The next day pegasi provided an excellent weather. It was clear, chilly and quiet. So quiet, that one of the junior Applied Flight Faculty assistants had to hide on the roof and provide the wind for the banner with his wings.
Everypony were lined on the grounds. The sunlight was shining and glittering on their dress uniform. Gilded plates on the teachers, silvery lamellar vests on the cadets, blue and gold plumages.
The lad stood in the second line, looking hopefully at the opened gates, where, he thought, an aerial carriage would appear at any moment. To think that he will meet an alicorn! It was wild! Celestia's portraits he saw were beautiful beyond words, and now they all were about to meet Celestia's flesh and blood!
Or... Do alicorns even have blood?
The Lad wasn't sure. Nobody really talked about that, ever. The Alicorn is just... well, is. And was. And will be. Like the mountains, like the ocean, like the sky-
The loud, explosion-like sound suddenly boomed, making The Lad to snap out of his thoughts.
There wasn't a carriage. Princess Luna herself, alone, stood at the gate, where there she wasn't a moment ago.
The pavement cracked a bit in the places where her hooves touched the ground.
"Wh-what's just happened?!" The Lad whispered, but nobody around had time to respond. The Music Faculty chief, a unicorn, flung his conductor's baton and the anthem squad sprung into action. All the officers immediately stood at attention and cadets tried to bring that even further than they already had.
The Princess strode between the two rows of cadets. Luna wasn't wearing any regalia except a black peytral with the crescent moon and a black tiara. Her gait was light, she walked at leisure pace, but every her hoofstep left a faint impression on the pavement. The Lad thought something dangerous, almost predatory has been seeping through her motions. He blinked and shuffled his ears.
After a few more steps Luna stood face to face with the officers lined up opposite the gate. She wasn't as colossal as Celestia, but still a noticeable bit larger than the largest of the ponies present.
The Academy Commander opened his mouth to voice an appropriate greeting. The Lad wasn't listening to the exchange. He has been looking at the Princess, intently, greedily, unable to avert his gaze. He didn't care he must look straight before him and slightly down, according to the protocol. The protocol flew out of the window before the unearthly wonder.
He thought the Princess is kind of everything that is the best at once, but in a harmonious way, without any excess. Tall, graceful, with the largest wings, longest horn, the most proportional, toned and pronounced musculature. Any portrait ever couldn't have prepared him for this, nothing could have captured the Royal presence accurately.
Something further along the line of protocol greetings may have amused Luna and she laughed, in a manner that was both regal and carefree at once. Her voice sounded like a melody.
The Lad half-closed his eyes, his ears forward, trying to not miss a single note of it.
Suddenly Luna turned her head slightly and her left eye met Lad's gaze. The Princess sniped him specifically, he had no doubt after he felt for a short second as something literally touched his soul. It felt... surprisingly tame. Not like an angry yank on the mane, which anypony would expect, but rather like a chiding smack on the nose. He froze in place. His unicorn friend, standing to the right, winced.
"The alicorns are telepaths, you moron. You cold have been even a little more obvious and dropped out to boot, farm oaf." He whispered, without turning his head, with a heavy sarcasm. The Lad lowered his gaze.
Meanwhile, the officers have all greeted the Princess. She turned around and looked at both rows at the two sides of the grounds simultaneously.
"We greet you, Our faithful warriors!" her voice now boomed a bit like a thunder. The Royal Canterlot Voice, no doubt. After a moment, as if judging the reaction, Luna smiled. "We are glad, that after a millennium, sons and daughters of Equestria are still as brilliant as ever."
"Glory to Her Royal Majesty! Glory to Equestria!" the cadets boomed all in unison, as instructed.
Usually, The Lad would have hoped that after the officialdom would be over, they could all go do whatever, while the commanders would take the guest of honor to the faculty building for a tea or something. But now he felt regret that they would need to leave the Royal presence. Although he hoped that Luna would like to observe the sport events. He waited for the Commander's "Dismissed!"...
"What is the next event planned for the day?" Luna asked the Academy Commander directly.
