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// 21 - You Have Mail 
// Story: Ponyfinder: The Lost Flowers 
// by David Silver 
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For Everglow ponies, it would have reached only one of them, and for a brief message at best. They were Equestrian ponies, and magic worked differently from and to them as a result.

Rose was walking along through the flowers with her sisters from other mothers at her side. They were all laughing and talking about nothing important. It had no words, because dreams were like that sometimes. It was only important that they were talking and happy.

"Hello!" And there was Twilight, appearing above them in the sky in a spectral form. "There you are! It was surprisingly difficult to get a lock on you, but here you are." She leaned in with a raised brow. "I am not Luna, who insisted you were fine."

Daisy blinked softly at the towering alicorn. "Um... hi?"

Twilight bobbed her head. "Hello. Are you alright? You've been in Everglow for months! I was... afraid I wouldn't find you..."

Lily waved gently, Bold appearing next to her as she became more sharply conscious. The beaver looked confused, being in Lily's dream like that, but was fast enough to stand at her side in readiness. "Why were you complaining about it? We're doing alright so far. Oh! Do you know how to get home?"

"About that." Twilight sat up. "Now that I'm sure you're all here and in good shape, I can get to work on that. I could teleport there? I do have plane shifting spells and if you're in a safe place, it shouldn't be hard. Where are you?"

Daisy waved excitedly. "This place is called Prisma. It's full of friendly butterflies."

"And bees." Lily sank back to her haunches.

"And dragonflies and all kinds of winged insects that seem to want to give us a hug more than chase us away from their hive." Rose smiled in a quirk at the large princess before them. "They let us set up a shop and everything." All three mares nodded at that. "We're back to selling flowers, finally."

Twilight clapped her hooves. "About that, your stall is looking very sad with a 'be back soon' sign that I had Spike put up on it."

Daisy wilted at that. "Aw... We were the only flower sellers in Ponyville. How are ponies doing without us?"

"Terrible." Twilight put a hoof over her face, speaking into it. "I don't mean to put pressure on any of you. If you're happy where you are, great! I'll stop looking if you're safe and secure?"

Rose saluted at the towering princess. "Wait." Her stance faltered. "Are you offering a chance to go home?"

"While I am glad to hear you've found a new niche, yes, that is exactly what I am offering." Twilight clapped with a smile. "I can be there shortly. The more you tell me about this 'Prisma', the better so I can find it."

Spike leaned in, appearing in the sky. "Did they get into any crazy adventures?"

Twilight shoved him gently out of view. "They're doing just fine and, apparently, avoided that. Good on them! That's one less thing for me to worry about."

Lily threw a leg over her beaver. "One thing. We all know magic. Is Equestria alright with that?"

Twilight inclined her head. "Well, you wouldn't be the first pony to come back with greater magical knowledge than they started with." She turned a hoof on herself. "Including me! Um, congratulations are in order, so good job. Did you learn it in order to survive?" Her eyes wandered, but the trio of mares in a forest of their dreams offered no hints.

Daisy was bouncing in place. "Prisma is a big jungle place! Lots of trees full of bug ponies."

"Very colorful." Rose lifted some of her flowers she hadn't been holding before. "By the way, how are you talking to us? Not complaining, mind. Nice to know you didn't forget us along the way."

"Speaking of that." Twilight sighed in a slow gust of air. "It took a while to be sure you really weren't coming back, and it wasn't part of your journey. You made a big deal about finding an unknown flower, and that sounded like a quest that could have ended in all sorts of shenanigans... So we waited... But you weren't coming."

Spike peeked back into view. "They went looking where you headed, but couldn—"

Twilight shoved him back out of view. "We didn't find you, as he said, so I had to start looking father afield... You gave us very few hints as to where to look."

Lily extended her tongue at the towering image. "So you started looking all over the place. Lucky you ever saw us."

"Not that we are complaining!" Rose flashed her charmingest smile, she hoped. "Seriously... If you can come by, do that. We'd love to see a familiar face."

"Fantastic!" Twilight clapped eagerly. "I'm going to hop over there. I can't really trust anypony else since I'm the only one walking around with the key to going either way that I'm aware of." She rubbed at her cheek softly. "I could take Spike with me."

"Please?" He was not in view, but his voice was hard to miss. "You know you want a fierce dragon!"

Daisy hiked a brow. "Are we talking about the same Spike?"

Twilight laughed nervously. "You all look normal here, but this is a dream realm." She raised a brow high. "Did any of you start to look like Everglow ponies? They look quite different." All three mares shook their head in unity. "Ah, good. That does eventually wear off! But it can also be traumatic, being forced to change like that." 

Twilight put a hoof on her chest. "In Spike's case, he became a young local dragon, which... was powerful and could fly quickly, even without wings."

"Which is gonna happen again!" One could not see it, but easily imagine Spike pumping a fist. "Gonna be awesome!"

