Stage 2 — Spindles
Stage 2 — Spindles
As soon as Rainbow’s eyes closed, and her muscles relaxed, Twilight removed her hoof and brushed aside a stray lock of multi-colored hair. Carefully and quickly, she stood up and walked back to her desk where she removed a blank piece of paper from a drawer and began taking notes. The room was silent save the scratching of Twilight’s quill against the paper and Rainbow’s gentle breather. Spike followed the rise and fall of her chest with his eyes a few times before saying, “So, how long is she gonna be asleep for?”
Twilight, without looking up from her notes, responded, “Likely a few hours at most. I tried to make sure to only use just enough magic. Didn’t want her to sleep through the whole day.’
“As if that wasn’t what she already did,” Spike mumbled under his breath. “Well, what’re we supposed to do until she wakes up? Just sit around and watch her?”
Twilight shrugged, setting her quill down and looking up. “More or less. I need to monitor her during each of the five stages of sleep, so I can’t really leave.”
“So, you’re just going to sit there watching her sleep for the next however many hours? Man, that sounds really boring.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the desk, his eyes on Rainbow.
Twilight, too, was watching the sleeping mare when she said, “You don’t have to stay, you know? I can do this by myself just fine.”
Spike craned his neck backwards to look at Twilight. “Nah,” he said, “I think I’ll stick around. Maybe something interesting will happen.”
Twilight gave a shrug before returning to her notes. “Suit yourself.”
For the next ten minutes or so, Twilight and Spike watched in silence as Rainbow peacefully slept the afternoon away. Twilight couldn’t help but notice how calm she looked lying on the couch. Her head would loll from side to side occasionally, and every now and again a hoof would twitch every so slightly. It was only when Twilight glanced over at the clock hanging on the wall that she finally spoke.
“She should be in stage one by now,” Twilight observed. “Her brain will have started producing theta waves within the last couple of minutes. Any minute now she’ll start experiencing sleep spindles.”
Spike flicked his tongue idly. “I don’t think I really wanna know what all that means.” He sighed. “Is there any way to tell if she’s started dreaming yet?”
Twilight nodded. “Yes, actually. Although, that being said, she won’t have started yet. Dreams don’t normally occur until stage five.”
“Stage five?” Spike pursed his lips. “Isn’t that the last stage? Won’t she wake up right after?”
Shaking her head, Twilight said, “Nope. Sleep may occur in stages, but they don’t really happen in order, at least not after the first cycle. See, she’ll reach stage five, which is when we’ll start to see rapid-eye movement, and that will only last for a few minutes or so. Then she’ll jump back to stage three, then two, then four, and finally back to five which will last longer and longer after each cycle.”
“Huh…” said Spike, rubbing his chin. “That’s kinda weird. So, what’s ‘rapid-eye movement’, then?”
Twilight took a deep breath. “Well,” she began.
Spike held up his hand, cutting her off. “Try to keep it short, please.”
“Right, right.” Twilight cleared her throat. “Rapid-eye movement, or REM, is the phenomena that occurs during dreaming sleep. While your eyelids are closed, your eyes dart back and forth quickly due to increased brain activity during dreaming. It’s even visible to an outside observer, so we’ll know for sure when she starts dreaming.”
Spike nodded slowly. “I see. Well,” he said, pushing himself away from the desk, “I’m bored now. Do you want some tea? I think I’m going to go make some tea.”
Twilight chuckled quietly. “I’d love some tea, thank you.”
“Milk, sugar?”
“Both, please.”
Spike nodded again. “Cool, I’ll be right back then.” Spinning on his heels, Spike turned around and made his way up the stairs.
Twilight watched him leave, then turned her attention back to the parchment in front of her. “All right,” she whispered. “It’s note-taking time.” Dipping the quill into a pot of ink, she set pen to paper and didn’t stop until Spike had returned, only looking up occasionally to observe Rainbow and write down a few extra notes.
