"C'mon, Arbor! Hurry up!"
A sigh echoed around the main quad of Canterlot University. It was late at night and the space was bathed in shadows, bar the cones of light released by the few lamps placed around the large area. At this time of night most students were either in bed or studying, but the two figures slinking around were doing neither. Well, one of them certainly wished he was sleeping, but tonight, well, tonight was special. Tonight was the night he and his friends would get their revenge.
Arbor Leaf came to a stop behind his friend, Lightning Flash, who was currently peeking his head around a corner. Arbor's green skin was slick with sweat borne from anxiety, and he ran a hand through his sand colored hair. They shouldn't be doing this, he knew they were going to get caught, but Flash said they would be fine and Flash never led him astray. Arbor couldn't stop himself from glancing down at the bag in his hands, a simple burlap sack that hid some rather interesting items inside. Items they would need for the ritual.
"Hey, stop daydreaming! Or is it just dreaming since it's like 1:00? Who cares, either way the coast is clear!" Lightning Flash whisper-yelled at his friend, grabbing him by the arm. Arbor jerked out of the hold and leveled a glare at his yellow skinned co-conspirator.
"Don't grab me like that! Let's just get going and finish this." Arbor walked by Flash, heading around the corner as his friend rolled his eyes. Arbor was always so dramatic.
The two students snuck around the campus, peering around corners and hugging walls until they made it to their destination: the West Side Dorm. A 4-story structure and one of the older buildings on campus, the dorm was home to about 200 of the campus' students, including the two currently approaching it. With a swipe of his ID card, Flash unlocked the front door and opened it with a flourish, sarcastically gesturing his partner to go first. Arbor proceeded to flip him off.
The two young men quickly made their way to the stairwell, and as they stepped up to the second floor a confused expression erupted on Arbor's face.
"Why the hell were we sneaking around? We go here!"
"Uhh, well," Flash began, a similar expression coming across his face as they passed into the second floor hallway, "I guess...well it's late so...…"
"Yeah, but we also saw a few other people out. They would've just assumed we were out partying or something. And even this," Arbor held up the burlap sack, "could be explained away easily. We're in college, no one cares."
"......okay, good point," Flash responded as he opened the door to his dorm. "But nothing we can do about it now. So, let's get on with it. You guys ready?"
Two other people in long, black, hooded robes looked up as entered. On the floor below them, situated between the room's two beds, was a large circle surrounded by various mystical symbols all drawn in chalk. The robed figures flipped their hoods down as the door closed behind Arbor and Flash, revealing a red skinned man with bright yellow hair and a pale white woman with pink hair.
"Flare, Pastel, is it done?" Flash asked, gesturing to the circle on the floor.
The white skinned woman nodded. "Flare and I finished it a few minutes ago. Its got all the summoning symbols from Wizards and Warlocks. All we need is the catalyst."
"Right here." Flash took the bag from Arbor and reached in, drawing from the bag a scrap of something leathery, similar to the material of a bat's wing, red on one side and black on the other. "And plenty more where that came from."
"Incredible," Flare breathed in awe as he took the scrap from his roommate's hand. "Where did you find it?"
"Well, after that incident at Canterlot High a few months ago where that girl supposedly became a demon there was apparently some stuff left. Scraps of her wings and the like. Turns out they threw it all in a storage closet to keep it out of sight, out of mind," Flash explained, dumping the contents of the bag into the circle. It mainly consisted of a few more scraps of wing and a few strands of yellow-red hair.
"Unbelievable, I thought it was just some prank," Flare mumbled, "how'd you find out about the storage closet anyway?"
"This kid I hang out with sometimes, Flash Sentry. He saw them loading it in there when he went to the bathroom during the dance that night." Flash slipped into a black robe that had been lying on the bed as Arbor did the same.
"Damn, I thought all this magic stuff was bull but this, this looks pretty real," Flare said as he placed the scrap he held into the circle. He joined hands with his friends as they took positions around the mystical symbol.
"Hey man, so did I until Pastel, Arbor, and I went to that Battle of the Bands thing a few weeks ago. You know, the one you didn't want to attend because you had been day drinking? We may have been mind controlled by those 'Dazzling' girls, but we were still conscious, and we saw those girls battling it out with magic. And if they can use it to defeat their enemies then why can't we?" Flash took a deep breath before speaking again. "O in the name of the great magic of old, by the power in these objects we call out into the universe in search of something to solve us of our woes. All those who persecute us, who insult us, who demean us, we wish for them to be put into their place and to do so we call out for help. Please, hear our call!"
The four young adults sat in silence for a moment before they all jumped at the sound of a knock on the wall.
"Shut up ya dorks!" Someone yelled from an adjacent room.
"Damn," Flash whispered, "Pastel are you sure those are the right words?"
"Y-yeah, those are the words they used in Wizards and Warlocks issue #5 when they summoned High Lord Cragna-"
Pastel was cut off as black tendrils erupted from the circle. The four students were blown back as energy seemed to pour from the symbol, and as they stared in awe, horror, and some degree of delight, an open mouthed skull formed in the air before biting down, causing an explosion that sent dust around the room. The four coughed as they waved their hands around in an attempt to get the obscuring dust away from their faces, and as the dust began to settle they were disappointed with what they saw.
A tall man with pale, though not nearly as much as Pastel's, white skin and bright yellow hair stood in the center of the room. He was clad in a light purple suit over a white and green pinstripe shirt, with a black tie that had cat-like skulls imprinted on it and a crisscross pattern. His bright blue eyes looked upon the occupants of the room with disinterest.
"My name is Yoshikage Kira....."
Author's Note
This is going to be fun. Feel free to comment with any questions or concerns.
