Disclaimer

I own nothing except the plot and some character backgrounds.

Generosity

Manny lead his guest down into the depths of the tower, going down flights of glittering gold and silver stairs. The mare followed behind him numbly, still reeling from her realization on the balcony, and doing her best not to let her fatigue show. She'd displayed enough weakness for one day.

Thankfully, Manny's chatter was a good distraction.

"So what sort of world is it that you come from? Are all the sentient creatures equines like yourself?"

"Most, yes." Nightmare Moon answered, seeing no harm in it. "Though there were races unrelated to us that held a comparable level of intelligence, such as the dragons."

"Ah yes! Dragons! Can't have a good universe without a few dragons in it I say."

Considering the trouble Equestria had with dragons over the centuries, Nightmare Moon thought that to be debatable.

"And tell me about your magic, Selena." He pressed on. "How does magic work in your world? Who can wield it? What kind of magic did you use to get here?"

The mare hesitated this time, wondering if there was some way her host could use such information against her. After a minute of contemplation, she decided that describing the basics of Equestrian magic could do her little harm; especially since she couldn't even use her's right now. Besides, sating the man's curiosity might win her some favor with him; make him willing to host her longer.

So she did her best to simply explain how magic worked in Equestria. How only unicorn and alicorns had the ability to use pure magic, and most unicorns could only use basic magic, like telekinesis, or magic relating to their field of work. As an alicorn, her own range was not nearly as limited. She told him how all magic spells they knew today had been discovered centuries ago, and how no new magic spells had been written in almost as long a time.

Not until she tried anyway. Her explanation became sketchier then, leaving out how she'd incorporated dark magic. Most ponies weren't very keen on the subject, despite its proven uses. She had no idea how her host would react.

"I'm guessing that's how you got here. Quite a bold decision, I must say Selena. I find myself curious though, however did you end up stuck on your own moon?"

"Well...there was a bit of an accident. As I said before, alicorn magic is not limited in the same way most unicorn magic is. For that reason, my sister and I held very important positions. She raised the sun each day, and I raised the moon each night. One day my sister and I had a disagreement, one which escalated quite quickly. During the fight our magic got out of hand and I was blasted to the moon, and there was no spell to send me back. Eventually I became desperate enough to try creating a spell that would return me to my rightful place."

There, that wasn't entirely untrue. In fact, it was almost completely correct; though it was a bit understated.

"I see. I'm so sorry Selena, you must miss your sister terribly."

It was a good thing for Nightmare Moon that Manny was walking in front of her. She didn't have to hide her malicious smirk.

"But now that I've gotten an idea of what kind of world we're looking for, perhaps you have a hope of seeing her once again."

The mare raised an eyebrow at Manny, while he finally turned away from another set of stairs and toward a dark turquoise door with interlocking circles decorating it.

"And what makes you think that?" she asked, as Manny reached for the door handle.

"Because now," He said, flinging open the door. "we can narrow down our search."

Nightmare Moon's eyes widened as she stepped into the enormous room.

Books. There were books everywhere. Bookcases lined every wall and reached to the very top of the ceiling. There were books on fancy white chairs, and tan tables, and the cream colored floor. Some were being carried and put carefully away by large uniformed mice, while some lay open and unattended.

"Terribly sorry about the mess. I wasn't expecting any company, and I do so much research myself that the mice can hardly keep up with me!"

The mouse who was passing closest made an exasperated squeak of agreement, then hurried on with her work.

Nightmare Moon tried to keep her wondering glances subtle as she followed Manny into the room. This place was nearly on par with the Canterlot Royal Library for sheer volume of text, but would she even be able to read any of this? It was already somewhat miraculous that she'd landed in a world where her host and herself spoke the same language, using the same alphabet might be a stretch of luck. When Manny reached the wall opposite the door she took a close look at the book bindings before her. To her great relief they were, mostly, understandable. Some had lettering she couldn't identify, but she also spotted familiar magic runes among the titles. One of the mice suddenly scurried across her view to replace a book, and a thought occurred to her.

"Are there no other creatures like yourself here?"

"Pardon?" Manny asked, looking up from his perusal of the book titles.

"I've seen mice elsewhere, as well as the moths and those metallic beings, yet I've not seen another creature like you here."

