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.