User blog comment:Guildmaster Grovyle/JLE Role Play, Winter 2017-2018/@comment-7562999-20180111035341

Hawkwing leers at the suggestion, but makes no argumemt. He stays close to Spearmint's side, keeping his head down and attracting as little attention as he possibly can.

Meanwhile, his mother makes her way through the crowd, using her small frame to easily weave between ponies. She spouts the occasional "pardon me" when she gets too close to another partygoer, but otherwise she is silent. She keeps her eyes peeled for a pony with a dark red overcoat.

A stallion sits at his chair in front of a wall of screens. At the moment, all of them show nothing but white noise sans one. On the middle screen, there is a blueprint...it's design appears to be deceptively simple. The plan shows a design for a pair of gauntlets, a kind that a pony could wield for themselves. The plans seem rough and not complete and notes scatter the blueprint. They talk about materials needed and the immense strength they grant to the user. However, the stallion staring at the plans seems frustrated by something. He taps his hoof impatiently on the table as he scans the screen. After a few moments, he snarls to seemingly no one but himself. "This is taking far too long...They should have been done by now. That minotaur has lied to me far too many times!"

A voice squeaks from the darkness. "But sir-"

The stallion shouts back. "Can it, Asinus! You have done nothing but bother me this last few months! Get me Fulguram this instant!"

Asinus squeaks again. "Y-yes sir."

There's a sound of a door opening and closing as the pony called Asinus leaves the room. The mystery stallion turns back to his screen, grumbling. "I've done too much for this to have my plans foiled by a god for nothing blacksmith bull!!"

The stallion leans back and a pair of mechanical wings click and whirl on his back as he spreads them out. "The path to perfection is hardly easy..."

The door opens again and a shadowy head peers in. The head of a proud and large minotaur. He walkss in the door as his height is shown to immense. His build even vaster. His biceps ripple with muscle and his barrel like chest puts most of his kind to shame. He fully enters the room and looks down at the stallion. He speaks with a thick accent from a distant land, gruff and blunt. "You called?

The pony in the chair chuckles. "Why yes I did, Fulguram. How is that little project I'm having you do coming along?"

Fulguram grunts. "It is very hard. At least two more veeks."

The stallion chuckles. "Two more weeks? Is that all? Well, silly me, because I thought you said that two weeks ago. Am I mistaken?"

Fulguram is silent for a few moments. Then, he replies. "Da...I told you this. I did not think this task vould take this long."

"Well...I guess we're just both fools then, Fulguram. You know how important this is to me! If you cannot finish this task then maybe I will have to find another smith to do the job! Someone who will earn their keep!"

Fulguram shouts out in protest."No! I need this! Othervise...my family..they vill starve! I vill finish it!"

"Good. Now, what is holding you back?"

Fulguram raises a hand in mocl defeat. "Essence of Strength. It is essential to the veapon. However...Earth Ponies give little vhen captured and kept alive...and I do not vish to kill them. It is vrong."

The stallion clicks his tongue in disdain. "Then you must kill them. It will yield much more this way."

Fulguram sounds alarmed at the idea. "Kill?"

"Yes! Take that massive hammer of yours and crush them like gnats! Collect the Essence from their hearts and we will have enough for a hundred pairs of gauntlets. You must kill them!"

Fulguram looks down at his left hand. He reaches over his back and unstraps a massive warhammer. The minotaur sighs as he easily brandishes the weapon in one hand. "As you vish."

The minotaur, head hanging low, trudges out of the room. The stallion swivels back around on his chair and looks back at the screen. "Their lives won't be in vain. Soon, they will be part of something much bigger...soon..."

The screens shut off and the room goes black as the stallion chuckles to himself.