I turned to see the one who talked. He was black stallion. He had white eyes and a black coat. He wore a black cape as well. His mane and tail were blown back and was also black with an outline of grey. "Says here you were not due for quite a few years..."

"Where am I? This place is not Equestria." I was looking around, staring at the blue sky and then down at the ground. I was on a dirt path which lead to the gate behind the stallion. To the sides of the path, there were fields of flowers. Multiple types and of all different colors. I looked back at the black stallion ahead of me. "Who are you?"

"I'm Death. This place is the Path to Paradise. You are dead and have arrived here earlier than you were expected to." No expression in his eyes. His face was serious as far as I could tell. He was looking at a clipboard that held up with his hoof. "It seems that you have died with a magic bolt shot through your chest and out your back." He looked up at me again. "I will escort you to the gate now. Do be aware of the trial to see whether you will be let in or sent back." He put the clipboard under his cape. The black stallion turned around and began to walk to the gate in the distance. Since he said he was going to escort me there, I just followed, looking at the surroundings.

We were about half way to the gate when I saw somepony in the field to the left. She was asleep. The unicorn looked just like one of the ones from the ruins were Luna may have killed Nightmare Moon. I sped up to walk beside the black stallion. "Pardon me, but if this is where we go when we die, is Nightmare Moon here?" The stallion stopped moving. His grayish blank eyes looked up. He brought a hoof around and pulled out the clipboard again. He looked through all the pages he had attached to it.

"No, I do not recall seeing a pony named Nightmare Moon." He put the clipboard back under his cape and started walking again. I followed again.

"One more question..." He stopped and turned his head sideways to look at me. "Is there any possible way to go back?"

He stood silent for a moment. He did not move. He was like a statue now. His eye focused on me. It was really creepy how he didn't even move. "I don't know of anyway to go back once anypony has died. There were a few that tried, but they ended up wandering in the fields. I believe there was an alicorn who had the power to be revived, but that was about a thousand years ago." He turned his head back and we were walking again.

We neared the gate. I was getting a good look at it now. It was a tall gold gate. There was a white pony next to it behind a podium. The white pony was reading something that was placed on the podium. I looked to each side of the gold fence. It was about as tall as the gate, but it stretched on for miles. I couldn't see an end to it. The black pony was still walking, not even looking at the other ponies that were scattered throughout the fields. I saw a few little fillies playing with each other. I thought they were playing tag or something. I also saw a pegasus flying in the air. She was doing some spins and a few loops. She was pretty fast too. Rainbow was still faster than that. "What's with all the ponies in the fields? Why aren't they inside the gate?"

The black stallion stopped again and walked over to where the path met with the left field. He picked up a hoof and moved it to the field. It touched something, some sort of barrier. I walked over and felt the barrier, it was glass. "The ponies you see are actually ones who have already died. They have yet to wake up on the path. I bring them from your world here and they wait in the fields. I try not to look at them as they bring back bad memories." His head tilted down and his eyes closed. "All those times I took away family members, best friends, other relatives, seeing all of them bring back the looks on the faces of those watched them die. I cannot be like that, I must do my job, it is what I was created for."

"What you were created for? If you were created then who created you?"

"The 'Creators'. They make everypony from their obvious details down to the deep specifics. Even the ones you see everyday in your world of Equestria, all of us were created by them. When they die, we are sent to the gates over there to be let in. I was created to be the mediator between this world and yours. I bring the ponies who die there to be let into the gate. You are still a special case, you were listed to die by sacrificing your life for your princess years from now." How does he know this stuff? Why did he call himself "Death"? Wait, what about the hole in my chest. It was gone, so was the one in my back. I looked back up at the black stallion shrugging off the notice of them. I put my hoof back on the glass again, looking back out to the ponies who were in the fields. I looked at the four little fillies who were playing tag. It reminded me of when Luna and I used to play together. It was always fun, even if her sister yelled at us and told us to act behaved. We never actually payed attention to her lectures. I wanted to relive those memories now, all that happiness during those times, they could never be matched. The battle played in my head now. I saw as how Luna used her magic to kill Nightmare Moon. Then how Nightmare shot me in the chest with a magic bolt. I brushed off my recollecting of what happened and look at the stallion.

