Hello Mares and Gentlecolts and welcome to my story, the killer will be revealed.

Chapter 13: and then it became clear…

Rainbow Dash was worried, she wasn't usually very worried but she couldn't help but feel sad for her coltfriend, it had been two days since Carnage had been confronted by Rarity about his supposed time wasting and he hadn't been the same ever since.

Carnage had not exactly been very loving, the last time the two of them had sex it was a lot more rough and vicious, it was like he was taking his frustration out on her and these last two days he has been going into his room to be alone a lot more often than usual, Rainbow Dash was wearing her dress for the gala tonight, it was the same one she wore last year but she wouldn't dare ask Rarity to make a new one because of what had happened lately.

Carnage was adamant to her that he wasn't going but she wanted to ask one more time as being with him at the gala would make it more bearable but she also really wanted to see exactly what he had been doing in his room all day because he hadn't come out since he had breakfast.

She stared at his door for a moment and then she looked at the clock, she had about twenty minutes before she would have to go so she could make one last attempt to convince him to come with her tonight, she took a deep breath and found her natural determination and practically stormed towards the door, her head was spinning with words and she prepared a speech to convince him to come with her, she was even prepared to use 'I love you' to get him to come but when she opened the door what she saw made her silent.

She saw that Carnage was sitting in the middle of the floor, he had his back turned to her and he was just silent in a very dim lit room, along the cloud walls were hand written scribbles, they were dates, names, places, facts and all sorts of things and they nearly all seemed in some way to be linked to the serial killings, every time she tried to speak she found her throat just closing up as she had no words for what was before her, she was slightly distributed at the scene before her which turned her normally brash manner to become a timid one similar to Fluttershy, since she had said nothing so Carnage decided to speak in order to break the tension, "Three things Dash before you say anything, the first being that I didn't know you can write on clouds that's very interesting actually, the second thing is that it's nice to see you today and love you and the final thing is… you forgot to knock."

Rainbow Dash began fumbling over her words and the only thing she could muster to say was an apology, "I-I-I'm sorry."

Carnage then took a deep inhale, he seemed to be trying to compose himself before he continued, he talked as he slowly began to stand on his four hooves, "That's alright, actually I wanted to talk to you about something that I've figured out about the killers motives."

When he turned to Dash to face her she couldn't help but let out a tiny gasp, to sum it up Carnage didn't look great, he had faint bags forming under his eyes while his stubble grew out a little further to where it was now basically a beard and he seemed to be somewhat slouching, Carnage noticed her shocked expression, "What? What's the matter?"

Dash didn't want to say out of fear of his reaction, "Uh… it's nothing, nothing at all."

Carnage was frustrated by this; he was always frustrated when people (and ponies) were keeping things from him, "What is it? Tell me what you were going to say!"

His raised voice made her cringe slightly and this caused her to blurt it out, "I was just going to say that… that you've looked better is all, maybe you should get some sleep."

Dash wasn't thinking about taking him to the gala but she would have preferred him to come with her, Carnage walked to a nearby mirror and looked at his reflection, he wasn't wearing the hat Dash had given him as it was hanging up near the front door, he took a good look at his self in the mirror and said, "I'm fine, I'll sleep when I'm dead."

His tone of voice had been unintentionally harsh and he could see that with Dash's reaction, he cared about her a lot but he just couldn't help but getting angry at her for no good reason, he knew she was just worried about him so he attempted an apology, "I'm sorry Skittles, I'm just stressed and it's not fair that I take out that frustration on you but seriously my love I'm sorry."

He walked up to her and nuzzled her, he kissed her neck and made his way up to her lips and when he got there instead of a light peck they shared a more deep and passionate kiss, they held this for about thirty seconds and then they broke it, a small smirk was on lips and a tiny chuckle escaped Dash's mouth, "I still don't know why you call me skittles."

