Aguamelon away from home

Aguamelon opened her eyes, feeling heavier than what a simple afternoon nap should have caused.

"Is it night already...?" she murmured, drowsy. Darkness surrounded her, and she felt... strange.

She tried to sit up, but all she managed to do was roll over on the bed she was lying in.

"Ahhh..." she groaned, feeling sleep wrap around her tightly again. The softness of her fur and the warmth of the bed only fueled her lethargy.

Slowly, she began to close her eyes again... she felt too comfortable to wake up.

"It smells so good..." she whispered, noticing the floral scent of the pillow. It was one of her favorite and very expensive perfumes. One of her friends had the same one and often used it in her personal room, which always made Aguamelon envious during their sleepovers.

"I wish I had a princess bedroom like hers too..." she complained, pressing her head further into the pillow.

Thus, Aguamelon started to drift off again, in serene tranquility...

"CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! IT'S TEEEEEEA TIME! WASSAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

A loud ringing, accompanied by a scream similar to a strangled chicken, shattered the room's silence.

Startled, Aguamelon leaped from the bed like a frog, hitting the ceiling in the process.

"Owww!" she protested, clutching her head as she lay on the floor. "By Equestria! What's happening?!"

Around her, the commotion hadn't ended. The intense ringing didn't let up and only grew louder every moment.

Covering her ears, Aguamelon searched for the source of the unbearable noise... it didn't take long to find it despite the darkness.

A few steps behind her, barely visible, stood an elegant grandfather clock with golden hands, decorated with wild bird figures at the top, but with a large hole at the bottom from which the infernal noise emanated.

Without a second thought, Aguamelon gave the clock a vigorous kick, which, after receiving the blow, rang a few last chimes before falling silent.

"Wasa aa... aaa," was the final sound in the room before silence returned.

A panting Aguamelon lay on the floor, trying to gather her thoughts.

Then, suddenly, the room's lights turned on, revealing the place.

"Huh?" she responded, surprised, getting up and looking around.

She was wearing a dress, but she didn't pay much attention to that detail.

She was in the royal guest suite, a set of rooms featuring many luxuries befitting the kingdom's high society. Among these luxuries was an automatic light activation system, along with elegant ornamental furniture with special features like the clock she had just kicked.

Realizing where she was, an unsettling feeling filled her. Aguamelon then turned her attention to the clock.

"Oh no..." she exclaimed in distress.

The old tea-time clock now had a huge hoof-shaped dent in its middle. Not only that, thick cracks could be seen all over its surface, and its hands were no longer moving.

The magnitude of the disaster started to take shape in Aguamelon's mind.

"Calm down... it was an accident, it's not that bad... you can fix it," she began talking to herself in a panicked state, trying to reassure herself. "It's just an over 500-year-old antique with incalculable historical value and irreplaceable. Nothing you can't repair!"

As she finished those words, the old clock tilted forward and, like a mortally wounded tree, fell to the floor, scattering all its intricate inner gears across the ground.

Sitting in silence, Aguamelon smiled frozenly, watching the clock's body lying there. A black, oily liquid began to seep from the broken furniture, staining the floor around it. Slowly, it continued spreading until it reached Aguamelon.

The cold liquid touched her hooves, sending a shiver through her body.

Startled, Aguamelon got up and looked at her hooves.

They were stained with that thick, black liquid.

Drop by drop, the viscous liquid fell to the floor.

An accusatory silence surrounded her, as if all the furniture in that place had suddenly gained consciousness and were now observing her crime.

It was unbearable.

Driven by an irresistible force from within, Aguamelon left the room. Shortly after, she returned with a black bag, a broom, and a dustpan.

Already in the bathroom, Aguamelon scrubbed her hooves with detergent, removing all traces of dirt and oil. She splashed water on her face and then covered herself with a towel.

She stayed like that for several seconds, processing what she had just done.

Minutes earlier, she had gathered all the pieces and broken remains of the old clock and put them in a black bag, which she then placed inside her work locker.

No one would find it there.

"Everything is fine, everything is fine... you cleaned the entire place, you didn't leave any clues. If they ask what happened, tell them it got lost during the renovation..."

They would certainly ask about the clock during next week's inspection. She could play that card then...

"Noooo!" exclaimed Aguamelon, removing the towel from her face.

"You can't hide it, you have to tell the authorities. You broke the clock, accept it..." she told herself firmly, looking at herself in the bathroom mirror.

It was painful, very painful. She could already imagine the punishment that would come upon her: the scandal, the infamy, she would lose her library privileges. Even worse, she would be expelled from the society of antique lovers. Her friends in other libraries would shun her.

Aguamelon's eyes filled with tears as she thought about the dark future awaiting her. She wiped her face with the towel again.

"Do the right thing, it’s the most valuable thing..." she told herself, remembering her mentor's words.

She had destroyed a valuable part of Equestrian history. She would pay the price. That was how it had to be...

Resolved, Aguamelon's mind began to calm.

"Let's put that junk in the right place..." she said resignedly, putting on her thick glasses.

It was then that she finally noticed.

"Why am I wearing a dress?" she said to herself, looking at her reflection. She hadn’t noticed it until that moment due to the state of tension she was in. Now it seemed very strange. The dress she was wearing was like the ones royalty wore.

Also...

A mysterious square card hung from her chest.

Immediately, Aguamelon removed the card and examined it.

It took her a moment to understand what was written.

"We have more evidence. We know everything. Keep quiet or we will tell all," it was written in an elegant handwriting she already knew. The card was actually a photo, and in this photo, she was sleeping in the royal suite room wearing that elegant dress.

Over the image in the photo, written in a wild and mocking handwriting, were the words: "Lazy Librarian."

Shocked, Aguamelon's memory refreshed. She recalled the argument with the children in the afternoon and the accident...

"KIT! LIA!" roared Aguamelon, unable to control the intense fury burning inside her.