Finally, after much recounting and reliving your moments of awesomeness, you arrive at what you're pretty confident is the right answer. Probably. Assuming you didn't miss any secret passageways or a set of stairs to a whole extra basement level.
You spin the dial to the number you've settled on and press the button in the center before you can get any less sure. It sinks into the door at your touch. Something starts to click as hidden gears begin to move and make the decorations across the door spin and contract. Monsters on either side of the center divide pull their claws back from the seam.
The clicking stops, the movement freezes, and...
...the doors swing open wide! The sudden light and noise blaring through strikes you blind and deaf. As your senses slowly adjust, you realize what the noise is.
Applause. Thunderous applause.
You stride into the highest room of the tower and finally see what awaits you. The room is set up like the red carpet walkway at the royal palace, but with a decidedly Nightmare Night style flair. The black and orange carpet is surrounded by more carved pumpkins than you can count, all of them enchanted to whistle and whoop and holler as you pass like you're some kind of Bridlewood celebrity.
Floating alongside the path are a dozen fancy mirrors, each one showing a familiar face. A werewolf mare. A giant rabbit. A fat, balding stallion in a mask. A grizzled pegasus in uniform. And more besides. They all cheer you on and applaud your victory as you strut down the aisle.
The path leads you to a massive hole in the wall. The view from here is fantastic. The whole of the haunted house is spread out below you; you can practically trace the path you took! Beyond it you can see Ponyville, shining like a star just over the next hill. The wind ruffles your mane as you gaze down upon it all.
It's... peaceful.
Now how do you get down?
"So do I just fly back or— oh!"
Before you can finish asking, a sheet of rainbow light appears beneath your hooves. It grows quickly, curving around the tower and out of sight.
Eh, why not? With a whoop you take a running start and hop onto the magical slide. It circles the tower three times, always forming more just ahead of you, then takes two lazy circuits of the whole building before depositing you outside the front door, right back where you started.
"Congratulations, Rainbow Dash!" Starlight applauds as you land. It's double the applause, as she's split back into Red and Blue versions. "You're the first pony to finish a full run of our haunted house!"
"Strictly speaking, our first participant too." Blue Starlight adds. "So, were you scared?""
"What, me? Scared? Pft! It was a piece of cake." You're not about to admit just how many times you came close to breaking. "But to anypony else, that'll scare the wings off of them! It was awesome! You must have worked like crazy to pull this all together."
Red Starlight blushes slightly while Blue Starlight scuffs a hoof on the ground. "I mean, I did my best. It was a group effort. I couldn't have done it without Trixie's help with the illusions."
You push through Blue Starlight (who pops into nothingness) and drape your foreleg around her withers. "Come on Starlight! Take some credit for your hard work! Those were some intense illusions. I thought I was actually going to die a few times."
Starlight merely blinks at the space her double used to occupy. "How did you still know she wasn't real?" She turns to you suddenly, alarm painted across her features. "Wait, you thought you were going to die?"
"She didn't have a shadow," you explain.
"No, no, forget that. Why did you think you might actually die? It shouldn't have been that scary!"
"Well all those spells that make you forget you're doing a haunted house and think it's real kinda amps it up. Especially the ones that put fake memories in your head."
Starlight's face goes as white as a sheet. "That sounds like confundus and memory spells. But I didn't put in any..." Her face flips from white to red as quick as if someone hit a switch. "Oh no she didn't. Excuse me, Dash. I need to go have a little chat with my cohost."
She lights her horn and vanishes in a sparkle of magic. Though she doesn't go very far, as you can very clearly her shout of "Trixiiiiiiie!!!" from inside the house. Though that kinda leaves you in the lurch as to what to do now.
"Hey Rainbow Dash!"
As if summoned, at just that moment your friends arrive over the crest of the hill, all decked out in full Nightmare Night regalia.
Rarity you're pretty sure is a princess, though it's hard to figure out which when the only clue is a big carmine line running through her dress. Pinkie's come as some kind of plant pony with a large flower growing out of her back and vines twined around her legs. AJ is clearly a changeling... but in a snow parka? It feels like there's a pun or something there that's going over your head. Fluttershy, who's really putting her bravest hoof forward this year, has gone with a classic sheet ghost. Probably to make it that much easier to hide at a moment's notice.
And Twilight...
"Uh, hey, Twilight? Did you... turn your back legs into swords?"
She groans at this even as her incredibly pointy-looking hooves prick the ground. "Why does everypony think they're swords? They're scissors. See the screw over my cutie mark? I'm Edith Scissorhooves, from the novel of the same name. But the way ponies have been reacting tonight, you'd think nopony has read the greatest piece of neo-gothic literature to come out in the past twenty years!" She kicks at the ground, accidentally slicing through a few sticks. "It could be my fault though since my costume's not strictly canon-accurate."
"She had to turn her front legs back inta normal hooves," Applejack explains. "Couldn't keep her balance."
