“I'm not so sure about this,” Twilight Sparkle said. Her focus and her magic were centered on an envelope that just about an hour ago, had flown through the portal that sat in the castle library. “It doesn't seem like a friendship problem.”

That was possibly the understatement of the century. Twilight Sparkle, her friends, and even her pupil had dealt with many friendship problems in the past. The kind of problems that ranged from small things like a little white lie to much larger things that could probably destroy Equestria.

This felt different though.

For starters, most friendship problems didn't usually come to them through a magic portal in an envelope.

And they usually didn't come with Starlight Glimmer's name scrawled in big black letters on an envelope.

“You and the girls deal with other kinds of problems all the time,” Starlight Glimmer volunteered as she tried to grab at the letter that Twilight kept referring to. So far, she had only seen the envelope, despite the letter obviously being opened. Twilight didn't seem interested in divulging any more information though. In fact, her former mentor was being incredibly secretive about the whole thing.

A small part of her told her to back off. Maybe her mentor knew better than her about this, it's not like Twilight doesn't take her best interests to heart, after all. The rest of her, however, was bursting at the seams for another opportunity to make Twilight proud.

Any moment that made Twilight proud, made Starlight proud. It was in those moments that she felt safe in awarding herself another tiny sliver of forgiveness for past transgressions. She figured she would be able to earn enough praise and forgiveness to wash away her guilt, so far she hadn't made that much headway, but that was mainly because she was such a harsh judge towards herself.

“Yes, but this feels different,” Twilight responded slowly as she pushed the letter further out of Starlight's grasp. “It's a call for help that came through the mirror, not through the Sunset's book or on the map or even from one of the Princesses. That's not... well it's not... it's just that it's highly unusual.”

“Right, I get that it's unusual, but the note was asking for me so I feel like I need to do something. I mean, it's nothing like being called on the map, but still... it has to count for something, right?”

Twilight looked between the letter and her friend. Starlight's grin subsided as she watched her friend bite her lip, as if she were too afraid to tell Starlight what was really on her mind.

“You don't think I should go.”

In her defense, Starlight had meant to phrase that as a question, but her attitude got the better of her and it came out more as a statement.

“I'm not sure, Starlight,” Twilight admitted with a long drawn out sigh. “The contents of this letter worry me. I'm all for you going on adventures, and I promise, I'm not trying to keep you from helping ponies... or people, for that matter”

“But?”

“And I know that Trixie is going to be performing in Manehattan this weekend, and of course, the girls and I are going to a Friendship Summit in Canterlot, so you are probably looking for something to keep you busy,” she continued, ignoring Starlight.

“But?” Starlight interrupted once again, waiting for that all important reason Twilight had that would keep her from going to the other world.

“But I really don't think this is a safe idea. You won't have magic...”

“I didn't have magic when I helped defeat Chrysalis,” Starlight interjected.

“You don't know your way around...”

“Come on, Twilight!” Starlight exclaimed as she threw her forehoof to her head dramatically. “I've gone to that world once before, I have a basic idea of what it's like and any missteps can be eased by the girls. They wouldn't let me down.”

“I never said they would,” Twilight responded, a hurt look crossed over her face for a brief second before she was able to compose herself. “I'm just worried about you. You have a tendency to act impulsively when things go wrong. I just think you should wait. When I get back from the summit, you and I can go together and figure things out together. We can reach out to Sunset Shimmer through the book and research whatever is going on there. Which will be so much easier now, by the way! Sunset has been sending me books from the human world recently! I bet we'll learn some super interesting stuff from those books. Unless, of course, the problem is rooted in Equestrian magic. In which case, it's a good thing the library is already stocked with our books!”

“What if Sunset Shimmer doesn't know what's going on? I mean, I've only caught a glimpse of the envelope, but that doesn't look like the hoofwriting I've seen in your enchanted book and I don't know about how things work in the other world, but it doesn't exactly look like the hoofwriting of any of our friends.”

The realization prompted Twilight to take another look at the letter. She hadn't considered that the note didn't come from one of her friends.

