Step Into the Light

A week had passed since Maul arrived in Equestria and all was starting to go back to normal. The citizens of ponyville felt more at ease around the Zabrak and panic had almost ceased entirely, quite an achievement considering Maul's characteristics, still, for the alien himself there was a strange mistery going around him.

Luna had felt him and regardless of how much he wanted to hide his discontent, the night princess knew this sensation existed.

She was almost sure it was the Force Maul was always talking about and regardless of how much she wanted to tell him, there was something stopping her from doing so,something she still couldn't identify, as such,she did her best to let it past until the moon princess felt it was the right time, in the end, Maul wasn't going anywhere.

This thought prevented her from visiting him the last two days of the week, that and the Zabrak's insistence on reading the rest of the books Twilight had lent him. Luna thought it was funny, an egghead with horns.

However, not everyday would go as peacefully as the rest of the week, for in that day, both she and her sister were expecting a certain mad Griffon king to visit and possibly wage war.

Luna walked through the spacious hallway of the castle and towards the throne room where her sister was expecting her. The night princess hoped the exchange would go smooth and fast so she could go to Ponyville and visit her Zabrak friend.

With that thought helping her smile a bit, Luna placed a hoof over the enormous door and pushed. "Morning sis." She greeted Celestial, who was sitting on her throne, clearly deep in though.

"Luna." The sun princess replied, coldness in her voice and not due to anger but of concern.

It was weird to see Celestial like that, so much that when it was the case, it was usually troublesome. Walking right to her, Luna placed a hoof over her sister's shoulder. "Celly, what´s wrong?"

The sun princess made a 'hmm?' as a response, noticing Luna's expecting expression. Her trance had been broken and reacted almost instantly at the moon princess' presence. Releasing a sigh, she locked eyes with her sister. "I´m just worried about Twilight and her friends."

That was all she needed to hear. Regardless of the newcomer's calmness, she could understand her sister's concern. "Because of Maul?" She asked already knowing the answer. Shaking her head, Luna removed her hoof from Celestina's shoulder. "Well, he hasn´t exactly given us a reason to doubt him."

Celestia deadpanned at this. "Aside from his amusing introduction."

Luna rolled her eyes as an answer. "Yes, aside from that." True, first impressions had been definitely hostile, but then again, one should expect a reaction like that after such a loss. "He had a reason though."

"I know, but there is something about him..." This comment set Luna on edge. "I really don´t know how to put it."

Wanting to divert attention until she discovered why she was feeling that connection to Maul, Luna used the most obvious answer. "Its called the Force, sis."

It did it's work, as Luna's smug made Celestia chuckle at the moon princess' words.

Her interest soon shifted towards the whole mythology surrounding Maul, especially the two factions he had spoken about before. "His speech left me thinking." Celestia finally said. "Jedi, Sith." She began, taking into account the nature of Maul's affiliation and his rather devious personality. "He said evil and good were just mere points of view, but there are social laws that can´t be broken by what could be considered... evil."

"You incline more to evil?" Asked Luna.

With clear confusion on her face, Celestia shook her head. She had this sort of feeling whenever someone rubs her the wrong way, plus a rather calurous and thin veil of hatred following the Zabrak. "I don´t know, its just that this 'Force' of his feels... hot."

Luna chuckled at this, a smirk appearing on her features. "Getting exited so soon?"

Her worried expression was fast to vanish as it was replaced with a deadpan. "You know what I´m referring to, Luna."

Luna chuckled. "I know."

Releasing a sigh, Celestia knew Luna wasn't simply taking her seriously and wondered if it had anything to do with familiarity, a sensation the sun princess herself, had felt before. Regardless of how calurous Maul was towards Luna and vice versa, the sun princess needed to be on her hooves as well as her sister. "I will have to keep an eye on him, and you should too."

Luna simply shook her head with a roll from her eyes. For her, Celestia was simply exaggerating and maybe was afraid of the mist of danger surrounding the Zabrak, that if she had to be honest, found quite exciting. "Already thinking on it." She said, trying to please her sister.

This action did not convince Celestia, as she grew annoyed at her sister's lack of seriousness. Suddenly the main doors opened, interrupting whatever Celestia was about to tell her.

From the entrance, a royal guard made haste towards the sister's, his face showing urgency which got the attention of the princesses.

"Your majesty!" Finally said the guard, after a respectful bow. "Red Claw has just arrived."

