"Come on Ace," Sam begged as she tugged on the lead rope. He didn't budge. "I know it's dark and this place is unfamiliar, but it will just be for one night."

Ace suddenly lifted his head. His dark-pointed ears pointed in the direction of the corral he was being led to. Sam saw his body tremble with a nicker.

Up ahead, Jake was leading Chocolate Chip to the same corral. Ace had apparently made friends with him when they were on their way here. This time, he eagerly followed Sam.

"Thanks boy," Sam whispered in his ear.

Jake walked up to her after they both turned their horses out. "Hey brat, ready to see Witch?"

"More than ever," Sam replied sarcastically. Witch was already evil. If she was about to give birth tonight, she would probably be twice as mean. But Sam wanted so bad to see her have her first foal.

As soon as they walked into the barn, a horse let out an ear-piercing whinny and Sam heard something like a stall being kicked.

Of course, it was Witch.

"Poor girl, it's okay," Sam said as she walked over to the mare and began to try to reassure her some more, when the black mare pinned her ears flat on her head and tried to bite her.

Jake grabbed her arm.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, then sighed. "What did we just talk about on the ride over here?"

"Sorry..I'm just used to being able to go up to any horse at River Bend without them getting scared," Sam said, and looked down. Good going Sam, you just got here and you've already done something wrong.

Jake shook his head and went inside Witch's stall to check on her.

"You stay outside," Jake reminded her.

Sam nodded and backed away a few steps. There was nothing else she could do at the moment, so she just watched him.

He's right, Sam thought. Witch definitely is a one person horse. She actually looks relieved to see Jake.

"Everything looks fine," Jake said. He looked around. "I'll probably have to change her water a lot 'cause she gets really thirsty when she's nervous." Jake put his hand on her stomach.

"I can feel her moving around inside there."

The corner of his mouth went up a little. That usually meant the beginning of a smile.

He didn't have to say that last part out loud. He knew that would just make her want to go inside and feel the foal even more!

"Okay.. well I'm just gonna try get some sleep now..," Sam said as she walked toward her sleeping bag.

She looked down at her sleeping bag and groaned.

Okay..I know i might not be being fair..but why does he have to be so darn protective of me? I've known Witch for a long time and the worst thing that could happen is me getting bitten. I probably wouldn't even get bitten because i know to move away fast enough before she bites me!

"Do you wanna feel him?"

Jake looked at her, waiting for some kind of response. But Sam just stood there, looking at him shocked.

"Or her..," Jake added.

Wow. Was Jake actually being nice to her? Yes.

Sam ran back to Witch's stall. "Thank you so much Jake!" She said, choking him with a hug. "I'll be very careful around Witch, i promise."

Jake took her hand and put it on the mare's belly.

"Do you feel 'em?"

"Ya," Sam whispered.

Jake reached over Witch and grabbed a brush that was sitting on the edge of the stall door.

Suddenly she got a big whiff of something..strange. Was it bad? Good? Woah. And it was strong. Wait..i've smelt this before, Sam remembered. But where? At school? No..Oh yeah. In San Francisco. City people liked it. It was some kind of perfume or cologne. What was it called again? That's weird..and it's coming from Jake. So Why would Jake, the tough cowboy who never cares what other people think and can handle anything, be wearing City People cologne?

"Weird."

Jake looked at her confused.

"What?"

"Nothing." Sam lied, and pretended that she was thinking of something else. "I wonder if the foal will turn out to be a boy or a girl."

'"We'll see," Jake said as he massaged Witch with a dandy brush. The mare closed her eyes and let out a long sigh.

"You're good at that," Sam said.

"At what?"

"You know..making Witch calm. It's probably hard to do."

Jake gave her a look and laughed. "Not really, brat, it's actually kind of easy. Now go over there and get some sleep," Jake pointed to the sleeping bag across from Witch's stall. He rubbed the back of his neck.

Yep, Sam thought to herself. Jake's nervous. I mean, he never spends the night with any of his friends. He probably feels very uncomfortable spending the night with me. Poor Jake. Ha. Get over it, you cowboy.

She also knew that he didn't like compliments. Well, he did, but he just didn't know how to react to them.

Sam smiled and turned her sleeping bag so that it faced the Calico Mountains. She crawled into it. All of the hard work and chores she put into today should have made her tired, but it didn't. She tried closing her eyes for a long time, but that didn't seem to make her sleepy. She found herself looking towards the Calico Mountains and picturing the phantom standing on the cliff, looking down at her.

Suddenly, she was sleeping, and her fantasy had become a dream.

White as a ghost, the mighty stallion reared and reached for the moon. He neighed, calling out to her, trying to get her attention. His coarse white mane blew with the wind, and his two strong legs came crashing down back to earth. He stood with a stance that said Look at me, I am the powerful and mighty phantom stallion!

All of a sudden, her beautiful, feisty, mighty mustang.. didn't look so mighty anymore. Still as a statue, he stared at her, looking..helpless. As if he was in danger, or trouble. And he needed her help. She was the only girl, only person, he trusted.

She had to do something. But, for some reason, her vision of the phantom grew blurrier, and blurrier, and she couldn't stop it. Everything else she could see just fine. Why was her precious horse looking like he was slowly disintegrating? She knew the stallion was known for "vanishing", because he runs so fast, and is so quiet. But that wasn't happening now, because she could still here him crying out to her, stomping his feet on the ground, trying so hard to get her attention, and all she could do was just stand there, hopeless, unable to do anything.