//------------------------------// // The Day Of // Story: The New Talent // by Vinyl Mfing Scratch //------------------------------// The Day Of Vinyl woke slowly to the light washing over her face. It was gentle, warm, and quite soothing. She blinked away the sleep from her eyes and looked out of her bedroom window. Sure enough, the sun was up, and there were a few ponies already walking towards the studio. 'Must be about time to get to work...' She thought to herself while drifting between sleep and consciousness. As far as she was concerned the day wasn't started until she got out of bed. As she was about to fall back into her sleep, and all of her thoughts began to drain back out of her mind, one in particular struck a cord and she was ripped from her semi-conscious state. 'He's gonna be here today!' She thought happily. As the thought sunk in, she practically leaped out of her bed, although taking care to place her headphones on her bedside table. Unable to contain her excitement any more she wasn't even able to keep her thoughts in her head. "This is going to be sweet!" she said happily, nearly yelling. As she cantered out of her bedroom and out into her hallway, she entered the bathroom. 'No point in seeing him if I'm gonna look like crap..' She pulled out a brush from her cabinet along with a toothbrush and some toothpaste. She proceeded to groom herself to the point of satisfaction, which took longer than usual due to the "incredible stallion" she was going to be interviewing today. 'If you can even call it an interview' she thought. 'Look at me, going crazy for a guy I barely know'. thinking this with a slight tinge of humor, but more of raw sarcasm towards herself. She hadn't been feeling this way over anybody until she met him yesterday. As a matter of fact, she hadn't ever felt this way of anybody. Mare or Stallion. She hadn't had an excessive amount of partners, but she had taken a walk on both sides of the street. Regardless of her previous partners, she had quite the feeling of this new stallion. She didn't know for sure what this feeling was, but she did have a pretty good idea. She wouldn't admit it to herself, of course, but if it did lead to it, she wouldn't deny it. Realizing that she had gotten lost in her thoughts with her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth, barely even being gripped by her magic at this point, she finished up and put her things away. She left the bathroom, clicking off the lights, and closing the door. Heading downstairs she decided that she'd grab a quick breakfeast of a bagel and a glass of water. After she finished, and placed her glass into the dishwasher, she put on her sun-glasses. Not because it was bright, but because she had an image to uphold with the rest of the studio members. "Can't let them see these gorgeous eyse of mine, now can I?" She said to herself with a smirk. She knew her eyes were interesting, to say the least, although she didn't quite believe they were all that pretty. Just interesting to look at. As she went downstairs to get prepared for her "interview", she heard voices about half way down the stairs. They sounded as if they were arguing about something. Vinyl decided that she should go and see what it was before getting everything ready for the new talent. She didn't want anyone bickering around him. He didn't need to think the studio was always full of people fighting. There were a few certain ponies who weren't exactly subtle with their presence in the studio. They would always yell and shout if they didn't get the smallest things that they wanted. 'Gotta love that I work with a bunch of fillies.' She thought bitterly. It was no wonder they needed some new talent in here. As she made her way out of the door that led to the back of her desk, she checked to make sure no late night mail came for her. None did, so she checked to make sure everything else was where it needed to be. Once everything checked out she want to the bickering pair of stallions. They seemed to be arguing over the schedule for one of the radio booths. She decided not to even bother. 'No point in trying to solve it since they're so stubbornly ignorant.' She thought, somewhat irritated at the two stallions representing her studio so poorly. Instead, she decided that she would go see the studio manager to make sure he was ready for her fresh, new, and extremely handsome talent. She asked a nearby studio member that was engrossed in her computer's monitor where the Manager was and with a slightly irritated response she said, "He's in his office. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm busy." Vinyl just stood there for a moment waiting for her to look up. When she did she almost flinched. She hadn't expected Dj-Pon3 to be coming to talk to her. She started to mutter an apology but Vinyl cut her off with a wave of her hoof. "It's not a big deal. Just maybe look up first next time?". When she finished her sentence, Vinyl nodded to the mare and walked away from her towards the Manager's office, which was in the back near her desk. As she walked by her desk to enter the office door she adjusted her nameplate so that it was crooked on the desk. Not everybody had to be completely straight. 'Heh... I'm definitly not. But I will be for that stallion I've got coming to see me today.' She thought, while a small smirk formed on her face. Those were thoughts for a later date. Right now, she needed to focus on making sure the Managaer was ready to inspect the new musical stallion she had found. As she walked into the office, she was surprised to see that the Manager had his face down on his desk, and she thought she heard the sound of crying. The sound quickly ceased as she entered the doorway. Vinyl just stood there, after closing the door, as to give time for him to regain his composure. After a few moments he lifted his head up revealing his puffy and bloodshot eyes. "How can I help you Vinyl?" He asked, with a tone completely void of all emotion. The only trace that it was a living thing speaking was his voice cracking slightly at the end of his sentence. "Well, Today was the day I had scheduled for the interview for the guy I found. I just came in to make sure everything was cool, and