Morning Dew and Rondache's home was not as opulent as her room in Princess Twilight's castle, but it had a comfortable lived in feeling that Starlight really appreciated.

After bringing her home the night before, they had sat down to a quiet dinner of pizza. Never in her life was Starlight Glimmer more relieved to have a meal that she could eat without drawing attention to her clumsiness in her new body, the relief was only intensified by the silence that occurred during the meal. She was too embarrassed about having to be picked up by perfect strangers, looking crazy in front of said strangers, and then having the portal close up when she needed it most. Despite the welcome silence, the meal passed by slowly as she struggled not to make eye contact with either of them and focus on the plate in front of her.

The relief she felt when dinner was over and they just escorted her up to her room was unparalleled and as soon as her head hit the pillow of her bed, she fell fast asleep.

After all, tying to save somebody and bounce back from several hours of embarrassment can really exhaust a girl.

* * *

When she opened her eyes, all she could see was the morning sun trickling in through the window blinds and onto the brand new comforter that she slept under. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes taking her time to enjoy the morning, get used to the sudden brightness, and her new surroundings. For the first time since she was shown to her room, she had the opportunity to look around. She had to admit, the room was really nicely put together. Soft pink walls with delicate art covered the walls with gold and white furniture that Starlight surmised must have been some sort of set which impressed her. Matching furniture like that wasn't something that was done in Equestria unless you were incredibly wealthy since every stitch of furniture was hoofmade by little family owned stores. In this room though, Starlight had to admit that the “matchiness” of the decor definitely added a more put together element to the room.

Despite this, it didn't take a genius to realize that it wasn't really decorated with Starlight Glimmer in mind.

Starlight slipped out of bed and walked around the room, laying her hand lightly on all of the furniture as she walked, hoping to find a letter or something laying on top of them that Starlight left behind for her. Although admittedly, she was also just in awe of the fact that these two perfect strangers had no qualms with taking her in and giving her a nice room with beautiful furniture. That was another thing that wasn't quite common in Equestria as there was always some family member or family friend that was able to take a filly or colt into their home. She had to admit, she was slightly jealous that the Starlight Glimmer of this world didn't fully appreciate everything that Rondache and Morning Dew did for her.

In the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of something that didn't quite match up with the rest of the room. Next to her bed, piled into a little corner were a few little ragged black backpacks. There was no doubt in her mind that they were her counterparts luggage.

Finally! There has to be something important in one of those bags!

She sat down and grabbed the bag at the top of the pile, slowly rifling through it trying to find hints that might have been left behind for her; at this point though, Starlight would have just settled for information about what this other Starlight was even like to begin with. The information that she had received so far through the police officers and Miss Care had done nothing, but worry her.

The first bag was just full of clothes, all fairly similar in style to the ones that the portal dressed her in once she came through. Annoying, since she was hoping for something more, but understandable, in this world they seemed to value clothes and having more than one set of clothes that were just for casual wear.

She threw that bag over her shoulder nonchalantly and immediately grabbed the next bag which was filled filled with books. That one must have just been her counterpart's school bag since most of the books in there looked like they could be textbooks. She threw that bag over her shoulder as well, with a little more force than the last one which led to a loud and forceful crash when it hit the ground behind her.

The last bag was smaller and thinner, but she grabbed it anyway, inside were a few thin plastic objects. She had seen them the last time she was in this world, apparently they were computers and tablets. Her friends used them all the time, so of course, it would make sense that Starlight Glimmer had one too. She closed up that bag and pushed it back into the corner with as much force as she could muster in her frustrated state.

None of these bags are helpful! If you're gonna send me a letter begging for me to come through the portal and offer my help, you should at least have the common decency to give me an idea of what I should be looking for!

The only thing rummaging through those bags had told her, was that Starlight Glimmer was a light packer. Which, unfortunately, was true for her as well.

She once had a whole house in her town, the biggest in the village, all to herself. Once she moved to Ponyville to start her studies under Princess Twilight's tutelage, she only brought what she carried in her saddlebags and she never felt like she was missing anything. Now, she hoped that if her counterpart ever had to go through the mirror to save her for any reason, she wouldn't be hard pressed to find out who the Equestrian Starlight Glimmer was or what she was like.

