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Don was getting frustrated, and worse, he was running behind schedule. He had planned to have made his purchase and left the tiny costume store in the mall by now, but he'd gotten out later from work than he'd intended. Worse, the store apparently didn't get much traffic outside of Halloween season, so even though they didn't have much stock on hand, the shopkeeper had plenty of time to try and sell him on one of their top of the line costumes. She was so enthusiastic in her pitch that Don didn't have the heart to stop her from giving her spiel, but he wasn't really interested. He admitted that the high-end costumes looked nice (in fact, there was a dragon one that looked so alive that he almost changed his plans and bought it), but he saw that their boutique stuff tended to require some customizing to fit right, and several of them were too expensive or too complicated to put on. He wasn't really here to get a GOOD costume, he just needed one he could buy quickly and wear once.

Don's good friend Helena had been invited to a costume party that night, and she'd been intending to go with her boyfriend, but they'd had a nasty breakup last week so she no longer had a plus 1. While commiserating with Don about the split, she'd mentioned the party, and how she'd been excited for it, but now she didn't see the point. Don insisted that she should go, to help take her mind off things. They'd always been good at cheering each other up, so after a bit of cajoling, Helena agreed to go as long as Don came with. The invite had said something about making sure to dress as your "ideal self" and something about "living your best life for the next year", but Don had only had time to skim it quickly to get the address, so he wasn't really sure what the party was about. He'd been hoping to get away with just a mask, but the invite was very clear that full-body costumes were required, so he'd run over to the only costume shop in town that was open. He had to be at the party in just an hour, and he was only going to wear this costume once anyway, so he was looking to buy the cheapest full-body costume he could get.

When Don told the assistant what he was looking for, she reluctantly took him over to the bargain area, where there was a selection of costumes that definitely lived up (or down?) to their price tags. Don shuffled through a bin, but most of the cheap stuff was for kids. After a little worry that he'd have to drop more cash than he wanted to get one of the nicer costumes, he managed to find a costume at the back of a rack that looked like it'd fit him. It was labeled as a "pack donkey" costume, which Don wasn't crazy about. He was in decent shape, maybe just a little bit chubby, but trying to work it off, so wearing a fat suit felt a little insulting. Beggars can't be choosers, though, so Don gave the costume a look. It was a full donkey suit, with really patchy grey fur all over it. It seemed like they'd gone cheap on the material for the fur, it stuck out in various directions and looked kind of scratchy. Really, the whole costume was poorly made, but at the same time, it was relatively elaborate and had to have been somewhat expensive to produce. In fact, it looked like this might have been a factory's attempt to use up spare materials, with the whole costume having a thrown-together look. The most obvious thing about it was how huge it was. It was slightly padded all over to make it look fat and cartoonish, but the mid-section of the costume in particular was extremely padded out. The thighs had some stuffing, but the costume thinned out on the rest of the legs, so most of the "fat" material was in the middle/lower torso of the costume. This made the costume extremely pear-shaped, sticking out about a foot in all directions at the waist, and it looked like it'd be a hard thing to walk around in. The rest of the costume was low quality, doing the bare minimum to have a full costume. The "hooves" on the feet were large wooden cylinders that it looked like he'd have to balance on, and the hooves on the hands were plastic shells that his hands could slip into, they hadn't even bothered to make separate gloves. The mask was a goofy-looking rubber mask with a dumb, slack-jawed expression, with the a bit and bridle painted on. There were a few loops of rubber that hung down from it to give the impression of reins, which would just hang loose in front of the wearer's face. The back of the costume had some more straps painted on it and a facsimile saddle and saddlebags on it. The tail hung down way too low, reaching almost down to the ankles of the costume, with the tufts of fur at the end just barely brushing the ground. And that was pretty much it. This was not a good costume. He would have to take the hooves off to grab things, and the width of the costume would clearly cause some maneuverability problems, but when Don looked around at his other options, they didn't seem any better. The only other things that came close to fitting without costing a bundle were a mouse costume just small enough to leave him hunched over all night, and something Don couldn't even recognize that looked like a tube covered in loose glitter. Don counted himself lucky that the donkey costume was at least wearable and asked to be rung up.

