"What does it taste like?"
Chrysalis glanced across the room at Twilight, raising a single slender eyebrow. "Pardon?"
"The love you eat. What's it taste like?" Twilight repeated with pensive look on her face. It was a look that Chrysalis recognized to mean that either a long discussion or argument was coming. The last time she had seen that face they'd argued strategy and tactics that would have worked better than her failed coup four years ago for upwards of an hour. Fun times, and she had a drone take down several of those "hypothetical" scenarios. Purely for later review of course.
Returning her mind to the present, Chrysalis pondered how best to answer the question. "I wouldn't know where to begin." She finally answered her. Idly flipping a page in her book, she shrugged. "It'd be impossible to describe without a common frame of reference."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked of her. "Is it sweet? I'd think so since that's how the emotion is generally described, but then some would probably describe it as rather spicy or-"
"Twilight." Chrysalis interrupted her, ending what would have been a tangent of rapid fire deductions and considerations before it could start. Whatever end conclusion she'd have reached would have likely been wrong anyway. "Let it go. It's not something I can adequately describe to you and neither can any other changeling."
"I don't understand." Twilight frowned. As usual Twilight had a habit of moping when she couldn't find an answer to a question. "Can't you at least try?"
Chrysalis sighed, closing her book with a snap. "No, I can't." She closed her eyes to think, trying to figure out how best to explain why, inadvertently giving herself the answer. "Let us suppose for a moment that I was born blind." She turned in Twilight's general direction, her eyes remaining closed. "I had never known sight for the entirety of my existence. Only sound, taste, smell, touch, and magic were known to my mind. Follow me so far?"
Twilight nodded. When Chrysalis didn't continue and her eyes remained closed she quickly added. "Yes."
"Good." Chrysalis smiled, baring her fangs. "Now, describe the color red to me."
Chrysalis couldn't see it but she imagined that Twilight had opened her mouth to give an immediate reply only for silence to come out. Chrysalis's smile grew as she heard Twilight stumble, trying to find her words before answering quietly. "I...don't know how. Something about...roses maybe?"
"I only know the scent and perhaps the taste and texture of roses." Chrysalis countered, eyes still shut. "Do any of those things give an adequate representation of the color red?"
Silence. Chrysalis could imagine Twilight's face screwed up in thought, trying to reason out how best to describe color to a creature without eyes. When no answer came, she continued. "And now you understand the problem." Chrysalis opened her eyes, trying not to look too terribly smug about having stumped Celestia's little genius. Sadly, from Twilight's halfhearted glare, she wasn't doing a terribly good job at it. "Just as you can't describe the color red to a creature without eyes, neither can I describe the taste of love."
Twilight frowned in what appeared to be defeat, but Chrysalis could still see the little gears in Twilight's mind turning until her face brightened a bit. "But wait a minute. We both know the sense of taste!" She cried, pointing at Chrysalis. "I know what things that taste sweet, or sour, or spicy taste like. We do have a common frame of reference!"
Chrysalis shook her head. "No, Twilight, we don't." She pointed back at Twilight. "You have tactile taste but lack emotional taste. You can taste physical things like an apple or me when the mood strikes you." Twilight flushed red and Chrysalis grinned, her tongue flicking out to taste her embarrassment. "But you cannot taste things as I can. I can taste the entire emotional spectrum, from the deepest pits of despair to the highest heights of hope."
Twilight hummed in thought. "So, going back to the sight metaphor, you are like somepony who can see in color, while I'm somepony who can only see in black and white?"
"Exactly." Chrysalis smiled, wishing Twilight was a little closer so she could pet her on the head like a child. She reclined back in her chair, her grin becoming a smirk as she feigned an insufferably smug sense of superiority over a little pony like her. "And that, among other things, is why the changeling race is better then you ponies."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Yes, truly you are the superior, oh High Queen of the Changelings." She smiled. "Which is of course why you had the great wisdom to come before me, the newest of the Equestrian Princesses and all but beg me for asylum after one of your drones botched replacing the griffon king's favored consort and the other princesses all said no." Her smile became so sweet and innocent that it could not have possibly been more phoney. "And of course such a show of weakness was but a ploy to lull me into a false sense of security before usurping my throne. Because you are always so superior to us mere pony morsels."
