The Alicorn Solution

One of the most prominent effects on an alicorn is their largeness of stature. Their body consistently seems larger than that of the average pony.

Now, this is not a theory without some credence. Princesses Celestia and Luna are considerably taller than other ponies, standing much taller than others. I have seen many pictures of the two sisters, and they certainly seem larger than all but one another.

Some attribute this to their longevity; I will expand upon this in future entries. Granted, both Celestia and Luna have lived far longer than an average pony’s lifespan, and as such, this is a sensible correlation to make. However, this makes little sense, because pony growth is not related to age after approximately 26 years; that is the time that the body simply stops growing in true size. This has been proven countless times, so the claims of growth based on longevity ultimately prove to be unsubstantiated.

Furthermore, we have the princess that was anointed only a decade ago: Princess Cadance. She is already larger than the average pony, though she is still quite small compared to Celestia and Luna. She has grown larger since her ascension, further leading me to believe that this gene manipulates growth.

There is, however, contradictory evidence to this end, and it manifests itself in larger-than-average ponies. It could be random coincidence that the two largest ponies (both evidenced immortals) are the largest (possibly due to their being “true” alicorns) and that the princess who has had time to grow simply happens to be larger than the average pony. She certainly doesn’t seem to be looming over anypony else.

Princess Cadance’s size is no larger than that of many other ponies. I met a pony named Fancy Pants briefly to discuss my services as a geneticist, but he didn’t seem interested in my talent; what fascinated me most about our encounter, however, was the pony whose company he shared. She was a gangly white unicorn, about as large as Princess Cadance. She certainly can’t be the largest normal pony in Equestria; I believe that there must be some ponies out there that rival even Princesses Celestia and Luna in stature.

There is also the question of Princess Twilight: Simply by making changes to her appearance, she seems larger at times. Styling her hair differently, wearing different clothes, or even splaying her wings out... all of these seem to increase her stature.

Also, as before, her wings seem larger than the average pony’s, but there are many pegasi that possess as large of wings as she does. Her horn does not seem long as those of Celestia and Luna do, or even that of Princess Cadance, who possesses both a large horn and a large set of wings.

The more that I look at the related information, the more I am inclined to believe that alicorn growth is indeed substantiated. While things like a large body and large body parts are a common occurrence, finding the outliers in such a small control group is highly unlikely indeed. The only contradiction at this point is Princess Twilight’s horn... something that I expect to see marked growth in in the coming years. I really must look into any observational research performed on Princess Cadance from her younger years to the current day.

Thusly, my hypotheses on alicorn growth are posited as such:

• The alicorn gene causes rapid growth of body parts to possible, but uncommonly large proportions

• Both the assumed natural-born alicorns and the ascended alicorns appear to be affected

• Princess Cadance is partially through the growth process; Princess Twilight has just begun the growth process

• This means that the alicorn gene is tied in some manner to the growth gene

I will be performing several methods of research based on this.

For the first hypothesis, I will be examining the average size of an alicorn against that of the average pony, as well as researching cases of gigantism in ponies.

For the second hypothesis, I will be examining past research and reports on Princess Cadance’s size and stature versus her current size and stature.

For the third hypothesis, I will be examining the sizes of Princesses Celestia and Luna versus the size of Princess Cadance, then the size of Princess Twilight.

For the fourth hypothesis, I will correlate the findings of my other hypotheses and posit the alicorn growth differential from that of the common pony and the uncommon pony.