All of the Rainbooms stared in horror as Ghost Rider stood up from the crater, completely unscathed.
Twilight's mouth hung open. "H-How…?"
Ghost Rider moved to look at her and before anybody could react, threw his chain at her, wrapping her up and leaving her immobile.
"GAH!"
"No more tricks from you." He stated as he yanked her aside as her friends tried to grab her.
Though instead of that, Sunset remained motionless, her eyes firmly locked onto Ghost Rider with the occasional twitch.
Then she snapped.
"HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!" She shouted hysterically. "WE USED THE ELEMENTS! YOU SHOULD HAVE HAD THE EVIL EXTINGUISHED FROM YOU!"
Ghost Rider snapped his skull to look back at Sunset. "My power comes from Hell, but I am not evil. I hunt those with evil souls."
Sunset grit her teeth. "HOW AM I EVIL?!" She demanded. "I HAVE WORKED MY ASS OFF TRYING TO MAKE WHAT I DID RIGHT! WHY DIDN'T YOU COME FOR ME WHEN I WAS ACTUALLY A BITCH?!"
"I was occupied, but now I am making up for lost time. And you are on the list."
"BUT I'VE CHANGED!"
"The guilt is faint, but it is there nonetheless. And, as faint as it may be, your soul is still guilty, meaning you must repent."
Her friends watched the exchange with stunned expressions, too shocked to move.
Sunset fell to her knees in front of the Rider and let tears fall from her eyes.
"I don't understand…I thought everyone had forgiven me…" She said with a defeated voice glancing up at the Rider's flaming face.
"They have." He spoke.
That made Sunset pause and look up at Ghost Rider. "W-What…?"
Ghost Rider kept his eyes locked on her.
"They have. All have forgiven you." He then held up a finger. "All but one. And while that one still finds you guilty, your soul is damned."
Sunset started breathing frantically. "Wh-Who?! Who is it?!" She pleaded as she got to her feet.
The Rider did not answer as he walked over to her and grabbed her by her jacket.
Just as he began to lift her, a voice spoke up. "STOP!"
All heads turned to look at Twilight, who was still chained up on the floor.
"You can't take Sunset!" She shouted.
"Her soul-" Ghost Rider started, but was cut off.
"I DON'T CARE!" She shouted, much to everyone's surprise. "Sunset is my best friend! She saved me from ripping reality apart, why isn't my soul guilty?!"
“You have been forgiven.”
“And everyone has forgiven Sunset!” Twilight screamed. “Do any of you still hold grudges?!”
“Heck no. That girl’s done more fer me than Ah can count.” Applejack said.
“Yeah, she’s saved us more times than Rarity’s cried over a stain, which is really saying something.” Rainbow Dash added.
Rarity glared at her. “While I detest that statement, it is a true one.”
“She’s a really nice person…” Fluttershy said with a lot more force than most were anticipating.
“So see?! Sunny’s a really super awesome cool person!” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing up.
Ghost Rider stood still as they all spoke and glanced around at the group.
Then he looked back at Sunset and wrapped a bony hand around her neck. “That changes nothing. One of you still does not forgive her.”
“WHAT?!” They all shouted in unison.
Sunset struggled against the Rider’s grip, trying desperately to pry his fingers away from her throat, but it was useless.
That’s when she realized something.
Ever since the Fall Formal she had spent all that time kicking herself in the ass. She herself had never really gotten over it. All that pain she caused, how could she?
And then it clicked.
The person who hadn’t forgiven Sunset Shimmer…
...Was Sunset Shimmer.
Her thoughts were interrupted as Ghost Rider spoke. “Now…GAZE INTO MY EYES!”
Her friends all screamed out in horror, as Sunset locked eyes with the Ghost Rider’s fiery pupils that seemed to entrance her.
However, before the stare could take full effect, Sunset spoke up. “I FORGIVE MYSELF!”
Ghost Rider paused as his pupils shrunk down to normal. “What?”
“I FORGIVE MYSELF! FOR THE FALL FORMAL AND FOR EVERYTHING I HAD DONE BEFORE IT! FOR TEARING A GROUP OF FRIENDS APART, FOR MESSING WITH PEOPLE, FOR EVERYTHING!” She shouted.
The air around them all seemed to become thick enough to cut with a knife as everyone looked at the Spirit of Vengeance as he dangled their friend from his grasp.
“You are sincere.” He finally spoke after an agonizingly long silence.
"Y-Yes, of course I am!" Sunset said as she continued to pry away at Ghost Rider's fingers. "Do you think you can let me go?"
Ghost Rider released his grip causing Sunset to fall with a thud as her friends all ran up and began to hug her and check to make sure she was alright.
“Your soul has been cleared of sin.” Ghost Rider said, snapping the girls out of their hug.
Sunset got up and looked at the Rider. “D-Does that mean you’ll leave me alone?” She asked hopefully.
“If you continue to stay pure, then yes, I will not be forced to hunt you down again.”
The group all let out a collective sigh of relief as Ghost Rider’s bike pulled up beside them and he got on top of it.
“Stay in school, kids.” He spoke as he revved the bike and took off in a burst of speed.
The girls watched him leave before Sunset collapsed to the ground. “I am so tired.”
________________________________
The crowd cheered as The Rainbooms just finished a show at Sugarcube Corner. Sunset smirked and looked out at the group of people applauding their small little concert. She was surprised at the size of the turnout considering Sugarcube Corner wasn’t very big, but she couldn’t complain. It was nice.
As the last few people started to either leave or go back to their tables to continue eating their treats, the band began to clean up the stage.
“I swear, we need a crew or something to clean this stuff up for us.” Rainbow Dash said as she sat on an amp plucking random strings on her guitar and did nothing to help clean up.
"That would require money. More money than an average group of high schoolers can make." Applejack said as she lifted the amp Rainbow sat on. "Get offa that."
Rainbow blew her tongue at the girl, but hopped off.
Sunset chuckled to herself as she watched the exchange and started wrapping her guitar up. A few days had passed since the Ghost Rider incident, and after a time, and a large scolding from Granny Smith over a destroyed farm, things had gotten back to normal.
"Excuse me. Are you the Rainbooms?"
The girls all turned to see a blonde man wearing a leather jacket looking at them.
Rarity stepped forward. "Why yes, we are! Could you be a fan, darling? I do autographs."
The man chuckled as he looked at the group. "Just stepping in to see the show. Gotta hit the road in a few." He said as he jabbed his thumb towards a rather familiar looking motorcycle.
"Well, thank you for seeing the show." Twilight said with a smile.
"And if you got some spare cash, we're always taking donations." Rainbow Dash said with a sly smirk.
Applejack elbowed her.
Sunset had kept quiet the whole time eyeing the man. "What'd you say your name was?"
The man chuckled. "Name's Johnny."