A blare of brass rose from the gramophone in the corner, a bright sting that heralded the rise of a driving bossanova beat formed by a backbone of piano, rhythm guitar, bongos, and maracas. A vibrant orange pegasus mare sashayed out onto the compressed clouds of the studio floor, a gauzy skirt of purple, red, and gold swaying and floating around her hips as she shook them in time to the music, the butterfly and flowers cutie mark that adorned them seemingly brought to life by her movements. She clenched the long wire stem of a silk rose in her teeth, with a spitcurl of her magenta mane hanging down roguishly over her right eye.
As the trumpets began to shimmer around the core of the rhythm, she was joined by a strutting pegasus stallion wearing an embroidered jacket and a wide brimmed hat with little red pompoms hanging at intervals around it's circumference, a picture of a mango adorning the lime green hide of his flanks.
The two circled, drawing ever closer as the driving tempo and flamboyant brass heated up. Their eyes locked, and the mare went into a rapid spin around the rearing stallion, making it seem like he was suddenly dancing with a small, orange and magenta tornado. She stopped with a flourish in front of him, her colorful skirts coiling and uncoiling around her. The stallion hoisted her into the air over his head. With a flap of her wings she lifted off, followed closely by her partner as they ascended rapidly in a crisscrossing flight path that mimicked the swoops and surges of the brass, meeting near the ceiling as the music reached a crescendo.
A huge boom shook the building, causing the record to scratch and begin skipping. The two pegasi were jarred out of the air and plummeted to the compressed clouds below, landing in a tangled heap of limbs and wings in the middle of the dance floor.
The upended male's left hind leg twitched spastically and a low moan escaped him as the young mare bounced to her hooves, her eyes wide as she stared at a blaze of colors flickering in through the large windows near to the studio's ceiling. She spat out the bent stem of the silk rose and dusted off, coming to a stop in a hover with her fore-hooves and nose pressed against the glass. Her elegantly curled magenta tail lashed behind her and a broad smile rose to her lips as she spotted the tell tale circular ring of colors generated by a sonic rainboom.
She narrowed her eyes as she noted the direction of the rainbow contrail running through the expanding rainboom ring's center. "Hmm. Ponyville, huh... I wonder if..."
She was startled out of her thought as a small burst of green flame spiraled into the shape of a rolled up bit of parchment next to her head. It fluttered down toward the cloudy floor below, but the orange pegasus mare pushed off from the window and dove, catching it up in her fore hooves at the last second. She hovered for a moment, reading the note's contents with a wide smile growing across her face.
The orange pegasus let out a whoop and shot across the dance studio, banking hard and vanishing behind a rattan changing screen. Her colorful skirt flew up over the top and drifted gently down to the floor as she emerged from the other side clad in a black bomber jacket festooned with a myriad of colorful buttons each bearing the image of a cutie mark.
When she reached the door she screeched to a sudden halt and turned to look back at her dazed dance partner, who had managed to get himself seated upright, his eyes spinning and the little red dinglebobs that dangled from his crumpled hat still waving crazily as he weaved back and forth.
She gave him an apologetic smile as she called out to him. "Sorry, Mango Salsa, I gotta scoot. I'll be back from Ponyville before the end of the week."
He shook his head to clear it, a look of alarm crossing his face as he turned to her with wide, pleading eyes. " But Senorita Scootaloo, the regional championships, they are this weekend! And we still need to work on the cha cha!"
She gave him a lopsided grin. "Tell you what, you work on your cha, I'll work on mine, and we'll put 'em together when I get back. Gotta go!"
With that, she zipped out the door with a beat of her graceful wings, sending a little puff of mist up in her wake.
The pegasus stallion slouched on the floor and brought a hoof to his forehead. "Ach du lieber..."
***
After Twilight had arrived the waiting had turned much more convivial. Once the lavender unicorn had cleaned up and gotten some tea and pie in her, the old friends had fallen to chatting, catching up on all the events both large and small that had transpired since she'd left Ponyville to begin her doctorate at Canterlot University. She saw Rarity on a fairly regular basis as the alabaster mare had begun to split her time between her old boutique and her new one in Canterlot, but it had been months since she'd gotten to talk with Applejack or Pinkie Pie. The blonde farm pony was happy to finally have something to occupy her mind that didn't involve tip hoofing a furrow in the parlor floor, but Pinkie was unusually withdrawn. The constant vibration of her Pinkie sense and attendant queasiness it brought was getting to her. For her part, Rarity loved to gossip, even if she'd heard most of the stories her friends were telling, and had perked up immensely.
