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// Chapter 31 
// Story: Raindrops' Wrap Up 
// by Arkensaw Pinkerton 
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This isn't going to be so bad, you tell yourself. You can get Cloud Kicker on board and you can work through the day together. You count to ten and then go to talk to somepony else- Cloud Kicker needs to know that her bad attitude is not going to dominate the day.

"Hey Ditzy! Good luck on the bird trip today."

"Hah, thanks, Raindrops." Ditzy says, shooting a glance over at the musclebound Snowflake. He's having what looks like a very serious chat with a lanky little pegasus colt. "I hope it goes well! Snowflake's been trying to ask me out forever now- I'm hoping a day together'll give him enough time to work up the courage. But hey, well done on getting team leader duty! I hope it works out"

You give her a tired smile. 

"Yeah, me too. Speaking of which, I should go corral my troops. Catch you later!"

You walk back over to Cloud Kicker, who's still muttering under her breath, and straighten out what you're going to say before you start.

"I'm sorry I took a pop at you back there," you say, and the apology seems to throw Cloud Kicker entirely off course. She looks at you with confusion as you continue. "Look, it was unprofessional. That shouldn't have happened. But what did happen is that I got here first, I've got to lead a team with you in it, and we both want to impress the boss. Right?"

Cloud Kicker narrows her eyes at you for a second. You think she's trying to work out if she can trust you or not.

"...Right." She says it slowly, almost testing the waters.

"Okay then, I'll give you one of the sub-teams to lead, you won't give me any problems, and we'll both have a good wrap-up. Pick  two earth ponies and another pegasus for your team and let me know who they are. I'll start you out on the west side, alright?"

"Alright," she says, brightening slightly. You think you've got through to her- she's not on her favourite duty, and she's not happy at having to work underneath you, but you don't think she's going to give you any problems today. "I'll need Blossomforth to start. I'll have a word with her about the earth ponies. Is that okay?"

"Sure thing," you say, and as Cloud Kicker turns away to find her friend you let out a relaxed sigh. That could have gone a lot worse.

Ponies are sent over to you as they sign in, and after a while you've got a solid team together for roof-clearing duty. You don't know all of them by name, but you've got four groups of four ponies, two pegasus and two earth in each one, each headed up by a pony you trust. Or Cloud Kicker. Time Turner's running the first group, Dizzy Twister's got the second one, Cloud Kicker's running the third one, and you yourself have taken charge of the final group. You've got Berry Punch and Cheerilee on earth pony duty, and Flitter's with you in the sky. This should be a breeze, you tell yourself, not quite believing it.

You've assigned every group to move street-by-street at their own pace according to the north-west to south-east plan you've been given. So long as everypony stays to schedule, you should be fine, and you've promised a 20-bit tab at Sugarcube corner to the group that finishes first. You just hope that Cloud Kicker doesn't give you any trouble.

Which is why you groan audibly when the first problem of any consequence that you come across comes straight from Cloud Kicker's group- Blossomforth comes flying up, screaming something. You don't actually get a good handle on what she's saying the first time; she's speaking way too fast and she's out of breath.

"Blossomforth, slow it down. Tell me what the problem is."

"Fire! Fire on Salamander Avenue! We've got to stop it spreading!"

Yes. Yes you do. And yes, YOU do, personally- at the moment, with the fire crew all spread out on different jobs, it's easiest to get the roof-clearing crew in on this.

You need to get a runner out to the ice-breaking crew to bring the horsepower you'll need over to the scene. That's priority one. Then you need to get two or three pegasi over on a safety run, make sure there's nopony caught in the blaze. That's priority two. Finally somepony needs to get your crews to the fire, make them start shovelling snow into it, cool it down. That's priority three. 

You're about to start issuing orders when Blossomforth says something that may change your priorities slightly.

"Raindrops, you've got to come NOW! Cloud Kicker's in there!"

Oh, ponyfeathers.

Please put requests for Raindrops' actions in the comments below!

To go back a step, Click here for Chapter 14.