Through the Darkness of Space

by Lt Rainbow Slash

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Crossover, Profanity, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Original Character, Science Fiction
Length: 10577

The journal of an explorer among the stars. Inspired by Elite: Dangerous

When I was a foal I always looked up at the stars with a sense of wonder. Just the idea that all of those little twinkling lights were other suns, many with other planets, some of which were inhabited by other ponies. It blew my young little mind. I knew I wanted to go out there and see what more was out there.

And that's exactly what I'm going to do.

I have a ship, exploration equipment, and enough dehydrated food to last a full fourteen months. I'm going where nopony has gone before. Who knows what I'll discover.

Here's hoping I don't go nuts after spending several months in such a small ship...

Short journal entries chronicling an explorers adventures.

Published 2017-11-21 03:30:07 UTC
Last updated 2018-01-28 06:07:00 UTC

Prologue: Preparation

12 November, 3603

When I was a foal I always looked up at the stars with a sense of wonder. Just the idea that all of those little twinkling lights were other suns, many with other planets, some of which were inhabited by other ponies. It blew my young little mind. I knew I wanted to go out there and see what more was out there.

And that's exactly what I'm going to do.

I spent the last three months preparing. Dad had just bought a Type-9 Heavy and he gave me Curiosity, his old Cobra Mk.III. Best birthday present ever. She may be thirty years old but she's still a great little ship. I've been making money doing courier runs and trading. Also a bit of bounty hunting on the side. The money earned then goes into upgrading and outfitting her for exploration.

I also managed to swing by Equis. I always wanted to see the birthplace of ponykind. Hell, I wanted to see the Princesses but it's not like any old pony can show up to visit. They're the four thousand year old Alicorn rulers of the Federation. No doubt they have little time to waste between royal duties. Not like they'd want to see little old me. Well...not until after I'm a famous explorer. We'll see in a year when I get back.

I spent today relaxing. All my friends came over and we just hung out. Dusty made us all laugh with his bad jokes. Skipper told us of his latest story he's come up with. Screen...heh. She wouldn't let me go all day. We spent most of the time up in the clouds. This is the last chance I'm going to get to fly in open air in a long time so I wanted to make the most of it.

Later, Instructor Heat, my pilot instructor, and Doctor Pad, my college physics teacher, stopped by to wish me good luck. The Doc made me promise I'd let him have first pick of any interesting data I bring back. It was really a bittersweet day.

Anyway, this is going to be my journal for the trip. I'll make sure to note anything interesting I find. Who knows, I may even find a few habitable worlds. As is, the ship's ready, I have my route plotted out to unexplored space in the Norma Arm just Galactic West of the core. I get to enjoy one more good nights sleep in my own bed, then I leave first thing tomorrow morning.

Dad's calling me. One last dinner with my parents before I leave. Considering I'm going to be living on dehydrated 'space food' for the next year there's no way in hell I'm missing one last helping of Mom's cooking.

Until next time,
-Con

Author's Note

A story based on my own MASSIVE expedition in Elite: Dangerous

We'll see where this goes...

Day 2: Equis Like

14 November, 3603
Day 2
637LY from Cel

I'm gonna have to get wayyyyyyyy out from the bubble before I start finding undiscovered stuff it seems. Literally every single star, asteroid belt, and planet has been discovered that I've come across so far. I'll still get paid for scanning them, so whatever. I've just been skipping the boring ones and getting the detailed surface scans I need on anything interesting. Anything that looks terraformable or metal rich really. Those are worth the most, for obvious reasons.

I found an Equis-like today as well. Already discovered again but it was beautiful. A gorgeous blue and green marble floating through the void. Too bad I forgot my Holoimager, I wanted to take some pics. I went ahead and landed on the planet's moon. That said I may have made a minor mistake.

I decided this morning to shut off any systems I don't need. SRV bay, shields, cargo scoop. Stuff I don't need to have running all the time so I can save a bit of fuel. Problem was, me being my idiot self, I forgot to reactivate my shields as I came in to land. Long story short, I had no shields and I landed as I normally do: hard. Instead of the shields just eating up the impact I whacked the hull. I managed to dent it a bit. So yeah. Lesson learned: Stop being an idiot and remember to reactivate shield for landings.

Honestly I can't think of anything more worth mentioning.

So until next time,
-Con

Day 3: The Daily Routine

15 November, 3603
Day 3
1,000LY from Cel

Other than reaching one thousand light years away from the birthplace of ponykind...today was really boring. Nothing interesting. At all. Like, I found Jack and Shit. Maybe one metal rich planet but everything else were just balls of rock or big freaking snowballs.

So with little to write about I figure I'll write about my daily routine. Cause I really can't think of anything else.

So first things first, I have my ship's chronometer synced up with my homeworld Harmony, time zone +6. And I'm in a Cobra Mk.III. My cockpit/crew compartment is only about the size of my parents bedroom back home, with a small refresher. It's cramped but livable.

My never faltering internal clock always wakes me up around 8AM, give or take a few minutes. If I'm really tired I'll let myself sleep an extra thirty minutes. I'll get out of bed, and hit the refresher for my morning shower. I have to be pretty careful with how long I take though, my water tank isn't exactly huge. But at least I get a short yet warm morning shower. And yes I know I could use a sonic shower or one of the myriad of different auto cleaning spells you can buy, but I've always preferred a good old fashioned water shower. After that it's just the remainder of my morning hygiene.

Then its breakfast. The food isn't actually as bad as I thought it was gonna be. The wonder of magic that is my meal dispenser actually does wonders for the 'space food'. Out of the box the stuff tastes like cardboard. But the dispenser apparently has all kinds of spellwork to prepare food. Thank Celestia. I'd go nuts if I had to eat the, let's call it 'raw', dehydrated food. I also made sure I had my tea. Can't live without my morning tea.

By then it is usually 9AM. After that I have an hour to myself. I normally chill on my bed with my datapad and open the GalNet to take a look at what's going on in the news. Maybe exchange a few messages with friends or my parents. Even play some sims.

At ten on the dot I get into my flight suit, and get in my pilot's seat and start Curiosity back up. I then spend the next four hours exploring. At 2PM I stop, shut down most of the systems and have my lunch. I usually allow myself thirty minutes to eat and chill. Then it is back into my seat for the next seven and a half hours. I normally park the ship in orbit of a planet and call it a day around 10PM.

