"You keep talking about scouting, and your destination..." Maple remarked, steadily climbing a textured street with Starlight on her back. "How much do you actually know about where we're going?"
Gerardo shrugged, the vast landscape of the Earth District spilling out to his right. "I have the name of a building, supposedly located near the top of the city. I take that to mean the Sky District, though I suppose it could also be closer to our present location. So, as we are presently headed to this city's nexus of travel..." He shrugged again, gesturing forward with a wing. "It seems like an opportune place to innocently ask for directions. I'm sure there will be dozens of information booths about." He paused, and added, "To be clear, the Sky District is where you wish to go, yes? I'm not merely commandeering your sightseeing tour because I feel it would be a useful destination?"
"I guess I don't care that much." Maple nodded an assent. "I would like to stop somewhere and get lunch, and the Stone District probably has a lot of good places to see. But let's go to the Sky District!"
Ahead, the road merged into another at an angle, and the crowd of passing ponies dramatically thickened. Inwardly glad that Starlight wasn't on hoof and thus wouldn't be able to be swept away, Maple suddenly found herself missing carrying a box: if nothing else, it made ponies want to get out of one's way. Bravely, she lowered her head and pushed into traffic, ears folding under the pressure of indistinguishable chatter from both sides. She winced, steeled herself... and suddenly, the crowd's noise was drowned out by a colossal roar from above.
Every pony stopped and looked up. Overhead, a huge metal oval soared out from behind the peaks of the mountain wall, casting a blinding reflection of the sun down from its curved surface. The crowd collectively flinched and covered their eyes... and in a matter of seconds, it had accelerated to the point where it was far out over the Earth District, jets of magical flame surging from cylindrical engines placed strategically over its body. Yet more seconds later, it was gone, out of sight to the west. The crowd had already resumed their motion, moving around Maple like a log stuck in a river.
"What... what was...?" she breathed, still gazing at the western horizon.
"An airship," Gerardo smoothly answered, somehow able to hear her... or merely accomplished in guessing what she was about to say. "And quite an advanced one, at that. Only the newest and best have graduated beyond the 'propellers and dirigibles' variety, and they still suffer from exceedingly high operating costs and short ranges. That one is bound for Yakyakistan, I'm sure."
"Let's, um..." Maple turned back to the road, beginning to weave her way upward once again. "Go somewhere easier to hear, maybe..."
As they progressed, it didn't get easier to hear.
The road widened, and the crowds swelled, and suddenly the hill stopped and it was as if they were in an open plaza more than a route of travel. Almost every pony had a direction they stuck to, and for at least half of those ponies, the direction of choice was towards the wall... towards a great, arched gateway in the wall, supported by ornate pillars carved into its sides and easily wide enough to accommodate a large boat, were it filled with water. Over it hung an etched sign, proudly describing the gateway as the Ironridge Skyport - C Terminal.
Staying close enough that they could reach out and touch each other at all times, Maple and Gerardo were pulled into a rush of equine bodies all headed into the tunnel. So many ponies rammed and jostled into Maple that Starlight stood all the way up on her back, climbing closer to her head, and she was unsure whether her staying upright was more thanks to her heavier weight or merely that there was no room to tip over.
Daylight faded around them, as did the stone walls of the tunnel interior, replaced by seamless plates of polished metal and even magical illumination. Unlike the enchanted gemstones with which Arambai used to light Riverfall, the Ironridge lighting seemed to emanate from the walls themselves, leaving no visible point sources and a light so smooth that had a pony stood alone in the hall, they wouldn't have cast a shadow.
Despite the slow rate at which the crowd moved, it only took a few minutes for the tunnel to change. Abruptly, it angled upwards, at an incline far too steep to climb. A system of belts and pulleys whirred along its surface, and attached to them were several giant, grated platforms, moving up and down along tracks to form an escalator. The ground in front of it was a grate perfectly matching the platforms, and every so often one would arise from the floor, lifting all the ponies standing on it and carrying them up the tunnel. The left side was identical, but worked in reverse.
Soon enough, the crowd pushed them onto the grate, and their turn came to be lifted. Maple buckled slightly from the change in momentum, then straightened up... and suddenly, she could hear again. The lift was only wide large enough to accommodate her and Gerardo plus six others, and of them only one pair seemed to be at all chatty. Sighing, she relaxed her posture, reached back to check on Starlight... and decided to listen.
"...doesn't make sense!" a mare in a business suit was complaining. Snorting, she fluffed her wings and pouted, "It's a huge and obvious waste of money, but every time I try to bring it up to the council they won't even hear my case! And now, I get a letter of rejection from the Chancellor! The Chancellor, Brightcoil! My request made it all the way to his desk and he just... rrrgh..." She kneaded the ground with her hooves, tail flicking violently.
"It was probably a secretary, Sharpie," the mare standing next to her said with a shrug. "Still, their loss, ignoring your talent. Ironridge is rich. Maybe they can afford not to care. As long as they can pay your salary, I certainly don't care..."
"Well, you should care, because it makes me feel worthless," Sharpie grumbled, sitting and staring miserably at the ground. "Why even have an investigator into transactions between the government and the embassy if nopony ever listens to what she has to say!?"
The last words were practically chanted, bitterness seeping from every syllable. Brightcoil leaned close, draping a hoof around her neck. "Well, at least it's not like Sosa, where everyone gets paid to sit around and do nothing..."
"Heh... yeah..." Sharpie lifted a hoof and wiped at her muzzle. "At least I get to do what I'm good at, even if nopony listens..."
The conversation ended. Maple and Gerardo met each other's eyes... and the message to wait until the two mares were out of earshot to make any comments was clearly reflected.