Step Into the Light

The Elements found themselves eating inside a small coffee shop located in the streets of Canterlot, chatting about the new guest. Although his story did seem genuine, they could not avoid the strange sensation they felt about him, a sensation shared by Celestia.

There was something about this sith that screamed alarm; from his unsettling calmness to his appearance. True, they were taught not to judge a book by its cover, but Maul was simply something else.

While ponies like Applejack and Rainbow were used to express this kind of feelings more openly, Twilight struggled with this, she had learned from her experience with Zecora and while she thought of herself as brave when the situation was presented, right now all she could feel towards Maul... was fear.

Her friends noticed it, the first time they saw her friend like that, complete and pure fear.

Suddenly, the young alicorn felt something landing on her shoulder, causing her to panic in reaction, however she calmed herself when she discovered it was just Applejack who had placed her hoof on her shoulder.

"Twi, calm down." She said. "Ah´ know you must feel terrified of Maul, but he hasn´t exactly done anything... not yet at least."

"So, you feel that too?" Twilight asked, her questions was answered by Rainbow.

"Twi, I don´t think there´s anypony who hasn´t felt something wrong about him." She proceeded to place both hoover on the table. "Dude´s evil I tell you!"

"What if he only wants a hug?" Pinkie asked innocently.

"Pinkie! You tried that before and he just simply backed away! Also, he killed a prisoner!" The rest in the table flinched at those words. "I don´t care what kind of sob-sob trauma he has, there is something wrong about him and you all feel the same way!"

Rarity spoke next. "I will not deny he sent shivers down my spine the first time I saw him, but still, life is full of surprises, is it not?" The rest turned to face her. "Maybe he just feels out of place."

"She´s got a point." Applejack said. "Still, Ah´m not going to take my eye off him." The farm pony turned to face Fluttershy, who was deep in thought. "What are you thinking about, sugarcube?"

Fluttershy lifted her head and stared at her companions, then released a sigh. "It´s just... when I stared into his eyes, an immense sense of dread invaded me, all I could see in him was hate." The group turned to face each other. "Huge, huge hate. Almost as if something had ripped humanity from him."

"you see!? Guy´s bad news!" Rainbow pushed and unlike previous times, they could not help but to agree with her, although Pinkie still had some hope.

"That still doesn´t answer our predicament," Twilight spoke, "what are we going to do with him?" The rest turned to face her, expecting her to come up with a plan, yes, she had asked the question, but it was normally her the one who came up with the ideas. The alicorn sighed. "Right now, we can do nothing, but that doesn´t mean we can´t keep an eye on him and as soon as something out of the ordinary happens, we´ll inform princess Celestia."

Everypony nodded, everypony was nervous, they just met Maul and the knew nothing about his intentions, yet he would be traveling with them back to Ponyville; nopony liked the idea.

Suddenly, just as if life was playing a prank on them, Maul and Luna showed up walking down the street and just a few meters away from the restaurant. Dash was the first to notice.

"Great, and there he is!" As soon as the words left her mouth, everypony turned to look at the Zabrak, who was indeed a few feet away.

Maul, on his part, could sense a disturbance, familiar sensations observing him and he wasn´t incorrect. The yellow gaze of the sith turned to stare at the mane six, with Fluttershy and Twilight being the only ones to avert the sight. The rest faked a smiling salute.

"How in tarnation did he hear us?" Applejack asked, her over exaggerated smile still in place.

"No idea!" Replied Rainbow.

Life played another joke on them, as they saw Maul turning to face Luna, seemingly telling her about the just found Elements, who in returns averted her gaze from the Zabrak to confirm his words and almost instantly uttered something with a smile on her face, followed by a sudden change of course from the duo.

"Oh no, here he comes." Rainbow muttered as silently as she could, getting nervous stares from the rest of the group.

"Be nice girls, be nice." Muttered Rarity, receiving a nod in return.

As Zabrak and alicorn came closer, Rainbow noticed the cold stare from Maul eating her, she gulped and averted her gaze.

"Kind of funny to find you here." Said Luna, who had now arrived to their place.

