Mae'r Adenydd Caledfwlch

~Mae'r Adenydd Caledfwlch~

Chapter One: The Summoning

Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk.

Davesprite moaned and turned over in his bed--or, well, more accurately, Twilight's guest bed. He was obviously none too happy about this mysterious, ear-grating sound reverberating through the wooden interior of the Ponyville Library. "Twi-light!" he yelled, drawing out the "light" part for as long as he could. "What in the frick-friggin' name of Hades in a haystack is that godawful noise?!" he shouted, his cursing lacking in intensity due to the language barrier and his slowly-forming headache.

"Sorry!" Twilight's voice called back, not from the bed on the other side of the room as D.S. had expected, but from the "downstairs" portion of the room. "That, ahaha, ahem, that would be me. Sorry."

Davesprite could almost smell her sheepish expression through the very fabric of space and time. It was one of her top five most common expressions. It apparently always had been. He sat up in the bed and yawned. "Eh, it's okay, I guess," he admitted, stretching his forelegs. "I suppose I can't exactly sleep forever, no matter how badly I want to. That party yesterday took the piiii... uh... well, it took a lot out of me, is basically what I'm trying to say here," he explained meaninglessly.

"I gathered that much," Twilight replied, chuckling a little. "Does the voice skipping really bother you that much?"

"It's irritating," he responded, rolling himself out of bed and catching his upper body with his two legs. "I don't even get why that one's blocked by your magical censor bleeps. You said it was to stop the more mean or demeaning ones, right?"

"I did, yes, but I suppose it's just meant to, well, reduce vulgarity?" Twilight said, seeming unsure of the reason herself. "You'd have to ask Princess Celestia herself."

"Oh, well, that sounds easy," Davesprite noted, cracking his neck and stretching his muscles a little more. "I'll just walk right up to the Goddess-slash-Queen of the whole dang horse nation and ask her why the P-Word isn't allowed. Sounds like a plan I'd make, anyway," he added, smirking to himself.

"It certainly does," Twilight said, shaking her head and continuing her rummaging.

Davesprite walked/floated down the steps and was surprised to see the place in such a chaotic state. At least he realized what all the noise was about. "Holy crap," he said, glad that the word "crap" was apparently not vulgar enough to be magi-banned, "what in the world have you done to all the poor books?"

He was of course, referring to the "poor books" scattered all across the library's floor, apparently tossed from their shelves by Twilight's magic.

"Oh, er, yeah, I was planning to get that cleaned up before you came down here, but I guess that's not happening now," Twilight commented, quickly flipping through the pages of yet another book. "I'm usually more organized than this, but I just... I have to find out what it means!"

"What?" D.S. asked, feeling a bit out of the loop. "Find out what... what means, exactly?"

"It's... it's nothing, I guess," Twilight sighed, placing the book back on its shelf. "At least, nothing I can find in here. Quite frankly, I'm just surprised that it's not in any of my books," she said, almost pouting. She shook her head and ruffled her wings, and then turned to her scattered books. She telekinetically lifted them off the floor, adjusted them to make sure there were no tears or breaks in them, and placed them neatly back in their shelves, sorting them carefully by alphabetical order.

"Dang," came Davesprite's exclamation of approval. He tapped his hoofed forelegs on the ground a few times in mock-applause before trotting over to the violet alicorn. "That was pretty cool."

Twilight's face flushed ever so slightly and she shook her head. "No, no, it was just a simple levitation spell. Nothing 'cool' about it," she explained, scuffing her hoof on the floor.

"Oh, shut up and take the compliment," Davesprite replied, rolling his eyes and smirking ever so smugly. "You can't take praise very well, y'know, considering you're a big-shot Princess."

Twilight laughed. "So I've been told. And, well, thank you, Dave."

He still wasn't used to hearing that. Before he was able to even think about correcting her, however, the two suddenly heard the sound of the library's front door slamming open. They glanced at each other, both wearing the same confused expression. Twilight shrugged and decided to go check it out, Davesprite following close behind.

"Spike?" Twilight asked, seeing the small dragon panting heavily just inside the door. He appeared to have some kind of scroll wrapped tightly in one of his little claws. "What are you doing back so soon? I thought you were going over to the Carousel Boutique, to see Rarity?"

Davesprite merely snickered and winked at the blushing, heavily breathing baby dragon.

"I... I was, but... then, this came!" he explained, holding up the scroll and waving it around. "It's from... the Princess! Er, well, Princess Celestia, I mean... but you... probably already knew that."

"Another one?" Twilight asked, levitating the scroll to herself. "She just sent that other letter this morning. The one about the...," she trailed off, unable to focus on reading the letter and explaining herself at the same time. After a few minutes of quiet reading, she lowered the scroll, fire in her eyes, and an unusually grim look on her face.

