After getting her Regiments temporary HQ set up, she had begun to begin her overseeing of the Equestrians training. Or, rather, re-training. The current members of the Royal Guard would be given additional training according to the Pryhan standard, or at least as close to it as she could pull off in a few weeks. And so, that is what brought her to her current situation: on a small wooden railing overlooking a company of Royal Guards.

The mix of stallions and mares stood at attention, eyes glued up at her, her officers, Shining Armor, and the Royal Guard lieutenant who was in charge of this unit. Spears pointed straight up at attention, firmly held. Their armor was freshly polished, so they gleamed like large lamps in the desert sun. All in all, an impressive sight; for those not of her experience. To her and her subordinates, however...

"This is one of the most pathetic displays of might from an organized military unit I've ever seen."

The Lieutenant said sheepishly, "Well, I. I had to cut corners a bit. All units are of similar stock, save the Night Guards."

"It's fine, Lieutenant", Shining said, before walking up to the side of her. "What's wrong? All I see is an 'at attention' Royal Guard company."

"To you", Rainbow returned, before going full analysis mode on him. She leaped down off the scaffolding and began to walk along the front of the line. "They have little to no formation to speak of, several of them are having little reveries, several more are not at attention. Hell, only like, an eighth of them have actual weapons! I've seen feral, adrenaline-fueled Degenerates have more unit cohesion than this rabble!"

Shining, who had joined her by now, growled out, "Yeah? Well, if your men are so good, then why don't you bring them out to show us."

"I thought you'd never ask. Centurion Pike Wall!" As the officer snapped to attention, she said, "Sound assembly!"

He saluted and turned to his units Cornifer. Upon giving the order, a shrill, constant sound of horns blew out, shattering the still, wavy desert air. A few minutes later, a large shuffling of feet could be heard, and another second later, a mass of Pryhan soldiers entered the assembly area. Following months of training and years of drill on the action, the summoned Century formed a perfect square block, each spacing between them an exact length. The Optio and Vexillarius stood at attention at their respective places at the front of the block, the missing spots for the Centurion and Cornifer obvious. All of them stood still, perfectly at attention.

"That, my dear Captain, is a proper assembly. Need I remind you who is the superior here?" That seemed to set him off a bit.

"Ok, so your men are good at looking good. But, what about experience?"

"Pot calling the Kettle black." When he merely shot her a confused look, she sighed and said, "What I mean is that my men are likely much, much more experienced than any of your men. And better equipped. And trained."

"All of them are veterans of the Battle of Canterlot, and other fighting retreats from the Changelings", he said. "And all of them have chain mail!"

She just smiled. "All of mine are veterans of the Unification Wars, the Battle of Pryha, the second Zebrican-Pryhan war, and several other actions. As for equipment, the armor offers the best protection possible, while still maintaining the best flexibility. They can outfight anything you can throw at them." While looking at his stern face, she said, "How 'bout a wager?"

"What do you have in mind?", he asked.

"You and me." With his look of confusion, she said, "A duel. The Pryhans have a saying: 'The state of the Commander reflects the state of the Pedes. If they are unable to fight, then the Pedes are unable to beat a mob of hounds. If they can outfight a god, then the Pedes are invincible.' So, let us see how good your men are, and how good mine are, eh?"

He grinned back. "You're on. Five minutes to get ready?"

"Three." The two of them then went off to the sides to go prepare.

The two of them stood in a circle of the soldiers, who were cheering and laughing, exchanging bets on who would win. Each of their commanders faced each other, weapons on the ready. Shining was clad in his purple and gold captain's armor, his officer's sword wrapped in his horns aura. Rainbow, meanwhile, was in her Linothorax, subarmailis, helmet, and greaves. She had borrowed the Shield, harness, and Lance of one of her men, her swords nestled at her side.

"Remember", she called across the circle. "No magic, no flying. Just a straight, simple, honorable affair. Cool?"

"Yeah, yeah", he called back. "I just hope this doesn't take too much time."

The two straightened into fighting stances and made ready. One of the Royal Guards lit up his horn red, and it then flashed to yellow. The two of them shared one last look before his the guard's horn flashed green. The two then broke into loping strides, charging one another.

Rainbow, shortly before they would have impacted, she slid. Dirt flew up into the air, and she swung the lance like a bat at his legs. He was running too fast, and he slammed into it. He tumbled head over heels, slamming headfirst into the dirt. He slid at least four feet, dust, rocks, and sand flying into his grit teeth mouth. Her men began laughing, while Shining' looked rather nervous. He stood up, eyes smoldering with rage, and began lashing out at her with a series of rapid, quick slashes.

Shining swung down in a wide arc, the blade coming the side not covered by the shield. She shifted her shoulder, intercepting the strike on the edge of the wooden scutum, before performing fast, rapid thrusts with the lance at his chest. He backed up, before swinging at the spearhead, cleaving it off. She threw it like a javelin, smacking it into his head before drawing her sword and moving in close. Her men cheered her on, their own lances pounding on the ground or they beat their shields with their swords.

He stumbled back from the impact of the lance, his sword almost dropping out of his aura. She shoved the heavy shield into his chest, putting him even further off balance. Now he did drop the sword, as well as his helmet flying off as he fell on his flank. Before he could react, she put her short sword to his throat, the tip contracting the fur a bit. "And that's your head."

She then resheathed her sword, turning the stunned Royal Guards. "I beat your 'Captain', in ten seconds flat. He lasted only a bit longer than an unarmored, un-disciplined barbarian. I have a feeling one of my troops could do the same; maybe in a bit more time, but the same results. This shows a distinct lack of skill, commitment, and training. That will be changing. I expect all of you out here tomorrow morning, at 0730. Sharp. Gents: Welcome to the 14th Regimental Auxilia."

Next Chapter: 86~Training (AKA: Whining) Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 4 Minutes