Expectation by HighFructosePornSyrup (2011/1/16)

The letter came for Summer Sparkle on a fine spring day in May. She was nervous; she could barely even bring herself to open it.

It was good news, of course. Not only was she accepted to Canterlot University, they were offering her a full scholarship. She had never felt more proud. She pranced all the way up the path from the mailbox to the farmhouse. Her parents and brothers and sisters were proud of her too.

It wasn't entirely a shock. She was naturally gifted when it came to magic and her studies. She had always excelled at school, always at the top of her class. But it hadn't always been easy, especially when she was the only unicorn in a family full of earth ponies; having been adopted by a kind earth pony couple many years ago, before she could remember. And even with her record, acceptance to C.U.? On a full scholarship? Few unicorns, even the rich ones who went to the prestigious boarding schools, ever got such an opportunity. She was absolutely ecstatic.

So Summer went off so the big city of Canterlot. It was a real adventure to move out, to find her own apartment near the campus, and to meet all the new ponies. She loved her classes, too. In fall, there was History, Math, and Conjuring. In the winter, there was Science, Teleportation, and Telekinesis. In the spring, there was Enchanting, Advanced Telekinesis, and Thaumaturgy.

By this time, she had decided to major in magic. She continued to excel. She was always at the top of the class. All of the professors had commended her achievements. She made the Princess's honor roll, and even got an audience with the Princess herself. The family back home was bragging to everybody in town.

She had no shortage of friends to keep her company, either. Most were students from her classes, their friends, roommates, and so on. There was Toola Roola, Stardancer Surprise, Lickity Split, Sweettooth Sugar, and Posey Star.

Another pony, Evening Star, Summer didn't like at first. A unicorn colt who she met through from her classes, he was something of a rival; no other pony had come close to matching Summer's performance. In the high-pressure world of Canterlot University, Summer's competitiveness came out, and she took Evening's performance as a personal challenge.

Still, when they were reintroduced to each other at a house party, they were amicable enough. They ran into each other again every now and then; at parties, or at the store, or on the university quad. As time went on, Summer realized that she had gotten the colt all wrong. He was a brilliant student who loved learning and magic. He was kind. He was funny. He was very handsome. Summer had just realized that she had an insatiable crush on Evening when he revealed that he had the same feelings for her.

The courtship was intense. They were head-over-heels in love. They went everywhere together and were the talk of the campus in-crowd. There they went, "Summer and Evening," as they would say. It then shortened to "Summer Evening," as if they were two parts of a greater whole—which was the way that they felt.

They had each other visit their respective families, and they all hit it off. There was talk of moving in together. It only seemed natural that they would spend the rest of their lives together. Still, it was a shock to Summer when Evening asked her to marry him. Of course, she said yes.

Married students were rare, but hardly unheard of, especially among the older ponies. They worked everything out. The marriage itself was a spectacular event, as was the honeymoon. In the natural course of events, Summer soon found out that she was pregnant. Again she was ecstatic. Perhaps more than other first-time expectant moms, she thought to herself. Her son or daughter would be the first blood relative she could remember. She had been adopted, but now she would have a family of her own.

In a few short years, a continual and escalating series of wonderful events had occurred to Summer. She had been accepted to Canterlot University, she had excelled there, she had gotten to meet the Princess, she had met Evening, she had courted him, they had had a storybook wedding, and now she was carrying his foal. It was only a matter of time before this series of fortunate events turned upside down.

It happened a couple of months later. Evening left her.

He simply didn't come home one day. No letter, no message. Summer called all the hospitals, and the police stations. Nothing. Friends said that that they had seen him around. She ran into him one day on the street. He acted as though he had never even seen her before. When she persisted, he told her he never wanted to see her again.

Summer was crushed. She would never be able to do things on her own. She'd have to quit school and move back home, ashamed; an abandoned wife and mother. Her friends worried that she would lose her foal, she was so upset. They visited her, but she was inconsolable. Her own professors came to visit, but they couldn't get through to her. Finally, Princess Celestia came by to talk to her.

