Joe and Nebula: A Tale of Two Evils

Joe and nebula:a tale of two evils

He withdrew his blade as nebula writhed on the ground. A small amount of blood trickled out of his throat. He sheathed his blade and ran over to shining armor. He crouched down and lifted his head. His eyes fluttered open.

"J-Joe. I- is he dead." Shining said weakly.

"Y-y-yes. He is, but your not." Joe said tears welling up in his eyes. This was an innocent pony that had gotten dragged into this. Into Joe's problems. And now he was hurt, gravely.

"N-no, I'm not." He said. He pulled off the ribbon that marked him as the guard captain from his leather chest plate. "Give this to my lieutenant, he's the captain now." He said to Joe clutched the ribbon in his hooves and then cast it aside. "And tell my sister that I- I." He let out one raspy breath and closed his eyes and then he went still. Joe felt the tears burn down his cheeks. He began to press against his chest in a steady rhythm.

"1..2..3..4..5..6," Joe counted aloud. His attempts to restart the heart of the guard captain ended in vain. He collapsed, defeated. He had let an innocent pony die. And there was nothing he could do. As he sat there weeping applejack and her friends trotted into the clearing. They were surprised to see Joe lying there sobbing on the ground. But it wasn't until they saw why he was that the screaming started. Twilight ran over to her brother and shoved Joe out of the way.

"How did this happen." She screamed. Joe picked himself up off the ground and walked back over to the body.

"Twilight I-"

"How did this happen!" She repeated. Joe sighed. The other ponies walked over and hung their heads in grief.

"Nebula jumped me while I was on the farm and I was going to take him to shining to put him behind bars. But he got away from me and killed him. But nebula shouldn't be a problem for any pony anymore." Joe said motioning over to where nebula's body is. Or where it was. Nebula's body had disappeared. A trail of blood led from the flattened grass and into the everfree forest.

"Where did he go!" Twilight said angrily. Rainbowdash looked at the trail and took off into the forest. Joe and fluttershy followed her with applejack and pinkie on their tails. All that remained was twilight. She lay there next to her brother, and cried.

In the forest nebula had crawled, all the while holding a hoof to his throat where Joe had stabbed him. He wasn't an assassin, not even a talented killer. He had missed all the vital arteries and organs. Still it hurt like buck. He was going to get revenge for that. But all in due time, he had taken worse. As he pulled himself over a fallen tree branch he heard hoof steps and the beating of wings behind him. He turned to see a rainbow streak coming straight for him. It smashed into him and sent him flying forward and smashing into a tree. He felt a warm trickle of blood coming from his head and his vision doubled. Joe came over and pinned him to the tree by his mane.

"This time I won't miss." He said pulling his right leg back and flicking his hoof. The blade extended, already stained with blood. Fluttershy knew what he was about to do and grabbed Joe's arm and pulled it back. She also pulled Joe off of nebula. Nebula's horn glowed and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Fluttershy, what was that. You let him escape!" Rainbowdash yelled as she released Joe.

"He was going to kill him." Fluttershy said with a look of horror on her face.

"Of corse he was, nebula deserved it!" Rainbowdash yelled as Joe retracted the blade.

"No. Nebula was going to kill Joe. Look at the ground where he was." Fluttershy said pointing to the tree with a small blood spatter on it. Sure enough on the ground lay a small dagger with a greenish residue on it. Joe stood there, stunned by his brush with death. He then walked over and hugged fluttershy.

"Thank you." Joe said. Applejack shot fluttershy a dirty look but said nothing. They gave up on looking for nebula. They knew that he wouldn't show himself until he was ready for another fight. And by the looks of him, that would be a while.

Joe stepped into his room of which he shared with applejack after telling Big Mac what had happened. Applejack had decided to hit the hay early and went on up while Joe was talking. He opened up the door slowly to avoid waking her but only heard an impatient tapping of a hoof. He opened up the door all the way to see her sitting in the bed with an unhappy look on her face.

"What happened today?" She asked. Joe sighed.

"I told you, I tried to sav-"

"I mean with you and fluttershy." She said impatiently.

"What you mean the hug. AJ she saved my life. It was toning more than what it looked like, a hug. A thank you. That's all." Joe said, slightly frustrated. He took a deep breath to calm himself and walked towards applejack. She smiled as he wrapped his hooves around her. "Besides, your my mare. No one else." He kissed her passionately and she returned it. He pulled back and looked into he emerald eyes.

"You better be telling me the truth. Or I'll buck you all the way to the everfree forest." She said. He smiled at her expand they kissed again. Applejack opened her eyes and saw a little cream colored pony sitting in the hallway outside if the door. Her eyes were wide. Buck! she thought. She pushed him off of her and dropped back down to all fours. Joe turned around doing the same. He started to blush heavily when he saw applebloom standing there in the hallway. He smiled weakly at her and started to close the door. When it clicked shut applejack was lying on the bed with her eyes half closed. She stared into his very soul and beckoned him. His wing shot out and stood at attention. He smiled embarrassedly at her. She just smiled and beckoned him again. He climes into the bed and pulled the covers over them and the rest is history.