After I shut down the ship its dinner time. After dinner I have another shower and clean myself up. Then it's a few hours of me time. Tonight I watched a movie. And around midnight, which is right now, I write my journal entry for the day. Then it is bedtime. Turn off all the lights and tint the canopy so its opaque (My bed is just behind the pilot and co-pilots seats). And off to dreamland.

Rinse and repeat.

And I'm really tired. Time to go to bed.

Until next time,
-Con

Day 4: Encounters

16 November, 3603
Day 4
1,342LY from Cel

Saw the first other ship I've seen since I left the Bubble. The pilot hailed me to have a chat. CMDR Trailblazer was her name, pilot of the Asp Explorer New Horizons. Yes that CMDR Trailblazer. The one who mapped the neutron highway to Colonia. She's famous in the exploration community.

She told me she was heading the opposite direction back to civilization after a five month expedition. She asked if I wanted to share a cup of tea and talk. Of course I accepted. We made our way to one of the planets in the system. A water world called Syra. She led me down to the southern icecap and we set down next to one another.

I hopped in my SRV and drove over before boarding her Asp. Really nice ship. I hope to own one of my own one day. She greeted me and we sat down. The Asp certainly has a much spacier crew compartment than my little Cobra. She even has a sitting area with a small table.

Trail brewed us some tea and we got to talking. She had a ton of great pointers and advice for me. There's a ton of little things that will make my journey so much easier. Then she asked me something: "Why do you explore?"

She told me: "When I started it was for the money. But now it's to satisfy my curiosity. But what about you?"

Why? I suppose for the same reasons our ancestors set out in their great sailing ships thousands of years ago. There is the sense of wonder and curiosity about what there is to find out there. There is of course the monetary gain. There is the fame to be gained. And most important: I get to slap my name all over stuff!

She laughed at the last one.

It was a good conversation. I actually learned a lot. I thanked her for the tea and we went our separate ways.

It's only now I think about how low the odds of the two of us being in the same system at the same time were. That was a one in a million encounter. I think I'm still a bit star struck, no pun intended.

Until next time,
-Con

Day 5: Mistakes were made

17 November, 3603
Day 5
1,427LY from Cel

Pardon the language.

I'm a complete fucking idiot. Like really Con?! What the fucking HELL!! Stupid stupid stupid!! Seriously! How could you fuck up THAT bad!

Ok. Now that I've vented all of my self loathing. I did something dumb. Like you'd have to be missing half of your brain to be this dumb.

SO: I decided to land on a moon to take some surface samples and have a look around. I came in, remembered to put up my shields so I wouldn't have a repeat of last time (thank Celestia). Being the daredevil that I am I decided to do a bit of stunt flying. I dove down full throttle, pulled up...And then panicked as my momentum kept me heading downwards. I threw all trust upwards but I hit the surface going over 150 meters a second. Knocked myself unconscious in the process.

When I came to two minutes later I cried. I thought my trip was over, and that I maybe even crippled Curiosity. When I got over feeling sorry for myself I got around to actually checking the ships readouts. Turns out, while she was badly damaged, Curiosity is a tough old bitch. There was a minor hull breach ventrally. A rock had punched a hole beside the cargo hatch. Luckily it isn't connected to my crew compartment so the atmosphere didn't vent. The reactor was dinged a bit, as were the sensors. A few internal systems were bashed around a bit.

I deployed the landing gear and landed properly. Then I had to spend five hours making repairs. I had to deploy and use my SRV to fix the breach. That took three hours. Another one hour to make sure the Reactor wouldn't kill me with radiation poisoning. And one more to recalibrate the sensors and check over the internals to make sure I hadn't missed any fuel leaks or anything else busted. Luckily nothing was.

It was 9:30PM by the time I was done. I've decided to stay put for tonight.

I still can't believe I did something so stupid. It's a good thing I dinged my ship a couple days back and learned my lesson. If I hadn't remembered my shields...

Well, let's just say I'd probably be space dust.

That's a sobering thought.

I'm going to have to be extra careful from here on out. I came too damn close to getting myself killed today. Way too damn close. I...I here give me a second.

Ok. Sorry. It just caught up with me how close I came to ending my life. I may have gone into a bit of shock for a few minutes there. I'm ok now. I'm ok.

...I think I'm going to comm Mom and Dad now.

Somehow still alive,
-Con

Day 7: Fuel Woes

19 November, 3603
Day 7
2,010LY from Cel

Sorry I skipped yesterday. There was pretty much nothing to write about. Today...Oh hell today...

Sometimes my Nav Computer is a pain the flank. I mean seriously!? You route me through five non-sequence stars in a row!? I need FUEL to FLY. I can't fuel scoop from non-main sequence stars! I don't feel like taking the risk and hoping the damned fuel rats can get to me this far out. I mean...they prolly could, but without fuel I lose life support and they might not be able to get to me in time.

Look long story short my Nav Computer is being stupid. I had to manually go in and force the thing to route me though a star I could fuel from. Three times! THREE! Who designed this thing without some form of auto function that would do that for me? I mean come on, it wouldn't be that hard. Or would it? I dunno, I'm a pilot and an explorer not a computer scientist.

Ok. Other than my NaviComp being a piece of garbage I did find some cool stuff today. Also went through a couple of storage cabinets and guess what I found! I thought I forgot it but it turns out Mom packed my Holoimager away, so I can take pictures and videos now to help document my trip! I've decided to upload them to my datapad and start attaching them to my journal entries. I'm gonna take an image of the galactic core every morning after I warm up the ship, and every evening before I shut down. It should make a really cool time-lapse when they're all put together.

It also goes without saying I'll snap anything worthwhile too. Like this:

Beautiful isn't it. That is what I've decided to call Rega. Yes I named it. You get to do that when you're the first to discover something. And yes, I came across my first few undiscovered systems today. Kinda mind boggling to realize you're the first pony to ever see something.

And that wasn't the only one I found today. I found two other water worlds in the first system I jumped into this morning. One of which is terraformable. Not only that but there was another terraformable planet in the system as well. So yeah. Score. That was a pretty good day.

