Alrighty, we're finally getting down to the nitty-gritty; the meat and potatoes; setting the story in motion.

This chapter starts with a huge time skip. Enjoy!

…

"Hmm… let's see…" Sunshine muttered to herself, tapping the eraser of her pencil against her chin. She just needed one more word to finish this crossword puzzle.

As she pondered over the final answer, her best friend suddenly popped out from behind the tree she was sitting under. "Wassup, Sunny," shouted Tiny Diamond, tugging on her arm, "C'mon, let's go have some fun!"

"Not now, Tiny," she replied, nudging him away, "I need to find a five-letter word that means 'to disturb or bother.'"

"C'mon," Tiny pouted, "you've had your nose buried in that thing for over an hour. You gotta make time today to sing, and dance, and hug…"

"Tiny…"

"And dance and hug and sing…"

"Tiny…"

"And hug and sing and dance…"

"Tiny!"

Tiny recoiled at Sunshine's sudden exclamation. "Tiny, you know that you're my best friend and that I love you," she said, "but you are really starting to annoy me!"

Suddenly, she gasped in realization. "That's it!" Returning to her puzzle, she filled the empty squares in with the word "annoy." It was a perfect fit! "Thanks, Tiny." Standing up and looking down at him, she added, "you're the best."

It was funny; despite being ten years old now, Tiny Diamond was just barely up to Sunny's knee. He certainly lived up to his name. "Thank you?" he said, slightly confused, but happy that she was finally ready to play with him.

As the two made their way to the Misty Meadows, each troll they passed by made sure to wish Sunshine a happy birthday.

"Hey, hey, is that the birthday troll I see," asked Prince D.

"Yep," Sunshine replied, giggling, "that's me."

"So, Sunny," Cooper began, "you lookin' forward to your surprise party tonight?"

D and Tiny both looked at him aghast after he let this secret slip. "Um, would it make everyone feel better if I pretended not to hear that?"

"Yes, please," D said, glaring daggers at his brother. As the two Funk Trolls walked away, Sunshine could hear D muttering the definition of "surprise" to Cooper.

Despite the surprise being ruined, Sunshine was still very excited and flattered. No one had ever thrown a surprise party for her before. She assumed Poppy had considered her tenth birthday enough of a milestone to deserve one.

"Well, I guess now I can't ask you to close your eyes and follow my voice," said Tiny, slouching in disappointment.

"Don't worry," Sunshine giggled, "I can still pretend to be surprised."

…

After a long, fun-filled afternoon of dancing, singing, hugging, and rapping, it was time for celebration. Sunshine noticed some bushes near the meadow rustling, and she could hear a few faint voices muttering to each other.

"You know, there's plenty of room where some of you can scoot over."

"Ooh, I can't wait to see the look on her face."

"Shh, I think I see her coming."

Trying to hide her excitement, Sunshine parted the foliage to find the source of the voices. "Hello?"

Suddenly, a cacophony of noisemakers, air horns, and shouts of "SURPRISE" rang out.

It was unbelievable. Everyone in TrollsTopia appeared to have shown up. There were balloons and streamers on the ground and tangled in the trees, and a banner that read "Happy 10th Birthday, Sunshine!" in pink glittery letters was hanging overhead, being held up by two Classical trolls.

"Wow," Sunshine gasped, amazed at how much effort was put into this, "a surprise party for me?"

"Well, I don't know," Branch said, jokingly looking around, "Anybody else have a birthday today?"

Everyone shook their heads, but one responded with a soft "mew."

"Very funny, Mr. Dinkles," Biggie scolded, "that was last month."

"Welp," Branch continued, "Looks like it's all yours, Sunny."

"Do you like it," Poppy asked, "I can't tell if those are happy tears."

Sunshine hadn't realized she was tearing up until then. She sniffled and wiped them away, looking around at the festivities in front of her. Without a word, she ran into Poppy's arms, laughing as they hugged each other.

"Thanks, Poppy," she said, "you always throw the best parties."

"Hey, I helped, too," Branch said, joining their hug.

Looking over Poppy's shoulder, Sunshine noticed a gigantic pile of gifts, stacked almost as high as the party space was wide. "Are all of those gifts for me," she asked, shocked.

