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// 18 - All You Need 
// Story: Ponyfinder: The Lost Flowers 
// by David Silver 
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There was so much to do, but it had an obvious start! Rose led the way along the branches. "We can't even start without a look." The other two nodded along with her idea.

As if detecting their energy, a crowd gathered of about half a dozen flutters to watch them as they marched. The bravest flutter drifted closer from the side. "Where are you going? You look excited! We rarely see you all, together, looking so excited!"

Daisy waved at the collected crowd as she walked with determination. "The mayor gave us some space to build, and we're going to check it out!"

A collective marveling spread among them. The original butterfly withdrew just for another to come into his place. The brightly smiling female clapped her forehooves. "How exciting! What will you build?"

Lily inclined her head towards the market they were slowly approaching. "With luck, a gorgeous flower stall for you all to enjoy. But first!"

" — First, we build." Rose nodded as she climbed the last stairs to be even with the market. "Fortunately, it's not too far from the house in the morning. That would be a tremendous pain if we had to do a marathon to get to work." The others grumbled in agreement with that.

Rose sped up suddenly. "But let's get a look!" She drew out the slip and looked at it. "This doesn't... specify where."

"That's because it's up to me." There sat a moth flutter with crossed arms. They were a muted set of colors compared to most flutters. Male. "You have the look of someone who wants to ply their wares here." He smirked as he leaned in, eyeing Rose. "Is that from the mayor?"

Rose presented the slip held at the end of her sticky hoof. "Sure is!"

He took the slip from her in his mouth to slap it down for a better look. "Hm. Hm. Mayor says to fit you wherever I have room."

Daisy stepped forward on light hooves. "Is that what 'where you can feel the breeze' meant?"

"Precisely." He turned away to examine the market and its many stalls. "We are a very busy place. You were here once before, so you should know that." His wings buzzed silently, spreading a powder over the area unlike most flutters. "Most of the space is spoken for."

Lily threw a leg over her beaver. "There must be some room. We'll prove ourselves." All three mares gave a unified look of batting lashes, hoping it'd be enough.

"Don't even try it." The market owner waved away their attempts to sway him. "There is a stall that hasn't had its owner to operate in several weeks." He lifted on large wings and drifted through the stalls. The owners of them bowed and nodded towards the market keeper, knowing he controlled whether he allowed them to be there. "This one."

Rose and the others were following behind their slowly flying guide. She raised a brow at the stand. "Wow, they must have left this alone for a while."

Daisy shrugged. "Not that it matters." She hurried up and casually kicked the side of the stall. With a loud snap, it fell over in clear admission of defeat at her violence. "This is a hazard at this point."

"Exactly why I am giving this space to you." The male market keeper landed in front of the messy stand. "Remove the debris and replace it with something more elegant." He pointed to the ground. "You have from here to here."

Rose blinked. "You pointed past the stand."

"I did." His wings sent dust flying anew. "What is it you will sell? We need to add it to the directory for others to find."

Lily watched Daisy casually dismantle the stand one splintered bit of wood at a time. "You know..." She pointed forward, unleashing Bold upon the problem. Bold began attacking the wood, tearing it apart with gusto, fitting his species. "We'll have this clear soon." She was dancing in place. "This is going to be great! Our stand'll look great."

Rose inclined her head at the market keep. "Not to question good luck, but why was this abandoned? By the way, flowers. The Flower Mares will offer up flowers for the delight of future customers."

"Flower Mares? Yes, a fine name." He nodded as if to himself. "As for the last occupant, she sold little trinkets, and has not been here for weeks, as I mentioned. A marketplace cannot succeed with empty stalls, so focus on making your stall the best it can be." He clapped his hooves together. "I forgot! 5% of what you sell goes to me, which helps keep the marketplace around you looking nice and ready. It also accounts for the taxes, so you don't have to worry about that. Just pay me."

Daisy clapped at the announcement. "5% flat rate? That's easy to figure out. We'll make sure you get your share then and that'll handle that."

Rose nodded along. "Right. Back where we came from, we had to pay a few ponies to have what we had, so that's nice. Step 1, complete! Step 2, in progress." She watched Bold demolish the helpless stand for a moment. "But that leaves step 3. Get the supplies to make our stand. Now that we know how much space we have, we have to fill it with a stand worth stopping at."

The mares met with a loud clop of hooves together. Lily drew Bold back. "Alright, that's pretty clear. We can finish when we get back with the stuff to start on a new stand."

All three were ready to go, but a hoof was in their way. "I'm Bright Eyes." The market keep dipped his head. "I imagine we will do a lot of business. Good business? I hope, but only time will make that clear. Flowers, I like those. Make them pretty and put them in the hooves of the ones that want them." He fired quite the dramatic wink. "So long as they're ready to pay."

