Shadow Play

The days leading up to their departure had been relatively uneventful. With the support of his friends, Testing slowly did make a recovery of sorts, though the trauma that had been inflicted had left its mark. There'd be no escape from the pain it caused, and no end to the damage that it inflicted upon his psyche.

Throughout those last days, everypony except Testing and Gunther took a turn to go to the house and pack as much as they could in what little time they could be afforded. Due to the limited items they had, by the time word came down that Royal protection was being granted, they were ready to go.

Testing sighed as he looked at his new ID, issued directly from 'The Office of Her Royal Majesty, Princess Luna'. As soon as they were to go into hiding, which was only minutes away, he would no longer be Testing Testing until such a time as everypony involved in the case had seen justice. Until then, he'd be Blackberry Frosting.

Had Blackberry tried to come up with the worst name for a pony possible, it likely would've contained at least one of those words in it.

All the same, it was to be his new name as soon as they left Manehatten on a Royal sky carriage . He had never ridden on or in one before, royal or not - even as Rousing Crescendo. Now he was going to have five separate rides on a sky carriages, just to ensure no pony could track him.

Tes- Blackberry was grateful that the group hadn't been split up; more grateful than he could ever express. Aurora, who once had been Stellar Afterglow; Sunflower Blossom, who had been Sultry Rose; Gregor, who had been Gunther; and Morning Splendor, who had been his sweet Puppershy, had all been jubilant when they had received the thumbs up to the request to stay together. It was almost enough to make up for the fact that they'd be leaving behind anypony who might've once known them - their other halves included.

There was a pain there that hadn't been anticipated. They had wanted to live separately from the ponies who they were the shadows of, but the thought that contact would then be impossible for the meantime was... hard to swallow. Unexpectedly so.

In the end, there was nothing for it, and they'd have to live on without the others knowing what had happened until it was all over. Blackberry's testimony was vital to putting the ponies in jail that needed to be, and they weren't about to deny that. And beyond even that, the ill memories of Manehatten now rose up - and despite their short time there, those memories had been more pungent than the power of the evil times they had had in Ponyville.

"I won't miss the city." Sul- Sunflower sighed, looking out the window of the skyport's waiting area. "The place was rotten from the first moment we got here, and never once changed. Putting it behind us is a relief."

"Hear hear." Aurora smirked, lifting her head from her bag. "So long Manehatten, hello Wherever-the-Fuck-else." The group laughed at that, not so much out of enjoyment, but out of commiseration. The place had been terrible, and leaving it behind would be a blessing, no doubt.

"I'm just glad we got to stay together." Morning said with a nearly incandescent smile as she leaned against Blackberry - who was doing his best to steady his nerves that had been perpetually rattle to a certain extent ever since his escape from the dungeon that was the Prissy Pony's back rooms. "I'd hate to imagine going separate directions with no way of contacting each other."

"We would've run if they had tried to ship us to different directions." Sunflower said with a chuckle, turning her attention back to the large windows. "At least, I assume we would've. I would've, at least."

"I probably would've been sad but gone along with it." Gregor conceded dejectedly. "I rather not cause a fuss..." He murmured, lowering himself to his bag some more.

"Don't feel bad, buddy, it isn't like we would've gotten far on our own anyway." Morning Splendor said, patting Gregor comfortingly on the back. Most of the group nodded to that, knowing full well the chances of success if they were to try and survive the wrath of all those implicated in the scandal without the assistance of the guardsponies that were surrounding them as the sky carriages were prepped.

The group fell into another bout of silence as they continued to wait. The chances of an attack were low in the not so often used skyport - which was only used by the sky carriages, coaches, carts, and other such large sky bound vehicles - but even so the security around them was tight. It felt nice to know that they were safe, but less nice to be accompanied by three ponies in uniform and five that were out of uniform - not to mention the unknown number that were hiding behind corners, in shrubs, under chairs, and just beyond particularly large ponies that milled about the port's floors.

Soon enough, though, they were ferried out of the waiting area by their guards. "Carriage is ready. You'll be using the one in Lot C. There will be decoy launches and a few other launches on the part of civilian carriages, so do be aware that other ponies will be milling about. The guard retinue that is following you to the Baltimare exchange will be on the carts in Lots D and E. When you arrive in Baltimare you'll receive instructions on how to proceed. Be quick, but don't be rushed." One of the guards told them as they walked at a decent clip through the halls towards the gates.

"Thank you for all the help." Blackberry said with a small smile that portrayed a portion of the pain he felt and would continue to feel. The guard nodded solemnly before falling back into position in the half ring of guards that trailed them. If there had been a camera in front of them recording the whole situation, it certainly would've looked like a reference to something - though of what, Blackberry wasn't sure.

Stepping onto the field that extended off the skyport, the ponies found their way to Lot C, where a fairly large carriage waited on them. It was primarily built of cloud - as most highly effective sky carriages were - with some odd elements of things that weren't clouds but rather placed there for the benefit of the ponies who weren't pegasi or able to cast a cloud walking spell.

The group quickly set about putting there things on the carriage, only for Blackberry to hear something behind him. "Testing, hey Testing!" A voice he knew called out. He turned and faced Bitter Sweet who was walking over towards him from Lot B with a huge smile. Blackberry quickly looked over to the guard.

"She's good, don't worry." He said, stopping the pony from bringing out their war bow. The guardspony nodded slowly, watching the mare as she approached.

"Make it quick, and be sure not to tell her anything about what situation you are actually in." The guard said in a gruff tone. Bla- Testing nodded, and turned to jog over to Bitter Sweet.

"Heading out too?" Sweet said with a pleasant smile. "Guess you didn't get my text then, my... well, coworkers I guess. My coworkers and I are also shipping out today." Much to Testing's delight, as he listened to her, he barely felt anything of that darker aura coming off from her. One more relief to add to the rather short list.

"Guess that's good." Testing replied. "Sorry I couldn't talk or hang out much, I got caught up in some... eh, work related activities." Testing fibbed. Sweet nodded her head in a commiseratory way.

"I get that, but even so don't sweat it. I was tangled up in... stuff, too." She said with a slight chuckle. "I'm gonna miss seeing you around, Testing. You take care." She extended a hand to Testing, a sad smile on her face.

"You take care too, Bitter Sweet." Testing replied, taking her hand in his gloved one.

"Yo, Bitter Sweet, get your ass over here! We're supposed to be leaving!" A distant voice called out from Lot B. Testing leaned over and saw a cloud cart that housed two ponies - namely a pegasus stallion and a tall unicorn mare. Bitter Sweet sighed and shook her head as she let go of Testing's hand.

"Coming, Fallstreak!" She called back with a huff before turning to Testing one last time. "See you around, Testing." Testing nodded to that, giving her a wave as she ran to her cloud cart and hopped into the driver's seat, turning on its mythril driver core. A few pulls of a few levers later and the cart was up and away, but in that short moment before it was gone, Testing felt an immense aura emanating from one of the other two. It was stronger than Red Tape's, but certainly not the strongest he had ever felt.

Testing Testing sighed, and a few steps later, Blackberry Frosting climbed aboard the sky carriage with his friends. He was going to leave that life behind, one way or another. There was no reason to carry the burden of that past anymore. Though, if he were honest, the strongest aura that he had ever felt did still bother him slightly - namely who had it. As the carriage soared through the air towards their new lives, Blackberry couldn't help but wonder...

Why Midnight Raven?