8th November, 221 BNM

Shetland Kingdom, North Eastern coasts

Northhembrai region

Weirmouth port town

The town of Weirmouth was one of many towns in the Shetland kingdom that bordered the northern sea, a notorious juncture point for many of the shipping lanes of the Eoropean land based kingdoms, and piracy.

But the sea was the source of income for Weirmouth, and its presence at the most northern reaches of the Shetland Kingdom, a few dozen miles south of the Skotchish border, and provided a key trading hub to the Elkway kingdoms, the Gryenmark empire homeland, and any empires and kingdoms that traded across the seas.

In particular, as would become for the time of two Wizards that had arrived, was the famous Muttlantic corridor, established by the Gryenmark empire to link to the New Gryphon Empire, an offshoot empire of large size braving the colder and more mountainous regions and green lowlands further south that were not claimed by Equestria.

The North Muttlantic corridor was marked by the Glaceland colonies, and the very small Gronnland colonies that marked the last stop before the mainland New Gryphon Empire was reached, at what was known as the Newmountland region. A 3000 mile trading route to the New Gryphon Empire, and further, whether or not if they wished to risk the south Muttlantic corridor's lack of stopping ports to get to it, Equestria.

But for now, Weirmouth was a town bustling and not too eventful. Nobody ever said peaceful, as the constant trade hub they were, and a service place for longer shipping vessels, made them a target for the all too frequent Viking raids from the more barbaric Elkway regions, and privateers on behalf of other empires, and then those flat out just serving themselves, full blown pirates from even their own country.

They made sure to execute those they captured, to ensure what peace could be acquired was kept.

Still, the local garrison was always on guard, watching the seas.

Late Afternoon

Local tavern

"Here ya go gentlecolts, enjoy."

The brown furred serving wench pony mare placed their mugs of the drinks on their table, earning a smile and nod of thanks from the Grey, bearded Unicorn in the blue cloak. The grey cloaked Unicorn kept his cloak tightly wrapped around his body, only his rather scarred looking face and bald ringed eyes showing, and he merely turned hs head to acknowledge the wench.

As she wandered off to serve others in the tavern, the fiddle player giving ambient music to the background, the tavern was alive around ponies for the most part, but about one in four in the tavern tonight were Foxes, the other of Shetland's civilised races, though Foxes were seen as somewhat second rate by the nobility, but not the public, especially as foxes and ponies both had their skillsets to apply.

But as Starswirl wracked his mind over the events that led them here, he was disappointed.

He and Siral had emerged from the cave outside the Malabutu valley, and prompted by his prophecy influenced mind, they teleported quickly west, very far, until they found themselves in western Eorope, being prompted across the Shetland channel to this northern town, and then, nothing.

They had arrived 4 days ago, and nothing had happened. The only out of the ordinary events had been a Cog ship load of Pony and Pegasi mercenaries from Germaneigh being shipped to Equestria through the safer north route, an Elkway Elk and Gryphon commanded military freight Hulk ship stopping for supplies before pushing onto Glaceland, and ultimately the new Gryphon Empire, and then a small incident in the middle of town with a pair of fox bandits trying to rob a granary of a large load of seeds of varying sorts, all valuable for the spice and berry plants they produced, and a good tradable commodity.

The foxes had been detained in the local dungeon for execution tomorrow, but that was not their concern.

As they were waiting for the Exemplar of Generosity, a selfish one, to show themselves, Siral and Starswirl had taken to piecing together world history, particularly Equestria, from what they'd heard. After all, 264 years had passed since the Malabutu valley events, and only a month in their travels since they reemerged from that cavern outside the same valley, all the way in the Indo-Burmese sub-continent, halfway around the globe.

"Mercenaries heading to Equestria, and a military ship heading to the New Gryphon Empire. And based on news of territory wars and skirmishes upon the borders, I am not so sure peace will last between them." Siral pointed out everything he'd gathered from their learnings, though he was clearly the one more active, and not waiting for this exemplary being.

Starswirl paused in thought, taking a drink from his pint of ale, while Siral suddenly put down a hoof on the table with a slight thud, remarking with some bitterness:

"How many more nights will we sit here waiting for this one to show? 4 days, and if we do, its just another example to take to heart some time in the future! Meanwhile Equestria, the nation of our birth, is falling into a state of unrest, of power politics between each noble family, and against the New Gryphon Empire."

