After 2 and a half hours, Derpy and the Doctor were finished with their universe swapping story. Spike was in awe about everything the story was about, including the giant universe eating monster, the 2 cats and the alternate universe doctor and his assistant, who was apparently Twilight. Spike inwardly frowned at the thought that even in an alternate universe, Twilight still abandoned him, but this time permanantly to go with the doctor. He was pretty lonely now, so he couldn't imagine how lonely the alternate universe Spike must feel over there. Although he was a little bit sad, he certainly didn't show it.
"And that was the story where we got swapped from different universes. Pretty cool huh." the Doctor told him. Spike just nodded, not knowing what to say. He didn't want them to see that he was a bit sad for mentioning that Twilight was still able to go on fun adventures in other universes while she abandoned Spike, but even though he didn't want to show it, it still wasn't lost on either the Doctor or Derpy.
"Spike? You're seeming awfully quiet. Are you ok?" Derpy asked a bit concerned for the dragon.
Spike snapped out of his trance and said, "Oh I'm ok Derpy, you don't have to worry about me." he said in a confident tone. Although he sounded confident, Derpy and the Doctor still weren't convinced."
"Are you sure you're ok Spike?" the Doctor asked him. "We both see you as a friend, and as our friend, we want to be sure that you're ok."
"I promise you guys, I'm fine. Trust me." Derpy and the Doctor decided to back off for a while after Spike said this. They didn't want to pry into him or put pressure onto him, because that would only cause him to make him feel worse.
"If you say so Spike. Anyway, it's about lunch time. Me and Derpy are going to go to the Hayburger cafe to get some lunch, so I think it's time you head home. The blizzard is getting a little bit better so I believe you can go out there safe." the Doctor said. Spike quickly looked at the clock and saw that it was already almost around noon, so Spike said goodbye to the Doctor and Derpy and headed out into town.
As he was walking, he saw that more ponies were out and about than there were this morning, mostly because of the blizzard that died down a little bit and also because of those boar beasts made of ice and black crystal. He saw other friend groups playing with each other and having fun and it made him think about how much fun Twilight, her friends, Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadence and Twilights family (Which he is apparently not a part of) were having at the Crystal Empire without him.
He could bet that the Crystal Empire had a whole party every Hearths Warming with fun, games, food and a happy atmosphere. He could imagine them all laughing with each other while enjoying the treats and desserts Pinkie made for them. He could imagine Rainbow Dash playing some of the hardest games and sports and dominating them, Rarity and Fluttershy working together to make nests and clothing for the critters there, Applejack showing off her lasso and doing a special Hearths Warming rodeo, and Twilight, her parents, brother and the princesses chatting about whatever they chat about. These thoughts about them having all the fun in Equestria started to make Spike feel frustrated and angry with them because while they have fun, he has to wander around Ponyville looking to find something fun and happy to do for Hearths Warming.
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud groaning sound. Spike looked to where the sound came from and he saw a unicorn mare with a fur coat the color of mint green and a lyre harp as a cutie mark. Spike instantly recognized the mare to be Lyra which was one of Twilight's friends in Canterlot before she moved here. He went over to her and saw that she was irritated, like something was bothering her.
"Lyra, is everything ok?" Spike asked the mint green unicorn. She turned around and saw Spike looking at her curiously.
She sighed and told him, "I'm not doing well Spike. I had to deal with a snowstorm this morning and then some strange wild boars. Now to top it all off, I don't have enough bits to buy my very special somepony a very special Hearths Warming gift. I don't know what I'm gonna do and I'm a bit irritated right now." She said to him. Deep down inside, Spike was a little bit irritated because not only he had to go out endure the snowstorm and fight off those wild boars while she stayed in her own house, but she gets to spend Hearths Warming with somepony while his own family left him alone. Despite this however, he was determined to help her out.
"I think I have an idea to help you, but first I need to know. Can gems be pawned off and traded for bits somewhere?" Spike asked Lyra
"Yeah they can, but only a chosen few, like a blue garnet or a diamond." Spike became shocked at that. Those are the rarest gems in Equestria. Spike doesn't have any blue garnets as they're too hard to find, and he also only has one diamond which he was saving for another day. But he knew Lyra was in dire need of bits so he was happy to give his diamond away to somepony who needed it more than him.
"Wait here Lyra, I have a diamond, but it's back at the castle and I only have one ." Spike said before making a beeline for the castle.
Once he was there, he went up to his room and moved his drawer that was next to the bed. Behind the drawer was a safe, so he did the code, opened it and lo and behold, a shiny diamond was there. He grabbed it, put it in his coat pocket, closed the safe, put the drawer back and left his room before going down to the front doors and left the castle.
Upon arriving back with Lyra, he had to sit down to catch his breath and because of the cold and dry air, it was hard for him to do so.
