INFORMAL BLOG POST: the Followup · 4:21am Jul 20th, 2017
Thanks for the responses, everyone! Here are the results of my informal poll the other day, asking for the name of a certain gray pegasus:
Derpy Hooves - 14
Ditzy Doo - 4
Muffins - 3
Bright Eyes - 1
Inigo Montoya - 1
Other - 6(don’t take these results as absolute fact... lots of people gave multiple answers, so I used my own criteria to decide what counted where)
I’ve always struggled with what to call Derpy/Ditzy/Muffins. I tend to stick with Derpy, since it’s her most recognized name. But I’ve always hated that name, and I’ve always preferred Ditzy. But then Slice of Life came about, and I wholeheartedly accepted Muffins as her canon name.
The reason I put up the blog was that while writing, I encountered a tiny issue involving her name... namely, this line:
“Keep your pants on,” Rainbow said. She snickered and lay back down. “Vinyl got decked, like, right in the face by Muffins of all people. She’s gonna need a little while to recover from that one.”
The line works fine, but I couldn’t help but feel that the name Muffins felt awkward here... like without making it totally explicit, no one was gonna understand who Muffins is. As of this writing, I’ve changed it to Derpy, but I’m not happy about it! 
Once again, thanks for the help, everyone. I’m hoping to have this story finished soon, so all of you can find out just why Derpy/Ditzy/Muffins decked Vinyl in the face.
Eh, writing fanfic means taking some ownership of the characters you're using. Writing them completely unrecognizable from canon is a bad idea, but when it comes to a semi-contested background character name I think you've got some wiggle room. If the reader can recognize the character by name, you've done your job.
I think 90+ percent of people would know who you're talking about if you used Derpy, Ditzy, or Muffins. I have no idea where Bright Eyes came from, but it's cute, too.
I see no problems with my chosen name for her.
Oh shoot, I wouldn't have made the Gandalf joke if I'd known you wanted serious input. Granted, that would've just bumped the Ditzy counter to 5, but still, sorry I wasn't more helpful.
In any case, the thing about She of the Seven Bubbles is that she works with just about any name you give her.
I love how you kept Inigo Montoya in the list, but Othered 6 other results >.> Statistical bias!
Personally speaking, if someone used Muffins as a name in the context you suggest, I would not immediately think of Derpy. I'm used to Derpy, Ditzy and Bright Eyes, but Muffins is fairly new. That said, this journal will help me orient in the future! :B