Edited by Alternivity

Chapter 3. Apple Bloom, Rainbow Dash.

Matt was awoken from his wonderful sleep by something poking him in the face.

"How did he get a scar like this?"
"Ah don't know, when he wakes up we can ask him."
"Are you sure we should be in here while he's asleep?"
"It's mah barn, Ah think we can be in here."
"When did you guys get a human?"
"Mah sis said Braeburn gave him to us as a gift."
"You can do that?"
"Ah guess so."
"Does he have a name?"
"Aj said his name is Matthew, but she said we can call him Matt."
"Shh! He's waking up!"

Matt opened his eye's to see three little fillies staring at him, "Can you please remove your hoof from my face?" he asked as the filly removed her hoof from his face.

Matt got a good look at the three filly's standing in front of him. The one putting her hoof's on his face was a light brilliant gamboge with a moderate cerise mane. The one standing by her was a white filly with a grayish mulberry with pale grey-rose streaks in her mane, and next to her was a yellow filly which Matt knew was Aj's little sister but he never did get her name.

"We were just goin' ta get a few things from the loft," Aj's sister said.

"And we saw you sleeping and I wanted to see you up close since I've never seen a human before." Said the filly who put her hoof on his face.

"Well, You've seen a human." He said, sitting up. He felt his back crack, "Do you three need help getting whatever you need from the loft down?" he asked.

"If ya could, can ya carry us up there?" Aj's sister asked.

Matt looked at the latter that led to the loft, "Alright," Matt bent down, "hop on."

The three jumped onto his back and he made sure not to drop them as he climbed the ladder.

Once he got to the top the three jumped off his back and looked for a box they needed.

Matt sat there watching the three go through each box.

"What are you three looking for?" Matt asked, curious as to why they were digging through the boxes.

"We're looking for ropes!" said the white filly, "We're going to see if we can get our cutie marks as escape artists."

"And you need the rope for?"

"We're gonna hang each other over a tree and see how long it takes for us ta untie the rope and if we can untie it before we fall into the river, we might get our cutie marks!" Aj sister said, "Found it!"

Matt took the rope away from Aj's sister, "Now, I know for a fact that that is dangerous and your sister wouldn't want you doing that."

"Ya can't tell me what ta do!" Aj's sister said, glaring at Matt.

"I may not be able to tell you what to do, But I know your sister can," he said, staring down the filly. She just glared at the human, "Now, how about I carry you three back down?" Matt said, placing the rope high up so the girls couldn't get it.

"We can get down just fine," she said climbing down the ladder. "Stupid human." Matt flinched as he heard the little whisper and just let it go as he knew she was just a kid who didn't know any better.

He looked at the other two, "You two want a lift?"

The two nodded and Matt bent down to allow the two on.

When he got down the two jumped off his back and ran after Apple Bloom leaving Matt alone.

"Might as well change while I can," he said as he walked into a stall and changed into his work clothes.

"Apple Bloom? Ya in here?" Matt looked to see Aj walking into the barn.

"You just missed her," Matt said stepping out of the stall.

"So they were in here... Ah hope they didn't wake ya?"

"They did wake me up but it's alright, if I didn't wake up I wouldn't have stopped them from taking the rope they were looking for," he said, closing the stall behind him as he walked over towards Aj.

"Why did they need rope?"

"Something about tying each other up and hanging over a river and seeing how long it takes for them to untie the rope and if they can before they fall into the river, and that they might get their cutie marks as escape artists," he said, remembering what her sister said.

"Ah swear! She's gonna get herself killed if she keeps doing stuff like this!" Applejack was pissed as she stormed out of the barn to go hunt down her sister.

Matt followed her to make sure she didn't lose her temper, "Miss Aj, You might want to take a left here."

"Why?" she asked as she continued to walk down the pathway she thought her sister was on.

"Because the three tracks lead off in this direction," he said pointing out the tracks to her.

She looked and followed them, "Thanks."

Matt just followed her.

Apple Bloom kicked a rock into the river as she sat there angry at Matt for not letting them have the rope.

"He had no right to take that rope from us," She said kicking another rock into the water.

"Maybe it's for the best," Sweetie Belle said as she sat under the three to hide from the sun.

"Ya just didn't want ta hang from a tree," Apple Bloom said glaring at Sweetie Belle.

"Don't worry, We'll just wait till he goes back to bed and we'll just steal the rope," Scootaloo said.

