//------------------------------//
// We Can Take Him 
// Story: Ride Like The Wind 
// by Calvin-Klein-85 
//------------------------------//

"Those idiots…They just don't understand the Great and Powerful Trixie’s Great and Powerfulness!" Trixie mumbled to herself as she walked down the street annoyed. She had TRIED to show off an incredible and really awesome trick to her peers, but those morons just ran right by her, babbling about skulls and bikes.

She glanced down into her magician's hat and saw a few pieces of spare change and loose one dollar bills and scowled. This wasn't enough to pay for new supplies.

While she was busy looking at her failure to bring in stable income, she heard a motorcycle pull up in front of her.

"You." She heard the person on it say. She growled to herself. Great, some creep hitting on her was the last thing she needed.

She looked up to tell the guy off, but her words died in her throat as she gazed upon him and saw a flaming skeleton.

"I…uh…" She barely managed to say as it made eye contact with her.

"Where did Sunset Shimmer go?" He asked her.

"Um, uh, she, uh, she went…that way…" Trixie got out as she pointed a shaking finger towards a neighborhood.

Ghost Rider looked off in the direction she pointed and then back to her and nodded, then revved his cycle and zoomed off in that direction.

Trixie just stared at the trail of fire that he left behind. Then she fainted.


______________________________

"Soooo…That's pretty much the gist of it." Sunset said as she finished explaining the story to the rest of her friends, all of whom were sporting looks of fear or bewilderment. Except Pinkie. She seemed unfazed.

"So, Ah jus' wanna be sure Ah'm hearin' ya right, Sunset." Applejack started. "You an Rainbow were out drivin' and a big fella with a flamin' skull fer a head tried to kill ya?"

Sunset nodded.

Applejack frowned, but before she could say anything more Rarity cut her off. "Puh-LEASE, darling. That is not a funny joke, nor is it clever. Some of us need to get all eight hours to make sure we're as fabulous as we can be for the day." She said as she fluffed her hair, which despite just being woken up, was nicely done.

Rainbow Dash shot her a look. "Are you serious?! What would we gain from lying about this?! Look at my leg, Rarity!" She yelled as she gestured toward her twisted leg.

Rarity scoffed and crossed her arms. "I'm sure you just fell off your bike and thought it'd be funny to pull a fast one on us all."

"Yeah, okay, I got in an accident and then I somehow convinced Sunset that it'd be way better to pull a prank on you guys at 2AM than to go to the hospital. You caught us." She sarcastically replied.

"Thank you for admitting it. Now if you'll excuse me, with SOME luck, I'll be able to squeeze out the last four hours of sleep." Rarity said as she got up and brushed her shirt off.

"Um…Rarity, I think she was being sarcastic." Fluttershy quietly told her. Rarity looked at Fluttershy and then back to Rainbow. Rainbow shot her a smug look.

Rarity growled a bit as she got up to Rainbow. "Look, missy! I know you think you're funny, but SOME of us have things to do and- Twilight, darling, would you PLEASE knock off that typing?!" She shouted as she looked over at Twilight who had been on her laptop nearly the whole time.

The girl jumped a bit as she was addressed, but composed herself and fixed her glasses. "Sorry Rarity, just looking into something." She then turned to Sunset. "You said he called himself Ghost Rider?"

Sunset glanced at her and put her head in her hands. "Yeah, something like that. He said his job was to make me repent." She mumbled.

Twilight nodded and went back to her computer.

"For what? Didn't he get the message that you were the All New, All Friendly, All Totally Awesome Sunset Shimmer?" Pinkie Pie asked as she shoved…some sort of sugar monstrosity into her mouth.

"I don't know! The only thing I can think of is the Fall Formal, but that was like two years ago! I thought I paid my debt to society." Sunset exclaimed.

"Yer makin' it sound like ya did hard time, sugarcube." Applejack pointed out.

"I would've rather done that than deal with the entire student body giving me the cold shoulder." She mumbled.

"Ah doubt that." Applejack said as she looked over at Twilight who was still staring at her screen with a much more focused look. "What'cha doin' over there?" She asked.

