The bell above the door to the ice cream shop rang as Rainbow Dash and Ark’Nogt walked inside.
If she was being happily allowed to freeload then she was going to take every advantage of that opportunity. And the first advantage was a big, heaping, mountain of ice cream. The shopkeep looked in their direction and smiled in greeting to both Dash and Ark’Nogt. As Dash had come to expect, he didn’t show any particular interest in her being a pony or outsider. No skin off her bones though, not at this point, she just really wanted to eat something delicious that she hadn’t gotten to have since starting her journey.
So Rainbow Dash hopped up onto one of the red velvet stools while Ark’Nogt sat beside her and laid both her hooves on the counter. “Give me the biggest bowl of ice cream you have.”
“Right away, miss!” No questions asked, he was eager to fulfill her order in a way that Dash had only ever seen from Pinkie Pie.
“I see you’re quite hungry,” Ark’Nogt said to her.
“Even if I wasn’t I’d want a giant bowl of ice cream right now.”
The shopkeep then set a huge, but still empty, bowl down in front of Rainbow Dash. It was big enough to hold a dozen apples piled up in it. “What flavors would you like?”
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow as she looked at the bowl and then over at the freezer where a good dozen or so buckets sat, ready to have their contents scooped up. “What do you got?”
“Well we have chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, rum raisin, cake batter, cookie dough, mint, black walnut, butter pecan, pistachio, orange sherbet, cheesecake, caramel, and double dark chocolate.” He told her with a big smile on his face.
“Um. How about... all? All of that?” Rainbow Dash blinked.
“Okay! One big scoop of it all for the pegasus!” He cheerfully said and pulled up a large scooper, getting to work immediately.
Rainbow Dash licked her lips. “Is this paradise? I’m not dreaming, am I?”
“I don’t believe so,” Ark’Nogt chuckled at her positive response.
Soon enough a mountain of ice cream was scooped up into the bowl and placed before Rainbow Dash complete with a polished silver spoon for her to wolf it all down with. She drooled in sheer delight at the sight before her and got started, digging the spoon into the top of the sundae and taking a huge mouthful of vanilla. It was so tasty she almost squealed after that first bite. Ark’Nogt and the shopkeep both happily watched her as she scarfed it down like she hadn’t eaten in weeks. Rainbow Dash practically inhaled the mountain of ice cream until only a few melted bits of it were left in the bottom of the bowl.
She tossed her spoon into the glass bowl and sat back on her stool, patting her belly. “That... was pretty good.”
“I’m glad you liked it!” The shopkeep said and took her bowl and spoon back for cleaning.
“I as well, it’s always great when a new visitor has a good first impression!” Ark’Nogt beamed.
“Yeah? Well if this keeps up my second, third, and fourth impressions are going to be pretty darn good too.” Rainbow Dash said.
“You are truly too kind, Rainbow Dash.”
“Hey, I’m honest. You better believe that whatever comes out of this mouth is what I really think. I aint really the type to sugarcoat things or keep my mouth shut when I’m not happy.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. I hope you’ll also be more than honest with your appraisal of me as your Embracer as well.”
She grinned. “You’re doing a good job so far.”
“Wonderful. Then would you like to stay here for a little more time? Or head elsewhere?”
“By the looks of it I’ve got a lot to see in this place so let’s get back out there. I’m not a pony who likes to sit around in one place.”
“I can not say that admission surprises me,” Ark’Nogt’s lips tugged up even more.
“And so that’s why I started my adventure in the first place. You wouldn’t believe all the awesome stuff I’ve been through on my way here. I was fighting for my life like a dozen different times, it was awesome.” Rainbow Dash told Ark’Nogt as they walked through the streets together. “Seriously, even before I really came north I had to teach this big yak a lesson cause he was being a jerk. And then I fought this flying ice monster--it was seriously super cool. If I have time to tell you the whole story I will, dude.”
“I would love to hear it, although I am privy to the stories of creatures from all over, yours sounds especially entertaining and intriguing. I can safely say I’ve never had the good fortune to meet someone from as far away as you either. While I am glad to listen to any guests’ tales I have not been so excited for one in quite some time,” Ark’Nogt said.
“Great! I love to tell creatures all about what I’ve done, so keep anticipating it.”
“I shall!”
