Derpy... in an un-derped universe?

I was thinking about ponies, as usual, and how we as a fandom have come to give most of them - even if they have no real lines or significance - their own personalities and quirks.
 
For example, we headcanon’d Octavia and Vinyl being roomies. Lyra being a human-lover. Snails being a fake-idiot or closet-genius. Scootaloo being a chicken orphan. Minuette being a dentist. Silver Spoon not really wanting to be a bully but just wanting to fit in with Diamond Tiara (zero evidence of that in the show, but apparently a popular headcanon). Berry Punch being a drunkard. I could go on.
 
The point is, we all gave them headcanons and breathed life into them based mostly on what little we saw of them (e.g. Lyra’s human obsession was due to her sitting funny for like two seconds). Then I got to thinking about Derpy, arguably the most iconic headcanon-backgrounder of the bunch.
 
It all started with an animator having a laugh, right? And from there, the “mail-mare job” part of her came from dropping a piano on Twilight as a cameo, and it rose from that.
 
Now close your eyes for a minute (while still reading this somehow) and think about what she’d be if she… hadn’t had that snowballing derp-effect on her that fateful episode. An alternate universe where the animator remembered to fix that silly little error and the fandom was none-the-wiser.
 
No derp. And from that, no “piano” cameo. And from that, no “mail mare” headcanon. Just a grey pegasus with yellow eyes and bubbles on her butt.  
 
With this blank slate of a background pony, what would we give her? Because let’s face it, all ponies get headcanons, don’t they? We’d come up with something about her one way or the other!
 
What would her name be? What would she do? Who would she chill out (or even be shipped) with? Let’s hear your ideas, names and headcanons of this purely hypothetical Derpless Derpy!

I don’t want to fathom such a sad and mirthless hypothetical place!

 
She would be nothing. Just another background pony among hundreds. Such a universe is a travesty and must. Be. EXTERMINATED!!!!

@Princess♠Molestia  
I dunno, I’m certain we would’ve found SOMETHING for her. Hell, we gave background ponies personalities based entirely on what they did within a few seconds of screentime!
 
She could’ve been a deep sea diver or swimmer or lifeguard based on those bubbles on her flank (hell, sometimes she is!) Maybe we would’ve given her a head-canon job being the local diving-horse and pearl expert (those bubbles could easily be construed as pearls), geez, she could’ve been all sorts!
 
I’m just wondering how imaginative this fandom really is; if Derpy wasn’t known for her Derp or her Mail Pony or her Muffins, what would YOU make her known for!? Trust me, we’d think of something! We’re bronies, after all!

She’s a pegasus, so nobody would care about her. When was the last time you saw anyone say anything about Dizzy Twister or Sassaflash?

@Background Pony
 
Exactly. Such a universe is an abomination and must be destroyed immediately.

@Background Pony  
And yet we have headcanons like Thunderlane dating Rarity (from that single hug scene), or Medley’s catchphrase being “Meh!”, or Flitter and Cloud-chaser being lovers, or Blossomforth being a contortionist, or Cloud Kicker pulling stupid faces, or Snowflake and Featherweight being father and son, heck, even Merry May’s had her own minor meme crop up here recently…

@Crowley  
Thunderlane, Flitter, Cloudchaser, Blossomforth, Snowflake, and Featherweight all have unique designs, though… Derpy is a recolor of Raindrops. (Who’s actually managed to become the second-most-popular pegasus by some bizarre vooodoo.)

 
If you want to be popular, don’t be a pegasus.

@Background Pony  
Like that would stop an imagination-rich Brony,

I don’t know if I want to imagine such a universe. It sounds so bland and boring.

Derpy would be a very different pony if she had regular eyes, if the fans paid any attention to her at all. I mean, when’s the last time anyone acknowledge Raindrops?
 
Speaking of Derpy, has anyone seen her anywhere in the Season 4 episodes? I didn’t pay too much attention to the background, so I don’t really know if she did or not.

@Red Yellow Moon  
There was a recolor in the 2nd part of the premiere in the crowd scene for the Summer Sun Celebration. But apparently that’s “Orange Box” and not Derpy so yeah that’s as close as we got.

Flitter 833 & Cloudchaser 1222 aren’t doing that bad actually, and the other Hurricane Fluttershy/Wonderbolt Academy characters (Thunderlane 743, Rumble 643, Roid Rage/Snowflake 551, Blossomforth 521, + Wild Fire) have amazing scores rivalling the minor backgrounders, especially considering they haven’t been around for as long.
 
I think pegasi were just…not so interesting in seasons 1 and early season 2. They appeared rarely and had bland appearances. None of them really had a funny background scene, even though something like Blossomforth’s may have been enough.
 
Derpy…would probably have been forgotten, yeah. Unless she did all the funny bg events regardless (like the anvil-dropping), but she only did those because the creators were responding to the fan reaction sooo
 
It’s fun to consider though how things’d have ended up in a parallel universe where they worship a completely different background character.
 
Maybe one where she has a cutie mark that makes actual sense.  
Or one where she’s never met the Doctor.  
Or one where Faust found out about another fan favorite and she’s been replaced by Donny Swineclop.  
My friends and I found the gateway, the problem is…finding a way back home.

Derpibooru would have another name, for starters…
 
Maybe Trixiebooru? Lunabooru? Or Flutterbooru?