-Con

Today's discoveries:
Sifi JD-D B12-0:
-Water World tf, Solovie
-Water World, Liluri
-Metal Rich tf

Prooe Drye PO-X D2-78:
-Water World tf, Rega
-Metal Rich tf

Day 8: Progress

20 November, 3603
Day 8
2,548LY from Cel

Today was a good day. I was able to cover a ton of ground...or space...whatever. 500 Light Years or so. It was interesting though. Yesterday there where a few unexplored systems, and some that had been discovered. It was about fifty-fifty. Today though there were only three or four systems somepony had explored. I got to be the first to find a TON of stuff.

Not only that but I found a bunch of interesting stuff too. Three water worlds, a bunch of terraforming candidates. Hay, I found one system that would be a miners dream with twelve worlds, all of which were extremely mineral rich.

I also snapped a ton of pics now that I have my Holoimager. So many I can't actually fit them here. I'll attach the interesting and/or relevant ones at least.

I had one pretty scary moment today as well. I was scooping off a star and filling my tank when the star let off a stellar flare. What that basically means is the star erupted a bunch of radiation and heat off into space. I saw it happen just in front of me. Any closer and I'd have been cooked. I got a pretty good picture of it.

You'd think the damn thing was trying to kill me. Just one of the many hazards of space travel and exploration I suppose.

On another note I finally ran out of water today. Eight days on a 5,000 Litre tank. That's not bad. It meant I had to go delving to the rings of a gas giant I passed by. I picked up a big chunk of ice in the hold and put it into my water purifier. It'll fill my water tank back up, and dump the rest. Water has always really been my biggest concern. Food? Fourteen months worth. Air? Infinite as long as I have power for the life support. Fuel? Class A, B, F, G, K, M, and O stars all have plenty of hydrogen in their coronas to scoop from and refuel. But water? I'm gonna have to grab ice from rings and planets and wherever else I can find it to stay supplied.

Also feel vaguely cheated. The last system I visited today was amazing. Three water worlds, six metal rich planets. Jackpot right? Nope. Somepony else has already been through here. I scanned all the planets but it's frustrating that I'm not the first on such a great find. I decided to set down for the night on the moon of one of the water worlds. Here's the view from my ship:

Space never ceases to make my jaw drop. Anyway, that's enough for today.

Until next time,
-Con

Today's discoveries:
Sifi IV-X B14-0:
-Water World tf, Selonia

Sifi UY-S D3-35:
-Water World, Anat
-Water World, Alith
-Metal Rich tf

Sifi DG-W B15-7:
-12 Metal Rich Worlds

Sifi TY-S D3-79:
-High Metal tf

Author's Note

A story based on my own MASSIVE expedition in Elite: Dangerous.

I will update when possible: After I do a play session I'll sit down and write. Updates for the most part should be daily.

We'll see where this goes...

Day 9: S.O.S.

21 November, 3603
Day 9
2,717LY from Cel

Today started out pretty slow. All I found before lunch was a couple of terraformable mineral rich planets. There were a few other planets miners might want to have a look at, and a few interesting sights but otherwise there was nothing.

After lunch things picked up a bit when I came across a terraformable water world. In the same system was another metal rich terraforming candidate. But what I found an hour later is by far the most interesting thing today.

I jumped in system as I always do and began scooping fuel off the system's sun. Just as I finished I went to scan one of the nearby planets. It looked mineral rich so I headed in to do a surface scan. But as I left the star's orbit I picked up a transmission.

Now I don't think I have to tell you this but I'm over two thousand lightyears from inhabited space. There is nopony else out here. I'm in the middle of nowhere. So I certainly never expected to pick up a ship's distress beacon. Except I did.

I snapped my ship around faster than I thought possible and went straight there. It was less than a light second away so I dropped out of super cruise pretty quickly.

I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe a ship without fuel, or perhaps a damaged FSD. Instead I found this:

Wreckage. No escape pods. No life signs. Just a debris field of a destroyed ship. It was eerie. I didn't even know what type of ship it was until I had my flight computer analyze the debris. An Asp Explorer. Apparently some poor bastard was out exploring and got themselves killed.

I was on edge. Here was another pony made ship, lightyears from inhabited space, in pieces. I had no clue how it got destroyed. Was it pirates? This far out, unlikely.

Perhaps overheating? It is in low orbit over a star. But how? I wasn't overheating at that distance, and I doubt whoever the pilot was they were stupid enough to activate their FSD this close. Everypony knows how much heat that damn thing puts off. That combined with the heat of a star makes it suicide to activate it this close to a star.

Maybe aliens? I mean, those Thargoid aliens were just discovered. But nopony has seen any of them outside the Platois Cluster. And we would've certainly found an alien civilization if it existed this close to us. 2,000 Lightyears isn't that far on a galactic scale.

So what in the whole damn galaxy destroyed this ship?

There was an easy way to find out. I was able to pick up the Asp's black box, and get some data off the distress beacon. The main flight computer's data storage was intact on one of the larger chunks of debris.

The first thing I noticed was the age. The beacon had been transmitting for four years and three months. The date on both the black box's data recorder, and the flight computer was August, 3598. This wreck is OLD.

Which also means whatever destroyed it is long gone. That put me more at ease. I was quickly able to get the registry off the BB: Lakon Spaceways Asp Explorer IR-E59. The ESS Starswirl owned by CMDR Sparkling Peak. I was able to access the pilot's federation database and look her up. And indeed, she's been missing for the last four years.

Still, I didn't know what brought about the ship, and it's owners, demise. I went digging through the data and managed to find the cockpit audio recording. It's as follows (pardon the language):

Sounds of an FSD winding down

Ah shit...how many barren systems am I going to come across?

...

...

What? ...What the hell is that?

...Oh Celestia fuck me with a sword!! Shit!

Sounds of impacts on the hull and a loud crash.

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Commander Peak of the Asp Explorer Starswirl! I'm under attack by unkno-

Explosion and static. Nothing else is heard.

That...Scares the crap out of me. What scares me even more is the last minutes of sensor data. It turns out that CMDR Peak is now on record as the first known pony to meet the Thargoids. And be killed by them. Yeah. Aliens. Fucking ALIENS.

I sent in a report of her fate to the pilot's federation. No body though so I can't confirm her death. But this close to a star and with a ship that destroyed? Yeah she's as dead as a doornail. At least it may give her family some closure.

I went a few more systems to where I am now after that. Just in orbit of a gas giant for the night.

