26 - Smoke and Mirrors

Shining didn’t know when he woke up. Whether it was the mild hints of the midday sun shining through on his face, the dull uneasiness he felt, or his wife’s crying.

Though his wife crying was a significantly more urgent thing to wake up to.

Flurry had woken up long ago, reassuring them that she had to get started right away. And neither could argue with her about getting more rest.

But Cadance was another issue, one that Shining did not want to ignore.

He rolled over in the bed, taking in the sight of Cadance with her face buried in her pillow as she sobbed quietly. She had clearly been trying to hide it as much as possible, but something had awoken Shining, and he wouldn’t take it for granted.

“Honey…” Shining muttered worriedly as he slowly eased a hoof onto her back and gently rubbed under her withers. He couldn’t ask what was wrong—it was readily apparent—and all he could offer was comfort.

She glanced up through her tears and messy hair, “Shining…” She whined while moving herself until she was eased between his two front legs, his hooves gently caressing her withers and midsection in a loving hug as she buried her face in his neck.

“I know…” Shining sighed sadly.

“I feel so worthless,” she sniffled. “I am worthless.”

“You are not,” Shining admonished her quickly with a nip on her ears.

She shook her head and looked up at him with tears still streaming down her face. “My daughter is doing all the spells; m-my auntie has to run my kingdom for me, a-and… and…” she whimpered. “And all I can do is lay in bed and hope.” She let out a weak sigh and grunted at the same time as a new flood of tears appeared in her eyes. “Worthless…”

Shining let a small laugh escape him. “And what does that make me? I’m just lying here and comforting somepony who feels worthless.”

Cadance felt a small smile on her lips, but Shining’s small quip did not bring her spirits back as it usually did. And Shining quickly felt bad about it, nuzzling the back of her head as he rubbed her back even more. “Everything will work out, Cady.” He muttered softly.

“You don’t have to do anything; you just need to be here when we get Kieran back for you.” Though his words spell confidence, Shining was anything but on the inside. With the unfortunate reality that Cadance didn’t fully understand, she didn’t need to understand. Not yet.

“But I’m not even good at that.” Cadance huffed, “If I had been a worthwhile guardian, a mother, for Kieran… He wouldn’t have felt the need to leave.”

“That’s not true…” Shining countered slowly with a truly worried face. “Kieran’s misgivings were a fear brought about by Flurry, not you. You’re the most loving, kind, and sweet mare that I know. And you only wanted what was best for him.”

“But I-I didn’t give him what was best for him at all!” She countered as she slowly broke away from his embrace to seriously look into his eyes. “I was selfish! I just wanted the feeling of being a mother to another foal. I wanted more. It was all about me!” She cried as she whipped her head back and forth.

“Cady…” Shining muttered sadly.

“I barely knew him,” Cadance remarked with a huff. “What’s his favorite food? Favorite color? What sort of things does he like to do? Can you answer any of those either, Shiny?” She asked as her lips quivered.

Shining was at a loss, and all he could do was hang his head in shame with a deep sigh. “No…”

“How was he supposed to trust us if we couldn’t bother to get to know him? He was just somepony I used to gain the spark of that feeling of love I was yearning for for years.” Cadance admitted with indignation. “I’m not a good mother.” She decided with another whimper.

“But you did love him, did you not?” Shining asked after a short while.

A small smile appeared on her muzzle as she thought to herself, “Of course I did. I loved every little bit about him. His smile when I got to see it, his personality when it would shine through his shyness…”

“Then I think you’re being a bit harsh on yourself.” Shining said with a small laugh as he leaned in and nuzzled her, “With you, love always comes first. You just wanted to make sure that Kieran knew without a doubt that he had a family and ponies that loved him, so learning the intricacies of him and his little quirks could be saved for later. You just wanted to smother him with all the love in the world first. That’s how I think you felt about it.” Shining said with a deep sigh.

“Admittedly, that may have been the wrong way to go about it. But you shouldn’t beat yourself up for trying your hardest. And I know you did. You always do.”

“Now, if you want to be a mother for him, the last thing you need to be thinking about is giving up now, honey. He’ll need you more than ever when we find him. And then you can show him exactly why you love him.” Shining finished by planting a kiss on the edge of her muzzle.

After a few moments, Cadance giggled loudly and returned her head to the crook of his neck. “Are you sure you aren’t the alicorn of love and not me, dear?” She muttered quietly.

