Sunshine tried to wriggle herself free from the bird's grasp, even attempting to pry its talons open with her hair. No matter what she did, it refused to let go. She hadn't anticipated being unable to escape. She hadn't thought this far ahead when she jumped in the way to save Branch and Poppy.
Unfortunately, that was beyond her control now.
"Drop that troll you dirty varmint," she heard Delta Dawn shout. Looking back, she saw the Country mayor racing after her, her caretakers riding along with looks of pure panic on their faces.
Sunny couldn't say she didn't feel the same. "Poppy, Branch," she yelled, reaching out to them, "Help me!"
"Hang on, Sunshine," Poppy called back, trying to fling her hair out to catch the child, but she couldn't get close enough. The bird seemed to pick up its pace at the same time Delta did.
A fresh wave of guilt washed over Sunshine as she looked into Branch's eyes. That worried expression was her fault. She was the reason for all of the stress and turmoil he had just gone through. And apparently she wasn't done torturing him.
"I'm sorry, Branch," she cried, shutting her eyes tightly, "I'm sorry I ran away I'm sorry I was so disrespectful I'm sorry you have to put up with me I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!"
"I-it's okay, Sunshine," Branch cried back, heartbroken that she was beating herself up in this situation. "Don't worry, we're coming!"
Memories started flooding his mind of her floating away in that bubble when she was a baby. Sure, he had caught her then, but what if he couldn't make it to her this time? What if last time was just a fluke?
No, he couldn't think like that. He'd saved her before; he could save her again.
"Uh, guys," Delta said, "I don't mean to complicate things further, but…" They were quickly approaching a sign that was hanging off of the needle of a cactus.
"END OF THE LINE"
The three trolls stopped just a few feet from the cliff's edge. It was only a matter of time before the bird was completely unreachable.
"No no no no no," Poppy panicked, grabbing Branch and shaking him violently, "It's getting away! It's getting away with our Sunshine! What to we do?!"
Branch hated to admit it, but he was at a loss. He never had quite mastered the Hair Lasso, no matter how many times he practiced. He could throw something at the bird, but he didn't want to risk hitting Sunny.
Suddenly, Delta's eyes lit up with an idea. "Why didn't I think of this before," she said, bringing two fingers to her mouth and letting out a loud whistle. "Clear a path y'all!"
In the distance, the sound of gnashing teeth could be heard, growing louder with each passing second. Before long, a little pig-tailed Country troll could be seen sprinting towards the group like a bullet, mowing down everything in her path.
"Sic 'em, Clampers," Delta shouted, pointing towards the bird just as it was flying over the edge of the cliff. The bird must have figured it was far enough out of reach to taunt its pursuers, turning smugly and letting out a sound similar to a proud chuckle.
Big mistake.
The second it locked eyes with Clampers, it knew it had messed up. It wasn't given any time to escape before she leapt at it and sank her teeth into its foot. The bird screeched in pain, dropping the children before flying away.
Poppy quickly flung her hair out to catch them, Clampers grabbing it with one hand and both of Sunshine's hands with the other. Delta Dawn held Poppy by the waist, her hooves digging into the ground to keep them all from plummeting over the edge.
"Ngghh, I can't pull you both up," Poppy grunted, "You're too heavy!"
Branch watched in horror as Sunshine and Clampers held on for dear life. Clampers was surprisingly calm under the circumstances, but Sunshine was hyperventilating and shaking with fear.
Now was the time for him to act.
"Clampers," he called, kneeling at the edge of the cliff, "Do you think you could swing Sunshine up here to me?"
Clampers looked down at the panicking trolling and nodded slowly. "I-I'll try," she said.
"Wait, Branch," Sunshine retorted, shaking her head. She knew just as well as he did that there were too many ways that his plan could go wrong. She could let go too soon, or too late, or she could pull him off of the edge with her. "I'm scared."
"I know, Sunny," Branch said, looking into her eyes with all the paternal love he could muster, "I'm scared too. But I promise, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I meant it when you were little, and I mean it now."
Branch's little speech seemed to have awakened a sense of bravery Sunny had hidden within her. She looked over to Poppy, who appeared to be stifling tears, either from the emotional weight of the matter, or from the literal weight of the children starting to hurt her (most likely the former). "I love you guys," she said to them both.
Shaking off what was left of her fear, she glanced up at Clampers and stated, "Okay, I'm ready."
The young Country troll began swinging the other back and forth, holding on as tight as she could. On the count of three, Sunshine released her grip on Clampers' hand, the Country troll scrambling her way up Poppy's hair the minute she let go. Flying through the air, she poised her palm to land safely in Branch's outstretched hand…
…And immediately slipped right past it.
Poppy and Branch watched in stunned shock and disbelief as Sunshine fell, a scream escaping her throat that slowly faded as she disappeared from their view.
"SUNNY!" they screamed, both reaching out under the vain assumption that they could still save her.
"I'm going after her," Poppy said, jumping over the edge.
Branch's eyes widened at her declaration. "Wait, Poppy," he said, grabbing her by the hair before she could meet the same grim fate.
"Let go Branch," she protested, thrashing in his grip, "I have to save her!"
"You can't, Poppy," he replied; despite every fiber of his being wanting to do the same, he knew it was no use. "It's too late."
Poppy continued to argue fruitlessly with him as he pulled her up. Even when he got her back on solid ground, he still had to restrain her from running off of the cliff after Sunshine.
"Poppy, she's gone," he shouted, squeezing her shoulders tightly. He let out a quiet sob before repeating, "She's gone."