Looking up at Siral, Starswirl tried to be the reasonable one:

"I understand your concerns, but we have to find these beings. And I strongly believe that Equestria can handle itself against a normal threat like a series of power wishing warlords fighting for resources between the lands of the ponies and gryphons across the ocean. Conflicts such as that keep themselves contained to those regions."

"Yes, but conflicts like those can last for decades. Are we willing to let them happen when we could do something?" Siral asked. Starswirl gave Siral an odd expression, asking outright:

"And what would you have in mind if we did go back and try and intervene?"

"Share our input, a show of force maybe, guide as our guild once did." Siral remarked. At this, Starswirl made the point quite clearly, both understanding but also urging in his tone:

"That is precisely what I myself intend to do, AFTER we have acquired what wisdom and experience, directly and from what we encounter amidst our travels, from searching for these 6 beings. And it is not much longer, we are on number 5 already."

Siral fell quiet, seeing no way yet to refute Starswirl's response. But there was always that niggling doubt in his mind of this whole quest of theirs, and of whether these 7 threatening forces to emerge in Equestria after they find all 6 exemplar beings were anything they'd truly be ready for if they didn't return to try and anticipate their emergence.

Starswirl sensed Siral's internal doubts, but attributed them to being impatient to meet the next exemplar, just as he was.

In later hindsight, he should have taken it as a sign of what would happen by the end of their time in this period of history.

Midnight

8th/9th November 221 BNM

Shetland Kingdom, North Eastern coasts

Northhembrai region

Weirmouth port town

Dungeons

The fox sat in the dank prison dungeon cell, checking the position of half-moon from the barred window of his cell in the night sky. It was highest, and he knew now was the time.

He'd been thrown in today, and had skilfully pickpocketed the guard of one of the tools he'd confiscated from him, his compass, and hidden it inside the pockets the guard ponies thought were empty.

Inside the cell, knowing the guards were changing right now, he pulled out the compass, opened a secret compartment in the back of its bulkier than normal frame, and pulled out the set of lock picking metal spikes he had.

One paw poking one through the bars and into the lock on one side, and the other from inside the cell's way, he delicately worked. Finally, a very faint click, and the jail cell creaked ever so slightly as he opened it as much as he barely needed to slip out.

He still had his clothing, and his compass, but he needed his other equipment. Half of it had been taken by the guards to who knows where.

But as the Fox snuck up the stone steps, ducking into a small doorway to avoid the gaze of a passing guard, his mind was on the granary he and a partner had tried to rob today.

Besides, given the time already, he'd have a diversion in getting out of the town once he had reclaimed the equipment he hid with the seed bags he and his partner had left hidden nearby, knowing they were going to be captured.

Eventually, he found the dungeon's backdoor entrance, and quietly slipped out into the dark town streets, avoiding light where he could.

Weirmouth granary

Sneaking up on a side building of the granary, the fox found where he was looking for. A stack of rotting hay bales around a corner, sitting near a compost heap.

Clambering into the compost heap, mostly decaying hay and plants, he dug inside and found the bag. One bag, when there had been three.

Sniffing the air, he smelt him waiting.

"Got out okay then?"

Another fox, this one slightly bigger, and a rather smug looking in the dark, raised his paws, both seed bags in each one. The bigger fox remarked with some distrust:

"Come on Irvin, I didn't want to see you try and struggle with all these bags. We're partners, and I just want my fair share."

"Two of three is fair?" Irvin questioned, the fox seeing through the façade of his partner, Nathaniel's, loyalty. He wanted all 3, but was taking 2 for himself, making himself look better to the captain.

Snorting, Nathaniel fell quiet as he heard a few bells ring the town centre, the pair of foxes putting aside their mild quarrel as the bigger one wondered:

"Us escaping cause that?"

A few more bells, and noises from the town guards, rose in volume. But the lights from the small sea fort walls at the town's coast also were alight with more lamps than normal. Wavering lamps that resembled torches being held aloft.

"Nope, that's our way out of here! Leg it to the docks while they're fighting!"

Hoisting both bags over his shoulders, Nathanial charged behind Irvin, the smaller fox lighter with only one bag of seeds.

Spice seeds were worth more than their weight than gold anyway.

Meanwhile, their captain began raiding the town as promised, though it had been a plan B in the grand scheme of things.

The original plan had been to raid the granary and get back via a cove a mile down the coast, but that wasn't an option anymore since they got caught.

And the crew were itching for some action anyway.

