"I think I would rratherr be just blind!" Kepler hollered.
"What?!" Ariel shouted.
"I said... I think I would rratherr be just blind!"
Ariel leaned in closer. "What?!?"
"I said—" Kepler sighed defeatedly. He slouched against the pegasus, his body flinching from every pounding noise and loud crash echoing from the nearby machinery. "Therre goes my weekly attempt at rrandom jocularrity."
"... ... ..." Ariel squinted. "WHAT?!?!"
A few paces over—where it was even louder—Seraphimus and Wildcard stood side by side. Seemingly unfazed.
The two griffins watched as the goblins carted over a fresh supply of slate gray metal. They loaded the material onto wagons and positioned them besides a large door. After shouts were exchanged, a bright flashing light was ignited. Soon after, an enormous slatted door lifted up slowly, exposing the fiery chamber to twilight from the outside world. The black metal dock that led out to the cancerous, living ocean was exposed, attaching directly to the widening sea-side door of the foundry.
Without moving her beak, Seraphimus lifted both hands and gestured: "The wagons are designed for horses to draw."
Wildcard nodded. He gestured with flesh-and-metal hands. "It is a refined system that the goblins have going on here. They must have been working with the Dihmers for generations."
Seraphimus calmly replied: "It cannot just be a single boat that they build with all this metal."
Wildcard gestured: "They could make enough material here to build an entire city."
Seraphimus: "That makes sense with Petra. But what do the Dihmers use the metal for? They do not make buildings out of it."
Wildcard: "Not here, they do not."
Seraphimus stroked her chin in thought.
Meanwhile...
...a line of shaved equines shuffled in from the docks. One by one, they lined up along with the carts. A goblin overseer greeted them, and a distant conversation was had.
This was all seen by Flynn. Craning his neck, the Heraldite rotated his eye-lens, focusing on the faces of one goblin and one Dihmer. He couldn't tell what the goblin was saying, but he could easily read the lips of the hairless pony... enough to make out "It collects."
Flynn sighed unenthusiastically. He was about to look elsewhere when—
CR-CRASSSH! A new noise punctuated the bedlam. The entire Herald jumped, startled.
Flynn looked over to see that one of the carts had tipped over from a broken wheel. Slabs of metal collapsed across the floor of the foundry. A gaggle of goblins flinched and shook their fists angrily. Following their line of sight, Flynn saw a lone Dihmer—shivering—scrambling to pick up the pieces.
"...!" Without thinking, Flynn galloped forward to assist. Ariel hollered something, but it was too loud for him to make out her words.
By the time Flynn arrived at the scene, he came close enough to actually hear the goblins cursing:
"Damned bloody Dihmah!"
"Had to kick it, didn't you?!"
"That's fine Smelt-Bloodah engineerin'! What'd you do to it?!"
"Hey! Lay off, will ya?!" Flynn snapped at them. "If your shit's gonna break down that easily, then maybe you should conduct more routine maintenance!"
"Hah! Who are you, horsie?! King of industry?!"
"Grows out half his hair and fancies himself an expert! Hah! Damned daft glue stick..."
Flynn's cheeks flushed with subdued anger. "That's a new one..." He leaned forward, horn glowing as he levitated half of the metal beams. "Here..." He approached the shaken Dihmer. "Let me fetch you another cart."
"It... it c-collects," the pony stammered, timid and breathy. Gray, wrinkled forelimbs fought to drag the metal slabs away from the wreck. "It collects. It collects—"
"Listen! It's too friggin' heavy for you!" Flynn growled. "For once in your miserable lives, let someone else relieve your damned stress—"
"I said I've got it!" the Dihmer snarled, flashing Flynn an angry glance. Immediately, the mare gasped, her brilliant purple eyes reflecting his surprised face... along with every colorful and lively detail.
Flynn blinked. His lens rotated, fixating on a tiny stub of a horn protruding from her forehead, stunted and crooked. His lips pursed.
"... ... ..." She blinked. Eventually, the mare's ears drooped, and her colorful pupils hid beneath shameful eyelids. "It... it f-fails..."
"Hey..."
"It fails. It collects." She returned to the grind, pushing the slabs with a deep-chested grunt across the dooframe and towards another cart. Her chanting mantra was devoured by the noise and soot and twilight.
Flynn stood beside the wreckage, numb with wonderment. "...who the Hell... how the Hell...???"