Hey y'all! Chapter 3! My shortest and least favorite chapter! And I sound so excited about it! Please feel free to slap me!

Big thank you to my reviewers! I honestly would not have written this far without your wonderful words.

Annnnnd...enjoy!


Halloween at Horseland

"Is everyone ready?" Will called out. He was sat atop Jimber, looking more than ever like a genuine cowboy with his western garb and tack, his cheeky but kind grin, and his confident, tall posture that was sturdy but not tense. Jimber also looked like a true Wild West herding horse.

"I'm ready!" Bailey the demon rider answered. He turned around and arranged his cloak so that spilled over Aztec's sides and down behind his tail, just like in his game. Aztec didn't look too sure about having what felt like a loose blanket on his hindquarters but Bailey seemed fine with it so Aztec relaxed. Satisfied, Bailey pulled his hood up and over his helmet and he put an evil grin on his face that made Will roll his eyes good-naturedly.

"So am I!" Sarah piped up. She was riding Scarlet sidesaddle, with her long dress draping over Scarlet's side, which Sarah was happy to see Scarlet wasn't fazed at all by. When Sarah had first mounted up, Scarlet had turned her head around to sniff the fabric then snorted and ignored it entirely. Beaming happily, Sarah put her left foot in the stirrup and let her right leg rest just in front of her on the saddle. Once she was positioned, she reached up and checked her helmet strap. Scarlet O'Hara may have not worn a helmet in her day, but Will had insisted that Sarah did.

"We are also ready!" Exclaimed Alma "Velvet" Rodriguez, who was sitting proudly atop her winning steed, Button "The Piebald", who looked just as pleased as her owner. Glancing over at Sarah and her sidesaddle position, Alma was relieved that she was wearing pants and not skirts like the other girls.

Molly pulled her helmet on over the purple bandana then popped up onto her Appaloosa mare with a grin. She situated herself in the same position as Sarah then flashed a thumbs-up at Will to show her readiness. "Ready to go, captain!" But a cantankerous groan made her turn around and look over at Chloe and Zoey, who were also mounted up on their horses.

The Stilton girls wore similar, floor-length gowns made with smooth satiny material that had a subtle sparkle to it. Chloe's dress was lilac and had long, elegant sleeves and a delicate, lacey mauve belt around her waist. Zoey's dress was light blue and instead of sleeves, she wore a gossamer white shawl around her shoulders and there were little golden swirls going along the hem of the dress. Sarah had even taped little plastic tiaras to the fronts of their helmets to complete their princess costumes and when they had seen their outfits, the girls had squealed with delight. Now, however, they were moaning in complaint.

"Why do we have to ride sidesaddle?" Zoey whined, poking the fabric of her gown accusingly.

"Yeah, who's bright idea was it to wear a dress on a horse?" Chloe ranted, tugging at the material crossly.

Sarah's smile fell and her face burned with shame. Molly and Alma scowled at the sisters irately and Will shook his head, no longer smiling, and frowned disapprovingly at the two grumbling girls. Surprisingly, Bailey just grinned and when he caught Sarah's eye, he winked at her.

"Gee, it's a shame you don't like those dresses, girls." Bailey said, feigning disappointment. Immediately, two sets of confused green eyes were fixated on him. "I think those dresses look really great on you myself." He continued, "It seems a shame to waste them, but I guess if you're not comfortable . . ."

"Who said we're not comfortable?" Chloe asked sharply, straightening her back and looking over at her sister with convincing poise.

"We love these dresses." Zoey emphasized, "And we love sidesaddle." With a graceful little flick of her hand, she dusted off some imaginary dust from her gown and titled her head back with an aristocratic lift of her pert little nose.

Molly and Alma giggled behind their hands while Will shook his head again, this time out of wonder, and Sarah gave Bailey a grateful smile.

"Okay, guys, ready?" Will sighed, and when everyone nodded, he smiled in relief. "Great." He turned to his cousin and Sarah and suggested, "Why don't you two lead us? After all, you know where the best places to start and finish up are."

Bailey and Sarah exchanged excited looks then simultaneously urged their horses into a walk. Molly and Alma eagerly followed close behind, with Chloe and Zoey right after them. Will and Jimber brought up the caboose, keeping a careful eye on all of their friends.