Rainbow Dash smiled and looked in the direction of the big castle. With a shrug she ignored it, why not mingle with the common Reindeer more? It seemed like everything would be taken care of for her already and she’d rather just look around on her own here than deal with some stuffy politicians. It was then, that as the light reflected off this perfectly white street, that she realized there was something she had forgotten to ask about. Rainbow Dash looked up at the floating crystal, still giving off the same immensely powerful light as when she had first arrived.
“Hey, Ark’Nogt?” Rainbow Dash stopped and asked him.
“Yes?” He paused alongside her.
“Does it ever, uh, you know? Get dark here? Do you have a nighttime?”
Ark’Nogt looked up with her and chuckled. “Ah, of course, naturally you’d wonder about that.”
“Yeah. I mean, what even is that thing?”
“I have no idea.”
Her head swung around so she could look at him with a dumbfounded expression. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“It was here when our ancestors first arrived, along with everything else,” he shrugged. “Unicorns, pegasi, and other creatures more in tune with magic and such things have studied it over the years but they never came up with any answers either. As far as we can all tell it simply always existed here inside the tornado. Perhaps a magical being of great power created it all long ago.”
“The more I learn about this place it sounds like something Discord would make for a laugh...”
“Who?”
“Nevermind,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “So does it turn off?”
“Yes. It blinks out every night for exactly half the day. Things would be completely dark in here were it not for our own sources of light.”
“So it’s got its own day and night cycle. Huh. I keep seeing crazy weather stuff up here,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck.
“I’m sure there are plenty of things where you come from that I’d consider crazy as well,” Ark’Nogt smiled.
"Yeah, good point.”
Rainbow Dash and Ark’Nogt traveled through the streets some more but Rainbow Dash didn’t see anything quite so important to her as that ice cream shop. It was more of what she had seen before: that this was a normal functioning city. Just a very pristine one. But it didn’t change the fact that you could switch out Reindeer for ponies and it would more or less be like walking through any Equestrian city. It seemed creatures were truly alike all over. She did start to notice a lot of cleaners picking up any sort of trash or wiping down any dirty surface, the Reindeer really wanted this place spotless.
“Are all Reindeer cities this clean?”
Ark’Nogt shook his head. “No, Nogt merely has greater importance to us as you know. Other cities are exposed to the elements more anyways, they can’t be kept clean in such a way.”
“Fair enough.”
“Would you like to take a walk through more greener areas? I can understand how you might get tired of traveling down these streets. Everything looks the same.”
“Yeah, no offense cause it’s still really nice looking, but yeah.”
Ark’Nogt smiled. “Wonderful, let us depart to the nearest park. I will take you through the grasses and we can see one of our rivers of liquid ice as well. We’ll need to travel over it to get to the communal living space I will be taking you to.”
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Liquid ice? You mean water?”
Ark’Nogt sent her a knowing smirk. “Not quite. You’ll see.”
She took his word for it and shrugged, letting Ark’Nogt walk in front now as he led her through the streets to the outskirts of the more populated and developed area. It wasn’t long before the verdant green grass opened up before her. So marvelously lush that most earth ponies would be enraptured by it. There didn’t seem to be a lot of flowers or smaller bushes in the area, just extremely well-kept patches of grass and trees with one of the rivers Dash had seen from above in the distance. Although there were stone walkways through the park, Ark’Nogt just walked out onto the grass with his bare hooves and Rainbow Dash followed him.
When her hoof first hit the grass she felt a noticeable crunch underneath her. Not the normal feeling of stepping on grass at all. She looked down and saw that all the blades of grass had an imperceptibly thin frost coating and the ones she had stepped on and bent were now cracked all over. When she lifted her hoof up however, the frost went back to normal and the individual blades of grass all stood up perfectly straight again as if Dash had never stepped on them in the first place. She knew grass would bend back into shape for the most part but this was more than that. And it kept happening with every step she took, once she lifted up her hoof it was like it had never even been there.
“You’ve got some weird grass here,” Rainbow said to Ark’Nogt.
“Wait until you see the river,” he called back to her.
“Okay, but it better be as special as you’re hyping it up to be.”
“I can guarantee you you wouldn’t have seen its like in the rest of the north.”
“I dunno... I’ve been to a lot of different places up here in the north. I already told you a little about what I’ve seen but I’ve also seen something that’s kind of like your sun up there. A little different though.”
“I envy your worldliness. Let us hope then that I’m not wrong about the uniqueness of our rivers then,” Ark’Nogt smiled politely.
