"Well, yeah. Don't you fight dragons regularly? Or ejge? You're high in these mountains, and this place isn't really as fortified as I would like it to be."
Celestia scratched her head. "You keep saying that you fight against dragons and ejge, but why would they be attacking you?"
Twilight glared at Celestia from the corner of her eyes and looked away. "I'm only explaining that to Celestia."
One of the guards sat on his haunches and squeezed his spear in anger to the point of its wooden body snapping in half. He looked at it, bewildered by what he had just done. One of the captains noticed and started chastising him for it.
The captain Twilight had just fought stepped forward next to the white alicorn. "But she IS the princess!"
Twilight scoffed at the captain who grit his teeth in frustration.
"Fine. Let me ask something else."
"What?"
The stallion pointed at Twilight's armor. "Is that really made from dragon leather and scales?"
"Yes."
"Why not just use ejge scales? They're just like dragons."
Several of the ponies around nodded in agreement.
"Ha. HA!"
"Why are you laughing?"
"Dragons and ejge aren't even REMOTELY similar!" Twilight spoke in a mocking tone. "Tell an ejge it's a dragon and you can be certain that you won't live long enough to be corrected."
"T-then what's so different about them?"
"The ejge's scales aren't tough like a dragon's. In fact, they give little-to-no wind resistance. It's ideal for the pegasi, but not for us ground troops. Not only that, but at the speeds they can go thanks to the scales and their powerful wings, the scales become lethal and capable of slicing through everything due to the wind pressure that forms around them."
Everypony around gasped in awe.
"H-how...It's practically impossible to even see an ejge. How do we know if you're not lying?"
"You don't, but my spear here and my armor should be proof enough."
Another guard stepped forward and spoke with an accusing tone. "How do we know you just didn't stumble onto a scale or the corpse of a dragon?"
Yet another guard slapped her comrade behind the head, pushing his helmet over his eye.
"You idiot! Dragon scales and hide start decaying the second they die. They lose almost all of their toughness right then and there. She couldn't have survived the captain's magic if she tried."
The ponies started to grumble at each other about whether Twilight was telling the truth or lying, much to indifference of the lavender unicorn. Celestia face-hoofed at the display but was pulled out of her embarrassment briefly by Sparkles holding several pieces of paper.
"What is it? Is there a problem that I don't know about?"
"No. I was just doing some basic data gathering, and it seems that she doesn't have any known diseases. In fact, she seems to have a few immunities to diseases of today, like hoof rot." The pegasus tapped her hoof a few times on the ground and pulled in her lips.
Celestia raised a brow and smirked. "Yes?"
"If we had some more samples of her blood, we could study her immunities and make vaccines against the diseases in the future."
"Hm. While that is logical, it's best we leave her and her blood alone for now."
"If you say so, your highness."
"Now then, Twilight, was it?" Celestia said as she approached the lavender unicorn.
"If you can guarantee me that you won't harm the guards here or anypony else in the castle, then I can give you, at least, a basic room for your needs while you stay here and until you leave. HOWEVER," Celestia glared at Twilight and lowered her head to eye-level. "If you can't guarantee such a thing, this time I will ensure that everything you currently have on you will be confiscated, and you will rot in the dungeons for the rest of your life. Am I understood?"
Twilight was scarcely intimidated and grinned back at the alicorn. "Showing your true colors, huh?" Her taunting didn't last long and she backed away. "Fine. I agree. It doesn't mean I won't try to not kill you at any point, however."
Celestia laughed at the remark. "I think I can deal with you whenever you try to kill me." She turned her back to Twilight and started walking towards the castle. As she did so, however, she gave Twilight one final piece of information. "Anywhere you go, however, you will be escorted by at least four of my royal guards, so do not expect to be able to sneak off at any point you're with us, understood?"
Celestia continued her way after that warning and let Twilight simmer in place. The guards were still fighting while the captains remained stoically fixated upon the scarred pony. Sparkles walked up towards Twilight in various bits of hobbling and hesitated to get her attention, but did so anyways.