"You want that one?" The shopkeeper tried, and failed, to keep the uncertainty out of her voice.

"Yah! My name's Don, it's a Don-key, it's perfect!" Don grinned at the shopkeeper, getting only a blank stare in return for his forced enthusiasm. "Ahh, whatever, just ring me up." Don didn't have time to be picky, if he was going to get home and changed into this thing before Helena picked him up, he had to leave quickly. He paid up, got to his car, and drove home as fast as he could, leaving himself just enough time to grab a quick bite and take a fast shower before he had to change.

---

Coming out from his shower, Don laid the costume out on his bed. It had been an easy enough decision to buy this thing in the store, but now that he was faced with actually wearing it in public for the next several hours, he was significantly less gung-ho about it. He briefly imagined calling the whole thing off, but he knew he wouldn't bail on Helena, so he decided to grin and bear it. He lifted up the main body of the suit and stepped backwards into the lower half. The legs, at least, were relatively normal. If they weren't covered with the uneven layer of fur, they'd look like thick PJs. The only difficult part about the legs were the hooves sown onto the ends. His feet slid into built-in socks that sat on top of the hooves, and while they were large enough that he could rest his feet on them, they weren't as wide as he'd like. It felt kind of like walking on tiny stilts, and although he never fell, Don did end up windmilling his arms a few times to steady himself until he got used to the more deliberate gait he'd have to walk in. They were loud, too. Every step he took on his wood floor made a loud clacking noise, which got annoying fast, although Don was glad to see it didn't scuff the floor up. He looked behind him for the tail, and saw that the tufts at the end were dragging on the floor like he thought they might. That'd need to be cleaned at the end of the night if he ever intended to wear this cursed thing again, and if he walked backwards too fast he could trip on it, but otherwise it didn't really get in his way.

Now that he had the easy part on, Don grabbed the upper half of the costume, which had been dangling off the back of the pants, and lifted it onto himself through the slit in the front of the costume. It took a bit of effort to get himself through the folds of heavy padding, but when he managed to get his arms into the sleeves the rest of the torso plopped down onto him, settling into place. Don couldn't really tell, but it FELT like the costume weighed at least 10 pounds, and the extra size made Don worry about being able to fit through doorways. He did a test run with his bedroom door and found that although he did get stuck in the doorjamb, he could squeeze through if he sucked in his gut, pushed the costume down on the front and back, and carefully shoved himself through sideways. Hopefully the party was at a place with big rooms! Don also found that his hands fit inside the hooves comfortably, although like the hooves on his feet, they were sown directly onto the costume rather than being separate, so once in the gloves he couldn't take them off to pick anything up. There was an opening at the wrists he could pull his hand through, but they were tiny, and his hands kept slipping out of them and back into the gloves. Well, it's not like he'd need to carry much at a party, anyway! Helena would probably be willing to hold his wallet and keys. Don closed the velcro flap that covered the opening at the front of the suit, then worked his way back through his bedroom door to put on the final piece.

The mask was simple enough, although with his hoofed hands, it did take a bit to line up the eye holes so he could see. The costume's mouth was perpetually slightly open, giving it a slack-jawed, somewhat dull expression, which didn't change at all when he talked. Thankfully, although it muffled him a little bit, Don could still be heard perfectly clearly. The reins dangling down from the muzzle were annoying, as he had feared, but if he tossed them over his shoulder they didn't get in the way too bad. Maybe if he had more time he could cut them off without ruining the mask, but right now he only had a couple of minutes before Helena would get here. Don went over to the mirror to see what he looked like, and he was chagrined to see that the image in the mirror didn't look any better than he had expected. If anything, it looked sillier than it had in the store; the fur had gotten more messed up and the fat of the costume sat more awkwardly on his frame than expected. He looked over his shoulder as best he could to see the other side of the costume, and he could just make out the saddlebags and the painted-on gear on his back. They were thankfully pretty light, he could feel the bags dangling around if he concentrated but he could mostly ignore them. He stared at himself, and how goofy he looked, and started feeling dread about going out in public like this. He didn't have much time to wallow, though, as the doorbell rang. That must be Helena here to pick him up!

