Poppy was a master gift-giver. Everyone in Troll Village knew that. She spent a lot of time researching everything about a Troll before she got them a personal gift from the heart. For Willow, it was a replica of a sweater her grandma had knitted for her when it got too cold. She would never tell anyone, but she cried a little every time she wore the sweater. It felt like she was getting a hug from her grandma each time.
So it was no surprise when the Poppy Present Support Group called a meeting and Branch was the newest member. She grinned when he sat beside her. "You too?" She asked. He held up Crocko. "She found it?" She asked surprised.
"Yeah, in the tunnels," Branch confirmed. He looked up when Smidge said he needed to share something. He smiled. "Hi. My name's Branch and I received a gift from Poppy."
"Hi, Branch," Willow said with the other members.
Branch sighed and clutched Crocko. "I mentioned Crocko once, six months ago, in passing. How did she remember that?"
"Oof," Biggie said. "So personal."
"I know," Branch nodded. "And now her half-birthday is almost here." He stood up. "What chance do mere Trolls have against thoughtfulness of this magnitude?"
"We've been there," Satin and Chenille said. They told the group the story of Poppy getting them a conjoined sewing machine so they could sew simultaneously and not have to fight over the machine.
"And I know I'll never live up to what she did for me," Biggie added with his story of a giant Mr. Dinkles costume.
"Then there's the gift she gave me," Smidge said, telling them about the B.F.F trophy Poppy gave her.
Willow nodded and pulled out the sweater she was given. "I don't even remember telling her about this sweater," She said, hugging the rainbow pattern. "How can we even think of a gift as good and worthy of Poppy?"
"Guys, we are not gonna come up short this time," Branch said, determined. He jumped off the mushroom he was sitting on. "Someone has to have an idea for a gift Poppy would like."
Smidge gasped. "I've got just the thing." She ran and pulled on a cord. A pinata shaped like Poppy came down. "The Poppy pinata!" She grabbed a stick from her hair. "See, we give Poppy a stick, and then.." she started beating the pinata until it broke apart and candy fell out.
Willow grimaced. "I think that sends the wrong message," She told Smidge when she stopped.
Smidge looked at the horror on her friends' faces and back to the pinata. "Oh, my guh! What was I thinking?"
"Guys, we could give her a group gift," Biggie suggested.
"No!" The other Trolls denied. "Then we're each giving her a fraction of a gift!" Satin said, standing up. "That would be like someone only saying a fraction of 'I love you.'"
Chenille looked at Biggie to show him what they meant. "I lo-" When she didn't finish the words, he panicked and started shaking her as he begged her to finish the saying.
Biggie broke down sobbing before he stood up. "You're right. Group gifts are the worst."
Willow frowned. What was she going to do? She couldn't just get Poppy nothing after all the love and care Poppy had put into her present.
"Guys it's gonna be okay," Branch assured. "But we have to focus. It's not like the perfect gift idea is gonna fall out of a tree." And just like that, DJ Suki fell out of a tree behind Branch.
"Guys!" DJ yelled running up to them. "I've got the perfect gift idea! See, I was at the market, eating a sandwich, when I overheard Poppy talking to the florist." She told the gathered Trolls about Poppy asking about a flower she had seen when she was little. "So that's when it hit me. What if we gave her a sandwich?" She pulled a sandwich from her hair.
The group looked at her confused before Branch grinned. "DJ, you got it." Willow looked at Branch confused. He wanted to give Poppy a sandwich? "No, no, no. Not the sandwich," Branch corrected when he saw the confusion on everyone's faces. We could all go find the flowers." Ah, that made more sense.
"I'll give her a bouquet in a vase!" Chenille said, raising her hand.
"I'll weave some into a crown!" Satin added.
"I'll also make a personalized gift!" Smidge said, determined.
"But how do we know which kind of flower she means?" Biggie asked.
"We need to ask someone who knows everything about Poppy," Satin said. This led to the group finding Poppy's dad, King Peppy to ask about the flower.
"Ah, yes," King Peppy said, smiling. "I remember it like it was yesterday. I woke up, had a cupcake-flavored muffin, went on a hike with Branch-"
Branch raised an eyebrow. "That was yesterday."
"Right!" The old king confirmed. "Wait, what are we talking about again?"
"Poppy's flowers!" The group shouted frustrated. Willow groaned. "This is going to take forever," she muttered to herself.
"Oh, yes!" The king said, grinning. "That would make an excellent gift. If it would help, I can draw one from memory." He pulled out a pen and paper and drew a flower. Willow looked at it unamused. "It doesn't look like anything," she deadpanned.
"Hmm, apparently my memory's terrible," Peppy admitted tapping his head. He walked over to the bookcase. "You know, I might have a picture of the flowers in Poppy's baby scrapbook." He pulled out a scrapbook. "Which is good, because my memory's terrible." He pulled out a picture of the flowers Poppy wanted.
The group of friends looked at the picture in awe. "I can see why Poppy wants to see them again," Willow said, nodding.
"I know!" Peppy said, smiling. "With this, I can draw the flower perfectly." The old king began to draw a picture of the flower.
Branch walked up to the king. "No, we don't," the king kept drawing. "If we have," the king continued to ignore Branch. He sighed. "Never mind. Where did you take this?" He asked, pulling up the picture.
Peppy smiled. "Lucky for you, I make sure all my scrapbooks contain comprehensive maps." He pulled a page out of the scrapbook. "It says here, we found them in Budding Valley, in a cave called the Flottot of the Growers." The Trolls looked at the old king, confused. "Oh, sorry. Got a little tongue-tied. The Grotto of the Flowers."
