Fantasma walked down the block with Spike walking by his side. The green haired child looked at Fantasma and saw him sweat and pant hard from lugging the bag of food.

"Hey Fantasma, can I help you carry that?" Spike said.

"Are you sure Spike, you're still a-I mean are your sure?" Fantasma had read and seen media involving children being underestimated. Sometimes a kid didn't want to be looked down upon and be seen with some respect. Something about Spike made Fantasma feel that he was stronger than he looked, not in terms of physical strength, but willpower and loyalty.

"Yeah, I carry many things Twilight tells me to do," Spike's innocent smile made Fantasma feel warm inside.

"Okay Spike, how much are you willing to carry?"

"To be fair, I'd like to carry a quarter of your load,"

I like this kid already. He reminds me of a less annoying Carl.

Fantasma put down the heavy bag and grabbed three bags of potatoes and showed them to Spike.

"Hey pal, will this do? These are pretty darn heavy," Fantasma said. Spike nodded and carried them on his arms. Combined, they were big enough to obscure some of Spike's field of view, mainly obscuring the view of his feet. His small arms were clearly struggling, but Spike still continued to carry the three bags of potatoes.

"Spike, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I've carried heavier loads back in Ponyville," underneath all that struggle, he still smiled.

Fantasma led the way with Spike following him. Having human parts wasn't much of a challenge for Spike as he too had a similar body. The only thing he wasn't used to was the fact that he had no scales. He looked around the area and saw a plethora of humans wearing clothes. The teens and children who were here wore a similar uniform to what Fantasma was wearing. He stopped for a moment.

"Hey Fantasma, do humans regularly wear clothes?" Spike asked Fantasma as he stopped in his tracks. Fantasma turned around.

"Well yeah. It's hard to explain, but clothing protects you from the cold, rain, and the sun. Also, it's for hiding your private parts from people." Fantasma proceeded to walk to his destination with the preteen in tow.
Spike nodded in confirmation. He still hasn't fully adapted to human living standards yet. Back in Ponyville, you wore clothing on special occasions or if you just felt like it. Ponies and other sentient creatures could walk around naked and it was the norm. In fact while the other ponies were naked, their private parts weren't visible.

"So Spike, what were you originally?"

"A dragon,"

A short "Oooh" came out of Fantasma's lips. This was something interesting.

"Judging by your pre-teen look, you were a juvenile right?"

"Yeah. Well I was a baby dragon,"

Fantasma wanted to learn more about this child. He had always wanted to learn about alternate dimensions and visiting them. In fact, Fantasma was a huge fan of time travel and alternate realities. He kept his excitement down to a low level to keep the child comfortable around him. He liked Spike already. He could have been storming him with a bunch of questions, but this kid and his child-like innocence made him feel like a little brother.

While they were talking, the two boys reached a building by a steep hill. When both boys entered, there was an elevator inside. Both Fantasma and Spike entered the elevator. They were on a circular platform and Fantasma clicked "VII". After the elevator ride, Fantasma guided his new friend to his dormitory.

It wasn't too different from the other dorms in Torifune. Fantasma was never placed with a roommate and was despaired at first, but started to adapt to being alone in his room. He had a laptop resting on his desk, where he usually browses the internet for scary stories and other supernatural creatures. There were a few clothes lying around the floor. Spike, living in an organized household already disapproved of his living standards. They dropped the food by the doorway.

"It's not the cleanest room, but make yourself at home,"

There were three beds, and the one that was undone was clearly Fantasma's bed. He sat on an undone one and his new found friend sat on his bed and looked at him.

"Spike... can you tell me a bit about Ponyville?" Fantasma said softly.

"Well, Ponyville is a small village with a bunch of small buildings and it's inhabited by ponies,"

This kid sounds like he came from a girls cartoon

"So I'm guessing you're a friendly dragon, considering the fact that you mentioned of a Twilight,"

"Well yeah, I was hatched by Twilight and I was raised by Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria,"

"I'm guessing that dragons aren't too friendly in Equestria,"

"Yeah,"

Fantasma put his hand on his chin for a moment, thinking of a question to ask this kid.

"Hey Spike, do you trust me?"

Spike scratched his head.

"Um... Kind of,"

Fantasma looked at his nervous action. He wondered if this kid wasn't comfortable around teenagers. Spike has encountered the teenage dragons and Fantasma seemed to resemble one of them due to their human-like bodies. The baby dragon feared betrayal or bullying from him due to his resemblance to the teenage dragons.

"Is it because I'm a teenager?"he said calmly.

