Rainbow Dash's Awesome Nightmare Night Haunted House Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Adventure

by TheDriderPony

You Have Nothing to Fear...

Darkness.

All-consuming darkness.

The lights have been getting dimmer as you walked, but at some point without realizing it, you crossed a threshold into perfect darkness. You can still see your hoof though—and bits of your mane that bob into your line of sight—in perfectly lit clarity. Like there's a light somewhere that only falls on you.

The long rug beneath you helps you stay on the straight and narrow path. Any time you feel wood instead of fabric you make a slight course correction.

You don't dare fly in here.

Night flying is dangerous enough even with the stars and moon to help. Flying in darkness like this? It's unthinkable. You like your muzzle's current shape thank-you-very-much.

The groundedness... weighs on you. Moreso than you thought it would. The idea that flying isn't an option is so... anathema to what it means to be Rainbow Dash that you find it pulling you into a strange paradoxical state.

You want to fly. To get up and move and reach the end of this corridor of darkness already. But you can't. And knowing that you can't is somehow making you want it all the more. Your wings twitch at your sides involuntarily, eager and ready to send you soaring into the air... and no doubt smack into a wall. You've never felt this kind of tension before. This... internal conflict within yourself.

Luckily, just when you're starting to think you can't take it any more, there's a light. A pinprick on the horizon. Horizon? Could it be that far? Was the house that large? Or maybe the light was just small. Your latter guess proves right as you reach it. There are two doors here, one at the end of the hall and one set to your right side. The two of them could not be more different.

The first is overly wide and ornamental. An arch made of wide blackish rock that cradles a thick and sturdy door made of heavy timber and barred with iron. The second is a pair of double doors covered in delicate filigree. Much of it has rusted away, but you can tell it must have been impressive when it was new.

You notice a note attached to the door at the end of the hall. It reads:

Past This Door Lies The Exit To The Haunted House,
But Not Before A Final Challenge.
Enter Only If You Are Absolutely Prepared.

Author's Note:

What Will You Do?

[ENTER THE DOOR ON THE LEFT]
[CONTINUE THROUGH THE DOOR TO THE FINAL CHALLENGE]