For kilala97’s most recent contest!
 

 
It had been many years after Anthea had given birth to her children, Oasis and Apollo. Most of their friends had also had children and had settled down, such as Clarity and Illusion. Despite Nidra’s pining for T’s affections, having gone through a stage of mourning for her own love, she had finally seemed to accept that she would not have her feelings returned. Somewhere, a little voice in her head said she only had to wait for her opportunity, but she did not wish to think of such a situation in which Anthea wasn’t filling the space.
 
Nidra had heard the worried whispers of her best friend and her husband for many years. They knew that T would most likely out-live Annie, but their worries only began once Anthea showed signs of aging. She aged well as a unicorn mare, and barely showed her age at all, save for a few streaks of grey locks. Nidra grew anxious through the years of her princess ship as she began seeing her friends age, such as Valiant Heart’s wife Red June. It was a terrible feeling, for one practically immortal to see her friends dying. She tried not to view it in this manner, but it was harder to endure a loss than to picture it.
 
It was in late December when Nidra was invited to T and Anthea’s cottage in Ponyville. It had been a long time since she had visited due to her duties as a princess, and she desperately wished to perish her thoughts of fear from her mind rather than drown it out with dances and tea parties with aristocrats in Canterlot. She dismissed her Night Guard and flew herself to Ponyville, which only took a short time. She landed near the path towards the cottage and made her way quickly yet quietly forwards.
 
The cottage was homey and warm, the flickering light of the fire throwing light onto the shimmering snow on the ground. A shiver ran down Nidra’s spine and between her wings before she knocked. It was a minute or two before she was called inside by a familiar voice, and let herself in.
 
“Annie?” Nidra whispered, silently closing the door behind her.
 
“Yes? Nidra, I’m in here!” The voice called. It didn’t sound exactly like Anthea’s usual voice. She sounded weak, strained perhaps. Nidra followed the voice through the house to the bedroom where it came from. She opened the door with a creak, catching sight of Annie curled up on the floor. Nidra gasped and practically flew to her side, wrapping a hoof around Annie’s body. She was shivering and cold, and Nidra was very concerned.
 
“Annie, what happened?” Nidra asked, worried as she attempted to levitate Anthea back into the bed. Annie shook her head, wincing as she indicated a hoof to her hip.
 
The blind unicorn pony sighed, “I was trying to get out of bed to make a cup of tea before you arrived, but I… collapsed.”
 
“Collapsed?” Nidra whispered.
 
Annie attempted to smile, but it came out strained. Nidra came to her side and gestured for Anthea to rest her head on her hip. Annie sighed and took what was offered, relaxing onto the alicorn bat-pony’s body. “Thank you. Yes, I’m afraid I’m a bit too old to do the simplest things now…”
 
Nidra shook her head, “D-Don’t say that, Annie…”
 
“No, no.” Anthea replied curtly with a soft, matter-of-fact tone. “I need help just getting out of the bed now. We all need to face the fact that we are growing older… even you, Nidra.”
 
The princess was taken aback by this comment. “What do you mean?”
 
Annie smiled a knowing smile. “Nidra… I may be blind, but I am not without my senses.”
 
Slowly, it dawned on Nidra, like the stars aligning with the moon. She shook her head, her blue mane waving around her golden eyes. She couldn’t mean…?
 
“You and I both know how you conceded defeat when T began dating me.” Annie began. “You were being a good friend, and I really appreciate what you’ve sacrificed for me to have such a wonderful life with T.”
 
“No, Annie… I didn’t sacrifice anything.” Nidra protested.
 
The unicorn smiled a sad smile. “Nidra… you’re possibly one of the few ponies who have made my life what it was. I could have never had such a life full of love and friendship without you, or my mother, or T. You’re my best friend, the bestest… I owe you everything.”
 
Nidra shook her head, tears filling her eyes. The sound of the fire crackling was far away now. The chill of winter was not in the room, but it was as if Nidra was in a blizzard of her own.
 
“No! Annie… I’m so selfish.” Nidra practically shouted. “I… I think the most horrible thoughts, about how after you… after…”
 
“I know.” Annie laughs at the stricken surprise on her friend’s face. “I know because I have thought of it too. What will happen after I die? What will T do? What about Apollo and Oasis? What about you?”
 
There was a long pause between the two friends, sharing a silent conversation in their eyes, one pleading, yet the other insistent as if trying to convince the other of something. The blizzard in Nidra’s body had tamed to a whimper of a breeze, the heat beginning to seep back inside her.
 
“Nidra, I want you to promise me something.” Annie finally spoke, her eyes hard with tears, yet she refused to shed them. “Promise me… you will not hold yourself back for me. Don’t deny yourself happiness for my sake.”
 
“Annie…”
 
“Nidra, promise me.”
 
It seemed like forever ago when Nidra and Anthea were just young mares looking for a place to belong in the world. Anthea, trying to get over other pony’s ideas that she was useless just because she was blind. And Nidra, trying to fit in rather than be isolated because of her mother’s past doings. She wished she could go back, back when it was just those problems, where she could forever hide rather than face something like this. But life had to move on.
 
“Nidra… please.” Her voice was weak.
 
She wondered what would happen if she refused the unicorn. Could she do it? Could she deny herself everything she wanted? It felt as if she was stealing, taking Annie’s place as T’s wife, if it could ever come to that. Annie was perfect, despite her blindness. In fact, her being blind practically made her so. She was Nidra’s best friend. She couldn’t…
 
But she could. For Annie, she could.
 
“I promise.”
 
It was only then did Annie smile and give a hiccup of laughter, of tears that clogged her throat with disguised emotion. Nidra tried to join her, but couldn’t, and ended up sobbing. The two embraced in these tears, both unshed and shared, swirling into a vat of emotion that neither could escape from, until the abyss of sleep took them.
 
Nidra awoke to the feeble light of dawn trickling in through the transparent curtains in Anthea’s bedroom, greeted with the bundle of Annie in her hooves. Without speak a word, without even moving… Nidra understood.