I always wished I could’ve been more to Octavia. I always wished my kindness had extended more than just cutting off her punishments early, or allowing her meals behind her parents’ backs. But alas, I had failed a young filly before, and in that failure, I became a coward. I spent eighteen years watching poor Octavia suffer, too afraid to offer her something better than a life of torture.

Perhaps it was about time I changed that.

This is an alternate take of “A Puppet to Her Fame”, originally written by Kaiden.