Equestrian magic was a bit of an open secret in the other world. The entirely of Canterlot High School seemed to know of its existence as well as a few of the students and faculty from Crystal Prep, and a few campers from Camp Everfree that didn't fall into either of those categories as well, but the circle didn't really seem to extend beyond that. Most other people who experienced magic seemed to ignore it or explain it away. Most things portal related came from Sunset Shimmer, who seemed to be the unofficial guardian of it, nobody else really came near it aside from her friends. Honestly, she didn't think anyone outside Canterlot High School actually knew that the base of the statue was a portal to Equestria.

Starlight picked up on this and smiled sweetly. “Wouldn't it be a good idea if, I don't know, somepony went through the portal first and let the other pony know what's really going on so we can build a better plan?”

Twilight sat in silent contemplation for a minute as she ruminated over all the possibilities before finally looking at Starlight and offering her an unsure, “maybe?”

Starlight wasted no time in running through the castle getting her stuff together and faster than Twilight could even process what was going on, Starlight stood in front of her once again with a large smile on her face and her saddlebags packed full of books and other knick knacks.

“I guess there's nothing I can say to change your mind?”

“Nope.”

Twilight frowned, but levitated the note over to her friend who took it eagerly and opened it, letting the envelope that Twilight had meticulously opened earlier, fall to the floor without a care in the world.

The handwriting in the note was messy, almost as messy as her own, Starlight briefly wondered if Twilight was worried about sending her to the human world because she literally couldn't read what the note sent.

Dear Starlight Glimmer,

Time is of the essence so I really hope you get this letter soon. I need you to come to this world as soon as you possibly can. I'm in trouble and you are the only person (or is it pony?) that can help me.

You're my only hope,

Starlight Glimmer

P.S.- Don't forget...

The last word of it was smudged, so neither girls could quite make out what it was supposed to say, but it was still enough to get Starlight to put down the note.

“Woah!”

Twilight picked the note back up and put it back in the envelope, slipping it into her former student's saddlebag.

“I know, it's a lot to take in.”

“There's an alternate version of me! I can't believe I didn't run into her last time I was there! What do you think she's like?”

“Whatever she is like... it's obvious that she's in trouble and there's no telling what will happen if you go there. I'm worried that you'll get drawn into her trouble. She may not have had the good influence that you've had.”

“Then maybe my good influence will help her. Spread the magic of friendship a little further over there and all that...”

“It's possible.”

“Twilight, I don't want to let you down, but I also can't let the other me down. If she is asking me for help...” she paused and pulled her friend into a hug. “I promise, I won't cause any trouble. I won't give you, me, or anypony else any reason to worry.”

For the first time since Twilight had received the letter, she smiled.

“I know, I believe you. I'm sure it will all be okay, you're smart and capable and I trust you,” she said as she pulled Starlight into a hug.

“Thanks, Twilight.”

“I'll see you when you get back... or when I get back. Whichever comes first.”

The girls pulled away from each other and Starlight marched over to the portal until she was standing dutifully in front of it. It seemed so much smaller when she had popped through it with Sunset not that long ago. A pit of fear and nerves formed in her stomach as she stared at the mirror and imagined just what kind of trouble laid just on the other side.

Her reflection stared back at her faithfully, completely disregarding that behind it was not glass or wood, but the pathway to another world.

Of course, reminding herself of that just made the pit grow bigger.

She took a deep breath and looked back at Twilight who shot her a winning, though equally as nervous, smile.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Starlight said, more to herself than to Twilight.

She put one hoof into the portal, almost waiting for Twilight to stop her and tell her to wait until they had figured everything out, but she never said anything. So, Starlight closed her eyes and completely stepped through, letting the cold atmosphere of the portal and the uncomfortable sensation of falling completely overtake her until she felt herself hit the ground.

She had made it.

Hopefully she made it in time to make a difference.

After all, she had no idea where in the world the other Starlight Glimmer could be.

Author's Note

Hi! I'm rosebug! I've been binging all those overly dramatic teen semi-mystery shows (Riverdale especially) and I thought it would be fun to write a pony fic (Equestria Girls fic technically) with some of the same elements.

I haven't written a fanfic in over a year so I might be a little rusty. If there are any errors I missed or if something that seems off, please let me know! Especially since this is written for NaPoWriMo, which means I'm trying to get as many words done in 30 days so I may have skimped a bit on editing! (but I am trying - promise!)

I'd love to hear any and all opinions you have! I made it public while I'm writing because I really need the motivation, so any possible opinion or thought you might have, I would really love to hear it!