Hi! Didn't think you'd hear from me again so soon, did you? But here I am! I was hit with a lot of sudden inspiration, and decided to strike while the iron was hot. Though I did want to mention that I'll be working a lot more starting Monday, so I won't be able to write as much, but I'll still update the story as much as I can, especially since I'm having such a fun time writing it.

Anyway, please enjoy chapter 3!


August 6th, morning

~ Well, I'm still here.

The plan with the log didn't work out, so here I am, waking up to another day in paradise. Jonah punished me by not letting me get any sleep, so I just about passed out the second I was in my bedroll. He said that I had "learned my lesson."

Jokes on him though, 'cause I didn't.

Does he really think that's gonna stop me from trying to run again? Probably not, knowing him. In that case, he's just made a whole lot more work for himself, when I'm finally out of here.

I'd best get to it, unless I want Murphy screaming at me to get my lazy ass out of bed. ~

Penny closed her journal with a sigh and began pulling her curly hair into its usual tight bun.

Unsurprisingly, she didn't feel much better waking up the next morning. Sure, she had finally gotten her much needed sleep, but that did little to dull the bitter disappointment that came from once again waking up in her bedroll, in her ramshackle quarters next to the stables, in this godforsaken fort.

She couldn't let herself give up, however. Not ever. She'd just have to try harder.

Once she was dressed and had eaten her meager breakfast, she left her shack and headed to the stables. When she got there, she was greeted by the sight of Murphy drinking from a flask of what she hoped to God was water. When he noticed her, he gave her a curt nod.

"Finally, you're here. Get to changing the water. The men are running drills on horseback today and they need to be ready."

"Yeah, alright." Days for horseback drills tended to be even busier than usual, so much so that Murphy would actually get off his ass and put in a full day's work, which tend to put him in a worse mood than usual. Seeing as there was no use in lollygagging, she got to it, lugging several heavy buckets of water from the pump into the drinking trough. She gave them all fresh food, gave them a good brushing, cleaned out their hooves, and shoveled all the dung that had accumulated overnight. By the time she was done, it was already late morning, and the horses were looking immaculate. Most of them were quickly saddled up and mounted by the soldiers, led by Jonah, looking every bit the stalwart Colonel riding atop of Granite (who looked stunning, by the way).

When noon came, with the blazing sun beaming down from exact centre of the sky, Penny took the opportunity to rest up a bit before she had to go back to work. Stretching her sore back muscles, she stood near Blue, as well as two other stallions named Silver and Buckley, who were tied to a nearby post.

"I don't know how you boys do it," Penny groaned, pulling out her flask of water from her back pocket and taking a quick drink, "Horses really are just built different. I'd hate to have someone riding on my back for hours. You poor babies." Blue whinnied at her as if in agreement, while Silver and Buckley looked at each other and burring.

Blue always agrees with Penny, they seemed to say. Which wasn't untrue, she supposed. After months in her care, it was no secret everyone at the fort -man and horse alike- that Penny was Blue's favourite person in the entire world. He was incredibly affectionate to her, demanded her attention even more than Chauncey at times, and would probably follow her to hell and back if he could. Penny, in turn, loved the strong, loyal creature like a dear old friend she had known her whole life. Don't get her wrong, of course. Penny loved all the horses here with all her heart, even gruff old Granite, but her bond with Blue felt different somehow, special. He often served as her confidant, her shoulder to cry on when things became too much for her, and recently she caught herself on more than one occasion thinking of him as her horse.

She hadn't meant to get so attached, she really hadn't, especially since she would have to leave him when she escaped. It had just happened somehow, and despite everything, she couldn't quite bring herself to regret it.

It was in that moment, as she gently pat Blue's neck and smiled up at him, that she heard the strange noises coming from just outside the front gates. The sounds of men shouting, hooves stamping against the ground, and the frantic whinnies and neighs of a horse in distress. Now curious, Penny made her over towards that outpost's front entrance, seeing several soldiers doing the same. From the other side, she heard someone yell for them to open the gates. The two men standing guard on both sides obliged, and as the door parted like the Red Sea, she took in the sight of four different men struggling to pull a large, rope-bound horse inside.

