Charlie wasn't sure what it might take to make the magic that would take them home. Equestria didn't follow the rules she had grown up with. When someone said something was “magic” here, they didn't mean it was an impossible myth, they usually meant it was particularly powerful or dangerous.
"I should've known this would happen." She sat unhappily inside a prison of mushrooms and soft grasses, staring out at her friend. She couldn't really see what Derek was doing anymore—the little earth pony had walked too far, vanishing behind the trees of the fairy village. They hadn't thrown her into prison with them, which was probably a good sign... but they hadn't let her and Little Risk out yet, either. "She always gets like this—once she's fixated on something, it doesn't matter how stupid it is. Lilac has to get it."
Risk lay on his belly near the other side of the prison, eyes closed and ears flat against his head. He seemed... embarrassed? His smell was more complicated than that, but she still hadn't learned to read those. The other pegasus girls were getting easier, but she didn't spend time with any unicorns. "They didn't hurt us. That's better than some of the stories. They say if you kill a tree, the flutterponies make you take its place."
"Then I guess it's a good thing we followed the rules," she groaned, annoyed. "That's probably why they didn't do anything worse to us. I wish they'd let us go..."
Whatever they were—pixies, fairies, unknowable horrifying creatures—they had a constant audience of dozens floating around the little cage, always watching. Charlie stared back at them, sticking her tongue out at a little pink and white one. It flew nervously away, vanishing into the trees with a little squeak of nervous fear.
"They won't keep us here," Risk said. "They can't lie, that's part of how they work. They told Lilac that they were going to let us go. As soon as they finish with her, we'll get to leave." He groaned, covering his face with his forelegs. "She wasn't supposed to say yes!"
"What did you think would happen?" Charlie asked, indignant. "Coming here was your idea. Did you expect Lilac to just give up?"
"I wasn't sure they were real," he admitted. "The flutterponies, they're a story. There are so many stories about Willowbrook, and you can't know which ones are real and which ones are just stories. If we didn't find anything... that wouldn't be bad. And if we did, Lilac would get the magic she wanted."
He winced. "If Mistress Vale finds out I was the one who led her here... I don't even know what she'll do to me."
"Guess you better hope Lilac is okay," Charlie said. "Good, we're on the same side there." Some part of her, the deepest, selfish part, felt a little hope. She wasn't the one who had to make a deal with unknowable creatures hiding out in the woods. Maybe Derek would actually learn what she needed to get them home! It couldn't make it worse, could it?
She wouldn't have to wait for much longer. Her friend walked back, dodging around the flowers and the little bug-creatures living on them. At first Charlie didn't think there was anything different about her.
Risk was a little more observant, or maybe he was just staring at her butt. "You got your cutie mark! Out here?"
"Oh, uh... yeah, I guess." Derek sounded different... it was hard to say exactly how. She was as high-pitched as ever, but somehow... contented? "I was wrong to think that earth ponies didn't have magic. Your dad was wrong too, Risk. How could ponies think something so silly?"
Risk wasn't wrong about the mark. Charlie let herself stare, even if she felt incredibly awkward doing it. A bunch of tiny flowers, grown into the shape of a butterfly. "Woah. Those are... aren't those a big deal here? Cutie marks are like... your name or something."
"Your name?" Risk rose to his hooves, staring at her. "How do you not know what a cutie mark is? They're your special talent! They show a pony what their purpose is. They help you... Even the tyrant respects cutie marks."
"We're allowed to leave now," Derek said. She reached out with one hoof, crossing the mushroom circle. There was a little flash of blue light from the ground, and Charlie guessed the barrier was gone.
She tested it with one hoof, and found nothing stopped her. She stepped out eagerly, opening her wings to full size. She didn't have enough room to open them both at once in there, she was starting to get sore.
The fairies lifted out of their way, retreating from around the barrier and up into the trees. Charlie could still feel their watchful eyes on her, but at least their bodies didn't get too close. They watched from safely out of reach, whispering to each other like the crowd at a play.
"What are you going to tell Mistress Vale?" Risk asked. "Everypony in Vale Manor will whisper when you get back. There will be a cutescinera and everything..."
"What they need to know," Derek said. She seemed to know where she was going now, gesturing past them towards the edge of the fairy settlement. Charlie couldn't tell one direction from another in here, or guess at how they'd even arrived in the first place. "My promises aren't hers. If you don't mention all this... it will probably be easier. Maybe she'll figure it out, or maybe not. Hopefully not."
But she had no reason to doubt Derek now, and she followed. The unicorn hurried to keep up, walking in Derek's exact trail.
