Edited by Cartoonfan20.

Chapter 7. Old Friend. Pain.

Matt eyes blinked a few times in confusion "You have grown since the last time I've seen you." He felt the girl pull away and he noticed those dark green eyes and that big old smile.

"A-Amber? W-What are you doing here?" He asked surprised to see her working here.

"I could ask you the same thing." She said chuckling "I work under Princess Celestia in helping out my fellow humans." She pulled up a chair and sat next to him "I see you got into some trouble."

He still couldn't believe seeing his old childhood friend, But one thing was different about her, She no longer had her blond hair, She now had red hair "The train I was on derailed and fell into the canyon and well... I had to save my owner from the train." He felt a sting of pain run through his arm.

"You saved your owner? That's new." She said sitting back "I take it he is kind?"

"She is, and so is her family." He said as Amber blinked.

"That's good, I hate for your owners to hurt you like last time." She said with a smile as she turned away from him and brought over and picked up a tray "Alright, I have some fish along with some potato's and mac and cheese, and I've brought you a root beer but if memory serves me you like a Dr Fire." She said chuckling.

"Root beer will be fine Amber." He said looking at the food.

"Do you remember the time we stole pop from our owner and sneek up to the loft to watch the sunset?" Amber asked smiling.

Matt chuckled at the memory "Yeah, I remember. I had a can of Dr Fire and you had a can of coke if memory serves me right." He said with a smile.

"If you don't mind me asking, do you still have the marks on your back?" She asked. Matt just nodded "I knew I should have knocked that stallion's lights out." She said clutching her fist.

"Amber, you know better than anyone that if you would have hit him you would have ended up dead." He said "Besides, it didn't stop after I was sold."

"What!? You still got beaten?" She asked surprised.

"Yes, but this guy was worse than our last owner." The memories of the whip hitting his back over and over again as the rain fell down his back as the two other stallions dumped rum on his wounds making his back burn. Matt could feel the tears and fought them back as he fought the memories. He felt a hand touch his making him look at her.

"Do you mind if I look at your back?" She asked.

Matt nodded sitting up and he slid his shirt up allowing Amber to see the many scars on his back.

Her eyes widen as she looked at his back "D-Does it hurt?" She asked looking at him.

"No, I've lost all feeling in my back." He said looking at her.

Amber ran her fingers across the scars "You should have told someone about this." She said pulling her hand away as he lowered his shirt and sat back.

"It would have been hard when you’re forced to work within the barn and not allowed to leave unless told to." He said looking away from her "But it got better when he sold me to an old mare and I got to have a break from work and got to paint again."

"You got to paint again? That's awesome! I remember when you use to draw with the crayons we stole from our owner, and your art work was a lot better than mine." She said giggling.

"I did try to teach you what I knew but you know, you fought me on everything." He said chuckling "I still have the scar from where you bit me." He felt Amber placed a hand on his scar that ran across his left eyes.

"I remember when you got this scar." She said removing her hand and looking down at the floor.

"You know it wasn't your fault, he was drun-" His words were cut off by Amber "It was my fault! If I didn't get caught stealing from him you wouldn't have jumped in front of me and gotten that scar across your face."

"Amber, I cared for in that hell hole, you and I stuck together through so much and when he caught you I couldn't let you go through with what I've been through." He said making her stare at him "I couldn't bare to see you harmed as you were the only friend I've ever had. I had a plan ready in case you were caught I would take the blame while you were spared."

Amber didn't know what to say, in all the years she had known him she didn't know he cared this much for her "You didn't have to do that."

"I did, it's what friends do for each other." He said with a grin.

There came a knock on the door making the two look to see a mare with a light orange coat standing there "I see you two are getting along." The mare said with a smile.

"Actually, we've know each other a very long time ago." Amber said.

"Oh?" The mare asked raising an eyebrow "So I take it you two were friends or... something else?"

This made the two blush "Just friends Sunset. Anyways, I thought you were helping Princess Luna out today?"

"I came to find you; I need help with getting tonight's dinner under way."

"Alright," Amber looked at Matt "I'll come by later and see you alright?"

"Sure, I'll be here." He felt her kiss his cheek and watch as she left.

Matt watched as the mare just stood their staring at him making him feel uncomfortable "It was Matt right?" He nodded "I'll make sure your well taken care of around here." She said leaving him alone in the room with only his thoughts.

The memories of the night Amber was caught came flooding into his mind as he touched the scar on his left eye.

