History Fanfic / Anthropology

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Lyra is saddened and horrified by humanity's history of conflict and to a lesser extent her consumption of meat [[spoiler:the former she learns about through studies in the human world, the latter from eating a [[IAteWhat ''Big Mac'']] while her human friends tend to be nonchalant about it. Also Lyra mentioning being on her own since she was 12 (due to pony aging standards) shocks Audrey, a human girl who is still considered a minor, and is slightly put off by her eating a plant. This trope abounds as Lyra struggles to adapt in the human world. ]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonace: Lyra is saddened and horrified by humanity's tendency toward conflict and consumption of meat [[spoiler:the former she learns about through studies in the human world, the latter from eating a [[IAteWhat ''Big Mac'']] while the human friends she meets tend to be nonchalant. Also Lyra mentioning being on her own since she was 12 (due to pony aging standards) shocks Audrey, a human girl who is still considered a minor.]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonace: Lyra is saddened and horrified by humanity's tendency toward conflict and consumption of meat [[,the former she learns about through studies in the human world, the latter from eating a [[IAteWhat ''Big Mac'']] while the human friends she meets tend to be nonchalant. Also Lyra mentioning being on her own since she was 12 (due to pony aging standards) shocks Audrey, a human girl who is still considered a minor.]]

* [[spoiler: MageInManhattan: Discord follows Lyra into the human world where he starts causing chaos.]]

* GenreSavvy: Thomas, who can tell that Lyra's lyre necklace is important simply from the fact that she got it from Celestia. Then again, he ''is'' a writer of {{Troperiffic}} fantasy.

* IWasHavingSuchANiceDream: Lyra has a [[DreamingOfTimesGoneBy dream of Manehattan, except everyone, including her, is human]][[hottip:*:(presumably Manhattan)]]. After realizing this, she thinks about [[TemptingFate how there's so much she wants to see]], and then is woken up by Bon-Bon.

* ChekhovsGunman: In chapter 11, Lyra sees books by authors Robert Jordan, Steven Erikson, and Thomas Michelakos. Robert Jordan and Steven Erikson are RealLife authors (best known for ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' and the ''MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', respectively). [[spoiler:Thomas Michelakos isn't, and he becomes ''very'' significant starting in Chapter 17]].

* CultureClash: Lyra mistakes ''TheLegendOfZelda'' for lyre music.

** Chapter 29 contains a reference to TayZonday's popular song ''Chocolate Rain''.

* UnfortunateNames: After [[spoiler: arriving in the human world]], Lyra name-drops Twilight Sparkle to [[spoiler: her new human friend, Audrey. She assumes Twilight must have been raised by hippies and that she must be teased "[[Literature/{{Twilight}} because of the books]]."]]

* AnticlimaxBoss: Although reaching him proves rather risky, [[spoiler: much like in the show, Discord]] doesn't even ''try'' to [[spoiler: fight back or stop Lyra when she and her new human friends use the Elements of Harmony on him, turning him into a statue with no fuss other than his screaming.]]

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: People claim this is what Discord's causing. Naturally, he takes great joy in mentioning this to Lyra.
-->'''Discord''': Surely you must know how fascinated humans are by the idea of the end of the world. They’re just ''begging'' for it to come, Lyra. I’m only doing what humans have been looking forward to for years now.
** Of course, [[MayanDoomsday people have been expecting the end of the world at that point anyway]].

* ThisIsReality: “This isn’t one of your books. This is real life.”

* IWasHavingSuchANiceDream: Lyra has a [[DreamingOfTimesGoneBy dream of Manehattan, except everyone, including her, is human]] [[hottip:*:(presumably Manhattan)]]. After realizing this, she thinks about [[TemptingFate how there's so much she wants to see]], and then is woken up by Bon-Bon.

** Averted in the non-canonical April Fools Day special, which starts out with [[spoiler: Lyra spotting an episode on TV.]]

* TimeSkip: The final chapter takes place one month after the previous chapter.

-->'''Discord''': Surely you must know how fascinated humans are by the idea of the end of the world. They’re just begging for it to come, Lyra. I’m only doing what humans have been looking forward to for years now.

* TimeSkip: The final chapter takes place one month after the previous chapter.

* GilliganCut: [[spoiler: Bon-Bon deduces after receiving Lyra's letter that she's finally moved on from her human obsession. At that exact moment, Princess Celestia has just turned Lyra back into a human and is sending her out of Equestria.]]

* ProlongedPrologue: After he posted ''Chapter 9'', leaving a huge cliffhanger ([[spoiler: Lyra is a human]]), [=JasonTheHuman=] wrote on his blog, "I hope you all enjoyed the prologue. The story begins next Monday."

** Chapter 27: The Mane Six [[spoiler: Arrive in New York to defeat Discord. He's just as surprised as they are when the Elements of Harmony [[OhCrap fail to petrify him again]].]]

* [[spoiler: TomatoInTheMirror: After revealing the truth about humanity and all its flaws, Celestia reveals one more thing to Lyra... [[InterspeciesAdoption She's adopted.]]]]

* ThisIsReality: “This isn’t one of your books. This is real life.”
* TransNature: In a way. Although it is clear that she wanted to become human despite not knowing they had [[spoiler: gone extinct in Equestria and not knowing she was one from another universe]], later on, [[spoiler: she starts having dreams of turning into an unicorn again and started showing signs of being homesick. No one knows for certain, but there is the possibility that part of her wanted to stay an unicorn and remain living in Equestria.]]
* UnfortunateNames: After [[spoiler: arriving in the human world]], Lyra name-drops Twilight Sparkle to [[spoiler: her new human friend, Audrey. She assumes Twilight must have been raised by hippies and that she must be teased "[[{{Twilight}} because of the books]]."]]

-->'''Lyra''': “I was reading that history book you gave me and it said that America had been in wars. A lot of them, actually.”\\
'''Paul''': “News flash. I’ve never heard that before.”\\
'''Lyra''': “So… It wasn’t true? I mean, if there had really been so many, you would have heard – “\\
'''Paul''': “That was sarcasm, Lyra.”