"Well, shall we head to the urk..." Something began to pain me in my chest. The hole from before appeared. 'What in Equestria?"

"Hmm, seems that you are still alive, in a way. The wound you have there is the way you died. Since it is still there, it seems you are still attached to your world. That, or somepony is trying to bring you back."

"Then what is happening to me? Why did it appear now?"

"Like I just mentioned somepony must be bring you back to life, or your soul is still attached to your body in Equestria. Seeing as how it affect you as it does, I assume that you are still alive. I am pretty sure that you will disappear from this world soon and wake up back in yours. Even though my job is to take the souls of the departed here and escort them to the gate, I am glad that I was able to meet with one who is still alive. I doubt that you will remember this meeting however." His head hanged down a bit more.

I was feeling pity for him. It seemed like his life is boring and filled with too many bad memories. "Hey listen, I will try to hold onto this memory of our talk. You are the second nicest pony I have met, also probably the most depressed from what I can see in your eyes. Listen, don't let these bad memories harm you psychologically. If you feel depressed all the time, what's the point of continuing your job? You must show compassion to those that you bring here with you. Don't look so gloomy, I am sure that you will be able to meet another pony that you can talk to like this." I just gave him a small smirk. He didn't move his face. He brought his head up and turned to me.

"Looks like your time here is up. You are heading back to your world again. Please give my regards to Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, it must have been hard for them to loose their parents. Tell them I am sorry for doing that, but it is my job. When we meet again, I will be able to clear my conscious for a little. Thank you, for at least talking to me. Goodbye Night." He faded away. The area around me faded away. The darkness surrounded me. I could see a small light not to far ahead of me. I began to walk towards it, the light it emanated was alluring. It grew larger as I got closer. Finally the light gave off a bight flash which blinded me. My eyes opened widely and I awoke gasping a large amount of air.

My breathing slowed down back to normal. I looked around and saw a deep blue curtain surrounding me. Again I could hear beeping. I saw a machine attached to my arm by a long tube. I guessed it was one of those pulse sensors. I looked at my body that lay on the bed motionless. Two bandages cover both of the holes in my body. I could feel a little bit of pain every time I expanded my chest when breathing in. It was nothing to worry about though. I looked up again at the blue curtain. Why was there a curtain and why was it completely closed? A white unicorn walked in and looked up at me. her eyes shrank a bit and rushed back out the curtain.

"Princess Luna, she is awake!" I heard her calling for Princess Luna on the other side of the curtain. Just a few seconds later, the curtain opened up completely. I found myself in Princess Luna personal medical room. Both of the princesses had one. They were separate rooms from the main medical area. Standing in front of me, was Princess Luna. She frowning at first, then her frown turned into a gleeful smile. She walked over to the side of the bed and nuzzled my cheek.

"I am so glad that you are still alive. When we first got here, the nurses and doctors thought you were dead, then you came back. You were still asleep, I tried to wake you up, but you just wouldn't wake up. Right now, I am just glad to see that you are finally awake and alive." She was crying and her tears were rolling down her face from her eyes onto my neck. "Please Night, never do that again. You had me so worried and I felt like I was going to die just to be with you." She lifted her head and looked me in the eyes.

"Princess, I would gladly give myself to protect you from any harm. Remember the promise I made with you that long ago when I first became Night Guard?" She dwelled on that thought for a moment.

"Of course I do. You promised to protect me."

"There was more, I promised to protect you, even if I have to sacrifice my own life to do so for you to live on." She nuzzled me on my cheek again. Not saying a word, we just stay there for a while.

A nurse walked over to Princess Luna. She spoke very softly, she probably thought I was asleep still. "Excuse me princess, you are being summoned by your sister to an important conference with..." She saw that Luna was still hugging me and still crying. "I will tell your sister that you are busy tending to personal matters." The nurse left and the curtains closed.