Midnight

Weirmouth Town streets

Fires had been set ablaze on some coastal shacks and houses, as the raiders had snuck up on the town in their dark coloured ship, some swimming ashore under darkness from the port lights, and once they were ashore, the first arrows flew, dipped and set aflame by whale harvested oil.

Needless to say their awakening had been rude, but Siral and Starswirl had galloped out into the streets, as ponies and a few foxes not in the guards fled from flaming houses to either head to safety inland, or to take up arms or buckets of water.

At the docks, sounds of shouting and faint clashing swords echoed, but a few raiders had ventured further inside, smashing windows of shops and places of commerce, raiding and pillaging what they could.

A Shetland pony, clad in sailor garb, roughly shoved his way through the glass of the shop he'd raided of its silverware, before a blue magical blast shot him backwards into the shop, unconscious from the impact.

"Come on Siral!" Starswirl urged, while the grey Unicorn fired a grey freezing spell at another raider, this one a smaller Shetland pony, who was then yanked up by a larger Shetland raider to flee back to the boat, presumably near docks.

As the fires and noises of random violence sounded around them, Starswirl and Siral saw the docks, where a few dozen Shetland ponies and foxes in pirate garb clashed with the local garrison, while a few others came running back with loot during gaps in the guard flanks and the docks they forced.

The street they were on, flanked by shops that had already been raided, had a few ponies hurling water onto a flaming roof nearby. Siral's grey magic hurled the water higher up onto the roof's upper levels, and Starswirl was charging a full on wind spell to blow out the flames. But up the street, a shout went up:

"Stop! Prisoners escaping!"

Whirling around, Siral was all but rammed aside as a large burly fox, carrying 2 large sacks, charged shoulder first into his side, the sprinted past, only one bag on his shoulder. Black Unicorn sprawling in a daze. In hot pursuit, a second, smaller fox ran past, ignoring Siral as he noticed Starswirl, before he charged towards the grey Unicorn.

"Starswirl!" Siral called out, as he fired a grey spell towards the bigger fox ahead, missing as the bandit jumped over an overturned wagon, though catching his foot slightly as he did so. Siral's spell merely blasted a large amount of fur off the large fox's tail, with a satisfying howl as he ran on.

But as Starswirl span to counter the smaller fox, he felt a flash in his mind as the fox dashed past, a free paw not holding the sack of loot swiping at him with surprisingly no claws to speak of.

A flash of purple in his mind, of the exemplar of generosity.

Starswirl was knocked backwards, unable to focus a retaliatory spell during the prophecy induced lapse, and Irvin scrambled on ahead, faster than Nathaniel, as he managed to avoid his tail getting singed by Siral's grey hued spells.

Starswirl staggered up, exclaiming: "That second fox, he's the one we're looking for!"

Siral shouted over the noise, as the guards chasing the 2 foxes took a shortcut through a different alley: "You are sure!?"

"Positive, it is just like with the others when…wait!"

Starswirl had absentmindedly put a hoof to the pouch he kept in his cloak, which amongst a great many things, contained the 4 items each of the previous exemplar beings had given them, shrunken to fit in a smaller case like everything else, it being a magical pouch.

The pouch was gone. The fox had pickpocketed him mid tackle.

Starswirl seethed, as he bellowed to Siral: "GET THAT FOX!"

The ponies dousing the fires on their house were more than a little stunned, and angry, at the 2 Unicorns dropping their duties to pursue the two bandits all of a sudden, tearing off in a frenzied gallop from both of them.

Weirmouth town, sea wall

Irvin had caught up with Nathanial, the larger Fox having slowed by his foot caught mid jump over a boat, and by carrying two bags. Dashing along, Irwin heard guards coming their way through an alley.

But a few arrows came their way first, as some of the guards spotted them and fired crossbows up an alley as they flashed by. With a loud grunt, Nathanial staggered as an arrow imbedded itself in his leg, making him fall over suddenly, the one of the bags flying from his paw.

"Irwin!"

The smaller fox turned, his purple eyes seeing the bag, and Nathanial with the other, struggling to get up quickly. Dashing over, Irwin grabbed the second seed bag in the same paw as the other, and rushed over.

The guards were near, and Nathanial would be slow. Which meant an easy choice.

Rushing up, Irwin said with some adrenaline fuelled excitement at the loot, and considering he and Nathanial never really got on anyway:

"Sorry mate, can't fall behind in this work!"

"You bastar-AH!"

Irwin had kicked Nathanial in the face, sending him sprawling as he snatched the 3rd seed bag from the larger, leg wounded fox's grip. Yanking up the seed bag, Irwin sprinted off, knowing he could handle 3 during the last sprint to the docks.

