"...A river?"
"A river."
Maple and Starlight stood, stopped, before a small rounded hoofbridge made of rustic stone architecture, providing dry passage across a stream of water that gurgled freshly, tracing its way across the landscape... the landscape that was constructed on the roof of a four-story city. Some rich family, it seemed, had seen fit to build a river in the sky.
"Maybe you can see now," Redshift grunted, unceremoniously crossing the bridge, "why it bothers me so much that there are ponies living with nothing down there. Blueleaf does have some money. Things like this are where it goes."
"I think I can see..." Maple breathed, the surface of the river disturbed by raindrops as she crossed. "It's pretty, at least, but that somehow makes it worse..."
"How old is this?" Starlight asked, close by Maple's side. "They didn't make it while the power was out, did they?"
Redshift shook her head. "Blueleaf's top level has always been for the richest. My father says it used to be a lot smaller, years ago, with just a few houses built on roofs and the fourth level as the real top. They started building it when the Sky District stole being Ironridge's capital. A lot of important ponies from the Earth District got together and wanted to show the Stone District that they could be just as high up as them, but still in their own district. But now, they made... well... this."
"How many ponies below even know about this?" Maple asked, frowning openly, the bridge quickly being left behind.
"That the fifth level is better than anything they'll ever have? All of them," Redshift answered, turning at a three-way intersection. "What it actually looks like? They aren't allowed here, usually." She paused and thought. "Well, some of them work here as cleaners, builders, servants and other things. Those ponies regularly see it, I guess. But that means having a stable job, which isn't something you want to brag about down there. When everypony has that little, it's easy to get jealous and..."
"So very few, then," Maple sighed. "I wonder, if they all knew exactly what it was like up here, what would happen."
Redshift shrugged. "I don't know. They might try to get in by force. Or maybe they wouldn't care. It depends if they would have someone like Neon telling them wha to think."
A silence passed, filled with the pattering of early raindrops and the hurried tromping of three sets of hooves. Overhead, the clouds covered exactly half the sky, signaling that their time of relative dryness was nearing its end. "We should hurry," Redshift said, looking back down. "It's not far."
A spire scrolled into view, the top of a palace among mansions. Stretching three stories above the already-lofty ground, it boasted carved wooden trim around the windows, a raised balcony, and slightly curved roofing paved with real shingles. While the rest of the fifth-story dwellings were reminiscent of Equestria's quality of living and rich only by contrast, this house could have qualified as opulent even in a city that was reasonably well-off.
Redshift nodded. "The Governor's Mansion," she explained disinterestedly. "I don't spend much time here, but it is nice."
"I thought you said your dad was the mayor?" Starlight's face scrunched in confusion.
"Never mind that!" Licking her lips eagerly, Maple hobbled forward, aiming for the covered entrance... when the storm finally broke, immediately flattening her mane with a wall of water. She blinked, growled, and shook, halted in her tracks by the shock of the sudden cold and extra weight that came with being soaked. "Rrrgh..."
Starlight disinterestedly plodded past her, then turned and beckoned when she stayed still. "Come on!"
"R-Right!" Snapping from her stupor, Maple's legs unlocked and she charged forward once again, nearly tripping in her dash for the entrance.
Though they were exposed to the storm for less than a minute, the trio was still fully waterlogged as they stood outside the wooden double-doors to the mansion. Redshift was the best off, having darted for cover immediately, and her short mane still dribbled at her hooves as she reared up, reaching with her nose to use the huge iron knocker. It swung against the door with a wooden thump, and she stepped back, waiting.
Maple's tail swished limply, still managing to spray a shower of droplets. Starlight reached behind her neck, wringing moisture from what had once been a ponytail - the hairband Maple had given her had gotten itself lost once again, likely when Valey crash-landed them into the Earth District. She would have to remember to tie it tighter, if she ever got another one.
Suddenly, the door swung inwards with a well-oiled creak, and a cream-colored pegasus stallion who looked to still be in his teens peered out, just young enough that his muzzle was only halfway squared. Face very slightly shadowing with surprise, he said, "Huh. You came back for the storm. Looks like you didn't make it in time." He stepped forward, blocking the entrance, adding, "The power's back on. The twins were taking bets on whether that meant you'd be back or stay gone. Ribbon will be disappointed."
"Good for her," Redshift pouted back. "These are my friends, and we're wet. Where are the towels?"
The stallion blinked at Maple and Starlight. "More vagabonds, huh?" he asked, as if they weren't even there. "They might need a little more than a towel..."
"Perfeeect," Redshift whined, trying and failing to push past him into the house. "That's what the bath is for!"
"Uh uh uh," the stallion interrupted, pushing her back with a wing. "Your dad was pretty unhappy last time you clogged the drain with mud doing that. It's raining right now, go pre-wash! All of you!" With that, he pushed the door closed in her face, locking it with a click.
Redshift snorted. "He's not going to change his mind. Back into the rain!"
Starlight obliged without so much as a word. The rain itself was icy, having come straight from over the mountain peaks, but it hadn't managed to banish the heat from the jungle air, creating a strange sensation that didn't quite chill her to the bone.
Maple, on the other hoof, shivered violently in anticipation. "Really... We hurried to b-beat the rain and now he wants us to stand in it? Who even is he? Your brother?"
"Half-uncle," Redshift corrected, moving out from under the balcony in solidarity, exposing herself to the elements alongside Starlight, who was frantically scrubbing at her muddy coat. "On my mother's side. And you do look like you could plug the drain."
"But that does mean you have a hot bath we can use afterward?" Maple asked hopefully, taking a step out into the wet.
Redshift nodded, and Starlight secretly huffed. What was it about being north of Equestria that had her taking so many baths?