A Tale of the Misplaced Guard

by CyclicStoryWriter

From the Shadows

For as open this town was Ulfgar was surprised at how many alleyways he had found. They were almost exactly to how he remembered the ones in Riften were like, dark and cramped. As he moved his way through the buildings, he kept an eye out for those two cloaked figures. He could easily spot out the guards out on the street from their bright golden armor; just not the two he had seen before. Ulfgar knew that the latter could be even more dangerous than the guards. The more time he spent moving through the alleyways, the more his gut tried to tell him something. As he came up to a fork in his path one of them walked around a corner and stood in front of him.

"Well look what we found here Midnight!" A female voice exclaimed from underneath the cowl

"State your business." Ulfgar replied quickly, already slipping into his guard mentality.

"I think we should do the question asking here." a male voice commented from behind Ulfgar.

"Who are you?" Ulfgar interrogated the one in front of him.

"I thought I said we would be the ones doing the questioning." Hissed the male voice that was behind him.

From the sound of the man's voice and the soft footsteps behind him Ulfgar could guess that the man was easily within arms reach. He flexed the fingers on his right arm as he waited for the moment. It didn't take long for that moment to arrive.

"Midnight, wait!" The cloaked woman in front of Ulfgar shouted as an arm shot out from underneath her cloak.

Ulfgar cut off her warning by quickly turning around and slammed a clenched fist straight into the man's throat. With one fluid motion, Ulfgar grabbed ahold of an outstretched arm and pulled it over himself. Now both of the cloaked figures were in front of him. The man clenched his throat as he tried to breathe. On both of their wrist, Ulfgar could see that they wore silver gauntlets with gold trimming. Along with that the man's cloak had fallen back to reveal shining silver armor. The closest thing that Ulfgar could compare it to was the few cases of glass armor that he has seen. That is where the comparisons ended though. This armor seemed easily more decorative that what he had seen back in Skyrim. A large emblem with two winged unicorns were displayed right on the breastplate. The gold trimming seemed to flow across the armor as if it was a living, growing, vine. As Ulfgar's attention was caught on the armor, the woman jumped over her companion and lunged out at Ulfgar with her other arm. In response, Ulfgar pulled his steel dagger out of it's hiding place and stretched out his arm. His blade laid softly on the woman's bare neck as her hand was only inches away from his face, filled with some magical spell.

"Well it looks like we're at a stand off." The woman replied as a strand of amber hair fell down onto her face.

"I seems so... now who is going to start talking first?" Ulfgar replied as he kept his eyes solid on her eyes.

A heavy silence filled the alley with the exception of the shuffling of the woman's companion.

She stayed exactly where she was when she began. "Who exactly are you?"

"My name is Ulfgar, and you two?" Ulfgar answered, quickly following with his own question.

"My name is Amber Dawn and my partner here is Midnight Shine." She replied.

"Where are you from?" Midnight Shine questioned as he began pushing himself back up.

"A place far north of this town..." Ulfgar began.

"What town?" Amber questioned

"Have you ever beyond the frosted tips of the border mountains?" Ulfgar countered.

"Sadly I have not had the opportunity to. I'm guessing I'll have to go on your word then." Amber answered as her hand seemed to die down in intensity.

"Anything else?" Ulfgar asked as he flexed his fingers that were holding his knife.

"How did you see through our cloaks? " Midnight coughed out in a raspy voice.

"That does bring up a good question. How exactly did you do that?" Amber commented, making her had grow once again in magical light.

"See through them, all I saw was two suspicious characters following me and some acquaintances of mine to the blacksmith." Ulfgar stated as he slowly began pulling himself from his guard mentality.

"Now that comes back around to my first question. Not anyone can see beyond the magic embedded in these cloaks." Amber said as she narrowed her eyes at Ulfgar

"I was a guard surrounded by thieves rummaging through your pockets, assassins trying to put a knife in someone's back, and mages trying to somehow land their name in history with some new spell. Easily within a few weeks you notices things like cloaked figures." Ulfgar answered with a quick summed up version of Skyrim.

"It's supposed to make use blend in to the untrained eye. You somehow were able to see past that. I guess that would be a question for later." Amber said to herself. "How are you doing there Midnight?"

"Man you suck, I barely can breath!" Midnight coughed out as he held a hand to his throat.

