Playcolt: The Great and Powerful

by Majin Syeekoh

Memories

Syko walked into the Playcolt office, head held high. Despite the disastrous party, the release of the Elements Edition of Playcolt had gone swimmingly, and he had been promoted to Lead Writer. He stepped up to the reception desk, where a pink unicorn mare with a blonde mane was sitting. He leaned on the desk and cleared his throat. The mare looked up, then looked back down.

“Hey, Syko,”

“Hey yourself, Note Taken,” he said. He looked at her expectantly, her still scribbling down on whatever she was working on.

She looked up again, “What is it, Syko?”

Syko felt his voice catch in his throat. He wasn’t expecting this to be so hard. He finally said, “Well, you see, I got two tickets to see The Great and Powerful Trixie tonight in Canterlot as a bonus for my promotion, and, well, since it’d look kind of silly for me to go by myself with two tickets, I was wondering if-”

“No,” Note Taken said crisply, and went back to her work.

“But-”

“Never gonna happen. You know how well these office romances go as well as I do,”

Syko slumped his head, “Alright, but just as friends?”

“No,”

“But-”

“I said NO!” Note Taken shouted, causing Syko to lurch back, “now will you please let me get on with my work?”

“Okay,” Syko said dejectedly as he trotted into the office. Inside was a whirlwind of activity. Interns rushing around the office making copies, journalists furiously scribbling out stories, artists drawing cartoons-

“Hey, Syko. Congrats on your promotion,” a female voice said. Syko turned to see the green coat and purple mane of Dress Impress, their magazine’s pegasus fashion editor.

“Thanks, Dress! I’m tray excited about it! I even have my own office and everything!” Syko said while itching the back of his neck.

Dress Impress said, “That’s great, but…”

“But what, Dress?”

“I fear I’ll miss our little chats,”

“Don’t worry, Dress. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to chat!”

“That sounds great, Syko. I’ll hold you up to that!”

“For sure!” Syko said as he walked up to his office. Finally, he thought, an office with a door. He pushed opened the oak door and trotted in.

Inside was a mahogany desk with a comfy chair, a bookcase, and two posters mounted on the wall. One was the cover of Playcolt featuring Spitfire, and on the opposite wall was the cover featuring the Elements of Harmony. He sighed and trotted over to his chair and sat down. He saw a note on his desk. He picked it up and read it, surprised at what was on it.

Great job on the Elements issue! We have another assignment for you. Get an interview with Trixie while she’s still in Canterlot.

Syko grunted at that last part. So the tickets weren’t a bonus, they were an assignment. He sunk into his chair, worried how little free time he had anymore. Sure, it was nice to get out to Ponyville, but that was business. And now, they decide to usurp his free time with an assignment? He sighed, remembering what got him to join Playcolt in the first place…

----

Syko, a young stallion of twenty, was called in to the interview office, greeted by a grumpy old unicorn stallion who directed him to sit down. He did so, and the stallion looked over some papers on his desk, then looked up as Syko. Syko gulped.

“Hello, Psychotic Quill, my name is White Collar, and I’ll be conducting this interview today,”

“Yes, sir,” Syko replied, “and I’d prefer if you just called me Syko, sir,”

“Ah, well, yes…” White Collar said, “on to the interview. Now, it says here that you worked for Hub Magazine for the past two years...what was that like?”

“Well,” Syko started, “it was difficult,”

“Difficult? Why?”

“Because I had to limit my vocabulary in order to pander to a third-grade reading level,”

“Ah. It IS a kid’s magazine, isn’t it?”

“Yes, White Collar, sir,”

“So what made you decide on Playcolt, Syko?”

“Well, White Collar, sir, I felt that I needed to have an edge to my writing, to...make it more interesting, you know? Get real, uncensored stories from ponies,”

“And you felt that you couldn’t do that at Hub magazine...well, I’ve looked over some of your articles, especially the one you did interviewing Twilight Velvet, and I’d have to say that it was excellent. Exemplary, even. Our journalists could learn a lot from you,” White Collar said, causing Syko to blush.

“T-thank you, sir,”

“Tell you what, you get me an interview with Spitfire, you can call me boss!”

Syko’s eyes widened, “Really? I’m in? Just like that? Aren’t you going to tell me something like, ‘What is your greatest failure’ or ‘Tell me three bad qualities that you have-”

“You ever hear the phrase, ‘Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth?” Syko nodded, “Well, this is your gift horse!”

Syko nodded eagerly and said, “I’ll do my best, sir!”

-----

Syko was wondrously reminiscing about the past, twirling a quill pen in his magic, when he looked at the time. It was twelve o’clock. He lazily looked at the tickets, noting a twelve-thirty performance on them. He went back to lazing-

Twelve-Thirty! He quickly grabbed a pen and paper with his magic and rushed out of the office door. He passed Dress Impress, who tried to wave hello to the rushing pony who paid her no heed. She sighed and went back to her article.