As Poppy helped two Country Music Trolls with wrapping a present, Branch and Willow spied on her from behind a few bushes. Well, Branch was spying, Willow was just using a teeny tiny drill on her mystery object.

“Wow, Poppy," said Delta Dawn, “you are so good at gift giving!"

“Hey, when you gots it, you gots it," Poppy replied.

“Operation: Measure Poppy's Head is a go," Branch whispered. “You're with me on this one, right, Will?"

Willow looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. “You say that like I have a choice."

“Whatever, just stay here for now," Branch ordered, and crept towards Poppy with a tape measure. Willow just screwed a silver chain into her little charm.

“... and then I realized, why am I not using double-sided tape? I mean, it's basically twice as good as single-sided tape. The clue's in the name, you know what I mean?" Poppy rambled on as Delta Dawn and Holly Darlin' noticed Branch sneaking up on Poppy and trying to measure her head, which wasn't easy because she wouldn't stop moving.

“Uh, Branch? Whatcha doin' there, little bud?" Delta asked with concern.

“Oh! Hey, 'sup?" Branch said, ignoring Delta. Poppy's face fell once she heard his voice.

“Branch! What a nice surprise!" Poppy exclaimed, giving him a nervous grin.

“Yeah. Surprise! Just came to... borrow some wrapping paper for my gift," Branch lied. He then noticed a neatly wrapped gift on the ground. “Whoa! Poppy, is this your Gift Swap present? It looks great!"

“Nope, that one's mine," Holly answered, “but it was Poppy that did it up so pretty!"

“Ha-ha! Sure was! Totally!" Poppy interrupted, pushing them aside. “Guys, my gift box for Branch is out in the open. He's gonna know I got him!"

“Oh, my pumpkin pie," Delta muttered as Holly gasped. “We're on it, Poppy!"

“Well, look at the time!" Holly laughed, taking her present from Branch. “We better be hittin' the road!"

“We gotta go, um..." Delta struggled to make up an excuse, “... go take care of our cats!"

“What? When did you get cats?" Branch asked. Unsure how to respond, Holly just jumped into Delta's arms and meowed. Delta just trotted off.

“Okay, see you around! Bye!" Poppy called out. Delta Dawn and Holly scurried to Branch's gift, which was right behind him, and attempted to climb up a ladder to cover the name tag with some shrubbery.

“Uh, anyway," Branch said, “like I was saying, I just need to borrow some wrapping paper and I'll be on my way!"

Poppy noticed the two Country Music Trolls struggling so she handed Branch five rolls of wrapping paper and said, “Okay! Here you go! Let's get you out of here!"

“Wait, wait, wait, wait!" he said, dropping the wrapping paper. “I, uh... I-I-I-I-I want to remember this!"

“What? Why?" Poppy asked as he pulled out a camera.

“Because... picture!"

Branch measured Poppy's head as he took many pictures of her. Once he gave Willow the signal (which she almost missed), she swooped in and had her picture taken with Poppy.

“Hey, Pops! What's goin' on?" she greeted as Branch took another picture.

“Perfect! I'll cherish this moment forever!" Branch said as Poppy rubbed her eyes. As the picture came in, however, he noticed Delta Dawn and Holly in the background attempting to cover his name on the biggest gift he had ever seen. “Poppy got me? And the gift is so big..."

“Aw rats, my eyes were closed!" Willow grumbled, looking at the photo before Branch ran off. “Hey, Branch, wait for me!"

“Wait! You forgot the wrapping paper!" Poppy shouted.

“I'll probably just use grocery bags!" Branch yelled as Willow flew after him. “You know, reuse, reduce, recycle!"

“Now, that boy is odd," Delta Dawn said.

As soon as he returned to the bunker, Branch got to work. Once the hairstyling machine was finished, he took a good look at it.

“Wow! Looks good," Cooper said genuinely.

“Mmm-hmm, Poppy's gonna love that," Prince D added.

“Why do I get the feeling you're gonna say it's not enough?" Willow asked herself.

“Yeah, you're right. It's not big enough!" Branch said. Willow smacked herself in the face. “Her gift was ginormous! I'm gonna building a scrapbooking machine and attach it to the hair styler!"

As Branch got back to work, the Funk twins put on protective goggles, but a screw knocked them off. All Willow did was pull up a chair telekinetically. When Branch finished, the machine looked rather odd.

“Sweet! Now, it's definitely done!" Cooper said, hoping he would stop.

