Step Into the Light

"Tough night, uh? Tia." Luna, princess of the night, said.

Celestia, who was sitting in a desk next to her bed, placed her hooves under her chin, and sighed before speaking. "Oh! You have no idea, I even dare to say it was one of the weirdest nights of my life, and that´s saying something."

Luna walked towards the balcony, bathing herself with the bright stars of the night, then cleared her throat to speak. "Has he spoken? Did he tell you his name? What do we know about him?"

Celestia sighed once more. "He hasn´t opened his mouth, he only remains sitting on the floor, as if he was meditating. Every soldier I send him can´t resist two hours with him, they say they feel uneasy, like if there was some kind of negative energy emanating from him."

"And?" Luna asked, making Celestia turn to face her, her face holding a grim expression.

"They are right. There is something strange about him, like some kind of magic that makes my skin crawl."

"Has Twilight said something?" Luna asked, and waited for a few seconds for the answer, which never came. "Tia? Did you listen to me?"

"Those eyes... those unsettling yellow eyes..."

"Tia?" Luna asked again, this time getting a response from her sister.

"I have faced many emotions from the stares of my enemies, but never in my life, have I come across a pair of eyes such as his." Celestia stared blankly into the sky. "So much hatred, insanity, greed... sadness, pain."

"I suppose I should head down to meet our guest." Lune decided, heading towards the door, until she was stopped by her sister.

"You sure you want to do it? You don´t exactly have the patience for that."

"Relax sister, the worst thing that could happen is me blowing up the cell blocks." Luna smirked before heading out of her sister´s room, leaving Celestia with a deadpan expression.

Maul had wasted at least one day inside his cell, enough time for him to relax and use his brain, as much as he could, of course, considering the great amount of noises coming from the other prisoners.

The loss of both his brother and mother still weighted heavily on his heart, but this was no time to grief. First, where was he? His appearance in this place was clearly done by his mother´s hand, but why? Why this place? Next, he would need to escape if he doesn´t succeed in reaching a solution with the leaders of this planet.

The cell he was in would never be able to contain the former sith lord, as he noticed the rusty bars, clearly not the brightest idea, but he couldn´t allow himself to attract any unwanted attention, it was in moments like this, that he thanked his old master for his teachings. Patience, he had to be patient and wait for his opportunity.

While meditating on the floor, Maul opened his eyes, his sight getting a good look on the guards of his cell... pathetic. The Equine creatures in front of him were doing their best to hide the fact they were shaking, Maul´s presence was unsettling.

Next, he looked around him, trying to get a look at the rest of the ponies imprisoned with him, none of them presenting a real threat, although he could feel power coming from some of them, especially the guards assigned to him. It was strange, it wasn´t light nor dark, it was something else, plus not everypony seemed to share the same amount, no, some of them were more powerful than the others, especially the large white equine, who introduced herself as Celestia, princess of the kingdom of Equestria. He would have to learn more about this later.

Soon enough his thoughts were cut short, as the door from the entrance of the cell blocks opened. Maul had expected Celestia with a new set of questions for him, and although his assumption about a new barrage of questions was true, the one who would ask them was not. Instead of Celestia, another equine came down. this one was very similar to the princess, with the exception of her dark blue coat and mane, and the different mark on her flank, this one representing the moon. Does this have some kind of connection? Another thing he would have to find out later.

Maul closed his eyes once again, pretending to continue his meditation, it was a relief he was pretending, as the huge amounts of noise coming from the prisoners after Luna´s entrance were enough to anger the former sith lord.

He heard hooves approaching him, followed by ´I need to speak with the prisoner´and a ´Very well your majesty´. Majesty? Another princess? The queen?

"Good night creature." Luna spoke, her voice trying to be calmed. Maul didn´t answer. "It has come to my understanding that you negate to speak." Again, no answer, Luna was getting impatient. "It has also been of my understanding that you lost somepony recently." At last she got the former sith lord´s attention.

Maul opened his eyes, his gaze meeting with Luna´s, who was taken aback by his sight. Just as Celestia said, his eyes were unsettling, let alone the strange energy coming from him. Luna found herself sweating.

A few seconds passed before Luna decided to talk. "I just need to know your..."

"What is that image on your side?" At last he had spoken, his voice being calmed and low, but creepy enough to send chills down the princess of the night´s spine.

Luna took a few seconds to answer, after a shake from her head, of course. "T-this is my cutie mark, everypony has one, it tells you what you are good for."

