“So what exactly are we allowed to see, Hunter?” Twilight had been curious about Hunter and the Republic since the concept was introduced to her. And now, on the walk to the barn where Hunter’s ship was, it felt like a good time to probe him for more questions. The path was dusty, filled with apple trees, and, before hand, silence.

“Most information from the database is available to the public now. And whatever I bring off the ship will be seen.” Hunter had his gun un-holstered with the safety on. No telling what enemy would attack.

“Right.” Twilight looked back at the path. “Celestia’s going to make an announcement at the Summer Sun Celebration about you and the Republic.”

Hunter nodded and looked at the road. And when that happens, every species on this planet will know about it. It could escalate into conflict if not handled properly.

“Princess Celestia said she was going to invite the leaders from all nations to attend.” Twilight smiled. “This is going to change a lot of things here, that’s for sure.”

“In any case, being prepared couldn’t hurt. And subtlety will be paramount.”

“YOOHOO! HUNTER!” Hunter and Twilight looked further down the road towards the barn. It was Bob. “Been waiting for you all morning! We’ve got a little work to do!” Hunter groaned.

“You don’t like him that much, do you?” Twilight smiled. She knew how Hunter felt.

“I’m not a fan, yes.” Hunter and Twilight completed their walk to the barn, and were greeted by Bob, the Medical Droid.

“Hunter! Time for you to do some inventory!”

“Inventory?” Twilight asked.

“I’m going to unload everything and make sure everything is as it’s supposed to be.” Hunter holstered his weapon and opened up the barn doors. The large red barn had decayed, but still looked strong. It looked as though it had been up for quite a while. Inside, the ship had its landing gear up, with the ramp to the inside. Hunter looked back at Bob and nodded. “Nice work, Bob.” Bob laughed.

“Is that a compliment? And did you call me by my name?” Hunter frowned. He was thankful no one could see his face. Good thing for helmets.

“I’m trying, Bob. Watch Princess Twilight for me. I’ll get the vehicles off first-”

“Hunter! It’s Applejack!” Hunter groaned. He wanted to get to work.

“Hold on!” He called out. He looked back at Bob. “Come on, let’s entertain our guests.” Bob sighed.

“I love entertaining guests. The only problem is I have this sour patch of a soldier that makes entertaining people difficult.” The two walked out and saw Applejack, plus another little girl.

“Hi there!” The young one called out. “Ah’m Applebloom! Applejack’s sister.” Hunter smiled.

“I’m Hunter. It’s nice to meet you.”

“So, Hunter?” Applejack asked. “Is the barn okay for your ship?” Hunter turned back to the barn.

“It’s perfect, Applejack. I can render repairs rather easily.” Hunter kneeled down in front of Applejack and held out his hand. “Is there anyway I can pay you back?” Applejack tapped her chin.

“Nah. But if you’ll be inclined to help with the odd favor, Ah wouldn’t be opposed.” Hunter nodded.

“I’ll help where I can.” Applejack smiled.

“That’s all ah ask.” Hunter turned around and opened the barn doors wide open. “So, you unloadin’ some cargo?” Hunter disappeared inside the ship. Bob tapped Applejack on the shoulder.

“He’s going to take inventory, see what’s supposed to be there. And it’s good because now we have much more space to work with.” Applejack’s eye brow rose as she realized Bob wasn’t doing anything.

“Aren’t you going to help him?” Bob scoffed.

“My body couldn’t handle the strain. Besides, I’m a doctor, not a cargo droid.” Hunter heard the remark and rolled his eyes. The ship was mostly empty, save for a few pieces of tech. There were cases of surveying technology that were all sorted, a case filled with rifles, and two vehicles. Hunter came into the vehicle bay and saw the two. One was a speeder bike, fitted with a cannon and could reach a top speed of 500 kilometers per hour. The other-

“Whoa…” Hunter never realized that it was here. He pressed a few buttons to allow the vehicle to drop off the ship.

Outside, the three ponies and Bob waited to see what Hunter was going to bring out first. Applejack’s ears shot up.

“Did y’all hear that?” The sound was mechanical in nature. The ponies and Bob stared at the door when Hunter came out on a giant bipedal machine. The three jumped pack with a yell. “WHAT IN TARNATION IS THAT?!” Bob remained calm.

“That, is an All Terrain Recon Transport… a walker.” The walker, standing at three meters high, towered over the ponies. Hunter sat on top of it and had the machine lower itself to let him off. “I didn’t realize we were assigned a walker.”

“It’s standard procedure to have one on a mission.” Hunter patted the walker. “Still, I didn’t think I’d ever use my training for it.” Appleboom ran up next to Hunter.

“THAT IS SO COOL!” The little filly ran all around it. “Can ah ride it? Can ah? Huh, huh, huh?” Hunter grabbed her and placed her next to Applejack.

“No.” Hunter looked over to Twilight, who was hovering all around the walker. “The walker has been one of the greatest instruments for victory in galactic history.” Hunter patted it. “This is one of the smaller ones.” Twilight gasped. Applejack stepped forward.

“How much bigger do these things get?” Hunter chuckled.

“The last thing I heard was that they were prototyping a walker that was as big as your mayor’s office in Ponyville.” The pony’s jaws dropped. “But I’ve got more unloading to do.” Hunter walked past the walker to the ship, only to be stopped by Bob.

“Hunter, I was wondering if you could unload the bacta next?” Hunter shrugged and went inside.

“No problem, but why?” Bob laughed.

“I’ve got something to show Applejack.” Applejack walked over to Bob.

“Whatcha wanna show me, Bob?”

