Join Starlight and Trixie as they read through The Book Of Friendship; a legendary long lost book filled with secrets that will change the world! Now, if only Starlight could find the time to research it all...
(*Winner of 2017 NaPoWriMo! This is the most insane thing I have ever written, and makes very little sense as a normally structured story. However, it was very fun to write and just as much to read! Also, it's not quite finished, but I will of course try to update it frequently. Enjoy!)
(Cover art by the ridiculously awesome https://jowybean.deviantart.com.)
Chapters (60)
Already one dislike? Yes! That's a new record!.....I shouldn't have done this. LOL.
Wow, there are no comments on this...
8596348
I only just posted it, my friend! What is your opinion on the story, if you don't mind me asking? (I'm not gonna lie, I expect it to do terribly.)
This reads a bit too much like a script or lorebook; I feel it's doing a lot more "telling" than "showing", and it's in a rather odd tense which I'm not sure works here, i.e. present tense vs past tense.
Props for smashing it out in WriMo, and I sense a kindred love of world-building at the core of this, but it's going to need a bit of work to shine. Particularly the early chapters, because that's where people form their thoughts on the fic -- even if it gets better later on, nobody will know if readers write it off and stop within the first few chapters.
8596445
I understand completely. To be honest, this is one story I didn't make to shine. This was the story that won me my first NaPoWriMo win. I felt she deserved to be published, mistakes and all. Although I do appreciate such a respected observation and advice! I will see about making some changes when I have time. I AM still working on it after all. It's not a story in a normal sense, if at all. It's meant to tell things from perspectives with a little improvisation thrown in. It tells you things, rather then shows it. At least for the first few chapters. A little adventure you observe through Starlight and Trixie's interactions.
I apologize that its so crazy. I'll work on it though!
Thank you again!
But, don't you need to finish the story before November is over before you submit it?
8596562
Technically, it was finished, but I added a few things in. It's just stuff that I added in after the story had won. A few new parts of chapters that need to be finished, as well as a few other dialogue tweaks. I'm working on it, and probably going to expand it more as I write.
Thank you for commenting, Nova! And thank you for being a follower with me for so long. I really appreciate it!
Oh boy...the more I read of this, the less I feel that it was a good idea to publish it. NaPoWriMo winner or not, you guys deserve to read something better then the insane writings of a madman with too much time on his hands. I won't be able to fix all of the problems with this thing, at least not while I am working on my Hearths Warming Story!
I think I will just unpublish it for now. Save the world from it's madness.
This is a very good book, but I'm worried about this chapter.
Isn't one of the rules of Fimfiction that you can't have it be laid out like a script, as it is here?
Now this is interesting! My personal favorite is the Science Kingdom. If G (character of mine, he's in one of my stories) was in this universe, he'd definitely come from there.
B.
A.
A.
A.
B.
8598123
As for the script-like structure, I agree. I was actually writing it like that so I could better structure the dialogue once I got to editing it. Unfortunately with the madness of NaPoWriMo, I never had the time!
Really? Thank you! I really appreciate that.
Thank you so much for giving The Book of Friendship a chance! Please let me know if you have anything else you'd like to tell me about or have any questions. Thanks again!
8598127
Designing the kingdoms that united to form The Alicorn Empire was a challenge, but it was also a lot of fun! My personal favorites are The Juice Kingdom (that's Surprise's hometown by the way) The Chocolate Kingdom and The Shadow Kingdom (A very mysterious kingdom with its own unique pony race and strange magic, unlike anything else that exists on Concordia. I'll be explaining more about it soon, in it's own chapter.)
The Science Kingdom is actually the most technologically advanced society in the world, but they despise magic and completely disregard it in favor of science. And some of them are a little too smart, enough to give even Twilight a run for her money.
8598131
You have scored a 3 out of 6. However, there is still the final question to answer....
Popularity is amazing I wish she was real
I mean seriously, her outlook on life is great.
Oh, so that's where Lunaria came from!
So that's what Weeping Angels do!
Fallout reference?
8598408
Popularity actually grew up surrounded by ponies who thought appearance and status was everything. But she was always different. I wanted to make her truly feel like the first Element of Generosity, and what she could teach those who read The Book of Friendship.
I'm glad you like her!
8598410
Eclipsa is very...."unique", in her ways of democracy. At least this time, the city was still in one piece...
8598434
Although back in the days of the empire, there were far more dangerous creatures roaming the lands outside of where Equestria is now. Deathclaws were actually one of them. They kept mostly to themselves and very few ponies ever went into their territory.
Yep.
Although with Eclipsa's armies watching the border, they rarely became a problem.
Funny. Considering their interactions, I'd think Trixie would be the one hesitant about calling in Discord (And Starlight would be more open to it).
8610511
Very true. However, Starlight is unsure about bringing Discord in on their research, given his, well....chaotic nature. Trixie is less so, feeling it would make more sense for them to ask him, not really taking into consequence of what he'll do, but more concerned with actually finding out about The Song Of Equestria. But if you have any suggestions, please let me know how I can tweak it a bit. Thank you for reading it, and for the feedback!
