Chapter 12

The Crystal Empire Returns

Neo's brother Malachi blew up King Sombra by shooting him in the heart with lasers from his X-Wing Starfighter, and Neo helped power the crystal heart and defeat King Sombra just by singing a song that resembles patriotism, hope and freedom.

Malachi, Kung Lao, and Stryker landed their X-Wings over by the castle, crystal ponies came over and cheered for the humans that helped defeat King Sombra. Other crystal ponies were thanking Neo for his help and also providing the force field that kept King Sombra from invading the empire. Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were cheering the loudest and they were so happy and relieved that the empire was safe once again. Now King Sombra could never again return to torment any crystal pony or take over the crystal empire.

Neo went over to the crystal heart, he played a song with his mind and sang the song ("My Country Tis" of Thee" by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir). As he sang his song, his brother Malachi, the Mortal Kombat warriors and The Terminator came over and sang along with him.

Twilight and Spike came down from the tower and saw them singing, they went over to watch them sing. The rest of the mane 6, the crystal ponies, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence came over and watched them sing, they moved their heads along to the melody of the song.

As they sang the song, the crystal heart glowed and energy of love spread all across Equestria, making everypony happy. When they finished the song, everypony cheered for them. They just loved the song.

When Neo saw Twilight, he ran over to her, gave her a hug and said, "Oh Twilight, I'm so glad you're alright."

Twilight hugged him back and said, "Awww, thanks Neo, you're so sweet."

"I love you Twilight, you're such a wonderful friend."

Twilight blushed, "I love you too Neo, we'll always be friends."

Then Neo hugged Spike and said, "I'm glad you're okay too Spike, I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

Spike smiled and him, "Thanks Neo, you're my big brother."

Neo and Spike hugged each other and had a brotherly moment. The mane 6 and Princess Cadence awed at the sweet moment.

About an hour later, Princess Cadence held a ceremony in the castle in honor of the humans that helped defeat King Sombra and save the empire. The throne room was full of crystal ponies, each one with a shiny, sparkling crystal coat. The mane 6 were standing next to Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. The Mortal Kombat warriors stood over on the right side of the front of the crystal ponies.

Neo, Malachi, Kung Lao, Stryker and The Terminator came inside the throne room, they walked to the front of the room over to Princess Cadence. Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Spike and the mane 6 no longer had crystallized coats, they were all back to normal, which made Rarity kind of sad, she loved being a crystal pony.

Princess Cadence smiled at Neo, she put a golden crystallized metal on his neck, she also gave Malachi, Kung Lao, Stryker and The Terminator a medal as well. As Princess Cadence gave them their medals, Neo played a victory song with his mind (Star Wars A New Hope Throne Room Music).

After giving them their medals, Princess Cadence said with a smile, "Thank you all for helping protect my empire. Thanks to all of you, the Crystal Empire has returned and King Sombra is no more. We are forever in your debt and we all send you our thanks from the bottom of our hearts."

Everypony in the throne room clapped and cheered for the humans that Cadence honored.

After the ceremony, crystal ponies talked with each other. The mane 6 were hanging out with the humans.

Neo was standing over next to a wall when he was approached by Princess Cadence.

She smiled at him and said, "I just wanted to thank you personally for everything you've done for my empire Neo. Without you, King Sombra would have taken over my empire and all my subjects would be in slavery once again. I can't thank you enough for your help."

"You're welcome Cadence," said Neo. "I was happy to help you and protect the empire, Equestria is my home now and I have to protect it."

"You're right, and I'm so happy to have a friend like you living with us in Equestria, you are an amazing boy and a wonderful friend."

Then Neo gave Cadence a hug and said, "Thank you Cadence, you're a wonderful princess." She hugged him back and giggled sweetly.

Then Cadence said, "Please come back and visit us really soon. Feel free to come visit my empire whenever you like, we'll be more than happy to have you over for a visit."

"Thank you Cadence, that's very kind of you. I'll be sure to come visit you very soon. Besides, I'm a singer, I do travel a lot. I'll probably come here to perform a concert someday."

"That would be lovely, I hope you'll come back soon."

Then Cadence gave Neo a kiss on the cheek, making Neo blush.