"That's because there aren't any." He said with a shrug. "Not here anyway, there's plenty down on the planet." A thoughtful look crossed his face. "Though, I suppose I'm not exactly like them either."

"Explain."

Manny raised an eyebrow at the brusque demand, but answered anyway.

"The most dominant sentient race on the planet calls itself 'human', and they look very similar to myself but aren't quite the same. I live much longer than them, and not many of them can wield magic like I can. They are similar enough however, and I have a kinship with them. At a young age I took it upon myself to watch over them."

'Sounds familiar.' the mare thought.

"Ah! Here we are! Theories on alternate realities and parallel dimensions." Manny suddenly jumped back to the previous topic. He grabbed a few books off the shelf and brought them to the large table in the center of the room. Nightmare Moon followed him, and watched as he lay them out on the table. Eager to begin, the mare automatically called upon her magic to open the book and begin reading.

Pain spiked through her mind and she stumbled back, gasping.

Too late, she remembered that her magic was completely drained. Such things didn't like being forced.

"Selena! Are you alright?"

"Fine." she said tersely, head pounding more at her host's increase in volume. "Just tired."

"Oh how thoughtless of me! It's the first time you've been awake and here I am dragging you all around the tower. You stay here and rest while we get your room prepared." He rushed toward the door, making his curly-q mane bounce, but stopped just before exiting. His gold coat flared as he whirled back around. "Some of the mice will stay with you, don't hesitate to ask for their help." Then he resumed his rushing.

Nightmare Moon sighed, at least now it would be quieter until her throbbing went down. A low squeak brought her attention back to the table, where one of the mice was looking up at her expectantly. The mare raised an eyebrow at the small creature before saying:

"You now hold the position of 'page turner'."

By the time Manny bustled back into the room, the two had gotten a system up and running. Nightmare Moon would tap her hoof against the leg of the table whenever she was ready to move on, and the mouse would turn the page for her.

"I see you're hard at work already. Have you made much progress?" Manny asked his guest, giving the helpful mouse a thankful pat.

"A little. I must admit these ideas are very strange to me."

"I'm sure it will come to you with time, especially if you keep well rested. Come! I'll show you where you'll be staying."

Nightmare Moon followed the man out of the room without protest. She wanted to work on getting back as soon as possible, but she also knew the work would go faster once she had slept away the pounding behind her eyes.

Manny lead her up one flight of the stairs, but instead of continuing up he turned to go down the level's short corridor. He flung open the solitary door at the end of it and showed her inside. The mare straightened in surprise as she took in the room. It was at least as big as her old quarters in Equestria, possibly a bit bigger. The walls, floor, and ceiling were each a different shade of royal blue, giving the room a more subdued atmosphere compared to the brilliance of the other areas she had seen. The furnishings of the room seemed to follow the city's usual style though; light colors and swirling designs decorated the dressers, wardrobe, and twin nightstands on each side of the bed.

"Is the room to your liking?" Manny asked.

"Yes, quite." The mare said distractedly, though her companion didn't seem to notice.

"Wonderful! I'll give you some time to get settled in then. I really should be getting back to my work, so I might not be around when you're ready to resume your research. Don't let that stop you though! The library is always open, and there's usually a few mice running around in there. If you ever need a break you can explore the rest of the tower and city. You can come looking for me if you need me too; the mice and the bots always know where to find me. Sleep well!" He waved and bounced out, the door swinging shut behind him.

The mare's mind whirled in confusion. She started at the closed door for a minute before shuffling over to the large four poster bed in the middle of the room. She climbed atop the ivory sheets and beige comforter, settling down with her head on her hooves and her tail flowing around the cream colored posts.

It didn't make any sense.

She had no power here, physical or authoritative. Her magic would come back with time, but Manny had no way of knowing her usual power level.

So why was he giving her so much space and freedom?

She hadn't expected her room to be so grand, as she had no real way of repaying him. Nor had she expected to be allowed the freedom to go where she pleased without supervision. Was this creature already so trusting of her? How foolish of him.

The last thought held only a little contempt in it, as she was still preoccupied with the reasons for his generosity. Her head pounded even more as she tried to grasp at the meaning of it all, and in her frustration she decided it was a mystery that could wait until after she had slept.