A little later, a small donkey entered the corral. Nicole slowly looked up to see this donkey that was approaching her and was wearing a light yellow dress and a bonnet.
"Nicole?" that donkey asked quietly. "It's me… Giovanna" she said.
"G-Giovanna? GIOVANNA!" Nicole exclaimed.
Her tears began to dry slightly and she began to cheer up a bit.
"Oh, Nicole! I was worried about you. What happened? When we both started turning into donkeys, you ran off and left Paola and me."
"I’m sorry, Giovanna,” Nicole apologized dolefully, her head lowered in shame at the little brown animal she had become.
"I could see what was happening to you and Paola and it scared the heck out of me. I just hadda get out of there. I really didn’t mean to leave both of you.”
Tears began to run down Nicole’s face as she continued to tell her story.
“I ran back into Windup Way and lost my footing or something in front of one of those funhouse mirrors. Then I saw my reflection in the mirror and I had become a donkey too. So I ran for the exit, but the doors were locked and one of those t-things grabbed me and threw a rope around my neck. I lost my shoes in the struggle and then they led me and a couple more donkeys back here.”
Giovanna quickly rose up on her hind legs and wrapped her hooves around Nicole to hug her.
"Giovanna, I wish we hadn't played hooky from school. I wish we hadn't got onto that coach. I wish I wasn‘t a stupid ass." Nicole cried.
Giovanna tilted her head. “Yes, me too.”
“Before they send me here I managed to see Paola’s crate”, continued Giovanna. “Her crate had a sign that read: "SOLD TO THE FARM". She’s being sold to a farm!” Giovanna said with sadness in her voice.
“F-farm?” Nicole stammered, horrified to learn of her best friend’s tragic fate. “W-we’ve g-got to do something -- HAW HEE!”
Suddenly both Nicole and Giovanna looked to each other in surprise at Nicole's sudden bray.
“N-Nicole… you just brayed like a donkey!” Giovanna gasped.
Nicole, in a panic, attempted to say something else, but once more her words tragically came out as “HEE HAW!”
Nicole had now lost her voice completely!
"I HEARD YOU!" a booming voice suddenly shouted.
Nicole and Giovanna quickly turned to face the Coachman, who once more loomed over the donkey pen with menace.
Before either of them could do anything, the Coachman grabbed Nicole by her ears and lifted her high into the air and out of the pen. All Nicole could do was frantically bray in protest!
" It's just a matter of time," the Coachman said with a sinister smile on his face. "You brats that miraculously manage to retain your voices, do eventually lose em'. And when that happens… you become viable to sell.”
"LET her GO!" Giovanna yelled out in protest to her friend's plight.
Giovanna rose on her hind legs and pitifully pawed the pen's gate with her hooves. Despite its short statue, the gate was still too tall for Giovanna to scale and she was forced to watch on helplessly as the Coachman stalked off with Nicole.
The Coachman returned to the donkey processing area still holding Nicole by her ears, who was grimacing in pain.
"You won't need these anymore,“ the Coachman said as he ripped Nicole's white peasant blouse from her neck, then red pinafore tartan dress, ripped off her red pinafore dress and white petticoat from her rear, and pushed Nicole’s beret from her head, throwing them into a pile of clothes confiscated from the other little donkeys.
The Coachman then walked over to the wooden crates of donkeys, stopping at Paola's crate which was bound for the farm.
"This one's full already, but it’ll be able to hold you too," the Coachman cackled cruelly as he opened the crate and booted Nicole into it. “The man who runs that farm is one of my best customers and he always needs more donkeys. He will like to have you, Nicole.”
The Coachman laughed as he nailed the crate shut.
Inside Nicole found herself muzzle to muzzle with Paola, who looked back at her with recognition as well as sadness and shame at what they had both become. Behind Paola was the other jenny, who could only bray in protest at their quarters becoming more cramped.
The Coachman then hammered a new sign over Paola’s and Nicole’s crate that read: “CONTAINS THREE JENNIES”. As he moved off to continue processing the donkeys, the only sounds in the cavern were of donkeys braying in terror and the Coachman's evil laughter.