"Well book-accurate or not, I think it's a lovely costume."
"Thanks, Rarity." Her feelings reassured, Twilight turns to you. "No costume for you this year?"
"No I got one, I just didn't want to put it on before I tried Starlight's haunted house." Which, as it turned out, was an astounding bit of foresight. You probably wouldn't have been able to pull off half as much fighting if you'd worn your cyborg-pony soldier-from-the-future costume.
"Oh my," says the sheet with holes. "So you've already explored the whole house? Is it-is it really scary?" Her voice keys up to a high squeak as she finishes the question.
You reflect on all your recent escapades. Fighting monsters. Running from insane ponies. Facing almost as many social and mental situations as genuine horror ones. Then you imagine Fluttershy in your place and wince. "Yeah... this is probably gonna be too much for you, Flutters. That's why I went ahead to check it out."
"Thank you. I think I'll wait outside until you all finish then."
"Don't count yourself out yet." As much as you know she needs to be kept away from the worst rooms, you don't want her to miss out entirely. "I know Trixie has a way to turn the fear factor higher or lower. I had it set pretty high, but I'm sure she has a low setting for foals and, y'know, the easily scared. Plus, now I know all the rooms that are safe enough for you. Like the bunny room."
Her eyes light up at the magic words. "There's a bunny room?"
"Now you've done it!" Pinkie giggles. She jumps in place, making her leaves rustle. "Guess we're all going in then! It's an adventuring party! I call being the druid!"
"Are you sure you want to go back in?" Twilight asks. "If you just finished it then it probably won't be nearly as scary the second time."
A slow smile works its way onto your face. Sure, you know what's coming, but who's to say that every exploration will be the same? They might make different choices than you did. Choose to befriend where you attacked, or use items you didn't have yet. And especially important: for the rooms where you do know what's coming, you get to watch their reactions to it!
A stray thought stops your mental train in its tracks. Is... is this what it feels like to be Trixie? Watching someone explore from above and giggling where they fall into the same mistakes you did? Huh. Kinda casts her in a different light.
But you've been stalling long enough. Twilight and the rest are still waiting for an answer.
"Absolutely. Let's go! You guys are gonna have an awesome time. I guarantee it!"
Ayy, I did it on hard mode, first try! Damn I'm good. For those on the fence about trying this, it's probably the most fun I've ever had with a CYOA. You can tell this had a lot of work put into it.
Spoilers on my run for those who made it here and the author: Literally the first room I went into was the cake one, which was extremely convenient to know. I backtracked to it multiple times to keep RD's fear down. I didn't get too many bad outcomes for the rooms, only seeing bonus outfits 1, 4, 9, and 12. Somehow I never got the Locket or Water Bucket despite checking every room, and some of the other items I never got to use based on the order I explored, like the Key and Boot. Meanwhile, some items I picked up after I was prompted to use them, like the Stick, Silver Coins, and Paperwork. The only item I was afraid to actually use was the Formula. Who knows what that crap even does. Probably the dumbest moment was when I turned the dust bunny into a flaming dust bunny and broke Trixie. I'll try New Story+ later, seems fun (EDIT: never mind, it's just the original story again, lame). If I had to complain about something, it's that I wish there was a boss monster at the end that required multiple items to be used in combination to beat.
11030476
I'm glad you had fun!
Interesting to note in the original draft there was a boss monster in that last room did that took three items to defeat, but it proved difficult to implement logistically and a couple of prereaders called it potentially unfair, since if you used or lost a key item early... that's basically game over. Strictly speaking you're not supposed to go back in a room you've already entered, there's just no way for me to stop you (I may edit the rules to clarify that). And yes, New Story+ is just a link back to the start, but with the new context of the bonus challenges. For example, going somewhere you've been before but from a different direction might reveal something new.
Also completed on Hard mode!
Thank you for the gamebook!
Fear: Up to 2 fear, reduced to 0, then back up to 3 again.
Three Trixies unlocked: 1, 4, and 8.
Items:
Formula (used)
Formula #2
Rarity Coupon
Alarm Clock
Lantern
boot
Bucket
File (of paperwork?)
Wand
Bunny Ears
Wow. That was an adventure. I just spent seven days in here. Wait, seven days? Was it really that long? No, that can't be..... I was only here for a few hours. At most. But it feels like seven days. I guess Starlight and Trixie really thought of everything. That time perception spell is realistic.
Heavy spoilers below when I talk about my awesome victories, read at your own peril!
I made an evil and insane scientist become victim of her own experiments, I wowed the leaders of the Wonderbolts with the best speech they ever heard in their entire lives, I tricked two dumb cultists and used their death philosophy against them, I got off of one of the worst jobs ever, I actually fought with zombies, I killed a werepony, I put a macho ghost stallion into place, I squished a horde of spiders, I defeated an evil tree, I befriended a dust ghost, I sent a drowned ghost filly back to where she came from and I cursed a wicked witch.
