open Cult of the Machine

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Link to OOC Topic: http://mlpforums.com/topic/23759-cult-of-the-machine/

"It was now nearly ten years since the establishment of the Mechanical Cult. The Mechanical Cult had been founded by the great and mighty princess Luna almost ten years ago. Their purpose was to accumulate and store all of Equestria's knowledge of machines, robotics and all associated fields, and to research and develop new technologies for the benefit of Equestria. It had been them that were to be thanked for building Equestria's first functioning nuclear reactor, for putting the first pony-made satellite into space, and later an actual living pony too. The list of their achievements goes on and on. They built Equestria's first functioning aircraft and at last all ponies could have access to the freedom of soaring among the clouds and reaching up to the sun. They developed submarines and mighty steel ships that sailed across the vast oceans to discover new lands and claim them in Celestia's name. On a darker side, they also invented weapons such as cannon, artillery and assault rifles. In the Space of Ten Years, the Cult of the Machine had also developed a culture, and perhaps what could be called a religion, unique to them. They ofter replaced parts of their bodies with mechanical replacements that were better suited to their role. For example, the engineers may replace one of their front legs with a mechanical leg that is able to be fitted with a circular saw, a welding tool, a cutting laser or simply an iron claw to make them better at their tasks.. The truth is, some of the mechanical replacements did not give their wielders great benefits, but were there simply because the Cult of the Machine believed the machanical replacements to be better and stronger than the organic original. In many cases, they were. The Cult of the machine traditionally dressed in hooded robes that were dark blue or dark red. The headquarters of the Mechanical Cult was a mighty fortress, positioned in the middle of the Farlands. The Farlands were a mighty mountain range discovered by the Machine Cult and claimed for Equestria in the name of the most beneficient princess Celestia and the great and mighty princess Luna by the Cult of the Machine itself. Their fortress was positioned on top of the Farlands' greatest peak. The peak was 1,500 metres tall, far above the clouds. The Fortress itself sat on the flat peak of the mountain, its mighty steel walls encircling the whole peak of the mountain. The fortress itself extended deep into the mountain, although few ever dared to venture into the lowest levels. There were rumours of the most hideous and evil creatures living there, although most high ranking ponies of the Cult of the Machine dismissed these rumours as pure lies. The Fortress had an observatory, from which many a new planet had been discovered. It had a vast main building, in which there were ten floors of rooms for the members of the Machine Cult. The building containing the rooms was right next to the main hall and was very narrow, only about a twentieth as wide as the main hall, but it went underground for another ten levels. There also was a vast main hall which also extended upwards ten floors, and for every floor there was a hanging balcony encricling the entire hall from the inside. There were mighty lamps hanging from the balconies and from around its spectacular glass dome that covered most of the ceiling. The lamps were said to contain a little bit of Celestia's magic force themselves, to keep them burning brightly and to illumite the valiant efforts of the Machine Cult. The main building actually went ten floors underground into the mountain, however these levels did not contain many things of interest, only the machinery which kept the Fortress running and operating as it should. The great main building was decorated from outside in a gothic style and coloured in the colour of polished brass, as were the walls, and as were all other buildings of the Cult of the Machine. Apart from the great main building, which was in the middle of the complex, there were two nuclear generators buried into the mountain, there were two great libraries, both of which were half as big as the vast main building itself. There was another vast building, eight floors high. This was the workshop where the engineers and workers of the Mechanical Cult built their technological marvels. Next to the workshop was another vast building, however only five six floors high. This was the building that contained the offices of the Mechanic-Generals, the workplaces of the designers, and the laboratories of the inventors. Because of how high the fortress was, there was always snow there. Even though there were no clouds at this height, it was said that Luna's magic had blessed the fortress with beautiful snowfall. There was no snow on the great glass dome which was the roof of the main hall however. The snow was melted by the great lamps hanging underneath the dome. If one walked outside on a clear night, they could see the beautiful shooting start named Lunar Stars in honour of the great princess Luna, and they could see the stars which shined ever so brightly. In honour of the tenth anniversary of the establishing of the Mechanical Cult and the building of the fortress, the Royal Party would be coming to the fortress itself to congratulate the Cult of the Machine on their most magnificient achievements. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia themselves would be coming, along with the most important ponies in all of Equestria. Preparations were already underway for this. However, in the lowest levels of the Cult of the Machine, an unseen evil was brewing. Heresy. A small group of Cult members who had secretely began to think that Discord was the rightful ruler of Equestria, and they were going to put him back in charge. Nobody knew about this, and even if they did, it would be impossible to tell who was part of this secret heretical organisation. It was only a fraction of the Cult, but even this was extremely dangerous. And, with the Royal visit approaching, who knew what would happen? The clock was ticking.