“Not interested in there being another fake sun out there somewhere else in the north? I would be interested if I heard there were two other Alicorn sisters living on the other side of the world or something.”
Ark’Nogt shrugged. “I do not have any issue with it. We live simple and easygoing lives as you have noticed. I would not be against searching for and seeing such things, but I will not go out of my way either.”
“Hey if that floats your boat then more power to ya. Me? I’m a little different.”
“And I find that difference quite refreshing and enjoyable,” Ark’Nogt smiled. “Now, we’re here.”
Rainbow Dash looked ahead of him at the river that cut through the park. Even from here she could tell it was a little off. When Ark’Nogt stopped by its side she trotted up next to him and looked into it, her face twisting in confusion at what she saw.
It was about ten feet across and dug out in a nearly perfect semi-circle in the ground, already a little unusual, but more than that was there was no splash along its sides. The water slid by perfectly and didn’t lap up or make the grass around it wet at all. And the water... it was so blue. Far too deep and dark a blue for just a small river. The more she looked at it the more confused she got, it didn’t even really look like water. And it didn’t sound like water. It sounded more like someone was dropping sand through a sieve, or salt. Raising an eyebrow and tilting her head, she looked over at Ark’Nogt, who only grinned and nodded back to her.
“This isn’t... this isn’t water at all, is it?” Rainbow asked.
“Yes and no. Dip a hoof in, you’ll see.”
Rainbow dash did so and the “water” parted around her hoof effortlessly. A few inches in and Rainbow Dash grinned, she saw what it was now. Liquid ice was accurate, this was a river of incredibly tiny grains of ice all flowing together. She saw and felt them going by her hoof like someone was pouring sand over it, totally different from the feeling of water. But the grains of ice were also far smaller than any grain of sand. Far smaller and also totally smooth instead of coarse. It was such a strange feeling, and so strange looking.
But Ark’Nogt was right. She hadn’t seen a river like this before.
“This is really cool...” Rainbow Dash grinned some more as she splashed some of the liquid ice about.
“I’m glad you’re interested in it. It seems I was correct that you haven’t seen something like this before?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No, never.”
“This is what all the “water” in the rivers here actually are. It’s what cascades down from the mountains on the far side of the plateau. It replenishes endlessly even after falling off the sides into the World Drain. Another wonder of Nogt and the north pole that even we Reindeer do not fully understand even after generation upon generation living here.”
“Wow... this place really is something else. That tornado, the rock bridges that hold it all up, and you’re saying this stuff just comes from nowhere? It just pours out of those mountains and flows everywhere?”
“That is correct. Nogt is a magical place.”
“No kidding,” Rainbow Dash tossed and turned some more of the liquid ice around in her hooves before looking back at Ark’Nogt with another questioning gaze. “What’s the World Drain?”
“The thing you saw when you came in through the tornado. The massive whirlpool below the plateau that should also not exist.”
“Oh. Yeah I was wondering about that. Is that thing safe? It didn’t look like you really had a fence or wall around the plateau to keep anything from falling into it.”
“In short? No. It isn’t safe. Nothing that has ever fallen into the World Drain has ever been recovered or reappeared elsewhere. As far as we can tell it goes nowhere or completely claims whatever has the misfortune of falling inside it. There is no fence at the edges of the plateau because the ground already thins out too much, only the rivers can travel unimpeded through it to eventually flow off into the World Drain. Any effective barrier would just collapse so Reindeer simply know to keep back from it. It is quite the view to look down into it though, I must admit.”
“Yeah I thought it was pretty intense looking from above.”
“Would you care to see it again? With your ability to fly I believe it would be perfectly safe. Although I wouldn’t fly down and get to close to it either if I were you.”
“Maybe, but I’d have to leave you behind, so some other time. What are we going to do now?”
Ark’Nogt pointed to a small bridge leading over the river to another portion of the park and a walkway that went off into the distance. “Let me take you to the communal living area you will be staying at. Any further questions you have I can answer on the way, but it’s getting close to the day’s end and I’d like to show you that place before it goes dark. There are others there who I believe would like to meet you as well, especially since you’ll more or less be living together while you are here in Nogt.”
“Well then all I gotta say is “lead the way” again.” Rainbow Dash shrugged.
