//------------------------------// // Redeemed // Story: Past Problems // by SteelyThePally //------------------------------// The crazed princess of Equestria walked slowly through the halls of Springvale's Elementary School. Her insane eyes looked around, eventually finding the missing arm, a strange but devilish smile appeared at her blood-stained face. Not even feeling the pain of losing an arm, she bandaged what remained of it. Grabbing one her numerous knives, Celestia stood up, putting her knife in the waist. Walking to the door, the feared psychopath left the decaying school, searching viciously for her earlier prisoners. The Citadel's infirmary, 3:00 p.m. "Jay, that doesn't hurt?" Twilight laid in her bed, still recovering from her broken ribs. "Not anymore. But when she lightened that napalm, it burnt like hell." Jason replied, turning his horrid wound to his beloved girl. "I still don't understand why she did all those horrible things." The purple-haired girl turned her stare to Rarity, who was receiving her new robotic arm through surgery. "Twi, light-headed people always lose their mind in this damned place. How many people I saw that turned into murderers and rapers..." "But why did you kill her? She was my mentor, Jay..." Twilight's eyes were filled with tears, a sorrowful look in her face. "She was insane, Twi. If I hadn't done that, she would..." "Jay, answer me a question: If I lost my sanity, would you kill me?" That question really caught The Wanderer off guard. He struggled to find a proper reply, but the honest and sincere response came in a matter of seconds: "Yes, I would kill you. But then, I would kill myself, so that we could reunite in the eternal rest. Because, Twi, my life means nothing without you." But that reply really got Twilight. That showed clearly how much Jason loved her more than anything. He held her hand firmly, melting the girl's heart with love. Suddenly, a medic interrupted their passionate moment: "Paladin Captain Jason Miller, we're ready to execute your surgery." The Wanderer nodded and left Twilight alone, limping due to his broken leg, as she stared passionately at him. After her boyfriend disappeared inside a room, her thoughts returned to her old mentor. How could she do that? Meanwhile, at the 'Equestrian Knights' room... "So, how's your eye, Dash?" Applejack asked, while her rainbow-haired searched in her footlocker for her chess table. "Eye? I lost my left eye, AJ. But don't worry. Those awesome scribes are working to make a robotic eye, so I can see with two eyes again!" Rainbow turned to see her friend, an eye-patch covering her empty eye socket. Suddenly, Applejack's expression turned to be more depressing; "Rainbow, why Celestia did that to us? She was our ruler, she was so nice and gentle..." "This is bugging me too, AJ. But now, she isn't Celestia anymore. She's something completely different... Forget about that now. Wanna play some chess?" Rainbow held the chess table in her hand, her friend only nodding in response. 2 days later... "So, let's walk, Dogmeat. I need to give my mind a rest after all that crap..." Jason said to his follower, who already had it's new robotic leg. The Wanderer himself also received a new finger, and his wound caused by the napalm was now a barely seen scar. But his mind was still being tormented with cruel dreams, one of them making him awake in the bathroom holding a knife to his neck. Leaving the Citadel quietly, The Wanderer ventured further in the Wasteland, the Sun shining brightly over his head. Jason was deep inside his thoughts while in his trip to nowhere. So deep that he didn't notice a group of wastelanders running in his direction: "Sir, please, you gotta help us!" "What is it? Deathclaws?" Jason immediately got back to reality, asking unconsciously the frightened small family. "No, soldier! There are some raiders destroying our campsite not far from here! Please, just follow the road!" The man that looked to be the father pointed at their camp, black smoke coming out from it. Rushing to save the family's only home, Jason and his dog ran quickly to the camp, finding raiders demolishing the standing tents. With nothing more than three plasma shots and a bite to the neck, the raiders were killed, leaving the campsite in ruins. In a matter of seconds, the family returned, a small sack full of caps and some mole rat meat in their hands, clearly showing their happiness towards the steel clad paladin. With satisfied smiles on their faces, the group of survivors began to reconstruct their only home. Jason felt that at least a good act was made today. He kept venturing through the Wasteland that made his personality. He only stopped when night fell over the gray skies of Washington D.C and it's surroundings. Using the same and simple strategy to create a campfire, he sat down, cooking the not so good meat that he received from the wastelanders, but that could clearly keep him from starving at night. Taking a bite off the roasted meat, Jason laid in the ground, his thoughts tormenting him again. "Why this always happens with me?" Stroking Dogmeat's head, Jason tried to think about Twilight, bringing some good memories of their moments together. Relaxing for a minute, he sighed calmly, taking his helmet off, the warm wind of the Capital Wasteland blowing softly in his hair. But suddenly, a voice got his attention, making him nearly spit his heart out: "Well, well, well. If it isn't our paladin in grey and blue armor, the one who cut my arm off. I've been looking for you!" The Wanderer stood up, quickly taking his knife off his waist. Celestia was there, standing, a menacing ripper in her hands. Jason tried to calm his heart, but before his eyes stood the psychopath that deformed his face and damaged his mental sanity. Knife in hand, Jason said: "Look, crazy woman, you're not who you think you are! You're out of your mind!" The Wanderer couldn't believe in what he said. He was trying to deal with his torturer! "Ha! My old self is gone, Mr. Miller. Now, I want to see you dying slowly..." She turned the ripper on, it's blade rotating rapidly. 