A calm night was upon Equestria, the moon shining its pale light onto the ground below. A gentle rain was tapping on the roofs and windows of the houses as the ponies slumbered and dreamt. Elu was sleeping in his crib, nicely tucked under a blanket. After a long day with Luna, he was tired, and by the time his parents came back home, he was already yawning and preparing to go to sleep. Despite the peaceful scene, however, he was having a peculiar dream, the first real dream since he was birthed in Equestria.

Appearing in a hallway of his old school as a human he once was, wearing a backpack, he heard kids and teachers whispering in the halls and the classrooms. A radio static was present somewhere in the background, sometimes interrupted by distorted words he couldn't understand. Hesitantly, Elu went forward and soon came to a classroom. It had big clear windows that showed the outside from a great height. It was far from his real school but in the dream, he didn't notice this big difference. Once he entered the classroom, he stopped and looked around. The students and the teachers were featureless, just shadows on the walls, floor, and ceiling. Whispering, they were looking through the windows, ignoring Elu. Soon, he joined them, trying to see what was happening. The outside was calm, the sky was blotted with gray clouds, which were pushed by the wind. People walked around in the streets, cars moved through the town as usual.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded, filling the quietness of the surroundings with a harrowing winding sound of a siren. Elu knew very well what it meant as his heartbeat increased, his eyes widening. However, in this moment of terror, he turned away from the window just in time to save his eyes from what was about to happen.

A bright flash burned his silhouette into the wall with all the other students and teachers as painful orange light tried to incinerate him and turn him into ashes. He dropped to the floor, covering his ears and closing his eyes shut. The earth shook, and a growing rumble sounded, getting closer and closer. Screams of dread filled his ears as he tried to hold himself against the vibration of the ground. The glass broke, allowing a powerful gust of wind to enter, blowing the human to the wall, knocking the air out of his lungs.

The apocalypse, it happened, Elu realized as he turned to face the blast, most of the burning light already gone. There was no going back, everything he ever knew was being destroyed in a nuclear fire, wiping most of the humanity and leaving him alive. For how long, however? Would he die soon after the blast, succumbing to extreme levels of radiation during the first days of the aftermath? He didn't know.

After a small eternity, the rumble stopped, the ground no longer shook. The electricity was out, leaving most of the school in total darkness. Slowly, Elu stood up and hastily opened his backpack. There it was, a gas mask, something that could save his life for a little more before he would be able to get to a shelter or do something else. One last siren continued to send its harrowing sound across the town, this time distorted and much more quiet, reminding the human of what had just happened and what became reality.

Hastily putting on the gas mask and screwing the filter into the inhale valve, Elu opened his eyes and let in a deep breath of filtered air. He was prepared for this, somehow. Some time ago, when he was in his mid-teens, he thought the apocalypse would happen, and so he prepared. Gas masks, filters, even a hazmat suit were purchased. He found out where the nearest fallout shelters were, and it left him wondering how anyone would survive. Most of the shelters were blocked and locked, and those that weren't, needed repairs, at the very least cosmetic ones.

Despite his preparations, he knew he would probably die of thirst or hunger or radiation poisoning but for now, he was alive. He needed to get somewhere and fast.

"Elu... is that you?" a familiar voice sounded from behind him. He swiftly turned around and faced Princess Luna, who was standing near the broken window, gigantic clouds of radioactive dust behind her, hiding the mushroom-shaped cloud way off in the distance. Ruins lay across the town, human silhouettes walking, crawling, lying in the streets.

"P-princess?" Elu gasped, his eyes widening. "You... you can't be here! Get out of here, this place is... radioactive, dangerous! Stay too long and you'll die!"

"It's just a dream, Elu," the princess assured him, stepping closer, a look of concern on her face.

"A... dream?" the human asked in confusion. In a second, it dawned on him. "A dream... Yes, yes, right... I'm dreaming..." he let out a deep sigh, sitting down on the ground. "Just a dream..."

For a few long moments, silence reigned, and the princess stared at the human, a questioning look on her face. Then she turned around and faced the ruins. Looking down, she took in the destroyed town, its dying citizens. The air was filled with terror and dread, she could feel it clearly.

"So much destruction..." Luna returned to the human, a sorrowful look in her aqua eyes. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"I hope you never will see all this in reality..." Elu replied, looking up at her, still in his gas mask. Finally, he stood up, releasing an exhale. "What... what do I do now? Shouldn't I... wake up?"

"It should be so but it seems I can't help you here," the alicorn replied, some confusion in her voice. "Your dreams are very different from what a pony would dream, and it's not just the content, it's the whole structure... It's hard to explain, unfortunately," she paused for a second. "I suppose I can help you in the dream. But first, we should talk about it."

The human nodded silently. After a moment of silence, gears clicked in his head, and he raised his hand, gesturing at the part of the floor in front of him. In a few seconds, a campfire appeared, lighting the surroundings and providing warmth. Elu picked up one of the school chairs and set it in front of the campfire, taking a seat.

"So..." he looked up at Luna, who sat across him, the fire between the two. "You want to tell me something, yes?"