I'm gonna have nightmares and not sleep a wink tonight. I wonder if Princess Luna can do her dream walking thingamajig with me way out here...

Very scared and creeped out,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:
Sifi SY-S D3-36:
2 High Metal tf

Sifi VE-R D4-5:
Water World tf, Sedna
High Metal tf

Distress beacon, Sifi GY-Q B18-5:
Wreck of Lakon Spaceways Asp Explorer IR-E59
Black Box, Beacon, and Flight Computer Data: recovered

Day 11: SAR

23 November, 3603
Day 11
3,000LY from Cel

Now that I'm in a better state of mind, today I backtracked to the system I found the Sky Skipper in. In fact I went all the way back to the wreck itself to have a closer look. Now that I wasn't panicking and fearing for my life, I took a much better look over. And you know what I discovered?

The escape pods had jettisoned. There where no escape pods on my sensors, so they either went somewhere, or the thing that destroyed the ship took or destroyed them. I tried not to think about the second possibility too hard.

I checked over the wreck a bit more before heading out to explore the system. And what do you know there was an Equis-like world. Quite near to the wreck too. Most importantly it had a breathable atmosphere.

That brought the possibly of the survivors being down on the surface. Escape pods are by law required to be able to survive reentry and planetfall. The wreck was a year old so if they were alive, they'd be down there.

So I set my sensors to maximum sensitivity looking for electronics and pony lifeforms, and went down. I spent three hours flying a search pattern around the planet. The Cobra is one of the better ships out there as far as atmospheric aerodynamic performance is concerned, which meant I could go zipping around supersonic and cover a ton of ground. And I do mean ground. I didn't bother searching the oceans, for obvious reasons.

Eventually my scanners did pick something up. A small escape pod distress beacon. I beelined straight there. Lo and behold, there was a camp. It was in the treeline just off a beach. As I landed I noticed how similar the area was to any tropical beach back home on Harmony. The trees even had a bit of resemblance to palms.

Two ponies came running out to greet me, a mare and a stallion. As I stepped of the ramp they stopped ten meters away.

"Are you real?" One of them asked, seemingly stunned. He came up and delicately reached out to touch my hoof I held out, almost afraid I'd disappear. Then he glomped me and began weeping in joy.

I joined them by their fire pit and they told me their story. The mare was Dr. Star Cam and the stallion CMDR Skip Ray himself. Turns out the two of them had escaped the ship as it began to break up. The third member of the crew Misty Valley hadn't made it. They had been unbelievably lucky to have a habitable world so close. The survival supplies in the pods had allowed them to survive as long as they had. They'd had to test most of the plants with a chemical kit to check if they were edible. Star was missing a leg as well. Some native wolf like predator had attacked them and taken her leg off, poor girl.

I told them to pack up anything they wanted to bring and headed back to the ship. I immediately contacted the Pilot's Federation Authorities and reported my find. I spoke with one of the Search and Rescue Reps. We agreed that I would take the survivors aboard. In the meantime they'd dispatch a SAR Anaconda to come collect them. We set up a rendezvous two days from now in a system on my planned route. The 'Conda has a far better FSD than my little Cobra, and I've been taking my time exploring and scanning, so they'll easily be able to catch up if they head straight there.

As is I made the second bunk up for Star, while Skip offered to sleep in the co-pilot's chair. There were still plenty of hours left in the day though and I asked the two if they're be willing to ride along. They were all for it, wanting to get back into space after so long planet bound. They had some stories to tell and the conversation flowed the rest of the day. Found some great stuff too.

I feel happy. More than I have the last two days that's for sure. I'm going to get to bed on that happy note.

Felling content,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:

Pru Eurk SH-N B20-5:
Inhabitable Equis-Like:
2 Survivors of ESS Sky Skipper rescued

Pru Eurk VQ-G c10-5:
Water World tf, Azizos

Pru Eurk IF-R d4-72:
Water world, Vaire

Day 12: Exploration

24 November, 3603
Day 12
3,437LY from Cel

After the last three days of drama today was a welcome return to normality. No wrecked ships. No stranded survivors (barring the two ex-castaways currently aboard my ship). Just space to be explored.

Having the two much more experienced explorers aboard was quite the interesting experience. Skip Ray took to the co-pilot's seat like a fish to water. He flew a Cobra like mine years ago, and you could see the nostalgic grin on his face most of the day. Star Cam spent most of the day looking over and analyzing the scans and exploration data I've collected so far. She has a doctorate in astrophysics as well as xenobiology so she was able to point out some interesting anomalies and bits of data that would seem normal and boring to my untrained eye.

We covered a ton of space. Lots of mineral rich systems, but few life bearing worlds. It was a bit frustrating honestly. We did find one system with two water worlds, one of which is terraformable. So there was that.

On another note, I slept horribly last night. I'm so used to just the barest hum of the ship and my own breathing. Having two other ponies in the same space threw me off a bit. Skip also snores so that didn't help (don't tell him I said that).

Three ponies also drains my food supplies quite quick. One day costs three times as much to keep us all fed, not to mention the drain on my water supply (no pun intended). I contacted the Anaconda that's to rendezvous and they informed me they had more than enough supplies to top me off. So that makes the whole point moot. Which I don't mind in the slightest.

I set us down on a small world for the evening. It's binary so the view from the canopy is awesome:

Tomorrow we meet with the Anaconda and I say goodbye to my travel companions. Overall...a good day.

Until next time,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:

Pru Eurk YI-B c13-24:
Water World tf, Feanor
Water World, Oceanus

Day 14: Back to Normal

26 November, 3603
Day 14
3,863LY from Cel

Today was back to routine after the last few days. No wrecks, no rescued survivors. Just me, Curiosity and the vast expanse of space. Nice change of pace.

It was a good day too. I found a ton of stuff. Almost right off the bat I discovered a water world. A couple jumps later and there was a terraforming candidate. Before I shut down for the day I found another two water worlds and half a dozen terraforming candidates.

I went down to the last one. It had a breathable atmosphere and I haven't been able to stretch my wings since...hell I can't even remember. I'll have to go back through my entries...

I also received a reply to my suggestion to the Pilot's Federation. They've assigned five SAR ships to search the area for any other lost ships. They say they'll keep me informed, so that's good. Thank Celestia for FTL comms spells.

