The river turns the waterwheel and the waterwheel turns the windmill. The whole structure is sort of like a giant electric fan, except water-powered instead of electric. Cools down those hot summer days. But secretly, the real reason why it was built was to make the air over the bridge unsafe for pegasi to fly through, thus forcing them to cross Mayor Mare's toll bridge on hoof. It's also good for keeping the little wingniggers from shitting in the river.
>>252032I’m guessing it would be a grist mill that has both water and wind power
>pegasi have to control the weather
what's the purpose of a windmill in the first place
>>252040In ancient times to extract subterranean water and to crush grain to make flour.
>>252032This makes sense from some perspective since if there isn't enough wind to turn the mill, then you could also use the river and the same vise versa. I actually came across one of the only mills left with this sort of design which is in Germany called the Hüvener mill which added the windmill to an already built water mill, since when it rained it was unable to get enough water flow to power the mill
>>252032Ponyville has a hydroelectric dam, you tell me.
It's for keeping the river flowing. It takes in wind power up above and sends it down to turn the waterwheel.