//------------------------------//
// Old Television and Console 
// Story: Now Ponies Play Doom III 
// by obake 
//------------------------------//

	Scootaloo expected to wake up in a sweat, holding tightly to her blankets, the sun beginning to shine through her window. Instead, she woke to the sound of distant machinery. The ground was hard. She looked around, and saw she was outside, in some sort of desert.
No...
As her eyes adjusted, she saw it was not simply a desert, but a cliff. The jagged mountainside extended down for what looked like miles, eventually obscured by cloud banks. 
Her mind reeled at the scope. She was certainly not in Ponyville, but where? The rocks were unfamiliar. They were all muddy red. 
Clang, clang!
The metallic sounds drew closer. Scootaloo looked more at her surroundings. She seemed to be in a camp of some sort, or what used to be one. A rotten tarp tied to a pole flapped helplessly in the wind, the remains of a fire pit next to it. A shed, obscured by jagged rocks, loomed a few hundred yards away. 
Clang, cla-
The sounds stopped. Scootaloo frantically scanned her surroundings. There's nothing walking…
Her heart stopped. What was drawing near was not walking at ground level, it was walking up the cliff! 
She bolted towards the shed. Panting, she kicked the door off of its hinges. The wood was dark and moldy, giving no resistance. Dust shrouded the air. 
The inside looked ancient. A chair and table sat covered in cobwebs, a stack of books crusted with age laying nearby. Upon them was a grimy canister, so coated with dirt it could have been mistaken for a fossil. The place reeked of chemicals. 
Scootaloo held her breath, waiting for the dust to settle. She finally let out an exasperated cough. The metal sounds had resumed, albeit from a distance. She tried spying from the window, but the panes were too coated with sand and dirt to see through. She peered from the broken door.
The culprit of the sounds was indeed a robot, like she suspected. It had spindly legs like an arachnotron, but was much smaller, and had no visible face or brains. Scoot's thought back to watching the Mane 6 play Doom 3. She vaguely remembered robots that would help the player. Sentry bots, she thought.
Noise boomed from behind. Instead of running, Scootaloo turned to the source, ready to fight for her life. She was surprised to see a battered television on the table, the screen emanating static. Hooked to it was a console with an “x” shape on it. None of those things were there before. She approached cautiously. 
Inside the console was a black disc emblazoned with the words “Doom 3.” Next to the console was a familiar list of codes. Of course, she thought. In order to finish, she needed a place without interference. Taking the controller in one hoof, and booting the game with the other, where she was did not matter. 

Back in Ponyvillle, the Mane 6 searched. 
“Where are you, Scoots?” asked Applejack and Rarity, tears almost welling in their eyes.
Rainbow hopped from roof to roof, shouting “Scootaloo! Scootaloo?” 
Pinkie looked inside garbage cans, under benches, and inside trees. At one point she peered through the second story window of a house, scaring the daylights out of the ponies living there. 
Twilight and Fluttershy knocked on doors, asking anyone and everyone if they knew where the filly was. Nothing turned up.
They eventually gathered in the castle. 
“I'm sure she's safe.” said Fluttershy.
“It's all my fault.” said Dash, “I knew forcing her to clean would turn her against me.”
“That's ridiculous,” said Applejack. “we're in the middle of Hell's second invasion. The last thing on any fillies mind is being angry about chores.”
“But I'm her idol!” said Dash. “She practically worships me. I was only worried for her safety.” 
“And we don't blame you for that, Sugarcube. But the fact of the matter is, we don't have time to continue searching. Betruger's next swarm is nearly here!”
“Not just swarm.” said Twilight, “The final swarm.” She conjured a whiteboard out of thin air. She scribbled equations on it with a marker. “In my spare time since beating Doom 3, I've done research on the effects interplanetary and interdimensional travels have on organic lifeforms.”  She spit out the marker. “I've concluded that our best hope of winning is having Discord fight alongside us.”
Everyone looked at the mess of numbers. “You figured Discord's our best hope from that?” asked Dash. 
Twilight blushed. “Actually, no. I was just doing equations. Math makes me forget my sorrows.”
“As it should.” said an ethereal voice. Everyone looked up. Betruger! 
“Don't act surprised.” he said, “I entered your conversation minutes ago. I agree that Discord will help, but even his powers won't be enough-”
“Tell that to my face!” said Dash. 
“No. Sit down and listen. Where are the townsfolk?”
The ponies looked at each other. Rarity spoke “In town.”
“Bring them.” said Betruger, “I'm going to explain the rules, and I don't want to do so more than once.”
“It will take awhile to gather em' all.” 
“Oh for Pete's...fine, you have twenty minutes. In the meantime, I'm going to gather my army.” 
The ponies heard squeaking of a chair, followed by footsteps and a light door slam. 
“I guess he's gone.” said Fluttershy.
“Let's get this done.” said Applejack. 
The Mane 6 left for town.
A minute later a different voice spoke from the ether. “Are you the ponies Doc's talked about? Hello?”

The most able-bodied mares and stallions gathered alongside the Mane 6 in the castle's main hall. A mere 45 minutes of waiting, which felt like eternity, passed before the voice of Betruger interrupted the silence. 
“My apologies. Someone messed with the settings of my console. Now that it's fixed, I will proceed.
“The rules are simple: each side will have 30 members. Select those you send carefully.”
“Couldn't you have told us this before-”
“Shut up.” said Betruger. “Make your selections.”
Twilight and the gang sighed. They looked towards the crowd. “We don't normally like choosing teams, but...”
Discord appeared out of thin air, tap dancing on top of Twilight's shoulders. “Still, I'm the first, right?” 
Twilight gritted her teeth. “Yes. Now get off of me.” 
“Well, someone's persnicket-eeee!” Discord again vanished out of sight. 
Betruger spoke. “You've got one. Now just 29 more.” 
The process continued,  the Mane six arguing on end, the townsfolk getting restless. A few spoke up, volunteering on their own, at which point they were instantaneously zapped into another dimension. Scared, and confused, they looked at their unfamiliar surroundings. Lights beamed from a dark and hectic sky, stars and planets slowly shifting and pulling in shape.  Blue and orange swirls flickered in and out of existence. 
The fifteen towns ponies huddled, as more teleported in. “T-this is the Eternity Zone, then?” one asked.
“Beats me.” said another. 
The air was cold and damp. The ground looked to be made of tiles sitting at slightly different elevations. Dark shapes loomed atop distant hills. 
Finally Twilight, the last of the ponies, teleported in. Despite the darkness, she could see Discord's cold stare. “This is for real,” he said.

Scootaloo was sure her location was not Mars, but perhaps a realm similar to Equestria, for day and night seemed to work just the same. That, and she could breathe. The thought that Sweetie Belle and Rarity had survived in the original Doom's Hell (which was also set on Mars) did cross her mind, though. Perhaps ponies were like aliens when traveling to other universes.
She had put in the fourth code, and was surprised to see the game cut to a level she did not recognize. It was a decently lit space station, strange compared to Doom 3's usual gloominess. She was most surprised to see that it had actual bad guys, and weapon and health pickups. She had a blast mowing down monsters and beating it, but was unsure what it meant. Same with code 5, which led her to a slightly gloomier, but still out of place, factory.
By the time she started code 6, which led to a map set in a suburban city, outside was in dusk. Scootaloo looked out of the shed. Stars barely illuminated the sky. 
The game had kept her so busy she did not even notice the metallic sounds from before had multiplied. Sentry bots paced around the shed in circles. They began droning on her nerves. 
Must find answers she thought. She took the controller in hoof and pressed onward with the map. Only the game could distract her. Surely the city holds something.