A/N: For those who reviewed, thank you!

Johnny boy: King Peppy will indeed live to regret his decision, just not for the reasons you might think.

Iloveanimals: Yeah, Poppy's relationship with her dad is more than a little strained, but she still loves him. As for what she did when she found out Cooper told...well, keep reading! It's not as bad as what Branch would probably do, though.

Disclaimer: We don't own Trolls.

Ten years later, the trolls were preparing for a very special anniversary—20 years ago today, King Peppy had led them to freedom and safety, escaping the bergens before anyone else had to die. As she usually did on this day, Poppy told the story to the young trollings. An attentive audience, as always, they were excited when she told them that she was throwing the biggest, craziest party ever to celebrate 20 years of freedom.

As she headed through the village, passing out invitations to the party (all identical; the need for special invitations had vanished with the banishment of her hero), she kept fidgeting with glee. "Oooohh... I'm so excited! This is gonna be the most sensational celebration to date!"

A hot pink troll with orange hair approached her, wearing her signature headphones. DJ Suki said, "Hey, Poppy! Ya all psyched up for this evening's big party?"

"Oh, you bet I am! I'm so excited I can hardly wait!"

A tiny yellow troll with blue hair ran up, a long list of party supplies in hand. "Boss! The fireworks you ordered were just delivered to the party zone!" she said in a deep voice.

"Great work, Smidge!" Poppy told her smallest friend. "I knew I could count on you!"

Smidge just blushed slightly, rubbing her cheek a little. "Ah, ha ha ha..."

"So then what are we waiting for!?" Poppy asked, holding out two baskets filled with pink envelopes. "Let's go pass out these invitations!"

Smidge and DJ smiled back at their beaming friend, Smidge saluting the princess. "Aye aye, Boss!" Smidge said while DJ simultaneously said, "Got it!"

The two snatched one basket each and ran off to deliver them to every troll in Troll Village. Poppy grabbed a third basket from inside her pod and headed out as well. To cover everyone more quickly, the three split up...and, of course, Poppy started a song to alert everyone to the situation. Since the village wasn't so large that they couldn't hear her singing, DJ and Smidge joined her for harmony's sake.

As Poppy opened her pod up so she could leave, she started beating her cowbell to start the song. DJ and Smidge started off with, "Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh."

"Everybody, move your hair and feel united. Oh, oh, oh," Poppy sang.

DJ moved from pod to pod, tossing invitations in windows with a smile on her face, looking every bit like an overgrown flower girl at a wedding. Some trolls poked their heads out of their pods, waving their invitations and smiling excitedly as DJ danced past.

"Everybody, shake your hair and feel united. Oh, oh, oh."

To speed things up, Smidge got on top of a high mushroom, shoved many of her invitations into her hair, and started launching them as if from a cannon. Her aim, however, left much to be desired. Some of her targets caught their invitations happily, but another was hit in the face, knocking him down. Then a little girl, who had an ice cream cone she was eating, found herself with an invitation cone when the envelope knocked her ice cream out of the cone and took its place. Obviously this left the child confused. Fortunately the excitement of being invited to a huge party kept her from mourning her lost sweet. In the salon, Maddy's scissors were knocked out of her hand. She and the customer whose hair she had been cutting stared at the invitation, startled, before looking to the back wall. The scissors were currently lodged there.

Poppy, meanwhile, wasn't any more normal. She dressed up as a basket and started passing out invitations.

DJ and Smidge shouted, "Yeah!"

"Everybody's coming to the celebration," Poppy sang. "Imma hook you up with the invitations! Let your hair swing and party with me. No bad vibes, just love, you'll see." She shoved a couple invitations in between a troll couple that had been about to kiss. Rather than each other, their lips met paper. Poppy then joined DJ on her wooferbug.

"Do the D. A. N. C. E. 1, 2, 3, 4, fight. Stick to the B. E. A. T. Get ready to ignite," she sang, jamming out on the wooferbug.

The two girls jumped to a raised platform and started dancing with Guy Diamond, Cooper, and Biggie. Smidge leaped in to join them, as well.

"You are such a P. Y. T. Catching all the lights," the song continued.

Poppy hopped off, leaping along on bugs in the village. While she did that, Smidge had a light bulb moment and took off in excitement. DJ stayed where she was a bit longer and handed invitations to the trolls gathered around the platform, including their friends Biggie, Cooper, and Guy. Everyone was excited upon receiving their invites.

