Spike flew the entire night & only stopped as the sun rose above the horizon. He was far from Ponyville at this point. The dragon tried to rest but as was usual as of late found it difficult. He awoke feeling as though he had been out minutes instead of hours. Conceding defeat he decided to eat, he had a fair sack of gems but knew they wouldn't last long as he had a ravenous appetite to sate. He proved himself right, his provisions only amounted to one satisfactory meal. He would need to find a good area to hunt the next time he needed fed. He had taken to eating animals several years ago as he found it necessary to his survival upon reaching adolescence, if he went to long without it he would become tired & ache all over. Twilight had defined it as a growing need for protein due to dragons phenomenal growth spurts & need to fuel their immense strength.
Spike took in his current surroundings, a forest of regular trees surrounded the clearing he was in. That meant there would be non magical prey for him to take as his next meal. He often wondered why he felt so empty in the recent past, the reason he kept coming back to was most likely.
"I'm all alone." He said aloud to no one but himself.
The realization struck him hard. Ever since he had been hatched he received loads of attention & love from his friends even early on when it had only been Twilight. Dragons are normally solitary creatures but Spike had been raised with the mindset & morals of ponies. Instincts & beliefs raged inside his head with neither gaining significant ground over the other. Spike decided he would take the rest of the day off to explore the woods he found himself in to clear his head. As he walked through the forest he still questioned himself repeatedly over his unhappiness. He was completely unsure of what to do, he had no goals, no home to speak of, no hoard, no mate, & none even knew of his depression that had waged war on him for several years now. He needed an outlet & unfortunately for the forest all to be found were trees. He slashed one in half with a single swipe of his claws that could cut diamond.
Brutalizing foliage brought him no closer to the end of his vague quest. After crunching a tree with his hand he quickly decided as such. Sighing he continued onward on foot with only his pack that now contained only his photograph of a happier time. He stopped when he came to a river & took a several large gulps to slake a thirst he only now realized he had. He decided to follow the river further in the direction of the Equestrian border.
"Am I destined to wander forever?" Spike thought aloud as the scenery didn't seem to change as he kept following the river. He could have walked meters or miles for all he could tell. It seemed a fitting metaphor for how lost he felt on a regular basis. Always moving but never getting anywhere & nothing ever changing.
Eventually however the river came to a bend leading out of Spike's chosen path, he kept moving forward regardless of the river's course. Without the river coursing alongside him the walk was deathly quiet, he thought it strange that he had not felt the presence of any animals whatsoever with any of his super powerful instincts. He decided it wasn't a big deal but the unnatural silence left him alone with his thoughts once more.
"How long will it take for somepony to realize that I'm not around?" He thought to himself. He had left his few possessions in a locked box hidden underneath the floorboards below the ancient Equestrian history section of the library where nopony would ever look. The library itself was unlocked but there were never any ponies checking out books since the Daring Do series had ended. The only one who ever visited him at the library was Fluttershy & Zecora but those visits seemed fewer & fewer until he had left.
The more he thought about it the less he could blame his friends for drifting, ponies needed to live their lives at a faster pace than he did.He could sleep through a couple generations of ponies were he several times his current age. Spike always knew his species had an indefinite lifespan, Equestria had no records of a dragon ever dying of old age. The older he grew the more aware of it he became. Even if he did find love amongst ponies they would die in less than a century while he barely aged.
"Maybe that's why I left?" Spike said to himself somberly as he continued down his undefined path. Suddenly he stopped, his finned ears had picked up the sound of movement. He took a predatory stance & aimed himself in the direction the sound originated from. He stealthily crept toward the source, a large shrub that trembled slightly every so often. Spike was within range now, he pounced swiftly grabbing the creature in question in his powerful clawed hands. He left his prey alive to see what it was, if he didn't wish to eat it he had no desire to end it's life. He found it was a dirt colored rabbit but upon it's head was a set of antlers that would have been more at place upon a deer.
"Bluh?" He said upon seeing the strange creature.
"What in the world are you?" Spike uttered not expecting answer. However he received one.
"I'm a jackalope & I was on my way to dinner with the wife! If you're gonna eat me get it over with, if not let me go so I can explain to my wife why I'm late before SHE kills me!" The creature stated in Bronx accent.
Spike not expecting this quickly dropped the beast in surprise. The creature merely shook it's head with a look of disgust on it's face before saying:
"Tourist." After which he raced away, seemingly to meet his wife leaving a very confused Spike standing there.
"Where the buck am I?" Spike asked himself aloud. After some debate he headed in the direction the "Jackalope" had fled. Not long after taking his new-found path the scenery began to change gradually, the trees trunks gradually grew paler until they where bone white while the leaves seemed to become electric blue & went from being cedar trees to pine. These crazy trees were all bearing bright pink fruit that looked like apple sized pumpkins. Spike grabbed one of these mystery fruit & sniffed it, it had no scent whatsoever to his surprise. Being a dragon spike could digest absolutely anything he wished to eat with little side effect, so he decided to try it. He threw it upwards & tilted his head catching it. He chewed it thoroughly to get it to release it's full flavor. The taste surprised him greatly, the fruit's rind & meat tasted like bacon.
"I think I must have died somewhere along the way, this is heaven & Faust has granted me magic bacon trees" Spike said taking an armful of the wondrous fruit. He spread out his harvest & popped one in his mouth. He immediately deemed that he was not in heaven upon tasting it.
"Blech! Alfalfa? What happened to bacon?" He said said grumpily. He decided to try another at risk of more terrible vegetable nastiness.
"Mint chip ice cream? It even tastes cold!" He said greedily finishing the fruit. He repeated the process several times to find each fruit tasted different from the last. After several dozen of the strange treat he shoved some into his pack to replace his gems & headed further into the strange forest. After several hours walking he came upon a chasm of immense size. he couldn't see the bottom whatsoever, he had lived in a library with the smartest mortal in Equestria for ten years & had on several occasions aided her in studies involving maps. None of the maps depicted any blue forests with enormous chasms at their centers. Upon closer inspection either side of the chasm had a three indents in the center leading a fair distance down though the indents seemed thinner on one side. It looked like a set of enormous hands had pushed themselves into the earth & ripped it like fabric.
"This is impossible, nothing is that strong & it wouldn't tear so cleanly." Spike said half fact stating, half trying to convince himself of it. He was so confused at all that had happened today his mind was adrift. He never heard the vengeful Jackalope sneak up behind him as he stood at the precipice of this oddity. All he knew was that he found himself falling into the blackness after an unseen force pushed him into the mysterious pit.