"Finishing?"
"Yeah. Trust me, you'll like it."
"I'm guessing these aren't any normal fish."
"That's right. Lyra, go talk to Pear Butter and Bright Mac would you?"
Lyra pouted
"But I want to see his reaction! You're going Ethereal Pound aren't you?"
"Yep."
"Ugh fine. But make sure you tell me what happens."
"Ethereal? What are we fishing for ghosts?"
"Close. You'll see when we get there."
They began to walk out to the castle gate when suddenly they were nearly surrounded by a large group fo students from various years. One stuck out ahead of the pack, almost as if they were leading an entourage. Her hair was a bright pink with white highlights at its end and a wreath sat lightly on the crown. She was tall and wore a white rob signifying her 12th year status. Whoever she was, she commanded respect and importance. Anon felt a hard elbow in his side from Bonbon. She was visibly nervous.
"Do exactly as I do and let me do the talking." she whispered sternly
He could hear the shakiness in her breath. Whoever this woman was, she was clearly not one to be crossed if a mage as powerful as Bonbon was afraid of her. Bonbon bowed before her, right arm extended out, left foot back. Anon copied the pose as best he could.
"Greetings your majesty, to what do I owe this honor?" Bonbon asked
"Greetings your majest-"
Anon got another painful elbow to the ribs
"Lift your heads," she said "I wish to speak to your contract."
She had at once a beautiful elegance and an extreme, unquestionable authority to her voice, it was as if he were being addressed by none other than the Queen of England. Both Anon and Bonbon stood up.
"Yes, my lady." Bonbon said
"Sweetie Drops is it?" she asked "Please prepare a closed space for he and I. I wish for us to discuss this matter privately."
Anon watched Bonbon visibly cringe at the name 'Sweetie Drops'
"As you command, my lady." she said through gritted teeth, pulling out her staff
In not time at all the two were transported to a white space. The woman began to pace.
"Do you know who I am?" she asked
"I'm afraid I don't. I can tell you're important though."
"Observant. My name is Vignette Valencia, youngest daughter to his majesty, the king and eleventh in line for the throne."
He couldn't help but feel nervous. If she knew about his crest he could be in for a world of problems.
"To what do I owe the honor?"
"Don't play dumb with me. You may be a mortal, but I know you aren't stupid. You are in possession of the crest of one of the most powerful mages who ever existed, a one Clover the Clever."
He tensed up tight and didn't say a word.
"Fear not. I have let no one else know of this, in fact, I wish to be allies rather than adversaries."
"And how would we go about that?"
"Simple really: You continue your search for how you came in contact with Clover's crest and report your findings to me semi regularly."
"I've a feeling it isn't as simple as that."
"Of course not. My price for leaving you alone is this: when you find the secret of the crest I want you to give it to me. Do this and I will let no harm befall you, I may even give you a seat in the court. Refuse and I shall report this to the king and he can do the honors of executing you for high treason."
"I guess I don't have much choice then, do I?"
"I knew you would be reasonable."
To his surprise, the closed space vanished. Valencia made a smirk.
"Eavesdropping were we? No matter. That deal goes the same way with you, remember that."
She walked into the crowd and out the school gate, her adoring fans following close behind. Anon turned to Bonbon.
"What in the world was that all about?"
"Seems we weren't as careful as I thought. Just do as she says for now. She wasn't kidding when she made those threats."
"Why give me this deal at all though?"
"She plans to use you as leverage. You remember her saying she was the youngest daughter, 11th in line right? If she were to bring it to the King that she had the secret to Clover's magic, she could easily make it a bargaining chip for the throne, either as an exchange for it or as a way to overthrow the current king."
"What about what she called you?"
Bonbon looked down, her face stricken with pain. It looked as if she was trying to prevent herself from crying.
"I don't want to talk about it. Come. We have fishing to do."
He remained silent and just followed her. Once near the city, she walked to a sign post, covered in moss. She preformed a mana exchange and whispered into the pole.
"Ethereal Pond."
It suddenly became colder, as if the winds of a blizzard had rushed through an opened door. A ghostly, semi transparent horse-drawn carriage appeared, only there were no horses and no one holding the reins. It's form seemed to be fluid, the structure changing from one minute to the next, however never straying too far from something that would be clearly considered a horse-drawn carriage.
"Hop on."
Anon nervously stepped into the carriage. He looked down in his seat and could very clearly see the ground, as well as the rest of the outside. It was like slightly misty glass, only it had no feeling to the touch. There was a loud crack of a whip and with a strong, sudden lurch, the carriage jolted forward. It was like he was on a rollercoaster. Every turn was sudden and violent, it's speed ever increasing. He had to close his eyes to prevent himself from puking all over the car. It took mere seconds to arrive at their destination. He quickly got out. Bonbon began to laugh at his expense.
"Fun ride?"
"No, not in the least."
He got up, steadying his stomach and looked around. They were in what looked to be swamp. Only it was night time. The only light was from that of the giant full moon hanging high in the sky. It was so bright and gigantic, he could hardly tell the sun wasn't out.
"What is this place?"
"The Ethereal Swamp, home to the Ethereal Pond. Here. Eat this."
Bonbon reached in her pocket and pulled out a dark green herb.
"Why?"
"It's to prevent you from losing your mind. You'll see why soon. But I'd advise you hurry."
She downed another herb of the same type herself. Anon followed suit. It tasted awful, as if he were eating raw snail slime mixed with some cleaning fluid. It took everything he could not to spit it out.