He didn't notice the 2 Unicorns in hot pursuit come tearing around the corner, nor Nathanial suddenly get swarmed by guard ponies, and only 2 coming after him.

His bushy tail flew as he leapt up onto the sea wall, running along its narrow length with the lithe precision his fast paws gave him.

Weirmouth town, docks

Parrying another sword blow from a guard pony, the Fox raider, a young boy, called out to the captain, who had just thrown one guard off the dock to the waters below to flail in:

"Cap'n! Its Irvin!"

Their captain, a grizzled looking dark grey and black Gryphon, saw the running fox coming down the dock walls, moving along the top at a frantic pace, a few bags in his clutches.

"To the boats, have one wait for him to jump off the docks! Looks like Nathaniel fell behind!"

At this, the raiders fell back, more arrows raining from the main ship a hundred metres away upon the main fortifications of the city, fiery or just barbed.

2 longboats, snuck in with some swimming pirates, were waiting. As one was loaded up with most of the loot and crew to push off before the others, the second waited at the dock end for the last stragglers, the combatants fighting to keep control of the dock, ducking behind boxes to avoid arrows, letting guards get close to ensure friendly fire risks, so it was only blades, not arrows from the garrison, that came their way.

Dashing madly, Irvin avoided a few crossbow bolts sent his way, one grazing his tail fur, as he saw the docks, and the last of the pirates, the young galley boy fox, leaping off into a waiting long boat.

"THIEF! PIRATE!" A guard's cry was punctuated by the hail of crossbow bolts coming his way, and ahead, a guard had been lying down, slightly wounded but able bodied, as he swung a sword at Irvin. The fox leapt over the blade, but spared a slight grimace at some money being lost as the blade sliced a seed bag slightly.

Some spice seeds spilling from one of the bags, Irvin dashed to the end of the dock, and saw the gap. Charging full speed, he leapt out.

He saw the longboat, and the faces of the fox, pony and gryphon crew members aboard, and then he saw the gap of water. He'd mistimed his jump.

Mid jump, Irvin instinctively threw the sliced seed bag forwards, knowing that one risked the most if it went in the water, and he threw the other one in the same paw too, meaning 2 safe. Right before he hit the water, he saw the sliced bag land in the boat neatly, while the other seed bag landed in the face of one of the Shetland pony crew, a punch in the face equal in force, but the bag landed in the boat regardless.

Splashing down, Irvin swam quickly, as he'd only landed a dozen feet from the boat. Scrambling aboard, Irvin was barely aboard, having kept the seed bag above water as much as possible, when the crew rowed frantically, a hail of arrows coming from the main ship as they rowed towards it to cover them.

Laughing at the adrenaline rush ending, Irvin laughed as the crew realised they'd got home with more than just the seeds as initially planned, though they'd lost 5 guys.

"That was close huh?"

"Not for you, you not run fast enough to make that leap?" A pony, the one a seed bag had hit in the face, retorted back semi jokingly, earning a few laughs. Up front, the quartermaster of the ship, a gruff but young Gryphon male, called back:

"Get ready to load up and leave fast!"

Staring back at the diminishing fires in the town, Irvin breathed a sigh of relief, and anticipation.

These seeds were worth a fortune in the amount they'd stolen, or more, HE'd stolen. And they had a small amount of loot from the town to boot amidst the distracting raid to let he and Nathanial get back, thought that wasn't completely successful.

Those 2 Unicorns had been a surprise, but one of them had a very tempting pouch on his being that Irvin wanted. It looked tempting for what it could hold anyway.

He pocketed the wizard's pouch as his own personal loot as they drew up to the main boat. Those seeds were the prize for all to share in, but any loot was for who got it.

5 minutes later

Weirmouth town, docks

Snarling on the shore, Starswirl looked at the barely visible ship out in the bay, quickly fleeing with oars presumably, not sails given the lack of wind tonight.

Siral looked ahead, knowing they'd been too late. But it wasn't a total loss.

Or it could be, as Starswirl had been robbed by the fox, which gave the wizard two reasons to go after him. And Siral wanted to see, just to see if this wait had been worth it, what this one was all about. He still gave this entire quest a chance for his role in it.

Focusing, Starswirl had the ship in his sights, and Siral then had a moment of pause as he saw blue engulf not just Starswirl, but himself.

