Quickly she threw a force bubble around herself to keep the worst of the dust and smoke off her she started searching for her sister. The room was full of swirling clouds of dust and smoke which made visibility poor at best. Having gotten her bearings she headed off in the direction of talking.
Locking on to her sister’s magical signature she came upon the Co-Ruler of Equestria and her Mare-in-Waiting sitting on the floor in a force bubble that Luna had erected. Stepping into her sister’s own force bubble Celestia was rewarded with the rare experience of surprising Phoenix. Normally the mare could sense her even when she was making an effort to hide her presence. Luna was holding the unicorn with her left front leg wrapped around the mare. As what seemed like her normal MO Phoenix had numerous lacerations and puncture wounds on her head and body that were closing and healing even as Celestia looked on.
Upon seeing Celestia’s arrival Phoenix started to rise but Luna’s embrace held her in place. “Stay fair Phoenix!” Said the Prussian Blue alicorn in a boisterous voice. “Rise not until your wounds are fully healed.”
With this accomplished she looked up at her sister. Celestia immediately noticed that her younger sister had glorious shiner on her left eye. The Princess of the Moon grinned at her sister. “Celly! Have you come to see with own eyes the epic battle I have had with this most wondrous of battle-mares?!”
The pale alicorn lowered her head. “Are you two done having fun?” She said in a disapproving, motherly, tone of voice.
For her part Phoenix actually blushed and in a surprisingly soft and formal voice she addressed Celestia. “Your Highness. Please forgive me and your sister. I fear our containment spells were not up to the task of dealing with our, um, enthusiastic, and passionate sparring.” After a pause of a couple seconds she said. “I’m sorry for the mess.”
Luna looked over at Phoenix. “Sorry? Why should you be sorry my dear maiden for our battle today!” Luna stared up at Celestia and pointed at the left side of her face. “Look sister! Do you see this?”
“You mean your swollen left eye?” Her sister raised a quizzically eyebrow.
“Yes! Yes that! Do you remember the last time I got one of these?”
“Hmmm. Yes. Yes I think I do.” The elder sister pondered for a moment. “I believe it was I who gave it to you.”
“Exactly!” Said Luna in a triumphant voice. “Last winter we faced fire and dragons! We changed the course of a great battle and came through that unscathed! Rarely has an opponent been able to breach my defenses in a straight up fight like this today! But this mare.” She gave Phoenix a hug. “She! She at my command gave me this! Even though I knew she was attacking and prepared for it. Her speed and ferocity cracked my defenses! By the stars we could’ve used her a thousand years ago! If she’d been with us then her acts of valors would be the stuff legend today!”
Celestia had to chuckle. Luna had always been more the warrior. She was the one who often sought out the field of battle in their youth. While Celestia had always been more inclined to negotiate a solution. However in her youth Celestia had been a bit more hot-headed herself. As a result they had locked horns on several occasions. The end product of those scuffles had ranged from paying for broken crockery in a tavern, to cartographers sobbing as they had to remove some recently edited terrain feature from their maps.
Luna pointed a front hoof at her sister. “So don’t make this precious mare apologize for this honor she has rightfully earned today! The bards will sing of this day for years to come!”
“Press will have a field day over this for weeks.” Countered her sister.
“Poets will write of our deeds today!” Luna continued.
“The exchequer is going to have seizures over this.” Celestia grumbled, but at same time she couldn’t help but have a small smile her face. When the flame of battle was ignited in Luna’s heart she was prone to excessive use of hyperbole.
Through all this Phoenix had quietly watched this. Finally she spoke up. “So you’re not upset with me your Highness?”
“Oh I am still not happy with what you did dear.” Celestia looked over at the mare who had as one of her nicknames The Sledgehammer. “But by my sister’s own confession she commanded you to do this. So I know who’s bank account I’m going to raid to pay for this….” She looked up at the wrecked ceiling.
“This mess.”
By now the sound of ponies pushing the debris away blocking the doorways to the gymnasium could be heard. As the dust dissipated the dark silhouettes of ponies scrambling through the destroyed windows could be seen. Spying Celestia the first responders made for her.
“Your Highness! Are you all right?” The watch officer exclaimed. “What happened here?” He looked over at Princess Luna. “Your Highness! You’re injured! Shall I have a doctor see to your wounds?”
Luna waved a dismissive hoof. “Thank you good pony. But fear not for my well-being. There is nothing here that a good soak in the Royal Baths won’t correct!”
The princess glanced over at Phoenix. The usually bone white mare was now several shades darker from all the dust, soot, grime on her. “And you dear mare look like you’d benefit from a visit to the baths as well! Then when our coats are washed and our manes and tails brushed we shall celebrate this historic day!”
Celestia looked dubious. “And how do you plan to, celebrate?”
“In the only way fitting for warriors like us! At a tavern! I know of several in this fair city that we shall grace with our presence tonight!”
The Princess of the Sun stared incredulously at her sister. “You’re going to go tavern crawling with one of my Mares-in-Waiting. After causing this ruckus here in the palace. With a shiner like that on your face? I stand corrected. The press isn’t going to be writing about this for weeks. They’re going to be writing about this for months!”
“Well then, the scribes will not go poor in this city for lack of work will they!” Said Luna.
This is so much better with the story. Which is at the source. Which is a conveniently available tag if for some reason you don’t include it in the description.
The story got a couple of good chuckles out of me too.