Sonata Dusk stared into the mirror. At the moment, she found herself very pretty.

She was wearing the outfit she wore at the Battle of the Bands, exposed midriff and all. She was also wearing a Canterlot Wondercolts headband, the ears painted to match her skin color perfectly. She couldn’t remember how many sets she had gone through to get the mixture just right.

Around her neck she wore a tie, her amulet replaced with a ruby of similar proportions. It was really hard to find one—for realzies—but after scouring enough jewelry stores and pawn shops, she had found the perfect fit. She played with it, watching it catch the fading sunlight.

On her back rested a pair of fairy wings she had snagged from a party store. It had taken weeks to find the perfect pair. She giggled as she turned around to examine them, exposing her clip-on hair extensions.

The hair extensions were easy enough to find. There were so many different hair colors in this world that it was just a matter of finding the right length. She thought they looked perfect.

She turned to face the mirror again, taking in her perfection. She then glanced at the rose-colored plastic shades she held in her hand.

And now for the piece of resistance! I wonder why they call it the piece of resistance anyway. Shouldn’t it be the piece of irresistibility? Anyway, time to put these babies on!

Sonata carefully slid the shades over her eyes, her world turning a beautiful shade of red. The color of love, the color of life… the color of power.

It was when Sonata saw red that the world made sense to her. Red was the color of control, when she warped someone’s mind to bend to her will. Red was the color of the blood which flowed through her fingers in better times. More importantly, red was the color she saw when she became a Goddess.

At the Battle of the Bands, Sonata saw pure red. Sonata and her friends had ensnared the hearts and minds of so many… insects that night. She still felt their hearts beating, their muscles twitching. She tasted their thoughts, their dreams, their hopes and fears as their fragile minds struggled against her complete domination.

She remembered the sweet aroma of their existential terror as some of them fought her inexorable will. They battled so hard. They really did. But they had no chance against her. She was perfect. They were all perfect.

Sonata frowned.

If we were so perfect, how did we lose?

Her eyes watered as she recalled the feeling of her soul being torn away from her by the Equestrian magic those stupid girls had blasted her with. She reached out and touched the mirror, her reflection doing the same.

She looked back into the mirror, seeing some paint chip off the false ears she wore. She noticed a slight tear in the wings on her back. The ruby weighed against her neck. The shades felt weird on her nose.

She leaned her forehead against the mirror as tears trailed down her face. She then lifted her head off the mirror and took in her form.

I’m still pretty, right?

She tried to convince herself that she was still pretty, but all of the imperfections she saw and felt told her otherwise. She used to be pretty. She used to be perfect.

Standing in front of her was a poor copy of what she used to be.

She looked down.

I’m the worst. What made me think this was a good idea?

Another voice in her head emerged, telling her that this wasn’t her fault. It was those dumb high school girls who stole Sonata from herself. Those stupid girls with their stupid rainbow magic and stupid pony ears and stupid color-changing hair.

They were the worst, not Sonata. She triumphantly snarled as she stared into the mirror and balled her hand into a fist. She looked into the mirror and once again noticed how pretty the woman in the mirror was, how pretty she used to be.

The prettiness that was robbed from her.

She decided at that moment that she was going to avenge herself—or rather who she used to be. She was going to teach those meanies a lesson about taking important parts from people.

Maybe by taking important parts from them, she thought as her mouth curved into a wicked smile, I’ll avenge the important parts of me, as well as Dagi and Ari! Those dummies won’t know what hit them once Sonata’s on their case!

Sonata felt the blood rush to her head as her heart pumped wildly, thinking of all the terrible things she could do to those girls to show them just what she and her friends lost. She was intoxicated by the flood of awesome ideas with which to exact her revenge upon those who stole her from herself. She felt her chest expand and contract as her breathing quickened upon each awesome and terrible image that flashed in her mind.

She giggled again, her laugh taking on a more sinister tone than earlier as she looked back into the mirror. She noticed that she was now hunched over, her smile now baring teeth and a crazed look in her eyes. She didn’t think she looked pretty anymore.

She looked monstrous. She looked like a wolf ready to strike. She looked like the apex predator she knew she was in her heart. She looked beautiful.

Scratch that, she was beautiful. She felt beautiful enough to destroy someone else’s life. To feel their hopes and dreams slip through their fingers like hers had. To strike pure terror into their hearts. She felt the clarion call of destruction as it pulsed through her very being.

And that was the one thing that they could never take away from her: her inner siren.