Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Trolls franchise, I just own Melody.
A mystic melody.
Delta Dawn stood on the boarder of the Pop troll village alongside Clampers.
The sun was barely making its daily raise as the dawn coloured the skies a unique delicate pink and pale blue blend; the suns warmth flowed through and the soft morning breeze started to move the trees into gentle music.
The plant life surrounding Pop village wasn't something (and plant life in general) wasn't something that Delta was used to dealing with. Sure, she'd travelled through the woodlands several times for parties and other things but she felt much more at home in the desert and sands back in Lonesome flats.
Feeling the grass tickle her hooves felt unnatural and she couldn't help but kick the ground in response.
The leader of the country trolls had been asked to wait with Clampers near the entrance to the village to wait for both Poppy and Branch to board them so they could ride to Bergen town to get a game plan to find the Lost kingdom of song. To her, the whole thing sounded like a bunch of hooey but it was the only hope young princess Melody had of surviving.
Who was she to crush hopes?
The leader of the country trolls glanced over to Clampers who seemed itching to get going and she couldn't fight back this huge balloon of worry that inflated within her soul. She knew that Clampers felt responsible for all this since she had left Melody behind by mistake during the initial attack and all but, Delta knew that nothing could be Clampers fault since she was still just a filly in spite of her being a young adolescent by this point who was half her height by now.
The leader of the country trolls looked just as determined as her niece was but, as she stared at the younger cloven-whooved troll, she felt her eyes begin to become misty.
She recalled that the time not too long ago where Clampers would climb into her hair and hide in there for security. She couldn't believe how much her niece had grown, she used to be so small that she was up to her legs and now she was well on her way to being just as tall as she herself was —perhaps even taller.
Clampers noticed the look on her adopted mother's face and frowned a tad.
"Aunt Delta? Are y'all okay?" She asked.
Delta nodded her head, brushing the tears from her eyes.
"Ah'm fine. Ah' just can't believe how much ya grown."
Clampers' eyes softened at that and she grinned in a way that exposed her large yet crooked buck teeth.
Delta then lay a supportive hand on her niece's shoulder.
"This ain't yer fault, honeybunch..."
The grin on Clampers' face could have dropped right off her face as her eyes suddenly took on an upset gleam. She evaded eye contact with her aunt for several lengthy moments until Delta Dawn spoke again in that same soothing yet reassuring voice of hers.
"Hey. We'll get Mel alright again then y'all don't have t' feel like a sad sack anymore. Ah' promise."
Clampers didn't say anything more.
She did give a sincere and heartfelt smile as she nuzzled her head affectionately against the hand of her adoptive mother/bio aunt, gripping her hand and rubbing her cheek against the back of it softly before letting her aunt have her head back. She appreciated the words of encouragement to help her be rid of the overpowering sense of guilt but she found it difficult, she did forget to grab Mel since she was so occupied with saving the other trolling's and, perhaps if she grabbed Mel too, then she could've saved her from this fate...
The teenaged country troll shook her head.
Now was not the time.
"Hey, we're here!" A cried, drawing both Delta Dawn's and Clampers' attentions to the entrance/exit point of the village and they saw Poppy and Branch run towards them both.
Both Poppy and Branch were dressed in light clothing.
Poppy was dressed up in a waist-length moss vest with a matching grass-knitted skirt with her fringe fluffed up and her crown fitting well and high upon her brow. She didn't wear her queens cape but she did wear a small clip-on necklace with a crown symbol on it.
Branch was dressed in his regular outfit but also wore a moss green knitted jacket over it whilst he had a large green travel bag strapped to his back with a sash full of rocks, sling-shots and other weapons attached to it wrapped around his shoulder and waist.
The king and queen pop trolls were fully equipped for travel.
Branch climbed on Clampers' back while Poppy climbed up on Delta's.
Delta nor Clampers minded the extra weight of the two pop trolls they were carrying on their backs, plus saddlebags, and they both gladly accepted as they both each allowed their respective friends, although their fight or flight instincts activated in the midst and they bucked and kicked a bit but it was easy for the most part when the pair reigned themselves in.
