time for you to know now because the deal will end soon."

I stared at Granny Smith silently, I wasn't sure what to say. Whatever she was talking about was hard to believe and even harder to understand, before I could ask any questions, she continued her explanation.
"I know it's all kinds of confusing but I don't have any easy way to explain what's going on, when I die... the illness will start to affect you as well... before it does, I need you to go to Canterlot, the princess told me all that time ago that there is a cure, you need to go there and ask her for help... I know she will."

I looked into her eyes and finally spoke. "Granny... I don't think I can-"
I was suddenly cut off when Granny Smith placed her hoof on mine and spoke once more. "It'll be hard, Apple Bloom... But I know you can do it, you're smart and very brave for your age. I wish I could've done it for you but I'm much too old to travel all that way..."

The conversation didn't last much longer after that and before I knew it, Granny stopped talking... She was gone.

There wasn't need for a burial, The Pestilence turns the skin grey and when you go, your body crumbles and disintegrates like ash, it's not a nice thing to see. The room was hard to clean.

I walked out of the house into the small field to sit and think of something else for a while. The breeze was nice but nothing could distract me from what had just happen and what would happen soon.

I looked outwards from the island towards the horizon, beautiful blue skies and fluffy-looking clouds, you almost wouldn't think the world was dead...
Off in the distance I could see it, the mountain that Canterlot was built into. Granny had always told me how beautiful it used to be there.

Nopony had lived in Canterlot for a long time, except for the princess, of course, she was the reason the city was abandoned after all.

I had heard a few stories about her from Granny Smith, everypony calls her 'The Princess of Pestilence', partly because nopony left knows her real name but also as an insult as everypony hates the princess for causing The Pestilence somehow.
They say she's evil, that she doesn't care about anypony other than herself and that she even chooses who becomes ill.

I don't know how many of these rumours are true, if any at all, I guess it doesn't really matter what she's like, if Granny says that I need to speak to her, then that's what I have to do, I may not trust the princess, but I do trust Granny Smith.

I stood up after my brief moment to think, now sure of what I need to do. After packing some supplies into my saddlebags, I walk towards the windmill on the other side of the island and pull open the door at the front of the structure. Inside the windmill is all the weird stuff you'd expect to find in a windmill, gears and stuff or whatever, the important thing inside was unrelated to the windmill itself. In the middle of the room is a trapdoor, I open the hatch and carefully climb down a ladder leading to the only way down from the island, a system of ropes and a harness.

Attaching the harness was annoying but I got it done eventually and the mechanism lowered me towards the ground below. Underneath the island sat a small building, the ropes lowered me into the building where the other side of the mechanism was, allowing me to return when I needed to.

I release the harness and look at my surroundings, I had never actually been down here before. I walk towards the exit of the building, a heavy-looking door, it was locked but I had the key. I unlock the door and step outside, locking the door behind me. Turning around from the building gives me my first real view of the world and in the distance I can see my first destination, a small, abandoned town called Ponyville.

I take a deep breath, and begin my journey to Canterlot.

Author's Note

So, I guess this is my first story. That's kinda cool.
Don't expect anything insanely good or anything, it's just a cool idea I had randomly.

It's worth mentioning that I considered doing that thing where people try to write in an accent but I figured that'd just get confusing so I didn't.

Forgotten Homes

Taking the first steps away from the only place I've ever been is definitely a strange feeling, my home was basically the world as far as I was concerned. A few locations have always been visible from the farm, Canterlot being the most notable, although it's kinda hard to think of them as much more than a decoration in the background, something I'd never see up close.

The clouds beneath my island made it kinda easy to forget that anything on the ground actually existed, but here I am, walking through a bunch of fields I've never seen before. The ground is very different from anything I've seen on the farm, The Pestilence's presence is clear. The grass is grey, the trees are dead and even the sky is darker down here, like the energy was sucked right out of it, leaving the ground in a strange almost-night setting at all times... it's weird.

According to Granny Smith, there are some creatures still living on the ground, apparently not every living thing is affected by The Pestilence. She often told me about some of the creatures living down here like dragons, diamond dogs, parasprites and even some rarer creatures like hydras... yeah, a lot of tough, not usually very kind creatures, I'll have to be careful moving forwards.

The most dangerous creatures living on the ground are probably the ashenwolves, apparently they used to be called 'timberwolves' before The Pestilence started infecting them, somehow transforming them into an entirely new creature with the appearance of a dying tree and an infectious venom. Ashenwolves are known for living in the darkest places possible, usually caves and ravines so I shouldn't run into any as long as I'm careful on my journey to Canterlot.

Speaking of my journey, nothing interesting was really happening at the moment, probably why I got so distracted thinking about random nonsense again... I've seen plenty of empty fields by now, a lot of dead trees and some strange holes in the ground every now and again. If I were to guess I'd say they were probably- no, hopefully dug by some kind of mole that can still live down here but if I'm being realistic they could've been dug by diamond dogs, Granny told me plenty about their habit for randomly digging in hopes of finding gems below ground.
If I'm lucky, they'll stay underground and I won't have to worry about running into any of them.

A little while later and I was still walking in dead fields but now I could see a few buildings in the distance, probably Ponyville, the abandoned town Granny Smith liked to talk about so much, apparently it used to be a beautiful place filled with happy ponies and the farm wasn't far from the town. It was probably nice here before The Pestilence but I guess there's no need to think too hard about all that stuff anymore.
I walk towards the first house I have come across, a nice little yellow building, the first house I've ever seen besides my own. The windows were smashed and the walls showed clearly how long the house had been empty for, I shouldn't take too long here but out of curiosity I decide to take a look inside.

I approach the old, rotten door and notice that it's already slightly open, probably a sign of some kind of evacuation, I guess the owner didn't find it important to close the door to the house they would most likely never return to.
I push the door open fully and enter the house, a small hallway connects the kitchen, living room and a set of stairs leading upwards. Inside of the living room there're a bunch of random things lying around like toys, old newspapers, books and other stuff like that, nothing important. The kitchen was almost empty, a couple of chairs and a table but every cupboard and draw contained nothing at all, probably a sign of somepony scavenging for food, taking whatever they could find from the abandoned house, not like the owner would miss a loaf of bread or whatever else was left behind, I guess.

It was time to continue moving forwards, I had already spent a little too long in that old house, although it was interesting, my journey was still more important, especially considering I have no actual knowledge of how long I have to get to Canterlot. As I trot through the old, empty streets my mind begins to drift into random thoughts, as it usually does, thinking does keep my mind active at least, even though I think about the same old stuff so often.

Thinking of my time limit, it's worth considering how The Pestilence actually works, this strange illness was somewhat rare above ground although it also becomes significantly less predictable, spreading completely randomly, one day you're completely fine and the next you start turning grey. Most illnesses have clear causes, eating something you shouldn't, close contact with unwell ponies, stuff like that. The Pestilence was completely different, it wasn't about doing anything wrong or unhealthy, it's just a case of living long enough for the disease to randomly show up and start affecting you.
The rumours about the princess pop back into my mind, I guess if she really does control the disease it would just mean that anypony she chooses will become infected when she says so, although there isn't any proof of that being the case and it's probably a safer assumption to think that it is just random after all, even if she could have some level of control over it.

I freeze.
I'm almost at the centre of town and I see something that definitely isn't a good thing to see, a large fire surrounding an old tree, possibly a landmark showing where the middle of Ponyvile is, regardless of what it used to be, the tree was now being used as fuel for possibly the largest campfire in history.
There are a few shadows in front of the fire, silhouettes that definitely aren't ponies.
I'm far enough away not to be seen by these creatures, judging by the silhouettes and the holes I found earlier, I'm guessing they're diamond dogs.

I need to get through the town but I definitely don't want to be seen by them, I could leave the town and walk around the perimetre of Ponyville, completely avoiding them, however since I still don't know how long I have to get to Canterlot, the amount of time this could cost might end up being the difference between finding the cure and dying in the streets... that got a little dark...

