"Well Iroh, old boy, a few strained muscles, a couple of scrapes and a couple of bruises. To be honest, you're more in need of a good hot bath and a decent massage than any treatment I could give you. I'm surprised you're in such good shape after you were reputedly in the thick of things."

"Not as much as you might think," Iroh chuckled.

"When that dragon was doing it's best to flatten your town, I was coming back from the forest. I only had enough time and energy to take a single shot at him and I missed that one."

"A single shot?"

Iroh frowned at the memory but elaborated anyway. "I have the ability to generate lightning, it's about the only thing I could do that could even get the notice of that thing."

Doctor Stable sat back on his haunches and rubbed the bridge of his nose with one hoof, knocking his glasses askew in the process. "If I were you, I would find my way to a guardspony or possibly the mayor and explain that to them that you did not hit that pegasus on purpose. Sweet Celestia, do you know how much trouble that could possibly be for you if this gets out?"

"I'm starting to get an inkling given your reaction, but why don't you explain it fully?"

Stable stood up and half turned away from Iroh. "Why don't you come with me to the doctor's lounge? You're technically not supposed to be there, but this conversation is definitely not for the general public. You're just lucky that the first pony you mentioned that to is me and that I'm so level headed. If that mare who had you before had had an inkling of that... Well, let's just say you would have been in a whole lot worse position than trussed up in her magic resonance scanner."

Stable stopped suddenly in the hallway as if he had just had a horrible realization.

"Oh. Oh, Celestia's Crusty Croup! The blasted dragon sent a letter!"

"Who would that giant dragon have sent mail to?" Iroh asked, confused.

"No, no! Not the big dragon, the little one! Twilight Sparkle's dragon sent a letter!"

Iroh scratched his head, not seeing why the self proclaimed level-headed doctor was so nervous. "Why is that a bad thing?"

"The mare who decided to turn you into her next science project was Twilight Sparkle. She's the personal student of Princess Celestia, who if you don't know yet is our ruler. It's known by most ponies in town that she sends reports of some kind to the Princess, and that Spike is the one who sends those letters directly to her."

Iroh visibly winced at that thought, considering the rulers he knew from his own world. "What kind of a ruler is she? What do you think she's likely to do?"

In the privacy of his mind, Iroh started a chant - 'Please, not like Bumi, please not like Bumi!'

Stable rubbed his jaw as he thought. "Well, from what I understand, she is incredibly old. Well over a thousand, but how much more I couldn't tell you. She is benevolent if that's what you're worried about. She's very powerful, her talent is moving the sun, and if she wasn't benevolent have no doubt we would know about it by now."

"About the only other things I could tell you are rumors, mostly because I've only met her once before and that was when she gave me my doctor's certificate when I graduated. I have heard before that she loves a good joke or prank though..."

It was about this time that he noticed Iroh sweating. 'Oh crap, she's like Bumi!' was about the only thought in his head.

"Are you okay?" The doctor asked, breaking Iroh out of his thoughts of doom and involuntary mud baths.

"Hmm? Oh yes, your description of her just reminds me of a king I once met. Let me take a guess here and say that because she's so old, she has seen just about everything there is to see."

Doctor Stable nodded.

"Because I am something new and strange around here, she's likely to come here soon after receiving the letter that dragon sent, which I think it is safe to assume it was about me."

Doctor Stable nodded again.

"Which means that as soon as she gets that letter, she's probably going to either come here or, more likely, send for me to come to her."

"Oh she's definitely coming here..." Stable said as he looked out the window. "See that big gold chariot that's coming in for a landing next to the library?"

Iroh stepped up to the window and spotted the chariot for himself. "The one with the huge white pony in it?""

Even from this distance, it was easy to tell that Celestia towered over the other ponies in much the same way a matron towered over her creche.

"That's Celestia alright. Brace yourself, something tells me this is going to get crazy."

"Huh... Didn't expect her to be pegasus, but those are definitely wings."

*Snerk!*

Iroh looked down to find Stable doing his best to suppress a laugh.

Stable took a couple of moments before he could speak again. "Did anypony tell you anything about what types of pony there are?"

"Well yes. Zecora told me a fair bit about the three types of pony, plus some about some of the other races to be found here."

"Ahh. There's the problem. There's not three pony races, there's four."

Stable gestured back out the window to the distant princess who had seemed to be waiting outside the entry to the library.

"Princess Celestia down there is a member of the fourth pony race, or the first one depending on how you are counting. She's an alicorn - she has the major traits of all three of the other races, only magnified greatly."

