I felt like I was putting needless pressure on Dashie. She had been confiding in me for a few days about her debt problem, because, after all, living in a cloud was expensive. Since then, I had been contemplating the best way to help her. Then, out of pure coincidence, on Tuesday I was walking down the street, back to Cloudsdale with groceries, and I saw a 'For Sale' sign next to a small newspaper printer.

    I poked my head inside. There, behind a counter, I saw an old pony with a light gray mane, wearing a dark brown apron. "Hi there!" I said amicably. "How are you?"

    The maroon stallion returned my gaze. "Terrible. I'm out of business."

    "I could tell." I walked into the shop. "But why?"

    "Everypony gets their news my word of mouth. Just cause everypony's trustable."

    "Well," I grinned, "who said you have to print the news?"

    He looked at me, one eyebrow raised. "I don't follow."

    "How about you print a... um... story pamphlet?" I'd promised Celestia that I wouldn't say anything about my world, so I couldn't say magazine.

    He processed this, and his eyes grew wide. "You've done it, mah boy!" He laughed. "You've put me back in business!"

    'Without even selling anything yet?' I thought, but I wouldn't say it out loud.

    "Do you want to be a storyteller?"

    I was a bit taken aback (I'd only just met the pony) but I agreed under pressure.

    "Great!" he said, smiling widely. "You'll start tomorrow!"

    "Um... how about I just turn in a story every Saturday? So I have four days to write it."

    "Okay!"

    I walked out of the store, and turned to see him waving goodbye. I smiled weakly, and walked away. I pushed off the ground and thought, 'Relative of Pinkie Pie?'

    The only thing that I had left to do today was talk to Dashie. I floated into the door and called up the stairs. "Hey, Dashie!" I yelled.

    "Gimme a second!" she shouted back.

    "Yeah?" she said, coming down the stairs a few moments later.

    "Guess what I did today?" She didn't answer. "I got a job!" I said happily.

    "Dad," she replied, smiling. "You didn't have to..."

    "Yes I did! I didn't want to leave too much pressure to a twenty- er- thirteen-year-old." She sighed.

    "I love you Dad." she said, walking over and nuzzling my neck.

    I returned the hug. "I love you, too, Dashie." We sat down at the table, across from each other. I sat for a second before beginning to speak. "How was work today?"

    "Fine. I finished early, around two, so I came back home."

    "Oh!" I said, remembering something. "I wanted to ask you..." I turned, away from Dashie. I was a bit embarrassed. "What happened to your original parents?"

    She yelped, and turned to me with dilated eyes. "I - I don't want to talk about it."

    I turned back to her. "I'm - I'm sorry -"

    She stood abruptly. "I n-need to be alone." With this, she turned and flew up the stairs into her room, slamming the door behind her.

    I was shocked. I didn't mean anything by it. I looked down, finding it hard to breathe. What did I do? I needed to apologize. She needed to know how much she meant to me.

    I sat, contemplating, until the sun was low in the sky. I then floated up the staircase, and turned to my left. The cloud door made a fwooshing sound as I opened it.

    Dashie was lying on her bed, her back to the door. The house was silent.

    "Dashie..." I began.

    She turned back to me, tears fresh in her eyes. "I'm - I'm sorry..."

    I floated to the bed and hugged her with my forearms. It was uncomfortable to me, but not to her, and that was all that mattered. We hugged until the sun had set, and she began breathing very slowly. I laid her down on the bed and pulled the cloud blanket over her. I kissed her forehead. "I love you." I said as I floated out the door.m Next Chapter: Chapter Nine - Date Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 12 Minutes