//------------------------------// // The History of Equestria Under Alternia Part 16 (589 AR): The Siege of Bracken Bay, Ch. 13 of the Saddle Arabian War Arc // Story: Princess Celestia The Changeling Queen: Stories Behind the Mask // by vren55 //------------------------------// The Siege of Bracken Bay The Equestrians at Bracken Bay were terribly outnumbered and frankly it was unlikely they would survive even just against an assault by the Saddle Arabian Desert Rats. To make matters worse, REINS intelligence reports suggested that General Mountague was only two days march away. Saddle Arabians The Saddle Arabian Desert Rats - Brigadier General Ginger, 12,200 1st division: 2,800 2nd division: 2,200 3rd division: 2,200 The Silver Janissaries (Elite division): 3,000 4th division (reserves): 2,000 The Hammer of Saddle Arabia: 11,500 General Mountague 2nd Division, 4000 horses 3rd Division, 5500 horses Reserves: 2000 Equestrians Supreme Commander of the Equestrian 1st Army: Princess Blueblood 1st Division - Brigadier General - Archmage Elderberry Twist, 4600 ponies 1st Royal Guard: 1500 ponies, unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies, “Captain” Magnolia Manehattan Rangers: 1500 ponies, earth ponies, Colonel Pumpkin Squash Las Pegassus Hussars: 600 ponies, pegasi, Colonel Sobieski Equestrian Foreign Legion: 1000 Soldiers, 7 6-pounder cannon, Colonel Mustang The situation was what the modern Equestrian soldier would call SNABU, (Situation Normal, All Bucked Up). Princess Blueblood and Elderberry Twist were aware that even with magic, and their prepared defenses, there was no way they could actually hold the port of Bracken Bay against the Saddle Arabians. What they did know though, was that Ginger was reluctant to incur the losses that she might with an impetuous assault. The Saddle Arabian was aware that if she actually attacked head on, the Saddle Arabians would probably win in time, but they would probably lose more than 9,000 horses, maybe even 10,000. She preferably wanted 5 to 1 odds for a direct assault, but the longer she might wait, the better the Equestrians might dig in. It didn’t help that the Port of Bracken Bay was surrounded by a high medieval wall and the streets were narrow, with only one main road that led to the port itself. Furthermore, the Equestrians had long since evicted the Saddle Arabians from the city in order to avoid civilian casualties and reduce the possibility of an uprising. About five thousand slaves had been freed and were helping construct defenses. So the day after, Ginger focused The Silver Janissaries, her 4th Division, and her 3rd Division, a total of 7,200 soldiers, at a single point, on the main gateway. In two hours, her artillery had knocked down the gate and in another two, they had smashed breaches next to the gatehouse. At 1100, the Saddle Arabians made their assault. Of course, since they had been bombarding the walls, the Equestrians knew where the assault was coming and had moved ponies in preparation. Facing the Saddle Arabians were the 1,500 strong Manehattan Rangers led by Colonel Pumpkin Squash. Pumpkin, like most of her brigade, was a earth pony. Her brigade was equipped with both crossbows, swords and spears. The Rangers main strategy was to throw as many crossbows as possible at a target. To do this, the Rangers were also equipped with traps, and digging equipment so they could throw up barriers. Prior to the bombardment, as the Foreign Legion had fought, the Rangers had thrown up barriers and earth walls behind the gateway, and blocking off the area behind the gateway with what is known as a “Frisian Horses”, X shaped framed stakes that served as barriers. You could destroy them with cannonfire, but the rubble was actually providing a barrier that protected the “Horses.” Point was, when the Saddle Arabians advanced across the open ground to the walls, they were met with Rangers on the walls that fired their crossbows back. The Saddle Arabians returned fire, suppressing the ponies, but as they charged through the breaches, they found the breach littered with obstacles. Ginger’s horses were unable to charge through, but the Silver Janissaries, the leading brigade in the attack, were not elite troops for nothing. They were a warrior caste, who did nothing but train for combat all their lives. They also conducted military experiments and were at the cutting edge of what consisted of military doctrine and tactics at the time. So the Janissaries took charge and organized a fast withdrawal. The withdrawal was so fast, so rapidly conducted, that the Rangers only managed to wound about a hundred, and even then the horses had managed to grab their fellows and get them out. Ginger then ceased all assaults for the day, opting to instead make a number of breaches all over the medieval walls. By dark, she had succeeded in opening five more breeches and had conferred with the Saddle Arabian Silver Janissaries to formulate a new strategy. Princess Blueblood and Archmage Elderberry were quite worried. Ginger was proving to be a very smart commander. The First Day stand of the Foreign Legion had been successful, but the Saddle Arabian general was clearly not intending to take unnecessary losses in her assault. The breaches in the wall were also very