_Maud Pie hiding behind a conveniently-shaped rock_

Maud turned the ankle of her forehoof, working the stiffness out of it that almost felt like it had never been there at all. She looked down at it, as if expecting to see some visual sign of the feeling, but there was nothing. She was just as she’d always been. Leaving the thought for later, she looked up at the little alicorn sitting across from her. Twilight Sparkle was pouring over the notes she’d written over the previous few hours.

“Do you have something you want to ask me?” Maud asked.

Twilight nodded absentmindedly. “I have a lot of things I wanna ask.” She placed the long scroll to one side and refocused her attention on her subject. “First of all… what did it feel like?”

Maud thought for a while, then answered, “It felt like nothing.”

“Can you… be a little more specific?”

“Not in the same way as a dreamless sleep, but in the way that I don’t feel like I experienced anything at all. I felt my body turning to stone, and my internal systems shutting down, but I couldn’t feel anything until you turned me back. Although…” A pause. “I was still conscious. It only lasted for a split second, but I could see you moving around me.”

Twilight frowned in confusion. “So you didn’t experience anything, but you could see me moving in- oh. You mean you experienced time differently while you were petrified?”

Maud nodded.

“That’s… interesting. When I was frozen by a cockatrice, I don’t remember hearing, seeing, or even thinking about anything until Zecora saved me. What you’re describing sounds like an entirely different process.”

“Maybe it’s because you cast the spell, and not a monster that wants to suck out my soul.”

“… Perhaps. I’ll have to look into it some more. Was there anything else you experienced while petrified?”

“Yes. I heard a voice.”

The quill in Twilight’s magical grip threatened to snap. “A voice?”

Maud nodded. “I wasn’t frozen for long enough to understand what it was saying, but it didn’t feel malevolent. It sounded like it wanted me to stay.”