Now she was wondering if she even had a good kite in her room. What would the Earth Starlight Glimmer think of her if there wasn't anything that showed off the things she truly enjoyed?

She looked in the mirror above the dresser and brushed her hair to get ready for the school day. Apparently, while Miss Care was talking to her, Morning Dew and Rondache spoke to Principal Celestia about getting her enrolled in Canterlot High School since she already seemed to have friends there and she was comfortable enough around Principal Celestia that she wouldn't try anything. While, neither of her guardians had said anything out loud, Starlight was beginning to realize that before she ran away, Starlight Glimmer hadn't exactly gotten along with anybody at her last school.

She blinked and realized she had begun to zone out while staring at the mirror.

Mirror.

Crap. The portal was closed.

She had been so focused on getting used to this world and trying to figure out what Starlight Glimmer was up to that she had forgotten that her only way home was gone. Hopefully, she would be able to borrow Sunset Shimmer's book to send Princess Twilight a message at some point. Twilight would know what to do, she always knew what to do.

It wasn't that this world wasn't amazing to experience, but she couldn't stay here forever. There were friends and ponies back in Equestria who would miss her. Ponies that were waiting for her, just like there were people here who needed their Starlight Glimmer back; it wasn't fair for anyone involved to have to deal with a cheap imitation of their Starlight.

For now, she would have to play along though; it seemed like an impossible task to convince the people here that she had actually come through a portal from another world.

Damn it, Starlight Glimmer! Did you really have to use the portal excuse over and over again? You're just making figuring out what happened to you more difficult than it needs to be

“Starlight Glimmer, dear?” Morning Dew opened the door, surprised to see a fully awake and dressed teenage girl rummaging through her bags. Her eyes widened. “Wow, you must have slept really well. I think this is the first time that I didn't have to try to wake you up for school. I suppose our talk to Principal Celestia yesterday about switching you to Canterlot High School was a good idea”

“Yea, thanks. I really appreciate it.”

Morning Dew beamed. “I suppose we should have realized that Crystal Prep just wasn't the right fit for you, you already seem to have friends at Canterlot High School and after that whole debacle at Crystal Prep we should have just pulled you out right then and there, but it was just so difficult to get you into that school, that...”

“Debacle? What debacle?” Starlight Glimmer interrupted.

If I can get Morning Dew to offer up even a smidgen of information, I might have a reason to check out Crystal Prep for more information about Starlight. It would be so much easier to just go there than to search through everything Starlight Glimmer has ever touched.

Morning Dew's smile faded. “You're right dear, we shouldn't discuss it. It's in the past and it's time to look towards the future. A much brighter future hopefully.”

That's not what I meant, Morning Dew.

Starlight wanted to pester her further about it, and it took all her might not to say anything or give her a hard time for trying to cover up the past.

“Why don't you come downstairs for breakfast?” Morning Dew asked, changing the subject before Starlight could work up the nerve to ask her guardian for more information.

As if on cue, her stomach rumbled and while she really wasn't interested in trying to make small talk with her foster parents, especially not if they weren't going to tell her things she wanted to know, she was incredibly hungry. So, she sighed and nodded. “Sure, I guess.”

She grabbed the backpack full of textbooks and followed Morning Dew downstairs to the dining room they had eaten in the night before. The table was filled with food and plates, it was a smaller table, but every available space was still filled up with food nonetheless.

“Wow! You really made all this for me?”

“And us too, kiddo. It's not all yours,” Rondache said with a playful smile as he loaded up his plate with eggs and bacon.

“But I always say that a great breakfast is a great way to start the day, especially at a new school. Personally, I think Canterlot High will be the best place for you yet!” Morning Dew beamed.

“I think so too,” Starlight replied as she mimicked Rondache's actions of using the fork to get the food onto her plate. It was a much easier task than Twilight had made it out to be when she was telling Starlight all about her experiences in this world. She picked up a piece of bacon and took a bite.

Twilight didn't say anything about this either! I would have remembered if she had told me that this world had better food than what we can get in Equestria!

“This is really good!”

“Morning Dew does make the best bacon, I've ever had.”

“Bacon. Wow! I don't think I've ever had that before,” Starlight exclaimed, as she grabbed another few pieces of bacon and put them on her plate.

“What? No bacon in Equestria?” Rondache asked jokingly.

“No, not at all!”

