So, this turned out to be more of a mixture of Rainbow Rocks and The Friendship Games rather than just Rainbow Rocks, which isn't very obvious at the moment but it will be later.

And yes. I'm writing a minecraft fanfiction inspired by My Little Pony Equestria Girls. What about it? /lh/j

•°•

Fwhip groaned as he looked at the sheet Bdubs handed him. "What the hell is that strum pattern?" he whined, tapping his foot and fingering the chords on his guitar.

Bdubs glared at him. "Deal with it," he sneered before turning back to Zedaph. "Xisuma wanted to play it."

Xisuma was practically squealing, bouncing on his toes impatiently with a smile as he waited for Bdubs to give him his music, which he took happily. "Oh, I can't wait to play this," he said.

"Uh..." Scar stared down at the paper in his hands. "Why do I have a back-up part?" he asked like Bdubs was stupid for giving him that part. "I'm the lead. L-a-d-e, lead."

Joel snorted from behind the drumset. "Not how you spell lead, buddy," he teased. "It's l-e-a-d."

"That's literally what I said."

Bdubs sighed. "This is a, uh... screamy song, so Xisuma's on lead for this one," he explained. "I'm doing you a favour, Scar."

Scar huffed. "Whatever." He looked back down at the paper, skimming over the lyrics. "Wha- A Match Into Water by Pierce the Veil?!" he shouted, holding the papers out in front of him with a shocked (and almost angry) expression. "The emo band?!"

"What's wrong with Pierce the Veil?" Xisuma said with a frown.

"I think it's a great song," Fwhip interjected. "Just... not for acoustic guitar." He shrugged. "Cool song choice, though. Can't wait to hear you scream." He added a playful wink at the end that Xisuma rolled his eyes at.

"You can save the flirting for Sausage, thank you," X said as he adjusted the tuning pegs on his instrument. "It's been a little while since I've actually screamed, but..." He sighed and stretched his arms over his head, letting his guitar hang from over his shoulder. "We'll see how it goes."

Joel straightened his posture. "Wait, we're playing now?"

Scar sighed. "I guess."

Just before Xisuma started playing to cue in the rest of the band, the door to the practice room opened and Impulse backed into the room giggling as Tango chased him with kisses all over his face. They stopped when Impulse hit a table and stayed there to start to make out before quickly Bdubs got frustrated.

"Seriously, Impulse?" the keytarist shouted. "You skipped practice to make out with your boyfriend?"

Impulse and Tango both jumped, faces bright red.

Zedaph let out a hmph. "And without me, too," he pouted teasingly.

"I-" Impulse blinked. "Scar said we weren't having practice today, though."

Everyone turned to look at Scar, who was typing on his phone and smiling.

Bdubs rolled his eyes. "Don't listen to what Scar says," he murmured. "He's an idiot. Are you going to practice with us or not?"

Impulse gave a nervous smile as he backed up toward the door, dragging Tango with him. "I'm just... gonna go," he said slowly before bolting out the door laughing with Tango.

"So much for a full attendance practice," Joel said. He picked up a stick and tossed it in Scar's direction, not hitting him but getting close enough to startle the other. "Get off your phone."

Scar scowled. "Fine."

Xisuma's watch beeped and, as if cued, the PA system dinged, a female voice saying, "Xisuma Void, please report to the main hall."

"I almost forgot about that," he murmured as he pulled the guitar strap over his head.

"Where are you going?" Zedaph asked curiously.

Xisuma turned off his amp and set his guitar on its stand. "There's some new students and I offered to show them around school," he said. "Go ahead and practice another song while I'm gone. See you guys later!"

"Bye," Zed said happily as he waved, followed by the rest of the group saying their own goodbyes.

•°•

When Xisuma turned the corner, he could hear some people talking. He assumed it was the new students, but he thought he'd wait until they were done murmuring to each other.

"But what if you're wrong, Xel?" a Scottish accent asked. "This would be for nothing."

"When have I ever been wrong?" another person sneered. The voice sounded just perfectly in between feminine and masculine that Xisuma couldn't tell what gender they were. "Just trust me, Aemor. I've never let you boys down before."

There was a sigh. "Fine."

Xisuma stepped out now to find a very tall boy with short blonde hair, another slightly shorter boy with bright blue hair that was about shoulder length, and a very short girl with dirty blonde hair that was just a bit shorter that the cyanette's. "Hello," X said shyly, waving. "You're the new students, right?"

The girl smiled at him, a contrast from how annoyed she looked just a moment ago. "That's right," she said cheerfully. She held out her hand for Xisuma to shake. "I'm Xe- Er, Grian. I'm Grian. He/they, please."

Xisuma's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were a girl," he apologized as he took Grian's hand. "I probably shouldn't have... assumed..." He blinked a few times, his head spinning as a sudden wave of dizziness and exhaustion hit him. Letting go of Grian's hand, he stumbled backward slightly. What in the-?

