//------------------------------//
// — Chapter Forty-Seven — 
// Story: Finding Friendship 
// by Kamen-Zero 
//------------------------------//


--- The Impossible Journal ---


Twilight was beside herself. In a turn of events that she could have never prepared for, Starlight had just delivered to her the journal that had been by her side since the day that she left Canterlot. There was no doubt in her mind that this was the genuine article. The way I's were dotted and the T's were crossed, the distinctive curl of her C's and S's. All of it was a perfect match to her own penmanship. Though there was one thing in particular that didn't match up as Twilight actually took the time to read the words that she had clearly written.




Journal entry number three hundred and forty-three.
May 16.
Year 1,011 on the Grand Celestial Calendar.


It has been four days since Spike and I have begun our latest expedition for dragons in the badlands, far to the South of Equestria's borders, with very little progress to show for it, unfortunately. I'm starting to believe that the stories I overheard from that charlatan in Klugetown were largely exaggerated. Oddly specific life advice: when an individual has the word "dapper" in their name, take everything they say with a grain of salt or two. But Spike was insistent that we at least investigate, and had been hoping that we'd at least be able to see another dragon, so here we are. And looking back in hindsight, that catfolk's tall tales might have been part of some larger scam in the long run. As it was only just last night where Spike and I accidentally stumbled upon a camp of bandits situated in a large cave, one that looked perfect for draconic nesting grounds. Thankfully, we were able to slink away without being noticed, but that experience was more than enough to tell us both that we had been deceived. Klugetown is a place filled with unsavory individuals who'd love to get their hoofs paws claws hands appendages on a dragon's hoard, and Capper must have seen me as just an easy mark. The realization has made Spike more than a little anxious about this whole situation. I'm starting to get a little worried about him.

Moving on. Even if the reason Spike and I came all the way out here was less than credible, the environment itself seems to support the claim that dragons could be found in this region. The mountains would provide more than enough cave systems to allow dragons to make their homes here, and the distinctive scent of sulfur in the air suggests that at least one of them is volcanic in nature. Both of which are traits of a dragon's natural habitat. On a slightly unrelated note, Spike is absolutely enthralled by the scent, even after last night's upsetting revelation. Likely a byproduct of his natural instincts and his excitement over possibly finding dragons at long last.

Though in spite of the evidence we've found; I am beginning to doubt that there are any dragons, other than Spike, here at all. Of the cave systems that we've looked into, outside of the one holding the bandit camp, we haven't found any sign of dragons being here. No territorial claw marks, no shed scales, nothing at all. The rations we brought along for the expedition are also beginning to dwindle. We have day's worth of food left, at best, and we are a far way's off from the nearest town. I promised we'd search one last cave or two before we begin making our way back to civilization to resupply and regroup. Thankfully, the amulet has finally recharged, and I caught sight of a root not too far from here. So at the very least, we won't have to travel very far.

It won't be long before Spike is up and demanding we get to the next cave, so I should end this entry here. He really wants to see if we'll actually find anything in the next cave, and after last night's upsetting discovery, I'm at least hoping there's a few discarded scales. I will provide more details of the expedition's conclusion in the next memo, but I promised him we'd search one more cave for now. Either we'll find what we're looking for, or we'll leave empty hoofed. Or clawed, in his case.




This was her journal, there was no hiding that. But the events described in it were inaccurate. Just different enough from Twilight's recollection of those days to make her wonder. Quicker than any bolt of lightning could ever hope to fly, she reached into her saddlebags with her magic. Unsurprisingly, there was her journal, tucked into the pack's depths. The very same journal that Starlight was showing her. At least Twilight's journal hadn't been outright stolen from under her nose, though that fear was taken off the table at the sight of the differing descriptions held within Starlight's "copy". Twilight opened her own journal to the same page Starlight had pulled up. And just like that, the differences became far more apparent. There was no mention of any catfolk named Dapper or how they stumbled upon some bandit's camp, which was far more accurate to what had actually transpired.

Out of curiosity, Twilight took Starlight's edition and flipped backward from that point, skimming through more of the contents that she supposedly wrote. And each new entry she read through gave her the same feeling the first one did. All of them were painfully familiar, as if she had written them herself, but the events they described weren't accurate to how they actually transpired. Some of the described events were slightly different from what she remembered, while others described scenarios that could have only happened if Twilight had made different decisions in those moments—decisions that Twilight could clearly remember making. Now and again she flipped back to one that was a perfect match for what she actually remembered writing, adding to her growing confusion.

