Background Pony

Background Pony is a work of fanfiction by short skirts and explosions. It follows the life of Lyra Heartstrings, a unicorn under a curse which renders other ponies unable to remember her.

Style
Background Pony is told in first person, from the perspective of Lyra. The story is framed as entries she makes in her journal.

Individual chapters work as self-contained episodes in Lyra's life, and many of them focus heavily on Lyra's interactions with one or two other characters with more established personalities in the show – for example, the third chapter is about Lyra and Applejack and the fifth is about Lyra and Rarity.

At certain points, the story makes use of mint-green coloured text to reinforce the effects of Lyra's curse in various ways. When her name is spoken by another pony, it is always coloured mint-green.

Plot Summary
Lyra Heartstrings, a privileged unicorn from Canterlot, visits Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration, mostly to give her childhood friend Twilight Sparkle some company. Later on, as per the events of "Friendship is Magic" Parts 1 and 2, Nightmare Moon returns to Equestria to bring about eternal night. As a result of Nightmare Moon's presence, Lyra falls under a curse which erases everypony's memories of her existence and makes it so that anypony she meets will forget about her as soon as they part, or within some time interval since their meeting.

Lyra's curse also renders her unable to leave Ponyville: the further away she moves from the center of the town, the colder she gets, forcing her to don warm clothing and stay as close to Ponyville as possible for fear of freezing to death.

A further consequence of Lyra's curse is that she hears symphonies in her mind and is compelled to compose and play them with her lyre. She later discovers that these symphonies are ancient, long-forgotten compositions created by Princess Luna around the time she became Nightmare Moon. As she plays each symphony, the next one in the suite is revealed to her, and Lyra hypothesises that playing them all may be the key to curing her curse. However, each symphony, when played, has a profound effect on her mental and psychological state – some fill her with happiness, and others drive her to madness.

Characters
Lyra Heartstrings – The protagonist: a musician and formerly a scholar at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns whose life has been drastically altered by a curse. She lives in a wooden cabin on the outskirts of Ponyville, and constantly wears an old grey hoodie donated to her by Applejack.

Twilight Sparkle and Moondancer – Lyra's two closest friends during her school days. The latter has not appeared in the story to date, but Lyra often reintroduces herself to Twilight and makes futile attempts to enlist her and Princess Celestia's help in breaking the curse.

Applejack – Let Lyra sit in front of her fireplace and donated her older brother's old jacket to her before chasing accusing her of stealing and chasing her out, as per the effects of the curse. Was instrumental in the construction of Lyra's log cabin home.

Morning Dew – A character who is occasionally mentioned as being the object of Lyra's affections. Little is known about him.

Reception
Background Pony received a positive reception on both FIMFiction (where it reached the Featured Stories bar shortly after being posted) and on Equestria Daily (where it has a rating of 6 Stars).