Apple Bloom looked at the tree Sweetie Belle was sitting under and a smile came across her face, "Ah think Ah know how ta get our cutie marks."

After getting up the tree Apple Bloom climbed to end of the branch that hung over the river "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sweetie Bell asked.

"I'm sure," Apple Bloom said as she looked down at the rushing water below, "I'm gonna get mah cutie mark for cannonballs!"
"APPLE BLOOM!" Aj yelled scaring Apple Bloom, which made her stumble and fall into the water below.

She hit the with a splash. Apple Bloom felt the back of her head hit something hard, knocking her out as she was taken by the current.

Matt quickly took off running towards the river when he noticed she was taking too long to get back to the surface. He jumped into the water and swam.

He found her floating in the current. He saw a little blood seeping out from the back of her head and quickly swam towards her.

Applejack, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle watched, waiting for Matt to return with Apple Bloom.

"Please be alright," Applejack thought as she felt powerless, "Hold my hat! I'm going in after them!" she said, throwing her hat at Scootaloo who just happened to have the hat land on her head.

Just as she was about to jump in Matt popped out of the water just a little ways down the river as he swam towards bank, "Over here!" he yelled pulling Apple Bloom out of the river.

The three quickly rushed over to them.

"She hit her head on a rock," he said as he noticed she wasn't breathing. "She's not breathing."

Matt quickly remembered he learned CPR from Sawdust when he was living with her. He rushed into action as he performed CPR, "Come on! Breath!" he said, pushing on her chest and breathing into her mouth. He repeated this a few times praying to whoever to not take this filly's life.

She began to cough up the water and she just laid there with her eye's closed.

"She need's to get to the hospital," Matt said looking at Aj.

She nodded. Matt picked up Apple Bloom and followed Aj into town.

Applejack sat in the waiting room with Matt as the waited for the doctor to return.

"Ah hate hospitals," she said.

"I'm with you," Matt replied as he remembered he came here a few times with Sawdust. The memory of her coming her when she fell down the stairs. It wouldn't have happened if she would've just woken him up and allowed him to get her some water, but her being her she did it on her own and broke her hip.

The doctor returned and looked at Applejack, "She's going to make a full recovery, we've stitched up the cut on her head, but she still has a little water in her lungs. It was a good thing you performed CPR when you did or she might not have made it," he said to Aj.

"Ah didn't perform CPR on her," Aj said, looking at Matt, "Matt here did."

He looked at Matt with a shocked look on his face, "You did?"

Matt nodded, "My last owner used to go into shock when she didn't get her medicine and when she blacked out she would stop breathing so I had to learn how to perform CPR," he said.

"Well, It's a good thing you knew how or else she would have been a goner," he looked back at Applejack. "The nurse will bring Apple Bloom out shortly," he said, leaving the two.

"Is that true?" Aj asked, looking at Matt.

"Yes, She use to black out when she didn't have enough sugar," he said, looking back at her.

"Thank you, for saving her life."

"It was nothing," he said.

"Ya saved her when ya didn't have ta, ya did a good deed."

"No, I was just in the right place at the right time," he said, looking away, "I'm just a human who knew CPR and knew how to swim."

"Yer not just a human, yer something more," She said, placing her hoof on his hand. "Yer special Matt, Ah can see that, ya put yerself down and ya don't want ta show it but Ah know yer special."

Matt felt his cheeks heat up. He just nodded as he couldn't think of anything to say.

The door to the waiting room opened, making Aj remove her hoof from Matt's had as she saw her sister in a wheel chair. "Aj!" she jumped out of the chair and into her sister's arms and a hug, "I'm sorry! I should have stayed out of that tree!" she said crying.

"It's alright, Just don't do that again! Ya hear? Ya really scared me."

"A-Ah promise, Cross my heart hope ta fly, Stick a cupcake in mah eye," she said, doing the promise, "Ah won't do that again."

"Good, yer lucky Matt knew how ta do CPR or ya would have been in some real trouble."

She looked over at Matt who just gave a light smile, "Sorry... Ah know ya heard me call ya stupid in the barn earlier."
Applejack looked at her sister in disbelief, "You what!?"

"Ah was mad cus he didn't give me the rope, so when Ah was goin' down the latter Ah said stupid human in a whisper," she said lowering her head knowing she had done something wrong.

"It's alright Apple Bloom, I know you were just angry," he said, looking at her.

"It's not alright! She called ya stupid!"

"Aj, It's alright, I've been called worse than stupid," he said. "Besides, she's learned from her mistake." Apple Bloom nodded her head.

