It had been nearly two weeks since my battle with that Ganon expy, and other than my right wing and abdomen, my injuries had healed completely. The locals at least weren't afraid of me.

"I'll raise."

Shining stares back and forth between his cards and my face, smirking. Well...

"All in..." he raises an eyebrow. Ribbon and Cadence had long since ran out, and were now spectating.

"All in, aright, show em! Straight flush, sucker!" Is that all?

"Royal flush..." the perfectly deadpan voice I say it in drives Shining over the brink.I had spent the whole game playing conservatively, waiting until I had amassed a hand and enough chips to force Shining into a corner.

"MOTHERBUCKER!"

"Shining!" Oh, Shinings in trouble now. Cadance walked over, and grabbed Shining by the ear, before dragging him of somewhere to 'talk' about what he had done. Picking up a few potato chips, I began munching on them. Ah, the spoils of victory.

Ribbon smiles. "So what are you going to spend your winnings on?"

I smile back. "Potato chips... oh wait, I already have!"

She cutely tilts her head. "What?"

I levitate a couple over to her. "these things are good, want some?"

"Sure." She plucks them out of the air, and eats them. The sound of hoofsteps echoed through the halls, before Dr. Feelgood walks in.

"Good news, you've been given a clean bill of health, and can leave at anytime, all thats recommended is that you check in at whatever local hospital there is once a week, to make sure those wounds to you wing and abdomen stay clean until they've fully healed. And might I add, that your recovery rate is astounding, your nearly back to perfect health in half the projected time!" About damn time. I hope Scootaloos okay.

"Waaaait..." I turn to Ribbon. "Please tell me you got some drones to take care of the mail while we were gone...?"

"It's sorted into three piles, don't worry" oh thank god.

"Lemme guess, spam/hate mail, fan mail, and stuff we were actually expecting?"

"Nope, I never really got any mail so it's fanmail, job offers, and Flint." Yes, all of my yes, spam shal be killed with fire!

"Speaking of Flint, what is the rest of Tenchu Squad up to, anyway?"

"There just on stand by, training and setting up shop" Ribbon pauses, probably listening to the hive. "Flint's working at Tavish's bar. the others have taken similar jobs." A pyromaniac, in a goddamn bar, what the hell!?

"You do realize alcohol is highly flammable?"

"Yes I know, but I trust Flint not to blow his cover." More like blow it up.

"To the train station!" I walk off as fast as I can, not wanting to damage anything by running.

"Alright, let's go!"

The ride was uneventful, and after arriving in Ponyville, I had hunch of what would happen as we stepped off the train. Looking around, I couldn't help but tell Ribbon that "My Scootasense is tingling..."

"Should we g-"

"RIBBON!" Called it, suddenly, SURPRISE SCOOTAGLOMP! I heard the sound of barking, and took a Gary to the face, who began trying to lick me to death. Boy, he's grown, he's now about halfway between a normal pony and Scootaloo.

"Alright, alright, I love you too Gary, now would you please stop licking my face?" He obliges, and backs off of me as well. I'm thankful that didn't hurt anything. I did notice paper stuck in his teeth though.

"OHMYGOSH, CHI, WHAT HAPPENED!" Scootaloo finally noticed my injuries, and was immensely worried over them.

"Pony Ganondorf happened, thats what, but I got better."

"An evil pony tried to take over an empire, So we were sent to stop him." I held I my hhof, wanting to add to that.

"I got to be a distraction!" Both Scootaloo and Ribbon gave me a WTF look.

Ribbon delivers her response in perfect monotone. "You got to be in the hospital."

Scootaloo blanches at that. "Ewww, you had to eat hospital food?!"

"In my defence, MREs taste worse, and the hospital food there actually tastes GOOD, believe it or not..." I notice one of the local guards nodding in agreement. "Speaking of food, I'm starving! To Sugarcube Corner!"

"I think Wendy's working there now." Wendy... and Pinkie... working at the same place... I slowly apply hoof to face...

"And the Cakes stayed sane HOW?"

"I think they left on vacation." That makes sense...

Scootaloo giggles. "Yeah, they left shortly after Pinkie and Wendy somehow cloned themselves..." she shudders. "Never again..."

We began our walk to Sugarcube corner. When we got there, I was surprised the place was still standing. "Is it me, or is it MORE unnerving that the place hasn't collapsed?"

Ribbon shakes her head. "Nope, just you."

Walking up to the door, I open it...