"Who are you talking to?" A female voice, and it was coming closer. "Spike?"

"We're going back to Everglow!" A pause. "Oh, you wanna come?! You know Everglow really well."

Daisy giggled at the floating voices. "Is that Soft Mane? I forgot she's from here. Ask her if she knows about Prisma!" She was clapping with building joy. "Bring her! This is a really delightful city, and I bet she'd fit in."

Soft Mane popped into view, nudging Twilight aside as she waved her human hands. "Hi! Prisma? Never heard of it, but I haven't been there in a little bit. Can I?" She was looking at Twilight with a big smile and a hopeful expression. "I'll help as best I can. I'm the best healer you have outside of Sweetie Belle, and you're not bringing her."

Twilight soured at the idea. "I should hope not! But..." Her eyes dropped from Soft's face to her midsection and back up to her face. "Are you sure you want to adventure right now?"

Spike pulled her back, which required a little cooperation on Soft's part. "I'll protect her. I'll be all scary and fly real fast." He wriggled his claws at Twilight. "Besides, we're just picking up the flower mares and coming straight back, so what's the harm?"

"If you're sure." Twilight squinted a moment before returning her attention to the mares. "We'll be there as soon as we can." She promptly vanished, and the dream ended with it. All three of the flower mares wandered back to their own dreams, one of them taking a beaver along with her.





"You did dream that, right?" Rose sat before her breakfast bowl, but lightly stirred it instead of eating from it. "Right?"

Daisy was chomping her food, which did not stop her from speaking. "We have a guest coming! This will be so exciting. It's been so long since we saw another Equestrian pony."

Lily poked her slovenly friend. "And she's bringing Spike and Soft with her. I knew Twilight was a wizard, but she can go between worlds? That's pretty magic."

Rose rolled her eyes at that. "This is Twilight. Magic is her thing, aside from friendship, and friendship is magic last I heard." She smirked softly at the idea. "So, of course, she knows how to do things like that. We should tell the mayor."

"Tell her what?" Tree had arrived, closing the door gently behind herself. "I have things to tell you, if this isn't a bad time."

Daisy waved at her as she swallowed the last of her food with a great gulp. "Hey! We have one and a half ponies, half a human, and a 100% dragon coming to visit us."

Lily placed a hoof on her face. "That was the least helpful way you could have put that."

Rose dared to tip her bowl and have a first sip of breakfast. "Some friends of ours from Equestria are coming to make sure we're alright and offer a way back. All three of them are well behaved, promise."

"Oh..." Tree shook her head slowly. "Your explanation is much easier to understand than Daisy's. If they come in peace, good, but they remain Equestrian. The head druid will want to meet them first. You've met her several times. You have no objection to this, I hope?"

Daisy brought her empty hooves together in a loud clap. "They will be delighted, I bet. Twilight loves meeting creatures with magic, and a head druid qualifies as that for sure! Does she have any of her magic written down?"

Tree hiked a brow. "You have heard the songs as clearly as I have. There is no writing of our magic. So long as we walk the primal paths, the songs come to us. Unless she walks the same paths, she will not hear them, I am afraid." She was turning, but paused. "Of course, if she is like you, maybe she is a druid waiting to happen." Tree sighed gently. "You put my efforts to shame. It took me years years to reach the point where you now stand beside me."

Rose had the sense and humility to blush at Tree's words. "We weren't..." Saying she wasn't trying to show up Tree, Rose felt bad. "Tree, you've done amazingly! The other druids see it, and they welcomed you in with open hooves." Unsaid, the other flower mares went to hug Tree from left and right. "And you helped us. We are so happy to have you around."

Tree smiled awkwardly from the middle of her flower sandwich. "It's good to hear that, at least. Oh! I did mention I have things to tell you." She waved a hoof at all three of them quickly. "If you practice shape-shifting, which as a primal user is a possibility, you may become an Everglow pony. We are prepared to welcome you, looking as you are now or an Everglow pony, but I thought you should know that. All the druids are very curious to see it, the change, ourself. We can't be sure it'll work, but we're pretty sure. It is entirely up to you if you want to try it."

Lily stuck out her tongue. "That's a hard sell! I like how I look." She twisted left and right as she looked herself over. "How about you two?"

Daisy shrugged and looked towards Rose. "What does stone think?"

Rose leaned forward on her hooves. "Twilight said we go back to normal when we're home. I am a stone out of place... So I'm not against the idea of matching the locals a little better." She waggled her brows at Tree. "We'll be closer."

Tree smiled as she approached. "How wonderful! I wonder what you'll look like, as an Everglow pony. That you're willing to try it is encouraging. I'll inform the mayor of all of that, and we'll be ready for when you are. Then we can try! Hopefully, it will all go well and we'll see something new, but still a part of nature, just one we know little about."