King Sombra has taken back the Crystal Empire and imprisoned both Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. Any day now, Shining expects word of their scheduled executions. When Sombra comes and asks for a single one of them for retribution, the heroic stallion offers himself without hesitation. Now he only wished he listened to the whole endeavor before volunteering.

(WARNING: May contain words, sentences, and indented paragraphs that may not be to one's liking.)

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.

All her life, Strata has been driven by her thirst for discovery and the sense of worth gained from unearthing the history of the world. However, when she risks everything by venturing deep into the Everfree Forest on a hunch, fueled by pride and dreams of grandeur, she doesn't consider that the object she seeks might just be seeking her in return.

This story is a sequel to Rainbow Factory

Cloudsdale Weather Corporation has been running without incident for over twenty years. That is, until two foals manage to avoid being processed and find themselves in the haunted bowels of the massive facility. Can they make it out of the abandoned factory with their sanity intact? Will they uncover the secrets even a company as dark as the CWC is ashamed to keep? And what of the workers who help ensure that, in the end, not a single soul gets through...

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