By the time Spike had returned, Twilight had already filled six pages with notes and was working on her seventh. A nearly-empty pot of ink sat at the top corner of a fresh piece of parchment. Spike made his way across the room as silently as a ghost, setting the tea tray down gently on the edge of the desk.
“What’d I miss?” he asked.
Twilight glanced up from the paper to see a tray with tea and cookies on it. Like a ravenous, yet dainty, beast, she tore into the cookies with monstrous ferocity. Pouring herself a cup of tea, she swallowed the last bite of cookie and gave a wide-eyed Spike an apologetic smile.
“Sorry, I just realized that I haven’t eaten all day,” she explained. “Guess I was a bit hungrier than I thought.”
“Uh huh…”
Twilight blushed, turning her face so Spike wouldn’t see. “Anyway, you came at the perfect time, Spike. Rainbow Dash is about to enter stage five for the first time.”
Spike poured his own cup of tea and swirled it around, eyeing Rainbow. “How can you tell?” he asked.
“Well, to be honest, I don’t know that she’s about to enter stage five, but from everything I’ve read, this should be about the time REM first occurs. So,” she said, dragging out the word for too long, “if I’m right, it should start happening any—Oh!” Twilight quickly stood up and pointed at Rainbow. “Look! She’s dreaming!”
Inexplicably, Spike found himself unable to look away, following Twilight’s hoof to Rainbow’s eyes, where, subtle though it was, he could see movement beneath her eyelids, darting to and fro like an errant fly. He absent-mindedly set his tea on the desk and moved towards Rainbow. Twilight followed him, her eager face lit up with excitement. The pair approached the sleeping pony, both breathless as they neared her.
“Whoa…” Spike breathed, “that’s kinda cool.”
Twilight let a small smile spread across her face. “Yeah,” she said quietly, “it is, isn’t it?”
“What do you think she’s dreaming about?” Spike asked, looking over to Twilight.
Her eyes on Rainbow, Twilight shook her head slowly. “I really don’t know,” she said, “It could be almost anything. I’m sure she’ll tell us when she wakes up… if she remembers it.” Twilight leaned a little closer, putting her face right next to Rainbow’s. She could hear her steady, rhythmic breathing, soft and quiet like the trickle of stream. “You know,” said Twilight, still staring into Rainbow’s sleeping eyes, “I’ve spent so much time reading about REM, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen it in person. It’s oddly… beautiful.”
“How long will it last?” asked Spike, cocking his head to the side.
“There’s no real way of telling. It could be anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes,” she explained. Twilight moved away from Rainbow and slowly made her way back to her desk. “We’ll just have to wait and find out. What was the time when REM first occurred?”
“Umm,” said Spike, glancing over to the clock on the wall. “About 2:13, give or take a minute.”
Twilight nodded, then scribbled down something on her paper. “Mm, okay. Keep an eye on her. As soon as you see her eyelids stop moving, check the time. I want to keep track of the length of each stage.”
Spike mock-saluted. “No problem, Twilight. Can do.”
Watching Rainbow sleep, Twilight let out a sigh. “Now we just need to wait for her to wake up so she can tell us what she was dreaming about.”
As it turns out, they didn’t have to wait long. Only an hour and half, and two cycles, later, Rainbow Dash began to stir, slowly at first, then more quickly as her eyes opened and she stretched out her limbs and sat up. Letting out a lion-like yawn, Rainbow smacked her lips together and looked over at Twilight, a content expression on her face.
“Man, that was a pretty good nap,” she remarked with a grin.
Not wasting any time, Twilight asked, “Well, what did you dream about?”
Rainbow let out another yawn, scratching the back of her head. “Umm, I don’t really remember. Heh, sorry.” She shrugged. “You did say I probably wouldn’t have much luck the first time, right?”
Her ears drooping, Twilight let out a sigh. “Yeah, I guess so. Still though, I was hoping for something… anything.”
“Well, if it helps,” Rainbow began, “I do remember some things. Like, bits and pieces mostly.”
Twilight’s eyes lit up. “What were they?”
