Mysteries Behind a Pony

Celestia's words hit Silvernote and Matthew like cannon balls. Danny had been taken a little surprised but kept any indication of his astonishment hidden away. The order to kill was a very rare occurrence in their line of work, of course there had been things they weren't particularly proud of, but killing was still a high risk ( and obviously high paying ) job that nopony in their right mind would take on. Unless given the right price of course.

Keeping his calm demeanor, Danny spoke up first,

" Care to explain why Princess?" Danny had been all business now, like Silvernote but Danny put on his best, colder than ice, glare and a grim frown.

" This intruder is not from our world. He is, in fact, from a world much different from ours. One that is corrupt, and evil. A world almost devoid of the peace we've come to know." Celestia explained.

"  What do the Elements Of Harmony have to do with all of this then?" Matt asked the princess.

" I believe that is this pony is left so close to the Elements, the Elements may go through drastic changes, the poison from his world may seep into their power and cause horrible events to occur that me and my sister may not be able to stop. I'm worried that he may find a way to use them for his own twisted desires." Celestia explained, " Which is why I need this situation under control until I'm able to find a spell to send him back to his home, imprison him here, or the last option of death."

" Why not use the spell used to imprison Discord? " Silvernote said, " That worked pretty well. Till he, ya know, got out again."

" That spell not only took me and my sister in our prime, but also the full power of the Elements Of Harmony, which is why I'm looking through the library's oldest tomes to see if there is anything else that could be used that won't have such a high cost. Sadly, nothing has turned up." Celestia said depressingly.

" And the more time you take to find the spell, the higher the chance is that the Elements will be corrupted by this pony?" Danny said, figuring out the situation.

" Precisely, so you must hurry to Ponyville and stall this threat, or silence it completely. I trust you'll know what action will be necessary as I continue my research." Celestia said, glancing to all three of them individually.

" We'll do our best." Danny and Matt said in unison. They both started for the door, but a certain cobalt blue stallion stood before the princess sternly.

" Hold up hold up," Silvernote boomed in his loudest voice. Immediately a twinge of irritation flashed on Celestia's face as she realized what Silvernote had been talking about.

" I think," he continued, " We need to discuss the matter of our pay." a slow grin crept across Silver's face as his oldest skill kicked into action.

Danny let out a long sigh. The reason for hiring Silvernote wasn't only because he had been a longtime friend, but he was also a Jack-Of-All-Trades, able to do or excel in many subjects, haggling being one of his oldest traits and one of his best.

  He had always hated this side of Silvernote, but this way they always got the amount they deserved for their jobs and then some.

" Why yes, of course we should." Celestia said, trying to keep her composure, " I believe 20 thousand bits is plenty enough for this service."

" 50." Silver said bluntly, " I mean, we are saving our entire nation from corruption of our most powerful relic. I think 50 thousand would be a fair price."

" For the love of..." Matt began.

" I'm just sayin'! I mean honestly, if it's that important, 20 big ones just ain't gonna cut it for me." he reasoned.

" Fine. " Celestia said.

Immediately, Matt and Danny's ears perked up. Even Silvernote couldn't believe it. He'd always been a slick talker, able to get a lower price or a higher pay, but even with his experience on his silver tounge, he didn't expect Celestia to give in so quickly.

"What?" Silvernote choked.

" I said, I'll pay it." Celestia answered. " Now get out."

" What?! What about interest and the causality fund!" Silvernote yelped as he was trying to pressure Celestia into pumping even more money out. Luckily for her purse, Matt and Danny grabbed Silvernote by the wings and hauled him out as he was trying to talk business about safety deposits.

Danny's mind was ablaze as they were making their way down the steps. Eventually Silvernote had stopped struggling long enough for him to think. Constant thoughts about dates, times, food, and containment, ran through his mind until Silvernote's loud mouth broke his train of thought.

" Can the two of you believe it?! 50 thousand! I mean, do don't even HAVE to kill him! Just stall!" Silvernote shouted gleefully.

" No, we won't kill him." Danny said barely even paying attention to Silvernote's ideas of how to spend his cut of the pay.

" Well, if worse comes to worse, of course we'll have to..." Silvernote replied.

Danny turned to him, an icey glare frosted over his eyes and almost seemed to freeze everything in it's sight. " No. I don't care if we have to contain him ourselves, we will not kill him." He went back to walking down the steps.

" I'd like to avoid any death as well, it'd just be senseless murder." Matt grunted, feeling left out of the conversation.

" S-senseless?!" Silvernote stuttered, " This thing is literally going to corrupt and abuse the ponies in Ponyville and use our most powerful weapons for his personal playthings! Were you two even listening to a word the Princess said?"

" Were you even listening? If this had been an enemy operation, they wouldn't have just sent one soldier. For all we know, he could just be a scared animal, fearing it was in danger and took refuge into the nearest house. It just happens to be Celestia's student's home." Matt explained.

.....

" You're bucking insane, Danny are you hearing him?" Silver note said.

" There's definitely the possibility, but something tells me that it's smarter than that. It has to know how to communicate, so it has some sort of intelligence. " Danny thought aloud, " We need to keep our motives secret and try to befriend him before we even attempt negotiations."

" Understood." Matt said, and that was the last word any of them said until the chariot ride into their next assignment.

" You both are insane, I hope you know that." Silvernote said grumpily.

" Don't count yourself short kiddo." Matt replied with a small grin.

" Enough you two, we're almost there. From this point forward, we need to try our best to control the situation and seem friendly at the same time. Especially you Matt." Danny ordered.

" As long as he doesn't get on my nerves, there's no need to worry."

" And you Silvernote?"

" Fine fine, but I am seriously going to need a party or something to cheer me up."