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Description
As the night shifted over the land and the only light being from the moon and torches lighting the path, this particular autumn night on the tundra was quite the unnerving one. As the wind crept along the land that stretched before it, Primbee felt herself give a weak shutter. Normally, the wind would help to ease her troubled mind but on this particular night, it only put her further on edge.
Leaning down to place her head against Genevieve's shoulder, she had to take a few breaths to ease her troubled nerves and the grunt from the seal/tawny chimeric tokota made her look around to see the female was watching her with gentle eyes.
"I am okay, I am, truly." Primbee said as she sat back up and offered her a gentle smile but she didn't seem to buy this and she proceeded to nuzzle at Prim’s foot to try and comfort her further. This did help Primbee and moving a strand of hair behind her ear, she patted her maned neck. "Thanks honey, I needed that." Primbee said as she released a breath she had been holding in sense they had arrived at this place. Before them stretched a line. A line that was at the entrance of none other than the Haunted Ride. It had been the talk of the land for about a month before it even officially opened and at the moment, Primbee could not fully bring herself to a reason why she was truly here other than Annabelle had suggested it and the next thing the now seventeen year old handler knew was she was on the back of Genevieve, waiting for her and Annabelle's turn to go in. Upon their tokotas, they were going as a twosome team and Primbee could only hope that would ease the fear she felt once it got started, but something deep down was demanding that she should just turn around and go.
Not to mention that Gen wasn’t exactly her most bullet proof tokota, but after parting with her beloved Shades ‘N’ Spades, Primbee could not think of any other tokota than the chimeric female to take on this taunted horrific trail.
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Feeling her handler's negative energy, the tokota beneath Primbee started to shuffle back and forth on her paws as the negativity did not help to calm Genevieve’s own nerves. Blue eyes ran over the sights of the candle-lite pumpkins and lanterns lighting the way and as the line got ever shorter, she could pick up the sour tang of Primbee's fear scent getting ever stronger, which made Genevieve grunt in distress but also a small glimmer of boldness sparked as the tokota felt the sudden need to protect her handler from whatever awaited them. No harm would come to her handler, not if she had anything to say about it.
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Teeth chattered out of fear more than anything as the line thinned and as Primbee stared at the entrance of the forest that was the first part of the ride, she gripped the reins of the tokota. Before them, a man dressed in a clown costume came before them and ran a hand over Genevieve’s side. The tokota let out a small grunt of distress and lunged herself back and away from the touch, her small growls echoing out of her throat but Primbee knew this was out of fear more than anything. Quickly though, Primbee was fast to react and started to coo softly to the female before she turned tensely to clown. "Do not do that." She pretty much snapped. “Don’t you think you need to ask the owners before you touch their tokotas!?” Primbee didn’t mean to loss her cool but damn! This guy should ask before touching a tokota! He was lucky Genevieve was more timid than her sire, for if it had been Blizzard she was upon, the clown would of lost his hand to the tokota’s rage!
"I apologize ma’am, I did not realize how sensitive your mount was…. I will make sure to take your advice from now on... But it is procedure miss, to make sure that the tokota is in the correct shape to enter the trail ride. We don’t want any injuries…”
Primbee glared at him quietly before giving a short bob of her head in understanding and turning her gaze away. There was something about the way he talked... It was disturbing... Or maybe the eerie night was just starting to attack her brain as well as her nerves now. Or maybe he was just not in her good book now because he had scared poor Genevieve. “Shhh… There girl…. Breath, breath…” Primbee stated, running her hand between the tokota’s flattened ears. The chimeric female shook like crazy, but as her handler took charge to calm her nerves, Gen started to relax until she finally was once again stable on her own paws.
Watching this, the clown seemed quite interested. “She is chimeric?”
Primbee nodded.
“Wow… What I would kill to get a tokota like that. That is a lovely mount, miss, and in that Eeoyer costume is quite cute. Oh and nice to see you too, piglet.”
Refusing to look back at him, Primbee gripped the reins even further but couldn’t help but smile a tiny bit. "Thank you..." Her voice was probably not as tense as she had wanted it to be, but she didn’t care at the moment. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the clown move off to the two right behind them, Anna and Palace.

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Annabelle wasn't so scared. She loved scary things and she was extremely excited for this! She has brought along Palace, the curly mane wasn't exactly bomb proof in terms of spooking and being generally stubborn but she hadn't wanted to bring Hawthorne. He was old now and she didn't want to scare him too bad. Plus it would be good for Palace to do this, maybe if she was a red enough she would happily plod through mud to get out and then it would teach her she didn't need to be so picky about where she put her paws.
~~~
She looked down as the man came over to examine Palace, who held her head higher to look more impressive and show off her looks.
The man laughed lightly "Well, she sure looks like she knows she's pretty" he commented
Annabelle laughed "Yeah! She likes to show off" she replied. When he was done checking she looked toward the trail's start and smiled. They were next.
~~~
She nudged Palace toward the start of the trail, having to fight with her a bit to get her started down the narrow path but she finally got her going.
~~~
The forest was dark, lit only by the moon and the occasional torch. It was eerily quiet and nothing had happened yet. Annabelle looked over her shoulder at prim with a wide smile before facing forward again. This was her first time celebrating tokoween, she was so pumped up for--oh holy crap!
Something dark and fast had rushed by in the trees. Palace had noticed too as she stopped walking to look where the shape darted past them. Slowly she began walking again. Annabelle could feel her heart beating faster, a scare must be near now

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Watching as the clown examined Palace, Primbee could not help but giggle a tiny bit at the cocky curly's personality. She was so much like her mother that Primbee swore she was staring at Goddess, not Palace. The little curly was definitely not one that would be easily put down about her looks and as the clown had a small conversation with Annabelle, Prim felt a small pang of guilt. She shouldn't have been so cruel to the man. He was only doing his job... But she couldn't help it... She was on edge.