worrying and the Saddle Arabians were receiving reinforcements. They would soon outnumber the Equestrians 4.6:24. However, they now had an idea as to when their reinforcements would arrive. Word had reached them that the Equestrian 1st Fleet had defeated Sea-Tack at the Bay of Solent, but that was too far north. It would fall to the Equestrian 4th Fleet, which was patrolling a convoy to the Saddle Arabian Coast, to rescue the Bracken Bay defenders. That being said, the 1st Fleet wasn’t going to send no help. The moment she received word that Bracken Bay was under attack, Princess Alternia had ordered a small escort of marines to join her in a long flight to Bracken Bay. Vice-Admiral Hood was doubtful it would help, but he ultimately agreed that holding the port was critical. Additionally, Aventail Armour, who had suspected something was up ever since the 3rd Equestrian Division had gone missing, was also en route. She had left Plum Blossom in charge of harrying Lancelock and the remainder of the Saddle Arabian Coastal Army, and had been marching the 2nd Equestrian Division to Bracken Bay, double time ever since the news of the Saddle Arabian siege of Bracken Bay had reached her. All other Equestrian divisions (with the exception of the reserve division) were also marching back, but the 4th and 5th divisions would only arrive in a fortnight. The 2nd Division might have a chance of getting to Bracken Bay sooner though as it had turned back days in advance. Still, the Equestrians would have to hold until they got there. On the second day, the Saddle Arabians didn’t attack. The Equestrians stayed on alert for the whole day, awaiting an assault, shoring up the breaches, but the Saddle Arabians didn’t bombard their walls. Well, not until the afternoon, when the Saddle Arabian cannon resumed their bombardment, and they widened and reopened the five breaches in the wall. The lack of activity from the Saddle Arabians soon became clear as Mountague’s army arrived in the evening of the 2nd day. They came into the camps that were set up by Ginger’s army and rested, while the Equestrians, exhausted from digging defenses, also decided to rest. Morale though was at an all time low, with the entire view outside of the city covered with the lights from the campfires of the Saddle Arabians. It was actually so bright that defenders found it difficult to tell if the sun had set. On day 3, the Saddle Arabians attacked, concentrating on the two widest breaches on the opposite ends of the city, split into the two armies that comprised of the Saddle Arabian forces. Ginger’s army attacked the north of Bracken Bay, facing the Manehattan Rangers. Their assault started at 9am and they almost immediately overran the breach. The Silver Janissaries had ensured that the 1st and 2nd Divisions of Ginger’s army were aware of the “Frisian Horses” placed and had come up with an innovative solution. Using halberds and spears with crosstrees nailed across them, teams of Saddle Arabians armed with both shields and spears would push a path through the barriers. The progress was slow, and the Manehattan Rangers kept up a barrage of arrow and crossbow fire that ensured that there were quite a few Saddle Arabian casualties. However, after an hour, the Saddle Arabians were in hoof to hoof fighting with the Manehattan Rangers. The barrage of flanking arrowfire from the Rangers meant only a few were in hoof to hoof fighting, but the Equestrians were heavily outnumbered. To the south, Mountague’s army were up against the remains of the Equestrian Foreign Legion and Las Pegasus Hussars, totaling 1,600 ponies. What they did have in advantage was the seven cannon of the Foreign Legion. With at least three per breach, the cannons blasted grapeshot anytime Mountague’s army even tried to go through the two southern breaches, which basically made it impossible for the Saddle Arabians to breach the walls. But Mountague had a few tricks up his metaphorical sleeve. The Equestrian had to concentrate so many ponies on the breaches, the Saddle Arabian general accurately figured that they had removed ponies from the central breach. So he personally led a fast unit of two thousand horses to attack that breach. All he found was Colonel Mustang smoking a cigar, alone past the breach, aside from his trusty deputee Hawkeye. Mountague suspected a trap, but he couldn’t let this chance go by, and so he ordered his brigade forward. The Saddle Arabians charged, but as they crested the rubble of the city wall, an explosion… evaporated them. Oil and gunpowder had been combined to make a mine in the wall. A nearby unicorn had fired a bolt of magic to set the trap alight, which set the breach aflame, preventing any further Saddle Arabian assault. A few unicorns from the Royal Guard (still held in reserve) ensured that the blaze didn’t reach the city, but Mountague wasn’t going to be making any assault through that breach. The northern breach was still a threat though, and now, Ginger’s army was about to push right through the Equestrians. Most, if not all the “Frisian Horses” had been neutralized or moved out of the way and the Manehattan Rangers were taking casualties from the full weight of Ginger’s forces. As such, Elderberry Twist ordered a general retreat, and Ginger’s horses