"Just easy as A. B. C. That's how you make it right."

Cooper, now dancing with purple mushroom critters, joined the song now, "Aw, it ain't hard out here when you're doing it right. Put a smile on blast, that's the troll life!"

Poppy hopped behind him on the critters' heads, singing, "And I'm here to help you through it." She landed near Smidge, who had a much larger basket—it was about five times the size of the tiny troll. DJ was there, watching, and Cooper came up behind Poppy as she cheered, "Come on, Smidge, I know you can do it!"

Smidge had the brilliant idea that they could speed up the delivery process and cover the whole village if they just dumped a bunch of invitations on the village from up above. To that end, she was trying to lift the over-sized basket, now with encouragement from three of her friends.

"Your confidence gives me STREEEENNNGTH!" she cried, lifting the basket up and waving it all over, scattering invitations nearby.

Many trolls ran to grab an invitation—Poppy was throwing a party, and she always threw great ones!

Biggie decided now was a good time to take some pictures of Mr. Dinkles with their invitation. However, there was one thing missing—Mr. Dinkles was nowhere to be found. Since the large troll had no idea where his worm friend was, he ran off in a panic. Nearby two troll girls who were attached by their multicolored hair noticed this and went to help.

Oblivious to the problem, Poppy, Smidge, and DJ kept dancing and singing, joined now by Cooper. Temporarily distracted from their invitations, three trolls sang the harmony now, "Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh."

"Everybody," Poppy sang on, "shake your hair and feel united. Oh, oh, oh."

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh."

"Sunshine day! Everybody's laughing."

The four friends joined a small group of trolls at a giant bouncy mushroom and jumped around for awhile happily, joined then by a green fuzzling with orange feet—another friend, Fuzzbert.

"Sunshine day! Everybody's singing."

Guy, the silver glitter troll, jumped in out of nowhere in all his naked glory, holding up a hand signaling everyone to pause. He had a serious and dramatic look on his face, eyes closed. Poppy and the others watched on, curious, as Guy snapped his fingers. The lights went out (strange, considering they were outside and the sun was the light in question) and a sparkly spotlight shone down on him as he danced to the music. He twirled a finger, did some moonwalking, and overall shook his glittermaker. Throughout his dance, he let out some glitter farts on occasion, just for extra flair. The entire time, he smiled slyly, enjoying the attention. As he finished his dance, he posed, looking smug. He cocked an eyebrow at them, silently asking them how they'd liked his show. Everyone smiled excitedly, and he took that as approval before going to join them in their own song and dance.

"Aaahh..." Poppy and her friends went. The lot of them hopped aboard a leaf, using it as a sled to ride along a vine. As they traveled, they moved to the beat of their own song.

"Don't stop," Poppy sang, her friends echoing her. "Don't stop the beat. I can't stop."

"Can't stop," the rest echoed.

"Can't stop the beat. I won't stop."

"Won't stop."

"Won't stop the beat."

They reached the end of the vine as Poppy cried, "Go!" Then everyone started dancing with other trolls in the village.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh."

"Everybody, shake your hair and feel united."

The crowd tossed Poppy into the air, dancing in an elaborate formation of circles, holding hands.

"Oh, oh, oh," Poppy sang before her people caught her. She then joined the dance on the ground.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh."

"Sunshine day. Everybody's laughing. Sunshine day," Poppy sang. "Everybody's singing."

The trolls formed a hair sea, which Poppy and Smidge "rode" across on a "boat" propelled by Cooper.

"Sunshine day. Everybody."

The trolls of the village formed a hair tunnel, which Poppy ran through in happy excitement.

"Move your hair and feel united," Poppy sang. By this point, she definitely had everybody's attention. She imagined, even, that he could hear her, wherever he was (although she doubted it). She posed quickly, then turned to the other trolls and started instructing them silently toward the big finish as she sang, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh."

While she sang, the trolls around her stacked on top of each other, using their hair to craft a huge tulip, with King Peppy (the hero of the day) spinning around on the top. Poppy noted distractedly that three of the key trolls were missing, but the rest had filled in really well. It was hardly noticeable that Biggie and the twins were missing.

"Yeah, ah, ohhh."

Guy and a gold glitter troll put on the finishing touches with a couple of glitter farts in silver and gold. Everyone posed happily, Poppy now sitting on Cooper's head, crying, "Yeah!"