Daisy snapped a sharp salute. "Yes, sir! But first we have to make our stand."

Lily waved at the remnants left behind by Bold's actions. "Not like we're going to use that. Wouldn't want to anyway, really."

"Nice to meet you, Bright eyes." Rose nodded to their new commercial landlord. "We'll do our part to make both of us some bits -- "

"You keep using that term and I love it." He drew a few golden coins from his pocket, some copper mixed in along with silver shiny bits. "Bits, ha, love it."

Rose inclined her head at the coins. "Is there a better name for them?"

"Nah." He waved the idea off. "Just as good as any other, but most just call them 'coins' and leave it at that."

With that settled, the three mares and their beaver friend charged for the closest elevator. They were not alone, much of the same crowd still following them. The lady flutter waved excitedly. "Are you going downstairs?"

"Are you leaving?" asked another excitedly. "Don't go!"

Daisy stuck out her tongue at the worried flutters. "We're just getting flowers. We'll be right back with. Oh, er."

Lily bonked Daisy on the head. "Yeah, just remembered? First, we get supplies. We build a nice stand and only after that do we get to sell up some pretty flowers."

The crowd clapped as they went, easily managing that with their softly flapping wings. When the mares reached the elevator, flutters came in to land all around them.

Rose squinted at the gathering lot of them. "You know... we're not offering discounts for coming with us. You don't have to follow us every step of the way."

Another flutter giggled, which prompted all the others to join in the joke.

Rose peered at the laughing mass of butterfly and other insectoid ponies. "Why is that funny?"

One of them waggled their antennae at Rose. "Because we're here to watch you."

"We can get flowers later."

"After the shop opens." They were all nodding in agreement with the idea and talking among themselves.

One of the larger dragonflies raised a hoof. "Will you have Screaming Jalias?"

Rose frowned softly. "I am not familiar with that one, so... maybe. Can you describe it?"

They had thrown the floodgates open. The flower mares had flutters approaching from all sides, ready to explain what their favorite flower looked like in exacting details, except the ones described with just a color.

They found the only relief when the elevator touched the ground. This was a signal for most of them to take flight away. The flower mares quickly lost sight of them as the crowd fluttered back up in the direction they had come from.

Daisy waved in the direction they were fleeing upwards in. "That was nice. We have plenty of ideas of what they want."

Lily snorted softly as she stepped off the elevator. "That's nice, but we're not here for that. Bold?" The beaver looked towards her expectantly. "Find us some good solid wood. We have a damn of our own to build. Only wood." Bold chittered and whistled, which was the best answer one could hope for. He trundled off into the thick underbrush without further delay.

Rose sat up. "Well, good for him, but we aren't going to just sit here and wait for him to get it all, now are we?!" A communal cry rose, including two flutters that were still there. Rose blinked at them softly. "You're still here? You... want to help?" Both nodded swiftly at her. "Well, if you want to volunteer, we'll take it." She offered a hoof.

Daisy and Lily thrust their hooves on, joined shortly by the two flutters. With one more cry, they broke up to begin the foraging.

They formed a pile of almost debris. Most of it was logs and things like logs set in a great uneven pile. The elevator kept working quietly as they labored, bringing reinforcements. Whether they had asked for it. Drawn by the industrious work, other flutters lent a helping hoof to speed up the process along.

Rose patted the magnificent pile. "This should be enough to put together a stand."

"But do you have tools?" One of the many flutters that had joined their expedition was looking quite doubtful. "You won't make much just stacking them."

Rose shook her head. "Stacking them nicely was actually — "

"No." The same Flutter worked under a log, an act copied by many other flutters. "Let's get it where it needs to be, and I will let you borrow one of my tools."

A cry rose among the volunteers as they made their way onto the elevator with their cargo.

Daisy raised a brow as she grabbed some heavy sticks of her own. "Seems they have outvoted us."

"On our own project." Rose gathered supplies quickly before joining the others for the ride up. "But he's not wrong. I don't have supplies, and we haven't learned a natural song to do this for us."

"You're a druid?" The flutter that owned tools was addressing them. "I thought I heard something about that. Congratulations. It would be an honor to lend a few tools to a new druid." Words rose among the grown crowd. Helping a druid was certainly a sign of the importance in the work they had already done.

Not that the flutters seemed at all greater or lesser inspired to lend the hoof they had already promised by being there. When the elevator arrived at the branches, it was a great migration of humming flutters on the way to the market just behind Rose to lead the way. 

Daisy burst into laughter as they went. "I didn't expect so many hooves with us."

They would build their stand, or at least supply it with all the parts, if they had any say in the matter.