//------------------------------// // A Soldier's Story // Story: A Canterlot Invasion // by Smithawits //------------------------------// Celestia's morning sun shone brightly in the cool, blue sky; birds were happily chirping away in the trees, and most of the ponies of Canterlot started to go about their morning routine. Some, however, decided to sleep in, including one pegasus mare who would occasionally giggle at her dream. Suddenly, the radio on her alarm clock sounded. "Goooood morning Canterlot!" A voice on the other end said excitedly as a song was ending. "The time is now nineteen after ten in the morning, and it looks like it is going to be an absolute gorgeous day today! Hey, if you're just tuning in with us, I am your morning host, Mic the Microphone; join me later today for an exclusive interview with the beautiful Vinyl Scratch who, as you may know, has just won her twenty first Grammy in a row!  We're going to find out more about the famous DJ-PON3 and just how she did it all! That's coming up in a half hour! Oh, and before I forget, Happy Memorial Day everypony!" A new song started to play as a white foreleg reached up and clicked the alarm clock off. Soon after, a white pegasus with a straight blonde mane sat up on her bed with a small smile on her face; the mare's name was Surprise. Surprise yawned, then stretched her legs and wings with all of her might. After she wiped the sleep from her eyes with the back of her hoof, she hopped off of her bed and headed towards her door. She paused when she noticed her reflection in the bedroom mirror; her hair, while still nice looking, was straight and lifeless. Surprise stuck a hoof in her mouth and blew. With a noise that sounded like a balloon inflating, her mane and tail quickly poofed up and became a tangled, yet somehow beautiful, mess. She checked her cutie mark to make sure it was ok; still three purple balloons, perfectly normal. Surprise nodded at her reflection in approval and headed for the kitchen. * * * * Surprise trotted happily into the kitchen; she quickly made her way to the cupboard, brought out a bowl and set it on the kitchen countertop. She then turned and headed for the fridge to get some milk; as she did, she passed by the pantry. "Good morning mom." Surprise said as she passed the pantry. Almost immediately afterwards, Pinkie Pie poked her head out if the pantry. "Hey! How did you know I was there?" Pinkie Pie said dumbfounded. Surprise giggled as she set the milk next to the bowl, "you may be the best at throwing parties, mom, but I am the best at surprises! It is impossible to sneak up on me! Can you pass me the cereal please?" Pinkie Pie turned back into the pantry, then jumped out a few seconds later with a box of Derpy-O's in her hoof; she then tossed it to Surprise, who then proceeded to pour the contents into the bowl. Surprise then tossed it back when she was finished. "Well then," Pinkie said as she grabbed the box and put it back in the pantry. "I guess I'll just have to try even harder to surprise you!" Surprise giggled as she put the milk back in the fridge, "yeah, good luck with that." Surprise took her bowl of cereal and sat down at the dining table. "So," Pinkie Pie began. "What do you have planned for today?" "Oh pfell U'm gowna go ofer moo da-" Surprise started to say with a mouthful of cereal. "Surprise," Pinkie interrupted. "Remember, don't talk with your mouth full silly." "Oh yeah," Surprise swallowed and continued. "Sorry, I said I was going to head over to the War Memorial today, I bet it looks really nice considering it's Memorial Day." "Oh! That sounds like fun!" "I think so too! Do you want to come with me?" "I'd love to! But I gotta open up Candyland for our holiday special," Pinkie said with a tone of disappointment as she gathered her saddlebag. Surprise took another bite of her cereal and swallowed, "that's ok, I'll come by afterwards and help!" Surprise said reassuringly. "We will spend the rest of the holiday together!" "That sounds great! When do you plan to leave?" Surprise drank some of the milk in her bowl, then looked back up to Pinkie, "I'll leave here in a few minutes." "Alright, I'll see you later then!" Pinkie called back as she headed for the door. Surprise downed the last of the milk, "alright, goodbye mom! Love you!" "I love you too!" Pinkie Pie shut the door behind her and was soon happily trotting through the streets of Canterlot. Meanwhile, Surprise put her bowl in the sink and went upstairs to shower and get ready to start her day. * * * * The sun had risen a bit higher in the sky; it's rays reflected off of water in a canal, and a cool wind brought a sense of peace and refreshment throughout the city. Near the canal was the Canterlot War Memorial, where several dark