//------------------------------// // Complications // Story: Past Problems // by SteelyThePally //------------------------------// Jason woke up earlier than he thought. 5:20. Twilight and her old friends were still sleeping. 'Great, so now I'm stuck with two women that are crazy to get back to their homeland, and there's no way possible. Jesus, I smell someone going insane.' A quick thought passed through his mind as he got up and examined the surroundings. Jason then tried to leave the campsite to hunt some animals, but a small bottle of vodka made things totally different. "What... Jay, what are you doing?" Twilight asked the sneaking paladin, who looked back confused. "Ah, since it's 5 a.m. I decided to search for something to hunt, but, now that you're all awake, we will keep on traveling." The Wanderer replied, Celestia and Luna slowly waking up. After some minutes, they were ready to another trip "So, now human, are you going to take us back to our homeland?" Celestia asked, this time trying to reason with the armored wanderer. "How many time I have to say that there is no going back? And stop addressing me as 'human', 'cause you're one too." Jason replied, getting annoyed because of her insistence. Celestia sighed in frustration. "So, Mr. Miller, I presume that you and Twilight are now from a military organization?" She asked, clearly wanting to know more about humanity's military condition at the moment. "The Brotherhood Of Steel. Yeah, military in some way. The US Army is gone long ago, my friend." He said, waving his arms cynically. Celestia's patience was depleting because of Jason's ironical behavior. "And are you high ranked? Or even part of a squadron?" She asked further, trying to reach his relation with Twilight. "Yeah, I'm a Paladin Captain, and yes I have a squad named 'Equestrian Knights'." Celestia's plans began to work, raising her hope due to the reference to her homeland. "And who makes part of it?" She asked, Jason slowly understanding her plan. "Me, Twi, Rainbow, AJ, Pinkie, Rarity and Flutters." "AHA! I knew it! You are involved with them!" Celestia shouted in her self-proclaimed victory, while Jason only facepalmed himself. 'My sweet Jesus, if raiders and Eden weren't enough.' He thought, continuing his trip back to the Citadel, since the two sisters nearly ruined his camping days. The trip was quiet, while Luna was getting worried over her sister's obsessive behavior and Jason's overly cynical responses. 'Was he lying when he said that there's no going back?' She thought, holding her own hands firmly. At the Citadel, the small group was received with weird and confused stares. Going directly to his squadron's room, no one muttered a word. At the 'Equestrian Knights' HQ, all members looked in shock at their former rulers, seconds before bowing at her. Jason folded his arms, and sighed bored. He glanced at Twilight, who shrugged and bowed shortly. "It's been a long time since I saw you my subjects. Now, I am here with you in the human world!" Celestia exclaimed, raising her arms. The Wanderer's squadron stood up to see the slightly insane princess, nodding at her. The once Sun-raiser turned to the young paladin, who was calmly flipping his knife, clearly taunting her. "So, now Mr. Miller, point us to the nearer portal." She said, a paranoid stare in her eyes. Jason turned his eyes to Twilight, scared of her nearly insane face. "My sweet Jesus Christ, when will you understand that you and your sister are stuck in here?!?" He yelled, the two knights that guarded the Great Hall being able to hear it. "Okay, so I understand that you want to challenge my authority, don't you Mr. Miller? I WILL FIND A WAY BACK!" "Really? Let's make a bet then! If you find this fucking portal, my squadron is yours, and you can go back to that damned dimension. If you don't, they keep being my squad!" Jason suggested. Celestia aceepted his challenge, and gave him a firm handshake. This only caused shock and confusion at the fellow girls. They could end finally returning to their homeland, or continue with their new friends that they made at the Capital Wasteland. Twilight herself was witnessing her life going in a violent downhill, as the same question echoed through her head: Staying with the love of her life, or returning to her peaceful dimension? The Capital Wasteland, 8:23 p.m, somewhere near Evergreen Mills The Wanderer's squadron and the two sisters observed the raider base from a safe distance. Celestia herself was hoping to find her so wanted portal. Jason himself was waiting to help someone with serious mental breakdown, and eventually kill some raiders. He handed over two assault rifles to the sisters with some ammo. Before they could depart on their crazy trip, Gunny offered to train them in firearms, but they were still initiates at shooting. Celestia ordered them to head to the base's entrance, her new subordinates following every step. The young paladin was hoping that she wouldn't get herself killed, even though he disagreed with her crazy belief. Deep within his heart, Jason wanted to help the insanely-growing princess, but couldn't do it in the exact moment. God knows what Celestia would do to him armed with a weapon... Night already had taken over the Wastes, making the large group harder to detect due to their dark clothing and armoring. During their sneaky approach, Jason whispered at Luna: "Hey, you're Luna, right? You've been quiet all the time." "It's because of me sister's ambition. I'm getting scared. Jason, you have to stop her. She's risking the lives of everypony here." She whispered back, showing that even her was against her own sister. "Not now, Luna. The right time will come soon..." He let his words get carried away by the night's peaceful silence. But such silence was going to be broken by a massive shootout. With incredible