I shake my head quickly in an attempt to get my thoughts back on track, clearly walking around the entire town isn't an option and neither is walking up to a group of diamond dogs to have a friendly chat. I'm left with one option, I can use the houses as a barrier between myself and them, I won't be seen, I'll walk right around them and I won't even lose much time... it's the best solution I have so I guess It'll have to do.

I quietly approach a house on my left, I climb inside through an open window that leads to a living room. This living room is nice but I don't exactly have time to look around and appreciate Ponyville's architectural design so I quietly sneak around a few chairs before moving into a hallway and reaching a door leading outside.

I open the door slightly, enough to look outside and towards the next house along, I look towards the fire, they still haven't noticed anything. While the diamond dogs aren't paying attention to my direction, I quickly rush from one house to the next. I repeat this strategy for a couple more houses, slowly getting past the large campfire, as I sneak by them I notice they seem to be using the fire to cook some kind of meat... definitely a good idea to avoid them.

It didn't take too long before I began moving away from their location, it seems like I'm going to get by easily after all-
*clang*
My thoughts were completely interrupted as while I was moving through a kitchen, I knocked a saucepan off of the counter, creating a loud sound that was definitely going to attract attention, I quickly peek above the counter and look through a window facing the campfire.
The diamond dogs have turned around, I act quickly without thinking, pulling open a cabinet door before climbing inside as quietly and quickly as possible, shutting the door behind me, closing myself in the small box.

Everything is dark, I don't like being stuck inside of a small, pitch black container but I definitely won't like it if they find me. I close my eyes and try to calm my breathing, I actually succeed in slowing my heart rate until I hear voices coming from outside of the house.
"Come on, you both definitely heard it too, there's something inside of that house!" a gravelly voice aggressively states to an unknown amount of allies.
"Nothing of value has been here since we set up the fire, you keep claiming you know otherwise but I've yet to find anything other than a couple of bugs." another voice counters, sounding impatient.
"I hate to say it but he's right this time, I heard that sound too, something knocked a pot over or whatever, although it's probably nothing important..." a third, higher pitched voice says.

The first voice starts speaking again, "Look, maybe it really is nothing but the last time I followed my instincts, we found lunch so at least consider looking."
The second diamond dog sighs before continuing their discussion, "I guess that's true but keep in mind that ponies are rare to find nowadays, the last one wasn't too long ago so I'm guessing we won't run into another anytime soon... still, I guess we can look."

If I had succeeded in calming myself down before, I wasn't succeeding anymore, my heart rate increases as I hear a door opening from within my hiding spot.
I hear them walking around the house, all in different directions, one of them is looking upstairs while the other two are searching the downstairs rooms.
"Anything upstairs?" the first calls out to the diamond dog upstairs.
"Nope, completely empty up here, I'm guess you haven't found anything yet either?" the third replies.
"Alright, whatever it is has gotta be down here and I only see hiding spots in the kitchen so I'm guessing it either ran away or it's hiding here... If it wasn't for the darn Pestilence making everything smell of rotting death, I could just sniff the thing out..." the second stated with a significant amount of anger, he sighs before concluding his thoughts, "Okay, here's the plan... I'm going to open each of the cabinets, if anything is in there, you grab it."

The furthest cabinet to the left opens, a second passes and it closes again, I'm hiding two cabinets from the right side of the room... It won't be long before they open this one, I need to think quickly.
The second cabinet opens, I still don't know what to do.
The third cabinet opens, I have to act.
The fourth cabinet opens, I prepare a desperate plan to stun the second diamond dog, hopefully it'll be enough of a distraction to allow me to get out of here before I can be caught.
I'm in the fifth cabinet, a paw grabs the handle as I buck the door open, slamming it into the diamond dog's face and sending him falling backwards.
It worked, but I still need to escape. Before he can recover from the pain I jump out of the cabinet and run towards the door, the first diamond dog finally reacts, chasing after me, but I grab an old plate from the ground in mouth, swinging my head to the side and throwing it at him.
The plate hits him in the chin, it's enough to stop him from chasing me for now as I turn again, running out of the kitchen and grabbing the handle of the front door.

I throw the door open just as the third diamond dog appears at the top of the stairs, running down to catch me.
I exit the house and slam the door closed behind me, running towards the next house over, maybe I can lose them inside.
I enter the next house, leaving the door open both because I didn't have time to close it but also to make it clear which direction I went.
As I enter the house, I quickly find the stairs and climb them, heading towards the bedrooms, there's one on the left side of the upstairs hallway and another on the other side of the building. I don't have long to do it but I have a plan, I throw open the door on the left side, turn around and enter the bedroom on the right side of the house, closing it behind me.

There's a window on the other side of the room, It's a bad idea but it's the only idea so I have to do it...
I climb onto the windowsill and prepare to jump as I hear the diamond dogs quickly climbing the stairs and running down the hallway towards the bedroom on the left, falling for my trick, I jump from the window and hit the ground, I attempt to roll in order to avoid injury but it still hurts a little.

I don't have any time to catch my breath so I immediately begin running away from the town, heading towards a forest. Dead trees pass by me as blurs, I continue running for a while before eventually slowing down.
Three things become clear to me, I have escaped successfully, my right foreleg hurts more than it did a minute ago... and I have no idea what forest I'm in.

I was planning on going directly through Ponyville but I had to go slightly off course because of the diamond dogs. Still, it shouldn't be too hard to get back on track, it'll just take a little longer to get to Canterlot now...

I continue walking through the forest.

Exhalation

Walking, walking and more walking, I've been doing a lot of walking since I left Ponyville, putting one hoof in front of the others is such a simple movement you don't even think about what you're doing most of the time if nothing is taking you out of the repetitive yet simple action-

Ouch, that hurt. I wince as the feeling of pain intensifies in my hoof, all I did was stand on a pebble I didn't see but it's enough to make my leg move slightly to the side which in turn is just enough movement to bring pain back into whatever injury I had from jumping out of that window earlier.

It's probably nothing serious, I can still walk after all, that doesn't mean I like the feeling though... ah well, I guess there's nothing more to do right about now than what I usually do when I don't need to pay much attention to what i'm doing.
Thinking is always fun, I can go over all the different stories Granny Smith told me over and over again, she certainly knew how to inspire active imagination.

Seeing Ponyville had given me a new topic to think about at least, I wonder how many actual towns and cities still exist? I mean, Ponyville is lacking in ponies and the population of Canterlot is currently one. Granny Smith had plenty to say about her favourite places in Equestria, she said a lot about places like Manehattan and Fillydelphia, those places were definitely abandoned now, complete ghost cities.

Apparently there used to be flying cities as well, at least one anyway. It seems obvious that such a place would be perfect against The Pestilence, completely disconnected from the ground with a large amount of space and probably plenty of resources. Granny spoke of Cloudsdale every now and again, a beautiful place filled with happy ponies, rainbows and amazing views, certainly a great place to escape from disease... or it was at least, until the day that the princess 'blew it out of the sky' as Granny once said. Nopony knows why she would destroy Cloudsdale but it certainly didn't help her public image of being an evil ruler that causes everypony's problems.

I've heard of another city called 'Las Pegasus' a couple of times, I'm not sure if it floated or not though, Granny Smith didn't like to talk about that place apart from a vague reference here and there. Another kind of place worth considering are the few towns constructed in high places like hills and even mountains, Canterlot being the most obvious example of the latter. Apparently these places were quickly filled with ponies looking to escape The Pestilence, some of them failed because of overpopulation and a lack of resources but some places seemed to be successful, until ponies started to realise that even though they were high up, since the mountains are still connected to the ground below, the disease would spread there eventually, even if it took a while.

I guess floating islands were the last resort, apparently being constructed by unicorns and earth ponies working together, it's the only successful solution to The Pestilence, although they're hard to make so there weren't that many of them created, not enough for every pony in Equestria at least...
There used to be islands everywhere apparently, over time ponies passed away, when they were all gone, nopony would be left to keep the windmill turning and without its magical energy or whatever, the island would fall out of the sky.

Magical windmills, who knew they'd be so useful?

