Comet was unsure how to approach this situation. He had so many questions for the filly. And none of them could be answered until she got up. Comet had a lot of things he wanted to do that day, and couldn't do any of them with Applebloom sleeping on his floor. In an attempt to avoid stress, Comet moved up to the bell tower so he could watch the sun rise. When he got there, he found a ladder, fashioned from his wood, that led up onto the roof. It was sturdy and well built. Comet couldn't help but smile. She must be talented, Comet thought to himself. He scaled his new ladder with ease and relaxed against the cross like he did a few nights earlier.
What could possess her to leave? Comet didn't understand. Did she get in a fight with someone? Was it a dare? He didn't think he knew her very well, although he was learning more and more about her whether he wanted to or not. Applejack must be worried sick. He hoped she wouldn't be mad at him. Hopefully she would believe him when he told her he literally found her here. The door was old and could be forced open, even when locked, so she must have come inside and gone up to the bell tower when I came home. She probably fell asleep up there and came down when it was too cold for her. Comet nodded to himself. That seemed to be the most logical explanation. Comet was unsure what he would have done if he was there when she got here. Would he have let her in out of pity? Walked her home? Sent her away? He didn't like the last one. She didn't deserve that.
The peeking pink and red sun soothed Comet's tense muscles. He could look up and still see the universe, but like watching a ball in two halves from the inside, the blue sky and sun were well on their way around. He heard a small voice.
"Comet? Comet?" He believed she was up. Comet climbed down (which was much easier and safer with Applebloom's ladder), and moved into the main room. Applebloom ran up to him and pressed against him. Unsure of what to do, Comet put a hoof around her and sat her down on the pew.
"How are you, Applebloom?" He was genuinely worried about this filly.
"..." Applebloom bit her bottom lip, as if thinking of what to say. She couldn't think of anything.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Yes." Applebloom lied.
"What happened in the town yesterday, Applebloom? I didn't expect to find you when I got home."
"Well..." Applebloom bit her lip again. "Sweety Belle and Scootaloo were making fun of me. I went home and Applejack got mad at me. She told me I was too little. I was so mad, I left. I came here." The door was weaker than he thought, Comet commented to himself. At least he put up a much better one tonight.
"Why were they making fun of you?" Applebloom wouldn't say. She would look away and not make eye contact whenever he asked. "Did you make that ladder, Applebloom?" She nodded. "I really like it, thank you." She released a small smile. "We should go back to town. Your sister is probably worried sick."
"No!" Applebloom stood up. "I can take care of myself. I want to stay here!"
"But we both saw last night that I ended up taking care of you, didn't I?" Applebloom said nothing. "Let me tell you something. Sit down. Did you know I have an older sister and and older brother? They are both bigger and stronger than I am still, and look how old I am!" Applebloom giggled at his old man face. "You know what? There are always going to be ponies that are bigger and stronger than you. And that's okay. We just need to make sure we stick up for the little guy. You and me." He smiled at her, and he could tell his little speech was making her feel better. "We little people, we have something special nobody else does. Do you know what it is?"
"No," Applebloom couldn't think of anything Applejack couldn't do better than her. "What is it?"
"We are brave." Comet nodded to himself. "We are so, so brave. Sure, the big ponies are brave too, but they could never be braver than us."
"Why?"
"Because everything is so much bigger when you're little. The trees you climb, the houses you live in, and even the fights you have." Applebloom was starting to piece together what he was saying. "But you've stood up to bigger things than this before, right? So we just need to step up and face it like the little ponies we are." Comet moved for his new door. "Shall we?"
Applebloom nodded. She was glad she came here last night. "Do you like my new door?" Applebloom eyed it and gave him a look. "I think I probably could have made a better one."
Comet laughed. "Well, the next time I'm building something, I'll have you help me, okay?"
"Okay!"
Comet walked Applebloom down to the village. It was buzzing. There seemed to be some kind of commotion. When they got closer, they heard people shouting her name. Appleboom made a face, but Comet put a hoof around her.
"We can do this. Little people, remember?" She gave a nod and together, they went into town.
At the center of the hustle and bustle was Applejack. She was a mess. Her yellow mane was all over the place, and the bags under her eyes suggested she didn't sleep a wink. Comet called to her, and she sprinted to the two of them. A crowd gathered around them, relieved that Applebloom was found.
"Ah was so worried about you! Ah'm sorry, Applebloom, I never wanted you to leave. Where did you find her, Comet?"
"She came to my place last night. The old church on the hill?" He gestured behind him. "She was no trouble. She even built me a strong ladder."
"Applebloom, don't you ever go runnin' off again, Sugarcube. You scared me half to death!"
Applebloom held her head as high as she could. "Yes, Applejack. I'm sorry."
A cheer was had for Comet for looking after Applebloom. When the crowd dispersed, Twilight Sparkle and Spike were there looking for him.
