Chapter 2
Twilight drew back slightly, but quickly regained her composure to save face. She had been stunned by how well this all seemed to start out. The alien spoke Equestrian, or Basic apparently from what he had said, and he was glad to hear of their extended friendship. That wasn't enough to go off of however in finding out his intentions, plus he wanted to meet whoever was in charge.
"It's funny you should request that" Twilight said "I am actually a princess. Though I believe it would be better if you met Princess Celestia. She rules over our nation alongside her sister, Princess Luna."
"If they are the leading rulers, would they not be queens?" Maul asked.
"A...I've never actually asked about that. I probably should." Twilight refocused her attention back to the alien. "But before I arrange a meeting between the three of you, we should take care of a few things first. For one, we should make some proper introductions. I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship of Equestria."
Maul raised his brow at her introduction. Princess of friendship. Quite curious. And I can only presume Equestria is the nation this "Celestia" and "Luna" rule. There was also the fact that her name was both childish sounding and fit perfectly with her appearance, along with the strange star mark on her flank that he couldn't account for. He noticed that all the equines appeared to have their own personal marks. Even the guards, though theirs were almost entirely hid by their armor.
"I am Maul, Nightbrother warrior." It wasn't entirely a lie, more like a very stretched and exaggerated half-truth. Revealing that he was formerly of an ideology that was mostly frowned upon, somewhat unjustly, wouldn't serve his best interest. At least not in this situation. "I couldn't help but notice the armored soldiers accompanying you."
The fact that he was named after a violent act and identified himself as a Nightbrother definitely supported what Luna said of sensing something dark, and that he would be dangerous if provoked. Plus, he did just point out the guards.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance...Maul. These are royal guards who were assigned to me for your welcoming, in case you were hostile. Which reminds me. May I ask what your reason is for coming to our planet?"
"I seek a refuge of sorts, and possibly some help. I would prefer to discuss this with this Celestia you mentioned."
"That sounds reasonable. But first we should get some other things out of the way. I would like to introduce you to my friends and bring you to my castle, where I will be able to send Celestia a message."
"Hm....very well then." Maul then took a moment to glance over the rest of equines that were present. He had already sensed the fear in the guards, which had only gone down when it appeared that he wasn't a threat. The others however were a mixed bag.
"This is Rainbow Dash" Twilight indicated to a hovering blue pegasus that was giving him a skeptical look, underlined with feelings of hostility directed right at him. It appeared not all the natives wanted to immediately be friends. And in a very very rare moment, Maul suppressed a chuckle at how ridiculous the name sounded with the equine's appearance.
"Hi" Rainbow Dash said curtly.
"This is Applejack" Twilight said, ignoring Rainbow's tone while indicating to a wingless and hornless orange equine wearing a hat. She responded with a "howdy", a word Maul had never heard before, along with her accent. Twilight then introduced the others, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Starlight Glimmer. He had to stifle a few more chuckles.
The way Rarity was inspecting him up and down was odd, as if studying his garments or physique. Starlight had given a small, nervous wave. Fluttershy was exuding the most fear out of the entire group, even after calming down, though only a very small amount. She had been hiding behind the one named Applejack since he had exited the ship. Even after being coaxed out by the orange mare, she was hiding most of her face behind her mane.
And then Pinkie Pie...happened.
Maul looked in every direction where the pink mare appeared from behind random parts of his body in extreme alarm. Apparently this one used her strange Force connection to move at rapid speeds, or be an extreme annoyance. Though from what he'd sensed of her beforehand, the answer was most likely both.
"Hi mister Maul! Is that really your skin color? Are you red with black stripes or black with a lot of red blotches? Or is it all a tattoos? Why aren't you wearing a shirt under your tunic? Do you want to show off those abs? What's this metal thing hanging off your hip? Why-"
The sound of a sort of distorted whoosh and Pinkie being removed from Maul's personal space silenced said mare, along with everypony else. Everypony stared in stunned silence as Maul's outstretched hand seemed to be holding Pinkie in midair. The only other thing that could draw their attention was the annoyed scowl Maul was directing at Pinkie. Fluttershy's fear had now doubled.