Willow nodded. "Then that's where we need to go," She said determined. "Ready guys?" The group nodded.
"Thanks, King Peppy," Branch said. "I'm just gonna take this." He grabbed the map. King Peppy nodded and wished the group good luck on their journey.
The journey was long. They had to go through a field of Grossoms, that were ready to attack them, a field filled with birds that drank nectar from a flower that looked suspiciously like Troll hair, and kabloom shrooms that threw them into a tree near the Grotto.
Willow leaned against a tree, exhausted. "These flowers better be worth it," she muttered.
Branch perked up. "I think we found the cave," he said, excited. The group got up and walked over to the cave. "It wasn't easy, but we finally made it." He pulled the picture up. "The Grotto of Flowers."
When the group looked at the Grotto, however, there was only one flower left. "There's only one left?" DJ asked, surprised.
"We can't all give her one flower!" Willow said. She sighed and walked over to the flower. "Oh well." She took a picture and started walking off when her friends started arguing about which one of them would get to give Poppy the flower. "I wonder where Harper is right now."
Willow made the journey back to the village as quickly as she could without getting attacked by Grossoms or birds. When she finally made it, she noticed Branch and the others giving Poppy the flower as a group gift. She watched, smiling as Poppy told them how much their friendship meant to her and how their friendship was the best gift she could ask for.
"Well, that's good to know," Willow muttered to herself. She looked around. "I still need Harper though." Harper was the village artist. She could do amazing things with a paintbrush. So Willow needed her help with what she had in mind. The Troll was eventually found by the river painting a peaceful water scene. "Hey, Harper," Willow called.
Harper looked up from her picture and smiled. "Hey, Willow. What's up?"
Willow showed her the picture she had taken. "I need your help. Do you think you can paint a bunch of these for me?" She showed her a picture of the Snack Pack and Branch. "With these guys in the background?"
Harper looked thoughtful. "I should be able to do that." She smiled. "In exchange for some flavorberry cupcakes."
Willow grimaced. Flavorberries were difficult to get as the trees were usually surrounded by quickglitter. But it was to pay for a gift for Poppy, so it was worth it. "Deal," She said, shaking hands with Harper. "Do you think you can get it done by the end of the day?" Harper nodded and Willow went off to fetch the flavorberries.
When she made it to the flavorberry trees, she furrowed her brows in thought. How to get the berries without sinking? Her eyes landed on a log and grinned. Perfect. Willow shoved the log into the quickglitter and ran on it to reach the flavorberries. Using her hair, she pulled herself into the tree and picked some berries before jumping back onto the log and making it to the other side before the quickglitter took the log. "Now to make some cupcakes."
Two hours later, Branch found Willow making cupcakes in the bunker. "Hey, sis. We missed you when we were giving Poppy her flower. What have you been up to?"
Willow looked up after putting the cupcakes in the oven. "Oh, hey bro!" She smiled. She started making some frosting. "Just been busy. I'm making cupcakes for Harper. She's helping me with a present for Poppy."
"We told her you helped with the flower," Branch said. "She loved it and asked me to pass on the thanks to you." He was worried Willow was obsessing over a perfect gift. "You don't need to get her anything else."
Willow stopped mixing the frosting and smiled at her brother. "Thanks. I appreciate you thinking of me when you guys gave the flower to Poppy." She turned back to the frosting. "But this isn't because of the flower anymore." She pulled the cupcakes out to let them cool. "I saw Poppy tell you guys how much friendship meant to her, so I thought I'd give her something to let her know how much her friendship meant to us."
"What do you mean, 'us?'" Branch asked, curious.
"I figured it could be another group gift," Willow smiled. "From the Poppy Present Support Group. I was going to ask everyone about it before I got the present back from Harper." She finished frosting the cupcakes and looked at her brother, eyebrow raised. "You wanna come?"
Branch grinned. "Sure." The duo gathered their friends and told them about the present idea Willow had. Even though she hadn't told them what the present was yet, they were enthusiastic about the present.
The group walked with Willow to where Harper was painting. "So, are you going to tell us what the present is?" Biggie asked, curious.
"I think it would be better if I show you," Willow said, smiling. She walked over to Harper who grinned and took the cupcakes.
"Thanks for the cupcakes," Harper said. She pulled out the painting. "Is this what you were going for?" She asked, looking at it. "I want to make sure it looks right."
Willow held up the picture for her friends to see. It was a bouquet of Poppy's favorite flowers surrounded by Poppy and all their friends. "This is great," Willow said, grinning.
"Now that is a good present," Branch nodded. The rest of the group nodded in agreement. The group of friends walked together to Poppy's pod and knocked on her door.
Poppy opened it and grinned. "Hey, guys." She tilted her head confused. "What are you all doing here?"
Willow stepped up and held out the box the picture was in. "We got you something." She watched as Poppy opened the box. "I know you only got that flower earlier today, but we thought it would be better if you had something else. This is to remind you how much your friendship means to us."
"And it has the flowers you all got me!" Poppy grinned and looked at her friends. "Aw, you guys! You didn't have to do this. But I'm really grateful you did." She opened her door more and let her friends inside as she found a place to hang her picture. "Now I'll always have you here with me. And these pretty flowers will be here all year round." She hugged her friends. "Thank you so much for being my friends, guys."
Not gonna lie, I'm not sure where I was going with this chapter. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but I think it turned out okay. This is the last chapter of The Beat Goes On that I'll be doing. The next one will be the first holiday special. Thanks for reading everyone.