"Again," Branch joked, "does someone else have a birthday today that we didn't know about?"

Poppy giggled as her and Sunshine approached the gifts. "Everyone in TrollsTopia got you something."

"You sure this isn't overkill," Sunshine remarked. Not that she wasn't grateful, but Poppy did tend to go overboard when it came to birthday parties.

"Oh, that's nothing," Poppy said, "wait until you see your cake."

That alone made Sunshine nervous, but seeing the cake for herself didn't do much to alleviate that nervousness. How she hadn't seen it when she first arrived was beyond her; the first layer alone was twice her size, and the entire thing was so tall she could just barely see where it ended.

"That's a pretty big cake," she said, Poppy looking at her expectantly.

"Yep," Poppy replied, "One layer for each year you've existed, chock full of berries, buttercream, and love!"

"Smidge and I call it 'The Leaning Tower of Diabetes,'" Branch muttered, making Sunshine snicker.

"Hey, isn't this supposed to be a party," they heard Tiny shout from atop his dad's shoulder. "Then lets get it started Troll-style! Turn that music up, DJ!"

DJ Suki cranked up the volume, and now the party was in full swing as Sunshine began singing along.

Right, right, turn off the lights

We're gonna lose our minds tonight

What's the dealio

I love all the trolls so much

Classic, Techno, Country and Funk

Pop and Rock and Roll

Val shredded a few chords on her guitar.

Party like this is your last one

Time for hugging, singing, dancing

Don't be fancy, just get dancey

Why so serious?

The Snack Pack formed a trampoline with their hair and tossed Sunshine into the air as Poppy sang the chorus.

So raise your hair and wish Sunshine a happy birthday

Let me hear you sing

There will never be, never be

Better times than these

No we will always sing and dance and hug

Won't you come on and

Come on and

Raise your hair

Raise your hair

Sunshine harmonized along with Poppy on the last line before landing on her feet and finishing with, " For me!"

Sunshine high-fived everyone around her excitedly. "That was awesome, you guys," she panted, slightly out of breath, "let's do that again."

"Let's keep some of that energy contained for a little longer," Branch said, "You need to save some of that air to blow out your candles."

Sunshine looked at him in disbelief. You let Poppy put candles on that cake, she thought, quickly deciding against saying it out loud to avoid hurt feelings. There probably weren't enough to warrant any emergency precautions if Branch was willing to let Poppy include them.

She suddenly felt someone grab her from behind, and she turned to see Legsly. "Here, let me give you a boost," she said as she raised her up to the top of the cake, Sunshine letting an excited "Whee," escape her lungs.

"Don't forget to make a wish," she heard as she reached the top. Sure enough, there were only five candles on the cake; she wondered how long it took Branch to convince Poppy not to put all ten on. Giggling at that thought, she closed her eyes, took a big breath, and blew as hard as she could.

"Whoo, she got 'em all," Legsly yelled as they descended back to the ground. Everyone cheered and clapped; Tiny jumped into her arms for a hug.

"So what'd you wish for, Sunny," he asked, jumping around excitedly. "New clothes? A bicycle? A song to be written in your honor? Tell me tell me tell me!"

"Now, now, Tiny," Guy Diamond said, picking up his son, "she can't tell you what she wished for, otherwise it won't come true."

"It's okay, Uncle Diamond," Sunshine replied, sadly, "It never does."

The others looked at her with concern and confusion as a wave of emotions crashed over her. It had been ten years since her egg had been swept away from her family; ten years since she had hatched all alone. Instead of looking into the eyes of her mother, her first glimpse of the world was filled with loneliness and despair. And it seemed like she was long overdue for a family reunion.

"Sunny," Holly said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "you alright, gumdrop?"

Once again, Sunshine hadn't realized that she had started to cry. This time, though, her tears were anything but joyful. "I-I'm sorry," she sobbed, before running off in embarrassment.

"No, no, Sunny, don't cry," Poppy called after her, "not on your birthday."

"Sunny, wait," Branch shouted, following her. He could no longer see where she was, but he had a hunch that he knew where she was heading.

…

Branch made his way through the labyrinth of tunnels in his bunker until he finally came to Sunshine's bedroom. While she also had her own room in Poppy's pod, his home was usually the first place she thought to go to when she was upset.