Finally, Twilight snapped both books shut and began rotating them in the air. Taking care to not get the two mixed up, she studied them intently, looking for any sign of differences. And to her surprise, there weren't many. Where Twilight's had been irritatingly stained at some point in time, the same spot was tarnished on Starlight's duplicant. Small scratches and dings on one perfectly matched up with the other. The only differences Twilight could find were, strangely enough, a few minor scratches on Starlight's book that weren't present on Twilight's. But those that matched were far too perfect to be mere coincidence, almost too perfect to even counterfeits.

"This is either a really bad fake... or a really good one..." Twilight admitted absentmindedly, putting her own journal away and turning to Starlight. "How'd you make it?"

"Wrong on both accounts, and I didn't," Starlight's answer was cold and sterile, "It's... your journal. Every word in there was written by you..."

"No it isn't, I have my journal," Twilight gestured to her saddlebags before tossing the supposed fake at Starlight's hooves, "This... isn't."

"Well, it is. You wrote every single word in that book, I can promise you that," Starlight lifted the book she had provided and carefully dusted it off., "Things just might not have lined up the same way this time around. You could call it the 'first draft'."

Starlight wasn't making any sense, which wasn't anything new at this point, but this took that to an otherworldly extreme. Starlight had been ranting and raving about how she had done this before, how Twilight could have chosen to walk away this time around, and how this accurately inaccurate journal was described as being the first draft. The gears were spinning in Twilight's head, working to try and unravel this enigma. And with each passing second, there was only one answer that could make any sense, even as impossible as it may have sounded.

"Are you... trying to tell me that you're from the future?" Equal parts irritation and curiosity shone through in this, the strangest question Twilight had ever had to ask.

"That's an oversimplification of a very complicated issue," Starlight leaned further into the wall, "I could spend years talking about the metaphysics behind my 'existence.' But yes, I suppose the short version of it all is that I'm from a future. One that isn't possible at this point, but still a future."

That statement was equally enlightening and enraging, and Twilight’s scowl made that very clear.. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Forgive me if I touch a nerve, but neither does Queen Celestia giving some seemingly random individual a second chance at life through alicorn ascension." Starlight retorted with an impossibly straightforward tone of voice, no hint of malice or contentment to be found. "I learned a very long time ago that life chooses to not make sense at the least convenient of times."

Twilight’s eye twitched in anger at the reminder of her ascension.. At this point, it was impossible to be caught off guard by Starlight's intimate knowledge of Twilight's past, but that didn't make it any easier to be reminded of it. Twilight took a slow, deep breath, calming her anger and leaving only a smoldering frustration in its place.

"Okay, fair enough," Twilight bitterly admitted through clenched teeth. "So. If you really are from some 'impossible future,' would you care to explain what it is you're doing here in the first place?"

A long, tired sigh rushed from Starlight as if she were a deflating balloon. Much like Twilight's thoughts on her alicorn ascension, this subject seemed to be a point of contention for Starlight.

"I don't even know where to begin. It was so long ago... relatively speaking."

"Start from the beginning."

"The beginning? Alright, I guess..." Another disgruntled moan, this one filtered by her upper row of teeth and her bottom lip. "Well... I guess it all really started back when I found the temporal gateway spell. It was just kind of something I stumbled upon and took interest in... I didn't actually take it, I just took a few pictures. Made it easier to not get caught."

Twilight scoffed, raising a single eyebrow of skepticism. "You just stumbled on the ability to travel through time?"

"Well, it was in a library... or, I guess it was more of an archive, depending on how you look at it. Top floor, highest security..." It was at this point that Starlight broke eye contact, her eyes trailing upwards and to the right as a look of embarrassed shame came across her face. "I wasn't supposed to be in there..."

Twilight's brow furrowed. The idea that this mare was a thief was the most believable thing she had heard so far. Though there did seem to be some semblance of regret hanging over her, that didn't justify the actions in the first place. The next subject was, of course, how Starlight had stolen it in the first place, but Twilight didn't really see a point in going in-depth with that right now. The place that she had stolen it from probably just didn't have very good security. She was more interested in the results of that little heist.

"And you were able to just cast something like that?"

"It took a few years of decoding it to figure it out. Not to mention gathering all of the material components for the ritual and testing it out on a much smaller scale. And I had some help... from a friend..." Starlight's words slowly trickled off into silence. Ever so slowly she turned her attention to the floor, and the life in her eyes visibly faded away. Much like before when a humorous piece of nostalgia brought her some joy, this time she recalled something that resulted in sorrow. "Sunburst kept telling me it was a bad idea... that we shouldn't have been doing it... I should have listened to him when I had the chance..."

Starlight remained in that almost catatonic state for a few moments before suddenly jerking back up to attention. "It goes without saying, but he didn't talk me out of it... but he at least insisted I bring something along with me so I wasn't entirely lost."

"... And that's why you have 'my' journal?"