So here I am, still walking through a forest I don't actually know the name of, there hasn't been much of interest to think about around me, although I did just walk by a parasprite, apparently those things used to be a significant threat to ponies because of the ability of constantly eat and multiply, since The Pestilence makes finding fruit and vegetables on the ground almost impossible, parasprites haven't been multiplying as much as they could've in the past. One would wonder why the parasprites haven't gone extinct if there isn't any food for them but apparently they can actually go an extremely long time without eating, they just want to eat constantly.

Now that I'm thinking of eating, I actually realise that I should probably do that soon, and despite everything already being somewhat dark, I have noticed that it's been getting significantly darker over the last few minutes. This is a problem, I hadn't actually thought much about what I was going to do when it was nighttime... I will need to sleep eventually after all.

As I continue to pass through the forest as effectively as possible I notice a small hill nearby, there seems to be a hole in the side of the hill, definitely a cave, it could be dangerous depending on how large the cave is but if it was small enough it could be used as shelter for the night... it's worth the risk to look at least.

I approach the cave carefully, peeking around the edge of the hole too look inside... nothing, completely empty, it's rather small actually, not enough room for anything to be hiding in. I step inside of the cave and take off my saddlebags, I had been lucky enough to keep hold of them even with all the crazy stuff that happened today.

I open my saddlebags to pull out a small blanket and an apple, the perfect food to keep my energy high while travelling. I sit on the blanket and try to relax a little as I eat my apple, I'm positioned in a way so that I can be hidden as possible from anything outside of the cave. There shouldn't be many creatures out there but if there are, hopefully they won't notice anything.

It's while I'm eating and passively looking around the cave that I suddenly notice some kind of writing carved into the side of the wall... a message? maybe I'm not the first pony to sleep in this cave?
I approach the message in order to see it clearly, it's certainly strange...
'We must trade this disease for the promised night. Return to us, Princess of the Moon'
This message leaves me confused and kind of... excited? It's probably just nonsense though, I mean this is the first I'm hearing of there being more than three princesses, I'm sure none of them ever had a title like 'Princess of the Moon' . Either way, it's something of interest to think about...

Three princesses... although there's only one left now... I wonder were they got the idea of there being a fourth princess. The only thing that comes to mind that could be related to a 'Princess of the Moon' is the old story of the 'Mare in the Moon' Granny told a couple of times... that's just a story though, maybe whoever wrote this message had a little too much faith in old storybooks.

Whatever the case, I can tell I definitely need sleep now... I should stop thinking about this so hard and just focus on getting some rest, Canterlot is still a while away, after all.

It's morning before I realise I've even been asleep, I can tell it's morning, even though the sky is constantly dark there's enough light to tell that the sun has risen at least. I step out of the cave, inhale... exhale... I'm ready to start walking again.

I think I'm still heading in the direction of Canterlot, despite being unable to cross through Ponyville directly and having to use the forest as an alternative route. If this place wasn't dead it'd probably be beautiful, green grass and tall trees everywhere... too bad that's not real.
I'm pretty tired of grey, everything seems to be that colour down here.

After a while of walking I've come across something I've never seen before, although I probably should've expected to find at least one of these eventually... A floating island, not actually floating anymore. It had crashed to the ground a long time ago, damaging the land around it, multiple trees had been knocked down and there were large cracks in the earth surrounding it.

Rubble, an old house and a broken windmill, it's weird to see something like this because of how easily this could and probably will eventually happen to my own home...
I let my curiosity get the better of me again, I climbed on top of the island and walked towards the house, it's small and badly damaged of course. I open the front door and the first thing I see isn't exactly something I enjoyed looking at...
Dust everywhere, not regular dust obviously, this is what was left of the owner of this house, they passed the same way Granny did.

Tears, I'm crying. I probably should've cried sooner but for some reason seeing it a second time made the emotional impact from before return much stronger now than it was before. I don't know why but I didn't cry when I lost Granny Smith, I was definitely crying now though.
I guess it just took a while for me to realise how I was feeling.

I left the house, I didn't want to see anything else in there.
I did walk towards the windmill though, there was something I wanted to see before continuing on my journey.

The inside of the windmill was almost exactly the same as the windmill back home, full of gears and whatever else made windmills work. It's nothing that interesting really but I just wanted to see how similar it was, everything in here was what I expected.
There was one thing that I wasn't expecting to find though, on the far end of the windmill was some kind of... altar?
It's badly damaged but there's an old book lying on the ground in front of it, the book had some kind of golden unicorn on the front and as soon as I opened it and read the beginning I knew what it was.
This book is the story of the Mare in the Moon, maybe someone from this island wrote that message in the cave?

Regardless of how interesting this discovery was, it was ultimately unrelated to my journey so it'd have to stay as just one of the few interesting things I've found along the way.
I move on, leaving the crashed island and walking through the forest once again, I've been doing that for a while but the breaks I've had have made it less tedious than it would've been if I had just been walking in a straight line this entire time, so there's that at least.

Ahead of me, the forest seems to be coming to an end, there're less dead trees, they're still there, just more spread out, more of a field with the occasional tree than a forest.
One thing that filled me with hope was that now I wasn't surrounded by trees, I could clearly see the mountain I was supposed to be heading towards, I had been slightly turned around after all but I now know exactly which direction to walk in so problem solved, I guess!

I continue walking ahead and the grass begins to disappear as I enter an area with a lot of stone and rocks, some kind of barren wasteland, not that the forest wasn't a wasteland as well but at least there were dead plants there, here there aren't any plants at all, well, maybe a couple here and there but not much.

There're holes scattered around the area, I walked over to the largest one and looked down, it was dark and I couldn't tell how deep it went. If I wasn't more familiar with them, I'd say these were probably holes dug by diamond dogs but these holes are... I'm not sure how to describe it but they're dug in a way that a diamond dog wouldn't be capable of doing.

It was less like a hole was dug and more like an incredibly powerful creature wanted to be underground and the floor was just in the way so it had to be opened. That doesn't even make sense to me but it kinda describes it in the best way possible, the creature wasn't thinking when it created this hole.

Letting curiosity get the best of me yet again, I lean in slightly and squint, hoping I can see something at the bottom... hold on, there is something down there...
Eyes.

Immediately I back away from the hole, knowing what I had just seen was the creature I had desperately hoped I would never see... an ashenwolf.

The creature claws itself out of the hole, it looks like disease in wolf form, grey and deteriorated, its eyes glowing red.
It immediately throws itself at me without hesitation, I fall backwards out of fear, I feel a sharp pain from moving my injured leg so quickly, I know I have no chance of defending myself from this thing.

In an instant the creature reaches me and... stops?

It's just standing there for a couple of seconds before it suddenly turns to look at something behind me, whatever it sees must be more important than me because the ashenwolf quickly leaps over me to get to it.
I turn around quickly to see what's happening just in time for me to witness some kind of magic cover the creature's body.
The ashenwolf stops moving and crumbles into pure dust, in front of it is the source of this powerful magic, something I didn't expect to see at all.

It's a unicorn.

Meeting

I still can't believe what I'm seeing, an actual unicorn, and one powerful enough to kill an ashenwolf like it was nothing, a single ashenwolf can kill a hydra in less than thirty seconds but once that strange magic touched the creature, it immediately vanished...

The unicorn looks nervous... shy, I guess. She looks around the same age as me, maybe slightly younger but that's just a guess obviously. Dark grey coat, light grey mane, strangely vibrant green eyes and a cutie mark of a white rose, she's so grey she'd totally blend into the background if you weren't paying attention.

I've definitely spent too long just staring at her, I guess I should probably say something...?
"uh... hi?" I begin, I pause slightly before continuing, "are... are you okay?"
Although this unicorn seems to be very powerful, I should still make sure she is alright, it's only polite to do so.
She looks away slightly, then looks back at me and opens her mouth to speak... before immediately closing it, inhaling and trying again, yeah, she's definitely shy.
"I, uh... yeah, I'm fine... are you alright? I sensed the ashenwolf's appearance from the forest, my mother wouldn't want me to help anypony but I just... thought it was the right thing to do..." she finishes speaking and quickly looks away again.

