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// Twilich (Twilight; Slice Of Life) 
// Story: Anthology of Graybles 
// by Str8aura 
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It had been a good morning, at least.

"I can't believe you sometimes, Twilight."

Twilight continued to mutter to herself as she rifled through bedside drawers, running a hoof through her hair and failing to notice the clumps falling onto the wood floors. After vigorously checking each potential hiding spot a second time, she finally slumped to the ground, clutching her ratty tail and trying to calm herself down.

"It's ok, it's ok. We are NOT GOING TO PANIC. WE WON'T! It was probably just... stolen! By some mean beast. We are going to go out into town, and FIND IT, and put it back, and never let it go. Let's go!"

Twilight dashed down the steps, grabbing her saddlebags from their stand. When she reached the door, she pulled herself back and turned back inside.

"Spiiiiike! I'm going out, I'll be back by tonight."

No answer. Little guy was off sleeping again, probably. Rolling her eyes, she levitated a quill and sticky note over to her, writing a note and leaving it on the wall under the 70 others before finally dashing out the door.

It was a beautiful day as always. Nobody else was awake yet, allowing her to enjoy the early morning atmosphere herself; the lazy clouds, the orange-purple sky, the sun staying in the same place it was always in, distantly peeking over the horizon; And to top it all off, a radio was faintly playing a song to cut through the otherwise deathly silence.

Let's go in the garden, you'll find something waiting, just the way you left it lying upside down...
Twilight hummed to herself, still trying to calm herself down from the stress of this morning. Through the crumbling hole in a nearby houses wall, she could see the faint outline of Lyra slumped over next to her cup of tea, the steam faded. Twilight cheerfully waved before continuing on the weed-covered path. Several times she had tried in vain to fight them back, but by the time she had realised them to be a problem they had already grown far too out of control, completely squelching her hopes of killing them with anything less than a flamethrower.

As she kept trotting, her initial goal slowly fading from memory and allowing her to adopt a much more carefree way of carrying herself, she heard the first natural sound she had heard all morning- a low whimper, seeming to belong to a dog of some sort. This was quickly disproved when she turned around, seeing a familiar face trying to limp into a corner with her head down.

"Carrot Top! I haven't seen you in ages! I thought you had just left the town, honestly! Where have you been?"

Twilight happily came up to her, prompting her to shrink back even more. Her mouth moved, seemingly trying to say something, but only low whimpers came out.

"Oh, don't worry about it, we weren't mad, just a little scared is all! C'mon, we can get some tea... um, what was your name again?"

She bared her teeth and growled, but her pose still betrayed her fear. Finally, seeing an opening, she dashed under Twilight and out of sight, leaving a present behind; the leg she had previously been holding delicately. Twilight frowned and picked it up, reminding herself to return it when she saw Carrot again, and kept on with her walk.

She wasn't entirely sure how long she had been walking, or what she had come out for in the first place, but she eventually found herself in the sunny field located deep in the Everfree Forest; one of the only places touched by natural sunlight. Taking care to step over the shredded stumps and fallen logs lining the path to it, she calmly trotted into the center of the field, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath of the forest air.

When she opened them, she noticed a glint of reflected light from an unnoticed burrow, tracing it to a blue gemstone, filled with a swirling light- her phylactery! Her memories came rushing back, and she scrambled over to it, nearly tripping over the massive, bleached bone sticking out in front of it and reaching into the decades old ribcage. The magical gem had apparently been hoarded by a family of rats who scurried deeper into the earth that had grown around the skeleton as she waved them off.

Making sure the gem was secured in her saddlebags, she took one last look at what was left of the fallen dragon in the center of the clearing, noticing how life had thrived around it. Despite its age, she could still see a few purple scales on the ground around it, too heavy to move and powerful enough to decompose much slower than the rest of it.

Her job complete, she turned and trotted back, humming the song she had heard that morning happily.