Scratch led Petina, Carousel and I across the grounds of Silver Mirror in my Equestria dreamscape. It was late morning and it felt like it was going to be a toasty one. The Ft. Trotterdale Tribune said it was suppose to be clear today but with all the rain last night the humidity would remain high. At least there was a steady breeze that made palms and weeping willows gently sway back and forth.

Our destination was large building located on the property. Apparently it had once been an auxiliary carriage house but Scratch had it converted into a dance studio. Most of the central posts from the center of building had been removed to create more dance floor space. To compensate for this some ingenious internal buttressing had been installed to make up for the lost posts. However it was the most recent addition that had everypony’s attention. There were already about two dozen ponies both stallions and mares standing around looking at one end of the building.

On a large raised platform were six sturdy brass poles that were affixed to the base of the platform and to what had been the overhead hayloft. Scratch jumped on the platform and reared up on her hind legs.

“Ladies will these do the job for training myself and my dancers? Are these up to snuff? Scratch did a little pirouette on her hind legs and then dropped back down to all four. “Wouldcha like to give them whirl? I’d love to see whatcha you two can do!”

Petina and Carousel looked at each other and grinned. “Sure.” Purred Petina. “We’ll give them a spin, but we’ll need some tunes to dance to. What’d you got?”

Scratch grinned. “Don’tcha worry we wouldn’t forget something as important as that!” The unicorn gestured to a small bandstand where Golden Bill, a couple zebra drummers and four other pony musicians were sitting. Scratch grinned and yelled at the griffin.

“Hey Goldie! Can you and the band whip up something good in saucy for these mare to dance to?” The griffin was lying on floor next to her giant double bass. She lifted the brim of her fedora and looked our way and smiled.

“Sure thing! If no other reason I want to see these two mares do their thing!” Said the griffin. Quickly she conversed with her fellow musicians; then she gracefully stood up and did a long cat-like stretch. She then casually picked up her bass and twirled it a couple of times. After a quick check of the strings on her bass she then began to play this deep, funky jazz beat. It was then that I noticed the griffin had a little doll of Scratch hanging from the neck of the massive instrument. One by the other musicians joined in on the piece.

Petina and Carousel listened to the music for a moment with their eyes closed, and then they looked at each and smiled. They trotted over to stage and jumped on to it in one fluid motion. They took the two innermost poles and launched into their performance.
Now I’ve watched those two perform dozens of times, but that morning they pulled out all the stops! Within a couple minutes Scratch and the rest of ponies gathered there in that building were hooting and hollering at the top of their lungs. The sound of their cheering brought other ponies from the surrounding grounds. By the time the third piece of music had begun dozens of ponies had converged on the building and were stomping their hoofs in time with the music! Petina and Carousel worked the crowd like the professionals they are. However as the fourth piece began Petina stared at Scratch and waved a hoof at her and gave her 200-watt smile.

“Why don’t you come on up and be our first student I’d love to teach you!” Yelled Petina. “ Besides I want to see what you can do with that body for yours!”

Scratch smiled, galloped and launched herself up on to the stage. Carousel greeted her with a nuzzling and then directed her over to her own pole. Then she began running the blue mane mare through some basics. Carousel reared up on her hind legs and wrapped her front hoofs around Scratch’s chest; she then gently leaned on the mare as she began rocking and moving her through some basic motions. Petina came over and assisted the earth pony as the lesson continued.

Scratch for her part seemed to be really get into it, after a few more seconds Petina and Carousel stepped back and watched as blue-mane mare continued rock and sway to the rhythm of the music. For their part Scratch’s troupe seemed to approve with performance and rewarded her cheers, shouts and whistles.

Over the next hour Petina and Carousel continued to instruct Scratch. Eventually five other mares began receiving instruction about the fundamentals of pole dancing. For my part I sat back and enjoyed the spectacle. I my attention was fixed on the dance stage so I didn’t notice the deep violet pegasus mare until she poked me in the shoulder with a wingtip. Turning to face her she smiled.
“Hey there!” Said the mare. “ I’m Amethyst Dream and its time for you to show us what ya can do!”

To be continued.