Title:           Regarding the Name (Why_Not_Lyraguy.txt)
Author:          Lunaguy
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/fzrM3nMP
First Edit:      Sunday 14th of April 2013 07:58:18 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Sunday 14th of April 2013 07:58:18 PM CDT

"But why not Lyraguy?"
 
Regarding the name:
 
This all goes back to June of 2012. I can't remember the exact date. It's not really important.
 
This is a story about two anons, an imageboard, and a name. You don't have to like it. You don't even have to read it. It's not particularly interesting, it's not heart touching, it's not MAGICAL. But it's where the name came from. So here we go.
 
        Many a night, on the board of /mlp/, one could easily find a man named Anon. This Anon didn't like having a name. No sir, it was only Anonymous posting for this one. He didn't post at all, in all honesty. He was more of the uninvolved lurker type. He didn't save many images, he didn't contribute to any conversations, he just sat, and he just watched. It wasn't a particularly exciting experience, but it fit him, for Anon was a man of passive nature. And things were grand.
        Along came a beautiful May evening. Anon took his usual seat, booted up his computer, and got to lurking. The world was all as it should have been. The board was busy, the ponies were being posted, and the night was young. Anon scanned through various threads as he usually did, and came across one that caught his attention. It was a Luna thread. Anon smiled with delight. He didn't save many pictures, but he very much admired them. Luna was one of his favorite ponies, if not his very most favorite. With high hopes, he entered.
        Among the many images and posts about the princess of the night, Anon discovered something that, unbeknownst to him, would be a key player in his game of life. Sitting there, in the thread, was a gift. A gift from efchan. (for those of you who aren't aware, efchan is an imageboard centered around ponies, much like /mlp/ or Ponychan, albeit a lot smaller than either.) The gift in question was a folder, a folder containing a fair amount of Luna pictures. Anon scratched his chin at the sight, contemplating. He had never had an image folder before. He had never really collected images at all. The more he thought about it, though, the better of an idea it seemed. So he clicked.
       
        And so time passed. The months changed in name and the calender gained a new face: the date now read early June, leaving May to memory. Anon was more or less the same, as it were: He still didn't save images, and he still didn't post. Life was still simple for Anon, and he was fine with it. However, this night, Anon saw another thread. Much like the one from the past month, this one was going to be a key player in the outcome of his life. But it was going to do it much less subtly.
        On any other day, Anon would have kept scrolling. On any other day, Anon would have rolled his eyes. But today, Anon was in a strange mood. Anon felt like posting. He wasn't sure why, but he felt compelled. So when his eyes landed on the thread, the one that would become the catalyst that would change the way Anon thought, he clicked reply.
        In the thread in question, OP was generally being a massive faggot, as OP is apt to be. You see, OP was indecisive: he had seen the effects of the pony fandom around him. The unthinkable was happening. OP's world was being turned upside down as his friends were slowly converted into horrendous fiends, fiends who's only desire was to delve deep within their own madness and watch a cartoon for little girls. And OP was scared. He wanted an explanation, he wanted reason, but he was terrified that if he watched the show himself, he would become one of THEM. So he came to /mlp/ to ask a simple question: wat do?
        Anon saw this thread, and felt the urge to reply. Not because he thought OP was stupid, not because he thought himself more intelligent, but just because he... felt like posting for once. So he did. Anon posted a somewhat hardy reply: not too wordy, but sizeable in the least. But alas, as Anon went to post, he realized he had no picture to post with it. All the cool kids were posting with pictures, even in a shitposting thread like this. Anon thought long and hard before he remembered that one night, back in May. With excitement, he dipped into his Luna folder. Picking out a reaction image of decent relevance, he posted.
        It was a few hours later. Anon had been watching the thread like a hawk, his F5 key getting a little worn down (he had not installed 4chanX, unfortunately, for he was but a fool at this point). He checked the replies in every single post, checking to see if any were addressed to him. Eventually, one was. OP himself had replied to his post, and Anon read what he had to say. Due specifically to the wording of Anon's post, OP had decided that he would indeed watch the show and see the effect for himself. Anon went to bed smiling that night, knowing that by posting, he had made a difference. He wasn't, you know, going to make a habit out of it, though, posting was scary. People could not like his opinion and stuff.
        So Anon waited, but he didn't have to wait long. It was only the next evening that he came across another thread. Some kind of... watch thread? Anon clicked with interest. To his surprise, this thread was hosted by none other than the OP of the previous. Anon stared with shock, the effect of his single post already being displayed right before him. In the thread, OP was to watch the show (which had semi-recently finished its second season) and comment on them, episode by episode, detailing a first-time reaction to the show. Several fans flocked to these threads, Anon among them, thirsty to experience that initial feeling they had when they had first discovered MLP.
        These threads continued for weeks. Anon was present in every single one. He became good friends with the OP, who, despite being a little thick headed, turned out to be great company. Anon began to post more and more, each post accompanied with a picture of Luna to identify himself from the rest of the crowd. Soon, his OP friend adopted a name, and a tripcode. Anon was hesitant to follow in his footsteps and continued to avatarfag with Luna, still very distant to the idea of being named.
        But one day, something happened. OP started a new thread, as usual, but when Anon arrived and made his introductory post, preparing himself for the day's watch thread, he got a reply that made him pause. OP probably didn't know the effect he had on Anon that day, but Anon remembers it clearly. Forgive me if I'm paraphrasing, but I believe OP's post went something like this:
 
"Hey, Lunaguy, glad you made it!"
 
Anon stared at the name for a few moments. He liked the name. He really did.
 
So he started to use it.
 
        From that moment on, whenever Anon entered a watch thread, Lunaguy was entered into the name field. In other threads, he was Anon, but in this one, with OP, he was Lunaguy. And the name dug in deep. And even after the watch threads were gone, and OP and Lunaguy were friends outside of /mlp/, the name stuck. And even after OP had left the group of friends the two of them had slowly amassed, the name stuck. And even when Lunaguy had started posting more and more frequently and developed a love for a certain mint-colored mare, the name stuck. And when Lunaguy entered AiE, tasked with "writing a story about Lyra", he stared at that name field for a few moments before typing in the first name that came to mind.
 
And that's how Equestria was made. Shut up and eat your peas.