A sigh and a grunt were suddenly heard coming from the royal sisters, with Celestia placing a hoof over her forehead. It was an understatement to say she was worried about Maul being in Ponyville and having a potential enemy with strong military power just made things worse.

With an annoyed look, Ce!estia looked at her sister. "This can´t end good."

Luna tried to calm Celestia by giving her the warmest of smiles. "When has it always."

She had a point, Ponyville was very known for its battles and constant overlords trying to take over, still, it did little to ease the situation. Giving a deep breath, the sun princess looked at the guard. "Let him pass."

The guard gave her a cordial bow before disappearing behind the door. Suddenly, a grunt caught Celestia's attention, as she looked at her sister. "This Griffon is stepping out of line." Luna said.

"I know, but we need to maintain peace with them, we cannot allow Equestria go to war for such a trivial misunderstanding."

Luna rolled her eyes as a response. "There would not be if Red Claw wasn´t the one at the Griffon throne." The whole thing was pretty recent, a few days before Maul arrived at most. Both sister's figured the sudden need for land was more due to a personal vendetta from the mad king than anything else. Sadly, the Griffon had an entire army at his disposal. "He just feeds lies to his followers."

"Still, he is the king of his people, and the one we have to maintain friendship with." Celestia replied, noticing the displeased look on Luna's face. She couldn't blame her sister, after all, Red Claw wasn't really loved both inside and outside his kingdom.

Soon enough, Celestia heard the familiar sound of claws against marmol, causing her to release a sigh. "He´s coming." She said, both sister's turning to face the entrance as they waited for the Griffin. With that, Celestia gave Luna a quick glance. "I have the feeling this meeting will be unpleasant."

Moments after, the main door was opened by a royal guard, who gave way to an old Griffon, his fur black and his hair red. His eyes looked tired and his expression held an air of grandeur. Both Celestia and Luna wondered is somepony had ever called the king a petulant little griffon on his life, because that seemed to be the most accurate description for him.

A smile appeared on his face, more acted up than the king himself intended, not that he cared. "Princess Celestia, and princess Luna."

Releasing a more experienced fake smile from her own, Celestia gave her sister one last quick glance. "Friendly face, Luna." She didn't hear.

"It has been a while since I saw you." Greeted the king, eyeing the castle as he didn't even bother to look at the princesses.

"By a while you mean a week, Rec Claw?" Replied Celestia, half-wanting to break the ice and half-annoyed.

Her passive-agressive nature didn't go unnoticed by the king, whose smile disappeared, as a serious expression made it to his face. "How´s the kingdom?"

"Same as the last time you saw it." Answered Luna, giving a step up front as a sign of authority.

Red Claw noticed this as well and gave the night princess a frown. "Well, things tend to change." He replied, looking back at Celestia. "Like the seize of my land."

Noticing Luna's rapid change of mood and anger, Celestia quickly interjected. "Would you prefer to discuss this at the table?"

"As long as you don´t waste my time, Celestia, remember I could cut off communications with Equestria."

"We certainly do not need that," replied the sun princess, her expression serious as well. "for both of us."

With that, Celestia motioned with her wing towards the entrance, where a royal guard was soon to open the doors, letting the three of them to go out, with Celestia and Luna going up front.

The silence was uncomfortable to say the least and Celestia was silently wishing things wouldn't get out of hoof, but considering Red Claw's... Condition and Luna's temperament, the sun princess had hunch that a peaceful solution wouldn't be possible.

It wasn't long until they arrived at the royal dinning room, where royal chiefs were already working hard to place food on the table. Fruit, cake and hay for the princesses, plus a plate of meat for the griffon.

In a few minutes, everypony and griffon was sitting in place, ready to eat before the incoming storm took them.

Silence took hold of the room as both parties warily eated, until Red Claw took the opportunity to watch his surroundings, before his gaze met Celestia's. "Quite the sight." Said the griffon. "And I thought dragons were greedy." The obvious venenous statement caught the ire of Luna, who instantly frowend at the mad king. "Do I amuse you, princess Luna?"

She gave a faint snarl in return. "I assure you, only those things that matter amuse me."

After those words left her mouth, Celestia could already see the confrontation from mile away, for Red Claw, though, he had an amused expression, almost as if he was enjoying whatever his next sentence was.

"Somepony´s not happy to receive my presence, right Luna?" Finally said the mad king, a sadistic smile appeared on his fetures. The sun princess wondered if the bastard had been thinking his next words for the past minutes. "Why is an exiled nutjob that doesn´t even know how to maintain a kingdom, bothering me?" He exclaimed. "I thought your sister taught you better."