The second the clown moved away from Palace and Annabelle, Primbee felt her heart sink and she turned to the entrance of the ride as the sights of the ones before them went out of sight. The sounds of the clock ticking down the time Prim and Anna had to wait was agonizing to the blonde and she bit down hard on her lower lip, causing herself to taste iron-like taste from the beads of blood she drew. When the buzzer went off, Primbee felt like a robot as she urged Genevieve forward and onto the trail.
Silence..... That was the first thing that Primbee fully registered in her mind as they went out of view of the starting line and as she trailed her eyes over the shapes and shadows, she could feel herself shaking. Below her, Genevieve seemed to be as terrified as her, but the tokota seemed to be trying to act brave by letting out small growls. Probably for Primbee’s sake... The tokota's small growls could be heard rumbling through the silence and seemed to penetrate the blanket of quiet thrust upon them.
Then Anna and Palace stopped and coming to a halt, Gen’s eyes darted to the place they had been staring at. A whine started to shake through the growls and under Primbee, the tokota started to shake like she had just crawled out of an ice river. Taking a hand and stroking her head, Primbee felt the tokota slowly calm once again, but not fully this time. Her body shook still and she turned her stunning eyes on Primbee as if questioning her handler what to do now. Giving a shaky smile, Primbee sat up and addressed Anna.
"W-W-What did you see....? W-W-What is out there?" Primbee tried to make her voice calm for the sake of her tokota, but it shook like she might as wel not even try. She wanted to stop this ride all together and just go back to camp... But she didn't want to seem like a coward to her best friend.. She would just have to suck it up.

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"I don't know it was going too fast" Annabelle replied, her voice steady. She got Palace to start walking along the trail again. Just as she was starting to calm from the creepy shadow stalking about it popped out into the path. Palace spooked worse than any tokota Annabelle had ever been on during such a reaction. The curly mane whipped around so fast that Annabelle slid off to one side, her foot caught in her sturrip as palace took off running "Palace!" She shrieked, reaching up to try and tug her foot free while she was dragged through the mud and puddles over the ground. She finally got herself loose and sat up with a wince.
Palace had stopped running when 'the scary thing' was no longer 'chasing her'. She walked back to Annabelle, chuffing an apology now that she realized it had just been her handler she was dragging all that way. She was almost worried enough to not be disgusted by the mud caking her paws and legs.
Annabelle patted palace "You're getting so much work done on desensitizing when we get home..." She mumbled, using the tokota to pull herself up to her feet again so she could get back on. Once back in the saddle she looked around for their partners. She really hopped Genevieve hadn't spooked like palace did.

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"O-Oh... O-O-Okay..." Primbee whined out, giving Gen a low whistle before turning her after their companions and practicing taking deep breaths to calm herself. It would not be good if she got to worked up in a place like this.
Just when Primbee was starting to relax once again, it happened. The thing lunged from the shadows and onto their intended trail. Primbee screamed and Genevieve jumped back with a howl of terror that almost sent Primbee crumbling to the ground but she dug her feet into the sides of the tokota and pulled on the reins. “Hey Now! Genevieve!” With this effort, it made the chimeric female fall back down and after prancing back and forth in horror, Primbee finally got her under control. Looking around, Primbee looked around for the signs of their companions but didn’t see either handler or tokota. Horrified and shaky from the first scare, Primbee was slower to react as she registered that they were alone and then her eyes darted over the path before them. The drag marks were so clear that they might as well be spot lights and as it registered within Primbee’s mind, fear for her friend sprung to mind. Bending down, Primbee let out a high pitched whistle and urged Genevieve to a run. “Go girl, go!” She exclaimed, and while Genevieve was still shook from the events, she caught the urgent tone of her handler and pushed her own nerves aside to spring into a run down the path.
"Anna!?!" She screamed, her voice echoing through the forest and bouncing back to her as they tore through the forest at large. They passed a few things, most being scares but at the speed the tokota and handler were going, didn't have time to do any sort of action. By the time they came up upon Anna and Palace, they were more than half way through the forest.
"Are you okay!?" Primbee demanded, her eyes darting over her friend as Genevieve came to screeching halt beside Palace and was instantly sniffing at the younger female’s face before she nuzzled the other tokota. While Gen was a scaredy cat herself, she could tell that the younger female was shook up and Genevieve knew it was right to put herself aside and comfort the other tokota.

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Annabelle nodded "Yeah I'm good, I mean I think my back is scraped up but other than that I'm alright" she said. "I didn't expect that out of her, she's always seemed like she wouldn't be too spooky any other time I've ridden her" she laughed lightly "Oh well, guess you gotta fall sometimes, right?"
Palace rested her cheek against Genevieve's shoulder, acting more pathetic now because it was going to get her attention if she was still afraid of the thing that had jumped out and sent her running

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Eyeing the other girl, Primbee ran her eyes over Annabelle's back as she mentioned that her back was possibly of injury. "Do you want to stop? I am sure we can stop one of the workers if they see that you are injured..." Primbee stated, "And maybe we just rushed her? I know where she hasn't been in any major events like this before, it may have not been the best move. But I guess you are right..." Primbee wasn't as relaxed as Annabelle at this moment, more concerned for the other's wellbeing than anything. If this was just the beginning, who knew what could happen if a freakier scare decided to pop up. Palace could freak out worse than she already had.
Glancing down at the curly mane, the blonde haired gal came to realize that the young tokota looked pretty shaken up still. "...She looks pretty bad... Maybe we can trade tokotas for a little bit? I mean Genevieve isn’t in much better shape after that first scare but she seems a bit more stable than Palace... Just so you two can both relax from one another. If not, that is okay... Just a suggestion." Primbee stated, not wanting to come off as offense to her best friend in any way...
