There was utter silence while the two ponies just stared at me.

"No, seriously," I said, "where were we? I kinda lost track..."

Rainbow Dash was the first to speak. "Something about bluebirds, I think?"

"Oh yeah!" I said. "It was a nickname for you because you are blue and have wings like a bluebird!"

"Whatever."

"What were we talking about before that?" I asked.

Applejack tapped her hoof to her chin twice, and then answered me. "Ah was trying to guess a word that starts with "L.""

"No no," I said. "After that."

Both thought for a moment, with Applejack scratching her head under her hat, and Rainbow Dash biting her tongue. Rainbow Dash answered first. "You were talking about letting us go back... uhhh..."

Applejack cut in. "We had to huess a word? The most powerful thing in the multiverse, ah think?"

"Ahh, yes. I remember now!" I exclamed, clasping my hands. "Since our earlier guessing game didn't go so well, I'll just tell you. You two were able to show up because of the power of Łove!"

The two ponies looked at eachother for a second confusedly before turning back to me and asking at the same time "The power of love?" Then, they looked at each other again and spoke at the same time again. "Hey! Stop it! Stop saying what I was gonna say at the same time! Ugh!"

I spoke before the situation got out of hand. "Girls, girls, you're both pretty. And you said it wrong."

"Said what wrong?" they both asked, giving each other a me-glare (death-glare!) before turning back to me.

"Łove! You said love, not Łove!" I said.

"Yeah, well I don't see a differrnce." replied Applejack, doing the dang eyebrow thing again.

"How do you do that?" I asked.

"Do what?" asked Applejack in return.

"The thing with the eyebrow."

"What thing with the eyebrow?" asked Applejack as she did the thing with the eyebrow.

"Hey, nothing's wrong with Applejack's eyebrows!" said Rainbow Dash, stomping a hoof.

"I'm not saying anything is wrong with her eyebrows, just that I think the eyebrow thing is cool!" I replied.

"What is the eyebrow thing? Somepony tell me so ah can understand!"

"Jackie, your eyebrows are perfectly normal."

I ignored Rainbow Dash. "The eyebrow thing is when you raise your eyebrow so high it looks like it might just take off and fly away."

"Really?" said Applejack, still doing the eyebrow thing.

"Yes, now, back to Łove."

"Love." said Applejack, who was not doing the eyebrow thing anymore.

"No." I said, facepalming. "Łove. Let's... let's not worry about how it's said. Let me explain the difference, and then we'll move on. Sound good to you girls?"

They both nodded and waited paitently while I cleared my throat.

"Love is when two beings feel very strongly bonded to each other. This generates Łove, which is the divine force that keeps them together through thick and thin." I explained. "When the beings stop loving each other, Łove can rekindle the flame, so to speak, and help them to love each other again." I checked Applejack's and Rainbow Dash's faces for signs of confusion and found none, so I continued. "Strong love between you two generated enough Łove to keep you together after death."

"Okay," said Applejack, "but there's one problem. We're not in love."

"But of course you're in love!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands for emphasis.

"Uhh..." said Rainbow Dash, looking at me like I had five heads. "We're not in love. Definitely not. In love, that is. We're best friends, not lovers for Celestia's sake!"

"Yeah," chimed in Applejack, "what Rainbow Dash said. We may be friends but that don't mean we're lovers."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong!" I said. Then, I took a deep breath. And then, I began to sing.

"So what you say is you two aren't in love,
That's ok others might miss it too.
But here's the truth come straight from my mouth,
It's love that makes you two do!

Oh, you'll get by with love in the end!
Ah, you'll cry on her shoulder in the end!
Eh, you'll both be together in the end!
Oh, you'll love each other in the end!

Let me just sing a second verse-"

I was rudely interrupted by Applejack. "Alright! We get it! You think we're in love. And let me tell yuh again, bucko! You are wrong!"

"Am I?" I asked. "Let me ask you a few questions."

"Ask away." said Applejack.

