April 4th, 1010
Beams of light gazed across the sky as the eastern sky turned orange, which in turn, shined on the floating city to the south, Las Pegasus.
The Sammakko had made it. She was still under the power of her own engines but there were tug boats coming in from the port to help bring her in due to the reports of there being no more fuel in her tanks, they would be guiding her in the rest of the way once attached as that was normal anyways.
The Equestrian ponies from Hoover’s fleet still guarded her weapons but the deer on board paid no mind to them. A few smaller patrol boats had also come by, informing the Sammakko by morse code, that they were bringing some ponies that would board with them to dock and set up things with their equipment.
All but one of the destroyers that had been following the Sammakko had stayed out in the bay, their protection wasn’t needed as the docking area the Sammakko was being brought to was surrounded by more Equestrian destroyers and cruisers.
The deer helped out the best they could by getting mooring lines ready, which had been gratefully supplied by the ponies, so they could dock.
The process of getting into the harbor, getting dragged by the tug boats and getting in position to dock took about forty minutes, but it was finally completed.
During the docking process and while they were brought in, ponies had lined the decks of their ships and watched as the Olenian ship was brought in. None of them had been expecting an Olenian ship to be pulled in that morning. The situation was hard to control though from keeping everypony from peeping their eyes at the event, at least from the navy.
Thankfully though, they were in the military dockyard and it was still only six in the morning so the there wasn’t many civilians to worry about from looking in elsewhere, though any civilian who happened to be about or happened to be using the roads nearby would realize something was up as the Royal Guards and local police were brought in to block the dockyard and surrounding roads off.
Equestrian dock workers had been getting a few boarding ramps ready to go while the Sammakko was brought in so once she was settled in, they got to work bringing the ramps to her, a few deer but mostly the ponies who had boarded earlier were helping set up things. It took them only ten minutes before they were finished and the crew of the Sammakko could soon take their first step in Equestria since their war began.
“Well, it’s time to inform the crew and Velvet that we arrived.” Lauri said to one of his officers, “Tell them to bring anything they may have brought. I have no clue when we’ll get a chance to come back on the ship, or what will happen to us.”
The officer quickly got onto the ship's intercom and relayed the information, “All hooves, please gather any belongings and prepare to leave the ship. We are going to be checked by Equestrian soldiers once off. They will be making sure none of us are Changelings before anything else. I repeat, all hooves prepare to leave the ship.”
Lauri himself quickly went to get Queen Velvet to inform. She wasn’t far from the bridge.
“Velvet.” Lauri said. He had a big smile as he began to speak, “It’s time. I hope the journey faired you well.” He then pointed with a hoove in the direction he wanted her to go.
Velvet took a moment and gave a curtsey to Lauri and said, “And I thank you for that.” Velvet then went in the direction Lauri had directed her, Torsti followed behind and after a few seconds, they, along with Lauri stood on the deck of the Sammakko once again, viewing the harbor of Las Pegasus.
Velvet paused and smiled as she looked out at the harbor and distant floating city, but she quickly lost the smile and went to a neutral face. Being here wasn’t what she wanted, for her or any other deer on the Sammakko.
No deer had made their way off yet, but Velvet and Torsti were ready themselves, but before they could go on, Lauri spoke.
“I won’t be able to go with you right now. I’m going to stay on the ship and make sure everydeer gets off. Make sure everything is in order from the officer's side before joining you. I’m sure they’re going to want to do another inspection of the ship, so this will be goodbye for now.”
Torsti was the first to speak, “Well then Admiral. I hope all goes well on your end. I’ll be sure to stick by Velvets side the entire time, that way you or anydeer else doesn’t have to worry.”
Lauri pointed a hoof at the organized crowd of soldiers on the pier, “Well, looks like they’re ready to go, I won’t hold you up anymore though. Good luck.”
With that, they quickly said their goodbyes again before Torsti followed Velvet from behind as she made her way down the docking ramp. A few other deer had made their way out by now and were making their way down as well.
During their decent down the short ramp, Torsti realized that many of the ponies waiting below were watching them closely, not because they were scared but because of Queen Velvet.
Only a second after making the first contact upon Equestria, another deer quickly caught up behind the two and introduced themselves.
