Why is Twilight smaller than other Alicorns?

[Flutter~Sparkle 7]

As the title says, why is Twilight smaller than the other alicorns (Celestia, Luna)? Will she eventually be as big as Celestia? 

[StrawCherry 1,673]

I think it's because she is a lot younger than them. Either that or for merchandise reasons to keep all the mane 6 the same cute characters they are.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,823]

Definitely age. Cadence was Twilight's size when Twilight was a filly, so there must be a pretty decent age gap between them.

[Flutter~Sparkle 7]

I agree it's probably an age thing. But then, why aren't other adult ponies as big as Celestia? Is it because Alicorns live longer?

Edited August 29, 2017 by AprilPearl

[Libra 11,691]

Im going to assume its an age difference, and possibly that alicorns do live longer.

[Hierok 11,832]

I think it is because of the toys, but maybe it is to make the mane 6 more equal. If Twilight was bigger she would be more important and that would defide the friendship. And that is a thing you don't want as the princess of friendship.

[Flutter~Sparkle 7]

6 minutes ago, Hierok said:

I think it is because of the toys, but maybe it is to make the mane 6 more equal. If Twilight was bigger she would be more important and that would defide the friendship. And that is a thing you don't want as the princess of friendship.

Good point.

[ggg-2 3,553]

Twilight is similar in height to Cadence. What do they have in common, besides being sisters-in-law? They're both ASCENDED Alicorns, in contrast to Celestia and Luna, who were BORN as Alcorns. (Not counting Flurry since she's still very young)

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

Why is Sassy Saddles bigger than Rarity? Celestia over Luna? Big Mac over Doctor Whooves? Trouble Shoes over everybody else?

Age may have something to do with it, breed may have something to do with it, but more often than not, design aesthetics gets my vote.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,316]

1 minute ago, GrimGrimoire said:

Why is Sassy Saddles

Quick side note. I love Sassy's character  design. i like occasionally having ponies break the mold sizewise. 

As for Twilight. There are three reasons. 01, She wasn't born an alicorn, I think that's a telling fact right there. 02, She's much younger than Luna and Celestia, and several years younger than Cadence. I think over time she'll get bigger. 03, Hasbro doesn't want to make new molds for future Twilight character toys. It's all down to the bottom line.

[Silver Note 735]

3 minutes ago, cuteycindyhoney said:

She's much younger than Luna and Celestia, and several years younger than Cadence. I think over time she'll get bigger.

I've noticed that Twilight has become taller than her friends and a much faster rate than they could have grown. Twilight is getting taller, just as Cadence did between the two scenes we saw her, but it wouldn't make much sense for them to gain wings and/or a horn and change their appearance completely. 

26 minutes ago, ggg-2 said:

Twilight is similar in height to Cadence. What do they have in common, besides being sisters-in-law? They're both ASCENDED Alicorns, in contrast to Celestia and Luna, who were BORN as Alcorns. (Not counting Flurry since she's still very young)

I don't actually agree to this. Both Celestia and Luna stated that Flurry Heart was the first born alicorn they'd seen. To me, this mean they definitely weren't born alicorns. Just like Twilight did, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence all had to accomplish something great to earn becoming an alicorn. I think the flowy manes of Celestia and Luna are also a consequence of living as either living as an alicorn for an extended period of time or wielding great magic. I think it is a mix of the two, as when Twilight gains the power of all 3 princesses to stop Terik, her mane seems to flicker to a magical flowing aura and her normal mane. She had the power, but not the age to keep the flow constant. 

[cmarston1 5,959]

She hasn't been an alicorn for nearly as long as them.

[Sunny Fox 5,952]

Because she hasn't been an alicorn as long as the others have. If you compare Twilight pre-Princessification to her in later seasons, you can clearly see she is bigger than the rest of the Mane Six... it's subtle, but there.

[Fhaolan 4,484]

I still think that using Celestia and Luna to measure off of is a bit of a boondoggle. Given the dramatic change from Season 1 de-Nightmare Moon'ed Luna to Season 2+ Luna, her current appearance really seems more like 'I look this way because I will it so' kind of thing. What we saw in Season 1 is likely her natural appearance, and her size and shape later is more the way she *wants* to look. Given they both do the flowing mane trick, Celestia is likely doing the same thing.

Honestly when they de-powered to fool Tirek the artists should have changed Luna and Celestia's appearance to match Luna's Season 1 look. But likely that didn't occur to them,.  or it got nixed because the producers thought kids wouldn't understand and didn't want to put the effort into building new puppets. Either way.

[Steve Piranha 29,443]

Too keep the cutie factor with Twi. They only made her subtly bigger than the rest of the Mane6. I doubt they'll make her look like Cadance even if 5 years pass due to that  

[Adderbane 121]

There's no official lore-based explanation for alicorn sizes, but age seems to be a factor, as well as power.  Remember how tiny Luna was in the premiere?

[Hierok 11,832]

3 hours ago, Fhaolan said:

I still think that using Celestia and Luna to measure off of is a bit of a boondoggle. Given the dramatic change from Season 1 de-Nightmare Moon'ed Luna to Season 2+ Luna, her current appearance really seems more like 'I look this way because I will it so' kind of thing. What we saw in Season 1 is likely her natural appearance, and her size and shape later is more the way she *wants* to look. Given they both do the flowing mane trick, Celestia is likely doing the same thing.

Honestly when they de-powered to fool Tirek the artists should have changed Luna and Celestia's appearance to match Luna's Season 1 look. But likely that didn't occur to them,.  or it got nixed because the producers thought kids wouldn't understand and didn't want to put the effort into building new puppets. Either way.

That is a good point. Maybe Luna is smaller because she still has regret feelings, so she makes Celestia seem more powerfull. In the storybook in episode 1 they were the same size.