Resolve

"Let's do this!" Exclaimed the two friends, dashing towards eachother as they began their sparring match. Gilded opened up with a foward thrust, using the spear-like tip of the halberd. Her attack was swiftly side-stepped by Zephyr, the pegasi using his wings in conjunction with his movements to make himself more agile.

"Heh, nice dodge!" Gilded complimented, pulling a grin from Zephyr before he dashed forward, flinging out a quick right hook to hit her in the chest with his glaive. The blade, however, was blocked. The unicorn had quickly thrown up her halberd, the long handle of the weapon stopping his glaive with a metallic clang.

A few of the newer recruits noticed this display from a distance as the metallic clangs continued ringing out in stark contrast to the thud of the wooden weapons their associates were practicing with. "Hey Boss." Called one of the recruits, an oak-colored stallion named Willow Bark. "How come she's not using any sort of magic like you and the other unicorns?" The other recruits looked at their superior, Amber Wave, their expressions echoing the question, causing the mare to shoot them a mirthful grin at their curiosity.

"Gilded Cross, The mare you see fighting, is a bit of a... special case." The lieutenant explained, the appropriately orange colored mare responded, her deep blue eyes turning to the newbies. "Unlike other unicorns in the guard, Gilded isn't able to harness her magic for directly attacking or defending, at least not to an effective level." She levitated a decent-sized rock before hitting it with a blast of air from her horn, the stone sailing off and away from the group.

"But, then how is she able to fight? Unicorns aren't strong or quick like earth ponies or pegasi!" A small pegasi mare named Whisper Wind piped up, her voice anything but a whisper.

This garnered a chuckle from the lieutenant. "That may be true. But remember, I said direct which implies something similar to the wind spell I just demonstrated." She gestured to the pair of sparring partners. "Watch for a second and tell me if you see anything strange." She requested. The group turning back to the match.

Gilded was now on the defense, desperately moving her halberd to block the rabid strikes of Zephyr's glaives. Sweat dripped off of both of them, not from exertion, but from the intensity of the match. "Is it just me," Gilded panted. "Or have you gotten a l-" A strike came dangerously close to hitting her, the mare gasping before hopping back a few feet, the bottom of her horseshoes throwing off a few ribbons of golden light as she made the movement.

"Maybe you should stop talking and do more fighting!" Zephyr taunted, getting an angry scowl from Gilded.

"And maybe you should be careful what you wish for!" She retorted, dashing towards him faster than before, the same light appearing once again.

'Wait, what's with that weird light under her hooves?" Whisperwind blurted.

"That's one of the ways she uses her magic." Amber Wave explained. "That light is an enchantment, since she can't use her magic directly, she uses it indirectly by enchanting her gear." She sighed and shook her head. "She's practically a genius with enchanting but her head is already big enough that nobody says anything."

The fight continued as they spoke, though it was apparent it was coming to a conclusion, as both combatants were panting and drenched with sweat. Gilded decided it was time to end the match, the end of her halberd begain glowing before she took a swing once more. Zephyr, exhausted as he was, didn't notice the light, stepping back out of the range of the halberd, rather than sidestepping it, resulting in a strong gust of wind roughly with the same force of her weapon hitting him square in the chest, knocking him over with thud, ending the match.

"Uuuugh, I hate when you do that." Zephyr groaned, Gilded laughing hysterically.

"Gotta watch out for stuff like that Zephyr!" She lauded, setting her weapon back on the rack as she trotted over to her friend, offering the pegasi a helping hoof.

"Yeah, yeah..." He grumbled, taking her hoof. "I still think it's unfair, I'm always used to unicorns blasting stuff from their horns during sparring matches, not their weapons."

Gilded grinned. "Aw come on, it's not that hard." She replied, Zephyr giving a defeated chuckle.

"Whatever, what do you say we get some grub after we clean up?" He offered.

"Sure, sounds good to me." Gilded accepted, the two continuing their conversation as they walked back to the barracks.

"I'm telling you, it was bigger than my hoof!" Zephyr exclaimed to Gilded as that sat in the busy tavern, eating their food and telling stories. Gilded scoffed.

"As if, spiders like that stay in the forest, they hate being around ponies!" She countered, trying not to show her amusement.

"Serious!" He replied, sighing in exasperation. "It bit for hoof while I was on patrol, it's why my guard is so dented." He lifted the offending guard, the metal was scratched and dented on the tip.

"Hey I told you to watch where you were going." Gilded chuckled, sipping her drink. "Phew, glad it wasn't one of the bigger ones..." She thought in relief.

Suddenly, the door to the tavern slammed open, grabbing the attention of all those sober enough to care. "Emergency!" Yelled the village crier, a Pegasus who's brown bangs covered his eyes. "There's been a sudden uprising of the local Tyrantula population!" This caused the tavern-goers to gasp. Tyrantulas were a particularly vicious species of giant spider, though they generally stayed deep in the forest and kept out the larger threats, they were still a great threat themselves, as the matriarchs could grow to the size of a small house, and the average ones were big enough to carry off ponies.

"What!?" Zephyr responded, slamming his hooves on the table. "Gilded, we have to go report to the captain, now!"

he got a nod from the unicorn, the pair of friends heading off to the barracks as the other villagers retreated into their homes, a few panicked screams could be heard as the market was emptied. A few other guards joined Zephyr and Gilded as the swiftly ran towards the barracks.

As they reached the barracks, they saw the familiar faces of their fellow guards, whom were being addressed by lieutenant Amber Wave. "Listen up guards!" She shouted. "We need to make sure the tyrantulas don't Get out of that forest, if they do we may very well lose the town!"

The group of guards murmured and shifted at that. the newer recruits gulped, they hadn't built up the nerve that came with the line of work yet. "As of now I'm ordering that you all set up a barricade at the forest's edge! If the containment party fails we'll need to be ready to stop those beasts from tearing apart the town!" The mare huffed in stress. "Any volunteers for the party?" She called out.

"I'll go!" Exclaimed Whisperwind.

"Me too!" Proclaimed Willow Bark, the stallion puffing out his chest as he spoke.

Gilded and Zephyr looked too each other, nodding and turning to their commanding officer. "We'll go as well!" They pitched in, stepping forward.

"Guess that means I'll have to go to keep anything bad from happening then." Huffed Golden Grain, stepping out form the crowd and shooting a glare at Gilded before turning to her Amber Wave.

"Okay! That should do it, if the party is too big we'll have a harder time taking care of things!" The unicorn mare announced, turning to her volunteers. "Head to the barracks and get your gear, practice weapons aren't going to cut it." She ordered, the five ponies saluting as they ran into the building and began putting on armor.

"Finally! My time to shine!" Thought Gilded Cross, a small smirk appearing on her face as she lifted her armor onto her body, laying over her chain mail poncho. "Let's hurry!" She exclaimed, getting Golden Grain to roll her eyes.

"If you do anything stupid during this mission, it won't be just the spiders you'll have to worry about." The earth pony spat, getting a growl from Gilded.

"This isn't a time to be fighting." Stated Zephyr solemnly, stopping the two before it could escalate. "Just get ready, we need to work together."

The two mares huffed and turned away from each other. Zephyr sighed. "These two are so similar that they can't stand each other." He pondered as he exited the building, the four other ponies soon following.

"Are you ready?" Amber Wave inquired, getting a nod from the group. "Good! Let's move out!" She shouted, the containment party elading the rest of the guards. towards the forest and out of town.