A Dream

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We open our next tale in a place familiar to all. The comforting sights and sounds of Ponyville. A place we all wish to go, a life of simplicity and little danger. Well actually minor danger. Never mind lots of danger, but for the most part all danger focuses on the Princess of Friendship and her friends so we can get away pretty easily. I am getting off topic. Back to the story. This one does in fact actually concern the famous group of friends. As we wander the streets we come to the Carousel Boutique. A place that looks like someone turned a carousel into a mansion, even a castle. Approaching the boutique is a short purple dragon, and here is where the story begins.

Spike was walking up to the Carousel Boutique, trying to settle his heart before he knocked on the door. Spike found out he fainted less around his crush if he calmed himself prior to seeing her. "I hope she needs some help today, she didn't yesterday...or the day before." he paused for a second. "But she for sure needs it today." Spike smiled confidently and knocked.

"Coming." he heard Rarity call in a sing song voice. This made his heart leap. Rarity opened the door. "Oh Spike, hello I wasn't expecting you here today." Spike rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, well I was done at the library, Twilight is out of town, and I thought I'd come see if you need help with anything."

"Oh that's very sweet of you Spikey Wikey, but I actually have a meeting with a new client today and they'll be here any minute now." Rarity looked around Spike, looking for her new customer.

"Oh...I totally get it," Spike sighed. Rarity looked at the small purple dragon with pity.

"You know, if you would like to help someone, I heard that Applejack could use some help at Sweet Apple Acres." Spike looked over towards the farm. "She said something about heirlooms? I'm not quite sure what she meant, but sounds like a big project." Rarity smiled.

"Yeah...I'll head over there. See you later Rarity, good luck with you new client," Spike waved as he walked away. He began the trek to Sweet Apple Acres. He looked to his left and saw the river than ran through Ponyville and fed the ditches for the farm. It was flowing slowly. Spike laughed to himself. "Moving slow, just like my progress with Rarity." he shook his head and slapped himself. "Come on Spike, don't go all mopy and emo." He continued to look at the river, noticing small rapids and eventually coming to beginning of one of the farms ditches. Spike looked up from the ditch and saw Applejack on a hill that the ditch led to. Her and Big Mac were digging holes for what looked like new saplings. "That doesn't look like heirlooms." He made his way up the hill to the two siblings. Applejack looked up from one of her saplings and saw Spike.

"Well howdy there Spike, whatcha doin here?" she asked wiping her forhead.

"Hello Applejack, Rarity said you may have needed help with heirlooms." Spike looked over at the young trees. "But looks like she was mistaken. The orange mare chuckled.

"She wasn't completely wrong. Come take a look," she walking to the cart of saplings with Spike. "These are called heirloom apples."

"I've never heard of that kind of apple."

"Well actually Spike, heirloom isn't just one variety, it more of general name for older apples. Heirloom apples are apples that were grown by the first ponies who planted orchards here in the Ponyville Valley."

"Wow, how many varieties are there?" Spike looked at all the different colored trees.

"Oh way to many to name all, but here we have about 5 varieties." Applejack started pointing and naming them "We have Fillbarrel, Purple Mountain Majesty, Fall Pippin, Folsom, and Golden Harvey."

"Odd names." Spike looked up at Applejack. "Why'd you decide to start this new um Heriloom Orchard?"

"We've always wanted to, Granny Smith talks about some of the apples she saw growing up. We finally got the opportunity when a researcher from Hotchkick contacted us about doing some research."

"Where's Hotckick? Yet another thing I've never heard of." Spike laughed. This made Applejack giggle. It confused Spike. Applejack always had a laugh that was full of confidence this was more, girly? He ignored it when she started talking.

"Oh Hotchkick is way out west of Equestria. A small little town, but that researcher is pretty well know, at least in the Agricultural and History fields. His name is Brushy Bill."

"Oh yeah! I know about him. Twilight talks about him anytime she finishes one of his books or any history book."

"Yup this is all thanks to him." Applejack smiled at the trees.

"Well do you need any help?" Spike asked rather excited. Applejack looked around and smiled.

