Chapter 2

Casper woke up, leaning next to the tree he had brought himself up against. He had slumped a little bit to match his distorted torso, which was now causing him less pain that it had been giving him before. He looked up and noticed what looked to be a cyan colored pony with a rainbow colored mane and corresponding colored tail, a confused look on its face. Casper and the cyan colored pony locked eyes for a few minutes, until the horse finally broke the silence;

"What the heck are you?"

Casper could only look in fear as the horse questioned him in perfect English.

"Are you going to tell me?"

Casper began to back away from the cyan colored horse. He began to hyperventilate, but stopped. His diaphragm was killing him, and his lungs weren't getting enough air. He decided to leave it alone, as the horse hadn't become angry, but rather, annoyed.

"Look, whatever-you-are, don't make me ask you again."

What the horse didn't know was that Casper had equinophobia, or a fear of horses. It wasn't the pony's fault though, curiosity had taken over. The pony noticed that the new animal that had fallen from the sky had begun to tremble and curl up into a fetal position.

"Are you scared of me?"

Casper looked up into the pony's eyes and nodded yes, digging his head back into his chest.

"Can I trust you to stay here? I'm going to bring my friend over here. She'll probably get you to talk."

Casper didn't respond, because, honestly, he had no clue what to say. A talking horse. A talking horse with a cyan-colored coat, at that. And now, Casper noticed, that as the horse was able to fly, as it unfolded a pair of feathery wings and took flight towards the oak tree Casper had seen as he was falling.

What the fuck is going on here? A talking, cyan horse with wings who has a 'friend'? I must have been hit pretty damn hard to be imagining something like this.

It took all but 30 seconds for the cyan colored horse to return to the tree where Casper was resting. Casper looked up to see what was causing the commotion, and noticed that the cyan colored horse was carrying an equal sized, purple colored pony who sported a horn on its head. As the cyan colored pony finally set foot on solid ground, the purple colored pony immediately began to walk towards Casper. Casper looked up and noticed the purple colored pony had the biggest, most intent eyes he had ever seen.

"Oh my Celestia."

The purple pony had begun to circle around Casper, examining every inch of him. The purple pony noticed Casper's clothes.

"What are these, things, you're wearing? Are they hurting you?" questioned the purple pony.

Casper shook his head, signifying a no.

"Well, my name is Twilight Sparkle. Rainbow, have you introduced yourself yet?" Twilight turned her head around and gave Rainbow a scolding look.

"Well, no. I thought it would have been useless, seeing as this 'thing' can't even talk."

Rainbow walked up to Casper, and put a hoof on his shoulder, an apologetic look on her face. Immediately, Casper moved farther away from Rainbow.

"My name is Rainbow Dash. Since I've told you my name, would you care to tell me yours? That is, if you even have a name…?"

Twilight gave Rainbow a facial expression that said 'Leave it alone.' Rainbow picked up the hint and backed away.

"I'm going to the library to get a book on species. Maybe it'll have some sort of entry on this creature. Rainbow, stay here and make sure that it doesn't leave your sight. Understood?"

Without waiting for Rainbow's reply, Twilight's horn began to glow and she encased herself in a purple aura, and as she closed her eyes, she disappeared.

Casper was watching these ponies through his fingers, amazed at what they could do. Rainbow continued to watch Casper, thinking to herself.

Why won't this thing talk to us? We've tried being nice. I guess we could always get Princess Celestia to try.

After Rainbow's thought had completed, as if on cue, Twilight re-appeared at the exact same spot as she had left. Everything was the same except for two things, Casper noticed. Twilight had the book on species, and she also had brought along a small, reptilian creature that stood on two legs.

"Spike, will you please go over and try to comfort 'it' while I search through this book for something similar to its body structure?" asked Twilight.

"Ugh, fine. If it hurts me, you owe me, big time." Spike made sure Twilight knew that he meant business.

Casper's eye perked up as the little reptilian creature, who he now knew as "Spike", was walking towards him.

"Hey, big guy. What's the problem, huh?"

Spike spoke that last line as a mother would towards a newborn baby, which didn't make Casper anymore the happier.

"Well I tried." Spike began to get up and walk away. "Have you found anything, Twilight?"

"Wait."

Both ponies and Spike turned around and looked at Casper, who was beginning to crawl towards Spike.

Everybody was in shock. Why was Spike the only one who could get to it?

"S-S-Spike, is it?"

Spike began to back away slowly.

"No, please, don't be afraid."

Spike continued to back up until he couldn't anymore, thanks to Twilight's purple hoof. Spike decided to meet Casper halfway.

"Spike, can you help me? I'll be will-" Casper coughed up some fresh blood, he spat it out towards the ground next to him. "I'll be willing to explain after I get some medical attention. My torso is so FUBAR* you wouldn't believe it." Casper said with an awkward chuckle.

