"I know why." All the mares looked to Tree. She was, perhaps, a little smug. It was nice when she had something over the strange aliens that were too quick to pick things up. They hadn't picked that up. She tilted a pot with her magic as if to peer inside the vase, though she wasn't leaning quite right for a good angle. "Why Rose hasn't been accepted by the order of the Leaf."
Rose perked up, ears twitching as she curled her hooves on herself. "Well, why?! I love plants! All the love I can even think of. They're my life."
Tree's smirk only grew. "Sure, sure... But you don't understand what it is exactly the leaf order refuses to do." She looked to Daisy. "You learned that lesson. I see you not bouncing a new fire every time I walk in."
Daisy colored faintly. "I'm still learning, where fire is needed, and not." She rubbed behind her head softly. "Did you know fires are super useful in some forests, at some times?"
Lily drew her beaver closer. "Really? A fire would wreck all the flowers, for sure. Flowers don't like fire."
"That isn't true either! I mean, sorta yeah, but that's not the whole picture." Daisy was smiling with memory. "Once a fire goes through, new flowers will pop up. They wait for the fire to sprout, so without a fire, they're never born, so those flowers like a fire a lot."
Rose looked away from Daisy, back to tree. "How does this relate to me?"
Tree reached out, setting a hoof on Rose's front. "Each order has a few things they simply must not do. To break those rules is to fall immediately out of harmony with the song of nature, and to have its blessings revoked." She swirled the same hoof suddenly to point at Lily. "Being cruel to animals, or killing them unless absolutely required. Considering your diet, the one of two exceptions normally on the table is removed. Only self defense is a reason you might cause it."
Lily hugged her beaver all the firmer. "I'd never! Who would want to hurt such an adorable muffin?" She nuzzled into his side warmly. He had stopped stinking quite so much of beaver since entering her care. She delighted in caring for him, which included baths and brushing.
Rose advanced a step towards Tree, head low. "Wait, you don't--"
"And you." Tree looked to Daisy. "To know where a fire should be, or shouldn't, and always acting to keep it just so. That is the way of the order of fire, a way you are learning."
"Doing my best." Daisy clopped her hooves together in an almost pleading way. "There are a lot of rules about what makes a fire good or bad. I had no idea!"
Rose bit Tree, with a lash of her head, she managed a square chomp on the unicorn's side. "Stop teasing me!"
"Alright alright." Tree danced away from the agitated alien pony. "You kill plants. It is your profession. The order of the leaf forbids that. Unless required, a plant's life is sacred. Food, certainly, with respect." Tree nodded as she spoke, eyes on Rose directly. "For life-saving medicines, perhaps, but again with proper respect. But to make someone prettier, or to 'liven up' a space by slaying one of them? Never. A florist has no place in the order of the leaf."
Rose crashed to her haunches. "No way..." But her denial did not make it so. "Wait! A rose bush isn't killed when you take a flower." She rose up, front low, back high, pawing at the ground as if ready to attack. "Most flowers don't die when you pick a flower, and I know which is which!"
Tree casually waved at Lily. "Did you already forget what I said her conditions were? It's not very different, animal to leaf, just a matter of what they are protecting. Do you think a rose, or any flower, enjoys having a piece of them ripped free?Even if they can survive it, it is a cruelty." Tree half-turned away. "As I said, a florist has no place in the order of the leaf."
Rose threw up her hooves. "Not fair! Not... even... But there are flowers!" She pointed to the door leading outside. "Tons of them. Ponies sell them all the time." Even if some of the 'ponies' she referred to were really insects shaped like ponies. They'd only be pleased at the mistake. "Why's that allowed if it's such a big deal?"
Tree lifted her shoulders. "A leaf druid is a pinnacle of plant symbiosis and care. They don't expect everyone else to rise to their level, that would be unrealistic. The same goes for animal druids, though they are far faster to act if they see an animal being picked on. A little unfair, if you ask me. The cries of an animal are easier to hear, and harder to ignore, I suppose."
Daisy flashed a great big smile. "So what are the rules of a sea druid? You want to be one of those, right? I bet you know them!"
"I do." Tree looked proud of that knowledge. "And it's a wave druid, not a sea one." She didn't sound angry at the mistake, just correcting it. "We are charged with protecting the sources of water against those that would pollute them. To leave them unpunished is anathema to us, and forsakes nature's song."
Rose and Lily peered at Tree with new doubt. Lily waved. "No fair. Yours is way easier. You don't have to change what you do at all."
Tree raised a brow at Lily. "And you do? I don't think you hurt animals long before you arrived here."
"Well, true... But I meant in general. Not all the animal order are vegans like me. Some of them..." She shuddered in memory. "They eat raw meat just as wildly as their pet carnivores, right alongside them. I think they... enjoy it..."
