Derpy

Derpy Hooves is a fan-given name of a gray pegasus background pony who became famous thanks to having a googly-eyed expression in the first episode. Starting with Feeling Pinkie Keen, the show's crew began giving her crossed eyes intentionally to give her a "derpy" expression, as a nod to the fans. The name Derpy has since been adopted for the character by the crew.

History
Alert viewers noticed a googly-eyed pegasus in a crowd shot in the first episode. After the image was captured and posted on 4chan's Comics & Cartoons board (/co/), fans began to speculate as to the nature of this odd pony. Her name is derived from the slang term "derp", which is associated with someone behaving in a silly manner and is usually connected with crossed eyes.

Wall eyes
The gray pegasus with a bubbles cutie mark was one of several background ponies, chosen from a palette and placed in the scenes on the whim of layout artists. At first the pony's face wasn't supposed to be visible in that particular scene, but a later layout change uncovered it. Jayson Thiessen, the supervising director of the show, stated that he noticed and was amused by her expression. Since Hasbro had already given the episode green light, he didn't order fixing Derpy's eyes.

Derpy can be seen many times throughout the season doing various things; trotting through a park, preparing for storm, participating in the Running of the Leaves, etc. She is one of the ponies admiring Pinkie Pie's "baked bads" in Applebuck Season, uttering the line "muffins". She appeared with intentionally crossed eyes in Feeling Pinkie Keen. When Twilight spies on Pinkie Pie, a series of objects falls on her head: a flower pot, an anvil, a cart of hay and finally a piano. A camera pan reveals that items were dropped by Derpy and her friend, who are hovering next to a movers' truck.

Thiessen relayed in a Q&A that he was so delighted after discovering popularity of Derpy that he requested altering Derpy's eyes in all episodes that hadn't been sent to the Hub yet.

Official name
Lauren Faust has acknowledged the fan following of Derpy. She revealed that, in one of then unaired episodes at the time, Winter Wrap Up, there is a mention of an airheaded pegasus called Ditzy Doo whose appearance is never established on-screen, and should Ditzy make an appearance Faust may assign Derpy's design to her.

Officially, background ponies receive no names, but the crew often gives them affectionate nicknames. According to an animator from the Philippine studio working on the show, Derpy was called Stoneface, Bubbles, Bubblehead, and Ditzy by their crew. Thiessen later relayed that the Canadian crew has adopted the name Derpy

Charity auction
Lauren Faust organized an auction of her sketches in order to help flooded Japan. In addition to those drawn way back in 2008, she made a brand new drawing of Derpy Hooves. The sketch sold for 2,151 USD. The character was explicitly called Derpy Hooves by the auctioneer.

Season two
Derpy Hooves is said to return in the second season as according to one of the animators on the show. She has gained a scripted-character status rather than an arbitrary background pony, and she is considered a "Where's Waldo"-type challenge for the fans.

Merchandising
An officially licensed shirt sporting Derpy is available on welovefine.com.

Appearances

 * See also character appearances

The times are approximated from various videos available online.

Galleries

 * Derpy Hooves image gallery
 * Images of ponies making weird faces