Topaz relinquished her hold over me about an hour later, around the time when Cersus returned with a waiter in tow pushing a food cart. There was some mumbling with some resistance to the sudden noise, but after a minute of smelling these covered dishes I was set free as the disheveled pegasus nearly pushed me off the bed.
“Uh..wh..I…” Topaz muttered as her nose twitched excitedly at the scents.
“It’s food!” Cersus cried as she ran into our car, and jumped onto her bench.
“Thank you for your assistance, sir. I’ll return the cart once we’re finished.” I informed the waiter who bowed as he retreated to the hall.
Rolling off the extended bed, I moved to roll the food cart toward the window, resisting the urge to peek under one of the silver dish covers. Whatever the filly ordered created an aroma I would place two levels above the guard mess hall, but just under madam Viridian’s cooking.
Cersus was leaping from her bench to the bed, and back again in anticipation, and Topaz had moved toward the ledge where her front hooves dangled off as she collected herself.
“Hurry it up, I’m hungry!” the nymph demanded as she hoped from the bed to the bench.
“Irs ells gud.” Topaz slurred as she fluttered her wings, an exercise she did when trying to wake up.
“Indeed. I’m curious as to what our nymph has chosen this time.”
“Only the greatest breakfast foods known to ponykind! Cereal!” Cersus proclaimed as she finally jumped off the bed, and moved to the cart expectantly.
I didn't even need to look at Topaz to know her mood had evaporated after the announcement. I could see and hear the heartache of being denied whatever foods she had believed would be available for our enjoyment, but at the very least she appeared more alert than before.
I lifted one of the dishes and discovered Cersus’ claim to be true with a single bowl of what looked and smelled like Toasted Oats N Honey; a smaller dish on the serving platter held a moderate helping of small marshmallows in the shape of alicorns and rainbows. I repeated this with the other two dishes and discovered they were all the same with one of them containing a glass pitcher of honey.
‘How could a bowl of cereal smell this delectable?’ I wondered as I examined the three bowls for any sort of enchantments that might be affecting our senses of the food.
“Smells good right?” Cersus was standing on her back hooves to give her enough height to peer over the cart, tail wagging of course.
I noticed Topaz had found her legs, and was in the process of stretching her legs (and wings) by extending her forelegs all the way out while lifting her rump to create her interpretation of a cat. She repeated this in reverse to give her rear legs the same attention before standing up to finish her morning routine with a single yawn, and a single head shake to remove the strands of mane from her eyes.
“I smelled cinnamon rolls...:”
“They have cinnamon on them!” Cersus happily added while I helped her with her own bowl.
“I don’t see any milk, did they forget it?” I asked while checking underneath the cart.
“NOPE! I had the cereal baked instead!” Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one to find the statement questionable.
“You had Toasted Oats Cereal baked...” Topaz asked as she chose the spot next to me on my right, equally observing the two bowls of baked cereal and single picher of honey.
“...and ordered a side of marshmallows?” I added as I sampled one of the alicorn shaped treats, finding them to be sweeter than sugar. Delicious.
An unorthodox spin on a traditional breakfast meal, but one with pleasant results.
With that lovely meal behind us, we fell into our routine for another few hours when the announcement we had reached the Crystal Empire’s borders came by courier.
“Quit moving! You’re making this harder than it needs to be.” Topaz commanded as she fought to finish putting the new dress on Cersus.
With the understanding our journey was coming to an end, we began preparing for our inevitable arrival by performing the pony ritual of showering and dressing up. I myself was nearly finished putting on my new officer’s jacket, buttoning the cuffs and jacket with my magic. Borrowing Topaz’s hoof mirror allowed me to gauge just how the royal blue fabric, and gold cuffs clashed against my black fur, and this unnatural union while garnering praise from my peers never truly made me feel worthy to be wearing.
“A dress! I don’t wear frufru!”
Which brought us to the current display of dominance between parent and foal, and as the acting male figure in this unit, I offered my own bits into the whole mess. Topaz had commissioned two dresses matching the colors of my uniform once I told her of my promotion and what it required - to ‘complete the set’ she told Cersus and I.
“Listen to Topaz, Cersus and be still.” I added while finishing the last button of the uniform.
“Never!” The young nymph went wild trying to wiggle her way out of the small dress, causing Topaz to struggle even more. She shot me a look that told me to be quiet, and so I did.
I tried.
“You’re a growing filly Cersus! Not only should you begin dressing like one, but we’re expected to look presentable.”
“Only you are expected to!” Cersus declared as she nearly wiggled free of the Topaz’s grasp, but the pegasus was resilient. “A changeling never ever had to wear a dress!”
“The Queen did during the invasion.” I noted, or given, I wasn't present during the ceremony.
Cersus and Topaz both ceased their struggles to look my way, before the pegasus seized the opportunity to grab the still nymph. This surprise, but expected maneuver caught Cersus unaware causing the nymph to shriek, and display her red head fin which is something I’ve only seen her do twice.
Once when she discovered the undead denizens of Canterlot Sewer were real, and the other when I told her Daring Do might stop by the house to seek some statements regarding a classified matter. Both appropriate given the context, but to raise her fin so casually was a failing all my own; in my attempt to shield her from the hive and by association other changelings have robbed her of appropriate manners.
What she said next crossed the perpetual line for any foal, let alone a nymph that knew no better.
“Quit it Miss Showers!” she nearly screamed, and I was thankful sound suppressing magics were applied to this car.
The moment the words left her fanged mouth, Topaz had already dropped Cersus from the shock of it. Seizing her advantage, Cersus turned around and back pedaled onto the train seat just out of Topaz’s reach; I felt and saw hurt twisting the features of her muzzle, as the emotions swirled behind her eyes. I acted.
“Cersus!” I moved toward her, but stopped so I stood next to Topaz who seemed just as surprised by my outburst.
The nymph’s head fin lowered completely as a sign of submissiveness, typical behavior changelings would display to a superior as confirmation of their understanding of the hierarchy. No further verbal commands were needed before she jumped off the seat, and walked toward us.
Her head remained lowered as she finally stopped directly in front of Topaz, whose dampened mood gradually shifted to bewilderment as she looked between the both of us. Only after I nodded did Topaz move for Cersus, this time the nymph made no fuss about the dress.
Proceeding over the interaction, I made sure Cersus would continue to be on her best behavior before I noticed my own head fin subtly making its way back into the crook of my neck. Rarely, did I raise my own fin in any situation, but she went too far and had to be reminded of the boundaries.
Once Topaz finished dressing the submissive nymph, Cersus leaned forward into Topaz’s grip trying to bury herself into the pegasus’ coat. I made sure to give them the space they needed as Topaz accepted Cersus’ apology with a hug, and a few words laced with love.
I waited until I was given the OK before slowly (and carefully) moving next to Cersus, waiting for her to acknowledge my presence before placing a single hoof on her back between the wings.
Giving thanks upon Celestia’s sun, we had no more problems getting ready as we waited our turn to disembark.