“Sorry, I was told to quickly catch up to you. I’m your translator.”
Velvet looked at the deer and quickly realized who it was, “Ealdraed. Yes! It would have been bad if we didn’t have ourselves a personal translator.”
Ealdraed quickly introduced himself to Torsti, “Sorry, I’m one of Velvet's Equestrian translators. I worked with her back when she was in Equestria before becoming the queen, so I’ll be tagging along.”
The timing was perfect with the introduction as a pony came up, wearing an Equestrian military uniform and introduced themselves. The greetings were short and Velvet spoke in Equestrian to do a basic introduction herself before the pony started speaking towards Velvet and the translator that was also with them. Both ponies seemed a bit excited when they talked.
“This here is General Reckless. He oversees the military operations for the time being for Las Pegasus, overseeing even the navy and air force. I myself am First Sergeant Karcsi. I’ll be helping the general communicate with.” After that, Karcsi finished.
General Reckless spoke once again but made it short. Mid speaking, the General pointed a hoof out at the organized mess of ponies further down the dock, who were conveniently blocking the only way into Equestria, other than swimming.
“So the first thing we’ll need to do is get you three checked out.” The translator then also pointed at the ponies the general had done, “We have unicorns over there who’ll be able to check you out with magic. You, your crew and our pals we dropped off on your boat will be checked.”
The translator finished but immediately upon finishing, General Reckless continued on.
“So if you would kindly follow us, once this is done, we’ll be able to sort you out on where to go.”
After Karcsi finished, General Reckless immediately turned and started walking towards the mini customs checkpoint. Torsti quickly looked at the Velvet and Ealdraed, waiting to see who would take the first step, who almost immediately was Velvet, so without any more thought put into it, Torsti followed behind.
While they made their way up, Torsti quickly realized something and looked towards Ealdraed and said, “Hey, uhh, can you make sure you tell them that I have a pistol on me. I’m not too sure how they might feel about it.”
Before Ealdraed could say anything, Velvet spoke up, “I’ll make sure they know they have my permission for it. You can’t be a proper body guard without it, but yes, make sure you do tell them. We don’t need to give them any surprises.
After that, Ealdraed caught up with the other translator and General Reckless and translated their message, “So they wanted to warn you that Torsti is Velvet's bodyguard for the time being and is armed.” Ealdraed pointed at Torsti so the two, or mostly the translator knew who he was talking about.
Karcsi stopped for a moment after Ealdraed spoke with them and looked at Torsti, General Reckless also stopped and turned to look to see what was happening.
Karcsi translated what he had been told and also pointed at Torsti for Reckless, “They just wanted you to know that deer has a pistol with them. They’re currently Velvet's personal guard.”
After a second of silence, General Reckless started to speak and after a few more seconds, Karcsi nodded and turned to speak to the three.
“General Reckless says that you can keep it, just don’t do anything to reach for it or the like. You’ll be cleared to be more free with your movements though after we check you, so just hold tight until then.”
After that, they continued to proceed with the inspection.
Velvet, Torsti, and Ealdraed were checked by a uniformed unicorn who had used magic to ensure none of them were Changelings. After that, they were brought through the crowd of royal guards where they met with General Reckless again, where they would chat a bit through the translators to figure out and inform each other on things while waiting for the rest of the crew to slowly trickle out of the ship and through the security.
They didn’t wait for long though as after a bit, General Reckless would have the translator say,
“The General wants to take you to the military base nearby where there’s more privacy from prying eyes. Regarding the current state of Olenia and the war, having word of Velvets presence in Equestria isn’t going to do well for diplomacy and politics between Equestria and Queen Chrysalis.”
Velvet would agree but asked about what would happen to the rest of the crew and the few other personal deer brought to help with their own politics.
“We’re going to be getting them to the military base as well, a bit slower as we set up temporary tents for them. We don’t want to impose on the city either but we just sent word through command and hopefully word reaches Celestia about the matters. Luna isn’t at Canterlot so we can’t reach her directly to get word to Celestia quicker.”
After that, they all finally agreed to go to the base.
