Lyra Heartstrings

Lyra Heartstrings is a unicorn pony who frequently appears in the background and occasionally in more prominent roles. She has an aquamarine coat, magic mint 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 being adopted officially by Hasbro. She shares her design with Amethyst Star and "Diamond Mint", shares her mane style with Rose, and shares her tail style with "Royal Ribbon". Her name is not mentioned on the show, but it 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, and a board game. The term "heartstrings" refers to deep feelings of love or compassion, commonly used in the phrase "tug at the heartstrings".

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 the toy releases. The same layout artist commonly used Lyra for background gags, such as jumping around excitedly, drinking from a cup, or slouching like a person on a park bench. Bon Bon appears with her frequently in the show, 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.

The lyre is a common cutie mark in the series, but it also appeared in previous My Little Pony generations, for example on the G3 Earth pony Bee Bop.

Depiction in the series
Lyra Heartstrings is a recurring background character in the series. Her first appearance is in Friendship is Magic, part 1 in Canterlot, where she walks beside Amethyst Star and waves a greeting to Twilight Sparkle, who fails to notice and runs straight past her. She later appears at the party that Pinkie Pie throws for Twilight in Ponyville and visibly shouts "Surprise!" to her.

Lyra Heartstrings frequently appears alongside Bon Bon. The two are depicted talking in crowd scenes, enjoying a snack, and even fighting each other: they watch Applejack and Rainbow Dash during the Iron Pony Competition, they have a tussle with each other in the background of one scene of Lesson Zero for the possession of Smarty Pants, and they stand next to a well in Secret of My Excess and get surprised by Derpy when she pops out of the well. In Swarm of the Century, the two stand at a table and marvel at a parasprite that drifts before them and proceeds to gobble up their food, causing Lyra to break into tears. Lyra Heartstrings stands next to Bon Bon in Hearts and Hooves Day in the village shot, and appears shortly in Apple Bloom's fantasy scene. She appears in multiple shots of the Smile Song, in of which she bounces off a roof with Bon Bon. She appears in the background throughout the market scene in Putting Your Hoof Down, at first slumped on a table, then later sitting up, holding a drinks cup and talking to Bon Bon.

Lyra Heartstrings also appears solo on occasion: A unicorn with her coat and eye color is disguised as a mummy in Luna Eclipsed. She is one of Queen Chrysalis's first bridesmaids in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1 and A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2, along with Minuette and Twinkleshine. In Part 1, she comments on the bridesmaids' dresses, saying that she loves them. In Part 2, she speaks in unison with the other two brainwashed bridesmaids who are blocking Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadance's path. These two episodes were her only speaking roles thus far in the English dub. The Italian version of Friendship is Magic, part 1 and the Polish version of Call of the Cutie also give her clearly spoken lines.

Variants
There are a number of background ponies using Lyra Heartstrings's 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 matches Lyra Heartstrings exactly, save for the absence of a horn; this design is primarily used in crowd shots. A unicorn variety with moderate cerise eyes appears occasionally 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. Not every "running Lyra" has cerise eyes, however; she does not 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 in that episode. An Earth pony variety with moderate cerise eyes appears in Over a Barrel and Luna Eclipsed, in both cases wearing a bonnet.

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

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!

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

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 also features a mini-figure named Lyra Heartstrings, differing from the other mini-figure in that her coat is much lighter and her mane now has a white streak. According to the European toy package, Lyra Heartstrings "loves to play!"

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

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!"

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.

Gallery

 * Lyra Heartstrings image gallery