Hello Mares and Gentlecolts and welcome to my story, although he is living under RD's roof again the tension both sexual and awkward is still rising and on top of that another murder has occurred at the Wonderbolts show.

Chapter 9: A Rare shade of Pink

Those three words that Rainbow Dash never thought that she would ever say were hanging somewhere deep in her head and her heart, it hadn't even really hit her that she had said those words until she got back to Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell but ever since then all Rainbow Dash had been able to do was question everything she felt about her feelings and Mr. Carnage, what is happening to me? I've only known him for five days now and I'm acting like a love sick filly although I guess I only did recently turn eighteen but I've never felt this way about anypony before, not for my friends, not for Spitfire , not anypony I've ever known, is this really love? It feels so awful yet so wonderful at the same time, she thought to herself.

They had received the news of another killing and this one kind of hit home for Rainbow, the victim was one of her childhood heroes Silver Lining and because of this Carnage had wasted no time in getting ready and promised her that he was going to bring the killer to justice which she greatly appreciated, Dash was at the dining table while Carnage was preparing his mind in his room.

Despite this the tension in the house was very high, both parties practically wanted scream at each other for being so stupid, it was a very awkward tension that was worse for Dash because of what she had said the other day, she thanked Celestia that Carnage had not heard what she said and appeared to be oblivious to it, the most interesting thing to both parties was the fact that just underneath all the violent, angry, awkward tension there was still a faint trace of sexual tension also which they both thought they would have escaped from by now however neither pony said anything about it because of their stubbornness.

Meanwhile Carnage was looking deep into the mirror in an attempt to help his mental strength get strong he was challenging his own mind to puzzles for it to complete, he felt like he was failing all those ponies who had been murdered as he still hadn't solved the crime and now somepony has paid the price for his failure.

He thought that maybe he was missing something and it was because his mind was not at peak condition, he recalled how the last two days he had missed things that were literally right in front of him and he knew that he just couldn't let that happen anymore.

As he stared deeply into the mirror for one brief moment he swore that he could see himself in human form smiling back at him, there was something off about it though as it looked like his teeth were sharper and his eyes were a little off but it was him none the less but before he could analyse the image further it vanished.

One thing stuck in his mind though, the vision that was before him was wearing all his clothes before he came to this world, he always had a way of sticking out in the crowd and he commonly did this on purpose so he could get some form of attention, he had actually diagnosed himself as an attention seeker and has tried to better himself, the reflection was wearing his blue shirt, his black vest and black jeans, his tie which he never did all the way up as he hated that, his armbands which were taken from one of his wrestling heroes Jeff Hardy, even his shoes.

The one thing that did stick out was the blue and black face paint and the Trilby hat, he wondered why he was wearing those two things as he had never thought about wearing a hat like that and the face paint was odd for even his standards, there is magic in this world that he couldn't hope to comprehend… maybe, just maybe this is a vision of the future he thought to himself.

Thinking about Jeff Hardy sent his mind into a new direction, wrestling, you wouldn't have thought it but Mr. Carnage was quite the wrestling in fact he still was, there was always something that appealed to him about it, the larger than life characters, the stories and those great moments.

He could even recite his top ten favourite wrestlers of all time from the top of his head from bottom to top, "Tajiri, Raven, Mr. Perfect, Ultimate Warrior, Mankind, Ultimo Dragon, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, British Bulldog and of course Stone Cold Steve Austin."

A whole host of heroes and characters and he even had the pleasure of meeting a few, he looked again in the mirror and saw that he was wearing a smile, a smile that he had not worn in the last two days, it hit home to him that Dash was probably in the same boat, he still wasn't sure what he felt for Dash and what happened yesterday had just muddied the issue but he made himself a promise, "No matter what it is, the next thing that Rainbow Dash asks me to do I will do it without question just to see a smile on her face again."

He trotted into the front room and saw Dash standing near the exit, "Hello Dash! Are you ready to go?"

"Wait a second Carnage, I need to ask you something first."

Well it looks like I'll get to fulfil that promise sooner than I thought, "Go ahead Dash."

"Listen, Pinkie Pie got released this morning and she was in jail last night meaning that she wasn't the killer cause apparently Silver Lining was killed last night, so if it's cool with you and all could we go and stop by Sugar Cube corner and could you apologise to Pinkie Pie?"

"Oh…well I…" and then Carnage instantly remembered the promise that he made, he was a man (now pony) who kept his promises, "Alright if it makes you feel better I will."

"Thanks Carnage I really appreciate this."