"The holiday sports festival, Your Majesty! Surely, you would honor us by observ-"
"Sports?! How splendid!" Luna exclaimed, smiling, opening her wings in excitement, "We indeed would be glad to join the festivities! It was quite a while since We last attended such a carnival of physical and military prowess!
"Of course, Your Majesty. On behalf of all the staff and the cadets let me thank you for the honor-"
"You deserve it." Luna smiled, casting a glance at the commander's medal, "Let the competitions begin!"
The Commander blew into the loudest of whistles, indicating that everypony should form up. After some confusion the classes lined around the sports grounds. Some time went into changing from the uniform into sport vests.
The first event in the list was jumping over the barrier. The Lad never was big on speed, so he decided to sit it over. He did help to drag and install the barriers on track though.
The aspiring athletes took their places at the start. Everypony looked at Luna, waiting for her signal. She raised up her opened wings and brought them down in one sharp strike, like a signal flag.
The race began. Everypony were trying their best. The leader of the race, a sporty pegasus filly, been looking like she was about to tear herself apart. The others, further back, were huffing like a whole train depot.
Then there was a marathon. And then there was a short sprint. Luna was observing from the tribune, her ears forward, nostrils wide, the face of pure excitement. From time to time she would turn to the Commander and ask something, probably names of the most prolific athletes, as cadets hoped.
After that the officers announced the rope pulling. The Lad actually had always been very good at this discipline and was glad to show off in front of the Princess.
Luna, with a thoughtful expression, was looking at the two teams preparing. After a moment of thought her ears jumped up.
"The team which would win will have the honor to pull the rope against Us!" She announced in her Royal Canterlot trumpet call.
The officers looked at each other, mildly aghast. The Commander bowed and asked something. Luna nodded.
"Wow..." The Lad tightened the thongs of his sports vest with his teeth, "That will be awesome! What I don't get though, is why the higher ups were so nervous? Do they think that we are some kind of brutes who would do something bad in front of the Princess?"
Nopony had time to answer yet again. The whistle sounded. The two teams were trying their best. The Lad pulled with all he got and his team won. Now, there was time for their "reward".
While they rested a bit, Luna took the tournament rope and wrapped it around the base of her neck. Looking at the faces around her suddenly becoming frightened, she let out a giggle. "Ye of little faith! Are you doubting your Princess?" She plunged her hooves into the ground and nodded to the terrified captain of the winning team: "We command thee, pull!"
The bunch of tough earth ponies, the strongest unicorns and pegasi with a knack for heavy athletics in front of her took the rope and pulled. The Princess didn't budge. Her face was excited, but it didn't seem like the effort was bothering her in any capacity. The Lad hadn't felt anything like that never before. It was like if the rope was tied to a mountain or a castle wall. They pulled harder, with every amount of power they had. At last, Luna made a quarter of a step forward, tensed her muscles a bit... and the rope around her neck ripped with a loud 'crack'. Luna gasped. The team collapsed in a pile. The Lad managed to remain standing by some luck.
"Tis' unfortunate." The Princess commented, levitating what was left of the triple-woven tournament rope from the ground, "Perhaps we should call that a tie." Her horn blinked and the rope became whole again, like new.
The Lad was looking at Luna with a gaze of pure adoration. It was enough that he saw an alicorn the first time ever, but to witness somebody who has been extremely magical to excel at purely physical action so much to boot! One thing is some kind of eldritch magic, that much anyone would have expected. But to see so much raw physical power it was unbelievable for the young earth pony.
"I don't think they were afraid for the Princess, dude..." The Lad heard his friend whispering, answering his earlier question. He could only nod.
The next event was buckball.
"We shall be judging!" Proclaimed Luna. And she did a splendid job with that. She was moving so fast around the field her silhouette blurred into a dark blue haze. After the game she decided to do some warm up exercises with the ball. After the especially vigorous buck, the wooden ball burst into splinters. "Such fun!" Luna exclaimed and laughed with a genuine joy while above her the cloud of wooden pieces converged back into the ball. "Although, in olden times, I remember using a stone ball. It usually had been more robust... Now, to the weight pulling!" The Princess brought the list of events to her face, "Are the rules as usual, Colonel?" She asked the Commander.