He called her skittles for two reasons, skittles was his favourite sweet (he was partial to the sour ones) and her rainbow mane reminded him of them and the second reason was to his surprise when they kissed she tasted just like skittles, he started calling her this when they got back from Rarities but he still hadn't told her why, "It's a personal thing and I know you like the name so don't complain."

"No I like it all I just don't know what it means… look I'm getting distracted, what's all of this written all over the walls?"

Carnage looked around and once again like he had done multiple times took in everything he had carefully written on the walls but he imagined to 'Skittles' that it would just seem like a load of scribbles, "Oh yeah, sorry about defacing your property but I've been writing notes about the case and having it all around me has kind of helped."

Carnage walked back into the centre of the room and Rainbow Dash followed and nuzzled up next to him, "It's okay I suppose, I guess you are now an official resident here but you will have to perform many sexual favours in order to gain my forgiveness."

He bowed his head, "I apologise oh great and powerful Skittles, please forgive me for my sins upon thee."

He kissed her hoof which got her a little excited (he had discovered that Dash has a minor hoof fetish) but she shook him off, "Please don't call me that, it reminds me of somepony I think this town would rather forget."

"Then I apologise oh most awesome Rainbow Dash, I am not worthy of being your lover."

"Yeah that's right you're not, but flattery will get you everything."

The two of them shared another deep kiss but Dash once again spied the clock and saw that she only had ten minutes left before she would have to go, "Hey let's get to the point okay, what have you figured out about the killer?"

Carnage trotted towards the back wall of the room, he looked over his markings once again, Dash saw that a lot of them had lines drawn to each other and it seemed to her that he was trying to establish connections, "You see Skittles I have now figured out what could possibly be the motive for the killer, bit it is still a theory."

Rainbow Dash looked at him eagerly, "Basically I think I was going about it the wrong way, do you remember that the killer has been taking different body parts from different ponies."

"Yeah I remember, I mean how could I forget."

"Well that has to be part of the killer's motive, originally I just thought whoever this was simply had a deranged mind and felt they just needed these parts to build something or other but then I noticed two different patterns in the killings that seem to link to each other."

"What patterns? I never noticed any patterns, have you been drinking that stuff that Big Mac gave you again?"

"It's very simple my love, what is different between Bon-Bon, Silver Lining and Sweetie Bell?"

Rainbow Dash thought about this for a moment, the answer didn't seem obvious to her but she knew that it probably did to Carnage, "Uh… they all had different jobs? Oh wait Sweetie Bell doesn't have a job she's just a filly… I really don't know."

"It's obvious isn't it? They are all different types of pony, we talked about this before remember at Silver Linings dressing room about this pattern but I originally dismissed it as a coincidence but there's also another pattern."

"Wait there's another pattern? How do you figure all this out?"

"Elementary my dear Skittles, they are all different age groups, Bon-bon was a middle aged mare, Silver Lining was retiring as he was an elderly Pegasus and Sweetie Bell was just a school filly."

"Hang on wait a minute, what about Owloysius, why wasn't any of his body parts taken and why didn't you fit him in any of your patterns?"

"Again we talked about this remember, I believe that Owloysius was purely a victim of circumstance and the real target may have been Fluttershy…"

"Yeah but that wouldn't fit the age pattern."

"Well maybe the killer was having an off day, I can't explain that but now I think I have the motive."

"Then what is the motive."

"I just had to broaden my mind a little, this pony is trying to perform some sort of magical ritual, I'm not sure exactly what it is but the piece of paper seemed like it was from some sort of book and I'm willing to bet that it's a magic book, I just need to find the right kind of spell and see what it does, then that should help reveal once and for all who the killer is."

Rainbow Dash practically jumped for joy at this, soon the nightmare would be over for the citizens of Ponyville, she flew over to him and gave him a big hug, "That's great! Tomorrow we can ask twilight to help us and then we can stop him once and for all."

"That's a great idea Skittles but I don't have time for that, you go ahead and have fun at the gala thing and I'll just sort a few things out in my head and then pay a visit to Twilight, I know it's late but she'll probably help me out when I tell her…"

"Actually I was hoping that you could come with me tonight."