Penny's brown eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped in pure awe. The horse was beautiful, with its golden-coloured coat, majestic black mane, and strong, muscular build. The thin ridge of hair trailing down its back gave it away as a mustang, one that was fighting tooth and nail against the ropes tied around its neck and muzzle, looking back helplessly as the gates closed behind it. Oh yes, this horse was wild, she realized, and judging by the way it bucked and pulled at its restraints, was absolutely terrified.

She saw the mustang, almost certainly a stallion, notice the group of soldiers on horseback practicing their drills. He neighed to the others of his kind, as if desperately pleading for help. One of them, dear sweet Ulysses, actually stopped and neighed back, looking at the wild horse in both confusion and pity. Ulysses' rider was quick to correct him however, giving him a swift kick to the side to get him moving again. He obeyed, getting back into formation with the others, all of them moving in a near-perfect unison that always felt unsettling to her. She could practically see the spark of hope drain from the mustang's eyes at the sight, and her heart broke for the poor creature. Had he ever even seen a human before now? What must be running through his mind, in this utterly alien environment?

She didn't have to wonder for long, as the wild's horses' eyes suddenly filled with angry determination. He bucked and stomped even harder than before, catching the men holding him off guard. He then made a mad dash for the exit as the soldiers hung on to the ropes for dear life, one of them even losing his footing and literally being dragged along in the dirt. She tried not to chuckle at the sight. The men here often thought that just because they were soldiers that they were unstoppable forces of nature, and yet here they were, being completely kowtowed by a horse, of all things.

The commotion was brought to a grinding halt by the sudden sound of a gunshot, the mustang stopped dead in its tracks.

Penny turned toward the source of the noise, and saw Jonah still riding Granite, holding his smoking revolver up in the air. The Colonel's trusty steed didn't even flinch, a testament to his experience as the man's favoured warhorse.

"What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?" he asked, holstering his pistol.

"We got us a crazy one here, sir." Sergeant Adams, Jonah's second-in-command, explained.

"Pure mustang, Colonel!" Another man piped up.

"Really?" Jonah dismounted Granite and casually strolled over to the wild stallion. Once he was close, he placed his riding crop underneath the horses' muzzle and lifted his head, giving the animal a quick look-over. He didn't seem impressed. "The army has dealt with wild horses before. This one will be no different." He confidently proclaimed.

The mustang clearly didn't agree, as it responded by snapping up Jonah's riding crop in its teeth, nearly breaking it in two, before spitting it back out onto the ground. Everyone, Penny included, looked upon the scene in astonishment. No one, man or beast alike, had ever so brazenly defied Col. Comstock in front of his entire regiment before. Even Penny, who had practically made it a game to challenge her cousin at every opportunity, had never gone that far before. He was a man that commanded respect from everyone around him, but this stallion clearly didn't get the fax.

'Well, damn,' Penny thought as a grin formed on her face, thoroughly impressed, 'Mustang's got me beat. I've gotta step up my game.'

As the stallion glared daggers at Jonah while the men held him back, the Colonel calmly picked up his now useless tool, brushing the dust off his sleeve. "Induct this animal, Sergeant."

"Yes, sir!" Adams replied, instructing the other men to bring the wild horse over to the stables.

To the stables.

Penny let out a breath she hadn't even known she'd been holding in.

'Okay, then,' she made her way back to Murphy, glancing at Blue, Silver, and Buckley who all looked just as stunned as everyone else, 'This ought to be… interesting…'


Penny stood near Murphy at his forge as they watched Sergeant Adams and the other men pull the mustang along to the grooming post. They struggled to get him strapped in, the wild stallion giving them one hell of a fight.

"Look at him, Penelope. You ever seen a horse like that?" Murphy asked her in awe, not taking his eyes off the horse.

"Can't say I have. Not here, anyway." Pretty much every horse at the fort was a thoroughbred trained from birth for military use, so there wasn't much variety to them in terms of appearance. This mustang, however, with its bright golden coat, seemed to shine like the sun in comparison.

"Take a good long look, then. Soon, its gonna be ours, just like all the others." Murphy snickered, slipping his gloves on in preparation for the stallion's induction. Penny glanced at him, seeing a grin on his face that looked rather sinister to her.

She scowled. While she appreciated that Murphy occasionally treated her like a human being, there was still plenty about the man that she genuinely disliked. The long, grueling hours, him calling her lazy while she did most of the work so he could drink or nap, and the fact that he truly seemed to enjoy stripping the horses of any kind of individuality and branding them as property. That in particular never sat well with her, and the fact that she often had little choice but to help him made her feel sick.

