Princess Celestia calls for Twilight's aid for a monumental occasion.
The princess's mother is coming for a visit, and she's not quite what anyone was expecting.

Pony magic works in funny ways. Unicorns all have magic they can control. Earth ponies and pegasi have innate magic that connects them to the earth and the sky. And then there are more unusual cases. Pinkie Pie's supernatural senses, for example. And then there's Braeburn, who seems to have a rather unusual effect on other stallions...

Braeburn Apple has always been raised in a conservative household, as a member of the Apple family.
Throughout his life, he's been taught what's 'wrong' and what's 'right', who he was allowed to love, and who he wasn't. Above all, he was told what to be, and how to be it.
When he meets a certain blue Pegasus stallion buying pies at Sweet Apple Acres while he just so happens to be staying there, he discovers feelings he never knew he had.
Unfortunately, they happen to be the same ones he was always taught to suppress.
Can Soarin convince him that it's not wrong to be in love, and that, sometimes, in order to be happy, you need to break out of your comfort zone?
A story about discovering who you are, and being that person, no matter what others tell you to be.

WARNING: M/M, SoarinxBraeburn Coltcuddling! Touches up on some serious social issues in the real world, but with ponies, and at least 20% cooler.
If you don't like it, please do not read it.

Featured on EqD!

Cross-posted to FanFiction.NET.

Rated T for alcohol references, crude humour, and slight language.

Cover image is by Mn27 on DeviantART.

Edited by many people, included Carcer, LunaUsesCaps, and Diexna, but none have contributed more than the amazing Smayds, who has been my main editor for almost every chapter.

It's been a long year since Soarin and Braeburn went their separate ways due to Soarin's work, and somehow every opportunity for the two to meet up was canned in one way or another. They keep in touch through letters, trying to keep their pathways of life entangled no matter how far apart they remain. What either pony was half-expecting to be a simple week of passion and discovery grew, in a way, through this connection. But still, it's not enough. This becomes clear when Braeburn's letters one day cease to arrive.