"Just looking up something…" The girl responded with, though it sounded like barely registered the question. Applejack looked at her for a second and then turned to Rarity who was still sulking.

"This is all pointless!" Applejack rolled her eyes as the girl started complaining again. "Honestly, the fact we're entertaining this idea is asanine. I have half a mind to-" Rarity didn't get a chance to finish as Twilight cut her off.

"Found it!" 

The girls all turned to her. "Found what?" Sunset asked.

Twilight pushed her glasses up slightly and looked at them. "Okay, well, there isn't much, but I found as much as I could about 'Ghost Rider.'" She told them.

"HE'S REAL?!" Rarity shouted. Rainbow scoffed.

"Told ya." She snarked. Rarity shot her a look, but before they could go any farther, Twilight continued.

"Anyway, not a whole lot is known about him. The most I found were a couple of old myths and legends that tell of wandering travelers with fire for heads and on skeleton horses." She explained.

"Were the horses on fire?" Sunset asked.

"Yes, the horses were on fire." Twilight answered.

Sunset shivered.

"Well, I guess the legends were true." Rainbow said. "What about recent stuff? That weirdo can't be new."

"See, that's where things get weird." Twilight said as she glanced back at her laptop. "I've done some looking from the simple term 'Ghost Rider' to 'Flaming Skeleton Guy.'" She explained.

"And?" Rarity asked, gesturing for her to go on.

"And apparently he's a member of the Avengers." She stated casually and was met with a room of silence.

"The who?" Applejack asked.

Twilight shrugged, but flipped her laptop around so she could show the rest of her friends. They leaned around and looked at the picture Twilight was showing off, but Sunset pointed a finger at him. "No, that’s wrong. The guy who attacked us had a motorcycle. This guy has a car." 

Rainbow leaned over her shoulder. "Yeah, and his head looks different."

Fluttershy started to shake harder than she already was. "D-Does that mean there's m-multiple…?" She shakily asked.

"Yes, I was going to get to that." Twilight said as she flipped around her computer and pulled a different tab up. "I was able to find some about the motorcycle Ghost Rider. There have been sightings of him that date all the way back to the late 80's early 90's in Illinois." Twilight explained as she turned the computer again to show off a blurry photo of the Ghost Rider on his bike. "What he's doing all the way here is beyond me."

"So that means there could several at once?" Sunset asked.

"Maybe there's even a Cosmic Ghost Rider!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed with stars in her eyes.

Twilight nodded her head. "Possibly, but all we know for sure is that he's bad news, and we need to stop him before he gets his hands on Sunset. There's some pictures online of what his victims look like, and, to put it simply, I'd not like my friend to look like them."

The group all nodded. They wouldn't let this thing get ahold of Sunset if it was the last thing they did. 

After a moment of silence, Applejack hopped up to her feet. "Alright, Ah'd say it's about time we got Dash to the hospital." 

"Aw, c'mon! I wanna help! See, look, it doesn't even hurt anymor-Ow, ow, ow!" She was shut up as she tried to jump on her leg.

"That's what Ah thought, sugarcube. C'mon, let's get a move on." Applejack said as she slung Rainbow's arm around her shoulder and made her way to the door.

"Be safe you guys. We'll make sure to call you if anything happens." Sunset said as she got up and stretched. 

"Can do. Night y'all." Applejack said as she opened the front door.

However, instead of being met with the sight of the road, she got a faceful of leather.

Glancing up, her eyes shrunk as she took in the sight of the flaming skull.

Ghost Rider pushed the two stunned girls aside and threw his chain which latched around Sunset.

"What the?!" She shouted as she was yanked back and through her front door. 

"SUNSET!" The rest of the Rainbooms shouted as they hurriedly rushed past Ghost Rider and to their friend, who was now sprawled on the street.

Ghost Rider turned to face them and began strutting over to them. However, one of the girls shot up and and stomped right over to Ghost Rider.

It was Fluttershy.