Delta waited a moment before she clicked her own tongue and proceeded to break into a fast gallop.
A few lengthy moments passed the small group by and Poppy started to take notice of the fact that Clampers' and Delta's collided trots as their hooves drummer against the ground started to make a sound that sounded like some sort of drum beat.
The pop troll's ears twitched and her eyes lit up at the realisation while a smile curled upon her lips as she started to feel the excitement of adventure rush through her veins like a flash flood flowing violently through a river creak.
A humongous smile spread across her face, splitting her cheeks, and her eyes shined and sparkled like diamonds.
It had been hard with Melody falling sick but, when this adventure began, Poppy felt this building excitement and enthusiasm. She felt so much younger and it filled her with this buzz that made her feel way more optimistic, she and Branch were going to find that lost kingdom and they were going to find that cure for their daughter's sickness.
She wasn't going to give up until she did and, she knew, neither was Branch.
Poppy felt her own heartbeat in harmony with the steady but methodical clomps and she raised her head and started to sing to the wind.
"Everybody, hey! It's time to wake up!
Are we ready? Things are gonna shake up!
Can you feel it? Feel it on the inside,
Nothing's gonna stop us
Nothing's gonna stop us now."
Unbeknownst to Poppy, her beautiful singing caused the wildlife to awaken as they curiously emerged from their beds to investigate what was singing and they too started to harmonise with the pink queen pop troll's singing mixed with the country trolls hoof steps in whatever way they could such as using their insectoid wings to create a soft humming or low yips and squeaks and chitters to mimic the sound of instruments.
Poppy smiled to herself.
"We can always reach a little higher,
Find a way to light a little fire.
Turn it up and never let it down, you know,
Nothing's gonna stop us.
Nothing's gonna stop us now!"
Once free of the Pop troll village boarders, the two trolls urged Delta and Clampers into the long, swinging gait that was getting increasingly faster, somehow Delta and Clampers' hooves were still drumming the Earth below rhythmically and they both seemed to hasten in their speedy galloping.
Poppy and Branch clambered on tight to avoid falling off.
On a whim, the king and queen of the pop trolls proceeded to guided their respective mounts deeper into the forest.
"We've never been this far before..."
Poppy lowered her head and closed her eyes, trailing off before snapping her head back up and glaring forwards with a determined smile plastered upon her facial expression, singing the chorus.
"This could be the defining moment,
This could be the defining moment.
History will unfold before us.
This could be the defining moment of our lives!"
Branch started to sing the next verse, smiling uneasily, very much aware of the fact that there were probable predators close by.
"Can you hear it? Hear it getting louder?
Lift your voices. Now we're feeling prouder.
Moving on and never looking back, you know
Nothing's gonna stop us,
Nothing's gonna stop us now."
Branch and Poppy guided their mounts/fellow troll leaders through the familiar forest in order to reach Bergen town, they ran through the forest, slicing through short cuts and they could feel as every leaf and blade of grass quivered around them even though she couldn't feel any wind.
This would normally feel quite ominous but Branch nor Poppy cared, they were just lost in song.
"Gonna jump and shout, and join the party!
Never gonna doubt, cuz this is our day!
Bring it on and take it to the top, you know
Nothing's gonna stop us,
Nothing's gonna stop us now."
Branch raised his head and closed his eyes as he felt himself bounce up and down with every single galloping step that Clampers had taken, his brows knitted together to paint an expression of determination upon his facial features. True, he was worried about Melody and feared about what would happen if he had lost his daughter but he tried to shove those thoughts in the back of his mind.
He and Poppy were out to find this cure and they were not going to give up.
"We've never been this close before..."
The blue troll's voice was gentle for a few moments before he belted out the chorus and he sang his heart out.
"This could be the defining moment,
This could be the defining moment.
History will unfold before us...
This could be the defining moment of our lives!"