Behind the pair, the door creaked open to admit a filly followed closely by a nurse.

The filly spotted the pair and looked even further up to find the view of Iroh's bearded face.

"Hey! This woom is fow doctah ponies!" she shouted as indignantly as only a child can, even as she backed up a little to take cover under the legs of Nurse Snowheart.

"Now, now, Nursery Rhyme. I'm sure Doctor Stable has a very good reason for being in here with mister Iroh. Even if he is late for his rounds."

Snowheart leveled a frosty smile on the suddenly nervous doctor. "Don't you, Doctor?"

"Oh. Um-ah oh dear." stuttered Doctor Stable, wilting slightly under the emerald gaze of the nurse.

"Come with me, Iroh. It seems time has rather gotten away with us."

Doctor Stable tried his best to reassemble his dignity as he began hurrying from the room, all the while Iroh was quietly chuckling to himself as he observed the filly doing her best to imitate Nurse Snowheart's glare and only looking the cuter for it.

Iroh closed the door behind him, pausing just long enough to hear the nurse start speaking to the foal.

"That is how you put a stallion in his place. Just remember to..."

Iroh grimaced, recognizing the pattern of the conversation the mare and filly were about to have and hurried to catch up to the pig-hen pecked doctor.

"I hope you don't mind waiting a bit in your room while I catch up on my rounds."

Iroh's stomach took this moment to make itself known.

"Actually, if you don't mind. I'm going to go track down something to eat and some fresh water."

The doctor paused mid-stride and turned his head back towards Iroh. "When is the last time you ate something?"

"I had some tea this morning, before I left Zecora's home. Otherwise, yesterday."

Stable looked like he wanted to pound his head against a wall for forgetting something so basic about a patient's needs, regardless that feeding them was usually a nurse's job.

"Here," he said, levitating several coins out of one of the pockets on his coat. "Take these and see about buying yourself something to eat. I imagine you won't have any bits on you."

"Am I right that these are bits? Then thank you very much. I will retrieve my tea supplies and find myself some dinner."

As Iroh bowed and then turned to head to the room where his bags were, Doctor Stable called out.

"Just stay clear of that library, all right? That mare's going to be steaming mad when she gets out of that device of hers."

Iroh waved his hand over his shoulder to indicate he had heard, although Stable did not seem to understand the gesture at first.

Celestia had been waiting outside the library for almost 5 minutes after she had knocked. This was unheard of!

To make matters worse, her chariot had been noticed by several ponies as she came in to land. She was now surrounded by a small crowd asking for aid in fixing the town in one way or another.

"Now, now, everypony! Give the princess some room, please." The smooth contralto voice of Mayor Mare cut through the general hubbub, much to the relief of Celestia.

"If you would all please return to your homes or continue to assist with the cleanup, I will gladly relay the town's needs for you all. "

As the townsponies reluctantly turned away and went about their business, Celestia heaved a quiet sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Mayor Mare. From all the chatter I gather that was about the dragon attack?"

The mayor nodded her head. "Indeed it was. We had a lot of injuries and a lot of buildings destroyed or damaged."

Celestia frowned. "How bad were the injuries?"

The mayor leaned in a little, to help ensure she was not overheard by too many stragglers. "Lots of broken bones and other injuries of that nature. Some of the more delicate ponies had trouble with shock. Finally, we had a single death, though it wasn't the dragon that killed her. We had a strange visitor turn up in town not long ago and he tried to help chase off the dragon, except that he missed and hit the poor pegasus instead."

The princess was now intensely interested. "This wouldn't happen to be an Eye-row, now would it?"

At the mayor's terse nod Celestia asked her next question. "Have you seen or spoken to him yourself?"

"I've seen and spoken to him, as well as heard a lot of second hoof details. He's old, I know that much for sure. He's friendly in the very least even if he does scare some of us a little with his looks. Given the way he was ordering some of the townsponies around and getting ponies out that were trapped inside buildings or under rubble I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he was a retired guardstallion of some kind.

"He's certainly got the attitude for it," Mayor Mare finished with a grumble.

Celestia giggled as she recognized the mayor's dissatisfaction for what it was. "Singed your snout when you stuck it in, did he?"

"It was like trying to start a rhyming battle with a Zebrican," she complained. "I think he had me figured out almost before I opened my mouth and stopped me cold when I tried to wrangle some answers more than the basics out of him. Then, when he walked out the door, he was snatched up by Miss Sparkle so quickly I didn't even have time to tell her to stop!"

"Oh really? Well, speaking of doors..." Celestia turned and glared at the entrance to the library.