"I think Big Mac and are good with the trees, but there is something. Follow me." she led him to the other side of the hill. Down the hill was a trench that looked freshly dug. "Brushy Bill helped dig that last week. He said it reached the river before he left, but we haven't seen any water come down it yet. We'll need it to keep them trees alive. Could follow it and see where the water is?"

"You can count on me ma'am" Spike saluted Applejack and ran down the hill in the direction of the ditch. Once out of sight, Applejack let out a deep sigh and allowed a blush to come across her face. Her heart was racing. From behind she heard a deep quiet laugh. She turned around and saw Big Mac smiling at her.

"You didn't see nothin." she growled at him. He just chuckled and went back to the wagon.

Deep in Sweet Apple Acres

Spike was on the far north side of the farm. He was walking in the ditch but couldn't see the end.

"Geez how long is this thing," he grumbled. The sun was getting lower. Spike looked up. "Wow its probably about 3, I better hurry if I want to get home before dark." quickening his pace he eventually came to what should've the mouth of the ditch, but it was blocked by a beaver dam. "Pesky beavers. Why can't Fluttershy keep them over in the ponds." He began looking at the large wooden structure. "They're lucky. If I wasn't concerned with burning down the orchard, I would use my fire," he grabbed onto a log in the middle, "Guess I'll just have to do it by hand." Spike pulled and the log popped out of place. He looked at the piece of wood proud of his strength before he heard the dam groan. When he looked up he saw it swelling behind the push of water and a few streams of water pour out. "Ah pony feathers." The dam burst send the full power of the river at Spike. He jumped onto the log he dislodged and held on tight. The water whooshed over him pulling him under for a second before the log brought him back up. Straddling the log he road it down the ditch. "Guess that did it." he chuckled to himself.

Back on the the hill Applejack and Big Mac had just finished planting the last apple tree, when Applejack heard the running of water. She looked over at the ditch and saw a small stream of water coming down. "I guess Spike is working on the ditch." She looked up and saw more water flowing down and riding on the current was the small dragon on a log. She smiled and trotted down to the ditch. Spike was getting off the log when Applejack got to him. "Wow Spike, I mighty thankful." She startled Spike causing him to lose his balance and fall into the ditch. She giggled as he climbed back out. "Sorry about that sugar cube."

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad I could help." he smiled while dripping. "I better get home before it gets dark. Do you need anymore help tomorrow." Applejack looked back at the hill and then around.

"Hm, not that I can think of, but I will let you know if I do," she smiled. Her smile made Spike feel odd, but not in a bad way. He didn't quite know how he felt. However he couldn't help but smile back.

"Ok well see ya later Applejack."

"Yeah see ya." Spike returned back to the library just before the sunset. He made himself some dinner, read a comic and then retired to his bed. After working all day it didn't take long before he was out. Deep in sleep, Spike began to dream.

Spikes Dream Realm

Before he saw anything, Spike could hear crickets chirping and the sound of a running river. He opened his eyes, revealing he was in a patch of trees. It was night time and the moon was full and bright. Upon looking closer he saw that they were apple trees, but bigger than any he had ever seen. Straight out in front of him was small fast flowing river. Spike looked downstream and saw complete darkness. Looking upstream, he saw a clear path to a bridge across the river. "Where am I? It looks like a spot in Ponyville, but condensed. That bridge is on the other side of town, far away from Sweet Apple Acres. Also the river flows around the farm not through it." Spike continued looking around, trying to figure out what to do. "Guess I'll go towards the bridge." He attempted to go to the bridge but as soon as his foot hit the grass, he fell through the ground spun upside down and appeared right back in the spot where his dream began. Spike unclenched from the feeling a falling and looked around. "Ok definitely don't go to the bridge. Maybe I'll just sit here and watch the river." He sat in place preparing to fall through the ground once again, but he did not. Once sure he wasn't going anywhere he looked down river at the darkness. "I wonder what's down there." As he finished his question he heard a voice echo in the trees.

"Why does this river run?" Spike froze up.

"Who's there!?" There was a bright flash, making Spike close his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was awake in his bed. The sun was just coming up. Spike got up and looked out the window. "What a weird dream."