Have a great day, my friend!
8610823
Do you mean suggestions for that chapter, or the story in general?
8610942
This chapter. But you're free to make whatever suggestions you'd like! I am writing some new chapters after all. Let me know what you would like to hear about!
8611212
Well, aside from altering things so Starlight is a little more accepting of Discord (and Trixie is the one most annoyed by him), I can't think of any other way the chapter can be altered. I'll have to think about future chapters.
8611854
I see. Would you mind if I ask why Starlight would be more accepting of Discord while Trixie would not? Not that I don't see why, its just I would like to hear your opinion.
8612381
Well, "Celestial Advice" showed that Starlight finds Discord's antics amusing, while Trixie just finds him annoying.
8612587
Thank you for the feedback!
Fair point. I'll re watch the episode for reference. I may have switched things around for the purpose of the story.
8612718
No problem. Happy to help.
Eclipsa Day sounds dangerous.
Was it illegal to just blink in general, or could you use the tactic of closing one eye and then the other?
8628315
They were allowed to use that tactic, yes. But they were only allowed to blink when Eclipsa could no longer keep her eyes open. Unfortunately, Eclipsa has never lost a staring contest with her sister. She once went 3 weeks without blinking.
Luckily, she would almost certainly have changed this law, do to all the ponies that would be jailed soon after.
I'll be covering Eclipsa Day in the next chapter after tomorrow.
Expect a full summary of the madness yet cheerfulness of this "wonderful" holiday.
What better way of writing about Eclipsa Day then on Eclipsa Day!
8634468
Productive feedback, friend! Thank you. Would you mind telling me what you think can be improved about it? Oh, and thank you for adding it to your favorites, but I don't want you to feel like you have to. The Book Of Friendship is an experiment, and therefore, it is NOT for everyone. I am always trying to improve it though, so let me know what you feel is bad about it when you have the time!
Thanks!
Ha!
I'm really curious to see what happens this Eclipsa Day.
8635135
Fair enough. Alright, lets go over a few things.
1.) The foreword is meant as an introduction to The Book Of Friendship, not Starlight and Trixie's journey through reading it. Apologies if it didn't make sense. I'll see if I can tweak it.
2.) The book not being in the system is a minute detail at most, that I felt needed no real explanation. I would rather get straight to the meat of the story then spend a few minutes writing Starlight arguing with a librarian. But that's just me as the writer.
3.) Homeworld is what both Omni and Eclipsa refer to regarding their homeplanet. Yes, they're aliens. I'm NOT changing that.
4.) I couldn't be payed enough to even slightly dislike Starry, let alone hate her. I love her and Trixie to death, and that is most certainly not changing. EVER.
Finally, I understand if you don't like it. Hell, hate it if you want. But I didn't write this to be perfect or even good. It's an experiment. It was written during a period of time where I had only 1 month to write over 50,000 words. So that's what I did. I could've not even bothered to tell a story, or create characters or anything. But I did. I worked for a whole month on this, and as I've said am still working on it. And still having fun with it. I edit and make little improvements every day. I knew what I was doing when I hit that submit button, but I didn't care. I wanted others to read it. To see what I spent a whole month writing nonstop on. To see what won me NaPoWriMo 2017.
It's perfectly clear how you feel about it, so I'm asking you to please not give it a dislike. You can if you want, but it's clear from your general opinion how you feel about it. All I ask is you give it time, maybe read other chapters, or whatever you want to do. Or just ignore it completely. I've had this up for quite a while now, and have yet to receive as negative a feedback as you stated. But, we all have our own opinions, and as I've said this is NOT for everyone. I still need to work on it. A LOT.
Thank you for the feedback, and I hope you stick around to see more.
Ohhhhh my God yes. All the yes.
Also
Sounds like an evil 12th Doctor.
Oh, my god, yes.
Yes.
Symphony sounds like me. Can listen to impossibly loud music for ages and be completely fine. She'd probably like to meet Fireheart. Sound magic meets sound magic!
And she's a fourth wall breaker, too. Excellent!
Okay, that was cute.
8638212
Like, good cute? Like a puppy sleeping in a slipper that's too small for him? Or like sarcastic cute? Like a sarcastic puppy sleeping in a sarcastic slipper that's too small for him?
8638222
Good cute.
Just curious, but how many chapters is this planned to be?
Because I have it in my read later list, but I'd rather not start reading it if it's almost finished.
9085061
My original scope was around 100 chapters. I plan on adding more to it come the next NaPoWriMo!
If you are planning on reading it, I will warn you: It's pure randomness given readable form. It's not for everyone, and it's perfectly fine if you like or hate it. Just glad to know people are still interested in even reading it after all this time.
9085528
All right then
If that was her holding back, I'm curious as to what it would have been like if she truly let loose.
By the time you read this comment, I'll have read at least up to chapter 16, so my opinion might change, but so far, it's actually a pretty entertaining read.
When you said it was "pure randomness given form", I thought you meant the whole story was just one REALLY long crackfic, which it's not, at least not in any kind of exhausting way.