They held that pose for a moment, Poppy slightly missing a certain somebody who would have come to tell her to quiet down. If only he were still here.

While the song had been going on, the three missing trolls had been looking for Mr. Dinkles. He had, apparently, wandered off.

"Has anybody seen Mr. Dinkles?" Biggie asked at large, slightly panicked.

The pink twin, Satin, patted his arm and soothed, "Calm down, Biggie. We'll find him."

"That's right," Chenille, her sister, agreed. "We just need to keep our eyes open."

Still handing out invitations, Poppy came over then, perky as ever, and said, "Hey, guys! What's happening?"

Satin and Chenille greeted excitedly, "Poppy!"

"Oh, thank goodness," Satin said, glad for the backup. "Mr. Dinkles wandered off."

"So we're helping Biggie look for him."

"You haven't seen him by any chance, have you, Poppy?" Biggie asked worriedly.

Now somewhat concerned herself, Poppy frowned and answered, "No, sorry, Biggie, I haven't. But I can help look for him! He couldn't have gone too far, right?" She gave a reassuring smile.

"Oh, thank you, Poppy!" Biggie said.

"Alright! Let's retrace our steps! When was the last time you saw him?"

Biggie put a finger to his chin, thinking about that. "Hmm... The last time I saw him, I had just met up with Satin and Chenille at the cupcake stand in the market."

"Great! Then let's start there!" Poppy said, heading off with the other three.

As it turned out, the yellow worm was hiding in the cupcake stand, eating all of the merchandise. He was a little chubbier than normal when Biggie picked him up. He was also covered in chocolate frosting.

"Mr. Dinkles! There you are!" His smile fell off his face as he started wiping the worm off. "My goodness, have you been eating all the cupcakes? Mr. Dinkles, you're going to have to go on a diet after that stunt, and you'll need a bath! There's a big party tonight, and you can't go looking like that!"

"Meep!" the worm answered.

Biggie then turned to the three girls and said, "Thank you for helping me find him, Poppy. And you, too, Satin, Chenille."

"Any time, Biggie. Any time," Poppy answered with a smile.

"We didn't really do much," Chenille dismissed.

Satin cupped her face in her hands and said, "Thank goodness we found him!"

"Alright!" Poppy said. "Now that that's under control, time to go pass out the rest of—"

"Poppy! Poppy!" Cooper cut her off, running over with a frantic look on his face. "You wouldn't know where that one guy is that's got everything stashed away somewhere in his secret hidey-hole? I really need some barium chloride to help me make those green fireworks. I'm sure hidey-hole troll has some."

The moment he said that, the twins and Biggie grew anxious. He'd mentioned the forbidden troll. You just don't talk about him unless you want trouble.

Poppy put a hand on her chin, pretending to be thinking. She looked a bit annoyed. "Hm... Hidey-hole troll... Hidey-hole troll... Well, gee, Cooper. I guess I really wouldn't know where to find that guy. You know, considering he was banished about ten years ago!?" She gave him an exasperated look.

Seriously, he was the one who ran to the village that day and told her dad that Branch had "left Poppy to die at the hands—er, wings—uh, claws?—of a huge bird!" How could he keep forgetting that, especially since he needed that barium chloride for next week's biggest holiday?

"Oh, Poppy, please don't start this again," Biggie begged.

This was an annual occurrence ever since the day Branch was banished. She was always touchy about the former village hermit, but she was worse around the anniversary of the day he'd been sent away for good. Her friends had heard her story and King Peppy's and, knowing Branch like they did, decided that Peppy had the right of it. She'd forced them to hang out with Branch on numerous occasions as children, and he'd always been terrible.

"It's not like he even wanted to be part of the village," Chenille reminded her.

"Didn't he refuse every party invitation you ever gave him?" Satin asked.

Cooper looked down and said, "Maybe, but I do miss having somebody around who knows where I can get barium chloride."

Poppy sighed in exasperation. Leave it to Cooper to forget the mess he'd made. Well, at least this time he didn't have any negative or rude comments to make about Branch. She pointed west toward the party factory and said, "Go ask Sky Toronto." As Cooper ran off, Poppy addressed the others in annoyance, "And, as for the rest of you, I know Branch wasn't exactly the friendliest troll around. But he did save my life that day and was sorry for endangering it! So, as far as I'm concerned, he's a hero and didn't deserve to be banished in the first place!"

