Back with Cadence's group,
"Ok, it shouldn't be too long now," Cadence said, as the Crystal family awaited the arrival of their Ponyville friends.
"I think I see the train," David said, as the train appeared up along the tracks. Exiting the train was Twilight and friends, with Elijah and Eric carrying the crate given to them by Pinkie.
"Goodness, you need all that luggage?" Cadence asked, pointing at the crate.
"Luggage? These are the decorations Pinkie got for us from Party City," Ashley replied.
"Seriously? That's all decorations?" Alice asked.
"Yep," came a flat answer.
"Well, at least we've got the decorations, so lets head to the gardens," Cadence said, leading the group to the Crystal Palace. However, a particular gang of nobles were watching from the sidelines.
"So the princess is having a birthday party set up by those peasants from that dump town?" Emerald asked, sticking his nose up at the thought of the peaceful village.
"From what I heard, the party has something to do with those ape children she adopted awhile back," Topaz commented.
"Well, if that childish pink mare is setting up, that will never do. We'll have to set up a proper party, fit for royalty ourselves," Sapphire sneered, as they made their way to the party store.
"Alright, now just pour the batter into the molds, and let it cool," Will instructed, as the children finished mixing their respective Poffin batter.
"How long does it usually take for Poffins to cool?" Toby asked.
"Usually five minutes," Will replied.
"So, what do we do until then?" Kelly asked.
"I know!" Will exclaimed, walking over to the counter, and bringing back a small blue box.
"Hey, ain't that a Pokeblock blender?" Nathan asked.
"It is, but this ones a portable one, and it can give you up to four Pokeblocks. I got it on my second trip through Hoenn," Will replied.
"So, how does it work?" Melody asked.
"Well, you just drop four berries into the machine," Will explained, as he dropped four red berries into the machine, "Then you put the lid on it," he then put the lid on the machine, and pressed a button, "And in a few short seconds, you've got four Pokeblocks," he said, as the machine beeped. Removing a small storage compartment, the children saw four red Pokeblocks, with what appeared to be candied pieces in it, "Oh, yeah, and a cool thing about this machine is that sometimes you can make Pokeblocks+, a more stronger treat that increases your Pokémon's contest stats more than regular ones," Will explained.
"That's incredible!" Joshua commented.
"Is it possible to use different colored berries, or is like Poffins where you can only use one berry?" Crystal asked.
"No, it is possible to use different colored berries. Any combination of berries will make rainbow Pokeblocks," Will replied. The children were amazed at this, 'While they're making Pokeblocks, this should give Twilight's group more time to set up,' Will thought to himself.
Back with Pinkie's group,
"Ok, is that the last of the designs?" Scootaloo asked.
"Yep, that's all of them!" Pinkie replied.
"Ok, so when will we take these down to the Crystal Empire?" Nyx asked, looking at the many cakes there were.
"Well, we'll need to pack them in boxes, then we can take them in our saddlebags," Sweetie Belle replied.
"Only question is, will there be enough room in each of our saddlebags to carry them?" Diamond Tiara asked.
"Well, if they're positioned right, then, yeah, there'll be enough," Silver Spoon said.
"Ok, so, lets pack them carefully, then we'll go see if Twilight and the others are done," Pinkie said, as they started packing the cakes into their saddlebags.
"Ok Eric, now just lower the streamer till I say so," Twilight said, as Eric slowly lowered the streamer, "Ok, that's right where it should be!" she called.
"Oof, how Pinkie does this all by herself, I'll never know," Eric commented, wiping a bead of sweat from his head.
"Ok, Pinkie said this balloons must be at the proper height to keep Mavis comfortable," Rarity said, as she lowered the balloons to the required height.
"Is this really how Pinkie sets up for a birthday this big?" Rainbow asked.
"Well, she said its how she learned, so we mustn't really judge Pinkie's um... judgment," Fluttershy said.
"Well, I'll ask Celestia if what Pinkie said about Party City is true," Twilight said.
"Ok Luna, do you have your gifts?" Celestia asked.
"All of them are in my saddle bags," Luna replied.
"And my gifts are in my saddle bags, so it looks like we're good to go," Celestia said, as the two sisters exited the castle and found two carriages, awaiting the two sisters.
"Princesses, we are ready to take you to the Crystal Empire palace," one of the Pegasus guards said.
"Thank you," Celestia said, as she and Luna boarded their respective carriages, and took off.
"Ok, lets take a break," Eric suggested, as everyone sat down, exhausted from decorating.
"Where Pinkie gets all the energy to decorate a normal party, I'll never know," Rarity commented.
After wiping a bead of sweat from his head, David looks over the horizon, and saw two flying carriages, "Looks like we got company!" he called. The others looked over to see that it was Celestia and Luna.
"Well, no doubt there's gonna be a lot of attendees," Alice commented.
"Alright guys, I think its time we went to the Crystal Empire," Will announced.
"Ok, we'll go grab our stuff," Joshua called back, as the children all left the house.
"Going to the Crystal Empire for our birthday? Nice!" Echo commented.
"Well, we did get a pool last month, so we can all go swimming," Mavis added, which the boys blushed at the thought of their fillyfriends, "Suddenly, I regret mentioning the pool," she bluntly stated.
"And top of that, we can spend our birthday with our human parents!" Toby added. At the mention of human parents, Nathan had a stoic expression on his face. This was noticed by Crystal and Kelly.
"Hey Nathan, is something wrong?" Kelly gently asked. This made Nathan glare angrily at his two cousins and the rest of his friends.
"How would you feel if you never knew your human parents?!" Nathan snapped. This outburst made the other children reel back in surprise. Nathan was usually the most mellow of them, and for him to snap at his friends like that came as a surprise to the others. Nathan then spread his wings, and flew off in a huff.
"Nathan..." Crystal said, worried about her cousin.
"We can't leave without him," Cory commented.
"I'll go and try to find him," Mavis said, running after her brother.
Chasing Nathan through Whitetail Woods, Mavis eventually found him sulking over a pond. Feeling worried about her brother, Mavis quietly walked over to his side, "Nathan? Are you ok?" Mavis gently asked.
"No, no Ah'm not," Nathan bitterly replied, "Ah feel so left out since Ah never had human parents, unlike you," he added, looking at his sister.
"But Nathan, family is more than having the same species as your parents," Mavis stated, sitting next to him, "Whether or not your family is gone, or just far away, family is still family. That's one of the first things Mommy Cadence taught me when I first came here," she said, hugging her brother, "And you have me and my human Mommy and Daddy as a human family," she said, kissing Nathan on the cheek.
Thinking about what his sister just said, Nathan realized that she was right. Even though he never had a human family, he had a family in Equestria, nevertheless, "Thanks sis," he said, letting Mavis onto his back, "Welp, lets get ourselves back to our friends," he said, flying off