There was a short silence between the two of them, Carnage had a befuddled look on his face but his brain suddenly switched into the correct gear, "Skittles, we talked about this, honest to god I think I'm in love with you but I can't waste any more time, I have this pony I can find out who this bastard is once and for all, I'm sorry Dash but I can't let anypony else get hurt because of me."

"No that's not fair, it just isn't fair!"

Tears were starting to well up in Dash's eyes, she wiped a single tear going down her face and she lightly chuckled, "It's funny, before I met you I hardly ever cried, I thought it made me weak, something the Wonderbolts wouldn't want in a recruit but ever since you came I just never seem to stop, why do you make me cry Carnage?"

"Rainbow, life isn't fair, travelling will probably be my life to the day I die, I still wonder if I should've just accepted death but now I just have to move on, this was what I was afraid of Skittles, falling in love with you."

He tried to stroke her face but she turned away from him, the tears couldn't be controlled now as it appeared the damn that held her tear ducts had burst, she looked at him angrily, her eyes were already bloodshot and focused on him, "You know what go! Because if loving me was a mistake then I'm going to make this really easy for you…"

She walked towards his bedroom doorway and turned to face him one more time, "I HATE YOU AND I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN, GOODBYE!"

Carnage didn't say anything else when Rainbow Dash ran towards the front door, he had nothing else to say when he heard the front door slam shut, he just stood there with his heart smashed to pieces, "Well done Carnage, you've let yourself get distracted from what you should be doing, you know if I didn't know any better I would have said that Rainbow Dash was here to distract me."

He laughed to himself in an attempt to block out the emotional pain, he thought about Dash possibly being the killer though, in a sense it was very convenient how to one degree she helped him think while in the other she practically slowed him down, but he could account that she was in her house at least once when a murder or attack occurred so it couldn't be her, and there was always genuine emotion to her and she clearly didn't fake her feelings towards him.

He didn't stop at analysing Dash though he thought about some of the other ponies that he met, he knew that it couldn't be Pinkie Pie, Doctor Whooves or Applejack as the first two were incarcerated when another murder occurred and Applejack can't really lie very well as she is the element of honesty, Whooves and Lyra also soon left on a vacation together during the third murder and were far away from Ponyville and returned two days after that murder which further confirmed that it wasn't either of them, it certainly couldn't be Rarity as her own sister was attacked and her saw how upset she was by that.

Fluttershy could have possibly been a suspect but the evidence against her was clearly planted by somepony else and she was far too weak to harm anypony, Spitfire was also off the list of suspects as she and the rest of the Wonderbolts arrived into town after two of the murders had already taken place, he decided that he shouldn't be thinking about this right now and was about to head over to Twilights when it suddenly hit him.

He paused as he just exited his room, he had thought about Twilight for only just a second but that was enough for his brain to start questioning, Twilights presence could not be confirmed during any of the murders because Spike was either asleep or helping Rarity, Twilight would also know the layout for her friends houses as the six of them seemed to regularly visit each other, also this would explain why the killer had spared Rarities life and maybe she needed to get rid of Owloysius as he might have known something, he could even see her framing her friends as that would not be killing them but the thing that really stuck out in his mind was the fact that Twilight did magic, she would have known many magical spells and her library was probably where she could have stored the book that Carnage was looking for.

He got very excited all of a sudden, possibilities were racing through his mind and he really thought that the killer could be none other than Twilight Sparkle, he would have to iron out the motive when he got there and he was about to walk out the front door when he spotted something that made him pause.

The hat that Rainbow Dash had bought him, he really did like the hat and he thought how sweet it was of her to get it for him, he placed it on his head and said to himself, "When this is all over I'm going to find Skittles and hope that I have enough time left to make peace with her."

