//------------------------------//
// 20 - More of That 
// Story: Ponyfinder: The Lost Flowers 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

Tree Wind reared up, her hooves coming down on the counter of the stand. "You do nothing slowly. Is that the calling card of all your kind?"

Rose poked lightly at their druidic visitor's leg. "Once we decide we're going to do something, why wait?"

Daisy bobbed her head. "Besides, you can't blame this all on us." She waved over the entire stand. "Felt like half the town rushed out to help us."

Lily shrugged to show her part. "Are we really that interesting?"

"Yes." Tree stepped back off the stand. "You are. You are a trio of strange ponies that joined the druids too quickly. That opened a shop too quickly as well. Then, not satisfied, you already have your eyes set on the next goal, I bet."

Rose inclined her head with a narrowing of her eyes. "Actually..."

"We're pretty happy." Daisy waved over her stand with a slow wash of her foreleg. "We got all we want. I suppose we could get better at nature magic."

Lily threw a leg over her beaver friend. "Which we will, but no specific hurry on that? We have what we want, so why would we be in a hurry? Now, you're here, so you want to get some flowers?"

Tree snorted softly at that. "I am a druid too." She turned a hoof on herself. "I could find all the flowers I want easily enough."

Rose waggled her brows with a sultry smile. "You could do that, but we did it for you. This." She brought in both hooves on a bright blue flower. "I think this is practically screaming your name."

Daisy cupped her snout for a proper, spooky whisper. "Tree whisper! Pick me! I'll look great in your mane!"

Tree burst into giggles at the attempt to spook her into a purchase. "Perhaps you would, but who would I be looking good for?" She batted the petals away without harming them. "Are you really just... satisfied? You are ponies from another world entirely, and you are happy?"

Lily reared up and threw her hooves wide. Without being told, Bold struck up a dynamic pose with her. "I'm an animal master!"

Daisy clasped her hooves, bits of flame smoldering between them. "Master of flames!"

Rose remained where she was, watching Tree placidly. "Kind carer of the quiet stone. We're all happy with what we have."

Tree fell to her haunches as she peered at the flower mares as if they were the strange ones. "On... one hoof, good! Good... I am glad you're not getting into trouble." She set down a copper and took one flower without speaking of the transaction. "How did you price these, by the way?"

Rose inclined her head. "A little guesswork and a lot of watching how the flutters react. We've had to raise and lower a few prices on the fly." She slid the low value coin closer. "Speaking of which, thank you."

Daisy half-pounced Tree in a hurry to get the blue flower in the right place in their friend's mane. "There you are, much better!"

Tree reached up to feel the flower in her hair as she made an unsure noise. "That doesn't answer who this is for."

Daisy clasped her hooves under her chin. "What if it's just for you?"

Lily nodded as she fell back to all fours. "Nothing wrong with a mare just wanting to look nice for themselves. It suits you."

Tree pulled out a mirror with her dimly glowing horn and looked herself over with critical eyes. "No wonder you are doing well... Now, I would be remiss to not mention, but you are acting members of your orders. They could call on your abilities. While it's nice to be... satisfied, they could." She looked up at Daisy. "Master of fire, what if they need another set of hooves to control a blaze?"

Daisy turned on Lily instead. "What would they even call you for, a litter of kittens needing adopting?"

Lily smirked, even with a frown at that. "Kittens needing adopting is about on the level of a random pony starting a fire in their oven. They'd probably poke me if the beavers had a fresh problem, since I get along with them."

Rose lifted her shoulders softly. "If somecreature were to set up a strip mining operation nearby, well, that would annoy me pretty fast!"

Daisy waved excitedly. "I'd help!"

"I would also help." Lily nodded firmly. "We all would help each other, if it's something we can help with."

Tree put a hoof under her chin with a thoughtful hum. "So you would act if you saw the need. Until then, flowers."

"Flowers," they all echoed with satisfied faces. Unlike all the other travelers to Everglow, the situation completely satisfied the flower mares with their lot in life.

A bee landed in front of the stand and started collecting flowers, seemingly at random. One of those, three of that flower, two of those and so on, without rhyme or reason.

Rose watched the selection going on with some confusion. "Glad to help you, ma'am, but are you looking for anything specific?"

"These." She lifted the collection she had. "They have the pollen that I want. Here you go." She set down a few silver with tosses of her head. "Thank you!"

"Wait." Rose set a hoof on one of the bee's arms. "Show us how to tell the difference."

The bee flutter was happy to show how one could tell if a flower was ready to be harvested for pollen. "It will make hay fever worse, but for bee flutters, it is exactly what we like." She hugged her collection of petals close. "If you get more pollen-heavy flowers, I can send more flutters your way."

Tree wrinkled a nose. "One flutter's trash..."