Shining chuckled while holding her closer. “I picked a few things up from my favorite mare in the world.”

“Well, isn’t that mare lucky?” Cadance said with another short, teasing giggle as she planted a kiss back on his muzzle.

A few moments later, there was a knock on the door. Shining turned back to Cadance with a reassuring smile before he stretched as he slid out of bed. He made his way over to the door carefully and opened it, and his eyes went wide when he saw both Zenith and Bristle standing in his doorway.

Giving another quick, reassuring glance back to his wife, Shining stepped through the door and closed it. “Y-Yes? What are you both doing here?”

Both his sergeants gave each other a quick worried glance before Bristle cleared his throat. “Sir, we have something to share. And I think both Luna and Flurry do as well.”

They turned and gestured for him to follow, and as Shining quickly rushed to keep up, “W-What? What did I miss? I was asleep for like six hours.” Shining wondered, “Did you find him?” He asked begrudgingly with a held breath.

“Not yet, sir.” Zenith replied shortly.

But they mostly stayed silent, and Shining stopped asking questions as he allowed them to lead him wherever they were going. But he quickly recognized the room as the same one Flurry had been practicing in.

When they entered, Shining could immediately see Luna sitting in front of Flurry in deep thought; a scowl planted itself on her features, though not towards the filly. “Alright, here he is.” Bristle remarked with a gruff sigh as he found another spot to sit.

Shining just continued to look around in confusion as Zenith stepped forward. “Has anything come to mind yet, Flurry?”

“What’s going on?” Shining finally asked as he held his hooves out questionably.

Luna looked up, giving him a deep sigh. “Remember when I said you might be needed at full attention? Well, I wasn’t joking.”

Zenith cleared her throat as she used her loud, commanding voice to draw all attention to herself. “Sir, earlier this morning, it came to mine and Bristle’s attention that Corporal Smoke Strike hadn’t been seen since the disaster. And with a little bit of asking around, we quickly came to the conclusion that he had gone missing...”

“What..?” Shining uttered in disbelief as worry reached his voice. “D-Did we find any trace of him? Are we sure he isn’t buried under some of the academy’s rubble?”

...

...

Bristle and Zenith gazed at each other again briefly, and Bristle sighed deeply. “It’s not that, Shining. We’re beginning to think he’s been… up to something.”

“And we think it may be related to Kieran going missing, but we haven’t confirmed anything yet.” Zenith quickly followed up.

Shining was in pure disbelief, shaking his head as the continued weight of everything continued to crash down on him. Feeling like the entirety of Equestria was just turning his life into a simple, tragic joke. He laughed slightly. “Let’s not get paranoid, okay?” Shining reasoned with a shake of his head, “Surely you two are just tired, out of your wits.”

Bristle walked over and placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Shining,” he sighed deeply, “we found traces of dark magic in his office. There’s ancient, forbidden sigils on the walls and everything. We aren’t guessing with our eyes closed.”

Shining’s eyes went wide as he took a few steps back away from Bristle. “But… this… this isn’t…” Shining fell backwards onto his haunches and sat with his head between his forelegs as he continued to shake his head.

...

Zenith took a cautious step forward. “Shining?”

Shining laughed solemnly. “The empire is in ruins, Discord’s chaos, Kieran is decaying internally from magic, and… and now you want to tell me the Smoke Strike is somehow part of all this?” Shining glared upward between the gap in his hooves, “I’m just supposed to believe that every single thing in Equestria has decided to play with me and my family’s lives, and for what!?” He shouted angrily. His two sergeants hung their heads low as their ears folded against their heads.

Flurry wilted from the bed. “Daddy…”

Luna walked forward and stood in front of Shining with a cold expression. “I can confirm their suspicions are true, Shining. I saw the sigil myself.” She paused to watch the realization hit him, and she sighed deeply as she looked at him with mild disappointment. “Now’s not the time to give up and act like all is lost.”

Luna’s horn lit up, and she forcefully pulled Shining up from the floor and set him on his hooves. “I suggest you listen to what your daughter has to say.”

Shining looked ashamed as he slowly nodded his head and locked eyes with Flurry. “I’m sorry. Please, what do you know, honey?” He asked her gently.

Everyone gave Flurry their full attention. “Well, I was thinking about the day I summoned Kieran. It was the same day that Bristle and Smoke showed up for… something.” She muttered unsurely.

