It was the one she needed
Two alicorns sat on a hill overlooking Maretime Bay. The Elder One was an ascended alicorn, chosen by Harmony and Princess Celestia all those moons ago. The Younger One was an...interesting case, it appeared she was chosen by Harmony yet her alicorn status has not been fully solidified. No matter. What mattered was that she had the potential to be more.
"Princess."
"Please, call me Twilight."
"Twilight. Why did you end?"
The Elder One giggled at that. What a silly question. "You're going to have to be more specific with that question."
The Younger One ducked her head in embarrassment. "I suppose, what I meant, was, why did your reign end? You had your friends, together you controlled the Elements of Harmony, even without them, you were the Princess of Equestria! You had entire armies that would do anything if you gave the order. Why and how did Opaline take control? Why did you let her?"
"That is a very good question, Sunny." She smiled down at her successor. "Perhaps it was time."
"Wha... That doesn't mean anything!"
The Elder One giggled again. "My apologies. How about this. Do you know why things end?"
"Because...I don't know." The Younger One admitted, somewhat ashamed.
"That's perfectly fine, my little pony. All things come to an end, we are taught this at a young age. If we weren't, it would be known later down in life. You could almost say it is inevitable that we would learn of the existence of the end."
"But that doesn't answer my question! Yes, things come to an end, but you barely ruled for 200 years, what happened?"
"Well, Opaline took over."
"Yes! I know that! It just seems...it just seems so...lame. You, the all powerful Princess of Friendship and Equestria, defeated by an Alicorn that we, sung into a tree. So, forgive me for not believing you." The Younger One looked a bit on the reddish side.
The Elder One waited patiently through this rant. "My dear Sunny, I could easily defeat her. I simply didn't."
"But...but why?"
"I shall answer the question I asked you earlier." She paused for dramatic effect, a certain unicorn would be proud. "All things come to an end because we decided to start it in the first place. All things come to an end because it allows a way for the new to take their place. All things come to an end because life goes on. I allowed for Opaline to take over, because I decided that that particular part of my journey was over. I spent 9 wonderful years with my best friends before I became the Princess of Equestria. I spent another 100 years serving Equestria to the best of my abilities. Those beginnings deserved endings, so I gave them one, allowing for a new beginning."
"But that new beginning was terrible! We lost our magic, we lost our Harmony, we lost our friends..." The Younger One sighed unhappily. "Things would've been better if you stayed and defeated Opaline."
"And rob you of your beginning? Of the new cultures, ideas, and magicks? If I ruled for that much longer, many of the wonderful things about this new Equestria would not have existed. Granted, many of the wonders from my Equestria have disappeared, faded from view, but that's how it goes." The Elder One smiled as she reminisced. "There was this terrible flower, that if the spores touched skin, they would contract Swamp Fever. The results...were unpleasant, to say the least. But they no longer exist in this Equestria. Now you have a wonderful flower called the Lumi-bloom!"
"Yeah, I guess...but it's still unfair! Ponykind was split up for who knows how long! And all those other sentient species? The griffons, kirin, batponies? I can keep on listing if you want me to!"
"Oh, you don't have to do that. I am well aware of how many sentient creatures have disappeared. I knew them all, made peace and have formed friendships with all of them. You are talking to the Princess of Friendship afterall."
"That's what I mean! You knew so many, so many cultures and perspectives! All we've got are the Breezies and the Auroracorns."
"But look on the brightside! I only got to interact with the Breezies only a hooffull of times because of their peculiar habits. Now, you've got an entire society living within a tree! How is that not exciting!" The Elder One's face was alight with a rare glow. "And those Auroracorns? I wished I could have met them. Their brand of magic sounds so intriguing, and their horns are made out of some kind of crystallized ice? Never take your world for granted, Sunny. Sure, the past had all these amazing things, but look at all you've accomplished and how much you can still go for. The benefits of resetting is that the map has to be redrawn. I think that's worthy endeavour."
"Yeah...I guess you're right. But I'm still not convinced! From everything my dad and now you have told me about Old Equestria sounds amazing, so daring and fun! My Equestria seems so tame compared to that, like, all we do is just hangout and see what today's mishaps might bring us." The Younger One sighed forlornly. "I really wish we could rewind time."
"Oh, we can."
"We can!?"
"Well, I can."
"Oh...well, you can! Can you do it right now?"
"I could, but it wouldn't be right. Let the past be the past, it holds too much that if a pony were to mess around, it would all come crumbling down. Better to dream than a reality. But the present, that's the most important time of anypony's life. It is special because that's the time everypony who has free will is at. This is where your friends, friends you can hang around with, are at. If we changed all that, went back into the past to redo my supposed mistake, what would happen to your friends?"
"I...I don't know."
"Me neither. But I saw it happen once, more than once actually. A friend of mine decided that it was best to rewrite history. I never got to know my friends and we were both miserable for it. Sure, they had other friends, other purposes in life, but we were miserable. Me, for knowing what we had a lifetime ago. Them, for not knowing what could've happened. Time travel is to not be taken lightly, Sunny. I want you to remember."
"Okay...I'll remember."
"That's good."
The two alicorns looked away from each other and towards the now rising sun. It cast a beautiful glow, allowing the world to shape itself anew.
