Following the saving of the three ponies outside of Ponyville, Twilight and Liliana had several other cities to visit. Twilight was actually tentatively excited for the whole ordeal, considering she had never really visited anywhere in Equestria other than Canterlot, Ponyville, and her brief stop in Horseshoe Bay before travelling over to the griffin territories. They were travelling to Horseshoe Bay now to save approximately twelve ponies, then on to Trottingham before hiking to Stalliongrad and back on a train to Baltimare. Following that was the longest trek far to the south to save a few ponies in Dodge Junction, but Liliana assured Twilight if they could meet some other changelings, the drones could handle that, which would save the two of them the need to go that far out of their way.

Twilight was equally eager to travel back to Dodge Junction (since she had been there searching for Applejack once before) and worried about the well-being of those ponies. Now, sitting on the train opposite Liliana, Twilight was quizzing the queen on changeling physiology.

“So you mean to tell me that, instead of gluten or carbohydrates, your bodies literally convert magic into sustenance?”

“I mean, we can eat food, if the fancy strikes us, but it doesn’t do much for us. We pass it without digesting it. We’re actually quite dependent on that energy to live.” She gave a weak smile, and indeed her shifted countenance appeared rather tired. “We’re on our last legs, as it were. Only those ponies we have left are keeping us alive. Even releasing those three in Ponyville is taxing us.”

“And if you run out of energy?” Twilight asked, dreading the answer. The look she got from Liliana was grim.

“We die.” She said simply. “It’s not unlike losing your soul. The light fades from our eyes, and we just… fall over. Dry up. Waste away.”

“That’s… not good.” Twilight grimaced. This whole ‘drinking to survive’ ordeal was bound to wear on the changelings. She wasn’t even sure how it worked, but Liliana had explained it to her a dozen times over in the short journey already. According to her, all she had to do was share a drink with another pony; a toast, or a cheer, or some communal event. Twilight was waiting to reach the next stop with bated breath.

The train pulled back into Canterlot, a brief stop on their way into Horseshoe Bay. Liliana started when Twilight jumped from her seat and opened the door to their cabin.

“Where are you going?” She asked, following hesitantly. “Aren’t we on the next train to Horseshoe Bay?”

“Which is why we need to move quickly.” Twilight wasn’t looking forward to this particular portion of their trip, but needs must else they wind up with a horde of dead changelings on their hooves. She trotted off of the platform while the train sat idly hissing, taking the first left down the nearest street. Nearby sat a greasy watering hole, well removed from the communal byways of Canterlot’s prestigious shopping district or government buildings. It being just before eleven in the morning, the bar was open but deserted, tended by a grousing stallion pushing a dirty rag across a worn wooden bar.

“Grill ain’t warm.” He grunted, hardly paying attention to them. “’s gonna be at least half an hour ‘fore I can make anything.”

“That’s fine.” Twilight stopped short of one of the stools, beaming at the stallion. “I’m about to buy all of your alcohol anyways.”

That gave the stallion pause. He blinked at Twilight, finally recognizing her.

“A-Archmage! I- you- what?” He let the rag sit still, a wary glance cast at Liliana, still shifted into her disguise. “All of it?”

“Well, as much as the two of us can carry. I assure you,” she borrowed a quill and a scrap of paper from beside the register. “… I’m good for it. Do you have some saddlebags we can borrow?”

“Sure, one moment…” He trotted towards the back room and emerged a moment later with two worn-looking saddlebags. “My old ones, from when I worked the rail yard.” He explained, poking at a hole in one. “Should do ‘til you get some new ones. Want me to just pack ‘em up?” He still seemed slightly bewildered, but Twilight had finished writing down a series of numbers and a small note. She cast a quick spell on the note, embedding it with her watermark.

“As many as you can fit, but note each one. Take this to the bank, and they’ll pay you for each one.” Twilight explained, setting the dimly-glowing note on the counter. “You can add the saddlebags on there as well.” The stallion nodded and began packing bottles into the ratty bags, while Twilight grasped one and pulled it across the counter along with two shot glasses.

