Now Ponies Play Doom III

by obake

Message from an Icon

Twilight grimaced. The letter was an official one from Hell, signature and all. Only problem was that it was written in a form of cipher, jumbles of arrows and letters. The rest of the Mane 6 and the Crusaders waited nervously for her to speak. “Dash,” she said, “do you know why the Icon wrote to you specifically?”

“No. Why?”

Twilight shrugged. Everypony sighed.

Sweetie Belle stood up. “Rarity and I were the ones who defeated Hell. It's not fair that Dash gets a letter!”

Applejack guffawed. “We have a day named after you two.”

“Yeah, and a parade and everything.” said Applebloom.

Twilight chimed in. “Stop fighting.” She teleported onto the table. “We have to figure out what this letter is saying.”

“Well duh,” said Scootaloo.

“Maybe it's nonsense.” said Pinkie.

Dash glared at her. “Why would the lord of Hell write nonsense?”

“Maybe his handwriting's just bad.” said Fluttershy.

“Yours would be too if you were just a head on a stick.” said Applejack.

“But we write with our mouths all the time!” said Pinkie.

“We're horses!” said everypony else.

The tension in the room was thick enough to chainsaw through. Finally Scootaloo stepped on to the table. “Let me see the letter.” She eyed the writings. A lightbulb went off over her head.

Applejack held the switch. “No need to read in dim light.” she said.

Scootaloo looked closely. “That's it!” She exclaimed, and raced out of the window, letter in hooves. Before anypony could stop her, she was zipping down the street on her scooter.

The others chased after her. “Scootaloo!” Dash shouted, “get back with my letter!”

Scoots was in Rarity's boutique lickety-split.

Scootaloo booted up Doom II. The familiar music swelled, making her heart jump with nostalgia. She checked the letter. It was not a cipher, it was a list of codes. “Down, Up, A, B, 5, 6, Up, Down, Left.” At the last key stroke, unfamiliar music began playing. The rest of the ponies entered the room, watching in awe as the face of the Icon appeared, speaking.

“Stupid ponies. We are irate over your unfair victory. You puny ponies only bested us because you cheated. We demand recompense!”

Minutes passed, everypony growing bored as the Icon rambled. Finally it spoke “In four days, you and your wretched friends will take up our offer: a rematch on fair grounds, against a new army. You may keep your silly little spells. They will be of no use this time. Say hello to Doom III!” The screen went to black.

Everyponies mouth opened in horror. “D-Doom III?” said Applejack. “Does that even exist?”

“Yeah,” said Rarity, “I bought a copy months ago. But...haven't got around to playing it.”

Silence. “Well, what are we waiting for?” said Twilight, “Let's get to the homework you should have done long ago!”

Everypony gathered around the computer, Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight fighting to play first. The logo screen appeared, the words Doom III emblazoned in fiery letters.

Scootaloo watched engrossed for only a moment, before her eyes locked onto the mysterious letter again. She had only put in one code. There were eleven more.