The Education of Clover the Clever Wrap Party & Story Notes · 5:36pm Oct 28th, 2017
Four years and four months after I posted the first chapter, I have officially listed The Education of Clover the Clever as complete.
This was my first story here, and I started writing it during the great hiatus after season 3. Since then, we have learned so much about the world, and about Star Swirl, and many times I’ve worried that the latest developments in canon would do my story in. But it has a spirit all of its own. In all that time, I never grew tired of it, and these two wonderful little ponies remain the greatest characters it has ever been my good fortune to meet. No matter what happens, no matter where you go, those two will never lose their way.
But while they still have plenty of stories to share, this story is now done and it’s time for the wrap party and story notes.
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Before I wrote this final storyline, I was rather afraid it would be small and insubstantial, compared to the heavy drama of the one before it.
It took a while for that assumption to dissipate. When I finished chapter 17 earlier this year, I thought it would be the long one, and the Infant Multiverse story would be maybe 6k words. Obviously that didn’t happen. The plan changed tremendously along the way, growing with every step. The concepts changed too, and the new concepts demanding bigger events, more actors. And the very format, the structure of it, demanded that every single character be given the chance to show, in full, exactly what they were capable of. Each of them was given their own universe, designed exactly to their own parameters, and invited to show us how the world looked through their eyes.
And that is how I ended up writing a story in which almost every single scene is, in a ridiculously literal sense, the most important thing in the universe.
But, I love every one of those scenes, and the response I’ve gotten suggests that it all worked beautifully. I had all kinds of concerns that this would be a godawful unwieldy mess, demanding far too much of the reader’s immersion. I mean, the very idea is completely ludicrous on its face, and the only reason it works here is because Star Swirl and Clover know no limits, and have shown that they can handle any scenario, no matter how outrageous.
I am so proud of them.
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The season 7 finale is airing as I write this. The season 7 finale features the first appearance of Star Swirl the Bearded in the flesh on the show.
I knew this was going to happen, since they released a synopsis for the finale a couple of months ago, and I decided then that I was going to push to finish and publish the story before the season ended. Complications aside, I met that self-imposed deadline. Though things did get a little rushed. One thing I had originally intended was to search for music appropriate for every single world that Clover visits, to be included in the notes for each chapter. But that search kept getting delayed, until finally it was time to start posting the chapters and I had no idea where to look. Got any suggestions? Please leave them in the comments.
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Because the story went on for so long, and the ideas gradually grew, it is possible for a reader to find contradictions if they want to look for them. Along the way, I have gone back and changed some lines when later world-building made them not fit. But this process continued up to the end. If you really want to, for example, you can read the story of the Discordians in chapter 17, and see that it doesn’t really match the stories the Discordians tell in chapters 18-20. It happens. But I don’t really have it in me to be overly worried about that at this point.
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Some commenters have suggested there should have been a scene for Clover’s mother, Ivy Cordelia, in the Odyssey. And maybe that’s true, in hindsight. But early on in the process my thinking was that back in chapter 8 Clover’s mom had gotten plenty of screentime, while her father had barely gotten to say a word. So this was his turn to show what he was made of.
I do note that between Weather Vane, Gallopsky’s dad, Cutting Edge’s dad, and Star Swirl’s great nephew in the epilogue there is a recurring theme of fatherhood in this last storyline, while the mothers are less prominent. There was no deep thinking behind that, it just happened that way.
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Those were the notes for Clover’s Odyssey. Here are some notes for the whole of The Education.
There is a hole at the center of the story, around which the entirety of The Education of Clover the Clever revolves. It’s hinted at in the very first chapter, but as the story goes on we slowly piece together more and more of its outline: it’s a hole shaped like the Princesses. Most specifically like Princess Luna. At this point in history they are both gone, but especially Luna. Celestia gets mentioned, invoked in oaths. Luna does not.
Nobody ever talks about why. Some suggest that it is dangerous to do so. The Princesses blur the lines between history and myth, and Star Swirl is the only pony left who knows the full story.
Part of me still thinks that the real ending of The Education was when Star Swirl told Clover the story at the end of chapter 16. But there were more things left to tell.
I have tried my best to not make it necessary to have read The Crown of Night in order to understand The Education of Clover the Clever. But the first story is canon for the latter, and the more of the first story gets written, the more significance will become visible in the latter. One very significant point is that after all is said and done, the entirety of the Swirliad is a love story between Star Swirl and Luna.
I do not know that I could ever write an honest-to-god romance, so it’s probably never going to be that. But that hole at the center of the story is what pulls on Star Swirl at every moment.
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I don’t usually make things explicit that are only hinted at in the text, but this time I might have been too subtle about a fairly significant point, so I’m going to make an exception.
The human Star Swirl the Bearded in the bonus chapter is Star Swirl the Void, from the Crisis of Infinite Star Swirls.
The hint is in the ending scene, where he tells Luna about drifting as a ghost. The magical beacon he talks about was left there by Star Swirl the Bearded, the main one, to give him another chance at life.
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And at last: there is no part of this entire process that compares to logging on and seeing the comments. And it’s hard to imagine that this story would have gotten anywhere as far as it has without the encouragement I get from my readers. I am not a huge popular success on this site, and after four years I don’t think that’s going to change. But I do think that while my readers may not be huge in number, they are a very high-quality, insightful, and kind-hearted bunch.
Thank you all for reading, and for every comment you wrote along the way.
A song for Clover the Clever: "Sorceress Girl", by SoGreatAndPowerful.
A song for Swirly Star the Wise: "Pretty Little Head" by Eliza Rickman.
And finally, the official theme song of the entire Swirliad, by Jason Webley, a song for Star Swirl the Bearded: "Promise to the Moon".
I have probably forgotten many things I meant to say, and may add things later. Got any other music suggestions, general or specific?
Got any questions I haven’t addressed that you demand be answered? Ask in the comments!
Discussion of Star Swirl the Bearded continues in the discussion blog for the season 7 finale. Second Thoughts: Shadow Play, or, The Grand Unified Theory of Star Swirl the Bearded.
Thank you for explaining the nature of the human Star Swirl; I admit, that one had been completely lost on me.
And thank you again for this magnificent tale of magic, humanity (or at least equinity,) and the negative space left by the sun and moon. I may have some questions after I reread the whole thing... which, given my schedule, may happen at some point this year.
It's rare for the main series and dfanfiction to align so perfectly, but guess what?
It did.
The personalities of the show and dyour version of Starswirl are so perfectly aligned.
...I do not regret completely trying to get a sequel going with you.
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I will have a lot to say on that very subject for the discussion blog about the finale in a day or three. It will double as a second story notes blog, honestly.
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Nice.
Heh.
Speaking of Mr. Webley Ways to Love comes to mind thinking of Clover's graduation:
Almost Time to Go for the fact that this story is now complete:
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I do love the serenity and atmosphere of cosmic wisdom of this track from the Night in the Woods soundtrack.
And that's for both of them. Star Swirl and Clover, side by side as they look out across the heavens.