Don grabbed his wallet and keys as best he could, shoved his way back through the door, and very carefully worked his way downstairs. He got to the front door and opened it to see Helena, decked out in a full doctor's outfit. He was used to her typical jeans and a t-shirt, so he didn't expect much from her costume, but even though it was a simple outfit, she'd gone the extra mile. Naturally, she had the full doctor's coat on, but she also had a handful of real medical tools sticking out of her pockets, and even an ID card that looked like it might have been copied from a local hospital. Don was surprised at the level of effort she'd put into the costume.

Helena, for her part, was also surprised, albeit for a very different reason. "Don? Is that you in there?" she asked. Don slowly nodded, and after a moment of silence, Helena burst out laughing. After another moment, Don did too. They both cracked up, and his nervousness at the costume quickly vanished as he thought about how funny the idea of his ugly donkey costume was, especially next to Helena's down to earth outfit. He laughed hard enough that he teetered on his hooves and fell onto his back, landing into a pile of his own padding, which just made them both laugh harder. Don and Helena always had a way of making each other's stress go away, and he was happy to see her laugh this hard, maybe for the first time since she'd broken up last week. "The invite", Helena paused to let out a final giggle before composing herself, "the invite said you were supposed to dress as your best self, the sort of person you fantasize about being. I've always wondered what my life would be like if I'd gone through with the idea of medical school, but I can see you dream much bigger!"

"Haha, I didn't really read the invite that closely." Don said from his spot on the ground. "Busy day at work. Anyway, how do YOU know I don't want to be a big dumb animal, huh? Maybe I'm living my best life, here!" Don's grin was hidden behind the mask, but audible in his voice. "I bet nobody else at the party will have a costume like mine!" He tried to sit up but discovered there was a problem. "Hey, uh, Helena? Best life aside, I'm...not sure I can actually stand up in this thing. A little help?" Helena tried to lift him back up onto his feet, but the bulk of the costume got in the way, so they settled on logrolling Don onto his front and letting him get up on his hands and knees. Don squeezed through his front door before realizing another problem: there was no way he was going to fit into Helena's car normally. Helena had to put down her back seats, but with a bit of shoving, she managed to get Don into the lengthwise. The ride wasn't a long one, thankfully, although it was long enough for Don to run into one last problem with his costume that he hadn't noticed yet. Namely, it had a smell to it. The smell wasn't too strong or unpleasant, but he had a faint musty odor about him that wasn't fading away. The costume must have sat in the back of a warehouse for a while, unsurprisingly. At this point, it didn't even bother Don that much. If anything, it added to the feel of the costume. Don was starting to get into the humor of wearing this stupid thing, and hey, maybe if he got lucky, there would be a worst costume award?

They pulled up to the mansion the party was taking place at. Helena walked around and helped drag him out of the car, and as they made their way up into the party, Don was thankful to see the front doors were large double-doors that he could fit through easily. Once inside, the party itself wasn't as embarrassing as Don had feared, especially since he was wearing his costume with confidence. Sure, he stood out, as most people had dressed up as movie stars or artists or airplane pilots or what have you, but he picked out a few other people in the crowd who had gotten more daring (he was pretty sure he spotted someone in a two-person horse costume), and there were definitely a few people he saw who had put as little thought into their costumes as he had into his. His costume made a good ice breaker, and he ended up talking to quite a few people. With his bulk, it was a bit awkward for Don to maneuver through a crowd, so he tended to lose Helena when she went to talk with someone, but the place was large enough that he could stick to the edges of a room and still have his own conversations.