“Cheers.” She poured both herself and Lily a shot, taking hers right away. Lily followed suit after a few moments, even while the stallion warily watched two mares start drinking well before the noon hour.

“Let me guess.” Lily grimaced as Twilight poured another shot. “We’re going to spend this whole trip sauced to our eyeballs?”

“You know it.” Twilight sighed, tossing back the second shot.

It was going to be a long few weeks.

----------

The train limped into Horseshoe Bay by mid-evening, bringing a thoroughly drunk Twilight and changeling queen with it. Thankfully enough, they had managed to avoid tossing up any time before pulling into the station, but not afterwards.

“Does it always do this?” Lily gasped, pawing strands of her mane away from her mouth. Twilight retched beside her, thankfully away from any thoroughfare.

“Only if you have too much.” She gasped, grimacing at the strands of her own mane that had been caught in the upchuck. “Let’s find a place to sleep it off; no sense in trying to find these ponies drunk.” Despite the cloud of inebriation hovering over her mind, Twilight still felt relatively lucid and coordinated. Her muscles just weren’t listening to her brain. She threw a hoof over Lily’s withers, steadying herself, but the imbalance just ended up sprawling the two of them across the brick street.

It took them a few minutes to orient themselves after that, much to the chagrin of some passersby. Thankfully, no guards were alerted, else they likely would have confiscated the alcohol from them. Twilight wasn’t sure if the bank in Horseshoe Bay would honor her standing as Archmage as much as any of the ones in Canterlot. Not to mention a drunk mare claiming to be the Archmage would probably go over as well as any other pony making the same claim.

“We gotta get some place to sleep.” Twilight focused her gaze across the street, and like some divine providence, an inn sat across from them. “That’s convenient.” She slurred, dragging herself and Liliana towards the promise of food and rest. Thankfully, the pony running the place had been in Canterlot the day she had been named Archmage. She agreed to give them both room and board, and charge the banks in Canterlot in her name. She even promised them some quality breakfast after they slept it off.

Twilight knew she’d just fueled local gossip for months to come. ‘The Archmage herself stumbled through my door, drunk as a doornail, hauling some other poor sob up to her room. You know, I think she’s cheating on Luna, that Twilight… Why else would she be all the way out here, looking for a place to stay?’ She’d have to deal with that further down the road, she was sure. But all that mattered then was finding a bed and passing out.

Providence came in the form of a large queen-sized mattress away from the noisy bar downstairs, and their clinking, sloshing saddlebags were finally shed. Twilight resigned herself to a quick shower to wash her mane out, and relinquished the bathroom to a rather pale-looking Liliana shortly after. She was asleep by the time her head hit the pillow, and didn’t even feel the changeling crawl into bed beside her.

----------

Morning came with a vicious headache intent on beating her brain out of her ears. Twilight wanted nothing more than to lay in bed and wait for whatever spiteful deity had taken hold of her to finish its wrath. The scent of breakfast wafting up from downstairs promised blessed relief, however. Not even bothering with her wild mane, Twilight stumbled downstairs to fetch them food.

It took a few hours for both ponies to sort themselves out, and the sun was well into the sky by the time they were feeling brave enough to venture outdoors. “So where are the ponies you’ve captured?” Twilight asked just outside of the inn.

“That’s the thing, I don’t know…” Liliana mused, frowning confusedly at the surrounding street. “I know it was near the edge of the city, but I have no idea where we are… Horseshoe Bay is no small place.” She closed her eyes, rubbing the bridge of her nose with an exasperated sigh. “I remember it being somewhere near a shipping warehouse. Maybe the bay? Saltwater. There was saltwater in the air.”

“Oh thank the stars.” Twilight groaned. “I know the area. Or at least the general area…” She glanced at the sun once more before turning south-east, towards the docks where she and Rarity had chartered a ship almost two years ago. “Do you have a way of finding them once we get close?”

