Rose came into view, carefully cradling an uprooted flower in her hooves.
Tree's eyes widened. "That is--"
"Poison Joke," completed Rose.
"Toxic Humor." Tree backed a step, after scrambling up to her hooves. "It is extremely dangerous to be around."
"I know that. But, if you know what it is, it can be harvested, carefully. Besides, one flower, alone, is harmless, after it's been harvested." Rose seemed entirely confident. "Your world is full of new things, but the flowers mostly make sense." She held out the flower. "I found a big patch of this over there. I wanted to show it off. Now why is Lily looking... that?" She waved a hoof but a moment, hurrying it back to supporting her new flower.
Tree took a step forward. "You found a patch of Toxic Humor this close to the city? We must report that, for removal."
"I could help!" Daisy popped free of the bushes, her fire still balanced on her nose. "Also there are basically a ton of different bushes. Some of them have berries I knew." She patted her pocket, though who could tell what was inside it? "Spark could take care of a patch of plants though, if you want, but that's probably a bad idea. This is a big forest. A fire could get out of hoof real fast."
"Thank you for realizing that without me having to say it." Tree let out a slow breath. "Fire is generally not allowed for this kind of work unless the wielder is talented enough to contain the destruction they unleash. None of us qualify." She pointed at the quiet Lily. "Your friend put her tongue where it did not belong and is suffering for it."
Rose and Daisy tilted their heads away from one another in shared confusion.
"I bit an animal!" Lily came alive suddenly. She rushed to her friends, not even quite standing as she hurried, just to flop in a pile in front of them, gravity catching up with her wild moment of furious effort. "My teeth!"
Daisy reached out and began patting Lily gently. "Did anycreature get hurt?" She was looking at Tree for an answer.
Tree smirked faintly. "I am glad to report that the injury dealt was minor, if annoying. The butterfly already forgave Lily after seeing the result of it. Are her eyes still rainbow?"
Rose leaned in for a look. Flecks of colors darted here and there, but they weren't the vast swirls of colors they had been. "A little?"
"Thank Nature." Tree turned back towards the elevator. "Wait." She looked over her shoulder at Daisy. "Weren't you examining animals?"
"I was and I did." Daisy bobbed her head. "But I saw some tasty berries and took a break to count those bushes."
Tree applied a hoof to her face. "You strange ponies are guided by your bellies. It is perhaps a mercy you haven't reached first circle rituals yet."
Daisy turned a hoof to point at her nose-perched flame. "What's this then?"
"That is what they call a 'cantrip'." Tree resumed her walk towards the elevator across the uneven ground of the thick forest. "Simplest of the spells, but also the more reliable. A druid of the highest order can use them, and they will simply be more powerful just for their own will and skill. Other spells are far more regimented, and do not change on their own. It's complicated, and I feel you haven't even begun that training."
"Spark can't trip," huffed out Daisy, following afterwards with her friends at either side. "That's a silly name."
Rose accelerated cautiously, her eye on her singular poison joke blossom. "We were taught one spell very specifically, not how spells work, in general. Though we were also told what made that one work was, at the root, how all spells work."
"Your teacher was not wrong in that." Tree sank to wait a small distance from where the elevator would be, but was not yet. "A lot of magic works, basically, the same. Say the right words, make the right motions, and maybe add a properly sympathetic item at the right time, that's magic. that's all of magic." She turned her head. "Fortunately for me, unicorns can do the movements up here." She pointed a hoof up at her own long horn. "And the rest of us can be still."
Daisy clapped her hooves, not occupied as Rose's were. "So unicorns still have advantages when it comes to magic in this world?"
"Is it different on your plane?" She trained an ear on Daisy. "Tell me of your world."
"Sure." Daisy nodded firmly, the flame dancing with the motion. "There, only the unicorns use magic at all." She swept her hooves sharply left and right across one another. "Which is another reason we're pretty jazzed to learn some now. Earth ponies, with magic? Sign us up!"
Rose cheered in solidarity with that idea.
Lily was still quiet.
"Huh." The elevator arrived, thumping against the ground. Tree stepped onto it, nodding at another pony stepping off of it. "Everyone on. So, you went from not even approaching magic, at all, to knowing your first spell, in... a week? That is not... natural."
Rose and Daisy closed in on Lily from the sides, hefting her up on their shoulders to quickly scurry her onto the platform to resume her rest. Rose nodded once they were all in place. "Well, as you said, we're from a different nature. Maybe it's perfectly natural, for us. We just didn't know how, until we were taught."
"This is one reason among many your sort are called outsiders." Tree looked up as the elevator began to move, carrying them towards the branches. "Those that are too far removed from the local order have a different, worse, name."
"Worse than outsider?" Daisy stuck out her tongue. "That'd take some doing."
"Aberration," hissed Tree.
Daisy flinched back a step, ears folding. "Alright! Alright... that wins..."
Rose stuck out her tongue. "That word tastes nasty. Can words have a taste?"
