PH Villain Hierarchy (Not Including Amandi/EoS)

When I returned to Hoofington, I was prepared to die. I went into the tunnels, ready to rot away and be done with life,” she said solemnly. “And it was there that she found me.”

“She?” I asked with a frown as we walked towards the camp where the Crusaders had gathered their salvage. So far, there were only two red bars, but I had no idea if they were Harbingers at the edge of my sensor range or radroaches trying to get out of the rain. From the movement, possibly the latter. Still, there could easily be snipers focused on me this very second.

“I was sick, dying, and delirious when she found me and saved me from the Enervation beneath the city. I was nursed to health and given the ability to understand her.” She turned to me and smiled in bliss. “She is the Goddess of the Core.”

I halted in my tracks at the mouth of the empty camp, and so did she. “Goddess? As in… Princess Celestia goddess?” Or alicorn-creating crazy evil goddess?

“Yes. A goddess of technology and knowledge. Cognitum. She is trapped and integrated with the Core, but she showed me such wonders. The Core is there… a city that can contain and care for the entire population of the Wasteland ten times over. It is a place where all sapient life… not just ponies but zebras, griffins, hellhounds, and even dragons can live in peace. Even with the extensive damage that time and the war inflicted, there is more than enough for all.” She smiled gently. “You’ve already felt her blessing. She was the one who overrode the interference to fire the defense beam at the ghoul in Hightower.”

“Interference?” I frowned in confusion.

Dawn sighed. “When Equestria fell, countless automated spell matrixes were locked out. Though Cognitum is wise and powerful, nearly every system in the Core disobeys her. It is a struggle for her to exert her will on even the smallest system.” She then smiled once more. “But, with effort, she can.”

“I see. So she fried the ghoul,” I said slowly.

“And she took over the holo-emitters in Flash Industries and killed your enemies,” Dawn said with a wide smile. “See? Even though you have never known, she’s assisted you several times before.”

Funny, I recalled her assistance practically ripped my leg off and nearly killing Glory! I scowled and put that aside for the moment; I needed answers, not to pick a fight just yet. “So this Cognitum told you more about Horizons?”

Dawn’s smile faded a little. “Yes. It is a device capable of destroying not just the Wasteland but potentially far more. EC-1101 serves as its trigger. When Equestria fell and EC-1101 went active, the fuse was lit, but then through sheer chance the spell became trapped within your stable, and the fuse was then delayed. Now it is out, and once more Horizons is primed to fire.”

“And how does giving you EC-1101 figure in?” She hadn’t told me much about Horizons, but I definitely wanted to know more. P-21 had been right, again.

“Right now, Cognitum struggles to assert herself over the most basic of systems. Without the authority granted by EC-1101, she is only able to utilize one ten thousandth of her normal capabilities. She struggles through interference and dealing with the damaged systems. Once EC-1101 is in her hooves and properly activated, she will be able to cancel Horizons and establish a new Equestria from here. All will be welcome. All will be equal in her true unity. And then… then we will have peace.”

That meant that this Cognitum had to be a descendant of a ministry mare too. “So Cognitum sent Sanguine to my stable?”

“Yes,” she replied simply. “The price was the restoration of his family. But Sanguine was a coward. When he learned of the true Goddess, he sought to retrieve EC-1101 and flee. He would have run beyond her reach and, in doing so, doomed us all. Eventually, EC-1101 will conclude that Luna has been deposed and fire Horizons. When that happens, the Wasteland, perhaps the world, will be destroyed.”

I frowned; something about this was off. Goldenblood had been paranoid, no doubt about that. He’d done everything he could to ensure that Luna had remained in power. He’d manipulated the ministries and the entire kingdom for her. But if Luna was deposed or killed… why blow everything up? Some sort of vengeance? It couldn’t have worked as a deterrent because nopony knew about it. I looked at the gray pegasus with a long frown. If this Cognitum had lied to Dawn, there was only one way to figure out the truth.

“I need to meet her,” I said sullenly. And that meant a trip to the deadliest place in Equestria. We stopped in front of the Crusaders’ salvage camp built before the main entrance of Blueblood Manor. The dark building loomed above me, thunder booming through the dark skies above. A lone lightning bolt illuminated the scoured front of the structure.

