@Minus  
….. We saw Fancy Pants in Poniville in “Too Many Pinkies”.  
And Octavia wasn’t around in the Cheese Sandwich episode. She was TELEPORTED to Ponyville by Rarity in “Inspiration Manifestation.”  
And why would Octavia be in costume during the Apple Family reunion?
 
And not that many BG ponies have upgraded to Minor Characters.

@Sjogre  
Okay, that’s true. They do only use the minor characters in places where it makes sense. We wouldn’t see Fancy Pants away from Canterlot in the show. But we have already seen Octavia in Ponyville in the show during the Cheese Sandwhich episode. And do we even know yet if Fiddlesticks is a pony, or if it was just Octavia in costume? I think you’re giving the show too much credit. If anything, they don’t “not show minor characters outside where they should be” as much as they “don’t show minor characters at all”.
 
Also several BG pones have upgraded to minor characters now, but still end up everywhere. Not counting Derpy, because she’s supposed to be everywhere.

@Sjogre  
It’s a paying gig.

Any common unicorn can move things with magic…but you need a special mare to move a freaking harp with her…

@PonyLover99  
Unicorn = Master Race.

I don’t get it…

@Minus  
There are the actual background ponies, who can be cloned and placed willy-nilly, and the minor character ponies, who are supposed to be used in specific places.
 
The comic uses the minor character ponies as background ponies, with the end result that they show up everywhere, like the generic background ponies do.
 
And yes, that’s an actual rule for the cartoon. That’s why, say, Photo Finish doesn’t show up in crowd scenes along with Lyra and Golden Harvest.

@Ginger_Fig
 
and Nothing of value was lost! ;p

You guys with your utter garbage reasons for saying the comic is placing the ponies willy nilly need to rewatch the actual show. Look at the poines in appleloosa and the ponies at Fancypant’s party. THIS IS WHAT THEY HAVE ALWAYS DONE! It’s us fans who delude ourselves into thinking there is anything established about the characters that is being detroyed, when in reality Octavia may very well live in ponyville. You’ve just come to conclusions on your own, so the only thing potentially at risk is your headcanon. The comics and their use of BG ponies is awesome. It at least makes them feel like they’re part of the story, unlike in the show where they are used as decoration.

Scootaloo; missing her wings.

I am pretty sure it was stated why they were in ponyville..

@Sjogre  
Sometimes trying to make a silly joke have a serious answer can work out well. I mean, Dr Whooves is a character in his own right now, with people coming up with interesting ways to justify his place in a magical pony world.
 
But yeah, it is possible to read too deeply into things.

@Star Cavalcade  
I don’t have a problem with people taking the show/comics as seriously as they are supposed to be taken, which is to say not at all.
 
It’s just that some people have a habit of insisting that a silly and cute joke is supposed to have a serious answer.
 
I always had problems trying to consolodate Vinyl and Octavia’s friendship despite them never having appeared in the same episode together.  
Depending on the story, no explanation works better than any explanation. They look cute together, and that can be better than a novel of excuses.
 
I’d rather no explanation than a bad explanation.
 
…
 
Admittedly, I started this little discussion, but traditionally, one gives a stupid answer to a stupid question.

@Sjogre  
I really don’t care. I get more Octavia which is always a good thing, and anime pony cameos.

@Sjogre  
Goldie wasn’t at the reunion either.  
The Apple Family is strange.
 
Yeah, a lot of things don’t add up, but I like to think that’s part of the appeal is trying to MAKE things add up and connecting the dots. Instead of saying ‘That would never work’ perhaps going ‘Well, how COULD that work’?
 
I suppose it’s each to their own. I always had problems trying to consolodate Vinyl and Octavia’s friendship despite them never having appeared in the same episode together.

@Sjogre  
Even if you have an excuse for Octavia being in Ponyville this episode, that doesn’t explain all the other random cameos. And given that one of them was Sam Beckett and Al from Quantum Leap, it doesn’t look like they’re supposed to make sense.
 
…Does Fiddlesticks even live in Ponyville? She was part of the Apple Family Reunion, but Applejack said that everyone outside her immediate family lives elsewhere, so it looks she just comes in to play the occasional gig.
 
And if Octavia is the sister of Fiddlesticks, shouldn’t she have been at the reunion?

@Star Cavalcade  
I can’t take the random cameos as anything other than random cameos because they don’t make any sense.
 
Sure, they’re fun, but not conducive to worldbuilding. They kinda sorta ignore that Friendship is Magic doesn’t have every character living in the same town.

@Sjogre  
At this point Octavia has shown up more in the comics than she has done in the show.  
She’s actually had lines as well as some sort of character interaction.  
For a fandom that created an ENTIRE PERSONALITY for her out of a couple of seconds of a background scene, you’d think they’d find some way to accomodate this?
 
Me? I like to think she’s in Ponyville because her sister Fiddlesticks got her a gig there, and despite their town mouse/country mouse personalities, they actually get on well together.

@chaos15  
That’s actually something that’s starting to annoy me about the comics. They toss in cameos without rhyme or reason. It started out being fun, but after a while it just got distracting.
 
We’ve never seen Octavia in Ponyville outside of those random cameos, which show plenty of other people with no reason to be in Ponyville.

@Sjogre  
Well apparently she lives there. Is not the first time she shows up in Ponyville  
 

@chaos15  
Visiting Rarity.
 
Why does a Canterlot music show up in a podunk town like Ponyville?

@Sjogre  
Same thing the rest of the quartet where doing, presumably.
 
@chaos15  
Visiting some friends, presumably.

@Sjogre  
What the hell was Fancy Pants doing in Ponyville?

Unicorn Master Race.  

… What the heck was Octavia doing in Ponyville?