It wasn't sunset yet when Octavia and Vinyl were watching a movie together in their living room, both of them calmly sitting on their couch. It was one of the few times one could safely say they were perfect friends, with Vinyl not acting crazy and Octavia not acting more mature than her actual age. The moment was interrupted when Octavia's phone rang, forcing Vinyl to pause the movie for her friend to answer.
"Hello?" Octavia said.
"Hey Octavia, it's me, Neon!"
"Oh, hello Neon!" Octavia said excitedly, prompting her roommate to look at her with equal excitement. "How are you?"
"Well..." Neon began sounding nervous. "Other than the angry mob outside my house, I'm perfectly fine!"
Octavia raised an eyebrow, confused. "...Angry mob outside your house?"
"And no, I don't mean like mobsters, I mean a bunch of-" Neon significantly raised his tone, now sounding more afraid than nervous. "- ANGRY FANS OUTSIDE MY HOUSE!!"
Octavia had to pull herself away from the phone to avoid risking deafness, since Neon's voice was so loud that even Vinyl heard it.
"I had to cancel some arrangements I had today because I CAN'T GET OUT OF MY FREAKIN' HOUSE!"
"Neon, calm down please!" Octavia said.
She had no way to know, but on the other side of the call, Neon was cowering behind a flipped over table in front of his window. "Calm down?! That's so cute, Octavia! You're SO brilliant!" Neon was clearly panicking, and the sounds of an angry crowd just outside his house only made it worse. "Look, I need to get out of here! What do you do when there's an angry crowd between you and freedom?!"
"I would be able to help you with that, if only that ever happened to me!" Octavia replied.
"Horseapples!" Neon said before looking over the table, able to see the crowd outside his house. "I'll call you later once I figure out how to get out of here!" Neon quickly hung up, likely leaving Octavia confused, but that wasn't his primary concern. He slowly crawled out from behind the table and walked over to the window, finally opening it. It wasn't his brightest idea, as the noise became loud enough to almost make him close the window again.
"How could you do this, man?!" a pony shouted. "You were like a hero to me! You were like a hero to me!" another one yelled. "I got into a fight with Scratch's fans last week and I almost broke my leg! Why did you do this to us?!" others cried.
Neon put a hoof to his face and sighed in frustration. He looked at the crowd, and noticed that at most one third of the crowd were angry fans, while the rest were just curious fans, curious ponies or paparazzi. 'How in Equestria did they know?!' he thought. His thoughts were interrupted when a pair of pegasi holding a microphone and a camera flew up to his window.
"Neon Lights, is it true you have ended your feud with famous DJ Vinyl Scratch, better known as DJ PON-3, because you admitted that your music cannot compare to hers?" one of the pegasi asked.
"What?! NO!" Neon replied, shocked to see what rumors were spreading about him.
"Then is it because you knew your music was better than hers and just wanted her to win?" the pegasus insisted.
"I...GET THE HAY OFF MY WINDOW!" Neon yelled before closing the window on the pegasus' face and closing the curtains. He thought himself safe until he heard the pegasus' muffled voice to his left.
"Is it because her parents Hoity Toity and Photo Finish offered you a huge amount of money to end it?" the pegasus asked from another window.
Neon panicked and closed all the curtains, then retreated into a corner and curled up into a ball, hoping he thought of something quickly. He then had an idea that according to him could not fail. He got up and quickly went upstairs to the room he used to make his music, which had a window just big enough for his face to be shown. He showed his face for the crowd to see, making them focus on the window, then quickly ducked and crawled to a corner of the room where a life-sized cardboard cutout of himself was standing. He carefully moved it to the window and the ponies outside thought it was him, not noticing the fact he wasn't moving at all.
He now had to run for his life, escaping through the backyard. He made sure to leave his clothes behind so that he had a better chance at going incognito. He looked around the corner, seeing everypony focused on the window, and he carefully trotted off to freedom.
"Hey! Neon is over here!" a pony shouted.
Neon froze in place before looking back, seeing the entire crowd turning to him and running after him. He didn't think twice and began galloping away at all the speed his legs could give him.
For nearly half an hour he ran endlessly, being chased by the persistent paparazzi and the angry fans. Every corner he turned seemed to add more pursuers to his problems, but that was not going to stop him from getting to freedom. After almost running out of breath, he managed to outrun the crowd long enough for him to hide in an alley, effectively fooling the ponies into believing he ran past it. Making sure he was safe, he took a moment to breathe, unaware that there was somepony approaching him from behind.
"Mother of Luna...How did they know?!" Neon whispered to himself. At that moment, a hoof touched his back, making him jump and turn around in panic while holding his hooves in the air, attempting to look intimidating.
"Easy, Neon, easy!" the other pony said. It was none other than the effeminate, lean stallion with the scarf and the interesting mane cut, otherwise known as Vinyl's current agent. "Did I scare you?"
"Oh, NO! Why would you even THINK that?!" Neon replied sarcastically. "...Who the hay are you?" he asked after calming down.
"Seriously?" the pony asked. "White Label!"
Neon still looked very confused at this pony who acted like if he should know him. "...Who?"
