Finding Serenity

by M1ghtypen

Interlude: Merovingi

Far away from the familiar atmosphere of Sereneighty, four ponies were sitting down at a table in a very upscale restaurant. Horte Cuisine politely held a chair for his companion, who sat daintily and smiled but refused to speak. Her coat and mane were the color of grape juice, while her dress was similar but a shade darker.

The other two ponies were less than thrilled to see the mare. “We were told that we would be alone,” they said in unison. Their voices were eerily similar and carried a faint Prench accent. Both were flawlessly beautiful mares, both had perfect posture, and both had long manes secured by headbands. Their coats were pink and blue, while their manes were blue and pink.

“She can keep a secret,” Horte assured them. “In fact, she’ll probably forget all about our meeting by tomorrow; she’s going through one of her episodes. I would have left her at home, but I have the terrible feeling that she might not be safe there anymore. My life has gotten a bit complicated recently.”

“Very well,” the mares said. “We wish to discuss business. We have been monitoring the package for some time, and have studied the group responsible for taking it. We have begun monitoring known associates.”

Horte Cuisine frowned irritably as he looked over the menu. “Can’t we eat first?” he asked. “This is possibly my favorite restaurant in the entire ‘Verse, and meeting over food is one of the very few social pleasures that I still allow myself. We haven’t even made introductions yet, have we?” He stood up so that he could politely bow. “I am Sir Horte Cuisine, and this is my guest. She was never able to tell me her name, but I’ve taken to calling her Sorbet. She doesn’t seem to mind.” ‘Sorbet’ smiled shyly and bowed her head.

“We are Aloe and Lotus,” the mares said. “We will not be eating, thank you. Do you wish to speak about something other than business?”

Horte shrugged and signaled a passing waiter for some water. “I think that would be nice,” he said. “I prefer to understand the ponies I hire. The Empire will pay you quite a lot of money to secure the asset in question. For that much, I expect to know who I am dealing with.”

“And did you take this approach with the last pony that attempted to obtain the package?”

Horte shifted uncomfortably. “Not exactly,” he admitted. “The fool nearly got himself killed before I had the chance. I did not have a say in hiring him, but I still intend to become more familiar with my coworkers in the future.”

“We do not know how to proceed,” Aloe and Lotus said awkwardly. “We normally only speak to each other unless we are discussing business.”

“I can sympathize,” Horte said. “I confess to being somewhat out of my element here. Perhaps it would help if we addressed the buffalo in the room, so to speak?”

The twins exchanged another look. “We are not able to hear each other’s thoughts,” they said. “At least, we do not think that we can. We are perfectly in sync only because our thought processes are almost identical.”

“Almost?” Horte asked. He sipped water from his glass and leaned forward expectantly. “I must admit to being intrigued. What exactly are you, if I may ask? You obviously aren’t ordinary ponies.”

“You may ask, but we will not answer.” The twins tilted their heads curiously. “Perhaps we have found a topic of conversation. We agree on everything, save for two philosophical quandaries. Would you like to hear them? The first is the problem of free will.”

Aloe, the pink sister, spoke alone. Her voice sounded completely different without Lotus speaking in harmony. “I believe in free will,” she said. “The brain is more than a complex difference engine. Free radicals and stray thoughts often coalesce into unforeseen thought patterns that are, by definition, impossible to predict or control.”

“I am a determinist,” Lotus said. “Our actions are due to cause and effect. The laws of physics do not allow for the freedom of choice; there is no effect without a cause, even if the cause is beyond our knowledge. There is only action and reaction. Free will is a clever lie that our minds make up to hide the fact that our choices are nothing more than the answers to an equation.”

The twins stopped talking so that Horte Cuisine could order his dinner. “We will not be eating,” they said. “We wish to give a demonstration of our problem. Look, over there.” They pointed to a stallion sitting across the room. “That pony is not familiar to us, but he will do. The individual is unimportant in this discussion.”