"Um... are you okay?" the blonde boy behind Grian asked.

Xisuma shook himself. "I'm fine," he fibbed with a smile.

The boy gave him a weird look before shrugging. "I'm P- Jimmy," he corrected himself when Grian elbowed him in the stomach. "I use whatever you want to call me. People normally just use he/him, sooo..."

"Scott," the third boy said, distractedly examining his nails. "They/them. It's not a pleasure to meet you." Dammit it, another gender I got wrong.

Xisuma nodded slowly. "Duly noted." He noticed brightly coloured gems having from strings around their necks, Grian's red crystal seeming to glow. "Those are very pretty. Can I see-"

"No," Grian snapped, then his eyes widened and let out a small chuckle. "Sorry, it's just that these are very special to us." He lifted a hand to cover the gem. "I'd be devastated if something happened to them."

Scott and Jimmy almost looked like they were glaring at X, making him slightly uncomfortable.

"Got it," Xisuma said, stifling a yawn. "Well, if you follow me, I can show you around."

•°•

"This is one of the science labs," Xisuma explained as he showed the boys around. "Oh, and this hallway goes down to the performing arts wing." He paused to point excitedly down the hall before leading the three toward the wing. "The arts programs here are the best in the nation." They passed portraits and cases of sculptures as Xisuma talked. "There's tons of options if you're interested in any of it. There's traditional 2D art, 3D art, choir, orchestra, symphonic band, and there are several rooms for extracurricular musical ensembles to use."

Grian glanced at Scott, grinning. "There wouldn't happen to one of those rooms available, would there?" they asked.

Xisuma hummed. "Not sure," he said. "You'll have to check in with the choir instructor or the dean about it."

Jimmy gave Xisuma an odd look. "What's a dean? Oof-" He cut himself off when Grian elbowed him hard in the stomach.

"What Jimmy meant to say, was we'll look into it." Grian smiled brightly, the gesture feeling slightly ungenuine. "We do a bit of singing once in a while."

"That's cool," Xisuma said. "Are you guys an acapella group?"

Grian blinked. "A what?"

Scott scowled at X. "What kind of magic is that?"

"Um..." Xisuma shifted. "It's a group of people who sing," he explained uncomfortably. "I guess you could call it magic? I mean, acapella groups are pretty cool. They sound really nice."

"Oh." Scott's cheeks turned slightly red as they looked away. "Never mind, then."

Grian sighed. "Yes, we're an... ape-cello group."

Xisuma snickered at the smaller's pronunciation of the word. "Got it. We could go see if there's a room empty if you want," he offered. "You could even peek into my band's practice."

Jimmy's eyes lit up. "You have a band?" he asked excitedly, and Scott gave him an annoyed look.

"Yeah, we're called Stage Revolution," Xisuma said, matching Jimmy's excitement. "I play electric guitar. I, uh... I also sing sometimes, but it's not often." His cheeks turned a bit pink. "I'm not very good, but my friend Keralis says he likes my singing. I also-"

"That's lovely," Grian cut in, "but can we see those rooms now?"

Xisuma paused and nodded. "They're this way."

X led them down to the end of the hall toward the practice rooms. As soon as they turned the corner they could already hear music coming from Xisuma's band's room.

"Ugh, what is that horrific noise?" Scott asked incredulously as they covered their ears. "It makes me want to kill something."

Grian looked like they were glaring at Scott. "It's music, Ae- uh, Scott," he said. "Rock, to be exact. It's very popular, but it is..." He grimaced. "Very awful."

Xisuma shoved down the feeling of disappointment hearing that they disliked that style of music so much. Rock was his favourite genre and probably the best thing to ever happen to him. Hearing it being dissed like that hurt. Then again, everyone has their own tastes.

"I think it's cool," Jimmy said with a shrug, making Xisuma feel a little bit better. "Sounds funky."

"You sound funky," Scott sneered.

"Oh yeah? Well, you-"

"Enough," Grian snapped. He flashed X a gentle smile. "You'll have to excuse their idiocy."

Xisuma nodded slowly, then looked over at the closed doors from which the music was coming. "This is it," he said before opening the one of the doors.

Scar was up on the stage singing as Joel was having the time of his life on the drums and Fwhip was squinting at his sheet music as he played Impulse's electric guitar instead of his own acoustic. Zedaph was the first notice them, pausing his playing to wave quickly at them.

But Zed's choosing to stop playing threw Joel off, ending in everybody creating a mess of tempo-less sound.

Xisuma winced at the sound.

"Sorry," Zed apologized with a soft laugh. If Impulse were there, he would've been swooning over it. "Are you guys the new students?"

Grian gave Zed a large smile. "Yes!" they said happily. "I'm Grian, this is Jimmy and Scott."

"They/them," Scott said. "Please try not to misgender me."

"I'll do my best," Zed assured them. "Are you an ensemble?"

