Take Your Nephew to Work Night

by TAD2

Do Carrot Farmers Dream of Carrot Sheep

Spike was leading his aunt over to the towns market area. They were hoping to find Carrot Top, the local carrot farmer of Ponyville, working at her stall in the center of town.

Spike looked down at all the ponies he was flying over, he saw so many familiar faces, but in the crowd, there were some unfamiliar faces. Spike looked confused but then he remembered that this wasn't his home, it was Carrot Top's dream. "Right, this isn't real."

Luna floated up to Spike. "That's right, your looking around at all of the ponies on the ground, of course you see some faces that you are well acquainted with, but there, sprinkled into the crowd are some you are not." Spike nodded. "Well, the simplest way to explain this is to think of dreams as a place where memories and imagination meet. Some ponies we see could be ponies from Carrot Tops past, while others are just imaginary ponies that don't exist."

Spike nodded, it was cool to be learning about dreams, and everything he learned made dreams more of a world that were so real. Spike looked around at the world around him, there were some inconsistencies with the dream. He saw the castle in the distance, but there was also Golden Oaks. The school of friendship wasn't there but all the students were walking around town like it was. Spike started to chuckle. "Yeah, that makes sense." He looked at the ground, he and Luna were right above the market. "Aunt Luna, we're here." Said Spike as he stopped, Luna stopped right by him.

They started to look around for the mare of the dream. Spike was scanning the shops, looking for the farmer, and his eyes fell on a few ponies walking around with a bag of carrots, he followed the movements back to where the carrot stand stood. He looked at who was attending the stand and right there stood a yellow coated mare with an orange mane and green eyes. Spike smiled at finding their target. "Aunt Luna, I found her." Said Spike.

Luna smiled. 'I know, I found her earlier myself.' Thought Luna, but she didn't want to spoil his excitement. "Good job Spike. Come, we must see what kind of dream she is having tonight." Said Luna as she pulled Spike along to the ground. Once they were on the ground, Luna looked at Spike. "Spike, there can be many bizarre and unnatural things in dreams, but everything you see has some meaning to it. Let’s see if you can tell what Ms. Carrot Top is thinking about?"

Spike looked around. "Ok, I see some faces that I know, and some I don't, I saw the old library, but the castle is still there as well, but the school is gone. I don't see anything really crazy going on, so I'm thinking this is more of a memory dream."

Luna nodded. "Yes, but what does all of that mean to you?"

Spike hummed. 'Ok, so ponies I know, and some I don't, a memory dream, and nothing is going on.' Then it clicked. "That's it, Carrot Top is stuck in a rut, and it's following her into her dreams."

Luna nodded. "I concur. It's not an uncommon dream to be sure, and it's rarely problematic to the pony." Said Luna. "Spike, the job of a dream walker is to improve the dreams of ponies as well as help them face nightmares. I believe this one is the former situation." Luna then smiled as this was where she got to have her fun. "So, I have the ability to change the dream to do so. This is where your knowledge of Carrot Top will be most useful, has she ever told you what she wanted to do, or places she would like to go?" Asked Luna.

Spike thought back to the last time he talked with Carrot Top, and then he remembered. "Yeah, she's always wanted to visit Rainbow Falls." Said Spike.

Luna smiled as she made a random door appear, that would transport Carrot Top to the falls. "Ok, now this is where it gets tricky, some minds are too stubborn to notice any changes in their dreams, so I have to give them a little nudge for them to take notice." Said Luna as she opened the door and a strong wind blew out from the door, carrying a flyer for a Wonderbolts show at the Falls. Luna twisted the wind and the flyer until it hit Carrot top in the face.

"Awe, what the hay." Yelled Carrot top as she couldn't see. That's when Luna cut the wind. Carrot top pulled the flyer off her face and looked at it. "Oh, it's a flyer for a Wonderbolts show at Rainbow Falls." Carrot Top sighed. "I wish I could go visit Rainbow Falls."

Luna smiled at seeing that Carrot Top was aware. She looked at Spike. "Now we add a little bait to lure her in." Said Luna as she made a real microphone appear into Spike's hand. "Use this." Said Luna.

Spike looked at the microphone and understood what he needed to do. "That's right, mares and gentle colts, we have released one single flyer into this town, whoever finds it will get an all expenses payed trip to the beautiful Rainbow Falls, and they will get front row seats to a special Wonderbolts show, backstage passes included as well as a signed poster and a photo of the whole team." Announced Spike.

Carrot top dropped her jaw as she found the flyer. "Holy Celestia, I found it, I'm going to Rainbow Falls." Cried Carrot Top. "Who do I turn it into to get my prize?" Asked the mare.

Spike groaned as he didn't think about that. "Don't worry Spike, use your imagination, dreams are illogical to everyone but the dreamer, so whatever you say, it will seem completely normal to her." Said Luna.

Spike nodded. "If you have touched the flyer, a magical door will appear nearby, walk through it and that will be all the proof we need for you to get your prize." Said Spike.

Carrot Top gasped as she started to look around for a door. "Where is it, where is it?" Asked the mare.

Luna smirked. "Ok, now we have her attention, it's time for the trap to be sprung." Said Luna. She made the door appear to be magically teleported into the dream right in front of Carrot Top.

