#Dodonpa reached out to him with a racing invitation so it's not *impossible* to get to Silver in the future

[true-blue-sonic]

I think very often about the fact that Silver doesn't have any friends from his own time. Even if he did make friends in the future, he would risk erasing them from existence any time he chose to go to the past; and not only would nobody but him realize the loss that happened, but also he would have nobody but himself to blame for causing the loss of his friend.

And that made me wonder: If Silver were to be rendered unable to (seemingly) ever return to the past and got forced to make a life for himself in the future, and then he did, but then suddenly he regained the chance to see his friends from the past again… Under normal circumstances he might've had little qualms about visiting the past again, but after spending potentially years accepting he'll never get to see them again but he's not gonna let that prevent him from living his life… would he be willing to risk losing the life he has now?

Exactly this is a dilemma I like discussing in some of my fics as well, like New Beginnings and Genesis. The choice to go back in time and making a whole world and its inhabitants not exist in the first place is definitely made more easy when that world is beyond rescue and its inhabitants are mostly gone or rapidly dying out anyway. Since the games never dive into Silver's life in the future except some vague mentions here and there, like Silver saying that the sky is blue and everybody's got a smile in Colours DS, I find it hard to infer what his social life would be like there. But indeed, if he brings forth an accidental change to the timeline, it is very likely that people he knew in the future are gone or get fundamentally changed. And if they don't recognise him with each timeline 'reset', I can imagine that for Silver it eventually becomes better to just not have any acquaintances there at all. It leads to too much heartbreak, too many goodbyes, and far too much guilt. No, in such a scenario, I really do think Silver might steel himself and ensure his only friends are ones that are safe in the past, where his control over their lives only extends to ensuring they can keep on living instead of being responsible for their demise. Stopping people from coming into existence is already a tough choice, let alone if it's someone Silver knows, and I think he's got a lot to grapple with conscience-wise about it all.

As for your question in your second paragraph, I'm afraid I don't have a solid answer. I think a lot would hinge on how likely it is his visit to the past immediately changes the entire timeline. If he were to visit on some calm weekend afternoon when there's nothing happening regarding Eggman and the like, I don't think there would be too much chance of things going wrong? But I do think he would be tremendously antsy about it all, both in part because he hasn't seen his friends in the past for so long and in part because he is afraid he's going to lose some friends all over again, but then in the future instead. All in all, it is a situation wherein I see only losses and problems, with no easy solution to ensure everything goes well for both people in the future and the past simultaneously. But somehow, I have faith that Silver can make it work!