She hasn't said much but it's already raising questions, I decide to just go ahead and ask the most important question directly, "Uh, what exactly do you mean by 'sensing' the ashenwolf?"
She seems to be caught off-guard by the question and panics to answer, "Oh, uh, It's... uh, well... it's just a magic thing, you know?"
It's not exactly a convincing argument but I don't really know enough about unicorn magic to say otherwise so I guess it could just be something all unicorns can do. Regardless of her abilities, now that I know she isn't hurt, I guess I should introduce myself. I try to relax before I begin speaking, "Well, my name is Apple Bloom, thanks for helping me out there, it's nice to meet you!"
The unicorn smiles and replies quickly, "Uh, nice to meet you too, Apple Bloom, I'm Hulthemia."

We're walking together now, she decided she'd like to talk with me for a while, a little time has passed and I've been able to learn a few things about Hulthemia.
I tried asking about her parents, the comment she made about her mum earlier raised some questions, she didn't seem enthusiastic to talk about her mum other than she's apparently a really good parent and that she's waiting back home... wherever that is.
When I asked her about her dad she actually asked me what a dad is... I figured it would be best to avoid this topic as much as possible going forward.

She asked me why I'm travelling through the middle of nowhere by myself, I could've asked the same thing in return but instead I just explained what was going on.
"...And that just about covers everything, I'm gonna get sick and I need to get to Canterlot to find a cure of some kind."
She looks kind of excited after hearing everything I had to say, "Wow, that's actually a crazy coincidence, I need to get to Canterlot too, actually... I can totally help you find the essence!"
Wait, what?
I turn to look at her with a confused expression on my face, "What's... 'the essence'?"
She's once again caught off-guard by my question, I guess she didn't realise I wouldn't know what she's talking about...?
"Well, uh... it's the name of the cure, it's called 'celestial essence', at least, that's what my mother calls it..." she finishes her sentence somewhat nervously.
"Whoa, how exactly does your mum know about the cure? I thought it was like, super secret or something..." I ask.
"Well... uh... you see, my mother has actually been to Canterlot before, that's how she knows." she attempts to explain, it seems unlikely but I guess it's not impossible.

Even if she's telling the truth about her mum, there's still one thing that she hasn't explained, "Okay, I guess that makes sense but how come you're going to Canterlot?"
She answers rather quickly and simply, "Well, I'm actually taking something there for the princess to see, it's super important..."
That's all I could get her to explain about her reason for travelling to Canterlot, I guess I'd like a little more information but she seems trustworthy so whatever...

We continued walking for a while but at some point Hulthemia suddenly stopped walking and looked at the ground nervously, I also stop and turn around to face her so I can speak to her, "Why'd you stop walking? Canterlot is still a while away..."
It took her a couple of minutes to work up the confidence to reply to my question but when she did, she said, "We can't get to Canterlot... I... uh..." she seems to be having trouble explaining so I ask another question, hoping that'll encourage her to continue.
"What do you mean, we can't?"
She breathes carefully before responding, "Canterlot is completely blocked off from the rest of Equestria, the princess created a magical shield to prevent anypony from entering the city, there's a path around the shield but..."
"But what?"
"...It's not safe..."

Whatever she's worried about doesn't matter I have to make it clear how important this journey is, "Listen Hulthemia, I need to get to Canterlot, it doesn't matter how dangerous it'll be, I don't have any choice..."
She seems to hesitate, she second guesses what to say, then third guesses and even fourth guesses... is that a thing? whatever not important, what is important is her response,
"Apple Bloom... okay, I'm coming with you, I don't know if I can keep you safe, but I'll try, I promise."
She seems confident about this promise.

Hulthemia and I continue walking, as expected, the grass has begun to return, still dead grass though, it seems we're out of 'ashenwolf territory' now so that's good. Technically I'm not sure if I can call it that considering we only saw one ashenwolf but honestly, that one was enough for me anyway.

As we continue our journey, slowing approaching the bottom of the mountain that Canterlot was built on the side of, I suddenly trip over a branch I hadn't noticed while walking. A small trip shouldn't be enough to hurt this much but my hoof is still injured from yesterday...
Hulthemia has noticed my injury, she tells me to stop and gets closer to me, "Apple Bloom, why didn't you tell me your hoof is injured?"
I'm a little confused about the question so I reply, "What do you mean, it's not important and it's not like you're a doctor or anything so..."
She rolls her eyes for some reason before responding to me, "Maybe not but I still know enough magic to heal small injuries, my mother taught me all the magic she knows... I'm still learning some of it though..."

Her horn glows green and after a few seconds, my leg doesn't hurt anymore. I can't believe how cool Hulthemia is, I mean she can use powerful magic to attack and to heal? "Wow, that's really impressive Hulthemia!" I say as I hug the unicorn in front of me.
She's surprised by the hug and after I step away she asked something kinda weird, "Hey, Apple Bloom... are we... friends?"
Huh, I guess I hadn't really thought about it until she asked, it just seems kinda obvious that we'd be friends now, that's how friendship works... I think?
"Yeah, sure... If you wanna be!"
"...I'd like that, thanks Apple Bloom." She's seems really happy about this.

As we continue walking, I'm now considering it, the fact that I actually haven't had a friend before, I don't think Granny Smith counts so yeah, Hulthemia is my first friend... my best friend.
It's not long until we reach the mountain now, I still need to climb the thing, but at least I'm not alone anymore.
It's nice.

Arrival and Ascension

We're almost there, at the bottom of the mountain that is, I'm still thinking to myself as I usually do, it's a habit I guess, I'm not used to having company. Thinking of thoughts, let's continue those, I've been thinking more about the whole cities and towns thing and I just realised I totally forgot the most obvious example of a city that still exists!

New Canterlot is an interesting story to say the least, I guess it's kinda easy to forget that it's technically a city considering it's not actually one large piece of land. According to Granny Smith, Princess Cadance had the idea to gather a bunch of floating islands and connect them together to form a larger community, I'm not sure exactly how successful the city is but I'm pretty sure it's still around.

Upon the construction of New Canterlot, Cadance claimed the title of princess and she was in charge of the city for a while, nopony knows what happened to her, apparently one day she just vanished and hasn't been seen since, it's never been confirmed or anything but the most likely explanation is that she's dead, as sad as that is to think about, from what I've heard about her she seemed nice enough.

There have obviously been a lot of rumours about Princess Cadance's disappearance, some say she became infected and left New Canterlot to be alone, others say she just got tired of being a princess and decided to go elsewhere... another popular theory is that somehow The Princess of Pestilence is responsible for Princess Cadance's disappearance, there's no proof of this but it wouldn't exactly be unexpected of her to attack another princess.

I'd like to think that all of these rumours about the princess are just that, untrue rumours, but it's kind of hard to ignore that a lot of them actually make a lot of sense and that she doesn't exactly do much to prove anypony wrong about her.
She's never made a public appearance, never offered to help anypony in need and there's that whole thing where she destroyed an entire city for no apparent reason...

Hulthemia seems to like the princess, I think anyway, we haven't spoken much about it but it's her whole reason for going to Canterlot to begin with, you can't hate somepony you're this dedicated to meeting, right?
Speaking of Hulthemia... she's been staring at me for a while.
"Uh... are you okay, Apple Bloom?" she asks, clearly concerned about me.
"Yeah, I'm fine! Why do you ask?"
"Well... you've been staring at nothing really intensely for a while now..."
Oh, I guess that is a thing I do a lot...
"Sorry about that, I just like to think a lot... it's just a thing I do, I guess" I answer as simply as possible, I hope she doesn't think I'm weird or anything...

Hulthemia quickly smiles before speaking further, "Well, I'm here now so if you have cool stuff to think about, how about you try telling me about it?"
"Well, okay... what do you think about the princess, any idea what she's like?" I ask, hoping to gain a little more information on her reason for travelling to Canterlot.
She takes a moment to think before answering but she seems calm, "I think she's probably a lot nicer than she seems, she's been ruling Equestria in such hard times, she's not perfect but I think she's better than everypony gives her credit for."
Hulthemia is definitely a fan of the princess, at least I know that for sure now, well... she's a lot nicer to the princess than most ponies are at least.

