Awoken 3: An Endless Nightmare

Epilogue

Blueprint Atmosphere
2002-2016

I gazed down at the casket infront of me. It had been approximately two weeks since the date of death, and finally funerals were being held. Multiple a day, all week, for everyone who hadn't made it out of the incident alive. It wasn't just us. Thousands were killed when the Prototypes were first activated. It was time for the ponies who had been evacuated to honour their deaths.

Cloudsdale was still being rebuilt. All of the refugees had been relocated to Canterlot for the time being, and the city was overflowing with ponies. Due to the sheer amount of deaths, many funeral homes had made the decision to hold multiple ceremonies at the same time for ponies that had close relationships. For that reason, everypony that I had known was crammed into this large room.

The guests consisted mainly of the ponies that had gone on the mission: the remnants of FEARED, and Dash's remaining crew which wasn't very large. Aside from the close family and friends of the ponies who had died, which again, wasn't a lot in the cases of Dash's team since many of them had been forgotten about in their years working at the factory, there weren't many attendees. I'm slightly glad about that. Glaze informed me that my 'funeral' was open to the public, which seems pretty messed up in my mind.

A lot of the bodies hadn't been found. The majority of the caskets were closed, due to the gruesome nature of some of the corpses. Blueprint's, for example, was totally empty.

I looked over at Amber, who stood beside me with a tear-stained face. She hadn't spoken since we had entered the room, and I didn't blame her. It's hard for all of us.

Two new ponies positioned themselves beside us, and I moved aside to let them have a good look at the plaque. They were Blueprint and Tyra's parents. Though divorced, the couple was still on good terms, and would talk to eachother kindly and somewhat voluntarily. We had met up with them shortly after the incident to explain in detail what happened to both of their children. It was a hard explanation, let me tell you that.

Now they placed down a bouquet of flowers on top of their son's casket and bowed their heads. Slowly, Blueprint's mother turned to us and slid a large book out of her saddle bag.

"Amber Strike, I suppose this is for you. It's Blueprint's scrapbook from... When he was younger. We normally would have kept it to ourselves, but... It brings back a lot of bad memories. I think that he'd want you to have it."

Amber nodded slowly and took the book, hugging it to her chest. "Thank you Mr and Mrs... Uhm...?"

"Thyme," said the mare quickly. "I... Remarried." She looked nervously at her ex husband.

He didn't seem to mind. "I dropped my last name after the incident," he said slowly. "No use telling ponies I was ever related to my lunatic brother..." He looked down at Blueprint's casket and sighed, then gestured at the scrapbook in Amber's hooves. "That book meant a lot to Blue... Take good care of it."

Amber nodded.

Tyra Strife
1991-2016

Tyra's casket was open, with the body of the turquoise unicorn wearing a fancy embroidered collar to cover up the bullet wound on her neck. She looked at peace compared to when we had last saw her, hysteric and hell-bent on murdering everyone in the room.

It felt strange standing over her. I was next to her parents, who I hoped didn't blame me for shooting her. It was awkward, to say the least. It had come to the point where she was better off dead than alive. I hope they can understand that.

The mare and stallion placed a second bouquet of flowers in beside the unicorn.

"I never thought her tattoo hobby would lead her into this situation..." She said quietly.