Epilogue
"And that was the story of the Conduit," Storm Shadows said to the foals listening to the story of Bradford. Scootaloo was among them, listening with great interest. Of course, she had lived it. So had the others around her, but only she remembered it.
"How come your bracelets are the same as his?" Sweetie Belle asked him.
"I like to get into character when I read this," Storm lied. Scootaloo knew this was his journal, but couldn't say anything in front of the others.
"I love that book," Spike said. He had also been in on the reading.
"Now, remember to get here next week for the next reading. I'll see you then!" He exclaimed, and then the children began to leave. He stopped Scootaloo with a hoof on her shoulder.
"What's up?" She asked.
"I wanted to make sure nothing was going on. Have you told anyone about it? I see Sweetie and Applebloom haven't gotten their cutie marks, so I'd assume you haven't?"
"I kept the promise," Scootaloo confirmed. "But I'm still a bit miffed about my talent being changed, but I'm good. You'd think they'd be a bit more suspicious about a book with them in it."
Storm laughed. "But they're not. Now get back home now, I have a letter to write."
Scootaloo nodded, and Storm picked up a quill with his magic. Despite being an Pegasus pony, he was still a Conduit. No one knew this, of course, but he still secretly used his magic. The white glow enveloped the writing utensil, and it lifted into the air. It had been three months since he had turned everything back everything, and his life was good. He had bought a house relatively close to the library, and moved in. Not that he had much to move.
He opened the door, and walked outside. The letter had just been a convenient excuse to get out. He trotted through the town with a zip in his step. Every pony knew him, but didn't really know him. They knew his mask.
He had taken on an identity of general joy, always looking to the positive side of everything. Storm was now generally charismatic, willing to befriend anypony who came to him. He had become a bit of social butterfly, much unlike his previous identity. After all, of you wear a mask long enough, you become it, which is exactly what happened.
He had even considered dating. After all, he was now a pony, and nothing would be wrong with finding himself a fillyfriend. In fact, that's exactly what he did. He was on his way to meet her, and he thought it was going very well, all things considered. Realistically, Storm Shadows was required to find someone that could live forever, because of his own immortality. This limited his options severely, making his only eligible pursuits the Bearers or the Princesses, and there was something off to him about dating a god.
The destination was Sugarcube corner, where he would undoubtedly see the hyperactive Pinkie Pie, who had thrown him and his fillyfriend a party in celebration of their getting together. However, she was not the one he was going to see.
He stepped through the door, and found her. It was pretty hard to miss the rainbow-maned Pegasus. That's right. He had begun dating Rainbow Dash.
During their time together, Storm had found her to be much smarter than she let on. It was pretty funny when he found her reading, something that was really only seen in the field of Daring Do. She had completely stripped herself of her ego, in favor of a more modest personality. Though she still liked to boast the Rainboom every now and then. However, It had been a topic of debate between the two to reveal Storm's abilities for some time now.
Storm took his seat across from Dash, and they shared a smile. She had really warmed up to him, and they had a unique bond that couldn't be found anywhere else. Meaning, where else could you find two dating immortals?
"How's Scootaloo?" Dash asked.
"She's fine. The foals seem to like hearing my story every now and then," Storm replied.
"Good. I hate to see her struggle, but I can't really do much about how much her life's changed. Must be hard to know she has to rediscover her talent all over."
"It's worse to know you caused it. Shall we?" Storm proposed.
"Sure. Did you plan anything?" Dash asked.
"If you didn't, I was thinking we could just eat here. Who doesn't like a cupcake now and then?"
"I didn't. Now where's Pinkie?" She asked. "I just hope she doesn't-"
"Come out of nowhere?" Pinkie said from behind Storm, who proceeded to have a heart attack.
"Jeez!" He wheezed out. "Stop doing that! One of these days I'm going to have to figure out how you're doing that! It's faster than teleporting!"
"You'll never figure me out," Pinkie sing-songed. "The usual?"
"Nailed it," Dash said.
"Be right back," Pinkie stated, then trotted away.
"Remember how you asked me out? It was so embarrassing," Dash reminded him.
"Can't forget that," Storm said. He had convinced Twilight to ask her to come to the large cloud formation that had come through that day, and when she got there, he ignited several magical fireworks that spelled out, "Will you go out with me?" then appeared in front of her. Naturally, she couldn't say no to something like that, and Rainbow Dash doesn't regret a second of it.
"It was so corny," Dash said.
"But it worked, didn't it?"
"Yeah." She sighed. "Can you take Tank for a day or two? I got called to stop some weather problems in Manehattan, so I've got to be away for a little."
"Gladly," Storm agreed.
Pinkie came back and set two cupcakes on the table, one for each. Storm's was just plain vanilla with white frosting, while Rainbow's was chocolate with Rainbow colored frosting.
They ate happily, then trotted out the door. "I assume I'll be receiving payment for pet-sitting?" Storm asked.
"How about this," Dash said, then kissed him on the cheek. Storm's wings flared out.
"Good enough," Storm said in a daze.
"Sorry I've gotta cut this short, but the problems are insane in Manehattan," Dash apologized.
"What's going on over there to need reinforcements?" Storm asked in a joke.
"Let me ask you this: Is it normal for it to be snowing and raining in a checker pattern?"
"No... You might want to get over there."
She took off. "Love you!" She exclaimed, and took off flying at top speed.
Storm sighed, and flew towards Rainbow's cloud home. He picked up Tank, and teleported back to his house.
Life was good for Equestria's most powerful mage.
He knew he would just get more and more powerful, and not be able to stop it. The air was positively filled with magic, and Storm's power was just increasing with each day.
He set Tank on the ground to meander, and took out his book. It was just history, but the first-hoof accounts of Celestia herself was a good read.
«{[()]}»
Meanwhile, Scootaloo was flying back to her house for supper. Everypony likes a daisy sandwich. Storm had healed her disorder once more, much to the amazement of her parents and doctors.
She landed outside, and pushed open the door. She sat down at the table, where her parents had happy looks on their faces. They had lit a candle in the center of the table, which the family had found to add a sort of liveliness to the room.
"Scootaloo, we have great news!" Her mother said.
"What?" Scootaloo asked. News was rare in her house.
"I got the job!" Her dad exclaimed. "I appealed to Rainbow Dash, and she gave me a position in Weather Patrol! Granted it took a little convincing from her coltfriend, but still!"
"That's great, Dad," Scootaloo said drearily. She didn't really care. This world was pretty much the same as the last one, but now, only her mother was there to spend time with her.
"We figured you would be that way," Her mom said. "That's why we figured we'd tell you the other thing now."
Two announcements in one day. "What?"
"You're getting a little sister!" Her mother exclaimed. "Or brother."
Scootaloo was stunned. She was going to be an older sister. Her face broke into a wide grin. "Yes!"
Her parents smiled while Scootaloo cheered. Then it happened in seconds.
The candle's flame began to flare up, getting bigger and bigger the more excited Scootaloo got. Soon, it was a big a beach ball.
Scootaloo opened her eyes, and immediately freaked out. Her father had gotten a bucket of water, and proceeded to throw it on the flames.
Though the family was stunned, the fire was out. Scootaloo, however, knew one thing.
She would have a Conduit to see.
A/N: So, yeah. The story's over, and the end was a start-up to my next story. By the way, if any of you would like to use Conduism in a fic, let me know! I loved writing this, even if not everyone liked it. Write on, fellow writers!