The sight of the books calmed her and Aria sighed as relief massaged her tense muscles. Panic slowly leaked out and let the frazzled mare rest her eyes for a moment. In the blackness behind her eyelids, though, her memory brought forth the image of the clock.

“Ah! I'm still late though!” Aria screamed as she returned to her hysteria. “The last chariot for the academy leaves in less than fifteen minutes!”

Aria’s head started to swivel again as her eyes bounced off of every object in the library. Every object, that is, except for that which she was searching. The mare flung herself down the stairs to the main level of the library as she hunted for her favorite traveling bag. Finding it on the bottom step, Aria rolled her eyes.

“Oh dear,” she whined as she picked up her satchel, “where did I put my checklist?”

She scoured the room again, only to find pieces of empty parchment and unused quills bunched together. She caught a glimpse of the nearby podium she always used and rushed over to it. Sitting on top of its slanted surface was what appeared to be a long piece of parchment with ink boxes drawn along its side.

“Perfect! Now to go down the-” Aria began, but immediately stopped.