"I insist, that you stop...whatever that was." Maul let his arm drop to his side, which appeared to lock in place, releasing Pinkie from his telekinetic grip. Pinkie fell to the ground unharmed and began inspecting her body.
"How'd you do that without a hor-?! Oh wait, you have a bunch of horns. But I didn't see any of them glow."
"Hey!" While Pinkie was unharmed, it didn't stop Rainbow from being furious and getting right in Maul's face. "Who do you think you are treating my friend like that?! I oughta pound your E.T. ass into the ground!" Maul's only response was to raise a skeptical brow at the very overconfident pegasus. He noticed that the guards were now in defensive stances and their horns were...glowing?
"Rainbow! Stop! Guards! Stand down!" Twilight said as she used her magic to pull Rainbow back. Said use of magic caused Maul to lightly tilt his head back in both curiosity and confusion. "What is the matter with you?!" Twilight exclaimed.
"What's the matter with you?!" Rainbow shot back "Did you see what he did?!"
"Do you and Pinkie not recall what I said about provoking him into violence?!"
"He attacked her!"
"No, he really didn't. You know how I just moved you away with my magic, not hurting you at all? That's precisely what he did with Pinkie, though with some different form of magic. So I think you and Pinkie owe Maul an apology."
"What?!" Twilight's glare quickly silenced the pegasus. The guards meanwhile had stopped their magic but were still standing somewhat defensively. "Ugh, fine. But that doesn't mean I have to like it."
"Not asking you too. Pinkie, you too."
"Uh huh" Pinkie replied, her mane having deflated slightly. Maul meanwhile had regained his composure and replaced his hands behind his back, observing Twilight's admittedly impressive display of authority.
"I'm sorry...Maul" Rainbow managed to force out.
"Sorry mister Maul" Pinkie said gloomily "Sometimes I forget my friendliness can come off a little strong. I should've been keeping that in mind since you're not even from here. I hope you can forgive me."
Everypony looked stunned. Pinkie had never given this kind of apology before. She usually didn't need to. Maul was also impressed, and he was able to gleam this was either a first or a rare thing for the pink mare to have done.
"I understand if you do-"
"You are forgiven"
"What?"
"You are forgiven for your actions" he then turned to the shocked, open mouthed Rainbow "As are you. In return, I would apologize for my own actions. You have treated me with hospitality, for the most part. I am unused to such energetic behavior and my response was somewhat rude. I too am sorry."
Not being too familiar with the process of apologizing, doing so left an odd and unfavorable taste in his mouth. Twilight meanwhile was surprised, as she was actually going to request that Maul apologize precisely for his rudeness.
"Aw, that's alright Mauly" Pinkie said as she hugged a startled Maul "I forgive you too."
"I am also unused to this. And unfavorable to nicknames."
"Oops. Sorry" Pinkie said after releasing Maul.
"Now that the matter is resolved, I believe you had a castle to take me to, your Highness" Maul said with a small bow of his head.
"Uh...yes, of course Maul" Twilight managed to get out, still a little startled by the turn of events. "If you'll just follow me. We really should get out of this forest. It's well known for being a bit dangerous."
Maul suddenly felt the inklings of a kinship between himself and the forest. Then he felt a disturbance in the Force. There were large creatures fast approaching, and unlike these equines, they had no intention of being friendly. The others were soon alerted to the creature's presence at the sound of numerous growls.
"Uh oh" AJ said "I recognize that growl. Manticores." While Maul had never heard of such a creature, he could tell they were not to be taking lightly. That was when three large creatures emerged from the tree line.
They were large felines with reptilian wings and scorpion tales. While the concept of these beasts wasn't too surprising, their individual parts not meshing was somewhat odd. Reeks for example appeared to be a mix of a large bovine and prehistoric reptile.
