Octavia was wearing a huge grin as she walked in her house, or rather, hopping around in her house. She knocked on her dear best friend's door, her face still showing a rather uncharacteristic happiness. "Vinyl! Are you ready?"
"Uh, in a minute!" the DJ answered from inside her room. "I can't find the fancy dress my parents got for me!"
"Vinyl, we are going to a fancy restaurant, not the Grand Galloping Gala!" Octavia said, her smile still there.
"But ponies will talk!"
"Didn't stop you the last three times, just come out already."
Vinyl opened the door, walking out of her room with a different pair of shades, one that was red in color and pointy rather than oval-shaped like her normal, purple ones. "This better, Octy?" she asked, blushing out of embarrassment.
Octavia's smile got smaller, not because of frustration but because of surprise. "...I said fancy restaurant, Vinyl," was all she could say.
"Yeah, but these are my fancy shades!" Vinyl countered.
"...Take those off. It'll be better if you don't go with any shades at all."
Vinyl sighed and put her new shades back in her room. "So, you still haven't told me why you're suddenly treating me to dinner in Canterlot's fanciest restaurant," she suddenly said.
"Oh, Vinyl!" Octavia turned around to walk away, prompting Vinyl to follow. "Do I need a reason?"
"Well, yeah! You've been acting strange lately. Like, conspirator strange..." Vinyl answered, slowly trying to connect the dots.
"My, Vinyl, are you saying you doubt your best friend and roommate?" Octavia suddenly turned to look at her with huge worried eyes. "You believe I, the one pony who has the courage to live with you and still has her sanity intact, have ulterior motives for inviting you out for dinner?"
Vinyl felt incredibly uncomfortable all of a sudden and slowly shook her head. "No, of course not, Octy!" she said, forcing a smile.
"Good! Then come on, we are getting late!" Octavia said, acting happy once again.
The two friends wordlessly left their house and went into the nighttime Canterlot, trotting through the streets. After reaching their destination within half an hour, Octavia walked in first, looking at the restaurant's clock and at the ponies sitting there.
"Hello, ma'am." A pony in a suit walked up to her. "Do you have a reservation?"
"Oh, yes, of course. Octavia Melody, table for three." Octavia replied, getting a confused look from Vinyl.
The pony took out three pictures, looking at them and then at the two mares in front of him. "Ah, yes, follow me." The pony began walking towards an empty table with three chairs and a single menu on it in the middle of the restaurant, with the two mares following him. "The other one arrived a couple minutes ago."
"Other one?" Vinyl asked.
"The table looks empty," Octavia pointed out.
"He did not leave, that's for sure, so my best guess is that he is in the restroom," the pony answered.
"Oh, excellent..." Octavia smirked.
"Octy, what's going on here?" Vinyl asked, somewhat scared.
"Nothing, just sit and prepare to enjoy the evening!" Octavia said as she sat down, urging Vinyl to sit as well.
"I will bring you the menus at once." The pony walked away, leaving the two friends at the table.
"...Alright, Octy, you better start explaining now or I'll-"
Octavia "accidentally" dropped one of the forks to the floor, putting on a dramatic reaction. "Oh, how stupid of me! Vinyl, dear, would you be able to get it back for me?"
Vinyl raised an eyebrow and began to use her magic, but Octavia once again interrupted her.
"You know, I have never seen you not using your magic to pick up something, why don't you try now?" Octavia put on an innocent face.
Vinyl was now really suspicious, but still bent down to get the fork. Unfortunately, her hooves weren't able to pick it up, forcing her to get off the chair and under the table to pick it up with her mouth.
Octavia quickly looked around, noticing the door to the colt's restroom opening and none other than Neon Lights walking out. Octavia happily waved at him from the table, and that caught his attention. After waving back, Neon walked towards the table, unaware that his hated rival was under it.
"Hello Octavia, sorry to keep ya waiting, I was busy," the stallion in black shirt said.
The sound of such a familiar voice made Vinyl jump, almost hitting herself in the head with the table. "Wait, WHAT?!" She quickly got up, looking at Neon in the eyes, both of them with a shocked face.
"WHAT IN EQUESTRIA ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" they both asked the other, both shocked and angry. Their outburst made everypony in the restaurant glance at them, effectively preventing any further aggression.
"Oh, my, you two may want to calm down. We are in Canterlot's most famous restaurant after all..." Octavia said, hiding her satisfaction.
