//------------------------------// // Night Rides // Story: Ride Like The Wind // by Calvin-Klein-85 //------------------------------// "I can't believe this." Sunset muttered as she rode her bike alongside Rainbow Dash. The athlete had insisted they take their bikes out for a late night drive, and while Sunset was hesitant, it had been a while since she had a proper ride with the old girl, so she relented. That was until Rainbow started driving way out of town, and now they were speeding down some random country road. Though Rainbow didn't seem to mind if the wheelies she was pulling off every twenty seconds were anything to go off of. It was at that point Sunset realized she hated the sound of dirtbikes. Sighing, she decided to give her surroundings another scan, and wasn't shocked when she couldn't see anything through the pitch black night, just like all the other times she looked. Alright, enough is enough. "Dash! I think we should start heading back!" She shouted. Rainbow Dash glanced behind her "What?!" She shouted back. "I think we shou- hold on." Sunset mumbled as she accelerated her bike to pull up next to Dash. "I said we should head back!" Rainbow just scoffed at her and smirked. "What? Scared of the dark, Sunny?" She snickered to herself while Sunset gave her a blank look. Rainbow scanned her face for a second before pouting. "Aw c'mon! I've barely gotten the time to do anything super awesome!" Sunset growled. "You won't even be able to see yourself do anything super awesome! It's too dark out here!" "What?!" Rainbow shouted. Sunset growled again and looked at Rainbow. "Hold on! Pull over!" She commanded before starting to slow and pull off to the side. Rainbow pouted but did as she asked. Once the girl got off the bike, she looked at Sunset who was giving her a glare. "What?" "'What'?! What do you mean 'what'?! We're in the middle of nowhere at 1AM! Do you even know how far we are from Canterlot?!" Sunset said, jabbing a finger at Rainbow. "Do you?" Rainbow snarked. "NO! AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM!" Sunset screamed. Rainbow shrank under the other girl's outburst, but before she could reply, her ears picked up on something. She quickly glanced in the direction. "Do you hear that?" Sunset frowned. "Don't change the su- Actually yeah, I do…" She said before glancing in the direction Rainbow was looking. What they both heard was the hum of a motorcycle, not dissimilar to the one Sunset rode. However, upon looking they both noticed the orange glow that accompanied the noise. "Well there!" Rainbow said. "We can ask that guy for directions!" "I don't think that's a good idea, Rainbow…" Sunset muttered as she continued to look in the direction of the motorcyclist. "Aw c'mon, what's the worst that could hap..pen..?" Rainbow trailed off as the cyclist got closer to the girls and they could make him out. The tires on his bike were scorched in flames, leaving a trail of fire behind him as he rode. "What the heck?!" Rainbow shouted as they looked on. However, as they continued to stare, something far more unsettling revealed itself to them. His head was on fire. Or rather the lackthereof. The Rider just had a skull. A skull that was engulfed in flames. "Wh-Wh-What?! Sunset, what is that?! Is that some creature from Equestria?!" Rainbow screamed at the girl. Sunset for her part just stood in shock as it got closer. She couldn't move, couldn't talk, couldn't really think. She just stared as the flames got closer. That's when it spoke. "Sunset Shimmer! Your soul is guilty of great sin! And for that, you must repent!" It yelled in a low, haunting voice. That finally snapped Sunset out of her shock when she turned to Rainbow Dash "We need to get out of here!" The two girls hopped onto their bikes and peeled off in a hurry. Sunset had never gone this fast on her bike before, but she could tell it wasn't helping at all. She didn't need to look in her mirror to tell that the Rider was getting closer to them. "It's got a chain?!" She barely heard Rainbow shout behind her. Glancing in her mirror, she saw that the girl was correct, as the Rider had a chain that he was spinning above his head like a lasso. A chain that was also on fire. "Speed up!" Sunset shouted at her. Rainbow nodded at her, but before she could even think about accelerating, the chain wrapped around her bike and tugged her to the side. "WAAAAH!" Rainbow shouted as she was tossed aside into the dirt. "RAINBOW!" Sunset shouted as she watched her friend tumble away, her bike totalled. "Your friend has paid the price for your sin! Surrender now, before others pay the same price!" The Rider shouted