"Princess, stay back" one of the guards said as they all formed a protective wall in front of the mares.
"Fluttershy dear, now would be a good time to use your stare."
"I don't have control over it" Fluttershy said as everypony collectively backed away "Plus, I'm pretty sure this is their territory, so technically it's bad that we're here."
"Not the time for a nature lesson Flutters" Rainbow said as she hovered back. If she couldn't handle one angry manticore, she probably couldn't handle three.
"Allow me" Everypony turned in confusion to see Maul off to their right, stepping towards the manticores. For a moment, they all thought he was insane. Then he stretched out his hand and the same distorted whoosh from before was heard.
Maul was scowling at the manticores as he sent out waves, conveying to the beasts that he was a threat. The result was not the one he desired however. These things were apparently fiercer than he thought. Rather than back away and then run in fear, their growling intensified and their attention was now fully on the zabrak.
The anger coming off these things would normally intensify ones fear. But Maul only formed an evil smile of satisfaction. He slowly stepped to the right, directing the manticore's path away from the equines. And then the center one charged forward, leaping with an outstretched paw ready to strike.
"Maul, look out!" Twilight called, but she soon saw that doing so was rather unnecessary. Maul took a wide step to the side, dodging the manticore's attack. The feline turned mid-charge and skidded to a halt, facing Maul again and delivering another threatening growl. Maul repeated the action. He then saw the creature's tail moving quite actively. Knowing what was about to happen, he put his concentration on the dangerous appendage.
The manticore lunged forward, sending the stinger of its tail right at its opponent. Maul easily dodged the strike, along with the ones that soon followed. Its frustration at its peak, the manticore used its hind legs to lunge forward, its stinger and claws simultaneously going for Maul.
With a Force powered leap, Maul soared over the manticore right at the time of the strike. While in the air, Maul grabbed hold of the dangerous tail and used his momentum to pull it down. The manticore was pulled down to its side, its head slamming to the ground, dazing it slightly.
Seeing its companion having difficulty with the intruder, the right manticore ran forward with a roar, its mouth open to grab the attacker with its dangerous jaws. The roar however tipped Maul off.
Turning to see the approaching manticore, Maul quickly turned and held the first manticore's tail in front of him, just as the second took its bite. This caused the dazed manticore to snap back to reality and roar in pain. It regained its footing and took a swipe with its claws, only to strike the other due to Maul moving with the first.
"Stop! You're hurting them!"
"I believe they are doing that themselves" Maul called back to the now concerned yellow pegasus. The two manticores then delved into a small fight with each other, eliciting an amused chuckle from Maul. Then the final manticore delivered a threatening growl.
Maul turned his attention to the remaining wildcat, finding it odd that it was standing its ground rather than following its companions actions. He no longer found it odd when he heard a noticeably smaller growl. A much smaller manticore stepped out from behind its apparent mother and leaped forward, delivering another non-threatening growl, though the venom from its smaller stinger would actually be more deadly than the adults, to compensate for its size.
"Aw, he's a wittle tough guy"
"Not the time, Starlight" Twilight said.
The small lion club was lifted into the air with a whoosh before its mother could pull it back, who let out a concerned growl as its cub was taken away. With a gasp from more than a few of the ponies, the other two manticores were now suddenly aware of the threat to the cub.
Maul was wearing a very smug grin that had been directed at the mother, now directed at the cub held up by his outstretched hand. The young predator continued to deliver its growls and began swiping at the air in front of it, being too far away to reach Maul. He noted and somewhat admired that the creatures seemed to be brave from a young age. Unfortunately for the cub, its bravery would not help it in this situation.
With a slight flex of his fingers, the cub's wings were forcibly pulled down to their folded position, replacing the cub's determination with fear and causing it to release a frightened mewl. The mother released another concerned growl while the other two prepared to attack again. Maul's attention was now drawn to his previous opponents, his grin never leaving his face.