"Twilight." Spike nudged her forward. Twilight did not look dissimilar to Applebloom just a few hours earlier.
"Twilight Sparkle." Comet got down low to look up into her eyes. "I'm sorry I called you a name yesterday."
"I'm sorry, too, Comet. I don't know what got into me." Comet grinned at her.
"I hope we can get along a bit better now. Can I borrow Spike for a bit?" Twilight and Spike looked at each other, and Spike joined Comet. He huddled him close and whispered in Spike's ear.
"Can you send a letter for me, Spike?"
"Well, sure Comet. Do you need the Princess to know something?"
"No, I was hoping you could send it to the Weather Committee in Cloudsdale."
"Alright, I can do that." The three of them went back to the library. Much to Comet's displeasure it was still as awkward as ever, only Twilight Sparkle appeared more sick than anything else.
"Okay, can I just dictate to you? My hoof-printing is terrible." Spike nodded. "Alright, this is what I want it to say:"
"To the Weather Committee of Cloudsdale,
My name is Comet and I'm the newest resident of Ponyville. It has come to my attention that you are in need of someone to monitor the weather patterns above the Everfree Forest. I happen to have such a talent, and would like to submit myself as an applicant for the position of Everfree Ranger. If you could send someone to Ponyville to discuss it, I would be very pleased. As I am an earth-pony, I don't think I could visit you directly in Cloudsdale.---"
Twilight jumped in at that point. "I could help you get there. I have magic, and I can make you walk on clouds, and Pinkie Pie has a balloon to get you there, and...." Comet looked at her with a small smile and she shut up and walked away. He shook his head.
"There's something weird in the head with that girl."
It was at this point that Spike put two and two together. He found it somewhat unbelievable that Comet couldn't see it. He decided not to press the matter. He scratched out the last sentence and they continued.
"I am an earth-pony, but with some magic-related assistance, I would be happy to come for an interview in person. Please write back soon."
Spike sent it on its way. It was fascinating to behold. The reply was brisk in coming back. Spike licked his lips after producing the letter. It tasted different than the ones from Canterlot. He read it aloud.
"Dearest Comet,
If what you suggest you can do is true, you would be an invaluable service here in Cloudsdale and to all of it's neighboring cities, villages, and especially Canterlot. A pupil of ours will be inbound to discuss details and verify for us that what you say is true. Expect him within the hour.
Equestrian Weather Committee, Cloudsdale Primary Branch
Windhoof, Vice Secretary"
"Wow, Comet, that's so cool! You're going to be the first Everfree Ranger!" Comet admired the stamp of authenticity on his neatly written letter. He was living the dream. Comet walked out onto the balcony of the library, eying the cloud city.
"I guess this town did need a meteorologist." He looked at Spike and grinned. The three of them had lunch. although Twilight Sparkle said almost nothing throughout lunch. When they finished, Rainbow Dash flew down to them from a light cloud.
"Comet! Comet!" She was in a rush. Not surprising, Comet thought to himself.
"What's up, Rainbow Dash?"
"A pegasus is here from Cloud Tech! He says he's looking for you." Comet froze up from the rush. When he awoke, he was greeted by a bright red pegasus in a white lab-coat. He had a pair of square glasses on that made his eyes look unnaturally large.
"Are you Comet?" His voice was soft and slurred, like he was the nervous one.
"That would be me," Comet quickly got to his feet, "And you are?"
"I'm Rudolph, I'm an intern for the Weather Committee Primary." He seemed to have a no-nonsense attitude about him.
"I see. What do you need me to do?"
"Well... I, uh..." He fumbled with his things and the mares giggled. "Would you care to demonstrate your uh... uh talent?"
"Well sure, let's go back to my place." The five of them headed out of town for Comet's house. Twilight was impressed with the work Comet had done so far.
"I'll see you on the roof." Comet went inside with Twilight and Spike. Rainbow Dash and Rudolph flew up to the roof, although Rudolph, who was attempting to read papers off of his clipboard while flying, ran into the exhaust from the stove, covering himself with soot. Rainbow Dash found this to be a riot. Rudolph shook himself off and joined them atop the bell tower. Spike had to ride on Twilight's back as the three of them and Comet's telescope made it a little tight. Comet looked through his telescope at the clouds forming above the forest. Some small, thin clouds, were moving in from high altitude, while larger, low clouds came in much lower.
"The cloud pattern suggests there is a colliding high and low pressure system, which means there's going to be sharp, gusting winds." Comet looked at Rudolph, "There might be some drizzling due to the low altitude of those clouds, but nothing that would leave the forest." Rudolph dictated furiously. "Given the rate of diminishing wind speeds in this air pressure, I can say with almost certainty that it's going to be abnormally cold tonight due to wind chill."
"Woah." Spike's mind was blown. "You can tell that just by looking at clouds?"
