Strange Flora

by Shockhoof

The Story Begins

Briar Thorn lay in a field of green lush grass just outside of Ponyville. His unkempt forest green mane sat in its usual tangles atop his head, weaving around his horn. On his rump was the cutiemark of a truly odd talent. The curled thorny vine represented his ability to naturally communicate with plants. Sometimes he resented that his cutiemark didn't represent a more useful and more practical talent. A dandelion growing by his ear whispered to him, but he'd stopped paying attention long ago. The talent felt like one a girl pony should have.

“Talking to flowers.” He sighed to himself and rolled over, standing up onto his hooves. He nodded to a weed and took his leave. Flowers didn't speak loudly. They didn't even really speak audibly. But the nuances in their movement in the wind, their smell, and the direction they grew told him more than he really needed to know, and in their own language, plants didn't have a lot to say.

As he walked back to ponyville to resume his daily duties of tending gardens, and giving other ponies plant advice he began to wish it would just go away. He thought back to his time as a young colt. Everypony had always told him that when he found his special talent it would reveal something about himself, and that he would know what his life's purpose was. They were wrong of course. His special talent had only revealed that he could grow a good garden. When he had finally found it he had instantly become jealous of other ponies. Why did their talents have to outshine his? Why couldn't he had been good at carpentry, or selling things, or making pies or just about anything besides such a girly and useless talent. So what, what did the grass have to say? What could a Rose tell him besides perhaps the time. Flowers never had anything useful in their vast annals of knowledge for him. Even the oldest of trees only spoke riddles at him. Plant humor was hardly something he got, and the stranger the plant, the stranger the joke.

Have stared at his hooves the whole way it was odd to see another pair in front of him. He followed the

near neon pink legs up to meet a familiar face. “Daisy!” He jumped back, slightly startled. “I'm sorry I didn't see you there."

“Well of course not. You spend your whole day looking at the ground like you're afraid you're gonna step on a root.” She rolled her eyes, but followed the expression with a smile. “So what's got you down brown?” she asked in reference to his coat's color.

“Nothing much,” he shook his head to get a lock of hair out of his eyes. “Just talking a stroll, you know?” he said, trying to sound like he hadn't just been some place completely different.

“Still haven't figured out what you're going to do with your talent?” Daisy's voice was filled with both concern and disappointment.

“Nope, honestly though, there isn't much I can do. Roseluck, you, and Lilly have the majority of the flower market covered. The apple family owns most of the land around here so I can't grow enough food to sell anyway,” he said it without hesitation, and more of a matter of fact situation.

“You don't sound like you're upset,” her voice was taken aback. She raised an eyebrow at him.

“I'm not.” He shrugged. He hadn't told her how he felt about his cutiemark and probably never would.

“Right, well, would you come look at my garden? It's looking a bit dull lately and I'm worried about the upcoming flower festival.” She nodded in the direction of her house.

“Yeah, No problem. I guess.” He mumbled under his breath.

“Great!” she gave in a short reply. As she took the lead towards her house Briar Thorn went back to looking at the ground, taking up the rear.

Out of the corners of his eyes he could tell that it was a relatively normal day. Ponies negotiated prices in the market, completing their daily tasks. He could smell delicious pastries from within the Cakes' bakery. Despite his downward gaze he was starting to feel better. The noon sun was shining on his back, bringing a pleasant warmth, and sending it throughout his body. He looked up from the ground to find out that Daisy had started getting a fair distance ahead of him. He squinted through the glare of the sun. She was talking to somepony, and they both seemed excited about the conversation topic. He approached, trying to see who it was. The glare of the sun was lost as he passed into the shadow of a building, relieving his eyes from their strain. Before him stood a female, white unicorn with a well groomed purple mane.

“Oh hey Rarity.” He forced a smile. Rarity had never been Briar's cup of tea. She worried about physical appearance too much, and had a tendency to exaggerate and over dramatize every moment, this bothered him. Most days he didn't feel that there was anything special going on, just the absolutely mundane, and definitely nothing to cause such over the top reactions.

“Oh Briar darling, how are you?” she said, exaggerating her syllables as if to mean that she was truly interested.

“I'm fi-” he was cut off.

“Oh well never mind that. Tell me what do you know about this?” She levitated a strange plant near his face. It wasn't one he had seen before. The leaves hanging off of the small stalk were huge for such a small plant. The veins in the leaves seemed to pulsate with the plant's energy, and in the sunlight the leaves smelled strongly like an entire bouquet. She shook it for emphasis as he was attempting to examine. He grew annoyed and rushed to an answer.

“Nothing I'm afraid,” he forced out the partial lie. The brown horn on the top of his head started to glow as the plant whispered cries for help to him. Briar's stomach churned. Ever since he discovered just what his talent was there had been consequences. He had to listen to his own chewing while he ate with his eyes closed so that he could manage to swallow. Plants had feelings too, something he wish he wasn't so painfully aware of.

“Shame. Nopony seems to have seen it before. I thought that since you're especially good at that kind of thing, if anypony would know it would be you. Oh well. I do know one thing about it. It has had just marvelous beauty benefits. Just this morning I tried a little nip and I can already see the effects.” She spun for them, showing off.

“Oh wow!” Daisy commented. “That's incredible. Your coat is so shiny, and looks so soft!” She leaned in to get a closer look. “I can definitely tell. Say, do you think that I could get some? I'd love to look even half that good.” Daisy's voice held no lack of sincerity.

Briar frowned. He didn't see a huge difference in the mare's fur. He didn't normally pay attention, but it didn't seem too different than any other day. He thought about Daisy's comment for a moment, growing sad to know that Daisy didn't feel she looked anywhere near as good as the other mare. “Don't be silly Daisy, you look great,” but his words fell on deaf ears as the plant was already being exchanged. Neither of the two seemed too interested in listening to him anyhow, so he walked on. He'd wait for Daisy at her house. She'd undoubtedly go there once she finished chatting, and this would give him more time to do a good inspection of her carefully tended and cared for garden.