Lily turned her eyes away from the goods that involved any part of any animal, living or otherwise. There. She raised her hooves to cradle a jar full of all manner of nuts. "Now this looks delish!" Sure, she couldn't identify half the nuts involved. They were on an alien world, with alien nuts, it seemed. "Wonder what they taste like..."
"Wanna sample?" The smiling butterfly, the most common sort of Flutterpony, was happy to grab a scoop in his mouth and serve up Lily a little to try.
Rose and Daisy were by the honey pots. Some were clay jars, others glass jars. Some were even done up to look like little bee hives. Rose tapped at one of the clear ones. "Flutter honey."
The bee flutter that oversaw that stand leaned forward at her words. "Ah, you're unusually well known for an out of town pony."
Daisy darkened, looking at the bee. "Did... you make this honey?"
The bee shook his head quickly. "Oh no! That would be awkward, for me, for you, for everyone. You shouldn't have to look someone in the eye when you take their honey."
Rose burst into a short laugh. "Wow, I did not see that coming, but yeah, alright." She rubbed at her cheek. "If they were selling pony milk somewhere, I wouldn't want to... buy from the pony making it, or be selling mine."
Daisy rolled her eyes at that. "You're thinking about that right now."
"Am not!" Rose tapped at the rainbow honey. "I'll try this though."
To the confusion of the sales-flutters, the mares casually stuffed things away out of view and out of mind. Equestrian ponies came stocked with internal bags of holding, a thing Everglow creatures did not get to enjoy.
"Can I buy one of those?" A butterfly was hovering just over Rose's head. "Where did you get one?"
"Where did I get what?"
The butterfly lowered and reached her hoof to poke Rose where the last purchase had gone. "The bag of holding. I've never seen a model like that. I never heard of a model like that, but I want it!"
"Me too!" came the call of another flutter, bouncing in the air. It was soon joined by others that gathered around, eager to hear where and how they could get their own body-concealed bags of holding.
Daisy shook her head at the crowd, shying back against Rose. "It's not something we bought. You wouldn't want somecreature to ask where they could buy those antennae, would you?" She pointed at the nearest butterfly's bobbing bit. It glowed faintly as if in response.
The implied threat was enough to send most of the crowd scattering, none of them willing to discuss the economics of selling that body part. One of the few remaining inclined his head. "Oh, that's an alien pony thing? Neat!"
Rose chuckled as she accelerated towards the branch that led to their new home. "Just an alien pony thing, which we are." She frowned at the idea. "Which is not an idea I like."
But they did not make it inside. Seated just in front of the door to their apartment was a bee flutter. The bee was watching them steadily as they approached. "I hope you're enjoying our city." He nodded softly.
Daisy nodded softly. "We had a lovely shopping time."
"Which is a problem." Lily shook her head. "We need to start earning bits."
"Bits are not going to work," reminded the bee. "But I know how you can earn your keep." All three mares were fixed on him, good. "Remember the important one you met, the most important one?"
Rose frowned with thought. "The mayor?"
"That one!" the bee buzzed his wings without moving. "She is not just a mayor, she is a druid." He pointed at himself. "As am I. Do you know what a druid is?"
Daisy wobbled a hoof at the bee. "Found one."
The bee smiled, but did not laugh. "Technically correct, but I am assuming that means 'no'. Druids are, to start, spellcasters."
Rose's eyes went to where a horn should be, but the bee had no horn. "You are not a unicorn."
"No?" The bee lifted into the air to give a most emphatic shrug. "You don't need to be a unicorn to be a druid. Most unicorns aren't even that good at it. They're stuck in the future, or in wild theories. We draw our power from nature itself, and nature has no interest in anything but right now." He flew in closer to the mares. "The rush of a wave. The enchantment of an opening flower." He spread his hooves as he came in right close. "The first dew in the morning and the crash of lightning's fury. Nature is powerful, but it lives in the here and now."
Daisy paled faintly. "She wasn't lying?!"
The bee looked over at the shout. "Who wasn't lying about what?"
Lily slipped in front of Daisy. "She's talking about a friend of ours. She said there was magic an earth pony could use, but, well, she's a special case. She already had a sort of magic."
"Earth ponies can be druids," agreed the bee without hesitation. "They can be very good at it. They have a connection to... the earth." He giggled softly at the tepid humor. "The dirt and rocks, the things that live in it, and the things that live on it." He buzzed in a slow circle around the three. "You're earth-bound, are you not?" He surely could see no wings, horns, or other exotic hints that would reflect a more exotic tribe.
Rose pointed at herself. "Just earth. Earth-bound? Sounds like somepony who's too caught up in not flying to me."
Daisy giggled softly. "I wouldn't want to fly. That always looked really scary to me." She stepped from one hoof to the next. "Right on the ground, where I like being. But an earth pony can use magic?" All three mares leaned in curiously. "It doesn't hurt, does it?"
