//------------------------------//
// Fillydelphia 
// Story: He Was Number One 
// by Acoustic Pulse 
//------------------------------//

Rotten Core decided to stay in the passenger section. He had only briefly spoken to everypony onboard and he had newfound respect for Quick Draw and Victory Lap. They defended him when he couldn't defend himself and that was one of the nicest things anypony outside the Apple Family had done for him. 

Echo Chamber, the other reporter on the trip got his attention as he passed, "Hey, Rotten Core, come here for a minute."

Rotten Core sighed, after Ink Well's charade, he no longer trusted reporters. He barely knew Echo Chamber, so he was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, "What's up?"

"I got a couple questions about what went down out there, I saw everything, but the windows were closed, so I didn't hear anything. Would you mind elaborating?" Echo Chamber tried to coax the ill stallion to speak about the events that had gone down earlier.

"Well, I don't know what Ink Well was doing, but Quick Draw and Victory Lap were well aware. He was making up some fake story about me, saying I was holding everypony hostage on this train and that Full Steam was following my directions so that I wouldn't hurt anypony and none of that was true. It actually hurt that he would try and ask about my past to twist this lie and attempt to pass it as truth. If authorities read this story, I would have been arrested for no reason, and even though I have plenty of witnesses to testify that I did not do what he said I did, I'd still be locked up for a few days until the trial. Worse than that, I'm dying. I have Stage IV bile duct cancer and cirrhosis in my liver. I  have no hope of surviving. Half my time has already been spent. They said I only have a month left and that was two weeks ago. The more time I spend proving my innocence, the less I'll have to live. That is completely unfair. I did nothing to deserve that, and what he did was undeniably wrong. Ponies like him are out there spreading lies and then reporters expect everypony to trust them and take their word for things. Situations like this make me wish I stayed home and died in silence. All I wanted to do was go to Ponyville and spend what little time I had left with my cousin at her orchard, but evidently, that was too much to ask," Rotten Core was fuming.

Echo Chamber sat quietly, listening intently, "So, what happened out there was Quick Draw and Victory Lap defending you and clearing your name?"

"Essentially," Rotten Core confirmed.

"Noble of them. This will make a much better story than the insanity Ink Well was cooking up. Thank you for your time," Echo Chamber began typing away at his typewriter.

Rotten Core rose, heading back to the front. He took one final peek at Echo Chamber's pages to make sure he wasn't making up even crazier lies. He reached for the door when somepony called his name, it was the blue pegasus with the multicolored mane from earlier.

"Hey,  aren't you AJ's cousin?" she asked.

"Yes," Rotten Core stopped and turned to face her.

"She doesn't talk about you much, but a lot of what I heard hasn't been good. You seem like a decent stallion, so I'm not gonna treat you like Sombra or Discord just yet, but test my patience even once, you'll regret it," she randomly threatened out of nowhere.

"Y'know, most ponies start with Hello. I dunno what they teach Pegasi up in Cloudsdale about manners, but this is ridiculous," Rotten Core shook his head.

Rainbow Dash laughed, "What do you know about manners? In case you forgot, I wasn't the one who tried to sabotage her cousin's orchard."

Rotten Core was furious that she would go from not speaking to him at all to mindless banter. He figured she was poking fun at him, but he didn't think that through. He opened his mouth to speak, but held his tongue. He was hoping Rainbow Dash would quit and go back to her seat.

"You're just bad news. I dunno why those two wasted their time defending you," she continued to egg him on.

Rotten Core had heard enough. He silenced Rainbow Dash with a single phrase, "At least I have a family."

Before she could respond, he opened the door and went back to the front of the car. He let go of the door and the wind current slammed it shut, providing a rather melodramatic finish to the quickwitted stallion's insult.



Rainbow Dash hovered over the floor, her wings flapping. She turned to the other passengers who simply stared in disbelief. 

Even Pinkie Pie, who is always happy, was upset with her friend that she would tease him like that, "Rainbow, you asked for that one. He's our friend's family member, what you said was really mean. You should apologize."

Rainbow Dash glared at Pinkie, "I'm not apologizing for anything. What he said cut me deep. If anything, he should be the one apologizing."

Pinkie Pie sighed, "Look, Rainbow, I'm usually the one cracking jokes, I'm the joke expert, okay? What you were doing, that 'banter', or whatever you call it, isn't funny. What you said was hurtful. He retaliated because he had heard enough. I was watching him, he was trying to be patient with you. You pushed him. That wasn't nice, it was mean and unnecessary."

Rainbow, whose ego was too strong to admit defeat, simply sighed and returned to her seat.



Rotten Core sat, staring out the front window. He said nothing to Full Steam, who greeted him when he entered.

"Everything alright?" his engineer friend asked.

"It's nothing, I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired," he kept his gaze fixed on the passing scenery. The tracks were winding through a massive forest, trees went as far as the eye could see.

"We're about a third of the way to Fillydelphia. It'll take another hour and a half to get there," Full Steam informed him.

"Alright. I think I am going to go and socialize for a little while," Rotten Core replied.

"Have fun," Full Steam smiled.

Rotten Core nodded and opened the door, crossing back to the passenger car. He made eye contact with Rainbow Dash and she looked away.

He looked toward Pinkie Pie who was beckoning him over. He approached. She moved so he could sit. She sat silently for  a moment then said, "Are you feeling okay?"

Rotten Core shook his head, "Terrible. I feel like a million Parasprites are eating me alive."

Pinkie Pie smiled, "Well, it was brave of you to stand up for yourself. I'm proud of you."

