//------------------------------// // Xavier Breakthrough Project, Day 1: Loyalty // Story: Days in the Mind of One that is Great and Powerful // by The REAL Mister Pkmn //------------------------------// The plan had been structured. Each day had been planned out, in a cycle of seven lessons. The first day was Loyalty, the second was Honesty, the third was Kindness, the fourth was Generosity, the fifth was Laughter, the sixth was Hope, and the seventh was connections (but to keep with the theme was dubbed Magic). They would cycle like this until they broke through to Xavier. Maestro had voiced his doubts, but the plan was approved by all that had assembled. And so, the first day of lessons began… In quite the unexpected way. Trixie had woken up that morning to somebody pounding on her door. Out of consideration for her parents which had been up all night, she answered the door. The sight outside the door surprised her so much that if she had been drinking something at that point, she’d probably have spat it out comically. Five anthros were at the door. Very familiar anthros, at that. After all, Tyra was there, along with the other four anthros that made up the “Luna 6” of the Lunaverse. She spoke hesitantly. “Guys… is that you? You’ve all…” Tyra spoke first, a big grin on her face. “I know! It’s pretty cool, right? They all got e-mails last night! Now we’re all anthros together!!” The Raindrops anthro huffed as she rolled her eyes. “She’s just overexcited. Just call me Rae Falls.” The Ditzy anthro chuckled at Rae’s antics, then spoke. “Diana Elbatch is what I’ll go by now.” Then, the Carrot Top anthro fussed with her long hair as she spoke. “I’ll be going by Carmen Johnson now.” Finally, the Cheerilee anthro spoke. “Just call me Cheryl Lee from now on.” Trixie sighed, and brought her friends into a hug. “Somehow, I just had a feeling that we’d all be together like this…” The girls then discussed a few things as they travelled to the agreed upon place. Xavier was already in the park, looking indifferent to the new anthros. Twilight was there with her friends as well (along with Sarah), and turned to the new arrivals. She smiled as she saw them getting along well. She then spoke. “I take it that those four new anthros were the other humans that you brought to the party?” Trixie grinned. “Yes! Now not only do we have the Mane 6, but the Luna 6 as well! They all anthrofied last night!” she then turned to Rae. “Say, who did you say the letter was from again?” Rae pulled out a piece of paper. “Let me read mine to you: ‘Dear Regina Falls, I have a vested interest in a little experiment with you and your friends. I will anthrofy the four of you tonight, giving you inate knowledge on your new forms. All you need do is meet me at the time I request on Day 10 of your little Project with Xavier. Bring Trixie as well. The other anthros may watch, and the Mane 6 anthros are required for my little experiment as well. I will allow you to retain your anthro status only if you attend. I will be looking forward to your visit at 4 PM sharp in the Outback. Best of luck, The Crystalline Eye’” The group was silent for a while, until Maestro came onto the scene he looked at everyone. “Something up?” Trixie turned to Maestro. “Does the phrase ‘The Crystalline Eye’ mean anything to you?” Maestro raised an incredulous eyebrow. “The Crystalline Eye? The Maestro over in Equestria told me about him- He was the first Analyst, the one who found this world. Afterword, he founded a family of crystal unicorns, much like himself. He’s also supposed to be long dead. It’s probably just some fool using it as a moniker.” Xavier huffed in irritation. “Does any of this matter right now? Wasn’t there something you came here to do?” The group looked to Xavier and chuckled in embarrassment. Excalibur spoke up first. “So, how are we breaking this down?” Twilight seemed to think about it for a while, and then had an idea. “We’ll have the representatives for each element teach their respective lesson!” Trixie smirked. “So Miceala and Tyra for Loyalty, Ashley and Rae for Honesty, Flora and Diana for Kindness, Rarity and Carmen for Generosity, Pinkie and Cheryl for Laughter, Maestro for Hope, and Twilight and I for ‘Magic!’” Her expression then soured. “Wow, Maestro’s gonna do his alone. That’s kinda harsh.” Maestro shrugged nonchalantly. “Eh, don’t worry about it. I’ve talked Discord into finding me some help.” He then turned to the sound of footsteps. “Hm? Who’s there?” Janice came out of the shadows guiltily, a group of human girls around her age following her. “Sorry. I just wanted to see what’s going on…” Maestro raised an eyebrow. “And you dragged your friends into this too? I’m surprised you didn’t invite them to the party a while back.” Janice rubbed her head with her clawed hand. “Ehe. This was sort of