Delta is for Dashie

Princess's Log, April 3rd, Year of Luna's Return 35 (Translator's note: 2409 CE). First entry.

Today we take our first interstellar steps on our own four hooves. No coddling, no escorting. The Equestrian Star Ship Harmony is entirely built by pony hooves, wings, and horns. It is our declaration to the galaxy of both our independence, and our desire to extend the hoof of friendship.

It is also, sadly, a well armored hoof. The galaxy is not as safe as it was when construction began. I have appended the relevant articles to this log entry, for organizational purposes. I am not sure if we are doing the right thing, but we will do our best to restore harmony to our new friends. Princess Twilight Sparkle, end log entry.

LR 5 A United Federation of Planets "duck blind" is found outside Ponyville. Princess Twilight secured the onsight computer before revealing the discovery to the observation team. With cultural contamination already in progress and beyond any reasonable level of control, a diplomatic team was dispatched in order to establish friendly relations.

LR 6 Princess Celestia gives a statement of friendship towards the Federation, but states her desire to maintain Equestrian independence. She cites several Federation values she finds troubling, most specifically their economic structure and their willingness to persecute their own people for selfless acts.

LR 7 The Treaty of the Night Sky is signed. The Equestrian government is officially recognized as an ally of the Federation. The treaty allows certain materials to be traded to Equestria, but no technologies. With the technologies already gained by the botched expedition two years previous, Federation analysts believe the first pony-made warp drive will launch in under a century. A permanent Federation embassy is built in Canterlot.

Princess Twilight Sparkle declares her intention to see the stars. "This is not an equal friendship. The Federation is larger, stranger, and more wonderous than this one nation on this one planet. We have much in common, yet nopony can yet conceive the vastness of space, for nopony has seen it with her own eyes. But this is good. Our friends have taught us to aspire, to look upwards with anticipation not of what we can be given, but of what we can achieve. Achieve we will, my little ponies. Your children's hooves will know the ground of a hundred worlds, and call the stars themselves home."

Federation xenosociologists predict exponential growth in Equestrian technology, citing the herd instinct common in equines and Princess Twilight Sparkle's personal involvement. The expected date of successful warp tests is reduced by fifty years.

LR 8 Magical experiments with modern materials generate useful results. Construction of the first starport in Equestria breaks ground outside Ponyville, by order of Princess Sparkle.

The first artificial satellites are launched into orbit. Initial failures at launch led to improvement in the storage of magical energy in crystals, generalizing the process from unicorn spells to all alicorn magic. Princess Sparkle earns a third doctorate-equivalent degree.

Tensions with the Griffon Republic rise as Equestrian satellites violate Republic airspace.

Tensions with and between other nations similarly rise. The changes in their world, and Equestria's increasingly dominant position, are met with varying levels of grace.

The Griffon Republic steps up research on airship technology.

The Minotaur Tribes attempt to enter space by throwing the planet away from them. Bullhead earns world record for longest unaided flight by a wingless creature at five minutes, twelve seconds. The Tribes' space program is canceled shortly thereafter.

Rising tensions in nearby Klingon/Romulan border. A landmark year for diplomacy, in all the wrong ways.

Princess Celestia takes a month long sabbatical at the insistence of her sister and the Royal Physician.

Princess Luna quietly funds research in spells and weapons capable of repelling spacecraft.

Princess Celestia returns from vacation, pleased that Equestria did not burn down in her absence. This becomes an annual tradition, until, as Luna put it, "we have paid back our sister for every second of overwork we had forced upon her."

LR 9 Ponyville Royal Starport nears completion. Its two landing pads are sufficient to service the limited traffic Equestria sees, but the design specifically allows for expansion.

Pegasus and earth pony magic crystals enter the commodity market.

Twilight Sparkle becomes the first pony in space since the banishment of Nightmare Moon.

Rainbow Dash becomes the first non-alicorn in space.

A satellite is placed in low geosynchronous orbit over Canterlot. Given Equestria's negligible rotation, this achievement is hailed as impossible by the Federation embassy. They request a science team be allowed to study the achievement.

Princess Celestia negotiates substantial trade concessions with the Federation. It is later revealed that Discord had advised the princesses to engage in a campaign of tempting the Federation with scientific discovery.

Applejack and Apple Bloom become the first earth ponies in space. Sweetie Belle becomes the first unicorn in space. Scootaloo becomes the first pony to earn her cutie mark in space. Three of these are also the first ponies to stowaway on a spacecraft.

A global conference is held in Antlerdam. All major nations sign the Conference on Extraterrestrial Matters, which limits territorial claims to an altitude of fifty miles above the highest permanent settlement in a region. An International Starport is planned for construction in Prance.

