How to become an Alicorn (in 3 easy steps)

Ok, since Twilicorn and reading the crystal heart spell, I've been thinking about how an Alicorn becomes an Alicorn and here are my thoughts and headcanon.

Firstly, it is my belief that all magical creatures in MLP can 'ascend' to a higher state of being. For ponies this is becoming an Alicorn and able to wield all the magic of each pony race. For dragons it's becoming a dragon lord and being able to wield all the different fire types that a dragon can use. For gryphons, perhaps it's some sort of enlightenment which gives them power over their bodies and minds. But whatever one ascends to, it's most important that they CAN ascend and that it is either incredibly unlikely or impossible for a being to be born ascended.

This means that, in my headcanon, Celestia and Luna were not born alicorns but rather became alicorns. I'll expand on how this could have affected their lifespans later.

Now, from the show we know that in order for Twilight to become an alicorn she needed to complete Starswirls spell and that to do this she needed to know of the power of friendship. I shall add to this the book: Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell which says that Cadance was a pegasus before she became an alicorn and I can come to the conclusion that some form of love, be it friendship, familial, or romantic, is needed to ascend.

Now, for ponies I believe that their cutie mark is crucial to how they ascend. It is my belief that when a pony reaches the pinnacle of what their cutie mark represents then they ascend, becoming an alicorn and creating a new magical connection. Those that read my thoughts on MMM know that I believe that magic is the vibrations of a connection one has. Like the sound a guitar string makes. That sound is the magic of MLP. This new connection is what determines the strength and longevity of the resulting alicorn.

So far, this means that in order for a pony to ascend they must have available to them the three main magical connections, earth, air, and magic, as well as a love connection and must have reached the pinnacle of what their talent is. Now, I'll expand on the current alicorns to explain better.

Celestia was most likely the first to become an alicorn, though Luna may have become one at the same time or soon after. Either way, they became alicorns in a similar fashion. Now, we know that before the alicorn sisters it was the job of the unicorns to raise the sun and moon. Thus I put forward that Celestia and Luna were part of what I call the priestesses of the sun and moon. Most likely the sun priestesses were made of white or 'pure' unicorns, possibly even descendents of princess platinum herself. The priestesses of the moon would be made up of the night born. (those unicorns that have dark coat and mane colours, quite rare as luna and her two guards are the only ones we've seen who are like this)

Most likely Luna and Celestia's cutie marks were specifically for these tasks and they ascended when they were able to raise their respective celestial bodies by themselves. I don't know when or where this happened and I'm not going to speculate about it here.

Next is Cadance. She became an alicorn after defeating Prisma using her knowledge of love. Since romantic love was the connection that she had to make she was able to ascend easier than others. Now, it's unknown how long she will live but my guess is that she will only have a regular ponies lifespan because she appears to grow at the normal rate, being younger when foalsitting Twilight and growing into an adult mare. This may be untrue now that she's married to Shining Armour but unless it also, by extension, increaces his lifespan her magic will be broken off when he dies and she will most likely die soon after.

And finally, Twilight. She satisfied all the requirements that Starswirl couldn't. She reached the pinnacle of what her cutie mark represents by finishing and casting a spell that connected her to all the magic types that make an alicorn and used the magic of friendship to tie it all together. Wham bam thank you ma'am. I explain what I think of the rest of the MMM episode in another blog post. For the record, I have no idea how long she'll live. It could be a normal ponies lifespan since her new 'alicorn connection' is to magic itself and thus is no more powerful than her connection to it before or she could be immortal now and has access to all the magic in the universe.

Now for speculating on the conditions that need to be met for the other's to ascend.

RD is easy enough: using the magic of friendship she reaches new and thought impossible speeds and double rainbooms herself into the astral dimension.

Rarity culminates her gem finding spell into a gem creating spell and this progresses her research into the field further and further until she creates a spell that turns herself into a crystal pony and tada! Crystal Alicorn Rarity.

Pinkie Pie will have to bring a smile to the faces of everyone in an absolutely huge area. I mean, huge. Like, if she threw a party and every sentient being in Equestria showed up and they all had a really good time. Now, if she doesn't die of a heart attack from all the sugar that would be in her system at a party that big, boom: Pinky Pie, Alicorn of Laughter

Applejack and Fluttershy are harder. Applejack because I'm not quite sure of the specifics of her talent. Is it applebucking specifically? Running the farm? Being able to do anything with apples? Being able to understand that her Granny is an immortal? I don't know.

Fluttershy's is also hard. Is her talent specifically speaking with animals? Or is it more, treating them and understanding how they work mentally and physically? My guess is that in order for her to become an alicorn she'd have to treat an entire large group of animals that she's afraid of in spite of her fears. I want to say she needs to create a peace treaty between dragons and Equestria, but I don't consider dragons in MLP animals. Though ponies could, what with them being racist out the behind.

And those are my thoughts. Comment with your own interpretations.