my apology to them…” Maestro sighed. “I see you’ve abandoned the polymorph entirely. Why?” Janice shifted uncomfortably. “I was just tired of hiding my kirin nature all the time. Servo spoke of thinking of doing something similar, revealing the truth to her friends, so it inspired me to do the same…” Maestro glared at the group of friends. “I see. And you guys are comfortable with her like this?” The tan girl with brown hair spoke first. “Of course! As her most devoted friend, I can’t turn my back on her!” Her dark blue eyes betrayed no treachery. The african girl with black hair spoke next. “I will not have my promise to her be fomor! I have too much honor!” Her light blue eyes brokered no deception. A caucasian girl with blonde hair then spoke out. “I am too compassionate to even consider turning against her!” Her hazel eyes could not ever hold cruelty. A pale skinned girl with ginger hair piped up next. “I am not the thorn of a rose, but its charity!” Her green eyes held no room for greed. A light brown skinned girl with purple-dyed hair concluded. “And I have the right kind of humor to always lift the mood!” Her hazel eyes spoke of no spite. Maestro smiled. “Well spoken.” he then turned to Janice. “I’m proud that you have such good friends. I’m only trying to empower you to choose the right path. You know that, right?” Janice nodded. “Thanks, bro. I know you mean well.” Xavier made a gagging sound. “Eugh! Can we just get on with this already!?” Tyra and Miceala stepped forward, and Maestro dragged the tan girl -who he introduced as Bethany Gale- over to them. When asked why by Twilight, he just said: “Hey, maybe three points might work better than two. Besides, Devotion and Loyalty are of the same spirit.” Twilight conceded that he did have a point, and decided to allow it. She even went so far as to ask Janice’s friends if they would like to help out with the other lessons, to which they all agreed. Miceala started up first with the basics of loyalty.  “Bein’ loyal means never lettin’ your friends hangin’.  Even if it means giving up what you personally want.” Xavier raised an eyebrow, and shrugged. “What point is that even? Why should I go back to loyalty anyway? It didn’t do me any good last time.” He shook his head. “Whatever. I’ll humor you. What is so good about loyalty?” Tyra took up the reigns of the lesson next with trying to explain the feeling that true loyalty could give somebody.  “Standing with your friends at every possible moment gives a swelling feeling in your heart, and you know that you have done the right thing. But you have to know when to step in, and guide friends away from a bad decision.” Xavier placed a hand to his face, and sighed. “Really now? You expect me to buy something as weak as that? Ha!” He then turned to Bethany. “You. You’re the devoted one, right?” at her nod, he smiled snidely. “Well then. Think you can get through to me? If so, enlighten me.” Bethany then continued from where Tyra left off, trying her best to convey the reason to devote oneself to others. “You wonder why anyone would be so selfless as to put others before themselves. You wonder why loyalty and devotion to somebody else is so important. The answer, I will admit, is… complicated. To devote yourself to others, you have to consider which is more important, your own interests, or the people around you. If your interests harm others, is it really worth the pain you cause them? If your interests influence others to act badly, should you still pursue it? Is it worth the guilt of knowing that you possibly changed them for the worse? Or is it better to devote yourself to standing at their side as their friend?” Bethany shook her head. “Ultimately, everyone has the choice for themselves. To devote yourself to others takes quite a lot of energy, but it is worth it in the end.” However, Xavier started… laughing? “This was entirely pointless!” He laughed harder, and all three of them stepped back. “Did you really think it’d be easy to convince me? Please! This isn’t a world where everything just works out that quickly.” He huffed in indignation. “Whatever. I’m done here.” he walked off, and called back. “See ya tomorrow!” Micaela threw up her hands as Xavier blew off the Loyalty lessons, “Gee, that went well.” She said sarcastically.  She then turned towards her new friends, “I sure hope Ashley, Flora, Rarity, Pinkie, and Twilight have better luck gettin’ through to him than we did.” Ashley took her group, including Rae Falls, the Raindrops anthro, over to talk about honesty.  “Now, what do y’all know ‘bout Honesty?  I’m Ashley Smith.  Just call me AJ if ya want.  Got an apple farm outside o’ town, just like the farm in the show.  