LR 10 The Summer Sun Celebration includes a test of Equestria's first warp-capable vessel, christened Galineigho One. Rainbow Dash pilots the craft. It reaches warp 1.03 for a duration of five minutes before turning around, with a similar return trip. USS Enterprise-E witnesses the historic occasion. Federation observers note the vehicle's nacelles would not have been out of place on first generation human craft. Recordings are broadcast publicly across the Federation.

Anti-pony protests reach their all-time high.

Firelight becomes the first crystal pony in space.

Princess Luna opens negotiations with Grand Nagus Rom. The records of these negotiations are sealed.

The Griffon Republic develops chemical rockets. Garuk Ironclaw becomes the first griffon in space.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders are no longer grounded.

LR 11 Princess Twilight Sparkle invites Captain Geordi LaForge to join her in development of new cybernetic devices.

Earth pony crystals sold in large quantities on the Ferengi Futures Exchange.

Ponyville Royal Starport launches a space elevator made of a crystalline cable produced in the Crystal Empire.

The Crystal Empire breaks ground on the Imperial Crystal Starport.

Terraforming corporations rise an unprecedented 150 points on the Ferengi Market Exchange.

The Sparkle-LaForge (SLF) Interface is introduced for pony computers. SLF interfaces respond to magical fields, rather than heat or pressure, and are sensitive enough to react to the semiconscious fields of a pony's hooves. This is the first magic-enabled technology designed to interface with modern technology.

Prench International Starport canceled due to lack of funding. Princess Celestia refuses to donate additional bits, citing a bloated R&D budget.

LR 12 The Equestrian Royal Space Station is built in orbit over Canterlot. It is a small research outpost, comparable to 21st century human endeavors.

ERSS begins process of synthesizing antimatter.

The Equestrian Bit enters the Ferengi Futures Exchange as a recognized form of currency. The exchange rate to latinum is not favorable to the ponies.

SLF-enabled computers and devices present in 82% of government buildings and 26% of commercial businesses.

Klingon-Gorn hostilities reach the point of open conflict.

LR 13 Development of magical plants with high rates of gas exchange. Royal funding for hydroponics research increased, with an emphasis on sustainable deep space food production.

The Hobus Supernova obliterates the heart of the Romulan Star Empire.

LR 14 Princess Luna orders all plans to colonize her moon to cease immediately.

LR 15 The Crystal Empire launches the first Equestrian spaceship. Its top speed is warp 1.73.

The Federation trades starmaps of the Hromi Cluster for Equestrian exports, predominantly agricultural tools and supplies, to be delivered to Federation colonies in the Cluster.

Relations between the Klingons and Federation reach a low not seen since the Dominion's campaign against their alliance. The alicorn princesses meet in secret to discuss the wisdom of continued space research in such a turbulent time.

LR 16 Equestria becomes defacto trade hub for the Hromi Cluster. Commercial traffic increases dramatically.

The Klingons introduce themselves to ponies when a bird of prey decloaks in high orbit and boards a Ferengi transport. The unidentified vessel refused all hails and opened fire on Equestrian ships that attempted to intervene, destroying one with the loss of all hooves. The raider was almost immediately dispatched by a coruscating beam of energy fired from the planet.

Princess Celestia asks the Federation to deliver a message to the Klingon Empire, taking full, personal responsibility for the destruction of the ship and the deaths of all who served on board. She regrets the act but says "I am a selfish mare at heart. I will not allow my little ponies to come to harm, no matter what I must do in their defense." She is mildly surprised to learn that Chancellor Martok considered both her actions and her threat to be admirable.

Princess Luna approaches the Federation regarding the possibility of developing a permanent outpost in orbit of Equestria.

The Federation Ambassador to Equestria resigns his post. He cites his failures as a negotiator plainly. "Just build them the damn space station. These ponies are friendly and playful and oh so polite, but millennia-old mares haggle like Ferengi. I never had a bucking chance."

LR 18 All semblance of peace between Klingons, Gorn, and Naussicans dissolves.

Raids on Federation shipping drop off as more assets are drawn into the war efforts.

Princess Twilight Sparkle develops a warp 3 engine that draws power from temporal lensing. Federation scientists quickly draw parallels to Romulan singularity drives and are eager to learn whatever they can from the development. Princess Sparkle cheerfully explains that she simply entangled a particle with its own time-displaced counterpart and then annihilated the one from the past to punch a tiny hole in time itself.

The Daystrom Institute issues a statement calling Princess Twilight Sparkle a very scary mare.

Imports of Federation PADDs increase by over 500% over the previous five years. The increased purchases flow into the private sector, as more ponies do business with offworld partners almost every day.