Speaking of comms. I called home again today. Good to have a chat with Mom and Dad.

Back in my groove,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:
Pru Eurk UL-J b36-1:
Water World tf, Neri

Pru Eurk KR-Y b41-4:
High Metal tf

Pru Eurk XR-H b37-5:
Water World, Pascia

Pru Euro UP-G d10-50:
3 High Metal tf
Water World tf, Tano

Day 16: Emergency

28 November, 3603
Day 16
4,000LY from Cel

~~Son of a motherfu-,Fuck me. I am so fucking exhausted. I've been up for 40 hours straight.~~

Celestia damnit. Ok.

Let me start at the beginning.

~~Today~~ Yesterday started out fine. I jumped a few times. Explored. Did my thing. I decided to go do a flyby of a ringed gas giant I found. I was actually on comms with my ~~friends~~ friend Storm Dust. I met her in 'Explorer School'. We're basically ~~besties~~ best friends (I also apparently can't spell when I'm ~~tyred~~ TIRED, fuck). She set off in her own Cobra a month before me. So yeah she called to have a chat.

I managed to be so distracted though that, instead of skimming the rings and getting an amazing video clip on my holoimager, I hit the rings. My FSD ~~immer~~ immediately dropped me from supercruise. As I came out I slammed into one of the icy chunks of ring. Hard. Like ~~almois~~ almost 300 meters a second hard. Luckily my windscreen held. Unluckily my reactor's containment failed.

When I regained consciousness my helmet had auto deployed cause the entire ship was being bathed in radiation. Not only that, but my FSD ~~sru~~ sprung a leak. I had to immediately got to work fixing them both.

I also cracked a rib.

As is it took me near 40 hours of nonstop work to make sure I wasn't going to die from radiation ~~poisning~~ poisoning.

Fucking hell. I'm going to bed.

Utterly dead on my hooves,
-Con

Day 20: Gone Swimming

2 December, 3603
Day 20
5,140LY from Cel

Today was...Interesting. Not least of which was because of how much space I was able to cover today. Where to begin?

At the beginning I suppose. I found a tiny little planet in the third system I visited. Only 360km in diameter. I was a bit bored, so I went down and landed on the thing (safely of course). My main reason? It's gravity. 0.04 G.

I got out the SRV. Did some sampling and such. Then I hopped out and had some fun in just my spacesuit. Let my inner little filly go nuts. Just bouncing around like it was a bouncy castle. Goofing off in low gravity is a ridiculous amount of fun. I ended up taking the SRV aways out just messing around, ramping off of stuff. I eventually had the autopilot fly the ship over to pick me up. After that little aside I carried on.

It was a ten or so systems later I came across three water worlds. One had a breathable atmosphere while the other two were terraformable. The inhabitable one had some interesting readings though so I decided to investigate.

I went flying down and found a small island near the equator to land on. Only maybe ten square kilometres, so a decent size. There were plants all over, like a tropical island back home. Dunno if there were any animals. If there were I didn't see any. I took a few leaves and samples from the plants, as well as a myriad of scans. I was even able to take off my helmet and breath normally. But there was nothing anomalous. What my scans had picked up was in the ocean, just off the beach.

Luckily for me my spacesuit is also functional as a diving suit. Nice little design perk of the exploration version I got in explorer school. So, making sure I was armed (I wasn't taking any chances incase there was something akin to a Equis Shark. Wouldn't that be a sad end), and carrying several waterproof scanners I waded into the surf.

I swam on the surface for a few hundred meters, and a quick look told me what my ship had picked up. The alien equivalent of a coral reef. Obviously it isn't coral, but it was something similar and equally as colourful. And like a Equis reef, there was life. So much life. All kinds of these vaguely fish like creatures, in all the colours of the rainbow. Oh how I wish my holoimager was waterproof. You should have seen it.

And then there was the...well I'm not sure what to name it, as I'm definitely the first pony to see one. Hmmm...the best way I can describe it is that it was like a cross between a shark and a manta ray. A 'Shark-Ray?' Nah that's not good. I'll come up with something later. It was kinda creepy, very predatory and super cool. It saw me as I dove among the reef and came over to have a look. I almost fried it when I first saw it, but it jut seemed curious. It circled me and just had a look before it swam off.

I got detailed scans of it and a ton of the other aquatic species. As well as the plant like...I'm just gonna call it coral. I know it's not coral but I don't know what else to call it.

I spent two hours swimming around, it was just so cool to see call of this alien life. I need to do this more often.

I eventually dragged myself out of the surf with a huge grin on my face. I dried off and threw my suit in the washer. It was Lunch by then so I had a beach picnic. Did I mention it was a beautiful day? Not a cloud in the sky. I went for a flight after I ate too. Just stretching my wings.

After that it was time to go. I took off and headed back off into space.

The last system I visited today had a ringed terraforming candidate. Me being me, I just had to be an idiot and go flying through the rings. Managed to avoid smashing Curiosity into anything so that's good.

All in all...That was the best day yet I think.

In a really good mood,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:
Chraufao HA-T b3-4:
Inhabitable Water World, tf, Balina
Water World, tf, Uron
Water World, tf, Jord

Aucoths VP-A c3-6:
Water World, tf, Krosi
3 High Metal, tf

Chraufao IZ-S c3-17:
Water World, Ilal

Chraufao TX-L c7-13:
High Metal, tf

Chraufao WY-S d3-13
High Metal ,tf

Author's Note

Sorry for the lack of updates. Real life is a bitch.

Day 22: Still Going

4 December, 3603
Day 22
5,436LY from Cel

Sorry I skipped a day. Just dead stars and snowballs yesterday. Nothing worth writing about. Today though was a goldmine.

I found a few terraforming candidates early on, but one system was amazing. Two terraformable water worlds, another candidate, and an ammonia world.

I had heard of ammonia worlds of course, but I'd never seen one. It looked like a burnt brown and black version of an Equis-like world.

I curiosity made me make my way down to the surface. The first thing I noticed was it was freezing. Like really damn cold. -52 C to be exact. Which makes sense: Ammonia boils off at -33 and freezes at -77, and there was liquid ammonia seas.

It was so strange. There were plants and animals, but they were barely identifiable by our standards of such. I don't really know what to make of it, or how to even begin describing it. It was just so...alien.