Analysis

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Spike descended down the stairs still thinking about his dream. "I've had dreams before, but this one was different. It felt like I was suppose understand something." He continued into the kitchen and began making two slices of toast with apple jelly. While the bread was in the toaster he thought about the surroundings of the dream. The tall trees, the river, the bridge, was there something else? "It was dark downstream, was it a warning?" He then remembered when he fell through the ground trying to go towards the bridge. "Or was that a warning?" The toast popped startling Spike out of his thoughts. He took them out and started spreading the jelly on. "And what was with those huge trees? " Twilight had often talked about dreams with Spike, and when she did, it was often so she could analyze it out loud.

Spike took his plate of toast out into the library. "Who could I talk to about this? Twilight is out of town. Rarity and Applejack were probably working. His heart began to race at the thought of the two mares. But he chalked it up to the thought of Rarity. "I'm sure everyone else is busy too." He took a bite of toast and looked at the bookshelves. "Guess I'm on my own for this one." Spike finished his toast and began combing the library for any books about dreams or sleep.

He found a few that delved a small amount into the aspects of his dream. A passage in one explained that large objects, in his case trees, could mean several things, a feeling of power, insecurity, or a big problem. Sitting with the book on his lap he looked up at the ceiling. "Power? No I don't think so. Insecure? Maybe, but the big problem one sound more like me," he looked back down at the book that showed a giant chess piece, "but what is the big problem?" he put the book aside and grabbed one that talked about rivers in dreams. In this book he read the rivers in dreams can be a representation of emotions and confusion. "Confused emotions...I don't know about it." The book continued to say that following the river up will lead to the root of the confusion, and following the river down will lead to the object causing the emotions. "Maybe if I have the dream again I will follow the river."

After several hours, Spike was no closer to understanding his dream. All he had was vague concepts and theories to think about. He closed his current book. "I think I need to go for a walk." Spike left the library and made his way to the trails out side of town. "Maybe I should walk the river trail, just kinda follow the dream." While walking to the starting point of the trail he couldn't get his mind off the dream. "The end of the dream was super confusing. That bright light and voice, what was it that it asked-" his thinking was interrupted when he bumped into someone. "Oh sorry I was in my head." Spike looked up and noticed he bumped into Rarity who was leaving the river trail.

"No my fault entirely dear Spike, I suppose I was in my head too." Rarity smiled down at Spike. "I was thinking about a special order." Spike chuckled

"Guess walking and thinking is something neither of us are good at." Rarity gave a little laugh.

"What were you thinking about about?"

"This wacky dream I had last night. I spent all morning trying to research and didn't get far. There was a river in it so I thought coming here might help." Rarity nodded and looked back at the river.

"From what I've been told, rivers in dreams mean something good is coming to you."

"That would be cool! I'm currently working with the theory that my confusion is rooted upstream and emotions are downstream."

"Well what ever it may be, I hope you find your answers Spike. I must be along now." Rarity looked Spike up and down. Something about this interaction that was different. Spike was more casual than she was use to.

"Alright, see ya around Rarity." Spike walked past her and waved goodbye. That was really weird. Usually she was first to leave and Spike would watch her until she was out of sight.

"Uh yes, goodbye Spike." she called as he disappeared down the trail. "Must of been some dream." she smiled.

Spike walked down the trail until he came to where it split into a T. Left went upstream and right went downstream. He looked both ways. "So I could see why I am confused or where my emotions are." He looked at the river and thought for a little bit. "Well I'm already confused, might as well see where the emotions play into this." He looked downstream. "The voice in the dream asked 'Why does this river run?' lets find out. Spike turned right and followed the trail while staring at the river. He was able to pick out similarities between some spots and some in his dream. "What kind of question is that? 'Why does this river run? It runs because it can? Because physics? Because science I don't know." Spike grumbled. He looked at the trees to his right. "Not apple trees." That stopped him. "I forgot that they were apple trees. Does the dream have to do with apples? Was it influence by working yesterday?" Spike was now even more confused than before. He looked straight ahead and saw Applejack sitting on the edge of the river. Keeping his current pace her walked up to her.

"Hey there Applejack." his voice startled Applejack causing her to look all around her eventually seeing the purple dragon approaching her.

"Woo, you startled me there sugarcube," she breathed out, "Hello Spike." she gave a smile while looking down. Yet another uncharacteristic thing that she did that confused Spike.

"What are you doing here? he asked sitting down next to her.