Twilight stepped forward. "I can help, I have a bone-mending spell that should fix you right up."

Twilight placed her horn on Casper's chest, but Casper slapped it away and turned to the right.

Twilight was getting impatient. "Will you stop being so stubborn? I just want to help!"

Spike went face to face with Casper.

"Why is it you can talk to me, but not to them? They've only been trying to get to know you and help you." Spike questioned Casper.

"It's not their faults. Ever since I was a kid-"

Casper coughed up some more blood.

"When I was younger, I was raised on a farm. I was with my father, helping him tend to the horses. When one of the horses got agitated, it began to buck around everywhere, eventually hitting my father square in the face." Casper took a breath. "Although he didn't die from it, he was severely hurt. Ever since that day, I've been scared of horses. That's why I can't say anything to them. I freeze up inside. It's not their faults."

Spike took in every word and reported the same information back to Twilight and Rainbow. This really peeved off Rainbow. Rainbow walked up towards Casper, and Casper immediately curled up into a fetal position.

"So you can talk? What's your name? What species are you?" Rainbow was starting to get annoyed.

"Apparently," interjected Twilight, "it is a species called Homo homo sapien. They are intelligent, versatile creatures that walk on both legs and have opposable thumbs, allowing them to do a lot more than us ponies can. They have evolved all the way from a species of monkey. That's all the book says, the rest of the section is blank."

"Well, that's nice and all, but it still hasn't told us its name yet." Rainbow was on the verge of snapping.

"Spike, tell them my name is Casper, and I'm a male 'homo homo sapien.'"

Spike regurgitated the information back towards Twilight and Rainbow.

Twilight placed the book down and looked towards Casper.

"Casper, huh? That's a nice name. There. Now that we all know each other, can you let me help you? You look like you're in so much pain."

Casper looked back at Spike for reassurance, and Spike nodded.

Twilight's horn began to glow and a purple aura began to envelop Casper. Casper had begun to back away, but was stopped by Spike, who was giving Casper a reassuring smile. Casper felt better after seeing Spike's smile, and let Twilight continue with her work.

"Maybe after you're done healing him, maybe you should give him some confidence. He can't even look anypony in the eye." Muttered Rainbow under her breath, quiet enough to project her voice, but for nopony to hear.

Casper looked down towards his torso and noticed it was moving back into its original position, and no pain was being created because of it. He felt relieved.

"There, done. See, was it that hard?" mocked Twilight.

Casper gave a small, ashamed smile. He felt just like he had before the bus had hit him. Casper stood up on both legs, and noticed he towered over the ponies and Spike.

"Jeez, how are you so tall?" Rainbow had to look up to ask her newfound homo homo sapien that.

"What's your problem? Big guy can't talk to tiny little ponies now, huh?" Rainbow's sanity was hanging on by a thread.

"Rainbow, chill out. He's got a phobia of horses, which I assume are close relatives to what you and I are. He just needs to muster up some courage is all. Spike, since he can talk to you, how about you be his guide. Rainbow, you want to join Spike? You could show Casper around town."

Twilight walked up to Casper's right side, and looked up at his face.

"For the time being, you can stay with me, I'm sure you don't mind, right?"

Casper was going to shake his head in denial, but realized that this pony was being nice enough to offer him her home for a few days. Casper looked down and nodded his head towards Twilight, and for the first time, she saw Casper's eyes filled not with fear, but rather, with tears.

"Twilight, can we go already? I want to hear this lame-o's excuse for me having to save him earlier."

Rainbow smirked as she caught Casper's attention. She looked up towards his eyes and noticed that they were still full of tears.

"Oh, please don't tell me you're going to cry. That's really weird."

Casper reacted the only way he knew how.

Rainbow realized that this "human" had both of his arms around her, giving her a big hug, and instantly pulled away afterwards, his face towards the ground. Rainbow was not expecting that sort of reaction out of Casper. In fact, that was the complete opposite of what she was expecting.

"Wow, Casper, that was, umm, unexpected." Rainbow began to blush, her cheeks becoming red hot.

"Come on guys, let's go to my house. I'm starving." Said Twilight. Casper faced Twilight and nodded his head, and the group walked towards the big oak tree in the distance. Rainbow soon got bored of walking and began flying, as going slow was really beginning to irk her.

Five minutes later, the group arrived at the big oak tree, which Casper learned to be Twilight's home. Twilight unlatched the lock and walked in first, followed by Rainbow, Spike, and finally Casper, who had to crouch a bit to fit through the doorway.

"Since you're taller than anypony I know, and my home doesn't really have a ceiling, this will be the perfect place for you to stay."

Twilight's stomach began to rumble.

"Let's get started on lunch."

Author's notes:

I decided to release this on the same day as Chapter one.

Although this chapter doesn't seem to content filled, this is setting up the scenes for later chapters.

Thanks for reading,

-Grant a.k.a "Frozen Goods"