Rainbow rubbed her chin, looking up at the ceiling. “Uhh, well, I remember flying through a cloudless sky for one.”
“Do you remember where it was that you were flying?” Twilight asked, her quill poised to take more notes.
Rainbow shrugged apologetically. “Sorry, Twi. It was kinda just, y’know, nowhere in particular. Just… ‘the sky’, like, in general. Oh! But I do remember seeing some mountains if that helps.”
Twilight sighed. “Well, it’s better than nothing.” She quickly wrote something down, then said, “Mountains, hmm? Okay, what else?”
Rainbow tapped the side of her head, leaning slightly to the left. “Well, after the mountain, I was flying over the ocean. At least, I think it was the ocean.”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “The ocean?” she repeated. “Was it calm?”
“I mean, it wasn’t not calm… I guess.” Rainbow shrugged. “I don’t know, it was a little choppy, I suppose. But it didn’t look too bad, not like a storm or anything.”
Twilight nodded sagely, then wrote down something else. Tapping the quill against the parchment, she said, “Is that all you remember?”
“Like I said, there was some other stuff, but I don’t really remember it very clearly. It’s, like, just on the edge, if that makes sense. I can almost remember it, but the harder I try, the more difficult it becomes.”
“Yes, that’s a common occurrence upon waking,” Twilight said. “It’s to be expected. However, the fact that you were able to remember anything is a good sign. Just make sure you write down what you told me in your dream diary, and the next time you dream, do the same. Over time, you’ll remember things more and more clearly, until eventually you’ll be able to recall entire dreams with little to no difficulty.” Twilight smiled. “I’m proud of you, Rainbow. You did well for your first time.”
Rainbow blushed slightly, though not enough for Twilight to notice. “Heh, what can I say? I’m just that awesome.”
Twilight chuckled, rolling her eyes. “Yes, apparently you are. Anyway, if you want to stick around for awhile, I’d like to ask you some more questions. Plus,” she added, nodding towards the tea tray, “there’s tea and cookies if you want some.”
“Oh, uhh,” Rainbow mumbled, looking away. “That’s really tempting, really, but I gotta get going. Cloudchaser is expecting me later this afternoon. We’ve got cloud duty together.” She got up from the couch and walked over to the desk. Swiping a couple of cookies, she stuffed one in her mouth and said, “Sorry, Twi. Maybe next time?”
Twilight smiled sadly. “Yeah, next time.”
Rainbow swallowed the cookie and then bit her lip. “Umm, what time is next time?”
“Oh,” said Twilight suddenly. She glanced over to the other side of the room where a calender hung on the wall. Scanning it quickly, she said, “How about the same time next week?”
Rainbow nodded. “Sure, I can do that.” She stuffed another cookie in her mouth and then turned to walk away. As she started to make her way up the stairs, she glanced over her shoulder and said, “See ya next week, Twi.” She grinned, a bit of cookie crumb encrusting her mouth.
Twilight let out a giggle, then smiled and said, “Next week, then. Goodbye, Rainbow.”
Turning back to the stairs, Rainbow began to make her way up them, waving a hoof back at Twilight as she did. A few seconds later, Twilight heard the familiar click of the door opening and then closing. As soon as she was sure Rainbow was gone, she turned to Spike. Spike raised an eyebrow.
“Spike, I need to ask one more favor of you, okay?”
His eyebrow rose higher. “And that is?”
“There’s a book on dream symbolism not too far from where you found the other books earlier, can you bring me it?”
Spike nodded. “No problem, I’m sure I can find it. Why though?”
“Just more research is all,” Twilight said assuredly. “Nothing sinister, I promise.” She chuckled.
Spike couldn’t help but smile and chuckle too. “Yeah, all right. I’ll be right back.” With that, he spun around and hurried up the stairs, leaving Twilight all to herself.
Her eyes falling back to the parchment in front of her, Twilight read over her notes. She had made a note of the timings for all the stages, and the number of times they occurred. She had even kept track of the number of times Rainbow’s eyes moved around during REM, but the thing that she was interested most in now was the last page. The page she had just been writing on contained what she felt was the most intriguing information: the contents of Rainbow’s dream.
