Delay on chapter 18 of "Caught and Punished" + update & teaser

Chapter 18 of Caught and Punished is in the process of being edited and, at over 6,000 words, it will be the longest chapter of the story up to this point. Because of this, it well be out in about 5 days, not 2 or 3 days as the weekly update schedule would have it. There's too good a chance it'll have the errors that normally wouldn't be there if I rush it out.

Next, as much as I wanted to do weekly updates, I think I overestimated myself a bit at being able to do it at this point, especially with chapters 16-18 all being 5,000+ word chapters, and chapter 19 may also be 5,000+ words long. I'm also planning to take a short break from writing after chapter 19 is finished, so there's that too.

So, the next four chapters of Caught and Punished after chapter 18 will be updated 2 weeks apart, which would give me some well-needed time to get further ahead and start on some future chapters without the risk of rushing or even burnout. After chapter 22, I may try to do weekly updates again if I think I can do it, or keep it bi-weekly for a longer period or even the remainder of the story. I'll decide after chapter 22 is updated.

For now, though, here's the start of chapter 18 as a teaser if you're curious, though it's not fully edited yet.

What do I do? There were way too many changelings to fight. Worse, Queen Chrysalis was here in this cave too!

Twilight was lying on the ground by one of the cave walls, injured. Chrysalis wouldn’t allow her to leave the cave, or we’ll never see our friends alive again. Sam and Lyra, standing on the other side of the cave where I was, weren't strong enough to help me beat them, especially with Chrysalis here too. Thorax looked too scared to fight. I was shaking too bad to even get into a fighting mood. The mob of over fifty changelings lined in rows in the room between Sam, Lyra, and Sam and myself, plus the smaller group by Chrysalis near the room’s entrance, felt to be invincible.

It looked like I would never do anything that I enjoyed doing again. No more flying kites. No more playing Dragon Pit. No more having fun and laughing with my friends. No more freedom. For that matter, the same went for Sam, Twilight, and Lyra. I didn’t know what might happen to Thorax, but I doubted it would be good, if Queen Chrysalis was as ruthless as the stories I’ve heard claimed.

“Chrysalis, as you wish, I won’t leave, but at least let Sam, Starlight, and Lyra go!” Twilight groaned from pain, then continued, “They are no threat to you!”

Sam shook his head. “No way, Twilight, I’m not going to ditch you behind like this! Starlight’s not the only one you have done a lot for!”

Sam (as well as Lyra, and Thorax) might have been behind the group of changelings that were between us, but with his height, I could see his face clearly enough to know he was going nowhere. The serious tone in his voice told me it too.

“I won’t abandon Bon Bon like this either! She would do the same for me!” Lyra echoed. I’ve seen Lyra and Bon Bon together before, but who knew they were this close?

“A-And I...I can’t leave you behind either, Twilight! You gave me the chance for a whole new life!” I was scared, but the thought of leaving a friend behind scared me even more, so I couldn’t take off! The little strength I felt as I told Twilight I wouldn’t go let me stop shaking.

“But what good would all of you staying here even do?” Twilight asked. 

Sam, Lyra, and I stared at each other. What could we say?

“B-But still...I...” I gritted my teeth and felt my ears flopping to lay along my head. Twilight raised a point. But even if it ended up being pointless, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I abandoned a friend that truly needed help. They promised to never do that to me, so how could I do it to them?

Twilight moaned from pain again as she turned her head to me. The look in them shook me. It really felt like I wasn’t looking at Twilight Sparkle, but Princess Twilight Sparkle. “Starlight, I understand, but I’m serious! As much as I hate to do it, but as the Princess of Friendship, I order you to get out of here, and take Sam and Lyra with you!”

“But...Twilight…” I whimpered. Twilight words shook me even more than her glare. The others have told me that Twilight will only use her princess title like this as a last resort, but would never do it for her own gain. Add that to knowing she just wanted the rest of us to be safe, how could I keep arguing? She was in enough pain from Chrysalis’s earlier attack already.

I was thinking of just doing what Twilight ordered, until Chrysalis interrupted, “Well, I’ll settle this touchy dilemma. You all be our prisoners, especially that Princess Twilight look-alike over there. We have seen her magic, so we don’t risk letting her run off and train to become even stronger.”

“Wait, you have ‘seen’ my magic?” I asked. It wasn’t like I tried to hide my powers, but something about the way Chrysalis said it made it feel like there was more to it. But how?

“I suppose I can explain. You see…”

Chrysalis went on to explain what she meant -- she had been keeping taps on Twilight, Sam, our friends, and even me over the past month -- and about her plan to capture us all. They learned about Fluttershy’s friendship with Discord, so they took her to the changeling hive instead of the gem cave in Ponyville. Discord later tried to save her himself, but in the hive, he was powerless. With how he picked on me, it was kind to believe that Discord could be so caring.

However, a late change in plans, which Thorax didn’t hear about, was that Chrysalis decided to not risk the changelings fighting Twilight directly without her with them, even by a sneak attack. Chrysalis knew that Twilight would try to do...what she just tried to do, so we just walked into a trap! As for the cocoons being anti-magical in nature, Thorax knew they were different, but didn’t know what was different about them, or he would have warned us. I confess that I felt a little better about the fact that I didn’t just mess up the teleportation spell. Not that it mattered much at this point anyway.

But despite how bad it seemed, this couldn’t be it. I never got to repay my friends for being wonderful friends to me! I never got to make up for my mistakes! Worse, if nothing was done, who knew that kind of peril Equestria might face? There had to be some way out of this!