Under the Blue Moon

Chapter 16 – Blue Moon Music

Ever since the Spring Fling, Tidal’s life has started to look up.  As promised, Lyra and Bonbon took their time with him and made sure that they didn’t pressure him in making his choice until the last dance for the school year.  What’s better is that Tidal stared to get used to the pain from his bullet wound back then.  In fact, he started to get used to dealing with the physical pain that he’s dealt with in the past.

But today was a different day for the group.  The school was preparing for the first musical showcase to help fund raise the school’s after-school programs, since a good amount of the budget was lost from the damage that was caused after the Fall Formal.  And lots of students were in the gym working on posters to help get the word out.  Tidal, Lyra, and Bonbon were working on their poster, which had a bit of a video game based theme for the event.  But they were able to get some extra help from their friend, Rivet, who was able to bring some more material to help with the poster.

“Thanks for bring the extra supplies for our poster, Rivet,” Bonbon said.

“Sure thing.”  Rivet looked at the outline and had to ask.  “So what kind of poster are you making?”

“We’re going with a Final Fantasy based theme involving the bards and singers that were used in the games,” Lyra explained.

“The guy with the harp is Edward, the spoony bard from number four,” Tidal explained.

Rivet had a confused look on his face.  “Spoony bard?”

“It’s been a running gag since the game came out,” Tidal said.  “And the opera singer is Celes from number six.  She had to take on the role in order to lure out someone who had an airship that they need.  Music has been one of the big things in the series.”

“I’m surprised that you decided to help us out instead of Rainbow Dash,” Lyra said.

“Well, she wanted to help out her fellow Rainbooms on their poster,” Rivet explained.

“How did she get a group started in the first place?” Lyra asked.

Rivet explained.  “Well, she finally got herself her own guitar after dueling with Trixie.  Applejack had to get her bass guitar after her grandmother gave it to some thrift shop by accident.  Pinkie had a habit of banging on anything with her spoons.”

“So I have noticed,” Tidal added, rubbing the back of his head.

“Fluttershy used her tambourine with the animals.  And I think we all saw how Rarity was trying to get help in getting the piano up to the music room.”

“Now we know why Clyde can’t get enough of her,” Lyra said.  “But does she plan to use the piano wherever she goes?”

“Not really,” Rivet said.  “I think she now uses a… keytar, I think.”

“I see.  A portable keyboard,” Tidal said, which got a few curious looks from the others.  “It’s a small keyboard with a handle that helps change the octaves on the keyboard.  You might have two to three octaves, but you can extend it to maybe six to eight with the buttons on the handle.”  The others finally understood what he was explaining.

As they were working on their poster, Tidal was able to overhear Sunset ask to three younger girls if she could help them, which they said that they were fine.  That was when Pinkie called her over to the group.  But Sunset’s walk towards them got more dirty looks from the students in the gym.  Tidal knew the reason for their actions and could see that they were never going to put her past actions in the past.  Tidal already put his past behind him and wished the others would do the same.

“Tidal.  They are not going to forgive her for what she did last semester, no matter how hard she’s willing to try,” Lyra explained.

“Still, people make mistakes and learn from them,” Tidal said.

“And do you think your old school learned from what they did to you?” Bonbon asked.

“How should I know,” Tidal responded.  “I left before seeing the final outcome.  Besides, that was a group against me.  This is one person against a group.  Complete opposite.”

But before they could continue their conversation, Celestia decided to get the student’s attention.

“Good afternoon, students. I just wanted to tell you all how pleased I am that so many of you are going to participate in the first ever Canterlot High School Musical Showcase!”  This made all the students cheer.  “This is a wonderful opportunity to raise money for all our after-school programs here at CHS. So keep working on those signs and posters. I think it's going to be one of the most exciting events we've had at CHS since the Fall Formal.”

And that’s when everyone started to stare at Sunset, who started to hide her face in fear.  Tidal saw this and stared at his aunt with a look that said ‘Why did you have to bring that up?’  The only look that he got back was the ‘I don’t know’ look.  Tidal knew he had to do something.

“Think you three can finish up?  I need to take care of something.”

They had a feeling what he was about to do and just nodded their heads, letting him do what he felt like needed to be done.  So he got up and walked up to Sunset.

“Sunset.  Can we talk for a moment… in private?”

Sunset looked up and saw Tidal’s face.  She nodded and got up and walked outside the gym.