Scott blinked and murmured something to themselves about this world having strange magic that left Xisuma very confused.

"We're... um, we're an apa-capa-pillar group...?" Grian said. Xisuma felt bad for wanting to laugh at how he struggled to pronounce the word. "Ape... Ape-cello... No, ape-"

"Acapella?" Bdubs finished for him, smiling when Grian nodded. "That's cool! I used to be in an acapella group, but I had a hard time harmonising so I kinda just quit and joined this band."

Scott snickered. Grian stomped hard on their foot, and they let out a high-pitched squeak in response.

Jimmy, looking around the practice room, seemed totally detached from the conversation as he admired the messy-but-homely room.

Joel set his sticks down on the snare and stood to stretch his arms over his head. "So are we just going to stand here silently or what?" he asked when he brought his hands down to his sides again.

"Oh, I was just going to look and see if there was an empty room for the, uh..." Xisuma paused. "Do you guys have a band name?"

"Band name?" Grian echoed, tilting his head.

"Like, what you call your acapella group."

Grian and Scott looked at each other, then Scott looked back at Xisuma. "Euphorica."

The other boys all smiled and around the room went a bunch of 'ooooh's and 'aaah's.

"That's a really cool name!" Zed said, smiling.

"Our's is cooler," Scar said absently as he typed away on his phone. "And it's better because I thought of it."

Joel tossed his empty water bottle at the other brunette. "I thought of it, dummy," he teased, and Scar stuck his tongue out at him. "And would you stop texting Mumbo for one second to say hi to the new students?"

Scar sighed and pocketed his phone. "Actually, I was texting Cub, thank you very much," he huffed, then turned to Grian, Scott, and Jimmy. "Hi, I'm Scar."

Scott stared at him blankly while Grian's eyes widened, his cheeks turning pink.

"Hi," Grian breathed. "I'm in love-" They paused and shook their head. "S-sorry, I'm Grian," he said, and he tucked a strand of hair behind his ear, smiling. "It's wonderful to meet you."

Scott's eyes widened now and they looked down at their friend, who was staring at Scar. "Grian-"

Grian blinked and their face flushed. "W-well, we should going," they said frantically, turning to push Jimmy and Scott out of the room. "We have to, uh, take to the- the bean about that room, you know?" He let out a nervous chuckle as he left, slamming the door.

Bdubs blinked. "Did they say they were going to talk to the 'bean'?" he asked, whispering in case Grian might hear through the door.

"I think he means the dean," Xisuma said with a small laugh. "I think their first langauge might... not be English?"

"They act like their first planet isn't Earth," Scar said with a quirked brow.

Zedaph poked Scar's arm. "Be nice," he scolded. "They're all probably from another country. They all have accents."

"All of their accents are different, though," Joel said. "Scott has a sort of Scottish-English accent, and Grian and Jimmy have different English accents."

Bdubs groaned. "Can we stop talking about the weirdos and get back to practicing? We have a gig this weekend and someone keeps coming in too early with his drum solo." He gave Joel a sideways glare.

"Not my fault you guys drag the tempo," Joel yawned. "I'm just getting you guys up to speed."

Zed scoffed. "At least you guys get solos," he murmured.

"Stop complaining," Bdubs sneered. "You chose to play the most useless instrument known to mankind."

"Useless?!"

Xisuma blinked, watching in confusion as the band began to argue, yelling and shouting and throwing out rude names to each other. He was in complete shock at how mean they were toward each other, especially Zedaph. Each and every thing they said to each other seemed to fill the air with a thickness that had X fighting for oxygen.

"Guys!" Xisuma shouted, then gasped again. The air felt slightly thinner once they'd stopped. "What are you arguing about?" he asked, his chest heaving as he regained the oxygen his body was suddenly deprived of. "And why?"

They all looked at each other, exchanging guilty looks as Xisuma gave himself a moment to catch his breath. They all started to apologize.

"I don't know what came over me," Zed admitted shyly.

"Me either," Bdubs murmured.

Zed sighed. "I'm really sorry for what I said, Bdubs," he apologized.

Bdubs smiled at him. "I'm sorry, too."

"I'm also sorry," Joel said, raising his hand from behind the drumset. "Just to... let ya'know."

Bdubs snickered. "Thanks for telling us," he joked.

Zedaph yawned. "I'm feeling pretty tired," he said. "Can we cut practice short and just hang out for a while?"

Xisuma shrugged. "I'm down for that."

Bdubs pouted. "Sure."

"It's okay, Bdubs," Scar said, "you can practice your funky synth parts while we have snacks."

The entire group erupted into laughter.

•°•

Wooo new story!! Because I totally need to start a brand new one lmao /lh

If you haven't seen MLPEG Rainbow Rocks, you definitely should. It's free on Pluto TV, I'm pretty sure. /nf

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Have a wonderful rest of your day or evening, I love y'all! <33 /gen/p