We continue our conversation, I try to explain some of the stories Granny Smith used to tell me to her, she seems especially interested in Cloudsdale, apparently she'd never actually heard of a floating city before.
I tried to ask her a little about the entrance to Canterlot but she seems hesitant to explain in detail, it must be pretty bad to scare her, I mean, she's pretty powerful after all.
As much as I'd like to gain more information about it, I think I like Hulthemia too much to pressure her into answering if she really doesn't want to.

We're here, it feels strange to stand in front of such a large place, I mean, I've only ever seen mountains from far away so it's kinda easy to forget just how big they can be.
Hulthemia turns to me before beginning some kind of explanation, "Okay, Apple Bloom... there are a few different ways we can get to Canterlot from here, the dumbest way would be trying to climb straight up the side of the mountain, since we can't fly and we don't have professional climbing gear this definitely isn't a good idea..."
I nod to Hulthemia to show understanding and allow her to continue speaking.
"There used to be a train that could take you all the way to Canterlot but nowadays most of the track is damaged, making the climb really dangerous, even if it is the most obvious route..." she paused briefly before finishing her explanation, "I don't think that's a good choice so we're left with one option, the old trails leading up the mountain, there're plenty of old paths and even though some of them are bound to be damaged because of how old they are, I believe it's the only option we really have."

I can't say I disagree with anything that she's said so far, the old trails seem to be the only option. We don't need to discuss this any further, we find the beginning of one of the old paths leading steadily upwards and begin climbing the trail.
It's pretty steep but compared to walking anywhere not marked by the old dirt paths, it's not so bad considering it is clearly marked, also helps that it's not a vertical climb.

Minutes pass by and I instinctively start getting lost in my own thoughts again, I wonder how long it'll actually take for The Pestilence to infect me, Granny seemed pretty certain that it wouldn't be very long but I still haven't been showing any obvious symptoms, how long is 'soon' anyway, will I become ill tomorrow or in three months? I guess time is actually kinda subjective after all.

I can tell by the way Hulthemia is looking at me that she's noticed my worries, she doesn't say anything at first but she isn't great at hiding her concern. "Apple Bloom, I promise if we get to Canterlot, you'll be okay... and I'll do everything I can to help you get there." She looks towards me, smiling slightly, it's not a big smile but I can tell it's genuine.

It's not long after that we run into our first problem on the trail, it's nothing that noteworthy though, a portion of the mountainside has collapsed, blocking the path ahead, we're currently travelling on one of the largest paths but now we'll have to take a side path around the debris.
The side path isn't as wide as the main trail but it's not too bad, a little slippery in places and we've had to move forward in single file instead of being able to walk side by side.
Other than those few small annoyances, this side trail is fine, it doesn't take too long to notice that this side path takes a longer route around the mountain as opposed to the main path which moved more in a direct and straight-forward direction... as straight as you can get on the side of a mountain, anyway.

Our journey may take a little longer now we're following a different path but there's not much we can do about that. This path is definitely taking us away from Canterlot but I can already see ahead of us how this path will eventually reconnect to the main trail so it should be fine.

The path is leading us in a large curve to the right side of the mountain, if I couldn't see the end of the path higher up, I'd think there's no chance this would take us to Canterlot, this is supposed to be the scenic route, I guess.
There are clouds beneath us now, it's a view I'm more accustomed to from living on the farm. I can see the sun clearly, it'll be nighttime soon but it's not like there's anywhere we can sleep safely on the side of a mountain so I guess we'll just have to keep going.

We're pretty high up now, not far until this side path reconnects with the main path but the closer we get, the less certain I am about how safe it'll be... oh well, there's no use second guessing the only path forward now.
Hulthemia occasionally tries to come up with her own conversation topics, they don't always last long but I definitely appreciate the effort, it seems like random Equestrian trivia is a common interest.

Hulthemia asked me what I think about the princess this time, I didn't sugarcoat it, I don't exactly have much hope in the princess actually being a good pony despite all the bad things I've heard about her, although, I would like to be proven wrong on that.
She seems a little saddened by my responses but it also seems like her feelings are mixed? like a fifty-fifty split between disappointment and hopefulness...

We discussed Princess Cadance for a while, it seems like Hulthemia doesn't know much about her other than that The Princess of Pestilence was known for having a dislike of the young alicorn and the city of New Canterlot, it was always seen as a sort of rebellion against her, proclaiming yourself a new princess and founding a new capital city is certainly one way to make enemies with the current ruler...

The topic of alicorns in general sparked an interesting conversation though, we pondered what causes the creation of an alicorn and if it was possible for anypony to become one if they met some mysterious requirements.
It's an interesting thing to talk about, when exactly did Cadance become an alicorn? It's fairly common knowledge that she wasn't always one but did she become one before or after founding New Canterlot and becoming a princess?

To our combined knowledge, there have only ever been three alicorns, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence and The Princess of Pestilence... although I still remember that strange message in the forest, the pony who wrote it seemed pretty sure there's a fourth alicorn out there, apparently trapped on the moon? It seems ridiculous, how could you even live on the moon anyway? Besides, even if it were all true, doesn't the legend say that the Mare in the Moon was supposed to return eventually? I'm pretty sure that should've happened by now...

We're standing in front of a sign, it marks the point where the side path reconnects with the main trail... It looked a lot less dangerous from a distance.
In front of us is a series of wooden planks, held up by nails and metal poles inserted into the side of the mountain with a series of chains serving as something to hold on to.
The sign reads 'The Alicornuashan Trail', there's a warning written at the bottom of the sign, apparently this is an extremely old pathway and it definitely isn't recommended that anypony uses it anymore...

It's just wide enough to walk on if you're careful, seems like getting lost in thought isn't an option for now. Hulthemia is clearly scared but we both realise there's no other option, we're too high up to take another route and if we turned back to find one, I could become infected by the time we reach another side path, if one even exists. Even if there are other paths we have no way of knowing if they'd lead to Canterlot, how much longer it'd take if they do and even if they didn't take too long, there's still no guarantee other pathways wouldn't also be dangerous.

The choice is simple, I just didn't like making it. I carefully set down my saddlebags and open them, I may not have brought professional equipment for mountain climbing but I did pack a couple pieces of rope, one end to tie around us and the other to tie to the chain that stretched across the wall of the mountain, if one of us falls, the chain should hold us for long enough for the other to pull us up, hopefully that doesn't happen though.

I take the first step onto the wooden 'path', it creeks and I really don't like it. Two, steps, three steps, four steps and I've moved my entire body forward slightly, now I just have to keep doing this for around the next five to ten minutes... I hate mountain climbing.

More steps, more creaking, more anxiety... Hulthemia isn't dealing with this well, I'm not either but I think she's significantly more afraid than I am, she's behind me every step of the way, occasionally the wind picks up and I get the feeling I'm about to be blown of the side of the mountain like a speck of dust... it doesn't happen but it's still pretty scary.

We're halfway across, on the other side of this absolute deathtrap of a trail is a smooth slope which reconnects to the main path from earlier, from there it's a simple walk to the entrance of Canterlot, at least there's something to look forward to, I guess.

I'm almost at the other side when suddenly everything goes wrong, out of absolutely nowhere the mountain starts shaking, the chain starts rattling and the movement somehow pushes Hulthemia over the edge, she immediately falls, screaming loudly and just as quickly the rope reaches its full length causing her to stop falling and begin swaying from side to side.

I panic, planting my hooves carefully on the wooden platform and grabbing the rope with my teeth... I realise something terrifying, I loosen my grip on the rope slightly to shout down to her,
"I- I can't pull you up, I'm not strong enough!"
She can't say anything, fear has completely overtaken her.
What can I do, what can I do, what can- I suddenly have an idea, calling it a risky plan would be like calling a hydra unfriendly, it's the understatement of the century, but... it's the only thing I can do, I get ready to tell Hulthemia my plan.
"Listen! Can you cut the rope with your magic somehow?" I call down to her
She looks up, full of fear mixed with absolute confusion and shouts up to me,
"What‽ I... uh, I guess I can but why the hay would I ever do that‽"
"Okay, listen to me, I'm going to use the rope to swing you back and forth, when I say 'now' you cut the rope!"
She might still not understand the plan but I don't have any more time to explain it to her, I tighten my grip on the rope and begin swinging her... left, right, left, right... with every swing her momentum increases and she reaches higher and higher, closer to the edge of the mountain, closer to safety.
"NOW!" I shout as loud as possible as I swing the rope one more time, she lights her horn and the rope suddenly snaps in half, she screams as she's flung across the gap...