There was a sense of anticipation in the crowd, and Don figured out through a few conversations that everyone there had been invited by the host, but nobody actually knew her personally. The party happened once a year, and the invites were sent out to people seemingly at random. The invite had indicated that there was a reason that people should dress up as "their best selves", and everyone was waiting for the host to explain why. A few people mysteriously claimed to know the secret from being at previous parties, but they said the host had sworn them to secrecy. All Don could get out of these repeat guests was three pieces of information: First, the host was a private person who didn't reveal their name, so everyone called her "the host", second, she didn't live here, she only rented this mansion for the party, and third, she would do the big reveal at the very end of the party. Outside of that, Don mostly just had pleasant conversations with all kinds of people he probably would never have met ordinarily. It wasn't exactly a raucous party, but, in spite of the discomfort of his costume, Don enjoyed himself, and Helena was enjoying herself too, when they would meet back up again.

For her part, the host herself walked about the party, thanking people for coming and complimenting their costume choices, but staying coy as to why they were there. Don didn't even notice her at first, as she looked like a pretty normal person, but she stood out as the only person not wearing a costume of any sort. She did walk up to Don at one point to thank him for coming, although when she got close she stared him up and down bemusedly. "THAT'S what you want to be in life? A fat, dirty beast of burden...? Well, I guess it's not the weirdest costume I've seen at one of my parties...to each his own, I suppose. No judgments here! Hope you enjoy the party." Don tried to explain his lack of choice in the costume, but she was pulled away by another guest before he could respond. Don was a little put out that she thought he WANTED to look like this, but he shrugged it off and got back to schmoozing. Don had to excuse himself from the party a few times to find a place to sit down and rest, the weight of the costume combined with the stuffiness of the padding meant that he got sweaty and exhausted easily. He was really starting to feel gross when the host finally ushered everyone out to the spacious back patio, then stood up on a table to make her special announcement. She was a natural performer, and once she started the speech, her demeanor changed completely, going from the ordinary-seeming woman to being a forceful, enigmatic presenter, and soon everyone was listening intently, even though it was clear she was reciting a speech she'd given many times before.

"Everyone! Thank you for gathering here. As with every year, I have randomly selected a handful of people and invited you here to reveal an important truth that you may find hard to believe: magic is real!" A few people in the crowd sniggered at the melodramatics, but they were shushed to silence by the crowd. The host picked up a gnarled wooden staff from the table next to her. "This staff belonged to my grandmother, a powerful witch, and she bestowed upon it the ability to alter the path of a life once per year by making appearance reality! I asked all of you to come to this party dressed as the thing you wish you could be, if you'd only been given the chance. For a select few tonight, this staff's spell will make that happen! You will become your masks, your form becoming that which you believe your costume represents, and reality will reshape itself to support your new identities. Only some of you will be given this gift, the staff will judge who is worthy. Now behold as your illusions become reality!" She lifted the staff above her head, milking the moment, and Don rolled his eyes, even if she was a good performer, the whole speech was pretty cheesy. He turned to the person next to him to make a sly comment, but when he looked, he saw something strange about the fake jewels they were wearing around their neck. The jewels were changing shape, becoming shinier, and the necklace itself became more elaborate. Not sure what he was seeing, he looked beyond them and saw a guy dressed as a vampire become paler, fangs sprouting from his mouth. Others in the crowd were changing too, some in pretty obvious ways, but somehow most of the attendees didn't notice anything. Then Don felt something hit his chest, and he suddenly he felt completely different.

The first thing he noticed was the air against his skin, which was odd. The second thing he noticed was the equipment. He could feel straps all over his face and chest, and some piece of metal in his mouth, and there was something hanging off his back too. He tried to reach them to feel what they were, but he couldn't feel anything through the hooves, and when he tried to slide his hands out he couldn't find the slits. The thing thing he noticed was that he felt heavy, very heavy. He'd been feeling gradually more uncomfortable in the weighty suit as the party went on, but this was much more than that. It felt like he'd run a marathon, and he was sweaty and dirty all over. He also noticed the smell. It wasn't too strong, and it wasn't an unpleasant smell, but it was familiar...a barnyard? He must have been really sweating in his suit if he was smelling like the inside of a barn. He tried to get a better look at himself, but he was at the edge of the crowd, where the lights didn't quite reach, so it was too dark for him to see clearly. He had to get into the mansion, to a mirror.

