• Story: The Book of Friendship (Update Chapter 38!)

    [Grimdark] [Crossover] [Comedy][Shipping] How in the world do you expect me to find an image for this?

    Author: BillyColt
    Description:  What if Twilight Sparkle's letters to Princess Celestia started a religion?
    This is the story of Brother White and Brother Scroll. One of them is an upstanding young unicorn eager to do whatever he can to make other ponies happy. The other is a shy little loner who's never had a real friend before. What do these two young stallions have in common? They are both members of the Fraternity of the Joyous Friends of Princess Celestia, an organization dedicated to teaching Equestria and the world about the magic of friendship.When Scroll and White are assigned to Earthquake Island, however, they find themselves in over their heads. Can the teachings of the Book of Friendship help them save an island run by a brutal warlord, racked by war, poverty, and hatred?

    The Book of Friendship (New Chapter 38!)1  |  2  |  3  |  5  |  6  | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |

    Additional Tags: Two Ambiguously Gay Mormon Ponies

    Alternate All Links

    109 comments:

    1. "Two Ambiguously Gay Mormon Ponies"

      Oh, I am reading the shit outa this.

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    2. Those tags, they make me want to read this..

      I'm not prepared...

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    3. "gay mormon ponies"

      please no, just..no...

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    4. @Gypsy
      Amen.
      Those tags = instant turn-off.

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    5. Not sure if trolling or just obtuse.

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    6. What in Equestria is this a crossover of?

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    7. The trick to finding good comedy usually lies in the tags, as the description is too busy summarizing it. As in: Celestia, Guards, Three, More, Words. That one was great comedy. This has hope for humor.

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    8. As a Utahn I find those additional tags offensive. Please change them, Or did you forget that Utah has bronies too?

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    9. @Grez

      The popular broadway musical "Book of Mormon"

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    10. Looks at Grimdark Tag
      -meh
      Reads Descriptions
      -sounds...okay
      Reads Additional tags
      -wait...what?
      Reads additional tags an additional time
      -uhm...yeah, let's read this then...sounds like...fun?

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    11. The first two chapters are incredibly depressing...

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    12. For anypony wondering, it's a crossover with "The Book of Mormon," a Broadway play. The writing's not bad, it's a little depressing for a while though...

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    13. Very curious... The collection of Grimdark Crossover and Comedy lend it to be an odd read. Then, out of nowhere those tags.

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    14. And lo, Twilight Sparkle said "I'm gonna fuck this filly" and Princess Celestia did verily say unto she "Twilight Sparkle don't fuck that filly. Fucking fillies is bad."

      And then Twilight and Han Solo went to Tatooine to rescue Jesus and Princess Leia from Nightmare Moon and Jaba the Hutt.

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    15. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    16. um just throwing this out there just because you disagree with someone doesn't mean you should ridicule them, love and tolerance anyone?
      also supergiantrobot play nice please

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    17. Sorry; too funny a line to let go unused.

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    18. @NOFURR
      The tags didn't say anything about Utah, or residents thereof, just Mormons. Or did you mean to imply that everyone in Utah is a Mormon? Because that's pretty offensive, buddy.

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    19. Is it weird that I read the description and title and thought it was some weird half Fallout half Book of Eli story with ponies?

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    20. Hey, I'm a mormon Brony. What's wrong with you guys? Feeling the love and tolerance here...NOT!

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    21. @Grez

      Hey, I was raised Mormon, so yeah I was just helping out my Mormon bronies. I know not everyone in Utah is Mormon. Imjustsayin.jpg

      On a slightly related note, I haven't been in a Mormon church since 2007

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    22. Another Mormon here, chiming in that I'm honestly having a hard time figuring out what that Nofurr person finds offensive. Honestly, I'm not being cute here, I'm completely baffled. What's offensive about this? If the tag said "all Mormons are gay" I'd be right with them, but it says these particular ponies happen to be Mormon and gay. So fine, it's a story with ponies who are Mormon and gay. This is offensive how?

      I don't plan on reading this because "Book of Mormon Musical crossover" isn't something that interests me in particular. (Though if somebody crossed over ponies with the actual Book of Mormon curiosity would make me have to!) But getting offended about it seems to be a huge over reaction. Especially from somebody who won't claim the name Mormon and insists on telling us they're not actively part of the church, and then claims they're doing it to "help out" people they don't even know. What gives you the right to "help out" the rest of us by being offended on our behalf? If I want to get offended over religion, I'd prefer to do it on my own and not have somebody else do it for me. You have no right to speak for me, even if you were still an active member of the church.