He didn't waste any more time as he hurried out the door towards Twilights…

---

The tree house that twilight lived in almost seemed bigger when Carnage got to the door, maybe it was the impending sense that this could all soon be over when he opened the door, the problem however is that he would need a proper solid connection to Twilight killing the victims and while he had more theories he knew that if he could get a sufficient motive then that could be enough for a proper arrest, so he would literally be asking the potential killer for help in proving her guilt, to him this couldn't end well but he couldn't wait any longer.

Maybe it was mostly because of what Rarity said, as much as he would have liked to deny it he knew that to a degree he had wasted more than enough time, it also loomed on him that he had to be very careful that in no way could he let Twilight Sparkle know that he was on to her as he was dealing with a very powerful mage, he pondered if this was how Twilight managed to keep her potential victims in place but then he shook his head back to reality as he reminded himself that he shouldn't jump to conclusions and that it could not be her.

He figured that he waited long enough outside and that he should just face the music so he brought his hoof up and knocked on the door, for a moment he didn't hear any noises but then he heard Twilight call out, "Spike before you go could you answer the door please?"

A voice that sounded like Spike called back, "It's okay Twilight, I'm meeting everypony there after the gala's started, I don't want to be there to long, I wonder what Pony is calling at this time of night."

The door then opened and Carnage was greeted by the little purple dragon, "Oh hey there Carnage, what are you doing here?"

"Hey there Spike, I didn't know you were going to the gala this evening."

"Yeah I'm going in place of Twilight, but if you don't mind me asking but what are you doing here tonight?

"Oh sorry, well I need to talk to Twilight urgently; it's about the killer and I think I've discovered a potential motive."

Spike didn't seem to waste any time and he let Carnage in, Spike walked up the stairs a little bit and he called down Twilight, "Twilight! Mr. Carnage is here to see you and he says that it's urgent."

Twilight called back down, "Oh really? Um… I'll be down in just a second."

Spike walked into the kitchen and he appeared to be moping the floor, Carnage didn't think he would be any trouble so he looked around the library again while he waited for Twilight, it was as clean as ever but he did notice that a load of the books had been arranged in a new order, he thought that it must have taken her a while to do this but that wasn't why he was here.

Twilight then started to descend down the staircase, she didn't look particularly nervous to Carnage however he learned a long time ago that appearances could be deceiving so he didn't make any pre judgements, it was very easy to fall into that kind of trap, he remembered watching a cop back in his world chasing down a black man who had a large woman's bag in his hand because he thought that he stole it, but it turned out later that he was trying to get the insulin in the bag to a friend who needed it and that friend died while he was being taken into custody, the policeman paid the price in the form of his job and dignity and it was a good lesson in judging appearances.

Twilight fully approached him now and said, "Hello there Mr. Carnage, what brings you to the library tonight? Hey you don't look great."

He waved off her concern, "I'm fine thank you, this is urgent Miss Sparkle and I require your help."

He watched her expressions closely, right now she seemed to be curious but he knew that this could turn very ugly if the wrong words were uttered, "Okay, of course I'll help, is this about the case?"

He noted what she asked in the back of his head, "It does actually, basically I believe that I may have discovered something about the killer that could lead to learning his motive for killing these ponies and your pet owl."

It now became one of shock, he couldn't tell any more than that so he just continued, "I discovered a pattern in the killings; the pattern is that all three ponies were different types of ponies and different age groups."

Twilight was silent for a moment, she thought about what he was saying and he was absolutely right, "Yeah your right, now that is very interesting but how will that help you find the motive."

This was it for Mr. Carnage, this was the point where things could get very ugly very quickly here, "I believe that the body parts that have been taken from the victims are part of some magical ritual and Owloysius was merely a victim of circumstance because there were no body parts taken from him."

Twilight's reaction was unreadable but it appeared that she was processing the information that she was just given, "So let me guess then Carnage, you want me to help you find what kind of spell would involve the body parts of different ponies."

"That is exactly why I'm here Twilight, will you help me."