“There are tendrils of magic coming off of them. Most unicorns are oblivious to it, wrapped up as they are in their own love and friendship. Others, destitute and barren, will feel attracted to it. The poor, the downtrodden, the depressed…”

“So follow the poor unfortunate souls, and find the trapped ones.” Twilight surmised. She picked up to a slow trot, stretching her muscles, taxed as they were. Walking through Horseshoe Bay was a journey in and of itself. She told herself she’d have time to sightsee after all of this was finished, but all of the goings-on kept her preoccupied. Twilight felt anxious away from Canterlot. Luna was still unconscious, near as she could tell, and the council was wrapped up keeping tabs on everything while Celestia did her best to bring Luna back.

There were a dozen ponies in charge of her duty once again, and here she was trying to enjoy the local culture.

She picked up to a canter almost subconsciously.

----------

So went the next six days of travelling. Twilight was either too drunk keeping Liliana alive, or too stressed worrying about Canterlot to even pay much attention to anything other than their destination. There were several times Liliana grew short with Twilight, and even more times Twilight snapped at her new changeling friend.

And they were becoming friends, that much was true. Twilight was feeling more and more connected to the changeling queen as their travels went on, even if they had been mortal enemies a short time ago. The more time Twilight spent talking to her, learning the minutiae of a typical changeling’s life, or their physiology, or even their dependency on magic to live, the more she empathized with both Liliana’s and Chrysalis’ methodology. If she felt like her very life were slipping away the more time went on, she’d have tried to invade Canterlot as well…

Now that another path was laid out before them, though, Twilight felt all the more justified in each new shot she took. They had drank their way through seven of their sixteen by the time their train rolled into Baltimare, and both of them were growing accustomed to the prevalent inebriation. Thankfully, the guard adjunct in Stalliongrad was able to recognize her, even if they did have to spend a day sobering up in the local jail cell. They’d at least kept their alcohol, and while Liliana groaned each time Twilight made them drink, she looked less taxed than she did leaving Ponyville.

Concerns surfaced on the last leg of their journey, however. Twilight voiced them as they made their way outside of the sleepy city of Baltimare on an unusually balmy night. The road was wet, but the ever-present rain clouds over the city had given way. Twilight and Liliana were nearing the abandoned home when Twilight spoke. “How have the other changelings been getting along? Do they know about the whole communal drinking thing?”

“They know about it.” Lily nodded, picking up on the sober tone. “I wouldn’t say I can converse with them directly, but there’s an… empathetic link between us all. They feel what I feel, and many of them picked up on it around the time we got to Trottingham. I assure you, they’ve been feeding off of what they can here and there. It’s… difficult. Many of us cannot keep our disguises up when inebriated. There have been slip-ups, at least I think; moments of panic and desperation, followed by a long sensation of despair and loneliness.”

“Celestia’s memo should have gotten out. Are any of them still feeling that way?”

“No, they’ve been released, I think. Again, I can’t understand, I can only feel what they feel…” Liliana sighed, though it was with a smile. “We’re surviving.”

“That’s good, then. It sounds like we’ve averted disaster.”

“If for the moment, yes… I’m sure a long-term solution is in order.” Liliana grimaced at the road beneath their hooves. “I just don’t know how any of us can handle it. I told you we don’t process food the way that normal ponies do, but for whatever reason alcohol affects us just the same. Granted, if we have too much all we vomit up is the excess liquid, but still… It’s unpleasant, and I feel nauseous almost all the time.”

“I’m sure there’s a more permanent solution, Liliana.” Twilight stepped closer to the changeling, giving her rump a reassuring bump. Even shifted as she was, Twilight could sense the magical power inside the queen, and the warm smile she got was reflected in that energy. It was reassuring to Twilight, like the presence of any one of the other elements of harmony, or Cadance, or even Celestia at times. Perhaps it was all the time she’d spent talking about and quizzing Liliana on changeling magic, but she could sense those sensations easier now than she ever had. What was more interesting to Twilight was the love she felt for Luna. It stretched away from her, off and to the South, where Canterlot lay. Every now and then, that strand of magic stretching between the two of them would swell and change, growing thicker or more solid than at other times. But it was always there, never fully going away. When she focused on it, it felt as if Luna was in it, but so very far away that it hurt.

