He was vaguely aware that he seemed to be flying: he could feel the wind rushing through his mane as a pair of strong hooves held him tightly. He still felt the pain of his injury, but only numbly, and his body was so cold he could barely feel it. Was he alive?

A faint light from behind his eyelids and indistinct shouting, and then he felt like he was being pulled down a tunnel at high speed, lights rushing past him. Something was pressed down over his face, and the air tasted cold and bitter, and he felt himself floating away into the darkness of forever...

Consciousness slowly returned, and he felt soft, warm blankets surrounding his body and a gentle light behind his eyelids. He was no longer in pain, and his body was warm and comfortable on a soft, cloud-like surface.

For a moment, he almost believed that he had died and, through some great cosmological error, been sent to Heaven. Then he opened his eyes and saw a fluorescent light set in a white tiled ceiling over his head, and realized that he was lying on a cloud-white bed, propped up on a bunch of pillows, in a small room decorated with roses on the walls. His clothes had been removed and bandages were wrapped tightly around his torso. Plastic tubing inserted in his foreleg trailed up to a blood bag and a morphine drip hanging beside him.

And sitting in a cushioned chair next to him was Silent Knight, still dressed in the slouch hat and coat, dark purple shadows of exhaustion under his eyes. If he needed further proof that he wasn't in Heaven, this was it.

"You're a lucky pony, sir," a doctor said, smiling at him from his other side. "If your friend hadn't bandaged your wound and brought you here, you might not have made it. As it is, you're going to have to stay in bed for a couple days so you can give yourself time to recover."

"Right," Phil said, continuing to lock eyes with Silent, who didn't speak. "Thanks, doc. Can you give us a moment?"

"Sure," the doctor said, more than a little put-off by the harsh demeanor of the less-than-grateful survivor. He exited the room and shut the door behind him.

"All right, what happened?" he growled to Silent. The Lieutenant calmly relayed the story:

Silent flew high up into the night sky, then banked and began a hard dive, rocketing right at the gathered thugs. They looked up and saw him coming almost too late, diving out of the way with cries of disbelief. Like an eagle snatching up a field mouse, Silent grabbed the unconscious Phillip in his forelegs and flew up into the sky. He was out of sight before the Lucky Bits had a chance to figure out what had happened.

Alighting on a rooftop, Silent gently set Phillip down so he could check his injuries. The bullet had struck him in the side, carving out a two-inch wide crater and lodging inside his body. Blood was spread across his entire upper body on that side, and he was unconscious from shock and blood loss. Fortunately, his chest was still rising and falling steadily. But that would change if he didn't get him medical attention, now.

Unzipping Phillip's vest, Silent pulled it off to access the injury, but then he noticed that the front right breast pocket on the vest was marked with a cross in permanent marker. Opening up the pocket, Silent was relieved to find a small, but well-stocked kit of first aid supplies within, including a rolled-up length of gauze and several dressings in silver wrappings. Tearing open a dressing with his teeth, Silent pressed the damp pad against the wound, then wound it tightly against him with the gauze. The special minerals within the dressing would help the blood clot faster, slowing down blood loss.

Pressure and bandage applied. Now he had to get him to a hospital. Looking around at the silhouettes of the buildings against the night sky around them, Silent's eyes beheld a familiar and welcome sight: the Canterlot General Hospital, less than half a klick due west, illuminated by the moonlight as if Luna herself was guiding them. Gathering Phillip up in his forelegs, he flew towards the hospital at top speed, being careful not to jostle his unconscious passenger too much.

As he dived towards the emergency entrance, he briefly reflected that there was putting himself at great risk: getting this close to a crowd gave him a good chance of being identified. But that didn't matter now. His comrade needed help. Shoving open the revolving door with his shoulder, he skidded to a halt in the midst of the lobby, every head turning towards him in alarm. "I need a doctor, now! He's been shot!" he shouted.

Immediately, a white-coated doctor was by his side, helping him with the bleeding pony in his grasp. Silent explained his injury as quickly and clearly as he could as a gurney was wheeled up. Phillip was lifted up on it, an oxygen mask strapped over his face, and he was wheeled down the hallway into surgery, leaving Silent alone to sit in the corner of the lobby. Once more, he was trapped waiting, hours passing in uncertainty and fear. He was exhausted, but his racing mind refused to allow him to rest. He could only sit, slouch hat pulled down over his eyes, and wait.

Finally, after what might have been a couple of hours or a couple of years, a doctor approached him. Silent looked up beneath his brim and was relieved to see that the white-coated unicorn was smiling reassuringly.

