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

by TheDriderPony

You Have Nothing to Fear...

You struggle and thrash against your bonds, but it's no use. The ropes are too tight and you're too panicked to mount any sort of strategy of plan of attack.

"No!" you cry. "No, it can't end like this!."

"Denial," the cultists say in unison.

You thrash even harder, so hard the ropes burn and pull at your fur. The cultists stand watching, blades frozen and ready to fall at a moment's notice. What are they waiting for?

They're... they're enjoying this, aren't they? They like watching you struggle against the inevitable.

No! Not 'inevitable'! You can't let yourself give up!

"Untie me, you sick freaks!" Your words fly harsh and fast against their impassive masks. "Cowards! Can't even take me fair and square! You know I can take you both with one wing tied behind my back!" You arch your back against the cold table, desperate to loosen something far enough to get your wing free. "Argh! Don't just stand there, FIGHT ME!"

"Anger," they intone.

Panic settles even deeper into your bones. They are cowards; cowards of the worst kind. No amount of taunts against their strength or their pride as stallions is going to get them to let you go so you can have a fair fight and escape. Desperately, you try switching tactics.

"Look, just... just let me go, alright? We can go our separate ways and nopony has to know. Just forget this whole thing ever happened."

"Bargaining," their voices ring like the keeling of a bell.

…It's no use, isn't it? These freaks are going to gut you like a cream-filled cupcake and there's nothing you or anypony else can do about it. The ropes start to slacken as your thrashing slows, all the fight raining out as dark thoughts cloud your mind. Your whole bright and shining future, cut short by these maniacs.

"Acceptance." The blades sing their song of steel as they flash down with incomparable speed.

[Your life flashes before your eyes. It's so... short. +1 Fear]

---

"You've met a terrible fate, haven't you?"

You come to your senses to the sound of a smug voice. The blur that is reality quickly resolves itself into a familiar setting. Torn carpets, broken chandelier. The foyer.

The foyer. Of the haunted house.

You groan as realization hits. You got caught up in the effects of the magic and forgot that it's all fake. Fake knives. Fake cultists. Fake sacrifice. And you swallowed the bait like the catch-of-the-day special at Café Kingfisher.

Rising to your hooves, you look up to where a still-chuckling figure resides.

Trixie changed her costume. She now wears a long black wig and an expressionless green mask. One hoof holds a gavel, the other, a paintbrush. Her cape has been traded out for a white jacket. You have no idea who she's supposed to be.

"You know," she says languidly, drawing out the sound with an oddly mechanical buzz like she's speaking through a radio, "Trixie was expecting a show. Trixie expected to be thoroughly entertained by your efforts. But she did not expect to see you back here so soon."

"Yeah, yeah," you scoff, trying not to let her words affect you. "Maybe for next time though, for whoever does this after me, tell your cultist actors to take it down a notch. That was way too real."

You march off down a hallway, eager to try again to prove yourself (and get away from Trixie's snide commentary on your performance).

Trixie blinks in confusion as she watches you go. "Cultist actors? There's no cult in this attraction."

---

There doesn't seem to be anything to interact with in this room, but there are three hallways that branch off that head LEFT, FORWARD, and RIGHT.

If your Fear Meter is full, you must select the fourth option.

Author's Note:

What Will You Do?

[LEFT HALLWAY]
[CENTER HALLWAY]
[RIGHT HALLWAY]
[BAIL]

Congratulations! You've found a hidden collectible! Trixie Costume #18 ["Better Trixie"]

Try to find all 20 of them!

Art provided by DarkNidus