Aloe looked back at Horte, while her sister continued to watch the stranger. “We have sent him a desert,” she said. A waiter brought the stallion a slice of strawberry cheesecake. Both twins looked away as he started to eat. “We have put something unpleasant in his food,” Aloe continued. “He will die later tonight.”

“We agree on what we did,” Lotus explained. “We simply disagree on why we did it. One of us believes that his death is unavoidable. Circumstances leading to his death unfolded because, through the magic of physics, they could not have happened any other way.”

“The other disagrees,” her sister said. “The laws of physics have no bearing on our disregard for his wellbeing. He is dying because we chose to kill him, not because the laws of the universe forced us to do it.”

“One viewpoint accepts responsibility,” they said. “The other has no room for it. What is your opinion, if we may ask?”

Horte Cuisine tiredly rubbed at his eyes. “The entire debate is caused by an incorrect definition of free will,” he answered. “That isn’t what concerns me. You’ve murdered somepony just to facilitate a conversation. This isn’t the sort of job that allows for unnecessary killing, and I am not the kind of stallion that will tolerate such behavior.”

“We understand,” Aloe said.

“Our reputation was tarnished when we allowed the package to escape,” Lotus added.

“We wish to regain the respect of our peers.”

“We will not tell you anything about the package itself, incidentally, should you ask.”

“Doing so would indicate that we were not professionals.”

Horte Cuisine held up his hooves to interrupt their cooperative train of thought. “I just wanted to be sure that you knew what you were getting into,” he explained. “It’s quite obvious that you do.”

The twins smiled at his compliment and allowed him to eat in peace for a while. “Have you guessed our second disagreement?” they asked when he was finished.

“You can’t agree on why you don’t agree,” Horte Cuisine guessed. He dabbed his mouth with a napkin before continuing. “One thinks that you disagree because you choose to, while the other believes you have no choice at all.”

Aloe and Lotus shared intrigued smiles. “You are correct,” they said. “We find ourselves enjoying this conversation. We do not like talking with other ponies very often.”

Horte glanced over at the now empty table where the doomed pony had been sitting. “I can’t imagine why. Your dinner parties must be very exciting.”

The twins giggled bashfully. “We will leave you now, Sir Cuisine. Please, do not hesitate to contact us again. It is not often that handsome stallions flatter us and intrigue us at the same time.” They walked away perfectly in step, smiling as they passed the now empty table where the condemned pony had finished his last meal.

Horte Cuisine was startled by a waitress reaching over his shoulder. “Apologies, sir,” the mare said as she placed a slice of cheesecake in front of him. “The ladies insisted.”

He politely grabbed Sorbet’s hoof when she reached for her fork. “It might be best to skip dessert today, my dear. You never know what goes into the things you buy at restaurants.”

Author's Note:

So, uh…yeah. I’ve done really well about not accidentally calling these characters by their names in the show. And then I goofed and called Vision “River”. Really, brain? Seven chapters go fine, but then you screw up like that?

I like the fact that Horte Cuisine apparently just solved a question that had been bothering the twins for ages (a la the Merovingian)…and did it casually while trying to comment on something else. What do you think? Are Aloe and Lotus what you expected? Who could the mysterious companion (lower case C) be? You may never know. Because I may get bored halfway through this story.

Next story will be up before long, assuming I don’t get distracted. It’s the first chapter to actually get beyond the pilot of the show. It’s making me a weird kind of nervous for some reason.

Comments

[Sozmioi]

If they only ever talk to each other, it shouldn't be too surprising that their philosophies are so uninformed. Books, being passive, can't point things out.

[Viking Hoof]

2947384 books are experiences, and experiences are what shape our philosophies and opinions.

Now, this chapter's conversation blew my mind in ways not many have. Now I really want to do something similar, but at the same time I'd feel bad if I took this awesome idea. Might I have permission to use the base idea?