accuracy, Jason shoot one of the guarding raiders that was walking at the makeshift bridge that connected the east surface with the west, his body falling and hitting one of the spears, being horribly impaled. The two sisters stared at the corpse with shock, Luna being more scared than Celestia, whose wish for a portal was fueling her temporary mental toughness. Combat turned out to be more difficult mostly because the area was full of raiders, but their combat and power armor protected the advancing group against the large quantity of bullets. Taking cover behind the parked trains, Jason and his group tried to fight the raiders that were literally appearing out of nowhere. Luna herself tried to help The Wanderer, but returned to cover after seeing that one of the raiders carried a rocket launcher. The tribal shoot the missile, but thankfully to Luna only sent dirt flying through the air. Rainbow killed the deadly attacker with a well-aimed plasma shot in his head, receiving a friendly smile from the princess of the night. Venturing further into the once functional train station, Jason found a giant cage guarding one of the most fearsome creatures of the Capital Wasteland: a Super-Mutant Behemoth. The totally evolved mutant was not armed, but it's enormous size was enough to spread fear on the group's hearts. Jason himself had seen and killed one, but those were not normal sights. Keeping the gigantic mutant locked inside it's cage, Jason and his squad defeated the small force that remained, then stopped and relaxed for a second. After 10 minutes, they departed to where Celestia assumed that a portal could be, in reality being Evergreen MIlls bazaar. The place resembled many caves that Jason had explored in the Wasteland, some of them even having connections with the metro tunnels. The dim light that illuminated the cave was enough to alert the raiders about the steel clad figures and the pair of lesser armored sisters. Combat lighted the dark cavern for seconds as bullets, laser and plasma shots flew through the main room's interior. It was almost entirely collapsed, makeshift wooden bridges connecting the various locations. Lights were hung from the ceiling, most of them multicolor, completing the feel of insanity in that place. The raiders stationed there weren't different: some carried human hands in their belts, other carried eyeballs. Jason fired the first shot, bullets ricocheting in his armor. Staggering back, he opened fire at the raiders, most of them turning into nothing more than a pile of ashes. The remaining raiders were easily killed after the initial assault. Jason then looked around for any valuable object that could involve ammo, medicine or some caps. Problem it is that raiders didn't carry money with them, letting hims slightly frustrated. But even more frustrated was Celestia. The woman walked around the cave viciously in search of a portal. She nearly fell of to her death when the wooden plank that connected the main area with the bar collapsed, leaving only a large but easily accessible gap. The Wanderer himself sat down near his friends, Dogmeat leaning against his knee. The girls themselves were getting tired, since it was nearly 11:00 p.m. But the young paladin kept an close eye on the princess... The once Sun-raiser lost her sanity completely after searching absolutely everything in the cave. With a paranoid look in her eyes, she confronted the calm paladin who was holding himself not to laugh at her miserable failure. "You, greedy human, is hiding something from me, aren't you?" She stared at his brown eyes with a devilish look, while The Wanderer only looked away. "No, I'm not hiding anything. Look, why don't you give up about this, and that bet that we made isn't on anymore?" Jason playfully placed his helmet over Dogmeat's head, the dog desperately trying to remove it. "Don't you try to get away from something that you promised!" The insane princess shouted, getting the attention of everyone in the vicinity. "I promised? I didn't promise anything. C'mon, Celestia. Give up, 'cause this is making you look more... terrifying." He replied, letting a long sigh escape from his lips. He made Celestia completely lose her mind. "Ah, you still want to defy me, human! Let's see if you can get away from this!" Suddenly, she removed a sledgehammer from the ground, and violently swung it against The Wanderer, who incredibly dodged her vicious attack. Not wanting to hurt her, Jason kept his rifle in his back, threatening to attack with his sharp knife. Again, the princess delivered a strong blow, dislodging part of the cave's natural pillars, small rocks falling from the ceiling. Luna tried to stop the fight, but was quickly knocked down by her sister, falling unconscious to the ground. Now the battle was between Jason and the crazed woman. Keeping Dogmeat out of the fight, he tried to hit Celestia in the arm, achieving success in his offensive move. She staggered back, holding her wound, but quickly ignored the sharp pain that nearly paralyzed her right arm. With a powerful blow, she managed to hit The Wanderer's arm, possibly dislodging his arm's bone. Jason fell to the ground, groaning in pain. He looked up at Celestia, who had a horrid smile in her face. Raising his hand weakly, he tried to stop her next attack. The edge of the hammer hit his head, Jason falling unconscious in seconds. Shocked gasps were heard from the six girls, who couldn't move their eyes off Jason's immobile body, a small trail of blood dripping from his head. They kept silent as Celestia slowly turned to them, her hands painted red from her own blood, The group took some steps back, being guarded by Dogmeat, who growled viciously at the insane woman. Celestia grabbed Jason's body and showed to the terrified girls. "Now, my sweet subjects, let's see what I can do with you..."