      And "From Utah" as a cop-out to admitting to being Mormon is pretty close to being offensive too. I'm not from Utah now even though I'm Mormon, and when I did live there I certainly knew plenty of non-Mormons. If you want to say "I'm Mormon" have the balls to just say it and not use some weird, inaccurate euphemism.

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    23. My, what a colorful comments section we got here.

      I am sorry if anyone was offended by my tags. I have no intention of ever belittling anyone for their religious beliefs. I am, however, not changing the tags. I thought they were funny.

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    24. This was a lot better than I thought it would be. The interesting twist here is that the missionaries aren't faith-based. They've actually met and talked with their living goddess and have a direct comparison available between a land ruled by her and a nation of "heathens" demonstrating the superiority of their creed. Makes them a lot more sympathetic characters... so far.

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    25. @BillyColt

      They are funny. Without the tags I probably wouldn't have begun reading the story.

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    26. Ummm... The book of Mormon pony version, seems interesting

      Hey, I saw the book of Mormon and only elder Price acted slightly gay, and elder Cunningham was just a fatass

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    27. @Billycolt
      Another Mormon Brony here, and I found the tags (and the premise) to be hilarious. Good luck with this crossover. I haven't seen the play it's based on, but maybe I'll give this one a read sometime whe it has more chapters.

      @SparkSparkles:
      That idea of a Book of Mormon (scripture, not the play) crossover...it intrigues me. Somebody could probably pick out a particularly awesome story from there or the Bible and either make the people into ponies, or they could slide the cast of the show into roles that they kinda fit. Heck, if Orson Scott Card can build his Homecoming series around Nephi's story, why can't one of us do up the story of Abinadi in pony drag? (Then again, maybe that would be too grimdark...come to think about it, a lot of stuff that happens in scrpture would earn a grimdark tag.) It would be interesting to figure out how to work around there being two physical gods as opposed to one who's existence is mainly made manifest indirectly, for one thing. For that particular story, I figure you could have the Diamond Dogs stand in for the Nephite (pony) settlement's Lamanite overlords, seeing as they already have a canon example of capturing a pony and forcing her to toil for them.

      I like it when my brain starts moving someplace and I'm not quite sure where it'll end up!

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    28. I found this story very amusing, as well as something to break my own hypocrisy. I was pleasantly surprised at how I was chuckling along with the story.

      Keep going friend. I await more.

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    29. Reading this disturbs me greatly on some fundamental level. I'm not quite sure I can laugh at the death of White's and Scroll's innocence - it's like watching the Smurfs get firebombed.

      Weirdly, I am hoping they make headway in their mission. And it's something new! So... yay.

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    30. YES! It's so heart warming to see what you help with actually produces something.

      I hope my reviewing helped a lot with this story :)

      Also, gonna start reviewing chapter 4 and 5 now very soo- wtf they're already added. Yeah gonna review them soon enough.

      Good story.

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    31. Wow, a lot of the names I recongnize are fellow mormon bronies. Cool.

      Those tags are certianly interesting. I MIGHT give this a read sometime if I decide I feel like reading some fanfiction soon.

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    32. I can actually recommend reading this. Very fun to read, a good read. It's also interesting (haven't read chapter 4-5 yet, gonna review it soon).

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    33. @BillyColt

      Don't change something because a couple of guys bawl over it, consider them acceptable losses, if anything.

      I don't normally have time to read other people's fics. Barely have time to write my own normally. Might have a look at this, considering its uniquity and all.

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    34. Today's chapter was brought to you by the words "grim" and "hope", and the feeling of crushing despair at the pony condition.

      Having said that, I am eagerly awaiting more. The Generals and the divided races are intriguing, and I look forward to where you're going to take it.

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    35. I'm glad to see an update. Chapter 5 seemed a little more aimless than the previous chapters, but it's still fun to see what antics our heroes get up to.

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    36. @NotAGoodUsername360

      Born and raised! XD

      Your reaction to this fact amuses me.

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    37. @Ace2401 Huh... I, myself, am Lutheran.

      I suppose I'll reveal this now and not wait for someone to ponify Monty Python's Life of Brian and defend it from those who'll be offended by it... XD

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    38. @NotAGoodUsername360

      XD

      Just looked that up, seems amusing. People can be so uptight, lol.

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    39. @Ace2401 Indeed they can. XD

      ...BRB, need to calculate how much it would cost to commission a painting of the mane 6 being crucified while singing "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life"...

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    40. I maintain that Life of Brian is a vastly superior film to Holy Grail. For one thing, Life of Brian hasn't been quoted to death.

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    41. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    42. That's funny, Midnight seemed to think I was British at some point, too.

