The curfew was absolute. No doubt about that. After the first incidents, ponies figured that out. The next few rules were also made after incidents.
No pony knew where he or she came from. At first, it was just a silhouette or two, near the everfree, and the dark alleyways. The elements tried to stop them, but failed miserably. The one they managed to capture was a feral monster, with out a mind. Princess Luna couldn't even enter its dreams; its mind was so shattered. The princess didn't let anyone, aside from her friends, and the other princesses, see what it looked like. From the rumors, it was like a Minotaur and a gorilla had a baby then shaved it. Then decked it all out for nightmare night. The first night it was being kept in twilight’s castle, and is moved to canterlot in the morning.
That didn't happen.
In the middle of the night something broke down her door and busted it out. Nopony’ll admit it, but everypony knows that there are smarter ones out there. This can't be the work of crazies. The first incident was small. A foal fell into an open sewer, and never came out. Neither did the rescue crew sent after him. Then, a few ponies disappeared near the borders of whitetail woods. When the ponies buried them, you could hear laughing. A lot of it. In the sewers, at the borders of the forest. Then a mother let her foals out to buy some things after six o'clock. They never made it to their destination. A scream was heard, and one of the first responders could see two meaty claws drag the bloody bodies of the foals down into the sewer system. After that every pony was apprehensive of everything after six.
One day, the clock tower, which hadn't worked for a decade, suddenly started up. It was phenomenal. Most ponies considered it to be part of their cultural heritage. Every pony that went near it died. There were tons of traps set near the tower. Bear traps and pits. With spikes. They were kept just close enough to each other, that, if you got you front leg caught in a bear trap, you'd fall down a pit. The elements couldn't even get near the bodies. The pegasai tried to airlift the bodies out, but there were more traps. Ever heard of flying mines? It’s basically a big ball of helium and hydrogen. Yeah. Well anyway it didn't matter. By the next morning, every single body was gone. It was said, that if you got up close to the tower, without stepping in a metal death trap, you could hear smacking and crunching, sounds equivalent to eating.
Three guesses where the bodies went.
So after that, there were more attacks after six o'clock. The only reason the ponies figured out that sunlight protected them, was because some ponies’ house burned to the ground, and he had to come out at 7:00. The next night the singing started.
At first it was a lullaby every now and again. You know, the small cutesy ones. Then it got worse. Soon it happened every night, loud enough that ponies could barely sleep. By then, all the songs were about death and war and such. I have no clue where the songs come from, but their odd all the same. The worst was the Halloween song, or something. It went like,
Boys and girls of every age
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?
Come with us and you will see
This our town of Halloween
Or something. And whoever they were, they were right. The townspeople were terrified, and they had it completely under their thrall. The only thing keeping the towns ponies there was that weird sense of ponyville pride. You’re born there, you die there. But it was hell anyway. Than it happened. A mare, lily, i think, was at home, when she heard a tapping on her door. For some reason, she opened it, only to be attacked by three of them, dressed as a fox, a sheep, and a cat. The screaming lasted for hours, no one could do anything. Detachments of guards were sent to try to do... something. But whatever it was they didn't get the chance. In the middle of the night, the guard barracks were attacked by a bunch of them, and by morning, all 20 of them were gone. Stolen into the night. 3 days later a whole bunch of bones showed up scattered all along the borders of white tail woods.
And it wasn't like they were super stealthy. I’m sure a lot of ponies saw them. But the only ones who can see them and not die afterwards are the elements of harmony. Pinkie pie alone saw them at least 15 times. From her insane ramblings, apparently, they stand taller than the princesses, have long, bristly hair on the tops of their heads, but nowhere else, and some of them have long claws. Like, extremely long. Apparently they all have nightmare night costumes on. Like a clown could attack you, then a vampony and a machete wielding one could descend to take part in your killing. From the few things gathered by the survivors, they all carried weapons. A sword, a switchblade, a pitchfork, if it could kill, they used it to. The farms near the town were ransacked for tools and supplies. Eventually, this all caught the eye of princess Celestia, and the rest is history.
"Thank you for your time, err..."
"Rail tail, and it was my pleasure. Anything else?"
"Just a few more questions, Mr. tail. Now, you run the ponyville express?"
"Yeah, i moved there from appaloosa, you know, before it became a shithole."
"Mm. now, how did you come to know all this?"
"To be frank, i listen to rumors a lot, picked out the tidbits that were all-together the same, and brought it to you."
"Thank you for your time. And goodbye." the police pony motioned towards the door and rail tail tipped his conductors hat to the cop, than left the police station. He was walking back to the train yard, so he could sleep in the train. As he was walking by, a short gust of wind blew a paper at his face. Grumbling, he pulls it off and reads it.
THE TOWN IN PONYVILLE IN RUINS!
An investigation by the princess and her guard has led them to find the city of ponyville, once a prosperous and thriving city, home to the elements of harmony, and residence of newly coroneted princess twilight sparkle, is now ruins. From this reporter’s investigation, the few survivors of the incident claim that monsters come out at night and kill any pony they find. Bones and dismembered and mutilated bodies were found all over the town. A far-reaching search by the royal guard, led by new captain of the guard, prince blueblood, has led to nothing but more bodies. But apparently they have found the remains of sentient beings living down in the sewers and in the bell tower. Whitetail wood is being flushed and cleaned, so that it one day may be a tourist attraction again. The bodies of the deceased, lacking a cutie mark or any other means of identification, have been moved to trottingham, so that they may be cremated.
Rail tail grimaced. 'i hate yellow journalism.' he thought. Another gust of wind reminded him that it was October, ad he briskly trotted as fast as he could back to the train. But out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw something. A silhouette, with glowing red eyes and a fire axe.
He shivered.