"Gross!" Carl wrinkled his nose at the smell, and realized they were standing on a huge manure pile! "No wonder the room was so cheap!" Bennie just laughed, even though he was also ankle-deep in fresh green horse shit. "Come on! Let's check the rest out." He kicked aside some of the manure and walked out into what looked like a large stable. Carl followed, grumbling about the mess on his shoes.
This was a very large barn with stalls evenly spaced along both sides. Curious animals peered out over wooden gates, whickering and snorting. Bennie looked around, amazed. "That's a Shire! And a Clyde. And an Arabian. I think that must be a mule. A Morgan. I've never seen such a variety!" He walked over to the closest stall, where a huge, glossy black horse stuck out a muzzle to snuffle at his face.
Carl was still upset about the damned horse shit on his shoes. "Why did they put the entrance over a pile of manure?"
Bennie rubbed the animal's chin and smiled as it lipped at his face affectionately. "Who cares? This is great! I hope they are all this friendly. " He went around to all of the occupied stalls, rubbing chins and letting himself be snuffled and lipped by each animal.
Carl scowled and went looking for the place they could sleep. Surely there had to be at least some cots or sleeping bags. But no. There were some empty stalls, but nothing more than straw or hay covered the floor. Were they supposed to sleep on the animal bedding? And that crap on his shoes felt heavier. Annoyed, he banged his foot against a stall wall to knock it off. There was a dull thud as he did so, and he realized his feet felt oddly numb. Glancing down, his mouth fell open as he saw that the manure had fallen off two large black hooves! "Bennie!" He spun to run out of the stall, only to trip on unfamiliar and lengthening legs and go sprawling.
Bennie was enjoying the attentions of the Clyde when he heard his friend shout. "Don't be a wimp, Carl! They are all really nice!" He reached up to rub the mare's chin, surprised that she seemed taller than even the Shire had been. The gate was higher, too. Looking back, it seemed that the whole place was bigger, sorta oversized. It was almost as if.... He looked down and his eyes widened as many wrong things suddenly became apparent. First of all, his T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers were gone! His feet were bare except for residue of fresh horse manure and a crust of old dirt and manure than also stained his legs. A crude, dirty scrap of cloth hung over his crotch, and the rest of his body was equally filthy. And younger. While not fully grown at 17, he had been at least average for guys in school. What he saw now was the slender, wiry body of a boy closer to 14!
"Carl!" The shout was that of a boy, and he ran down to the stall he'd seen his friend go into.
Carl was struggling to get up, but from the waist down he was a gray-furred, hooved animal. A jackass? The mismatch with his human upper body made it impossible to stand, and even as he struggled, he saw that he changes were spreading upward. Was that the secret to this place? They turned you into an animal? An angry braying came from his mouth when he tried to shout again. This time, his cry brought a strange kid to the open stall door. Maybe 14, the boy was lean and filthy, dark hair matted and shaggy. He was coarse-featured, and looked like he wasn't too bright. It was also pretty obvious that the kid spent a lot of time in direct contact with horse shit. He must be the one who filled up the manure pile. However, when the boy saw him, he laughed and asked 'Carl?"
Bennie had to laugh when he saw his buddy - he looked like some weird satyr, the lower half of a jackass and still mostly Carl above. His ears were longer, and his face was also getting elongated, but he was still recognizable. "It looks like you are going to be making horse shit while I shovel it!"