      I am not. I'm curious as to where that impression came from.

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    43. @BillyColt A general trend. Normally, Brits prefer Brian over Grail, since it has a lot of humour that didn't translate well overseas... particularly what the People's Front of Judea was a parody of. :/

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    44. @NotAGoodUsername360

      That's dark, yet humorous since it's obviously for trolling XD

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    45. @Ace2401 It's not humorous because it's for trolling... it's humorous because of the implied sketches that came before it... if you'd ever seen that movie, you'd know what I'm talking about...

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    46. Mormon brony here, and I gotta say I love this story. *Thumbs Up*. Quite a few Mormons on this site lol

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    47. And a ponified LDS church fic? I'm genuinely impressed with this fandom keep up the good work BillyColt

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    48. @Ace2401 No kidding, but then again a show like MLP would appeal to us lol

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    49. Thought I was the only Mormon brony in the world!
      :naive:
      I'm strongly considering writing a Book of Mormon (book)//MLP crossover now.

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    50. Link takes me to blogger.

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    51. @Ryan U:
      Please do write that crossover post-haste!

      The trick would be to find a good story that isn't grimdark. You could ponify Nephi's voyage to the Promised Land, but I can't figure out how the mane 6 would fit in there so you would need to write in OCs of a sort. Another issue is that I have no idea what an equestrian angel would look like.

      Another suggestion would be the story of Alma the Younger's conversion, but what would he be converting to?

      If you are ok with getting a grimdark-war tag, you might be able to pull off writing about Captain Moroni vs Amalickiah (sorry if I've misspelled him). I'm not sure whether Moroni should be played by Rainbow Dash, because of her high level of awesome (or she could play Teancum, spoiler although that would follow the predictable pattern of her getting dead in the end); or if his incorruptible and strong nature lends him to being played by Applejack. Actually, I think this particular premise is starting to grow on me. Maybe Amalickiah could be played by Nightmare Moon, and the King-Men could instead be her supporters? Then again, she might be a bit too obviously evil to work for the story...

      Barely related: I can't say I'm surprised that there are a fair number of Mormon Bronies who comment here a bunch. I'm not entirely sure why, but it makes sense to me that we'd be a bit disproportionally represented in the fandom. The rest of the world's bronies are awesome, too.

      Also, judging by the comments here, this fic is looking pretty good. I need to read it sometime after catching up on FO:E and On a Cross and an Arrow. Sorry to kinda hijack your comment section brainstorming.

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    52. That link! It's not to the next document!

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    53. Until that gets sorted out, chapter 6 can be found here.

      https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sY10oNXiyDKxnNtOb0UWGNcg099B8pyZeY29GYEKo-c/edit?hl=en_US

      Also, a link to fimfiction, if you don't like googledocs.

      http://www.fimfiction.com/story/630/The-Book-of-Friendship

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    54. It seems average grim dark and, wait those tags make me curious.

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    55. A sacred fic! Of pioneers and frogs!

      This is an enjoyable read, I'm looking forward to future installments.

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    56. @Jesus

      I can't believe Jesus called this grimdaaaaaaaark!

      I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. Now I'll be humming Spooky Mormon He'll Dream all night. Which is a great thing, so yay!

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    57. @Ryan U
      Do you mind if I pitch the idea for a Book of Mormon (the book, not the play) crossover at the SpaceBattles fic brainstorming thread, so I don't clog up the comment section here?

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    58. This is the second best fic I have ever read.
      I had decided not to read it due to the description, but then one lonely night, I just opened it up and started reading.
      Whoa.
      That was really well done.
      Also, love the friendSHIPPING going on between White and Scroll.

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    59. Chapter 8: Oh no. No no no. *nuclear cringe*

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    60. I was reluctant to keep reading after the first couple of chapters (seriously, the mood swing in the first chapter gave me whiplash), but I kept on going. And I gotta say, when it catches it's stride, it really gets good. Charming, funny, and a bit scary in some places. Don't get scared off by the rocky start, folks. It's more than worth it. Good job, Billycolt.

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    61. I'm really sorry, guys.

      I designated it as the end of "Part One," or the first main story arc. I feel really bad about this. In a way, it reads like a ploy to get more readers, especially in light of the fact that there's a big "story updates general" post right above.

      Please, forgive me.

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    62. I'll have to add this to the queue of fics to read.

      Also can't help but instantly think of these two videos.
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TFcBpGbE-E

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vUJps6FSTc

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    63. Does Grimdark and Comedy blend?

      Or is this just another awesome read? though I can't be quite sure with the "Two Ambiguously Gay Mormon Ponies" part, how ambiguous can this get?

