Disclaimer

I own nothing except the plot.

Kindness

It was like being banished all over again. Pain emanated from every muscle in her body, and she didn't want to wake up. So for quite a while she didn't, not fully anyway. The pain kept her subdued, but she slowly became conscious of something outside of it.

The first sensation to come back was touch. Whatever she was lying on was soft, which helped her throbbing muscles. Every so often she felt something press against her skin, most often something cool and damp against her face. It should have hurt, but the touch was so gentle that she only felt a slight twinge of pain at most.

Next she is aware of sounds. At first her mind is still too dazed to capture them, and they are nothing more than half-formed whispers to her ears. But with time the whispers form into words, and soon she is able to pick out a distinct voice. The voice is as gentle as the touches, and often occurs at the same time. It soothes her when she aches, offers encouragement, and Nightmare Moon has the distinct feeling that another voice used to do the same for her long ago. It would be too much work to remember who it was though. When the voice is absent she hears other things, such as the clank of metal or a flutter of wings, but the voice is always the most prominent.

Taste and smell come so gradually she is hardly notices them. A trickle of sweet water enters her mouth, and she swallows it down automatically. This earns more encouraging platitudes from the voice. The place she is in smells clean. Not the sort of clean that comes from being meticulously scrubbed and sanitized, but the pure smell of a place well cared for.

All of these senses call to her hazy mind, prompting it to find out what they all mean. She opens her eyes slowly, blinking when she detects light. Thankfully, it is dim and her eyes adjust quickly.

She is lying in a nest of cream colored pillows with gold accents. They have been carefully placed to support every part of her body, and continue to do so even as she shifts and raises her head. It's not a particularly big room, but a handful of ponies could be in it and not be uncomfortable. The walls and floor are light blue, and glitter slightly in the dim lighting. There are designs etched into the walls as well; they seem to be based off the phases of the moon.

But what's most interesting is what lies right in front of her. There is no door. In fact, there is no wall. The room is open and seems to lead directly outside. The ground she can see in the distance is light purple with just a hint of gray mixed in. Spires of the same color jut up from it, with ridges connecting them and craters at their base.

'Where in Equestria am I?' Nightmare Moon wonders. She remembered her last wakeful moments now, and how she had felt something had gone wrong. It must have worked on some level though. This clearly wasn't her moon, so she must be on the planet somewhere.

Well, she wasn't going to get an answer by just sitting around here.

Bracing herself, Nightmare Moon unfolds her large black wings. There is some pain, but not the kind felt from an injury. Her wings are stiff, like she's been still for too long. She flexes her wings, up and down, in and out; trying to work the soreness out of them. It helps, but only a little. She won't be flying for a while yet.

When she tries standing up she stumbles around like a new born foal; her legs are just as stiff as her wings. She walks around the room a bit, trying to get herself reacquainted with moving. Two times around the room and she is already feeling tired. Trying to use her magic is out of the question. She is practically powerless right now, and it grates on her ego. She is Nightmare Moon, the mare who nearly usurped the wondrous Princess Celestia (and would someday succeed in doing so)! She was the darkness that would concur the light, and an uncooperative body wasn't going to stop her! She was going to work herself back to full strength and then she was going straight to Canterlot to-

"Oh, you're awake. Wonderful!"

The exclamation brought Nightmare Moon out of her internal rant. It was the voice, the one that comforted and soothed her while she was still in limbo, and it was coming from the room's entrance. She turns toward the voice, and meets the eyes of the strangest creature she has ever seen.

Considering the fact that she has personally met Discord, that's saying a lot.

She assumes it is a 'he', since the voice has always sounded male to her. Similar to Discord, the being stands on two legs instead of four. That's where the similarity ends though. The overall impression she gets is: round. He has a round body, a round head, and round facial features. He wears a shirt, vest, and billowy pants, all bright gold in color. He has a coat on over it all, which is also gold but of a darker shade. His skin is light pinkish tan, and he has just a wisp of a mane. The hair goes straight up and curves at the end like a question mark.

Her first is to intimidate the creature, and demand to know everything about where she is and what he's been doing to her.

But she can't.

She tells herself that it is only wise to hold back until she understands her situation better, but there is more to it than that. The being's face is completely foreign to her, yet there is an inexplicable kindness to it. That face holds such benevolence that it disarms her, and leaves her confused and floundering over how to proceed. The memories of encouraging remarks only compound the feeling.

After a long moment, she settles on sating her curiosity.

"Who are you? What are you?" She asks, voice dark but without its usual volume or bite.

"I am a man from a time long past, the Golden Age. My full name is Tsar Lunar, though I prefer to be called Manny." He offers her a warm smile, and Nightmare Moon responds with a confused frown. She recalls from history lessons that 'tsar' is an old term for a ruler, an emperor. But what could this 'man' be a ruler of? She doesn't remember being taught about any time period called the 'Golden Age' either.

"May I have your name as well?" the man asks curiously.

Nightmare Moon hesitates. She doesn't know where in Equestria she is, but nearly everyone must have heard about what happened to 'Princess Luna'. If this creature doesn't recognize her as the same pony then she would prefer to keep it that way. It wouldn't do to have word of her escape spread.

Recalling a name she sometimes went by, but known only to her sister and niece, she responds.

"You may call me Selena. What am I doing here?"

"The lunar moths found you passed out not far from here. They brought you to me and I saw to healing you. You didn't have any visible wounds, so I just tended to your basic needs and let your body do most of the work. I was able to speed things along with a few basic healing spells, but you've been unconscious for many days."

Days...maybe weeks. No wonder she felt so stiff and tired. But why would he bother taking care of her for so long, especially with no guarantee of a reward? She shook her head slightly, best not to question his good will, else he might retract it. If he was truly altruistic, then he'd probably be more willing to help if she played up the 'helpless lost stranger' image too.

"Lunar moths? What are those?" she tried to make her voice light and innocent.

"Would you like to see?" He asked her with a grin, and gestures outside.

Outside. This was her chance to get her bearings and maybe figure out where she is, and how to escape if need be.

"Of course."

A.N.

According to the "Elements of Harmony" book, which covers the first three season of MLP: FiM, Luna's name was originally going to be Selena. From that I developed a head canon that Selena is Luna's 'middle' name, and that only close family members like Celestia and Cadance know about it.

Additionally, the way I describe the surface of Manny's moon comes from the picture book "The Man in the Moon" by William Joyce. The book explains Manny's origins, and the art is quite beautiful.