“Agreed!" Branch replied. “Still gotta go bigger!"

“You know, I'd expect this sort of behavior from Poppy, but not you," Willow said, pouring herself a hot cup of coffee. The twins attempted to shield themselves with hard hats and wooden boards while Branch added a smoothie maker so Poppy could get her hair done, make scrapbooks, and drink her favorite Troll-berry banana smoothies.

“It's perfect!" Branch exclaimed, gloriously basking in the presence of his... whatever it was. “Prince D, you want to take her for a spin?"

“Uh, yeah, no," he answered nervously.

“Alright!" Branch said, turning the machine on once he buckled up. “Here I am, my hair's getting done, and then I'm like, ‘Oh, rats! I forgot to make a scrapbook for Biggie's half birthday!'"

“You two might wanna brace for impact," Willow warned the brothers as she sat in her chair with her coffee and a newspaper. Cooper and Prince D barricaded themselves with sand bags and a bomb shelter as Branch began to descend into madness.

“And now, for the final touch, the smoothie maker!" Branch shouted manically. Unfortunately, the claw that was supposed to grab the fruit accidentally grabbed a few wires and broke them in half, causing the machine to malfunction. Sparks were flying, glitter was sprayed everywhere, a pair of scissors threatened to cut Branch's toes off.

“Aw, man, Snugglebugs lost again," Willow said to herself. She glanced at Branch for a second and created a magic force field right before...

BOOM!

Once the smoke cleared, Willow looked around the room and Branch was nowhere to be seen.

“Well, he's dead."

🎁❄️🎀❄️🎁❄️🎀❄️🎁❄️🎀❄️

At the top of the mountain, Flower and Tiny Diamond put on red robes and meditated with the cloud monks. Though Flower was more interested in quietly playing in the clouds.

Eventually, Tiny stopped and said, “Guys? How am I supposed to get my flow back if you're all doing this vow of silence thing?"

“Science is golden," Flower whispered as she made a cloud angel. At that moment, a cloud monk gave Tiny a cup of tea. He drank it and found the leaves in the bottom had made a message.

“‘You already have the gift,'" Tiny read out loud. “Pfft! That's nonsense, tea!"

When Tiny tossed the cup into the snow, the leaves formed another message. A cloud cleared his throat to get Tiny's attention and he read them again.

“‘Look through the clutter.' What clutter?!"

Suddenly, the tea leaves formed a face that said, “Come on, Tiny. What makes him so special?"

“What do you mean, what makes him so special?" Tiny asked. “He's just my..."

Before Tiny could find his sentence, a cloud hit a gong and gave him a thumbs up.

“Daddy!" he gasped in realization. “Yeah! Okay, I think I got it now!"

Been around the world tryna get my flow back

Couldn't find a single rhyme

Everything I said was whack

But then, a cloud monk

Gave me tea and hit a gong

And I finally realized that I had it all along!

So Imma flip this verse

Like I flip a burger patty

Thought I had to rhyme with diamond

When I coulda rhymed with daddy!

“You did it, son!"

“Yes!" Tiny shouted, ripping off his robe.

“Way to goes, Tiny!" Flower cheered.

“Let's go home, Flower!" Tiny said, grabbing her little finger, and the two of them headed down the mountain. “I got my flow back!"

“Dude, did that guy's tattoo just talk?" asked Penelopuff, one of the clouds.

“Hey, you just broke your vow of silence!" one of the others pointed out.

“You just broke your vow of silence!"

“Wait, does that mean–" Before he could finish, he disappeared! Screaming in terror, Penelopuff disappeared, too!

As soon as they returned to Pop Village, Flower said, “I gots to go work on my bubble machine. See you waiters!"

“See ya around, princess!" Tiny replied and continued dancing with confidence. “I got my flow back! Uh! I got my flow back! Yeah!"

Suddenly, Tiny saw Willow playing a bugle and a body laying on the ground. It was Branch! Once he rolled over, he just lied on his back miserably.

“Willow, I'm still alive," he pointed out. Willow stopped playing her bugle.

“Well, there goes my eulogy."

“What's up, Branch?" Tiny wondered. “You look, uh... You look bad, man. No other way to say it. What happened?"

“He exploded again," Willow answered. “Third time this month, too."

“Uh, what?"

“I failed, Tiny," Branch explained, sitting up. “I tried to make Poppy a gift and it blew up in my face. Literally."

“Say no more, bro," Tiny replied. “Let Tiny help you out!"

