Sea Tack’s plan in the wake of the destruction of the Saddle Arabian Home Fleet was to hit Vice Admiral Grey Hood’s fleet with his entire formation before he could consolidate with Fleet Admiral Dreadnought.
Of course, he expected Grey Hood to not give chase, after all, the Saddle Arabian fleet heavily outnumbered the Equestrians, especially in relative tonnage of ships. However, Sea Tack had a plan for that, and it had everything to do with Cape Solent.
The Bay of Solent was the site of a major holding facility for the survivors of the Open Circle Movement and a number of key Saddle Arabian dissenters. This fortress was called the Malaga, and was actually a pair of castles occupying two hills in the bay. One was called the Alcazaba, the other the Bridalfaro, and they were joined by a wall called a coracha terrestre. However, while these fortifications were great at keeping prisoners in, they weren’t going to stand up against a prolonged cannon bombardment.
Sea Tack was aware from his Hassassin contacts that an Equestrian War goal was to rescue these prisoners, both because they could help in the reconstruction process for Saddle Arabia, and because there were many Equestrians being held here.
Weeks before Mares El Kabul, Sea Tack spread a rumor that the Saddle Arabians had decreased the number of guards there, and then actually decreased that guard by hiding them in the nearby hills. This would seemingly leave the facility open to a naval assault. He was certain that Fleet Admiral Dreadnought, who had served as an Equestrian Marine and had planned the landing at Bracken Bay, would not let this “opportunity” pass.
Once Dreadnought took the bait and went into the Bay, Sea Tack would trap them, like Dreadnought had trapped Admiral Ironsides. He had hidden his fleet in a secret cove, one of many Saddle Arabian supply bases and the moment the Equestrians began their assault, he had ensured that runners would let him know, and they would spring it.
Indeed, on one fall night, with the moon high in the sky, sentries on the coast and on the Malaga spotted the lights of the Equestrian Fleet as they swept into the bay. They retaliated with cannon, but the guns of the Equestrian ships of the line silenced them. Equestrian Marines were then landed by boats, covered by pegasi who harassed the defenders on the walls by dropping grenades.
As planned, even as the Equestrian marines stormed the broken walls of the fortress, Sea Tack went for the bay. In an hour, the bay was completely sealed and Sea Tack was waiting gleefully for the Equestrians to just try to break out, where they would summarily be destroyed by the Saddle Arabian guns.
But the Equestrians didn’t break out. The fighting from the fort died down, no ships attempted to exit from the bay. Night gave way to dawn and there was no attempt by the Equestrians to leave. This greatly confused Sea Tack, and he sent a frigate to scout the status of the Equestrian fleet and ascertain the status of the fortress.
The frigate, the Beagle, manned by Captain Darkcoat skirted the entrance of the bay, which was only ten ship-widths wide and found that the Equestrian fleet had turned around, but were at anchor, sails raised, but not stowed. The fortresses was in ruins and aflame, the prisoners were probably transferred onto the ships, but the fleet remained in position ready to sail, but not.
Beagle’s captain reported as such to Sea-Tack who pondered the question. He realized that the Equestrians were waiting for some signal before they would leave, but what signal?
That was when the Beagle’s captain said there was something odd about the Equestrian Fleet. Sea Tack asked the captain exactly what she had seen and she replied that the Equestrian flagship, a massive 1st rate, was flying a Golden-Colored banner. She wasn’t exactly sure the symbol, but it looked like a tiara with a horn through the centre, and flanked by wings.
Sea Tack instantly realized that he didn’t have Fleet Admiral Dreadnought’s fleet in the bay. He had Vice Admiral Grey Hood’s fleet in the bay. That fleet had Princess Celestia.
He also realized that the tide… well it was about to go out.
Immediately, Sea Tack ordered the fleet to expect an attack by the Princess of Equestria and to ready for the Equestrians breaking out any moment.
According to Darkcoat’s account, that was when Princess Alternia switched her disguise from a crewhorse aboard the Beagle to the Princess of Equestria. As the Saddle Arabians stood, momentarily, stunned at her sheer presence, she wrapped herself in a shield.
Sea Tack valiantly drew his sword and charged Alternia. In response, she unleashed a bolt of magic that punched right through the Admiral’s chest and set the Scylla, Sea Tack’s prided flagship, alight. The cunning admiral staggered, falling to the deck, clutching at the cauterized hole in his barrel and watching as the Princess set more fires onto his ship, and his crew flee. With his last breath, he ordered his second-in command to abandon ship and signal the withdrawal.
Well, that wasn’t all he said though. According to Princess Alternia, all Sea Tack had to say to her, alone on the deck of his deserted ship, before she fled the stricken Scylla was this:
“Celestia… a changeling?… Who would have known...”
Shortly after, the Saddle Arabian flag ship exploded and the Equestrians, signalled by the explosion, loosed their sails and made for the bay’s entrance. Meanwhile, the Saddle Arabian Home Fleet was in utter shock, the death of their beloved admiral having struck them dumb, and the sight of Celestia herself flying above the burning corpse of the Scylla sending terror through their veins.
Sensing that morale had dropped and that the head of the Equestrian line had just made it through the bay, Vice-Admiral Seahorse, Sea-Tack’s second command, ordered a full withdrawal, and the Saddle Arabians fled. But many of their ships were facing in the wrong direction, due to the fact they’d been set up to counter an Equestrian escape. Panic at Sea-Tack’s death also caused a number of ships to run into each other and the Equestrians, harried on by the outgoing tide, took full advantage of this to disgorge hordes of pegasi marines to support their Princess, and unleash broadsides of shot.
At the end of the engagement, the Saddle Arabian Home Fleet was still technically intact. It had only lost 1 first rate, 1 second rate, 3 third rates, 2 fourth rates, a frigate and a galleass. But compared to the Equestrian loss of only 1 second rate, and 1 third rate that had both run aground in the bay (and were summarily scuttled), and 4 sloops which had been destroyed by cannon fire from the fortresses, the combined Equestrian fleets could now dominate the Western Sea. Saddle Arabian hopes for naval dominance had completely vanished.
Unfortunately, that was when Princess Alternia got the news that this naval victory might not have mattered.
The Equestrians were about to lose the land war unless they did something fast.