'Shit, this thing can cut through armor. Where the hell she got that?' Jason thought, holding Dogmeat back so that the dog wouldn't get itself ripped in a half. Gripping his knife with even more strength, he successfully dodged one of her attacks, letting her stumble in his helmet. "Don't try to escape from your problems, human!" Swinging her weapon again, she managed to cut part of the armor's shoulder. Taking some steps back, Jason found the perfect chance for a counter-attack. Celestia raised her arm for a vertical blow, but when she tried to cut the young paladin in a half, Jason punched the offending arm, poking her head with his shoulder with enough strength to crush her head. The insane princess fell to the ground, no words coming from her mouth. The Wanderer stayed on top of her, his knife ready to put an end to the woman that nearly killed him and his friends. But before he could deliver the killing blow, a terrified voice said: "No! Please, don't hurt me! Don't kill me!" This made The Wanderer drop his knife from his tight grip. "Please, let me go! I'm defenseless!" Not understanding the situation, Jason asked, anger in his voice: "Who are you? Answer now!" He let go of the scared woman, who turned her face to see The Wanderer's vicious stare penetrating her eyes. "I'm princess Celestia! Ruler of Equestria! I came to the human world in peace!" Celestia spoke with such sincerity that Jason let go of her, the woman siting scared on the ground. 'It can't be possible! How could she just, go back to normal?" Jason pondered for a second, and grabbed his knife off the ground, still prepared for any surprise attack. "I came in peace, human. Me and my sister came here to check on humanity." The young paladin sat down on the opposite side of the campfire, fearing that Celestia was just lying about that. Controlling his anger, he listened to her confused words: "What happened to my arm... Did I lost it in an accident?" Celestia asked, looking shocked at what remained of her arm, Jason ready to explain everything and to discover if she was telling the truth: "I cut your arm off. Let me tell eveything, already." He then began to give her a brief explanations about what happened in the past days. 10 minutes later... "So, here we are. You got insane Celestia. I don't why, but you lost your mind." "But, how could I do such horrible things? I think that the spell had an unexpected effect... And my subjects? Are they recovering from my atrocities?" Celestia asked, sorrow in her eyes. "Yeah, they're recovering. Rarity has a new mechanical arm, Rainbow's eye is still in the making, Pinkie's face has been restored, and Twilight's ribs are okay now." A sigh escaped his lips, his mind thinking in nothing more than his girlfriend. As if she could read minds, Celestia asked, teasing him slightly: "You like her? It looks like that you are in love..." "Ahn, I'm her boyfriend. I miss her right now..." "Ah, so you two are together now? Heh, and I thinking that she was scared of having a coltfriend." Jason raised his eyebrows to her, but understood her word use. "So, currently, I bet that you are a military patrol scouting a desert?" "What?!? No, no. I'm from the Brotherhood Of Steel. Earth pretty fucked up now. It all started when..." The Wanderer boringly began to tell the history of the Great War. Celestia payed attention to his explanation as if it were extremely valuable. After nothing more than 5 minutes, Celestia completely understood why Jason was giving her meat to eat, considering that back in Equestria they were vegetarians. Jason himself wasn't very concerned about her calm behavior, fearing that it was a trap, having his plasma rifle ready for any situation. Meanwhile, at the Citadel... "Where's Jay? Have you seen him, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked her shy friend, who was trying to spend some time teaching Angel on how to grab something without smashing it. "N-no, Twilight. Some guards said that he had left the Citadel many hours ago, and, as you can see, hadn't returned until now." Fluttershy took a look around the Citadel's courtyard, only some knights and paladins returning from their patrol missions. Soon, it was going to be late in the night, much to Twilight's worries. 'Where could he be? Well, maybe relaxing after all those crazy nightmares that he had, or to comm... No! He wouldn't kill himself! C'mon Twilight! What's up with those crazy thoughts?' She shook her head for a second, returning to the squad's room, laying in her bed, trying to escape from her worries. At the mess hall, Pinkie, Rarity and Rainbow were together, Pinkie and Rainbow playing chess, while Rarity tried to get comfortable with her robotic arm. The pair of friends were so concentrated that they haven't heard Rarity's exaggerated opinions about the new limb. In the game, Pinkie's tower threatened Rainbow's king. With a professional move, she toppled the rainbow-haired girl's king, folding her arms, victorious. "But... how did you do that?!?" Rainbow asked, her jaw dropping incredibly. "Practice, Dashie, practice." East of the Capital Wasteland, 11:00 p.m Jason kept a close eye to every movement that Celestia made, not releasing his knife for a second. This lead to her curiosity: "Mr. Miller, why are you holding this knife since the moment we met?" "Because in the moment that we met, you were trying to cut me open. And I'm still doubting of all this calmness of yours, not trying to offend here. Just my instincts, so I'm sure that you won't burn my cheek to the teeth, or skin my arm again." His statement made Celestia look down, feeling guilty of her atrocities. Jason felt slightly bad for her. But still, a flame of hatred and revenge burned deep in his heart... "So, let's get some sleep. I'll give you this sleeping bag, and just get some rest. I'm gonna take a look around to see if anything poses a threat. Tomorrow, I'll see where we are going." Celestia got herself inside the provided sleeping bag, falling asleep in seconds. Jason himself only watched, extinguishing the campfire with his armored foot. Not sure if the princess was really telling the truth, the young paladin moved his portable 'bed' behind a rock. Still with his knife in hand, he rested, his senses on high alert.