The excitement in the group heightened as Bailey and Sarah led the gang into the forest. It was getting dark and the sun was almost completely behind the hills. Bailey, however, pulled out a flashlight and gave it to Sarah, who aimed it just in front of their horses' legs. Bailey looked over his shoulder at his friends and said in a scary voice, "Welcome to Horseland's Haunted Trail Ride. Please, stay together at all times. The horse spirits are restless on Halloween and if you get separated from the herd, they might just decide to make you part of their herd." Then he cackled evilly, causing the others to groan quietly.

"Bailey," Alma shook her head. He shrugged at his friends with a careless grin and turned himself forward again.

"So how does this work? Do things just jump out at us as we walk along or what?" Molly wanted to know.

"Well," Sarah answered, "kind of. Bailey's going to tell a story as we go along and the decorations just kind of match the theme."

"Hey, that's cool." Will commented from the back of the group.

"Is it a scary story?" Zoey asked, more than a little wary.

"Um, duh! It's Halloween!" Molly called out, causing the sisters to huff indignantly, but when Bailey turned around in the saddle to face them, they smiled sweetly.

"I think it's sort of scary, yeah." Bailey replied.

"Well, if your story is any scarier than Will's squirrel story then I'll definitely have nightmares." Sarah stated with a giggle.

"The squirrel story?" Bailey asked in confusion but then realization flooded into his face a moment later. "Oh, you mean with Betsy Sue?"

"That's the one." Sarah confirmed.

"Hey, that was a good one." Bailey called back to his cousin.

"Works every time." Will agreed with a chuckle.

"So, demon rider, is this story scarier?" Molly asked teasingly.

"You'll have to tell me when we're done." Bailey said with a knowing grin.


Meanwhile, Angora had finished washing herself and was strutting down the barn aisle in search of entertainment. She peered into the stalls and was disappointed to find that all of the others were out doing something with their humans, which was a pity because she found great amusement in starting rivalries or uprisings within the herd, just like she had when they knocked her into the water trough.

But to not see Shep or Teeny in the stable was rather odd. Angora walked outside and looked around. Finally, she saw Shep dozing beneath a tall oak tree whose leaves were fiery red and danced in the autumn breeze. Triumphant, Angora sauntered towards Shep and frowned at him.

"What are you doing out here?" She demanded nosily. "Why aren't you protecting the horses or whatever it is you do?"

Shep woke up from his doze and smiled at Angora. "Oh, hello, Teeny. How are you doing?"

"Teeny? I'm not Teeny, you mutt. I'm Angora." She hissed, bristling irately.

The sheepdog chuckled. "Very funny, Teeny. Why don't you run along and see if you fool someone else with that joke of yours? I'm feeling a bit tired. Have fun." With that, Shep lay down and curled up in a ball of brown and white fur. Within moments, he was snoring loudly.

Angora scowled at Shep's sleeping form. "Stupid dog. He's getting more blind with old age." With a haughty sniff, the gray cat turned and ran towards the horse field. She leapt up onto the fence and called out to one of the nearby horses.

"Sunburst!" She called out. The American Paint stopped grazing when he heard his name called then walked over to Angora. His yellow highlights looked almost golden in the dimming sunset light.

"What can I do for you, Teeny?" He asked in a friendly manner.

Angora's eyes widened and her manner was anything but friendly. "You dumb horse! I'm Angora! ANGORA!"

Sunburst whinnied in amusement. "Sure, and I'm Aztec. Is that a Halloween joke of yours, Teeny?"

"Listen here, you blind animal: I'M A CAT! Do I look like a pig to you? LOOK AT ME!" She screeched. Sunburst stared at her in amazement and was silent for a moment before replying.

"Not bad, Teeny. You even sound like Angora. Does she know you're going around pretending to be her?" He snorted. "You know she probably won't like that. You know how she gets."

"Of course I know how she gets! I am her!" Angora let out a caterwaul of rage and frustration and jumped down from the fence and pelted towards the field next to Sunburst's to look for another animal question about her identity. Sunburst watched her go then looked over towards Shep and whinnied his laughter. Shep barked back then took off towards the stables while Sunburst went back to happily grazing.


"What was that?" Alma yelped, jumping and twisting around in the saddle.

"Alma," Molly giggled.