Now finding herself in a sour mood, she just wanted to get this over with.

"Okay, so how're we gonna do this? Like usual?" she made a move to grab the tools needed for the job, but Murphy's hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"We? Oh, no, no, no. A horse this fierce needs the firm hand of a master to set him straight. You're sitting this one out." He smirked, picking up a pair of horse shears.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes at his words. Yeah, right. The truth of the matter was that this was the most unruly horse this outpost had likely ever seen, and Murphy wanted the glory of inducting it into the United States Army all to himself.

Honestly, that suited her just fine. Saved her plenty of blood, sweat, and tears, plus she would be getting a front row seat to the show.

"Okay, Murphy! He's all yours!" Sergeant Adams called out after they finally managed to tie the stallion down, though not before the animal snapped at him one last time for good measure. "Whoa," Adams gasped as he narrowly avoided the horses' teeth, "He's a wild one!"

Murphy chuckled confidently as he emerged from the shadow of his forge, brandishing the horse shears in his hand. "We'll see how wild he is when I'm done with him." Penny, meanwhile, took her place next to Blue, Silver, and Buckley, still tied to their own post. Blue nickered softly, brushing his muzzle against the side of her hair. She gave him a friendly pat on the neck in return.

'Alright, mustang,' she thought, 'Let's see that fighting spirit of yours.'

Murphy approached the horse, readying his shears and grabbing a lock of hair from his mane. Before he could cut even a single strand, however, the stallion snapped his head to the side and bit Murphy's fingers right through his leather gloves. The stablemaster groaned in pain as he stumbled back, holding his injured hand. The horse grunted, looking down at the man as if to challenge him to try again.

"You wanna fight, do ya?" Murphy glared back at his advisory, not even close to backing down.

Time for round two, then.

This time, the men bound a piece of cloth over the horses' mouth and tied it downwards near his hooves, keeping his head low to the ground so that Murphy could trim his mane in peace. Which he was, chuckling to himself in triumph as he snipped off another lock of black hair. Penny wouldn't be so confident if she were him. She was pretty sure that mustang had more than one trick up his sleeve.

Sure enough, the very second Murphy let his guard down, the stallion slammed his whole upper body down on the man's already hurt hand, crushing it between one of the posts holding him in place. He cried out in agony as Penny winced at the sight, practically able to hear the bones in his hand bend and crack under the weight of that horses' powerful frame. The portly stablemaster fell on his backside, cradling the appendage in even more pain than before. Still, he was undeterred, staring straight back up at the mustang with a simple "Right."

This, Penny realized, was a battle of wills, and only one of them would emerge victorious. Or dead, she supposed. Which ever came first.

Alright, here comes round three!

Murphy wasted no time in ordering the men to bind the animal's torso in place with rope, so that he could move it as little as possible. After somehow managing to finish trimming down the mane and tail, Murphy approached again, placing one of the stallion's front legs between his thighs so that he could clean his hooves, scraping out the dirt with a dull blade. Again, the horse considered this completely unacceptable. Widening his stance, he pulled his hoof from between the Murphy's legs, giving the man only enough time to look behind him before delivering a swift kick to his backside, sending him several feet forward as he landed on his stomach with a groan.

It took everything Penny had inside her to not to burst out laughing at how absurd the scene before her was. She had never seen anything like this; an animal so thoroughly and utterly kicking someone's ass. Blue, Silver, and Buckley all seemed to agree with her, whinnying and neighing as if cheering the stallion on. The show wasn't over yet, however, as Murphy picked himself back up and sent a fierce glare the mustang's way, one that it promptly shrugged off like an old blouse.

"You sure you don't need any help there, Murphy?" she couldn't help but tease him.

"Shut the hell up!" was her response, as if she expected anything less.

Round five, ladies and gents! Give it up for round five!

Murphy had Sergeant Adams tie the horses' foot directly to one of the four posts, facing it upwards to give him easy access to the hoof. "Make sure that's good and tight." He said, brandishing a small hammer. He proceeded to pull several nails out of his pocket, moving on to fitting the stallion with horseshoes. He was so focused on nailing the metal shoes into place, wanting to get this done with as soon as possible, that he didn't notice the mustang rear its back legs into the air.