pursued. The 1st Division of Ginger’s army hot on Manehattan Ranger’s hooves. However, under the instruction of Elderberry Twist’s chief of staff, Colonel Eumenes, the Royal Guard and the freed slaves of Bracken Bay had prepared a fallback position in advance. Having moved their supplies and necessities to the docks, they had demolished a number of buildings to create a inner wall of sorts that circled Bracken Bay’s docks. Streets and alleyways were blockaded with rubble and rough L-shaped corners with doors in them made for highly defensible makeshift gatehouses. Nearby taller houses were towers for snipers and best of all, they still had the docks, so ammunition and food still supplied the defenders. Still, the 3rd day was a loss for the Equestrians. The Saddle Arabians casualties were at around a thousand horses, and the Equestrians had about three hundred, all from the Manehattan Rangers. Day 3 End Numbers Saddle Arabians The Saddle Arabian Desert Rats - Brigadier General Ginger, 11,900 1st division: 2,500 2nd division: 2,100 3rd division: 2,200 The Silver Janissaries (Elite division): 3,000 4th division (reserves): 2,000 The Hammer of Saddle Arabia: 11,000 General Mountague 2nd Division, 3500 horses 3rd Division, 5500 horses Reserves: 2000 Equestrians Supreme Commander of the Equestrian 1st Army: Princess Blueblood 1st Division - Brigadier General - Archmage Elderberry Twist, 4,300 ponies 1st Royal Guard: 1500 ponies, unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies, “Captain” Magnolia Manehattan Rangers: 1200 ponies, earth ponies, Colonel Pumpkin Squash Las Pegassus Hussars: 600 ponies, pegasi, Colonel Sobieski Equestrian Foreign Legion: 1000 Soldiers, 7 6-pounder cannon, Colonel Mustang For the fourth day, there was no attack. Ginger and Mountague reconnoitered the defenses, and planned their assault. They also needed to rest their troops and reposition their cannon. Elderberry and Princess Blueblood in the meantime were debating on whether to withdraw. They weren’t sure if they could hold out for seven days for the Equestrian 4th Fleet to get here. But as they debated, Aventail Armour contacted them by crystal ball. She was about to arrive at Bracken Bay and would arrive tomorrow. The only issue was that she was outside of the city. Princess Blueblood had an idea though, an idea she relayed to Aventail via crystal ball. The 2nd Division of the Equestrian Army were to assault the Saddle Arabian camp and their lines at night. They would destroy as much supplies and ammunition as possible, and then fight their way through the Saddle Arabian defences to the city, reinforcing them, but also setting the Saddle Arabians back. Aventail agreed, but it also meant the city would have to hold out for another day. On day five, Ginger took the opportunity to demolish the Equestrian defences as best she could with her cannon. She created breaches in the rough gatehouses, knocking them down so badly that the Saddle Arabians now had four new entry points. Ginger and Mountague split their forces to assault them, with Ginger’s army moving toward two breaches and Mountague the other two. The Manehattan Rangers, the Equestrian Foreign Legion and the Las Pegassus Hussars split themselves evenly to defend the breach, with the Royal Guard acting as a mobile reserve. Still, every breach had a roughly  1:3 ratio of troops, and the Equestrians found themselves hard pressed. The fighting was simply brutal. The constraints of every breach limited the numbers that the Saddle Arabians could throw into the fight, and the efforts of Equestrian pegasi and unicorns to outflank or bombard the opponents meant that Saddle Arabian casualties were high, but the fact of the matter was that the numbers were too imbalanced, and so Equestrian casualties were the highest they had ever been. Captain Alphonse was wounded, along with Lieutenant-Colonel Hawkeye. Colonel Sobieski, the commanding officer of the Las Pegassus Hussars was killed in action. But most damaging to morale was Elderberry Twists’s injuring. She didn’t die, but she was badly wounded defending one of the gates, attempting to hold it before reinforcements from the Royal Guard arrived. As a result, the Equestrians held their positions, but they were badly bloodied. The Saddle Arabians lost 2,500 horses, but the Equestrians had lost 1,200 soldiers, which they could ill afford. Day 5 End Numbers Equestrians Supreme Commander of the Equestrian 1st Army: Princess Blueblood 1st Division - Brigadier General - Archmage Elderberry Twist (WIA), 3,300 ponies 1st Royal Guard: 1200 ponies, unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies, “Captain” Magnolia Manehattan Rangers: 900 ponies, earth ponies, Colonel Pumpkin Squash Las Pegassus Hussars: 300 ponies, pegasi, Colonel Sobieski (KIA) Equestrian Foreign Legion: 700 Soldiers, 7 6-pounder cannon, Colonel Mustang (WIA) Saddle Arabians The Saddle Arabian Desert Rats - Brigadier General Ginger, 10,700 1st division: 2,000 2nd division: 2,000 3rd division: 2,000 The Silver Janissaries (Elite division): 2,900 4th division (reserves): 1,700 The Hammer of Saddle Arabia: 9,700 General Mountague 2nd Division, 3000 horses 3rd Division, 5000 horses Reserves: 1,700 But now, Aventail and the 2nd Equestrian Division had their chance.