Twilight lowered her head; she didn't know what to say exactly but she knew exactly what it was he was looking for, "The magic you're looking for is very dark magic, this is magic that Princess Celestia herself forbid anypony from using ever."

"But let me guess, you not only know the spell I'm referring to but you have the book as well don't you?"

Twilight nodded her head slowly, there appeared to be an element of guilt in her nod and Carnage was about to find out why, "I do know it, I can't remember what the spell did exactly though but I do have the book with me… I stole it from the princess because I thought it was some kind of test to see if I was dedicated enough to learn enough magic, please don't tell Princess Celestia."

Carnage wasn't a big fan on Celestia for obvious reasons and it was interesting as it appeared she was more afraid of Celestia finding out about the stolen book than being caught for murder, "Alright I won't tell her but am I right about them being ingredients?"

"Yes, it's rather disgusting when you think about it but there were four ingredients and they were the wing of an old Pegasus, the horn of a unicorn foal and the hoof of a middle aged earth pony."

"Wait hang on a second, there were four ingredients? May I see this book please?"

Twilight looked up to the bookshelf closest to her and took down one of the books from the top shelf, she placed the book on a table beside them and she started to flick through it, Carnage stood next to her looking intently at the book, he could hear Twilight muttering under her breath, "Let's see a spell to give a Pegasus filly to a human father, whatever a human is, a spell to turn an earth pony into an insane serial killer, another to transport a pony to a famous war in the human world, seriously what are these humans I've never heard of them but it seems like this kind of thing happens a lot… oh here it is it says… wait! Where's the page?"

Carnage looked at what she was referring to and it appeared that a page had been ripped out, he grabbed the piece of paper with one of the ingredients on it from under his hat and it matched part of the tear, "Twilight it's been ripped out, who could have gotten a hold of this book?"

"I don't know, this page likely had the last ingredient on it but luckily what the spell does is actually on the next page, let's see it says that whoever the spell is cast upon by using the ingredients will gain the power to turn anything the creature touches into… gems."

Carnage couldn't fathom it; to him it just didn't make sense, "Gems? Is this what this was all about? Really it's all about gems? Whoever this is just wants to be rich?"

"I don't think so, gems aren't worth that much anymore after they were discovered to be far more than originally thought, hang on a second I'm a little thirsty let me just get a drink."

Carnage didn't say anything as he was trying to wrap his brain around this, he started to talk aloud to himself, "It can't just be for money or anything like that because this world has been so peaceful, they must want them for some other reason, damn it Carnage think who in this town would want that many gems to the point where they would kill ponies?"

Twilight called out, "Ow! I just stepped on one of Spikes half eaten gems again, where is that silly little dragon anyway?"

And in that moment, it all became clear…

---

What makes me weird? He thought to himself, as the dragon went inside he noticed that despite being woken up just a minute he didn't seem tired at all…

Twilight had decided an explanation was in order "Don't mind him, he just has a massive crush on Rarity."

"Yep, Spike can make a good meal for any pony, despite only eating gems."

"Gems?"

Spike got down from the side table where he was cleaning a plate and explained "Yep I can only eat gems, you know like diamonds, rubies, emeralds, any gem you can think of, I can eat it."

Carnage acknowledged his presence, "Hello Spike, how are you?"

"Sorry can't stop, I was just helping Fluttershy with her 'problem' and now I've got to help Pinkie Pie and the cakes so see ya."

"Yeah there's normally three of us but Applejack wouldn't let her come and is making her work at the ranch with Spike and everpony else, she was pretty mad at Rainbow Dash going because…"

---

Carnage was now practically panicking as it all snapped into place; he turned around to Twilight to see Spike right behind her with a glass in his hand, "TWILIGHT LOOK OUT!"

Twilight turned around only to have a glass collide with her skull, she was out cold and Carnage practically charged at the dragon only to be stopped in his tracks as Spike suddenly started to grow in size, he froze in horror as Spike towered over him and the last thing he would see was a purple claw collide with his face.

Everything went black…

Next chapter …

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