 

Preparations were well underway three days before the Royal visit. The lanterns in the huge main hall were shining brighter than ever. The Cult had even brought in three Saturnian Birds- birds that sang so beautifully that you could not even imagine the sheer beauty their song before you heard it with your own ears. They were flying around the main hall, their singing motivating the workers to build faster. When the Royal party finally arrived, still nobody suspected what was about to happen. But as soon as the royal party were inside, one of the heretics went up to the door control room. A lone guard was there. The heretic quickly dispatched the guard. Then, he shut the doors and short-circuited the control circuits for the doors so they could not open.

 

It was a good couple of hours before the Royal visit sensed something was wrong. They had been shown around the Fortress, and the feast was underway in the great hall when the lanterns went out. When they came back on, there were heretics stood on all the balconies overlooking the great hall, each equipped with a weapon stolen from the workshop. They also had three magic suppressors with them- machines that were so heavy they had to be mounted on a cart. When they were pointed at a pony, that pony could not use any form of magic. The magic suppressors were probably the most advanced machines the Cult had built so far. They pointed the magic suppressors at eveypony that was capable of magic. Then, they sprayed knockout gas at the royal party while more of the heretics secured the great hall from the outside.

 

The initial struggle was short, and the heretics managed to capture most of the Royal Party- Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Fluttershy, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and a couple of ther high-ranking ponies. The heretics decided that the royal guard were not worth capturing, and simply shot them after capturing the royal party. The only pony that managed to evade capture was Rainbow Dash- she shot up into the air when the heretics first appeared and shattered the glass dome to escape, However, a bullet from one of the heretics' guns hit her in the wing after breaking out- she could still glide down to a safe landing, and the would wound heal in a day or two, but in the meantime she was trapped inside the Fortress, which was now overrun with heretics. However, if she could only escape, she could alert the Royal Rescue regiment- a regiment of ponies trained especially to deal with hostage rescue situations. They could deploy quickly, by the means of leaping out of the back of a fast and low flying plane, and slowing their descent with special one-use rocket packs. If only Rainbow Dash could alert them- that moment, she decided she had to save had friends. After all, who knew what the Heretics were doing to them? She had to alert the rescue regiment, but could she? She did have a broken wing, after all.

 

Meanwhile, in a secret chamber deep below the Fortress, the Royal party started to wake. It was dark in the chamber. There was only one door. It was a heavy steel and concrete door, and it could only be opened from the outside. The Unicorns found they could not use their magic, for while they'd been unconcious the heretics had drained their magic force completely, and until they got it back they could not perform any magic."

 

 

Rules:

 

1. The rescue regiment cannot arrive before Rainbow Dash manages to make it out of the fort.

 

2. No godmodding. Laser weapons and hover devices haven't been invented yet.

 

3. There probably will be some gore here, but try not to go into too much detail, please...

 

 

 

I shall start the roleplay.

 

 

Machine-Priest Thunderbolt walked through the great hall. It was dark in there, the lights having been extinguished. One light still occasionally flickered, and then died again for a while. Thunderbolt could see perfectly here, however, for his one mechanical eye enabled him to see perfectly in the dark. There was rubble and scraps of paper on the floor - left over from the struggle which had not been so long ago. Through the glass dome, Thunderbolt could see the luna start shooting overhead. He was making his way towards the elevator at the end of the great hall, which led underground. Once underground, all he had to do was cross the maze of tunnels and he would be at the secret room. The tunnels were rumoured to be inhabited by dangerous creatures, but all Thunderbolt ever met there were rats. He had fitted a circular buzzsaw to his mechanical arm, and a device which looked like a lantern. Bright yellow sparks could be seen bouncing around inside it - this was Celestia's magic force. Thunderbolt walked up to the elevator. He entered it, and te elevator began descending.

[SilverHeart 741]

Silver Heart sat in the infirmary wishing that she had been able to go to the feast and see the Princesses, instead she had been chosen to watch over a nearly empty room. Its sole other occupant was an initiate who gorged himself upon so much food that he threw up and passed out. She had heard running and shouting in the halls a few minutes ago but couldn't make out what they were saying. Which was somewhat concerning but instead of anything bad happening it was more likely that a few drunk ponies were having a good time. After looking at the glutton who was sleeping peacefully on his bed she decided to go out and see what the shouting about was earlier.

 

Maybe somepony was hurt and needed her help...Of course it is my duty to go help somepony if they are injured, instead of sitting in here.

And with that Silver heart quietly left the room.

Edited August 10, 2012 by SilverHeart