"They do," agreed Tree without doubt. "But I did not make up these orders, so yelling at me won't change them. They made their pacts with nature itself, many many generations ago, and those oaths remain tight. To join an order is to accept the power, and burden, of that oath on yourself." She looked to Rose pointedly. "Are you willing to never hurt or kill a plant unless required for survival?"
Rose shrank back, the fight leaving her. "N-no... But I love flowers..."
"Not enough to leave them alone," countered Tree. "And that's exactly the problem. It is a thing druids sigh heavily about when they think of 'civilized' people. They love nature... to death." Tree suddenly perked up. "Oh! I forgot to announce that I got my first circle spells under control. I can cast them competently, and passed the test to prove it. This means I am officially a druid. Trained in knowledge, act, and competence, I may now call myself that in full. I owe you my thanks." She dipped her head at the flower mares. "You drew me here with your help."
Daisy clapped quickly, applauding the triumph. "Congratulations! Um, but does that mean you're headed for the beach now?"
"Not right away." Tree waved that off. "I'm not done here. I can guard the local waters, but first... There are a few interesting ponies I'm keeping an eye on."
Rose clopped a hoof down with an angry huff. "So you can tear our dreams apart a little more?"
"You're upset," noted Tree a bit flatly. "I'm sorry, really, I am, but I didn't do this, and I can't change this. I'll go. You need your space." She trotted for the door, passing through it without pause. Her magic took care of opening it and closing it behind herself, allowing her to go at a steady pace.
Daisy looked away from the closed door, back to Rose. "Don't be mad."
"I am mad!" She began to dance from one hoof to the next. "It's not fair! It's not fair at all!" She sank to her belly suddenly, sniffling. "If I'm not that, what am I? What even could I be?"
Lily shrugged softly. "If you had asked before we got here, I sure wouldn't have said animal." She flopped against her beaver, who rolled with the impact, the two playfully wrestling with giggles coming from the pony in what was clearly a good time for them both.
Daisy nodded at Lily. "And I wouldn't have guessed fire of all things. Fires were so scary!" She twitched her ears. "Huh, actually, I guess I had to re learn that, that fires are scary, because they still are." She took a slow step towards Rose. "Maybe the problem is that you were so fixed on leaf that you didn't let any other way get a chance to come inside and say hi! Maybe they'd be really fun."
Rose sat up, looking between Daisy and Lily. "You two do seem like you're having fun."
Lily hugged her large beaver close. "Tons!"
Daisy bobbed her head quickly. "It's work, but I'm enjoying it. The only better way woulda been if we all got the same one." She shrugged softly. "But we're not the same pony. We had different habits before. How's this different?"
Lily waved a hoof at Rose. "Yeah, branch out a little, pun intended." She giggled at her own joke. "This whole city, strange as it is, is full of things. Take your eyes off of this for a little while."
Rose put a hoof to her chin. "You know, you made me think of something. You are this group's heart." She pointed at Lily. "Your group makes perfect sense for you." She clopped her hooves, looking increasingly confident. "And our Daisy, always was a firecracker. Scared as the rest of us, sure, but when you weren't scared, you were right out in the thick of it with a big smile." She ran her hooves back from the edges of her own lips. "It fits you. I was staring so hard in the wrong direction!"
Daisy nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's what we're saying. Don't be sad 'cause you were told you were doing that."
"Right, yes, right..." She tapped at the floor. "We've all come into situations that made this clear, like this... Like this world is trying to get us our Everglow cutie marks. You found yours." She waved wildly between her two friends. "But I wasn't paying attention. When was I happy..." She pressed both hooves to her head, one to either side, rubbing at her temples. "When was I content...?"
"You had fun in the market," proposed Lily, her beaver giving out a cry as if in agreement. Beavers, it turned out, could make very ponish noises when they wanted. "Yeah!" Lily had an arm around him, accepting his support.
"The market was kinda fun." Rose nodded, thinking back on that memory. "And the art studio. That was... I had a good time, just... Quiet... I was the only one calm there. Is... there an order for that?" She raised a brow. "The rest of you were manic. Looked like fun too, don't get me wrong, but..."
Daisy shrugged. "We could ask Tree next time she swings by. I bet she'd know. She loves knowing stuff. Only thing she loves more is sharing stuff she learned." She burst into giggles. "Oh wow, that's super unicorn-y. She'd get along with Twilight, no problem!"
Lily giggled at that idea. "I bet the two would get all snuggly with a good nature book and the day would just pass them right by without a complaint."
All three laughed at the shared mental image of Twilight and Tree getting along famously under a comfy blanket, their eyes locked on some book that had both of their interests captured.
Rose waved it away. "Alright, yes. She'd be the best one to ask. Remind me if I forget. Painting order? I don't remember hearing about a painting order..."