Both DJs looked at her, confused, before silently sitting down under the pressure of the restaurant's clients. They stayed quiet for what had to be a full minute before suddenly realizing something. "You!" they both said as they pointed at their friend, careful not to talk too loudly.
Octavia this time smiled externally, but feigned ignorance. "Yes?"
"You clever mare...Inviting me to the restaurant and acting innocent, it all makes sense now!" Vinyl said.
"The invitation through the phone, the table, all the ponies here..." Neon narrowed his eyes. "You wanted us both to be in the same room, you chose a fancy restaurant so that we wouldn't act violently and cause a 'scene', you chose this table so that if we tried anything everypony would see us, and you are paying for it to make us guilty if we walk out on you or refuse to act civilly!"
"Guilty as charged!" Octavia replied nonchalantly.
"Why, Octy? Why?!" Vinyl asked, not believing that her best friend would set her up like this.
"Because I'm tired of this childish fighting between you!" Octavia admitted. "We were friends, all three of us! Can't we leave whatever happened between you behind and go back to that?"
Neon shook his head. "Sorry Octavia, some scars will never heal...No matter how much Vinyl wants to apologize."
"Wait, 'no matter how much VINYL wants to apologize'?! I didn't do anything!" Vinyl said.
"You called me things and hit me!" Neon countered.
"That was because YOU called me things first!"
Octavia simply watched, letting the argument go on until they both got to the part she wanted to clarify. Unfortunately, they argued long enough for her to take a look at the entire menu three times.
"And what about that email you sent me where you said I was nothing but a-" Neon began, interrupted by Vinyl.
"I sent YOU an email?! YOU sent ME an email insulting me!"
"I never sent you an email!" Neon assured.
Both DJs quickly took their phones and went to their emails, getting the one that they talked about, and with their magic they held it for the other to see. "Then what is this?" the both asked at the same time, before reading said email.
"...It IS my email...But I never sent you this!" Neon said, confused.
Vinyl was in no better situation, after reading the email she supposedly sent she had seen the exact same thing. "This doesn't sound like me at all!"
Octavia took both phones all of a sudden, focusing on Vinyl's email. "...She is right...this sounds too complicated for Vinyl. She doesn't know how to spell 'mediocre'," Octavia pointed out.
"You don't know how to spell mediocre?" Neon asked, somewhat amused.
Vinyl blinked. "...It like putting 'Mid', 'oh' and 'care' together, right?"
Octavia shook her head. "Did anypony else have access to your emails?" she asked, determined to get to the bottom of this tonight.
Both DJs began to think, but they couldn't reach any conclusion. "I never gave my password to anypony, if that is what you are asking. That would just be stupid," Neon said.
"Are you implying that somepony hacked our emails?" Vinyl asked.
"I'm not implying that, Vinyl, I am sure of it." Octavia suddenly seemed uncomfortable. "...Excuse me for a second, I must go to the little fillies' room." She got up and walked away towards the restroom, leaving the two DJs alone. In reality, it was another of her elaborate plans, she simply hid behind a plant near the restroom and observed what happened. Unfortunately, both DJs were in an awkward silence, likely focusing more on what had happened and who could have done it. Octavia didn't lose hope and kept watching, but she was surprised to hear somepony else nearby.
"She's on to me, Pocket! I don't know how, but she's suspecting something!" Neon's agent said.
Octavia's eyes widened as she saw that Money Bag and another stallion were sitting at a table near the plant. What was Money Bag doing there? She abandoned her current plan to eavesdrop on the agent, certain that this was something worth hearing.
"Well, that's terrible." The other stallion shook his head. "Not only for you, but for me as well...And you know why."
"Yes, yes, we're supposed to be sharing our pay...But look, if Octavia finds out something, I'm dragging you into this as well! So you better think of a solution!"
"Do you think Octavia's agent is like us? Maybe we can bribe him..."
"And then what? You think Octavia is as stupid as Vinyl to leave her phone, with no password, in the backstage?"
"...True. In hindsight, we were lucky to get a pair of idiots as our clients. Too bad Scratch fired me..."
"Hey, at least our plan worked! For me, anyway."
Octavia couldn't believe her ears. Money Bag and Vinyl's agent were working together four years ago and caused the fight to happen? This looked more like a detective movie plot, but she was thankful that she had the evidence right next to her. In a moment of inspiration, Octavia took her phone and texted Vinyl and Neon to go to the table near her, giving instructions to reach it. She didn't send it, not yet, and came out of hiding by the table, pretending to be looking at her phone.