Rainbow Dash came up to Tidal and whispered, “Have her come by the music room afterwards.  We plan to practice once we finish here.”

Tidal nodded and started to walk towards the doorway, but stopped and started to rub the spot where he was shot back in… in front of the other students that were glaring towards him.  He gave them one glance back at them, and they quickly look away from him.  The story about what happened to him back then still lingered around the school.  And with his past history at his old school in their heads, they knew that they didn’t want to end up like that school.  Tidal gave out a small grin and left the gym to join Sunset.

“Thanks for getting me out of there,” Sunset said.  “I’m not sure if I’ll ever live that down.”

“One of these days, they’re going to have to put all this behind them,” Tidal said.  “Or it’s going to come back and bite them… hard.”

“I guess it explains why some now call you Karma.”

It was true.  Since the Spring Fling, students have started to refer Tidal as “Karma” for how he has a way of turning things his way, good or bad.  Some think he had a part in what happened back in the Spring Fling in letting Rarity win the crown back then because he’s the principal’s nephew.  But he didn’t care.  Right now, he planned to help out those that needed the help.  And Sunset was someone that needed it the most.

“Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” Tidal said.  “But there was something that I wanted to talk to you about.”

“What’s that?”

“Aunt Tia just got word that three new students are transferring to this school and will be showing up sometime today.  How would you like to show them around the school?  Maybe you can make some friends that don’t know about what you did back then and understand who you are now.”

“That does sound like a good idea,” Sunset said.  “Do you think you can do that?”

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” Tidal said with a smile.

“OK, OK.  Just don’t let it go to your head.”

“Got it.  Now you go on to the music room and catch up with your friends and I’ll let my aunt know.”

It was lunch time, and Tidal was up in the library finishing up an assignment before his last class today.  He finally walked up to the main desk where Miss Cheerilee was working at when he heard signing and noises below them.

“I wonder what’s going on?” Cheerilee asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe it has to do with the musical showcase this weekend,” Tidal said.

“Last time I heard that going on was before the Fall Formal,” Cheerilee said.  “They were promoting a friend of theirs.  Twilight Sparkle, I believe.”

“Well, I’m finished with my work.  Thanks for helping me in finding the resources I needed to finish it.”

“Not a problem, Tidal.  Trying to find your way around this library must be different from your old school.”

“It sure is.”  Tidal waved at Miss Cheerilee and left the library onto his next class.

As school was coming to an end, Tidal was at Bonbon’s locker putting his stuff away.  With the musical showcase this weekend, he didn’t have any homework to worry about.  That was when he saw Lyra and Bonbon walk up to him.  But something looked a bit off about them.

“Hey, what was all that noise in the cafeteria earlier.  I could hear it from the library,” Tidal asked.

“Oh, you haven’t heard?” Lyra said.

“They decided to turn the musical showcase into the Battle of the Bands,” Bonbon added.  “And we plan to win all the way.”

“And nothing’s going to stop us,” Lyra added.  “So, are you going to help us or not?”

At that point, there was a green glow coming from their eyes for a moment.  Tidal just shook it off, thinking that he was seeing things.

“Um, you know I’m suppose to be setting up the stage for the weekend, remember?”

“Oh, so you don’t plan to help us win, do you,” Lyra said, taunting him.

“Don’t even bother,” Bonbon responded.  “He’s the principal’s nephew.  What else would you expect.  Besides, we need to head back and sign up before the spots are filled.  The competition's going to be fierce anyway.”

Lyra nodded and both of them put their things away and left Tidal by himself.

“Now what was that all about?”

Tidal was waiting in the principal’s office for her aunt to return to see what needed to be done for the weekend, and to confirm the change of the program as well.  It was a while, but Celestia finally walked in with some papers in hand.

“About time you got here,” Tidal said.  “What’s this about turning the showcase into a music battle?”

Celestia’s eyes emitted a green glow.  “Oh.  It was an idea that those new girls brought up.  When they saw the posters, they came to me and my sister and told us how they had a music competition at their last place.  It was a great idea that can get more students to perform in front of everyone.”

“So what do you want me to do for now?”

“Go home,” Celestia said to Tidal.  “I have to make some calls for some additional items for tomorrow.  So we won’t be able to get anything done today.  Just make sure you get some rest for tomorrow, OK?”

Tidal just agreed and left the office.  As he was about to walk outside, he was thinking about what was going on.