“Mountains, and the ocean,” Twilight said quietly, looking over her notes. “What do they mean? Do they even mean anything at all?” She frowned. “Dreams are the gateway to one’s soul,” she recited. “Of course this has to mean something, but what?”
Sighing, Twilight re-inked the quill and set it against the parchment. She paused for a moment, unsure of what to write down. After a few more seconds of simply sitting there staring at an empty piece of parchment, she finally wrote down two words, then nodded, satisfied. She set the quill aside and waited for Spike to return with the book she had requested, her eyes drifting back to the two words she had written more than once. She frowned, looking at the words. Grabbing her quill again, she dipped it in the ink and scratched out one of the words, then wrote a new one below it. She stared at it for a few seconds, then smiled. She set her quill down again and looked to the stairs.
It was only a few minutes later when Spike returned carrying a single book under his armpit. He quickly plodded down the steps and hurried across the room to Twilight’s desk. Placing the book down, he said, “Found it,” then grinned.
The book was soon engulfed in magenta light as Twilight picked it up and moved it in front of herself. “Thanks, Spike,” she said. “That’s all I needed.” She looked over the top of the book at Spike. “I’m just going to finish writing up these notes real quick. You can wait upstairs for me.”
“Are we still running those errands today?”
She nodded. “Soon as I’m done with this we’ll go, okay?”
Spike smiled. “Awesome. I’ll go wait upstairs then.”
By the time he was gone, Twilight had already found the entries she was looking for in the dream symbolism book. She placed her hoof below the first word: mountains, and read aloud from the entry.
“Mountains: To see mountains in your dream signify many major obstacles and challenges that you have to overcome. Alternatively, mountains denote a higher realm of consciousness, knowledge, and spiritual truth. To dream that you are climbing a mountain signifies your determination and ambition. To dream that you fall off a mountain refers to your rush to succeed without thoroughly thinking about your path to success. Falling off a mountain also means that you have a tendency to give up too easily or escape from demanding situations.”
She paused, humming to herself. “Well, if nothing else, Rainbow is certainly ambitious, and she does have a tendency to rush things. But I wonder what flying past a mountain signifies? Is she bypassing, or ignoring, some obstacle in her life?” Twilight mused. “Hmm, I suppose I’ll just have to see how things go in the future. Now then, how about the ocean?” Twilight flipped to the other page she had previously marked and scanned the page until she found the correct entry.
“Oceans: To see an ocean in your dream represents the state of your emotions and feelings. Alternatively, the dream means that you are feeling empowered and unhindered. You have a positive outlook in life and are not limited by anything. If the ocean is rough, then the dream represents some emotional turmoil. If it is calm, then it implies contentedness in your situation.”
Twilight pursed her lips. “I see, then it’s as I thought. Hmm…” She trailed off, lost in thought. Finally, with a sigh, she closed the book and slipped the notes she had taken all day into an empty drawer. Placing her quill back in the inkwell, Twilight stood up and pushed away the chair. Her gaze, along with her thoughts, drifted back to the drawer she had placed her notes in. She found herself thinking about those two words she had written again. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Twilight tried her best to not think about it and instead quickly hurried up the stairs and into the foyer where she found Spike huddled in a corner reading a book.
“You ready, Spike?” she asked.
He brought the book down and nodded. “Yup, I’m ready whenever you are.”
“Well, let’s go then.”
Over the next few weeks, Twilight and Rainbow Dash continued their sessions without fail. Every week, just before noon, Rainbow Dash would show up at Twilight’s front door, wide-eyed and eager to continue the experiment. Twilight found her excitement somewhat odd, given her initial reaction to being asked to participate, but decided not to dwell on it. She instead focused her energies on keeping tabs on Rainbow’s sleep cycles and subsequent dreams. According to Rainbow, she had been dreaming nearly every night, and had been keeping a record of what she remembered in her dream diary, as Twilight had requested, but for some reason didn’t seem to be making much progress with regards to dream recalling.