"Indeed," the alicorn nodded. "The dreams... they always appear for a reason," she began, looking at the human. "Normal dreams or nightmares, all of them are connected to something inside you. Your fears, wishes, desires, memories... all of them are mixed together, and they form what you see when you sleep," she looked him in the eyes. "I can see that you're very troubled, and the dreams reflect this. This... destruction,—" she gestured at the window and the ruins behind "—It is connected to something you feel. Can you tell me?"

Elu shifted in place nervously, looking away. For a few seconds, he was silent, gathering his thoughts.

"Sometimes..." he began and then sighed deeply. "Sometimes, I think that... my world is better be destroyed," he closed his eyes. "That... it can't get better. It won't get better," he opened his eyes, still looking away from the alicorn. "I feel like everything needs to be... reset," before Luna could say anything, he quickly added: "I know it's probably not the best way and definitely not a good way to do it, but..." he let out another sigh. "I guess I can say that it's what I feel. It might not be rational or it is, I don't know..." he sighed shakily. "That's how it is. Hard to put in words, unfortunately," he finally raised his eyes to look at Luna, expecting her to be angry. However, he didn't see it. He raised his eyebrows in surprise but decided not to say anything about it and instead continue explaining what he thought and felt. "Apocalypse... It's a terrifying thing. No doubt about it," he paused for a second. "I don't imagine myself as a hero. I'm but one guy, and the apocalypse would most likely kill me. Thing is... I don't want the apocalypse to happen. Many things will perish in it, lives will be lost, and..." he sighed yet again. "I don't know."

The fire cracked, casting the shadows of the two on the walls. The pony and the human were quiet for some time as Luna thought about what she had just heard.

"In any case..." Elu stood up and then dug into his backpack again. "I need... aha, this!" he pulled out a small flashlight. A small protrusion on the side allowed him to charge it without batteries. The light was far from bright but it was enough. "Alright..." he went to wipe off the sweat on his forehead but his hand met the visor of the gas mask, making him put down his hand awkwardly "We... should go through the dream, yes?" he asked quietly, turning to Luna. She nodded silently, looking right into his eyes. Her silence scared him but he doubted he could do anything about it yet. Instead, he reached out with his hand and concentrated, and soon a familiar weapon appeared in his hand, weighing down.

"I will think about what you said," Luna finally said, her voice neutral and calm. "Your thoughts... are certainly disturbing," she looked at the weapon in his hands. "And what is this?"

"This is AK-74M," Elu said, detaching the magazine and looking inside. The bullets were in there, thankfully, and so he put the magazine back into the gun. He pulled the bolt carrier and let it go, letting it slam forward with a satisfying noise. "A ranged weapon... a small rapid-firing cannon, I suppose."

"This is rather impressive, to be honest," Luna commented. "It's more compact than a crossbow width-wise. But... why do you need it?"

"I know it's a dream and all, but..." he taped the flashlight to the gun. "I'd like to be armed. Nightmares can't get to me if I kill them first."

"That's... a reasonable point," the princess nodded slowly. "If it helps you deal with the nightmares, so be it."

Finally, the two turned to exit the classroom. The shadows of the students and Elu were still burned into the walls but there were no whispers, no other sound but cracks and creaks of the heavily damaged building they were in.

"Don't worry, I'll look out for you, Elu," Luna assured the human, following him out of the classroom. "This dream is certainly an experience I wouldn't want anyone to know."

"There are way more things out there in my world that no one should know," Elu added darkly, slowly stepping outside, the gun at the ready. The dim light of his flashlight helped little to dispell the darkness but it was better than nothing. Broken desks and chairs were scattered on the floor, the ceiling whitening was mostly gone, lying on the floor.

"On a side note, I noticed that you can control your dream to a certain degree," Luna commented, following Elu.

"Lucid dreams are weird for me. When I try to change everything..." he reached out with one of his hands and concentrated. His surroundings began to vibrate, the walls glitching out, different sounds appearing at the same time. "This happens," he let go, returning the dream to its normal state, releasing a deep breath.

"I see," the alicorn said, nodding. "This is a problem, a major one, Elu," she looked at him with concern. "You feel like you don't control your life, don't you?"

Elu stopped in his track, lowering the weapon, his shoulders sagging.

"You see right through me..." he said in defeat, looking back at her. "Well... you're right," he turned away. "Things happen in life that make me think that I can't do anything at all but the simplest things that don't really matter," he started walking again, shining the light on the walls, scanning the surroundings. "I'm honestly glad that I can talk about it with you," he let out a soft chuckle, a smile appearing under his mask. "You're my favorite princess, after all," he turned to her and smiled. Despite having most of his face hidden behind the gas mask, Luna saw his eyes and the emotions in them.

"Elu... Can you take off the mask?" she asked gently. "I don't think I can see anything but a part of your face. The rest is covered by clothes."

"I... I don't want you to know my face," Elu turned away. "Sorry, but... I want you to know me as a pony. I know it's silly but, well, that's how it is."