"I'ma just takin a break. Big Mac and I finished our planting and we won't have more saplings until next week."

"Ah very cool." Spike nodded and looked out at the river. They sat in silence for a little until Applejack spoke up.

"What'er you doin here Spike? With Twilight gone I thought you would've created a little den of ice cream and comic books." Spike laughed a little and kept watching the water.

"I had this crazy dream last night. There was a river, and a bridge, a bright light at the end umm, and..." he trailed off upon making a realization. He slowly looked towards Applejack.

"Yes?" she asked waiting for his next words.

"Apple trees..." he stared at her a little bit longer before slowly looking back at the river. "I came here to try and make sense of it...but I think..." he trailed off again. The orange mare stared at the purple dragon, hanging on the words that came out of his mouth. "I don't know." Spike sighed. Applejack continued looking at Spike, unaware of what she was doing her heart began to race. Slowly she leaned towards him. Spike sat unaware of what Applejack was doing. "Guess sitting here isn't going to do much." he jumped up causing Applejack to snap back to her original position. "Thanks for listening to me Applejack. I think I figured somethings out, but now I'm even more confused." He looked over to her. Something seemed different about her. Her eyes sparkled more, maybe it was the water. Despite having just been working on the farm, her coat was flawless and her mane shined in the sunlight. Spike heart began to race as the two continued to stare at each other. Eventually Applejack broke the stare and looked back to the river.

"Think nothing of it Spike, what are friends for?" Spike nodded and pondered her words. Friend, that work felt different than it had before. He waved and left. Little did he know, that Applejack broke the stare, to hide her blush.

Spike returned to the library when the sun was setting. His experience confusing him even more than before he left. "What was that feeling? When I looked at her." Unlike many times before, the her in this situation was not Rarity but Applejack. He then thought back to his interaction with Rarity. It dawned on him that he was very casual with her. His heart didn't even race when seeing her. "Something is changing." Spike sighed and walked inside. He had left all the books out. "Oh yeah." Spike rolled his eyes and began picking up the books. "Even with Twilight gone I still need to pick up books. I thought I'd avoid that with her gone." He placed them back in the book shelf. Upon looking at the shelves to admire his work, he saw a small blue book in the nature section. He pulled it out and read the cover. "Why This River Runs: An analysis of rivers and what they mean to us. By Brushy Bill." Spike looked around him frantically. "Ok universe this is just creepy now!" He yelled. Spike looked down at the book and opened to look at the table of contents. "A history of rivers, uses of rivers, city and rivers, farms and rivers..." Spike read the chapters until he came to one that caught his eye. "What do rivers mean." Spike took the book to his reading chair and began to read.

"What do rivers mean? To be honest I have no idea..." Spike rolled his eyes. "Thanks a lot Brushy Bill." he continued reading. "What I mean by that is that rivers have different meanings to different beings. For a farmer it is part of their lively hood. For a office working pony, it's how they stay hydrated while working. Some ponies believe that rivers are signs of good luck, or bad luck. All things on this earth have their own interpretations and who am I to deem one as superior to the other. What matters is how you interpret the river. What does the river mean to you. I have many fond memories of rivers, watching ducks with my special somepony, but they are also cold as I fell in one during my colt days. To me the river is life and love. Why does your river run?" Spike closed the book and looked up at the stairs to his bed.

"Alright dream, game on."

That's Why This River Runs

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Spike climbed into his bed and closed his eyes. It didn't take long before he heard the sounds of the crickets and the river again. When he opened his eyes, he saw the familiar sight of the apple trees, the river and the bridge. But there was something different. Somehow the moon was bright than before, there was a wind that made the river ripple making the moons light dance on the water. The trees had bright red apples now. The bridge was still there, but it was broken in the middle and the trees by it had orange leaves like it was Autumn. Spike took a deep breath and looked down stream. It was still dark despite the bright moon. He couldn't see anything beyond his starting point. "Ok, I'm back. Now what?" He looked over at the bridge. "Maybe I'll start there." Slowly he turned in place as not to fall through the ground. He looked at his feet and the ground before him. The path that was there last time was now gone. He looked over his shoulder and saw the path actually now lead down downstream. "Stick to the plan Spike, figure out the bridge first." He took a step forward and immediately fell through the ground like last time, was spun upside down and back to his original spot. "That feels just as bad as last time." Spike grabbed onto his head trying to get rid of his dizziness. Once getting his bearings back he stared at the bridge. "I wonder why it's broken now." He looked to the trees in front of him.