Celestia's sun was still high in the sky as the hot summer air made work out in the fields harder from many of the humans. Matt was helping out in the barn cleaning up and making sure there was not dirt on the floor.

Amber came walking into the barn with a basket of carrots as she placed them down "I hate summer." She said looking at Matt.
"Just be lucky it isn't winter." He said sweeping the floor.

"Cover for me, I'm going to go get a pop."

"Amber, I don't think that's a good idea." He said stopping what he was doing as he looked at her "Our owner is near the house."
"He'll never know! Just cover for me and I'll be right back." She said leaving Matt.

"She's going to get into trouble." He thought as he made his way towards barn door and watched as she snuck into the house.

He then notices his owner making his way back towards the house and he began to panic as Amber just walked out of the house and he stood right in front of her "Stealing from me now are we!?" The stallion yelled using his magic to grip Amber and dragged her back towards the barn slamming her into the door.

Matt watched in horror as he used his magic to pull the whip from his side and got ready to take aim.

In a quick move Matt jumped in front of her taking the whip to his left eye making him scream out in pain.

"Stupid human’ stay out of this!" The stallion yelled.

With pain and blood leaking from his face he stood in front of his friend "N-No."

"You'll regret that boy!" Amber felt the magic be removed from her. She looked behind her to see Matt slammed into the barn door and the sound of the whip going off making her see her friend yell out in pain "Let this be a warning for you girl. Steal from me again and you'll end up like him.

Matt fell to his knees, his back stinging.

"You’re an idiot you know that!" Amber nearly yelled as she got a better look at his eyes and notices it wasn't going to damage his eyes.

"I know." He said in a whisper as he felt dizzy.

"Let’s get you inside and I'll find Sarah and have her take a look at your wounds." She said helping Matt his feet. The two made their way inside the barn and Amber sat Matt down on the bed "Try to stay awake; I don't need to worry about you dying now."

"I'll try Amber." He said with a faint smile.

Amber quickly took off running out of the barn and towards the fields.

Matt removed his hand from his eye and looked at the blood on his hand.

The memory ended. Matt looked at his hand then up towards the door as he knew if he could have changed anything about that day it would be to try and make her stay instead of going into the house. After that day she was sold three days later leaving him alone.
He looked at the food in front of him "You know you'll always be beaten, it may not come from your new owner but from those around you." He heard the voice say making him close his eyes fighting back the voice.

He heard the sound of hoof steps making him open his eyes to see Twilight's Captain standing there "I need to talk to you Human." She said closing the door behind her making Matt become afraid.

Celestia made her way towards the meeting room. Her mind was in deep thought as she tried to figure out why Twilight was attacked.

Her mind was interrupted as she heard her sister call out to her.

"Tia! Is it true? Did Twilight's train get attacked?" Luna asked.

"Yes and our own kind did it." Celestia said signing.

"What do you mean?" Luna asked confused.

"Three ponies were seen boarding the train and haven't been seen since. Whoever attacked our train is still out there waiting to harm one of us next." Celestia said "I need you to make sure your guards are ready and I want a search team out for these ponies."
"I shall begin the search right away." Luna said "Is there anything else I can do?"

"Yes, there is one more thing you can do, there is a human in the medical wing named Matthew, and he saved Applejack's life when the train was attacked. I want you to make sure he is okay and treated alright." Celestia noticed the shock expression on her face "Are you alright Luna?"

"Y-Yeah, just surprised a human would do such a thing." It was the truth Luna spoke but what surprised her the most was it's the human she had been watching for some time now.

"I am too." Celestia said making her way down the hall "I shall see you later Lulu."

Luna turned around and made her way towards the medical wing leaving Celestia with her thoughts once again.

She began to feel dizzy. She shook her head shaking off the dizziness as she looked at the band aid on her leg "I think I gave that human a little too much blood." She thought. She noticed she was now standing in front of the meeting room and sighed "Now to fight the council once again." The doors opened and Celestia felt she was walking face first into hell.

Matt watched as the Captain made her way towards his bed. His heart was pounding faster and faster and the heart monitor kept going higher and higher.

"Calm down human, if I was here to hurt you, you would have already been hurt." She said taking a seat next to his bed "Now, I want to ask you what you saw before everything went to hell."

"I feel asleep and awoke to find myself in a different seat."

"Same here, everypony reported the same thing before the train was attacked." She said "And you were placed in a lower car with Applejack, while the rest of us were in the car before yours."

