Chirpy Hooves Breaks Her Quill and Gets Caught Up in The Underground Rock Trade.

The rest of the Exchange was uneventful except for a dispute over a trade that the Hooves family didn't stay long enough to see. Chirpy never did say one word to her mother or sister about the strange colts in formal attire. She was afraid that she would get in trouble somehow. It really wasn't her fault that she ran into then and nopony would ever blame a witness for a crime. Still Chirpy hesitated from letting anyone know about what had transpired; perhaps, she felt that it was in best interest to get some answers first. It would be a long couple of days until Wednesday.

It wasn't until Monday that Chirpy felt uneasy about her surroundings. On her walk to school with her sister Chirpy felt the uncanny feeling of being watched. Dinky began to suspect that something was very wrong with her sister.

"You know Chirpy, I have seen you act kind of jumpy these days. Is there anything wrong?" Dinky inquired.

"One can never be too careful these days, Dinky. We both know that young foals get snatched of the streets all the time and are never seen from again." Chirpy said while looking over her shoulder.

"Yeah, in a big city like Manehatten but not in Ponyville! We have walked this path to school for years and never once have I seen anything sketchy go down. Promise me you will stop acting paranoid. On Sunday you didn't want to go to Sugar Cube Corner and now you won't stop looking around like there is something out to get you," Dinky said.

"I am not paranoid! Just a little cautious today that is all. You know what Pinkie says about trusting your gut instinct," Chirpy replied.

Dinky dropped the subject and the sisters continued on their way to school. In the bushes there was a shake in the foliage that managed to go by unnoticed. There was the click of a shutter and then silence.

Chirpy and Dinky arrived at school on time as usual. The school bell rang and the foals took their seats. As soon as Cheerilee walked up to her desk to take attendance Chirpy habitually reached for her Quill. It greatly saddened Chirpy that she no longer had a working quill of her own. The rest of the day she spent using one of the loaner quills that made annoying squeaks as it was writing.

At recess Chirpy seemed to forget about the entire addictive magical artifacts ordeal and she started to be her normal self again. Chirpy and Dinky started to play ball with several friends on the side of the school. Far away in the brach of a tree there were more clicks followed by the sound of a quill brushing against paper.

School was let out early that day after a lecture on the brief history of the Equestria Games. Chirpy and Dinky walked together as usual. They both skipped along the pathway home while humming along to the anthem of Ponyville. A figure appeared behind them but kept its distance. The eyes of the unknown observer peered out of the puffed up collar of a trench coat trying to confirm its target.

The sisters arrived home and were greeted warmly by Derpy who was waiting at the doorstep. Derpy gathered her foals inside for supper while the figure remained unseen in the shadows cast by a setting sun. The gruff, guttural laughter identified the stalker as a colt. He looked down at the pictures that was given to him in the contact and compared them to the ones he took today. They were a perfect match.

A nearby pay phone rang. The colt in a trench coat walked over and picked it up. An older voice was on the line and gave instructions in a foreign language.

"Yes, I have positively Identified the target and I could move in at any moment," The trench coat colt said.

There was annoyed gibberish that filled the ear of the the mysterious colt. He then remembered that his new client doesn't speak the Princess' English and repeated the phrase in butchered Saddle Arabian.

The conversation went on for a another minute or so before the colt in a trench colt hanged up and walked across the street. He climbed up the stairs of a rooming house and made his way up onto the roof. The skyline of Ponyville at sunset was beautiful the colt thought. He picked up some binoculars and looked into the dinning room of the Hooves residence. Tonight's dinner was a casserole crafted out of leftover muffins.

The colt giggled as he said to himself, "I hope they don't mind a freezer burnt side of revenge. After all it is best served cold."

A blue ting of the trench coat colt's horn signaled the beginning of a dastardly spell that was about to be unleashed on the unsuspecting Hooves Family (one can only assume that it had something to do with ice because of the terrible freezer burnt revenge pun).

The sudden ring of tower bells alerted the town that it was now six in the afternoon. It was the perfect silencer for an easy kill. On the last thunderous burst of bell chimes there was a discharge of bright light. Chirpy, Dinky, and Derpy continued to peacefully munch on dinner completely unharmed.

The colt slumped over on the roof, an icicle puncturing the many layers of the trench coat. The Binoculars fell out of his hoof and the packet of photos and written notes were taken out of his pocket by a unicorn in formal attire. He gave it a quick once over before lighting a corner of it on fire with his silver lighter.

"Richardson will be happy to know the filly is safe. The Knights never leave a faucet of information unguarded," The unicorn thought.