"You monster! You dare hurt an innocent girl?! What is wrong with you?!" She shouted at the Rider.

"She is far from innocent. Her soul burns with guilt." He responded in his haunting voice.

"That's wrong! Sunset Shimmer is one of the nicest and most caring girls I've ever met! She's tried so hard to make up for what she's done! Isn't that enough?!" Fluttershy yelled.

"No." Ghost Rider said as he went to move past the girl. However, he once again stopped as Fluttershy stared into his eyes. The rest of the Rainbooms gazed as they knew the power of her stare.

However Ghost Rider simply kept looking at the girl, before leaning down. "Nice trick. Wanna see mine?" He asked as his pupils burned brighter.

Fluttershy couldn't tear her eyes away as she looked into the flaming pupils, entranced. It scared her to no limit, but she just couldn't look away.

Ghost Rider eventually stood back up straight and spoke, his pupils shrinking again. "Your soul is the most innocent soul I've come across. Please, stay out of my way." He said as he was finally able to move past Fluttershy, who was now frozen in fear.

Only to be stopped yet again as he was encased in diamond.

The girls glanced to see that Rarity was using her amulet to trap to Rider. 

"Are ya sure that’s gonna hold?" Applejack asked as she slung Rainbow over her shoulder again.

"It's solid diamond, there's no way he'll be able to get through that!" Is what she would have answered with if a leather gloved fist didn't shoot through the diamond.

"Oh dear…" Rarity mumbled as Ghost Rider broke through the rest of the diamond with his chain. He threw his chain at her, wrapping her up, and then tossing her off to the side. 

"AAAAAAH" She shouted as she landed at least a block down, using a diamond to create some form of landing board.

"Now ya done it! Ah'm gonna crunch that skull like an egg in one of Granny's pies." Applejack yelled as she got up and cracked her knuckles.

Ghost Rider made no attempt to stop her as she closed the distance between them and threw a punch. 

To his surprise, when her fist collided with his torso, he actually went flying back into the wall of a building.

And Applejack, to a less surprise, felt like she just touched a stovetop with how much her hand burned. "Aw heck!" She shouted as she started to blow on her hand.

Ghost Rider got back to his feet at the same time Applejack stopped fussing over her hand, and both swiftly began to make their way over to the other.

Applejack went for another punch, but this time Ghost Rider caught it. 

"That wasn't bad, but this is how it's done." He said as gave her an uppercut which sent her flying and landing into the bed of her truck.

"HIIYAAAAAH" He heard as he turned and saw Pinkie Pie with a fistful of sprinkles. "No more hurting my friends! Taste my sweet revenge!" She shouted as she chucked the sprinkles at his skull.

They melted before they even got the chance to do anything.

Pinkie Pie blinked and then stomped her foot. "Aw man! I just wasted good sprinkles for nothing!" 

His chain wrapped around and also threw her away. "WEEEEEEEEE" She shouted as she was flung off into the night.

Rainbow Dash growled and stood up, ignoring the pain in her foot, and stared him down.

"Rainbow, no!" Sunset, who had been in the same spot on the street the entire time, pleaded. "Your foot!"

"Screw it! I can't sit here while he hurts my friends!" She turned from Sunset and glared at Ghost Rider. "Alright pal! You and me! Let's do this!" She shouted as she dashed at him with her speed.

He simply moved aside and held out his arm, clotheslining her, causing her to drop the ground gasping for air.

"Rainbow!" Sunset shouted as she reached her arm out, but had to pull back when Ghost Rider began to make his way to her. 

She glanced around frantically until her eyes landed on the only person who hadn't moved since they got outside. "Twilight! Help!" 

But the girl just stayed put, shaking violently as she eyed the Ghost Rider.

"She's smarter than your friends. She knows she cannot save you from your guilt." He said as he continued to get closer. Sunset got to her feet and started backing up until she felt a wall of bricks behind her.

Watching him inch closer and closer, Sunset panicked and threw up her arms. "W-Wait! Don't I at least deserve to know what you are?!" She pleaded.