The host shouted out "Thank you, everyone, and for those of you who got lucky, please enjoy your new lives. All of you are invited back next year, but for now, the party has ended.", then she turned and walked inside. The crowd started to thin out, most people chatting about how the party had been fun and planning to come again next year, others excited to get home and find what about their lives had been magically changed. Don went the other way of most people, heading for the nearest bathroom. He found that whatever had happened, he was actually much steadier on his feet now. He wasn't quite capable of sprinting but he was able to get into a rhythm of his hooves clack-clack-clacking on the brick patio as he jogged inside, squeezing himself through an open bathroom door and feeling relieved as he saw it had a full-length mirror. Unfortunately, his relief quickly fled as he saw what was reflected IN the mirror.

He was staring at a donkey head. HIS donkey head, a detached part of his mind thought. The mask had been unmoving rubber, but the face that looked back at him from the mirror was definitely alive, its nostrils flaring with each breath, its eyes moving around, its mouth opening and closing when he told it to. It was the head of a donkey, with only a few bits of humanity in the eyes and facial structure setting it apart from a normal donkey. It was covered with the straps of a leather bridle, no longer painted on, and the reins danging off the front now looked much more real. Don could feel the straps going across his head. He reached up and tapped his donkey ears with his hooves, and he not only felt the touch on his ears, but he felt them as they twitched arouns. He reached down and tried to fumble the velcro strap open to get out, but he couldn't feel anything. Well, that wasn't quite true. He couldn't find the opening, but he COULD feel his coarse fur as his hooves rubbed across it. Don wasn't the sort of person who ignored the obvious, even if he really wanted to, and he couldn't deny the proof in front of him now: the magic had been real. This was his body now.

Panic welled up in him and he let out a cry, but instead of a yell, he belted out a loud braying "EEE-HAAWWWW" instead. He clapped his mouth shut, then carefully tried to talk again. "Talcking. Testing one thwo." Something was getting in the way of his tongue, distorting he words a bit. He opened his mouth wide, looked in the mirror, and saw that not only was the bridle real now, the bit in his mouth was too. It wasn't too uncomfortable, but he could feel it locked in place behind his back teeth, and now that he knew it was there his tongue kept habitually trying to push it out. The good news was, he was still able to speak intelligibly, and after a few sentences, he started to get used to talking around the bit. The bad news was, the bit did get in the way of his tongue, and not only that, but his tongue was also bigger, and his lips were heavier, which together forced him to talk very slowly and carefully in order to be understood. His teeth were huge, and stuck out a bit, which didn't help matters. If he tried to talk too fast, it came out as a bunch of confused moaning, or worse, devolved into braying. Looking in the mirror again, he saw that when he'd stopped paying attention, his face had defaulted to the open-mouthed, dull-eyed gaze of the mask; this combined with his halting speech gave the impression of a dumb beast, and Don couldn't believe that he was seeing his own face in the mirror. Setting aside his head for the moment, he did what he could to take control of the situation, starting with taking stock of his changes.

He started with his hands, or rather, his lack of them. His arms were still essentially human-shaped, if a bit chubbier, but they terminated at large hooves. Don was no livestock expert, but looking closely at one of his hooves, it didn't look like a real animal hoof. Don was pretty sure that a real donkey hoof had some flesh at it's base, but his new hands were still the solid blocks they had been as a costume, and he didn't have any feeling at all in them, even if he slammed them down on the counter. He wasn't sure what they were made of, but whatever it was, it was quite hard and very heavy, he felt it weighing down his arms when he lifted them up. As a test, he tried using them to turn on the sink, and although he managed it, it took a full half minute. He looked at the doorknob to the room and was thankful it hadn't closed behind him...he wasn't sure he could open it again. Why had he chosen such a shoddily-made costume? Mourning the loss of his dexterity, he tried to ignore it and move on to the rest of his body.