The nurse coughed as she looked at the three, "I hate to ruin this weird moment, but I have these papers for you to sign Miss Applejack."

Applejack looked at the paper and signed it, "And here's the bill."

Applejack's eyes went wide as she saw the bill, "A thousand bits!? She just got a cut on her head!"

"She had to have an ex-ray to make sure she didn't fractured her skull," the nurse said.

Applejack sighed, "Ah'll have ta stop by the bank, can ya take Apple Bloom home Matt?"

"I can," he said, getting up.

Apple Bloom jumped off her sister's lap as she followed Matt as the two left.

"I'll be at my desk," the nurse said, leaving Applejack.

"Great... There goes some of Apple Bloom's college fund," she made her way out of the hospital as she headed to the bank to get the bit's she needed to pay for Apple Bloom's bill, "Ah'll have ta work really hard just ta replace that money," this made Applejack more angry, Not at her sister, but at the doctors.

Matt walked down the road with Apple Bloom on his shoulders as she laid her head in the top of his head, "When ya said you've been called worse, what did ya mean by that?"

"Ponies use to call me all kinds of names growing up," he said as they walked.

"Why didn't ya tell yer folks?"

"I never met my parents," he said.

"Ah know how ya feel, Ah never gotta meet my folks too," she said, just staring at the tree's.

"Really? How come?" Matt asked.

"Applejack say's she'll tell me when I'm older," Matt noticed her voice was different as if she was going to cry, "D-Do ya remember anything about ya parents?"

"No, but I have dreams of what I think they look like," he said. For some reason he didn't know why he was telling her all this.

"How did ya get that scar on yer face?" she asked. He noticed her face hanging in front of him, making Matt crack a smile.

"Somepony was messing with a whip and didn't see me coming in and it hit me in the face," Matt knew what he told her was sort of a lie, the only part that was true was the whip.

"Oh, did he say sorry?"
"Kinda," he said.
"Can Ah ask ya something Matt?"
"Sure."
"What's abused mean?"

Matt was shocked to hear her say those words, "W-Why do you want to know what that means?"

"I heard Aj talking with Big Mac about somepony bein' abused, what does it mean?"

"I think you should ask your sister," he said, "she can tell you better than I can."

"Why can't ya tell me?"

"I think your sister could tell you more than I can," he said as he noticed the house.

"Ya can put me down, Ah can walk from here."

Matt bent down allowing Apple Bloom to jump down as she walked towards the house.

He looked out at the orchard and notice basket's with apple's in them and a wagon sitting there "She's gonna need help... Might as well do some work for her."

Matt rolled up his selves on his shirt as he was sweating from the heat as the sun got higher into the sky.

"Wonder how hot it's going to get today?" He thought as he placed another basket full of apple's into the wagon.

He felt something rush right past him knocking him down to the ground.

"Sorry about that! Didn't see you there!" Matt heard the female voice say.

He looked up to see a blue mare with rainbow hair hovering in front of him, "It's alright," He said getting back onto his feet.

"Um... Don't want to sound rude but what are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm loading these basket's onto the wagon so Applejack doesn't have much work to do when she gets back from town," he said, getting back to work.

"Why?"
"Because I want to," he said, looking at her.
"Did Aj buy you?" she asked.

"No, her cousin Braeburn bought me to help out around here," he said, grabbing another basket and placing it onto the wagon.

"Oh, and she just allowed you onto the farm?"

"Yes, she did," he said grabbing another basket.

"That doesn't sound like Aj, she's against owning a human."

"She doesn't own me, Braeburn still owns me," he said, looking at the mare. "Are you a friend of Applejack?"

"Yup! Name's Rainbow Dash! I'm the best flier in all of Equestria!" she said with a proud smile.

"Nice to meet you Miss Rainbow Dash, name's Matt." He said placing the basket into the wagon.

Rainbow Dash noticed the his shirt was covered in sweat, "The best way to cool off is to remove your shirt, here let me help you."

Matt eye's went wide as he felt Rainbow Dash pull his shirt off.

Rainbow Dash froze as she saw the many scars across on his back, she noticed how each scar overlaps the others. Matt quickly turned around, grabbed his shirt from Rainbow Dash and put it back on, "P-Please don't do that again."
"W-Who did that to you?"

Matt took a deep breath and exhaled, "It's nothing. Forget you saw anything," he said, walking away from the wagon as he grabbed another basket.

