The extreme case of reality malnutrition. Leaves those involved in a state of irrevocable joy for all time. Often requires running through fields of daffodils.

Cinderella and Pinnochio and the Disney version of the little mermaid all did this, but real life (and the original Brothers Grimm mermaid) is much more cruel. This is quite an odd colloquial expression, and more evidence that English is a connotative language. "She lived happily ever after." That just doesn't make any parsing sense... What part of speech do the words ever and after represent in this phrase?