Nicolais couldn’t speak, for her throat was choked up with tears of relief and happiness; her heart was brimming over with love. She answered Josh’s vow by lightly and gently pressing his lips to the other’s in a first kiss for them both between the bars, a kiss that melted into another, and then another, deepening ever so slightly, but not yet fervent.
As the third kiss ended, Josh and Nicolais’s right hands were still clasping each other’s, Nicolais’s left hand lightly held onto Jesse’s shoulder, and Jesse’s left hand was touching the other’s slim waist. The lovers had eyes only for each other, they didn’t notice Jesse and Melinda standing on near them as soft smiles graced their faces.
But the peace was shattered as the first light of dawn began to creep over the hills, the three days had passed. Nicolais yanked herself out of Jesse’s arms as the three guys cried out, their brays hoarsened.
A slight tug on Josh's ears didn't faze her, but suddenly the feeling intensified and he felt a rush of blood in his ears. "AaaahhhHH!!" he grunted as his ears grew out and simultaneously sprouted silky fur. Shocked, he grabbed his ears and pulled them down, moving his head from side to side and gasping at what he saw. His head was adorned with two fifteen-inch silky gray donkey ears.
Melinda's legs suddenly give out and she almost fell over; she held still and tried to catch her balance. Just when she felt stable, her face starts pulling outwardly. "OOH!!! AHHH!!!" Melinda screamed as her cheekbones widened. Her nose pulled outwardly, dragging her jaw with it. Soon her face was almost gone.
Nicolais was shocked. What Jesse, Melinda and Josh had not known was that the Coachman was behind them, with a big smile on his face. "Ha ha ha ha, do you really think that these three asses could break my spell", the Coachman mocked the fairy.
“Oh! My face!” Melinda said. Her face had changed, Melinda had grown an ass’s muzzle. The Coachman laughed and smiled more.
“OH! OH! My feet!!”, said Jesse. But his feet were no more, they ripped through his black boots, two equine legs complete with hooves! "NO! Hee Haw! I don't want to be a donkey again! I want to go home!"
When Josh saw the Coachman, he ran to this big man and hit him in his face. Heart pounding fast and sick against his ribs, Nicolais looked fully at the boy whose hand he held. Disgust added to her sickness as the Coachman’s appearances melted away to reveal their true uglyself, the Coachman was old and as round and greasy as a ball of butter.
Josh's hands began to clench up. He quickly pulled his hands away from the Coachman. He screamed in horror as his hands fused into two donkey hooves right before his eyes. He also felt the pain in his feet, they had turned into hooves as well. "Oh! No!" he screamed. "I don't want to be a donkey again!"
“Josh, no!” Nicolais said holding Josh's right hoof from her cage. She could take the donkey boy tight and not letting him go. “Some good will come of this. Just you wait, the Coachman will NOT win.”
At the fairy’s words, hope flickered like a candle in Josh’s breast. Nicolais took a deep shuddering breath and looked up at Josh through the fringe of his dark lashes. Suddenly, the bars of the cage where the fairy was imprisoned vanished into the air.
So, Josh could embraced Nicolais tightly. The real love destroyed the crystal, which was stored in the Coachman's chest, and it exploded into a thousand pieces, killing the monstrous and fat being.
Then, Jesse, Melinda and Josh’s donkey ears, head, hooves, tails disappeared. The Coachman’s curse was broken by the vow of everlasting, faithful love.
When Jesse, Nicolais, Josh, and Melinda returned to their homes, the whole story was told before the court. Pleasure Island were destroyed, and all the donkeys returned to be human beings. Later, Josh and Nicolais were married in a double wedding with Jesse and Melinda. After the reception, the newly-weds snuck back to where it had all started for their honey-moon, sharing a dance and then consummating their marriage under the moonlight and stars.
THE END.