"Are you ok Spike? You didn't have to run." Lyra told him while slightly giggling.
"I'm ok Lyra, and I also was able to get the diamond for you to buy your special somepony a Hearths Warming gift." Spike took the diamond out of his coat pocket and gave it to Lyra. She was dumbfounded when she saw the diamond and she didn't want to take it. "Are you ok Lyra? I got the diamond, so you can take it."
"But that's your only diamond you have. I don't want to take something that may not be able to be replaced."
Spike smiled at her and said, "Hey, you don't have to worry about it Lyra, it's ok. I wasn't gonna use this anytime soon. Besides, you need it more than I do." Lyra smiled at him and took the diamond from his claws.
"Thanks Spike. You certainly are the most generous dragon I have ever known. You will make somepony really happy one day." Lyra said
"You're welcome Lyra." Spike told her. Right after saying this, they both saw that Spike's hat was starting to glow and they grew worried.
"Um Spike, is your hat supposed to be glowing?" she asked.
"Maybe it's not the hat itself." Spike said as he took off his hat and took out the piece of paper. The paper started glowing and after a few seconds a beam of light landed on one of the small circles. Spike and Lyra were almost blinded by it but then the glowing stopped and one of the small circles was then suddenly filled in with a G.
"Wow, the Doctor was right. A beam of light really does fill in these small circles. First it filled one of them in with a K someday before today, then this morning with an M and now one is filled in with a G. Maybe once all the circles are filled in, it'll spell out something." Spike said
"Interesting. Where did you get that magic paper?" Lyra asked. Spike shrugged, claiming that he had no idea where the paper came from. She nodded.
"Anyway, now that you have a diamond to get bits," Spike started. "What are you planning on buying your special somepony?"
"I'm planning on buying her a heart shaped glass decoration with an inscription of her and I on it, showing how much I love her." Spike smiled at her gift idea.
"I can't wait to buy this gift. Thanks for helping me with this and I will make up for what you did ten fold, I pinkie promise. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Lyra said as she started walking off.
"You don't need to do that Lyra." Spike yelled to her.
"TOO LATE SPIKE. I ALREADY MADE THE PINKIE PROMISE." was all she told him before walking far enough away to the point they won't hear each other anymore. Spike just shrugged and decided to keep walking on.
As he was walking however, something caught his eye. A train coming from the south arrived in Ponyville. He saw many ponies get off, but most of them were the apple family from the town Appleoosa. At this sight, Spike started feeling sad again. The Apple Family has so many family members to play with and have fun, including the adventurous trio which was the Cutie Mark Crusaders and yet all he had was himself as well as a few random ponies. He started feeling apathy in his heart and just couldn't feel happy anymore, so with his head hung low, he trudged all the way back to the castle.
Once he got inside the castle, he went to the main hall and saw that the decorations that he set up yesterday were still up. To Spike, it was like they were insulting him and taunting him, telling him that he set them up all for nothing. So he decided to just take everything he set up yesterday down and back in the storage closet. So he got boxes from the storage closet and started his work. Spike first started with taking down the decorations on the tree, he first took off the ornaments and put them in their respectable boxes, then he took down the lights and put then in their own box. He then took the boxes and he put them back in their spots in the storage closet.
He wondered what he would do with the tree, since that was an invention made by the Doctor and it was made out of cardboard. He remembered it folded it up, but when he tried to fold it up or do anything to it after an hour, he still couldn't get is back to it's original state. Spike was getting angrier and angrier by the second to the point where he just burnt the tree into ashes. Luckily, nothing else was burnt so he just got a broom and swept up the remaining ashes. He then got to work taking down the decoration around the main hall like the garland and the wreath. After another hour of hard work, Spike was finally done.
Spike just sat down in a chair and looked down sullenly. He looked at the clock and saw that it was almost time for dinner, but he was still sad and also didn't feel hungry so he decided not to eat dinner right now. He started yawning and feeling tired, which was weird because he still had another 3 hours before going to bed. He thought is was just from the hard work from taking down the decorations, so he just rested in his chair for a while, but he still felt himself getting more and more tired with every passing second.
He just looked down, closed his eyes and sighed. "I don't want to be conscious anymore." With that he just got up from his chair and started walking to his room. He kept looking down because he didn't want to see the castle interior. It just reminded him of bad memories. Because of this he made a decision. "That settles it. I'm leaving Ponyville and possibly all of Equestria for good tomorrow night. I just don't feel happy living here anymore."
Before long, he arrived at his bedroom door. He opened it up and entered. He looked out the window and saw that it was dark and the blizzard outside was getting much much worse than it was this morning, but right now, Spike didn't care. He just crawled onto his bed and buried his face into his pillow, he wasn't crying, he just didn't feel anything. He didn't even feel like moving a single muscle, so he just laid there until his mind slipped off into the dream realm.