She reaches the other side of the mountain, landing on her side and rolling across the ground until eventually coming to a stop when her momentum runs out, as soon as I see she's safe, I quickly move across the final part of the wooden bridge, also making it to the other side of the mountain, back on the main path.

I run over to her, she's sat up, catching her breath... she's sobbing uncontrollably, I admit, I'm crying too, it was a awful experience.
I gently approach Hulthemia, holding her in a gentle yet firm hug, it's all I can do for her.

Just ahead of us is the entrance to Canterlot, we made it across The Alicornuashan Trail.

It's been so long but it still hasn't been long enough, I won't continue until Hulthemia is okay.
My hooves are still wrapped around her, she's been returning the hug for a while now, I just want her to be happy again, she's my best friend, after all.

Even more time passes, it's gone from sunset to night without me even realising it. It's not important. Hulthemia stopped crying a few minutes ago but she only now lets go of me, I do the same and we look at each other.
"Hulthemia... are you hurt?"
"...I don't think so... Just a few scrapes from the fall..."
"We're almost there... you can see the princess soon." I say, hoping a reminder of how close we are to her goal will help her refocus on the task ahead.
She stands up slowly, and turns from me, walking slowly down the main path, I quickly join her as we approach the entrance to Canterlot.

Right in front of us is something that I didn't expect to see at all, a large ravine separating Canterlot from the path, there's a waterfall nearby and there's no bridge across.
Hulthemia seems to have expected this and decides to take this moment to explain.
"This ravine was created by the princess to stop anypony from trying to enter Canterlot, but even if we had a way across, the invisible shield I told you about earlier would still stop us from getting in."
"Alright, well... you said there was a way around it, right?"
In response she simply points down into the ravine, on the other side there's a large cave entrance in the side of the mountain wall... It's somehow worse than I thought it'd be, the cave is the entrance to Canterlot.

"So..." I begin, "How exactly do we get across the ravine?"
She points to the right of the cave entrance to a nearby ledge, it's surprisingly wide but it sits directly underneath the waterfall, that's definitely going to make the surface slippery.
We've already come this far, there's no way I'm turning back now.
We carefully descend the edge of the ravine, eventually finding ourselves standing on the ledge, we rebuild our confidence and carefully walk across the side of the ravine, the ledge is wet but we're able to cross it without falling... I really don't need a repeat of last time.

We're standing at the entrance of the cave, I take the first step towards it but Hulthemia has something to say.
"Stop, I need to tell you why this path is so dangerous now..." she begins, "This cave is an ashenwolf den, I don't know how many there are in there but it's the only way past the shield..."
Of course it wouldn't be easy.
"Well, you know a spell that can defeat ashenwolves, right?"
"Yeah, but I can only use it on one wolf at a time, so... if we get attacked by more than one I might not be able to keep them all away..."

Whatever, we're doing this. I begin moving forwards again, I have to show Hulthemia I can be confident. She follows behind me as we enter the cave, there are a few different pathways leading in different directions, Hulthemia claims to be good with directions so she decides to lead the way through these caves, as a pony who's never set foot in a cave larger than my dining room, I don't argue.

The caves pathways twist and turn in various directions, often we come to splits in the path and Hulthemia does her best to lead us in the right direction. I haven't seen any ashenwolves yet but I can't lower my guard, they could be around any corner.
The pathway we're on starts leading upwards and eventually we find ourselves on a path overlooking another part of the cave, a wide, open room, it's incredibly dark. The only way forward is to jump down from the path we're on an enter the room, so that's what we do.

Hulthemia and I carefully climb downwards into this large room, ahead of us is another pathway leading to the left, what we didn't immediately notice is the fact that the large room went further back behind us than we originally thought.
Behind us is a collection of bodies, ashenwolves sleeping in a pile, there's at least six of them but they don't seem to have noticed us at all.
Carefully we walk towards the exit of the room, stepping around pebbles and twigs in order to avoid making any sounds that could wake the creatures.

We reach the other side of the room, walking into the pathway, turning a corner and-
It's right there.
A seventh ashenwolf is standing in the middle of the path, in an instant, Hulthemia casts a spell, attempting to kill the monster before it can attack.
It works... almost. Before the creature completely disintegrates it lets out a distorted howl.

More howls and growls can be heard behind us, it's over, the pack has awoken.

Before my mind even has the chance to realise what's happening, we're already galloping through the caves, I follow Hulthemia as she quickly chooses between multiple split-pathways, an uncountable number of alternate routes pass by us as we run.
I can hear them behind us, there're definitely more than six of them chasing us. Hulthemia takes the left path, then right, left again, middle, right, right, left. If I were leading the way we'd already be dead, I can't even comprehend how many different ways there are to choose from.

Light. There's light at the end of this pathway! We speed up, finally reaching the end of the cave system.
We practically leap outside but the chase still isn't over, the other side of the cave has an entrance not far from Canterlot, the important part is that it's inside of the shield.

There's a wooden archway over the top of the entrance, it's old and damaged, It gives me an idea.
Hulthemia turns quickly and begins firing spells into the cave, hitting as many of the ashenwolves as possible.
While she's doing her best to keep them back, I turn away from the wooden arch and prepare to kick the support beam, it's already damaged so it's not too hard to take down.
One kick weakens the pillar, another almost breaks through it and finally, a third kick is enough to completely break the old structural support in half, causing the archway to entirely collapse.

The mountain shakes and a large number of boulders fill the entrance to the cave.
It's over, we're safe...

We sit for a while, catching our breath, it's been one heck of a night... after a while I notice Hulthemia looking at me strangely...
"Uh... what's wrong, Hulthemia?" I ask her, genuinely confused.
"It's... your hoof..." She replies, incredibly concerned

I look back at my right leg and I finally notice it, it must've gone completely unnoticed before because of everything that's happened recently but the sign is clear.

My hoof is turning grey,
It's started, I'm ill.

Author's Note

I know it's nothing incredible but I'm actually pretty proud of this chapter, I hope it's as exciting to read as it was to write! :)

Infected Canterlot

It's certainly not a good sign but I guess this is the best place to start showing symptoms if it had to happen eventually. We're still standing on the edge of Canterlot, on the other side of the city is the old castle of Princess Celestia, once we get there, I can finally get the cure.

Everything will be fine, I'm okay... I still have time, rate of infection varies from pony to pony, Granny Smith was infected for around two weeks, I believe the average is around a week and a half but the average doesn't mean a whole lot when each example is completely different.

The longest somepony survived with The Pestilence was three months, the shortest was five seconds, although that was from an infection caused by an ashenwolf's bite, their bite is the fastest way for the disease to spread. Not much real, organised research has been carried out because of how quickly The Pestilence spread throughout all of Equestria, most of the knowledge we have is from firsthoof experience, just ponies telling others what they've seen.
Some ponies claim the first infection took only ten seconds but that's just a legend.

Why am I thinking about this random trivia again? I guess it's the best way to distract myself.
I should probably pay more attention to our destination.

Hulthemia and I haven't moved much since escaping the cave, we'd silently agreed to take a few minutes to catch our breath but it's about time we get walking again, we're so close, after all.

"Alright, let's get moving." I say as I finally get back to my hooves, standing for the first time since realising I'm infected. Hulthemia doesn't say anything although she's clearly still worried about me, we approach the streets of Canterlot, an abandoned city which nopony has entered for years.

This place is unlike anything I've ever seen before, streets and buildings made of stone, maybe they were colourful at some point but it seems The Pestilence and lack of maintenance has caused the city to become bleak over time. The streets are filled with abandoned shops with broken windows and dust covering everything in sight. We turn left into another street, there are some really fancy buildings here, or they used to be fancy, at least, nowadays everything is just... forgotten.