With another flex of his fingers and a growl of his own, the cub's tail and limbs were immobilized with its wings, bringing out another frightened mewl. It didn't do the cub any harm, it was merely meant to intensify the fear. The two males lessened their growls and remained stationary while the mother grew more concerned. The fear coming off all these creatures only served to heighten Maul's schadenfreude. And then everything came to a halt.
"HEY!" The cub was suddenly grabbed in a very protective hug by a royally pissed off yellow pegasus. "Don't you DARE harm a hair on this defenseless little cub!" Fluttershy basically roared in Maul's face.
The two males began to slowly advance forward once they saw their attacker was distracted, only to be stopped when Fluttershy's stare was activated. The expressions on the manticores went blank as the mare stared at them. Maul meanwhile was intrigued, considering the Force energy coming off the pegasus' eyes, and the effect it had on the predators. The stare was then directed right at him.
"Let go of the cub" Fluttershy said intensely. While the energy was intense, it did nothing to affect the zabrak, who merely cocked a brow in response. His eyes then shifted to the now free thinking, male manticores. They were slowly creeping towards them, the mother joining almost immediately.
"Perhaps you should use...whatever it is you're using to call off these beasts." Fluttershy drew back in surprise, though her stare didn't stop. She took note of the approaching manticores and her stare frame of mind recognized the danger. She focused her stare on the trio until they appeared to go into a neutral state. She then went back to normal when she turned back to Maul. Her stare didn't have an effect on him, but that wasn't going to stop her from putting him in li- pfft ha ha haaaa. I'm sorry, a more accurate thing to say would be stop her from getting the cub down.
"Put him down, now." Maul eyed her with the same cocked brow before responding.
"As you wish" Maul said with a shrug. He relaxed his hand and lowered his arm, releasing the cub from his grip. Once she found she could actually move the cub from where it was held, Fluttershy began petting it and cooing comforting words.
She flew to the mother and placed her cub in front of her before apologizing for entering their territory and promising they were about to leave. She then apologized to the two males, planting a caring kiss on the injured foreleg of the second male. The manticores retreated into the tree line to lick their wounds and wait for the aggressive intruder to leave.
Maul found himself impressed yet again. Though Fluttershy's actions reminded him very much of the Jedi way, of connecting with animals peacefully through the Force. While it was a useful trick, he still believed that instilling fear was far more useful. The nature of these manticores however suggested they were either less susceptible to the dark side or rarely encountered something they actually feared.
"Now you listen here mister" Fluttershy said as she got back in Maul's face "I better not see you harm anymore animals or threaten their young. Or we are going to have a real problem." Maul blinked.
"That should not be a problem, but I will defend myself if I am attacked."
"That's fair" Fluttershy conceded, lowering herself to the ground before rejoining her friends. If everypony else had seats, they would've been on the edge of them. "We should get going. The manticores might get restless if we stay any longer."
"Uh...Oh yes!" Twilight said, recalling what they were doing prior "If you'll just follow me and my friends Maul, we will get to my castle." Everypony gave Maul a wide berth as he caught up to Twilight, eventually following behind them, the guards flanking the group.
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Actually, YES! Yes I was expecting Timbers but anyway nice set-up with that.
While this is seems to be stretching Maul's personality a bit, it isn't to bad. I've always viewed both the Sith ideology as more of a practical real world application, while the Jedi are SOLELY a ideology to work forward to in the far future type thing. Every step brings you closer.
Also, what I meant by the real world application thing is that: you have a star about to go Nova
Sith: EVACUATE the planet take samples of all possible flora and fauna you can in the time you have and get the FRICK OUT OF THERE!
Jedi: Use the force to hold the star together.
Raise your hand if you would do the same thing to Pinkie if you had force powers because I would, Also I get way you used manticores and not timberwolves. The ponies wouldn't care if you killed a few killed them but manticores are living things.
Can't wait for him to start teaching Spike the force, can force fire be a thing?
7232577 Force fire? Hm...possibly. Never thought of it. If I decide to include it I'm gonna need to think about how it would work.
