Whether we watch kid’s programming or not, we can’t help but be inundated by all the advertising.

We all heard of unicorns, mythical horses with a horn on their head.  Nearly every culture in Europe and Asia have stories of horned horses.  Some are considered to simply be mistaken antlers or horns on other animals – the oryx, aurochs and even goats.  Some stories involve more hybrid creatures, animals with parts made up of several animals.  There are even Biblical allusions to these types, head of a man, body of a lion and so on.  Even the devil was given horns although there are no records of what the devil actually looks like – other than being a fallen cherub, which would make him actually quite beautiful.

When it comes to winged horses, there is Pegasus, who did not have a horn.

Pegasus was born of a decapitation.  When Perseus cut off Medusa’s head, she was considered to have been pregnant, and Pegasus rose from the blood splattered.

Bellerophon eventually captured the winged horse, with aid from Athena, and fought several battles.  His last quest was to ride to heaven, demanding a kingdom of his own.  Zeus, not amused, sent a gadfly to irritate the winged horse.  Bellerophon was bucked off and fell back to earth.  Chroniclers don’t always agree on all accounts but it is believed by some that Pegasus became part of the constellations of the sky at that point.

Writers have long sought a name for a winged horse that has a horn but the search has been vain.  A winged horse with a horn is a winged horse with a horn.

The kid’s toy, My Little Pony, began in 1981.  It has branched out and been developed into a franchise of videos, movies, toys, clothing and other memorabilia.  In the late 80s, early 90s, they began producing a line of Fantasy Fillies, which included unicorns and pegasi.  Being no expert on the show, best I can tell, the first introduction of a winged, horned pony is on a television episode in 2012.  It features two sisters, both of them princesses, Celestia and Luna.  They are referenced as alicorns.

I had heard the term applied generally to all winged horses with horns but it seems this is probably the birth of that thinking.

The alicorn is actually the name given to the horn of a unicorn.

In Chapter 5 of The Crystal  Crux – Betrayal (Bellerophon’s Crystals), we read …

“Bellerophon was a mad and murderous Greek warrior who in his infamous desire to gain a kingdom was spurned from heaven by the decided bit of an inspired gadfly.”

In The Crystal Crux tale, Bellerophon, while falling, steals particles of heaven from the clouds as he is falling through them.  On earth, with the aid of Hephaestus, five crystals with a consciousness due to the particles of heaven in them, are created, their presence causing havoc for those who possess them.

“Hephaestus is quite pleased with his work and his trophies.  Ophis is still crazy mad.”

Ophis Draconem

Our first encounter with a flying horse in The Crystal Crux series comes in book one, Betrayal, Chapter 24 – Messenger, just before Pero de Alava hears the reading of his orders from Parthenope (Naples).

“It was very distant and difficult to describe but it appeared to be a white horse, a white horse with wings.  The steed’s powerful legs ran over the currents as if it were earth, the hooves kicking up swirls of cloudy vapor.”

Pero dismisses it, the winged horse dashing in and out of view so quickly, he’s sure he must have imagined it.

But then, later, in Chapter 28 – Oranges, when Pero is feeling self-conscious about some impure thoughts he’s having concerning a peasant girl, he looks to the sky for some distraction and …

“And then there was something.  A small, mysterious object racing through the air.  A white dot.  A comet.  Pero strained his eyes.  ‘It can’t be.’  It was the winged, weightless horse he saw earlier in the day, running gracefully on the ether.  Thin, wispy currents of cloudy air appeared beneath its hooves as it went.”

Struggling a bit on how to refer to this animal, I have found that it will simply be a winged horse with a horn and nothing more – not an alicorn.  And as you can tell by the cover of the new book (due for release in early December 2017), the winged horse returns.

Be sure to check out the first two books of The Crystal Crux series, Betrayal and Blue Grotto, if you haven’t done so already.  Leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads and anywhere you purchase books.  Spread the word.  Self-published authors need your help.  Word of mouth is our best advertisement.