"Well sure," Comet enjoyed talking about himself, "the sky is a specialty of mine, be it night or day. If we went into the forest, I could be more specific than that."
"In-into the forest?" Spike didn't like that idea.
"Please," Rudolph would write and then scribble out and then write more and then continue scribbling. "I'm going to need some specifics that we could verify back at the lab."
They all rendezvoused in the main room, where Twilight Sparkle was mortified to find that Comet had only a single piece of furniture.
"What did you expect? I spent all the money I saved to buy this place, the windows, borrow the tools, and did some work in town to fix the door and gate." He smiled sheepishly. It wasn't great, but he owned it, and that was what made it the only place he would stay at. It was special in it's own way.
Comet gathered some equipment, and with Twilight and Rainbow's help, he assembled it and they carefully loaded it into the cart he had borrowed from Apple Acres. They set off for the forest. Rudolph appeared to be impressed, but he had difficulty flying and writing at the same time. He often dropped his things and slowed them down. The wind picked up when they neared the forest edge. Rudolph wrote that down.
"I don't have a lot, considering I built this all at home. With more supplies, I could get you more data."
"Just show me what you have, please." Even fixing his glasses caused Rudolph to lose control. Comet feared for the safety of his devices. They went into the forest a ways and when they found an unoccupied clearing, Comet set up shop. Spike eyed all the instruments with wonder.
"What do they all do?" He pictured Comet dressed as a mad scientist.
"Well," Comet pointed out each one individually, "This one measure's wind speed. You see the train speedometer I fashioned to this vane? This one measures Barometric pressure. The air pushes down on the water in this tube and I can measure the pressure based on how far the water moves up the tube. See how I have it marked so I don't always have to use a ruler? This is a rain collector that strains the water for cloud content. It looks simple, but can be important if there is a chance of acid rain or if there's some form of air pollutant."
"Acid rain?" Twilight didn't like the sound of that.
"It comes from smog poisoning the clouds and causing the rain to eat away at wood and unprotected metals. You shouldn't have to worry about it out here in the country. This crude thing was the first thing I built. Believe it or not, it's a thermometer. It measures the temperature. Basically, this plate of metal heats or cools depending on the temperature outside, ignoring windchill because its in this small box, see? This fluid in here looks like water, but it's actually a very sensitive alcohol. It moves up and down this cylinder depending on if it's hot or cold. I got the fluid as a birthday present, when my mother found out I enjoyed this kind of thing."
Rudolph scribbled so hard, Comet was surprised he didn't break his clipboard. "Well, I think this will be plenty. I will take this back to my superiors, and expect to hear from us in a day or two." Rudolph turned and flew into a tree, which made Rainbow Dash giggle and little, and he quickly composed himself and flew off. Comet breathed a sigh of relief.
"How did I do?"
"That was awesome, Comet! You read about all this at home, but you can do so much with it!" Comet grinned, Spike was too much.
"You have some cool toys." Rainbow eyed them for a bit and then turned away, "I still prefer making my own weather." They all turned to Twilight Sparkle, awaiting her input. She just looked at Comet.
"It was all right. I guess." Twilight flipped her mane over to one side and smiled at Comet. He wasn't sure what it meant and it gave him an awkward feeling in his stomach. Spike felt that was a little harsh. Put off by Spike's look, she added, "It was very... intellectual, Comet." She turned to leave, "Well, it's late, so I will be taking off. Bye, Rainbow Dash. Don't stay out too late, Spike. ....Comet...." She moved off down the trail by herself.
"Oh," Rainbow Dash made a face at Comet when she was gone. "Someone has an admirer."
"What? Twilight? Seriously? Did you forget she kicked me out of her house yesterday? She hardly ever says anything to me, and she always leaves whenever I'm around." Spike gave him a look.
"For a smart guy, you sure are pretty dense, Comet."
"What? You too? Stop it, guys. I don't know what you are talking about."
They laughed and teased Comet all the way home. They both agreed he did an excellent job, and they hoped Cloudsdale would hire him. It was starting to get dark, so when they reached the fork, Comet said his farewells. He was tired, and was looking forward to a quiet night on his own. No work, no stress, no stowaways. He did a quick lap around the house to make sure no fillies were going to spring out on him. The coast was clear, so he headed inside. Everything was exactly as he left it. He climbed to the roof to do his stargazing for the evening.
As he watched the sky and pointed out planets and constellations to himself, Comet thought about what Spike and Rainbow Dash had said. It seemed absurd to him, but it's not like they would say something like that without reason. Sure, Twilight Sparkle was smart and talented, but Comet didn't know anything about her. She was headstrong, and mean without reason. Comet shook his head. If anything did happen, they would probably just fight all of the time. And she was a unicorn. Comet was always raised on the premise that ponies were different for a reason. Unicorns, Pegasi, Earth-Ponies, they were all just too different. Not necessarily better than one another, just... different.