Bristle nodded. “I do believe I remember the day. Shining, it was when I came to inquire about the upcoming schedule changes for the winter month.”

Shining nodded in acknowledgement. “Was Smoke ever separated from you? Would he have been able to sneak into the library and somehow convince his way into the royalty-only section and research dark magic?”

Zenith huffed a short, disbelieving laugh. “There’s no way Smoke could’ve convinced his way in there. I’ve tried to convince them to let me in multiple times, and your librarian watches you like a hawk if you ask.”

They all looked at her with raised brows, and she rolled her eyes with a sigh. “I wanted to research whether there was some sort of spell I could use to make the courtyard repair itself after sparring. I got tired of filling it with dirt every week.”

Bristle shook his head. “Anyway, no. I believe he’s been practicing this magic for a long time now; this isn’t a recent development.”

Flurry nodded. “Mhm, that day when Bristle and you, Daddy, were talking about stuff. Smoke walked over to me while I was drawing in the living room.” She paused to think for a moment. “He asked me how my training was going with my magic, and when I told him I’d given up on it for the time being, he said something weird.”

They all listened intently, especially Shining, who was barely a hoof away from his daughter. She looked up and sighed. “He said the words, ‘I wouldn’t give up on my dreams so quickly. Why don’t you give it one last shot? Maybe you’ll find things easier with a fresh mindset.’ and then…” Flurry growled, “Then he lit his horn and did some sort of spell on me. I didn’t feel anything when it happened; he just told me it was a good luck charm spell and then laughed it off while teasing me.”

All of the adults went silent as they took in the implications of that. Luna especially had to suppress her magic from flaring too much as her mane and tail decided to flare out larger. She suppressed her rage and calmly asked, “Is that all he did, niece?”

Flurry took a short nod and said, “I don’t know what spell it was. All I know is that night I summoned Kieran somehow…” She shook her head. “Smoke hadn’t seemed off or weird in any way. I didn’t sense anything off about him at all! And I just completely forgot about it!” Flurry reasoned.

“Shh…” Shining said, reaching forward and bringing her into a hug, “It’s not your fault, honey; he manipulated you and your emotions. He knew you were young and impressionable but wanted to use the magic of an alicorn for his own deeds.”

“I’m going to plant him six feet under if we find him.” Zenith growled.

“Before Luna does? I doubt it.” Bristle remarked with a shrug.

Shining gritted his teeth and hissed, “I just can’t believe we ever trusted him…”

Luna hummed, “I vaguely remember Kieran mentioning that Smoke was shady to me long before this all happened. I guess foals really are the best judges of character.”

Shining hung his head, “I should’ve listened better.” He muttered sadly.

Bristle laid a hoof on his back. “He tricked all of us.”

There was a long stretch of silence as everyone thought about all of this. Until eventually Shining clapped his hooves together and said, “Show me these sigils in his office.”

It took the four of them a while to get to the office, with the rubble laying everywhere along the way through the academy. When they got there, Shining was absolutely perplexed when he saw so many of the guards there. Most of the magic division was in the office, crowded around a single wall. Upon noticing his entry, they all swiftly turned and bowed, “Sir.” They said in unison.

Zenith stepped forward, “Everyone out for now.”

They all quickly obliged and stepped out of the office. Shining took a look around. It was a rather normal, unassuming office, the walls were made of darker wood, and the blinds were closed and covered with black-out curtains. On the left side was a large, ornate desk and chair, with filing cabinets behind. On the other side, there was a wall that used to have a bookcase against it but had been thrown to the side. Bristle quickly directed Shining towards the now blank wall.

Upon walking closer and taking a look, he almost immediately turned ghostly white as he stared at the wall. There was a sigil of some kind, with symbols involving magic written inside. But it was written entirely in red, and the sinister nature was immediately apparent to any magic user in the area. The wall itself just felt like malice. There was no other way to put it.

Luna’s feathers on her wing ruffled as she stared at the sigil in disgust and hissed, “This reeks of dark magic beyond the veil of harmony.”

Zenith came up on their side and threw an open book to the ground in front of him. It looked like a dusty old grimoire with a spiky spine—certainly not the most inviting spellbook ever. “Say, Luna… You don’t happen to be missing any important documents either, right? We found this under his desk.” She laughed nervously.