Branch and Poppy decided to take a brief break from singing; neither of them knew how this adventure was going to go as approximately a few thousand questions and thoughts buzzed and whirled around in their minds like whirlpools: How were they supposed to find this Lost kingdom of song? How long would it take for them to get that cure? Would they even get back in time to save their daughter's life?
No, they couldn't think like that.
They needed to have faith.
Both Branch and Poppy sent sideways glances to one another as they kept riding on Clampers and Delta. Branch felt his anxiety start bubbling way below the surface as thoughts and doubts nibbled away at his mind, he ground his teeth and his brows knitted together as he sighed through his mouth.
Poppy felt excited to be going on an actual adventure for the first time in years, optimistic that everything was going to turn out fine, hopeful that the Lost kingdom of song wouldn't remain so for much longer and the cure would be found and faithful that Melody was going to recover.
The king and queen of the pop trolls along with Delta and Clampers kept right on dashing through the grass, evading all kinds of predators and other creatures that might or might not have been dangerous.
Delta Dawn and Clampers kept blazing the trail in front of them with just as much vigour as each other. The Aunty-niece duo both huffed through their nostrils, shooting smoke right out through their noses, as they sped down the pathway without showing any signs of fatigue or exhaustion in the slightest; they just kept running with the same speed as an out of control locomotive.
"This could be the defining moment,
This could be the defining moment...
History will unfold before us,
This could be the defining moment of our lives!"
Upon resuming singing, Delta Dawn and Clampers decided to join in and harmonise with their passengers, singing right alongside them.
"The moment of our liiiiives!"
The group all finished their quartet as Poppy noticed that they were about to come to a literal crossroads and she could feel her hair blowing behind her as she kept herself seated on Delta's back.
The queen of pop nudged Delta's side with her foot, signalling her to divert from their path a bit.
Delta was a bit confused for a moment as she glanced back over her shoulder momentarily to give a questioning expression to the queen of the pop trolls that read "are you sure?" but remained resolute when she saw Poppy nod in response to her silent query.
Poppy looked over to Branch and Clampers, grabbing on tight to Delta's mane.
"Branch!" She exclaimed, gaining her husbands undivided attention immediately. "You take the left road and scout ahead so the others can catch up! I'm going to take the right road to see Bridgette and Gristle in Bergen town! Then I'll come back and find you!"
Due to how loud the sounds of Delta and Clampers' hooves drumming against the ground were, Poppy had to shout in order to be heard.
"Can we come up with a plan first, dear? Please?" Branch pleaded, not missing a beat and knowing full well that they needed to come up with a plan afore just rushing into things like Poppy always did; especially in these circumstances.
Poppy rolled her eyes but smiled.
"Oh, okay, sweetie. We'll do things your way."
Branch was in a state of disbelief for a moment. Poppy was a kind, gentle, fun, easy-going, optimistic and sweet troll and, while leading was one of her strongest traits, listening to anyone without it going one ear and out the other was still a bit tricky and was one of her weaker traits.
He was thrilled that she was agreeing with him, though.
The blue troll nodded his head, a look of determination and pride setting on his face as he and Clampers split from the path that Poppy and Delta took —once Branch and Clampers split from Poppy and Delta, they basically bolted down the pathway with a trail of fire being left behind.
Poppy and Delta were rushing as fast as they could towards Bergen town. Poppy didn't know much about the world outside troll village (with the exception of Lonesome flats, Techno reef, Symphonyville, Volcano rock city and Bergen town).
She was positive that there were more places than that!
The world was always expanding so there must be something worth looking into.
Who knows? Maybe some clue about the lost kingdom was bound to pop up, she really hoped to find something.
"...And that's why we need you're help, Bridget and Gristle." Poppy finished explaining with a look of pure worry on her face.
It took basically crashing into the Bergen castle for both Gristle and Bridget to listen to the pop queen's problems.
As soon as Delta and herself reached the boarder to Bergen town, Poppy dismounted from the leader of the country trolls' back and ran on ahead to speak with the Bergen royal family to see if they had any records or lost archives pertaining to this lost kingdom. It was after exchanging pleasantries with Bridgette that she asked what brought her little friend to the castle out of the blue and Poppy explained everything.
