Alicorns



Winged unicorn ponies have both wings and a horn. They have of a great understanding of powerful magics, and also share the special abilities of the main tribes, such as a connection to nature, flight and the ability to walk on clouds, and a single horn on top of their head which gives them their magical ability. Winged unicorns are intelligent and charismatic leaders, and inspire others to be their personal best.

While the winged unicorn shares some characteristics with all races of pony, there are some differences as well. They are somewhat taller than a pony of the primary races. A winged unicorn's horn is generally longer, more slender and sharp than a unicorn's, and the glow of the horn when in use sometimes varies between tasks for a single individual. Their wings are different from that of a pegasus as well, generally wider, and longer, resulting in a nore impressive wingspan.

Winged unicorns are generally no more powerful than any other type of pony, instead, they each have their own unique, special, and finely-honed talent. There is a special exception to this with Luna and Celestia, because they have lived for such a long while and have the knowledge, experience, and wisdom that comes from their advanced age.

The exact life-span of a winged unicorn pony is unknown, as the race is very rare. We do know that the sisters Celestia and Luna are well over 1,000 years old.

Originally created to embody the best of all three primary tribes, Pegasus, Unicorn, and Earth Pony, toys and other promotional products eventually dropped the least obvious part of the description, the Earth Pony, and left them as they are today.

The Named Ponies
The only named winged unicorns in existence besides villains, are Princess Cadence, Princess Celestia, and her sister, Princess Luna. The three princesses live in Canterlot, though Princess Celestia has been seen at major events in places such as Ponyville and Cloudsdale.

With the news of Twilight Sparkle's coming promotion, it is now known that there will soon be Princess Twilight.

Villains
Some of the show's villains have been, or greatly resembled winged unicorns as well; Nightmare Moon, Queen Chrysalis, and the changelings.

Nightmare Moon represents the evil/selfish side of Princess Luna, but still qualifies as a villain during her episode as an antagonist.

While Chrysalis and the changelings resemble ponies, it is widely agreed that changelings are an insectoid race, and therefore unrelated. Besides wings and horn, the other thing that changelings have in common with winged unicorns, is that they are highly magical creatures with a special talent.

Background Winged Unicorn ponies
There have been sightings of other winged unicorn ponies in various episodes. Whether this was intentional by the animators, or a mistake during production is uncertain.


 * In Lesson Zero, we see a winged unicorn mare in far back right of the class.
 * There is an illustration showing a winged unicorn mare and an earth pony stallion in the magical tome that the fillys read in Hearts &amp; Hooves Day.
 * In A Canterlot Wedding, Part 1, we can see three winged unicorn stallions in the line of saluting royal guards.
 * In one episode, even Derpy was given a horn.

Origins
Only the princess ponies are cannon as having both a horn and wings, though others have been spotted in various episodes. (see background ponies section above) The princesses are the sisters Luna and Celestia, their niece, Cadance, and Princess Twilight.

Since the release of information regarding the promotion of Twilight Sparkle to Princess Twilight, who has no relation to the princesses, it has been said that princesses gain the rank through "being a good pony",  and the hard work and magical study required to be able to write their own magic.

The Naming Controversy
There had been much discussion over how to refer to a pony of this type in writing. Topics such as which part goes first in the description, the wings or the horn, and so on. Some have described this creature as a "unipeg", "pegacorn", "unigasus","alicorn" "whisper", "ceraptor", or even "tri-ponies". In official documentation however, the princesses have been said to be "unicorns with wings" or "pegasus unicorn".

Some fans have called the winged unicorn ponies "alicorns", which is inaccurate, as "alicorn" is the name for a unicorns horn. There has been much discussion over the etymology of the word itself, but all that is known for sure is that it is from one of the Latin family of languages, as it is commonly arrtibuted to both Latin and French.