"Twilight?" Davesprite and Spike inquired, in almost perfect unison.

"Spike, go gather up the girls. Princess Celestia wishes to meet with the seven of us at once," Twilight replied simply.

"Seven?" Spike questioned. "Why do I have to go?"

"Not you, Spike," she explained, turning to Davesprite. "She wants to see you, Dave."

Davesprite blinked, then began to chuckle, which gradually turned into full-blown hysteric laugh. He moved his shades aside and wiped tears from his eyes, sighing contentedly. "Well... guess I get to ask her about the P-Word after all, don't I?"

----

"So, uhm, not that I don't love a free trip to Canterlot from time-to-time, but why exactly did Princess Celestia summon the seven of us here?" Rarity wondered aloud as the six mares and the pegastallicrowst slowly approached the large, regal doors of the Canterlot Castle.

"She didn't exactly explain," Twilight said, keeping her eyes forward and her posture stiff, tall, and befitting one of her title. "She only told me she wanted to see all of us, and she went out of her way to tell me to make sure that I brought Dave along with us."

"The heck? Well, I did think it was kinda weird that you brought him along with you, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, flying above the group. "I just figured you two were a thing now," she concluded, shrugging.

Davesprite laughed from the rear of the group. "Man, we would make quite the pair, wouldn't we? The Princess and the... Whatever I Am. Could make a neat Disney movie, I suppose," he said, closing his eyes and smiling. "But I'm pretty sure Egghead McNerdlight's got somebody else in mind. Don't you, Twilight?"

The other five mares almost snapped their necks looking back at Twilight, various eyebrows raised here and there.

"I... I do not!" she denied as the blush making its way onto her entire muzzle began seeping into her vocal chords, causing her to stutter uncontrollably. "H-He's just making fun of me!"

"Sure I am," Davesprite whispered, still smiling towards the sky. Suddenly, the sun seemed to go out. He opened his eyes and discovered that the seven of them had finally entered the glorious castle. It had seemed to take forever. He took the time to admire his surroundings, as castles weren't exactly commonplace for him. The halls were gloriously decorated, and many ponies of many sizes and races stood manned in the halls, clad in either silver or gold armor, most like corresponding to Princesses Luna and Celestia, respectively. Most, if not all of them, were stallions. Apparently, this is where the entire male Equestrian population's been hiding, he thought to himself.

"Oh boy, we're almost there!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in her usual, bubbly tone. "The hall with all the stained glass pictures where we always get our super cool mission briefings!"

Davesprite quirked an eyebrow and quickly lifted his hooves and propelled himself forward to walk side-by-side with Applejack. "What's she talking about?" he asked the somewhat startled farm pony.

"Oh! Well, t'be honest, it's kinda embarrassin'. Y'see, there's this hall comin' up with a buncha stained-glass windows that show off some o' the stuff we've all gone and done for the sake of Equestria. 's not exactly a quiet place t' live," she explained, fiddling with her Stetson in the process.

"Huh," Davesprite said, turning his eyes forward. "That's... pretty impressive," he said, frowning a little. I never got a stained-glass window for anything I did... he thought. He knew it was a childish thought, but he was still a little jealous.

"Welcome, My Little Ponies," came the regal, yet gentle, almost silky voice of Equestria's ruler herself, Princess Celestia. "I'm glad you were able to respond so quickly to my abrupt summons," she continued, almost apologetically. "But I needed to see you. All of you. Especially a certain somepony in this little ensemble," she added, gesturing to Davesprite and giving him a warm, welcoming smile.

"... well, that explains why Twilight's so fond of you," he said quietly, staring at the regal figure before him. He nodded and bowed his head as a sign of respect. He figured if he should show respect to anyone, it should be the monarch of an entire country. "Nice to make your acquaintance, Your Highness."

She laughed softly, as if her voice were a gentle breeze on a summer day. "Come now, Mr. Strider. You know as well as I do that flattery most certainly does not suit you," she stated, her smile as warm as ever.

Davesprite froze in place. He looked up at the Princess and raised his shades so that they rested upon his head. He stared into her soft, magenta eyes with his bright, almost blindingly yellow ones. His expression hardened and his eyebrows lowered. "Why do you know that name?" he asked.

"It's my duty to know all about my kingdom and its subjects," Celestia explained, her eyes losing a bit of their twinkle as she noticed the orange pegasus' hostility. "Including those who come from far, far away."

"Cut the crap," he shot back at her, shocking the other six in his group. "I know all about being pointlessly cryptic, and I also know it's f---ing stupid. Just give me a straight answer. How do you know that name?" he asked again, frustration written all over his face.

