Once everyone was gathered around the table again, Samus went through all the introductions while Spike made breakfast for everyone. While interested glances were exchanged at each name, only two moments of real interest caught attention, both of which based in how Anthony reacted. The first was when Samus introduced Twilight as Spike's other mother.
"Heh," Anthony chuckled. "You know, I always wondered what your type was, Sam."
As Twilight tilted her head in confusion and Luna guffawed, Samus punched Anthony on his arm, hard. At that point, Spike came back from the kitchen with waffles for everyone, pausing behind Gandrayda's chair to smile down at her, only to blush when she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek.
"Whoa!" Anthony gasped out, surprised. "When'd you two get lovey dovey? I thought you couldn't stand how forward she was?"
Spike shrugged. "We came to understand each other a bit better. Things change."
"Especially in our case," Gandrayda offered with a chuckle, briefly turning into Anthony before changing back.
"...that was just freaky," Anthony and Spike stated together.
"This seems to be an unusually large gathering," Adam commented, "with several figures of obvious significance for this planet. But it seems a bit too relaxed for an official diplomatic event."
"Neigh, Commander," Luna countered. "Spike is as close to sister and I as family, so we came to hear his tales of adventure amongst the stars now that he has returned to us."
"I just stopped in cause everyone else was here," Discord offered. "It's boring when they're all in one place somewhere I'm not."
"How far you got?" Anthony asked curiously.
Spike and Samus both lowered their eyes. Twilight was the one who spoke up. "We just learned about Zebes destruction," she offered.
"Ugh..." Anthony winced. "Talk about a grim note."
"And talk about timing," Adam added. "We arrive just in time to help tell the next mission...your second to last for the Federation. Isn't that an odd coincidence?"
"Not really," Rundus countered. "We arrived just in time to help tell about the Phaaze conflict."
"That's a bit much to shrug off as coincidence," Adam countered. "It almost seems...planned." He glanced towards Discord.
"What are you looking at me for?" he asked, his voice filled with injured innocence.
"You're the only one here with the power to arrange this," Adam indicated.
"Puh-leez!" Discord scoffed. "I'm the Spirit of Chaos! Why would I do something so...orderly?"
"Because no one would believe you would, so you could get away with it," Adam offered.
Discord smirked widely. "Well now, you're a clever one. But don't you think it's a bit much on my part to gather you all here from across the cosmos just for a reunion and story time? That's just silly!"
"True," Celestia agreed. "It's far too simple for your normal hijinks. What else are you planning?"
"Aren't you overlooking the possibility that it might actually be coincidence?" Discord offered.
"Discord..." Fluttershy began, her tone of voice between encouraging, chiding, and motherly disapproval.
Discord sighed. "Cross my heart," he began, doing the motions, "hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, my only future plans involving all of you are to hear the rest of the story."
Adam remained suspicious, but with everyone else present accepting this, he decided to remain silent. Samus then began the tale. "Our first stop after Zebes was the nearest Federation outpost," she explained. "Using that other beam augment as I did actually damaged my suit, so I actually needed a tune up before I could get a check up." She lowered her eyes. "It wasn't until later I would understand the significance when one of the scientists said they gave my suit a 'good cleaning'."
"Did they try to harvest Metroid cells from your suit to clone, but end up cloning nearly everything you fought on Zebes including Ridley?" Scootaloo asked. When everyone looked at her, she shrugged. "What? The Space Pirates abused cloning. You can't tell me the Federation doesn't have it. And we've got two more 'maybe Ridley' battles based on how many times Samus and Spike said they fought him, and only two more missions. He has to show up here somehow."
Adam and Anthony both stared. "How...?" Anthony tried to ask.
"Gamers," Spike replied, causing Anthony to nod in understanding and chuckle.
"That's exactly what happened, Scootaloo," Samus explained. "Of course, I wouldn't find out about that for a few months. After reporting the results of the Zebes mission to the authorities, Spike and I decided to find someplace to relax and detox. So we swung by Aether to see how things were going there with the rebuilding."
"It wasn't doing too well," Spike admitted ruefully. "The Luminoth were busy debating exactly how to go about rebuilding their world properly. The major debate was about whether to try and rebuild Aether as it was before the conflict, or to try and live in Aether as it had become."
"But wasn't that mission three years before?" Twilight demanded, having kept track of those details. "How could they still be debating?"
"According to U-Mos, the Luminoth are long lived, can last for a long time on little food, and are very patient," Samus explained, rolling her eyes. "Not unlike the Chozo. By my estimates at the time, as long as they had enough rations and clean water - which they did - the debate would probably last a full decade."
"So we spent most of our time riding the thermals over Agon Desert," Spike finished. "Bureaucratic infighting was not our idea of relaxation."
"When we felt more at peace with ourselves, we left," Samus offered. "Once out in space, we picked up...a rather unique distress signal. An SOS signal demanding immediate attention and aid from anyone who heard it. It was code named 'Baby's Cry'."
Spike snorted derisively.
"You have a problem with Federation protocols?" Adam asked calmly.
"Nah," Spike countered. "I just think it sounds like a bad joke that the 'Baby's Cry' led us to the Bottleship."
Rainbow wasn't the only one who snorted in disbelief, though she was the one that spoke. "Seriously?"
Samus shrugged helplessly.