The usually jovial and upbeat pop queen collapsed into a sobbing heap in her boyfriend's arms, tears raining down from his eyes as well. "My baby," she wept. She had tried her darnedest to be the strong one during this adventure, but losing Sunshine for good was the straw that broke her.
Branch, of course, wasn't in any better shape. He'd promised, he'd promised to protect the little troll, but he had let his guard down and let her slip away from him. He didn't want to say goodbye; not like this.
As she was holding her niece in a relieved embrace, Delta Dawn glanced over at the crying trolls and felt a sharp pang of sympathy. Setting Clampers back down on the ground, she pulled a banjo out of her hair and began strumming a somber tune.
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are gray
You'll never know dear
How much I love you
Why'd you take my sunshine away
…
Sunshine didn't know how long she'd been falling. Long enough to scare her out of her wits, that's all she knew. It could have just been a few minutes, but to her it felt like an eternity.
Especially when she seemed to stop before she hit the ground.
The blur of scenery whizzing past her came to an abrupt halt, the sight of mesh taking its place. Confused, Sunshine looked around and found herself caught in some sort of net, similar to the ones Branch set up around the village to catch predators.
If it was anything like Branch's traps, she wasn't making it out of there on her own. She decided against calling for help for fear of attracting any troll-eating wildlife. From where the net was suspended, she spotted an area not too far away that looked like a makeshift campsite; a tent, an unlit campfire with a pot hanging over it, and a bag filled with various supplies leaning up against the tent.
A voice began drifting closer to where she was, singing with a soft drawl.
Oh give me a home
Where the puffalo roam
And the bulls and the tumbleweeds play
A teenage Country troll appeared out of the brush, carrying a basket filled over halfway with berries he had been foraging for.
Where seldom is heard
A discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all d-
He gasped when he saw the troll trapped in his net. "Uh, a little help," Sunny said, waving awkwardly.
"Oh my stars," he said, rushing to free her, "I am so sorry! This was meant for catchin' critters, not young'uns!"
He carefully lowered the net to the ground and let it fall open around Sunshine. Despite being free from the trap, she didn't move right away. She remained still, back turned toward the other troll and kneeling on her hands and knees in despair.
"Are you okay, June bug," he asked, keeping a comforting distance between them just in case she needed space.
Sunny wanted to kick herself. She wanted to scream at her own reflection about how stupid she was. But most of all, she wanted Poppy and Branch. She wanted them to hold her, sing to her, and tell her everything would be okay again.
"Thank you," she said, picking herself up off the ground, "Thank you for saving me. But I need to get back to Lonesome Flats. The Pop queen is there, and I need to let her know I'm okay. Can you help me, please?"
When she turned back to face him, he didn't appear to have been listening to what she just said. He was staring at her in astonishment, muttering phrases under his breath like "No way," and "Is it really…?"
"Why are you looking at me like that," she asked, suddenly embarrassed, "Do I have something in my teeth? In my hair? On my face?"
The Country troll removed his ball cap and held it close to his chest as he replied, "The spittin' image."
Sunshine looked back at him quizzically. Where had she heard that before? That's right; Delta had said that she was the "spittin' image" of—
She gasped, fighting back the urge to cry again. "Are you…Rascal?"
The other troll had no such inhibitions as he pulled her into a hug, letting his tears fall over her shoulder. "As sure as I'm your big brother," Rascal replied in between sobs. "I knew I'd find you someday. I knew you were still out there somewhere."
As happy as she was to finally find one of her blood relatives, Sunshine still couldn't shake the guilt off of her mind. She had to get back to Branch and Poppy. She had to let them know she was okay and that she loved them and that she was sorry for everything she had put them through.
"How did you survive that storm anyway," Rascal asked.
"I was saved by Queen Poppy," she replied, her voice wavering on her caretaker's name, "I probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her and Branch."
She caught sight of a pink dot floating overhead. Even before its more detailed features could be seen, she immediately recognized it as Poppy's balloon. "That's them up there," she yelled, pointing at the dot as she ran after it, jumping up and down and frantically calling their names. Rascal followed her, both to help and to ensure his little sister's safety.
"Branch, Poppy," Sunny shouted, "It's me! I'm okay!" Try as she might, she couldn't get their attention. Even with Rascal doing the same, they were too far apart to see or hear each other.
She dropped to her knees in despair once more as the balloon disappeared from view. She wasn't going to give up, but she had no idea what to do from here.
She snapped back to attention when she heard a loud rustling coming from the brush nearby. "What was that," she gasped, watching the vegetation tremble.
"Stay back, lil sis," Rascal said, shielding her from whatever was hiding in there. Pulling a sharpened stick out of his bag, he added, "You don't know what kinda stuff the critters out here are capable of."
Sunshine kept a tight grip on her brother's arm, growing more and more scared as the rustling became more intense. Rascal remained poised to fight, keeping a brave demeanor she hoped would rub off on her eventually.
The rustling finally reached its peak as the creature waiting inside popped out. Sunshine flinched, retreating further behind her brother, but the creature did not attack. She slowly opened one of her tightly shut eyes to peek at the creature, just in case it was trying to catch them by surprise. She ended up being halfway right as the would-be beast remained still in front of them, letting out a soft and familiar "mew."
"Mr. Dinkles?"
…
Not done breaking y'alls hearts just yet, apparently.
I don't know how many more chapters I have planned for this story—maybe one or two—but I hope you're excited to see Sunshine meet back up with the Snack Pack Search Party.
If it doesn't happen next chapter, then the one after that should be featuring the family reunion for realsies. Stay tuned to find out!