The queen of the Bergens had a look of sadness and worry crossing her face.
"Oh no! Poor little sweetheart!" Bridgette gasped in distress.
She didn't like hearing that something was seriously wrong with her sweet little goddaughter, she couldn't stand the thought that the sweet little princess pop troll was suffering from a severe ailment and she made it her mission to help out her best friend.
As she had been a scullery maid since she was young, though, she didn't know what she could do to help. She just wanted to scoop Poppy up and just give her all the love and support in the world, alas the issue of size prevented her from helping much, though.
Bridgette picked Poppy up off the ground and held her in both hands so she could bring her in for a soft and comforting hug, trying to make her best friend feel better about her unfortunate circumstances. Poppy stood up on her tip-toes and wrapped both arms around the female Bergen queen's face in a tight and emotional hug.
Bridgette said nothing for several moments, pondering on her options, until she turned to her husband.
"Grissy!" She cried, pleading "There must be something we can do...!"
Gristle put a thoughtful facial expression, dwelling on his wife's words for what seemed like an eternity until his eyes lit up and he smiled a huge smile.
"Hmmm...I think we may have something."
Gristle gave a wave of his hand, gesturing for his queen and the queen of the trolls.
"How did you know about this, Gristle?" Poppy asked in awe.
"When I was young, I remember my dad talking about this secret place for trolls. I also overheard chef talking about something similar since she mentioned something about finding a "troll hotspot" and needing a place to find more trolls after we ate all of you all those years ago on that last Trollstice."
"Chef...kept boasting about it when she was with me before I could eat that other troll."
Poppy frowned at the mention of him; she remembered Creek all too well, she remembered the troll who broke her heart, the troll who betrayed her and the other pop trolls, the troll who she had been dating a fair amount before all of that chaos began, the troll who took her cowbell to use to lure out all her friends and family from their hiding places within Branch's bunker, the troll who had the audacity to act as though he were doing her a favour.
Sometimes Poppy missed Creek (as a friend, mind you) but whenever she did, she would immediately recall how he betrayed everyone. She was normally a forgiving troll who preferred the method of leaving the past in the past and forgiving and forgetting but Creek had crossed many lines that should never be crossed.
Alas she put that thought out of her mind, she needed to focus on the matter at hand.
"Huh. I've been wondering about that for some time now..." Bridgette mumbled.
"Hmm?"
"What that evil Chef was gonna do when we ate all the trolls in pop village. What did she plan on doing?"
Bridgette asked a good question but one that wasn't exactly relevant right now. What exactly did chef plan on doing when all the pop trolls were eaten? It wasn't like she was aware of the other troll tribes at the time otherwise they would have been captured too.
Gristle just shrugged in response to his wife's question, poking his lower lip out in a slight pout.
"Anyway." Poppy interjected, changing the subject. "Where do we go about finding this secret place?"
"I think what we need is in that...that place with all the books, scrolls and stuff..."
Poppy blankly stared at Gristle.
"You mean a library?"
Gristle nodded and smiled hugely.
"Yeah! That! The information we need should be in there!"
Poppy fought the urge to slap her own forehead in response. How could Gristle not know what a library was? Did he honestly not pick up a book or something after all these years? Actually, no, she didn't even want to think about it. While she did find her best friend's husband to be a nice guy, not even Poppy could deny that Gristle could be a bit dense sometimes.
"Strange. I never knew we had a library..." Bridgette mumbled thoughtfully.
Poppy's brows shot up so high that they could have arrived in the atmosphere, all these years and Bridgette never knew about there being a huge library him this huge castle? While that did strike her as odd, she decided not to question it and, without saying another word, Bridgette, Gristle and Poppy made an exit from the main throne room and made their way towards the library.
It took a few minutes for the group of three to navigate their way through the multiple hallways until they all finally came across it.
They were all stunned at the state this room was in.
