Phoenix Fire

It was easy to break out of the cuffs that had been placed one me, presumably by that fire pegasus, since I simply used my ice powers. I flew away as soon as I had broken free, just in case she was nearby. Though, it was confusing as to why she would have cuffed me and then left, but I wasn't complaining.

"Windigo!" yelled her voice in my earpiece, "Why did your earpiece stop working?"

"I-" I started, before being interrupted.

"And why have you stopped freezing the town?!? Don't think my GPS can't track where you're going!"

"I ran into some unexpected difficulty!"

"You should be able to take on any common creature with your powers!"

"It was a pegasus with fire powers!"

"WHAT?!?"

"She flew out from nowhere and punched me with fire!"

"Why didn't you just hit her back, you idiot?!?"

"Of course I hit her back! But-"

"Don't use that tone with me!"

"Sorry! Anyways, I hit her with my ice punch just as she did her fire punch, and there was an explosion!"

"Your powers must be complete opposites, and that's why there was an explosion, fool! So you just gave up?"

"I was knocked into the ground, and she cuffed me. However, she left for whatever reason, so I fled in case she returned."

"So I suppose that little agency finally started experimenting, too... Damn it! Windigo, get back here immediately so we can modify your powers to counter that stupid fire pegasus!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

A click sounded in my earpiece, to show that it had been turned off. I let out a sigh of relief, glad that she was more distracted about the fire pegasus than that I failed the mission. Though she couldn't technically blame me...

Focus, Windigo. That's as much as yourself as you are, so get used to it! I thought, I just get back to the base so they can mess with my powers again...

I gulped nervously. It was never pleasant when my powers were tampered with, but it was for my own good. I needed my powers to be stronger if I wanted to win in more battles. Especially against that fire pegasus... I regain my focus, realizing that I had started to dip below the line of visibility from the ground.

It's that stupid pegasus who's distracting me!

My eyes wandered downward to see that I was above the Everfree Forest. I glanced at the trees far below, when a flash of light caught my attention. I instantly dove down to an open clearing, and looked around the area. There were small piles of ashes on the ground, which were being blown away by a slight wind.

Ashes... From fire... But what in the Everfree uses fire? I thought about all of the known creatures in the Everfree, The fire pegasus! The explosion must have sent her flying into here, and somepony else cuffed me! But where could she have gone?

I pulled out a small device from one of my pockets in my ice-blue outfit and turned it on. It began vibrating rather violently, and I smirked with happiness.

She used some sort of teleportation device, huh? Well, that's easy to track...

I punched a few numbers into the device, and a location popped up. I smirked again as the device showed directions, and started off.

I looked at the dead tree oddly, confused as to my my device had led me here.

Is this a secret entrance or something? If is it, it's the stupidest one I've even seen...

I cautiously pressed my hoof on the tree, and a platform floated up on the inside of it. I smirked, and stepped on to the platform. However, my smirk faded when a small machine popped up, demanding identification. I simply froze the device, and smashed down through the platform, flying down to the bottom.

Lamest security measures ever!

I landed in an empty room, and cautiously strolled through a doorway that was didn't even have any security measures. Only a moment later, the door slammed shut behind me, and I looked around nervously. I quickly pressed a button on the side of my mask, and my outfit condensed into a small necklace with an icicle charm on it.

Let's just hope nopony notices my lack of a cute mark, or whatever those things are called...

I took a single step before a layer of freeze suddenly came flying down the hall. I flew into the air as everything around me froze, and even with my resistance to the cold, I could feel how freezing it had become.

Weird...

I flew down the hall until I saw an Earth pony, frozen mid-run. I smirked, again, realizing that probably everyone in the facility must have been frozen at the rate the freeze had been moving. I continued falling, taking a random turn whenever I felt like it. I noticed a room with the door blasted to pieces, and went over to check it out.

The door was broken after being frozen... Was it that fire pegasus?

As if in response, the freeze began to melt away, and I panicked.

Everyone's going to unfreeze! I need to hide in case that fire pegasus sees me!

I flew into the room with the wrecked door, ripped off the cover for an air vent, and slid inside. I made sure I could look into the room, in case the fire pegasus came back.

"Windigo!" came from my earpiece, "Where in Tartarus are you?!?"

"I found their secret base!" I whispered, "I need you to be quiet or I'll get caught!"

"Liar! If I haven't found their facility, then neither have you!"

"Then where am I?"

"According to your GPS, you liar, you're..." she faded off in surprise, "Sweet Celestia, you are in their base!"

I resisted every urge to say 'I told you so', and responded calmly, "You've copied my location, right?"

My earpiece suddenly short-circuited, and I yanked it out of my ear quickly. I put my hoof to my ear to cool it off, and looked at the broken ear-piece nervously. The security measures must have been frozen over, and must have just thawed.

No, no, no, no, no! Now I'm completely alone in the enemy's base! What do I do?!?

"Of course, you'll need a cool name," said a voice, coming nearer, "Can't let everypony know who you actually are!"

"How about Phoenix?" it was the fire pegasus speaking, "Because I can fly and have fire powers!"

