This story is a sequel to Armor's Game

Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.

Canterlot has fallen. The Element Bearers have fled Ponyville. And now civil war ravages Equestria as the traitor and usurper Blueblood seeks to conquer the rest of the realm. Standing against him is a scattered army with divided loyalties and uncertain leaders. Yet even as the ponies' armies are arrayed against each other, in the black north beyond the Crystal Empire, savages and demons and worse are poised to invade Equestria, and few soldiers can be sent to confront it.

The war for Equestria rages, but if the Crystal Empire falls, nopony will live to claim it.

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Cloud Kicker might just have the wildest life of any pony in Equestria. Marvel at the insanity that is her life, and laugh at the suffering of her poor beleaguered best friend, Blossomforth. And maybe, just maybe, there's more to her than just the lovable sex maniac everypony thinks she is.

This is a semi-sequel to "The Incredibly Dense Mind of Rainbow Dash." Not really a proper sequel, since it's focused on Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth instead of Rainbow and Pinkie, but it's in the same continuity. So I guess that makes it a follow-up-side-quel story. Or something. You don't need to have read "The Incredibly Dense Mind of Rainbow Dash" to read or enjoy this, but you ought to read it anyway, just because.

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The central story of the Winningverse.

We got a tag for Cloud Kicker, but Blossomforth still deserves one too.

War is ruin, predicted and then remembered as glory.

The Changelings and their vengeance-mad Queen grow ravenous in the south. Nations all around gaze hungrily at Equestria. In the north, beyond the Crystal Mountains, an unfathomable menace sends even the fiercest Diamond Dog packs fleeing before it. In Canterlot, a capricious Prince lusts for absolute power.

Against it all, Equestria stands toothless. Fearful for his country and thirsty for vengeance against Queen Chrysalis, Shining Armor desperately tries to convince Princess Celestia of the need for an Equestrian Army. Yet even as plans are made to march against the Changelings, the means for his triumph may have been delivered into the hooves of Prince Blueblood, who will risk everything to seize the crown he deems rightfully his.

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Royal Equestrian Army order of battle

The worlds are changed.

Where Equestria was set to follow a familiar path of harmony and friendship, the path is waylaid by the appearance of a creature out of myth, bearing grave tidings.

On Earth at the dawn of the third millennium, a war that should have never been rages between humanity and the ones who would seek to perfect it.

For down the road less travelled, Equestria is Empire, a dark mirror of what it once was and should be.

Lyra Heartstrings, musician and dreamer, previously content to spend her life in the shadow of Princesses or their faithful students, must now decide the role she’ll play in this new reality. But within the threads that connect us all, just as even Princess Celestia can have the humblest desires, the smallest person may change the future.

Authored by Team Spectrum, currently consisting of Sledge115, VoxAdam, and RoyalPsycho.

Cover by skysayl.

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Our Group
Equestria Timeline
Dramatis Personae/Character Sheet
Story Outline

Side Stories

Equestria
The First Second of Eternity, by Sledge115.
A Sun in Winter, by Sledge115 and VoxAdam.
In Night's Garden, by Sledge115.
Celestia Regina, by Sledge115.
The Rose of Florentina, by Sledge115.
Wallflower of Canterlot, by Sledge115.
Sogno di Volare, by Sledge115.
Velvet Quill & Sunny Skies, by Sledge115
Joy to the Worlds, by VoxAdam, TB3 and Sledge115.

Earth
Story of the Asian Front, by Kizuna Tallis.
Snowbound, by DoctorFluffy.
The Slow Mutants, by DoctorFluffy.
The Light Despondent, Remixed, by DoctorFluffy.
Dissonance, by RanOutOfIdeas.
Starvation, by DoctorFluffy.