Shadgirl2: Here's the last chapter of this story.
Midna Azusa: There WILL be a sequel, though! We've got an idea in mind for one, but we're wanting to get to know the TWT characters better first. If anyone knows of any media that might be helpful to us here, please share.
Shadgirl2: Books, comics, we'll take anything as long as it tells us more about the new characters.
Midna: In the meantime, enjoy this final (short) chapter to wrap things up!
Shadgirl2: Also I still think Branch technically confessed in the first movie, even if it was part of the song. The "True Colors" scene just looked too romantic to be platonic. The director of TWT was co-director on the original film, sure, but he's only human. He can make mistakes, too. Just seems a little much to have Branch confess twice.
Disclaimer: We don't own Trolls.
Come the morning, Poppy and Branch rounded up the rest of the Snack Pack for a brief discussion. They met up, as they so often did these days, in the fun dungeon.
"So, everyone," Poppy opened up. "I hope you all enjoyed yourselves yesterday."
"Oh, yeah," said Smidge sarcastically. "It was a lot of fun having to tell every troll in Troll Village I loved them. That one was so funny I forgot to laugh."
"Admittedly, I should have known something was up when I first looked in the mirror that morning and saw lines circling my eyes, nose, and mouth..." Guy confessed.
"Mr. Dinkles was far too quiet."
"No comment," Chenille said.
"Oh. So you'd all say it was fun looking like fools in front of all of Troll Village and acting like bergens?" Poppy asked.
The Snack Pack looked at each other, looking sheepish and awkward. They all started talking at once.
"So, gang? What did we learn today?"
"Uh... Never kidnap Gary and hold him hostage as blackmail?" Smidge suggested.
"Don't use embarrassing events to fix your friends' love lives?" Guy said.
"Don't chain people to chairs?" Satin tried.
"Especially Branch?" Chenille added to her sister's lesson.
"How about all of the above?" Branch responded. "Along with 'helping your friends is great, but don't take it too far.'"
"Really? I was gonna say 'don't mess with the Prank Masters too close to Prank Day,'" DJ said. "But that answer works, too."
"We've all learned a lot these past few weeks," Poppy told them. "Like the true meaning of forgiveness and what it takes to accept someone for who they are."
"And we learned that bergens have some terrible customs," Chenille said.
Satin, looking troubled, said, "But even they were appalled at some of the things we wanted to do, Chenille."
"Don't remind me."
"Uh, so maybe one lesson here is 'don't do things the bergens like or think is too much?'" Smidge suggested.
"Now that sounds like a good lesson! Also, zombies don't eat brains!" There was a moment of silence while Cooper realized what he had said. Finally, he amended, "Ooh, wait, that was a prank!" He laughed as his friends just stared at him.
After a moment, Poppy said, "Uuuhh... Anyway. That's all well and good. 'Cause, as I'm sure we've all learned by now, there are serious consequences to our actions. Like losing a friend's trust by hurting them too much."
"Which is why we all need to be careful about how we treat others," Branch said. Then, knowing that he was no exception to this rule, he added, "...Whether we like them or not."
He knew he'd been wrong in his behavior toward Creek. He could see that now, and he didn't blame his friends for getting angry at him. It wasn't as if he'd been in the right, after all. Sure, he still didn't like Creek, but he could see now that he needed to give the guy a chance. Nobody had gotten hurt yet, after all.
The rest all looked down in shame, which Branch hadn't expected. That last bit had been directed at himself, after all.
"Yes. And that can go for anyone we don't like or trust but our friends do as well..." Guy added, also thinking of the incident that had led to all of this.
"But, Guy? Is taking sides a good idea if you're friends with both of 'em?" DJ asked.
"No. It's not," Poppy reminded them. "And there's another lesson we all need to learn. Never take sides in an argument or fight. You don't know what the two involved are really thinking or feeling, so it's not fair to judge them, based on what you heard or saw."
"Yeah, especially if you judge wrong," Branch added. "That can lead to hurt feelings and broken friendships. It's better to get both sides of a story first."
"And that's how you end up all alone, too. Your friends that you hurt might decide that you're too mean and, instead of forgiving you for it, they'll walk out hating you instead."
The Snack Pack acknowledged this in a jumble of words, some nodding in agreement. After all, that was the whole mess they'd just run into. Branch had handled things wrong with Creek, his paranoia and distrust getting the best of him. This was an obvious flaw of Branch's that they had ignored, so it only made sense he'd think they had double standards because of it. Now that the entire mess was behind them, they actually had time to think about these lessons.
"And, if you go too far trying to fix a problem, you could make a bigger mess," Biggie added. Which we didn't, thankfully. He felt it was nothing short of a miracle that they hadn't created more trouble, really. "Or you could cause other problems, such as embarrassing your friends?"