Matt didn't know what she was going on about "What are you trying to get at miss?"

"It's Captain, and what I'm trying to say is, Applejack was meant to die on that train today. Her death would have sparked a war between rebel humans and ponies, but because they made a mistake placing you aboard car with her, you saved her life and now this will make it harder for whoever attacked the train to attack again since now Celestia will be doubling her guards and protecting her Twilight and her friends."

"And what does this have to do with me?" He asked.

"I don't trust your kind, but you have shown me you can be trusted." She said sighing "I need you to keep an eye out for anypony who might want to harm Twilight or her friends, and you'll report back to me."

"Y-You want me to help you?" He asked surprised.

"Yes, as much as I hate the idea of working with you, I need you in order to keep Twilight and her friends safe." She said a little angry.

Matt thought for a moment as she continued to stare at him "I'll do my best to help, whatever you need me to do, I shall." He said looking at her.

"Good, you will report to me if you see anypony out of place or if you hear anything strange." She said getting to her hoofs "I shall see you around then." She left Matt alone with his thoughts.

The idea of Applejack and her friends being harmed set anger flowing through his mind. Since he's been to Ponyville Applejack has been nothing but kind to him and so has her friend Rarity. Twilight even fought for him to ride on the train with them even though he could have rode with the other humans in the other car.

Whoever planed on hurting Applejack and her friends had another thing coming. As long as he remained on Applejack's farm, he would make sure no harm came to her.

Applejack looked outside the window as she waited to be able to go visit Matt. She was worried about the human after everything that happened to him. He nearly lost his life trying to save her even though he didn't know her all that much. Her mind was in deep thought over him. His artwork was something she liked after seeing what he could do with what he had, she was even happy to see him smile. Yet there was something that nagged at her mind, it was the scars on his back, she wanted to hurt the pony that would harm such a kind human. She may have only known him for a few days but she could see he was gentle and kind.

She blushed as she thought about seeing him smiled at her making her shake her head. She didn't know why she was blushing or feeling the way she does, she just fought feeling and heard a soft knock at the door.

"It's open." She said as the door opened. She smiled as she saw it was her good friend Rainbow Dash "Hey Dash, what brings ya by?"

"Twilight wanted me to tell you that you can go see Matt now." She said walking into the room "So I figured I'd wheel you over to him."

"Alright, but Ah could have easily walked." She said feeling Dash give her wheelchair a push.

"You’re not supposed to be walking Aj, doctor's orders." She said making Applejack roll her eyes.

"Ah could still walk on my three good legs." Applejack said looking at her friend "But with ya girls around Ah won't be able ta do what Ah want." She chuckled looking back down the hall.

They stopped in front of the door to Matt's room as she noticed the door was cracked open.

Dash opened it and her eyes went wide "SOMEPONY HELP!" Dash yelled rushing inside the room making Applejack fly out of her chair and made her way into the room.

An Hour earlier.

Matt had his eyes closed relaxing in his bed as he could hear the faint noise of the heart monitor going off. He tried to relax, but his mind wouldn't let him. His mind kept going back towards the dream he had back on the train. He wanted to know if this dream was true or fake.

The sound of the heart monitor beeping stopped made Matt opened his eyes only to have his body ripped from the bed and slammed to the floor. Matt notices he was wrapped inside magic "I thought my little plan would work, but you had to save that stupid farm mare from dying." Matt heard the voice speak, he could feel the magic pulling his arm back, he then heard three snapped sounds making Matt scream out in pain only to have his scream muzzled by magic "You humans think you’re so much better than us, but magic is what makes us much more powerful then you humans." Matt could feel the magic flow through his body, he could feel it going towards his rib cage as he could feel it snapping two rips "Now, I still have work to do and you my human friend will be too injured to help anypony, and since you'll be unable to work, you'll be sold back on the market." Then Matt felt his left leg twist and a snapping sound rung through the room.

Matt was flung towards the wall hard cracking the wall. He looked at the hooded figure standing in front of him; he could see his attackers’ eyes, those cold red eyes staring at him "T-Those eyes."

Matt was dropped to the ground as the hooded figure vanished into thin air "Remember human, interfere again, you'll die." Matt fell forwards as he noticed his blood was leaking from his side. He placed a hand over his wound to try and stop the bleeding but failed as the pain running through his body forced him to black out.

To Be Continued.

Author's Note

Here's the next Chapter. Hope you all enjoy!