The Elements had no problems with the princess of the night joining them, but rather the devil looking creature alongside her, still, they noticed the unusual good mood of the princess.

"I take you are enjoying this place as much as I am." Said Maul, wanting to ease the mood that he clearly felt being bad. He noticed that even after his little show, some of them still did not trust him.

"Hi princess, hi Maul!" Said a cheerful Pinkie. "Why don´t you come and sit with us?" As fast as her usual reactions, the group gave a silent plead, wishing for them to say no.

On her part, Pinkie received a shoulder hit under the table. "Ouch! Why did you hit me with your elbow Rainbow?" Maul arched an eyebrow at this, while Rainbow facehoofed

The Zabrak turned to look at Luna. "It seems we have arrived at the wrong time, a shame really, I really wanted to know you a bit more with time." The Elements, nervously turned to look at each other. “Instead, It seems my past has alerted you, which was not my intention.”

Lowering her head, Rainbow muttered to avoid being heard by the Zabrak. “Creepy dude.”

“Dash!” Exclaimed the princess, her face holding a frown at the pegasus´ words. “You will treat our guest with respect as I´m sure he would treat you.”

On his part, Maul gritted his teeth, mentally preparing himself to let go of her insult. It wasn´t long before he swallowed his pride and let out a hearty laugh. “Don´t worry, Luna, I understand the appearance of a Zabrak can be unsettling, but at least we don´t try to hide it.”

Contrary to Rainbow´s sudden anger, Luna let out a chuckle. I was good for her to know that Maul was not easily provoked as she initially thought, however, she did notice the hard time he was getting when trying to get close to the Elements. The six friends were not known for being friendly and even if she could understand how they felt about Maul´s appearance, it did not justify the way they treated him. Taking this into consideration, Luna had an idea.

“Very well, girls.” She started. “I have some things to do right now and I can´t accompany Maul any further, maybe you could show him Canterlot on my behalf.”

“What!?” A collective reply ensued after Luna´s request, who couldn´t help but to frown at their response, even though she had expected them to answer like this.

“I thought you Elements were known for your kindness, do you really want to let down that title?” Luna asked.

The Elements once more turned to look at each other, clearly nervous about the princess´ decision. They had no trust in Maul, still, Luna was right, it was their duty to show that friendship could make the difference, besides, they could keep an eye on the Zabrak, while looking for anything suspicious about him.

After a few seconds of silence, which Luna took as an answer, the Elements prepared to greet the Zabrak, who had turned around towards Luna.

“I guess I´ll be seeing you later, Luna, after these six show me around.”

The princess grinned. “Don´t worry about the Elements, Maul, give them a chance, I´m sure they´ll come around sooner or later.”

“I hope so.” In reality, he did not. Maul cared little about the six, but he was not going to state that publicly.

With that, Luna turned to look at the Elements, giving them a nod with her head before parting ways with the Zabrak, who decided to take sit alongside them.

The ambience was rather awkward, with none of the beings present talking, or even making a move. Maul noticed it and it was exasperating him, there was simply no other thing he hated more than a speechless buffoon, less a community of them.

He looked from Pinkie to Rarity, trying to find a way to start a conversation, when suddenly he spotted the shaking Twilight.

“So, princess Twilight...” The poor alicorn couldn´t help but to give a small scream of surprise from Maul´s sudden call of her name. “It has come to my attention that princess Celestia is your former teacher.” Twilight carefully nodded. “Then that must mean you know plenty of magic, tell me, how good are you with it?”

Puzzled, Twilight simply replied with a ´hm?´, which caused Maul to roll his eyes before letting out a tired sigh.

“I said, how good are you with magic?”

“For you information, Twilight here is the best magic user in all of Equestria!” Suddenly, before the alicorn could even answer, Rainbow jumped in to speak for her friend, which caused Maul to look at her with an annoyed look. “She is so good that Celestia made her an alicorn!”

Maul looked from the proud pegasus to the shaking Twilight, thinking about Rainbow´s words. “So, you were not always an alicorn?” Twilight shook her head, making Maul place a hand under his chin. “Interesting.”

“What is interesting?” Finally, Twilight asked, slowly letting her fear of the Zabrak go.

