//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7: Pridewind Tribe 
// Story: Friendship Drive Charging... 
// by Connie Spaceplone 
//------------------------------//

We were riding the miasma currents through hyperspace in deep space. Due to the spatial compression, the "Great Plains" star system now appeared only 4.5 km away. 
As we got close enough so we could see the details of the brown dwarf star, even through the distortions of hyperspace, I switched the target display focus from the main star to the "Overland" planet, and also displayed the orbit lines of the bodies of the star system.

"Approaching System: Great Plains," I announced and explained "Great Plains is a brown dwarf star with 8 major bodies. Overland is the third moon of the gas giant named Rivers' Run.” 
From our point of view, the gas giant was on the far side of the star. We'd have to go around it before we could approach the gas giant. 
As we got closer and the gravity present in the system limited the spatial compression of hyperspace more and more, our target appeared to move away from us. It looked like zooming out on a camera lens, and indeed, the measured distance to the planet that had fallen to 1.87 kilometers increased again.
Pinwheel was standing close to my cockpit's panoramic window, supporting himself with his front hooves, pressed against the glass with his nose almost touching it. Smiling gleefully, he watched the star of this system apparently growing bigger as we moved around it. Even though, viewing from hyperspace, the appearance of the star was slightly distorted and partially obscured by the miasma currents, he seemed to enjoy watching the star approach. 
I let my avatar chuckle at the sight, and asked "Haven't you already seen many stars like that from your time as an explorer?" 

He replied "I have visited four thousand eight hundred and eighty three star systems. And every single one of them is stunning and gorgeous. Plus, seeing one from the cockpit of a new ship is a whole new experience!" 
He had a point. 
It was one of the reasons ponykind ventured out into the void in the first place. Each star system, every single planet had wonders to discover and see. Each rock tells a story billions of years long. Space was simply too beautiful to not attempt to see all of it. Still, even with the thousand year long history of space travel, it is estimated that ponies have ever seen only less than half of a tenth of a single percent of all the star systems in our galaxy alone. 
For a modern pony, it is almost unfathomable that there was once a time where we showed so little appreciation for the night sky that the resulting crisis could have ended our civilization, now that most of our lives take place in that same night sky. 
I looked outside the cockpit's panoramic window at the brown dwarf star and thought about that time long ago. 
2,000 years ago, Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon. 1,000 years ago, Luna returned in the same century that introduced both heavier-than-air flying machines and the first experiments with pyroarcane propulsion. It was an age of rapid advances in technology. Ponies became obsessed with the idea of venturing out and reaching the sparkling jewels of Luna's night sky. 

There was no doubt we were living in the era of Luna now. In a way, the Night Princess got what she wanted. With a seemingly infinite number of systems to explore, ports to build, habitable planets to Equuiform, so many resources to mine, goods to transport, this night that we fly through seems set to last forever. There was little room for sleep in such a time and the artificial light sources contribute to the feeling that it'll only get brighter in the future. 
The Interrupt Autonomous Trigger Node of my AI stack pulled my attention out of my meandering thoughts and back to the ship's systems, reminding me that I needed to adjust the heading to approach the gas giant. 
We sped past the sole sun of the system and were approaching the gas giant. As we went past the midway point between the star and the gas giant, the star behind us appeared to move away from us much faster than the gas giant was approaching. 
We had moved out of deep space and into the gas giant's zone of gravitational dominance.

I changed course again to approach Overland. From a distance, the orbits of the gas giant's moons seemed very close, but as we approached the moon, the spatial compression of hyperspace diminished even more until we appeared to be almost stopped relative to it. The planet appeared large in the window and I shut down my Friendship Drive to bring us back into normal space around the planet.

As we exited hyperspace, we were in orbit around Overland. The planet was mostly brown and green with white clouds. I adjusted our pitch to approach the New Saddleblaze settlement at a 50 degree angle for the glide phase of the descent. 
The planet fell rapidly towards the window screen. From up here, we could see the transition between day and night on the planet and it seemed we would arrive late evening local time. 

Our current approach path would land us about 30 kilometers short of our destination. But considering that Overland is a high gravity planet, I wanted an extended final to level off slowly and early to adjust to the high gravity. 
The augmented reality projections on the canopy screen showed the planned glide path to touchdown on the New Saddleblaze landing pads. I chose a path that kept us clear of the clouds, because naturally we wouldn't want to hit any pegasi at work.

We approached the altitude of the cloud layer, and I began to level off slightly. Below us were huge tracts of cultivated land - fields and orchards - interrupted by large patches of untouched nature for sustainable farming. We dipped below the altitude of clouds and I began to level off fully. My hull creaked and groaned as my ventral thrusters fought the high gravity of the planet. 

