An assault of dusty pages, messy whiteboards, magical hypotheses, and a flurry of brainstorming hands and words rained on Sunset's mind.
In an office of wheeled desks and chairs, university freshmen tossed up half-baked business proposals. They'd managed to be the first start-up to notify the considerably older Sunset of the college’s business fair, then promised her good pay to sit in as their consultant from Equestria.
They asked her many questions, how Equestrian magic operated—the types, the sources, the spells, the studies—but she told them that their initial ideas were just "magic plus x." Magic plus computer or phone or ridesharing—Sunset had once bemoaned their lack of "thinking magically." Yet they'd still kept her.
She sat back down an hour later, tuning out of their arguments. Her friends' social feed kept her occupied—Fluttershy protesting for animal rights on a foreign estate, Rarity showing off her latest fashion line in Manehattan.
~~~
The next focus group discussion guest they'd invited from the other side would surprise her, they said.
Past the unicorn mages with free time over the holidays, chosen to share their inputs on Earth's growing magic scene, Sunset spotted a familiar muzzle nursing some cocoa. "Starlight?"
And Starlight puther mug down. "Oh, wow! Hey, guys, you didn't tell me Sunset would be here!"
The start-up's "president," Spectral, answered yes, but then coffee was served, he cleared his throat, his recorder was turned on, and questions began. Everyone jotted down notes.
~~~
Lunch break was at a local café, a cozy refuge from the chilly noon, shrouded in bricks. Coffee swept Sunset away in small talk about foreign relations between the two universes.
The names of her colleagues flitted in and out. The one that cracked flat jokes and just smiled, Cream Waffle; the president so confident that the venture would work out, Spectral; the geeky nerd that gushed over everything Equestrian, Cosmic Dust.
Sunset checked her phone. Across the nation, living on the other coast, Pinkie was hanging out with her own band. In a domestic league across the sea, Rainbow had shared one of her own highlights, netting the game-winning goal in stoppage time. Twilight's update online was an advertisement for her university's inaugural magical studies course, which she was a part of as one of its junior professors.
The clinking of mugs snapped her attention away; she chewed on another donut. Cosmic rambled on about flavor-enhancing potions, with Everfree plants as a base, or alchemy methods that can transform aluminum into rarer metals to produce much cheaper yet more reliable electronics.
~~~
Her home was in sight, the same old brick row house from a decade ago. She slowed her car down, but against the blinding white of the cold, a pink blotch stood out on the door's steps. "Starlight?"
The unicorn sat on the little stairs, covered with scarves. "Yeah! Saw you were, uh, part of that company? I didn't know they had innovative ideas like using the Stream of Silence to create noise-canceling headphones! Now, actually collecting samples from the Stream of Silence... that's another matter."
"Tell me about it." Sunset cracked a smile. "But it's good you're here. Wanna come inside?"
Soon, the smell of coffee wafted through the living room. She turned on the television; more news blared against darkening clouds.
"How are things?" asked Sunset as she placed a hand on Starlight's hoof. "Oh. You're not just tired from the focus group, no?"
"Of course, you take the easy way out," Starlight said in jest and with a chuckle, gently pushing the empathy-magic hand away. "But yeah... after Hearth's Warming and New Year's, Trixie tried to squeeze in some short tours for a month, Sunburst's at Sire's Hollow with the folks, and Maud's with Pinkie for the Pie family reunion. That first one leaves the guidance counselor office vacant, so I've done double the work for the past few weeks, too."
"You have Twilight's friends—"
"Yeah, they get me, but they don't get get me, you get me?"
"That's... understandable. At least I'm here, though. And we've got journals."
"Yeah, I abandoned that after, you know... after we could just go back and forth through the portals."
She gave a nod. "So, what made you agree to talk with their start-up?"
"Winter break from my principal work. Wasn't doing much, save for a surprise for the students when school starts again." She rotated her cup around, letting it float. "I mean, Earth is still an amazing place to learn about. It's clear they've got a lot to learn about magic, though. But it’s nice that you're helping them a lot."
"Can't help that much. Blame it on being a Celestia's School drop-out. Saving the world doesn't require tons of top-level equations and alchemy. Add in artifacts doing all the work for you—"
"But you still went to Celestia's, and I didn't. They must've lots of trust in me as a reliable expert on magic despite my history."
"Hm. Time-traveling's a swell thing to have on your resume, for one."
"Come on! But seriously—" Starlight nursed her half-full mug "—I haven't let that bog me down for the longest time. And I'm sure you haven't let your own history bog you down."
"Definitely haven't. Got a couple headhunters saying that 'your villainous ambitions implied boundless determination and initiative.'"
Starlight choked on her coffee. "Hah! At least you're taking it in stride!"
"Okay... fair. I mean, what's not to love about it? You’ve got literally the unicorn with the most experience of this world, evil past or not. I've got a unique position when it comes to helping them in all things magic. It’s something I can leverage."
And in the warmth of home, they toasted each other with coffee. "That is true, Sunset."