Gen just nuzzled the female, having a feeling that she was just milking it now but she would remain quiet and let the handlers decide what to do.

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Annabelle shrugged "I want to finish, plus I'd hate you to be on her if she freaks again. I don't want you to get hurt" she said, patting Palace's shoulder. "I'll keep her back behind Gen now if that's okay, maybe she won't be so opt to take flight if she's not the leader. She didn't get that from Hawthorne, she's not the leader type of Tokota"

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Primbee bit her already sore lower lip before she gave a small exhale. “Okay…” She said, frowning down at the two tokotas. She didn’t want to freak Annabelle out by saying how badly Genevieve had reacted as well, but maybe, just maybe, with Primbee’s encouragement, she could get her chimeric female to keep a level head for all four of their sakes. Moving her gaze back to Annabelle, Primbee gave a small nod of her head. “Okay, let’s go.” She said, pulling on the reins lightly of the blue donkey costumed tokota to move Genevieve away from Palace. “…You gotta be as brave as you can, Gen… Please, try…” Primbee whispered to her tokota, watching Gen’s ears flick and quiver under the costume ears before she picked her head up and gave a small snort. While it was still not a stance of a fearless tokota, it was better than her dragging look.
As they moved along the forest, the trees started to thin out and just as they turned a corner into the last stretch of the forest before the corn maze, Primbee spotted the thing before it swung down. The streak from the recorder located in the stuffed banshee’s throat came and Genevieve let out a high pitched whimper. In an instant, she was backing up and letting out cries of fear before she suddenly seemed to regain herself and with a grunt, she stared at the thing as it swung there before she gave a growl and started forward. Primbee could feel her shaking, but the tokota was trying her hardest not the show her fear as she walked past the swaying prop. Oh how life-like it looked for being stuffed and if Primbee had not spotted the wire holding it to the tree, she may have just thought it was real.

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Palace spooked again but this time she only stutter stepped with a squeal of fear. She pinned her ears in an almost offended way as she skittishly walked past the prop, daring to growl at it as she went by.
Annabelle breathed a sigh of relief, this seemed to be working better already. She wished she would of taken Hawthorne now. Sure he was old and she hadn't wanted to stress him with jump scares but he'd be leading without issue and poor Gen could follow him without worry. This just meant they'd have to make sure to take extra good care of the girls after this ride to let them know they had done well.
Her attention shifted back to the corn around them. It was eerily quiet now and a fog had rolled over the land.

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As they entered the second stretch of the trail, Primbee could already feel herself starting to regain her courage, even sitting up in the saddle further and smiling a bit as Genevieve trotted at a swift pace along. This was actually pretty fun once you got used to it—She screamed in terror as something suddenly sprung from the ground, the skelety hand even snatching at her shoe. She caught sight of what looked to be a crawler zombie laying there and it seemed that just then, Genevieve seen it as well. This seemed to ruin what little courage the tokota had developed in the last few minutes and springing into a run, she was off.
“Aaaaaahhh!” Primbee’s yell echoed as the blue and pink blur sped along until she finally got the tokota to relax enough to slow down. By the time she got her tokota to calm down, she realized they were lost within the maze. “Aww great…” She grumbled, her gaze turning about as she heard what sounded like paw steps… Oh how she hoped that was Annabelle ontop of Palace…

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Annabelle had seen this all happen before Palace whipped around and jumped straight up. Annabelle stayed on easily, she was used to that when ever she rode Sanisty or Tiny Dancer, those two were rather notorious for throwing fits, Sanisty because he got mad and Tiny Dancer because she was skittish about everything. She pulled the curly mane's head around to send her into a circle until she listened and stopped moving her feet to stand still. "Good girl" she praised, nudging the tokota forward past the zombie. After that she was able to get her into a slow lope, searching for Primbee and Genevieve. "Prim!" She called, standing in her sturrips more to try and see over the corn.
Soon enough they came around a bend in the maze and came face to face with the other team. Palace snorted in shock, spooking a little bit at the sudden appearance of the other two.
"Are you guys okay!?" Annabelle asked

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“Anna…?” Primbee called out as the paw steps seemed to get closer and then they suddenly stopped. Something deep down automatically told the blonde it was not Annabelle riding Palace and turning Genevieve around, she urged her into a walk. With Anna, Primbee was able to just keep reminding herself this was all a prank but now that they were alone… She wasn’t so sure… It all seemed so dang real! The sound of the paw steps got even more obvious and Primbee found herself looking over her shoulder and urging Gen to pick up the pace each time it seemed the paw steps got to close.
Than Genevieve turned a corner and yelped, which caused Primbee to swirl around and scream… Hand slamming over her mouth at the realization of who it was. She stared at Anna and Palace in shocked silence for a good few minutes before she lowered her hand and giggled a tiny bit.
“…Yeah, we are okay… Just freaked out, that is all. You know? I am pretty sure this is the last thing I will let you talk me into doing for a whole year!” Primbee exclaimed, but the glinting in her blue eyes showed that she was only messing with her best friend.
“Now, lets go before mine and Genevieve’s creepy stalker comes back… Uh… No time to explain. If he or she comes back, you’ll understand.” Primbee stated before turning Genevieve around and screaming bloody murder at the tokota staring at them from at the end of the maze’s hall. The tokota was covered in blood and its head was tilted, his unblinking eyes locked on them. “Okay, that is a bit to realistic!” Primbee complained, pulling on the reins and Genevieve started to back up with small snorts of displeasure.