We flew the rest of the way keeping almost level, approaching the settlement, flying over ponies working in the fields. The wheels used by the farming vehicles were much smaller than those used on equus. It made sense. In higher gravity, the tires are pressed against the surface with more force. This results in better traction even in loose dirt. 
We continued our approach. Finally,  I brought us over a small forest. We had reached the colony, and were ready for our final approach.

The activity at the landing site was more fitting for a large industrial port rather than a calm, lonely farm.  Dozens of ships were lined up on the landing pads, and when those were not enough to land all the ships, there were even some patches of dirt haphazardly claimed as landing areas. 

I was greeted by ATC on the radio. From the sound of the controller's voice, his drawl, and the expressions he used, I could tell that he was one of the farmers quickly given the job of handling traffic. 
"Hang on there, Neighkon tango yankee 1 9 8, Warts' Vanage transponder beacon just came back online and they must have a shitload of fertilizers. You're going to have to land on pad 36."

"That's on the other side of the port from my position," I replied. The controller laughed and said "Well you can wait there for half a day 'till when the pad is right below you, or you can do a little flying and land over there. Up to you."

"Cleared to land, pad 36." I sighed and began to circle the port to land on pad 36.
We touched down on the pad. I sat, tucking my hooves under myself. I opened and extended my rear cargo ramp. Expecting to be loaded with the agreed cargo immediately I signalled to the terminal that I was ready to receive the cargo. 
I heard one of the controllers intercom in a loud voice 

"Connie, you aren’t in a hurry to leave us just yet, are you? You just got here. We would like to invite both your commander and you to join our feast, and enjoy our hospitality for the night."
My avatar looked at Pinwheel. It was his call to make a decision on how to respond. 
He asked me, "Can our schedule afford the extra day of delay?" 
"It's going to be tight, but if we're lucky with the hyperspace weather, we might be able to make up some time delivering the cargo to its destination." I responded. "if you want my personal opinion, we should not risk being late on our first job."
"I think we should go. This is an opportunity to network with important faction leaders, and if we're lucky, he'll offer more exclusive missions in the future."
I shrugged my shoulders, "That's your decision to make. I'll follow your lead."

The terminal controller on the comms channel told us the fastest way to get from our position to the outdoor festival area they had set up.

"He sort of just assumed we'd be joining. Even though that was the likely response, I wonder if we should have led with that." I remarked to Pinwheel. 
Who countered "Nonsense, a good host gives an impression that everyone said yes, and then gently makes the lone dissenter aware that everyone else is going..." he paused, then called out to the controller "What sort of feast is this, exactly? What are we celebrating? 

The terminal controller responded, "Our harvest this season was extraordinarily fruitful." 

Pinwheel chuckled "I think the word you're looking for is bountiful."

The terminal controller replied flatly "We produce fruit here sir."

Pinwheel was unperturbed, "Yes, a harvest that produces fruit is a bountiful harvest."
With nothing more to discuss, and nothing more to do except go to the outdoor area where they were having the feast, I lowered my head, and opened my mouth. Pinwheel and my avatar walked out. My ship-self was moved to a hangar to keep the landing pad free for others to land.

We walked the open space area of the landing pad, down a small ramp to the ground and toward the path to the outdoor party area. The terminal building towered over us on our right. We arrived at the cleared field where the celebration was happening. Some ponies on a stage constructed entirely of shipping crates were playing exciting music on drums made of strange animal skin. It was extremely colorful, and on close inspection, I saw it looked like it was actually made of some kind of cloth. You would think the tribal theme of the music and their clothes would clash with the high-tech and cyber gadgets many of the ponies were wearing, but in reality it seemed to complement and enhance the atmosphere. This unusual blend is the style of life the Pridewind Tribe chose for themselves, and they were showing it off with all the pride and spectacle that can only come with being in your own home, and with friends.

I looked around at the many tables where various ponies, zebras, gryphons, dragons and other races I didn't recognize were joyfully eating, drinking and having a grand time, laughing and talking.
I listened for a second and in that time heard at least 23 different regional dialects from all corners of the bubble. Ponies from different minor factions, with different allegiances to either the Federation, the Empire, or the Alliance, some of them were still wearing their work clothes. There were all different walks of life; farmers, ship pilots, mechanics, miners, shipbreakers, scavengers, explorers and so on. They were all friendly with each other as they conversed and passed food around to share with others. It was a genuinely happy sight.

A pony directed us to empty seats on a table. We joined them in their food and drink. I tried what I was given, and it tasted good. Though I can extract more energy from hydrogen-based fuels rather than organic matter, I am grateful to be designed with a sense of taste. Participating in communal dining was rewarding in its own right. 
There was a pegasus stallion, who, judging by his headgear, must have been the chief elder of the Pridewind Tribe. He was a friendly individual, and took much joy in eating and drinking with everyone. He seemed to be able to give all ponies on all tables equal attention, always finding the right moment to move on and greet the next table. He would occasionally stop to sing with the musicians, which was always well received by the crowd.
He sat down at our table and introduced himself as Chief Elder Windswept. And we introduced ourselves in turn. We started to have a pleasant conversation. 