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    64. OK I'm not usually one for Grimdark fics, but the other tags just begged me to read this. I simply had to see how all this can combine.

      First impressions: Wow! you really put the grim into the grimdark. There was, however, a great mesh of comedy and circumstance. About two to three chapters in, I realized there was no turning back and I proceeded to read the entire ten in one sitting.

      Overall, I liked this. I have a weakness for stories that paint the world outside of Equestria. There seems to be a lot of Mormon bronies here already represented, so I won't presume to speak for them. I do have a bunch of friends and some family that are Mormon and being as such, I take no offense either, to this. I think it's an interesting allegorical concept (which I'm assuming was the intent?) and it conveys the concept well. It also was quite successful at evoking a variety of strong emotional responses from me, on multiple occasions. That's an automatic star in my book.

      Good work on this. It was surprisingly addictive. I'm looking forward to a sequel.


      -Moonlight Ballad, Bard of Equestria

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    65. HOLY CLOP. YOU NEED TO WRITE PART TWO. I NEED TO KNOW HOW THIS ALL ENDS.

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    66. I feel so bad for this whole retarded ass, backwards, racist island. It doesn't take a genius to realize that The pegasi and unicorns likely need food seeing as they have little access to the earth ponies land, and the earth ponies need the pegasi to manage the weather, so all ponies have enough food. They could use the Unicorns magic for improved construction and tools... And yet, nopony can stop hating, fighting, and murdering to even understand they DO NEED each other.

      Way too disturbing (and that's saying a lot, considering how BAD things are on Earthquake Island), is the whole deal with Brother Sky. WHAT THE HAY is he doing!!!

      All i can say, is I hope part 2 is started and released very soon. Calling this part 1 and claiming it's complete feels like cheating. I did not plan on reading until it was completed. Now I'm dealing with a terrible cliffhanger.

      To anyone afraid of the tags...

      If you've ever had one of those annoying door to door mormons knock or right your doorbell... Well, combine that with them following the teachings of Twilight Sparkle's collected friendship reports. On an island that has so little friendship, these two ponies spouting love and friendship, always together, always trying to be friendly... must look so freaking flaming gay to the locals. The author does ham it on pretty heavy, but I don't think either one really is. One even get a freebie from the local tail... Of course, not understanding the basics of "whore" he took it pretty hard when she told him there wasn't anything "real" to their actions. Personally, I'm holding out for the hope that they eventually hook up for real! That' be such a sweet end...

      I fear for the inhabitants of this island though. Part of me wants Celestia to just blast in and show these idiots who's boss. I don't recall if this island is supposed to be some independent state, part of a larger foreign nation, or what, but what the hay is Celestia doing letting HER ponies suffer like this when she TRULY AND SURELY commands the LIFE GIVING FORCE of the SUN itself. Mare be in charge! I fear that the control of outgoing communication may be hiding just how severe the situation is... Maybe? I also wonder if the fact that a brother is now serving a hostile military force might end up stirring up some major manure for the proverbial fan.

      This story makes me WANT to keep reading, because it makes me WANT to worry bout these stupid ass ponies and the small circle of friends trying to change a bleak place for the better.

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    67. Cliffhangers... Don't we all hate them?

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwGNEE4dVqc write part 2!

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    68. I'm the prereader that originally passed this onto the site, and after finally reading the rest of them I can firmly say that with pride. God damn, give us part two! And three! And four!

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    69. Book of Friendship is back! YAY! <3

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    70. Yay! More ambiguously gay Mormon ponies! :D

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    71. When first stumbling across your story i saw it had to do with missionaries. I also have a story about missionaries "Blazing Glory" and decided to see how this was compared to mine, compare notes so to speak. While it is vastly different than mine, I have to say I've been really enjoying this. Always love to see when it updates.

      The only thing I don't get is why Celestia doesn't try and come to the aid of these ponies. There slaughtering each other, I would think she'd try and do something to stop that.

      P.S. Brother White is my favorite!

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    72. Alright an update to my favorite duo of ponies! That last Clip chapter was amazing in such a variety of ways, and I'm really looking forward to the continuation and conclusion of this story.

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    73. Having finally read Fallout: Equestria, I figured this couldn't possibly be more [Grimdark] and gave it a shot. Glad I did. It's horrible seeing ponies acting so unponylike to each other, but there's a definite hope spot here and I think I can wait for it to play out. :)

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    74. Hell yeah! Another update from two of the best OCs on the planet. W00T!!

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    75. Two more great updates! So much tension in the last one... We've not had that much suspense since the big attack!

