A Dash of Ego

Before we can delve into her many many crimes, there are a number of questions we must ask first. Such as where these ideas came from, the traumatic event which spawned such a horrific alteration to her personality and of course how she justified these actions.

First of all it is necessary to establish exactly how she accomplished these horrific acts before we plunge into the why. For the mere fact that she accumulated the rather eclectic series of skills is a mystery on it's own. However i believe that we have recreated the exact circumstances surrounding the precipitation of those skills. Hopefully more insight can be garnered into the mind of this mad mare if we first examine the forces that put the idea into her mind.

(I must apologize for the rambling and somewhat disorganized nature of this account as it's completion is necessary prior to her final sentencing and i am unfortunately pressed for time.)

First and most startlingly is her apparent fascination with alchemy. Going so far as to find a relative mastery of both zebra potion making and equestrian alchemy. You all have her personality report fresh in your minds so i will not bother reiterating her apparent distaste for such “egghead” hobbies.

A little background information will help in regard to her alchemical knowledge as most information of that kind is not available to the layman.

Zebra potion making was primarily founded for the use of curing diseases and sickness. It reached this conclusion by balancing the humours. Although this desire to balance the humours was ultimately incorrect zebra potions none the less still hold a firm basis in fact. Eventually the bloodletting and other fluid removing rituals were removed from the ceremony of the potion. The fact that the potion itself was incredibly potent and accomplished what they hoped to meant the other facets of the ritual clung to the art far too long. As most saw the fact that it worked meant that the ritualistic facet was necessary.

Ultimately it was discovered that in the early zebra’s attempts to return normalcy to the various levels of bodily fluids they had inadvertently learned to harness the body’s own ability to fight off infection and disease and numerous other ailments. I will not bore you with the details but suffice it to say that these types of potions are incredibly powerful but rely on the natural abilities of the body.

Therefore you cannot make somepony grow wings unless they were naturally born with them such as pegasi, griffins, etc. Or a non unicorn grow a horn or anything else they wouldn't naturally have or be capable of. With a few exceptions being extreme (if short lived) strength but that is believed to come from adrenalin. That being said it can make the body stronger, more resilient but these effects are believed to be the upper reaches of peak physical condition and not something magical. Portions of this nature can even do such things as to put a pony to sleep by stimulating the body’s natural response to extreme exhaustion.

Alternatively equestrian alchemy was focused nearly entirely on things that magic could not do at first. Since unicorn’s early attempts at magic could not replicate what certain compounds did naturally. However after tensions between the tribes rose alchemy was quickly adopted by non unicorns as well. This was in part to the natural dominance of unicorn magic before the field of earth pony and pegasi magic could really be explored. As such the purpose of this adopted alchemy was for the sole purpose of war.  As such alchemical concoctions like alchemist’s fire and for lack of a better term “boom powder” were common.  As you may know these were used to create fire that was nearly impossible to put out through magical means and explosions, respectively.

It got these desired effects by using certain chemicals found both naturally and artificially. Testing on sulfur drove much of early alchemy due to it's strange and interesting nature. However after the relative peice found after hearth's warming alchemy took on a different function completely. Not happy with merely creating a breif effect some of the more darker factions that had went underground. This was before official hostilities ended making such groups difficult to track.

It was at this time that equestrian alchemy and zebra potion making began to become intertwined. As the two early nations interacted their culture and technology began to mix. It was at this time many bizarre creatures we today believe are natural came into the world through alchemy. Indeed such creatures as the timber wolf and the cockatrice were created by twisted covens of alchemists. Not happy with merely creating new life they than began to experiment on their own.

This rapid advance was only made possible due to that then very real threat of invasion from this new potential enemy. Bits and favors passed hands regularly as both sides sought after the reclusive coven’s power.

As you all know about the first battle of dead horse gulch i will avoid any more history of what happened to them and instead focus on a startling fact recently discovered after the rainbow event. Hermaphrodites and our own female heavy population is due to tampering by these early alchemists. Which brings us back to the subject of this study.

Rainbow Dash, born a hermaphrodite to two prismatic pegasi in cloudsdale. Her parents were low born weather factory workers who both had perfect rainbow coats. This is important as the prismatic coloration was indicative of genetic tampering via alchemy. And as you all know this type of tampering may lead to varied psychosis and physical development issues. Both made abundantly clear by the rainbow event. We have also unearthed ancient texts that indicate that this type of tampering was to create faster wings. Which may explain why the dash line has had such success with feats like the sonic rainboom. In addition to an inability to cope mentally with the stress of failure and an almost supernaturally large ego. However these claims are unsubstantiated.

Rainbow Dash rose to prominence after becoming the element of loyalty. Which brought her face to face with many terrible creatures and problem. Iis noted that during those frequent adventures is when the first cracks so to speak occurred in her delicate psyche. As Princess Twilight Sparkle has noted in her own research paper it is during one of their first adventures together as the elements of harmony that such an event happened.

After having seen the powerful curing effects that zebra potions can accomplish. During an event in which she was exposed to poison joke Dash’s latent desire to practice alchemy began to take root. This can be further explained by her parent’s mention of alchemy as a child, which goes along way in explaining why something usually as fo paux as alchemy and body tampering didn't bother her. It is this early exposure  that is the most logical reason she took to it so quickly. Her family had some form of alchemy texts within the house as her acquisition of that skill was far too quick to explain otherwise. This is further enforced by the fact that when she started borrowing books she began on advanced tomes, skipping past any introductory knowledge that would be necessary to know any of the basis for potion making.

Her extensive reading habits did not come about until after she was stuck in the hospital with a damaged wing. After that her less than secret hobby became a full blown obsession. Having read the entirety of the daring doo series in detail she began to read about anything related to the fictional series. Such as books on ancient artifacts, myths and legends etc. Twilight Sparkle herself encouraged such literacy for obvious reasons, ignorant to the monster Ms Rainbow Dash would become.

Lastly was her fascination with pony genealogy which originated from the births of the cake twins. Confused and conflicted she brushed up on genetics and biology. This is where we believe she got the idea for her vile acts. It was there in one of those books she found the idea for how to make her legacy last forever despite the fact she was infertile. It was there that she was able to cure that ailment and do what alchemists tried and failed for centuries. To choose the race of a pony before it was born.

I am aware as to what i am suggesting however with the first of her daughters being born and many more being screened it is obvious she cracked a code that stumped her predecessors for over a thousand years. She forced all her offspring to be born female and a pegasus in addition to carrying most of her traits.

Now onto the final point which in my opinion was the moment she broke. The Mare do well incident. Sure she displayed positive signs of growth but you cannot break a key part of someponies personality overnight without causing damage. What was made manifest within her mind due to that confrontation would ruin the lives of hundreds of ponies. Instead of damaging her ego it enforced it to a degree hitherto unimaginable. Indeed after her capture she exceeded any measurement we had previously used to test ego. I believe that series of events forced her ego to sublimate and figure out logical reasons for its continued pervasity. This ultimately culminated in believing that when she did those things to those mares that it was an act of kindness.

The nature of this madness must be studied but justice must be done as well. It is my personal opinion and not indicative of any other party that has funded or assisted in my research that she should be locked within the deepest dungeons for the rest of her life to be studied. Psychology is a young field after all and i beleive this case study could serve as a good test and a firm warning. Provided her feats in alchemy are expunged of course.