Octavia's Reprise - Chapter Nine - Author's Note

STOP. FULL SPOILERS FOR Octavia's Reprise - Chapter Nine BELOW!

I obviously allude the importance of Octavia’s bowtie here, but unfortunately I never do go into any detail on why it’s important.

This was a rather difficult chapter to write, and in more than one way. It’s never easy to put a character through a hardship, especially one that you can’t personally relate to. Despite having parents happily married since longer than I’ve been alive, I tried my best to get the feelings and emotions from going through such a hard thing just right. I’ve known a good few people who have gone through such a thing in their lives, and though most eventually move past it, others still have hurt feelings deep down. Thankfully (though maybe not for my source of things to draw from), none of them have even gone through a separation like the one Octavia has. That said, I’ve still felt that pain of separation; just not through family. Many thoughts and emotions from a more recent experience make their way into words here. Again, I really hope that I hit the note right, and would love some feedback one way or the other.

Octavia goes through a drastic change in the later flashback here in a relatively short amount of time. It’s my hope that I give enough reason to show why this change happens the way it does, but I’ll understand if some feel it’s a little too quick for their tastes. Originally I was going to have the change more gradual with Vinyl there witnessing every step of it, but in the end there just wasn’t the time to show it. It would have involved several more flashbacks, so much so that it would have detracted from the main plot, and I would have struggled to keep each moment tied in some way to the present. This way is just easier, and for multiple reasons.

The bullies here are rather obvious allusions to two more well known ones from the show, but with subtle differences. It just seemed like an easy way for the reader to quickly know what kind of ponies these two are, and to hate them immediately.

Here when Octavia justifies her change in the flashback I use some lines from Tombstone’s Octavia’s Overture to show why she disassociated herself from Ponyville. In the song both parents are sad to see her leave, but here for the sake of story I leave her with just one. The feelings of wanting to be famous and feeling unappreciated were taken directly from here.

I poke a little bit of the other second name Octavia traditionally goes by: Philharmonica. Personally I like Melody a lot better, though in all honesty I like it as just “Octavia” the best. I know all three are tossed around the fandom, and you’ll get a different answer depending on who you ask. To each their own. Here, I address all three, and in a manner that I think works well. I’ve known several people who have this sort of surname indecisiveness from parental separation, so some of this stemmed from there.

Originally the chapter was going to end with Octavia stand on a chair, bow pointed towards the sky, and say something like ‘Hear me, for I am Octavia!’, but that seemed way overly dramatic. I think this approach is much more effective.