Applejack awoke in her bedroom at Sweet Apple Acres. But something felt odd. The room felt strangely cold and empty. But everything looked normal... until she looked outside. The sky was shrouded with gray clouds, stretching on until it met the horizon. She kept moving as if nothing was wrong, heading downstairs.
“Hello? Granny Smith? Applebloom?... Big MacIntosh?” She called out, looking around the barn. Nothing. Not a single peep. “Too weird. Where is everypony?” She said to herself. Perhaps she would find some answers in Ponyville. She wandered away from the Acres, which was usually filled with the sounds of harvesting and conversation. But the only sound around was the wind rustling through the trees, and her own hooves stepping on the cold dirt. Applejack looked up at the ominous clouds. Why hadn’t the pegasi cleared the skies? Something was definitely amiss. As she entered the town, a wave of uneasiness and tension struck her. Not a single pony wandered the streets. No sounds of playful fillies or chatting friends. Unlocked shutters rattled in the wind, and even a few doors swung open. It’s like everypony in Ponyville...disappeared.
Almost everyone, as Applejack heard the sounds of hooves behind her, lurking around the buildings. Frightened, Applejack turned toward the noise and backed away. “Who’s there? Come out into the open!” She yelled, trying to sound brave. The sound of hoof-steps stopped and a familiar face sprang out from the buildings. A blue pegasus with a mane colored like the spectrum.
“Applejack! Thank goodness I found you! Or, that I found anyone at all!” she said, landing at Applejack’s side. “Rainbow Dash! What’s going on? Are the others O.K.?” she asked, looking around the empty town. “I don’t know. I woke up in Cloudsdale, but it was empty! And these clouds! I tried clearing them, but they just won’t go away! Twilight and Pinkie are around. Let’s go find them.” Rainbow Dash said, trotting away as Applejack followed. Back at Twilight’s house, the two of them walked in on Twilight Sparkle examining book after book, and Pinkie Pie seemed... less ecstatic. The unsettling situation must have worried Pinkie enough for her to counter her optimism.
“No, no, no! There’s nothing that describes what’s going on.” Twilight said, frustrated. Spike hurried down the stairs.
“Twilight! Look!” He said, carrying an old, dry book. He opened it to the last few pages, which were ripped straight from the spine, the edges of the paper slightly burned. “I know this book had the last pages, but now there just gone!” Twilight paced the room, exasperated. “This doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight muttered. The door bucked open, followed by Rarity dragging Fluttershy by the tail.
“No, stop! I don’t want to!” Fluttershy softly cried. “Don’t want to what, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash asked. Rarity nudged the yellow pegasus.
“Go on, describe what happened.” The unicorn said. Fluttershy soon faced the group, mustering whatever courage she had. “W-well, I woke up, and saw that all my animal friends were missing. I went outside to investigate, when I saw something in the forest. It was tall...a-and skinny. With these long, thin things on its back. I only looked for a second, but something about it was so scary, I just hid under my couch until Rarity found me.” Fluttershy said. The ponies exchanged a round of inquisitive and curious looks at what Fluttershy described.
Twilight took the book Spike was holding. “Curious... this is a book of all cryptic creatures in Equestria, but-.”
“ A what?” Pinkie Pie asked, ever so ignorant and curious. “A creature that has no solid proof that it exists. And what ever Fluttershy described, it’s not in here...”
Spike turned to the last torn pages. “Well, not anymore.”
“Are you saying that whatever Fluttershy saw was in the last part of the book? And somehow got ripped out?”
“That does sound possible. I mean, have you actually read that whole book, Twilight?” Applejack asked.
“Well, no. But that doesn’t explain why they’re missing.” Twilight replied. The clouds slowly grew darker outside.
Pinkie Pie let out a frightened squeak. “What if that thing Fluttershy saw made everyone disappear?!” she cried.
“Pinkie, that’s absurd. All we know for sure is that Fluttershy saw something that scared her. And frankly, she gets scared easily.” Rarity explained.
Spike soon hopped on the table so he had some height above the ponies. “Well, something strange is happening. Everypony else is gone, and I’ve sent three letters to Princess Celestia, with no response.”
A heated argument took place between everyone, arguing about what was fact and what was myth. “Enough!” Twilight yelled, silencing the chaos between them. “If we’re going to figure out what is going on, we need to investigate. So, does anyone have any ideas?” Silence once again fell over them, some of them scratching their chins in thought.
Rarity came up with an idea. “Well, we could try-” she was cut off as the lights went out. The ponies screamed as the darkness surrounded them. A few seconds later, Twilight conjured up a lantern to dimly illuminate the room.
“There. Is everypony alright?” Everyone nodded as they were unharmed, but Pinkie Pie stared at the floor in fear....
In the middle of the floor was a large carving. It was a circle with an X slashed through the center. There was also a single piece of paper, with a crudely drawn picture. The illustration was of a tall, thin being with a round, blank head and long, spindly arms. The being was surrounded by what appeared to be pine trees. “This is too freaky! I got to get out of here!” Pinkie Pie cried, hurriedly running out of the door.
“Pinkie Pie! Wait!" Rainbow Dash said, bolting after her friend. Spike picked up the note as he and the others followed Rainbow Dash. The multi-colored pegasus caught up to Pinkie, who simply stood still in the middle of the town. “Pinkie, calm down. It was just a-” she said, realizing what Pinkie had stopped for. When the other mares caught up, a clear shape came into view.
Standing at the corner of a house, was a tall, slim creature. It’s body was black, like a suit and it’s face was white and empty. The creature’s legs were long, just as long as it’s arms, and several black tendrils protruded from its back, slowly waving in the air. If the creature had eyes, it would be staring right at the ponies. “That’s it.... that’s what I saw earlier...” Fluttershy whimpered as the creature’s tendrils grew longer....