The manor had certainly seen better days; the Crusaders had stripped it of anything that was even remotely of value like a gleeful swarm of radroaches on a corpse. Lying about were crates of pipes and coils of wire that had been ripped from the building but not hauled away yet. The structure itself, with its reinforced walls and beams, might stand for a century more before it collapsed completely, but nothing of value would remain within… except for Vanity’s bedroom, if Charity had honored her promise.

Dawn’s lips curled in a grin even wider than she’d shown when she’d been with Glory. “And you will. When you give EC-1101–”

“No,” I interrupted. “I’m not giving EC-1101 to you. Nor her,” I said levelly, leaving the mare as stunned as if I’d kicked her upside the head. “You don’t get it. She exposed my home to a disease that turned almost everypony I knew into cannibals. And you and your Harbingers made the exact same mistake Sanguine did. You shot first. You should have tried this conversation before sending squads of killers after me.”

Dawn’s mouth opened and closed. “I… we thought there was no choice. After Sanguine took it from you, I ordered Steel Rain to retrieve it at all costs. We had no idea who had it; perhaps you, or a minion of Red Eye or some raider acquired it.”

I glared at her. “But you found out it was me soon enough. You chased me all the way across the Hoof.”

“I wasn’t in charge of that. I simply...” Dawn struggled to justify herself and then said, “Steel Rain informed me that you would never willingly surrender EC-1101. I simply followed his recommendations.”

“And he was probably right. What matters is that you didn’t even try. You should have had this talk with me after we left Hippocratic Research. Instead, you tried to blow my head off and take it, just like Deus and his bounty hunters,” I replied sharply. “If you’d spoken to me in the Fluttershy Medical Center, I would have been happy to give it to you. Or at least to talk it over. But your Cognitum killed Sanguine and I’m pretty sure sent a super-sentinel after me. Your seekers hounded me. Steel Rain–”

Dawn suddenly straightened. “Would it help if you could get revenge on him for what he did to you and your friends?”

“What?” I blinked, lightning flashing and booming above me as I stared at her.

“You said so yourself. Steel Rain advised me to take it by force, and in the process wronged you. If you like, you can take his place.” She reached out and tapped my chest. “You can make certain that the Harbingers remain an order of good virtue.” Remain?

“He’d never just let me kill him!” I gasped, staring at her in shock. Was she actually serious about this?

“You may be surprised,” Dawn said as she looked at the front door to the manor. “We can deal with that right now, if you like.” Then she stated firmly, “Rain. Come here. No armor or guns.” For several minutes I just stared in shock before the door creaked slowly open, and then I tensed as a blue bar appeared. He wouldn’t actually come out here unarmed. Dawn was crazy if she thought he–

“I knew that you’d never give it up,” the stallion said as he emerged from the manor. On instinct, my horn’s magic reached for weapons that were probably in some locker at the Rainbow Dash Skyport. I was surprised to see two things: one, he wore only a PipBuck. Two, he looked positively cute! The stallion with guns as massive as Deus’s seemed disturbingly vulnerable without his fancy armor. His pink mane was plastered to his purple coat, and his kindly face wore an oddly embarrassed expression.

Again, for the second time of the night, I really wished I were a pony who could kill an unarmed enemy. “You’re showing a lot of guts trotting out here like that,” I said. I ground my teeth, trying to think of some way I could beat the ever loving snot out of him and not have Fluttershy give me dirty looks inside my head.

“I don’t have much choice in the matter...” He paused and then rolled his eyes. “I figured there was a fifty-fifty chance you’d kill me at first sight anyway after what happened on the Celestia and at Goldenblood’s house. Or maim me, at least.”

“I’m thinking about it. I’d treat a fart as a deadly weapon from you,” I growled.

“Please. I don’t want you two to argue. This is about the future of Equestria and getting Blackjack’s cooperation,” Dawn told the unarmored stallion firmly.

“Of course, Prophet,” the former Steel Ranger said smoothly. “But unfortunately, you still don’t realize just what lengths Blackjack will go to win. Just what she’s capable of. You should accept that she will never willingly part with EC-1101 or join the Harbingers. We’re the ‘bad ponies’.” He grimaced and sat, making little quote wiggles with his forehooves.

“Teaming up with him was a big mistake,” I said to Dawn without taking my eyes off him. “I’m surprised he hasn’t shot you in the back long before now, Dawn. He betrayed his last leader for technology. He’ll do the same to you.” A half dozen more ponies were emerging from the manor. All were unarmed and unarmored and keeping their distance as they moved around the camp. My eyes kept looking for snipers or whatever was Steel Rain’s plan B.