"Is our treasure." Daisy took hold of the sheet that held the prices and scribbled a new price point for pollen heavy flowers. "Now we know to look out for those, and that they can be more valuable, or less, depending on who's asking."

Lily sniffed at Tree, peering at her blue flower on the way. "Yours is clear. Good. Do you have hay fever?"

"Thankfully not." Tree raised a brow at the mares. "I would feel bad for any druid that had that. Not impossible, but it would be harder. Maybe a stone?" She lifted her shoulders. "Or waves. Something away from a lot of flowering things." She wiped her long nose, perhaps in sympathy for the imagined stuffiness of hay fever anywhere in that city of dense foliage. "I am here to help. Sorry if I asked uncomfortable questions, but they seem like good questions!"

"I get it." Rose leaned forward over her counter. "We want to go back. We do! But how? Without suddenly knowing how, why shouldn't we be happy with what we have?"

Daisy bobbed her head quickly. "That would be the best, but being nature wizards in this town isn't all bad." All three nodded in agreement. "By the way, we're staying open for quite a few hours. Are you hanging around?"

Lily flashed a bright smile. "We'd be happy to have you around, but you look ready to go."

"Because I am." Tree took a step back, turning as she did it. "I may return, but I will come back, eventually." All three mares waved as she set off along the branch towards other places. She descended to a familiar place and trotted up to the front of the line. She had permission to do that. "Mayor." She dipped her head at the head druid that was also that. "I just visited the Equestrians."

"Lovely." The mayor clapped her hooves as she walked closer to meet Tree. "How are they adjusting?"

"Well, too well." Tree raised a brow. "They are happy to sell flowers to flutters and aren't even thinking of looking for a way home. They have shown no signs of adjusting to things physically, but they also haven't shape-shifted at all. I could try to encourage that?"

The head druid frowned softly. "You could, but I see no reason." She wagged a hoof at Tree. "They are happy. To encourage them probably needs trouble. I don't want to make them upset for no reason."

"With your permission." Tree approached with the new blue flower bobbing in her mane. "I think I can encourage it in them with no emergency or crisis. They like exploring their magic, and they work together so well." Her expression became a brilliant smile. "Then, at least, they would be Everglow ponies, physically."

"Physically," echoed the flutter with a frown. "If it would not bother them even a little. They are on our side completely." She nudged an art piece that clattered and fell into a new position. "That is all it takes, a little nudge. We could lose them, and why? They are strange, yes, but they have not harmed the surrounding nature."

She sank to her haunches. "Actually... It is already late for when we just were just honest. Tell them exactly what you hope will happen. They can then decide if they want to do that or not. They are welcome in our city as Equestrian or Everglow ponies. Perhaps I am used to it, but I like them either way." She clasps her hooves together. "I was wrong to think so harshly about them. Equestrians have always come with warm smiles before, but this is my city. I am in charge of it. I had to see for myself what they were going to do."

Tree turned to go, just to pause. "Pardon this question, ma'am." She had an ear turned back to her mayor. "Do you... find yourself wishing you ruled entirely over other flutters?" Her ears sank a few inches each. "Apologies, ma'am. I know I'm not one of them."

"You aren't." But the mayor was looking at Tree with a smile. "You're something else. Something amazing." She lifted on heavy wings to twirl in place. "They put together ponies so fascinatingly." She pointed towards Tree's back. "The gods themselves gave you a mark! It is your purpose and destiny, but it is up to you to decide what it means." She giggled in the middle of a sigh. "Could not the gods speak more plainly? Maybe it's meant to change."

She leaned towards Tree. "Maybe what a sword means changes for a pony as they grow older and wiser. Or at least older... Is that the point? I wonder... If the gods wanted an unthinking tool, they did a poor job. They gave you the right to say no. They allowed that thought into your head." She tapped her own skull lightly. "Whatever god made me didn't slip a collar on my neck. I only have a brand because I think they look so great." She partially turned to display her painted on brand. "Lovely, isn't it?"

"Very nice." Tree did not stare at her superior's rump, invited or not. The mark was far fancier than most ponies could have hoped for, which was hint enough that a skilled crafter rather than the faster and uncalled act of the brand of destiny painted it. Tree's was a simple image, as most ponies had. "And you think mine is better? It isn't as ornate as yours." That seemed a safe assumption to make.

"A god did not make mine." The mayor danced closer, wings slowly fluttering. "That makes it special. Most flutters wish they could be so marked. There are times even I wished the gods would give a hint, even a vague one. Instead, they watch me do my best. I can only hope I amuse them." She reached up her hooves to cup Tree's round cheeks. "You are more confident."

Tree smiled nervously as she backed out of the grip of the two hooves. "I do my best. You say it's a hint, but it's a whispered one. We are still alone with our decisions." Tree bowed to the head druid. "I will ask them."