colored marble walls were lined in a row with many names engraved on both sides. Several ponies could be seen slowly walking through the aisles and stopping when coming across names that they would recognize; one of them was a Pegasus in his seventies named Swiftwing. He had a dark blue coat, white hair and was wearing an officer's uniform. Swiftwing was sitting in the 'Invasion of Canterlot' section of the memorial and stared at one of the names. "Hawkeye!" Swiftwing coughed as he struggled to breath. "Hawkeye, where are you!?" Swiftwing leaned against a support beam and violently coughed; his body trying to evict all of the unwanted dust from its lungs. He was able to catch his breath slightly and continued on. "Come on, answer me! I can't-" Swiftwing let out a few more coughs before calling out again. "-I can't see anything!" Swiftwing continued climbing over debris until he saw what looked like his friend silhouetted in the dense dust cloud. "Hawkeye!" "Um, sir?" "Hawkeye!" "Sir?" "HAWKEYE!!!" "Hello, sir?" "Hmm?" Swiftwing was brought out of his memories, he looked to his side to see a white Pegasus with a blonde mane and tail looking at him. "Oh, hello!" he said. "Hi," Surprise said with a smile. "Are you ok? I saw that you were completely zoned out for a few minutes." Swiftwing chuckled, "yes, I'm fine. Thank you for your concern miss...?" A wide smile broke out on Surprise's face, she loved it when ponies asked her name because of the hilarious pun she would say immediately afterwards. "My name is Surprise!" "Surprise?" Swiftwing smirked at the unusual name. Surprise giggled, "yup! Isn't that....'surprising'!?" After a few seconds of silence, Swiftwing let out a hearty laugh, "yes, yes indeed it is!" Surprise squeed at the fact that she made somepony laugh. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Surprise," he said as he held out a hoof. "My name is Swiftwing; I'm a retired sergeant." Surprise held Swiftwing's hoof and gently shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well!" "You know" -Swiftwing said as he brought his hoof down- "you look familiar. Have I seen you somewhere before?" "Probably, I mean I've been somewhere before!" "Ha! No, no, I mean have we met before?" "Hmmm....nope! Don't think so! I'm not as good at remembering ponies like my mom is." "Your mom?" "Yup, her name is Pinkie Pie!" Swiftwing's eyes widened, "that's why you look so familiar! You're the splitting image of your mother! She owns that famous candy shop doesn't she? What's it called? Sweet and Elite...Candy Crush? "Candyland!" Surprise said loudly. "That's it, Candyland! I went to that place with my grandfoals; that place is incredible! Let's see, you had a candy store, a bakery store, a toy store, and an ice cream store all in one building!" "Don't forget the costume store!" "Oh yeah, that too! Isn't it hard overseeing so much?" "At first, but it's pretty fun after a little while!" Swiftwing shook his head in awe, "I don't know how you guys do it." He said as he turned towards the canal. "Well we don't do it all by ourselves, we have several ponies working there to help us." Swiftwing simply smiled. Surprise became uneasy from the silence, "I can go if I'm bugging you." Swiftwing quickly turned his head, "oh no, you don't have to. I was just simply enjoying the scenery." Surprise looked out across the water, "they did a really good job this year for the memorial." "Indeed they did. It's incredible how quickly they cleaned everything up after The Invasion." "My mom has told me stories about that." "She was in the palace right? With the Changeling Queen?" "Mhmm," Surprise nodded. "You know, I was here during The Invasion as well; except I was on the ground instead of the palace." Surprise turned her head quickly, "you were in the city during the invasion!?" she asked excitedly. "I was." "Could you tell me what it was like? I mean, my mom has told me stories about what happened in the palace, but I've also been wanting to know what happened in the city!" Swiftwing chuckled, "are you sure you want to listen to an old pegasus' story?" Surprise nodded excitedly. "Well, alright then. What would you like to know?" "Everything!" Surprise said excitedly. Swiftwing smiled, "Alright then, let's see; I was just a guard back then, and been serving for a little while. It was about my eighth year when I met my best friend named Hawkeye." "Hawkeye?" Surprise asked. "Mhmm, but that wasn't his real name. I just called him that because of his superb observation skills." "What was his real name?" "It translated Ickwing." "Ickwing? That's a weird name." "For an Equine, yes; but not for a Changeling." "Wait, you mean that..." Surprise's voice trailed off. "That's right. Hawkeye, my best friend, was a changeling."