      I have to say, BC, I love your writing and can't wait to read what comes next! :D

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    76. Yay, I'm a Mormon too. But the tags are discouraging me from reading the story.

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    77. Sometimes, a healthy dose of reality is just what the doctor ordered. Will there be more updates over winter vacation? I figure you must be close to halfway through the story about now. I would love to start seeing things come together!

      @Evina Aww, don't let that put you off. They're just being compared to Mormons because they spread their religion door-to-door. It's a great story! :)

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    78. Silent Ponyville (Remastered) is quite possibly the best FanFic i've read, and the ending brought a tear to my eye, keep it up! :D

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    79. @Evina I echo Macon Mixx, the Fraternity of the Joyous Friends of Celestia isn't really much of a Mormon analogue as far as I can see. Missionary work is the main common feature and that's not unique to the Church of Latter-Day Saints.

      I've been enjoying this story already, and now in the wake of Hearth's Warming Eve I'm looking forward to seeing if and how elements of Equestria's founding story will get worked into this one. The parallels are striking.

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    80. Promised action chapter: DELIVERED... along with gifts for Hearth's Warming Eve. :D

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    81. I'm still reading - White and Scroll get all my hugs.

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    82. How is this miserable island going to be resolved? I just GOTTA know.

      More more gimmie more.

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    83. Wait, chapter 18 was mostly optimistic? Am I in the right story? There was the... shoving, but that was almost benign. White had to know, on some level, what effect paying a visit to Quake would have - the level of either masochism or obliviousness is beyond mortal ken otherwise.

      White and Scroll were wonderful here, but I totally didn't call the reason for Buzz's vitriol. (In retrospect, maybe I should have, I've seen American Beauty.)

      Tap is gaining my respect with each chapter.

      Keep them coming!

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    84. Sir, I must applaud you for writing such an amazing book. very well done, and quite well thought out. Thank you for writing such a good book

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    85. You know, I wonder if the final chapter will involve Scroll and White pleading for the 3 groups to please get along because the Windigoes have arrived and they're about to bury the 3 towns under snow and ice...

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    86. Awesome, next part! love the series :D

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    87. Just caught up on chapters 18 and 19. Eighteen was very cute. Even the violent parts were cutesie. Both what Quake did to White and what Tap did to Buzz were pretty hilarious. Honestly, it was great. We really needed that after what happened in 17. The brothers getting drunk was... predictable, but still funny. And I liked Tap's dare there at the end! Nineteen was a good look into the psychology of all the characters. It's great to have some solid character development like that. I'm excited to see what you do with it in chapter 20.

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    88. Curse my lack of time. This story is so awesome!
      Well, back to my distracted work...
      I'm gonna be thinking of this all day now.

      /)ʘɜʘ/) FFFFFFUUUUUUUU

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    89. On my second readthrough of chapter 20, I finally realized that Brother Scroll had figured out the water machine.

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    90. So glad that the water machine is working! Don't give up, White! You guys are just starting to make progress!

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    91. Surely there are plenty of others who are still reading this. This story is great! I just wanted to say, Ch 22 doesn't need excised. I think it's pretty good. It's shorter, and not an action sequence or anything, but solid writing. And the appearance of I'm-not-spoiling-by-giving-names near the end was fantastic. I hope I don't have to wait a full month again to read what comes next!

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    92. Wow, this story was great! So far, at least. I really, really want to see what keeps happening.
      Damn, I'm dying to know how it will continue. I hope it doesn't take too long for the next chapter to come out.

      Although I was always tempted to hit the desk with my head, when Scroll and White came up with another idea how they could gain the appreciation of the islanders, I think it's a good thing that they never let down.
      Also, I think Quake, although he is 'not a nice guy' (to put it friendly) I find him a somehow believable character. (The first time I actually used that phrase. Feels strange) And it seems like he's making some progress as a character. At least in the situation with the water barrel and the pegasus, I hadn't expected him to choose the barrel.

      But Tap is by far my favorite character in this story. She's one hell of a mare. (I hope that makes actually sense to say xP) I can't get enough of her.
      Oh and Clip is just incredibly cute.

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    93. Alright, so I said that the old Ch 22 was fine. And it was. But this one is worlds better! You chose to go the relationships route with the story instead of the action route. And really, for a FiM fanfic, that's always the right way to go.

      AND, OH CELESTIA, CLIP IS THE GENERAL'S SON!

      A couple of mighty fine chapters here. Thanks for putting out such a great story! Tap better not go getting too sentimental, though. I get the feeling she's going to need to "hire" those soldiers to rebuild her house again!

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