The area around us became lit up with the deep blue color. Luna's mane looked even more beautiful than it did in the moonlight. She pulled away from me and brought a chair right next to me. She sat in it. "Listen Night, I want you to take a break from all this guard business. I want to be able to spend more time with you having fun, not "guarding" me. After going through this experience, I don't want to lose the old you yet. I still want my best friend to play with me every so often. Also, maybe we you can help me with a new hobby of mine."

I looked at her confused. "What is this new hobby of yours?"

"Drawing pictures..." She blushed as if she was ashamed to mention it. "I started drawing a few weeks ago. I have made plenty of pictures, but I want you to see them."

"Sure princess, I would love to see your pictures. Just remember, I am still the same pony I was when I first showed up at the entrance to the palace. Always know that I will not change from the small filly you found at the palace entrance."

Luna smiled at me, her eyes closed as if remembering the time when she first found me. "Thank you Night, I knew I was right to pick you to have as friend." She stood up, walked over to me, and hugged me. I felt a little sting from the wounds on my back and my chest, but it wasn't enough to actually hurt me. Luna and I embraced each other for the time being. The curtains opened again. Luna pulled back and we both saw Princess Celestia standing in front of us.

"Oh, I am sorry if I am intruding on a personal moment. I do insist that you come to the meeting today, little sister. It concerns the recent incident with Nightmare Moon returning by taking over the body of a unicorn. The magistrate has suggestions and theories about her return. Please follow me to the conference room when you are done here." Celestia smiled liked usual and walked away.

Luna turned to me with worried eyes. "I guess I have to go to this meeting. I will come right back here once it is vover Night, I promise."

"You don't need to promise anything to me Luna. Come any time you want, I will still be here, after all, I'm not allowed to get up for a while." I chuckled a little. Luna giggled a little with me. We embraced each other one last time and she left me alone in the room.

The only thing that came to mind, was to get some rest now. I had died and come back to life. It was definitely not something that I would ever forget. I noticed a faint memory of a chat I had with somepony. I couldn't remember it exactly, but I do remember one thing about it, I will definitely be seeing that colt again one day. When that day comes, I will greet him like I did when I left that world. A smile formed on my face. I leaned back against the bed and closed my eyes. 'Thank you for at least talking to me. Goodbye Night.' Those were the only words I could actually remember clearly from that chat. "Heh, it was great to talk with you too." Then my mind drifted off into a dream that would keep me smiling for a lifetime.

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Out of Story, Side Chat:

Hey readers, Night Runner here again to talk to you about the story again. The writer is here with me, but again he is too lazy to talk to you all. You know, people might get the wrong idea about you.

Don't worry about me Night, also it's not that I am too lazy to talk to them, I just have a bad headache now. I'm still surprised I could even finish writing this chapter.

Yea well, he wanted me to tell you all about this chapter basically and if anyone has any questions, just post it in the comments below. I will be sure to answer them for you if he can't. You really don't look to well, you should go get some sleep, maybe you will feel better tomorrow.

Like I said before, don't worry about me. You are right that I should feel better in the morning. Anyway, right now I need to find my memory book. Can you come over here and help me find it?

Do you seriously still use that thing? Ugh, you need to practice remembering things, Chris. Then you won't have to go looking for that book every time you need to remember something. Fine, I'll help you find it. Readers, apparently I have to go help him find his book. I will still be sure to answer any questions about the story when I read them. Also, he thanks the writer Ravenwood11 for inspiring him to include a Death character into this chapter.

Why are you worried about me when you got shot in the chest by a magic bolt anyway Night? You died and miraculously came back to life. Everyone should be more worried about you than me.

I told you before, I am perfectly fine. It healed completely and I am perfectly capable of doing anything I used to do. Besides, I am only here until Luna comes back from her trip.

Oh don't be like that, you enjoy staying here with me. You even said it before.

You tricked me into saying that! Great, now I forgot what I was going to tell the readers. Anyway, I will answer any questions you post in the comments. As for now, I am going to help Chris find his little book. Oh now I remember, this story is a probability story. It may be changed completely due to a message that we may receive from another writer that Chris likes to read from. We will be waiting his response. Goodbye until then, dear readers.

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