"Good." Tree started off the platform as it arrived. "Should you ever see an actual one, you will understand that they tend to earn that name. Limbs where none belong, with anatomies entirely alien to rationality... Even their minds are so divorced from our own that to reason with one is often the height of folly."
Daisy hurried to Tree's side. "Aw, c'mon. You're being a downer again. They can't all be bad. We used to be scared of this zebra, but it turned out she was super nice once you got to know her."
Rose nodded along at that, supporting Lily as they moved. "Racism is a dying trend in Equestria. Hay, I know at least one pony that'd even give making friends with a monster a chance."
Daisy burst into laughter. "If the monster was a big flower, we'd all be right there."
Rose rolled her eyes. "And the first to get chomped."
"No regrets." Daisy smiled brightly.
"Nope." Rose laughed lightly, looking over to Lily. "You feeling better?"
"A little." Her voice was small. "I really did bite somecreature... I don't even remember her face. It was all... Colors."
Daisy nudged into Lily. "Coming down can be hard, but we're here. It's alright now. Did you get any notes?"
"A few," allowed Lily miserably. "I barely got started when I knocked myself out. I'm sorry... For everything."
Rose thrust a pad over. "Well, combined with mine."
"And mine!" Daisy quickly got her pad out and slapped it against Rose's. "We got plenty, as a team. That includes you!" She tried to grab Tree, but the unicorn mare dodged the flail easily. "Aw."
"Thank you for being reasonable on that end." Tree looked over the strange ponies. "I did not want a failing grade for that assignment. That doesn't make us friends, however." Her eyes focused on Lily. "You seem to be coherent, good. That means I can yell at you. You call yourself a florist? What manner of florist does that? Forget being a druid. Even your mundane profession should have granted you enough knowledge to be aware that was a terrible idea!" She stomped a hoof, snorting like the angry horse she was, tail lashing with equally irritated energy. "Do you normally apply your tongue to assorted plants on first spotting?"
"I was just--"
"Getting yourself into trouble," cut in Tree, denying Lily the chance to plead her case. "And, in the process, causing trouble for your friends. I thought you three were closely bond, but you didn't care what manner of trouble you were creating for them, did you? You could have, and, I take that back." She shook her head rapidly. "You did cost your friends their trip. We would have been out there for hours longer. All the flowers Rose doesn't get to see. All the animals Daisy doesn't get to see. It's your fault."
Fresh tears stung at Lily's eyes. "I said I'm sorry..."
Rose cut in between Lily and Tree. "Lay off. We can yell at her without your help."
"We are pros," joined Daisy with a big grin. "She did a dumb, but what pony hasn't? Pretty sure they've had a chance to yell my ear off."
Rose set a hoof over her eyes. "And the girls have pulled me out of the fire a few times. That's what being a friend is." She raised a brow at Tree. "If you've ever experienced that?"
Tree took a stiff step backwards. "That..." Her brows fell in an angry unison. "Don't you insult me!"
Rose smirked confidently. "It's not an insult if it's true, and it's not even that if it's a question. Do you have close friends or not?"
Tree stomped from hoof to hoof. "How... How dare you! I..."
"I'm friends with Tree!" "Me too!" "Me me!" Three flutters came in to mash against Tree from different directions in a group hug that hadn't been asked for, but was eagerly accepted, at least by the other flutters.
Tree was struck speechless a moment. Her breath escaped in a near silent sigh. "You know what? You have a point. I am not used to that sort of social contact. I can admit that." The cloud around her awed and hugged her all the tighter even as Tree tried to keep her serious face. "I'm glad you're alright, Lily."
"Thanks... for saving me." Lily wiped her eyes, a little smile daring to show. "You're a good pony. Please don't yell at me."
Tree rolled her eyes. "Next time, nature will do the yelling, and when nature yells, asking it to stop will not work so well." She turned and trotted off, the cloud of flutters still stuck to her.
Lily jumped at being licked. Daisy had flicked her tongue over lily's tears. "Hey-what?"
"Mmm, nope. Not seeing any colors." Daisy stuck out her tongue. "I was hoping you'd pass a little on."
Lily burst into laughter, her sadness ruined for the moment. "That is not how that works, and you know it. That was... something else."
Rose nudged at Lily. "You can remember it? Great, write it down. Bet we'll get credit for it."
"You think?"
Rose nodded confidently. "Yes. Do it."
Lily saluted sharply. "Aye aye! This is why you're the boss."
Rose leaned in towards Lily. "Let's be honest. I'm the boss because neither of you two wanted to be."
"Spark survived!" noted Daisy, clearly on a different topic. "And he got to see the forest. He's so happy! In fact, he says he's done all he wanted, and he's ready to move on. What's that?" She perked an ear at the flame that wasn't saying anything. "He says thank you for helping him see such wonders today, and to tell his family and offspring that he went as he lived."
"Burning?" suggested Rose.
"Brightly?" tried Lily.
"Exploring." Daisy tossed her nose, the flame leaping from it through the air, fading out even as it fell. Spark had led a good life, without regrets.