"Indeed, Your Majesty. First the individual pullings, then in pairs."
"Perfect! In that case We will honor the individual winner with being their pair for the joint part!"
'Now that's a prize!' The Lad thought, while two assistants hitched him to a huge concrete block on a wooden sled, along with a dozen of other ponies, who got a block each. Luna herself blew into the whistle, the contestants jerked forward. The ropes, connecting them to the weights, raised from the ground and tightened so hard they were almost ringing. The pullers made a few burdened hops, to gain momentum and then slowly rushed forward. After the colossal effort to move an elegant alicorn for an inch, The Lad thought that a concrete block by contrast actually isn't that heavy. He glanced at the tribune, where Luna stood. It seemed to him that she looks precisely at him, so The Lad gave the pull the maximum of his power and even with a bit on top.
It felt amazing for the young stud, to showcase his power in front of not just a mare, but the ruler of his country herself. He pulled and pulled, and pulled...
He didn't heard the whistle. One of the cadets, a pegasus, jumped in front of him, waving at The Lad frantically. He finally stopped with a frown. It was then that he realized he has pulled the sled a good thirty yards past the control line. He gasped in horror. Have he botched it?
"Ok, Ok, Lad, hold down! You have won already! No need to drag the damn thing out of the premises altogether!" The pegasus urged him. The Lad looked at the pegasus then at the tribune and smiled sheepishly.
After a lengthy pause, as everyone rested a bit, the pullings in pairs have begun.
Luna descended to the competition grounds and approached The Lad, who has been completely stunned by the honor. "We find thine performance impressive, young squire!" the Princess smiled at him, while they both have been hitched to the sled, with two blocks of concrete this time. The Lad wanted to say that he isn't a nobleborn, but couldn't muster an answer. He just gulped and nodded. Luna's smile grew even wider, she suppressed a giggle.
The whistle sounded yet again. "Off we go!" Luna shouted enthusiastically and dug her hooves into the sandy track.
The Lad rushed forward with abandon. The sled behind them began to move, slowly at first then faster and faster. It was a peculiar feeling: no matter how much effort he put out it felt like the Princess was exactly matching his output to a T.
He looked at her, to savor the weird feeling of being in one team with Her. The Princess pulling a sled with an an ordinary farm stallion. Well, maybe not exactly ordinary, since he was accepted into the Guard Academy, but still. A couple of hundred years ago he wouldn't even had a chance, because of his peasant background.
Luna has been copying his every move. It was as if it were two of himself pulling the sled. He was admiring her tensed muscles, flexing under her short blue coat, marveled how there was not a spot of sweat on her, despite all the exertion. Her beautiful elongated face was simply excited and determined, without a trace of strain. She turned her ear to him, noticing his attention, "Such fun, is it not?"
They reached the control line as absolute leaders of the competition.
When the Commander of the Academy been attaching the 1st Place ribbons to their tack, Luna smiled at The Lad. "We felt thine effort, young one, and found it impressive. No less than some splendid examples of the olden times!"
"T-thank you, Y-your Majesty." He managed to answer, breathing heavily.
Thus the games were concluded. After a short closing ceremony everypony were ready to hit the showers. The Lad, walking back to the dorm building suddenly thought, if the Princess will go to the officer's quarters to rinse herself, even if there wasn't any sweat or grime on her. He imagined Luna under the shower, with damp mane, ruffled feathers, glistening coat... and blushed heavily. The Lad dared to look back, at the gathering of commanding officers.
Luna was listening to something they were saying and then suddenly tossed her mane in a sharp energetic motion, broke away from the group, approached a huge mound of snow and plunged into it. The others stood speechless, as she was rolling in the snow, laughing. She stood up and wobbled. A whole whirlwind of droplets, sparkling in the sun exploded around Luna. Her coat was pristine and without a trace of anything unclean, as ever.