Chapter 4

Neo's Plan

The mane 6, Shining Armor, Spike and Neo were walking down the hallway of Princess Cadence's castle in the Crystal Empire.

When they came to the throne room, Princess Cadence was sitting on her throne. She looked very tired and her horn was glowing. She was using her magic to keep the force field going to keep King Sombra from entering the Crystal Empire, and the more magic she used, the more tired she was getting.

When they came into the throne room, Twilight was very happy to see Princess Cadence, she said, "Cadence," with a big smile, Cadence smiled and walked over to her.

When they came to each other, they did their girly greeting, they chanted, "Sunshine sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" They jumped up and down, hid their faces, clapped their hooves and shook their tails as they did their greeting and they laughed playfully.

Neo enjoyed watching them do their greeting, he thought it was wonderful and he loved seeing Twilight and Cadence laughing. He thought it was very sweet of Cadence to do her greeting with Twilight despite how extremely tired she was.

Then Neo walked up to Twilight and Cadence and said, "You two need to get together more often, and at a time when some evil pony is not trying to raise hell over Equestria."

Princess Cadence was happy to see Neo, she smiled at him and said, "Hello Neo, welcome to the Crystal Empire, I'm so happy to see you."

"Thank you Cadence."

Princess Cadence didn't look too well, Neo got concerned and said, "Are you okay Cadence? You look like hell."

The ponies gasped at what Neo just said to Princess Cadence. But Princess Cadence knew what he meant by that, she said, "I'm just so very tired."

Shining Armor came over to them, "Cadance has been able to use her magic to spread love and light. That seems to be what is protecting it. But she hasn't slept, barely eats. I want to help her, but my protection spell has been countered by King Sombra."

Princess Cadence took a deep breath and said, "It's okay, I'm fine."

Shining Armor just frowned, "She's not fine. She can't go on like this forever, and if her magic were to fade... Well, you saw what's out there waiting for that to happen."

"Well I can help her," said Neo. "I happen to have a force field of my own."

Everypony, including Spike said, "What?" They all had surprised looks on their faces.

Neo explained to them that he has these devices that generate force fields, he used to use them all the time back when he lived in his homeland before it was destroyed.

Princess Cadence smiled and said, "Oh Neo, what would we do without you? I'm so happy we have a friend like you living with us in Equestria. If you could provide a force field so I can rest, I would be so grateful."

"So would I," said Shining Armor. "We would greatly appreciate any help you can provide."

"Of course. That's why Twilight and I are here, to help you."

"Why are we all here?" asked Applejack. The other ponies nodded.

Shining Armor said, "Well, with Cadance putting all her strength into keeping her spell going and me trying to keep an eye on signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the Crystal Ponies."

Rarity got excited, "Crystal Ponies?! Hahaha, there are Crystal Ponies?! Um, ahem. Please continue."

Rarity loved the idea of being a crystal pony.

Shining Armor continued, "But we have to believe one of them knows how we can protect the Empire without having to use Cadance's magic."

Then Twilight thought she should do a research paper. She thought part of her test was to gather information from the crystal ponies and deliver it to Shining Armor. Twilight loved doing research papers.

Neo felt like Princess Cadence and Shining Armor needed more protection. So he told them that as long as they are in danger, he was going to have a bodyguard protect them. Princess Cadence and Shining Armor gladly accepted his protection. Neo left the throne room for a minute, Twilight went outside with him while the other ponies and Spike comforted Princess Cadence.

Neo took out his cellphone and made a phone call. When he got an answer, he said, "Listen carefully, I have a job for you. I can't tell you over the phone, I need you to come to Equestria and I'll give you the details." Then the person on the phone said he was on his way and hung up.

Twilight wondered who Neo was talking to and he said that she'll find out very soon. Then they went back into the throne room and Neo told Princess Cadence and Shining Armor that their bodyguard was on the way.

They waited about 5 minutes when suddenly, lighting zapped in an area in the throne room, they all wondered what was going on except Neo. Then a ball of energy appeared for a second and eventually disappeared. Then before them stood a tall human man wearing a black leather jacket, sunglasses, blue jeans, and motorcycle boots. He had weapons all around him and he didn't seem to show any emotion.

Everypony stared at this mysterious looking human. Neo went up to the man and said, "Thanks for coming, it's been a while."

"Yes it has," replied the man.

The mane 6 thought the man was very handsome, especially Rarity.

Twilight said to Neo, "Neo, who is this human?"

"This is The Terminator," replied Neo.

Twilight was surprised by his name, then Neo said, "And he's not human."

Everypony said, "What?" in a surprised tone.

Neo explained to them that The Terminator was a cyborg that had human skin. Inside is a metal endoskeleton, which is a powerful cyborg, and outside is human flesh. Everypony was astonished by the information.

"What is this job you had for me?" asked The Terminator.

"I want you to guard and protect Princess Cadence and Shining Armor," Neo replied, pointing at them.

Neo told the Terminator that they were in danger from an evil unicorn known as King Sombra and he wanted the Terminator to protect the princess and her husband from King Sombra and keep him from taking over the Crystal Empire. The Terminator had never seen unicorns or pegasus before but he was willing to do anything that Neo told him to do, he was always loyal to him.

The Terminator went over and stood next to Princess Cadence and Shining Armor.

"Don't worry Cadence," said Neo. "The Terminator will protect you. He has protected me for years and I know he can do the same for you."

Princess Cadence smiled and said, "Oh thank you Neo, you're so sweet to protect me from that evil King Sombra. I'm so happy to have a friend like you."

Then Princess Cadence gave Neo a big hug and she kissed him on the cheek, which made Neo blush. The ponies were kind of jealous, but they were happy and wanted to do whatever they could to help, Shining Armor made no reaction whatsoever to Cadence kissing Neo's cheek, he knew she was just showing gratitude to him for his help.

"Not to worry Neo, I will protect them," said The Terminator.

Neo told Princess Cadence and Shining Armor that he will get to work on getting his force field going so that Princess Cadence can get some rest. And while Neo works on that, the mane 6 would try to get some answers from the crystal ponies.

So Neo, the mane 6 and Spike left the throne room and headed into the empire to talk to the crystal ponies.

End of chapter 4.