Howdy, folks! TheSlorg here, and it's time for another Pony Spotlight. This week's pony is bringing some class. It's Octavia Melody!
While the original idea was to spotlight a lesser-known pony this time, there is something about Octavia here that makes featuring her today make more sense.
So what is it that is so special about Octavia? Find out below the break!
Name: Octavia Melody
Aliases: Tavi, Octy, WhomeverThisIs
Cutie Mark: Treble Clef
Appearances: 8 Episodes, Rainbow Rocks, Friendship Games
First Appearance: The Best Night Ever
Speaking Roles: 1 (plus Rainbow Rocks)
Random Fact: Octavia has appeared in fewer than half as many episodes as Twist has.
Beginnings
Octavia Melody is special. Here is a pony who has been featured on the show a mere eight times, but has become arguably as popular as last week's spotlight pony, Lyra Heartstrings. For those who need a reminder, Lyra has appeared in the show a whopping 72 times!
For a pony who has been featured fewer than half as many times as the filly Twist, Octavia has managed to earn herself an impressive following. But she wasn't always Octavia, and she wasn't originally meant to become a repeat character. In as late as February 2012, her image on the Hubworld website referred to her as WhomeverThisIs. This was over a year after her first appearance on the show in the season one finale, The Best Night Ever.
It was Octavia's brief thirteen seconds of air time in this episode that would see her rise in the ranks of the fandom's 'best pony' lists, and begin an explosion of fan-made art, music, and fiction based around her.
Octavia's little side project.
Growth
Octavia hasn't actually seen as much development within the show as she has in the Equestria Girls movies.
Her single appearance in season one was the aforementioned Best Night Ever, which saw her playing classical music in a quartet at Canterlot Castle during the Grand Galloping Gala. Despite Pinkie Pie crashing the party, Octavia remained mostly calm and refined, suggesting a certain amount of patience.
She was not be seen again until season two's Sweet and Elite, where she appeared for roughly three seconds. She was again playing classical music at Canterlot Castle, this time in the garden for the Canterlot Garden Party. Her reaction, if any, to the antics of the Mane Six was not shown.
Despite her two brief appearances, or perhaps because of them, the fandom latched onto Octavia. With almost no personality established within the show, fans used her as an almost-blank slate, and began to give her traits that would become common among fan works.
The most notable of these would have to be her relationship with DJ Pon3, or Vinyl Scratch as the fandom have named her, and the name 'Octavia' itself.
With both ponies having a musical background, it was only natural for fans to pair Octavia and DJ Pon3 together, though they would sometimes be paired for more than just making music. As for Octavia's name, it was canonized in late 2012 in the MLP CCG and the Gameloft MLP game, and later expanded to 'Octavia Melody' in 2013 for the official toy line and Funko vinyl figures.
Rainbow Rocks gave us a slightly deeper look into Octavia's personality when her human counterpart entered the Battle of the Bands only to be eliminated by Twilight Sparkle and The Rainbooms. She later had her first speaking part, shouting, "I knew she was still trouble!" when she witnessed Sunset Shimmer interrupt Rainbow Dash on stage. This suggests that Octavia may be a bit less forgiving of villains, reformed or otherwise, than the main cast, but it can be argued that she was still under the effects of the sirens, so this remains debatable.
M A Larson brought them together. For you.
Current Status
Octavia was completely missing in action in season three, not even earning a background appearance.
Season four would merely give us two more brief sightings. Inspiration Manifestation saw Rarity either teleporting Octavia to a filly's birthday party in the place of an earth pony stallion, or actually transforming the stallion into Octavia. Octavia was shown to be completely unfazed either way, so we'll leave that one up to interpretation. Her only other appearance in season four was in the audience during the Equestria Games.
It was season five that finally unraveled a bit of the mystery that is Octavia. She first appeared during a dream sequence in Bloom and Gloom, giving Sweetie Belle a score of zero for her performance. This, however, tells us more about Sweetie Belle's opinion of Octavia than it does about Octavia herself.
Her next appearance was the big one. The doozy. The most revealing of all. Slice of Life confirmed what many had either hoped for or feared: that Octavia and DJ Pon3 live together. Not only that, but their home is split right down the middle to reflect their vastly different personalities. Another thing to note here is that Octavia is again shown to have a certain amount of patience, suffering through her friend's concept of music for a time before calmly explaining that it's not quite what she was looking for. She could also care less about any bugbears who happen to be in the process of destroying Ponyville, but then, neither did anypony else.
Octavia appeared two more times in season five. She was silhouetted behind a curtain playing along to Countess Coloratura's concert in The Mane Attraction, and she was seen giving DJ Pon3 a fond glance during the final moments of the season five finale, The Cutie Re-Mark part 2.
Octavia Melody. A patient, classy mare who is not easily fazed, and who will look past differences when it comes to making friends. What are your favorite Octavia moments? Which pony might you like to see in the next spotlight? Let me know in the comments below!5 Notable Octavia Fanfics:
Allegrezza
Black and White
Changing Octaves
A Bolder Note Than This
Couchtavia
3 Bonus Octavia Animations