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Annabelle giggled at Primbee's explanation but her relief was short lived when the bloody tokota showed up. "Holy crap..." She breathed
Palace snarled, pinning her ears at the figure. She had come to the conclusion that she was muddy, sweaty, and tired and wanted nothing more than to exit the maze and get a bath. This tokota was not going to keep her from getting clean again! She stalked closer, her fur raised threateningly
Annabelle tried to pull her back, only getting her mount to stop a few yards away from the new scare

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Primbee’s mouth dropped a bit as Palace started to move forward. What the heck was she thinking? “Uh, Anna, get control of her!” Primbee gasped out. Last thing they needed was one of their tokotas to attack one of the scares and cause them a bunch of sueing!
Prim watched as the younger curly female came quite close to the scare before Anna could get her to stop. Primbee held her breath as the bloody tokota focused on Anna and Palace before letting out a terrifying snarl and rushing towards them. Primbee let out a squeal of terror and forced Genevieve into a run. This wasn’t right! They weren’t supposed to really attack! But just as Primbee charged forward, she spotted the tokota suddenly start off down a new path and her eye widened further before she pulled on Gen to get her to come to a halt.
"Gah!... That was... Intense... Are you two okay?" She said as she had Gen walk slowly towards the other two.

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Annabelle was shocked. "Yeah, we're okay--" she nearly fell off backward as Palace started walking quickly again. "Oh! She must know I'll give her a bath when this is over!" Annabelle laughed
Palace kept going along, her ears half pinned as if daring the face to throw something else in the way of her and her bath

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Following at a slower pace, Primbee could fell the wear of the night starting to reflect on her. It was late and after all the scares and jumps as well as all the crazy stuff that had happened, she was ready to call it a night at their rented hotel in the town… But before she could do that, they still had to find their way out of this maze and then had to tackle the crazy cave…
Oh please… Don’t let it be as crazy as everything else has been… Primbee thought with a low groan, even laying her head down on Genevieve’s neck.
~~~~~~~
With her handler laying down, Genevieve just simply followed after Annabelle and Palace. A few more scares came about, but she tried to keep herself calm as to not disturb the now lightly slumbering Primbee on her back.

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Annabelle was having a good time again, squealing at each scare. Soon enough they'd come out at the end and got their finish time. "We did it!" She looked back at Prim, only now realizing she was asleep. "Seriously? You were sleeping through the cave?" She laughed

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As they finally drew to the exit, Genevieve let her muscle relax and she even allowed her tongue to roll out as she panted. They were finally done with that insane thing! And to boot, Annabelle looked to have enjoyed herself completely while Primbee seemed to have sound a remedy to her freaked out nerves. As they crossed the finish line and Annabelle turned to her handler, Gen gave a small chuff and turned her head around to nuzzle at Primbee’s foot. This got the handler to sit up swiftly and look around wildly.
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“I’m awake! I’m awake!” Primbee exclaimed, sitting up quickly only to blink in confusion at the sight of tokotas and handlers now bustling around them. “Uh?.... Did I sleep through the rest of the ride?” Her face grew red with embracement and seemed to match her piglet outfit now through and through….

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Annabelle laughed "You did! You slept through it all and it was loud in there when ever someone jumped out and yelled!" She got off of Palace, lightly smacking her nose when the tokota pushed her "Palace, no be nice" she scolded gently. "Come on then, I think Palace is going to murder me in my sleep if I don't go and get her clean right now”

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Primbee shrugged a tiny bit at this, trying to control the embarrassed blush on her face. "I just guess I was tired. After all, we did have an eventful beginning before our girls got used to the maze." She defended herself but grinned all the same. "Okay, and think Genevieve deserves a nice steaming dish of elk meat after this as well as a warm stall to call the night in... Actually, I think that goes for both of us. Except I prefer a mattress to a stall." She chuckled, slipping off her tokota and with a smile at Anna, she held the way from the ride.

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Annabelle lead her tokota to the barn, putting her in a wash stall to clean her up before she got a stall ready to leave her for the night. Lastly she helped Primbee get the girls' food all ready

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Getting back to the temporary stalls, Primbee went about taking off the now muddy Eorie costume from Genevieve and brushing her down with a soft brush. This soothing, massaging rhythm helped the tokota’s nerves calm down and she even started to let her head droop, obviously tired now that he body was able to relax after the night it had went through.
Smiling gently at this, Primbee finished up the brushing and led Genevieve into her stall, making sure that the fur matt on the ground was spread out so that Gen could lay down. Then stepping out of the stall, Primbee proceeded to sit down and make up some elk and berry mix for the tokotas with Anna. She smiled sleepily at the other girl before getting back up and moving to give Genevieve her ration. She had to gently wake the tokota and place the bowl before her so that Genevieve could eat without moving a lot. Once Gen was done eating, Primbee took the bowl and placed a light kiss on the female chimeric’s nose. “Night, Eve.” She whispered gently, getting a sleepy chuff in return that she knew was Genevieve’s way of saying goodnight to her as well. Standing up, Primbee exited the stall for the last time this night. Taking the bowl and slipping it into a bucket of water so it could soak, she waited patiently for Annabelle to finish feeding Palace before heading away from the rental stall barn and to the small inn they were staying the night in. Checking in, they traveled down the halls until they finally discovered their rooms, both side-by-side. Turning to Anna, Primbee gave her sleepy grin.
“Night, Anna. Sweet dreams.” Primbee mumbled, hearing the other girl say something similar but he mind was so set on the mattress located in her room that she didn’t really hear exactly what Anna said to her.
Prim slipped into her own room. She didn’t bother turning on the lights, rather feeling her way to the bed before stripping from her Piglet costume and collapsing onto the bed. She would take a bath and eat and all that stuff in the morning. For now, all she wanted to do was sleep. And sleep the young handler did.