"What if I?" Spike jumped from his point to the tree and latched on. "Haha yes!" Spike smiled, but it soon faded as the tree shook and fell through the ground. Again he found himself spun upside down and back at the start. The tree he had grabbed onto was back too. Spike then looked to the river. "Maybe I could wade the river and get to the bridge." He took a step towards the river closing his eyes tight fully expecting to be spun again, but his foot landed firmly on the ground. Opening his eyes Spike was shocked to find he was able to take a few more steps and to the river. "So far so good." he looked around cautiously and then to the river. He went to step in and as soon as his toe hit the water, it sucked him in. Spike was pulled down to the bottom and when he hit it, the water swirled around him shooting him up out of the water. He was flung up and landed hard back at the starting point. "That was at least different." he groaned and got up.

Yet again he was the beginning of the dream. He looked to the bridge. "Why are you there if I can't reach you?" Then he heard the voice again.

"Why does this river run?" Spike jumped up and whirled around trying to find the voice. He decided to answer it.

"Because it can?" He answered somewhat questioning his answer. He got no response. The dream had gone silent, no crickets and no sound of the river or wind. Confused Spike looked around yet again, tryin to find clue. He looked upstream and saw an apple floating down the river. When he spotted it the sounds returned. Spike stared at apple as is floated along, eventually losing it in the darkness downstream. He looked upstream to see where the apple came from and heard the voice again.

"Why does this river run?" Spike now even more confused and frustrated yelled,

"I don't know!" There was a bright light but unlike last time, he didn't wake up. Spike closed his eyes to the light and heard a familiar voice.

"Dear Spike," Spike opened his eyes and saw Princess of the Night, Luna, in front of him.

"Princess Luna." he gasped. Luna smiled kindly at him.

"Hello Spike, it seems you are having some trouble." Spike nodded.

"Yeah, I had this dream last night and then I spent all day trying to understand it, but that just confused me even more. Then something weird happened down at the river that confused me on a whole different front. Then I read a book that told me rivers are up to my interpretation so I wanted to dream this again to interpret the river, but I can't go anywhere so I am stuck here and-" Spike's ramblings were cut off by the voice asking again,

"Why does this river run?" Spike pointed to the sky.

"And that stupid voice isn't helping!" Luna let out a chuckle.

"Dear Spike, you are having quite the time."

"Tell me about it," the dragon grumbled. Luna looked around his dream.

"You know as much as I do, that dreams are door ways to our souls, and they all have meanings to our lives." She looked down at Spike "Have you thought to relate the dream to your confusing experience at the river." Spike looked up at the princess. "I am proud of the research you did, but have you tried looking at your dream through life's eye?" Spike's jaw dropped.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Luna laughed again.

"I think your mind has been somewhere else. Perhaps on somepony else." Luna winked at Spike causing him to blush. Luna looked down stream. "My guess is the answer is down there,” she then looked back to the bridge, "And maybe that is representing something you are having trouble getting over." Luna looked at Spike. "This is for you to figure out, hopefully I've given you your final insight."

"Thank you Luna." Spike smiled

"You're welcome Spike, goodbye." In a flash she was gone. Spike looked down the path at the darkness, and then over his shoulder looking at the bridge.

"Ok." Spike took a step and to his surprise didn't fall through the ground. A few more steps and he was walking at a steady pace down the path. Each step seemed to reveal more of the area that was once dark. The apples on the trees disappeared and were replaced with the flowers that eventually turn into apples, the trees themselves looked younger. The river also became clearer, and as Spike walked along it so did his reflection. Eventually Spike noticed his reflection was slightly different. He stopped to look at it for a second. His reflection looked younger. After staring for a moment his reflection waved and walked back upstream. Shocked Spike watched as it walked upstream and disappeared once past the bridge.

