Jane was still looking over the stall gate when she felt the bridle slip over her head. She fought, but the nimble human hands quickly got it attached, working the bit into her mouth.
"Sorry about that. But this can really hurt, and I don't want you to bite your tongue. It helps if you bite down on the bit, " said Jenny.
Jane turned and saw Jenny with a large branding iron in her hand. A red hot branding iron! Jane reared up and tried to back out of the stall. But Jenny had closed the rear gate. She was now trapped in the stall between the two gates! Jenny grabbed the bridle tightly in her hands, and looped it around the bars of the stall gate. Now Jane couldn't move.
"Easy, Jane! It only hurts for a minute! Let's just get it over with and we can both get on with our new lives, "said Jenny.
Jenny pressed the red hot iron into Jane's thigh. She jumped a little. She felt intense pain, but just for a second as the nerves were seared by the intense heat. All she was left with was a dull ache on her thigh and the smell of burned hair and flesh.
"See. That wasn't so bad. And I think it came out nicely, " said Jenny, as she untied the bridle from the gate. Jane turned to look at her new brand. With a shock, she saw that it was the same brand that had marked Jenny earlier - the brand of natural born horse who had tried to escape. She quickly realized that everything about her now looked like Jenny - her size, her color, and now even the brand. She began to protest, to plead for mercy, but the bit kept from speaking.
Jenny smiled. "I guess you finally figured it now. Yeah, if I am going to escape, I need someone to take my place. Otherwise they would come looking for me. And since you like it so much here, I thought you would be the perfect replacement. We both get what we want. I get to explore the world you find so dull, and you get to stay and enjoy being a real horse. It's a win-win situation."
Jane rubbed her snout against the wood of the stall, trying to remove the bridle. Jenny understood what she was trying to do, and removed the bit. Jane gasped.
"It will never work. You look nothing like me, " said Jane, glaring at the buxom young blonde girl. "They'll check my id and no you are fake."
"Oh, you mean this," said Jenny, holding up Jane's guest pass. With horror she saw that it just had a name and a bar code, no picture. "They might have your stats on file, but I doubt they'll look too closely. As long as the number checks out, they will let me leave and be none the wiser."
"But my family... they will know that I never returned and come looking for me," said Jane.
Jenny looked a little confused. She clearly hadn't considered that possibility. But she just shrugged her shoulders and said, " Maybe. But I still have to try. This is the best plan I've had yet. Who knows? I might get lucky. I could be long gone before they sort it all out."
"But ..." began Jane. Jenny stopped her talking by returning the bit to her mouth.
"Okay, enough talking. I'd love to stay and chat all day, but I have to hit the road as soon as possible if this is going to work, " said Jenny.
Jane rubbed the bridle against the stall and looked at Jenny, trying to get her to remove it.
"Sorry, but I can't take the chance that you might slip up and blab to the wrong person. It would ruin our plan. Don't worry. One of the staff will come by to remove it later. In the meantime, had fun," said Jenny, as she slapped Jane's sore thigh.
Jane bolted out the stall and back into the pen. Jenny closed the gate and waved, locking Jane in the enclosure. Jane tried to call out for help, but the bit prevented her from speaking. She ran up to the other mares, and began to poke them, trying to get them to wake up. She stomped angrily next to the head of one of them.
"Hey! Watch it, " said the horse, as she groggily woke up. "Oh, it's you." The horse spied the brand on her thigh.
Eventually she made enough of a ruckus that the other horses called a staff member. The staff member removed her bridle, and Jane panted.
"Okay, what seems to be the problem?" said the man.
"A horse has stolen my identity!" said Jane quickly.
The man raised an eyebrow quizzically. "What? What are you talking about? You are all horses. That's what you paid for, " said the man.
"No, you don't understand. I was supposed to return to being human today, and she drank my reversion serum," said Jane.
"Why would someone do that? They can request their own reversion formula at any time, " said the man.
"Because she was a natural born horse," said Jane. "She wants to be human."
The man looked at her strangely. "That's impossible. The reversion formula is only supposed to work on transformed humans. What's your name?" said the man.
Jane quickly gave him her first and last name. She began to relax a little. It looked like he was starting to believe her. Suddenly another staff member ran up to her.
"Jenny! What mischief are you up to now?" said the woman.
"Says her name is Jane, " said the man, as he continued to look up her information on a portable electronic device.
"Really? And you believed her? Look at her thigh. She is a natural born," said the woman.
The man leaned forward and looked at her thigh. He began to get angry, but continued to look up her information.
"Jenny, really. This is your worst attempt to escape. Isn't being stuck with the cycling mares enough punishment? Do we need to do something worse to teach you a lesson, "said the woman.
Jane was getting really angry. "I told you. My name isn't Jenny, it's Jane. She put the brand on me and drank my reversion formula. You are making a mistake. I tell you, I am Jane."
"Then why does it show that Jane left about 30 minutes ago. Her card was scanned and she left the resort," said the man angrily.
"But what about her husband, her daughter, " said Jane sadly.
"It looks like they waited for her, but left the resort at different times, " said the man.
"Doesn't surprise me, " said the woman. "I heard about what the husband tried to do to her. I wouldn't want to leave with him either. He probably expects to get the divorce papers in the mail as soon as he gets home."
Jane's jaw dropped. It was true. Her husband probably thought she was still mad at him, and just left without him. She had to get someone else to back her up.
Jane ran around the enclosure frantically trying to talk to the other horses.
"Please. You remember me, right? I'm Jane. I came in about a week ago," said Jane in a panic.
But all she saw was blank unfamiliar faces. All the horses she met when she first entered the enclosure were long gone, replaced by new arrivals. And she had spent all her time with Jenny, and never got to know any of the new mares. They looked at her with fear and suspicion, eyeing the brand on her thigh.
She felt the bridle on her head being tugged tightly. "Okay, Jenny. That's enough! You are scaring our poor guests. I guess we are going to have to find somewhere else to keep you while you are being punished," said the woman.
Jane sagged her head, and meekly surrendered. She allowed the woman to lead her out of the private enclosure for cycling mares. She was trapped, for now. But she had not given up. If Jenny could escape, then maybe she could, too. She just had to wait for the right opportunity, just like Jenny.