Shining and Luna just shook their heads in disbelief. Shining gritted his teeth, lighting his horn as he brought the scary-looking book closer to read it. Turning it over, the cover was too worn to read, and the pages were so deeply written that they blended together. But no doubt, the sigils were recognizable, and he couldn’t help but compare the one on the page to the one in front of him.

“This was written in the same formatting and hoofwriting as before I was banished to the moon. Old as our language itself.” Luna reiterated with a shake of her head.

Bristle sighed. “Smoke Strike was up to no good. Regardless of what he has been up to here, we don’t know what he has actually done. He could’ve been the culprit for your missing foal, or he could’ve just been practicing dark magic.”

“There’s no way he isn’t involved,” Zenith huffed.

Bristle stepped forward and ran a hoof over the sigil. “But most of our mages can’t figure out the purpose of this sigil, and they’re a little too scared to mess with it in fear of doing something accidentally incriminating.”

“As they should.” Luna said with a nod, “Messing with magic this ancient is just asking for a curse upon your bloodline, or even-”

As she was talking, Shining lit his horn, quickly writing some form of symbol with his horn’s magic before shooting it forward and laying it in an empty spot inside the sigil. The entire sigil quickly glowed and came to life in a deep red color, as the wall in front of them hummed and formed a sort of door or portal that led into what could only be described as a dungeon.

“-worse.” Luna finished with a deep scowl and sigh as she raised a brow at Shining and said, “Thanks for potentially taking one for the team, Shining.”

Zenith huffed a quick laugh. “I always forget he’s Twilight’s brother.”

Bristle’s brow furrowed. “Well… I guess that sorts that out.”

Shining just shook his head. “The symbol was right on this page, and the only one the sigil didn’t have already.” He laughed a bit nervously. "Also, I’m not too scared of using it like everybody else is, not when my foal is missing, especially.”

“How irresponsible.” Zenith quipped with an eye roll.

Shining admonished her as he stepped through the gate, “Coming from you, that’s rich.”

When they stepped through, they came into a dark, dungeon-like interior. The torches on the wall quickly lit themselves one-by-one until the entire room was illuminated. They all gawked in disbelief at the size.

“A room?” Luna inquired to herself in thought, “Be wary; this place was made with ancient dark magic; who knows what sort of traps lie around.” They all nodded at her advice.

Against the far wall were a couple of large bookcases with the dustiest-looking grimoires imaginable. In the center of the room was a desk, with a sacrificial-looking slab right behind it. It had dark stains on it that Shining tried not to think too hard about.

Along the walls were dozens of different sigils that did who knows what. Each one exuded a sinister aura that made him want to turn tail and run for his life.

Shining approached the desk, which was covered in various vials of unknown origin. A large map that was covered in dark manic scribbles. But he quickly took note of the more modern-looking piece sitting among the ancient-looking equipment. A small notebook that he quickly flipped open with his magic. Although the words inside were no less manic and nonsensically strewn about the page than those on the map.

“I don’t suppose this is a secret diary or notebook detailing all of his evil deeds in great detail for our convenience, is it?” Zenith asked with a bit of hope. At Shining’s small shake of his head, she sighed, “It never is…”

Shining skipped towards the end of the notebook, looking for any hint or clue as to what was going on. Surprisingly, the end of the notebook was cleaner, enough to be able to read, with fewer notes and scribbles covering the words.

“I finally managed it. If I am in any way a lucky stallion, this marks the end of my research. Once I am sure that Flurry’s magic works as a catalyst, I can move to phase 2.”

“Phase 2 of what? You creep.” Shining muttered to himself angrily.

“The catalyst was a complete success.

Unfortunately, that little cur has more of a command of her own magic than first expected. I can neither sense where the experiment is nor whether it is still waiting to be activated. If only I could get near it and see for myself.”

Shining felt rage building in his chest as Luna silently read the same words from right behind him. He skipped ahead a few pages.

“Of course, of course! Just fantastic! Not only does Flurry Heart have complete control over the puppet, but she can even make it do her bidding at will!

The stupid thing even got me in trouble today; the last thing I wanted was to have to resort to nabbing it for myself. But clearly, the royal family is far too stupid, as they’ve taken in that thing as if it’s an actual foal. Preposterous!

Yet, it’s no guarantee that her influence would wane, even if I did. Then I’d just be stuck with an annoying puppet that would do no more than pester me.”

A few more passages went by.

