Twilight ran down the long corridors of the now empty Canterlot Library. Blood ran down her cheeks from her now nonexistent right eye and the deep cut on her forehead. The clothes she wore to merge with the dark of the night were ruined, but still wearable. Upon arriving her destination, the Starswirl wing, she closed and magically locked the gate. She took a deep breath, one thing she wasn't able to do in the past few days. From her saddlebags, she levitated an eyepatch and a white piece of cloth; she covered her hurt eye with the eyepatch and wrapped the cloth on her forehead, which soon got stained with the unicorn's blood.

"I know it's here somewhere." Twilight thought aloud. "The time travel spell I used months ago was Starswirl's first successful attempt. The improved version got to be here as well!"

Twilight levitated a bunch of scrolls and checked all of them, carelessly dropping one by one on the floor; she had no time to treat the spells with the respect they deserved.

"Where is it, where is it, where is it?" she levitated and checked two more bunchs before squealing in delight. "There it is!" she soon covered her mouth with her forehooves. Her ears twitched as she heard growls and groans, soon followed by the sound of glass being smashed to pieces.

In front of a broken window stood a pony; but it wasn't a normal pony, it was a pony black as the darkest night with eyes as white and bright as the moon. Its lips and sharpened teeth where stained with blood.

"Uh-oh..." was all Twilight managed to mutter before the dark pony sprinted toward her, foam and spit dripping from its mouth. The monster-pony's teeth were inches away from her muzzle when she erected a purple barrier between them. Foam, spit, drops of blood and a sharp, stray tooth slowly slid down the magic wall.

Twilight magically unrolled the scroll and read it as fast as she could. Once she was finished, she dropped the scroll on the floor with the others and closed her eyes. Her horn started glowing and a few seconds later she was gone in a flash of white light.

NEW PLANET DISCOVERED! "I THOUGHT THERE WAS SOMETHING NEW ON THE SKY!" SAYS TWILIGHT SPARKLE, DISCOVERER OF THE NEW PLANET

PRINCESS CELESTIA NAMES THE NEW PLANET AFTER HER STUDENT AND DISCOVERER OF THE PLANET "I'M FLATTERED, BUT I'LL JUST CALL IT TS-01!" CLAIMS TWILIGHT SPARKLE, SAID MARE

ROBOT EXPLORERS SENT TO EXPLORE TS-01, THE TWILIGHT PLANET. THE SOIL IS FERTILE!

PRINCE BLUEBLOOD SHOWS INTEREST IN TWILIGHT PLANET. "WE WERE LOOKING FOR A SPONSOR TO OUR LITTLE SECRET PROJECT!" SAYS TWILIGHT SPARKLE, DISCOVERER OF TWILIGHT PLANET

"I WILL SPONSOR THE 'PROJECT TWILIGHT' AS LONG AS THEY CHANGE THE NAME TO 'BLUELOOD PLANET'!" DEMANDS PRINCE BLUEBLOOD. "THE OFFICIAL NAME WILL STILL BE 'TS-01'!" REPLIES TWILIGHT SPARKLE

"PROJECT TWILIGHT" REVEALED: A TEAM OF SCIENTISTS WILL VISIT THE BLUEBLOOD PLANET. "I WILL ACCOMPANY THEM, JUST TO MAKE SURE MY MONEY IS BEING PUT TO GOOD USE!" EXPLAINS BLUEBLOOD

Spike closed the scrapbook and looked at Twilight, who was lying on her bed, reading a book about space travel.

"Are you sure about this, Twilight?" he asked. "I mean, nopony has ever been to TS-01 yet!"

"I know, Spike! Isn't that exciting?" the unicorn mare asked, not moving her eyes away from the book. "So far, ponies only managed to visit and study the moon. I was given the chance to study something completely new to everypony, just like Marigold, the first mare to visit the moon!"

"Yeah, right, but..." he jumped on the bed and lowered Twilight's book, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Nopony knows what's in there! And I have this nagging feeling that something will happen..."

"This is why the robot explorers were sent months ago; to study everything beforehoof, so there's nothing to worry about when we arrive there."

"I know, I know. I just don't want you to get hurt! What if that planet is full of aliens, wanting to lay eggs in pony stomachs?"

"Spike, if there were aliens in TS-01, the robot explorers would have noticed. Do not fret, I'll be alright!"

"I wish I could go with you."

"I wish you could too, but the decision was unanimous: only scientist ponies will board the rocket, with the sole exception of Prince Blueblood."

Spike hugged Twilight, who immediately hugged him back.

"Promise me you will be careful up there, Twilight!"

"I will, Spike. I promise!"

A few days later, in the Project Twilight Launch Site, hundreds of ponies were there to watch the rocket being launched. Since they were too busy cheering and waving at the nine ponies boarding the rocket, all of them failed to notice a cloaked pony standing behind the last row of excited ponies. Well, almost all of them; Applejack was staring at the pony with a raised eyebrow, but she then just shrugged and focused on the astronauts.

"Our little Twilight is about to go down in history!" Applejack said with a proud smile.

"Tell me about it. Our friend is an astronaut! How cool is that?" said Rainbow Dash.

"Too bad she said she didn't had time for a 'Happy Travel To The New Planet' party!" Pinkie said, while happily bouncing.

"I still have this nagging feeling..." Spike mumbled to himself.

"Oh, you too, Spike?" Fluttershy asked; somehow, she managed to hear him.

"They're going in!" Rarity said. "I guess this means it's time for us to leave; rockets tend to be rather... Destructive while being launched."

As if on cue, Celestia, who was standing right outside the door of the rocket, summoned her Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice, so she could be heard by all of her subjects standing there.

"Alright, my little ponies, I'd like to ask all of you to leave the area. The rocket will be launch in a few hours and we don't want anypony getting hurt."

The ponies obeyed their ruler and started boarding the trains and carriages that brought them there. Applejack looked again at where the suspicious-looking pony was, but he or she was no longer there. She raised her eyebrow again.

"Where did he go?" she thought aloud.

"Who, darling?" Rarity asked.

"The pony who-- Nah, nevermind. Ah must be seeing things."

Two and a half hours later, the seven ponies boarding received the message that the rocket was about to be launch. They wore their helmets and fastened their seat belts.

Hiding in one of the rooms was the suspicious-looking pony, inside a purple sphere of magic, with her hooves magically attached to the floor. She removed her cloak, revealing her true identity: Twilight Sparkle. Next Chapter: Part 2: A Ruined Expedition Estimated time remaining: 22 Minutes