I took very detailed scans of any lifeforms I could find before I left. I didn't stay long as I was too creeped out.

Interested but kinda disgusted,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:
Aucoths ET-O d7-29:
2 High Metal, tf

Aucoths HZ-M d8-48:
High Metal, tf
Water World, tf, Feanor
Water World, tf, Eran
Ammonia World

Aucoths QJ-Y c17-8:
High Metal, tf

Blaa Eohn GV-W a97-1:
Water World, Vesta

Author's Note

Sorry for the short chapter, but I felt I had to get something out after the last few days.

Anyway, expect service to resume as normal for the next few weeks.

Day 23: Bored, Bored, Bored!

5 December, 3603
Day 23
6,634LY from Cel

Wow. I covered over a thousand light years today...That's the most so far. Prolly had more to do with the fact that I couldn't find anything interesting all day than anything. I put on some classical music on after the first couple hours. Mostly some of Octavia Melody's greatest pieces. She was a legendary composer in her time. You still hear 'The Beautiful Blue Whitetail' played here and there today, over 1500 years later.

Besides I always thought classical orchestral music complimented the feeling of wonder and discovery that is exploration. Just put on the music and chill as I zip around this big galaxy of ours.

On another note the Pilot's Federation contacted me. Just an update on the SAR efforts. They've found thirteen of the other missing ships. No survivors unfortunately. They've got over twenty ships working over that sector now. Hopefully they'll find more and maybe get some answers as to what has been attacking our ships.

Other than that. Boring as all hell day.

Bored out of my skull,
-Con

Author's Note

Well so much more 'regular service' eh?

At this point I've taken off the 'updates daily' blurb. Expect pretty regular updates but I'm not gonna go with any timetable. You will get new entries when I play Elite, simple as that.

Day 25: To Infinity...

7 December, 3603
Day 25
7,794LY from Cel

Well. I covered a ton of space today. Found some great stuff too.

My first big discovery of the day was an inhabitable water world. Inhabitable in the loosest sense of the word though. The atmosphere was breathable, and gravity was about half Equis standard. The atmosphere was only half as dense at the surface though. If I had gone straight from my pressurized ship to the surface I would have had some difficulties. Like if a diver dives or ascends too quick. Basically 'the bends' but in reverse, and without extra oxygen.

At lunch I found a pair of beautiful binary ringed planets. I set down to have lunch. But damn, the view took my breath away.

Absolutely beautiful.

After that I set course for a nearby nebula. By nearby I mean a full 1000LY distant but whatever. That's 'nearby' in galactic terms. I'll prolly be there by tomorrow or the day after that.

I found a couple more water worlds to finish off the day. It was just after dinner Sky called. My older brother. He's headed down to the Platois Cluster. You know. Where all the damned Thargoids have been?

He'd just gotten it into his thick skull to head down to those stations that got attacked and help with the evacuations. And he wanted somepony to fly his parasite fighter from his Anaconda. Sky being Sky he had decided I'd love to do it, and instead of hiring a pilot he called me.

He was right. Fighters are fun as hell.

I joined his ship via telepresence golem (of course he just had one laying around in my exact dimensions...Celestia damn it Sky if I was any other pony it would be creepy.) We immediately set to work evacuating ponies off the Oracle station, making several runs to the large rescue ships with evacuees. Of course where there are vulnerable ponies there are others who wish to prey on them.

A group of ten or so overly ballsy pirates made a run on one of the rescue ships, just as we were heading in to drop off some evacuees. I launched in my fighter and joined a dozen other ships engaging the scum. I canned two: A Cobra Mk. IV and a Python. Sky shot down a third Eagle.

I helped for a few hours before I called it a night. It's after 3am and I'm completely exhausted.

Nice to be back in my own body...and bed.

Had a good day,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:

Byoi Thua EC-D c12-20:
Inhabitable Water World, Nova

Byoi Thua EC-D c12-29:
Water World, tf, Asteria

Byoi Thua NU-X c14-31:
High Metal, tf

Smojeia KA-P c19-24:
Metal World: 100% Iron

Smojeia RI-B d13-119:
High Metal, tf
Water World, tf, Teta

Day 27: And Beyond

9 December, 3603
Day 27
8,208LY from Cel

Well, I found my first neutron star today. Sometimes referred to as 'pulsars'. The short version, they are what happens when a super giant star collapses and does not become a black hole, instead forming a super small yet super dense and hot blue star.

The bonus is that, due to the unique radiation they produce in their jet cones, if you fly into said cones you can supercharge your FSD allowing four times the jump range for one jump. There's a ton of science and stuff on the subject, but all I really care abut is if it works and if it is safe.

Good thing it is both.

I went through the jet cone, which is a weird experience. The forces inside cause a ton of turbulence. Enough that I completely lost control of Curiosity. And any pilot can tell you, the worst feeling in the world is being a passenger when you are in the pilot's seat. I kept calm. And sure enough I was spit out the end none the worse for wear and with a supercharged FSD. One long jump later and I had covered four times the distance I normally can.

So that was cool.

Other than that I found plenty of interesting things. Another Ammonia World, a couple Water Worlds.

A good day all things considered.

Till next time,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:
Smojeia JC-B c27-15:
Water World, tf, Bime

Smojeia ST-Z d13-2:
3 High Metal, tf

Traikeou JX-T b4-4:
High Metal, tf

Traikeou JX-T b4-4:
High Metal, tf

Traikeou GA-Z d20:
2 High Metal, tf

Traikeou VM-U c13-11:
Ammonia World

Traikeou IL-X d1-31:
Metal Rich Body
Water World, Shuri, Rocky Moon, tf

Traikeou ZT-P C6-1:
Metal Rich Body

Day 28: Nebula

10 December, 3603
Day 28
8,590LY from Cel

So I visited a Nebula today. It was right on my route so why the hell not? I did mean I found a ton of young barren systems, and since it's likely seen a large amount of traffic there was little to discover. But who cares? Its pretty!

Also huge. Like this thing is 10LY across easy. When I went right into the middle it was like all of space had started bleeding.

It was surreal. Other than that it's been pretty boring. Everything in and a round this thing has been completely explored.

Onwards I guess.

