//------------------------------//
// Twilight Sparkle and the Spelling Bee (A Slice of Life Tail) 
// Story: Written Off 
// by Sharp Spark 
//------------------------------//

The Bee had ripped through the picnic like a hunting knife through the soft stomach of a fawn. Pristine checkered blankets were now stained with gore and viscera.

Twilight wandered through the fields of carnage in a daze. On all sides lay ponies with their lives sliced right in half. Some with their tails sliced too.

"Oh, I am a fool," Twilight sighed, ruefully. "I never should have raided that hive. What a disaster my lust for honeyed consonants has brought!" She felt hot tears come to her eyes. "Now all of my friends are dead. And also Spike."

"I'm still alive!" a voice voiced from her side.

"Oh, good," she stated, happily.

Spike climbed up on top of Twilight, as he was tired of his feet getting stuck in the mud that had been churned up from all the blood. "At least Pinkie Pie died doing what she loved."

Twilight paused, momentarily. "You mean singing a song about cupcakes? Or being stabbed in the larynx by a sixteen-inch stinger?"

"The former." Spike shuddered, horrifiedly. "Though I'm going to have nightmares about the sound she made when her neck exploded."

Above them, the Wonderbolts had arrived to do battle with the Bee. Explosions and furious buzzing rung out over the killing fields.

"If we survive long enough to process the trauma of the past hour, I'll make certain you have a good therapist."

Spike gasped and pointed into the distance, declaratively. "Applejack is still alive!"

Twilight rushed over. The Bee above them had grabbed hold of Spitfire and ripped her in half, sending a shower of blood raining down. Twilight's horn lit up as she made an umbrella for her and Spike and Applejack.

"Applejack!" she yelled, concernedly. "Are you okay?"

Applejack groaned. A gash on her barrel showed that she had been stung pretty badly. "Twi… I… I…"

"Oh no, the poison must already be spreading," Spike cried out, analytically. "Letter have some air!"

"Twilight, I just want you to know that I… I love…"

Twilight's heart leapt to her throat as a blush spread across her face.

"Apples," Applejack whispered, quietly.

Twilight turned to leave.

"Oh no I'm… D-E-D"

"What?" Twilight spun around, revolutionarily. "What did you say?"

"I…" Applejack coughed, pitifully. "M. D-E-D."

"Spike, you're right, the spelling poison must have kicked in. But what is she saying?"

"I think she's saying…"

"Is this a clue for how to defeat the bee? Dedicated? Deductive? Spike, go get my dictionary, at once!"

"No, she's…"

"Aaaargh," Applejack died, dyingly.

Twilight frowned, annoyedly. "Oh well. Maybe we can get Princess Celestia to help."

Spike gasped, out-of-breathedly. "I can send her a letter! I haven't gotten to do that in forever. She can fix things. Even if it's just some whispered words of wisdom—"

"Letter Bee!" Twilight cried out warningly.

The bee stabbed him through the abdomen and flew off, his stubby little dragon arms still wiggling as the rigor mortis set in.

"Darn," Twilight groused, grousingly. "Now who's going to organize my library?"