After every session, Rainbow would wake up, stretch, yawn, and tell Twilight she could remember almost nothing. It was uncanny. Every time Twilight pressed her for details, she would at most get a few vague locations, and one occasion, a more specific one, but nothing more than that. And always, always, Rainbow would be alone in her dreams. Never once did she mention the presence of another pony, a phenomena which Twilight considered to be quite odd, but never said anything about. The really odd thing though was that the locations of her dreams shifted about quite frequently, from the mountains of the first dream to caves and fields later on, but would inevitably end up back at the ocean. She would always say that she remembered flying over the ocean, an ocean which was growing increasingly tumultuous with each passing dream, a prospect which worried Twilight.
Even more worrying than that though was the issue with lucid dreaming. Despite having been doing dream recalls for weeks, Rainbow seemed to be making no forward progress towards being able to control her dreams. When Twilight asked her about this, she would merely wave her hoof and say, “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure it’ll come later,” which of course did nothing to assuage Twilight’s worries. Not to mention the fact that Rainbow refused to show Twilight her dream diary, claiming that it was in fact a diary and therefore none of Twilight’s business, which Twilight begrudgingly had to admit was true.
Despite all this lack of forward progress however, Twilight still found herself oddly confident about the whole thing. That’s why when Rainbow showed up on her doorstep earlier today, she was all smiles.
“Come in, come in!” she said, waving Rainbow through the threshold. “Spike’s already brewing some tea for me, but we can go ahead and get started whenever you’re ready.”
As Rainbow entered the foyer, she accidentally bumped into Twilight. “Oh, sorry about that, Twi. It’s these bags,” she said, indicating the saddle bags hanging over her sides. “I’m not used to wearing them.”
Twilight waved her hoof dismissively. “Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s no big deal. But, if I may ask, why do you have them?”
Rainbow shrugged. “It’s nothing really. Rarity asked me to bring some stuff from Cloudsdale for her, so I figured after we’re done here, I’d stop by her place and drop it off.”
“What did she want from Cloudsdale?” Twilight asked, cocking her head to the side.
Rainbow rolled her eyes in an exaggerated fashion. “Some stupid cloud pearls for a dress she’s making. They’re basically raindrops that this dude crystallizes and turns into jewelry that he sells at his shop,” she explained. “I think they’re kinda lame, but Rare really seems to love them, so I’m bringing her a few.”
“Well that’s nice of you,” Twilight said, smiling.
“Not that nice,” Rainbow huffed. “She’s using some to make something for me, so I had to bring her some anyway.”
“She’s making you something? What is it? What for?”
Rainbow took a step back, holding her hooves up. “Whoa, Twi. What is this, twenty questions? Sheesh, it’s some a necklace if you must know. I’m giving it to my mother as a present.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet of you,” said Twilight. “I’m sure she’ll love it.”
“Yeah,” said Rainbow, looking away, “well, we’ll see, won’t we? Anyway, can we go ahead and get started? I’m supposed to meet Rarity at three.”
“Yes, of course,” said Twilight realizing that she was blocking Rainbow’s path downstairs. “After you.” She held out her hoof, waving Rainbow into the basement. With a nod, Rainbow cantered down the steps, followed closely by Twilight.
Once they had reached the bottom, Twilight took her usual place beside the head of the couch and waited for Rainbow to lie down. Rainbow quickly shrugged off her saddlebags and tossed them haphazardly onto the desk, loosening one of the buckles. She then spun around and threw herself onto the couch, causing it to release a puff of dust like a wheezy old stallion. As she rested her head against the pillow, she waited for Twilight to place her hooves on her forehead and made herself comfortable, scooching a little further into the couch.
Over time, Twilight had gotten quite adept at performing the sleep spell. She was now able to put Rainbow to sleep within seconds with minimum effort on her part. Twilight hovered her hooves over Rainbow’s forehead, and said, “Okay, Rainbow. Are you ready?”