“Its nothing.” Answered Maul. “Its just that I didn´t know magic could change one´s race.”

The Elements remained in silence for a few seconds, before Twilight decided to calm herself enough to speak again.

“What about you?” Maul turned to look at her. “You told us you were no strange to magic either.”

“It is true that I inherited some of my mother´s traits, however, I am not as advanced as your princesses or even you.” Twilight nodded in response. “It is the force the one that sustains me and gives me strength.”

“You sure sound like you have lots of faith in this force.” Applejack said, entering the conversation.

Maul turned to look at her. “Why wouldn´t I? It is the thing that give us everything, that maintains our lives as living things and bind us together.”

“Actually.” Said Twilight. “We´ve been talking about something regarding you.”

Maul grunted. “And you sure didn´t even try to make unnoticeable.” He said, letting know the young princess that he had heard them.

The princess gave him a sheepish smile, it was true, their were pretty terrible at speaking about somepony without said person noticing, however, this was the time when she could learn something important. “I´ve been meaning to ask you, why does your aura feels...”

“Dark?” Maul finished for her, making Twilight give him a nervous nod for response. “The planet where I come from, Is a place full of dark magic. My race learned throughout the ages how to control this kind of practice.”

“Are you part of a coven?” Asked Rarity.

“Normally, male Zabraks are not allowed to enter this... ´coven´, in my planet, females are the predominant race and they are the ones that conform this sisterhood: the nightsisters.”

“Then, how can you use magic?” Asked Twilight.

Maul clenched his fist upon the incoming memory, even if he was a sith, the loss of his blood was something that weighted on his shoulders. “My mother, she... She was the leader of the sisterhood, until the end of her days...”

The Elements turned to look at each other in the midst of the awkward situation, not exactly knowing what to do, until Twilight decided to break the silence. “I... Guess this would be a good time to show you around.”

Wanting to end the awkward conversation, Twilight started walking, the rest of the group following closely to their friend, while keeping an eye on the former lord, who in return, did his best to ignore them and keep his anger in check. "So, where are we going?" Maul asked, doing his best to avoid the others´ gaze.

"To the outskirts of the kingdom." Answered Twilight, as she kept walking, not taking her eyes off the road.

Concerned loos were shared amongst the rest of the Elements, who shared worried looks, then, without wasting any moment, Rainbow approached Twilight as close as she could to stop Maul from listening. "Hey!" She called the young princess, getting a ´hm?´as a response. "Don´t you think it would be a bit dangerous for us to be alone with this weirdo?"

On his part, Maul couldn´t help but to roll his eyes at the not so subtle whispering of the rainbow maned pegasus. Maul hated having to withstand a buffoon and not be able to kill it, but he had to remain patient, as such, he shrugged off the pegasus´ shenanigans to ask Twilight another question. "Why the outskirts?"

"Figure you would like to get a look at Ponyville," she answered,before casting a quick look towards the Zabrak, "considering, you know... you´re coming with us."

"Not too kin about the fact, are you?" Maul was certainly not a fool, he had noticed the expression Twilight had given him, a worried look that told the former sith to ease any negative thought on the alicorn. So far, and even though she had resented his attempt at killing her, Twilight seemed to be the most optimal option to ensure a calm stay in Ponyville. If he could convince her that he would not hurt them, she would most certainly convince the others of the same, if not just keep them at ease.

The Zabrak allowed himself an internal smirk, he just loved how easy someone could convince a crowd of your intentions just by fooling the head of the crowd, and Equestria was certainly no different, still, if what Luna told him was true (And it certainly seemed like it), it would take him quite some convincing and time to keep the rest of them away from him and give him enough time to at least complete his check list.

Noticing that her last sentence may have seemed quite hostile, she did her best to hide some of the fear she had left for the Zabrak and did her best to smile. "I didn´t mean that." Twilight had remembered back when the whole Zecora debacle happened and she didn´t want it to repeat itself with Maul. Looks could certainly be deceiving.