Most ponies don't experience as much as that during an entire lifetime! But I did in just seven days! I mean..... a few hours.
The room that scared me the most was the Office. The authoritarian boss, the dry job, the pointless work that amounted to nothing, the time that was wasted and lost in the last thirty years, the abandoned dreams and ambitions..... That was conveyed so great and realistic that I got deeply frightened by everything and I felt like I am going to need a breather when I was out of there again. Ending up in a job like that is actually one of my biggest fears, so that room hit me hard. I guess it really is true that horror can be anything, even the mundane things.
My favourite room is the Library with the drowned ghost filly. That was creative and terrifying. I knew something else would happen after the book began to burn, but I wasn't quite prepared for how terrifying it ended up being. The bloated, wet face of a drowning victim, her screams, the water-damaged book and the item I got from her..... There are other rooms that I like a lot, like the Witch Kitchen and the Rest Area, but this room gave me the best vibes. The darkest room in the entire house, perfect horror movie material.
I got the Good Ending and found 9 of the Hidden Collectibles. The collectibles are a particularly nice idea. First I was just happy that there is stuff to collect, then after I got the third one, I realized that you get them all for losing. They aren't rewards, they are symbols of your failures; eternal, grim reminders on your weakest and most pitiful moments. Which is cynical and really fucked up and I like that, because the horror genre is often cynical, so that is perfect for getting collectibles in a haunted house.
I am also sure there are secret rooms somewhere that you can only find by doing something very unusual. I got some items you seem to can't use anywhere, there are more Hidden Collectibles than rooms and four of the six doors in the Boiler Room can't be reached from any room in the house. Four is also exactly the number of missing Hidden Collectibles after I counted the obvious ones that you can get.
Another feeling I have is that Starlight and Trixie have created a story for their haunted house that you can discover. That came to me when I thought about how the ghost stallion in the Ballroom was so disappointed of me after he pulled the mask from my face, like he expected to see somepony else. Later I noticed that there is a connection between that ghost stallion, his wife from inside the Locket, the werepony and the drowned ghost filly, because all of them are in some way connected to the Locket, which reinforced that feeling. I am theorizing the drowned ghost filly is the daughter of the ghost stallion and the ghost mare, that the werepony mare is her older sister and that they all lived in this mansion together. I'm sure there is more too, but that's what I got so far. The secret rooms might reveal more about them.
This was an extremely immersive experience. So much that I felt sad when I was done and had to leave the house. It feels like a home now, after I've been there for so long. Actually, it already felt like a home since right after I started. I have a deep love and passion for haunted mansions. But that feeling increased the longer I was there. I miss being in Starlight's and Trixie's Haunted House already.
I have only very few things to criticize here. No optional way through the Ballroom or past the Ballroom. It was annoying having to go through the scenario each time after the room looped back on the way to the other rooms behind it. Especially when exploring the Cake Room.
Something is off about the architecture in the Right Hallway, it felt like there should have been two more corridors. I'm not sure if Starlight and Trixie used a space warping spell there to cut off these corridors (they haven't done that anywhere else in the house, though, so I doubt it), but this hallway felt incomplete, like a part of it is missing, I came back to the Foyer much too soon once I was past the three rooms.
There were a few spots where I wondered why I couldn't use the Lantern there. In the back part of the Center Hallway with the complete darkness and in the Boiler Room after the light went out. Using the Lantern there seemed obvious, but somehow I wasn't able to do that. And I got a Wonderbolt Signet Ring as reward from one of the Wonderbolts in the Wonderbolts Dining Room, but I could not use this item anywhere, which made me ask why I got it then. And it would have been nice to be able to use the Wand of Summoning more than in just two rooms. It felt like there were a few more opportunities where it could have been used, although not necessarily resulting in a victory.
Just some feedback for Starlight and Trixie what could have been made better.
I hope Starlight and Trixie bring their Haunted House back for Nightmare Night next year, with new spooks and more rooms. There is a whole second floor in the house that I couldn't access and it definitely has a basement somewhere, too. And maybe an attic. Their attraction has definitely become a hit in Ponyville, I can tell, so I'm sure there is demand to do it again next year.
This was a blast
I beat it on hard, but would have failed if I had chosen very hard.
I got four Trixies on my first run, the fourth because I jumped into the death cube out of curiosity. If I have one complaint it's that it cuts out before you get to the good part.
It creeped me out a few times too. The one that got to me the most might have been the Help Her room, where I tried to help her. Or maybe the ballroom.
I actually was already drawing a map but if you have an official one then I kind of want to look at it and see if I got anything wrong
Also I went through that goddamn ballroom three times before getting the locket and being able to finally make that stallion eat shit was very satisfying
The first thing I'll probably look for is the Bad Ending, and after that the Trixies?