Upon his words, Luna stood up, her horn ready to shoot before Celestia lifted her hoof to stop her sister. "We should probably sit, I have a few delicacies I know you will find of your liking."

That seemed to get the attention of the king, who instantly looked from Luna to Celestia as sallyba poured from his mouth. "A Griffon eating meat in front of an alicorn," Red Claw licked his beak, giving Celestia a dirty look. "would that amuse you?" Soon enough and much to the sun princess' relief, the royal chef came to Red Claw and placed a tray in front of him, which had a big piece of meat underneath. Almost instantly, the mad king stopped mentally savoring Celestia to focus on the plate. "Well, how would I say no to this delicious food?"

As the griffon devoured the meat, Luna and Celestia exchanged a quick glance. Her sister had an frown on her face and figured that would be the best time for Celestia to ease things up. "So, how are things at Griffonstone?"

Liking his claws, Red Claw looked back at Celestia. "Things are well, princess Celestia, things are well." Picking up a natpkin, the griffon cleaned up his beak from any left trace of blood. "Just a few minor inconveniences regarding a certain land that belongs to us." Celestia had mentally facehoofed so hard that the mad king could have heard it. "But I told my people they should not worry, I told them Equestria´s princesses were wise." With that, Red Claw gave Celestia an inquisitive look. "Are you wise, Celestia?"

Once more trying to break the ice, Celestia smiled. "Well, I have a few thousand years behind me."

The griffon looked at her for a few seconds in silence, his expression unchaching, before he locked eyes with Luna again. "And what about you?" Celestia mentally sighed. "Are you wise, or you just pretend to be?" The night princess didn't answer and simply looked back at her plate.

On his part, Red Claw chuckled. "A shadow will always be a shadow."

From her place, Celestia could see a vein popping up on her sister's forehad. The king would not stop playing and she figured the best course of action is to get the main topic on track and hope for the best. "With all due respect, king Red Claw, but I believe there are a few things we have to sort out."

Looking back at the sun princess, Red Claw smiled. "Of course, of course." He said, placing both of his claws over the table. "So... regarding my lands?" He asked. "You have not forgotten that after the Griffon wars, you ponies seized most of our territories on this side of the globe, have you?"

"I remember, but I also remember most if not every of those territories were already given back to your kingdom after the peace treaty."

Instantly, Red Claw took the glass of wine alongside him and threw it away towards the nearest wall, shattering in the process. "Ah! And here we go again with the lies." He exclaimed, pointing with his finger towards the sun princess. "No wonder almost every race has a bone to pick up with Equestria." He said. "Both the leaders and their subjects are the lowest of the low! No honor, no justice."

"With all due respect-"

"Respect there is not!" Interrupted Red Claw before Celestia could even finish.

The sun princess however, did her best to remain calm, regardless of the serious expression that had alpeared on her face. "With all due respect, I would like you to check a map, and see for yourself the once former Griffon territories are back under the control of your kingdom."

"Check a map..." He snarled. "Then tell me, how is it that I haven´t seen any Griffon in the surrounding areas of Ponyville and Canterlot?"

"We have a few colonies, Red Claw, it´s not our fault the rest decide to live in other places." Celestia replied, her body erguing towards the griffon as she placed both hooves over the table, her wings spreading dangerously. "As I said before, check a map."

There was a faint glint of fear on the mad king after Celestia's intimidation, which seemed to have shut him up... Sadly, she was mistaken. "Grew too frustrated with your sister, did you?" He said, maintaining eye contact with Celestia, who was now snarling at the king. She knew exactly what he was about to do. "I don´t blame you, any animal would take too long to learn after being abandoned."

Before Luna could react, Celestia crashed her hoof against the table, shattering it while dangerously looking at the mad king. "That is enough, Red Claw! I thought you came here to set a peaceful solution to our problem, but I will have to take this matter on my hooves if you do not stop with this foolish ego showcase!"

Red Claw, different from before, was now calm. His voice, however, gave away a threatening poison. "Careful, Celestia, you are asking for a war."

"I am only asking for the rage of Griffonstone´s foul king!" She spatted out, already tired with the griffon. "You think your subjects would follow the steps of a royal failure? We are not unprotected, Red Claw, we ponies know how to defend ourselves."

