Tiffany ran out over a cliff and jumped into the ocean to get out of Pleasure Island. She dived into the water, swam far away from the island and get up on the mainland.
Now on the shore, Tiffany took off running, she needed to get home. She needed to get back to her rich parents, they would have the money to get her into see a doctor and have these long ears and tail removed. Though she wasn't sure what that would mean, she just wanted to be rid of them so she could get back to her normal life. Specially the tail that was bunched up in her skirt. They belonged on a filthy animal, not a cool girl.
Tiffany continued running. All the worries in her head cycled their course, and they were really stressing her out, so running was her way of coping with it. This way, regardless of the situation, she was still moving forward and feeling good about it.
She ducked under a tree, but a branch scratched her just on the forehead. Her hand raised up, checking for bleeding. No, she seemed alright; there was no blood there. But there was something else. Something short and... furry. Short hair was growing out of her forehead.
"No...." She whispered, and ran to a nearby stream. Looking in the water she saw her reflection, the ugly ass ears still there..and a small patch of gray hair right in the middle of her forehead.
"NO! It's not right!" Tiffany screamed.
She was still transforming. At a snail's pace, sure, but it was still happening!
"But", Tiffany thought, "Jennifer completed her transformation in few minutes. How long had it been since my ears and a tail grew? Five hours? No, I'm fine now. It surely have stopped!" She said as she resumed her trek.
Tiffany found a small village that had a couple of inns, an eatery, and a few farms to provide supplies. There she could pass her ears and tail off as disguise items. She considered her options, because she had a little spending money. "Would be enough for a bed and a breakfast in that inn?", she asked to herself.
She took a deep breath and headed into the inn. People stared at her as she headed up to the bartender. "Uh...I need a room for the night." The man looked her ears, then at her. It was strange for him to see a 12 year old girl alone late at night.
"You by yourself?" the elderman asked, more out of concern than suspicion.
"Yes, sir." Tiffany said. "I got lost." She could feel customers' eyes on and heard whispers about her ears and the bulge that her tail was causing in her skirt. "I wanna go home, but it got dark."
The bartender nodded. "You made the right choice. A kid like you shouldn't be out at night. Here, I'll getcha a room ready..."
The room was quiet and empty, and she fell into the bed on her stomach, mindful of the tail in her skirt. "What am I gonna do..." She said sobbing into the pillow. "I just wanted to have fun, I just wanted to show the boys I was just as cool as them..."
Later, Tiffany heard the bartender's voice. "Now there's already someone sleepin' in there, so I don't want ya causing any trouble, ya hear?" he said to someone in the hall.
"Y-yus, sir..." came the voice of a younger boy. He opened her room's door and walked in, looking incredibly down and worried. Barely paying her attention, he lay on one of the other beds, using his hands as a pillow.
Tiffany quickly pulled the covers over her head to hide her long ears. He sounded her age, maybe younger. Could he be from the island too?
"He-hello?" she called tentatively, peaking over her covers and keeping her ears pulled down.
"Oh. Hey, uh..." he muttered, "Suh-sorry if I... I woke ya..." he sniffled. From the light of the candle he had brought in with him, his eyes were already red for crying a lot.
"What's wrong?" Tiffany asked, still not fully able to see the boy completely from the effort of keeping her ears hidden. It was not comfortable having her ears pulled down like this, the animalistic additions straining against her arms, trying to go upright.
"Oh, uh... nothin'." he said, quickly placing the candle on the end-table and pulling himself under the bedsheet, "Nothin' at all."
He curled up, muttering "I'm fine, I'm fine..."
Tiffany decided not to press him. She just pulled the covers over her head to fully hide her ears and tried to go to sleep.
The boy sighed, whispering to himself, "Man, what am I gonna do? ..."
He had to be from the island. "What's wrong?" Tiffany asked after a long silence. "Are you from....the island?"
He sniffed again, ".Wait, you talkin' about... the island?"
Tiffany took a deep breath and braced herself. "Yes...Pleasure Island." She sat up. The boy was looking at her. Slowly she removed the covers and felt her ears spring up like a 'jack in the box' toy.
His eyes widened. "Woah." he said, subconsciously scratching his own, normal ears.
"Yeah....." Tiffany said ashamed and with tears on her eyes. Then, she reached into her skirt and pulled out her tail. "And this......a filthy donkey tail..."
The boy stared it. "Oh! You got one too." He had to reach into his jeans and pressed something into a large torn hole on the back of his jeans. Sliding out, stretching out to the length of his leg, flowed a long brown tail with a black tassel.
Tiffany stared at it too. "Well at least I'm not alone. I'm trying to get home, my parents have a lot of money and maybe they can help me with a good doctor...you can come too if you want." Tiffany stuffed her tail back in her skirt. "Ugh...I HATE that!" She said as her tail sent a shiver of protest up her spine.
"Well, least ya got it better than me." The boy pulled his pant legs up. Where she expected to see regular feet, or even shoes, long thin fur-covered limbs tapered off into thick black hooves. He had tied leaves and leather pads around their base with twine so they wouldn't make loud clopping sounds as he walked.
"Couldn't walk for, like, an hour." he said, lifting and twisting one hoof around, "Barely I got on the boat by crawling."
Tiffany stared at them wide eyed. "Just think...we could have lost our hands..." She said looking at her hands through tear streaked eyes. "I wanna be a normal girl..." She flopped down on her pillow, crying freely.
"Yeah, right." he agreed, his tail sliding around the sheets behind him, "Just wanted ta' have a lil' fun, y'know. My pops had me working in the bakery all the day. Any kid can't take so much.... So... I ran away. Wanted to join the circus or somethin'." he sighed, lifting his hooves back onto the bed, lying on his side, "Is it so much ta ask for just a little play time?"
"And I just wanted to show that I was a cool girl..." Tiffany sobbed. "That I could be just as cool as the boys...it's not fair...I don't wan't to...be....a...donkey girl!" She said slowly getting hysterical. It wasn't FAIR!