"Or hurting them, or scarring them for life, or—" Poppy cut off as she realized that not only was this list endless but she was running the risk of sounding exactly like Branch right now. "Y-you know what? There's a million reasons that can go wrong. Branch? Would you do the honors?" She stepped aside, giving him the floor.
He started counting off on his fingers, saying, "You could scar them for life, destroy their trust in people, humiliate them, hurt them physically or emotionally..." Giving a lame look, he crossed his arms and finished, "The list goes on and on, really."
"Then I guess we'd better stop doing that," Satin said.
Guy protested, "Oh, but, guuuyys! That's how that show often works! There are a ton of unhappy couples who get forced on that thing so their love lives get fixed! What's so wrong about that?"
Admittedly Poppy couldn't argue with that, especially since she saw nothing wrong with being on the show. She just didn't like being on the show, if that made any sense.
Awkwardly, she answered, "Well, uh. Nothing, really, since that show's just meant for comedy's sake and to help people, but—"
Branch dropped his arms to his side, looking at Guy in mild annoyance. "...I was strapped to a dungeon chair, blackmailed, and forced to make myself emotionally vulnerable. I'm not mad about it, but come on!" He waved his arms in frustration.
"Rrright...and that also happens on that show a lot..." Poppy decided to just move on. It hadn't bothered her the way it had Branch, and that led her to another point. "Let's just put it this way, you guys. If you're gonna do stuff like that, be sure to know your trolls and what they can and can't handle from now on. That work for everyone?"
The Snack Pack, Branch included, agreed.
"I still think the lesson there is 'don't touch the Prank Masters,' but..." DJ trailed off.
She wasn't doing it. Ever. Messing with Branch and Poppy was just asking for the ultimate prank.
Cooper threw one of his front legs up in the air, adding, "I'm with DJ! If you're gonna mess with them, you'd better do it the day after Prank Day!"
"Oh, sure, Cooper. Give them a whole year to plot their revenge!" Chenille said. "I was thinking the day before would be a safer option. It gives them less time to prepare."
Satin nodded in agreement while DJ just thought uncomfortably about the fate that had befallen Spruce when he pranked Poppy the day before Prank Day.
"Perhaps we should just not mess with them," Biggie offered. "After all, we all know Poppy will plot her Prank Day revenge, no matter how long she has to wait, and I'm willing to bet Branch is the same way."
Everyone murmured in agreement.
Branch raised an eyebrow at Poppy and asked, "Really? You hold onto something that long?"
"Uh... Let's just say pulling a prank the day before Prank Day's not a good time. 'Cause then you'll have to wait an entire year to plot your revenge just to make it good enough to count!" she answered, feeling awkward, also thinking of Spruce.
Yes, he had pranked her the day before Prank Day and been pranked hard by her, but nobody had said it happened that year. In fact, she hadn't done anything to him the day after he pranked her. No, the legendary prank had come a year after the event that caused her to do it. When he'd pranked her, she was 15. When she got her vengeance, she was 16.
Yes. She would wait that long to make sure she had the time to plan the perfect revenge. No, she wasn't going to enact such an intense prank on any day other than Prank Day. It just didn't seem fair to get someone that good on a day they wouldn't be expecting it.
Seeing the look on Branch's face, she added lamely, "Trust me. You're better off not knowing."
"Agreed!" Satin cried.
"Definitely!" Chenille nodded.
Biggie chimed in, "Oh, yes!"
Branch just stared for a moment, taking in the weird reactions from his friends. "...Huh."
"Point is, gang. We can learn to avoid most of what happened the past few weeks if we avoid using peer pressure to push each other around, forgive even if they don't deserve it or say they're sorry, and accept each other's differences even if we don't like them. If we learn to love each other unconditionally, we can survive anything!" Poppy said, earning an excited yet unintelligible babble of agreement from her friends.
Smidge raised a hand and said, "Uh, one question. Is teasing each other and picking on each other okay?"
"As long as you do it in good, clean fun and it's not hurting the person you're doing it to, I don't see why not," Poppy answered. She looked at Branch to see if he agreed.
"Yeah, of course," he said.
"Great! Then I'd say everything's settled! You can all go now!" Poppy dismissed the meeting.
The Snack Pack got up and headed out of the fun dungeon. Poppy and Branch hung back.
Looking happy, Poppy turned to Branch and said, "Seriously. Thanks for giving us a second chance. We'd never have learned all this if it wasn't for you."
"Well, you guys didn't mean to hurt me, right? Besides, you guys have taught me a lot, too."
Poppy smiled and held out a hand. "So? Want to go see what Titan and Winter are up to today? ...Boyfriend?"
He smiled and took her hand, answering, "Sure, why not?"
The young troll couple headed off to Guy's class, where Branch took over halfway through. Guy assisted for the rest of the class while Branch got more comfortable with teaching trolls.
From that day forward, the Snack Pack had no more issues with forgiveness, although they did still make mistakes, especially where Branch—or anyone else different than themselves—was concerned. But, hey, mistakes are how you learn, right?