It was a pink sun that setted over the northern crown of Equestria. Calm. Gentle. Playful. Glittering bands of fuchsia light reflected off the summits of the buildings laid cyclically around the heart of the Crystal Empire. All around, local citizens were putting the finishing touches on the rooftops, balconies, and ledges. Crystal ponies polished the surfaces to an immaculate shine. As the light of the day dimmed and the air cooled, they took the time to smile and chat with one another. Their eyes resonated in time with the luminescent pulse of the Crystal Heart, hovering blocks away in the center of the antique urbanscape.
The first of several dignitaries had arrived. One by one, their zeppelins and stagecoaches gathered at the southwest edge of the city. Finely-dressed bodies were stepping onto the railroad station in droves, milling about with their luggage and flocking towards the local inns and hotel establishments. The air filled with excitement... hopeful chatter. Crystal hooves shook with fuzzy fetlocks. There was laughter... sighing... eyes gazing lazily at the burning west.
Flash Sentry strolled casually through the middle of it all. Ponies—both local and visiting—gathered merrily at street corners and exterior restaurants. He heard snippets of stories... tall tales hailing from the furthest edges of a magical horse world. The air smelled of lavender and other local flowers. Everything was crisp, clean, and lovely. There wasn't a single hint of garbage or decay to be found. Somehow—Flash realized—it didn't take that intense of an effort to make things this way in time for all of the visitors to arrive.
The sun continued its slow descent, vanishing beyond a crest of frozen mountains. The stars above came out—flickering on either side of a tapering aurora that swam between green and pink hues. One by one, crystal pony guards lit the torches that flanked the streets of the Empire. In the firelight, little colts and fillies scampered about, chasing one another and laughing while their parents and neighbors looked on. There was music somewhere—music everywhere. Communities hung out at doorstops, chuckling and murmuring with excitement for the day to follow. Closer to the Palace, guards were hanging tall banners that—in the morning dawn to come—would undoubtedly shimmer in the sunlight.
Flash Sentry breathed it all in. Halfway through his stroll, he tilted his head up and closed his eyes. The wind blew at his equine mane... tickling his tall, fuzzy earsh. Still—if he concentrated hard enough—he could almost imagine that he was walking on two legs instead of four. He imagined green patches of soil between subdivisions... the park just two blocks away from Canterlot High... and the few evenings where the sunlight was bright enough to pierce the clouds and exhaust and urban haze in order to make that place legitimately beautiful.
It was a stretch, Flash knew, but he was almost capable of injecting the beauty into all of it. For a brief second, it sustained him. But even with all of his earnest, it was just an illusion.
He reopened his eyes to a magical world full of pastel nuance and crystalline majesty. It was all so very real. And—for the moment—it was his.
He was high enough on the sensation to think that he earned it.
That was enough to earn a smile. Not so much any tears. And—to that end—he knew hadn't reached it yet.
So he continued trotting. Lazily and gladly. Closer and closer to the glowing heart of the Empire.