"This sure is mighty unusual," a familiar orange mare with a blonde mane and tail said. She pushed the brim of her hat back up so that it wasn't blocking her vision.
"What do you mean, Applejack?" the Princess of Friendship had stopped by for a visit. She overheard her friend's statement and was curious.
"Twi, you remember my crazy cousin, Rotten Core? He tried to take over the Orchard that one time by sending in a bunch of clones of himself? Then he broke into song, proclaiming himself and his clones to be 'Number One'?" she explained, attempting to jog Twilight's memory.
"Oh, yeah, I remember. Crazy is definitely the right word to describe him," Twilight laughed.
"Well, one day, he apologized to me for doing that, and I hadn't heard from him since. I don't know what he's planning, it could be something bad," Applejack worried.
"Perhaps he meant it? Maybe something happened to him? You never know," Twilight attempted to come up with a rational explanation.
"All I know is, I'm gonna be ready for whatever souped-up plan he's going to try to unfold," Applejack remained paranoid.
Before Twilight could respond, there was a knock at the door. Granny Smith, who was teaching Apple Bloom how to properly bake an Apple Pie, trotted toward the front door, "Don't worry, young'un, I'll get it."
She opened the door to see Rotten Core standing on the other side. He said hello, then looked away when he saw the look on Granny Smith's face.
"Now, I done told you not to show your face around here again, Rotten Core. What do you want?" Granny Smith inquired.
"I was hoping to speak with Applejack. I have some news. I don't know how she'll feel about it, she might not even care, but it is good news. Well, good for me, at least," Rotten explained.
Granny Smith sighed and reluctantly agreed to let him in, "Alright, fine, come in," she grumbled.
He entered the house, closing the door behind him, "Thank you."
Applejack heard a familiar voice and followed it to the room that it was emanating from. She turned the corner to see her cousin, "Speak of Tirek. Y'know, I was just talking about you," Applejack stapled on a smile. Truthfully, she wasn't really happy to see him at all.
"Is that right? Hopefully, it was positive. Probably not. I have good news and bad news, I figured that since you're family, you deserve to know," Rotten got straight to the point, not wanting to force any pleasantries that he knew he wasn't going to receive.
Twilight had entered the room with Applejack, but she had stayed silent during the little exchange. She took this moment to speak up, "What's the bad news?"
Applejack turned to look at her then back to her cousin, "Yeah, start with the bad news. Bad news for you is probably good news anyway, all you have ever been is bad news," she scowled at him.
Taken aback by the insult, he hung his head with a sigh, he then looked back up at his cousin, "I was diagnosed with cancer."
Applejack was shocked to hear this. She immediately regretted her harsh words, "RC, I'm sorry, really. If that's the bad news, then I'd love to hear the good news."
He gave a half-smile and said, "The doctors said it is going into remission, so I might make it. I don't want to get too excited because it could also relapse and go right back to eating me alive. We'll have to play it by ear and see what happens, however I remain optimistic."
Twilight took the opportunity to speak up, "That's great to hear. Here's hoping you can go back to dressing like a pirate or trying to take all the sports equipment in town, or some other antics."
Rotten Core smiled at the thought, "I liked being a Pirate, that was fun. Stealing the sports equipment was kinda stupid though, I will admit. Just 'cause I'm sedentary and lazy doesn't mean everypony else is," he laughed.
Granny Smith had fallen asleep in her chair and was oblivious to the conversation. A half-knitted sweater was hanging over the arm of the chair. The others glanced at her and laughed as she let out a loud snore.
Rotten Core turned to his cousin once more, "I want to apologize again for trying to invade the Orchard with clones of myself. I just wanted a little of the glory, you know? This place has done nothing but good for this community and I wanted to contribute. Instead, I got too greedy and tried to take the whole thing. It was wrong of me, but you got to admit it was hilarious when the clones kept trapping me instead of you and your friends."
Applejack laughed, "Yeah. Like that time y'all were hiding behind a wall with a net and instead of catching me with it, they threw the net at you. All I heard was: 'THROW IT AT HER, NOT ME!' and I couldn't stop laughing."
Twilight stifled a laugh, also remembering this ordeal, "Yeah, you kept saying something about being Number One. It was almost like you were singing to yourself. It was definitely interesting, to say the least," she added.
"I figured that since nopony got hurt, that I wasn't doing anything bad. I actually thought it was good because I was making everypony laugh. Looking back, I understand that it was definitely wrong of me to do what I did. In the heat of the moment though, I was completely oblivious to right or wrong. I was in a selfish state of mind, where it was all about me. I had total disregard for everypony else. I really don't know what came over me. I just envisioned myself at the top. All I could think about was being the best, I wanted to be Number One," Rotten Core explained his point of view.
Applejack smiled at her cousin, "Don't worry, Rotten Core. You'll always be Number One in my book."
END OF CHAPTER 1