//------------------------------//
// Good Morning Ponyville 
// Story: Foggy Overcast 
// by Cake Sparkle 
//------------------------------//

Deep within the small village of Daffodilia, Twinkle Shine sat alone in her library, trying so hard to remember. She used to remember many things, she remembered that at least. Now she remembered little. She used to sing songs, not to help her remember, but she did remember that she used to sing. What was that song? No, it couldn't be that song. She remembered it wasn't real, she had never sung that song before... before… before what? Why couldn't she remember? Why couldn't she stop whispering it to herself? Her heart skipped over the melody, and jumped over the chorus. Focusing on the lyrics, trying to remember them. 

“Jolly and pleasant, just for the present, no sign of trouble in sight…”

She wanted to repeat the words over and over again, instead she just sang from start to finish again and again as she stared down at the hardwood floor. 

“Greeting the bluebirds, welcoming new birds, romping through meadow and wood…”

Then her heart froze, and small tears formed as she shivered and tried so very hard to blink them away.

“Winter… is… over… for… good!” 

That was reassuring, every time she said that line. She hated winter so much, so very, very much. The library was good and insulated, her neighbors gave her little presents and they all sang songs and ate candies, and the little ones made snow angels while she would hang up decorations. Winter was… no- no... that was Christmas with Santa Claus and… it was warming- no it- it was warm. Christmas was warm. Winter was… that wasn't winter, it was… winter…?

Her mind had become foggy again, she couldn't think now, more small tears formed in her eyes as she began to cry into her hooves. Then came a small knock at the library door. She ignored it and continued to whimper the lyrics into her mind. She just wanted to remember. All she had wanted to do for as long as she could remember was just to remember. The knocking sounded again, still respectful and soft, then the door crept open. 

Twinkle had not looked up to greet this visitor but, in a way, she was very happy they were here. In a moment they would ask her why she was crying, and she wouldn't be alone anymore, then she wouldn't have to focus on remembering anymore and that sweet, kind pony would try to cheer her up and she would be happy again.




The terminal blinked to life as Cake entered in a few simple command prompts onto the keyboard.

Daffodilia: population > 25, medium-density site, 
Status of village: Unknown
Unicornia: population > 30, very high-density site, 
Status of Princessdom: Unknown
Ponyville: population > 15, medium-density site, 
Status of village: Green

Green. It was… it was working! Cake felt tears of joy slide down her face as she entered her report. The ponies were happily singing in the street, preparing for another great festival. Today, they were going to gather for a musical of sorts. They had separated themselves into 3 groups of 4, with the rest helping manage the festival and, of course, watching. One by one they went onto the tiny stage dressed in the costumes they had made from little arts and crafts to sing and dance like they had rehearsed for the week to the other ponies, who when it was time for their group did the same. Cake watched them from the tree line as they sang songs about ladybugs while dressed as ladybugs, they drank their juices and ate their little cakes and laughed. It was so perfect to her, no pony was shooting at one another, there was no curfew, no cults trying to burn a filly alive on a stake. She looked above at the perfect, blue sky. She knew it was going to rain soon, she had put the order in for rain herself. It would still be a beautiful day regardless; the ponies would have ended their show by then and put on their rain boots and they would go around town splashing in puddles. But then of course there were still problems, she stared at the terminal screen and adjusted her radio. There was nothing… static. 

“This is Apple Cake! Hello, please report in!” Static. Cake flickered through a few more frequencies. “Apple Cake, reporting in from the Alpha sector, does anyone read me?” she said anxiously. She was worried her antenna would need repairs, and if that was the case it would be… bothersome. She was already worried the little ponies might have seen her creeping around their village as she did her weekly inspection, if they saw an antenna, they might… no. It was the rain, the weather always messed with the sensitive equipment. Even if the report was bad somepony would have filed it by now, you can't just leave your weekly report on ‘unknown’. And… and… 

One hour, the rain outside was soft without thunder. Just the way she requested it. 

Three hours. The rain had stopped. No report. 

Six hours. No report. And the sun was falling on the horizon. She wanted to go and see the little ponies trot back into their cottages and see the little village, but… time to go fix that damn antenna. She looked through her boxes of equipment. The dish was what would have been broken, it was a prototype meant to be small and not very visible in the event of an invasion, but they hadn't made it very durable. She grabbed the bigger and more durable one, and went about tying it to her back to begin her hike. Night fell and she was now using her magic like a flashlight to walk up the mountain. She couldn't wait to teach her little ponies spells like these. She had done too much recently and didn't want them to start worshiping her as a gift giving deity, she would have to wait for Hearth’s- Christmas for that, she thought. 

She began to climb up the little radio tower, disguised as a big pine tree, as she thought it over. There were a few unicorns in Ponyville she could give the spell to, who would then teach it to the others. Razzatwo was… no, last year she got the spell book for making balloon animals from clouds, this year she was due for socks. Daisy Maze however was perfect. She liked puzzles and games; a flashlight spell would mean she could play tag in the dark. Cake looked over the little dish and checked it for damage. She was not good with this stuff, but she had books and blueprints for this, maybe she could repair it. Maybe even upgrade it. Nah, who was she kidding, she hardly knew how to install it. She took it off, and carefully replaced it with the one on her back with her magic and began to slide her way down the ladder. She was just about to turn around and walk home when she heard it, the small rustling of leaves. Her mind was confident, it was… a bunny! A nice, soft white snow bunny she could give to Cottontail! Oh, how happy that little shy filly would be to have a bunny! Then, out came from the woods a marching, proud pegasus. Cake recognized her immediately and sighed. If she was here and not sending a distress call, it was not going to be good news. 

“I fly all the way here from Daffodilia and you are just now fixing your dish! It's been three weeks, why haven't you been reporting in?” the Pegasus huffed. “Please tell me at least your village is green.”

Cake looked her over as the gears in her head started to turn and some ideas of what might have been happening started to go through her mind. “Green as the grass! My little ponies just finished throwing a little concert for one another! And I have been reporting in. In fact, I have done it on the hour of every week for a full year since we began. It's you and Tide Turner who haven't reported in this week. I even had to fix my dish because I thought it was on my end,” she retorted. “So, Yellow… how’s she doing?” 

Yellow Diamond brushed her mane with a hoof while looking away. “Not good… she's trying to remember it. I've done everything I can to make her try to forget but she keeps trying. I even rewrote the entirety of Beginner’s Guide to Magic: Volume one… as Santa Claus! I'm a pegasus, Cake, I know you really don't want to be near her, but I think we should swap sites.” 

There it was. The terrible, terrible news. Cake groaned loudly in disapproval of it, of all of it. Her stomach turned with grief. Why couldn't she just be happy again, that was all she wanted from them. Just to smile again. Just smile and forget all about winter.

“I’ll… figure something out. First, I could really use your help getting my systems working again, if it's a problem on my side,” Cake asked politely. 

“I- well… I didn't want to bother you, but I haven't gotten any reports from Unicornia, and my ham’s been static for around a week now,” Yellow said meekly.

Cake trotted over to her and gave the blonde pegasus a hug. “Hey, let’s go get some tea and we can go see Tide Turner together, I still have some good diesel and a bike!” 

That made Yellow Diamond smile, which made Cake smile too. The duo trotted back to the cabin together. Cake was happy to have friends who could help her in these trying times.