Horns and Wings (and sparkly, crowny things)

As you have no doubt heard, a sequence of animatic clips from season four has been released. Of particular interest, at least to those of us who read way too far into the history and mythos of a children's cartoon, is a clip that seems to show Princess Luna's rebellion against Princess Celestia, and her subsequent transformation into Nightmare Moon. Either that, or Luna is going to turn into NMM again. If I weren't hyped already, I certainly am now.

In order to vent some of my excitement, I'm going to talk about alicorns. Within the context of MLP:FiM, an alicorn is a pony who possesses both a unicorn horn and pegasus wings. External sources have confirmed that alicorns also represent the strength and connection to nature of an earth pony, so they therefore represent all three types of "normal" ponies. We also know that it is possible, through extraordinary feats or the like, for an ordinary pony to become an alicorn. Twilight Sparkle, for example, gained her wings after demonstrating her complete mastery of both friendship and magic, while Cadance (if you take Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell as canon) earned her horn after defeating an evil witch by spreading love.

This represents the sum of all knowledge we have about alicorns. Anything beyond this is pure speculation, which I'm only going to add to. It is also important to note that I will focus more attention on Celestia and Luna, rather than on Twilight or Cadance.

In sixty-five episodes, one movie, at least three books, eight comics (and six micro-comics), and one official guide, we have only ever seen five alicorns: Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Cadance, and an unnamed princess from the distant past (seen in "Hearts and Hooves Day"). The toyline adds another, and a French magazine adds another, but they don't really impact this analysis. Let's take a look at what they have in common:
- All female; there doesn't seem to be any reason that a stallion couldn't become an alicorn, but we haven't seen it happen yet
- All princesses; this is interesting, and it raises a chicken-and-egg style question. Namely, does a princess have to be an alicorn, or does an alicorn have to be a princess? Fluttershy, in "Magical Mystery Cure", says that Twilight "look(s) like a princess," to which Celestia says, "That's because she is a princess." I'll come back to this in a bit
- Not much for flying; probably not important, but it's a bit interesting. We hardly ever see alicorns using their wings to fly; Celestia and Luna have pegasus-drawn chariots, which seem to be their preferred method of travel. Twilight gets a pass, being new to her wings, but Cadance was originally a pegasus. It's possible that they're simply too heavy for flight to be a viable method of travel
- All significant; this is likely a requirement to become an alicorn, rather than a consequence. "Magical Mystery Cure" states that destiny is a very real thing in Equestria, and if alicorns are as important as they seem to be, then it makes sense that only those ponies with importance would get to become them.

There are differences, however, if you look at Celestia and Luna versus Twilight and Cadance. The capital-p Princesses are well over a thousand years old apiece, and are leagues above almost everyone else in terms of power and responsibility. Twilight, on the other hand, will not outlive her friends, and we've seen that Cadance is only a few years older than she is. Whoever that princess from the past was, it's highly unlikely that she's still kicking, supporting the idea that most alicorns are mortal. Most, but not all.

But wait, in "Magic Duel", we have confirmation that age spells exist. Is it really so much of a stretch to say that immortality can be given by a spell as well? "Hearth's Warming Eve" shows that the sun and moon can be controlled by regular unicorns working together; the only thing that need be exceptional about Celestia and Luna is their power. Even that isn't so hard to explain, once you allow that they've each had more than a millennium to practice. Of course, they could still be actual deities; they fit quite nicely into the mold set by the Greek, Roman, or even Norse tradition.

Now, let's talk about princesses. Actually, scratch that; princes are more interesting. While all princesses so far have been alicorns, and vice-versa, Prince Blueblood and Prince Shining Armor are just regular ponies. Prince Blueblood apparently gets his title by dint of family history, while Shining Armor became a prince by marrying Cadance. Even so, Twilight Sparkle was never referred to as a princess until she became an alicorn. Technically, one could argue that Shining Armor's title in a traditional monarchy would be "prince consort", and Twilight would therefore not be a princess anyway, but I digress. It seems that princes are made politically, while princesses have to earn their crowns. If this is true, then it's possible that stallions cannot become alicorns at all, which is a troubling thought.

Still, without more information, all I can do is spout random information. Hopefully, you all took something from this, even if it's just a detailed account of why I'm full of hot air.