Ghost Rider paused for a second before answering. "I'm a Spirit of Vengeance. I make those guilty pay for what they have done." 

"H-How did you end up like…that?" She asked, pointing her finger at his skull.

"I made a deal, and now the power of Hell itself flows through me." When he said this, the flame above his head glew a little brighter. 

"A deal with who?" Sunset asked uneasily.

The Rider simply looked at her. "Who do you think?" He asked as he grabbed his chain.

"N-No, wait!" She yelled as she threw her arms in front of her face.

However no blow came.

"What is this?" She heard Ghost Rider ask. Lowering her arms she saw him tugging at his chain attempting to throw it, but it was as if it froze.

That's when she saw the purple magic engulfing it.

"T-Twilight!" She exclaimed as she looked and saw the girl obviously struggling to hold back the Rider's chain. 

"Release my chain!" The Rider demanded as he looked at Twilight with what Sunset assumed was a glare.

Sunset saw Twilight strain even harder as suddenly the Ghost Riders chain wrapped itself around him, preventing him from moving. "How is this possible?!" He shouted.

With one final bout of willpower, Twilight engulfed all of Ghost Rider in her magic and with a shout threw him to the other side of town, while Rarity was running back over. She looked up and saw him fly off. "Hmph. Must've scared him off."

With a puff of air, the violet girl collapsed to the ground. Running over to Twilight, Sunset saw her other friends gathering back around.

"So, uh…" Applejack started. "We got our keesters kicked pretty badly…" 

"Don't mention it…" Rainbow Dash wheezed.

"That guy wasn't very nice…" Pinkie Pie said as she materialized between Applejack and Rainbow, causing the two to jump.

The girls nodded in agreement before just standing in the road, unsure of what to do.

They were snapped out of their stupor when Fluttershy started crying.

Rarity rushed over to her and rubbed her back. "Darling, what's wrong?"

Fluttershy sobbed for a second and looked up at her friends after sniffling. "We can't beat that thing."

"Nonsense! Twilight just threw it across town!" Rarity attempted to reassure her.

"And now look at her." Applejack pointed out, as they looked over at Twilight who was panting heavily in Sunset's arms.

"I…er…' Rarity stuttered. 

Fluttershy let out another cry. "My friend is gonna die!" She sobbed into Rarity's shoulder. Rarity stroked her fingers through the girls hair, doing her best to soothe her.

As Sunset looked over her defeated looking friends she felt something burning inside of her. She wasn't going to let something as stupid as a motorcycle riding skeleton tear them apart. 

Gently setting Twilight down, she stood up. "Enough! We can beat him! He just caught us off guard!" She shouted, gaining their attention.

"Think about all the other things we beat! Sirens, a plant demon, a weird chick with a phone, a reality deatroying demon," Twilight flinched at that one. "Hell, you even beat ME as a demon! This one guy is nothing! We'll just have to Pony Up!" 

The girls looked at each other uneasily for a moment. Then Rainbow Dash spoke up.

"Heck yeah! Let's take this loser down, and show him how awesome I am!" 

"How awesome WE are!" Sunset corrected her with a smile.

"Oh, uh, right!" She said sheepishly.

"I'm not sure, darling. The biggest of those, we had Princess Twilight to help us." Rarity told her.

That's when Sunset smirked. "Exactly. Which is why we'll need help." 

_______________________

Trixie wasn't even sure why she was out at two in the morning to begin with, but now she's not sure why she's just waking up on the side of the street.

She grumbled at herself to make sure she didn't get mugged while she was knocked out and started making her way home.

That's when a man with a flaming skull for a head landed with a thud in front of her. 

"GAAAH!" She screamed as he got up and broke off the chains that were around him.

He looked up at her and nodded before snapping his fingers. 

Trixie didn't know what that meant, but she assumed it was to bow before him, so that's exactly what she did.

Then a flaming motorcycle pulled up beside her by itself and the Rider mounted it.

"Take it easy, kid." He said in a deep voice before doing a wheelie and driving off.

Trixie fainted again.