Rehab with Bright Colors

As Hex swam his way out of peaceful oblivion, the sad thought occurred to him that some of the happiest moments in the past few months had been waking up to a delightful little ball of warm fuzz snuggled against him. As his eyes cracked open he immediately recognized the white fur and two toned hair of Vinyl. Strange thing was the pony wasn't asleep, and was in fact listening to her headphones and using his head as a book rest.

When she noticed him wriggling about surprise crossed her face before a frown took over, and rolling him onto his back while sitting on his stomach she slid her headphones down and poked his chest none too gently.

"You. Need. To. Stop. Doing. This. To. me."

Each word was punctuated with a hard jab that made him wince, but after saying that she leaned down and rested her head against her hooves while propping herself up on her elbows.

"So. You go off to have a private show at the behest of one major person from the Gala. Hours later Shining and Durge find you trumping around, blood gushing from every hole in your face, and not a single bruise in sight. Mind filling me in? Cuse as far as I know your face doesn't just start pumping out blood unless that's a human thing you didn't tell me about."

Rolling over with her and nuzzling his face into her soft neck he groaned in irritation. Thankfully Vinyl didn't press him for information as her hooves moved to play with his hair.

"Where to start? You're asking about a gigantic pile of shit Scratchy, are you sure you want to deal with more drama?"

"Don't think I won't get some payback later Hex, but I think I'm a bit higher on the titles list besides fuck buddy considering the shit I've put up with for you."

"Fair enough Scratchy. To make things as simple as possible, my bother showed up last night out of the wood work."

"Yeah, I may have socked him in the dick after he admitted that part of the problem was because of him."

That single statement made him ridiculously happy. Hooves weren't exactly the softest things in the world, and since Scratchy nearly choked Twilight to death before meant she probably didn't hold anything back.

"Well, Mark figured out that I had a certain... talent that me and him shared. And yes it was originally his fault I was pretty messed up but I... over did it as well."

"Ah the truth comes out."

"You see Vinyl, there are certain humans who can do... special things with their minds. It's not like magic, but it can be very potent. Mark messed me up yesterday when he showed me that I had that talent."

She sighed in irritation as she forced him back onto his back and promptly began poking him in the chest.

"Just like a foal with magic for the first time. Really Hex? Even if you can use some strange human magic what the hell is the point if its going to make blood gush out of your face?!"

"When someone's holding you down with magic might be a good place to start."

She stopped and narrowed her eyes viciously, and Hex suddenly wondered just how cruel is little Scratchy could be when she was pissed off. Sitting up on his hips she looked down at him before speaking.

"Who was holding you down with magic?"

"No one you have to worry about anymore. I over did it when I tried using that talent for the first time and in felt like it was killing me. That pony may recover... but I have no idea how much damage I did to them since I've never used it before."

An idea occurred to him as he felt the machine's presence once more. It felt a little.... different now, but just as before he imagined using it to touch Vinyl's mind. Being as delicate as possible he imagined a single long stick with a blunt rounded end, and with the slightest touch poked her brain.

The reaction was instant, her front hooves drew back in shock and convulsed before they shot back out to kick off his chest, knocking the wind out of him. She was flew off to the side cursing and holding her head with her hooves.

"OW OW OW WHAT THE BUCK HEX?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"

Hex was currently wheezing and clutching his chest, trying to catch is breath as Vinyl jabbed him in the back with a hard hoof.

"WHAT THE BUCK DID YOU DO?! IT FELT LIKE YOU POKED MY BRAIN YOU ASS!"

"That's.... exactly... what I.... did."

They both stopped speaking for a while as they caught their breath. Vinyl rubbing at her head before shaking it vigorously. After figuring out that she had done a lot more damage than he did, she huffed and rolled him onto his back once more before snuggling up against him.

"Dude. So... you can mind buck ponies? Remind me never to hold you down with magic again... shit it doesn't hurt anymore I just feel... Violated."

"So you didn't feel violated when I woke you up by molesting the hell out of you?"

"That felt great Hex, whatever you just did hurt, and it felt like you were inside of me... in a WRONG kind of way. Is that how you got that pony to stop holding you down with magic?"

Scratching his head he looked away for a moment as he thought about how he should answer. Looking back up into her suspicious eyes he decided that the truth would do him a lot more good than lying.

"No.... The reason I was so messed up was because I over did it. I just barely poked you brain Vinyl... barely, with a long stick that had a blunt rounded end. I was in a lot of pain yesterday, and that particular pony was being very smug about holding me down so I did a lot worse."

"Hex. That was seriously scary what you just did to me. What did you do to them?"

"You know what a rail road spike is?"

"Yeah....."

"Well, if I wanted to I could talk to you with my mind Vinyl. The only problem being I would have to actually press something into your head in order for you to hear me."

"What. Did. You. Do."

"I drove a rail road spike into their mind and said: I will end you."

She was silent for a very long moment as she tried to think of how badly that would have hurt.

"Were you seriously trying to kill them?"

"Nope. Like I said Scratchy, I was tired, in pain, and being pinned to the ground. I also had no idea how much it hurts a pony to touch there mind at the time."

"So without knowing what you were doing you drove a rail road spike's worth of that talent into someones brain. Essentially."

"That's as far as I understand it."

More silence followed, but after a moment's hesitation he leaned up and kissed her softly on the lips.