at her from behind her. Before Sunset could even think about replying, the same chain had suddenly wrapped itself around her bike. "Uh oh." With another violent pull, the Rider had flung Sunset off her bike and off into the dirt. She landed with a painful thud against the ground and yelped in pain when she looked at her arm. It didn't look broken, but it certainly didn't look not broken. She laid on the ground as the Rider pulled his bike up in front of her and stepped off. Once he was down, she could fully bask in his appearance. He wore black boots, a black pair of pants, and black leather jacket with a white stripe on it, with spikes protruding from the shoulders, and had a chain wrapped around his torso. But it was his head that entranced her the most. As mentioned before, his head was nothing more than a skull that was on fire, but looking at it, frightened yet amazed her. It wasn't like any creature she had seen in Equestria. She noticed now that he had little orange pupils, presumably also made of fire. He stared down at the girl before speaking in his horrifying voice. "You must atone." He spoke. Sunset suddenly realized that she was in immense danger and should probably do something. "W-Wait! Repent for what?! What did I do?!" The Rider stared down at her and answered. "Your soul is guilty. You stole the power of a forbidden magic in this world, and used it to transform into a demon." He paused as he grabbed her by her jacket and hoisted her up. "You enslaved innocents to do your bidding, and yet you were allowed to walk free. And I cannot allow that. The Ghost Rider's job is to bring penance, and that is what you shall receive! Now gaze upon my eyes!" He shouted at her. Before she could argue in her defense, or do anything really, she found herself compelled to stare into his eyes. His fiery pupils seemed to glow brighter as he began to do…something to her. Before whatever he was doing could go any further, a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around him. "Let her go- AHHH AHH AHH HOT HOT HOT!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she suddenly let go of Ghost Rider and looked at her arms which now sported bright red burns. That was able to distract Ghost Rider long enough for Sunset to break free of his grasp and back away. The Rider looked back at her before grabbing his chain and swinging it. "Do not attempt further escape." Rainbow suddenly scooped Sunset up in her arms, letting out a hiss of pain as she agitated the burns, and then looked at Ghost Rider. "Yeaaah, sorry, but we promised our mom's we wouldn't date anyone without a face, sooo…" She said to him before using her super speed to dash off, before he grabbed them. ______________________________ The girls soon arrived on the outskirts of town, where Rainbow dropped Sunset, and then collapsed herself. Sunset quickly scrambled to her feet and looked at her friend. "Are you okay?!" She worriedly asked. Rainbow Dash weakly looked up at Sunset. "He, uh, actually got me pretty good. I think adrenaline was just fueling me for that…" She mumbled. Sunset examined her friend and found multiple cuts along her friend, but also the fact her foot seemed to be bent in a direction it shouldn't be. "Sweet Celestia, Rainbow! You ran on that?!" Sunset shouted at her. "Had to get us out of there some way…" She weakly replied. Sunset ran her hands along her face as she looked around and contemplated what to do. Some flaming skeleton was coming to presumably kill her, and her friend was really hurt. After glancing around for a few minutes, she paused and took a deep breath. "Alright. Here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna call the girls and we're gonna form a plan to stop this creep. Then I'm taking you to the hospital." She said as she picked up Rainbow and slung her arm around her shoulder. "It's not that bad." Rainbow insisted, though the second she stepped on the foot she yelped in pain. "Alright, decision made. Let's get everyone to my place." Sunset said as they began to hobble to her house. Though in the back of her head there was that nagging feeling. Why was he coming after her? Hasn't everyone forgiven her? Hadn't she paid enough? She hoped her and her friends were enough to stop this thing. ____________________________ The Ghost Rider stared off in the direction they had run for a moment before speaking. "None can escape the Spirit of Vengeance. I swear on the fires of Hell, I shall make you repent, Sunset Shimmer!" He said. The Ghost Rider walked back to his motorcycle and got onto it, revving the engine which set the bike ablaze, and speeding off towards Canterlot.