He looked back and saw another reflection, this one more like the current him. It pointed downstream and smiled at him. Spike smiled back. He looked where his reflection was pointing. There was a screen of fog with light pulsing out of it. A image soon appeared on the fog. It was hard to see but once Spike got closer he saw it was the hill that Applejack was planting the saplings on. Eventually he saw himself walk up to Applejack and they began talking. "This is from 2 days ago. When I cleared the dam." He continued watching as past Spike saluted Applejack and ran off. Rather than following Spike, the image stayed with Applejack, and to his shock saw the blush spread across her face. This made Spike’s heart flutter. "Does she?" Spike looked down at his reflection. It simply pointed back at the fog. Spike looked to the fog and saw the image swirl and change to when him and Applejack were sitting by the river. It was all the same as before, but now Spike noticed the way that Applejack looked at him. He smiled at the image. His jaw dropped when he saw her leaning towards him and then snap back when he spoke. Spike looked back and forth between the image and his reflection, "Was she? Would she? Why didn't she?" He was unable to finish any of his questions. His reflection pointed sternly at the fog. Spike looked back and saw the blush on Applejacks face as he walked away once again. Spike continued to look into the fog as it changed one last time to reveal that Applejack was currently still sitting in the same spot. It was now late at night and she had not moved. Spike stared at her, now realizing everything. He turned to his reflection. "It all makes sense now. The bridge is Rarity. The reason I can't get to it is because...because I'm not supposed to. My heart knew that after today's interaction that that bridge was gone and that's also why the trees didn't have fruit anymore. The trees were hints all along, I just couldn't see it. The apples in the beginning and them turning into flowers, representing something new. And, the voice..." he trailed off as he stared at the image of Applejack.

"Why does this river run?" Spike looked down at his reflection. "Why does this river run?" It asked again. Spike smiled down at his reflection and back to the fog.

"It runs for her." When he finished his sentence there was another flash and Spike found himself awake in his bed. He sprung up and checked the time. "1 AM, she may still be there." He ran down the stairs and out the door. Running along the trail he notice the calm night and the bright moon, just like his dream. "How does the universe know these things?" he huffed. Spike made it to the river trail and ran downstream. While running he noticed his reflection on his left. He stopped running for a second to look at it. "Thank you." Soon Spike was back to where he sat with Applejack earlier. He saw her sitting there, hat next to her her hair in a pony tail, staring at the water. Applejack heard the steps and turned to see Spike racing towards her. He came to a halt huffing for air.

"Spike? What'er you doin here so late." she jumped up.

"I...have... to. Oh sweet Celestia." he gasped "Give me a second," Spike to a few breaths and composed himself. "I have to tell you something."

"Ok, must be real important if I needs to be now." She smiled then frowned "Wait how'd you know where I was?"

"My reflection told me." Spike took one more deep breath.

"Come again?"

"Not important." Spike waved his hand. He looked up at Applejack and immediately got nervous. 'Wait what am I doing? I could never confess to Rarity and now just because of some crazy dream, I can just do it to Applejack? What do I even say?' Spike's internal panic continued the more he looked at Applejack. Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight, and the moon showed every last strand of her golden mane. 'What do I say?' One last time he heard the voice of his reflection. "Why this river runs." It echoed in his head. Spike smiled.

"Can we sit." Spike went over to the spot from earlier and sat down. Applejack soon followed. He turned to face her. "Applejack, in that dream I told you about. A voice asked me why this river runs. I didn't know at the time but it wasn't talking about this river, but the river of my heart. And after lots of thinking I figured it out." he stared into her eyes.

"Y-yes Spike?" she asked nervously.

"It runs for you."

"What? Me? Why?"

"That what I asked, why this river runs? Why this river runs to you, no matter where you are. I've realized, it's because all that I am and all that is true, is meant to be a part of you. No matter what comes.” Spike took her hove “That's why this river runs." Applejack didn't know what to say, she stared at Spike. A blush soon spread across her face as she leaned down and kissed him. The shock ran through Spike. She pulled away and stared into his eyes.

"Spike, I have liked you for a while now. Your smile is like the glow of the morning, it has such a promise behind it. Whenever I look at you, my heart gets swept away. All that I am, and all that is true, is meant to be a part of you. That's why this river runs." she was soon shocked as Spike kissed her. When he pulled away he hugged her.

"Forever, no matter what comes. My river will run for you." Together they sat on river bank, holding each other staring at the river.