Rainbow Dash flung her fore hoofs around Carnage's neck and planted a small kiss on Carnages cheek, that meant the world to him as he hugged her back, for a brief moment he thought about the kiss they nearly shared yesterday and he thought how differently things could be going right now if it had happened, would we have regretted it? Would we have started a relationship? I really think I'm starting to fall in love but now it's too late because of Spitfire, maybe that's for the best because once this is all over I have no choice but to leave he quietly mused to himself.

He knew she was smiling at long last and he quickly took in her scent before they broke their hug and he could only describe the smell as heaven, but very soon he may be walking into hell…

---

Sugar cube corner looked exactly like Carnage thought it would, very sweet, although what would you expect from a bakery. On the way to the bakery Rainbow Dash revealed that despite her stealing food none of the ponies she stole from including Fluttershy wished to press charges against her and the main reason being that they were friends of the Cakes and they were not aware how bad things were getting for them, they're even started lending them extra food supplies till they get back on their feet.

RD had told Carnage that although Pinkie Pie was always happy all the time she had never been in jail and was worried about her mental stability after she saw her when they tried to get her to her surprise party or something like that.

They walked into the bakery and it was a brown interior like a biscuit with a very sweet based theme, they looked at the counter and saw nopony there except a white pony with a purple curly mane in a one person line, carnage turned to Dash, "Are you sure she's here?"

"Twilight told me she would be here working tomorrow."

"Ok let's do this quick, we can't risk losing any evidence at the crime scene and the guard ponies can't keep the area looked down all day as the Wonderbolts will be moving out soon."

They walked up behind the white mare who was mumbling to herself, "…Now what should I get for Sweetie bell, the poor darling must have been hearing about those awful murders again at school, as her Big sister I must keep her mind off such awful things now would she like a muffin or maybe a cake?

Carnage noted that she mentioned Sweetie Bell and she matched the description of the element of generosity, Rarity, Rainbow Dash spoke, "Hey Rare what are you up to?"

She turned to face her friend, "Rainbow Dash how delightful to see you, you know it's been a while hasn't it? I was just getting something for Sweetie Bell, she was asking about those dreadful murders again and she said she met the detective who… well who is your handsome friend here, is this your coltfriend?

RD was about to confirm this but Carnage cut her off, "Former Coltfriend, her marefriend has returned to town."

Rainbow looked sad but technically they were never together so she sucked it up, "Really? Oh you mean Spitfire but I thought you two had broken up?"

"I thought we did Rare let's leave it at that."

"Well I won't pry, I learned my lesson on how hurtful gossip can be a while back, but anyway I assume that you are here to apologise to Pinkie Pie am I correct in saying?"

"You are correct."

"That is very noble of you, I imagine that it would be a little hard to swallow but I am sure that as soon as she here's an apology from you then there will be no more problems…"

A springy sort of sound could be heard and it sounded like it was approaching the counter, the sound belonged to Pinkie Pie, "Ok Rarity are you ready to order? Because I'm in a super mood to make some goodies and…"

As soon as Pinkie Pie spotted Carnage the room fell dead silent, pinkie just stared at him with no expression on her face, it wasn't sad or happy it was just neutral, Dash nudged Carnage as a signal for him to speak, "Miss Pie, I have come here to humbly ask for your forgiveness in having you arrested a couple of days ago, I hope you can understand that I had to be sure that you were not the killer and having you arrested for further interrogation was the best way to make sure of that and of course you had committed a crime in the sense of burglary but never the less I apologise for any traumatic experience you may have felt while imprisoned."

He bowed his head to her and when he brought it up he received a hug from Pinkie for his troubles, "Awww that's ok, I know you had to do what you did and everything's great again because the Cakes are getting enough food again, plus we got a whole new group of orders today so we should be fine… but I have to do this."

And before Carnage could react he was punched in the face by Pinkie Pie, the punch was so devastating that he landed on his back and was left near unconsciousness, he laid there for a moment as the three mares around him looked concerned, "I didn't mean to hit him that hard."

Rainbow Dash jumped to his defence, "Why did you do that at all? He said he was sorry!"

"You didn't have to spend two nights in jail Dashie, a mares jail as well, I mean there were some over friendly mares in that prison and…"

Rarity cut her off, "We don't want to know dear…"

Carnage felt like he had just received a punch from the Big Show and then for good measure the Undertaker did his tombstone piledriver on him, despite this though he valiantly got up and shook the pain off, "If it's ok with you mares me and Dash have to be off to the crime scene, good day."

He bowed his head to them and he and Dash turned to leave with the other two ponies wishing them good luck.

---

He had surprised himself by how quickly he managed to get his head straight after the punch that had blindsided him, he felt pumped like all the mental adrenaline was coursing through his brain and he was ready to solve any puzzle that was thrown his way, the two of them entered the changing room and saw the body of Silver Lining lying there undisturbed, "Right, Dash tell the Guard ponies to leave the room while I get to work."