We've seen plenty of interesting things around Canterlot but we're finally getting close to the castle, the entrance is about as large as you'd expect of such an important place but the castle has clearly seen better days, just like the rest of the city.
There're some large gardens outside of the castle, everything here is dead of course but It's still kinda cool to look at.

We're in Canterlot, the end of our journey is so close but... it's not right. It's too depressing, I don't like seeing Hulthemia so... exhausted.
Alright, we're taking a detour, I can afford the distraction.
"Hey Hulthemia, you wanna go look around that big garden over there?" I ask my friend, smiling at her slightly to show that I'm okay.
She looks at me for a moment, confused about my question, "But... we need to get the cure, you don't have time to look around some garden..." She looks away briefly and mumbles "Besides... my mother would never allow me to go there, it's not important..."
It's not the first time she's said something unusual about her mum but now isn't the time to get all nosy about her parents.
"I'll be fine for at least another week or two, we've got plenty of time to do whatever we want in Canterlot!" I explain, pausing slightly before continuing to address her other concern, "I don't know anything about your mum, but she's not here is she? Let's do what you want to do, let's do something fun!"

She seems unsure, she's thinking about it... She's smiling!
It seems I've convinced her to go along with my sightseeing plans.

We step into the gardens and it's definitely something amazing to see, I mean, sure, the plants are all grey and diseased like everywhere else but that doesn't mean there's nothing cool to see here!
Hulthemia actually seems really interested in the gardens, looking at all the old, fancy archways and ancient-looking flags decorating the whole place.
We're both especially interested by the statues scattered around the garden, a lot of them are actually the same statue placed around in multiple areas for whatever reason, I guess statue making isn't easy?
After seeing a few of these statues I kinda lost interest, I mean, they're cool and all but I guess when you've seen one large pony holding a random object, you've basically seen everything the concept has to offer.

"Uh... Apple Bloom? You're like, really smart and know a lot of your Granny's stories right?" Hulthemia askes me, while I'm looking away.
"Huh? I mean... Yeah, Granny did tell me a lot of old stories but I don't know if I'd say I'm really that-" I begin to respond before getting interrupted by another question.
"Did Granny Smith ever tell you any stories about... whatever this thing is?" she asked, sounding kinda unsure about whatever it is she's talking about.
Now intrigued by her questions, I turn around to find her around a corner, staring at some strange statue.

It's completely different than any other statue here, it's not even a pony... actually I'm not sure what it is?
"I... have no idea what I'm looking at to be honest" I answer truthfully
It's some kind of creature with an... eagle claw, a lion paw and a snake tail? Talk about a strange thing to make a statue of...
"I've heard that ponies that made statues were called 'artists' and that when they made a statue, it would have some kind of complicated meaning behind it." Hulthemia points to another statue behind us of a pony holding a flag "Like... maybe that one means something like courage or victory? I'm just thinking... what could a weird statue like that one possibly mean?"
Her question makes me pause to think... It's an interesting one, I guess.
"I don't know... maybe something like... confusion, because all the pieces are so weirdly different?" It was the best answer I could come up with, maybe I'm not right but Hulthemia seems to like my answer at least.
I'm starting to think maybe Hulthemia is a fan of art, maybe it's related to her cutie mark? I might ask her about it at some point, I still don't have one so it'd be interesting to ask somepony else about the topic.

We took a little longer to look around the gardens, we saw some kind of really big maze but we decided not to risk getting lost in it, we had time to look around but that doesn't mean we should spend it getting stuck in the middle of some crazy royal maze thing.

We finally left the gardens, it was an interesting place to see, as I thought it'd be, but I think my favourite part of being there was seeing Hulthemia happy again, she needed a break.

We walk back towards the castle itself and find the entrance, there're a bunch of big hallways, sharing a colour palette that still looks nice, even if it has faded after all this time. I knew already that Canterlot castle would be a big place but you really don't understand how big it is until you're randomly walking around the halls, trying to figure out where the heck you're going.

There're a bunch of interesting rooms around, I'm leading the way this time, I haven't found what we're looking for but I did find the royal kitchen, cool place. After a while, Hulthemia decides she can find the throne room easier, apparently that's the most likely place the princess will be, I guess it makes sense but it's kinda weird to think of a princess siting alone in a throne room when the entire city is completely abandoned.

Eventually we find ourselves in front of a large entrance, seems pretty obvious that these are the doors leading to the throne room. Hulthemia takes a deep breath, I offered to go in first in case she was too nervous to do so but she seems pretty intent on being the one to open the doors and enter first.

The doors open, we walk in and I get a few seconds to look around the room, a lot of large windows, all smashed, on the far side of the room there's a large, damaged throne with an alicorn sitting atop it, at least twice the size of an average pony.
We're finally standing before The Princess of Pestilence, she has a light grey coat with a dark grey mane, dull purple eyes and a cutie mark of a dead rose... Wait, hold on...

"Hello mother, I'm home." Hulthemia announces the truth just before I can figure it out myself, there were so many obvious signs, I should've figured it out ages ago but I've never even heard of the princess having a daughter... what the hay is going on here‽

Hulthemia turns to me, she seems reluctant to speak but she does anyway, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Apple Bloom, a lot of ponies hate my mother so... I didn't want to risk upsetting you somehow..."
The princess finally reacts to our entrance, looking up from the ground to glare at us, she speaks with little emotion, "Greeting, I am Florentina, the 'Princess of Pestilence' as so many like to call me, I tried for the title of queen but apparently the husks below prefer names with alliteration." Her voice becomes harsh towards the end of her first sentence, showing clear hatred of other ponies, "I guess you're the... granddaughter of the green husk I met so long ago, I can't imagine any other creature approaching me so casually..."

That comment was too far, "Hey, don't talk about Granny Smith that way!" I can't believe what I'm hearing, Granny made it seem like she was at least a little kinder than this!
Princess Florentina's eyes squint slightly in anger but she doesn't immediately respond to what I said.
Hulthemia nervously looks between the two of us before speaking up, "Mother... this is Apple Bloom, my new friend who's here for the eelestial essen-"
"Silent, child. I know why this pathetic husk is here... a long time ago I met your grandmother, it was just after my time in Tartarus, she was the first pony I ran into." she pauses a moment, probably thinking of how to word what she would say next, "I didn't speak to her much then but after a while she traveled to Canterlot to speak to me, begging for my help. It was before you were born, your grandmother asked that I use my powers to protect her grandchildren from The Pestilence, in return I made the costs clear." She pauses again, and finished her explanation, "You and whatever siblings you may have would be protected from the disease, however, she would be guaranteed to fall ill before you reach adulthood and... well, I asked for a few favours as well but those aren't too important."

I'm completely silent, I just don't know what to say to this new information... Hulthemia speaks for me, "Mother, why would you do such a thing‽ Please explain, there must be a reason... you've never been unkind to me..."
I can hear it in her voice, disbelief, even she didn't know what her mum was truly like?
Princess Florentina's stare softens slightly, I can feel it, there's genuine emotion behind it, it doesn't last long before she returns to her emotionless glare.
"If you must know my reasoning, I was bored and I can always use a few useful favours here and there... Honestly, I did it because I found her desire to save somepony other than herself to be entertaining, I wanted to see what would happen when her descendants learn the truth, I have to say, the outcome has been pretty interesting to see."

"Mother, she needs the celestial essence, she's infected-"
"I know she's infected, I made sure of it, she won't be getting her hooves on my celestial essence, I still need her blood for my own powers, besides, she's not a friend of yours. I have told you this in the past, daughter, you will rely on me, only I will treat you well as I am the one who created you."
"...You're wrong..." Hulthemia nervously mumbles
Princess Florentina becomes visibly angered, "What... did you say, daughter?"
Hulthemia inhales deeply before confidently answering in a much louder voice, "You're wrong! Apple Bloom is my b-best friend! She's helped me so many times, even when she didn't have to... You're... You're wrong about ponies, they're not all bad!"