"I see." Maul replied, his voice still calmed. He had one answer, but it was hard for him to know the meaning of her ´cutie mark´ as she called it, what was her connection to the moon? The former sith lord continued speaking. "That guard called you ´majesty´, are you the queen?"

"N-no, I´m the princess of Equestria." Luna answered, making Maul look at her with confusion.

"I thought Celestia was the princess."

"My sister and I share a co-rule." Luna answered again, on his part, Maul had his eyes wide open, was there any king or queen in this place?

"So, she´s your sister? Humm. I had a brother once."

"Once?" At first, Luna didn´t seem to get the meaning of Maul´s words, until he lowered his head in regret, an expression of anger, mixed with sadness was visible on his face, that´s when it hit her. "...I´m sorry."

"Don´t be." Maul answered, his eyes still shut off.

Luna took a few seconds to ask a question. "Could you at least tell me your name?"

The former sith lord opened his eyes again, and looked directly into Luna. Not long had passed before he spoke. "...Maul."

"Luna." The princess of the night said.

"A pleasure meeting you Princess Luna." Maul replied, standing up from his meditation pose.

Luna was getting more and more comfortable around Maul. "Where do you come from?"

"Far away from this planet, far away from the galactic war, that is IF this planet is in the outskirts of the outer rim."

Maul´s words stroke hard against the princess of the night, who found herself blinking more than usual. Their ´guest´ was from the outer space, from another planet. It was the first time in the history of Equis, were they had contact with an alien, truly an incredible discovery. Luna opened her mouth to speak, when suddenly...

"Hey Luna! Why don´t you come here and suck this!" One of the prisoners screamed while pointing with his hoof at his crotch. It wasn´t long before another joined, then another, then another. Luna tried to continue her talk with Maul, but was unable due to the recent circumstances, Maul however, had a furious look on his face.

Finally after a few seconds, the former sith lord exploded, and in a moment, every prisoner inside were levitated, each one of them grabbing their throats. Luna tried to think what to make out of this, until she spotted Maul, that power was clearly coming from him.

"Maul stop!" The former sith lord was too lost to listen. "MAUL!" Finally, every prisoner was released, all of them falling to the ground, and leaving a wide opened eyes Luna looking at him. "How? You channel your magic from your hands, but not from your... horns."

"Magic?" Maul was found dumbfounded, he knew magic pretty well, his mother being an expert at it, but this kind of power was unknown to him.

"You mean to tell me you don´t know about magic?" Luna asked.

"With all due respect, I would prefer to answer any questions you have with both you and your sister." Maul finally found his opportunity.

Luna took a few seconds to think of this offer, after that, she finally found the answer, but first she had to know something. "You could have spoken with my sister when she came before, you know? Why did you speak with me?"

"I´ve just returned from a loss." Luna cringed once she heard those words, of course, nopony would feel comfortable to speak after an event like that.

"Very well." Luna finally spoke. "You will be out of your cell tomorrow morning, I hope you will answer our questions by then." Was she serious? The creature had attacked both Twilight and Celestia, and she had just agreed to release him. Luna felt bad for him, so much in fact that she agreed to release him, the princess of the night knew very well what it is to loose family.

"Thank you, your majesty." Maul made a reverence as Luna turned around to leave the cell blocks but she went out, Luna turned to face the former sith lord,

"Good night Maul." He simply nodded as the princess of the night went outside.

It was done, he succeeded in reaching a pacific solution, it was only a matter of time before he would discover more about this world, and how it would all benefit him, he could certainly use everything this planet had to offer, there was a lot of potential, especially in that little purple mare. Then it stroke him, was she a princess as well? Another question he would ask later, for now, it was time to rest.

Maul walked towards the small bed behind him, and proceeded to rest, until...

"Hey! Freak! Once I get out of here, I will cut you in half!" One of the prisoners, the one who had spoken against Luna in fact, was threatening him, bad mistake.

Maul stood up from his bed, and walked towards one side of his cell, and looked directly at the pony.

"Hey! What´s wrong with you? Are you retarded or somethin... ugh!" ´Cut you in half´ not a pleasant thing to say to the former sith lord, this scum had hit a low point.

CRACK!

In the blink of an eye, the pony´s neck snapped, and seconds later, his body fell to the floor. Maul couldn´t help but to release a small smirk. Once again in his bed, the former sith lord stared at the ceiling, lost in thought; aside from the purple mare, Luna emanated a strange magic, a somewhat evil magic, almost resembling the dark side, although in small quantities. Many questions for him, luckily, the next day everything would be answered.