Scanning up his arm, he dialed in on his fur. He could feel himself covered in a thick layer of it, shaggy and unkempt, sticking up randomly all over his body. Don thought to himself that he could really use a brushing, then stopped himself. He didn't need a brushing, he needed to not have fur at all! Scanning further down, he got to the part he'd been avoiding looking at: his belly. The costume's huge, all-around belly had been translated faithfully, although the way it sat on him felt strange. Don poked and prodded himself a bit and came to the conclusion that he didn't feel overweight, exactly. Rather, he felt like he was still wearing the several layers of thick padding from the costume over a layer of muscle. He still felt lethargic, even the short sprint to the bathroom had left him hot and sweaty, but he also felt kind of powerful, like he could lift more weight than he'd ever lifted before. Speaking of weight, he felt some additional weight on his back and did his best to look at his back in the mirror. If he looked at the right angle, he could just peek around his girth to his backside. He made out that the costume's saddle and bags had also been effected by the magic, becoming a full set of pack donkey gear, complete with straps going around his chest, and between his halter and saddlebags, plus a few coils of rope on his back for tying stuff down. He thought that he could at least reduce some of the weight he had to walk around with by taking off all the stupid gear, and started fiddling with the leather straps on his upper chest.

Don's lack of fingers presented an obvious problem to undoing the straps, but it turned out that his hooves weren't the only problem. Not only were there no latches or clasps to undo, Don couldn't even get the straps to budge an inch. He pushed and pulled at them but they stayed exactly, stubbornly, in place. Don did his best to push back his messy fur with his hooves to try and see the problem, and what he saw made him let out a haww of despair. The belts weren't just cinched tight, they seemed to be melded into his body. Was this because they had been painted on the costume? The spell must have taken the concept of "pack donkey" very literally, without the gear, he'd just be a "regular" donkey. Don managed to pick up a toothpick from the medicine cabinet and hold it carefully between his two hooves, but even the slim end of the toothpick couldn't get between the straps and his body. Wait, did that mean...Don quickly examined his face closely in the mirror and confirmed his worst fears; the bridle was also a part of him, meaning the bit was, too. He tried to drag the bridle off or find a strap to undo it, he couldn't be stuck with this stupid piece of metal in his mouth! The only thing that came of the attempt was Don smacking himself in the snout a few times with his hooves. The bridle held fast, the only thing loose about it was the reins, and there was no way to detach them that Don could see. He sighed and went back to his inspection, if he was going to undo this, he had to know the full extent of his changes.

Don looked down, but he couldn't actually see his legs anymore, no matter how much he tried to shove his gut out of the way, so he went back to the mirror to have a look. Thankfully, his legs were more or less unchanged. Sure, they were a bit stockier, but Don was grateful for that, as he found he wasn't as unsteady on his feet as a result. They looked almost like normal legs, if you could overlook the mess of fur covering them, and the tail hanging down near the floor. Don gave his tail a flick and found he had control of it if he wanted, but left alone it dragged along the floor slightly. It already had a bit of dirt in it from his short time outside. His new feet were much like his hands, solid chunks of some dense material, and it still felt a little bit like he was using the world's smallest pair of stilts. He could walk just fine, but trying to move any faster made him feel like he might fall over. The clacking noise he made with each step against the marble was louder than it'd been as a costume, and its omnipresence was starting to get really annoying, but Don decided to ignore that one for now. At least his legs worked, fundamentally, which was more than he could say about other parts of his body. Finally, Don had a look at his penis. It had become a little animalistic, flaring out at the end, but mostly it had just gotten bigger. It had to be over a foot long, although with Don's larger frame, it wasn't that big comparatively. Don blushed as he realized he'd run through the party with his dick flapping in the open. His balls had grown, too, hanging low between his legs. Like his legs, he couldn't actually see his dick without the help of the mirror, and he found that his fat actually got in the way enough that he couldn't quite touch it with his arms, either.

