A New Dragon in Ponyville - Summary · 6:42am Oct 8th, 2016
A short, sarcastic summary of ANDiP for those who want to jump right into my new story, A New Dragon in the Crystal Empire.
Did you know that Spike has a dragon family? That’s okay, he didn’t either until a dragon claiming to be his brother showed up in Ponyville. Turns out this new dragon, Cliff Runner, has been looking for Spike for years. He also thought ponies were pure evil, so it never occurred to him to just ask one. In his defense, ponies did steal Spike’s egg.
Stuff got cleared up pretty quickly, and a small group of dragons moved into a house on the edge of Ponyville. Yes they fit. These are wyrms, a wingless species of dragon about the size of a pony, and they’re nothing like those giant winged barbarians called drakes, thank you very much.
Wyrms have to avoid the emotion of greed at all costs. Why? Well, it kind of turns them into giant, rampaging berserkers. No, no, it’s totally safe to have a couple of them for neighbors. Just, uh, run if they ever start to grow unexpectedly. Keep an eye on their hatchlings too. Children have a lot less emotional control than adults.
Yes, Cliff has been forced to fight and kill dragon hatchlings in his life. No, he doesn’t want to talk about it.
At least wyrms can use magic. They specialize in healing and protection spells, which kind of gives them a skewed idea of what qualifies as a “friendly” sparring match. I mean, what fun is it unless you at least draw blood, right?
In spite of this, the new dragons started to make friends around Ponyville. Cliff spent most of his time trying to figure Fluttershy out. Their first meeting didn’t exactly go smoothly—he threatened to eat Angel, and she Stared him halfway to a panic attack—and she’d been leaving him gifts of fish ever since. He guessed that it was some kind of a pony thing and started giving her gifts in return. One thing led to another, and the socially inept dragon started dating the introverted pegasus.
Spike wound up asking to get himself magically aged into an adult. The other dragons had no complaints, childhood is dangerous for a wyrm, and it gave Spike the added benefit of being in the socially acceptable age range to date Rarity. No, that didn’t affect his choice, why do you ask?
Unfortunately, Rarity didn’t go and leap into his arms like he’d been hoping. So what’s the next logical move? Find a crystal pony, because they all love him, and ask her to pose as his marefriend for a while to get Rarity jealous. It went as badly as you can imagine, leading to many a groan and a facepalm from Cliff.
Eventually Spike fell for the crystal mare, named Autumn Gem, and their fake dating turned into a real courtship. Autumn sure wasn’t going to complain. She also wasn’t going to talk much about her past.
A wyrm hatchling named River joined the Cutie Mark Crusaders and earned her true name, which is what wyrms have instead of cutie marks. Now known as Written Whisper, she did her best to fit in with the foals around town.
Not all of Ponyville was thrilled to have wyrms living among them, though. One sneeze could burn down your house, there’s always the risk that one could go berserk on you, and isn’t it a bit concerning that they beat each other bloody for fun?
Newspapers didn’t help, spreading rumors, lies, and slander about the new residents of Ponyville. Hey, it turned three fillies writing under a pen name into a nationwide phenomenon, so why not?
Fluttershy’s mother—not the one you know, her mom’s an army sergeant with a glare that would make most drill instructors quiver in their horseshoes—had some strong opinions about her daughter dating a wyrm. Her father, on the other hoof, approved of the couple and slipped Cliff a pendant to give to Fluttershy. Turns out it was the pegasus equivalent of an engagement ring. Not the way either of them imagined a proposal going.
The situation in town boiled over once it was revealed that wyrms can actually reduce their lifespan to increase someone else’s. Cliff and Spike got a group of wyrms together and had them boost all six Element Bearers up to seven-hundred-year lifespans. Understandably, lots of other ponies wanted to know if they could get a few extra years for themselves or their elderly family members.
Spike, fearing that his family would be dead soon if they said yes to everypony, ordered them to refuse all requests. The ponies weren’t very happy about this. Can you blame them?
Some more crap happened, and Spike realized that what they really needed was a new town, a place that ponies and dragons would only go to if they were willing to put up with the difficulties of living with each other. Thus the community of Everfree Village was founded in the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters.
Around this time, Spike finally earned a true name of his own, Spirit Shield.
Getting ponies to come was easy enough, they literally put an ad in the newspapers. However, wyrms live in small communities scattered across large distances. If only they had a dragon that was used to traveling and a pony that could handle herself in any natural environment … Oh wait. Cliff and Fluttershy, you’re up.
So those two spent half a year or so rounding up wyrms to live in Everfree Village. They got married shortly after returning and tried not to think about what kind of crap the author would throw at them in the sequel.
The End
I didn't even know you still wrote. I thought you wrote an amazing story that really should've been more popular and then stopped existing.
4245858 Thank you, that's really flattering! I've mostly been working on this new story since I fell off the face of the planet. Hopefully it will be a success. If nothing else, I'm looking forward to the constructive criticism.
i'm sure I speak for many when I say " looking forward to it"
4246151 I just submitted it, so hopefully you'll be able to read it soon.
4246169
I can't wait for the sequel. I wonder what is going to happen. Hopefully Spike gets married at the end of it.
Yay a new story.
I been wondering what happened to you. It's been a long time since you blogged anything. And now your back with a new story too. I'm looking forward to it. 
4246903 Thanks, and it's good to be posting again. I just wish they'd approve the story already. I submitted it nearly 8 hours ago.
The only words that
describe how i'm feeling
4247666 LOL, well, this all assumes that they actually approve the story sometime this year. I literally submitted it more than 14 hours ago. I guess they're really busy right now ...
4247673 well i'm clean oit my library so I got stuff to do while I wait
4247692 Any good stories in there that you'd recommend?
4247727 lez see here
It Takes a Village
by determamfidd
The Bridge
by tarbtano
And
WoundSalt
By One Uppington
4248436 Thanks! I'll look them up.