Maud Meets the Cockatrice
Fluttershy poked her head out of her chicken coop and shook some hay out of her mane. “Okay, that’s everyone fed for today.” She turned to go back inside, and paused. A familiar grey mare was walking across the bridge at the bottom of the hill and heading into the woods. “Maud?” Fluttershy set her basket of chicken feed down and stepped down the hill towards the other mare. When she was in speaking range, she called out again. “Maud?”
Maud turned her head. “Oh. Hello, Fluttershy.”
“What are you doing out here?”
“Pinkie Pie told me about the time you got petrified by a cockatrice,” Maud replied, blinking slowly.
Fluttershy shuddered. “Oh, yes, a terrible thing. It got Twilight and almost got me, too!”
“Do you know where to find it?”
“Hm?” Fluttershy shook her head. “No. Why, are you worried about it?”
“I want to find it.” Maud turned and continued exploring the forest.
“Why?”
“I want it to petrify me.”
“WHAT?” Fluttershy’s jaw dropped and she ran in front of Maud. “No, you don’t want it to do that. Maud, you have so much to live for! You have Pinkie Pie, and rocks, and… and…” Fluttershy trailed off. “I mentioned Pinkie Pie, right?”
“I don’t want to stay that way. Just for a little while.”
Fluttershy frowned. “But why?”
Maud gave a soft shrug. “I want to know what it’s like to be a rock. Pinkie Pie said you convinced the cockatrice to turn Twilight back. Let it petrify me and then it can turn me back.”
Fluttershy shuffled her hooves. “Well, yes, okay, that might work. But why would you want to be a rock?”
Maud blinked once. Then blinked again. “Fluttershy, have you ever been a rock?”
“Um, well, no.”
“Do you know what rocks do all day?”
Fluttershy thought for a moment. “I imagine they don’t do much of anything. Unless they fall down a cliff or somepony throws them.”
“Exactly.” Maud nodded. “Rocks never do anything. They don’t talk. They don’t walk. They don’t fly. They don’t eat, they don’t sleep, they don’t read, they don’t work, they don’t pay taxes, they don’t need to watch their weight, and they don’t have to worry about finding an apartment in Manehattan with the current state of the housing market being what it is. They have no worries, no problems, no concerns. They just are.”
Fluttershy stared. “Wow… I never really thought about rocks that way before.”
“I do.” Maud stepped around her and looked around the forest. “I think about it all the time. Maybe it would be nice to just be a rock for a little while.”
“Well…” Fluttershy sighed. “I’m sure the cockatrice will understand. Come with me, I know where its nest is.”
“And, so, that’s why my friend here would like you to petrify her.” Fluttershy stopped and smiled at the cockatrice that had perched on a branch above them. It looked at Maud, then back at Fluttershy and gave a series of screeches.
“What’s it saying?” Maud asked.
“It’s a bit nervous around me after last time,” Fluttershy explained. She turned her attention back to the cockatrice. “I won’t use The Stare on you, as long as you promise to turn her back. Okay?”
The cockatrice rolled its eyes and screeched softly. It hopped down to the ground and stood in front of Maud.
“Thank you,” Maud said.
“How long do you want to be a rock?” Fluttershy asked.
“An hour seems a proper benchmark for a first try.”
“Okay. Go ahead.”
With one more glance at Fluttershy, the cockatrice leaned closer to Maud. It cawed and its eyes lit up bright red. Fluttershy watched as Maud’s hooves turned to dull grey stone, the transformation travelling up to her head. Within seconds she was fully petrified.
The cockatrice’s eyes stopped glowing and it sat back, yawning. Fluttershy looked Maud over and carefully poked her with a hoof. She looked back at the cockatrice.
“I don’t suppose you keep a deck of playing cards around, do you?”
The grey faded from Maud’s hooves and she blinked as her petrification was undone. She looked herself over. “Hm. Back to normal.”
The cockatrice flew up back to its nest and Fluttershy approached Maud. “How do you feel?”
“Normal.”
“So, what was it like being a rock?”
Maud stared ahead, her eyes widened slightly. “I can’t remember.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy shrugged. “I guess that’s not surprising. Twilight said she couldn’t remember anything, either.”
Maud nodded. “Oh well. I guess that’s how it has to be. For all the bad things we ponies must deal with, there are also good things. Friendship, family, poetry, art, cake. We must take the good in turn with the bad, because that is what makes us who we are. To deny one is to deny the other is to deny the self. It is a burden we must carry.”
Fluttershy gave a smile. “Wow, Maud. I didn’t know you could be so philosophical.”
“You have a lot of time to think when you spend eleven hours a day looking at rocks.”
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This one was a little...
...maudlin.
YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
At least Maud now has plenty of inspiration for the next seventy or so rock poems.
I liked!
First Gummy, now Maud? So, are seemingly emotionless people secretly philosophical? ...I'm off to visit an old teacher of mine.
One other thing: Discord knew what happened while he was petrified. So... "It's Discord so don't question it" or "Different kind of petrification"? Which headcanon is the better one?
7217928 Discord don't question it.
7217928 Cockatrice petrification and Elements of Harmony petrification probably follow different laws.
Maud totally has the power to self-petrify. At the end of all time, there will only be alicorns and Maud.
Wow there's a lot of underlining stress going on in that paragraph. Poor Maud must be going through a tough time.
I can TOTALLY see Maud doing this! I love that you turned it into a short story!
“I don’t suppose you keep a deck of playing cards around, do you?”
Ha, ha, beautiful little twist, and surprisingly it fits Fluttershy, nice story...