"Well it was either that or breaking your arm. I figured you would prefer the later." Ulfgar simply stated as he chanced a quick glance over at him.

"Hey, I think I see something down in the alley!" A voice bellowed as it was followed by the sounds of hushed whispers and clanking armor.

Ulfgar hesitated for only a moment before he pulled himself back into the shadows before pulling himself up the one of the wooden supports of a building. He waited there as he listened to the sounds of guards storming into the alleyway. Of the many things he did not care for, this was very high up on the list. That along with flying and any magic other than the restoration arts. A guard soon came into Ulfgar's sight with his shining golden armor and white wings. The guard's curiosity was quickly leaving from the alleyway scene and up into the sky. Sadly Ulfgar would be in the way of the blue sky. All scenes left Ulfgar as he felt that the surface behind him disappeared and he was pulled backwards. In seconds his mind caught up with him and he was staring up at the smiling face of Pinkie Pie.

'Well this... This i didn't see coming.' Morrigan stated as she spoke up in his mind

'Welcome to the group.' Ulfgar thought to both Morrigan and himself

'I've never been invited into a group like this. Do we get cake!' Morrigan cheered

"Hi there Ulfgar! Seems like you got stuck in a doozy here!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"I'm not even going to ask how you happened to be here." Ulfgar replied as he began to sit up.

"You don't have to worry about that. I just had a feeling that you would need some help here!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she helped Ulfgar to his feet.

"So what now, are the guards going to burst in from the windows?" Ulfgar asked as he felt that somehow he had just jinxed himself.

"Of course not Ulfy! they're just going to come in through the front door like everyone else! Now lets see about getting you back to Applejack's place." She said in her usual cheery voice as she began to pull something from out of the shadows.

As she did this Ulfgar could hear a knocking at the door. Soon the sound of a door being opened and voices could be heard. Before Ulfgar could make any type of plan he found himself shoved into some sort of pipe. His whole upper body was trapped inside this 'pipe' while his legs below his knees were unconstrained.

"Pinkie, what are you doing!?" Ulfgar shouted out with no regard to the increasing sound of boots heading up stairs.

"This might be a little bit loud..." Was all that she replied.

Ulfgar was confused for only a second before he was blasted out the window. His mind completely shut down on him with pure shock. There was only one thought that hung in his barely active mind. He. Was. Flying. He had experienced many things before in his life but this one had sent him into a new plane of fear. Not even his first sight of a dragon had sent his mind into a panic like this. So there he was, flying through the air in a cloud of brightfully colored confetti. The ground below him seemed as small as a child's playset. The people down below him walked around doing their usual routines. Seemingly unaware of the man trapped in the cloud of confetti. The town slowly began to push away from him as the trees took their place. His chest began to tighten slowly as the trees began growing. Now his mind began flooding with thoughts. They necessarily weren't about him falling to the ground. Only a sliver of the thoughts were of that subject. The rest were seemingly random thoughts such as how was Whiterun doing after the dragon attack? What jobs did Applejack have planned for him today? and where was the equipment he had? A few seconds passed before that one thought grew in his mind. Where was his equipment? Frantically he attempted to move himself around to hopefully catch a glimpse of his things. That time drew to a close when he barreled through the leafy canopies of the apple orchard. His fall was not eased by any of the branches when he slammed into the ground. After that the pure force of the landing threw him further into the orchard before he finally rolled to a stop. Out of all of the pain that he was experiencing, where his shield met his arm held the largest amount of agony. Ulfgar rolled over to his back as his entire body burned with the fire of pain. He lied there as he weaved his hands through the lush grass on the ground. He looked up towards the sky and saw that the confetti was softly snowing down around him.

"By the Nine, I swear that I will never do that again!" Ulfgar vowed to himself as the roaring flames of pain died down to a simmer.

'I'm surprised that you didn't break anything from that fall.' Morrigan commented in the most serious voice he had heard from her.

'I blame the pink one for that...' Ulfgar replied before thinking back on the previous few minutes of his life.

'Well it looks like you have a some company coming by.' Morrigan stated as the sound of beating winds soon joined in with the clanking.

