As Comet watched the stars that night, he though about Cupid. Although she hadn't changed much, he felt that she was different, somehow. She looked a lot more like her mother, Comet was aware of that. There was something beneath that, though. Something that was different in her that he couldn't put his hoof on. He tried naming some of the constellations from Zecora's book to take his mind off of it. There were only a handful in the sky tonight. He saw Brittle Snout, the diamond dog. He represented greed, or wanting. Comet thought about that. He was happy with what he had. He didn't want anything. He had everything he ever wanted at this point. What more was there to want? He gazed on and found Slithery, the snake, and Cottonpoof, the rabbit. They represented temptation and fertility, respectively. Comet blinked. Ah. That kind of want. He hadn't really thought about that before. It was never really high on his priorities. He didn't need somepony around to make him feel better about himself; he'd always done just fine on his own.
Struck by a bout of curiosity, the word "if" came into Comet's mind. What if there was somepony special in his life? What would be different? It disconcerted Comet that he couldn't think of an answer to his own question. What would be different? He didn't have secrets that needed keeping, or hooves that needed holding, or wounds that needed comforting. Or did he? He thought about Spike and Rainbow Dash and what they told him. Were any of his friends attractive? He never thought about it.
Twilight Sparkle was much nicer than he gave her credit for. She was reliable and intelligent. Apparently, she liked him, according to Spike. She was a unicorn, though. How could he keep up with that?
Comet liked Fluttershy, but he didn't know anything about her. She was a good friend, and he hoped to get to know her better, but it would be weird to rush into anything. Pegasus moved her off the list, though.
Rarity was pretty, Comet gave Spike that, but she was so... dramatic. That, and Spike would never forgive him if he intruded on that. That, and that magic thing. Again, problem.
Rainbow Dash was more of a guy than he was. She was crazy, and spontaneous. She would be a laugh all of the time, but again, that was something that he couldn't keep up with even if he wanted to.
Pinkie Pie. Comet could easily leave it at that.
Applejack was reliable. She was strong, funny, and always knew what to say to make him feel better. She was good-looking in the rugged sense of the word. He doubted she'd be interested in anyone that couldn't buck an apple out of a tree, though.
At the realization that he was going through his friends like a shopping list, Comet felt dirty. How did this all start up, again? Did other colts wade through their friends of the opposite sex for consideration as mates? Was that normal?
Normal sucked.
Comet thought back on what his father had told him. His dad always seemed to have the answers, and although he wasn't here now, this wasn't a new topic. There was a time when his dad thought Comet was interested in all of this. He would sit him down, and they would have a "father-son" thing.
"I'm going to tell you what my father told me, Comet," he would say.
"Grandpa Donner?"
"Yes, son, my father. He would tell me that 'As an earth-pony, we had a proud heritage of hard work that ran through our blood. We don't have wings or magic to help us do things, just our bodies, hearts, and minds.' Does that make sense?" He would always laugh at Dasher's impersonation of his quirky grandfather.
"Yeah, dad, but what does that have to do with fillies?"
"Sometimes, you will look at a mare and find that there's something different about her. Something different that will make you look at them differently. You need to realize that some of them are too different, Comet. It's not natural."
"You mean... like Cupid? Cupid has a horn, and I don't."
"Sort of. It's not the horn that's important, but what's inside."
"So..." Comet always had trouble understanding this part, and still did to this day. "What's inside me is different than what's inside other ponies?"
"Yes. You have something you can only give away once, and you'll know for sure when you are ready to give that to the right pony."
"What is it, dad?"
"Your heart, son. Your heart."
Perhaps he was approaching this the wrong way, Comet thought. If this was supposed to be so natural, why worry about it? It would happen in its own good time, and then everyone would be happy and he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.
"Look," It was decided. "If it's going to happen, it'll happen. Okay? End of story." His words echoed in the still night air. He had no idea he had said that aloud.
~~~
Cupid packed her things and prepared to leave. Her cards hung and spun in the air, like a collection of ornate crystal chandeliers. She didn't like this grimey apartment anyways, so she felt it was high time she took off.
"Leaving already?" The land-lady, and her friend, was sad to see her packing so soon, "You haven't been here a month. You said there was so much opportunity for profit when you got here."
"I know what I said," She sighed and looked at her, "It's just... I need to be somewhere else." The land-lady was old, and had been around the block before.
"You found Comet?" Cupid didn't say anything. "Gracious girl, when are you going to stop chasing this boy? It isn't good for you! And the worst part is that he has no idea! None at all! How can you stand it?"
"I don't want to get into it right now." The cards quivered in place. This made the land-lady a bit nervous.
"Will you at least tell me where you are going?" The last thing Cupid picked up was a photograph from when they were little. She had carried that memento around for ten years, and now it was high time she went out and got the real thing.
"I'm headed for Ponyville."