"Only if you do it wrong." The bee pointed a hoof at their door. "Let's go inside. I'll be your teacher and we'll see how you adjust."
They came in off the 'street'. Though the bee had so much to talk about, and went right ahead doing so, the mares were busy putting away all the supplies they had purchased. Their pantry was soon stocked with all manner of goodies for later use. The three mares shared a firm nod of approval at their work, even if Lily was squinting at one particular purchase. "You got honey? Flutter honey? Why?"
Rose rolled her eyes. "Pretty sure that won't hurt anypony, just maybe gross them out. We get one chance, and I'm not skipping it."
Daisy bobbed her head in solidarity. "I wanna try it at least once."
The bee gave a soft harum. "Ladies?" They looked over. "We were in the middle of a thing?"
Lily kicked close the door to the little food closet they had just filled up. "Sorry about that, please do continue."
"I should introduce myself--"
"--druid," noted Daisy.
"Yes." The bee chuckled softly. "But I do have a name. You are Rose, Daisy, and Lily." He pointed to each mare as he said the name. "I'm Purple Auspex."
Rose considered the bee. He was a bright yellow and deep black shades, but he did have a little bit of purple, streaks that separated the yellow and black. "Nice to meet you." She offered a hoof to Purple.
Purple took the time to touch hoof to hoof with each of his new students. "Now, we're going to jump in the deep end."
Lily's ears pricked up. "That sounds dangerous."
Daisy frowned. "A little. What are we talking?"
Purple shook his entire form. "From what we heard, ponies like you can learn really fast, if you're interested." He glanced at each of their cutie marks in turn. "And we're pretty sure. So I'm saying we just get to the good stuff and I bet you'll dive right into it and make people jealous."
Rose flinched back. "Do we want jealous butterflies?"
"The good kind of jealous!" Purple considered Rose a moment. "We can start with you."
Rose turned her flinch into a step back. "I'm not sure I want to be the test pony on this."
"It'll be harmless." Purple waved lightly as if to banish the thought. "Your friends will be there, and me. We'll be friends soon, right?" He leaned in close, his fuzzy antennae almost brushing Rose. "Have some faith."
Daisy rolled a hoof slowly. "On one hoof, magic." She began cycling the other hoof. "On the other, magic."
Lily nodded sagaciously. "You bring up excellent points."
Rose deflated, though a smile spread. "Thanks, girls. Well, since they're just volunteering me, guess I'm in it. Now, just a warning." She gestured to the others and back at herself. "We are not adventurous. We like things nice and calm and orderly. Our favorite days are the ones were nothing really special happens."
Daisy leaned against Rose. "Which we haven't seen for a little bit."
Lily leaned in from the other way. "All we're saying is try to keep the excitement down to a manageable level if you could."
Purple raised a hoof to his chin. "I can't promise that. If things go well, learning magic is always kind of... really exciting. But it's a good exciting? You like good exciting, right?"
With unsure sounds, the lesson did begin. Purple went right into how to feel the flow of primal energy around them. "Like this." He clapped his hooves, fire exploding into a ball between them as he brought them apart. "This fire is that energy, made by it. It can warm, or burn. Nature is like that." He waggled the ball of flame left and right before the mares. "It's all in how you use it." He sent it flying up, just to catch it with a hind hoof, bouncing it up and down. A floating ball of fire, it did not need fingers to keep aloft, just his will. "It can even be used to distract and delight."
All three mares gave soft applause, clopping the ground in approval at the display. Rose pointed at the bouncing fire, her hoof wobbling to keep the aim. "You said a few funny words, I heard that."
"You were listening!" Purple bounced the ball back to his front hooves and brought them together, snuffing it. "Most spells require sounds. You're telling nature what you want. If you're good at it, it will listen, and oblige." He curled a hoof up to his lips as if he were telling a secret. "This is why you can't whisper that," he said in a loud stage whisper. "Loud and clear. We don't want nature to mishear your intentions when you're playing with fire, do we?"
Daisy shook her head violently. "That sounds like a very bad idea!"
"I knew you'd get the idea, now, I'm going to say the spell nice and slowly, too slowly for nature to care. Primal energy requires a... It's like a song. If you say the words to a song too slowly, it's ruined, right?"
Lily inclined her head. "That makes sense."
"So I'll teach you the words first, then we can work on the tempo."
Like a performance, there were dance steps involved too. Flutters could twitch and move their antennae about, but an earth pony had to move their hooves and dance about to direct the forces they were calling to. The girls got into it, thinking it was more fun and almost silly than anything else. They sang and danced, even if the words were not Ponish at all.
To Purple's amazement, the head druid wasn't off. His students were following along eagerly, consuming the magic words and repeating them as if they were a forgotten nursery rhyme they'd heard as foals, instead of deep secrets of the world. They danced as if they were already initiates of druidic magic, as if they could already feel the flow of power and move in response.
He had marvelous students, and it was, a little, horrifying.