"WELCOME BACK!" OHGODWHATTHEFU- oh, surprise party. I don't know how, but EVERYONE was in there... wait no, there's no sign of Rainbow. Ribbon gives a small jump of fright, but I can tell she's just putting it on for Pinkie.

"Oh, my..." okay, THAT was kinda creepy, listening to Fluttershy AND Dovah say the same thing, at the same time.

"Tarnations Chi, what in the hay happened to you?" Applejack, you concern is appreciated, but I'm doing fine.

"The cloud thing was some kind of evil unicron, who was thoroughly corrupted by dark magic... I had to fend him off to bye Ribbon and Twilight time."

-how did you find the Heart, anyway?-

"While Twilight and I were searching the throne room for clues, I noticed all the love being directed to the top of the castle." Okay,

I look up, and see Wendy clinging to the ceiling, about to drop party hats on our heads. "Hey Wendy."

"Awwwww."

"Hey Pinkie, how'd you get this set up so fast, anyway?"

Twilight groans and face hoofs. "Don't remind me..."

Pinkie, had a grin that should only be possible on a hyped up five year old. She pulled out a remote from somewhere. "Just let me fire it up..." suddenly I hear rather heavy footsteps, and watch as... what...

A pink, pony sized, Metal Gear REX, walked out of the back room... of course, it's railgun was now a party cannon, and its radome had a giant smile on it.

Pinkie giggled. "This is why drunk Twilight is FUN! Oh and Tavish, Impulse, and Wendy helped too!"

'Should I have it sabotaged so it doesn't work?' Why would you even suggest ruining something so beautiful?!

-Hell no, this is the single most awesome thing I have ever seen!-

"Still haven't thought of a name for it though..."

I raise my hoof. "Party. Gear. REX. We need to get Twilight drunk more often if it results in stuff like this." Twilight face hoofed at that.

"I'll be hiding in my cardboard box of shame..." she promptly teleports out, while the majority of the ponies gather around Pinkies new toy.

Walking up to the refreshments table, I stumble, suddenly feeling lightheaded. And the headache, don't forget the headache.

"Chi, what's wrong?" Pinkie walks over to me, concerned. I don't hear her however. A sudden wave of pain runs through me, before concentrating in a spike of agony, wedged in my head. I feel magic I didn't even know I was doing dissipate from my body, before small spasms run throughout it. Pinkie gasps, and looking at the floor, I realize I have a nosebleed. God, this feels like the time I ran out of magic, except worse.

"Oh my gods, oh my gods. Out of the way, we need to get her back to the hospital!" I notice a flash of green on Ribbons head, revealing a horn, before everything flashes green, and me and Ribbon are teleported to the hospital, where Ribbon makes her horn disappear. The floor rushes up to greet me, and my muscles begin contracting and relaxing uncontrollably.

"WE NEED SOME HELP OVER HERE!" There is a sudden commotion, followed by a doctor rushing over, before I feel something pin my limbs down, and am forced to endure the pain of my spams tearing several of my wounds back open. Everything starts fading, and I black out.

Awww piss, I'm in another hospital room, aren't I?

"We didn't even HAVE fourth degree magical burnout until now!" Shit, thats what I had? Oh joy... everything hurts like hell again. At least the headache is nowhere near as bad. I groan in pain, before trying to speak, only to get a stream of random syllables.

"Doctor, I think she's waking up."

"You don't say..." oh jeeze, that hurt.

"Try to not talk. Your body is using too much magic trying to heal itself, we had to give you a magic transfusion to counter the burnout." Why must I be the universe's chewtoy?

"Don wanna deal with dis shit." I let myself return to dreamland, trying to ignore the pain.

When I next wake up, I'm greeted to a very tired looking Ribbon, laying in a bed next to mine. "You don't look so well..."

Ribbon gives a small yawn. "You should look in a mirror."

"But seriously, what's wrong?"

"Doctors didn't have enough magic in their staff to counter the burnout, so I offered mine." She chuckled. "Heh, the look on the nurses faces when they saw the green flame was funny."

Still confused. "How did I even get magical burnout, anyway? I haven't used much other than the occasional levitation spell."

"You were using it subcounty. The doctor said your body was trying to heal itself, but didn't know how so it was just using magic to heal all of you." Well... piss.

"How long was I out?"

She gives an awkward chuckle. "Uh, I don't even know what time it is. I fell asleep after the transfusion." Great, just great. Looking out the window, I notice the sun rising. Ribbon suddenly climbs out of her bed, and into mine, snuggling up against me. Soooo cute...

Goddammit, this takes a lot out of me... both me and Ribbon slowly drift off to sleep.