"...Vinyl's agent?" White Label said, hoping it was enough.
"....Yeah, not ringing any bells," Neon replied hopelessly.
"...I was the one who suggested to both of you that you should not make your renewed friendship public for the time being the day after you found out what caused the four-year-long feud? Vinyl called you to her house and I was there? We had hayfries and soda before I had to go?"
Neon finally seemed to remember. "Oh, Whitey! You look totally different with this lighting!"
"...I should have known," White Label replied sarcastically. He cleared his throat. "So, it seems like you're in trouble."
"You don't say!" Neon looked around the corner. "They know, and I don't know how they came to know! It's like if somepony who knows told them what they knew and now they know!" Neon said dramatically.
White Label raised an eyebrow, remaining silent after the senseless repeating of the word "know" before shaking his head and shrugging it off. "Yes, it appears so. And coincidentally, this happens the same day your agent's house is found empty..." he said, making his suspicions obvious.
"Oh, what a sneaky diamond dog..." Neon said bitterly. "But what I want to know is how they knew it was me! I left a decoy at my house!"
White Label simply looked at Neon with half-closed eyes. "...Maybe it's because you're still wearing your shades, Neon."
Neon looked at him as if he was just insulted. "No I'm not!" He put a hoof to his eyes to prove it, only to feel his shades. "...Huh, I am..." He took them off and put them away. "Sometimes I don't even notice."
"Look, you need to hide for now." White Label pointed at a taxi cart on the other side of the street outside the alley. "Come with me, I'll take you to Vinyl's place so that we can see what to do."
Neon silently nodded and walked with him towards the cart, climbing in quickly before anypony could recognize him. After White Label climbed in himself and signaled for the pulling stallion to go to Vinyl's address, the cart took them through Canterlot without raising suspicions. It wasn't long before the cart stopped outside Vinyl's house, White Label looking around to tell Neon if it was safe to come out before both of them walked towards the door.
It didn't take more than two knocks to make Octavia and Vinyl open the door, both glad to see Neon was alright. "Oh, Neon, there you are, you had us worried!" Octavia said before letting them in.
"You were worried? I had to run for half an hour to avoid paparazzi and angry fans!" Neon said as he walked in. "If it wasn't for Whitey here I'd be cowering like a bunny behind a trash can!"
Vinyl giggled and lightly punched Neon in the shoulder. "Told ya your fans were meaner."
White Label shook his head and put a hoof on Vinyl's back. "I think we need to talk...All four of us."
Soon afterwards, all four of them were in the living room, having some tea prepared by Octavia. They discussed how Money Bag and Full Pocket were certainly behind the fans knowing, and the consequences of such a thing. Vinyl and Neon knew very well that most of their fans weren't happy, but also knew that the media was their enemy at the moment. White Label, while not entirely soft, always put his client's comfort above his, so he knew he had to help Vinyl and Neon. It was then when an idea struck him.
"Neon Lights, you need to lay low for a while. It's clear that everypony thinks you gave up, and you will be the target here," he said.
"Low profile...Well, guess that means I'll have to avoid being seen coming into my house and getting out." Neon put a hoof to his chin, thoughtful. "...Oh, I know! I'll just move in here with you guys!" he announced.
"What?!" Vinyl said, surprised and confused.
"WHAT?!" Octavia shouted, shocked.
"Well it's not like I can go back to my house!" Neon replied. "Look, it'll just be for a while, until we get this all sorted out! I'll even sleep on the couch and go full stealthy! You will not even know I'm here until I work on new music!"
Vinyl nodded with a smile. "I'm ok with it! We have a spare room! It'll be like a long sleepover!" she said with the excitement of a little filly.
"I don't know, Vinyl." Octavia looked at her two friends, concern evident on her face. "I can barely stand living with your music, I can't take another musical artillery attack on my ears!"
"...Yo, Octavia, I'm sitting right here!" Neon said.
"Aww, c'mon, Octy!" Vinyl said, looking at her roommate. "Sure, Neon's music is sorta lousy and messy..."
"...Again, I'm right here!" Neon repeated.
"But you've lived with my awesome-level music for years! You can deal with his less powerful one!" Vinyl added.
Neon looked at White Label and pointed fiercely at himself. "I'm right here, you see me!" he said. However, instead of a response, he only got a couple blinks from White Label.
Vinyl got up from the couch and walked towards Neon, getting her foreleg around him. "We're friends, Octy! You worked so hard for us to be together as friends again, now you gotta help him! A true friend helps a friend in need!" Vinyl was now sounding like a politician giving a speech and getting cheers from the crowd. "And friends stay together until the end!" Neon nodded in agreement and looked at Octavia with pleading eyes.
Octavia was now under sheer pressure, not only from Vinyl and Neon but also from White Label and her own generous nature. She finally let out a sigh and smiled. "Fine..."
"YES!" Vinyl shouted before crushing her and Neon in a tight group hug. "This is going to be SO awesome!"
Neon was also excited, raising his foreleg triumphantly. "The Canterlot High School Music Power is back, baby!"
Octavia, between the strengths of her friends' happiness, could only force a smile. However, her mind was doing the opposite. 'Sweet Celestia, what have I done?'