The white unicorn stirred a spoonful honey into her tea as she looked wistfully over her shoulder at the closed door they were all waiting to see open with good news. "I'm hoping once she's recovered I'll be able to drag Fluttershy back to the spa. The poor dear stopped going on our weekly visits when she started to show. Didn't like all the attention from the other mares in town, even though it was nothing but compliments and well wishes. You know how she is."
Twilight nodded with a smile as she sipped her tea. "Mmm. I miss joining in on those sessions myself. None of the spas in Canterlot are quite the same as Aloe and Lotus' place, and they're all far too pricey for a grad student."
Applejack cocked an eyebrow as she munched on a pfeffernusse. " Don't ya got a royal grant from th' Princess, Twi?"
The lavender mare rolled her eyes. "Well, I forgot to add pony pedis and mud masks to my proposal when I submitted it, AJ." She gave a shrug and set her cup back onto the gently floating saucer. "I don't think I could justify those to the Chancellor of the Exchequer."
Rarity drew herself up in sudden enthusiasm. "Oh! Ideee-a! We should all go together while we're here. I for one will undoubtedly need a couple of sessions to get myself back in proper form after tonight."
Applejack grinned over at Pinkie Pie. "If we brought Pinkie along, we could get a whirlpool bath without them even runnin' th' water jets."
The pink mare's eyes narrowed grumpily, as far as could be determined in their constant up and down oscillation. "Oh Ha Ha."
The blonde earth pony's eyes softened along with the tone of her voice. "Aw, I'm just joshin' ya, Sugarcube. How ya holdin' up over there?"
PInkie let out a shuddering sigh and swallowed hard. "Oh I'm d-d-doing okay, I g-g-guess."
Twilight shot her friend a pitying glance. "I wish I'd gotten around to somehow understanding your Pinkie Sense better, then maybe I'd be able to help you."
The shuddering pink pony shrugged. "Thanks T-t-twilight, b-b-but I g-g-guess I just gotta ride it-t-t..." She paused in her staccato reply, her blue eyes going wide "Ooh! C-c-c-combo!"
All eyes turned to face her as a look of concentration formed on her vibrating face. "Ear f-f-flop, knee t-t-twitch, eye f-f-flutter!"
Rarity cocked an eyebrow at her over her tea cup. "Darling, how in the world can you tell that?"
Pinkie stomped a hoof, an edge of frustration on her voice as she shouted at them. "EAR FLOP-P-P, KNEE T-T-TWITCH, EYE FLUT-T-TER!"
Galvanized by this proclamation, all the other ponies began to look around warily. Twilight called out in alarm. "Stay back from the doors!"
Pinkie Pie let out a tsk that sounded like the tapping of a typewriter and rolled her jiggling eyes. "N-N-NO! Not-t-t that c-c-combo! The r-r-rainbow one!"
Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity all looked at one another, each trying to process this information as they spoke in unison. "Rainbow?"
Their eyes went wide as the sound of a distant boom echoed in the distance. Applejack and Twilight leapt to their feet, the lavender unicorn carelessly tossing aside her teacup which was caught in midair by Rarity's magic. The two mares ran to one of the side windows and peered out, and saw a circle of bright colors expanding in a glorious radius over the horizon.
The blonde earth pony reared up and put her hooves on the sill, shouting in amazement. "Sweet Celestia's unshaven fetlocks! Sonic rainboom!"
Twilight pushed her muzzle against the glass, furrowing her brow as she muttered equations under her breath. She turned to Applejack with alarm. "We've only got a couple minutes."
The farm mare pushed off of the windowsill and galloped back into the parlor. "Incoming! Everypony shake a leg!"

The characters depicted in this fiction are copyright and trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. This is a work of fan fiction, and the author makes no claim on Hasbro's copyright or trademarks.