Princess Florentina stands from her throne, stepping towards us, "It has become clear that this pony has infected you with false narratives! I should have known from the moment you got that cutie mark you'd eventually turn against me!"
It was my time to stand up for my best friend, "That's not true, the whole way here Hulthemia was talking about how you were better than most ponies think, I don't know everything about you but its obvious that she cares about you, if you can't accept her as she is, you're turning against her, not the other way around!"
I'm not thinking too hard about what I'm saying, I know it comes from the bottom of my heart, it's the truth, it's how I feel!

Hulthemia smiles towards me before looking back at the princess. "Mother please, I know you love me, I've never turned against you!"
"I may... but I cannot ignore the obvious signs in front of me, your destiny has always been to betray me, why else would your cutie mark be the opposite of mine‽" She's not going to back down, she's convinced herself of her delusions.
Hulthemia looks towards her cutie mark and I feel the need to say something, "Hulthemia, your mark may be different to hers but that doesn't mean anything, a cutie mark's real meaning is the one you give to it! It might mean what your mother thinks it does but it could just as easily mean you have a talent for decoration, art, botany or any other number of things! I believe you can do whatever makes you happy!"
I'm not sure where this is suddenly coming from but it's a statement I fully believe in, her true talent is clear to me now, it's growth and beauty, not just an opposite to somepony else.

A strange thing happens as I'm suddenly covered by a bright light, when the light fades I'm confused but upon looking back I realise, I have my cutie mark!
Before I can get excited about this new development, I notice something in the corner of my vision, racing towards me, I close my eyes instinctively.

...

I cautiously open my eyes to see something I wasn't expecting, Hulthemia is standing in front of me, aiming a spell directly at Princess Florentina, the princess fired a spell at me first before Hulthemia leaped in front of me to counter her mother's attack.
Two magical beams, one green and one dark purple are colliding in the middle of the throne room, neither spell is capable of overpowering the other and eventually both beams fade from existence, leaving the two ponies glaring at each other.

"This is not something I take pleasure in, daughter, but I will turn you to ashes if I must!" Princess Florentina declares in a truly aggravated voice.
"I won't let you hurt my friend, even if I have to hurt you to stop it!" Neither of them is willing to back down, there's no chance this ends well.

Princess Florentina quickly fires a second beam towards her daughter and Hulthemia quickly responds with another beam of her own, the two beams collide once again, the brightness and intensity of the magic causes me to wince.
This time is different though, Hulthemia has a plan.
As the two beams collapse and fade once again, Hulthemia begins charging towards her mother with an incredibly determined look on her face.
Princess Florentina panics, quickly firing less powerful spells left and right, hoping to stop her daughter's advance as Hulthemia strafes from side to side in order to avoid injury.

She's closing in, but what's her plan? I can't figure it out and by the time I've only just begun to consider the possibilities, Hulthemia is directly in front of Princess Florentina, "I'm sorry, mother!" she screams as she jumps towards the princess, wrapping her hooves around the alicorn.

I'm confused for a moment but instantly the expression on Princess Florentina's face changes to one of utter shock and disbelief...
A crack forms in the side of her right foreleg, spreading to the rest of the body, creating a spiderweb of fracturing lines.
By the time I realise what's happening, her entire body crumbles into dust and blood.

I can't believe it, I just watched a perfectly healthy mare become infected and die in an instant.
Hulthemia steps away from the deteriorated corpse, looking towards me with tears in her eyes.

Aftermath, the Epilogue.

My feelings aren't important right now, I've spent the last few hours trying to comfort Hulthemia, It seems like everything's happened so fast, it escalated so quickly but... I guess that's life.
We left the throne room not long after it happened, we sat in the gardens, it's calmer out here.

I have quite a lot to think about so I guess that's what I'll focus on while Hulthemia rests.
First of all is the 'celestial essence', we found it not far from the throne room, it was some kind of strange glowing liquid kept in a creepy-looking cauldron, the cauldron was almost empty when we got there, not much essence left, not that it matters.

Turns out it was all a dirty trick after all, celestial essence isn't a cure for The Pestilence, Florentina probably made it up to mess with me further, she seemed to like doing that...
The essence wasn't useless though, it had an incredible affect on Hulthemia's magic, making it way stronger than before, it seemed to heal us somehow as well, it doesn't cure the disease but it seems to have slowed the infection at least a little.

Another thing worth mentioning is my new cutie mark, some kind of shield thing, I'm thinking it's related to how I helped Hulthemia realise her own cutie mark has more meaning than she thought... I could be totally wrong though, cutie marks are confusing.

I'm not really sure what to do now, we've just been sitting here for ages, it's still the middle of the night... we're getting tired.

It's not long before I realise I'm waking up, I guess I was bound to fall asleep eventually, not much I can do to avoid that.
"Apple Bloom... we need to talk about my magic..." Hulthemia is already up, I guess she woke up a while ago.
We did exactly what she suggested, we talked about her magic and her cutie mark.
Florentina and Hulthemia somehow both had the ability to control The Pestilence, she says it's somehow connected to their cutie marks, some kind of unique magic they were both destined to have.

Florentina's cutie mark is pretty obvious, the dead rose symbolises her ability to spread The Pestilence, through magic and touch. Hulthemia's is the exact opposite, a vibrant and healthy white rose, but she has similar magic, the capability to accelerate and intensify the effects of the disease, she can't spread it but she can affect what's already there, which leads me to the question I want to ask her the most.

"I... Hulthemia, have you ever tried using your magic in... a different way?"
"What do you mean... different?"
"Well, I'm just thinking... why would your cutie mark be of a healthy flower if you can only make the disease worse? It's a total guess and stuff but, maybe if you can make it worse, you can also make it better?"

She seems to think to herself about my hypothesis for a while, perhaps unsure of what I mean. It doesn't take long for Hulthemia to look towards me and speak, "I... guess it wouldn't hurt to try at least?"
She stands and walks to the other side of the garden, the place is full of long dead hedges, Hulthemia reaches out towards the plant with her hoof.

Hulthemia places her hoof on the side of the hedge, closing her eyes, seemingly focusing on her magic. A few seconds pass and something incredible happens, there're a few sparks of life, then the grey colour starts to fade.
After only ten seconds of focusing her magic, a large portion of the hedge has had its natural green colour return to it.

I was right after all, Hulthemia's ability of altering the disease's affects can be used to make it better, not just worse!
This whole experience has given me something really difficult to think about,
what is a cutie mark, why do we get them and why did a cutie mark like Florentina's exist? A strange mark with the power to cause so much harm...
Are there more 'bad' cutie marks out there, was it even bad to begin with... or perhaps Florentina simply hadn't understood her cutie mark, using it for something it wasn't meant for?
Was it possible for her cutie mark to be used for good like Hulthemia's?
I guess these questions will never be truly answered, I'm definitely going to be giving them some more thought though.

Hulthemia is looking towards me now, she speaks carefully, "I... Apple Bloom, I want to try using my magic... to help you"
She seems unsure, probably nervous this new power might not work properly.
I step towards her, smiling confidently, I know she can do it, she's amazing!
It actually doesn't take that long, I almost can't believe how easy it was! she places her hoof on mine, focusing on her magic, a few minutes later and I can see the results.
The greyness infecting me begins to recede and eventually, fade entirely.
I'm cured.

I guess that means the whole 'end of the world' thing is over?
Not that she can just go travelling around Equestria poking everything better, but's it's good to know for the first time, we have a real solution to The Pestilence.

I've heard plenty of stories about the old Equestria from Granny Smith, maybe life will never go back to 'normal' but it finally seems to be capable of getting better.
I'm not sure what we'll do next, Hulthemia seems to be interested in visiting the farm but honestly, the whole living in a castle thing is sounding pretty cool right about now.

Whatever happens now, I'm glad we're friends.
Bye, Granny, I hope you know Equestria's finally going to start healing.

Author's Note

I guess that's the end of the story!
Not perfect, that's to be expected from a first try.

I had fun writing this though, I hope someone found it at least a little interesting.
I have plans for a prequel story focusing on Princess Florentina's story.
Not sure when I'll get around to writing that but I plan to at some point!