It was obvious that this room hadn't been used in years; the library was a gigantic room with huge mahogany wooden bookshelves that barely touched the ceiling and were stacked to the brim with book-after-book, tome-after-tome and even the odd grimoire. There was a large desk placed in the very middle of the room and the room was lit up by wax candles that were bolted to the walls. Each book and piece of furniture was covered in a really thick layer of dust.
A lot of cleaning could really benefit this room and anyone who wanted to come in here.
The scene was even more confronting due to how stale and musty the air was, Poppy couldn't help but cough a bit as she felt her lungs begin to clog up due to the teeny microscopic specks of dust and stale must filtering through the atmosphere. Her ribs felt tight and her lungs felt as though mere gravity was crushing them inside out.
It was a miracle that anyone could even breathe in this room!
Poppy, Bridgette and Gristle stepped over the threshold between the doorway and the room.
They went over to one of the colossal bookshelves and Bridgette started pouring into each and every page while Gristle scanned each book by visually scanning the colour of each binding on each book and tome. He didn't seem to be reading any of it but instead searched for the book by the size and colour of it.
Eventually Gristle gave a triumphant "Ah-hah!" as he reached into the shelf and pulled a very large blue book out of the shelf, only to almost drop to the floor under the sheer weight of the book; he grunted and huffed and puffed as he tried not to drop the book but also tried not to become a splattered pancake on the floor due to how heavy this book was!
The king of the Bergens strained against the huge book, painfully hobbling over to the table and setting the big blue book on the table.
Gristle practically dropped the book that weighed like a ton of bricks down on the table, panting breathlessly as the effort put a huge strain on his body and decided to try and remedy this by stepping back, reaching behind himself to press on his own spinal cord, bending it inwards until the muscles popped and cracked satisfyingly. He gave a pained yet plaintive groan as he stretched his body to ease the discomfort.
In the meantime, Bridgette walked over and flipped the book open and started to skim through the pages in hopes of seeing anything about this lost kingdom of trolls while Poppy perched on top of her shoulder and leaned in to get a closer look.
After a few minutes of flipping through the pages, Poppy's eyes lit up like fireworks and she pointed down at one of the pages.
"STOP! There!" She cried, causing Bridgette to stop mid-page-turn.
The three adults stared down at the page Poppy pointed at.
The page had some large letters written at the top in bold writing that said "Mystic Melody" with a lot of much smaller writing underneath the title. Beneath the writing there was a masterful illustration of a castle tower which was covered in vines with the top of the tower containing a musical note. This finely drawn illustration looked expertly drawn and rather peculiar, not to mention the fact that there was no trolls that lived in towers that Poppy knew of so this must be related to the lost kingdom!
Poppy jumped down from the lady Bergen's shoulder, squinted her eyes at the strange wording and tried to read it but only to find that the writing was almost the pure definition of illegible.
She couldn't read it!
Poppy could only shrug helplessly as she stared down at the page in confusion.
"I can't make heads or tales of this, guys! Without somebody to translate this, I don't know where we can even start finding a cure for my baby girl's sickness..."
A tiny voice gasped.
The two mothers and Gristle turned to face the source of the gasp and found themselves staring right at a familiar small Bergen. The young prince's ears were down and his red pools were wide and his face was the epitome of worry as he anxiously fidgeted on the spot while he tried to come to terms with the horrible news.
"Angus? What are you doing up?" Bridgette called out to the youngling, surprised to see him awake so early in the morning. She sincerely hoped that the little prince hadn't been woken up by Poppy's premature visit and she had felt her heart sink at the mere thought of her sweet little boy being disturbed.
Angus didn't even seem to hear his mother's question as he just disregarded it and fixated on what he'd just heard.
"M-Melody's sick?"
Poppy reacted and proceeded to jump off the table, land on the floor, run up to Angus and hopped into the palms of his small hands before anyone could make another move. Angus lifted the queen of the pop trolls up so she could look him in the eye and frowned at her with pure worry shimmering inside his huge, innocent eyes.
Poppy looked at the young Bergen prince and nodded sombrely. "I'm afraid so, sweetie..."
Little Angus couldn't understand it.