"I... see," Luna nodded. She opened her maw to add something but decided not to. "Well, then... lead the way."

https://youtu.be/U_JnU1WOITw

Slowly and carefully, Elu and Luna moved through the ruined school. Stepping over the broken furniture, going around collapsed ceilings, and removing obstacles in their way. The school was mostly quiet, only distant whispers could be heard. The human kept his gun at the ready as he scanned the surroundings with caution. Despite knowing that it was a dream, he was fully immersed in it. He knew anything could happen, his dreams were chaotic and unpredictable, and so he kept an eye out, looking out for danger.

Silently, the two came to a staircase. A part of it was collapsed but they could still descend to the floor below, which they proceeded to do slowly. Elu kept his gun at the lower part of the staircase, which was lit even worse than the rest of the school. He could swear he heard whispers coming from there but when he shone the flashlight on it, there was nothing but a blank wall. His heart pounding, imaginary sweat rolling down his forehead, Elu went forward. There was no going back, he could only continue the dream.

Soon, he and Luna came into a somewhat brightly lit hallway. Multiple windows allowed the light from the outside to enter the building, and yet something was very unsettling about the hallway. For a few moments, Elu couldn't see what it was, but as he stopped and concentrated, he saw shadows and silhouettes. He turned off his flashlight, and now he could see them clearly. Near the walls, on the window sills, in the middle of the hallway, shadows stood, eerily resembling something he had encountered before in a fictional form.

"Don't touch the silhouettes," he told Luna. "I... remember something like this. Not in reality, but... in one of the games I played. But now... they're... here," he inhaled shakily, his heartbeat increasing.

"Who are they?" the alicorn asked with cautious interest.

"Ghosts," Elu explained quietly. "From what I know... The nuclear blast evaporated the afterlife. And now everyone who died is stuck here... forever," he moved forward slowly, looking at the ghosts. They were silent, barely moving, thinking that they were still alive.

Luna shivered, unsettled by the explanation, making her wonder if such fiction could become reality. The answer to that question would better be left untold.

They continued to move through the hallway, avoiding the ghosts. A pair of them were on the wall, talking silently as if they were still living, breathing humans. Another pair was in the middle of the hallway, the girl pointing at the outside. Following her gesture, Elu caught a glimpse of the outside and saw the destruction of his school, as well as giant clouds of dust and smoke left from the nuclear blast. A part of the school collapsed completely, most of the windows were gone. It was completely empty and silent, contrary to what he remembered. Despite not liking his school, he found this situation to be rather dreadful and undesirable to see in the real world.

Another shadow on the wall was standing alone, tilting from side to side very slightly. It eerily resembled Elu himself but he decided not to think about it, quickly passing by the shadow, not daring to be anywhere close to it.

"Why did you leave me?" one of the silhouettes suddenly said, making Elu jump and aim his gun right at the ghost. It was a girl, sitting there on the floor and hugging her knees. "Why?.."

The human put a finger to his filter, hoping that Luna would understand the gesture. Fortunately, she did, and she nodded in response. Slowly and carefully, the two went around the ghost, watching where they were stepping as not to make a noise. They were closer and closer to the end of the hall, and soon the only obstacle was a pair of doors, one of which was slightly unhinged. Elu put the gun behind his back and pushed on the door.

"Someone there?" the silhouette said, raising her head.

Not being able to hold the fear anymore, Elu kicked the door open and rushed inside, Luna following him just as quickly. He shut the doors with a loud thud. Holding it with his back against it, he reached and grabbed a chair, and then propped it against the doors, securing them in place.

"Why did you leave me?!" the girl cried, banging against the door, trying to break through, her fearful voice soon turning into a terrifying, inhuman scream. "Why?!"

Elu took a few steps back from the door and grabbed the gun, aiming it at the door. It cracked, and a black hand reached out to the human. Panicking, he took a few more steps back, tripping and almost falling. Thankfully, the hand soon disappeared and the silence retook its reign. Huffing loudly, Elu sat down on the dusty floor, sliding against the wall.

"No idea what it was..." he said quickly, holding his head, his eyes wide open with fear. "I... I've never left anyone!" he looked at Luna. "I... I..." he let out a shaky sigh, a few tears escaping his eyes as he found it impossible to speak.

"I know you haven't left anyone," Luna assured him, giving him a hug. "The dreams never show someone else. They are a part of you," she looked at him. "Someone left you, not the other way around."

Elu didn't know what to say and so he just surrendered himself to the hug, pressing the visor of his gas mask against Luna's cheek. After a while, he calmed down and stood up, firmly grasping the gun. He hadn't used it just yet but he had a feeling he would need it sooner or later.

"L-let's go..." he said quietly, turning to the new hallway. It resembled the last one but this time, there were no ghosts. It was completely empty and silent, only dust particles flying in the air, disturbed by the human earlier.

He knew it was not the end, not yet. The dream had more to tell him, he just needed to find out what it was. Thankfully, Luna was by his side, and so he had nothing to fear...

Hopefully.

Author's Notes:

Based on a few of the dreams that I had. Also, I'd like to hear what you think about the music I made.