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Sweet Surrender was super stoked! Today in Phonyland's town square, there was a meet up of babbens to swap skills and learn new trades! It was like career day, only the students could also be the teachers. He was especially excited about this, because so far he had found out that he wasn't really good at anything, and had no clue what his purpose in life was going to be. With any luck, he might be able to discover it today.

Unfortunately, he was unable to teach anyone else anything, but he was hoping that there would be enough Phonies here to cover his shortcomings. Maybe some adults passing by would even stop in and give some advice. The park was empty for the moment; it looked like he was the first to arrive. He plopped down on his plot, and anxiously wiggled with excitement.

Jasmine Tea looked quite nervous as she entered the square. She had never been around so many other phonies that weren't her family. The ruby colored filly had heard of the display of talent and had been convinced she needed to show her own. She didn't know how tea brewing and serving were much of a talent but she had to try at least. Her own saddle bags carried her self heating tea pot, a small tea set for drinking, and several blends of teas. She never carried just one as phonies had a variety of tastes. Finding a quiet spot she set up her small area, laying out a soft blanket for everyone to sit on then setting up her tea. Looking up from her work she saw she had set up next to a pale colt with purple/pink hair. She smiled politely to him before looking around, seeing a very pretty pink colt walking around.

Clue Seeker hadn't actually heard about the meetup, but he had found hoofprints. They were small, which generally meant that they had been made by a foal, and who knew just where they'd lead to. Maybe they'd even lead to a mystery.

Or, as he found, to a gathering of foals in the square.

There were quite a few, and he made his way over towards a red coated filly, who had laid out a blanket and a tea set. Maybe she would know what was going on here. This was really interesting.

"Excuse me, miss," he said, pausing at the edge of Jasmine Tea's blanket. "Do you know what all of this is for?" He hated not knowing things, and hopefully she'd be willing to aid in his investigations.

That was brilliant. A chance to learn new things, and to teach others the art of being a detective! Sign him up.

"That's a great sort of idea!" He was enthusiastic about it, and he settled down on her blanket. This was as good of a place to start as any, and it did seem only polite. "I would love some tea."

He had no idea if he liked tea or not, being more of a fruit juice kind of guy, but he never turned down a chance to try something new. "I'm Clue Seeker, Colt Detective. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Jasmine smiled and nodded, pouring the colt a nice cup of jasmine tea with her unicorn magic. She listened to his description of himself with curiosity. A detective? She wondered if he solved crimes like some of the heros of her mystery stories. Yes she did read some noir romance novels with shady detectives and dames, but still how exciting.

"Oh! A detective. Do you solve mysteries or find lost items?" she spoke softly. Give his name was Clue Seeker she imagined he was good at his talent. And he already had his cutiemark!

"Oh yeah, that kid with the guitar's actually my brother," she said, waving at Roc. Taters didn't spend much time with her whole family, but she recognized one when she saw them. "I bet there's plenty you're good at, but you just don't know it yet! As for me, though- I brought plant stuff! So like, when you go hiking, you can find snacks on the side of the trail and not worry about eating poison ivy or poison oak or poison sumac or poison ANYTHING!" The little pegasus beamed; plant identification was a lot of fun, and it wasn't something a lot of phonies knew about. She flopped to the ground and patted the spot next to her. "Here, sit down and have a look!" She unpacked her saddlebags and laid out her roots and leaves and books, gesturing for those who had gathered to come by her and take a look. "So everything I brought with me- everything except the notebooks- those are edible! Isn't that neat?"

"Lots of things that are brown and covered in dirt taste GREAT when you wash them off!" Taters picked up the root that her friend was poking. "This one, for instance. This is a wild parsnip!" She brushed off the pale root and snapped off the tip. "You can tell a wild parsnip because the root is solid and tapered. If you break off the tip and it's hollow, don't eat it, because that's water hemlock and that's poisonous!" She tapped a picture in her notebook, where she'd drawn a cross-section of water hemlock. "If you eat that, you have to eat charcoal afterwards to absorb the poison. That's if you can- water hemlock causes seizures, nausea, abdominal pain, muscle breakdown, and kidney failure starting within the first fifteen minutes after absorption. So don't eat it! Ever!" She handed him the wild parsnip sample to taste and pointed to another root. "This one's my favorite. It's a potato! But see how it's little and not big like an Idaho spud? That's because it's a finger potato. They call them that because they're shaped like, well, fingers! But if you find a tuber like this in somebody's garden or really far away from any farm, don't eat it because it might be a wild potato. Wild potatoes are a different species, and they'll kill you, too- they're actually related to deadly nightshade! So stick with potatoes from farms or from near farms. See why knowing this stuff is important?"

"Thanks!" the little pegasus said, blushing. "That's super nice of you to say. That I know a lot about these, I mean. When I got started, I had this big field guide- a book that tells you what EVERY plant is. But it's really heavy, and doesn't fit in your saddlebag very well. That's the best thing to learn from if you don't have a guide..." She thought for a moment. She loved sharing her hobbies, but Sweet's nervousness was understandable. "I know! I can take you hiking sometime. There's this mountain outside of town that has wild blueberries- that's this leaf, here, and these berries, have some! Anyways, this mountain has wild blueberries, and it's super fun to hike up there and eat them and look for snakes. I've never found a rattlesnake or anything- just little garter snakes and racers- but it's fun to look!" There was so much neat stuff outdoors that had the power to kill you but wouldn't. It was kind of like dragons- how they would mostly leave you alone unless you poked them with a stick or tried to steal their treasure.