"I will use the Tile of Truth to ensure that you do not lie." I gestured to my side and a white porcelain tile appeared on the floor. "Just step on here. If you lie, we will all know."

"Well, ah'm the element o' honesty so tellin' the truth will be no problem!" Applejack said confidently before stepping onto the tile.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed the tile. Oops.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Applejack, almost jumping out of her skin.

"AHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Rainbow Dash, taking off and streaking into the air.

"Whoops, wrong tile!" I said, snapping my fingers and making the tile disappear. I waited for the screaming to stop before I gestured again and an off-white tile appeared on the floor. "This is the right tile this time. I think."

"Are yuh sure?" asked Applejack. 'Cuz ah don't want tuh be scared by a screamin' square again." she gave the new tile a look.

"I'll test it out for you, Jackie. It'll be fine!" said Rainbow Dash, coming down from above. She landed on the ground by the tile and poked it with a hoof. Nothing happened. She stepped onto it. Nothing. She got all of the way on it, and sat. "See AJ? I'm perfectly fine!"

Applejack narrowed her eyes at Rainbow Dash. "Are yuh sure, sugarcube?"

"Totally!" replied Rainbow Dash.

Then, the tile cracked, loudly, causing both ponies to jump.

"Obviously," I said, "you are not totally sure, otherwise the Tile of Truth wouldn't have cracked at you. Since you're already on the tile, Rainbow Dash, I'll ask you some questions first."

"...Okay." replied Rainbow Dash.

"First question! Who, out of all of your friends do you spend the most time with?" I smiled, already guessing the answer.

"Applejack, but-" I cut her off.

"Ah ah ah! Out of all your friends, who did you meet first?" I asked, stroking my beard.

"HA! Pinkie Pie! Not Applejack!"

"Mmmm... Do you remember how you met this Pinkie Pie?"

"She... uhh... she threw me a party once I met her."

"What was the theme of the party?"

"I dunno. It was a standard party, I guess?"

The tile cracked.

"Wonderbolts themed?"

The tile cracked again.

"I can't remember."

I waited a second, and hearing no crack, I continued. "When did you meet Applejack?"

Rainbow Dash thought for a second before replying. "'Bout a week after Pinkie Pie's party."

No crack. I continued. "Where did you meet her?"

"Sweet Apple Acres. I don't see what-"

"Shh! Which of your friends do you like the most?"

"Pinkie-" CRACK. "Twilight-" CRACK. "...Rarity?" CRACK. "Fluttershy!" CRACK. "Fine! Applejack!"

I thought for a second before an almost evil smile came to my face. "Do you love Applejack?

"Uhh... ummm..."

"Whatever your answer is we'll know the truth, Rainbow Dash!"

"I... Uhh..." stammered Rainbow Dash. "Y... y..."

"That's enough questions for her, my turn!" said Applejack, practically tackling Rainbow Dash off of the badly cracked tile. She took her place on it and looked at me expectantly. "Element o' honesty. No lies here."

I raised my eyebrows. "What one of your friends do you spend the most time with?"

"Dash. Definetly Dash. Because we're friends." answered Applejack quickly. Rainbow Dash looked at her curiously.

"What one of your friends do you enjoy spending time with the most?"

"Twi- Rainbow. Not Twilight. Rainbow. Because we like to spend time together as friends." Applejack seemed to be sweating.

"How did you meet Rainbow Dash?" I asked, stepping closer to Applejack. Yes, she was definitely sweating.

"She... She fell out of one of our apple trees when I bucked it. Landed right on top of me too. I almost bucked her for that, but I didn't." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I dunno why."

"Interesting." I said, stroking my beard some more. "Final question: Do you love Rainbow Dash?"

Applejack was sweating buckets. She looked at Rainbow Dash, then at me, and then back to Rainbow. "Do ah have tuh answer?"

"No, you don't. We'll just put Rainbow Dash back up her and ask her if she loves you." I gave Applejack a friendly smile. She gave me a dirty look in return.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Rainbow Dash, looking supremely angry. "Why are you being so mean?"