"Curses, found out again." Chrysalis replied, her tone laced with sarcasm. Meeting Twilight's gaze evenly for a moment, she found herself delighting in the playful edge to Twilight's voice before throwing back her head and laughing. " Mmm, I love it when you bite back, Princess."
"I learned it from watching you." Twilight smirked as she turned to leave. "I have some things that need doing. Thanks for the talk, Chrysalis."
"You too, dear." She smiled returning to her book as Twilight left the room. "Have fun."
Very nice take on the 'what love tastes like' And that tiny hint of Twysalis. Love it!
5621440 this.
and, I hope theres a tasty follow up... if you know what I mean. ^,=,^
A nice story... But you can in fact explain color to a blind person. How? We use colors to visualize heat differences on inferred footage, you do the same thing.
"Color is like temperature. When looking at an object you see the light which is reflecting off of it. This is similar too how hot objects radiate heat. . Just like how there are an infinite number of temperatures on a spectrum from completely cold, to as hot as can be there is a spectrum of color. This is because heat and visible light are both parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. The 'hottest' color is red, imagine it like the heat of an oven it gets your attention quickly. The coolest color is purple, imagine it like a cold winter's day, it's a relaxing color which you might ignore if you are not looking for it. The other colors fall between these extremes."
5622487 None of that will actually let them visualize what a color looks like, though. They'll just have a firmer technical grasp of this thing they'll never experience.
5622533 Also incorrect. We have the cybernetics needed to give a person vision right now. Within a few years we should have the ability to give vision on par with normal human eyesight.
Le Proof
Furthermore, this is about explaining color to someone, not showing color to someone. I can explain the earth goes around the sun without taking you into space for a year.
5622546
Oh you know what I mean.
5622557 No I realy don't. (Autistic, sorry.)
5622568 Ah. Well for the record I was aware of the cybernetic-thing, but most people don't so usually it's safe to assume they don't.
5622577 Well then we simply need to inform people we have entered a sci-fi setting, and are no longer playing d20 modern. Hell, we have brain linked cybernetics now, including fully working legs and arms. We should start seeing enhancement implants within a few years. MIT has tested out a flash learning chip on an ape, and aside from several seizures, it worked. We live in a pretty awesome era!
Describing the Cipher is impossible; it would be like trying to explain color to a creature without eyes.
- Shiala, Mass Effect 1
This was a nice read. I don't know why, but I've always liked intellectual discussions between Twi and Chrissi.
Good job.
5622725 One can rarely go wrong with Mass Effect.
5622589
That's a pretty big "aside from".
5624645 Meh, it's just a monkey, and now that the proper rate of data transfer is known, no seizures. Science needs to start somewhere.
5622589
Heck yes. I want some of those chips from Mass Effect! If I can't have that, I'll settle for potato chips.
But there IS something you can do!
Synesthesia is a mental disorder that causes someone to perceive sensory input as coming from a different sense. Depending on the individual, they might "see" sounds, "hear" flavors", or "smell" colors.
As it is described here as a sense, Twilight could magically induce synesthesia between physical and emotional taste.
5625938 Note to all researchers studying mental disorders: This idea could be applied to just about every sensory disability on the planet. Give this man (or woman) a medal for his/her genius.
5625938
5627140
Not gonna lie, I'm now considering a follow up chapter of Twilight and Chrysalis debating this idea.
5627207
Please do it. I'd love to read it.
5627207 "Huh. Love tastes like rose petals dipped in chocolate fondue. I must admit, I wasn't expecting something so... obvious."
short but good.
Good story!
Interesting side note concerning "Now, describe the color red to me."
Ponies have dichromatic vision. They can't see reds, only blues and greens. (makes you wonder about Applejack's fields full of green apples, and that white streak in Rainbow Dash's mane... lol)
But I'm gonna go with... talking pony universe, means different kind of eyesight.
Why is it blank on my screen? What is going on? Come on fimfiction! I want to find out what love tastes like, I'd imagine strawberries.
considering that chocolate contains many chemicals which are associated with the neurochemicals released in romantic passion....
5630867
Hmm? It loads fine for me.
5631534 It loaded now, I honestly have no clue what went on. It just didn't load for me. A blank canvas, Oh well, that was interesting to say the least. Odd ship, okay ship. Kind of wished it went on for a little longer though. But oh well, it was fun.
I don't know if it was meant to be read like this, but I totally read this as Twilight/Chrysalis romance.