"Y-yeah." he looked down, his face expressing sadness.

"Spike... were you bullied by teenagers?"

Spike looked up and stared at Fantasma's emerald eyes. Something about this teenager made him feel like he was a sort of big brother; something Spike doesn't have. He hung around a place where females were dominant. Fantasma saved his life and offered him to stay in his room. He felt like he should trust him not only to survive, but because his kindness and generosity made him feel like a big brother. He wanted to know more about Fantasma.

"Yeah..."

Fantasma put his hand on the young boy's shoulder. Fantasma had a smile on his face, a reassuring one.

"Spike, you somehow came to this world and I saved you from falling to your death. I'll never stoop that low, man. I'm here to help,"

Spike's frown shifted into a smile with a sad eyes.

"You know Fantasma, you're probably one of the only nice teenage guys I've met,"

"I'm not the nicest guy, Spike," Fantasma said as he looked away.

"How come?"

"I...nearly threatened a bunch of bullies to death,"

Spike went wide eyed from what he said. Why would such a nice guy threaten bullies?

"But... aren't you still in school?" Spike said, now fearful.

"Hey I forgot to tell you this. Torifune, the whole city is the school, but it's a Military Academy,"

The former baby dragon's face shifted into an adventurous smile. He instantly forgot about the

"Wow, are you trying to be like a Royal Guard or something?" Spike said with the tone of a curious child.

"Um... guessing the Royal Guard in Ponyville is kind of like the army right?" Fantasma asked the baby dragon.

"Yeah, but they mostly focus on protection and peacekeeping. What's your military like?" Spike said.

"Well, there are many divisions in the NOL army. Are you ready for a lecture? And feel free to ask some questions."

Spike nodded. Living with Twilight has made him more resilient to long lectures. At first, he'd usually sleep, but as the years past, he grew more tolerant to her lectures and other lectures.

"To start, the NOL stands for Novus Orbis Librarium or in short, the Library. They're basically the superpowers."

"Why is it called the Library?"

"Because um..."

Fantasma looked at the bookshelf by his desk and used his telekinesis ars to grab a blue book. It flew to his hand. The cover showed the Library's insignia. It appeared to look like a dagger with a thick handle; a halo was above it and wings were by its side. He grabbed the book with one hand and flicked through the other pages with his other hand.

"Well the Library keeps Grimoires and decides who should use them."

"What's so special about Grimoires?" Spike asked.

"Grimoires allow people to use Ars Magus, which is somewhat like science-y magic. I used it to save your life,"

"Do you think I could use a grimoire or Ars Magus?" Spike said.

"You could, but I can't teach you,"

"Why not?"

"Because I'm still a student and if the Officials discover you, they might penalize me for harboring a stowaway and send you to some random city,"

"Wow, the NOL sure is strict. Do you have any idea how to keep me here?"

"In order to do that, you're going to have to take an entrance exam, so that I don't have to harbor you. It's really hard, but I have to get you to a prep school before you take the exam, and my yearly break hasn't been spent yet."

Fantasma hopped to the bed Spike sat down and put his shoulder around the young boy.

"Of course, I'm not going to force you but... are you sure you want to be in Military Academy? It may be a hard and strict path, but in the end, you may grow stronger before we find out how to get you back to Ponyville."

Spike always dreamed of growing up strong. Maybe he could impress Rarity with his adventures here. Even if he wanted to go back home, even when he doesn't belong here, he still wanted to stay with this teenager. He reminded him of Twilight. He seemed to be as smart (well kind of) and have a big sibling approach like Twilight. Either way, Spike needed to find a way to survive in this cruel world and Fantasma is willing to go as far as to help him, even though he met him recently.

"I'm sure."

Fantasma extended his fist to Spike. The dragon boy giggled as this reminded him of when he and Applejack did after he saved her from a giant timberwolf. He bumped his own fist with Fantasma's and he beamed at Fantasma with a cute smile. Fantasma got up and picked up the food for the cafeteria.

"Spike, stay here, okay? I have to get this food to the cafeteria"

The green haired boy nodded.

"In case you are bored, just go on my laptop... unless you don't know how computers work,"

With that, the teenager closed the door, leaving Spike in his room. The dragon lay down on his back and stared at the ceiling. The sunlight outside was tempting to bask in, yet he didn't want Fantasma to worry about him nor be caught by NOL officials. He walked to the bookshelf beside Fantasma's desk and grabbed a book. He sat down on the desk chair and began to read.

A/N: Do you like this story? Please Review it if you can. I'm still working on Approaching Shadow.