LR 19 Chancellor Martok is killed in an honor duel. The announcement is the first real exposure Equestria has to Klingon culture.

Construction of Deep Space 16 begins. The Equestrian Royal Space Station is moved to orbit over Antlerdam in order to make room for the Federation starbase.

Popular entertainment in the Griffon Republic spawns an "orbital friendship cannon" scare in Saddle Arabia. Princess Celestia's official response is to facehoof.

The first offworld pony colonies are founded.

Term "magitech" coined to encompass any technology that uses magic as a power source or as part of its vital function. Estimates released say that Manehatten is the most magically-independent city at 73% technology to only 22% magitech used in business environments, with the remaining 5% being pure magic. National averages rate pure magic much more highly, at 79%, due to the preponderance of rural communities.

The Soong Foundation pushed the Federation to review Equestrian magic-based computers for sentience. Upon learning of the Foundation's concerns, Princess Twilight issued a statement. "I find it troubling that this issue even exists. A class two artificial mana-consciousness is incapable of self identity and exhibits a basic pleasure response in the fulfillment of its function. It does not meet the Federation's standards for sentience as set in LR 15." Princess Twilight went on (at length) to describe other artificial entities ponies have created. No successfully created intelligence reached the criteria for sentience.

ESS Centipede launched. The first Centipede-class freighter in service, it uses a modular cargo design and has a top cruising speed of warp 2.9.

LR 21 Undine shapeshifters make their presence known in the Klingon Empire. Princess Luna steps up security to make sure that shapeshifters, extraterrestrial or otherwise, are identified in Equestrian starports.

ESS Millipede becomes the second Centipede-class freighter in service, and the first Equestrian ship built on a proven design. More follow, replacing older designs rapidly.

Equestria ceases all domestic production of antimatter. Reserve fuel is consumed and all remaining reactors brought offline.

LR 22 The first offworld griffon colony is founded. The Griffon Republic Space Program bankrupts itself in the effort.

First modular SLF interfaces produced. These wearable devices allow ponies to use Federation and similar technology without further modification.

LR 24 The Federation signs dual citizenship into law. Princess Celestia returns the gesture, allowing any pony who desires to gain Federation citizenship.

Scootaloo becomes the first pony at Starfleet Academy.

LR 25 Rainbow Dash serves a month as junior tactical officer aboard the USS Lakota under the Officer Exchange Program. She is the first pony to carry rank on a Starfleet vessel.

The Equestrian freighter fleet has an average speed of warp 2.7 and connects most of the Federation colonies and affiliates in the Hromi Cluster.

The Klingons officially declare war on the Gorn. Equestria as a whole wonders what the past thirteen years have been.

The Khitomer Accords are dissolved. Equestria now stands on the border of two interstellar giants on the brink of war.

Princesses Cadence and Twilight order the Imperial Crystal Shipyard to produce a starship. Twilight heads the design team personally.

LR 29 Sela assumes rulership of the Romulan Star Empire.

First successful test of an Equestrian-designed warp 5 engine. (Actual speed reached is warp 4.38)

Construction of ESS Harmony begins.

Ensign Scootaloo becomes the first pony commissioned to a Starfleet vessel, USS Kirk.

LR 30 The Klingons claim ancestral right to the Hromi Cluster, including Equestria. They give the Federation three months to evacuate.

The Federation refuses the Klingon ultimatum.

Princess Celestia offers to mediate talks. The Klingons refuse.

LR 31 The Federation-Klingon war begins.

The Battle of Equestria becomes the first fleet-scale conflict in the Federation-Klingon war. Deep Space 16 and twenty-three Star Fleet vessels hold off an attack by ten Klingon battle cruisers and between ten and thirteen birds of prey. Klingon troops land on Equestria and attempt to seize Canterlot, Ponyville, the Crystal Empire, and Manehatten. The Klingons are forced to retreat, but only after severe casualties are sustained on all sides.

LR 32 Princess Luna manages to activate a cloaking device recovered from the battle. The Federation files an official protest at the scavenged technology but takes no action.

LR 33 Repairs to Deep Space 16 are completed.

Vinyl Scratch opens a nightclub on DS16. Sweetie Belle is hired as the lead singer.

Rainbow Dash reenters the officer exchange program and serves two months as pilot of the USS Belfast. Starfleet Command declares their desire to reciprocate with an officer stationed on the ESS Harmony.

LR 35 The Romulan Republic is founded on Dewa III. Princess Luna sends a team of earth pony terraforming experts to the renamed New Romulus.

ESS Harmony declared spaceworthy. Final crew assignments are made.

Present day.

These are the voyages of the starship Harmony. Her continuing mission, to explore strange, alien conflicts. To forge new allies and new friendships. To boldly go where nopony has gone before.