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

The sun rose up over Ponyville the next day before being quickly obscured by a line of ominous clouds. Derpy was hard at work in the kitchen of the Hooves Residence making breakfast. She looked forlornly at the bag of mail she had to deliver by sunset before turning to the window with a sigh. There was a knock at the door; it was fast and loud enough to shake the pictures on the wall nearest to the door. Derpy walked over into the living room and turns the knob of the light wooden door. It opened to reveal a weather pegasus in adorned in the iconic weather squad vest with orange brimmed goggles.

She said, "Good morning ma'am. I regret to inform you that in order to meet our quota Ponyville will have to incur an extra day of severe weather. I can assure you that any lost productivity or lost wages will be compensated by your local government. Schools will be out of session."

Derpy replied, "Yeah I was told that last night by my supervisor. The Post Office is insistent that all mail couriers report to their duties. So what are we looking at?"

"Strong winds, hail, and heavy precipitation will hit the town in less than an hour. I was told to keep everyone off the streets until it has past but seeing how you work for the government I can do no more than wish you good luck," the weather pegasus said.

Derpy shut the door and turned towards the foot of the staircase. Chirpy and Dinky weren't even up and breakfast was ready.

"Girls you need to eat breakfast now. I have to go to work today and the babysitter will be here soon," Derpy raised her voice so her sleeping fillies could hear.

Upstairs, Chirpy and Dinky slowly roused out of their slumber. Chirpy looked over at the window and saw the approaching storm. This disheartened the two sisters because stormy days meant that an old hag of a babysitter would bore them all day and their tired mother would come home and want to do nothing but sleep all night. Chirpy and Dinky made their way down the stairs and took their seats at the kitchen table.

"Its good to see you two are finally up. I was afraid I was going to have to drag you both down for breakfast. It is your favorite, muffins!" Derpy said while shoveling several onto Chirpy's and Dinky's plates.

"Do we have to eat muffins all the time mom? Dinky and I get tired of them every now and then," Chirpy asked her mother.

"Just until the end of the month sweetie. Once I get my paycheck we can throw away the rest of the leftovers and you have whatever you would like," Derpy said with a sigh.

There was a knock at the door a second time which was slightly lighter than before. Derpy figured it was the babysitter and put down her tray of muffins to answer the door. She was surprised however to find a pegasus with a white fedora at the door.

"Sorry I am late miss. Your regular babysitter is a little tied up at the moment," The fedora wearing pegasus said while giggling on the inside about the truth to that statement.

"So you are the replacement? I have never seen you around here before. What is your name?" Derpy asked suspiciously.

"Well you may know me by my stage name Johnny D when I am with my singing mates but my given name is Reggie. I can assure you I have a list of references and a CPR certification. I am an honored member of the Royal Guard Auxiliary and recipient of the Celestial Silver Cross for my service to the crown," Reggie said.

"Look I appreciate you coming out here but I am not sure I am entirely comfortable with you watching my foals. I can take them to neighbor's or something and clock out early from work," Derpy explained.

"There is no time, the storm is about roll in. You look like you have enough on your plate and besides the last thing you need is for your little fillies to be caught in the maelstrom that the weather team is brewing up," Reggie reasoned.

"Alright just no funny business! There isn't much to steal and Dinky knows karate," Derpy said.

"I assure you I am the pinnacle of professionalism. Not a single dust particle out of place," Reggie replied as he walked in.

Derpy showed Reggie around the house and gave him a list of what to do or who to call if anything went wrong. Chirpy and Dinky waved their mother goodbye when she grabbed her bag and hurried along. Reggie didn't greet the girls but instead went to the window and looked all around. He then preceded to check the locks on the front and back doors as well as all the windows. Feeling relieved
about the security of the house, Reggie sprawled out on the couch.

Reggie looked over at the the sisters standing in the archway of the kitchen and finally spoke up, "So which one of you is Chirpy?"

Chirpy began to feel anxious again. She couldn't help but think that the well dressed babysitter was an associate of that man at the Exchange. Chirpy was split about whether she was even going to go to that dinner for an explanation since her life had moved on without hiccup. It wasn't like she was in danger or anything. Suddenly Chirpy noticed that a long pause had accompanied Reggie's question.

Chirpy decided she should stop thinking too much and answered him.

"Well your mom wanted me to tell you something privately so if your sister could make herself scarce for a second I would be appreciative," Reggie said still sprawled on the couch with a lazy posture.

Dinky looked over at Chirpy confused but went upstairs to obey. Chirpy walked over slowly towards the living room while she was unsure on whether Reggie could be trusted. She reluctantly took a seat in the armchair adjacent to the couch.