"But, Poppy, Cooper saw Branch abandon you that day!" Biggie cried. "Branch never missed a chance to cry out about danger. How could he possibly have missed a bird coming right toward you?"

"Well, maybe it just slipped his mind! Come on, you guys. You know everyone makes mistakes, but we all need to learn to forgive and let this stuff go! Especially if someone says they're sorry."

She was a fine example of that. She'd forgiven Cooper and even let her father forget about it (sometimes).

"That's right, love," a serene voice said. "We must never hold a grudge."

Everyone turned to see a shirtless purple troll hovering over. A bug holding him by the hair explained how he was doing it. He jumped down from the bug as it released him, then turned back to the critter, saying, "Thank you for providing safe passage, my friend..." The bug flew off as he said, "Namaste."

With that matter dealt with, Creek turned to address his friends, "Okay, first of all, pals, might I ask you what possible good holding a grudge could do you?"

"We're not holding a grudge," Chenille defended. "We just aren't mourning Branch."

Poppy gave her a lame look and said, "Chenille. It's a Branch Appreciation Ceremony. Not a funeral."

"That's right, Poppet. And there's nothing wrong with honoring a hero, now, is there? I mean, isn't that what tonight's all about?" Creek asked.

Poppy was so grateful for Creek. She'd been trying for the last ten years to convince everyone that Branch was a hero. She'd expected that, at the very least, her friends would believe her. After all, they'd seen the good in Branch, hadn't they? They'd spent plenty of time with him, thanks to her.

She'd been sorely disappointed to learn that Cooper was the one to tell her dad what happened, especially when she learned the words he'd used. Of course her dad would think Branch had tried to kill her when someone said he'd left her to die! But she didn't blame Cooper—much, anyway. He'd been looking for help saving her, not trying to cause trouble, although Poppy did go a week without speaking to him after she first found out he was the one responsible. She'd only started talking to him again after her other friends had staged an intervention, pointing out that Cooper had done what he thought was best.

Even more disappointing was the fact that nobody believed her. Biggie argued that Branch was always trying to stir up trouble, so the accusation kind of made sense. Satin said he'd never been nice to anyone and only cared about himself. Chenille told her they were all better off without him and his rude attitude. Smidge promised she'd hit him if she ever saw him again. Guy was positive the lack of the village grump could only be a good thing. DJ felt that Branch would do exactly as Cooper had said. Fuzzbert pointed out that he liked being alone and banishment wasn't much of a punishment for him anyway. Cooper firmly believed that he'd accurately reported the events of that day.

Only Creek had agreed that there might be more to the story. Creek believed Branch had some good in him. Creek wanted Branch's side of the story before making his decision about the blue-gray troll's character. It was one of the many things Poppy loved about the guru troll.

"I guess, but is Branch really a hero?" Satin asked, and Poppy felt hopeful for a moment...until Chenille chimed in, like always.

"Satin, the answer to that is no."

Satin was reasonable. Satin would understand. But every time Poppy thought she had her convinced, Chenille would chime in and remind Satin that it was "stupid" to believe anything better of Branch. If there were a way to get Satin alone, Poppy'd do it. Unfortunately that wasn't possible—the twins were stuck together at the hair, and Poppy wasn't about to separate them like that.

"...Seriously?" Poppy said, irritation growing. "Are you all forgetting all those times we found dangerous predators in those old, forgotten traps? 'Cause, if you have, I'd be more than happy to remind you." She started pulling out a green scrapbook she always carried around.

Biggie, Satin, and Chenille all started waving their hands in front of them, talking about how unnecessary that was. Poppy made out a couple of phrases, like, "We know," and, "That won't be necessary!"

"I suppose his traps did catch quite a few, but was he trying to protect us or just himself?" Biggie tried to settle Poppy down by agreeing with her halfway.

The twins nodded their agreement with this question.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, my friends," Creek interjected. "All this negativity isn't any good for us. We should all just be thankful for all his hard work over the years to protect us."

"Yeah... Besides that, the trap that caught the growlbeast was located on the other end of Troll Village," Poppy added, opening the green scrapbook. The page she'd opened to had a pop-up picture of a growlbeast caught in a net, which she pointed at in annoyance. "it wasn't anywhere near the Fear Bunker, so it couldn't have been made for his own protection. He didn't exactly hang out out there, you know."

