Ashley held out her hands and they glowed green, then dozens of tiny green balls of light surrounded Psychotic. "Firefly!" The balls ignited and caused a massive explosion. Psychotic tried to absorb the energy but failed.

"What they hell?!" Ashley charged forward in a ball of fire and nailed him in the chest. When he tried to grab her his hand slipped right through her, the part he tried to grab had separated into fire. "What?!"

Ashley smirked and summoned two fire blades. She spin kicked Psychotic and he was thrown against a tree, she then threw the blades at him and they impaled his chest and stuck him to the tree. She charged her first with energy and sent a huge wave of fire over him. Charging forward Ashley held out her arms and they became black and metal-like, much like Symbols did.

She reached Psychotic and punched him in the stomach. She brought her other fist down on his chest. She then began to repeatedly punch him in the face and stomach until she charged up one last punch and landed on his chest, causing an explosion that burst out of Psychotics back.

Ashley watched as Psychotic fell to the ground with multiple burns, bruises and stab wounds. Smiling at her victory she moved her attention to Symbol who had his back against a tree and was holding his chest while breathing heavily.

"Ashley... I told you not... to come... after me."

She rolled her eyes and knelt down beside him. "I couldn't just leave you out here, you still need to teach me how to use observation Haki." Symbol smiled before falling unconscious. "Come on, let's get you to Canterlot where you can rest up." She grabbed Symbols shoulder and they teleported away from the area.

Psychotic slowly opened his eyes and punched the ground. "Damnit! I was so close to all that power!" Suddenly a portal opened and a man with spiked green hair, a scarf that covered his mouth, a green tracksuit top with a metal sash over it and jeans walked out. "Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Roden Godswell, and I have no business with you demon, I wish to speak with Epidemic." Roden placed his hand on Psychotics head and forced Epidemic out. "You were never supposed to be here young one, it isn't yet time for Neo to return."

"And why is that?"

"That does not concern you, Neo will return eventually but until that time comes he must remain here where he can develop."

Epidemic just growled and stood up. "Sorry old timer, but I have a mission to complete."

Roden just looked at him and frowned. "Fine, but if you succeed you are the one that must suffer the consequences." With that Roden stepped into a portal.

“Consequences? What the hell is he talking about? Hmph, I don’t time for this.” Epidemic became let loose his dragon phase and took the sky, readying his scythe for an attack.

Meanwhile Ashley had teleported to Canterlot, where Twilight and her friends were located. When they all saw the damage done to Symbol, they knew something was wrong.

“Oh my gosh what happened?” Ashley looked up as Twilight came rushing to assist.

“Someone very dangerous and determined arrived here. Remember that strange human looking thing with wings?”

“Well yeah of course.”

“He, sort of did this to him.”

“Sort of? How in the hay do ya sort of do this ta somepony?”

“Well, I don't think it was exactly him. It’s like it was a crazier, more insane version of him.”

“So he’s been corrupted by dark magic?”

“I don’t think so. I didn’t feel any dark magic, I think it was just some other side of him.”

“You’re partly right.” With a gasp they all looked up to see Epidemic above them, glaring at them all. His glare was only intensified by his wings, claws, horns, and tail. “He is another side of something, but it’s not me. Maybe if we meet again I’ll tell you what that truly was.”

“Meet again? What do you mean by that?”

“I mean I’m taking Symbol home, and I don’t care if I have to kill each and every one of you in order to do it.”

“W-What?!” Twilight and the others started to panic, but Ashley kept her cool.

“Oh yeah? Go ahead and try! I beat the guy that beat Symbol pretty easily, what makes you so different?”

“Difference is, Psychotic is better meant to fight those that have a lot of energy. His keen energy sense can detect even the most well disguised energy signature. He can also absorb and steal energy from others. You however, are not fighting Psychotic. You’re fighting me, Epidemic, and I assure you our attack strategies are very different. I will not be concerned about gaining your power, I already have my own. Now, before this battle starts I'll give you a choice, surrender Symbol to me, or die.”

“Bring it on!” Ashley took up a fighting stance as did Twilight and her friends.

“Very well, then take a good look around you, for this is the last place you’ll ever see.” Epidemic dove at Ashley and the girls, causing them all to dive for cover. Ascending into the air again, he fired off a couple blasts of fire at them all. He hit his targets dead on, and everyone was sent flying. Ashley recovered first and fired off her own blasts. Epidemic dodged them and flew down at her, scythe at the ready. He swung and she barely dodged. He was about to swing again, but then got hit by a blast of magic from Twilight. He didn’t even budge, only slowed down for a second allowing Ashley to roll out of the way. He gave a look of fury towards Twilight, who wilted under his gaze. Ignoring her, he went back to his real target. Ashley had taken cover and started to charge up a ball of fire. Epidemic was about to go for her when…

“Hya!” Rainbow Dash came in with a spin kick, aiming straight for Epidemic’s face. He however, caught her leg and tossed her right into an incoming Applejack. Pinkie Pie fired her party cannons, which Epidemic destroyed with blasts of magic. Twilight ran in front of him and shot a beam of magic at him, which he simply walked through it to her. He grabbed her horn, stopping the spell instantly, and threw her to the side. By this point, the girls had bought Ashley enough time to build up a huge ball of fire in her hands.

“Take this!” She threw it at him as hard as possible and smirked when it hit her target. It exploded, creating a huge dust cloud. Ashley couldn’t see a thing, but she knew that there was no way anyone could survive something like that. Then, in the smoke, she saw a figure.

’N-No… no way… how could anyone… survive that?’ Epidemic walked from the smoke and closer still to Ashley. She grunted and rushed him. She threw a punch, which he simply dodged, and returned with a knee to the gut, and followed it up by a blast of magic, sending her flying into a wall. With difficulty, she separated herself from the wall and rushed him again, this time with a fist of fire. He caught her wrist and squeezed, forcing her to kneel from the pain. He held up one hand and charged up a ball of fire in it. He looked into her eyes as he was about to throw it and kill her, and saw something.

Determination. That’s what he saw. Even though she knew she was dead she was still willing to fight on for her friends. For the ones she cared about. In that moment, Epidemic knew he couldn’t kill her. She had a life to live, things to do, people to meet, places to go. If he ended all of that right here, it would have been too cruel.

So he didn’t. He let go of her arm, and dispersed the ball of flames.

“W-What are you?”

“If Symbol truly does have his reasons to stay, then so be it. I will wait until he returns. But, tell him this.” Epidemic turned to Ashley with a glare. “The moment he decides to return, I want answers.”

And with that he was gone, disappearing into a portal that opened up behind him. He walked out, leaving Ashley to wonder just what the hell was really going on. If Symbol had a life before, why didn’t he go back? Why wasn’t Epidemic supposed to find him yet? And maybe the most important of all, what happened to Symbol in the first place?

As Symbol lay in a bed in Canterlot Castle recovering from his wounds, a dark figure entered the room.

"My plan to have Epidemic bring him back has failed, looks like I have to do it myself." The figure grabbed Symbol and tossed him through a portal. "I have to make sure no one gets in my way, let's see how little Ashley does without her teacher for awhile!"

Author's Notes:

Yeah I'm taking Symbol out of the story for a chapter or two, this story is about Ashley not him