“There’s been rumblings recently, from places unbeknownst to me or even the great rulers of Equestria. They can see me; I feel it… They’ve been spying on me since I started my experiments, but they… they’re coming. I can feel it.

Whatever they are is not regular magic; it’s not even from this realm.

This wasn’t supposed to happen! Flurry was supposed to use her magic and give a vessel to a being at my own command! Something I could use to wipe this miserable excuse for an empire out with ease! …Just what in the name of Discord did she bring over? That thing is neither pony, magic, nor the so-called human it claims to be.”

Shining dared to look at his side, at Luna, who was just as perplexed as she was.

“That’s it, the finale.

They’ve found Equestria. The empire has been laid to ruins as well. There is nothing that can stop that tide of darkness anymore; they want what they desire at any and all costs. They appear in my dreams, screaming and begging me for my experiment, which I can no longer give them.

I can run, but they will find me. I can hide, but something… will find me.

I will try, but I am afraid this is my curtain call.”

The writing in the pages became frantic, even manic, for only a few pages. Eventually it stopped, and the last sentence it left could only be described as chilling to Shining Armor.

“To all those who try to run, I pity you. If only you could see things our way, everything is so much better now. We are together again; we are whole.”

Shining hadn’t realized he had all three leaning over his shoulder. So when he finally closed up the book, he practically fell over as Zenith whistled in his ear, “What in Celestia’s name does all that mean?”

Shining held a hoof to his head as he glared back at her, setting the notebook on the desk. “It sounds like he went totally insane.”

“Not exactly,” Luna hummed inquisitively as she held a hoof to her muzzle.

Bristle looked over at Luna with a sheepish sigh. “Could you explain your thoughts, princess?”

Luna nodded. “So clearly, Smoke used Flurry’s magic as a proxy to create some sort of undead puppet that he could use to destroy the Crystal Empire. Things didn’t go to plan, as Flurry had stronger magic than him.” She paused for a second. “I'm not sure if he expected Kieran to inhabit the body, nor Flurry making it in her own image. Then Smoke seemed to decide that foalnapping Kieran was off the table, but at that point his paranoia had started. He speaks as if Kieran is not made of magic, or even a pony or a human."

Luna stopped for a second to roll her eyes. “Which of course he isn’t; he is some odd amalgamation of Flurry’s magic and Smoke’s magic, and he wasn’t human after he died either. I have no doubt he’d be something else otherworldly.”

Luna sighed deeply, with a hint of irritation. “Smoke’s insanity seemed to connect him in his dreams with something. Something that apparently had it out for him. Which is why I must reiterate why we don’t practice dark magic!” Luna said it firmly as she looked around her.

Shining huffed, “So then… what would have happened to Smoke?”

Luna just shrugged, "There's no way of knowing, especially since we have no clue what he unintentionally contacted..." She hummed in thought.

After a while of silence, Zenith stepped forward. “Well, regardless of Smoke, there’s still the problem of Kieran being missing. What if that ‘tide of darkness’ is after him as well?”

Bristle pointed at the map and asked, “Would that have anything to do with it?”

They all laid their gazes on the map again. And after having read the passages in the notebook, the map seemed to make a lot more sense. Dark scribbles encroached from the edges of the map on one side; they had already engulfed most of Equestria, including the Crystal Empire.

Shining walked closer to the map to look closely. The dark scribbles seemed to surround most of Equestria, but there was one single spot on the map that hadn’t been scribbled over. With a bunch of dark arrows pointing directly at it. “Where would that be?” Shining muttered curiously to those around him.

Bristle hummed, "Would it be right about around Appleloosa? Maybe the outskirts, where a bunch of farms are?”

They stayed silent for a minute, as a deep scowl came upon Zenith’s face, and she huffed worriedly, “Say… isn’t that right around where that giant light from the sky was? Where we found a bunch of large luminescent scales?”

Their three faces drained of color as Luna looked around with a raised brow. Shining got on his hind legs, placing his front hooves on the table. “Are you certain, Zenith?” She gave a quick nod of confirmation.

That was enough information for Shining, as he quickly dismounted the table and collected both the map and Smoke’s notebook. He quickly began rushing towards the portal as the rest of them began to follow.

Once they all exited the portal, Luna quickly turned around and cast a spell into the room before smashing the sigil in the wall and causing the entire wall to crumble, including the portal. They all turned and looked at her with wide eyes. “What did you just cast in there?” Zenith wondered nervously.