“Why don't you take some with you on the way to school, it would make a great snack for the trip?”

“Oh thanks, that's a great idea!” Starlight said as she got up and grabbed as many pieces of bacon as she could in one hand and with her other hand, she picked up her ratty black backpack.

“Don't forget your phone!” Rondache called out to Starlight without looking up from the newspaper he was reading. “You left it on the coffee table before you ran away. Morning Dew and I would prefer it if you kept the phone on you at all times so you don't escape through that portal to another world again.”

“Ha ha, very funny,” Starlight replied nonchalantly. “I'll take it with me.”

“If you are going to stay after school, we would really like it if you could call to let us know. Then, after school if you're staying for extra curriculars, we would really appreciate it if you shoot us a text every hour or so to let us know where you are,” Morning Dew said. “We really don't want to have to call Miss Care again.”

She reached down to pick up the phone and looked at it carefully. The last time she had been here she had been introduced to cell phones through Sunset Shimmer and now she was thankful for that. She still really didn't know how they worked or what she was really supposed to do with it, but she knew it was really important and everyone she knew had one to talk to their friends.

“I know. I won't give you a reason to, I promise.”

Her guardians facial features softened immediately and Starlight felt a slightly warm feeling in her. They may not have been her real parents, but the two of them cared more about her than anypony that had ever tried to raise her in Equestria and she's barely known them for 12 hours.

* * *

As soon as she arrived at Canterlot High School, she saw Sunset Shimmer standing next to the portal, relief washed over her as she walked up to her. After a parade of strangers faces last night, it was so great to see a friendly face.

A friendly face that knew for a fact that she was from Equestria.

Starlight didn't think there was anything better than that at this point, than having a friend who knew exactly what she was going through.

And more to the point, right now it was a friend who could answer one of the most important questions of the day. She ran over to Sunset and stuck her cell phone in Sunset's face.

“Hi Sunset! I need help; I don't know what this is! Morning Dew and Rondache said that they wanted me to use it to text them, but I have no idea what that means or how you use this cell phone. You know how to use it, right? I mean, I'm pretty sure the last time I was here I saw you using something similar at the mall. Right?”

Starlight took a deep breath, the first breath she had taken since before she started talking while Sunset just looked at her in bewilderment and slowly moved Starlight's cell phone down and away from her face.

“What's all over your phone? Why does it feel so greasy?”

Starlight looked down at it, parts of it were covered in little globs of grease left over from breakfast this morning and blushed, taking it back from her friend and wiped it off on her jeans.

“Sorry about that. I was trying to figure it out while I was eating breakfast. Have you ever had bacon before? I can't believe we don't have that in Equestria; it would taste so amazing on hay burgers!”

“First of all, bacon isn't in Equestria because it's made from pigs, but yes, it's delicious,” she said as she took back the newly cleaned phone.

“Wait... what?” Starlight practically screamed.

“Second of all,” Sunset interrupted. “Yes, I definitely know how to use a cell phone, but do I need to unlock it before I can use it?”

Starlight's brow furrowed as she took the phone back from Sunset and looked at it from every possible angle, even going so far as to lift it up to look beneath it and knocking on the back of the case.

“I don't see a lock on it.”

Sunset slowly reached over and grabbed her phone with two fingers and placed the phone in plain view of the new Equestrian transplant. Starlight looked on enthusiastically as she clicked on the phone's home button, it instantly sprung to life, no unlock code needed, and went straight to the designated “home page” on Starlight's phone.

“Wow!” Starlight announced. “I thought Princess Twilight said there was no magic in this world!”

“This world has its charms, that's for sure, it's definitely not magic like in Equestria, but it's pretty impressive nonetheless.”

“So... now, what is a text and how do I send one?”

Sunset sat her down next to the portal and spent a few minutes explaining how it worked with the rest of their friends joining them one by one before the day started and to help explain exactly what both her foster parents expected she would be using her phone for and the other apps and useful tricks that Starlight could also use on her phone.

“Ok so that's texting, but now what's Facespace?” Starlight asked with her finger was hovering over the app as if she were afraid that pressing it would cause undue destruction.

“Only one of the greatest apps ever!” Pinkie yelled. “I use it to talk to my big sister Maud while she's away at school getting her college degree!”