She finished, giving deep breaths as Luna looked at her with wide open eyes. Red Claw, however, was playing with a knive that was still on the table.

A few moments of silence e passed before the griffon looked from the knive to Celestia, his voice low and calm. "It has come to my attention you have received a rather... special guest."

Both Luna and Celestia were instantly shaken up by that statement. The sun princess did her best to fake innocence. "How is that relevant?"

"I have heard he is not from this planet." Replied the mad king, managing to get Celestia on a loss for words. "Careful with the kind of guests you receive, Celestia, one would think you are forming an alliance with something we do not understand." He said. "Keep my land, there will be problems; conquer our lands, there will be blood." With that threat, Red claw stood from his place. "I will be back once you are not feeling so high and mighty, by then I expect you to take the wise choice." Turning around, he dismissed both sisters with his claw. "Good meat."

Celestia watched as the mad king pushed the royal guard waiting by the door and out of the way, before getting out and slamming the heavy wooden entrance. Now that they were alone, the sun princess released a deep sigh. "Well, that went smooth." She said, but got no answer in response. Looking alongside her, Celestia spotted Luna looking at her plate with a pained expression. "Luna..."

Upon the gentle call of her sister, Luna looked up and locked eyes with Celestia, trying to give her a smile, but failing miserably. "I´m okay, sis." She said, a frown taking hold of her features as she eyes the door before looking back at the sun princess. "It was hard for me not to disintegrate him."

Smiling, Celestia placed a hoof over Luna's shoulder. "Well, I admit you controlled yourself pretty well, although if you had actually done it, I would not blame you."

Luna ruturned the gesture, although less excitedly, before a worried expression appeared on her face. "You think he´ll proceed?"

Removing her hoof from Luna's shoulder, Celestia's expression turned serious, concern clearly visible on her features. "I hope not."

If having a mad king seeking to create conflict was bad enough, him knowing about a certain Zabrak was worse. "Sis..." Lu a called out, getting the attention of Celestia. "He knew about Maul, how did he know?"

"I don´t know, Luna, maybe there were a few Griffon spies keeping an eye." She said, however, the alien wasn't of much concern right then for the princess. "I´m more worried about an attack."

An attack was very likely and the safety of Ponyville as a frontline was at risk, however, interestingly enough, Luna felt something else. Standing up, she locked eyes with her sister. "I should tell Maul about this." She told Celestia, before turning around and spreading her wings to fly away. "Better to leave everything clear, before we have a chance to regret anything."

Celestia chuckled at these, before giving Luna a teasing smile. "You really spend time with him."

Luna rolled her eyes, ascending into the air as she got ready to depart. "I´ll be back." With that, Luna flew out of the castle, making haste to meet with the Zabrak and let him know of the possible danger of Red Claw, strangely enough, she wasn't worried.

Maybe Maul was worse.

A week had passed for Maul, a week since he arrived at Equestria, at the unknown planet outside the Outer Rim and far away from the intergalactic conflict and Sidious. He had not seen Luna for three days and none of the other ponies had approached him since they went to deal with some 'equality' bantha crap at a camp away from Ponyville.

Thinking back at his own Galaxy, the Clone wars must be continuing in his absence for sure, as the Force felt the same way, regardless of the thin veil of darkness as if something dark was approaching, maybe the end of the war, who knows?

As of that moment, Maul was preoccupied with other things, mainly his position and place in the undiscovered planet. He was no longer a sith, that much was true, but he didn't serve the light either.

The only good thing of his predicament was Eqiestria's quiet nature, where even it's inhabitants, for as pathetic and easy to scare as they were, didn't bother him in the slightest, making it easier for the Zabrak to find himself in the position where he was at the moment.

Sitting a top an enormous rock, alongside a waterfall, laid the former sith assassin, meditating as the relaxing sound of nature made his concentration all the more accessible, even for the place he was in.

Maul had chosen the Everfree forest as meditation spot for it's welcoming nature of the dark side, an ideal place where he could feel truly at home, none to bother him.

He had to admit his surprise on how respectful ponies where, case in point Fluttershy had made it to his location and while the pegasus may have thought Maul never noticed her, the Zabrak had felt her from miles away. He knew the shy pony had most likely recognized that he was meditating and opted not to interrupt his trance. And in such a trance he was.

The power of the Force cursed through him, almost feeling as if he was under the waterfall instead of the rock as it's welcoming nature was something Maul welcomed with open arms.