She was probably imagining things, but Derek seemed a little bigger, too. "Did you find what you were hoping for?" Charlie asked. They walked past the last of the trees, then through a particularly stubborn wall of undergrowth. She had to follow behind Derek, or else it would push against her so painfully it was probably leaving scratches in her coat.
Derek didn't seem to notice at all. "I found... magic," she said. "Not what we were looking for, though." She didn't stop until they emerged on open ground—gravel in fact, a patch of well-developed trail. She held the bushes sideways for them, then let go and let them spring back into place. "But they told me things, Firefly. Things that don't make sense."
"Like?"
Risk crowded in close to listen. So they wouldn't be able to talk about it now. Charlie rolled her eyes, wings falling slack to either side. She'd just have to wait until tonight. It was a sleepover, after all. Risk wouldn't be sharing their bedroom. There were rules about putting boys and girls together, even if she couldn't quite remember why.
But Derek didn't wait. "They said that our home was... unsafe. That nothing should be able to live there. That's why it was chosen... it was supposed to kill some monster that used to live here in Equestria a long time ago. Saffron wouldn't tell me anything else, but I think he might know more."
"They're just wrong, that's all," she said, waving both wings dismissively. She looked up, but couldn't see the sun overhead. It was still light enough, which meant it was probably late afternoon. How long had they been trapped? "It doesn't matter what the locals think about—" She felt a brief stab of pain, stopping her from saying the name. "Where we came from. We were there!"
They walked back through the forest, much more subdued than they had been on their way out. Even Risk didn't question them much, at least not until they'd finally left the trees behind and were back on a road through farmland.
Out here, Charlie could see the sun hanging low in the sky, already staining the clouds bright orange and red. So they had spent the whole day, somehow. So much for having the time to catch up with her friend after a few weeks apart.
"What did they teach you in there, anyway?" Risk asked. "I heard some of what you asked at first. You wanted to learn magic. But earth ponies don't cast spells."
Derek turned, expression distant at first. She seemed to struggle to focus on him, like someone lost in thought. She obviously didn't consider this particular interruption worthwhile.
"A spell is just one kind of magic," she said. "I learned another before I even came to Equestria. Ritual. Then there's other kinds—there are potions, made from herbs, and contracts made with... forces. Your dad is right, so is Iris and everypony else who whispers about me. I'm doomed, I'll never be able to learn a 'spell.' But that's okay—runners can be skilled athletes without learning how to climb. The best swimmers in the world would probably do really bad in a high jump. I can be good, or even great, without ever needing to cast a spell."
Charlie listened in silence. She knew as Risk couldn't possibly yet that the best way to get anything out of Derek was to prompt her with something vague and listen. She'd want to fill that silence, and justify everything she did. The little unicorn didn't give them the chance.
"It isn't going to stop you from going with me, once we do get it figured out?" she asked. "The thing you did back there—I don't want you getting trapped here when I go home. No one left behind; we're getting home together, or not at all."
"That won't trap me," Derek promised. "I did agree to other things, and I'll do them. But don't worry about me, none of it is that bad. Think about how hard life would be if you were that small, you might want someone big to stop by and help with stuff every now and then. They trust earth ponies the most anyway—we know the land the same way they do, I guess. We don't try to control it like unicorns or blow them away with storms the way pegasus ponies do. An arrangement like this is... natural."
She sounds just like she did back on Earth talking about this stuff. A strange, impossible to believe hobby. Except that Charlie had clearly seen it for herself, so she would have to believe it. Instead of mocking, she had every reason to be afraid.
"Can they teach you how to get us home?" Charlie asked. "Or will they just tell us when the flowers bloom and what mushrooms are poison and whether to plant corn this year or barley?"
Derek grinned at her, the first familiar expression she'd seen since exiting that fairy glade. "They're going to teach me what they know. I don't have to rely on just fairies—I live in House Vale, remember? The library is full of magic."
Charlie knew what that implied, even if her friend wasn't willing to say it. This isn't a shortcut. We won't be making it back to Earth earlier than I said.
"Years," she squeaked. "Everyone thinks we're dead, everything is sold, we're basically forgotten."
"Yeah," Derek said. "I'm sorry."
"You two are so weird," Risk muttered. "Seriously, Lilac. It's not normal for little ponies to talk like you."
She shrugged. "I'm not really a..." She hesitated, glancing over her shoulder at the mark on her rump. "Okay, that's not true anymore. I guess I am a pony. It's official."
Charlie opened her mouth to say something, but Derek pushed it closed with one hoof, smiling up at her. "Don't think you'll get out of it, Firefly. Give it a few more months. You'll get stuck with one of these too, pacts with fairies or no pacts."
Charlie didn't argue. Derek was probably right.