“First Lyra and Bonbon.  Now Aunt Tia.  What’s going on here?  And what’s with the glowing green eyes?”

But once outside, there were seven girls around the statue, to which Tidal knew six of them.  Some of them noticed that Tidal was distracted, to which Rarity ran up to see what was wrong.

“Tidal, is everything OK?”

Tidal just noticed Rarity in front of him.  “Oh.  Sorry.  It’s just… I don’t know.  Maybe it’s just nothing.”

The other girls came up to him, to which most of them were concerned about Tidal.  But it was Sunset that started to notice something different about him.  Or more likely, something that she wasn’t seeing from him.  She held his face and started to look at his eyes.

“Um, Sunset.  What are you doing?”

She had to ask.  “Tidal, where were you at lunchtime?”

“Up at the library. Why?”

“Have you met those three new girls today?”

“Not really.  But since you brought that up, how was the tour with them?”

Sunset blew a sigh of relief.  “I’m glad that you haven’t been affected by them.”  She turned to the new girl in the group with lavender skin and purple hair.  “Twilight, take a look at him.”

She looked at Tidal and noticed the same thing.  “You’re right.  His eyes don’t have that green glow like the others.”

Tidal was really confused and wanted some answers.  “Can someone please tell me what’s going on here, because this day has been really weird right now.”

Sunset was the first to answer.  “I’m sorry, Tidal, but I had to make sure.  Those new girls are not who they seem to be.”

“They’re sirens from our world.”

Now Tidal was really lost at what the lavender girl was saying.  Sunset saw this and explained.

“Tidal, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle.  She’s from the same magical world that I’m from.”

“You mean from Equestria?” Tidal asked.

“Yes.  And those three girls have the power to control anyone to have them fight against each other,” Sunset explained.  “Have you seen anyone with glowing green eyes as of late?”

“Well, first it was Lyra and Bonbon as school was ending.  Then it was Aunt Tia just minutes ago.”

“Aunt Tia?” Twilight said.

“He means Principal Celestia,” Rarity said.

“Oh.” was Twilight’s response.

“Are you saying that they are under these girls’ control?  How?”

“It’s a long story,” Sunset said.  “But right now, we need to do something to stop them.”

Rarity went into her purse and pulled out some money.  “Tidal, do you know where Pinkie’s house is?”

“If you can send me an address, I can find it.  Why?”

Rarity handed the money to Tidal.  “I’m going to see to it that we order some pizzas for tonight.  If you can pick them up and bring them over, I’m sure we can explain it to you.”

“That might be a good idea,” Sunset said.  “Since he lives with Principal Celestia, we might want to make sure that he stays safe so that he doesn’t come under the siren’s control if that was to happen.”

“If that’s what you want me to do,” Tidal said.  “But she will be expecting me to help out tomorrow with the competition.”

“That’s fine.  Just be careful around her for now,” Sunset explained.

Tidal was in his bedroom, waiting to hear from Rarity.  It was more quiet than before since Luna moved back into her home with her foster children.  But this time, it was a bit too quiet.  And it had to do with what those three girls done to the school.  He finally heard his cell phone ring, so he looked and saw that it was Eclipse calling instead.  So he answered it.

“Hey Eclipse.  What’s up?”

“I don’t know.  Mom and Cynder have been acting… strange.  They’ve been heavily competitive on a lot of video games.  It’s just that… it’s not like them to be this way.”

Tidal knew what was going on.  “So, it’s happened to them as well.”

“What are you talking about?”

Since Eclipse attended Crystal Prep, Tidal needed to make sure that he was careful around them until more was learned about what was going on.

“Listen.  Three new girls just started attending CHS today.  And for some reason, the school has been acting very strange since then.  Now they’ve changed the musical showcase into the Battle of the Bands.  I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m waiting to hear from Rarity so that I can get a better picture on this.”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Just go along with them for now and be careful.  As soon as I know more, I’ll let you know.”

“OK.  I hope you know what you are doing.”

Eclipse hanged up, leaving Tidal by himself again.  It was then that he started to get a text from Rarity.  It had the place to pick up the pizzas, what they ordered, and where Pinkie’s house was at.  So Tidal grabbed his keys and jacket and started to walk out.

“Aunt Tia, I’m going out for a drive.  Need to get some fresh air.”

“OK.  Just remember that we have to get up early tomorrow for the contest,” Celestia said from her bedroom.

“I know, I know.”