"Ugh!" Anon yelled "What is that?"
"It's something called Jinsy Grass." she explained "It helps fortify and protect your mind from other worldly creatures. Now listen closely. Can you hear it?"
Anon listened closely. It was unmistakable. There were whispers coming from every direction. Some of the voices talk of mundane things like 'where is my cat' or 'did I forget my keys?' while others sounded much more sinister. One in particular being 'he has to die, it's the only way.' It was chilling.
"What is this? Ghosts?"
"Sorta. They're ethereal beings, not ghosts, like the lost souls of humans and not wraiths, lost souls that become violent. We call them Cursed Ones but nobody really knows what exactly they are. Listening to their words for too long will drive anyone insane."
"That's downright scary."
"It's fine. You have nothing to worry about. With this Jinsy Grass we can be here for a total of eight hours. Just stay by me and you've nothing to fear."
"If you say so."
"Follow me. This is also a great opportunity for you to practice your magic."
He followed her down a thin mud path until they arrived at a pitch black lake. It looked as if it were filled with tar rather than water. It smelled about as good too. Bonbon pulled out her staff.
"The fish we're trying to catch here won't respond to just any run of the mill bait. They have a taste for magic. I'm going to teach you a great exercise for manifestation."
"Sounds exciting."
"Oh just you wait."
She held her staff in front of her
"Take your wand out and do as I do."
He did as he was told and waited
"Next you need to thread your mana through the wand and release like a string. Like this."
A bright green line emerged from the top of her staff
"I'll do my best."
He pointed his wand forward and began to thread it through. All of a sudden his vision began to get fuzzy. He rubbed his eyes and turned only to see someone completely different standing beside him. It was Celestia, covered in a large scar that covered half her body at least.
"I'm telling you Clover. This is a bad idea. Look at what happened to me. This will only end in disaster."
He spoke in Clover's voice.
"I'm telling you it was just a miscalculation! A big one at that, but a miscalculation nonetheless. If we using the Ethereal Pond as an anchor, Luna will come out of this without having to pay such a heavy toll."
"If you're wrong about this, I'll never forgive you."
"Well it's a good thing I won't be wrong then, huh?"
There was a woman with clear blue hair standing at the center of the pond, somehow standing just atop it's surface.
"Go ahead Luna! Make the pact!"
"Right."
The rest was fuzzy. He could only make out a few images. A red moon, a swirl of ghosts, and a scream. He the snapped out of it.
"Anon!"
He shook his head
"What was that about?"
"I got another flashback. I saw Clover, Celestia and Luna again. Luna was going to make a pact with the moon. I don't think it went well."
"Anything else?"
Anon described the vision in detail
"Interesting." she said "I wonder what it all means?"
"Your guess is as good as mine."
"We'll talk to the Lady of Dreams about it later. In the meantime, let's continue our adventure shall we? Try again."
"Right."
Anon threaded his magic through the wand, this time forming a perfect line. It was strange. It was as if it were no effort to him at all this time around. As if he just somehow 'knew' how to do it. It had to have something to do with the vision.
"Good work. Ok. Now cast out."
The two of them drew back and sent their lines flying into the pitch black pool.
"Now you'll know when it bites beca-"
Before she even finished her sentence, Anon felt a strong, hard tug on his wand. It was painful, as if he were being drawn out by his large intestine through his belly button. He couldn't retract the line, however. Whatever was pulling him was not about to let go. Bonbon got a lot of fear on her face and quickly grabbed him tight.
"Ok I need you to listen very carefully if you don't want to die: You need to quell your fear and start absorbing mana. Has anyone taught you that?"
The pain was getting worse by the minute. It was pure agony.
"N-no."
"Now is the time to learn then. To absorb your mana thread in reverse. Thread inward instead of outward."
He bit his lip hard and did exact as ordered. The problem was that whatever had gripped his mana string was one hell of a beast. No matter how hard he struggled it didn't seem to relent.
"I," he gasped, barely being able to talk through the pain "I... I can't. It's... too strong."
"Just hang in there. I'll fix this."
Bonbon stripped her robes off till she was in nothing but underwear. He'd have enjoyed the view a lot more if it didn't feel like his insides were being pulled out through a hole the size of a drinking straw. Taking only her staff, she dived inside the pool and began to swim out to were the line was being pulled. Instantly things began to go south. From inside the pool large ghostly hands began to pull at her, as if they were trying to drag her below the surface. Not only that, but her skin was rapidly losing color. In a mere 15 seconds her skin resembled that of a corpse.
She reached the point at which his mana was being tugged and began to fire magic into the pool. He could feel whatever was in the depths yank hard every time a blast of magic connected. It remained stubborn, not giving up an inch of ground. Bonbon cursed to herself. She lit up her staff once again and shot it at the mana string, cutting it off. Anon let out a yell of pain as she did, but the worst was yet to come. Like a stretched rubber band being broken at its weakest link, his mana bounced back, ramming into his body all at once. It was a pain unlike any other pain he had ever felt. It was like that same feeling of disembowelment, only in reverse and with the speed and weight of a freight train. Anon screamed bloody murder and rolled on the ground as his entire body pulsed with agony.
It took him a good five minutes for his body to stop ringing before he noticed. Bonbon hadn't returned to the shoreline. With immense effort, he climbed to his hands and knees. His entire body felt as though it were made of glass, each movement a tremendous struggle. He looked left and right but Bonbon was nowhere to be seen. There was only one place she could be. Beneath the waves of the pitch black pool.