I frowned. "I'm not mean! I want to prove to you that you both love each other! what's wrong with you loving each other?"

Rainbow Dash didn't seem to hear me. "You force us to tell you our deepest secrets! You said you were a nice guy, but you're not! Not even close! If you really were a nice guy, you wouldn't torment us with tales of going back while we forcibly bare our hearts to you!"

"What's wrong with being in love with your best friend?" I asked, calmly.

"Nothing! Nothing is wrong! It's just not true!" screamed Rainbow Dash.

"Dash?" asked Applejack, from her seat on the tile. "It's okay. Ah can answer."

Both Rainbow Dash and I fell silent. We both turned and stared at Applejack.

She looked at Rainbow Dash sadly. "Dash, you're muh best friend. Ah don't know if ah love you or not, but it wouldn't change our friendship if ah did or not." She took off her hat and held it to her chest. "Ah don't know much 'bout love, that would be Rarity's specialty. What ah do know is that there's nothin' that you would willingly do that would ruin our friendship. Ah really hope that yuh feet the same way, Dash. We may fight or compete sometimes, and it may get a 'lil rough sometimes, but we stick by each other. Always. So, mister Grim Reaper, when you asked if ah loved Rainbow Dash, ah couldn't answer. But now ah know." She paused, and Rainbow Dash took the chance to butt in.

"You don't have to do this, Applejack! It's ok!"

I said nothing, and stood with my arms by my sides"

Applejack looked down at her hat and continued, undeterred. "Ah don't know if ah love Rainbow Dash, but ah do know that we're best friends." At that, she looked up at Rainbow Dash and smiled, tears forming in her eyes. "You'll always be muh best friend, Dash. Always."

"Aw, Applejack..." said Rainbow Dash, tears forming in her own eyes.

I could feel myself tearing up as well, so i blinked quickly to try to stop it.

I watched as Applejack stepped off of the tile towards Rainbow Dash, and as Rainbow Dash landed. They embraced in the cutest hug I had ever seen in all of eternity, and both began crying. I couldn't help it. I cried as well.

We all continued to cry for a while. It felt... good to let all of the emotions out. Once everyone stopped crying, we all just stood around awkwardly, trying not to look at each other for about a minute before Applejack spoke.

"So, are yuh gonna send us back or not?"

I put my pointer finger to my chin in mock thought, and waited a few seconds before replying. "No."

CRACK.

We all looked at the tile that no one had been touching. it had a fresh crack running across an edge.

"Looks like you don't have to be standing on the Tile of Truth for it to work." I said, chuckling. My chuckling quickly became hearty laughter, and a few seconds later, Rainbow Dash joined in, followed closely by Applejack. The whole thing, starting with the two ponies, and ending right here with the crack of the tile, it was all so ridiculous. Once I calmed down and stopped laughing, I smiled and spoke to my two new friends. "I will gladly send you back. Heck, I'll throw in something to help you survive whatever made you die in the first place. You two deserve a long and happy life togeth- I mean- uhh... together as friends! yes! that is definitely what I was going to say! Once you're back up there, you can try your hooves at life again." Both ponies looked at me gratefully, and I continued. "In order for me to aid you in avoiding a visit to me in the next five minutes after you get back up there, I need to know how you both died. And what you were doing about three and a half minutes before you died." I snapped my fingers and a desk with a pen and some paper appeared. I rested my arms on it and grabbed a pen.

"Well," started Rainbow Dash, "We were called to Canterlot to fight a really big lizard thing and it blew fire at us and literally roasted us to death."

I finished scribbling down some notes. "That sounds unpleasant. Were you fighting the monster for more than three minutes before you died?"

Applejack answered me this time. "No, we had just arrived by then."

"And how big was this lizard thing?"

"Really big!" said Rainbow Dash.

I sighed. "I need a more exact height. Helps me help you better."

