//------------------------------//
// Tabitha St. Germain's Super Sophisticated Script Reading: Closing Cereponies 
// Story: Unconventional Paneling 
// by FanOfMostEverything 
//------------------------------//

"So..." Twilight paced around the library's central reading table for a bit, fidgeted her wings as she thought, and started over. "So. Let's review."

"What's to review?" Rainbow Dash said from atop one of the shelves. "We helped Kaboomy kick Istarrius's sorry butt!"

"Firstly, that is technically a review," said Twilight. "Secondly, how about the fact that Kaboomy is yet another example of an allegedly fictional character who actually exists? One that isn't even from the Daring Do novels! Or how she can apparently summon meteors. Or that Istarrius can short out an alicorn's magic with a literal flick of his hoof."

"You know," said Pinkie, "if you read the comics, you'd already know all of that."

Twilight just glared at her for a moment. It didn't affect Pinkie's smile in the slightest.

"Yeah," added Dash. "Like the short-out? That was Istarrius's armor. He doesn't just wear that stuff so he can't get out of the way."

"Can we talk about how Kaboomy is me from another universe?" said Muffins, whose eyes were wandering so much they seemed intent on trying to find which one. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one."

"Rather obvious in hindsight when one considers that her charmingly dressed-down alias is 'Raggy Muffins,'" said Rarity, flipping through an issue of Kaboomy Comics.

Dash gave her a funny look. "How many issues have you read this weekend?"

"Enough to get a sense of Pony Flanks's overall aesthetic. Once you know what to look for, it's foal's play to to tell what he took from the real Kaboomy and what he invented whole cloth, as it were." Rarity stuck her tongue out after turning the page. "Like these horrendous nebula gremlins that keep cropping up everywhere. Clearly his own creations."

Twilight fell to her hindquarters, staring off at nothing.

"Are you okay, Princess Twilight?" said Muffins.

"Fine. Fine. Just trying to figure out how I feel about being the least knowledgable pony in the room."

She felt a wing sweep over her withers despite Muffins not moving. "Even without your magic, you were very brave," said Fluttershy. "I certainly couldn't have have tricked Istarrius the way you did."

Twilight shrugged her own wings. "You're the one who distracted him while the raccoons helped us. Besides, if he was going to keep calling me a librarian like it was an insult, then I'd defeat him like one."

"And by flattening him with his own meteor prison!" added Pinkie.

"Yes. And that." Twilight said with a cough. "Thank you again for the plan, Pinkie. And Rarity, by proxy."

Both smiled. Dash scoffed. "If 'squish the bad guy with a rock' counts as a plan, then I call plan-making for the next one," she said.

"Not if it leads to somepony bombarding the most valuable archive in the Canterlot Hall of Records with even more meteors," said Twilight. "Bad enough that that convention had to be held there. I don't know what I'm going to tell the princesses when they see that!"

"Hey, that one was Kaboomy's fault!" said Dash.

"Indeed," said Rarity. "For all her ability to pull off a silver onesie, she didn't have much of a grasp on minimizing collateral damage."

"Yeah." Dash glanced at Muffins. "Guess some things don't change no matter what universe you're in."

A gasp drew all eyes to Pinkie. "Girls! Do you realize what we forgot?"

"To ensure that Istarrius was separated from the Wand of P'ding?" said Twilight.

"To learn just how Kaboomy performs those costume changes with such speed and grace?" said Rarity.

"To get Pony Flanks to draw my OC?" said Dash.

"To record Istarrius's villain song?" said Pinkie.

"To involve Applejack?" said Fluttershy.

"No! We left Maud at Boomycon!"





Outside the Canterlot Hall of Records, where archivists were still arguing with the fire brigade over using rainclouds on the smoking holes in the building, Maud sat wedged in the cobblestone path leading to the front doors. Still trapped in her cosplay of Kaboomy's faithful steed.

Which was a rock.

A meteor, yes, but a rock.

As Maud watched the moon rose out of the corner of her eye, she shrugged as best she could. "This is fine."