Feeling a little smug, she put the book away. Argue with that one, guys! Branch had tried to protect everyone, and Poppy knew it. You couldn't convince her otherwise.

Biggie looked uncomfortable. Satin looked a bit guilty. Chenille just started examining her nails, apparently trying to avoid whatever feelings were trying to come in.

"Right!" Creek said when no one else protested. "Well, now that that's all sorted out, why don't we all simply forget this here messy ordeal for a bit and help Poppy finish with the arrangements for tonight's festivities?"

The three Branch-haters all agreed in a babble of voices while Poppy was thinking that it wasn't sorted out. It never was sorted out when it came to Branch, after all.

Still, Creek smiled warmly at the three friends and said, "That's the spirit, everyone! Well, off you go now." He started waving them off. "Hurry along and see what still needs done. And, Biggie? If I were you, my friend, I'd hurry home and get Mr. Dinkles all tidied up for this evening's big celebration. We can't have him showing up looking like that, now, can we?"

"Oh, no, most definitely not," Biggie agreed. "Come along, Mr. Dinkles! Let's get you a bath."

"Meep!"

As her three friends set off to do something productive instead of argue about Branch again, Poppy sighed sadly.

Creek moved to her side and put a hand on her shoulder. "Now, don't go minding a single word they said, Poppet. We both know Branch is innocent."

"I know, but...I just wish I could convince the village of that. I mean, he apologized for it, so it had to be an accident."

Poppy wished she hadn't gone out looking for Branch that day. She wished she'd respected his wishes about not being invited to parties. It wasn't like he had to come, and he'd still be here for her to drag to less intense social events if she'd only left him be. Now she might never see him again, and only she seemed to care.

"I know, love," Creek soothed. "I know."

Poppy didn't have much more time to fret over the Branch situation. Smidge came running up, frantic, crying, "Boss! There you are! We're all out of glitter for the glitter balls you wanted! And there's no time to ask Sky for more!"

Made sense—Sky Toronto was a very busy troll, especially since she'd sent Cooper to him. That could take awhile...

Poppy held up her hands to calm Smidge. "Easy, Smidge. Just take a deep breath and calm down. I'm sure we can come up with something!"

"Well, it appears you have your hands quite full at the moment, love. If I may? Why not allow me to assist Smidge with the decorations for a spell while you go deliver the rest of these invitations?" Creek offered.

Poppy smiled warmly at him. "You'd do that for me? Aw! Thank you! I don't know what to say."

"Think nothing of it, Poppet," Creek answered, using her pet name once again. "I'm always happy to lend a hand." He moved a bit closer, smiling warmly at her, and said, "See you tonight, love. I'll be looking forward to our usual dance routine." He reached up and booped her nose affectionately.

Poppy smiled back at him, glad he was with her.

"Uh, I hate to break this up," Smidge said, feeling a little awkward, "but what about the glitter balls?"

"Oh, yes, love!" Creek said. To Poppy, he added, "Well, I'd best be getting on with that, then. See you tonight, Poppet. Have a blissful day."

He and Smidge then walked off, with Smidge frantically talking his ear off about the supposed glitter shortage.

Watching them go, Poppy smiled warmly. "Thanks, Creek. I couldn't ask for a better boyfriend if I tried."

She'd developed a crush on Creek awhile ago, and it had only been strengthened by the fact that he was the only one on her side in the Branch argument. She'd flirted openly and finally confessed her feelings for him recently. They'd been together for several months.

Poppy set off to deliver the remaining invitations, now thinking about the big celebration they'd be having next week—her favorite holiday, one of her own invention, was coming up.

"...Oh, Branch... I wish there was some way I could make this up to you...wherever you are now."

Pushing aside the melancholy threatening to consume her, she hurried off to finish her task. One day at a time. After she became queen, she'd send a search party out to find Branch and welcome him back to the village. It wasn't her ideal situation—she'd love to have him back with her right now—but it would work in a pinch. Once Branch was back, everyone would see that they had been wrong about him.

Even her overly protective father.

A/N: Since Poppy's friends were just kids at the time Branch was banished, they grew up hearing the adults all talking about how much trouble he was. This influenced their feelings about him, even though Poppy had forced the older troll to spend time with them in this story. By this point, all they ever see in Branch anymore is the bad, especially since Branch was always acting like a jerk when he was around, anyway.