"How about I fly up to how high it was? Would that be good?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"That would be fine." I said. I would have said more, but she was already gone, speeding up, and up, and up.

"That's Dash for ya." drawled Applejack, looking up at her rapidly ascending friend.

Rainbow Dash eventually stopped flying up, and I did a quick measurement using the spot directly below her and a spot ten feet away and the angle I had to look up at to see her to get a final answer of 'Really Really Big Lizard.' I motioned for her to come back down, and a few seconds later she was by Applejack's side.

"What you need to do is very simple. Here, I have a whistle." I held out my right hand to the ponies. In it was a brass whistle on some old string. "Blow this whistle once you're close to the giganto-lizard, and then stay back. I won't spoil the surprise." I used my other hand to hold the old string so that Applejack could put it on her neck.

"Ah just blow on it when ah'm close tuh the lizard and then stay back?" asked Applejack.

"Blow really really hard. And then stay back."

"Hey," said Rainbow Dash, "Thanks for being a nice guy. What I said earlier, it wasn't true-"

I cut her off. "It was true at the time. The tile didn't crack, did it? No. So it was the truth. And, I'm sorry."

"It's ok. We forgive you. Right AJ?" Rainbow Dash looked to her friend, who nodded in agreement.

"Well..." I started. "I guess it's time to send you back?"

"I reckon you're right." replied Applejack, stepping over to me. Rainbow dash followed her, and before I knew it , I was being hugged by two ponies.

After our hug, they stood together, about a few feet away from me. I asked them one last question as I prepared the spell. "Are you two sure that you aren't in love?" The magic in my hands began to crackle loudly.

"Ah don't know, really." said applejack, looking at Rainbow Dash. The magic in my hands shot out and formed a glowing white sphere around the two friends.

Dash looked back at her and continued. "...But for now, we're just friends."

And with that, they were gone. I smiled sadly and looked down. Then, I looked back up and grinned.

The Tile of Truth had a fresh crack in it.

"Dash, you go for the face. AJ, for the legs. Fluttershy, continue to get ponies out of here to saftey! Rarity, you're with me! We're gonna be blasting this thing until it's gone! Pinkie!"

"Party cannon set to lethal, Twilight!" Pinkie interrupted, bouncing on the spot.

Nearby, a huge lizardlike creature of a kind that nopony had ever seen before rampaged through Canterlot, destroying buildings and leaving a path of utter destruction in its wake.

"Twilight," said Rarity, "What are AppleJack and Rainbow Dash doing? Because it doesn't look like Dash is going for the face, although Jackie might be going for the legs..."

Twilight looked over towards where the monster was rampaging through the city and could see Rainbow Dash and Applejack side by side, running towards the monster. Once they had gotten a little ways in front of the monster, they both stopped. What do they think they are doing? thought Twilight. She could see Dash shout something to the monster, causing it to turn and face them. Applejack then put something in her mouth and blew, and Twilight could hear the shrill sound of a whistle. For a second, everything seemed to freeze, and then it all started up again as an eagle that was easily triple the size of the monster came down from the sky and plucked the giant lizard thing right out of the city. The eagle flew off, somehow disappearing into the clouds. Looking around at her friends, Twilight was glad to see that they were all ok, but it looked like Dash and Applejack were... kissing?

Yep, they were kissing. How irresponsible of them! There was work to do and a city to rebuild! She began to wander over to give them a lecture on the proper times for making out.

A giant lizard was lying on the ground in the darkness of my domain. In front of it was a series of pictographs that would hopefully make it clear to the lizard that it was dead, and in big trouble. I snapped my fingers, and it woke. This was going to be...

...interesting.

Author's Notes:

Adgjfldsdhkfgl!

This was a lot of fun to write, and I may do more stories like this in the future. Even though it was on a deadline, I didn't let the stress get to me and that in and of itself probably made this a much better story. And yes, I did cry while writing that part. It was all worth it.
If you liked it, let me know!

Cya!
-Moonie