Nightshade lightly brushed the hoof away and stood up. "That's exactly what Princess Luna told me. What my father told me. What her father told me. And do you want to know the truth? They were wrong." Her face darkened. "Ponies aren't meant to kill. It's not natural. We're meant for peace. Friendship. Harmony. Somepony like me... a killer... and I have killed, so very many...shouldn't exist in this world."
"Somepony has to. If no ponies are capable, who keeps the rest of us safe? Maya's killed. I'm sure you met her. You think she's a bad pony?" Raven looked her in the eyes. "You're not a bad pony. I can see it, girl. You've gotta forgive yourself."
Nightshade chuckled grimly. "I'm certainly not a good pony, Raven. It's like the scorpion from the old story...causing harm is just in my nature."
The conversation was interrupted by a trio of stallions walking in. The largest one, an Earth Pony, addressed the other two, a Unicorn and a Pegasus. "A'right, boys. This is the place Octi told us. I'm pretty sure this time." He whistled loudly and raised his voice. "Oy! Which one o' ya is Raven?"
"We're your band, missy. Name's Deadbeat. I'm the drummer. The longhorn's Boomer; he's bass, and the pega wit' the guitar is Riff."
"Awesome. Guess I better teach you all some stuff real quick. You should all come here for just a sec."
"Well... I was gonna beam the knowledge of my songs into your heads real quick, then go out and practice with you. Unorthodox as buck, but hey, we don't even have a full day."
"Good point." Raven trotted up to them and bapped their foreheads, doing exactly as she promised. "There. Uncle taught me that. No headaches, right?"
"Hell yeah. Just one sec." Raven took off out the door and flew off, fast enough to cause a sonic boom. She came back around thirty seconds later, gripping an electric guitar, and landed by the stage outside.
Zeran watched them leave, then shrugged. "anyway..... actually, I just realized I have nothing to talk about..... huh."
Asmo walked up to Zeran and took on her form with a smirk. "Idea. Why don't you tell me all about you? Need Nightmare Night ideas."
Zeran blinked, then grinned. "okie dokie! hm..... I spend most of my time either walking through the everfree, here, or with Etheran. I'm highly skilled in 3 dozen different forms of martial arts, only one third of which are from this world. I think you already know my personality pretty well..." she rambled