He didn't expect his best friend to become ill, he didn't like the sound of it because it just didn't sit well with him. Melody was his best friend and he wanted to help her get better! But how could he help her? He knew he had to try but he had no idea what he could do...yet then an idea came to his innocent little mind and his eyes lit up the instant the idea came to him.
"What if I try and make her a teddy bear? Will that help her feel better, Aunty Poppy?"
Poppy smiled softly at the young Bergen, her heart melting at the sweet gesture; at the same time, though, she felt a bit of sadness loom over her like a shadow of despair as she remembered that her daughter wasn't doing so well. Nevertheless she shoved those thoughts of negativity from her mind, she knew that she needed to not only be strong but be positive because she knew that Mel wouldn't want her mother to be down in the dumps.
"Aww," Poppy cooed whilst rubbing the Bergen's cheek affectionately "I'm sure that Melody would love it, Angus."
Bridgette (in the meantime) finally regained control of her legs as she walked forwards and knelt down to meet her little boy on eye level, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She felt so proud to be the mother of such a sweet child like Angus and she couldn't help but feel her heart swell to the size of a coconut.
"Hey, sweetie," The Bergen queen bent down and picked up her son. "Why don't you go back to bed?"
"Sweetie, I don't think he's gonna go back to sleep anytime soon. He's wide awake and maybe he'll tire himself out soon and then he can go back to bed?" Gristle suggested.
"...You got a point there, babe."
Poppy smiled warmly at her best friend and her best friend's husband and their son, determined that she would soon be able to hold her daughter in the same way Bridgette held Angus. She felt a small flame of conviction alight within her heart. She was determined and set that goal for herself, if she could get that cure than she would hold her little one.
After getting herself properly psyched, Poppy smiled up at Bridgette.
"Hey, can I borrow that book?"
"Of course, Poppy. Anything for my BFF!"
Bridgette then handed Angus off to Gristle proceeded to crouch down on the floor, balancing on her knees so she wouldn't be towering over the pop troll queen and then put on a gentle yet sincere smile. She used one of her fingertips to gingerly rub her small friend's head, causing her flexible bright pink hair to fluff up a bit. The purple-skinned Bergen was giving off a genuine aura and her face was overflowing with kindness and friendliness.
"Listen. I know that you're probably feeling a lot of things right now and I'm here if you ever need someone to lend an ear. You're my best friend, Poppy, and I wanna do whatever I can to help you."
The smile plastered upon Poppy's mouth drooped a bit as her lips quivered and her eyes watered a little bit at the touching gesture. She proceeded to wrap both hands around Bridgette's finger, enveloping it in a tight embrace —she was lucky that her tight hug didn't cut off circulation to her finger it was that tight!
Gristle held Angus close as he stepped up and smiled down at Poppy rather awkwardly.
"We'll get that book all nice and ready for you, Poppy. Good luck on your quest."
Poppy couldn't have smiled any bigger as she brusquely thanked the Bergen royal family and ran out of the room to get herself a bit more ready for the trip to go and meet Branch and the rest of the snack pack, to prepare for the trip ahead and to wait for the book and strange transcript to be ready for her to take back with her.
After the pink troll had left, Gristle looked right over to Bridget.
"Sooo? Did I get it right? Was I cool? I bet I was cool!" He asked enthusiastically.
Bridgette just giggled as she leaned over and lovingly rubbed her nose against her husband's and Gristle returned the romantic gesture of affection, much to little Angus' dismay as he covered his eyes to hide from the lovey-dovey sight.
Upon pulling away, Bridgette stared at Gristle dreamily.
"Yes dear. You were, and still are, supremely cool."
A/N: Hi, everyone! Sorry that this took so long to update. I've been really busy but don't worry, I don't plan on giving up on this story. Thank you for your patience, guys, you are all amazing and I appreciate your patience.
Next chapter Poppy will hopefully find someone to translate the books info on the mystic Melody.
What else will happen next?
The song is "Defining moment" by Pink Zebra.
Don't forget to review, fave, and tell me what you think everyone!
-Chloemcg