Out of the swirling abyss Neos was dragged into shot a swarm of twisted creatures the size of dragons, grafted metal and bodyparts of various kinds of making an efficient mish-mash of parts. None was identical to another in terms of looks, but jets, wings, and gas allowed them all to fly. While the population of Equestria still reeled from the announcement, the drones landed in every major center of populace, their collective eyes and optics staring intently at the creatures below. There was intelligence in those red visual systems. Malicious intelligence. In an instant, the attack commenced, some swooping down to grab victims for abduction, others merely attacking buildings and ponies with everything from tooth and claw to advanced bolts of plasma from in built cannons. Entire blocks were destroyed within seconds during the chaos.

"Deploy, everyone, let's go!" Shining Armor barked out, having delegated to a command position(his muscle and bones were too weary to battle). How could his little sister have done this? Combat avatars accompanies by a couple of dragons, guard ponies, and minotaurs shot out of their barracks, reacting to the situation in the same way their training had called for.

"They have no face?" Sandy Dunes mumbled, dodging a slash from the claw of scorpion like creature before the upper half of their avatar smashed it to bits. Indeed, another thing the creatures shared was their lack of a face. Sure, many had a maw or mandibles, but the actual face...it was flat, like a demented cartoon.

"Then we'll call them...No-Faces" Burning Cobalt chuckled grimly, leaping their avatar into the air and flapping its wings, creating a pressure wave that knocked many a No-Face away. Before the brother and sister could celebrate, a heavy tail slapped them to the ground. As the pair wriggled free, they saw that in the center was a huge No-Face, a beacon pulsing on its head. Indeed, in every city, there was one of these "Focus" types about.

"Flank it" Sandy Dunes ordered, a few dragons spraying their deadly flames at the creature's sides while a couple of avatars fired magic if they could or threw massive chunks of stone. However, the creature was nonplussed, returning to its duty of coordinating the other No-Faces.

"A shield, huh? Well, let's see you tank this!" Burning Cobalt cried, unsheathing a massive blade of energy from their avatar and hacking downwards. Once again, the blade merely bounced off a skin thick shield covering the beast. With a snarl, the savage beast turned about, misshapened mouth drooling acid from its anger. A pair of spider like legs shot from its shoulder blades, impaling an avatar and causing it to fade. "Vinyl Scratch is down!" Burning cried out, dodging out of the way of the second arm.

"Their attacking us now" Sandy noted, the drones ceasing their attack on civilians and converging their attacks on the warriors instead. It took all of Sandy's will power not to vomit when a dragon she had trained with fell in front of them, desperately holding his slashed stomach to prevent her guts from falling out. Neos's body looked on from above, arms crossed impassively as the herald supervised the battle.

"No!" Burning yelped as during one of their dodges, an octopus like creature grabbed their avatar's leg and slammed them to the ground. Slithering over, it opened its beak, revealing a large spike inside of it. Before it could stab through the avatar, a blur of mauve light flew past. The octopus was dead before it could even feel the pain of being bisected. "Scootabelle" Burning squealed, over the moon at seeing the war hero.

"So, Sweetie, you managed to make Scootabelle without someone's help? I'm almost jealous" Applebloom chuckled, from her position in Canterlot Castle, knowing Sweetie would hear her over the new communications system that had been invented, the radio. "Still, you shouldn't be fighting. You're smart enough to be a leader, not a brawler".

"My duty is to protect ponies from psychos like Celestia! If Twilight has gone off the rails, she'll go down the same way!" Sweetie snapped back, anger from Twilight's possession of Neos still coursing through her. A bear like creature slammed its paws together, fusing them into a cannon, which promptly fired a blast of highly charged atoms at Scootabelle. Instead of damaging the mighty avatar though, the blast of electricity merely crackled around the energetic shell before being absorbed, making Scootabelle glow even brighter than before. "Chew on your own power!" Sweetie roared, drilling her avatar's horn straight through the beast, spraying black blood everywhere. "Now for their boss" Sweetie hissed, firing a still super charged beam of energy, causing the Focus No-Face to disintegrate with a wail of pain, the beacon on its head shutting down and making the remaining drones fly off into the air, Neos following. Sweetie didn't notice the blood of the No-Faces glowing until it was too late.

In an instant, all the spilled blood of the No-Faces ignited...and exploded

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