“So then is it like a text message, but with voices?” Starlight asked. “Like a phone call! I saw Sunset try to make phone calls the last time I was here. I didn't know you use Facespace for that.”

“Er... no not exactly,” Applejack said.

“It's a place to post pictures, talk to friends, and show off your life. Think of it as a digital diary,” Sunset explained.

“Oh, ok! I'm sorry girls, Equestria doesn't have this kind of technology. It's all foreign to me. I'm just starting to figure out the whole texting thing and this Facespace thing has this little red blurb in the corner with numbers and none of the other things have that...”

“That's called a notification, darling. You should probably check those.”

Sunset Shimmer perked up. “Yes! Check your Facespace notifications, we know absolutely nothing about this world's Starlight Glimmer, this probably has everything we'll ever need to know! I can't believe we didn't think about trying this sooner!”

An app on this phone can tell me everything I need to know about a person here? There really is magic in this world. It's strange magic, but magic nonetheless.

Starlight nodded eagerly at the thought and pressed on the Facespace button, but the excitement on her face quickly contorted into a look of confusion.

“Yea... I don't actually know how any of this works.”

Sunset scooted over next to her with the rest of their friends piling around them trying to catch a glace at Starlight's phone.

“Ok so all the notifications you seem to have are all messages.”

Starlight's eyes lit up. “Messages? From friends? I'm so proud of Starlight Glimmer here if that's the case! I felt like I had to twist ponies ankles to be my friend in Equestria.”

“I'm sure that's not true,” Fluttershy assured her.

“Back in Equestria, I manipulated an entire town into giving up their special talents so they wouldn't think that they were special and that they would never try to leave me or any of their other new friends behind. I don't think I have ever met another pony or person who has ever gone that far to make friends.”

“I stand corrected,” Fluttershy mumbled.

Sunset pulled Starlight's phone closer to her and read through the messages, every second her expressive face seemed to show more and more confusion before she finally put the phone down on the ground.

“What's wrong?” Twilight asked.

“This doesn't make any sense. All of the messages Starlight Glimmer had were from accounts that aren't active anymore, so you can see the message, but you can't go to that profile to find out who they are or anything about them at all, really. It's strange. Who has a ton of messages from different deleted accounts?”

“All of them are deleted accounts? Every single one of them?” Twilight asked. “I mean, I barely use Facespace, but I don't think I've ever heard of somebody having an inbox full of messages from a bunch of different deleted accounts. Maybe the app just updated and it's got some issues”

The rest of the girls immediately pulled out their phones and to check their accounts, within seconds the six other girls just shook their heads and put their phones back in their bags.

“Well, it was just a theory,” Twilight said with a shrug.

“Hey, that one has a picture!” Pinkie Pie yelled, pointing at one of the unopened messages whose preview only said Gabby Gums sent a photo “What do you think it's a picture of?”

“Only one way to find out,” Starlight Glimmer said as she clicked on the message.

The girls all braced themselves, they weren't sure what to expect, but based on how strange everything had been so far; the mysterious letter, the disappearance, and now an inbox full of strange messages, they felt like they needed to be ready for anything.

They had defeated wild magic and sirens already though, what was one other little mystery to deal with before the school day started?

“Hey, it's just a picture of Starlight Glimmer!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Phew, am I right, girls?”

Pinkie Pie was right. The picture that they had been so worried about, was just a photo of Starlight Glimmer sitting on her bed writing in her composition notebook. The Starlight in the picture didn't notice the photo being taken, she seemed far more interested in the notebook in front of her. The girls all began to noticeably relax, all of them except for Starlight.

“That's my... er... her bedroom,” Starlight pointed out. “The picture was taken from outside her window. The only way to get a picture like that is to climb the tree outside her window, there's no way you would be able to get that angle from inside the bedroom, her bed is right up against the window.”

“Well that's not creepy at all,” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“We need to tell somebody about this; that's illegal!” Twilight announced, clutching her backpack close to her. “What if that person is the reason that Starlight Glimmer is missing!”

“Twilight, we have no proof,” Sunset Shimmer reminded her.

“That message is proof! It should be proof enough.”

“It's from an account that doesn't exist anymore, they could just think that it was a prank from a friend.”

“A girl is missing! Somebody has to find her!”

