//------------------------------//
// Absolutely Impossible 
// Story: Time Shadow 
// by RegalBrony 
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	Twilight turned to Silverspoon, an exasperated scowl highlighting her features.
"It's impossible, Sil, so why bother? I've proven to you time and time again, time travel simply doesn't work past simple party tricks. It is impossible to travel into established events unless the excursion in time will result in a loop of events. Even then, it is totally impossible to send a physical copy of yourself farther into the past than your own timestream goes, as the magic required is linked between your past self and present." Twilight frowned. "Even if it was possible to complete the journey, time is strictly cause-to-effect. It's linear, and you would be affecting your present self by interacting with the past. Sil, I shouldn't have to teach you this so often. Besides, what does it even matter to you? You're an earth pony, so even the simple time travel that IS possible wouldn't work for you, seeing as how a unicorns past horn links to the present one in order to form the causality loop."
Silverspoon sighed condescendingly and looked down her nose, a smug smile spreading across her face. 
"Really?" Twilight's expression turned from annoyance to real anger when she heard the poisonous arrogance lining her students word. "You haven't even considered several possibilities, Twilight. First, you have simply assumed that time has to progress in a logical fashion." Silverspoon took a step towards Twilight, her eyebrows furrowing into the scowl that Silverspoon always assumed before delivering something absolutely brilliant. Twilight loved that intense scowl, and when it formed, she always prepared herself for the ingenious thoughts that she had first noticed in Silverspoon. She just wished that Silverspoon's genius hadn't come packaged with such simpering arrogance. "See, despite your assumptions, there is no absolute proof that time is as linear as you say it is. Secondly, the only reason that the causality loop occurs is because the magic involved forces it to circle around itself in order to connect the timestreams, as without such a circular neutron flow between the two unicorns, past and present, the time travel spell would fail from lack of connection to the past. Therefore, time travel as it is known has always resulted in a causality loop merely because of the magical forces involved. But..." Silverspoon grinned, "but, if one could travel through time without the aid of magic, the causality loop wouldn't be necessary." 
Twilight turned back towards her proud student, one eyebrow arched as she stared intensely into Silverspoon's eyes, angry at her student for talking down to her again, but interested in her theory despite herself. "Perhaps..." she mused. "But if this, this...machine did exist, it would have to have absolute knowledge in it's circuits of not only the physical placement of every single atom in the universe at every single instant that ever has or ever will exist, it would have to be able to predict every single possible way they could change due to interference from time travel. Otherwise the paradoxes would rip it apart, and even then, it would need a near inexhaustible energy source. We most certainly can't build such a device, so your fixation on time travel is still just as meaningless as before, Sil!" Twilight's expression turned to one of righteous rage and her voice reverberated around the small library. "Now, unless you have something meaningful to say to me, Silverspoon, I suggest you return to you studies on the recent war between the gryphons and Saddle-Arabia. I want three pages on how that conflict has influenced Equestria, despite our choice to remain neutral." Twilight turned around and began to walk for the door, her hooves leaving marks in the hard wood floor as she stomped to the door. It swung open with a purple flash, and Twilight stepped outside, only to hear Silverspoon start arguing with her yet again.
"But Twilight! You aren't understanding my point at all!" Silverspoon whined. Twilight whipped around. She tried to put a murderous light into her glare, but only succeeded in making herself look constipated. 
"But WHAT, Silverspoon! But WHAT! I have important business this afternoon." Twilight paused, then grinned. "So, you can keep arguing with me, but, by Celestia, if the next words from your mouth aren't absolutely, positively, GENIUS, I will suspend you from your advanced studies with me for two weeks." As Twilight had intended, her words left Silverspoon speechless as she pondered how much that would delay her. Twilight decided that a final push was needed. "I'm sure that Sweetie Belle could easily surpass you in your studies with a two-week advantage." Twilight said sweetly. Silverspoon bit her lip and looked down, considering her words very, VERY carefully. She took a deep breath. 
"Twilight, I know that we can't build a time machine. But that doesn't mean that somewhere in the future, someone else hasn't. And I've spent the past three months engineering a device that creates a polarized neutron flow that could detect if the timelines were altered somehow, and I was wondering if maybe we could  just make my machine, and, you know, test the timelines." Silverspoon saw Twilight starting to give.One last push...she thought. "If nothing pops up, I promise that I won't bother you with my time travel obsession EVER again. Alright?" Silverspoon bit her bottom lip as Twilight thought about the ramifications of Silverspoon's theory. 
"Fine." Twilight said suddenly. "But when nothing shows up, and it won't, I promise you that, you will keep your promise or, with Celestia as my witness, I swear that I will expel you from my school. 
"School? Me and Sweetie Belle are the only students. Not sure if that qualifies as a school, but..." Silverspoon stopped in her tracks as she realized that Twilight had agreed to go ahead with her idea. She threw her hooves around Twilight and then proceeded to gallop out the door. 
"I'll bring my design over tomorrow! Thanks Twilight!" Silverspoon yelled as she ran home. 
As she watched Silverspoon ran off, Twilight put a hoof to her forehead. 
"I'm going to regret this." she sighed, and took off at a trot for Carousel Boutique. Despite their academic rivalry, Sweetie Belle would definitely want in on Silverspoon's crazy scheme tomorrow.