You sigh and shake your head. If someone left you this book as a secret then you won't get to the bottom of it shouting your head off. Of course, that doesn't mean that you have to just put up with the thing.
"You can get me on the ice-skating team?" you confirm.
"Yes! Just so long as you stop being so angry!" Pinkie pleads with you.
"And you can take this big stupid thing and give it to Twilight and I never have to think about it ever again?" you say, dropping the book on the ground. Pinkie nods her head enthusiastically. You take a deep breath.
"Okay then, fine. I won't be angry any more."
Pinkie beams, picks up the pink cupcake with the heart on and jams it into your mouth.
You bite into the cupcake on reflex, and raise your eyebrows in pleasant surprise. It's really good- there's a delicate strawberry taste, and a salty, savoury undertone that's really satisfying. You swallow half of it and Pinkie explains things to you while you polish it off.
"That's one of my famous Saltwater Strawberry Sweetcakes! They're the perfect start to a day filled with romance and smooches and your very own special somepony. Now that you've eaten one I just know you're going to find some lucky stallion or mare who just thinks you're the tops!"
You glare at her as you swallow the last of it, and she holds up a hoof to silence you as she drops her voice a little lower.
"You can try for anypony you've got a thing for! Except me or Big Mac because we're secretly dating and I don't think he'd like it if we got all smoochy because I sure as hay wouldn't like it if you tried to get all smoochy with him. Not that you're not totally smoochable!"
She giggles to herself while you process the sentence, and she pulls the bushes open and leads you back towards the crowd. Twilight's opening speech seems to have finished, and the three teams are starting to pull together into loose groups. Pinkie zips over to Twilight and drops the book in front of the unicorn before bounding over to Rainbow's weather team and waving at you to join her- she's explaining something to Rainbow, but the boss does not look pleased. You can hear Twilight let out a delighted squeal in the background as you get closer and Rainbow snorts before she speaks to you.
"Raindrops, you're late. Hanging out with Pinkie is no good excuse for missing work, okay? She wants you on the ice-breaking team, but Cloud Kicker's requested you on the cloud clearing squadron."
"Wait, Cloud Kicker requested me?" You and Cloud Kicker do not get on. She's a decent flyer and a hard worker, but she's kinda stuck up. She and the boss both act like weather work is beneath them, but Rainbow's at least got dreams. As far as you can tell all Cloud Kicker's got planned for the future is looking down on everypony else, and you've let her know it a couple of times after a bad shift. She doesn't like you, you're sure of it.
"Yeah, she did. Pinkie wants you on ice-breaking, Cloud Kicker wants you on cloud clearing and if I got my way then you'd be on Junior Weather Patrol. So I thought I'd leave it up to you, Raindrops. Which job do you think you should do this year?"
To join the ice-breaking team with Pinkie, Click here for chapter 27.
Please put requests for Raindrops' actions in the comments below!
To go back a step, Click here for Chapter 17.