Rarity knit her eyebrows in confusion. She was sure that Spike had a scar there. And from the looks of it, it was deep and long. Rarity had not noticed that the last time she saw him; then again, she had not seen him for years. It must have been acquired from one of his excursions. Maybe just a boy being a boy. Yes, that must be it.
Rarity did not know much of anything about Norfandia; not as much as anypony else anyway. Communication with the continent was sparse and slow. Only envoys and rulers exchanged much of anything after Spike had introduced the two lands. Rarity had not bothered to ask Twilight about the land other than to see if she knew anything about Spike’s status. Even then, Twilight knew little. What she did share was that Spike was well and still establishing foundations. If there were any incident in Norfandia, nopony had heard about it.
Maybe it was just his reckless climbing or flying.
Rarity made her way down the hall and passed another troll who was looking at the portraits. The creature had a bald spot atop its head and the jaw awkwardly thrust out below the lips. Horns were sticking out of his head, nubby and flat. It wore a collared shirt and shorts that looked like a golf outfit. Rarity smiled politely as it turned to look at her. She held in a gasp as its mouth contorted to draw the lips back and reveal jutted teeth in response. That is… one unique smile. She gulped down her discomfort.
“Hi, I like your horn.” The creature growled. Rarity blushed and instinctively reached to cover it. She stopped herself and remembered that this was not some stallion treating her like a hussy, but a delicate and new creature simply trying to fit in.
“Thank you. Yours are quite neat as well.” She responded gracefully. Its mouth contorted farther.
“Thanks! I nearly lost both of em in the trench, but Sir Spike saw to it that I kept my lil nubs.” He let out a guffawing that rattled Rarity’s ears. Trench?
Before Rarity could ask anything, the troll gestured to the portrait of Princess Luna.
“Is this the pony who controls the sky?” the innocent question threw Rarity off. It had not occurred to her that these creatures did not know of Celestia or Luna, or now Twilight.
“She… did. Only part of it. The moon. She retired a while ago, but she used to be the one to raise the moon.” Rarity replied. The troll’s eyes furrowed in what Rarity could only guess was confusion.
“Not… anymore? You can retire from moving the moon?”
Rarity giggled at his lack of understanding.
“Kind of. She passed her power onto Twilight Sparkle. She now moves both the sun and moon.” Her answer cleared the small cloud around the troll as he looked back to portrait.
“Ponies are so weird.” He said bluntly. Rarity almost burst out laughing.
“You have no idea, my friend.” The troll turned at her comment and twisted his face again. Rarity now put it together that this was probably the best they could manage for a smile. She smiled back.
“Thank you, friend!” His excitement at the title made the troll swing his arms in front of him limply and give a small hop. Clearly, he was thrilled at having made a new friend.
“What’s your name?” Rarity gestured for him to calm down. His smile thickened.
“Roc. I come from a strong family of timber-fellers. Papa gave me the industry a few years ago. My wife comes from a family of technicians. Her papa gave her rights to new timber tech.” he answered lengthily. Rarity was confused for a second before realizing it was her turn to answer.
Apparently, Norfandians shared their heritage as introductions. Rarity obliged by returning her own.
“Rarity. My… father does a lot of things. Mostly a traveler I would call.” She realized she did not actually know what her father did on a day-to-day basis. She saw Roc looking expectant as she finished. Oh, my… husband. “I’m not married.” She smiled painfully at the words. There was an obvious pain that surrounded her relationship status. Rarity had always been subjected to objectification through her life. She could woo any stallion she wanted, yes, but getting them to stay around was harder than she thought. It haunted her during her episodes of depression when she would binge, sew, and neglect her health. It was not obviously the reason for her depression, but it did not help.
“A pretty girl like you? Well then, what’s wrong?” Roc asked bashfully. Rarity was taken aback at his abrupt and direct question. Must be another cultural thing.
“Nothing necessarily, just… waiting for the right dra—STALLION! Stallion.” She blushed furiously and smiled again at her slip. Roc seemed to not take note.
“Wise as you are beautiful. Settling is pathetic. Good things come to those who wait.” He echoed the advisory words she had heard all her life. Rarity remembered her parents saying the same thing when her previous boyfriend had left her for some flank-shaker from Saddle Arabia.
“Yes, let’s hope so.” She moved past the troll who now turned back to the portraits, gazing at the intricate design of such colorful creatures. Rarity took the chance to speed her walk away from the troll. It had not been an unpleasant conversation, but Rarity was ill equipped to maintain talk with a culture she had no idea about. Maybe Spike would teach her.