'Great...' Was all that Ulfgar could respond with before something began to push through the branches of the apple tree

Ulfgar waited where he was a he slowly began moving his hand towards where his hidden dagger was. The person was obviously one of the guards he had only glimpsed before. As the guard began to emerge from the branches, Ulfgar began noting a few things. Firstly was how the armor did not seem fitted for the guard; being easily to large for the owner. Secondly the guard seemed to be more worried with the branches in the way than the armored man lying down on the ground a few yards away. Thus bringing up the third thing, they seemed to be more worried with smaller things than what could turn the situation very ugly. The guard finally made their way through the branches and began to look over the area. Ulfgar only caught a glimpse of a smooth skinned face and a pair of emerald green eyes before the visor fell into place. He waited for what possible questions they were going to ask about his equipment or if he was just recently in town.

What actually happened surprised him when they asked in a muffled voice. "Are you alright there?"

He let out a small chuckle to himself before responding. "I just had my first flying lesson without wings!"

"What?" was all that the guard could reply with.

"I was in town and falling behind on my schedule. My friend, Pinkie Pie, decided to shoot me across the sky to help me out." Ulfgar answered as he tried to figure out more about the guard.

"Was it fun?" the guard continued questioning, seemingly not worried about what had the guards scrambling about.

"This man was not given wings for a reason. Now all there is to get back... Where are they?" Ulfgar replied as he slid off his shield before falling silent.

"What?" The guard replied as their hand pushed up the visor.

"Dammit, where are they!?" Ulfgar shouted out loud.

'Where did what...' Morrigan and the guard questioned him.

As if by demand his steel sword shot down from the sky above and impaled itself into the ground, whistling past his helmet. Moments later, various other parts of broke through the canopy. Ulfgar cautiously turned his head to his right to find the sound of scraping metal as the hilt kissed the front of his helmet. He let out a sigh of relief as he thought he was back on the 'regular' path of life. Pain began to flare up through his body as he pushed himself up to a sitting position. Before he could get up to his feet, the faint sound clanking could be heard filling the death like silence.

"If you don't mind, could you help me out here?" A unhindered voice asked between grunts.

Ulfgar turned to see the guard pinned to a tree with another of his swords stuck in between two different shoulder plates. He had to pull his eyes off of her long hair that matched the color of her eyes. Never before had he seen any hair that looked that color without looking like it was dipped in something.

'Really, you have already seen flowing hair with blue, pink, and turquise and you think this is different? Morrigan inquired from within his mind.

'The other one had magic, same as Twilight. Only mages want to change their hair color.' He replied as he got up face to face with the hanging guard.

"Are you caught anywhere else?" He asked he guard as he eyed how the sword made its way through the armor.

"I don't think so... So much for a quiet tour in Ponyville." She answered after a few moments of shifting around.

"Seems like the entire country is quiet from my perspective." Ulfgar commented as he wrapped his hands around the hilt.

"Well I have heard that Fillydelphia and parts of Manehatten are worse than here. But you seem like your from Stalliongrad so this is quiet by what you've seen."

"North of there actually, Beyond the borders." Ulfgar added before he grunted, slowly sliding the blade out of the tree.

The guard gave a short yelp as she dropped down to the ground. Ulfgar lent her a hand as she was getting up. Her hand felt very gentle and soft. This sparked up Ulfgar's curiosity, his only failing trait.

"How long have you been a guard exactly?" He inquired.

"Oh just a week and a half, I just finished training two weeks ago. My name is Emerald Shores by the way!" she chimed as she took pride in being a guard.

"Well you don't see that everyday!" Ulfgar commented as he gave a small chuckle.

"Oh, is it because I'm smaller than you... and some of the other guards!" She quickly shot back at him.

"No, no it is not that. It is just that most of the people that become guards where I come from got badly injured while adventuring while they were younger. Either that or they are old war horses that don't have the stamina they use to." Ulfgar answered as he started to retrieve his scattered goods.

"Why wouldn't someone want to be a guard? It is one of the best things to do! You get trained on being the best in both flight and body. You get to see all types of different places once you have been in there for a bit. Not to mention a free pass into Canterlot every so often for a variety of things!" She exclaimed as she seemed to lose herself in joyous thought.

"Sounds like a whole lot more than what we got for being a guard. Sounds like there might be more to it." Ulfgar stated as he searched for his equipment.