Luna huffed. “A spell that could level a city.”

They all stopped and waited for a few moments in anticipation, as Shining sighed greatly in relief. “What if it had been under my city?” He asked with a raised brow.

Bristle grumbled, “And how are we supposed to do an investigation on him now..?”

Luna did not answer those questions, and eventually Shining returned to his task at hoof with his two Sergeants following behind him.

When they got back and entered the castle, Shining wasted no time in taking command. Shouting out to those of the guards around that were still in fine condition, “I need my three best flyers and a chariot! Now!”

“Sir!” One of the guards shouted and saluted as he disappeared into the barracks somewhere.

“Shining?” Luna asked curiously.

Her and his sergeants followed behind him in intrigue as he made his way around and gathered a few small saddlebags worth of necessary equipment and rations. “It’s my turn.” Shining said definitively as he began packing everything in with maximum efficiency, “Whether this map is where Kieran is or not, I’m going.”

Luna began to open her mouth, but Shining quickly followed up with his own words: “I need you here, Luna. To look after Cadance and Flurry in case things go wrong.”

“But… Sir-” Zenith began.

“No, I need you both here as well. One pony can’t run all the guards in the empire." He countered.

“Shining-” Luna began with a sigh.

The guard from earlier returned and shouted out to Shining with urgency, “Shining Armor, sir, your arrangements are ready!”

All three of them followed Shining out of the castle again, and sure enough, three pegasus guards were all hooked up to the chariot and ready. But as Shining came closer to the chariot, he grunted in annoyance. It was one of the large, gaudy ones that had space for about six passengers, with a large covering over the top as well.

Shining quickly began to use his magic to dismantle the chariot, tearing off multiple pieces until the thing was quickly becoming a safety hazard. His pegasus guards looked back in shock but maintained their composure as they waited patiently. Bristle raised his brow as Zenith put her muzzle into her hoof with a deep sigh.

After enough tearing and breaking of things, the chariot was nothing more than a single seat with extremely arguable safety precautions in place to keep him from falling out. “Should be light enough to get me around Appleloosa quickly, is it not?” Shining inquired with the guards.

The one in front nodded swiftly and said, “Yes, sir." We should be able to make the trip in about half the time now.”

Shining smiled at hearing those words as he put his first front hoof into the carriage. Luna finally grunted angrily, “Shining.”

“Luna, you can’t stop me!” Shining said back quickly as he turned around, “I have to do this on my own. I know I’m not as powerful as you, or even Zenith, but I have to!” He practically pleaded with the larger alicorn.

She just shook her head with a smirk. “I was trying to get you to stop for a second so I could wish you good luck and tell you not to come back empty hooved.”

Shining’s eyes widened, and he couldn’t help but laugh at that with a short nod. He gave her a confident-filled stare that almost nobody could refute: “I will.”

Zenith came up on his side, casting another warming spell over his body. “You’ll need it.” She commented with a smirk.

Bristle came over and shuffled awkwardly before giving a nod of his head. “Well… Good luck, Shining.”

Shining leaned forward and pulled Bristle into a one-hoofed hug. “Thanks, old friend.” Bristle reciprocated with a smile before stepping back.

Shining finished climbing into the precarious chariot and getting situated before he turned his head. “And please tell Cadance I’m sorry for not coming to say anything to her. But reassure her that I won’t come back empty hooved.”

“I will.” Luna nodded.

Shining smiled before turning forward to his guards, “Ready!” He shouted forward.

The pegasi did their last stretches as they unanimously responded, "Yes, sir! Launch in three… two… one!”

Zenith and Bristle waved at the retreating chariot as Luna crossed her hooves, and they watched it disappear past the barrier and over the horizon.

If Shining had woken up without a single shred of confidence that day, at this point, all of those feelings had been abandoned. Instead, it was replaced by a determination that filled him with more confidence than even the strongest heroes of Equestria. Something that made him feel like at that moment he could take on any hurdle and clear it with ease.

Shining momentarily wondered if this is how his sister felt so many times. And the thought only served to fill him with even more confidence.

Author's Note

All these 4's and 7's... what could they mean?

I don't know what to say about this chapter though... uh... So I won't.
Go read PandoraFox's story A Kinder World, I recently did some fanart for chapter 11 and she put them into the story. It's similar to this one in a few ways and really good so far! It's also her first fanfic so be nice.