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.

One day on a trip to the market, Fluttershy discovers that things are getting caught in her tail. What kinds of things? Interesting things. Strange things. Their origins are all questionable at best.

Spanish Translation by SPANIARD KIWI: https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/La-cola-de-Fluttershy-1000352121

In the end, the prices we pay are worth what we receive in return - and none understand this more than a certain pegasus mare.

Twilight hosts a get-together party, which, with the help of Pinkie Pie, goes down well. But after Twilight unintentionally casts the wrong spell, the Mane Six find themselves having to live each others' lives.

Ponies these days are nuzzling younger than ever. Talk to your foals about the dangers of unprotected tummy rubs.

A Los Pegasus charity commission for Pav Feira. He... he gave me the prompt. I had no choice. Forgive me.

Pinkie Pie purchased five of the best balloons in Equestria and tied them to her tail. She had a very special purpose in mind for her balloons, but sometimes life has better plans in store.

Featured story of the Hearth's Warming Care Package, a 26-story anthology written explicitly for Kiki Havivy this holiday season.

Review by Present Perfect

"Dear Princess Celestia, what do you think it would be like to kill somepony...?"

Rainbow Dash is many things. Awesome, radical, amazing, and at least twenty percent cooler than any other pony in Equestria.

She is also lost, lonely and uncertain. Not that anypony else would know.

During the day she is everything everypony expects her to be: she is fast, daring, and adventurous, but when the sun goes down, she is left alone with her thoughts. Tired of simply yearning for something more, she sets out on a night of soul searching and stumbles onto a friend in need, and maybe, underneath the vanilla twilight, she finds something more.

My unicorn parents called me a worthless mud pony. They pushed me every day to overcome my lowly status. When I woke up one morning with my cutie mark, I thought they would love me. I couldn’t have been farther from the truth.

It was not destiny or enjoyment that led me to discover the cello and composing. My parents made that decision, deciding before I was born I would continue their family legacy of famous musicians.

They did not realize what that decision would cost them.

Special Thanks and Links:

Cover Art: Dreampaw. The inspiration for the story.
Dramatic reading of Act I-III by Malao567. June 2013
Reading with music by ObabScribbler. June 2014
Song: Hooks and Strings by Reverb Brony. May 2014

Style inspired by H.P. Lovecraft
TypeWriterError: Editor & Rating Board
Gage of Grandiloquence: Editor
The11thWonder: Pre-reader
Nharctic: Pre-reader
Breath of Plagues: My Pinch Editor.
ArgonMatrix: Bad Grammar Exterminator
Daemon of Decay: Advice, also inspired me to write fan fiction. Blame him!

Featured on Equestria Daily.
Featured on FiMFiction.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders have had enough and are determined to finally get their cutie marks. When they meet a mysterious stranger who claims to be the "Cutie Mark Master", their quest looks to finally be at an end. But will even a Master of Cutie Marks not be enough?