you were ready for him to show up." She said simply. "When's he supposed to be here?" "Sometime after five o'clock, no later than eight" "You do realize that it's already One in the afternoon, right?" To this, Vinyl glanced at the clock on his desk before answering. It read 1:02. "Yeah, I know I slept in a bit late. I just figured since nobody came to get me that I wasn't needed for anything 'till he got here." She answered apologeticly. "It's fine, I wasn't planning on waking you today anyway. You won't have to deal with me much longer anyway." Vinyl was shocked to hear this. She didn't know if he was quitting, if he was being fired, or if he had being daignosed with health issues that had cut his abilities to deal with all the people he has to control around the studio. While being lost in her thoughts she hadn't realized that the Manager was just staring at her. He cleared his throat to pull her out of her trance. "You gonna say something, Vinyl?" He asked her gently. "Why are you leaving? I know I called you a pain in the butt a few times, but I never wanted to make you quit. It's not like we don't like you here. You do your job better than anyone else I know could!" By the time she got to her last sentence she was almost in a panic. She didn't want him to leave the studio. They did make fun of him occasionally, but it wasn't like they meant anything. He just tended to take his job too seriously at times, and they decided to poke fun at him. "Vinyl, Calm down. It's not anybody's fault. It's just something I've had happen in my life that has opened my eyes to what I should be doing." He said, somewhat soothingly. He could see Vinyl's displeasure with the situation. "Well, where you going?" She asked out of pure concern for her Manager. The big lug did grow on her after a while. The main reason they picked on him was really, just because he was the boss. "I'm retiring to the country. My daughter just left the house for Manehatten, and my wife is getting tired of the 'same old thing' every day." As he reached the end of his sentence Vinyl could detect a large amount of sadness in his voice. He hadn't meant for that to slip out, but he couldn't help it. It was too overwhelming for him. A few moments of silence later, Vinyl couldn't help but notice that she saw a few tears falling from the stallion's face. At this sight, she walked over, pulled the chair out, and gave him a hug. "It's okay man. Everything's gonna be fine." She said, while he hugged her back. She really was sorry for the poor guy. She didn't want to have to deal with a new manager. After a few minutes of him crying on Vinyl's shoulder, he pulled himself out of the hug and took a moment to think. After a few, he looked as if he was trying to find words to say. "You don't have to explain any more if you don't want to dude." She said, while giving him a small smile. "You probably should know who's going to be replacing me, since I'm leaving tomorrow." He said blandly. "Well, who's it going to be?" Vinyl asked slowly. "After I leave, it's going to be you." He said blatently. At this, Vinyl just stood there with her mouth agape. She hadn't expected that, that's for sure. The stallion across the room from her just looked on at her and chuckled. He figured she'd be surprised. Once Vinyl had finally come out of her trance, all she could do was wait for her explaination to be given. Why had she been given the job? What qualified her? Who decided to give it to her? "Before you ask, everyone here voted that you manage the studio if I were to ever leave. I asked them as a 'hypothetical' situation." He said, still amused that Vinyl had been so baffled by her promotion. The first thought Vinyl had about this, was that she could finally stop the senseless bickering that happened practically all day. All the happiness she was feeling towards her new job, was replaced by dissapointment when she remembered who she was replacing. Althought it was going to be a while until she was going to get adjusted to him not being there, and being responsible for the studio. This was going to be a big thing for her, and she knew it. "Thanks man. I appreciate you deciding to give it to me. I'm still kinda bumbed you have to leave thought man." She said, somewhat sadly. "I'm surprised you're gonna miss me. But I figure the teasing and whatnot was just because I'm- I was, the boss." "Well either way, you're gonna be missed big man." She said, reassuring him that they hadn't taken him for granted. Not all the time, that is. Vinyl glanced at the clock and was shocked she'd been in her for so long. It was already 2 o'clock. She decided she should go out and check things again. "Well, I should probably make sure everything's where it should be for the guy coming in. I still want you to approve of him." Vinyl told him. "Even though it doesn't matter at this point, I don't see why not. Come in and get me when he arrives." "Sounds like a plan man." She said happily. She decided to give him another hug, just because it seemed appropriate. She wrapped her arms back around him and he did the same for her. She wasn't exactly sure why she thought she should give him a hug, but like before, she thought it was fitting. She gave him a squeeze and pulled away, and he pulled away with a small grin on his face. "Well at least I know that I can make somebody feel better with a good 'ol hug." She said playingly. His response was just a chuckle and a smile, with a wave as Vinyl turned to exit his office. As she closed the door, with her magic, behind her she heard a barely audible knock on the front door to the studio. The reason it was so muffled wasn't because of the knock being weak, it was because the bickering still hadn't ceased out in the main room of the studio. Vinyl decided that she'd talk to everyone about the constant arguing tomorrow, after she was appointed to her position. Until then, she'd be able to deal with it. She proceeded to walk to the door to open it for whoever it was. The sight she saw before her was one that nearly made her choke on her own tongue. "Are you going to invite me in, or are you going to just sit there and stare at me?" Said that one dark-blue incorn that was beginning to steal away Vinyl's heart.