Word Count: 5011

Description
As the night shifted over the land and the only light being from the moon and torches lighting the path, this particular autumn night on the tundra was quite the unnerving one. As the wind crept along the land that stretched before it, Primbee felt herself give a weak shutter. Normally, the wind would help to ease her troubled mind but on this particular night, it only put her further on edge.
Leaning down to place her head against Genevieve's shoulder, she had to take a few breaths to ease her troubled nerves and the grunt from the seal/tawny chimeric tokota made her look around to see the female was watching her with gentle eyes.
"I am okay, I am, truly." Primbee said as she sat back up and offered her a gentle smile but she didn't seem to buy this and she proceeded to nuzzle at Prim’s foot to try and comfort her further. This did help Primbee and moving a strand of hair behind her ear, she patted her maned neck. "Thanks honey, I needed that." Primbee said as she released a breath she had been holding in sense they had arrived at this place. Before them stretched a line. A line that was at the entrance of none other than the Haunted Ride. It had been the talk of the land for about a month before it even officially opened and at the moment, Primbee could not fully bring herself to a reason why she was truly here other than Annabelle had suggested it and the next thing the now seventeen year old handler knew was she was on the back of Genevieve, waiting for her and Annabelle's turn to go in. Upon their tokotas, they were going as a twosome team and Primbee could only hope that would ease the fear she felt once it got started, but something deep down was demanding that she should just turn around and go.
Not to mention that Gen wasn’t exactly her most bullet proof tokota, but after parting with her beloved Shades ‘N’ Spades, Primbee could not think of any other tokota than the chimeric female to take on this taunted horrific trail.
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Feeling her handler's negative energy, the tokota beneath Primbee started to shuffle back and forth on her paws as the negativity did not help to calm Genevieve’s own nerves. Blue eyes ran over the sights of the candle-lite pumpkins and lanterns lighting the way and as the line got ever shorter, she could pick up the sour tang of Primbee's fear scent getting ever stronger, which made Genevieve grunt in distress but also a small glimmer of boldness sparked as the tokota felt the sudden need to protect her handler from whatever awaited them. No harm would come to her handler, not if she had anything to say about it.
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Teeth chattered out of fear more than anything as the line thinned and as Primbee stared at the entrance of the forest that was the first part of the ride, she gripped the reins of the tokota. Before them, a man dressed in a clown costume came before them and ran a hand over Genevieve’s side. The tokota let out a small grunt of distress and lunged herself back and away from the touch, her small growls echoing out of her throat but Primbee knew this was out of fear more than anything. Quickly though, Primbee was fast to react and started to coo softly to the female before she turned tensely to clown. "Do not do that." She pretty much snapped. “Don’t you think you need to ask the owners before you touch their tokotas!?” Primbee didn’t mean to loss her cool but damn! This guy should ask before touching a tokota! He was lucky Genevieve was more timid than her sire, for if it had been Blizzard she was upon, the clown would of lost his hand to the tokota’s rage!
"I apologize ma’am, I did not realize how sensitive your mount was…. I will make sure to take your advice from now on... But it is procedure miss, to make sure that the tokota is in the correct shape to enter the trail ride. We don’t want any injuries…”
Primbee glared at him quietly before giving a short bob of her head in understanding and turning her gaze away. There was something about the way he talked... It was disturbing... Or maybe the eerie night was just starting to attack her brain as well as her nerves now. Or maybe he was just not in her good book now because he had scared poor Genevieve. “Shhh… There girl…. Breath, breath…” Primbee stated, running her hand between the tokota’s flattened ears. The chimeric female shook like crazy, but as her handler took charge to calm her nerves, Gen started to relax until she finally was once again stable on her own paws.
Watching this, the clown seemed quite interested. “She is chimeric?”
Primbee nodded.
“Wow… What I would kill to get a tokota like that. That is a lovely mount, miss, and in that Eeoyer costume is quite cute. Oh and nice to see you too, piglet.”
Refusing to look back at him, Primbee gripped the reins even further but couldn’t help but smile a tiny bit. "Thank you..." Her voice was probably not as tense as she had wanted it to be, but she didn’t care at the moment. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the clown move off to the two right behind them, Anna and Palace.

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Annabelle wasn't so scared. She loved scary things and she was extremely excited for this! She has brought along Palace, the curly mane wasn't exactly bomb proof in terms of spooking and being generally stubborn but she hadn't wanted to bring Hawthorne. He was old now and she didn't want to scare him too bad. Plus it would be good for Palace to do this, maybe if she was a red enough she would happily plod through mud to get out and then it would teach her she didn't need to be so picky about where she put her paws.
~~~
She looked down as the man came over to examine Palace, who held her head higher to look more impressive and show off her looks.
The man laughed lightly "Well, she sure looks like she knows she's pretty" he commented
Annabelle laughed "Yeah! She likes to show off" she replied. When he was done checking she looked toward the trail's start and smiled. They were next.
~~~
She nudged Palace toward the start of the trail, having to fight with her a bit to get her started down the narrow path but she finally got her going.
~~~
The forest was dark, lit only by the moon and the occasional torch. It was eerily quiet and nothing had happened yet. Annabelle looked over her shoulder at prim with a wide smile before facing forward again. This was her first time celebrating tokoween, she was so pumped up for--oh holy crap!
Something dark and fast had rushed by in the trees. Palace had noticed too as she stopped walking to look where the shape darted past them. Slowly she began walking again. Annabelle could feel her heart beating faster, a scare must be near now

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Watching as the clown examined Palace, Primbee could not help but giggle a tiny bit at the cocky curly's personality. She was so much like her mother that Primbee swore she was staring at Goddess, not Palace. The little curly was definitely not one that would be easily put down about her looks and as the clown had a small conversation with Annabelle, Prim felt a small pang of guilt. She shouldn't have been so cruel to the man. He was only doing his job... But she couldn't help it... She was on edge.