“Something interesting. It has to do with your apples.” Bob clapped his hands. “It’s going to be so exciting.” Hunter was already out of the ship carrying the container. He placed it down in front of Bob and Applejack. Twilight came around to see as well. Hunter opened the container to reveal cylinders filled with a blue liquid. Bob reached in and pulled a cylinder out. Applejack looked around and found that Applebloom had disappeared. She was about to say something, but was interrupted by Bob.

“This is bacta.” Twilight wowed in amazement. She then frowned.

“What is, ‘bacta’?” Bob laughed.

“It’s a healing liquid that can cure just about anything. And I discovered something that’s connected to it. Apples.” Applejack shook her head.

“Pardon?” Bob pulled an Apple out of a nearby barrel and held it next to the bacta.

“Many of the healing factors found in bacta are in apples as well.” Hunter grabbed the apple from Bob.

“So these, ‘apples’ are an edible cure?” Applejack smiled.

“It makes sense, most people that eat our apples are extremely healthy.” She stood up straight with a sense of pride.

“It can’t cure anything, but it’ll make you healthy.” Bob grabbed the apple away from Hunter. “However, if you’ll allow me to experiment, I could create an apple that could actually cure a disease. Edible bacta! Isn’t that incredible?” Twilight clapped her hooves together.

“That’s amazing, Bob! Can you tell us more about bacta?” Bob chuckled.

“I’d be happy to. Hunter, I’ll need you for demonstration purposes.” Hunter groaned.

“But I have to finish-” Bob made a clicking noise.

“There’s plenty of time for that. Now stand still while I show the ponies how it works.” Hunter shrugged and stood still. While Bob was explaining how bacta worked, in the distance, three small ponies sat under an apple tree, looking at the scene before them. The Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“See?” Applebloom said. “Alien. AND a weird vehicle with legs!” Scootaloo, a small pegasus filly wowed in agreement.

“That’s awesome, Applebloom! Way more awesome than that dress Sweetie Belle was trying to make.” Sweetie Belle, young sister and friend to Applebloom and Scootaloo, glared at Scoots.

“Hey!” Applebloom and Scootaloo gave her a cynical look. Sweetie lost her nerve and looked away. “Yeah… weird alien is pretty cool.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes and stared at the walker.

“I bet we could drive that thing.” Applebloom and Sweetie looked at Scootaloo. Applebloom shook her head.

“No way, Hunter said that we couldn’t drive it.” Scootaloo groaned.

“C’mon, Applebloom! That thing is awesome! What if it’s what we were meant to do?” Cutie Mark Crusaders had the purpose of finding their destinies. That tied in with their cutie marks that appeared on their body. “We could get our cutie marks driving that… what did you call it?” Applebloom smiled.

“Walker!” Scootaloo nodded.

“Then it’s settled. We’ll be walker drivers!” The three looked at one another and yelled into the air: “Cutie Mark Crusader walker drivers! Yay!” Over by the barn-

“And that’s why bacta has a non addictive element within it.” Bob was still going on about the bacta, much to the chagrin of Applejack and Hunter. Twilight was happily writing notes on the subject. Meanwhile, the Cutie Mark Crusaders silently climbed on top of the walker and sat in the drivers seat, which was just big enough to hold all three of them.

“So, how do we move this thing?” Sweetie Belle asked. Scootaloo tapped her hoof against her chin.

“It’s a machine, so we have to turn it on first.” Scootaloo looked around the cockpit, trying to find a switch, She found a button with the word, “Activation”, over it. She wondered why she could understand it, but shrugged it away. She smiled and pressed it. The lights blinked into life. A deep metallic voice played in the cockpit.

“Thank you for activating the All Terrain Recon Transport. Is this your first time driving?” The three looked at each other and then back at the cockpit.

“Um… yes.” Sweetie Belle replied. The walker chimed.

“Would you like the basic tutorial, or the advanced tutorial?” Scootaloo smiled.

“The advanced tutorial. We aren’t afraid.” Her friends nodded in agreement. The walker chimed again.

“Beginning advanced tutorial. The All Terrain Recon Transport will run at maximum speed. You must make sure you are secured in the All Terrain Recon Transport.” The three cheered in excitement.

“Hey!” The three looked in the direction of the barn. “What do you three think you’re doing?” It was the alien, Hunter, followed by Applejack and Twilight.

“You three get down here this instant!” Applejack leered at the three, not wanting to put up with their antics again. Applebloom shot her head up.

“Sorry, sis. We just wanted to try to-” Hunter held a hand up.

“Save your apologies when you’re off the walker. That things is military equipment and-!” He was interrupted by Twilight.

“And you three could get hurt. It’s not a toy.” They suddenly heard a series of beeping. “What’s that?” Hunter listened to the beeping.

“Oh no.” He ran towards the walker. “Get off there now! Right now!”The beeping increased.

“Beginning run mode.” The walker chimed off. “Sit tight.” The three ponies looked at one another with extreme worry. The walker then stood up and ran off with three little fillies screaming their heads off.

“Applebloom!” Applejack called out. But they were well out of earshot.

“They’re heading straight to Ponyville!” Twilight and Applejack looked extremely worried. And justifiably so. Hunter clenched his fists and ran into the barn. “What are we going to do? It’s way faster than us!” Applejack and Twilight turned to the barn when they heard a strange sound. A brown blur sped out of the barn and stopped in front of the two ponies. It was a brown mechanical device floating off the ground with Hunter riding it. Hunter reached out to Twilight.

“Mount up.”

Author's Note

Gonna be a little bit til the next chapter. Got some real life stuff to work out. Tell your friends about this story. I hope everybody likes it.