Family Reunion: The Smarty Pants Finale

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Part 1:


Part 2:


And here we are at the end of Twilight and Smarty Pants' journey...and at 25 panels in total, what a way to end it!  Smarty has been revived and now gets a new start on a new life with her childhood friend and mother figure...and now she has a whole new family and a couple of new friends to share some good times with!  It's a bit surreal to see something I've been working on for so long finally come to a conclusion, and even better to see this whole series end on a note that started out with tears of sadness and ended with tears of joy.  What a trip this has been, and thanks to everyone who enjoyed this little mini-series!

I've made a point of having each of these end on a profound and thought provoking description to top them off.  There was a lot of life experience and meaning I tried to include in the last two, to the point that I really can't think of much to add to the discussion of valuing friends and family that I haven't already talked about.  But there is one thing I'd like to end it on, and that's how it felt create and ultimately finish this whole thing.

I've often read a lot of comics and ongoing projects here on DeviantArt, as well as numerous comics throughout the Internet.  One thing I've always wondered was how people even work up the patience and motivation to work through demanding and time-intensive projects like webcomics.  For most of this comic I wasn't sure what motivated me to push through it at times...and I'll admit there were times I wanted to throw my hands up and quit altogether.  This was, after all, a conclusion that was never meant to be drawn.  I meant for the whole series to conclude after the first comic, with everyone hopefully gaining a new appreciation for their childhood and the friends they played with...and judging from the reactions I got, its purpose was definitely achieved in that respect, and so the series could have ended right there.

But then something happened.  I got a ton of comments begging for a happy ending and expressing sorrow for little old Smarty Pants.  The more I read them, the more emotionally attached I got to Smarty Pants.  Suddenly I wanted her to have a happy ending, and couldn't just leave it at the tragic fate that befell her at the end of the first comic.  I wondered how I could possibly end it on a happy note and mentally juggled Smarty's happiness with the sheer effort it would take two put out two more EXTREMELY time intensive comics just like the first one...including this finale, by far the longest of all three.

In the end, I decided I would give it a go.  I wanted to challenge myself to give Smarty an uplifting and happy ending that she deserved, because I grew attached to her so much as a character.  I felt I had created something...someONE truly special, and wanted the best for her, even if it meant sacrificing a lot of time and effort, and pushing aside a ton of ideas I've really been wanting to get done to do so.  As I'm sure everyone who has patiently stuck with me throughout this comic realized, this turned out to be a very long project in the making, and by far the most ambitious thing I've completed so far.  I've ended a former tragedy on an uplifting note, and I'm sure many will appreciate that Smarty Pants got the happy ending she was looking forward to.

It's a rather bittersweet feeling, knowing I won't be drawing any more of this series, and that something I've been artistically inspired to do for so long has finally been brought to an uplifting conclusion. I guess it's common for artists to feel this way, experiencing a sense of creative emptiness or perhaps exhaustion after completing a huge ambitious project, and then asking themselves, "What's next?"  I feel as though a miles-high mountain I've been struggling to climb for months has finally been conquered, yet now I wonder what other mountains there are for me to climb.

There are a couple ideas I've been juggling in my head for a while.  So far the biggest one is a webcomic about the adventures of Princess Berry Punch, this Princess of the Almighty Bottle from way back when:



But that's a story for another update.

In the meantime, I would like to say my final thanks now that this series has concluded:

Thank you to Twilight, for coming around and reuniting with your childhood friend, and giving her a new start on a new life.

Thank you to Spike and the Elements of Harmony, for growing up with Twilight and providing her the circle of friends and support network to see her through all times good and bad.

Thank you to Twilight's rockstar husband Flash Sentry and their daughter Starwish, for reminding Twilight of the importance of being there for your family and spending quality time together.

Thank you to Smarty Pants, for inspiring me to embrace the challenge of writing and drawing a comic as ambitious as this, providing me the opportunity to learn and grow as an artist in ways I never thought possible.

Thank you to Goody Two Shoes and Baby Know It All, you adorably wacky little Study Buddies you.

And finally, my biggest thank you to every one of you who commented, faved, and shared this little labor of love of mine, and provided me with the support that powered me through to the end.  I don't think I could have finished something this lengthy and ambitious if it wasn't for all your words of encouragement and appreciation.  You are what made this comic happen, you are the people who inspire me to contribute works like this, and I am deeply grateful for all the great support you've shown me throughout this project, and indeed, ever since that shaky day several years ago when I was browsing this site and wondering if I did indeed have what it took to even start a gallery here on DA.  Meeting all of you online and in person was well worth it...and man has all of it been a trip.

From all of us here at the Sparkle and Friends household...stay classy, everybody.