He knelt down next to the body and checked the throat and it was just like he suspected, he died from a cut to the throat and it had the same depth and width as the previous two, but then he noticed that one of his wings were missing, "Well look at this, the killer took another body part like he did the first time."

"Wait hang on, if body parts are missing from the first and third victim but not the second victim does that mean the pony that killed Owloysius wasn't the same as the pony who killed Bon-Bon and Silver Lining."

That's very clever of you Rainbow Dash and normally I'd think that you were right but the problem with that theory is that they were all killed by having their throat cut…"

"So? Didn't everypony know that's how Bon-Bon died? Couldn't a copy-cat killer just do the same thing the real killer did?"

"Again you're in the right ball park but your still a bit off, you see it wasn't just the way they died, the weapon was clearly the same and the width and depth of the cut was exactly the same also which clearly shows that it has to be the same killer, hell even the positioning of the cut is about the same also but it would be hard to match a ponies and an owl's exact throat point."

"Then why didn't Owloysius have any body parts missing?"

"Perhaps he wasn't the intended target, perhaps your friend Fluttershy was meant to be the victim and by mistake the murderer alerted Owloysius and then in a panic had to kill him and ran, or possibly he was the target but was nervous about being in a house and cut his losses and just killed him, I mean the first theory is more likely but… wait!"

"What is it Carnage?"

"Perhaps there's a pattern here, who was the first victim Rainbow Dash?"

"It was Bon-Bon."

"And what type of pony was she?"

"She was an Earth pony."

"Exactly, and discounting Owloysius Silver Lining is a Pegasus pony; now maybe, just maybe there's a pattern here and the next victim will be a Unicorn pony."

"But why is he doing this? Why target them?"

"The ponies mind is obviously disturbed, something dark and deranged is driving the murderer to get these body parts, the foot of an Earth pony, the wing of a Pegasus and maybe the next item on the list is the horn of a Unicorn… look around the room for anything that we might have missed."

The two of them looked around the small dressing room, there wasn't a lot in there except a costume hanging out of a box and a mirror but Rainbow Dash and Mr. Carnage spotted two things simultaneously.

Dash found a small torn piece of paper, it looked a bit off as there was no other pieces of paper in the room, Carnage had another look over the body and found something on the body that shouldn't have been there, there was sticker on the leg of the victim and it read 'Apple Family Apple's' "Hey Rainbow Dash does this belong to the Apple Family?"

Dash held onto the torn piece of paper and trotted over to get a better look, "Yeah Applejack said that they were putting these on their apples recently as they wanted to get the Apple family name into bigger business."

"This was on the leg of the victim so I think we should…"

"Have a look at this first; you'll really want to see this."

Dash held up the torn piece of paper and Carnage took it from her, he read it aloud, "The foot of an earth pony."

As soon as he read it he knew he finally had something to support his theory, "Rainbow Dash you amazing Beautiful Mare! This must be the killers and he left it here by accident well done."

Carnage didn't even know why but he kissed Dash's cheek and she blushed like mad, "Wow thanks… but how do we know it's the killers and why is it here?"

"He must have taken his list with him and in the struggle it got torn, he may not have noticed o he may have panicked and fled before he could get the paper, the one thing we have to do now is go to Sweet apple acres and…"

Carnage was cut off by Spitfire who was standing in the doorway, "Hey Dash you ready to go?"

Carnage was confused, "Go? Where are you going?"

"Sorry I forgot, yesterday me and Spitfire said we were going to hit the town today and I would meet her here."

Spitfire seemed to have little regard for her dead colleague as she walked in, "By the way I forgot since Lning's departure were going to need a new Wonderbolt to fill his place, interested?"

"What! Really! OH MY GOSH! OH MYGOSH! OH MY GOSH!"

"So if you play your cards right tonight you may have a new costume by tomorrow, let's go Dash."

Dash turned to face Carnage, "Is it alright for me to go?"

He didn't want her to leave but that would be selfish on his part, and all he wanted was to see her smile again and if the Wonderbolts could do that then he didn't mind, "You go Dash… you… have a great time for me alright?"

Dash nodded her head and hugged Carnage, she trotted off and followed Spitfire, in some weird way in the pit of his stomach, he felt more alone than he did the first time he left she had left, this time he felt like he would never get her back and now he was on his own to face the Apple family…

Next chapter, the Apple family are put under the spotlight.

Again say what you liked and what you didn't like, it will only help me get better as a writer ;) and a like would also be greatly appreciated, thank you.