"Phoenix?" asked the second voice, "Huh, that sounds pretty cool!"

"I am a genius."

From the vent, I saw two ponies enter the room. One was a unicorn, and the was the fire pegasus, Phoenix. Neither seemed to notice me, which was very fortunate. If even a single pony saw me, I'd be captured in two seconds purely because of how many ponies must be in this place.

"So, Phoenix," said the second voice teasingly, "You ready for a couple of tests?"

"What kind of tests?" asked Phoenix.

"See how hot you fire is, what you can do, and I'll need to examine your blood to see if there's anything special in it."

My eyes widened in fear at the thought of somepony withdrawing blood. It brought up those moments, which I was forced to relive every week... I shifted a bit backwards from the vent, and the next thing I knew, I was falling down. I tried to fly, but the vent was too thin to allow me to open my wings.

Stop, stop, stop!

A sheet of ice blasted out under me, and I landed on it safely. I took in a deep breath of relief, until I heard a voice coming from above.

"Did you heard that?" asked the voice of whoever Phoenix was with, "It sounded like somepony fell down the vent!"

"Then I'll go investigate!" said Phoenix.

"Wait, that seems like a bad idea-"

"Too later, I'm already doing it."

I heard the opened to the vent get yanked off, and panicked. I could make ice at will, but making it vanished was much for difficult. If Phoenix spotted me, she would be sure to blast me with a fireball!

"This is a really bad idea!" warned the second voice.

"Psh, I've already taken on, like, four ponies today!" said Phoenix, "Going to investigate a possible intruder is nothing in comparison."

"But what if they have a weapon to kill you with?"

"La la la, I'm not listening!"

I began panicking as I saw the tips of Phoenix's red mane peek over the side of the vent far above me. She turned around to say something to her partner, but continued moving forward, and fell down the same vent as me. I quickly shifted to the side of the vent, just as Phoenix crashed down on to the sheet of ice I had made.

"You!" she cried, noticing me and getting to her hooves, "What the heck are you doing here?"

Her hooves blazed with fire, and the sheet of ice instantly melted away, causing both of us to continue falling down the vent. We both crashed through another vent, and fell on to a concrete floor. I landed on my side, which caused me to flinch in pain, but Phoenix hit the ground with a sickening thud as she landed on her.

She instantly fell over to the side, unconscious. I stared at her for a moment before blasting the open vent above me with a ice beam, sealing it shut. I turned back to Phoenix, and felt the urge to hurt her rise. But... She was injured. Wouldn't it be cheap to hurt her while she was badly injured?

I cautiously approached Phoenix, and saw that she was bleeding. Any thought of hurting her faded away instantly faded away, and switched to nervousness. I may not be the smartest pony, but I can tell that if somepony hits their head on concrete that they're not okay.

What do I do? I know nothing about anything medical related! Er... I should probably check the wound...

I gently rolled Phoenix over onto her side, and saw her wound. She had a large slash across the side of her head, and frowned in confusion. You don't get that kind of injury from hitting the ground. She must have hit something in the vent. I gently placed my hoof against her injury, and covered it with a thin layer of ice. Phoenix's mane suddenly faded to blue, but I didn't really pay that much attention to it.

Okay, that should help. And that's probably all I can do...

I glanced back at Phoenix, still lying unconscious, then flew off to find an exit.

"Ugh..." I moaned, sitting up off the hard ground, "My head is killing me... What happened?"

"Rain!" cried Glass, running up to me suddenly, "Rain, are you okay? You went into the vent and then didn't come back out!"

"I dunno.." I muttered, "But I feel like I just slammed my head into a brick wall..." I placed a hoof against the side of my head, but oddly enough felt ice, "Huh? Wait, why is there ice on me?"

"Looks like its covering some sort of injury," said Glass, looking at the ice, "How did you get hurt?"

"Um..." I paused to think, "I don't remember... I just remember going to look in the vent, but then it's all blank..."

"You can try and remember later, we should probably get that injury looked at. Wonder how it got covered in ice, though..."

I nodded, and walked over to some sort of elevator with Glass. I strained to remember what had happened after I went into the vent, but I couldn't think of anything.

I flew out of the Everfree Forest and above the cloud layer before anypony could see me. I wasn't quite sure who I got out of their base, but I wasn't complaining. Plus, she was probably going kill me if it took me any longer to get back to headquarters, especially since my earpiece was destroyed and she couldn't scream at me.

I hope Phoenix is okay... She was bleeding a lot... Ugh! Stop thinking about Phoenix! She's just another obstacle to overcome and defeat!

I beat my wings at double time, and tried to get Phoenix out of my head. After all, I know that ULTRA is only full of evil ponies who try and stop us. They might pretend that they care sometimes, but they're not good. At least, that's what I've been taught. And it's not like everypony would lie to me about something that important!

Stop thinking. You're not supposed to think about stuff like this. You're supposed to remember your training, and think only about strategy. Now hurry up and get back to HQ so you can get power modifications!

I shuddered at that. I know they need to do it to make me stronger, but those needles can really hurt.