In the desert of Appaloosa, an earth pony was galloping away from what seemed like nothing. He ran until he tripped on a stump, he was almost to solid ground. Then he screamed as something pulled him underground. The screaming ceased as the great beast left the scene and into the desert to hunt for more food.
Later when the sun came up the citizens of Appaloosa went about their normal day except that somepony was missing. Another missing pony poster was set up that day.
"Well I'll be, another missing pony that went into the desert. That's the twentieth one this week. We gotta do somethin' about it. Hey,I know, let's get the princesses over here and we can sort this out." said The Sheriff.
"Like I said before, we can't, they're too busy. Wait, let's get the elements down here, what about that?" suggested an Appaloosan citizen.
The town cheered at this news, all except Braeburn. He was worried about his cousin Applejack. He thought 'what if she and the others get taken too?'
Out at the orchards were two foals, one a filly and another a colt.
"Hey Billy come over here,I found something." called out the filly, but Billy wouldn't move. He was looking at a specific apple tree. The filly came closer and saw something on the tree, but she couldn't see what it was. When she was close enough she saw another pony, one that looked all grayish and lifeless. The filly screamed her lungs out by this horrific sight. The town folk heard this and raced over to where they heard the noise. When they came, they were also horrified, one of the missing ponies was right here dead up an apple tree. They took the body down as the children were scared.
"Tell me doc, what done him in?" asked Braeburn.
"Well it looks like dehydration, been up there for three Weeks. Without water, that can kill you." answered the Doctor.
"Well there's no bodies around here, maybe it IS a creature taking everypony." Said the Sheriff.
The group then heard another chorus of screaming and a huge weird roar coming from the east side of the orchard. They ran and ran, but when they got there, there was only a hole and some severed limbs.