Tiffany glanced at Mitch. "You know I think the barn might be best." She said. "Plenty of room for the both of us, and we have slept outside before."
"Yeah." Mitch agreed, "Plus, would be a nice change of pace from the city. Would be a fun story for the folks back home."
The farmer was a bit taken aback by their eagerness to sleep in a barn. Huh, perhaps he had overestimated city slickers. "Alright." he said, "Lemme just show y'all around a bit."
They went outside. Tiffany could see Mitch visibly trying not to cringe and wince with every step. His tail was clearly in pain now.
The barn was a small and shabby one, but still very well built with few cracks and fewer traces of paint. Four large, empty stalls were filled with an overabundance of old hay and stored grains, some of which had spoiled a while ago. Aside from that and a bunch of old rusty tools, it was exactly as one would expect from a barn.
The farmer told them about the loo, the well, and the washbasin, and then said to listen out for the dinner bell. If they were in the mood for more chores, simply seek him out and ask him.
And with that, he left them to get comfortable. At the moment when his back was turned, Mitch edged over to the dark corner of the barn, and when he was confident the farmer wasn't going to double back, he thrust his tail right out of his pants and moaned in sweet relief.
"Awwww man. I am gonna be SO glad to be rid of this thing..." he said, gasping.
Tiffany giggled a bit as she followed him and saw him with his hands on his knees, panting. His tail was arched behind him slightly, quavering as blood rushed back into it.
"Are you really?" Tiffany asked.
Mitch looked at her, "Yeah. Come on, Tiffany. You had one too for a while; you know what it felt like. Just keeps getting worse and worse each time."
She giggled a bit. "I don't know, because it seems to me like when its out you are growing quite used to it." She looked around. "Besides...we're in a barn. Isn't that appropriate?"
"I'll admit, it is kinda funny." he said, plopping down onto the hay. "In order to turn back, I gotta live as a donkey for a day. Or something like that." His tail curled around and flicked rhythmically, "Almost like one of those fables the teacher would read us. You remember those?"
"Yeah I do, about people turned into animals because they misbehaved or did something bad, then had to earn their way back." She sat down on the hay bale next to him. "But we didn't misbehave, Mitch." She picked up his tail and started petting it.
"Well... despite what happened, I still ran away from home", he said, "So... I'm hoping that I've already been punished enough for that and this all goes away. I... I think I've learned my lesson."
He turned to her, looking more at his tail than her, "Right? You think so too?"
She was running her fingers along his tail, occasionally stopping to play with the tassel. "We ran away from home, but were we not invited to Pleasure Island? Didn't we get tickets to come to that island?"
"Those days after I ran away from home." he admitted, "I spent my savings very quickly. I was contemplating returning home when I got my invitation to the island."
"You ran away yes, but you were invited. You didn't sneak onto the island." She really liked his tassel, constantly running her fingers through it. "And once you were there what did you do?"
"... they said to just have fun. To do what I wanted." he bowed his head, shaking his hooves back and forth, "... but I didn't know what to do, so I just... wandered."
Mitch continued. "I hated my dad for putting me to work so much, but now I... I really miss him! I wanna get home as soon as I can."
Tiffany held back her grin. "You miss him? From what you've told me he just works you to your bones."
"Yeah. He did." Mitch sighed, "And he still will. And I'm fine with that."
He lay down. The fatigue had really gotten to him. That lunch was perhaps the first time in a while that he ate some real food.
"Why don't we lay in the stall, Mitch? I think the dirt would be softer than the concrete." SHe said. He'd lay down in the middle of the barn hallway.
Mitch got up, puzzled. "Huh, I thought I was sitting in a pile of hay all this time." he said, scratching his head. He must have shifted over at some point, taking advantage of the cool ground to numb the lingering pain in his rear.
He walked over to another mound of hay. It was old, and smelled, but he wasn't about to be picky. He plopped down right upon it and lay back. "I'm... gonna take a nap." he said, "Just a couple hours. Then maybe I'll help out with another chore or something."
She watched as he lay down in the hay of the stall. Tiffany closed the stall door and latched it. "You are gonna take a nap in a stall like a donkey?" She said a little teasing edge to her voice.
"Uh, yeah. I guess" he shrugged. It was their appointed sleeping place, after all.
"Does it not feel good?" She asked curiously. She wished she had her own stall, but with a human body it just didn't feel right
"A bit prickly." he shrugged, "The fur helps, though."
She leaned over the stall and smiled at him. "You know, you really haven't told me anything bad about your tail or hooves."
"And you haven't told me anything good about your ears." he retorted, gazing at her with a tone of seriousness, "Seriously, what is up with you today, Tiffany? It's like you want me to stay like this or something."
Tiffany was silent for a long moment. "My ears..." She said wistfully. "I could hear so much. And the weight of them on my head was so much fun! They were so floppy. Better than these boring things..." She said rubbing her human ears.
Mitch stared, a bit unnervingly. If it wasn't apparent before, it was now. She was regretting whatever that spirit, or thing, did to her. And that caused him to worry. If he was to encounter it, and make a deal with it... would he be the same Mitch afterwards? What was the price of getting what you wanted?
But, as much as his mind wanted to concern with it, his body wanted him to just relax, close his eyes, and just take a nice nap. He breathed, nice and slowly. He was starting to adjust to the smell. Still gross, though.
Tiffany watched him sleep for a long time, looking his small, cute black hooves and deep brown fur. Occasionally he kicked his legs in his sleep. Her eyes wandered up the length of his tail to where it grew from his butt. The tail was slowly twitching across the dirt and hay. She sighed heavily. If she'd just figured out what the creature was trying to do sooner...