"I understand your concerns, Twilight, although, different from the master I used to serve, I do not seek the barbarity of a conquer." Maul´s words put an end to Twilight´s thoughts, as she gave one quick look at the Zabrak behind her. "And I thought I already made that more than clear."

Rainbow, who had gone back Maul and with the rest of the group, did her best to once more talk under her breath, this time with the intention of Maul listen to her. "It´s not like we´ve had plenty of other ugly psychos wanting to destroy town in the past." As a result, she received a scolding look from Twilight. "What?"

Rolling her eyes, Twilight looked from Rainbow to Maul, before placing her eyes on the outskirts laying ahead of them. "Don´t take that harshly, Maul, Equestria is not as peaceful as it may seem."

"It certainly is more than the galaxy I come from." Maul answered, dismissing his memory with a wave of his hand, as if the memories didn´t affect him, suddenly, a pink thing appeared over his head, forcing Maul to look at a pair of blue eyes staring at him.

"Why didn´t anypony in your galaxy made a big fun fun party for everypony?" Pinkie asked, before she felt an invisible force grab her and put her on the ground.

"I... don´t think a party would resolve an intergalactic war." Answered Maul, who much to his surprise, heard a chuckle from the orange mare he knew as Applejack. "You find find that amusing?" He asked, casting a side glance to the mare.

"Wha...? No, it´s just that Ah´m trying to picture that." Answered Applejack, giving one small jump at Maul´s questioning look and all of the power that came from that pair of yellow eyes.

"I´m with Applejack on this one." Said Twilight, noticing the nervous look of Applejack. "I have read of wars before, but I can´t simply imagine one that covers an entire galaxy." As she said this, Twilight took notice of the place she had intended to go, as they were just a few feet away from what Maul could call a sight to be remembered. The yellow sky signaling the approach of sundown, the gentle air of the outskirt´s height, the beauty of their town.

The young princess looked at the cold attitude of Maul, as he passed by her to see the town of Ponyville in the distance and with so much attention that it almost seemed like he was memorizing it. For Twilight, it surprised her more the fact that Maul seemed to be completely absent of the fact he had seen a war, as if it was a simple thing without importance. "How can you be so calmed about that?"

"You get used to it." The Zabrak answered, not taking his eyes from Ponyville. He would not say it, but Maul was analyzing the entirety of the town, trying to memorize the place as much as he could, just in case it could come in handy.

Twilight, noticing the Zabrak´s attention, gave a few steps to the front, followed by the rest of the group, who later found themselves alongside the former sith. "I don´t think you simply get used to it, I mean, you literally lost every-"

"War is something I have left behind." Maul interrupted, finally taking his eyes off Ponyville to look at Twilight. "Right now, I only find interest in what is up ahead for me."

Rainbow had noticed the Zabrak´s expression as he overlooked the town and gave him an uneasy look. "I´m not sure I feel good hearing you say that, and less when you look at Ponyville with an evil look."

Maul groaned in desperation, rolling his eyes as he gazed at the pegasus. "I was referring to my life." Taking one deep breath, the Zabrak returned his sight towards Ponyville. "The reason I chose to come with you to Ponyville, Is because I wanted to see if it was the place where I could settle down." Maul figured this decision would bring problems to these ponies and therefore give problems to him and he didn´t need a liability. The force had come to him with an interesting aura that emanated from Ponyville, which he felt for a moment before it dissipated, but Maul knew this wasn´t something unimportant, he needed to know what it was or rather who it was and how he or she could serve him.

"Settle down? You mean, like..." Another voice had put an end to his thoughts which he soon recognized as Applejack, who, as the rest of the group, held a worried expression.

Maul knew he had to solve this problem right now if he wanted to be close to the force call, bringing the topic now would ensure they would not bother him in the future, if he managed to keep them at ease of his intentions. The Zabrak had to admit he was not as convincing as his former master, but he wasn´t bad either. Leaving his sight from Ponyville, Maul turned his body towards the expecting group. "I am a free Zabrak, my life is not dominated by the orders of a madman anymore." Keeping his emotions in check, Maul softened his expression to one that could look more convincing than his permanent cold expression. "I just want a peaceful end, far away from the hatred of war and the pain it can bring." As soon as the words left his mouth, his expression turned back into the unreadable puzzle of a cold stare, then looked back at Ponyville. "When are we leaving Canterlot?"

