Lyra Heartstrings

Lyra Heartstrings is a female unicorn pony who frequently appears as a background character and occasionally in more prominent roles. She has a magic mint coat, brilliant cyan mane and tail with a white streak, sunglow eyes, and a cutie mark of a lyre. Part of her name, Lyra, was given by fans before it was adopted officially by Hasbro. She shares her design with Amethyst Star, Diamond Mint, and Lemony Gem. Her mane style is the same as Rose's and Silverspeed's, and her tail style is the same as "Royal Ribbon's". Her name first appeared in merchandising as Heartstrings in the accompanying pamphlet of a mystery pack toy released in Europe in January 2012, and was later expanded to Lyra Heartstrings in a Playful Ponies toy, a trading card, the mystery pack toy's U.S. release, another mystery pack toy, a mobile game, a board game, a dog tag checklist, and a collectible card game. Her name has not been mentioned in the show. The word "heartstrings" refers to deep feelings of love or compassion and is commonly used in the phrase "tug at the heartstrings" which means to cause strong feelings of affection or sympathy.

Development and production
According to a layout artist on the show, background ponies are nameless, but Lyra Heartstrings was labeled "Incidental Unicorn #2" at the studio prior to being named in merchandise and other media and is still labeled "Incidental Unicorn #2" at the studio as of May 22, 2013. The same layout artist has used Lyra for background gags, such as jumping excitedly, drinking from a cup, or sitting like a human on a bench. Sweetie Drops and Lyra Heartstrings frequently appear together, a pairing explained by the artist to be mostly coincidental and based on aesthetic considerations, as far as season one is concerned. The artist has referred to Lyra and the Earth pony variant of Lyra with moderate cerise eyes as the same pony.

Lyra Heartstrings has the same cutie mark as other ponies from the current generation and previous My Little Pony generations. Respective examples are the Earth pony Lyrica Lilac and the G3 Earth pony Bee Bop.

Regarding the Alicorn variant of Lyra Heartstrings in the IDW comics', colorist Heather Breckel stated on July 9, 2014 "Tony drew it, I just thought it looked like her" and "I have no idea if it was intentional or not, and was in the zone when I colored it so I didn't think anything of it. I just like putting Lyras everywhere :yay:", and editor Bobby Curnow stated on July 10, 2014 "That would be a mistake!"

Season one
Lyra Heartstrings' first appearance is in Friendship is Magic, part 1 in Canterlot, where she walks with Amethyst Star and waves to Twilight Sparkle. She later attends Pinkie Pie’s surprise party for Twilight in Ponyville.

Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops watch the Iron Pony Competition in Fall Weather Friends. In Swarm of the Century, the two marvel at a parasprite that hovers over their table before gobbling up their food, making Lyra cry.

Season two
Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops tussle for Smarty Pants in Lesson Zero. In Luna Eclipsed, a unicorn with her coat and eye color is dressed as a mummy for Nightmare Night.

In The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, Lyra Heartstrings is among the crowd of ponies, beside Rainbow Dash, gazing upon Flim and Flam's Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. She also sings along during the Flim Flam Brothers song.

In Secret of My Excess, Lyra and Sweetie Drops are surprised when Derpy pops out of a nearby well. In Hearts and Hooves Day, Lyra Heartstrings is next to Sweetie Drops in the village shot, and appears in Apple Bloom's fantasy scene. In A Friend in Deed, she, Sweetie Drops, and other ponies hop on roofs during Smile Song. In the market scene of Putting Your Hoof Down, she is slumped on a table. Later, she is sitting up, holding a drink, and talking to Sweetie Drops.

In A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1, Lyra Heartstrings, Minuette, and Twinkleshine are the unwitting bridesmaids of Queen Chrysalis, who is disguised as Princess Cadance. Lyra Heartstrings says she loves the bridesmaids' dresses that Rarity has made. They are bewitched to do Queen Chrysalis' bidding in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2, and try to stop Twilight and the real Cadance from escaping. They are freed from Chrysalis' control by the end of the episode.

Season three
In Magic Duel, she drinks from a cup and stands next to Sweetie Drops. The two dive for cover when Twilight zaps Pinkie. In Magical Mystery Cure, she attends Twilight's coronation. During the last song of the episode, she jumps excitedly in the crowd as Twilight and her friends pass by.

Season four
Lyra Heartstrings appears in Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1, Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2, and Rainbow Falls. In Pinkie Pride, she appears in the present day and a filly version of her appears in a flashback. She also appears in Simple Ways, Filli Vanilli, It Ain't Easy Being Breezies, and For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils. In Leap of Faith, she appears as a judge of the synchronized swimming contest. While the other judges give Granny Smith and Apple Bloom a 10, she seemingly gives them a "01". It turns out she was holding the sign upside down. She appears in Trade Ya! In Equestria Games, she is seen going through a magic inhibitor that disables all unicorn magic in the Equestria Games stadium. She also appears in Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1 and Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2.

Variants
A number of background ponies have Lyra Heartstrings' design with variations on her color scheme. They are included in the appearances table below. The most common of these is an Earth Pony that looks like Lyra Heartstrings without a horn. A Lyra Heartstrings with moderate cerise eyes occasionally appears in scenes where Lyra Heartstrings runs around town, either on her own - as in Applebuck Season - or as part of a throng of other ponies, as in Boast Busters and The Ticket Master. However, “running Lyra” does not have cerise eyes in Hearts and Hooves Day, and while she has cerise eyes for most of the race in Fall Weather Friends, they are yellow at the beginning of the race. An Earth pony variant with moderate cerise eyes and a bonnet appears in Over a Barrel and Luna Eclipsed.

