"Before you start cowboy... or before any of us say anything. Why don't we ask some questions?" Slade asked as he turned to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and eyed them both with mistrust. "Hey sunbutt. Mind explaining how we got here?"
"SPEAK MORE POLITELY TO THE PRIN..."
"Twilight..." Celestia said as she gazed sternly down at her. "It's okay."
"But he's so..."
"It's okay. Anyways, my apologies, but I don't know how you got here. It seems only coincidence that you six all arrived at the same time." Celestia replied as she sat back to take a look at all the people she was addressing. "But Mr. Raynor... why don't you fill in on everyone how you got here?"
"Well I was about to that ma'am. Before I was RUDELY interrupted..." Raynor said as he shot an eye over to Slade.
"Who said that was my only question?" Slade asked once more. "Where the hell are we even?"
"Canterlot Castle!"
"Yeah. Great. As in... what planet are we on?" Slade said rolling his good eye. "Last I checked, I don't recall any species of talking horse on my world. Unless we happen to be in Narnia. But if that was the case, I expect more things on two legs that talk too."
"Well... we are in Equestria... does that answer your question?" Twilight replied as she took a deep breath. This guy...
"Good enough..." Slade said as he stopped talking. Finally.
"Okay... Mr... Raynor? You can begin."
"Alright then." The man said as he took a swig of apple cider. "Now it was a pretty good day for me when this all started. By good day, I meant it meant there weren't any Zerg, lasers, missiles or bullets headed in my general direction... and what made it even better was that my pal Matt got into contact with these black marketers. They were selling some information and research on the Protoss which the ship's scientist, Stetmann would have committed homicide to get his hands on. So we paid off the black marketers, and I went down there to go pick up the goods... what is it?"
"What's a Zerg? And what's a Protoss?" Sanya mouthed.
"Say that again kid. I can't hear a single word out of you."
"What's a Zerg and a Protoss?"
"Okay. You ought to speak up more in the future. The Zerg are nasty business. They're like giant bugs that came straight out of hell. They're bent on nothing more than to consume... well just about everything. They really are the worst things that you can run into out there in Koprulu... which I bet no one knows what it is... right?"
No one knew. Shocker.
"It's just a sector in our galaxy. I can't tell where it is because I don't think this planet was nearby when I crash landed. Which actually gets me to my next point."
"So. The black marketers were great and all. Now just because they're probably mercenaries and guys that regularly go off to blow up some guy's house don't mean they're bad people. Typically, it's the poor sucker having his things blown up that is the bad guy. These pals of mine go way back with me. We fight the Dominion together and they promised to help me in whatever way possible. A promise they were honoring."
"What's the Dominion?" Rogers asked as he was served a coffee. Something told him they'd be up pretty late.
"An oppressive government led by a low-life scum called Mengsk. He founded it when we took down the confederacy and when the Zerg swarm reared their ugly heads. We were still friends then until he showed his true colors."
"I assume this government has done many wrong things?" Steve asked. He too had spent a good portion of his life fighting against oppression. Nazi Germany for one.
"It has. They do all sorts of bad things but what really worries me is what we discovered some time back. They had some secret labratory in a hidden... place. When we raided the place... the things Mengsk had... it gave this guy called Tosh nightmares for an entire week."
"Who's Tosh?"
"He's a psionic. A spectre. Probably some of the biggest badasses I've ever met. He hates the Dominion almost as much as me. He's a killer too. A damn good one at that yet whatever it was this lab had, it made the guy terrified. I know why because I was there to see it. The monster... it... it was terrible."
He stopped for a moment as memories of the Hybrid began to fill him in again. The monster that had single-handedly destroyed the lab which nothing, not even a prototype warbot could stop.
"But... I am straying off topic. When I picked up the goods in my ship, they were nice enough to load them into these boxes. Of course, I had checked them to see if these guys didn't screw me over. They were in there. And that was good. But when I lifted off and was in orbit... weird things were happening to my ship. For a sec, I thought it was cause I forgot to fix the old girl again, but it seems as though it was the shipment... you see... one of the boxes contained these giant purple rocks... they began to glow and I thought that I must've done something stupid. The entire glow was so bright, it covered the entire place! But I got to open my eyes and find out I was still alive... except I was in orbit of another planet and headed straight there... about to crash..."
"And I believe this was when we first me you? Right?" Twilight asked almost too eagerly.
"It was. What was your friend's name? Jack?"
"Applejack..."
"Right. So I kinda crashed... and destroyed a section of her farm... and.. sorry... but I oughta thank both of you for helping me get out."
"You were in that big... metal... suit.... it was a miracle you could even move!"
"Don't mind the power armor. Just mind the rubble. By the way... where did you take my ship?"
"It's actually here in Canterlot. We can go have a look in the morning. Story was, it took over a few hundred Pegasi to move that thing." Twilight chuckled. "I can't believe how your people can go into space and fly without wings or magic!"
"It's nothing really. We've been doing this for at least a few hundred years now."
"How advanced are your people?" Armin asked. At this point really, he didn't even know what half the things Raynor had been talking about. For one, he had been really confused on how a "ship" crashed. It would take some explaining for him to understand that Raynor's ship actually flew and went into space.
"I think we, the Terran people are probably the second most advanced species in the entire galaxy. Now I can go off all day about what I think of Vulture speeders, Power Armor and Battlecruisers but let's not go there. Hey... what's your name again?"
"Armin."
"Just an idea, but why don't you go next for all of us?"
"Why?'
"Well... you seem to not understand anything about what I was talking about. I take it wherever you're from, you're not exactly used to flying ships and aliens?"
"No." Armin said. "I suppose if tell my side of the story, I can be able to fill you in."
"Excellent. Why don't you go next Armin?" Princess Celestia said as food and drink was brought to the table. "I am sure we would all be delighted to hear your... oh... pardon me... but I must have duties to attend to. Luna does too. Twilight..."
"Yes, Princess."
"Thank you." Celestia said as she left the room in an almost frantic dash with Luna leaving behind six people who were scratching their heads and one purple unicorn who had pulled out a few square miles worth of paper to take notes on.
A few seconds later, Armin began his story.