"So what did my mom want to say to me?" Chirpy said after a moment of silence passed.

"Your mom told me to tell you that she loves you and your sister very much. Derpy didn't want to be late so that is why she couldn't properly say goodbye," Reggie said.

Chirpy sat back in her chair feeling relived that the funny business with the magical rocks were finally over.

Reggie sat up on the couch while leaning in closer to Chirpy and said, "Richardson however, can not send the same tidings."

Chirpy immediately shot up out of her chair and started to shout, "I thought I was going to be left out of this! Now one of Richardson's goons show up to my house and pose as a babysitter! Who are you really Reggie and don't feed me any crap about wanting to be my friend or help me. I want to know what you want from me!"

"Easy kid, I am not enjoying my recent demotion to literal babysitter either. Can you please turn down the volume a couple of notches so that the whole neighborhood doesn't hear! Yeash, working with you witnesses is almost as intense as the Boss himself," Reggie said.

"Out with it now Reggie. Why are you here? I already said I wasn't talking to anyone about the deal at the Exchange," Chirpy asked in a more reserved tone.

"The situation has changed Chirps, if I can call you that. Yesterday a little birdie told me that you had a stalker on your tail," Reggie replied.

"Yeah I can see him right in front of me!" Chirpy interjected with contempt.

"Please if you would let me finish you little brat! The stalker was found on the rooftop across the street with pictures of your movements throughout the day along with notes on when the best time to strike would be. Luckily for you however our district contact got to him first. You ought to be thanking us we saved your life," Reggie continued.

"So, there are ponies who want me dead now? What did I ever do?" Chirpy asked nervously.

"Well you see here Chirps the kind of folks we buy the rocks from don't play nice and dress well like the Knights of Equity. In fact the gang is known as 'Jagged Saber' in Saddle Arabia and known to one of the most cruel rock running cartel in existence. They would gladly destroy entire villages if there was a profit to be made from it. Jagged Saber hasn't exactly responded well to the Knight's attempts at integration and now we are at full on war. Lenny or that guy that tried to sell you some of the unstable magic rocks escaped our custody. Richardson believes that Lenny is targeting you in order to get our attention," Reggie said.

"Then that must mean you are here to protect me," Chirpy replied.

"Precisely kiddo, we Knights of Equity are honor bound to protect those we involve," Reggie explained.

"Why can we not go to the police? Why do I need your protection if I can be protected by actual police?" Chirpy inquired.

"The police and the Knights of Equity aren't exactly on friendly terms. The rocks we require are still illegal and if you were to go to the police our whole operation could be uprooted. Our mission is too important to abruptly end by the hand of legality. You must understand that I simply can't allow you to go to the Police. Besides the first thing they would want to do is ship your family out to a faraway frontier town under a new identity," Reggie said.

"I guess I can trust you," Chirpy reluctantly replied.

"You are going to have to! I have been looking out the window and for the past ten minutes a group of weather pegasi have been circling your house. Now it seems they are abruptly changing course and coming straight for us!" Reggie shouted while pointing out the window.

Chirpy looked over out the window. What Reggie said was true! There were three weather pegasi
Diving at the house with a large line of storm clouds on their tails.

"Have you ever been in a fly-by before Chirpy?" Reggie asked.

Chirpy shook her head no while backing away from window.

"There is a first for everything! What is going to happen is those pegasi are going pull up just before they hit the house. When they do that the line of storm clouds are going to ram up against the house and cause all sorts of bother. We need to get on the ground and far away from any windows," Reggie shouted while he motion for Chirpy to hit the ground.

At that moment Dinky ran down the stairs and asked what all the shouting was about. She saw the approaching pegasi and Chirpy on the ground. Dinky quickly dived next to Reggie and Chirpy the moment the storm clouds hit. The next few moments were chaos. Windows shattered all over the floor while the door blew open. Hailstones immediately filled the living room smashing everything that could be broken. Finally a volley of lightning struck almost shocking Chirpy in the process.

Then there was silence.

Reggie got up and looked out the shattered window. He couldn't see them coming back but the message was clear. Broken Saber was not going to be playing any games. Chirpy and Dinky slowly got up on their hooves and looked at the destroyed interior of their home.

"Mom is going to have a fit!" Dinky quietly said.

Chirpy began to smell something. It was barely noticeable at first but now it bothered her greatly. Smoke began to creep out of the kitchen before bursting out in a big, continuous puff that consumed the living room.

"Fire! We got to get out of here! Come on now foals this is the part where we run for our lives!" Reggie hollered before choking on smoke.