It felt as if her heart was all those miles away.

“This is the place.” Liliana nodded to a darkened drive stretching off of the road. Twilight gave a thin smile and followed the queen off of the beaten path, up a small dirt driveway that hadn’t seen use in many, many months. Cobwebs stretched across their path, catching on their faces and manes every few dozen feet. Twilight brushed them off as best she could, feeling more tired now than she had in a long while. The constant alcohol abuse was wearing on her. Nevertheless, a squat, darkened house awaited them, set well enough away from the main road that nopony would bother ignoring the signs saying ‘condemned’ or ‘abandoned’ lining the way. Sure enough, just like there had been in many of the other cities, five small glowing pods waited behind a simple illusion spell. There was the typical signs of juvenile presence; candy wrappers and bottles of alcohol littered about from younger ponies, along with a dirty, used mattress in the corner.

But she wasn’t here to judge adolescent ponies on their escapism or love-making habits. Instead, she watched as Liliana freed these five ponies, then cast the memory modification spells on them. When they awoke, they’d remember travelling here for a wild party. Outside of the home, Twilight and Liliana were met by three other ponies, as if they had been expecting them.

“Yours?” Twilight asked, her defenses rising nevertheless.

“These are mine.” Liliana shifted into her changeling form, suddenly towering over Twilight. The other three ponies followed suit, shifting into the drones Twilight had seen twice before. “What news?” Liliana accosted them.

“We felt your urgency to free the ponies in Dodge Junction, and have done so, my queen.” One of the changelings bowed low. “We sensed you nearby and came to see if you needed help.”

“We’re done, then.” Liliana seemed rather shocked by that little premonition. “There’s… nopony else we’re feeding off of.”

“So drinking it is.” Twilight grimaced. “How do you feel?”

“Different.” Liliana answered after a short pause. “I feel strange. Almost like I’m not a changeling anymore. Clearly, I am, but… it just goes against everything I’ve known thus far.” She shivered slightly, looking to Twilight with a serious expression. “I feel like a different creature than I was three weeks ago.”

“That’s a good thing, then.” Twilight floated one of the bottles out. “This calls for a celebratory shot. Care to join us?” She offered the bottle to the three changelings, who readily stepped forward. As they all took turns pulling drinks from the bottle, Twilight noticed something… something magical happening.

The sensation she had from Lily, the same one she felt from her friends from Ponyville, had spread between the other three changelings. She hadn’t had it when they approached, but now, it was there. The four other changelings, Liliana and the drones, all smiled between themselves and Twilight afterwards.

“That was… good.” Liliana muttered. “It felt stronger. Much more stronger than any I’d felt thus far.”

“You haven’t drunk with more than one other pony until now.” Twilight connected the dots. “It must be more powerful the more of you there are.”

“That would make things much easier, that’s for sure…” Liliana grinned. “And it gives me an idea…”

“I think I’m right there with you on that one.” Twilight turned back towards the road, a little sway in her step from the alcohol, but a determination burning in her gut.

“Let’s get back to Canterlot.”

----------

Celestia was waiting for them as the train pulled into the station. Twilight grinned at the princess, half because she was buzzed from the ride out here, but mainly because she was glad to see her friend and mentor once more.

“It’s done, then?”

“Unless Liliana’s lying about keeping more ponies waiting in the wings, then yes, we're finished.” Twilight turned to the queen, who shook her head sternly.

“I was truthful. There are no more ponies being held captive.”

“That settles it, then. You’ve held up on your half of the bargain, and now it’s my turn. Twilight, have you discovered anything about changelings in your time with Liliana?”

“Have I ever.” Twilight grinned, turning towards the nearest street, and the same bar they had ransacked of all their liquor two weeks prior. “I think it’s best described over a drink.”

Author's Notes:

A slow return to form, but this was a chapter that needed to be written to follow up chapter 5. To think, it put me in a slog for... shit, over 8 months now.

More coming, I hope. Here's praying inspiration strikes once more.