Rainbow nodded. “Just like always. Hit me.” She closed her eyes and waited for Twilight to begin.
Quick to oblige, Twilight softly placed her hooves against Rainbow’s already warm forehead and began to force magic into the rainbow-maned mare’s brain. It normally only took about four to five seconds to knock her out, and this time was no exception. But just before she fell asleep, Rainbow opened her eyes just a little. And just as she had during their first session, she looked Twilight in the eye and a flicker of a smile crossed her lips. Not a half a second later she slipped into restfulness.
Twilight let out a sigh. It wasn’t as difficult as it had been the first time, but it still took a bit out of her to force someone to sleep like that. She slowly made her way to her desk and reached into the same drawer she had been using for weeks. Carefully removing her stack of notes, she opened a separate drawer and produced a fresh piece of parchment. Lifting the quill with magic, she dipped it into the inkwell and pressed it against the paper. She marked down the time and began to take notes and make observations as usual. For a few minutes she carried on like normal, but something kept drawing her eye: Rainbow’s bag.
It was lying there, at the edge of the desk, one side nearly open, and for some inexplicable reason, Twilight couldn’t help but feel curious. She tried to push the thought of snooping in Rainbow’s belongings out of her head, but she kept being drawn back in. A few more minutes later and she couldn’t stop herself. She picked up the bag with her magic and went to close the latch, hoping that doing so would put it out of her mind. However, as if by serendipity, something slipped out of the bag, landing with a thud on the desk.
It was a small, leather-bound notebook, smaller than a normal piece of paper, but it was the title that caught Twilight’s attention.
In sloppily written hoofwriting, the words “Dream Diary” were scrawled across the top.
Twilight’s eyes went wide. Her hoof, completely of its own accord, was slowly gliding across the desk towards the notebook. She tried to stop herself, but curiosity got the better of her. Before she knew it, the notebook was lying in front of her, one hoof poised to open it.
“Well, it’s only for research,” Twilight reasoned to herself. “Rainbow won’t tell me much about her dreams herself, but maybe there’s something more written in here.”
Suddenly, Twilight was struck with a thought, an image more like. She looked over to the stack on notes she had compiled over the last couple of weeks and remembered something she had written after their first session. Unconsciously, she found herself digging through the pile until she found that single piece of paper. There, near the bottom, were those two words she had written all those weeks ago.
“Mountains, and the ocean,” she repeated quietly. “What did they represent again?”
She read those two words to herself and then looked back at the notebook. With one final glance at the words, she made up her mind. Taking a deep breath, Twilight pried open Rainbow’s dream diary and began reading. Her mind flickered back to the words she had written as she read the first entry.
emotional turmoil
confusion
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And Rainbow letting Twilight watch her sleep is in no way creepy...
Nah, I kid.
~Skeeter The Lurker
I see what's going on here. I like it.
Twi's gonna find something pretty interesting in Rainbow's dream diary I think.
Dis Gon Be Gud.
*five Stage give would be when she stops in at Rarity's place afterwards.
How many chapters before we get to actually see one of Rainbow's dreams?
3295592
Thanks for pointing out those errors, they have since been corrected.
You'll see some of Rainbow's dreams in the next chapter, though not from her perspective.
3296038 This leaves me wondering if they'll make more, or less, sense, given how the dreams I do remember tend to go ...
I can see where this is going.
so what you're saying is that Dash is lying her ass off about the content of her dreams.
Now i want to lucid dream too! It sounds so awesome!
"Hey, Twi...isn't it kinda weird that we're leaning in real close and watching a pony sleep?"
"...Nnnnnnno. Well, maybe ... Of course not!"
3434284
And not, y'know, creepy or anything.
And Twilight never thinks to ask how the writer knows this?
Once again, Twilight Sparkle's less-than-stellar critical thinking skills are on display. As if the whole "Pinkie Sense" debacle wasn't enough. Or maybe that's the reason - she learned the wrong lesson, and now has decided to take every claim at face value.