The second the clown moved away from Palace and Annabelle, Primbee felt her heart sink and she turned to the entrance of the ride as the sights of the ones before them went out of sight. The sounds of the clock ticking down the time Prim and Anna had to wait was agonizing to the blonde and she bit down hard on her lower lip, causing herself to taste iron-like taste from the beads of blood she drew. When the buzzer went off, Primbee felt like a robot as she urged Genevieve forward and onto the trail.
Silence..... That was the first thing that Primbee fully registered in her mind as they went out of view of the starting line and as she trailed her eyes over the shapes and shadows, she could feel herself shaking. Below her, Genevieve seemed to be as terrified as her, but the tokota seemed to be trying to act brave by letting out small growls. Probably for Primbee’s sake... The tokota's small growls could be heard rumbling through the silence and seemed to penetrate the blanket of quiet thrust upon them.
Then Anna and Palace stopped and coming to a halt, Gen’s eyes darted to the place they had been staring at. A whine started to shake through the growls and under Primbee, the tokota started to shake like she had just crawled out of an ice river. Taking a hand and stroking her head, Primbee felt the tokota slowly calm once again, but not fully this time. Her body shook still and she turned her stunning eyes on Primbee as if questioning her handler what to do now. Giving a shaky smile, Primbee sat up and addressed Anna.
"W-W-What did you see....? W-W-What is out there?" Primbee tried to make her voice calm for the sake of her tokota, but it shook like she might as wel not even try. She wanted to stop this ride all together and just go back to camp... But she didn't want to seem like a coward to her best friend.. She would just have to suck it up.

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"I don't know it was going too fast" Annabelle replied, her voice steady. She got Palace to start walking along the trail again. Just as she was starting to calm from the creepy shadow stalking about it popped out into the path. Palace spooked worse than any tokota Annabelle had ever been on during such a reaction. The curly mane whipped around so fast that Annabelle slid off to one side, her foot caught in her sturrip as palace took off running "Palace!" She shrieked, reaching up to try and tug her foot free while she was dragged through the mud and puddles over the ground. She finally got herself loose and sat up with a wince.
Palace had stopped running when 'the scary thing' was no longer 'chasing her'. She walked back to Annabelle, chuffing an apology now that she realized it had just been her handler she was dragging all that way. She was almost worried enough to not be disgusted by the mud caking her paws and legs.
Annabelle patted palace "You're getting so much work done on desensitizing when we get home..." She mumbled, using the tokota to pull herself up to her feet again so she could get back on. Once back in the saddle she looked around for their partners. She really hopped Genevieve hadn't spooked like palace did.

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"O-Oh... O-O-Okay..." Primbee whined out, giving Gen a low whistle before turning her after their companions and practicing taking deep breaths to calm herself. It would not be good if she got to worked up in a place like this.
Just when Primbee was starting to relax once again, it happened. The thing lunged from the shadows and onto their intended trail. Primbee screamed and Genevieve jumped back with a howl of terror that almost sent Primbee crumbling to the ground but she dug her feet into the sides of the tokota and pulled on the reins. “Hey Now! Genevieve!” With this effort, it made the chimeric female fall back down and after prancing back and forth in horror, Primbee finally got her under control. Looking around, Primbee looked around for the signs of their companions but didn’t see either handler or tokota. Horrified and shaky from the first scare, Primbee was slower to react as she registered that they were alone and then her eyes darted over the path before them. The drag marks were so clear that they might as well be spot lights and as it registered within Primbee’s mind, fear for her friend sprung to mind. Bending down, Primbee let out a high pitched whistle and urged Genevieve to a run. “Go girl, go!” She exclaimed, and while Genevieve was still shook from the events, she caught the urgent tone of her handler and pushed her own nerves aside to spring into a run down the path.
"Anna!?!" She screamed, her voice echoing through the forest and bouncing back to her as they tore through the forest at large. They passed a few things, most being scares but at the speed the tokota and handler were going, didn't have time to do any sort of action. By the time they came up upon Anna and Palace, they were more than half way through the forest.
"Are you okay!?" Primbee demanded, her eyes darting over her friend as Genevieve came to screeching halt beside Palace and was instantly sniffing at the younger female’s face before she nuzzled the other tokota. While Gen was a scaredy cat herself, she could tell that the younger female was shook up and Genevieve knew it was right to put herself aside and comfort the other tokota.

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Annabelle nodded "Yeah I'm good, I mean I think my back is scraped up but other than that I'm alright" she said. "I didn't expect that out of her, she's always seemed like she wouldn't be too spooky any other time I've ridden her" she laughed lightly "Oh well, guess you gotta fall sometimes, right?"
Palace rested her cheek against Genevieve's shoulder, acting more pathetic now because it was going to get her attention if she was still afraid of the thing that had jumped out and sent her running

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Eyeing the other girl, Primbee ran her eyes over Annabelle's back as she mentioned that her back was possibly of injury. "Do you want to stop? I am sure we can stop one of the workers if they see that you are injured..." Primbee stated, "And maybe we just rushed her? I know where she hasn't been in any major events like this before, it may have not been the best move. But I guess you are right..." Primbee wasn't as relaxed as Annabelle at this moment, more concerned for the other's wellbeing than anything. If this was just the beginning, who knew what could happen if a freakier scare decided to pop up. Palace could freak out worse than she already had.
Glancing down at the curly mane, the blonde haired gal came to realize that the young tokota looked pretty shaken up still. "...She looks pretty bad... Maybe we can trade tokotas for a little bit? I mean Genevieve isn’t in much better shape after that first scare but she seems a bit more stable than Palace... Just so you two can both relax from one another. If not, that is okay... Just a suggestion." Primbee stated, not wanting to come off as offense to her best friend in any way...