"If you would follow me, there's a room that's ready for you in the castle." She cleared her throat and readjusted her saddle bags. "A-and it's one of the few currently fully built and decorated."
Twilight peer over her shoulder to see the doctor shrinking under her gaze. She seemed terrified of the armor.
"I would be more than happy to see my room." Twilight followed the medic accompanied by guards of her own following close by. "I hope the stones aren't too wet. I can't stand sleeping on wet stones."
"What?"
"What 'what'?"
"We don't sleep on stones."
"Oh. Gravel, then?"
"No."
"Bones? Sometimes we have too many bones after a battle and have to sleep on them," Twilight joked. "They can be quite pokey, though." She rubbed her back with her tail after saying that. "But at least dragon bones bend with the body shape."
"Bones? Of course not!"
Twilight shrugged and followed the pony through one of the many open spaces within the castle's walls and climbed the wooden steps upstairs, taking her helmet off in the process. The walls were still a barren gray and no decorations were up yet. At least the windows were placed and keeping all the cold air outside, not that Twilight really cared. The unusual warmth within this finished section of the castle was something she didn't like. It reminded her too much of dragon's breath and the environments in which draco-ponies lived.
The doors flanking the hall had yet to be installed and were placed neatly against the opposing walls of the rooms for future installation. Only a few had been installed, and Twilight was brought into one of them. Two guards remained outside while the other two accompanied the two mares into the room. The lavender unicorn looked around cautiously. The room was identical to the rest of the castle, but there was furniture here. A large bed covered in a puff, pale-blue comforter with two large, white pillows covering the width of the mattress, and considering the mattress was the as wide as a pony was long, they were very huge. A room on the side led to the bathroom for all the necessary conveniences, and one small desk placed underneath a small window just left of the bed. To the right of the bed was a small night stand topped with a circular pad and a red stone floating above it. The pad had a wide, circular base that narrowed slightly for a very short increase in height, at which point it collapsed into a shallow bowl shape. Its metallic surface reflected the red stone floating above it and rotating at a gentle pace in the air.
"What is this thing?" Twilight asked while she poked the bed.
"That's a bed."
Twilight looked back at the pony with a blank expression, then stared at the bed again and poked it.
"This feels WAY too soft to be a bed. Sure, the harder workers get straw, but it's extremely itchy. I have no idea what this is."
Sparkles rubbed her temples in annoyance. "Just...step onto it and lie down, then see what you think." Before Twilight could do so, Sparkles immediately called to her. "NO! Take off your armor first."
Twilight shrugged and complied. It took several minutes to unlock the buckles and hooks of her armor and let it drop heavily next to the bed. The spear, however, was wedged in between the small night stand and bed in a manner that would prevent its removal without making a modicum of noise. The second Twilight stepped onto the bed, she faceplanted onto the pillows and fell asleep, causing the doctor and guards to quite literally jump several feet back and slamming against the wall in sheer shock.
"H-how did she fall asleep that fast?!" one of the guards yelled.
"I don't know, but...maybe one of you can grab that spear of hers and we can keep it hidden before she starts going on a rampage after she wakes up," Sparkles suggested.
"How do you know she'll do that?"
"I don't. It's a precaution."
"Fair enough," the other guard said.
She rotated her shoulders and cracked her neck in preparation for her task. Carefully, she tiphoof'd towards the spear and made sure to muffle her breathing as best as she could. She made sure Twilight was sleeping and slowly stretched out to grab the spear, which she managed to. Now, she had to pull it out of its lock. Unfortunately the precise nanometer the spear moved alerted Twilight who flicked the foreleg of the pony off the spear and punching its owner in the face. The guard keeled over and rolled around in pain with her muzzle clenched between her hooves.
"AHHHHHHHH! My muzzle!"
The remaining guard and Sparkles looked down at the pony reeling in pain then at Twilight who was gesturing that she was watching them before melting her face back into the pillows.