"Nopony has answered my knock, and I know that my student is expecting me."

Mayor Mare stepped past Celestia and opened the door, before turning and raising an eyebrow at her ruler.

"This is a public library, you know? Why didn't you just walk in and announce yourself?"

Celestia looked positively thunderstruck for all of about a second before she grinned sheepishly and walked inside, pointedly closing the door behind her and locking it.

"Hmm..."

Celestia looked down upon Spike, who was sleeping soundly on the couch. Beside him on the couch was the scroll that she had sent in reply to her student.

"Spike?" she called to the dragon.

When the dragon did not even stir at the sound of her voice, Celestia nudged him with a fore hoof. Again, no effect.

With a slightly cross look, she stalked across the room and opened the door. Her sensitive ears could just pick up the faint sound of snores coming from down the stairs.

Sensing something wrong, she advanced cautiously, craning her long neck both to fit through the doorway as well as to peer into the laboratory below.

She charged a small shield spell, in case it was needed, and emerged into the lab itself.

A small stack of notes sat on the desk by the base of the stairs, the smell of herbs permeated the air, the smell seeming to come from an array of small dishes set on the next counter.

Finally as the rear of the lab come into view, she found her wayward student. Sound asleep and suspended in the middle of a very uncomfortable looking circular frame with a note stuck to her barrel.

Celestia frowned. What in the name of butter cream frosted cakes was her student doing suspended in a medical scanning device? A better question, who put her there and why did she have this thing in the first place?

With a spark from her horn, she caused the entrapped unicorn to awaken.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in?" she asked her disoriented student in an undertone.

"Hnnn.. Wha? Princess?!"

Twilight recoiled at the sudden sight of her teacher in such close proximity and with one of the deepest frowns on her face she had seen in years. In fact, not since she had borrowed an entire shelf full of books from the Canterlot library as a filly and not checked them out.

Celestia sighed and reached out with her telekinesis, unclasping the restraints and gently floating her wayward student to the floor.

"I came here to meet the creature you were studying, and probably give him a rest from whatever tests you had dreamed up for him. Yes, I'm well aware of the small tests you were doing on the element of laughter and her 'pinkie sense,' but I did not expect this."

Twilight gasped and shot to her hooves. "Ponyfeathers! He's loose again! We have to catch him before he hurts somepony!"

"Twilight Sparkle!" The blast of the Royal Canterlot Voice from Celestia caused the frantic mare to stop in her tracks halfway to the staircase.

"I have already spoken with another about Eye-row. For now he is deemed to not be a threat. This means no more foalnapping and no more imprisoning a visitor to our land. While your caution was exemplary, it was not your place to deal with him. No matter how special you are as my student and as the element of magic, that was a job for the guardsponies at the very least."

"But, but," Twilight rallied, "some of the guardsponies were helping him, not arresting him."

Celestia's annoyance rose sharply as her wings flared out. "They were helping him save lives! This callousness is most unbecoming of my student. Rest assured, I will review his actions personally and reward or punish him as I see appropriate."

The princess closed her eyes and took a deep breathe to help control her temper. "Do you remember the lesson you learned during the incident with the enchanted doll a few months ago?"

"That I don't have to learn a new lesson about friendship every week?" asked Twilight, confused at the change of topic.

"That lessons will come in their own time," Celestia instructed her student, slipping seamlessly into the role of teacher rather than irate surrogate parent.

"Sometimes you need to wait for a better time to learn about somepony or something. Not everything must be learnt right this second and this is doubly true when we are talking about a living being, be it pony or otherwise. If you had waited for an opportunity to talk to this Eye-row, you might have learned so very much from him and about him. Now, I would not be surprised if he viewed you with suspicion at the very least!"

Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but Celestia spoke over her to complete her point.

"Do you know what would have happened if that had been a foreign prince or princess you had snatched up, instead of an old stallion? If he had been a Saddle Arabian or even worse a Griffon, he could be calling for your blood or worse!"

Twilight gulped with dread.

"Wha - what could be worse than my blood?" she asked, almost fearing the answer.

Celestia held herself up in her most dignified pose as she arched an imperious eyebrow at the studious unicorn.

"Your library card!"

Twilight rolled onto her back and covered her face as she moaned in horror and remembered shame at the punishment she had endured for not checking out all those books when she was a filly. "Prin-cess!"

Author's Notes:

I was of two minds as to if I should publish this chapter as it stands.

At least here we get to see the start of Twilight's remedial politics/ethics lesson.

On another note: YAY! This chapter breaks the 50,000 word milestone!

Yes... this so came to mind...