My comment added a bit of amusement to the embarrassment on his face. “Ah yes. That had been my plan, I admit,” he replied with a small grimace as he pressed a hoof to his chest. “Unfortunately, a certain measure has been taken to ensure that I cannot betray Cognitum or her prophet.” He met my gaze and gave an almost sheepish smile. “It seems my ambitious nature was better known than I anticipated. There’s a kill implant nestled right in my chest. One signal from either, and it will immediately puree my insides.”

I remembered the prospector in Tenpony vomiting bloody viscera and blinked in shock, then looked at Dawn. “When we discussed how to retrieve EC-1101,” she said calmly as she trotted up beside me, “Steel Rain was quite adamant that it could only be done by force. That you were using the megaspell for your own agenda. I believed him. My mistake for thinking you were a monster after I heard what you did to your stable.”

Steel Rain chuckled. “Oh, she is. The worst kind,” he said with a casual smile that didn’t hide the fear in his eyes. “A monster who thinks she can stop being one.”

I looked from her to him and back again. I didn’t know what to say to this. “If you like, I can kill him now. Or maim him. Or simply exile him with a command that the kill implant goes off if he uses any technology more advanced than a can opener,” Dawn said evenly, her smile returning and the purple stallion’s gentle features growing resigned as he sighed. “Consider it a repayment for following bad advice.”

“What?” I gasped as I backed away from both of them. “Whatever happened to believing in not killing?”

“If his life is the price for saving all of the Wasteland, then it’s one that I will accept. What’s one life compared to the multitudes that will be saved?” Dawn asked with that blissful smile.

“Everything,” Steel Rain said with another sigh before he smiled at me apologetically. “Well, I won’t pretend like I don’t have it coming. Go on then. At least it’ll be relatively quick.”

I stared blankly, my gaze shifting from one to the other. Was she serious? Just... kill him and take his place, just like that? I looked into his pink eyes and saw an acknowledgement of defeat in them. I had no doubt whatsoever what he’d do if our positions were reversed. Right now, I could do the smart thing and kill one of my greatest enemies. I might not even have to follow through on handing over EC-1101 afterwards. There was just one little problem…

“No,” I replied. Steel Rain flinched, then blinked and then paused as his pink eyes looked from Dawn to myself.

Dawn frowned for a second, then brightened. “Oh. I understand. You want to do it yourself. Well, I can give you the kill command just as soon as–”

“Fuck no!” I snapped as I backed away from both of them. “Don’t you get it? I’m not a fucking executioner. Give him his armor and guns, and I’ll do what I can to kill him properly if he’s going to try something, but I’m not going to kill him just to give you what you want!”

“But... the Harbingers... Cognitum...” Dawn stammered, weakly, still clearly astonished I wasn’t taking her offer.

“Sorry, Dawn. I know you believe the Core holds all the answers, but I can’t believe in your goddess. The Core is simply death. Always has been. Always will be.” The fact she’d been willing to kill him, at all, for her mistake in believing him convinced me that the Harbingers weren’t the Wasteland’s final solution. I didn’t place my faith in goddesses and lost technology.

It took hard work to do better...

We stood there in the darkness and hissing rain, facing each other. Suddenly Steel Rain began to laugh. “Oh, this is too rich. I knew that Blackjack would never part with EC-1101, but I never imagined she’d pass up a chance like that! It’s too much!” He chuckled, shaking his head with a mirthful grin.

“So. Is this where the ambush occurs?” I asked bluntly, glancing around me, wondering where the stealthed and armed Harbingers might be.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Blackjack. Of course not. Even naked and unarmed, you’re fantastically deadly. We’d be idiots to attack you now,” Steel Rain said with his friendly smile as he waved his hoof at a large sheet of canvas covering something massive. Four ponies ran up and started pulling off the tarp covering what I’d assumed to be salvage. “We’re going to use something... else.”

I glared at the pair, then watched as a black-and-white-striped mountain of metal came into view. The tank. Immediately, its engine snarled and spotlights glared to life, and it swiveled the lamps towards me. I tensed, ready to run, but then Dawn said in a quiet but horribly sure voice, “No. The other target.” For almost a minute the tank sat there, revving its engine. Then it slowly swung its main turret away. My blood froze as what I realized what the ‘other target’ was.

Fallout  Equestria Project Horizons Chapter 52