"What are you d-" Siral's cry was cut off, as this time it was Starswirl acting out. Starswirl couldn't tolerate a thief taking prized memorabilia of the ones they'd met on this journey, exemplar being or not himself.

Weirmouth bay,

Pirate Cog vessel

They'd been celebrating their looting as the arrows from the shore fell out of range, the rowers below deck also cheering.

That stopped as soon as a blue flash lit up the main deck, and a pair of Unicorns appeared amidst the crowd of Ponies, Gryphons and Foxes, who paused mid cheer with their loot still in hand.

"-oing!?" The black Unicorn in grey robes had been saying mid speech to the Grey one with Blue robes, both of whom appeared out of the blue flash.

Irvin, their captain's first mate, stood dumbfounded as his purple eyes widened suddenly, and Starswirl's eyes locked with his.

Amidst the about 3 seconds of stunned silence, their captain bellowed from the stern, looking down at this all from the steering wheel, the black and dark grey elder Gryphon male flailing his clawed hand at the two Unicorns:

"WHAT DEVILRY IS THIS!? BRIG THEM!"

Every raider on deck charged the Unicorns, but a few blasts of blue and grey sent them reeling back, while the grey one with the blue cloak pointed angrily at Irvin:

"YOU! Return my pouch!"

"All this for that little bag!?" Irwin exclaimed, the fox backing up slightly, having not even tried to jump these Unicorns amidst the ship's main deck.

Up on deck, recognising them at once as Unicorns, the captain saw that Irvin too had known what they could do. The Gryphon, Captain Blythe, this being his ship, and him NOT plagued with scurvy himself, called down in a calmer manner:

"I want no quarrel with Unicorns! Now please, before you cost me any of my men, tell me who you are, and what you want exactly."

Calming himself, Starswirl gestured to each one as he spoke: "My name is Starswirl, the Bearded, and he is Siral, the Savant. We are Wizards, special among even Unicorns from Equestria. And your crewmember there-"

"First mate actually." Irwin indignantly remarked, but Starswirl continued uninterrupted:

"Stole my personal things from me amidst his escape, by the sounds of the guards that were also chasing him."

"Like Irvin said, all this for that?" Captain Blythe asked indignantly, gryphon talons gripping the ship railing hard.

Thinking for a moment, Starswirl weighed his thoughts. They'd been waiting to meet this exemplar for a few days already, and staying with him meant staying with this crew most likely.

Siral gave Starswirl a knowing look, gesturing with his eyes to the frightened crew of ponies, foxes and gryphons. Turning back to the captain, Starswirl said in a peaceful manner:

"We'd also like to negotiate employment. Work has been hard for us to come by since we started travelling, distrust of Wizards."

"You fail to make me trust otherwise." Captain Blythe remarked, a claw going to his beak in thought. Siral spoke up, lowing his hood slightly more as he remarked:

"Surely having 2 Unicorns in your service is a boon to consider?"

"He's been through the butchers hasn't he?"

A whisper had shot up in the few dozen crew members, earning a glare from Siral towards the general direction, though no crew member spoke up to claim it.

Weighing up the choices, Blythe snapped a few talons down to Irvin, remarking: "Irvin, return his pouch. Now, Starswirl is it?"

Irvin walked up with a sheepish expression, holding out the pouch to Starswirl, whose blue magic snatched it away to hide back inside his cloak. Turning back to the captain on the deck above:

"Consider that my way of saying, welcome to the crew of the Scurvy Blythe."

Starswirl saw Irvin give a shared look towards Blythe, one of uncertainty, but the Fox obeyed his Gryphon captain well.

Meanwhile, Siral looked back to the shoreline in the distance, lamenting that this part of their journey may well be at sea, in the winter as well.

Starswirl however, had done what he could to ensure they stayed with this exemplar being, a selfish one who would display generosity. It had been right 4 times so far, yet each time it seemed to surprise them with exactly their state and ending.

Of course, none of them had stolen from them, and they hadn't been roped into a maritime crew before, of pirates no less.

All this made Siral question all the more why HE was doing this. He hated the sea, and Starswirl seemed all the more determined with this one since he robbed him. This one was personal from the outset.

Yet amidst what they were getting into were overtones of a bigger problem with the world.

Author's Notes:

GENEROSITY arc is kicked off, and the two wizards are roped, by their own doing and misfortune by way of a happenstance pickpocket pirate being the exemplar, into a crew of pirates working along the northern sea and passage between Glaceland and the Shetland kingdom [Iceland and England].