A Pegasus variant with Lyra Heartstrings' color scheme but with wings and a different mane style appears briefly in the episode Sonic Rainboom.

Appearances
Times stated below are approximate and taken from various videos.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Lyra Heartstrings appears on 's pages 5 and 17 and the Ghost Variant wrap cover RE back, 's Hot Topic cover and T-shirt, 's page 3 and Midtown Comics cover RE, 's page 14, 's pages 4 and 13-14 and a con cover and The Fall of Sunset Shimmer page 2, 's cover A, pages 13 and 15, and the Hot Topic cover, 's cover A in a yearbook picture and Comics World cover RE, in, and 's Phoenix Comics & Games (and Everfree Northwest) exclusive cover RE reading a publication titled 'Ponies'.

My Little Pony Micro-Series
Lyra Heartstrings appears on page 19 and  page 2.

My Little Pony: Friends Forever
Lyra Heartstrings appears on an Larry's Comics and Jetpack Comics cover RE and on  page 3 as an Alicorn and two Jetpack Comics covers RE.

Chapter books
In chapter 13 of Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party!, "Pinkie Takes Action!", Pinkie Pie says Lyra Heartstrings is a musician. In Rainbow Dash and the Daring Do Double Dare, Lyra Heartstrings appears in chapters 3-4. In Rarity and the Curious Case of Charity, Lyra Heartstrings appears in chapter 11.

My Little Pony (mobile game)
Lyra Heartstrings is one of the available playable characters in Gameloft's mobile game. A promotional image posted by the official Facebook page of the game on May 7, 2014 uses fanart of her, which also appears to match the game's icon of her.

My Little Pony mobile game description
This loving and compassionate unicorn has a lyre for a cutie mark and will certainly tug at anypony's heartstrings!

Merchandise
A mini-figure toy first released in January 2012 appears in the third wave of mystery packs and in a Hasbro-licensed board game, being of the same pony kind and bearing the same cutie mark, coat color, mane color, and eye color as the unnamed character on the show, though her mane is missing the white streak. Her pose and mane style are the same as the Twilight Sparkle mystery pack toy mold. The toy comes in two variations, light teal as the toy pictured to the right, and Irish green as the drawing on the card. The European mystery pack release names her Heartstrings and includes a collector card stating that she "sings all day!" The U.S. mystery pack release names her Lyra Heartstrings and includes a collector card stating that she "sings and plays all day!" The European board game release's Swedish, Danish and Finnish descriptions all name her Lyra Heartstrings as well, while its Norwegian description names her Lyra Heartstring.

A "Pony Wedding" brushable toy named Lyra Heartstrings was displayed in prototype form at the 2012 New York Toy Fair, and was released later in the same year, sometimes with a MiniDVD of Lesson Zero. This brushable toy's packaging still uses the eye design of Twilight Sparkle, but uses the mane style usually seen on Minuette and Sea Swirl. According to the package, Lyra Heartstrings "loves to play! She finds a way to have fun no matter where she goes".

The fifth wave of mystery pack toys features a second mini-figure named Lyra Heartstrings, differing from the first mini-figure in that her coat is much lighter and her mane now has a white streak. The European release includes a collector card stating that she "loves to play!" The U.S. release includes a collector card that uses the same description as the previous U.S. collector card.

Upcoming toy releases displayed at the 2013 New York Toy Fair include a Toys "R" Us exclusive brushable release arriving in-store Summer 2013 and a third mini-figure with the same pose and mane style as the Rarity mini-figure toy mold.

The designer of the Comic Con 2011 promotional poster commented in an online forum that he intentionally placed Lyra and Sweetie Drops together for the poster, even though they were only coincidentally placed together in the series.

There is a Lyra Heartstrings Funko figure. A Sweetie Drops Funko figure's online description mentions that "Sweetie Drops is an Earth pony who is identified as a background pony who lives in Lyra Heartstrings."

Lyra adorns a collectible trading card along with Golden Harvest, with the description "There's two in every crowd! Lyra Heartstrings is an excitable pony often seen bouncing and grinning at the back of the herd or lolling in the park sharing bonbons with Golden Harvest, her PFF. Golden Harvest earned the nickname Carrot Top because carrots are always on her mind. These two ponies can be found all over Equestria, enjoying various activities like jumping across rooftops, running from buffalo, and joining in musical numbers!"

In Enterplay's collectible card game, an older version of a card of Zecora, shown at BronyCon 2013, bears the title "Lyra Heartstrings & Bon Bon", and α #201 UR, a card of Lyra Heartstrings, gives her the description "Of all the ponies Twilight Sparkle told about her adventures through the magic mirror, Lyra was by far the most curious."

WeLoveFine.com carries Hasbro-licensed merchandise of fan designs of Lyra, often posed similarly to her slouch in Dragonshy. The products include T-shirts, art prints, dioramas, and others.

Quotes
"I love them."

- A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1 and Mini Pony Collector's Guide

"You're not going anywhere."

- In unison with Minuette and Twinkleshine, A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2

"I want it!"

- In unison with Minuette and Twinkleshine, A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2

"Would you like to come have lunch with us?"

- The Fall of Sunset Shimmer

"She has a point."

- Rainbow Dash and the Daring Do Double Dare


 * Rarity and the Curious Case of Charity
 * Lyra Heartstrings: Wow, Rarity! You've really outdone yourself this time.
 * Lyra Heartstrings: I want to wear it every day!