"Look, we gotta-." Money Bag saw Octavia right beside the table. "..There she is."
"Hmm?" Octavia looked at both agents, carefully pressing the SEND button. "Oh, Money Bag! What a surprise to see you here!" she said, pretending to be friendly.
"What a surprise indeed..." Vinyl's agent said. "Hey, listen, missy, how much is it gonna cost for you to shut up?"
"Excuse me?" Octavia asked, feigning surprise.
"Don't play dumb with us, Octavia. We know you know what happened four years ago at that concert!" Money Bag exclaimed.
"...You mean how I know that you made my two best friends fight each other? How I know that you two planned that face off? How I know that you got their phones while they were playing, with no password, and got to their emails? How I know that YOU sent the emails that started all the fighting?" Octavia suddenly said with a cocky attitude.
"...We need to stop talking that loud, don't we?"
"Indeed," Octavia answered. "I heard it all on my way to the restroom."
"...Really, how much?" Vinyl's agent asked again.
"...Just tell me...why?" Octavia said.
"Their competition was gonna boost their fame! We would have been rich!"
"So you hacked into my friends' emails, sent them insulting emails from the other and caused a four-year long fight, just for money?"
"Guilty!"
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Neon shouted.
Both agents' colors left their faces as they realized that behind Octavia were both Neon Lights and Vinyl Scratch. "...Mother of Celestia..."
"Full Pocket, what's going on here?!" Vinyl asked.
"Uh....we...well..." Money Bag tried to talk, but realized that this was the point of no return.
Neon shook his head. "...I don't believe it...All these years, it was you?!"
"Neon, please! This competition has been the base for both of your successful careers!"
Octavia shook her head, getting beside Vinyl, who was starting to get wet eyes.
"Oh no, I'm tired of you!" Neon got on the other side of Vinyl. "She was my friend before you came along! I blamed her for every bad thing that happened to me for four years, and it was all YOUR fault! She did the same, and because of you as well!" He looked down, thoughtful, for a couple seconds before looking back at Money Bag. "You're fired."
Money Bag's eyes widened, but then he began laughing. "You can't fire me!"
Neon took his phone and went to a certain file he kept. "Really? It says so right here in our contract!"
Vinyl raised an eyebrow. "You have your contract in your phone?"
Neon nodded. "You know, just in case he tries going smartplot on me."
Octavia was really amused at the situation, but did her best not to laugh. "This is almost too convenient..."
Neon read a paragraph of the contract. "It says right here that if I disagree with your methods and no willful agreement can be made, I can end this association. And it's SIGNED! So, HA!" he said triumphantly.
Money Bag and Full Pocket were shocked and desperately tried to think of something. "...You will be hearing from my lawyer, Neon!" Money Bag said.
Octavia smiled. "And you will be hearing from the press, Money Bag." She pointed at all the ponies looking at them. "Sorry!"
Vinyl smirked and walked up to the table. "And one more thing, Full Pocket..." She took her former agent's soup and poured it on his head. "You got soup on your mane!"
The three friends laughed as they walked away, back to their table, leaving the humiliated evil agents behind. Once they sat down, they finally ordered their food and began to talk.
"I'm sorry Octy. I'm glad you brought me here, I had to know that..." Vinyl said, awkwardly.
Neon nodded in agreement, then looked at Vinyl. "...Hey, Vinyl, I..." he started.
Vinyl waved her hoof. "Oh, no, Neon, I was stupid, I totally went and acted like an idiot...I'm sorry."
"Me too..." Neon got up and approached her. "...Vinyl...Think we can start over again?" he asked with all seriousness possible.
Vinyl's eyes were wet with tears as she nodded happily. "Of course, dude..."
Neon smiled and hugged her, something that four years ago would have been unthinkable. But what sealed the event was Vinyl hugging back and crying on his shoulder.
"I missed you, Neon..." Vinyl said tearfully.
"Me too, Vinyl, me too..." he replied, almost getting tears in his own eyes as well.
Octavia shook her head with a big smile. Her hard work had finally given results, and this was the best she could hope for. She would have joined them in their hug, but decided that from now on it would be their job to make up. Of course, that didn't mean she wouldn't help a little every now and then.