Disclaimer

I own nothing except the plot and some character backgrounds.

A.N.

The lunar moths described in this chapter come from Joyce William's picture book, The Man in the Moon. Check out this link for an illustration: riseoftheguardians. wikia wiki/ The_Man_in_the_Moon_ %28book%29

Honesty

Manny lead her out of the room. Nightmare Moon looked around, and realized that they were actually quite high up. The room they just came out of was near the top of a tower, so it allowed a view of the distant purplish landscape. Then she looked down, and her eyes grew wide.

A town glimmered before them. The buildings were an array of creams, golds, and blues; and there were hardly any corners to be found on the smooth, curving structures. A small army of bronze metal men marched around performing chores, and what appeared to be numerous well-dressed mice scurried beneath their feet. It was by far the strangest settlement she had ever seen.

"Those are the lunar moths, quite a sight aren't they?" Manny said proudly, breaking Nightmare Moon out of her wonderment. She looked at the strange man, who was gesturing upward.

She turned her gaze up, and saw that several floors above them the tower ended and was topped by an enormous observatory. The bronze glint of the telescope was a great contrast to the dark sky behind it, and a fine complement to the creatures that fluttered around it.

Indeed, the lunar moths were quite a sight. Their main body was covered in bright blue fuzz. Their antennae flared out so that they almost looked like rabbit ears. They had huge, gorgeous wings that were a sparkling turquoise. Nightmare Moon watched one fly up past the others, past the telescope, and into the sky where-

No.

No that couldn't be right.

For the first time since awakening Nightmare Moon looked straight up, and saw a green and blue orb hanging in the sky.

That couldn't be right. She had traveled somewhere, she had felt that much! And this was most certainly not her moon, she hadn't seen this man thing or those bronze machines or the lunar moths her entire stay at her prison. There were stars here too, she suddenly realized, taking in the little pin pricks of light that were dotting the dark sky. This really wasn't her prison, yet the planet still hung in the sky.

But...something was off about that too. It was the same colors as before, but they were arranged wrong. The green was more broken up than it should be, and there was a lot more blue.

So, she wasn't on the planet, but she wasn't on her moon, but there wasn't anywhere else she could be and the planet was all wrong and what was going on?!

"Selena? Is something wrong?" Manny asked. Nightmare Moon whirled on him, all thoughts of acting a part gone.

"Where are we?! I demand to know immediately!"

"We're on the moon." He frowned a little, but otherwise remained calm.

"No. we. are. NOT! We can't be! I was on the moon before I awoke here, and this is not my moon!"

"Are you sure you weren't on the moon of another planet? One of Jupiter's perhaps?"

"I don't know what a Jupiter is. All I know is that the planet looked a lot like that!" the mare used one hoof to point at the orb in the sky.

"Do you recall how you got here?"

"I was trying to teleport back to the planet from the moon." she ground out.

"So you were trying to transport yourself to another world?"

"Yes!" she snapped, annoyed at him restating what she'd already said when she wanted answers.

"Are you sure that the spell didn't branch out a little further than expected?"

"Answer my question! Where are we?!" Nightmare Moon stomped her hoof in anger, and strongly wished her magic reserves weren't depleted. She settled for getting into the man's personal space. Manny didn't seem perturbed however, and only gave a small sigh. He steeped his fingers and took on a thoughtful look.

"What I'm trying to say is that it's possible you accomplished the spell, but not in the way you intended. Perhaps you traversed a whole universe instead of just one world."

Nightmare Moon just stared at him for a minute.

"You...you can't be serious. Are you implying that I've crossed over into a different reality?"

"It's possible. As I'm sure you know, magic is a tricky business. If you were doing an untested spell a number of things could have happened. My research has also lead me to believe that alternate universes do exist. You'd be surprised how common it is for someone to get hurled into one when a magic experiment goes wrong."

Anger simmered within Nightmare Moon, but when she took in what Manny said it began to leech out of her. She could find no trace of joking or dishonesty within his features or voice, even accounting for the unfamiliar features. If what he said was true then...she might never see her home again.

Even if she regained her strength and tried the spell again there was no guarantee that she would be sent back to her own universe. She could cycle through endless alternate realities and never return to one the housed the Equestria she remembered. She would never take her rightful place in Canterlot, never again see her home's countryside bathed in moonlight, or raise her head to see familiar constellations.

She wasn't the queen of the night anymore, she wasn't even a spare princess. She wouldn't have to play up the lost stranger act; that's what she was. Her pride rebelled at such a thought, and rage surged through her. But it was washed away as the revelation took full hold of her. She lowered herself onto her haunches and bowed her head as despair and fatigue overtook her.

The spell was meant to bring about her triumphant return, and all it had done was isolate her further.

Nightmare Moon felt a warm hand cup her chin. It lifted her head, and she found herself looking into Manny's sympathetic eyes.

"Don't give up yet." he said with a smile "There may still be a way."

A.N.

Sorry if NM seemed OOC to anyone. The series itself doesn't give us a lot of Nightmare Moon beyond her initial transformation and trying to usurp Celestia. That doesn't make for a whole lot of character development, so I had a hard time deciding how she would react to this situation. In the end I figured that Nightmare Moon does have a lot of Luna in her, buried beneath all the rage and scheming. Luna herself was already feeling lost and abandoned due to being in her sister's shadow, so I thought that this situation would bring out the side of her that is still sad and vulnerable.