"Your friend's fine, sir," the doctor said. "We managed to get the bullet out and sewed the wound back up, no problem. We'll have to keep him in bed for a couple of days to give him time to recover, and he'll probably be stiff for a week or so, but he'll be fine."

"That's good," Silent said, standing. "May I see him?"

The doctor nodded. "He's still sleeping right now, but he should wake up soon." He escorted Silent down the hallway, and gestured into his room. Phillip was lying in bed, bandaged and still unconscious. For a moment, Silent stopped at the threshold, staring in shock. The sheets had been pulled back to reveal Phillip's exposed torso, and it was covered in scars: almost a full quarter was adorned with the remnants of previous injuries, dull red, pink and black against the brown of his coat. The largest of all was a patch of burn scarring on his left shoulder that extended down to his back.

"What exactly does your friend do? How'd he get shot anyway?" the doctor asked, also examining the scar tissue with horrified curiosity.

"He's a detective," Silent replied, numbing himself to the surprise. He had seen just as bad, if not worse. Pulling up a chair, he settled down beside him to wait for him to wake up. Fortunately, it didn't take long before his eyes flickered and he came to.

For a moment, Phil just glared at Silent in silence as he processed his story. Then he spoke in a fierce, angry growl.

"The hell were you thinking, coming back for me?" He gritted his teeth, infuriated at the stoic indifference on Silent Knight's face. "You're the one that needs to keep himself safe: I can look after myself! You can't put yourself at risk for me! I'm not worth that!"

"Yes, you are," Silent replied. His voice was calm, but carried a firm edge to it. "I almost died once, and somepony came to save my life. We may not be friends, but we're Guards. We look out for each other." He held his gaze steady on the angry gray. "It's what we're trained to do."

Phil glared for several moments longer, then let out a long sigh, lowering his relaxing gaze. "You're right," he admitted quietly. "I'm just trying to protect you. Better that I be the one out there, putting myself at risk, instead of you..." His voice trailed off, and he sighed again. "There's no excuse. I've been a complete arsehole to you, mate."

"It's all right. I understand," Silent said. With a grunt, Phillip struggled to sit up, and held out his foreleg with a small, uncertain smile. Silent smiled back and shook his hoof firmly, the two of them resolute in their partnership.

The moment passed, and they returned to the job. "Now, how are we going to find that envelope in Tandem Check's office?"

"We can't," Silent said. "Neither of us can get into the Palace."

"But we both know somepony who can," Phillip said, breathing a little heavily from the pain of moving. "Can you get a message to Sergeant Hooves, tell her to meet me here?"

"Of course I can," Silent said with a small smile, rising from his seat and starting to leave. "When you see here, tell her to meet me back at the hotel room when she's done."

"I will. Take care of yourself," Phillip called from his bed.

"Don't worry about me," Silent said from the threshold, pulling his collar up. "I can take care of myself." And with a final nod, he exited the room.

"Yes," Phillip said softly to the emptiness. "I know you can."

The main clocktower struck eight in the morning and all was well in the world. The rising sun shone directly on the double doors of the Phial and Filly Alchemist Supply Shop. A gray pegasus with green eyes wearing a green vest and cap walked up to the doors, jingling a set of keys in his wing. He bent over and inserted a key into the doors.

"Psst! Runic!"

Runic Phial, owner of the shop, jumped into the air, the keys flying away into the air with a musical jingling. "Who's there?" he shouted, peering into the alley beside his shop.

A figure stepped out from behind a garbage bag, lifting the slouch hat from his head. "It's me, cousin."

Runic blinked in surprise. "Silent?" He flew forward and hugged his cousin tightly. "Where have you been?! Everypony's been worried sick about you!"

"I've been trying to stay out of prison," Silent said, quickly guiding Runic into the alley. "Listen, I need you to get a message to Miley. Tell her to go to Canterlot General Hospital and visit room 189. He'll tell her what she needs to know."

From the look on Runic's face clearly showed that he thought his cousin had taken leave of his senses. "Cuz, you sure that prison life didn't drive you insane?"

"Runic, trust me. This is important. This might be my only chance to prove that I'm innocent."

Slowly, Runic nodded. "You sure you know what you're doing?"

"I always know what I'm doing," Silent said with a small, ironic smile.

"All right," Runic said, giving him one last cursory hug. "Just be careful."

"I will," Silent said. With a final wave and smile, he put his hat back on and disappeared into the alleyway. Runic returned to the shop front and recollected his keys, pondering this new twist in his life.

Author's Notes:

What's this? New chapter only two days after the last one? It must be Christmas!

Nah, I just stopped using writing time as play time.

In any case, we're getting close to the end of this story. I hope that you've enjoyed so far, and that you're looking forward to the climax of this act!