Winged Unicorn

A winged unicorn is a fictional equine with the wings of a pegasus and the horn of a unicorn.

Alternative names include unipeg, unisus, pegacorn, unicorn pegasus, Unis Pegasus, alicorn, and horned pegasus.

Historically, winged unicorns have made many appearances in art. Ancient Achaemenid Assyrian seals bear depictions of winged unicorns and winged bulls as representations of evil. Qilin, the horned Chinese chimera, is sometimes depicted with wings and was a favoured subject during the reign of Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722). Qijin embodies gentleness, benevolence and perfect goodness. The winged unicorn is also a popular subject in velvet paintings.

Irish poet W. B. Yeats wrote of imagining a winged beast that he associated with laughing, ecstatic destruction. The beast took the form of a winged unicorn in his 1907 play The Unicorn from the Stars and later that of the rough beast slouching towards Bethlehem in his poem The Second Coming.

Winged unicorns have been popularized as toys, crafts and characters of animated shows such as Sailor Moon, Digimon, She-Ra: Princess of Power and My Little Pony. Pegasus (aka Helios) from Sailor Moon Supers is Chibiusa's friend. Unimon is a digimon resembling a winged unicorn with a mask. Swift Wind is She-ra's horse who upon powering up grows wings and has face armor that includes a unicorn horn, as seen in medieval horse armor. It may be argued that Swift Wind is not a true winged unicorn since the horn appears to be false: a decoration.

In My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the winged unicorns play a role as ponies of royal descent.