I had been enjoying myself immensely. Every time I went out to complete Dashie's job list, I had a huge amount of fun. I could tell why she liked the job. I guess it was just a cool experience for somepony like me to see clouds rain by my command. It was certainly a boost for the ego.

    When I returned home on Tuesday, I saw a pile of brightly- colored wrapping paper and envelopes to greet me. After shoving the lot into a garbage bag, I floated up to Dashie's room. She was laughing so loudly, I could hear her from the kitchen.

    [Author's paragraph: When you walk into the house, to the right is a window and a cabinet, and to the left is the table, the oven and fridge, and the doorway into the living room, also the library. Right behind the table is the staircase, going to the left. At the top, directly to the right, is Dashie's room, then a walk-in closet, then Star's room. Then the hallway empties into the bathroom.]

    I knocked briefly on the cloud door to Dashie's bedroom and the laughing stopped quickly.

I heard shuffling and then the door swung open. "Hi, Dad!" she said, still giggling a bit under her breath.

    I saw behind her a huge mess of objects, all clustered on the bed so they wouldn't fall through the floor (special spider-web material, very strong but buoyant). I saw a huge, thick joke book, a purple flame in a jar, a large green apple made of wood that was open and twinkling music, a thick rubber mat, two mugs (one saying "#1" and one saying "Paleontology Squirrel"), a small maple box, and a beautiful blue dress with a rainbow trim that I thought would look great on Dashie.

    "So, uh..." I started.

    "I," she declared triumphantly, "found your stash." She giggled. "I've been lying around the house all day for three days. The house isn't really that big."

    I tried to look shocked, although I pretty much knew she would find them. "But how?" I said dramatically. "I'd hidden them in the last spot you would look!" I put my hoof on my forehead and fell backwards. "Oh, howEVER did you FIND them?"

    "Are you TRYING to sound like Rarity?" she was laughing. "Cause it's working!"

    "Ha ha, okay, got it." I walked into the room. "So, what'd you get?"

    "Well..." she began. She explained each one, and gave me a brief explanation on the Paleontology Squirrel mug. "See, when Fluttershy and I were in the woods one day, she saw a squirrel digging through the dirt. She checked out what it was doing, and before she could get too close, the squirrel pulls an animal skull out of the ground!" She laughed. "It's still on display in the Canterlot museum."

    Apparently, the thick rubber thing was a floating skateboard. You use the air currents to move it around. Dashie offered to let me try it, but I wouldn't go within two feet of that thing.

    A huge shock came on Wednesday. I was sitting down to finish up my chapter a bit early, and I was stuck on how to put in Raindrop. Once I figured it out, though, it made quite a nice subplot.

    Then, I heard a voice that scared the crap out of me. From right over my shoulder, I heard: "Dude, make me look cooler."

    I jumped, literally, like, three feet into the air. "Nyaaagh!" That was the exact sound I made. I turned my head to see Raindrop, followed by a sweet-cream and yellow pony. Dashie was sitting on her cloud-chair in the doorway.

    "Hey, uh, um -" I stammered, "how - why - did I even give you my address?"

    "It's in the paper."

    "Oh. So, uh... why are you here?" I said, trying to recover.

    I introduced myself to the yellow pony. "Hi, I'm Lemon Yellow," she said softly, a direct contrast to Raindrop's rough bass voice. "It's nice to finally meet you..."

    Her voice substantially lowered the stress in the room. In fact, that's how I recovered from a writer's block I had later. Raindrop answered my question: "We just came over to invite you to our wedding tomorrow," he said cheerfully.

    I raised my eyebrows. "Getting married, huh?" I smiled. "How long have you two known each other?"

    Raindrop spoke with the excited air of, well, an engaged pony. "We've been dating for a year, and I asked her yesterday," he said. She showed me her necklace.

    "Oh, so a necklace is a symbol of engagement?"

    "Well, yeah. Everypony knows that, right?" Raindrop said like I didn't know what I was talking about. He was right: I didn't.

    "Dashie," I said, looking over at the door, "just got a dress recently, and that would be a perfect opportunity for her to use it."

    "Great," Raindrop said, turning away, "see you tomorrow at four!"

    "Wait," I stopped him. "Why did you invite me?"

    He turned back to me and grinned. "I know you'd do the same for me."

    Dashie looked beautiful. She was dressed in Rarity's (genius) dress, had her hair done a bit, and put on the necklace that was in the small maple box she got from Ditzy. She looked like a princess.

    The ceremony was short and sweet, but the reception was long and sweet. Considering that the event was catered by Pinkie, how could it not be sweet? I had a great time, talking and laughing with everyone. I actually knew most of them by this point. However, one appearance surprised me: apparently Ditzy Doo is the cousin of the bride.

    Ditzy and I had long conversations together, and we danced twice. Also, I saw a great coincidence happen: when the bride threw the bouquet, Ditzy caught it.

    Was it a coincidence, or was it more? Next Chapter: Chapter Eighteen - Desicions Estimated time remaining: 40 Minutes