Velvet and Torsti took a ride with General Reckless and Karcsi in an officers car while Ealdraed and a few other ponies took a ride in a second car. Both parties were able to make small chat, but mainly Ealdraed as they didn’t have to translate for anyone.
The ride took quite some time though as they had to drive through the city for a portion of the time. They did take a detour of going across the river and driving through the northern fields to increase the chance of being seen, before finally crossing the river again where the base could finally be seen.
It didn’t take much to get in, General Reckless being the highest-ranking pony in the city at the time provided much help to that. They didn’t have to drive much farther once on the base as they went to the Administration Building. There, they were taken to the lounge room where they were treated to some food.
While they had the more than needed food after being on rations for some days, General Reckless came back and informed them on a few things.
“Word has come in from Celestia and she wants you to go to Canterlot as soon as possible. Regarding a few other things, from the other Generals at Canterlot, they ask that your ship is sunk out in the Pegasi Gulf to avoid any Changelings from finding out about your arrival, whether they know you were aboard or not.”
Velvet thought on that comment for a moment before she had the translators do their job.
“Velvet says that’s ok, but to make sure to inform Admiral Lauri about the decision, along with the rest of the Sammakko crew. They lost some crew members during their escape from Hjortland. Velvet also asks that you expand on when they are to leave.”
General Reckless was translated, “There is a train car that’s about to leave from the base’s railyard today at noon towards Canterlot. It’ll be a few days or so journey but it’ll be safer for privacy than the normal passenger trains that depart from Las Pegasus. We can arrange for a sleeping car to be added before its departure so that way you can leave today.”
Velvet quickly starts to respond back, even pointing to one of the secondary translators and asking them to go fetch a few things.
“Velvet says that will work for her, but says she wishes to write a few letters for the crew and Admiral Lauri in the event she isn’t able to meet them before then.”
After that, the other translator would come back with the requested items, pen and paper for Velvet to write a few letters. She hadn’t brought anything with her, leaving any documents she had worked on during the journey with some other deer.
Since there would still be some hours before noon, Velvet would mostly work on the letters, writing for the crew and writing a few letters in preparation for the meeting with Celestia and General Reckless. Or she at least had Ealdraed write them in Equestrian.
After working for a bit, Admiral Lauri was brought in to the room where Velvet was and they greeted each other.
“They plan on sinking the Sammakko to try and keep our existence to a minimum.” Velvet told him.
“Yeah, I heard before I was brought in. You also are going to be going to Canterlot to meet Celestia as well?” Lauri said.
“Yes, but you most likely won’t be coming with us so I’ve been writing a few letters for you and everdeer else incase I can’t say my goodbyes to them. Plus I don’t know what will happen to you all once I’m gone.” Velvet said.
“I don’t know either, all I know is they’re setting up tents for us to stay in for our stay, I guess they haven’t figured out what to do yet.” Lauri said.
“Well whatever they decide to do, be sure to thank them. What they’re doing is very risky… What we did was very risky. Ok?”
“Mhmm.”
After their conversation ended, they were informed that the rest of the crew and Lauri would stay behind on the base for a few more days while they sorted out their plans. The current plan was to send them to scatter them throughout Eastern Equestria. At least for now that was the plan.
As time did come closer for Velvet to leave though, she did get the opportunity to go give her many thanks and goodbyes to the crew of the Sammakko that made it there, who were all busy helping set up their temporary housing solution.
After giving some lengthy speeches to them, it was finally time for her to leave.
General Reckless and some of the other officers had arranged for a passenger carriage car to be added to the train, along with a few royal guards and wonderbolts for some extra protection. The rest of Velvets personnel who’d be helping her with the politics of everything would also be joining them on the ride.
Torsti also found himself boarding the train when time came to join Velvet on her journey to Canterlot.
The last deer he said goodbye to was Admiral Lauri, where they both exchanged salutes to each other before joining Velvet in the train.
Admiral Lauri was staying behind to help the crew as well as help prepare the Sammakko for sinking.
And with that, the train departed, taking them along with the new prototype naval bomber that had been invented, which had to be sent to Manehatten for testing on the new prototype carrier being made due to its larger deck size compared to the converted carrier that was stationed at Las Pegasus.