"Well... we are, sort of the... We are the military if Equestria is attacked. But that is really not likely ever to happen. At least not in my time period." Emerald Shore added on.

"And how did you come to that conclusion?" Ulfgar grunted out as he pulled an ax out of one of the apple trees.

"From how Equestria hasn't been in a war in a thousand years! Sure there are some troublemakers here and there, but nothing more than some minor robberies." Emerald Shores stated making it seem like everything was well here Equestria.

Ulfgar just started to chuckle again as he had picked up the last of his gear. He turned to face Emerald Shores to apologize again for his own actions. The only problem was that it wasn't her there but Rostei clad in her Dark Brotherhood linens with her arms crossed in front of her chest. He easily remembered that look that she gave him whenever he crossed a certain line.

"Just go along with it alright." She replied as she unfolded her arms.

Ulfgar just stood there near motionless as she began to step closer to him. The world quickly transitioned from the sunny orchard of Equestria to one of the snowy streets of Winterhold. It was snowing more heavily than usual for the time of year. This amount of snow had forced nearly everyone into the safety of their homes, the castle, or even the local tavern. Even with this abundance of snow, she had her mask off. The look on her face turned from annoyed to apologetic in seconds.

"There is no need for these questions anymore Ulfgar. I just want to get this out of the way without anymore torture!" Her voice begged as she stepped right next to Ulfgar.

She was close enough that he could hear her breathe and almost think that he could feel it brushing up against his neck. She wrapped one of her arms around him as if she was going to hug him. The next thing he knew he could feel something diving into his chest as if it was on fire. It stayed in there for a second before he felt it slide back out, leaving the fire still inside the cut. Another look at her face showed that she was actually crying, he had never seen her cry before. She placed a soft kiss on his forehead before pulling him in close with an intimate hug.

"Rostei?" He quietly asked, astonished by what happened.

"I'm sorry..." He could hear her whisper into his ear as Emerald Shore inquired at the same time.

He watched as she slowly began to walk away from him. Before her form was engulfed by the storm she looked back before drifting away into smoke. From where she stood just before Emerald Shore came up with her golden armor destroying the rest of the memory. She walked towards him with a worried look on her face.

"Are you alright, sir? You're shaking as if it is winter." She inquired as stopped a few step in front of him.

"It was just a moment ago..." Was all that he could reply with as his mind raced to make him remember where he was now.

"You are starting to act like grandpa. Who, as a matter of fact, was the first reason I wanted to be a guard!" She continued on as she seemed to ready to stop showing her enthusiasm for being a guard.

"Good... That is good to know. Well we best start heading back our seperate ways now. It is good to see the future of the guard is in good hands!" Ulfgar stated

"Alright, I'm glad to hear that! Also, before we go, who is Rostei?" She asked as she lifted herself off the ground.

"She was an old friend of mine." He answered simply as he felt a small flicker of old emotions growing again.

"Oh, alright... See you later then!" Emerald Shore exclaimed as she shot back up before.

Now Ulfgar was alone once again. Not even the voice of Morrigan chimed in. He stood in that section of the orchard before heading away from the butchered up section. Time passed before he came out to the lone path that would take him back to the Apple's house. By the time he reached the open pasture of the farm, he had regain his composure and snuffed out the embers that were licking his heart earlier. It was probably a good thing since he found that he was not the only one that was there that afternoon. Not only were there a multitude of farmers that seemed to be chatting to each other or funneling themselves into the barn. But he could see Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle standing on the porch with Applejack. They stood there talking to each other until they turned their attention to him.

"Great, first I get shot out of a cannon and now I am the center of some conspiracy with their little group." Ulfgar muttered to himself.

'Hey, at least you're not watering the orchard right now with your blood! Right?' Morrigan finally piped in with her usual enthusiasm.

All that Ulfgar replied with was a low grunt and "I just wish I was back in Skyrim... Then at least I wouldn't be flying!"

'Oh you big baby! I thought you were a guard or something strong like that?' Morrigan teased him, ending with a small giggle.

Ulfgar let loose a low groan as he made his way into whatever battle he was going to find this evening.

Author's Note:

Well here I am again. College is starting and now my writers block is finally taking its leave! Hopefully with my more open mind and time schedule I will be able to keep this story more alive than it has been recently.

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[TGM]

If I catch your hoof in my pocket, I'll cut it off.