Branch knocked softly on her slightly ajar door, opening it a little further. "Sunshine?"

He couldn't see her, but he did see a lump under her bedcovers shift a bit. "Sunshine isn't here," it said, "she's Stormcloud right now.

That was the nickname they had given to her when she was little and feeling sad. Poppy had first called her that as a joke in an attempt to help her stop crying; all that it usually took was a few hugs and one of her favorite songs and she'd be back to her old cheerful self in no time.

Branch figured it would take more than that to bring her smile back this time around.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked the tuft of her hair that was sticking out from under the blanket. "We don't have to talk about this if you don't want to," he said, "but I'm not leaving you here to cry alone, Sunny."

Sunshine hesitated before slowly lifting the blanket off of her and leaning her head on Branch's shoulder. "I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I didn't mean to ruin the party."

"Oh, Sunny," Branch said, wrapping his arms around her, "you didn't ruin anything. I understand what you're going through right now."

Sunny sniffled as she looked up at him in surprise. "How," she asked, "you don't even know what I wished for."

"I think I do," he replied, looking into her eyes. "You wished for your mom, didn't you?"

She nodded, averting her gaze.

"That's what you wish for every year, isn't it?"

She nodded again, sobbing as she buried her face in his chest. "It's been so long since they lost me. I thought maybe they would have found me by now. What's taking them so long? Do they not want me?"

Another piece of Branch's heart broke with each word she said. He and Poppy had accepted years ago that Sunshine was going to be part of their lives indefinitely—she may as well have been their daughter—but she was still dead set on finding her birth family.

"I-I really don't know what to tell you, sweetie," he said, holding the crying child a little tighter, "except this: no matter what happens, I want you to know that you are not alone and you never will be. Everyone in TrollsTopia loves you very much, especially me and Poppy."

Sunshine allowed herself to smile again as she listened to Branch's reassurance. This is why her first instinct was always to go to his bunker. He made her feel safe and always knew the right thing to say. She almost felt bad for feeling this way; she knew that she wasn't alone in this world, but she still wished she could spend at least one moment with her parents.

Their Hug Time bracelets went off while he held her. "Look at that," Branch joked, "we're ahead of schedule." Sunshine giggled as he wiped her tears away. "Feeling better now," he asked.

"Mm-hm," she said, hugging him again. "Thanks, Branch."

"Anything for you, kiddo," he replied. "Now let's get back to your party."

…

The rest of the birthday party went off without a hitch. Sunny's favorite gift she got was a hand-crafted hairpin shaped like the Sun; Satin had made it for her, while Chenille made her a necklace to match. She couldn't bring herself to finish even one half of a piece of cake. One bite of frosting was enough to make her feel full, but she was still grateful to have so many trolls in her life that cared about her.

It made it a bit harder for her to put her plan in motion.

She woke up in the middle of the night and gathered up everything she would need, making sure to be quiet so Branch wouldn't catch her. A few of his emergency rations, a couple of sharpened sticks for defense, and a scrapbook containing a map of Troll Kingdom were placed into a knapsack. She tore a page out of the scrapbook first, wrote out a goodbye note, and placed it on her pillow. She grabbed some of her favorite storybooks and her teddy bear and put them in the bag as well, drawing it shut as she took one last look at her bedroom, throwing a blanket over her shoulders and departing for an adventure that was years in the making.

She decided against taking the elevator out of the bunker; she was guaranteed to wake Branch if she did. Luckily, she had been around long enough to know where all of his emergency escape tunnels were. Once she had made it outside, she breathed a sigh of relief and looked out at the home she was leaving behind.

"Goodbye, TrollsTopia," she said softly, "I'm sorry that I have to leave like this, but…

I've got to go and find my mom and dad

I know they're somewhere out there. I hope you understand

We might see each other again someday

But it's about time

I gotta find my family"

She blew a kiss and disappeared into the night.

…

Sorry this chapter took so long. I've been fighting a wicked case of writer's block and mostly working on this on and off at work. I can't promise that it won't happen again lol.

Also, the songs in this chapter are "Raise your Glass" by P!nk and "Gotta Go My Own Way" from High School Musical 2.