Being in this body was humiliating enough, but being naked on top of that was too much to bear, and Don decided his first course of action was to get covered up somehow. He looked out the bathroom door and saw a plain white tablecloth on one of the nearby tables. Perfect! He carefully wedged himself back outside the bathroom door and grabbed the tablecloth between his two hooves, sweeping it off the table. It took several minutes of effort, and quite a bit of grunting and sweating, but somehow, Don managed to get the tablecloth wrapped around his waist in a makeshift loincloth. Just as he finished, he saw the host of the party walk into the main hall while talking to a few stragglers from the party. Some of them were thanking her on their way out, but there were a few which looked similarly unhappy like Don was, although since they all looked human, he suspected they weren't quite as upset. He eagerly scrambled his way to her, and hearing his loud clopping, she turned to face him as he walked up. "Well, if it isn't Mr. Donkey"

"You've gothstochasgEEEeeaawwwck!" In his excitement, Don had spoken too fast for his new mouth to keep up, and he forced himself to calm down and talk slowly, cringing at the slow, halting speech he was forced to use. "You've. Got. To. Change. Me. Back. To. Normal." The words came out slow, one at a time. He'd practiced talking in the bathroom, but this was the fastest he could get it before it devolved into unintelligibility.

"Oh honey, don't worry about it, as far as the world is concerned, you ARE normal! Your new role in life might be a little weird compared to most, but the spell is quite clever, and its figured out what you felt your costume represented and made that your new life. The spell has made it so the world will adjust to your new self, although in your case it might have had to work a little extra hard...still, don't worry about it, you go out there and live your best donkey life!"

Don shook his head, she still thought this was what he wanted? "Don't. Want. To. Be a. Donkey." Don gestured to himself and spoke in his plodding voice. "Bargain. Bin."

"Bargain...oh, you poor dear, you didn't read the invite, did you? I swear, there's a couple every year...look hun, the bad news is, all that performance I do out there is just for show. I barely know anything about magic myself, that was grandma's thing. I don't even know how it picks who to change." She lifted the staff. "All I know is that this little doohickey only works once a year. If you wanna change into something else next year, though, you sure can. The staff seems to give priority to people who are unhappy with their previous changes if they come back for a second go, so you're guaranteed a change at next year's party if you aren't satisfied!

Don's eyes went wide. "Year! Can't. Wait-". He was interrupted as Helena came around the corner. Don noted her costume looked the same as before. It was hard to tell, but it didn't seem like Helena had been changed by the spell like he had.

"Ahh, Don, there you are. Oh, and the host is here too!" Helena walked past Don and turned to the host. Don was surprised that she accepted his donkified self so readily, he had expected her to be shocked and confused, her total lack of reaction set off warning bells in the back of his head, but too many things had changed in the past hour and he couldn't put the pieces together yet. "You threw a wonderful party, so nice meeting all kinds of people, and what a great excuse to play dress up! I don't know why, but I even kind of believe you about all that magic stuff..."

"Of course! No need to thank me, Grandma asked me to keep up her tradition of these yearly events, you should thank her. And anyone who goes to one gets a free invite to future parties, so you're welcome back next year! Your friend here was just talking to me about coming back, actually."

Helena furrowed her brow at Don. "He was asking about that? Why? I swear, I can never tell what's going through your little donkey brain sometimes...Anyway, sorry Don was bothering you, I don't usually bring him to parties, he doesn't usually just wander off without me like that. I'll definitely be back next year! Thank you again, so much. Don, come."

Don started to protest, but he only got to "Can't. Leave. Ne-" when Helena butted in.