Till next time,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:
Traikeou NC-U d3-23:
High Metal,tf

Traikeou GQ-A b16-0:
Water World, tf, Gari

Traikeou MH-X b17-1:
High Metal, tf

Traikeou JJ-R b21-0:
Water World, tf, Theia

Traikeou JJ-R b21-1:
High Metal, tf

Author's Note

Sorry gents. I could come up with some excuse how I've been busy, or had school. But that would be bullshit. I've just not played Elite in a bit and not wanted to write.

next time I disappear for this long you have my permission to start bugging me for a chapter :derpytongue2:

Day 31: Deep Space

13 December, 3603
Day 31
9,360LY from Cel

So. Two interesting things today.

First of all, I was just going along as per usual. And boom, come out of hyperspace right between two stars. I have never scrambled for my heat sink button so fast. Got uncomfortably hot for a few seconds. Nearly cooked me alive. But hay, that's exactly the scenario I brought those heat sinks along for.

On the other hoof, I found a interesting world today. It looked like your standard boring snow ball. But there were some weird sensor returns so I went in for a closer look. I spent some time trying to figure out what was causing the strange sensor feedback before deciding to go land on the damn thing.

And lo and behold, there's an entire ocean teeming with life down there, under forty meters of ice. I got a look at a huge alien whale thingy swimming around down there.

The last half of the day things got dull. I seem to have stumbled upon another patch of old space. Old dead stars galore. I'm just hoping I can get though this patch to more interesting things.

Pretty happy with today,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:
Traikeou LQ-R b45-11:
High Metal, tf

Traikeou JI-B d13-13:
High Metal, tf

Traikeou ER-N e6-8:
Metal Rich
High Metal, tf
Iced Over Ocean World, Dynamor

Traikeou MD-R c18-6:
High Metal, tf

Day 29: Nosedive

11 December, 3603
Day 29
8,740LY from Cel

Frankly? A very normal day. Other than the fact that I didn't actually go much further from Cel. Most of the day was spent heading 'down' to the galactic plane. Basically parallel to home.

Other than that I did some holo-crewing with Sky again. He's been hunting thargoids with a wing of another Anaconda and a Royal Corvette. First time I've seen one and I'm buzzing around shooting the shit out of it in a F-63.

Fun.

May or may not have gotten blown up a few times but eh, I'm not actually there, thank Celestia.

Until next time,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:
Traikeou ZI-Z b30-1:
2 High Metal,tf

Traikeou FK-X b31-1:
High Metal,tf

Traikeou LL-V b32-1:
Water World, Chivi

Traikeou EN-Y c15-5:
High Metal, tf

Traikeou OE-W c16-5:
High Metal,tf

Traikeou HC-L d8-11:
2 High Metal,tf

Day 18: Back on Track

30 November, 3603
Day 18
4,203LY from Cel

We are back in business. Thank Celestia for all those engineering courses. I might not have been able to get the ship back up and running otherwise. It took all yesterday to get the ship back to running order, and even to full capabilities. It's a good thing the hull is Titanium-A battle-plate. Anything any weaker and Curiosity would be in pieces by now.

It took awhile but I was able to get the reactor back up to full running order, as well as the FSD.

I have definitely leaned my lesson now: Stay the fuck away from EVERYTHING. Hitting things is virtually the only way I can get myself killed out here, and I'm doing a good job of doing so it seems.

I'm such a fucking idiot.

As for actual exploration all I found was barren ice and rock.

So yeah. I'm still alive.

-Con

Author's Note

Sorry about not updating yesterday. Real life showed up. At least I have an in universe reason why Con might have skipped a day or two.

Day 19: Space and Time

1 December, 3603
Day 19
4,673LY from Cel

Welcome to December, Hearth's Warming is right around the corner, and I'm in the middle of nowhere. But hey, I'm still alive, my ship is nearly running at peak performance (if you ignore the dents in the hull...) and I'm living my dream of exploring the galaxy.

I'm actually pretty happy. I mean I'm avoiding planets, rings, suns and asteroid belts like the plague, but can you blame me?

Also speaking of Hearth's Warming, mom gave me a wrapped package before I left. Told me it was my Hearth's Warming gift and I wasn't allowed to open it till then. Me being me I tried to open it just after I left. Of course Mom knows me, so under the wrapping paper I found a locked case. She really doesn't want me to open this present early it seems.

Typical Mom.

As far as today's events go I think I'm traveling through an old patch of stars. Lots of brown dwarfs and other dead stars. Had to manually navigate to fuel stars several times to make sure I didn't run out. I still wish the Navicomp would do that automatically.

The last system, where I am right now for the night, was a jackpot. Three terriformable worlds. I've set down on one for now (being extra careful of course). Hopefully tomorrow will be another good day.

Until next time,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:

Preia Dryiae QK-C d14-54:
High Metal tf

Chraufao EN-W c1-0:
3 High Metal tf

Author's Note

So real life will be getting involved again. Updates for the next week or so will be a bit intermittent. I'll do my best to keep up but no promises.

Day 24: News

6 December, 3603
Day 24
7,002LY from Cel

Well. That happened.

So the Thargoids, after months of sightings and some small skirmishes, have finally started all out attacking us. Dad commed me this morning. Turns out the station he as at got attacked by several Thargoids. He escaped and managed to evac some ponies from the station, but damn. Our first meetings of intelligent lifeforms and we get into a war. Fan-fucking-tastic.

Not that it really affects me way out here. All there is out here are balls of rock, snow, and flaming gas.

I'm keeping an eye out of course. The moment I see one of the damned starfishes I'm hauling flank in the opposite direction. I don't expect to have to but you never know.

Found one interesting world all day. Otherwise not much worth mentioning.

Getting a bit exasperated,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:
Byoi Thua OX-L c7-12:
Water World, Teri

Day 1: Departure

13 November, 3603
Day 1
312LY from Cel

For the first time in my life I feel alone. Well and truly alone. Until now there's always been somepony else. Whether it be an inhabited system, or just another ship passing by. In the Inhabited Bubble there's always somepony else. But I'm not in the Bubble anymore. I'm not far out: only about 160 Light Years from the edge. But it's strange being so alone. I'm just going to have to get used to it I suppose.