“Yeah? Okay."

“You just need to look through the clutter and focused on what's important," Tiny said. “You already have the gift, dude. You already have it!"

So, Branch closed his eyes, the wind started blowing, and a bright light shone on him.

“Uh, what's going on?" Willow asked, confused. Although she was a magical Troll, Willow couldn't understand everything.

“Bla-dow!" Tiny whispered in Branch's ear. Branch opened his eyes in realization. “You see it now, don't you?"

“Nope, not even a little bit," Branch admitted. Everything went back to normal.

“Oh, come on!" Tiny groaned. “The winds even blew in a magical way!"

🎁❄️🎀❄️🎁❄️🎀❄️🎁❄️🎀❄️

Still not understanding what Tiny Diamond was talking about, Branch just went home to clean up the bunker. Willow helped him because she was a good friend... and she left her keychain charm behind.

“Oh, thank goodness, it's still in one piece," Willow sighed in relief. She then noticed Branch looking around in his thoughts. “Branch, Tiny's right. You shouldn't try so hard to find Poppy a gift. She'll love anything you give her."

“Easy for you to say," Branch grumbled. “You can do almost anything for whoever you're gonna give a gift to."

“Okay, I didn't wanna have to do this," Willow muttered to herself. “Perhaps I should just show you."

That said, Willow let out a magical blast that shot up into the sky and exploded like a firework.

Branch scoffed. “See what I mean?"

“Wait for it," Willow said. At that moment, Princess Ash jumped into the bunker, landed on her face, and got back up on her feet.

“What is it, Willow?!" she asked frantically. “Fractured skull?! Appendicitis?! Flying piranha?!"

“Relax, Ash, it's nothing life-threatening," Willow assured her, and then used her inhaler. “I just need to give you your gift early to help Branch learn a lesson."

“Oh, okay," Ash replied calmly. With that, Willow held up a tiny, poorly wrapped present and Willow opened it up to find the keychain Willow was working on this whole time. “Oh, Willow, it's so pretty!"

“Open it," said Willow. Ash opened it up and found that it was kinda like a locket. On one side was a small picture of herself and her girlfriend and on the other were red words on a gold background. Below the words was a tiny button and Ash pressed it to see the whole charm light up except for the picture and the words, which read “You lite up my life." At that moment, a soft, romantic tune began to play.

“Wait, where's that music coming from?" Branch wondered as Willow sang.

Remember those walls I built?

Well baby, they're tumbling down

And they didn't even put up a fight

They didn't even make a sound

I found a way to let you in

But I never really had a doubt

Standing in the light of your halo

I got my angel now

It's like I've been awakened

Every rule I had to breaking

It's the risk that I'm taking

I am never gonna shut you out

Everywhere I'm looking now

I'm surrounded by your embrace

Baby, I can see your halo

You know you're my saving grace

You're everything I need and more

It's written all over your face

Baby, I can feel your halo

Pray it won't fade away (I can feel your)

Halo (halo), halo (I can see your)

Halo (halo), halo (I can feel your)

Halo (halo), halo (I can see your)

Halo (halo), halo (I can feel your)

Halo (halo), halo (I can see your)

Halo (halo), halo (I can feel your)

Halo (halo), halo (I can see your)

Halo (halo), halo-oo-oooo-oo-oo-ooooooh

With tears in her eyes, Ash gave Willow the biggest hug, which she happily reciprocated. Willow looked over at Branch and winked.

Branch took this into consideration and looked at the burnt up papers on the floor.

“Look through the clutter..." he said to himself. He then noticed a picture of himself and Poppy burnt up and ripped in half. There was one last thing he could try...

🎁❄️🎀❄️🎁❄️🎀❄️🎁❄️🎀❄️

Outside, Flower was still working on her bubble machine when she noticed Poppy staring up at her present for Branch.

“Hi, Mommy!" she said happily. “Is that for Daddy?"

“Yeah, I guess it is," Poppy replied, picking her daughter up. Deep down, however, she was worried how Branch would react when he saw what was inside.

“You always know just what to get to make someone feel special. Don't you, Poppy?" Delta Dawn said as she passed by with her gift. Poppy just gave her a weak smile. “I'm sure Branch is gonna love his gift."

“Yeah," Poppy replied. “I hope you're right."

Flower was confused. What was wrong with her mommy's gift?

Sorry! No cookies for anyone!

But I'll give y'all a croissant. 🥐

Until next time. ✨