The doctor and derpy hooves sent from my Nexus 4 in Equestria Click it I dare you? [hide] http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1784401 [/hide]
This topic has turned more towards side characters and background characters. That being the case... Lightning Dust > All
For this one, I suppose it all depends on what or whom you qualify as background characters. If you consider background characters to consist of anypony outside of the main protagonists or ponies of significant detail, then there are a lot more options. This makes answering the question easier, or harder if you have a lot of characters you like. For me, I look at it with a bit more detail than that. There are several tiers of character involvement. First off there are the primary characters. This tier consists of the mane six and, in the event an episode focuses on the following groups, spike and the cutie mark crusaders. Next are secondary characters. These are the characters who get their fair share of screen time and often act as active support to the primary characters. The CMC and spike often move in and out of this tier. Next there are tertiary characters. These character can be seen often, but they do not often play a significant role. Big Mac falls into this category. He is there and supports those around him, but his overall in general is rather minimal. (with the exception of the love poison catastrophe) Finally there are what, for me, qualify as true background characters. These are the real background ponies who hardly get lines and literally are there to fill the background. This is where we get into characters like Bon Bon, Lyra, Derpy/Ditzy Do, Octavia, and Viynl Scratch. Picking a favorite out of these characters is, for me, very difficult. It would be easy to just say Derpy because she is cute, she is the number one fan favorite, and that she probably the most well known out of all the background ponies. I can't just do that though. For me, choosing a favorite character means having a character to like. This is where the challenge comes in. Being background ponies, there is very little if any character to be seen in the show. There are also inconsistencies too. I've lost count of how many different voices I heard coming out of Bon Bon's mouth. This is where the fandom comes in. Most of the names for the characters come from the fandom to begin with. And many of their stories are pieced together and fleshed out by the fandom as well.Factoring in the most common and most pervasive elements of the fandom, Derpy is still a top runner for my number one background pony slot. While I do find her very adorable, that is not what makes her rank so high with me. It's the hardshps she has to deal with as a result of her condition. The common perception of Derpy in the fan canon or fanon is that her clumsiness and her (. . . would the term wall-eyed be appropriate?) appearance is all caused by a rare genetic disorder. That alone adds a significant layer of depth to her character. When you think about the fact that in the show we see Derpy working a variety of different jobs and never being in the same job twice, it commonly translates to the perception that, because of Derpy's condition, she has been unable to maintain a job. This really makes you feel for her. Then through in the fact that, in the fanon, Derpy is not just trying to support herself, but her daughter Dinkie Do, and you just want to reach out and hug her for all the trouble she's been through. There is one other thing going for her that I cannot forget to mention. She is the assistant to Doctor Who for crying out loud! How much more awesome can you get!? Given my description on what I find so endearing about Derpy, the question probably remains of "If you like her so much, why isn't she number one?" That spot has recently gone to another background pony. It's all because of this one fan comic I've recently come to read. I can actually relate to the character a bit. To make a long story short, since becoming a brony, I have had a number of dream where I was a pony in Ponyville. In some of the dreams I was always a pony and had my own history and back story. You can see a fine example of those adventures in my own story "A Mellow Encounter." In other ones, especially some of the earlier ones. I started of as a human who became trapped in Equestria and was forced to take the form of a pony. I still vividly remember the events of these dreams and the uncertainty I had trying to adjust to a new life in a new land with a new body. The fact that I had willingly offered to stay so that other people could return to their homes and lives also had an effect. If you can imagine how I felt during all of that, imagine how bad it would be to be going through all of that with amnesia and only faint hints that you might have been something else before. That is where the comic Heartstrings comes in and the background pony that claims my top spot. http://tritebristle.deviantart.com/art/Heartstrings-ch1-p1-Mare-meets-mare-312522819 You guessed it. My number one background pony is Lyra Heartstrings. I for one find the story presented in this comic to be absolutely enthralling, including the depth it gives, not only to Lyra and Bon Bon, but also to a lot of the background ponies. I'm not sure if it is just because of the character development between Lyra and Bon Bon or my own similar experiences from my dreams that allows me to empathize and understand Lyra's plight, but thanks to this story, Lyra Heartstrings take the spot of my favorite background pony, with Derpy holding a very close second.
It's a joke based around how little screentime she got in season 2 And when the Applejack episode rolled around for season 2, she was outshines... By a background pony