Gen just nuzzled the female, having a feeling that she was just milking it now but she would remain quiet and let the handlers decide what to do.

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Annabelle shrugged "I want to finish, plus I'd hate you to be on her if she freaks again. I don't want you to get hurt" she said, patting Palace's shoulder. "I'll keep her back behind Gen now if that's okay, maybe she won't be so opt to take flight if she's not the leader. She didn't get that from Hawthorne, she's not the leader type of Tokota"

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Primbee bit her already sore lower lip before she gave a small exhale. “Okay…” She said, frowning down at the two tokotas. She didn’t want to freak Annabelle out by saying how badly Genevieve had reacted as well, but maybe, just maybe, with Primbee’s encouragement, she could get her chimeric female to keep a level head for all four of their sakes. Moving her gaze back to Annabelle, Primbee gave a small nod of her head. “Okay, let’s go.” She said, pulling on the reins lightly of the blue donkey costumed tokota to move Genevieve away from Palace. “…You gotta be as brave as you can, Gen… Please, try…” Primbee whispered to her tokota, watching Gen’s ears flick and quiver under the costume ears before she picked her head up and gave a small snort. While it was still not a stance of a fearless tokota, it was better than her dragging look.
As they moved along the forest, the trees started to thin out and just as they turned a corner into the last stretch of the forest before the corn maze, Primbee spotted the thing before it swung down. The streak from the recorder located in the stuffed banshee’s throat came and Genevieve let out a high pitched whimper. In an instant, she was backing up and letting out cries of fear before she suddenly seemed to regain herself and with a grunt, she stared at the thing as it swung there before she gave a growl and started forward. Primbee could feel her shaking, but the tokota was trying her hardest not the show her fear as she walked past the swaying prop. Oh how life-like it looked for being stuffed and if Primbee had not spotted the wire holding it to the tree, she may have just thought it was real.

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Palace spooked again but this time she only stutter stepped with a squeal of fear. She pinned her ears in an almost offended way as she skittishly walked past the prop, daring to growl at it as she went by.
Annabelle breathed a sigh of relief, this seemed to be working better already. She wished she would of taken Hawthorne now. Sure he was old and she hadn't wanted to stress him with jump scares but he'd be leading without issue and poor Gen could follow him without worry. This just meant they'd have to make sure to take extra good care of the girls after this ride to let them know they had done well.
Her attention shifted back to the corn around them. It was eerily quiet now and a fog had rolled over the land.

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As they entered the second stretch of the trail, Primbee could already feel herself starting to regain her courage, even sitting up in the saddle further and smiling a bit as Genevieve trotted at a swift pace along. This was actually pretty fun once you got used to it—She screamed in terror as something suddenly sprung from the ground, the skelety hand even snatching at her shoe. She caught sight of what looked to be a crawler zombie laying there and it seemed that just then, Genevieve seen it as well. This seemed to ruin what little courage the tokota had developed in the last few minutes and springing into a run, she was off.
“Aaaaaahhh!” Primbee’s yell echoed as the blue and pink blur sped along until she finally got the tokota to relax enough to slow down. By the time she got her tokota to calm down, she realized they were lost within the maze. “Aww great…” She grumbled, her gaze turning about as she heard what sounded like paw steps… Oh how she hoped that was Annabelle ontop of Palace…

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Annabelle had seen this all happen before Palace whipped around and jumped straight up. Annabelle stayed on easily, she was used to that when ever she rode Sanisty or Tiny Dancer, those two were rather notorious for throwing fits, Sanisty because he got mad and Tiny Dancer because she was skittish about everything. She pulled the curly mane's head around to send her into a circle until she listened and stopped moving her feet to stand still. "Good girl" she praised, nudging the tokota forward past the zombie. After that she was able to get her into a slow lope, searching for Primbee and Genevieve. "Prim!" She called, standing in her sturrips more to try and see over the corn.
Soon enough they came around a bend in the maze and came face to face with the other team. Palace snorted in shock, spooking a little bit at the sudden appearance of the other two.
"Are you guys okay!?" Annabelle asked

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“Anna…?” Primbee called out as the paw steps seemed to get closer and then they suddenly stopped. Something deep down automatically told the blonde it was not Annabelle riding Palace and turning Genevieve around, she urged her into a walk. With Anna, Primbee was able to just keep reminding herself this was all a prank but now that they were alone… She wasn’t so sure… It all seemed so dang real! The sound of the paw steps got even more obvious and Primbee found herself looking over her shoulder and urging Gen to pick up the pace each time it seemed the paw steps got to close.
Than Genevieve turned a corner and yelped, which caused Primbee to swirl around and scream… Hand slamming over her mouth at the realization of who it was. She stared at Anna and Palace in shocked silence for a good few minutes before she lowered her hand and giggled a tiny bit.
“…Yeah, we are okay… Just freaked out, that is all. You know? I am pretty sure this is the last thing I will let you talk me into doing for a whole year!” Primbee exclaimed, but the glinting in her blue eyes showed that she was only messing with her best friend.
“Now, lets go before mine and Genevieve’s creepy stalker comes back… Uh… No time to explain. If he or she comes back, you’ll understand.” Primbee stated before turning Genevieve around and screaming bloody murder at the tokota staring at them from at the end of the maze’s hall. The tokota was covered in blood and its head was tilted, his unblinking eyes locked on them. “Okay, that is a bit to realistic!” Primbee complained, pulling on the reins and Genevieve started to back up with small snorts of displeasure.