She sighed. "Because I know you, Dave Strider. I know all about you."

"Then you also obviously f---ing know that's not who I am," he spit, the words flying from his mouth like a snake's venom.

She eyed him sadly, the smile from before, now devoid of warmth, lingering on her face. "I know that's what you think," she replied.

He scowled and turned his back to the Princess. "You don't know anything. How about you just... just tell Twilight and the others what you need them to know. I'll be somewhere else, doing whatever the f--- I feel like doing," he mumbled darkly, walking briskly towards the door that led to the previous hallway. He moved his shades from the top of his head down to his eyes quietly.

No one could see him cry.

No one.

----

Davesprite laid quietly on a bench, somewhere in the middle of the Palace Garden. He tapped his shades a few times, trying for the thirty-fourth time to access the Internet. Apparently Equestria didn't come with unlimited, magic Wi-Fi. He knew this already, but he wanted to make it seem like he was busy with something.

"Now doesn't that look like a swell time," a deep voice remarked casually from somewhere in front of Dave. He shut his iShades down and found himself face-to-face with some sort of being that looked like the product of a first grader having a little bit too much fun with the teacher's new crayons.

"What do you want?" Davesprite asked bitterly. He didn't exactly want to talk to anyone at the moment.

"Oh, nothing!" the creature said, snapping his fingers and summoning a large cotton candy cloud to recline on. "I just wanted to know if it was you who those six little rascals are out hunting for," he said, pulling a bush out of the ground and biting the roots clean off.

"Probably," Davesprite said flatly, not exactly in the mood any of the being's nonsensical antics.

"Well, aren't you chatty," the creature remarked sarcastically, shaking a few pigs out of the bush he had been eating before tossing it behind him, where it suddenly sprouted a pair of wings and ascended into the sky. "You're almost as boring as the Guards. And they don't even do anything!"

"Don't really care."

"Ugh!" the creature exclaimed, tossing his mismatched arms up in defeat. "I give up, I'm not going to sit here and waste my time with you. I'll just tell Fluttershy I couldn't find you, or something," he muttered, disappearing along with his cloud chair in a flash of white light.

Davesprite grunted something unintelligible and sighed. He laid his head down on the cold bench and gazed out at the plants and statues and whatever else he could see dotted across the landscape.

That was a bit cold, don't you think?

Not you again, he thought, scrunching his face together and frowning. I thought you were gone, already.

Guess you were wrong. So, why all the harshness? He was only trying to help, and apparently at the request of the cute, yellow one.

I don't want his "help," Davesprite thought forcefully at the voice. I don't want anyone's help. I'm not some friggin' five-year old who needs to be tucked in and told a story or some other stupid nonsense.

Yet here I am. You've gone right back to needing me here with you to keep you in check.

I don't need you. You just show up whenever the heck you want, Davesprite pointed out, confident he'd won this totally sane argument happening inside his head.

I show up whenever the heck *you** want, genius. I thought I'd already explained all this to you.*

"Dave!" a familiar voice called. "Dave, where are you?!"

Well, that sounds like my cue to head on out. Get it? Head? Because you're a lunatic and this is all inside your head? It's actually hilarious. And maybe almost ironic. We both know how you love your irony.

Shut the hell up.

"I'm over here, Twilight," Davesprite called, rolling off the bench and walking slowly in the direction the voice had come from. He turned the corner and opened his mouth to say something...

And took a blow from a speeding, purple bullet right to the side of his face.

Davesprite blinked, the world having suddenly become brighter. He moved his stiff neck slightly to see his iShades on the ground, a good two or three feet away. He almost mechanically walked over to them and picked them up. He brushed away any dust that may have accumulated on the lenses, placed them back over his golden eyes, and slowly turned around.

"S'up, Twilight?"

"Don't you *'s'up'** me, you... you... you insensitive jerk!"* the alicorn screamed, tears of rage welling up in her eyes. "What in the world was all of that about!? What in the hoof came over you!? *How could you do such a thing?!*"

Davesprite's expression remained calm. His mouth and lower jaw did, anyway. He was suddenly more relieved than ever before that his eyes were unreadable behind his glasses. "I...," he began slowly. "... I have no idea what you're talking about."

Twilight's eyes grew wider and she opened her mouth to speak. Then closed it. Then opened it again. After a few more moments of this, she decided not to say anything, after all. She closed her eyes, letting the tears continue to flow, and shook her head. She turned and walked away from Davesprite, leaving him to his thoughts once again.

Well, that was certainly something.

Shut. The. *Hell.** Up.*

What? I was only trying to--

"SHUT UP, ROSE!" Davesprite snapped, unable to contain himself any longer. "JUST... just... shut up," he repeated softly. "Please."

There was no reply.

Not this time.