Unchanged

I pulled into the entrance of Assateague Island National Seashore in my Chevrolet Cruze, a car I had taken across the country on four separate trips, and carefully scanned the sides of the road for Maryland's infamous wild ponies for the very first time. Having just returned from Alaska, I spontaneously explored the area without knowing it would be my home for the next two years. I quickly found N6ELS-H Delegate’s Pride and his band and followed them from a distance as they ventured into one of the campsite parking lots. "Chip the Prick," as I was introduced to him, was failing to woo a mare and dodged kicks to the face as other ponies rested their eyes in the chilly afternoon. I watched as this mare dozed peacefully in a parking space without paying any mind to passing cars. Everything around her changed and she remained untamed in a landscape that was not.