This connection allowed him to sense Equestria itself and in that moment, the power surge he had felt a few days ago, was once more occurring. It was darkened to the point where the Zabrak couldn't find it's exact location, but it was close by, in Equestria, that much was true.

He had no plan, but to simply meet this Force sensitive and let the will of the Force dictate what would happen next, be it the griffon king Red Claw or someone else, he would follow the lead of the Force, even if it told the Zabrak to kill the mad king...

Shifting his attention from this matter, Maul sensed an incoming presence, a presence he was getting familiar with and it felt... Angry, sour, in pain.

Without opening his eyes or moving an inch, the Zabrak already knew who was behind. "Morning Luna." He said. "To what do I owe your presence?"

"Just checking up on you." Answered the night princess, walking closer to the Zabrak. "So, how are you liking it here?" She asked, noticing the odd place for Maul to meditate.

The Zabrak gave a deep breath. "It is a change of pace and way more peaceful than at the center of the clone wars." He answered, still in lotus position. "It had been long before I could relax enough to meditate."

"Some kind of yoga, or something?"

"It is the way in which I deeply connect with the force." With that, the Zabrak opened his eyes, then stood up to greet the princess with a cordial bow that made Luna smile as she rolled her eyes. "Enough of me, how about you?"

"What about me?"

"I sense something is bothering you." He stated, noticing the fast change of humor from the princess.

Luna's face fell, her expression holding a frown as anger and pain was flowing through her like crazy. Maul figured something had happened, most likely directed at her ego. "The Griffon king, Red Claw, paid us a visit yesterday." Said and done. "We fear he may not be open to discussion."

Maul felt more curious, this Red Claw was indeed at Canterlot, meaning he could be the Force sensitive the Zabrak was sensing. Trying to do his best to hide a smile, Maul gave Luna a fake concerned look. "I take it he still is in Canterlot?"

Luna chuckled at this. "I take it this force isn´t always on your side, uh?" She said, noticing the deadpan look on Maul's features, making her roll her own eyes. "He only came for a few minutes, before leaving."

Maul wide opened his eyes, clearly taken aback by the response. Maybe Red Claw wasn't the Force sensitive he had felt. "That is... interesting."

His sudden change of mood went completely past Luna, who shook her head. "Well, I wouldn´t exactly call it interesting." She said, releasing a sigh as she looked at Maul with a worried expression. "Look, I just want to tell you to be careful, as Red Claw has learned of your presence."

Luna knew Maul would not be scared so easily, but she wasn't expecting the Zabrak to chuckle at this. "Just a week on a new planet, and I´m already on the sights of a mad king." He joked, managing to get a smile from the night princess. "Don´t worry about me, Luna, the Force will guide me."

Luna couldn't help but to roll he eyes at the statement. And she thought she was stubborn...

"Well, it did fail you with Red Claw remember?" She teased, rubbing the Zabrak's nose with her hoof and making Maul release a snarl Luna did not even notice until she felt the discomfort.

Thinking about that, the night princess recalled what had happened back at the old castle and Maul's outburst, as well as their talk of different powers, which made Luna think back at the Zabrak's past. "I'm sorry to bring this up, but your mother was a magic user, wasn't she?"

Maul on his part, did his best to let his anger slip. In the end, Luna wasn't particularly annoying. "Indeed she was, why?"

"Have you ever though about learning actual magic?"

Maul shook his head. "I serve the Force, Luna, regardless of my heritage, besides, night sister magic is refrained to exactly that... The sisters of the clan."

Luna couldn't help but to release a chuckle at Maul's words. He truly seemed rather loyal to this superior force. "Learning magic will not make you an heretic, Maul, it's just knowledge that at the end of the day will only help you if you ever have the need."

The Zabrak placed a hand under his chin, thinking about her words. True, he could be more proficient considering he was the son of the night sisters' leader and learning wouldn't exactly mean he was going to abandon the ways of the Force, plus his clan had been erradicated by Grievous and the Separatists' army, so maybe family customs didn't really matter any more, heck! Even Sidious and neither ancient Sith were strangers on the subject.

Maul had to admit, he had lived all his life chained to rules that this could be an opportunity for him to start doing things for his own benefits outside the war, a pass time without life or death consecuences.

With a long deep sigh, Maul agreed. "Very well Luna, what do I need to know?"

A devious smile appeared on her face as Maul was starting to become wary of this change. She was planning something and the Zabrak was most likely going to regret it.

"Let go to Twilight's." Luna said.