Pinwheel told about his past as an explorer and how he had just purchased me earlier this week. 
The Chief Elder said that we should celebrate this 'union' in the traditional way of the Pridewind Tribe. By combusting the ground-up leaves of the uthvelon shrub and inhaling the smoke. 
The Codex Galactic Encyclopedia has this information about the Uthvelon Shrub:
The Uthvelon Shrub (Lattarilla Scutifolia) is a multi-stemmed shrub that grows low to the ground. The stem has a soft rubbery texture and is usually brown in color. The plant grows a multitude of long, curved branches that converge into clusters. The typical plant has between 3 and 5 of these clusters. At these convergence points, the shrub is covered with many small leaves. The small leaves are  shaped like a  shield with small spikes protruding on either side and have a vibrant greenish-yellow color. When burned, the leaves give off a unique aroma that has a psychoactive effect upon the people inhaling it.

The plant is widely used for both medicinal and recreational purposes. Some cultures use it in religious ceremonies. The shape of the branches of the shrub has given the drug the street name "Exhaust Manifold", or simply "Manifold".

We agreed to partake in the ritual and Windswept ordered one of his guards to fetch the ceremonial water pipe and the manifold. The guard nodded and left for a short while. When he returned, the chief Elder began to load the pipe. He began to pass it around the table, and we each took a turn blowing the smoke out. When it was my turn, a special adapter was fitted to the mouthpiece of the water pipe that I could attach to the air intakes of my engine pods. I spooled up the engine and it began to draw the smoke through the pipe and the attached hose. As soon as the smoke hit the thrust chamber, my engine sputtered a bit, crackling concordantly with the bubbling of the water pipe, until, accompanied by the typical whistling noise, fireworks came out of the exhaust port at the back of my engine and flew off in random directions. The interaction between the active agent of the drug and my fuel system caused the reaction that produced these fireworks. Meanwhile, Pinwheel was still coughing from when he inhaled the smoke. Windswept watched my fireworks-belching thrusters and my coughing commander. With a smile, he said, "The spirits have blessed your partnership."

We continued conversation with increased sense of entertainment and eating with increased appetite. I am glad that the computer I run on is able to incorporate the effects of… fuel additives in my conscious experience. We listened to the music and talked about our plans for the future.
Eventually Pinwheel asked the chief, "I am curious, how do I put this politely, but aren't you quite young for a chief.. elder?" 

Windswept laughed pleasantly. "Well, the title of the Chief Elder used to be always given to the eldest earth pony mare. Forty-three years ago we made it into an elective office and it has been passed down from father to son for generations. My great-great grandfather was the first Chief Elder elected." 

Pinwheel and I looked at each other, dumbfounded, and then we looked at the chief. "What?" we said in unison.
The chief and a few ponies around him burst out laughing. 

A unicorn mare told Pinwheel between laughs "He tells that to every outsider who questions his young age."
Pinwheel replied "I guess I had that one coming for asking such a question."

Windswept said "It always confuses the heck out of ponies when I say that. I bet my son will look just as surprised when he gets elected." more laughter. Windswept continued "What I said about switching to democracy 43 years ago was true though. Our Elder has a three year term and I am in my second year."

"Are those Equus years or Overland years?", A pony asked.

Chief Elder Windswept said "Equus years of course, nopony uses local time, not even the farmers. Seasons just shift through the Equus calendar. Local calendars would be much too confusing with all the interstellar trade going on. Everypony would be in constant legal disputes over delivery deadlines and never get any actual work done."
I pointed out that the math did not work out for Windswept to be in the second year of his term if the democracy was 43 years old. 

To which he answered, "Our democracy had some problems with cancelled terms and resignations in its early years. Establishing a faction is hard work. Changing its government type is even more difficult. But putting in that extra effort is and was worth it, in my opinion. Look around you and see this beautiful community that we have built."

Pinwheel asked "Have there been many pegasus elders in the Pridewind Tribe?"

Windswept replied "I am the first pegasus to be elected into the office. And the first stallion too!"

"To social progress!" Another pony who had been quietly listening said, waving a mug of fermented fruit juice in the air for all to see. And everyone raised their drinks.
We stayed and talked with the cheerful group for a long time. The chief did go on to meet other guests, and was not available the entire time. We enjoyed ourselves and had many nice conversations with chief Windswept, other local ponies, and other guests. 

It was well past midnight when the activity eventually quieted down and the occupancy of the tables had thinned out considerably.
We were offered accomodations for the night in a room with a single large bed. I lied down next to Pinwheel and used the thermal controls built into my avatar to fight the room's heat and high humidity to keep my commander comfortable.
Consciousness process switching to runlevel 2.