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Annabelle giggled at Primbee's explanation but her relief was short lived when the bloody tokota showed up. "Holy crap..." She breathed
Palace snarled, pinning her ears at the figure. She had come to the conclusion that she was muddy, sweaty, and tired and wanted nothing more than to exit the maze and get a bath. This tokota was not going to keep her from getting clean again! She stalked closer, her fur raised threateningly
Annabelle tried to pull her back, only getting her mount to stop a few yards away from the new scare

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Primbee’s mouth dropped a bit as Palace started to move forward. What the heck was she thinking? “Uh, Anna, get control of her!” Primbee gasped out. Last thing they needed was one of their tokotas to attack one of the scares and cause them a bunch of sueing!
Prim watched as the younger curly female came quite close to the scare before Anna could get her to stop. Primbee held her breath as the bloody tokota focused on Anna and Palace before letting out a terrifying snarl and rushing towards them. Primbee let out a squeal of terror and forced Genevieve into a run. This wasn’t right! They weren’t supposed to really attack! But just as Primbee charged forward, she spotted the tokota suddenly start off down a new path and her eye widened further before she pulled on Gen to get her to come to a halt.
"Gah!... That was... Intense... Are you two okay?" She said as she had Gen walk slowly towards the other two.

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Annabelle was shocked. "Yeah, we're okay--" she nearly fell off backward as Palace started walking quickly again. "Oh! She must know I'll give her a bath when this is over!" Annabelle laughed
Palace kept going along, her ears half pinned as if daring the face to throw something else in the way of her and her bath

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Following at a slower pace, Primbee could fell the wear of the night starting to reflect on her. It was late and after all the scares and jumps as well as all the crazy stuff that had happened, she was ready to call it a night at their rented hotel in the town… But before she could do that, they still had to find their way out of this maze and then had to tackle the crazy cave…
Oh please… Don’t let it be as crazy as everything else has been… Primbee thought with a low groan, even laying her head down on Genevieve’s neck.
~~~~~~~
With her handler laying down, Genevieve just simply followed after Annabelle and Palace. A few more scares came about, but she tried to keep herself calm as to not disturb the now lightly slumbering Primbee on her back.

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Annabelle was having a good time again, squealing at each scare. Soon enough they'd come out at the end and got their finish time. "We did it!" She looked back at Prim, only now realizing she was asleep. "Seriously? You were sleeping through the cave?" She laughed

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As they finally drew to the exit, Genevieve let her muscle relax and she even allowed her tongue to roll out as she panted. They were finally done with that insane thing! And to boot, Annabelle looked to have enjoyed herself completely while Primbee seemed to have sound a remedy to her freaked out nerves. As they crossed the finish line and Annabelle turned to her handler, Gen gave a small chuff and turned her head around to nuzzle at Primbee’s foot. This got the handler to sit up swiftly and look around wildly.
~~~~~~
“I’m awake! I’m awake!” Primbee exclaimed, sitting up quickly only to blink in confusion at the sight of tokotas and handlers now bustling around them. “Uh?.... Did I sleep through the rest of the ride?” Her face grew red with embracement and seemed to match her piglet outfit now through and through….

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Annabelle laughed "You did! You slept through it all and it was loud in there when ever someone jumped out and yelled!" She got off of Palace, lightly smacking her nose when the tokota pushed her "Palace, no be nice" she scolded gently. "Come on then, I think Palace is going to murder me in my sleep if I don't go and get her clean right now”

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Primbee shrugged a tiny bit at this, trying to control the embarrassed blush on her face. "I just guess I was tired. After all, we did have an eventful beginning before our girls got used to the maze." She defended herself but grinned all the same. "Okay, and think Genevieve deserves a nice steaming dish of elk meat after this as well as a warm stall to call the night in... Actually, I think that goes for both of us. Except I prefer a mattress to a stall." She chuckled, slipping off her tokota and with a smile at Anna, she held the way from the ride.

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Annabelle lead her tokota to the barn, putting her in a wash stall to clean her up before she got a stall ready to leave her for the night. Lastly she helped Primbee get the girls' food all ready

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Getting back to the temporary stalls, Primbee went about taking off the now muddy Eorie costume from Genevieve and brushing her down with a soft brush. This soothing, massaging rhythm helped the tokota’s nerves calm down and she even started to let her head droop, obviously tired now that he body was able to relax after the night it had went through.
Smiling gently at this, Primbee finished up the brushing and led Genevieve into her stall, making sure that the fur matt on the ground was spread out so that Gen could lay down. Then stepping out of the stall, Primbee proceeded to sit down and make up some elk and berry mix for the tokotas with Anna. She smiled sleepily at the other girl before getting back up and moving to give Genevieve her ration. She had to gently wake the tokota and place the bowl before her so that Genevieve could eat without moving a lot. Once Gen was done eating, Primbee took the bowl and placed a light kiss on the female chimeric’s nose. “Night, Eve.” She whispered gently, getting a sleepy chuff in return that she knew was Genevieve’s way of saying goodnight to her as well. Standing up, Primbee exited the stall for the last time this night. Taking the bowl and slipping it into a bucket of water so it could soak, she waited patiently for Annabelle to finish feeding Palace before heading away from the rental stall barn and to the small inn they were staying the night in. Checking in, they traveled down the halls until they finally discovered their rooms, both side-by-side. Turning to Anna, Primbee gave her sleepy grin.
“Night, Anna. Sweet dreams.” Primbee mumbled, hearing the other girl say something similar but he mind was so set on the mattress located in her room that she didn’t really hear exactly what Anna said to her.
Prim slipped into her own room. She didn’t bother turning on the lights, rather feeling her way to the bed before stripping from her Piglet costume and collapsing onto the bed. She would take a bath and eat and all that stuff in the morning. For now, all she wanted to do was sleep. And sleep the young handler did.
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