The Princess fixed what she could. While she didn't make it very public, the Princess had once told her, she took a deep personal interest in the students at Canterlot University; especially the gifted students like Summer. Everything would be taken care of for Summer, Celestia now promised. Classes could be rescheduled for her. Day care would be provided. Summer could foal at the private hospital at the Palace, where the best obstetricians in Equestria practiced. Celestia even promised that she would assign to Summer a private dragon assistant when one became available.

When the time came, Summer checked into the hospital. The foaling ward was surprisingly sparse; just simple cement rooms with a bit of hay, with access to the gardens. She hardly saw the fancy doctors, but the nurses were very, very nice. They always stopped to chat with Summer when they came by on their rounds.

"Have you picked out a name?" they would ask.

"Winter Rose," she would tell them. "That was my mother's name. My biological mother. I never had a chance to meet her, but that's what they told me her name was. My little foal won't know her father. But at least she'll know me. I'll always be there for her."

The foal came without a problem. She was a beautiful little purple filly with bright purple eyes. All the nurses told her how beautiful she was. She was already trotting and cantering and galloping around the gardens.

Higher functions were still years away. She was still a newborn, after all. It would be another year and a half before she could talk. Still, she could walk and run and nurse, and that was good enough for Summer.

Other mothers in the ward who had foaled at the same time went home, but they kept her admitted. High blood pressure, they told her. It was better to keep her here. They kept her for three days without changing their story.

On the fourth day, the nicest of the nurses came into her room. She came in with three unicorn stallions. They were huge; filled with muscle. They looked as big as the Princess's personal guard.

Summer knew that something was wrong. The filly had to go with these gentlecolts, the nurse told her. It was for more testing.

Summer knew it was a lie. She protested, but the nurse told her not to. One of the big unicorns made for the filly. There was a struggle. Summer slammed the door shut with her magic. She attacked the nearest of the unicorns. The largest of them barked an order, and then everything happened at once.

The nurse dove for the nearest corner.

Two of the stallions threw themselves between Summer and Winter Rose.

The third...

the third drove his horn directly into Summer's chest, piercing her heart. She had a second of consciousness, a second of shock and horror, before she collapsed, dead.

The foal, of course, saw everything. But being only four days old, she neither could understand the images that she was seeing, nor would she remember them.



Fang, a young male dragon and personal assistant to Princess Celestia, strode into one of her private offices, with a satchel of documents on one shoulder.

"Your majesty," he bowed, "I have a quarterly report on the Vessel Project."

"Go on," she commanded.

"We've had four new foals over the last three months.

"The first: TG-17. A blue colt. Sired by S. Majesty, out of M. Moon. Preliminary testing: above average.

"TG-23. A brown filly. Sired by G. Miracle, out of G. Runner. Preliminary testing: above average.

"TK-11. Another blue filly. Sired by A. Jewel, out of C. Flowers. Preliminary testing: exceptional.

"And TJ-31. Purple filly. Sired by E. Twilight, out of S. Sparkle. Preliminary testing: near perfect. Full signs and portents."

Celestia sighed. "Fang, this breeding program seems to have run its course. After all these generations of work, this may be as good as it gets. This Nightmare Moon business is approaching, and we won't have time for another generation. This last one, this Twilight-Sparkle get. Any chance for a sibling?"

Fang looked at the paperwork again. "The father... had the love spell removed. His memory was wiped. Reassigned to the general stud pool. Et cetera, et cetera. Usual business. The mother..." He turned a page. "Killed. Another struggle in the foaling ward."

"Well, it will have to do," Celesta concluded.

"Usual assignments?" Fang asked. "Scattered adoptions around Equestria?"

"Keep the last one, this Twilight-Sparkle, close. Find some place in Canterlot. Have her admitted to the University as early as reasonable. I want to keep a close eye on this one; she could be the one we're looking for. Purple? A bit garish, but after all these years in white I suppose I could do with a change. And if this one can truly recover all the Elements, I won't be worrying about such trivialities."

(Prequel to http://ponyfictionarchive.net/viewstory.php?sid=364. Corrected and edited for grammar and flow from transcript by ibneko at http://pastebin.com/N1FQQeB0 of original as seen at https://hyperindex.mlpg.co/co22673109.html#22676161.)