Carrot Top gasped as she quickly placed a closed sign onto her stand and ran straight through the door. Luna smiled at Spike. "A little unorthodox, but it worked great." Said Luna as she changed the door to lead out to the dream realm. "I have set it up so she will have a great dream from here on out." Said Luna as she placed Spike on her back and walked through the door. "You did a great job Spike, with a little bit more practice, you would make a fine dream walker one day."

Spike smiled at hearing that. He gave Luna a hug. "Thanks Aunt Luna. I had no idea how much thought went into dreams."

Luna nodded. "That's the point, dreams are a way for the mind to relax and unwind after a long day of work. A way for the random thoughts that run through our heads to take form, and a way for our desires to play out." Said Luna as she gave Spike a knowing smile. "Like I don't know, a fantasy about a certain unicorn?"

Spike looked away and began to whistle. "Hmm, I hadn't thought of it like that." Said Spike.

Luna giggled as she gave Spike a little nuzzle. "Sure, but that's how I usually go about my nights." Said Luna.

Spike nodded. "Ok, so how much time as passed since we went in to her dream?"

Luna hummed as she created a portal to the real world. "It looks to be about three hours." Said Luna.

"Three Hours?" Yelled Spike. "But we were only in there for no more than ten minutes."

Luna nodded. "Yes, that is the one drawback of being a dream walker. Every dream moves at a different pace, some are fast dreams that come and go, in what seems like a blink of an eye. Those dreams are the ones you forget by the time you wake up. Then there are dreams that feel like memories or reality, those are slow dreams, and the ones you remember. As dream walkers, we sync ourselves to the dreamer’s sense of time, but we are aware of the truth, unlike them. The pace Carrot top was dreaming was fast, but not too fast for her not to remember snippets of it. But the dream I pulled you out of was slow, that was why we had a talk as we did."

Spike nodded. "So, what about in here? How does time work while in the dream realm?" Asked Spike.

"That is a complicated thing Spike, I haven't even figured it out myself. Time does not stop while we are here, but it is not normal either. But from experience, while we are in here, time moves very slowly." Said Luna.

Spike looked all around, there were even more doors in the dream realm. "So how do you do it by yourself?" Asked Spike.

Luna giggled as she looked at Spike. "No, no, no. Spike, I'm not the lone dream walker. Each race has one, I am the pony dream walker. The Griffons have a gruff old bird named Moon Feather. Dragons have a dragoness named Dream Scale. The Diamond Dogs have Night Runner. The Yaks have, Dream Yak, and no lie, that is his name. Even Changelings have one, and long before Thorax became a just king, she was the only nice changeling, her name is Moon Moth. There's the caribou's Spectral Antlers. The Hippogriff's Gentle Breeze. The Breezies have Pollen Thoughts. Heck, when Sunset Shimmer crossed over a few days ago, I met the human dream walker for the first time. His name is Sandy, but humans just call him The Sandman. Each of us have our own jurisdictions when it comes to dreams, I deal with ponies, while everyone else deals with their respected races. But on occasion one of us will need to call in another to resolve a matter. Ponies having dreams about Dragons, Yaks having dreams about Changelings, really many scenarios are possible. So, when they occur, we deal with them and try to instill a better understanding of what is wrong with how each race see's the others."

Spike was shocked to learn this, but something didn't seem right. "So, how are you able to enter my dreams, I'm not exactly a pony?" Asked Spike.

Luna smiled. "Well, I struck a deal with Dream Scale when I returned and found out that you were my nephew. In exchange for letting me own your door, I had to take care of her doors for a month while she went on vacation." Said Luna, she looked back at Spike, he looked sad. "But don't worry, I was happy to do it for you Spike." Said Luna as she kissed his cheek. Suddenly Luna sensed another door had just appeared. She looked at Spike. "Ok, Spike, we got another dreaming pony. Let’s see who it is this time." Said Luna.

Spike smiled as he hugged Luna's neck. "Ready." Said Spike. Luna nodded as she sped off at sub light speed to the new door.

---

When they arrived at the door, Spike didn't have to lose his dream cookies. But he wasn't fine either. "Ok, not as bad as last time, but maybe a little slower next time?" Asked Spike as he was seeing four Lunas. He shook his head to get the right number of Lunas. "So, who do we have this time?"

Luna looked at the dream door. It was yellow, with a picture of three butterflies. "It looks like it's Lady Fluttershy." Said Luna. She smiled, Fluttershy always had calm nice dreams, in fact sometimes she would invite Luna in for tea.

Spike looked at the door. "Hmm, I always wanted to know what Fluttershy dreamt about." Said Spike.

Luna smiled. "Oh, you'll like it, it's so calm and we might get tea." Said Luna as she opened the door and pulled Spike through it.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the long wait on this one folks, I just couldn't find some insperation. But next time we will see Fluttershy in "Do Animal Care Takers, Dream of Sheep?" And yes I know the answer to this one, but do you?

Comments

[Inferno demon Dash]

Honestly I would love to read a prequel to this where Luna talks to another Dream walker about her nephew and makes a deal. Very excited to see this update, welcome back. And Spike's photographic memory would be a damn great help to Luna and maybe even being trained as a dream walker in time. I'm glad you remembered other races, most people do not. Great job, next!

[OmniFox]

Which season took place?

[TAD2]

10064007
Well at first I wrote the first chapter to be pre 6 but by chapter 3 I jumped to 8 so go with that