There was some small part of Silent Knight that thought—or perhaps hoped—that this was all just a dream. Any moment now, he was going to wake up, and he'd be safe in bed with Crystal, and he'd still be the Lieutenant of the Lunar House Guard, and the world would be in its proper place.

But then a voice punched through his reverie. "Silent Knight," the silver-maned judge spoke, glaring imperiously down at him from the podium like he was a bug to be squashed. "On the charges of attempted murder of Princess Luna, this court finds you guilty. You abused your position and dishonored the oath you took as a member of the House Guard, for your own greed. You are hereby stripped of your rank and sentenced to a life imprisonment at Clovenworth Prison." He raised the gavel and brought it down, crushing all of his hopes, his life, his very existence with a crash that echoed like thunder.

Still some part of Silent Knight still refused to accept this, still could not believe this was happening. Numbly, he felt himself being lifted by the forelegs and dragged towards the back of the room, the shackles around his hooves rattling with every step as if to drive the point home. Some of his friends gathered around him, their voice sounding as though they were coming from the end of a long, deep tunnel. Crystal Wishes, Iridescence, Winterspear, all of them promising to help, do what they could to support, that he would be out soon. But their words were as hollow and empty as their voices.

Near the back of the courtroom, sitting in one of the pews, was Princess Luna. Surely she believed in him? Surely she could do something to wake him from this nightmare?

But the look she gave him was so cold, it seemed she was looking at a stranger. The two looked eyes, and he sent her a silent plea.

And she turned her back on him.

Time froze around him, a deafening silence filling his ears. Slowly turning on the spot, his movement still restricted by the shackles, he now saw that everypony in the room had turned their backs on him. They had forgotten him, abandoned him, designated him as the traitor.

Suddenly the floor dropped out from beneath him and he fell, his wings bound and useless, into the deep darkness, his screams echoing endlessly...

With a gasp, Silent Knight woke up, sitting bolt upright in bed. His momentary relief at finding that it was just a dream was immediately washed away when he looked around and recognized where he was.

He was lying on a hard cot bolted to a stone wall in a small room, covered in delightfully itchy blankets and a gray coverall. The only other furniture in the room was a desk, a chair, and a combined sink-toilet, all of them bolted securely to the floor. A door of thick iron bars separated him from an empty white hallway. Set up high on the opposite wall was a window, also barred, that provided him with a view of barbed wire fences and a tall concrete wall.

Silent had woken from a dream into a nightmare. Sitting up in bed with a sigh, he leant back against the hard, cold stone wall. He'd been in this cell at Clovenworth Prison for almost two weeks now. Two weeks since the trial. Three weeks since the night of the attack.

It had been a relatively normal day in the Palace: that is to say, there were no emergencies or crises to speak of. He'd stayed late in his office with paperwork and finally left after dark, looking forward to going home, seeing Crystal again and sharing a late dinner with her.

But instead he'd attacked Princess Luna and tried to kill her.

No! That wasn't right! Concentrate! Going back in his mind to the palace, Silent imagined every weary step he'd made. He'd left his office, turned left and trotted slowly down to a t-section with a portrait of Celestia and Luna on the wall. He'd turned right and the hallway ahead was dark, because the lamp had broken and maintenance hadn't gotten to it yet. He'd stepped into the hallway, and then...

And then...

Damn it! It was like his mind hit a wall as solid as the ones surrounding him. Why couldn't he remember what had happened? It certainly hadn't helped his own defense when he stated that he had conveniently forgotten everything that had happened that night. His objections were overruled by the testimony of five Guards and Luna herself, all of whom testified that they had seen him attack Princess Luna with his sword, rage in his eyes, and intent to kill viciously declared in his every movement.

They betrayed you. The thought flashed through his mind like lightning. They were his soldiers, his comrades. They were supposed to have his back. And yet, at the first opportunity, they had hung him out and left him to dry!

Growling, Silent buried his face in his hooves, trying to get his racing thoughts back under control. At that moment, there was a loud tapping at his door. His brain immediately snapped to attention and he looked up to see two Corrective Guards, adorned in hornet black and yellow armor and glaring at him through the cage-like face shields. One of them was tapping his baton on the bars to get his attention.

"Prisoner 11-17-14, you have a visitor," he said in a flat, authoritative voice. "Stand up and face the back wall."

Silent obeyed, briefly reflecting that that was all he was now: a number. The door opened behind him, and shackles were placed around his hooves and wings (a pointless pursuit, he thought, considering that every day, he was exposed to a spell that nullified his magic, making it impossible for him to fly). Taking him by the forelegs, the two Guards led him out of the cell and down the hallway, past the cells of the other inmates, all of whom looked at him like they wanted to skin him alive.

He'd gotten dirtier looks from the drill instructors at the academy, so he had no issue ignoring them while the Guards escorted him to the visitor room. He hoped it was Crystal or Winterspear, who had visited him almost weekly. Their visits provided him with one small comfort, a small sliver of light in the darkness, something to focus on other than his gradual descent into insanity.

But when he entered the visitor room and saw who was waiting for him from behind the plastic screen, he frowned. The visitor was a stallion with a chocolate brown coat, graying black mane and tail and storm-cloud gray eyes. He was wearing a green pocketed vest, a gray trilby and his cutie mark was a black magnifying glass. He stared flatly at Silent as he slowly walked up the booth and sat down.

"Lieutenant," the stallion greeted him in a voice with a strange, foreign accent. "You might not remember me. My name's Phillip Finder. We worked together at the last Summer Sun Festival."

"I remember you," Silent said. "I also remember hearing stories about you stepping on suspect's throats."

Phillip frowned. "That's beside the point. I'm here because you need help."

"I don't need help from somepony that I can't trust," Silent responded, standing. "We're done," he said to to the two Guards, who proceeded forward to take him back to his cell. He felt the storm clouds glaring at him the whole way back.

Author's Notes:

Well, here we go.

This is something I've wanted to do for a while. I'm a big fan of Anzel and his character Silent Knight, who stars in his own stories, Memoirs of a Royal Guard and Secrets of a Royal Guard. Anzel is a fantastic writer, far superior to me, and I was both surprised and pleased when he responded well to my proposal and gave me permission to do this crossover.

To tell you the truth, I'm kind of nervous: Adam placed a lot of faith in me to use his character, and if I screw this up, it could reflect badly on both of us. So here's hoping I don't screw up!