Ah even have been referrin’ to it as “Sweet Apple Acres.” Rae huffed in agitation. “Well, I know that I’m kind of blunt with what I think, never been much for toning things back. I tried once, and it only worried my friends.” She then looked to Janice’s African friend. “So. I’ve seen you around the school, but can’t quite remember your name. Could you introduce yourself?” She nodded, and spoke. “Please forgive me for not doing so before. I will correct this, for the sake of my honor. My name is Kimara Jalim, but please call me Kim.” Ashley nodded, “Howdy Kim!  Y’all can call me AJ.  As f’r our lesson on Honesty, it’s like bein’ truthful.  Not sayin’ you always have t’ tell the truth all the time, but as they say, “Honesty is the best policy.”  She sighed, “Well, Ah do have a little sister who looks up t’ me, so Ah gotta do mah best to help her learn through example.” Rae nodded sagely. “I’ve got a younger brother myself, and he sometimes is a bit careless with his bug collection, but I do my best to let him know as gently as possible that I want him to try harder to keep them out of my room. Not that it works, though…” Kim sighed slightly. “Would that I knew how that felt, so I could better understand you. But alas, we should focus on figuring out Xavier’s breakthrough. Already one lesson he has ignored, t’would do us good to figure out how to make him floored.” Ashley turned to Rae to address her concerns with her younger brother.  “When dealin’ with younger siblings, ya gotta show them their boundaries and stick to it..  LIke mah Granny Smith says, “Ya gotta give respect t’ get respect.”  Ya understand that, sugarcube?” While Ashley was talking with Kim and Rae, Micalea flapped her wings and went over to Twilight and the others, “So, Xavier just blew off the entire lesson on Loyalty like it was nothing!  How are the rest of the girls going to get through to him if he totally ignores even one lesson?” She hoped Twilight had some advice. Twilight thought hard about this for some time. How would they get through to him on the other subjects? He’d already brushed the first lesson aside, so how were they going to work this out? She sighed, and shook her head. “I don’t know, honestly. We’ve just got to work harder. It’s the best we can do. Besides- we do have 30 days. We can try this lesson again when the time comes. Until then, the best we can do is try and power through a bit harder, and have a bit of hope that it works out.” Rae nodded at that sentiment, and turned her attention to Ashley. “I suppose you’re right, so I’ll try that. But onto other matters- let’s run over what we teach beforehand- make sure it’s more structured and solid. We’ve got to impact him good. So- Which aspect of Honesty should each of us take? I’m thinking that ...” As the three discussed things, Trixie saw Maestro move aside, and answer his phone. She had to strain to hear it because of his whispering, but she made out a few things. “Bridget … accept ... through? … No, even ... change yourself ... what ... it won’t ... I feel. … Look, I won’t … ever again, alright? Just stop calling me. Goodbye.” After he closed his phone, he slid a hand through his hair and sighed. “So pushy… one of the many reasons I dumped her.” His phone rang again, and he looked at for a second before smiling. “Ah! Somebody that I can actually stand.” He opened the phone, put it up to his ear, and started walking away. Trixie could only catch the start of the conversation. “Hey cuz! How’ve you been?” After that, he vanished in a flash of light. Trixie decided that she should be going too, seeing as many had already left. She left Ashley, Rae and Kim to their discussion, and went home. Ashley saw Trixie leave the area and sighed, “Well, bein’ honest means ya are always dependable.  Others count on ya for advice on different things.  Just try not t’ get too much inta yer work t’ the point where ya get so exhausted.  Take time t’ hang out with yer friends.  Perhaps Twilight can help ya with some aspects of friendship.  Maybe we can get a journal set up for all of us to give a copy to Xavier?” Rae and Kim pondered the idea, and both nodded. Rae spoke up first. “It just might work. I’ll write a few notes, and see what I come up with. I’ll be going. See you tomorrow!” Kim pulled out a slip of paper, and handed it to Ashley. “If I’m not here beforehand, you can reach me at that number. I’ll think over what to put down before I slumber. Now, I had best get home- wouldn’t want to get lost and roam.” After the three split up and went home, seemingly nobody was around. But a shimmer of a fading invisibility spell revealed Chessmaster leaning up against a tree. He chuckled softly. “This is getting interesting… I wonder… That Xavier fellow… Will he cave to them? Or will he not? I’m a patient man, so I’ll wait and see.” He shook his head. “I best hightail it outta here. Lady Starlight doesn’t like it when I’m late.” He then teleported away in a flash of red light.