"Thank you Cadence, by the way, I love your sunshine greeting you do with Twilight. It's cute."

Cadence giggled and said, "Awww thank you, you're a sweet boy."

Pinkie Pie went over to The Terminator. She noticed that he never smiles, he always looked emotionless.

Pinkie Pie said to The Terminator, "Excuse me, but could you smile for me?"

The Terminator looked at Pinkie Pie and said, "Smile?"

"Yeah smile, can you smile for me? It'll make me ever so happy."

"I'm a machine, I don't have feelings and I don't feel any emotion."

"You mean you never smile?"

"No."

Pinkie Pie made a sad face for a second, then she said, "Please smile for me."

The Terminator looked at Pinkie Pie like he didn't know what that meant.

"Like this." Pinkie Pie made a huge grin.

The Terminator looked at Pinkie Pie's grin and analyzed it. Then The Terminator began slowly trying to smile. Pinkie Pie watched him smile, she started to feel really happy.

When the Terminator made a full grin at Pinkie Pie, she jumped for joy, bounced around in a circle and shouted, "Yay, he smiled, he smiled, he smiled, he smiled, he smiled!"

The she looked at him and saw that he was no longer smiling. Pinkie Pie felt bad for a second, but she said, "Well at least I got him to smile."

Then Neo said goodbye to his brother and congratulated him on defeating King Sombra. Malachi, The Terminator and the Mortal Kombat warriors went through a portal and went back to the real world.

When it was time for Neo, Spike and the mane 6 to go back to Canterlot, Princess Cadence had a statue built out of crystal of Neo holding the crystal heart, resembling his victory of saving the empire and another statue of his brother Malachi also made out of crystal in remembrance of Malachi's defeat of King Sombra. Princess Cadence also flew an American flag right outside the castle in honor of Neo.

Then Princess Cadence and Shining Armor escorted Neo, Spike and the mane 6 to the Friendship express train in the Frozen North.

As they walked out in the snow, Rarity was remembering when she temporarily became a crystal pony. She said, "I do so wish it was permanent. Did you see how my mane just absolutely sparkled?"

"You looked very beautiful Rarity," said Neo. "But I like you the way you are. Besides, no matter how you look, you certainly are a rarity."

Rarity giggled and awed at Neo's sweet comment,

"Oh thank you darling, you're such a sweet boy," she kissed him on the cheek, making him blush.

Shining Armor came over to Twilight, "Everything's gonna be okay. You've gotta stop saving my rump like this. It's starting to get embarrassing."

Twilight giggled, "Wasn't me who saved you in the end. It was Neo, he saved you and the empire."

Shining Armor patted Twilight on the head and said, "It's just a test. Maybe she'll let you retake it."

Princess Cadence put her wing around Shining Armor and gave him a "Don't say that" look.

"I don't think she's gonna give me a new test," said Twilight, sounding pessimistic.

"Don't worry Twilight," said Neo. "Even if you fail, Princess Celestia will still be very proud of you."

"Thanks Neo, I'm so happy to have you as a friend."

I'm so happy to have you as a big brother," said Spike.

Neo patted Spike on the head.

When they got to the train, Twilight gave Shining Armor a hug and said goodbye to him. Right when Neo was getting on the train, Princess Cadence said to him, "Goodbye Neo, please come back to my empire for a visit soon."

Neo smiled at her, "Thank you Cadence, I'll come back to see you very soon."

Princess Cadence gave him a kiss on the cheek, which made him blush. "Goodbye my friend."

Then Shining Armor came over to Neo and said, "Goodbye Neo, thank you so much for protecting the empire with that awesome force field. You and I should hang out more often."

"Thanks Shining Armor. Maybe we can when I come to visit or perform in concert."

Shining Armor smiled, "I would love to see your concerts sometimes."

"I can probably arrange that, I'll be seeing you."

Shining Armor and bumped hoof and fist and said goodbye. Then Neo got on the train along with Spike and the mane 6.

As the train took off, Neo and the mane 6 looked out the windows and waved at Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, they waved back at them. And so Neo, Spike and the mane 6 were on their way back to Canterlot Castle to see how Princess Celestia grades Twilight on her test.

End of chapter 12.