~~~
Comet was awoken the next day by a knock at the door. Unsure of what was going on, he waddled over, dragging a blanket, and opened the door to find a well-dressed Pegasus in a flat hat. "Order for you sir." Comet nodded, still unsure of what was going on. He hoof-printed the invoice, and turned around. It wasn't for a good ten seconds that he realized what was on the invoice. Suddenly awake as anything, he dashed outside to find that the Pegasi were delivering their eleventh box, most of which were larger than Comet was. He was speechless. All of it was equipment. The latest tech from the Primary Branch of the weather committee, just showing up at his door. A high-grade 400x viewing telescope, like the ones in observatories, was amongst those boxes. Comet slapped himself around a couple of times to make sure he wasn't dreaming. When he found that he wasn't, he hopped and skipped straight into Rudolph, who was organizing the team.
"G-Good morning, sir." He bumped into the house and straightened himself out. Comet blinked. He had forgotten that Rudolph was going to be his personal assistant. He had an assistant. Comet giggled with delight. This put off Rudolph a bit.
"Is... is something the matter, sir?"
"Not at all, Rudolph, not at all. If we could put the telescope on the bell-tower roof, boys, I don't have the means of getting it there myself." The large dome fit well on the roof of the bell-tower, once the cross was removed. Unsure of how to get it usable, the workers left a large pile of cords and set-up simply in the bell-tower. Comet looked forward to getting a chance to play with that. The next box they opened contained a mobile weather station. Powered by a crystal with latent magical radiation, it could transmit detailed information from the Everfree forest straight to Comet's house. Comet's eyes grew wide.
"That... that will stay here f-for now." Rudolph moved it off to the side. He knew first-hand how expensive it was.
With Rudolph's help and collaboration, Comet began the process of moving all of the rest of the equipment into his bare house, finding that it all easily took up about a third of the floor space. He could read numbers he had only read about with all of this. He even had a device that, using the telescope, could measure atmospheric density. Although he wasn't sure what that would be useful for, it was exciting to see something colleges dreamed they had right in his little house.
In all the set-up, he was happy to find his friends had come up the hill to see what the commotion was about.
"What in the hay is all of this?" Applejack had never seen so many do-hickeys before.
"This, is my equipment. I will use it to monitor the weather in the Everfree Forest." Comet couldn't contain his grin. "I think they went a little overboard, but in all honesty I can't complain."
"This is amazing!" Spike couldn't believe it, "You are like a real-life scientist, Comet."
"I've always considered myself a 'man of science'." The abnormally deep voice he used to say this made everyone laugh. Rudolph joined the group with a bit of an uncoordinated landing.
"Hey, Rudolph." Rainbow Dash grinned.
"Will you be staying in Ponyville as well?" Twilight was interested to see what the red Pegasus's purpose was.
"S-sort of." Rudolph became quieter depending on how large the crowd was. "I'll be here working in the lab during the day, and-and taking my reports back to Cloudsdale in the night."
"Bit of a stutter there, Red," Rainbow Dash punched him and he hell over. He rolled down the hill and out the gate, and everyone couldn't help but laugh. "Whoops." Rainbow Dash smiled sheepishly. She couldn't help but feel she knew Rudolph from somewhere. He seemed so familiar, it was like having the same conversation as one you had not too long ago.
"You still don't have any furniture, Comet," Spike couldn't believe he had gone for this long with only a long bench to sleep on. No lights, no bed. It was unfathomable.
"Th-that reminds me." Rudolph fixed his glasses and brushed off his coat. He had a small bag that he gave to Comet. "This is from the Weather Committee for your services in-in the Discord in-incident."
Comet blinked. Nobody knew he was even there. Twilight Sparkle smiled at him. "You're welcome, Comet." Comet brightened up at that. He took the bag and opened it up. He closed and opened it again to make sure that he saw what he thought he saw.
"This is... this is more money than I've seen in my entire life!" Comet did a small victory dance in front of them. "No more sleeping on pews for me, guys!" Everyone had a cheer.
"I-I can take care of things here if-if you want, s-sir." Rudolph could tell Comet had some shopping to do.
"Thanks, Rudolph, I'll be back in a few hours." He took off with his friends down the hill for Ponyville, and Rudolph turned to observe the Pegasi moving equipment into Comet's house.
Rainbow Dash... did she remember him? Rudolph couldn't be sure. She was so... unpredictable. Even now.
When they got down into town, Comet decided that lunch was in order. "On me, everyone! As a thanks for all of your help." When they arrived at the restaurant, the waitress had to move a pair of tables together to make room for everyone. They sat down and talked about everything and nothing while the waitress moved about the table, collecting orders. When she came around to Comet, they talked like they did when he first arrived in Ponyville.
"Anything new and exciting to report?"
"After the past two days? As if. You ponies are what's new and exciting. I think you should relax and take a load off before you jump into something new."
"I'm with you on that one," Everyone laughed at Spike's comment.
There was something about a hot lunch that made Comet full of energy to tackle his day. He was on top of his game, king of the rock, sage of the---
Wah?!" He tripped over a wagon and landed with a thump on the ground. He turned to find he had made quite a mess of the supplies being transported by Scootaloo and company. Applebloom ran over to him and did her best to help him up.
"Scootaloo, watch were you're going," She tried to cover for Comet. Scootaloo rolled her eyes at this.