It took me seven hours just to cross the Bubble. Visited a few stations on my way through. Mostly refuelling and changing my loadout slightly. I kept myself armed as I made my way towards uninhabited space. Never know when you're gonna get jumped by some pirates. Not that I had anything worth stealing. The ship has been completely stripped of any non essentials, meaning I don't have a cargo rack. I did get interdicted by pirate at one point. She was going to leave me alone when she saw I had no cargo, but she had a bounty on her head so I went ahead and collected. She was a bit of a pushover honestly.

I ditched my weaponry as I neared the edge of inhabited space. I'm not gonna encounter anypony way out there, and without the extra weight I can boost my jump range by a few decimals of a light year. I am lugging around an SRV (basically a small rover for those non pilots) so I can do some surface sampling and exploring on planetary surfaces should I feel like it. Plenty of scanning equipment, the best Frame Shift Drive (FSD) my Cobra can mount, and a reactor to power it all. Oh and a cheap shield. I...may have a bit of a habit of hard landings and I'd rather not damage the hull. I'm not going to be anywhere where I can repair so I need to avoid breaking my ship. (No shit Con. You should always avoid breaking your ship! I was exhausted when I wrote this.)

On another note I found a water world. Breathable atmosphere too. Already discovered by somepony else, but whatever. I went down and landed on the edge of the Northern ice cap and used it as an excuse to stretch my wings. Nice place if a bit cold, though thats probably more down to the fact that I was near the north pole than anything. I spent maybe two hours down there. I took some detailed scans of the ice. No doubt the eggheads back home will want to analyze the crap out of them.

Other than that, today was pretty boring. Not much worth scanning, and everything this close to the Bubble has been discovered already. Hopefully tomorrow will be more interesting.

Until next time,
-Con

Day 10: Paranoia

22 November, 3603
Day 10
2,837LY from Cel

There are two different categories of explorers: amateurs and professionals. The only difference is professionals have gone through a training course, like me. Part of that course is psychological preparation for months of isolation, and the stressful and dangerous situations you may encounter. I thought I was ready for anything.

I was not ready to find two destroyed ships within 70 lightyears of each other. As if the wreck of the Starswirl and the data I recovered wasn't bad enough.

So I started out again this morning and almost immediately came across a distress beacon in the first system I jumped to. This one was only a year old. The registry on the black box was Lakon Spaceways Diamondback Explorer VX-362: ESS Sky Skipper owned by CMDR Skip Ray. The registry on the pilot's federation said he also had two other crew.

I quickly managed to access the intact part of the flight computer. It was damaged but again I was able to get the last minute's sensor data off it.

I thought what destroyed the Starswirl was a Thargoid. The data was rough but made out a disk shaped ship with several points like a flower. Like what I thought an extremely low quality scan of a Thargoid would look like...

Now I'm not so sure. The other scan is similar, yet this is apparently a good scan. Like this Diamondback lasted three full minutes. The Starswirl lasted last than ten seconds in a fight against one of these things. Whatever they are. Maybe a new type of Thargoid?

I dunno. I can't help but watch my back, hoping I don't meet one.

I may have lost it a bit after I found the wreck. I had a panic attack and jumped a few systems before super cruising well out system where nopony will really find me. I really didn't want to go any more, fear of encountering one of these things preventing me from continuing my journey.

I spent most of the day on comms with my parents and some friends, as well as Doctor Pad. He may be a physics major but he has done a bit of xenobiology on the side.

Mom and Dad did a good job of calming me down. Thank Celestia for Telepresence spells.

Tomorrow I'm going to go back and actually explore the systems I went by. I think the one with the wreck had a Equis-like world.

Mildly paranoid,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:
PRU EURK VQ-G c10-15:
High Metal tf

Distress beacon, PRU EURK JF-R D4-111:
Wreck of Lakon Spaceways Diamondback Explorer VX-362
Black Box, Beacon, and Flight Computer Data: recovered

Day 13: Rendezvous

25 November, 3603
Day 13
3,624LY from Cel

All I found today were snowballs. So many frozen, barren, boring as hell snowballs. So if we hadn't had the rendezvous today I wouldn't have anything to write about.

So I guess that's what I'll write about.

At 1:30 we jumped into the system we had agreed to meet at. The Anaconda was already there, the SAR Saviour. I was quick to hail them and dock. I said my goodbyes to Star and Skip. We promised each other we'd keep in touch and I gave them my comms address. The Saviour's commander came over and I gave my report, as well as handing over a file I wrote for the pilot's federation. The Saviour's crew was also quick to refill my stores of food and water, which is much appreciated. Honestly theres not much to say.

Either way I'll attach a copy of the file I wrote up as well.

Otherwise, until next time,
-Con

To Chief of Search and Rescue Operations, Pilots Federation:

After looking over several databases, it has come to my attention that over 550 ships have gone missing that have passed through the Sifi sector. All of them with flight-plans taking them through this area of space. As I have found two separate wrecks in this region, both of which were destroyed under mysterious circumstances, it stands to reason that there are likely more of the missing ships in this sector. As such I believe a full SAR operation in the area is an appropriate course of action. With any luck such an operation should turn up more missing ships and possibly solve the mystery of what is causing the disappearances in the first place.

I leave the matter in your capable hooves.

-CMDR M. Contrail

Day 30: News

12 December, 3603
Day 30
8,923LY from Cel

So, those wrecks I found a while back. I recommended the Pilot's Federation do a full Search and Rescue sweep of the area.

Well, a year ago there was big news of a Royal Navy Honesty-class Battlecruiser, the Justice, on the way over to Colonia. For what purpose, whether it be expanding the princesses territory, or acting as a police force, I don't know. What matters is It never arrived at Colonia.

The SaR crews found it today, in the same region as the other wrecks. 6 survivors out of a crew on 7,000.

That's a lot of dead ponies.

Still no word on what has been blasting those ships apart, though.

On the exploration front, more the the same. Few terraformables, few water worlds, and a ton of barren rocks.

Hoping for better luck tommorrow,
-Con

Today's Discoveries:
Traikeou QI-T d9-41:
Extremely Metal rich world

Traikeou RT-I d9-0:
2 High Metal,tf

Traikeou KI-R c18-7:
Water World, tf, Dine
2 High Metal, tf

Traikeou MD-R c18-6:
High Metal,tf

Traikeou CW-E d11-78:
High Metal,tf
Water World, tf, Pridiue

Author's Note

Got bit by the exploration bug again today. Expect more activity and updates from me.