Twilight shared a look with the rest of the group, as a collective worry was shared between them, then gazed back at the Zabrak. "Tomorrow morning."

"Terrific." Maul answered in half a groan. "Is there anything else to see?"

"Nothing too interesting." Responded Twilight, whose words made Maul react, as he turned his body and started walking towards the exit of the park, forcing the rest to follow him.

"Then I guess we head back to the castle." He said, sensing the anger coming from Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity for forcing them to follow him, but instead of bothering, it made Maul smile inwardly. "Is everyone in this planet a pony?"

Twilight, who was so far the only to actually bother answering questions, took the chance to sped up the chase and catch up with the Zabrak, who was now walking through Canterlot´s streets. "We have plenty of races like Griffons, horses, manticores, donkeys, cows, dragons-"

"Dragons?" Maul interrupted, showing surprise not by the mention of such a beast, but because of the numerous species that would normally be dangerous, then raising an eyebrow, he casted one glance towards the whole group behind him. "How have you managed to defend your land?"

Twilight allowed herself to give away a smile, remembering the past fights that had been freed with a certain power. "As you can see we have mastered a very powerful strength." She answered, giving one quick look to her friends who smiled at her in response.

"Magic?" Asked Maul, almost certain that was the answer, but the actual one would actually surprise him and more so because of the expression Twilight held.

"Friendship..." Maul had to admit it, it wouldn´t be hard for him to chuckle at that response, but considering he needed to be on their good side as much as he could, he only allowed himself to give Twilight an amused look, who answered back with an almost mocking grin, almost as if she had been expecting the Zabrak´s reaction. "What?"

"Nothing," answered Maul, "I´m just not sure how holding... hooves, and singing a song would help you from intruders."

Rolling her eyes, Twilight let a chuckle escape her her lips. "You are underestimating Friendship, Maul." She said. "Thanks to it, three different races of ponies came together to form an union."

"I see, strength by the numbers of you allies." Maul explained, noticing how close they were getting to the castle.

"And it has been kept like that for many generations." The young princess explained, gazing towards the numerous ponies walking through the streets.

This time, Maul didn´t bother to answer and simply kept walking in silence, silently thinking about Twilight´s words and the fact that Earth ponies, Unicorns and Pegasi where once rival races, which would actually allow him to have some fun and see how each of them reacted, especially Twilight whose magic prowess interested the Zabrak, however, both his smile and thoughts soon came to an end as a pink thing placed itself on top of his head, before its large blue eyes made contact with his. Maul wasn´t one to get scared so easily, especially when he was the one who scared the other, but he couldn´t avoid jumping in surprise at the sudden apparition of Pinkie, which surprised the Zabrak considering how he could not feel her. "And then we held hooves, sang a song and eat sweets forever!"

Maul, trying to shrug off the mystery that was that certain pink pony, simply ignored Pinkie and reached to her with his hand, before placing her on the floor. His eyes then gave a quick look at the ponies behind him, as he prepared himself to test their reactions to each other´s rivalries. He knew they held no strong presence of the force, but then again, one never knew what would happen. "So... which race is the stronger?"

"Ah beg your pardon?" Applejack was the first to react, cocking her head to the side in confusion.

"You heard me, I asked which race was the stronger." Maul repeated, this time getting the attention of Twilight, who stopped Applejack as she was about answer, almost sensing what would come from this question.

"There are no stronger or weaker races between us, Maul."

Maul gave Twilight an amused look as a response, before motioning towards her with his hand. "Well, you have magic." He said, before gazing at Applejack, who kept looking at him in confusion. "I bet your friend´s race has strength, and..." Then a moment he had waited for, to tick the thick headed Rainbow Dash, and how much he savored the moment that was building up. "She just flies."

Just as Maul had predicted, the pegasus´ pride stroke hard against her, something visible by the red coloration on her face and the killer look she was giving him. "Just fly? Dude, I´m not only stronger, I´m also the fastest flyer in all of Equestria!" Rainbow answered, flying close to the unamused Zabrak.