"It's okay, Applebloom, it was my fault." He brushed himself off and eyed the supplies. Some paint, wood, a box of nails and things. Apparently, he wasn't the only one with a project going on. "What are you fillies working on?"
"It's a prop for our new comedy act," Applebloom was happy he asked. Scootaloo couldn't take much more of this.
"We should get going," She bumped Sweety Belle and she agreed. They buzzed off, and Comet couldn't help but shrug. It was nice to see Applebloom putting that wood-working skill to good use. As they passed by the town hall, a new flier was posted on the bulletin board. Comet blinked. Apparently, Cupid had a poster now.
"Fortune-telling and soothsaying. Love's Mysteries, Life's Happenstances, Secrets Revealed..." Spike read aloud while everyone gazed at the red-gold poster. Comet didn't know she had become a traveling performer. It seemed so... unstable for her.
"It sounds so glamorous," Rarity seemed excited.
"It could be fun," Twilight agreed.
"Meh," Rainbow Dash thought the cards looked cool, but nothing to get worked up about.
"I would love to have a reading done," Fluttershy vividly remembered the reading she did yesterday.
"We could throw her a party!" Pinkie Pie thought she would be a great addition to any party.
"Ah dunno. They're just cards." Applejack found it to be superstitious nonsense.
"We should support her when she gets here, though," Comet couldn't think of anything else to say. How did she get this put up here?
"Aren't we supposed to be furniture shopping?" Spike was wondering why they were sitting there for so long.
"Ah! I forgot! Rudolph is at my house all by himself! What if he breaks something? What if he breaks something I haven't gotten to play with yet?"
"Relax." Twilight found his outbursts charming, but immature, "You remember what Cupid said about relying on others?"
Comet nodded. He had the sinking feeling this was going to be brought up a lot for the next few days.
They spent another good hour or so filling the last of Comet's free space with amenities. An actual bed, a table, a good lamp and a good-sized pile of wood for working with were among some of the things he spent his money on. At the end of the day, Comet's house (in regards to the inside, at least), was looking like quite the pad. He was happy for all his friends help, and they saw him off with smiles. As the sun set on Comet's new telescope, he couldn't help but feel that he owed it all to them. Maybe he should make something for him, he brainstormed as he walked inside. Rudolph calibrated equipment and took some basic readings while Comet wrote his first report. As he discussed storm hazards of low-pressure zones, his thoughts trailed to what he could do for his friends. He did take them out to lunch today. But, that was almost more him flaunting his money than being generous. He speculated the possibility of a storm brewing over the forest, and maybe he could show them his night sky tonight.
Sure, they had seen the night before, but not the way he'd seen it. There was so much to absorb, so much to learn. He felt that sharing that with his friends was the least he could do. As he finished with a warning that a team should be prepared to dissipate anything dangerous, he decided he should try to put something together tomorrow night. Like, a stargazing party. Comet nodded to himself. He rolled up the report, and passed it to Rudolph, thanking him for his work that day. It took a few tries to get off the ground, but Rudolph got on his way without destroying anything. Comet thought about how we would put something like that together. He would need a new viewing platform. His roof was now a domed telescope. Not for romping, and certainly nothing he could relax on. Relaxing. That gave Comet an idea. His furniture wouldn't arrive till tomorrow, but he could live without his pew for one night. Mustering all his strength, he dragged it across the floor and out onto the grass. He laid back on it once it was outside, and found he was in a comfortable position to see the sky, just like against his cross. He wasn't sure yet how he would get it onto the roof, but that was something he would tackle in the morning. It was a long day, and he had a lot of work to do tomorrow.
He had certainly taken a step up that night, but the changes had just begun.
~~~
Cupid strolled through the night, watching the stars. Comet probably watched these stars. She giggled to herself, he could probably name all of them, too. Her cards danced lightly around her, forming circles and star shapes that passed and looped around each other like an elegant chain. It was astonishing how, even on this cool night, she was able to stay warm in her shawl. She never really understood how a single piece of clothing could keep her warm in the cold, cool in the sun, and be formal and informal all at the same time. Her grandmother would tell her it was ancient unicorn magic, sewn right into the cloth. Sometimes, she wondered whether she was serious or not.
Her grandmother was the one that introduced her to Comet. She could remember how shy he was then, until her grandmother told him that he was indestructible if he had a good friend at his side. He learned what metaphors were that same day, when Cupid rode with him to the hospital with a broken leg. He was so thick sometimes.
As she reminisced amongst the stars, she couldn't help but remember what her grandmother told her, the day she had to leave:
"My child," She told her, "There is something you must do that your mother did before you, and I did before her. It's something that we, as part of our family, have done as unicorns for generations."
"Gran, what is it? What am I doing?" She simply smiled.
"You need to know that when you want something bad enough, if you peruse it with inspiration and willpower, you can overcome anything to achieve it."
"Anything, Gran?"
"Anything at all, child."
She didn't know then how true those words would be to her that night and through the years to come. A new opportunity was laid before her, just like her cards had said, and now it was time to face it.
As she stood on the outskirts of Ponyville, she had no idea that her tribulations were just beginning.