"We don't have time for your usual stubbornness, Don, it's time to leave the nice lady and get you back to your stall." Don was confused. Stall? Did Helena think he was actually a donkey? He tried to ask her what she was talking about, but before he got the chance, Helena grabbed the reins hanging from his face and started walking away. Don felt a strange feeling wash over him, and against his will he found himself following Helena out the door. There was something about his reins, the instant she'd grabbed them, Don had instantly gone placid and felt a compulsion to follow her. It seemed that this was another effect of the spell enforcing his "pack donkey" status. Being led around like a trained animal was a new level of embarrassing. Why did Helena think he was supposed to be a donkey? Had the magic warped her reality, too? Don tried to beg for help from someone, but the best he could do was glance around with a blank stare as he was led out to the car. Don recognized one man's Olympic athlete outfit from the party, but he'd considerably bulked up from when Don had seen him, so he must have been hit by the change, too. Don felt jealous, why had he gotten a great body out of the deal, while Don was stuck as a joke!? But then he saw the man staring back. From the confused look on his face that gradually shifted to amusement, it was clear he knew that a goofy-looking donkey-man being led by the halter down the sidewalk wasn't normal, and Don realized that he had noticed the Olympian's change, too. The people who were changed by the spell must not get their memories altered! That's why Helena didn't realize this was wrong! Don did his best to break through whatever compulsion the reins had over him to throw a pleading stare at the athlete, and the man did seem to notice, but all he did was laugh at Don and watch as he was led away to Helena's car. He kept staring at the man until he was out of sight. Internally he was screaming to turn around and shout for help, but to the outside world he had the same dull, slack-jawed stare he'd seen in the mirror, and if any other party guests the passed saw him as something unusual, none of them showed it. Even if other changed people did see him, they'd probably just assume he had chosen this, just like the host had. He certainly looked from the outside like he was fine with being led around, after all. The only small mercy was the tablecloth around his waist keeping him modest, but Don still felt very exposed, and he wanted to hide his face from the crowds.

When they get to Helena's car, he saw that it had been changed, too, it was now a truck with a small horse trailer in the back. Don did not want to be placed in there, being dragged behind the car in a trailer was admitting to the world that he wasn't human enough to sit in the car, but he continued his slow walk forwards. When they reached the car, Helena finally let go of his reins to open the trailer door, and Don felt himself free to move again.

"Helena. Something. Wrong. I'm not. Donkey." He cringed at his slow speech, even that short sentence had taken 10 full seconds to say, and he could tell that Helena was impatient waiting for him to finish.

Helena gave him a look that Don had seen many times before, it was the look she gave when she was worried about someone she cared about. Don supposed he was happy that he was still important to her, but he'd rather be her friend than her donkey! "What exactly are you worried about? Are you scared that the spell changed you somehow? It's not like you were wearing any clothes at the party, so even if the spell worked on donkey-folk like yourself, I'm pretty sure the spell wouldn't have done anything to you anyway. Is that what you're making such a fuss about?" Just as he'd feared, it seemed Helena thought he had always been a donkey. Don shook his head, then he had an idea. His wallet! Helena had his wallet with his drivers license in it. That would clear things up.

"My. ID. Please."

"Well, okay, if it'll help you calm down". Helena fished through her purse for a moment before taking out an ID card and holding it up for Don to see. Don's grin turned into a look of despair as he saw his ID was no longer a driver's license, but instead was labeled as "Public Service Animal Certificate". The picture was of his new donkey head, and it listed his name as "Don the Donkey" and Helena was listed as his "Stable Manager". Don got angry. It didn't even list his last name, ___...wait, what was his last name? He felt dread wash over him as he tried to remember his full name, whatever it had been, it was gone now. He remembered his parents and childhood, but when he tried to think of his full name, what came to his mind was "Don the Donkey". Helena saw the worry in his eyes and reached up to scratch between his ears for reassurance. The feeling was actually very relaxing, and against his better judgment Don found himself calming down. "Aww, it's okay Don. I know sometimes you feel guilty about the fact I take care of you, but you know that I don't mind, right? You've gotta have somebody to take care of you, big boy." She patted his belly as she said this, sending jiggles through his body. "Besides, the stipend I get for your job is enough to pay for your expenses and give me a nice profit, so you're hardly a burden at all!" Don stared down at his useless hands. What job could he possibly have as a donkey? "Now, come on, let's get you home so we can get to bed." With that she grabbed his reins again and took him into the trailer, leaving him in there as she closed and locked the door from the outside. He didn't try to escape. What was the point? He'd probably just get caught as a wild animal or something. Don watched the mansion through the slats as they drove away, seeing his last chance to change back for a year fade behind them as Helena drove them home. He wasn't eager to find out what his life looked like now, but he didn't seem to be in control of that, so he'd just have to take it as it came. For now, he sat back and tried to ignore the fact he was riding home in a trailer.

He really should have paid extra for the dragon costume.