History Fanfic / Anthropology

** Her nickname, Lyra, turns out [[spoiler:to be her real name, which convinces Audrey that she's telling the truth about being Thomas' long-lost daughter when she finds out that he did in fact have another daughter named Lyra who was mysteriously kidnapped about sixteen years before the story. It's also the name of a constellation, which is named because it resembles the [[ClassicalMythology lyre of Orpheus from Greek mythology]]]]

* [[spoiler: CelebrityParadox: WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic doesn't appear to exist in this version of 2012 Earth.]]
** Averted in the non-canonical April Fools Day special, which starts out with [[spoiler: Lyra spotting an episode on TV.]] [[WordOfGod According to the author]], he "took that concept and [[BlatantLies pushed it to its most logical conclusion.]]"
** In a bit of LeaningOnTheFourthWall, [[spoiler:Thomas suggests that Lyra could make money by publishing the "stories" she'd been telling Chloe(actually just actual events that happened in Ponyville), and that her mother could do the pictures for them]].

* AllGirlsLovePonies: [[spoiler: Chloe, Lyra's human little sister, is deep in what her father calls the unicorn phase. Lyra bonds with her by telling her stories about Equestria, disguising them as stories Lyra made up, though after Discord shows up she tells Chloe the truth. She gets along well with Fluttershy, who was her favourite pony in the stories. In the finale, she mentions to Bon-Bon that she's thinking of asking Celestia to bring Chloe over to visit Equestria as a Christmas present]]

* {{Deconstruction}}: The story deconstructs the popular {{Fanon}} interpretation of Lyra having a fixation on humans. It's by no means dark, but it shows that no matter how benign Lyra's behavior and beliefs are, they are nevertheless still deemed inappropriate in Equestrian society, to the point of becoming an increasingly more severe point of contention with her roommate. Lyra becomes paranoid, believing that pony's ignorance of humanity is all a government conspiracy.

* FaeriesDontBelieveInHumansEither: Nopony has even heard of humans before, except for Celestia and Luna, [[spoiler:and Lyra's parents, before she found the ancient books]].

* IAteWhat: Lyra's reaction to [[spoiler: finding out what a hamburger is made of]]. She admits she liked it, though.
* InterspeciesAdoption: [[spoiler: it is revealed that Lyra was being adopted by a foal-less unicorn couple [[DoorstopBaby after they found her in the Royal gardens of Canterlot]].]]

** The implication is that Twilight is acting as an UnwittingPawn to Celestia in order to spy on Lyra, which could make her ProperlyParanoid.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: Humanity is extinct, and Lyra is human.]]
* [[RaisedByWolves Raised By Unicorns]]: [[spoiler: Lyra somehow ended up in Equestria and was being [[RaisedByNatives raised by unicorns]].]]

* MarySue: {{In-Universe}}, this is Lyra's opinion of [[spoiler:''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn''.]]

** Averted in the non-canonical April Fools Day special, which starts out with [[spoiler: Lyra spotting an episode on TV.]] [[WordOfGod According to the author]], he "took that concept and pushed it to its most logical conclusion."

* GenreSavvy: [[spoiler: 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.]]

An audio-drama is in the works, chapter one is already out and can be found [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZPjYHqJyvE here]].

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It's never explained how Lyra ended up in Equestria in the first place.

** Chapter 29 contains a reference to TayZonday's popular song ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA Chocolate Rain]]''.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: People claim this is what Discord's causing. Naturally, he takes great joy in mentioning this to Lyra.

* FurryFandom: [[{{InvertedTrope}} Inverted]], as Lyra is a creature obsessed with humans.

* ContrivedCoincidence: It's a bit of a stretch for Lyra's human father to be so incredibly famous that literally the ''fourth'' person she has more than a fleeting conversation with recognizes his photograph.

* COntrivedCoincidence: It's a bit of a stretch for Lyra's human father to be so incredibly famous that literally the ''fourth'' person she has more than a fleeting conversation with recognizes his photograph.

* {{Deconstruction}}: The story deconstructs the popular {{Fanon}} interpretation of Lyra having a fixation on humans. It's by no means dark, but it shows that no matter how benign Lyra's behavior and beliefs are, they are nevertheless still deemed inappropriate in Equestrian society, to the point of becoming an increasingly more severe point of contention with her roommate.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Bon Bon can come across as frustrated and sarcastic, and we should see her as an insufferable skeptic, but she makes some fairly decent points: Lyra hasn't any real proof besides some books and dreams, something [[Twilight Bookworm]] agrees with, her behavior is shown to be weird by the description of strangers, and Lyra needs to improve her image to advance her career, with [[ProperLady Rarity]] agrees with, and her limit is pushed by the fact that Lyra nearly hurt somepony with the cart she brought to life. [[spoiler: Of course when Lyra comes back to Equestria with not only proof of humanity, but the fact that she herself is [[HumanAllAlong human]] all that is left is her sarcasm and frustration.]]

* 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.

** The necklace that Lyra receives from Princess Celestia [[spoiler: before being sent back to the human world, turned out to be charmed, in case Lyra ever got her magic back, and needed to return to Equestria.]]

* IntriguedByHumanity: More or less the main plot point of the story. The[[spoiler: first part the]] story deals with what Lyra would deal with believing in a creature that has not been proven to exist:namely the skepticism of her peers (and the frustration of Bon Bon) and the fear that the government is hiding the fact that they exist. [[spoiler: Her obsession is attributed to the fact they she was in fact [[HumanAllAlong born a human]].]]