Maul stopped in his tracks, looking at Rainbow for a few seconds, before a smirk appeared on his face, then turned back to look at Applejack. "She just said she was stronger," noticing the changing expression of the farmpony, the Zabrak directed his sight towards FLuttershy, "and she didn´t even count you as a fast flyer."

"Oh, I don´t mind." The shy pegasus answered, half surprising Maul, who was beginning to wonder the thing that could tick Fluttershy off His thoughts would soon come to a stop, as Applejack finally reacted to Rainbow´s answer.

"Not trying to start anything, but aren´t Ah stronger than you?"

"That´s not what I meant, Applejack." Answered Rainbow, not noticing the smug on the Zabrak´s face.

"She totally did." Maul said before the farm pony could speak, then turned around once more and started walking, giving half hearted laugh as he extended his arms to his sides. "Aren´t differences wonderful?" He had not payed any mind that neither rarity or Pinkie had stepped into the discussion, but he did notice their expression, almost telling him that something similar had happened to them in the past.

Applejack, who as the rest had started walking, frowned s Maul´s words, his sudden need to point differences ticking her off, especially considering they were her friends. "We´re not so different," regardless of her loyalty to the group, Applejack had to admit she hated Rainbow´s ego regarding her abilities, something that reflected on the stare she gave the pegasus as she turned to look at her, "although earth ponies ARE stronger than pegasi."

Rainbow crossed her front hooves, as she kept flying alongside the farmpony, then gave her an unamused look. "Well, I´ve beaten you."

On her part Twilight had taken notice of Maul´s delight to the conflict that was forming between the farmpony and the pegasus and decided this was the time to step in before things went out of context, forcing her to step between the two mares. "Both of you are great in your own way, you shouldn´t be fighting for that." Noticing the two of them relaxing their muscles, Twilight sped up her pace, looking one last time to her two friends. "We´re all friends here, remember?" With that, the alicorn placed herself alongside the amused Zabrak, who even though, had taken notice of Twilight, chose to ignore her. "Maul, what the heck are you doing?" The Zabrak turned to look at her, and expression of fake confusion appeared on his face, only angering Twilight further. "That wasn´t nice, at all."

Maul, far from frowning, chuckled in response. "My apologies, I guess old habits die hard." He answered, continuing his walk as if nothing had happened. Along the way, he gave one quick look behind him and towards the ponies. They weren´t angry with each other, on the contrary, they looked like always, playing and chatting between them. "You friends are very united, something I have not seen in a long time."

Twilight gave him an angry look and even though, she understood where he was coming from, she couldn´t shake the feeling that Maul had done that out of his own sake. Sure, he had been friendly-ish, but that strange aura still haunted Twilight to her core. How much could she trust Maul?

Regardless, he had given them close to no reason for them not to trust him, which brought her back to a dilemma. Twilight couldn´t allow him to roam without supervision for the time being, but none of the girls were eager to take him to their home.

Suddenly, an idea crossed Twilight´s mind. She had found a place for Maul and in fact it was hers. The library, the home that was destroyed by Tirek.

She had spent some time trying to repair it and even though, it would never be the same again, Twilight could at least make it recognizable. True, it was impossible for her to create the tree, so she had to use what little she had to form a generic house. With this in mind, she wen´t to Maul´s side. "About Ponyville, I think I may know a place."

Maul gave her one side glance. He was expecting Twilight to send him to one of her friends´ houses, considering how little he believed they would leave him to his businesses. These ponies did not trust him yet, but he still had the opportunity to change that, at least to avoid the bothersome of having some of them keeping an eye on him all the time, especially if it was Rainbow. If this was the case, he could at least mentally torture her and disguise it as a friendly game... actually, It didn´t seem like such a bad idea to the Zabrak.

Setting those thoughts aside, Maul looked back at Twilight. "Really, and how would I pay you?"

"Don´t worry about that, Maul, as far as I´m concerned you are a war refugee." She answered, shaking her head in response. The answer was received by a nod from Maul, before he sped up his walk, leaving a worried alicorn behind. "I just hope this whole thing goes well."