“Here we are,” Nightshade said. She motioned to a large black door. Even in the limited light, Earth could see it shone in the flickering torchlight. A large insigma of a horned pony sat above it in the same crest as the throne room banners. The two guards from earlier, Quartz and Rainbow Dash, stood at attention.
“Nightmare Moon’s private quarters?” Earth asked.
Nightshade nodded. “It’s where she sleeps, thinks, and a bunch of other things I’m not sure about. I think she plays some games sometimes.”
“Yes,” Earth said. “Even a busy ruler like her probably needs a little time for games.”
“Well, I’m going to leave now,” Nightshade said, shuffling away from the door. “I’ve got to get some things from Ms. Evergreen for the kitchen.” She rushed off down the hall and was soon invisible in the darkness.
Earth looked at the guards, then reached up towards the knocker.
Thump-thump-thump!
“Enter!” a deep voice boomed. Quartz and Dash stood taller at their monarch’s call and the door creaked open, causing Earth to step back in surprise. He waited until the door fully stopped, then rushed his way inside.
The room itself was far more ornate than the throne room. Large glass moons hung from the ceiling, all at different phases and with varying levels of light shimmering within them. A large black table stretched along the far side of the room, covered to the hilt in various scrolls and papers. The dark blue carpet under Earth’s hooves felt soft to the touch when he walked over it. He made his way over to the table, glancing at as many of the papers as he could. Maps of Equestria, arcane tomes of Equestria’s past, and anything else in-between filled the table.
“Such a breadth of knowledge,” Earth said.
“Indeed,” the deep voice boomed again. Earth glanced behind him to see the one part of the room he hadn’t observed: the bed. It was larger than even his own, stretching at least twenty feet across the middle and with sides just as long. A dark aqua bedsheet covered it, its fabric seeming to be a smooth cotton Earth could only fantasize about touching.
But it was the figure on the bed that caught Earth’s eye the most. Nightmare Moon lounged upon it, laying on her side as if just playfully watching him gawk over the documents instead of her. She wasn’t wearing her official regalia now; laying bare save the crown on her head.
Earth did a quick bow. “Apologies, Your Highness. I didn’t see you.”
Nightmare Moon slinked up, crawling to the bed’s edge. “Do not worry. I was simply laying until you were ready to begin your task. Even a goddess such as myself requires some manner of relaxation.”
Earth nodded. “I presume you want to talk about this task you’ve given me.”
Nightmare Moon smiled. “Indeed.” She wandered around the table, making her way to the window across the room. “Tell me, what do you know of time travel?”
Earth paused. “Not a whole lot. There were studies about it, of course. A few experiments here and there, mostly by Star Swirl the Bearded, but nothing substantial to my knowledge.”
Nightmare Moon continued to stare out the window. “My advisors said the same thing. That they poured over every single text written since the dawn of Equestria, searching for anything that could allow a pony to travel throughout time.”
Earth made his way around the table, tiptoeing around leaning towers of books. “And you don’t think they looked hard enough.”
“On the contrary,” she said. “I think they did the best they could. The threats of death and eternal imprisonment certainly spurned them to do their best.”
Earth gave a knowing nod. “A strong motivator.”
“No, I know that time travel is possible because I saw it happen.”
Earth stood still. “You…did?”
Nightmare Moon turned around and faced him once more. “A month ago, a mysterious... unicorn came to this castle. She had a baby dragon with her, and she was babbling about time travel. I captured them and forced them to take me to the place where they’d initiated the travel.” Her face grimaced in unfathomable rage. “But they escaped. Before she disappeared, she mocked me, claiming she was from a future where I’d been defeated and changed back into the weakling I’d been before I embraced my true self. Then she vanished, leaving me and my troops in the dust like fools.” Her horn began to flicker, small sparks shooting off in varying directions.
“Well, uh, are you sure this unicorn was a time traveler? She could’ve been some mad mare, or a twisted dissident pulling a fast one on you for sick amusement.”
Nightmare Moon shook her head. “No. The magic she used was an ancient one. I could feel its energy as it was cast. No prankster or insane pony could manipulate old magic like that. She time traveled; I’m as sure as that as anything else in this world.”
Earth stood still, his breathing a little more labored. Time travel… he thought. It doesn’t seem possible. Nopony in university ever managed to successfully do it. He looked up at his sovereign, her face still filled with intensity. She seems really sure about it, though.
“This place you talk about. Where is it?” Earth asked.
Nightmare Moon pointed out the window, out at the tangled trees below. “In the Everfree Forest. It’s a stone table, made from some deep magic I haven’t been able to fathom.”
“Did you ever see this table before?”
“No. And ancient magic like that should’ve been readily apparent to me, back when I was first consolidating my power.” She pointed down at the scrolls. “And that’s where you come in. I’ve read the files my police and intelligence groups had on you. You were top of your class back at the School for Gifted Unicorns, as well as an expert on theoretical magic use. I therefore task you to find the spell for time travel. With it, I could rule across all of eternity, past and future.”
Earth gulped. “You want me…to find the secret of time travel?”
“Yes,” she said. “Is that a problem?”
“Not problematic, per se. Just…extremely difficult. I mean, if what you’re saying is true-”
“And why wouldn’t it be?” she growled.
“…Based on what you say, such a magic might take months, even years to discover and hone.”
She smiled. “Good thing I’m immortal then. You, however…” She passed by Earth, running her hoof along his cheek. “You’d better get to it. I’m a patient mare, but I’ll require tangible results soon. Otherwise…” She slinked back onto the bed and looked at Earth with a malevolent smile. “Well, you know what will happen. You were the one that demanded the punishment.”
Earth gulped. Oh Celestia, this is bigger than I wanted, he thought. I should’ve just taken the eternal sentence. At least the dungeon would’ve been familiar. Now I’m going to be stuck on some lunar wasteland where-
“Well?” she said, gesturing toward the table. “What are you waiting for? Get to work.”
“Of course,” he said. He looked back up at her, seeing she still stared at him expectantly. “Are you…you going to sit there the whole time?”
“Of course,” she said with a wry smile. “I want to be here when you find the thing that will give me dominion over all existence. Don’t feel intimidated.” Her horn fizzled, a thick crackle filling the room. “Or do feel intimidated. Whichever makes you work better and harder.”
Earth nodded and made his way back to the far side of the table. He sat down at one of the chairs and grabbed the closest parchment he could get his hooves on. He read for several minutes about applied spatial manipulation, trying not to think about the all-powerful goddess staring at the back of his head.