Rotten Core shrugged, "Thanks, I guess."

His gaze fixed on Rainbow Dash again. Her eyes looked puffy. It appeared she had been crying. Rotten Core felt guilty, he didn't mean to make her cry.

He got up and approached her, taking a seat beside her. He said nothing and simply stared up at the ceiling. 

Rainbow looked up, "What do you want?"

Rotten Core looked over, "I wanted to apologize for what I said. You pushed me and I overreacted. I'm just so sick of everypony making me out to be the bad guy. I'm not bad anymore. I've changed. I'm sick and dying, I have very little time left. I don't have time to be bad. I'm trying to make up for my past wrongs. All anypony does is remind me of them. Why? What have I done to deserve this? I made some bad decisions, I admitted I was wrong. What more do you want from me?"

Rainbow Dash sighed, "Apology accepted. I'm sorry too. I was sizing you up, trying to see what you were made of. I got what was coming to me."

"All is forgiven. Truce?" He extended his hoof.

She hoofbumped him, "Truce."

Rotten Core smiled, "Good. Dodged a magic blast on that one."

He got up and moved toward the front. He turned and looked out the window, "Looks like some clouds rolling in."

"Yeah, we're gonna have a little rain today. Should be a sprinkle. Nothing major, we'll bust the clouds if they get too bad," Rainbow shrugged.

"Oh, okay," Rotten Core watched them roll in.

"Are you sure it's gonna be light rain? It looks really dark. This better not drown my crops again," Golden Harvest, who had been quiet this whole trip spoke up.

Rainbow sighed, "Relax. We'll bust them if it gets out of hoof. Ain't that right, Snowflake?"

He nodded and flexed his front hooves, "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Everypony else stared at him and then laughed. Rotten Core opened the door and went back across to the front of the train.



"Hey, Full Steam, we might be getting some rain," he warned.

Full Steam nodded, "Yep, I saw the clouds. Looks really dark. I hope it ain't too bad. We're still only halfway to Filly. It'll be an hour before we get there."

"I don't know. We'll have to wait and see," Rotten Core shrugged.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. We're almost to the next stop anyway," Full Steam shrugged it off. 

Rotten Core estimated, "30 minutes, right?"

Full Steam shrugged, "About 45."

"Close enough," Rotten Core sighed. A clap of thunder rumbled outside the train.

"That doesn't sound like a sprinkle," Full Steam raised an eyebrow.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted her," Rotten Core sighed.

He went outside, the wind howling. The rain hadn't begun to fall yet, so he had time to move over to the passenger side. He entered the car, "Rainbow."

She looked up when she heard her name being called, "Yeah?"

"It's not just a sprinkle, this storm's looking pretty rough," Rotten Core informed her.

"They told me it would only be a light mist, not a huge storm. I knew I shouldn't have listened to anypony other than myself," she sighed. It was at that moment that Rotten Core realized that he and RD weren't so different after all.

She turned to Snowflake, "We're gonna have to bust these clouds, they overdid it today. We'll have to postpone the weather until a later day.  You ready?"

Snowflake nodded, letting out another loud, "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Then let's roll," they opened the window and flew out of it. Snowflake was too massive to fit through the tiny window, so RD had to pull him through, which took quite a bit of strength. She managed to get him out of there and they flew up toward the dark grey clouds.  It was a risky move because the train was still moving, they would have to catch back up to it in order to get back on it. For Rainbow Dash, that wasn't a problem because she was fast. Snowflake was a lot heavier and thus, he moved much slower.

"Come on, you lumbering oaf!" Rainbow hissed.

Snowflake said nothing and simply sped up to catch her. They went to work on busting the clouds. Most of them seemed harmless, but one huge cloud began to unleash a torrential downpour. 

A bolt of lightning flashed. Snowflake had begun busting the cloud. Rainbow Dash yelled out to him again, "WATCH OUT FOR THE LIGHTNING!"

Snowflake ignored her and hit the cloud again. This time, the flash of lightning electrocuted him and sent him plummeting to the ground.

Rainbow Dash cursed under her breath, "Luna damn it, you roided up meathead."

She panicked and took off at full speed to try and save him. She took off with such a huge burst of speed, that the air gust sent the cloud moving in the opposite direction. The storm was now drifting back toward Baltimare.

He stopped him just before he hit the ground. She expected him to be dead, "Yo, Snowflake. You still alive?" 

He laid still. She could tell he was still breathing, so she acted like she was gonna leave him behind.

Snowflake dropped the act and hauled flank to catch up. The train was much further ahead, but the sky ahead remained clear. They had accomplished their mission. 

The two kept flying, trying to catch the train. Rainbow was forced to slow down so that she didn't leave Snowflake behind.

They saw a sign that said 'Fillydelphia City Limits'. The train was just pulling into the station when they caught back up to it. 

They boarded it as the doors opened. Rotten Core greeted them, "Welcome back, good work. We dodged a serious situation."

Rainbow Dash laughed, "I've seen worse."

Snowflake didn't stay aboard. He had never been to Fillydelphia and decided to stay behind and explore.

"You coming?" Rainbow looked toward him. He shook his head. Rotten Core closed the door. 

Full Steam let out a booming, "ALL ABOARD!" before climbing back in the front. Rotten Core returned to the front as well.

"Where are we headed next?" he asked.

Full Steam checked his schedule, "Manehattan is the next stop."

Rotten Core nodded, "How long will it take to get there?"

"Couple hours. Nopony else is boarding, so let's roll," Full Steam suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Rotten Core nodded and off they went. Their next destination on this journey was Manehattan.

End of Chapter 5!