While they walked together to Rainbow Dash’s temporary home, instead of her asking questions about Nogt it turned into her telling Ark’Nogt more about her journey so far. She spared no detail (except the ones that made her look bad) and she even had a lot of fun telling him about her recent encounters with the griffons a little to the south despite it not being a very adventurous tale. Ark’Nogt of course took it all in with a smile. And as Rainbow Dash talked they passed smaller little areas of Nogt where Reindeer lived. Just little clusters of buildings, maybe a house and a granary together, one or two windmills, an outdoors auditorium, stuff like that. It was all so nice looking too, just like the rest of the city and parks. Rarity would’ve especially loved it here but all of her friends except for maybe Applejack would really appreciate it.
“And so I’m still kind of like--not satisfied by my adventure yet. I don’t know why. I’ve done a ton, I’ve kicked the butts of some really bad jerks, but it’s just not enough, you know? And I dunno but I guess I was expecting something more awesome up here at the north pole. Like, I’m literally at the top of the world, and no offense, but this isn’t exactly the kind of cool and amazing cap to my journey I wanted.” Rainbow told Ark’Nogt.
“Understandable. While the feeling eludes me I can see why you would want something different after talking to you.”
“Yeah... but like, I don’t even know what I want now. Or what to do. I was just going north looking for awesome stuff, found a ton of awesome stuff, and now I’m just kind of... bleh. I don’t know, I’m not good at talking about feelings and maybes and stuff. I’ve always just done stuff.”
“Not an unworthy way to live.”
Rainbow Dash grinned. “Right?” The grin slowly left her face. “But I guess... maybe I was thinking I would have the biggest, grandest, adventure so far when I got up here? And now I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”
Ark’Nogt awkwardly smiled back at her. “My apologies but due to the love I have for Nogt and its tranquility I must admit I am happy that I don’t see such a thing happening either.”
“Heh, don’t blame ya,” Rainbow Dash clapped a hoof on his back.
His smile returned to normal and he looked ahead, a brief widening of his eyes as he spotted their destination. “Ah, there, you see?”
Rainbow Dash looked and saw a building in the middle of a cement ring surrounded by a grassy area. Two rectangles joined together at the ends to form a perfect right-triangle, they were made of polished white stone and stood three stories high. The building was tilted so its point was perfectly centered in the ring while its open side also faced straight out. There were entrances at the ends of both wings of the building and Rainbow Dash saw a number of Reindeer and, for the first time so far in Nogt, other creatures around it.
“So this is where I’m staying?” Rainbow asked.
“That is correct,” Ark’Nogt nodded.
“Well thanks for taking me here and showing me around and stuff. I don’t know how long I’ll be staying cause, uh, kind of aimless right now, but thanks.”
“It is no problem. As an Embracer it is both my duty and joy to help you. And I have decided that I will continue to help you.”
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean by that?”
“It is the slow season. Pilgrims, tourists, and even the odd businesscreature are uncommon in Nogt. My duties as an Embracer are not as widely needed as during other times of the year. That is why I have already decided that I shall be your personal attendant for the duration of your stay in Nogt. I shall always be close by and help you to an even greater degree than I normally would.”
“That’s really awesome, dude. Thanks!” Rainbow Dash gave him a slight hoof bump to his chest.
“Yes, I shall help check you in, show you to an empty room, and take up a room of my own. I must admit I have personal reasons for this though, you are simply far too interesting of a visitor for me to wish us to part so easily,” Ark’Nogt said.
“And that’s another thing I don’t blame you for, heh,” Rainbow laughed a little. She started to walk towards the building but stopped when she noticed Ark’Nogt wasn’t following along. “What’s the hold up?”
“Well... there was something I also wanted to ask you before the day ended and we left each other’s company,” Ark’Nogt sheepishly replied. “It concerns what you’ve been looking for on this whole big journey of yours you’ve told me about. I believe there may be something here in Nogt, something about us Reindeer, that you would find quite exciting.”
Rainbow Dash fully turned to him with a still confused look on her face. “Now you’re making me interested, what are you talking about?”
“Forgive me asking you such an obvious question but--do you like to fight?”
“Well yeah. Duh.” Rainbow Dash blinked, perplexed. “Whether it’s some awesome showdown where I’m saving the world or just a good clean fight between me and a friend. I love getting to fight, the only thing that gets my blood pumping more is a good race or flight.”
Ark’Nogt smiled widely. “Then I would be overjoyed to invite you to sign up for the fighting tournament that is to be held here shortly, Rainbow Dash.”