"The first rule of road tripping, always bring a map."

"Sound logic..." Twilight nodded slowly, parsing the information before taking on a bitter expression. "So you stole it from me?"

Like a scarecrow in a field, Starlight froze and remained entirely motionless. Her eyes practically bored into Twilight's skull with how intense her stare was. Twitches and jitters visibly ran up and down her frame as the silence persisted. Sweat began to gather across her brow as her cheeks puffed up, a sign that she was now holding her breath. Whatever the answer to Twilight's question was, it looked like Starlight didn't want to give it. Another of her nervous breakdowns looked just about ready to boil over to the surface. Frustrated by this development, Twilight quietly growled to herself before going to press the issue.

"Did you—?"

"Okay, there's no sugar-coating this, I stole it just like I stole the spell." The question was cut off immediately by a hasty response given in a single breath. "I mean, I was going to put it back when I was done. Back when I thought I'd actually be able to go home. But that's not possible, so I'm a thief. Happy?" The admittance to stealing the journal was the first thing Twilight believed without a second thought.

And the more she thought about this story, the more she began to connect the dots in her head. From day one, Starlight had acted in very strange ways around Twilight, ways that displayed some level of foresight. From apologizing to Twilight "for everything" the first time they met, to yesterday when she showed up out of the blue to point Twilight in Spike's general direction. One explanation was the use of divination magic. Twilight wouldn't be surprised if Starlight had some knowledge in the art, but that didn't explain Starlight's knowledge of her personal affairs. The duplicate journal did, but there was no logical explanation as to how she could have gotten it. The only time she could have was the night she had wiped Spike's memories, but that had happened after the two ponies had met. It also didn't justify the numerous alterations made to the entries. What in the world could she have to gain from making those kinds of edits? Then there was Starlight's reluctance to talk about this in the first place. If this was all meant to be some cover story, why go through the effort to deny it? Perhaps to sell the illusion of it being a far-fetched tale that Twilight wouldn't believe, but at that point why not just make a more believable alibi? One that didn't require all this emotional strain?

As she thought, Twilight made it a point not to break eye contact with Starlight. She watched for any crack in her persona, any sign that this was all some elaborate ruse, a sob story to get Twilight to stop asking questions and get back to the task at hoof. But no such sign came, and all Twilight saw staring back at her were the tired eyes of a defeated mare. A mare who, as she said, had lost everyone and everything she had ever known or cared about. And in a moment of either foolishness or kindness—Twilight hadn't decided which it was yet—she found herself coming to believe that, if nothing else, the explanation that was being given was at least real to Starlight. Real enough, at least. 

"You're... not making this up, are you?" Even now, Twilight had her doubts. But they were slowly being overpowered by her bleeding heart, as she had been calling it for the past few days.

Starlight simply shook her head in response. No further explanation, no attempts to either deny or bolster the story. Just a simple expression that spoke louder than any number of words ever could. Though that didn't stop Twilight from continuing the interrogation, as there was one piece of the puzzle that needed to be put in its place.

"So... Why'd you do it?"

"What?" Starlight flinched at the question.

"Why did you do it? You had a reason, right? Someone doesn't just go around stealing from archives and alicorns without a good reason. Especially when you have a friend telling you to stop." Twilight didn't raise her voice, she kept herself calm and collected as she spoke. "So, why did you do it?"

Something in Starlight shifted at that moment. An emotional weight bore down on her enough to make her posture slack more than it already had. Her face became visibly strained as her inner turmoil came to the surface. Tears began to well up in her eyes, And her breaths became ragged with emotion as she struggled to put the words together. A series of pained choking sounds escaped her as if she were about to burst into sobs. 

But before either mare could continue, a rumbling quake shook the dilapidated tower. The emotional tension was shattered like glass as the tremor came and went without any warning. Starlight perked up and ran towards the window, poking her head outside and glaring upward.

"I thought we had more time..." Starlight bit her lower lip and let out a concerned groan, looking back to Twilight with an exasperated expression. "We need to get a move on, we're running out of time!"

Twilight had to bite back the urge to growl at this development.. While Starlight's story practically demanded further investigation, there was no denying that the earthquake also needed her attention. Though Twilight didn’t even get a chance to question what was happening before Starlight was on the move again. In a blur, she raced back to the dusty old desk and scooped up the box stolen from Knox. Doubling back around, Twilight braced herself as Starlight charged her like a bull.

"Sorry about this!" Starlight shouted frantically as she leaped towards her.

There wasn't enough time to react to the situation, and Twilight soon found herself being tackled to the ground by the frenzied unicorn. But before she could hit the floor, a blinding flash of blue light overwhelmed her senses as Starlight's teleportation spell once again whisked them away. To where, Twilight did not know.