"It was just a deer, Alma." Will called out. "They're often more active at this time of year."

"Phew." Alma relaxed and sat properly in her saddle again.

"You're more scared than Button is." Bailey noted, pointing back at the pinto mare.

"How can you tell?" Zoey asked curiously.

"You can tell from a number of things actually." Sarah put in. She pointed towards Button's ears. "See how relaxed her ears are? They aren't stiff or twitching."

"She's also keeping a steady pace." Bailey explained. "She's not speed-walking or drifting from side to side."

At that moment, Button snorted and blew out through her nose.

"But that sign is a clincher." Will finished. "When a horse snorts or blows out like that, they're releasing stress, tension, or upbeat energy."

"Wow." Chloe studied her own horse's ears curiously, which were relaxed like Button's.

"Horses never fail to tell you exactly what they're thinking." Molly grinned and mussed Calypso's pink and flaxen mane lovingly.

"You got that right, Molls." Sarah turned around in her saddle and smiled at her friend.

"So when does this story of yours start, Bailey?" Zoey wanted to know.

"Soon." Bailey answered vaguely, causing Sarah to giggle beside him.

"Where'd you learn this infamous story?" Will asked inquisitively.

"From a friend. He told me that his friend told him, and tshe knew the story because it actually happened to her." Bailey replied.

"So it's like, a real ghost story?" Chloe asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, right." Zoey snorted.

"Hey, believe what you want, but Ryan says that Mira swears it's all true." Bailey shrugged. "I think it's not a bad story myself."

"Tell us!" Molly playfully commanded. "Or I'll put a curse on you!"

"Do gypsies know curses?" Alma wondered.

Molly shrugged. "I don't know. Do they?"

"I think demon riders know some pretty sick curses." Bailey gloated.

"Oh, you would know because you've met a demon rider before." Molly retorted.

"I have, actually. I've fought against them, too." Bailey flashed them a smirk.

Alma leaned closer to Molly. "You kind of had that one coming." She whispered to her friend.

"Yeah, I know." Molly sighed.

"Tell us the story, Bailey!" Zoey exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Yeah, come on, Bailey!" Chloe agreed eagerly.

"Just tell us, Bail." Will said calmly, smiling with amusement.

"Okay, okay." Bailey said with a laugh. The others exchanged excited glances and settled themselves in the saddle, ready to hang on to Bailey's every word, and though the riders didn't realize it, the horses were listening intently, too.


"How do you want me to say this? I'm. Not. TEENY!" Angora howled. She was utterly enraged. Nobody seemed to be able to see who she was for what she was, and it was scaring her. She didn't want to be anything other than a cat, especially not a pig! But if others saw a pig when you were a cat, what did that make you? She didn't even want to think about it.

"Teeny," Shep sighed. "I think this joke has gone on long enough."

"It's not a joke!" Angora roared in his ear, causing him to wince at the volume and pitch of her voice. "Do I look like I'm laughing to you?"

Shep looked annoyed. "You look like Teeny to me."

"Then you are blind, you flea-ridden sheep!" Angora snapped.

"Sheepdog." Shep corrected her.

"I can see you're a sheepdog! So why can't you see I'm a cat?" Angora yowled.

Shep shook his head then suggested calmly, "There's a mirror up at the house. Why don't you go look in the mirror and see for yourself?"

"Fine, but you're coming with me as a witness." Angora barked.

The sheepdog nodded compliantly and followed his friend towards the house. He walked behind her so that she couldn't see the grin that was he was struggling to keep off his face.


Angora has identity issues. Those are scary, let me tell you.

Riding sidesaddle is really, really hard.

Alma's scared.

Bailey, just tell them the stupid story already so I can stop worrying about whether or not it actually will be scary. Because it won't be.

I hate this chapter. I really do. But here's the deal: I was going to just post the chapter with the story on Halloween but then I realized I needed at least one more chapter before Bailey shares the story so I kind of whipped this up. It's honestly really bad and I'm not at all proud of it.

But the good news is, the story's almost over! Or is that bad news? I really don't know. One, maybe two more chapters! I'm trying to time it so that either I post the chapter where Bailey tells the scary story on Halloween or I finish the entire story on Halloween.

So that's my rant. Please review! But please, no flames and be nice. I know this chapter is bad.

-Ro