My Golden Life

Chapter 23

We headed closer and closer to the party. I was anxious about whether we would get to Fiona in time before Charming could kiss her. I knew Shrek would be devastated if that happened. We burst through the doors, and everyone, including Fiona, turned to us in confusion and shock. I spotted that the others had managed to catch up with us and were now not too far from where we were standing. Shrek and I jumped off Donkey's back, and he began marching over towards Charming.

"Hey, you!" Shrek shouted. "Back away from my wife."

"Shrek?" Fiona gasped.

Many murmurs rippled throughout the many guests; this was something no one was expecting.

"You couldn't just go back to your swamp and leave well enough alone." Fairy Godmother snapped at him.

"Now!" Shrek yelled to the three pigs.

One of them was slingshotted into the air and headed straight for Fairy Godmother. He grabbed onto her leg and wouldn't let go as much as she tried to shake him off. Shrek then threw Pinocchio into the air and directed him to get the wand from her hand. Shrek's aim wasn't good enough as he flew over her head, and she struck him with her wand, turning him into a real boy. He was ecstatic by this, I mean, who wouldn't be?

She then turned to Shrek and was about to strick him, but the big bad wolf shielded him and quite literally blew her away, resulting in her dropping her wand. One of the pigs who were on stage at that moment managed to successfully catch it. He ran and tossed it to Donkey, and Donkey then threw it to me. I landed onto the floor, and sparks burst out, hitting Pinocchio and turning him back into a puppet. Fairy Godmother and I glanced at each other before darting towards the wand. She managed to get a hold of it, but I knocked it out of her hand, it went catapulting into the air, and Puss was able to get it.

"She's taken the potion! Kiss her now!" Fairy Godmother yelled to Charming.

He swiftly went to Fiona and pulled her in for a sudden kiss. I heard Shrek cry out and sink to his knees. As I turned back to Fiona, it looked at though the potion had sadly worked. She smiled at Charming and brought her hand to his cheek. She cupped his face, and then out of nowhere, headbutted him, knocking him to the floor.

"Harold! You were supposed to give her the potion!" Fairy Godmother cried as she flew over to the king.

"Well, I guess I gave her the wrong tea." He smirked at her.

That's when I heard Charming call out to his mum; he had snatched the wand from Puss's hand and dashed it to her. Now we were in serious trouble.

"I told you. Ogres don't live happily ever after!" She growled, darting her wand at him, and purple lightning surged towards him. 

I didn't know what I could do. That's when I saw the king did the unexpected. He jumped in front of Shrek, and the lightning struck him in his chest. As he was wearing a metal chest plate, the magic bounced back and hit Fairy Godmother. She was just about to use her wand again when she suddenly disappeared and turned into millions of bubbles. That my friends was the end of the evil and conniving Fairy Godmother.

Fiona ran up to her father, but all that was on the ground was his clothes. Fiona and Queen Lillian dropped to their knees and began sobbing, Shrek went to Fiona and gently embraced her. My mouth hung open a little as I shook my head in disbelief. It wasn't possible.

"No," I said. "The king isn't..." I hung my head, and I could feel my lip trembling a little. Then I heard a croaking sound coming from under the clothes.

"He croaked." Gingy sighed.

My head quickly shot up. I slowly made my way over to them, as did Donkey and Puss. Just then, a small green frog crawled out, and it was wearing the King's crown. Now I was super confused as to what I was seeing.

"Wait," I exclaimed. "I-is that.."

"Harold?" The queen asked.

"Dad?" Fiona questioned.

I was lost for words, I didn't know what I was seeing in front of me. The king was a frog. A FROG!

"I'd hoped you'd never see me like this." He sighed.

"Hey, and he gave you a hard time! Donkey said to Shrek.

"Donkey!" Shrek yelled.

"No, no, he's right." The king interrupted. "I'm sorry. To both of you. I only wanted what was best for Fiona. But I can see now...she already has it." He explained. "Shrek, Fiona...Will you accept an old frog's apologies...and my blessing?"

The two of them smiled at each over, I guess that was their way of forgiving the king.

"Harold?" The queen said.

"I'm sorry, Lillian." The king replied. "I just wish I could be the man you deserve." He was about to leap away when the queen caught him in her hands.

"You're more that man today than you ever were...warts and all." She smiled.

The castle's clock chimed, and I turned to see the time...One minute to midnight.

"Boss! The Happily Ever After Potion!" Puss called out.

"Midnight!" Shrek cried. "Fiona. Is this what you want? To be this way forever?

"What?" She asked.

"Because if you kiss me now...we can stay like this." He told her.

"You'd do that? For me?"

"Yes." He smiled.

Fiona turned around and looked at all the smiling faces staring at her and Shrek, she lingered for a few seconds before turning back to him.

"I want what any princess wants. To live happily ever after..."

Shrek then leaned forward to kiss her, but she quickly pressed her finger against his lips.

"With the ogre, I married." She smiled.

I was extremely happy for them. Ogre or not, they would still be together, and it was clear that they made the choice that they wanted. The clock then hit midnight, and the bells began to ring. It was then sparkly blue dust formed around them and lifted them up into the air. This also happened to Donkey and me too, and in a matter of seconds, we found ourselves rising from the ground. The dust around us stayed blue while the one surrounding Shrek and Fiona turned a shining gold. It was as if they had been consumed by the now bright light.

I looked over to Donkey, and I saw that he was gradually losing his horse form and turning back to his usual self. I threaded my fingers through my hair, and it began to change from a chestnut brown to a yellowish gold colour. As we all floated back down, I looked to see that Shrek and Fiona had turned back into ogres and Donkey, well he was back to being a Donkey again. My hair was now back to normal, and though I was a little sad that I was back to having golden hair, it was nice to experience what being a brunette was like. Donkey looked a tad more upset than I did, so I went over and patted him on the head. Shrek chuckled and smiled at him.

"Hey. You still look like a noble steed to me."

Shrek then turned to me.

"And Katie, don't worry. It doesn't matter what hair colour you have, you still look great."

Donkey and I smiled at his warmhearted comments, it made us feel a lot better.

"Now, where were we?" Fiona giggled to Shrek.

"Oh. I remember." Shrek smirked

He gracefully dipped her, and the two shared a romantic kiss, everyone around them clapped and cheered. It was great to see them happy once again, and it made me feel overjoyed.

"Hey! Isn't we supposed to be having a fiesta?" Puss cried. Everyone cheered once again, and then the music began to play. 

Fireworks shot up into the sky, and Puss and Donkey got on stage to sing. This was definitely one crazy adventure, and now it was time to relax and unwind. What can I say, we sure know how to party!