"You have to tell somepony about that!"

"It's nothing," he said, placing the basket inside the wagon. "Please, forget what you saw."

"I can't forget what I just saw! You have to tell somepony about this!"

"Please, just drop it," He said as he grabbed another basket.

"No! As a soon to be member of the Wonder Bolts, it's my job to help anypony who needs it!"

Matt placed the basket onto the wagon and sighed, "I'm only going to say this once: It's nothing you need to worry about. Drop it."

Applejack walked down the path home.

Her mind kept going back to her sister, "What am Ah goin' ta do with her?"

"No! As a soon to be member of the Wonder Bolts, It's my job to help anypony who needs help!" Applejack was snapped out of her thoughts as she saw her friend Rainbow Dash hovering next to Matt, who was loading apples onto the wagon.

She watched as Matt placed a basket onto the wagon, "I'm only going to say this once: It's nothing you need to worry about. Drop it."

"Drop what?" Aj asked walking up towards the two.

"Good you're here!" Rainbow said, landing and facing her friend, "Matt here won't tell me who put those markings on his back!"

Matt glared at Rainbow Dash as he was hoping she would drop it.

"What markin's?" Aj asked.

"Well, I noticed Matt here was sweating and figured it would be better to have his shirt off so, being awesome, I removed his shirt and saw all these scars on his back. He told me to drop it."

Matt looked away, "Rainbow, ya better be off."

"Huh? Why?" She asked confused why her friend was sending her away when she was only trying to help.

"Matt doesn't want to talk about it," she said, looking at Rainbow Dash. "When he's ready, he can tell us, but for now drop it and leave it alone."

"Alright, Oh! Twilight wanted me to tell you to come by her house tonight, She has something to tell all of us."

"Ah'll be there."

"See ya!" She took off into the sky leaving the two.

"Let me help ya," she said, walking past him and grabbing a basket.

Matt did the same as they loaded the wagon.

When the wagon was fully loaded, Applejack and Matt took the wagon to the barn.

The two unloaded the wagon in the barn. When they were done Aj looked at Matt "I'm gonna go get us some lunch, When were done eatin', We're gonna start ya schoolin'."

Matt nodded as he watched her leave.

He took a seat on his cot as he looked down at his hands, "She knows now. Watch, she'll send you off because you're damaged," said the voice in his head. "No one will take you in and soon, you'll be put down because of it."
Matt hated this voice, it never leaves him alone, "Go away! Just leave me alone!" he yelled in his mind.
"I'll never leave, I'm apart of you."

"Applejack won't get rid of me... She's different."

"That's what you thought about Sawdust, yet she died because she learned your secret, soon she'll get rid of you and you'll end up dead."

It took everything inside Matt to force the voice to stop talking as he fought back the tears.

"I'm back! Ah got fish, Ah found an old cook book my mom had and it had these recipes for fish," she said, placing the fish in front of him. He looked at the fish, "Big Mac says it's called Baked Salmon Fillets Dijon. Hope ya like it."

Matt smiled as he took the knife and fork from the plate and started eating.

When the two finished eating she noticed the look on hi face.

"Ya okay?" she asked.

"I-I'm fine," he said.

"No ya ain't. Spit it out," she said placing her plate down.

"It's nothing."

"Is this about what Rainbow did? If yer worried about that, ya don't have ta worry about her."

"It's not her I'm worried about," he said, keeping his eyes on the floor.

"Then why are ya worried?"

"There are things about me that I wish to keep a secret... Miss Rainbow Dash saw one of them that I tried so hard to keep hidden," he said looking at her.

"Ya don't have ta say a word. If ya want ta keep it a secret, ya can," she said, giving him a light smile, "I'll make sure she keeps her mouth shut, but know, if ya want ta talk about it, Ah'll listen."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said giving her a light smile, "Just wait, She'll throw you out."

"Alright! Let's get started on yer schooling!" she said as she pulled some book's out of her saddle bag.

Applejack stood in front of the library that Princess Twilight Sparkled lived in.

She notice the sun slowly beginning to set as she knew she was late for her little meeting with her friends, "Hope they understand why Ah was late."

She gently knocked on the library door as she heard the sound of her friend hoof's walking towards the door.

To Be Continued.

Author's Note

So my Editor will be gone from the 12th to the 29th, So It will be awhile to get some newer chapter's, But that's what happens when the holiday's come to play, I hope everyone have a great Happy Thanksgiving! As always enjoy the chapter and tell me what you think.