"I'm sorry for hurting you Vinyl, and I'm sorry for the shit you have to deal with from me. You won't ever have to feel that sort of thing ever again, and I won't be blatantly driving things into places they don't belong. Not unless I absolutely have to."

After settling in a more comfortable position with a little smirk on her lips she returned the kiss before snuggling against him once more.

"I know you won't. Thank you for being honest, even if I don't know who you mind bucked. I feel bad for them though... you probably messed them up. Speaking of being messed up you need to eat."

The mention of food caused a gut wrenching pain to issue from his stomach as well as an angry sound of being denied sustenance.

"How long have I been out?"

"Oh its just past noon right now. So that makes.... two and a half days?"

The amount of explosive shit that could have taken place in that time was astronomical. He was seriously starting to understand where those crazies on the sides of roads screaming about the world ending got their paranoia from. Before anymore questions could be asked, his stomach made another painful protest so he figured when food was out of the way then maybe he could dive head first into the ocean of septic filth.

Vinyl wouldn't let him get at his suit that was currently being housed in his companies armory, but she did manage to get his regular cloths cleaned. After stumbling about with Scratchy catching him a few times with magic he realized just how weak he had gotten. He needed some food in a bad way, but waiting down stairs would put a damper on even his half starved appetite.

Durge, Mark, Shiny, and Celestia were speaking softly over a gigantic map of Equestria, and once more Kalia was hanging off his brother but looked up quickly when she noticed who it was. If looks could kill daggers would be flying out of the unicorns eyes with the glare she gave me, but as she opened her mouth for an equally vicious statement Durge got to it first.

"The dead rises again. Never met a man bleedin from his face without a single damn scratch on him, but yer brother here tells us that you almost died in a completely unique kinda way."

"You had us very worried Mr. Hexus. You could at least try not to perish when we are not looking at you."

Same old Durge and mama Celestia, but Mark was shaking his head as he pointed at Shiny and Durge.

"I may have been the one who messed you up brother, but you could have said something a hell a lot sooner. These two and some of your company nearly tarred and feathered me before your mare friend shattered my balls."

"You broke my favorite toy, so I broke yours."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Regardless it's still your own damn fault for ending up the way you did. But really Hex? Did you have to use a rail road spike?"

That comment got everyone looking at him curiously, and a very dangerous sounding comment from his wife only in a language most of them did not understand. Mark's face took on a hard look as he caressed his wife's head with his hands.

"Oh right... I never explained that part. You ponies... at least the ones with those damn horns, seem to like using magic to hold people down, fling them about, and even use them as weapons when you want to. Problem is, there are two humans who have this really nasty trick that can split your mind in half and tear your personalities out of your assholes."

Looking down at his wife and tapping the side of her head he smiled almost bitterly before continuing.

"You were that way at first Kalia, and you liked doing it a lot so I humored you. Then that day came when you wanted things your way, and thought you could take it by force. I showed you why that was a mistake, and your friend... she made that same mistake with my brother."

Slipping his had down to a small side pouch, Mark pulled out a brand new rail road spike with the same blue shine he imagined it to have and let in clatter onto the table. The ring it produced bounced off the walls for a good long moment before finally dying down.

"Problem number two, I'm trained to use that nasty trick the same way a doctor can use a surgical blade. Hex here learned that he could use that trick yesterday, which original caused the bleeding and pain. That's normal, it happens with everyone who has the talent, but my dearest... wife's... friend... decided she wanted to hold my brother down and demand something Hex wasn't willing to comply with."

The silence could be molded in front of them as Mark allowed time to brood over those implications. He did however hold up his hand when Celestia's wings started to unfurl angrily and her front hooves caused the table to creak as she glared at Kalia.

"Now now Celestia, no need to dole out punishments anywhere. Just try to imagine for a second. Think of this spike smashing through your skull, your conscious, subconscious, and the very soul of your being, with every once of agony to go with the wound."

Picking up the spike he tossed it to Hex who caught the thing and took a moment to examine it. Lumia's name was etched in long cursive letters along with the message he had given her the night before, one Mark had decided to leave out of the explanation.

"Every ghost has a memento for the first time they use their... extra knife. You know how dangerous it is now Hex, there won't be any excuse for making a slip up in the future. Now every pony knows that some humans have a little something to counter that one sided magic you horned folks seem to like so much."

"You really didn't have to sound like a complete douche Mark. You're making us look bad."

"Ya know Hex, I was thinkin the same thing. Don't mind Sir Douchealot over there ponies, Hex ain't changin for no one as far as I've known him."

"Oh come on! I've been working on that for two days!"

"I didn't think a person could be a douche for two days straight. Fancy that."

Much to the annoyance of Mark the group got a good laugh at his expense. It didn't change the fact that everything his brother said was true, and the naked threat was left on the table for everyone to think about when they chose to acknowledge it. Kalia was very still after she heard what happened, and when Mark murmured softly down to her she curled herself closer against his body and shuttered.

Both he and his brother shared a lot more than Hex had originally thought, but he couldn't help but wonder what Mark had done to Kalia when she attempted the same stunt Lumia tried. Given his training, and the amount of control he had over his gifts anything was possible. He had to remind himself that they both shared the same strange talents that Kerrigan once had, and is now amplified a thousand fold after being taken by the zerg.