"Murphy, look out!" Sergeant Adams tried to warn him, but it came a second too late. Murphy raised his head at the sound of the Sergeant's voice, only to be met with a face full of horse hoof, sending him careening backwards and landing on his sore behind.

In that moment, Penny was genuinely worried for Murphy's safety, scared that the mustang's kick had actually caved the man's skull in. Thankfully, her worries were assuaged when she saw Murphy sit back up with help from Sergeant Adams, though he was now sporting one hell of a black eye.

He sat there, eyes zeroed in on the animal that had beaten him black and blue, and Penny knew then that Murphy had had enough.

Final round, everybody! Who will come out on top?

This time around, Murphy wasn't taking any more chances. He had the men tie all of the horses' legs to the posts, which on top of all the other restrains, rendered the poor animal basically immobile. Murphy had stepped away for a moment to work at his forge, puffing the bellows to heat up the branding iron.

Penny cringed at the sight and nearly looked away. Watching the horses be branded was, by far, the worst part of her job. The blazing heat of the metal, the awful whinnies and cries of excruciating agony, the way the horses would be in terrible pain for weeks after, and for what? So that others could tell that they were owned by the army, as if being here wasn't already proof enough?

She was proud of the fact that, in the six months she had been at the fort, she had yet to brand a single horse herself. The first time Murphy had ordered her to do so, holding out the iron for her to take, she had admittedly kind of lost it, screaming that she'd sooner press that iron right into his bulging gut than one of the horses. That earned her the rest of the day in the stockades courtesy of Jonah, though the three of them were eventually able to come to an agreement. If she did about 75% of the total work in the stables, she wouldn't be asked to brand any more horses. She agreed without a moment's hesitation; she'd rather work herself to death than cause so much pain to the animals she'd grown to love so dearly.

Soon, Murphy was done at the forge, wielding the sizzling, white-hot branding iron. The sight of the iron disturbed not only her but also the stallions next to her, no doubt bringing back painful memories of their own brandings. Penny made sure to comfort them as best she could, letting them know that they were alright, that the iron wasn't for them.

Murphy made his way over to the mustang, more than ready to give the animal as much pain as he'd dished out. But as the man raised the branding iron in the air, about to plunge it right into the mustang's flesh, the horse somehow managed to wriggle himself free of the restraints on his muzzle. He reared his head high above Murphy, looking down at the man about to brand him as army property. The stablemaster gasped as his eyes widened, finally realizing that this had been a fight he'd been doomed to lose. A second later, the stallion roughly bashed his forehead against Murphy's, sending him flying backwards. He dropped the still hot iron to the ground, and he landed on his back with a thud, knocked out cold.

Everyone was silent for a few moments, not quite sure what to make of what they'd just seen. Everyone except for the horses, of course, who whinnied and nickered in triumph.

She stared in awe at the stallion that had fought off getting branded, all on his own. She had never in her life gained so much respect for a living being in so little time, but here she was.

Bravo, mustang.

"M-Murph, you okay?" Sergeant Adams tentatively asked, even though he was very clearly not okay. Penny hurried over to Murphy's side, wanted to make sure her boss was still alive. A quick check of his vitals assured her that he would be okay (probably).

"He'll be fine, I think," she said to the sergeant, "Took one hell of a beating, though."

Adams nodded, accepting her words. He looked to one of the other men. "Um… corporal, round up some volunteers to, uh, take this animal to the stables."

"Not the stables."

Seemingly out of nowhere, Jonah strode into view atop of Granite, looking down at the scene before him.

"Sir?" Adams questioned.

Jonah stared at Murphy, still laying motionless on the ground, and then at Penny, who flashed her cousin a knowing grin. His eyebrow raised slightly, conveying his annoyance. This only made her grin wider. Ooh, he was not happy.

'This one will be no different, huh? You still so sure of that, Jonah?' she thought smugly. She was sure he could tell what she was thinking, but didn't dignify her with a response.

"The corral," the colonel informed his second-in-command, turning and leading his own steed away, but not before giving one last sharp look to Penny, "It's time to break that horse."


Here comes the boooooy! Hello boy!

Spirit makes his grand debut, and Penny's already like "omg I love this horse." A lot of that comes from how much she respects his independent spirit (lol) but also how much he's sticking it to the soldiers and Jonah in a way that she really can't. He was just what she needed to get her out of her little funk.

Anyway, I hope you all liked the third chapter, and I hope you all like the next!

MA.