The Making of Fluttershy's Garden: Ending · 9:21am Jan 9th, 2015
This is one of a series of blog posts about the making of Fluttershy's Garden, and contains unmarked spoilers. If you haven't yet read Fluttershy's Garden and its sequel, I would recommend reading them first.
0. Introduction
1. Inspiration
2. Character Design
3. Storyboard
4. Mechanics
5. Character Reactions
6. Ending
7. Loose Ends
8. Sequel
“For whatever reason, after watching a Gainax Ending, you won't have any idea what happened. After rewatching it, rewatching the entire series, discussing it with other fans, looking up the meaning of the symbolism, and subjecting the entire thing to a comprehensive literary analysis, you still might not have any idea what happened.”
We have arrived at the final chapter.
The previous chapter, unlike all the ones which preceded it, ended in a happy note.
Fluttershy recovered her memory of the events which led to her death, and by watching Pebble understood what happened between her death and finding herself lost at the Everfree Forest. She discovered that her friends did not forget about her. And she finally accepted Spring Egg as her friend.
She enjoys the company of all her friends, even though they can't see her, hear her, or interact with her in any manner.
The final chapter plays with the medium. Through the use of the first-person present-tense narration, it shows Fluttershy's gradual loss of her memory and mental faculties. It ends in a completely blank scene, followed by a scene consisting solely of unattributed dialog from several speakers, with the narrator reacting, after a pause (shown solely as extra vertical spacing), to the last speaker.
This chapter seems to have confused a few of the readers. It should be easy to understand if you're familiar with spiritist literature, but for those who are still confused, even after knowing that this chapter was originally titled “Rebirth”, I will explain all that happened.
Fluttershy is enjoying the company of her friends. Pinkie Pie arrives to invite everypony to a party, while wearing a ridiculous imitation of pegasus wings (I have no idea why she is wearing it), almost breaking the fourth wall in the process.
After the party, Spring Egg leads Script Letter to her bedroom. Unlike last time, when Fluttershy stormed out in disgust, she accepts it and goes outside to give them privacy.
When Fluttershy gets back, she feels a bond to Spring Egg. She doesn't know, but Spring Egg has just gotten pregnant, and Fluttershy gets bound to the newly developing embryo.
The scene with Rarity is not a filler. Spring Egg is “putting on weight” due to her pregnancy, and her craving for Sugarcube Corner's unhealthy food is caused by Fluttershy's craving for Pinkie Pie's food, which she hasn't eaten for quite some time.
As the new body grows, Fluttershy's mind regresses. She starts to forget everypony, and she becomes more and more childish. Near the end of the gestation, she stays close to her new mother all the time, until finally becoming one with the unborn baby (leading to the "silent scene").
The final scene is just after her birth. Several ponies she does not know are talking around her, until she recognizes one voice: that of her mother.
Next post: Loose ends