7232682 I would imagine it would would be using force lighting to ignited the air and the force to move the fire. In story Spike could be starting to learn force lighting but is hitting a road block and in a case where he needs more fire power, pun intended, he makes force fire on the spot.
Speaking of weird force powers will Maul teach Spike some what is it called force magicks?
7233495 Interesting. And on the magicks, no. Maul never learned Nightsister magicks, to my knowledge.
7233505 Not surprising from what I saw in the clone wars cartoon it didn't look like something normally the men of his world would learn. Hey which comes first the mind trick or knowledge drain?
7233734 I was under the assumption that Jedi used mind trick and Sith, or just dark siders, used knowledge drain.
I've never heard of any using both. I guess mind trick first if they did.
7233735 Rey can use both. So I lost thing I want to ask for now is Spike's training going to be more like Maul' or is brothers because from what I heard of Maul's training it wasn't pretty. Though I think the thing with the rocks could work.
7234674 When did she use knowledge drain?
Spike's training won't be as bad, at least I don't think so
I just remembered. Ventress used mind trick, like once I think, though she never used knowledge drain (on screen), to my knowledge.
7234735 What else would you call that thing she did when she fought Kylo, she so drain the knowledge of how to use a light saber right.
Well I hope Spike learns both us because it will be so fun for him to use use it on pretty much everpony and knowledge drain for those to strong for the trick.
7234814 That wasn't knowledge drain, that was Rey being influenced by the Force. Plus, Kylo would've had some kind of reaction if knowledge was being pulled from his head. Like Poe.
7234934 I think knowledge drain makes more sense and I would assume when a jedi does it it's a lot less painful. Also with the mental and physical state Kylo was in it was kinda easy.
7234997 Meeeeeehhhhhh, I can buy Ray doing mind trick, but given the context of the film with Maz Kanata telling her to let the Force flow through her, force influence makes far more sense. Plus that's basically what it says on wookieepedia, and they're canon info is 100% correct.
Also, Obi-Wan, Mace and Anakin basically had to use knowledge drain on Cad Bane since his mind couldn't be swayed, and he was clearly in pain.
7235015 Well can't fight canon, speaking of canon am going to take a guess everyone but Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and maybe Pinkie, Fluttershy, Twilight and Starlight are not strong enough to be mind tricked.
7235142 Mmmmmm, maybe Pinkie, I think Fluttershy could be susceptible. Everypony else you said, yeah I would say they're strong enough not to be mind tricked. Haven't considered mind tricks in this story by the way. It's possible, but it doesn't feel like Maul to me, unless he thinks knowledged drain would be too risky.
7235155 well Pinkie and Fluttershy are weird when it comes to mental stuff and the mass seem really really really easy to mind trick. I can see that mind is light hand for Maul but I think it fits Spike perfectly.
There appears to be a bit of repetition here. Otherwise, amazing fic so far. The only other decent Darth Maul story I could find on this site has been dead since early 2015 so I'm glad to see one of my favorite villains getting some love.
7250348 Oh crap, You just made me realize that. And are you referring to Step into the Light?
7233734
While this is true, its likely not impossible for Maul to learn magic. As Maul (with the exception of Talzin) has clearly demonstrated through his sith training that he is MUCH more powerful then any Dathomiri witch.
7250367 no i agree that the force practice by the Sith and Jedi are more powerful, I was just hoping he'd learn force magicks just for weird/unique things that force uses normally don't do and on a magic world force magicks would fit right in.
7250365
I am.
So I forgot your not going toinclude the force cell thing from the prequel righ?
Hey ifSpike become gaint again would his force power get even stronger?
7282491 Midichlorians are completely misunderstood. Haven't thought about it that far. Probably not though. I don't think Maul is the type to get into the subject.
Spike's force power growing with his size? Not so sure about that. It is kind of going to be adressed, but I don't think I'll have him do it.
7250348 Fixed the double use of trick. It's been nagging at my brain since you pointed it out. I caved. It was bothering me.