“She isn't missing anymore,” Starlight replied sadly. “At least, not according to the police around here. Apparently, the other Starlight Glimmer has a pension for lying about being abducted or running away. And if any of you girls go to the police, they will probably just assume that I put you up to it or something. They told me that they had an entire file full of claims she had made over the years.”

“Oh come on, we've gone up against magic. We can figure out where one girl went. Especially now that we've found our secret weapon,” Rainbow Dash announced.

“A secret weapon?” Applejack asked, unconvinced. “And what would that be?”

“We have Starlight Glimmer's cell phone and access to all her social media accounts. We can still read the messages from the deleted profiles, and there are probably plenty of people that she's interacted with is going to have a deleted profile, now are they?”

Rainbow Dash grabbed the cell phone and scrolled through her messages. The rest of the girls were gathered around also trying to see if they could find anything that stood out to them, Twilight even took out a notebook and started to jot down notes. All the while, Starlight Glimmer sat off to the side staring at the statue sullenly.

“Starlight Glimmer, is everything okay?”

“Wow, there are like a lot of other pictures of Starlight writing in that notebook in some of these messages. Whoever sent them must really like to climb trees,” Pinkie announced. “You should check them out, Starlight! Some of them also have really cute messages before the picture was sent!”

“That. That right there is what's wrong with me, right now! There was somebody out there that was taking pictures of her through her window. Whoever did that is probably the reason that she's missing and I can't do anything about it because nobody believes me.”

“It's okay, we believe you and that's all that really matters. Trust me,” Sunset assured her.

“Wait a minute this picture is taken from even further up, it kind of looks like whoever is sending Starlight these photos is trying to take a picture of whatever is in her notebook.”

“I dunno, Twi. It kind of just looks like she's just working on some homework or somethin',” Applejack said.

“No way she's working on homework. There's something on the page...” Twilight tried to make the picture bigger, but it just made it blurrier which just served to frustrate her even more. “I can't see what's in the notebook, but a lot of the messages that are sent with the pictures say things like 'I know' and 'You can't hide it from me' which yes, sounds threatening enough as it is, but what if they are talking about what's in her notebooks?”

The Earth girls didn't look convinced, but all it took was that one suggestion and Starlight took off her backpack and started rummaging through it with fervor, taking out every book that was in her bag, flipping through the pages to see if it matched up with the book in the picture even slightly, and when it didn't she just tossed them over her shoulder in frustration then moved on to the next book.

“Starlight?” Rarity asked curiously. “Is everything okay?”

“We need to find that book.”

“Okay, come on, you can't even see the stuff in the pictures, you've probably already gone through the notebook and threw it away without realizing it. It's probably just homework.”

“What if it isn't? I feel like I would know if I saw it.”

“Why do you think that?” Twilight asked.

“I just... I don't know, but I feel like it's more important than just homework and I think it's back at Morning Dew and Rondache's place. I bet if we dig through her room we can find it. Do you trust me?”

“I guess?” Rainbow Dash responded. “It just feels like a stretch.”

“Whoever took these pictures obviously wanted to make her feel uncomfortable and as if they know something she knows. She's gotta be writing down that information somewhere and I don't think it has anything to do with math or world leaders. So, I'm going back home to search Starlight Glimmer's room, who's with me?”

The girls continued to just stand there staring at her in surprise.

“The... the bell is about to ring. We can't just skip class, what if there's a pop quiz? What if they call our parents to let us know that we weren't in class! The consequences are endless!”

“Can't we do it after class?” Fluttershy asked. “The notebook probably isn't going anywhere.”

“No, it's not, but Starlight could be in danger right now. I don't want to waste a second just sitting around in class learning about things I don't care about!”

“I'll go with you,” Sunset said with very little enthusiasm. “We'll make it quick and I promise, we'll meet up with you girls by lunch.”

The rest of their friends didn't look thrilled with that suggestion, but when the bell rang and all of the students of Canterlot High School started to file into the building, they left Starlight and Sunset alone by the statue without an argument and went to class.

“Ready to figure out where that notebook is?” Starlight asked as soon as the courtyard emptied out.

“Lead the way.”

Author's Note

Thanks for reading and let me know if I missed anything!
I'm aiming to hit 50,000 words for National Pony Writing month so I've only looked it over once or twice to make sure I wasn't missing anything obvious so let me know if I did.