@Solarium  
For all we’d know, we might’ve been naming it after an Alternate Derpy.
 
Ditzydooru? Bubblebooru? Crowleybooru?

Probably something to do with muffins, if she didn’t get ignored like countless unnamed background ponies.
 
@Solarium  
Raribooru, dahling.
 
@Crowley  

 
Pssst, her name is Colgate.

We would of never have noticed her, propably. Her fanon name propably would have been something along the lines of Bubblebeam(s) or Bubble Column. Or possibly “Berenice Unabrette Bleswanda Bonacious Ladavice Enableccerie Samantheila” (seven names whose initials spell “Bubbles”) but as she would not be a big part in the fandom, her name would not have to be mentioned as much, and if she even got a name like that, we would propably just refer to her as “Raindrop’s recolor” or simply “Bubble pony”. And then she gets a canon name like “Bubblelicious” or “Blower Bubble” with a description like “She likes to blow bubbles in the sky!”
 
But other than a fanon name and a few people making fanarts and vectors of her, maybe she would get nothing.
 
But, maybe if she got underped, maybe Dr. Whooves, Minuette, or Twilight would go back into the past to make her derp again.
 
Because Derpy s’ derp breaks the fourth wall.

The animators would have had to place some sort of significance upon her in order for us to take a small little detail and blow it way out of proportion (which is the source of many headcanons).
 
What that thing could have been is anyone’s guess.
 
Alternatively, someone in the fandom could have used her in a tumblr and made some sort of association that stuck (kind of like Raindrops loving bread or something of that nature).

@Goldenpwny  
Well, Carrot Top, Minuette, Bon Bon, and Dr. Whooves became fan favorites even without the animators giving them significance. (Bon Bon because she is seen with Lyra a lot, Carrot Top because of a comic where Derpy lived in her house and emptied her fridge, Minuette because her hair looked like toothpaste, and Whooves because he looks like David Tennant.)
 
So, maybe we would have thought she looked like another fictional character from another show, or simply looking somewhat interesting.
 
And if Derpy did not become a fan favorite, nobody would care about Raindrops.
 
And not all BG ponies have consistent fanon personalities.

@Squirmy Hooves  
In a way you proved my point. Lyra once sat weird in a chair so we said that she clearly has a painful desire to be human. Bon Bon often stands next to said Lyra in the show so obviously they are lesbian lovers. Carrot Top and Raindrops were noticed because we were already vigilant of Derpy.
 
Now, Dr. Whooves and Minuette have physical features which greatly set them aside from the other BPs and bumped them up into the category of “secondary ponies”. On the contrary, Derpy’s design is relatively basic and lacks any significant distinguishable features. To say she looked like another fictional character is a moot point as blonde hair can remind different people of, well… different people.
 
But, going in line with what you pointed out, Derpy could be associated with a secondary pony, such as Filthy Rich (perhaps a scene where they are sitting at a cafe and talking). We could then say that Derpy is either his business partner or perhaps even his mistress.
 
And I do like the idea of an alternate universe thread on Derpy. I wonder how that would pan out.

Maybe the following:
 

@Goldenpwny  
Except Filthy Rich only appeared, in, like, 1 or 2 episodes? They would not reuse him for a crowd scene or other, because that never happened. Even Junebug and Lickity Split only appeared once, or Strike who gets a bowling Cutie Mark and never appears again.
 
And Derpy did actually interact with Mayor Mare during a scene where everypony (OK, only the minor ones, not the Mane Six, and no stallions only mares and fillies) are ganging up on Big Mac because they want his doll.
 
Maybe we would have noticed her in that scene, maybe not.
 
And, even if blonde hair can remind two people of completely different characters\people, well, Doctor Whooves’ brown hair can also remind of people other than David Tennant or the Tenth Doctor. They do not even have the same hairstyle…
 
Whooves: a slicked back demi-mohawk: http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110909144718/mlp/sv/images/7/77/Doctor_Whooves.png
 
Tenth: a fuller mohawk, more similiar to spiky hair, and the hair goes forward: http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Ten-wallpapers-the-tenth-doctor-471905_1024_768.jpg

I miss Junebug :(

@Squirmy Hooves  
Oh, I was only using Filthy Rich as a random example to make my point. I’m sure you could probably come up with better examples.
 
Yea I remember the little wrestling scene they sneaked in there, but I don’t think it was a random selection; I have a strong suspicion they deliberately picked her as a tip-of-the-hat to Derpy fans (kinda like her brief appearance in the Nightmare Night episode).
 
As for Dr. Whooves, the generic Hourglass Cutie Mark also reinforces his association with Dr. Who (granted this same cutie mark is found on many other ponies too).
 
 
Going back to Derpy, it’s very possible that some other pony would have replaced her role as the goofy lovable oaf. Chances are the show producers would have specifically designed a character to fulfill this iconic cartoon role.
 
The way I see it, had her eyes been underped, the show and fandom would have lost something much greater than Derpy herself; they would have lost the early two-way communication between animators and fans. Derpy’s essential significance isn’t in her derped eyes, nor is it her clumsy disposition. Rather, she was the first way in which the fandom expressed interest in something and the animators acknowledged and responded to that interest with subsequent canon appearances of _{what is essentially} a fanon character. Very few producers of other shows (cartoon or otherwise) can say they have this relationship with their fans.