Story progress January update

Hey folks! It's been a few months since the last blog post about the story and I figured it was time to give some updates on where things are and how everything is going. Firstly, school has started up again so I'll be working on the story only in my spare time, especially since I struggled last semester where I was... working on the story during class instead of taking notes (kids, pay attention in class in the best way you can).
As for Change the Heart itself, after doing some more thinking as well as looking back on how long my chapters used to be, I'm considering changing my mind on worrying about the length of chapters 16 and 19. I'm still going to write out the remaining chapters and make the proper edits to what I already have written for what's coming up before I submit any more chapters, that much hasn't changed, but I do think that I will stop worrying too much about making sure the chapters are relatively the same length as each other. This story is already well past the recommended word count for novels, so making sure the remaining chapters are at least 10k words apiece is just going to make it even more of a daunting read. Chapter 16 is coming along smoothly, I do need to find my old handwritten notes about Breyta Mitos' landscape and ecosystem for the 2nd draft, but otherwise there's nothing I'm too concerned about with it at this point. I am in the middle of rewriting chapter 19's outline to fit the changes I made to chapter 20 and to have it make more sense than I feel the original version would have been with some decisions, and as of right now there haven't been any changes made to 17 and 18's outlines. 16 might end up longer than it would have with the outline it had just because I wanted to make sure to plant some seeds and nurture the ones I've already laid out for things to come in the remaining chapters as well as the remaining plans for this series, and that does mean that I'm working in some changes where I feel they fit best without reworking the outline just to see how things feel and if I decide it still feels off, then the outline will be rewritten based on the notes I'm currently adding to the entire story.
Again, since I'm planning to write out the remaining chapters before I submit the next one, I don't have a release date or deadline in mind for chapter 16. That being said, I'd like to share part of the chapter with you all to give you something that will tide you over until I can publicly release the remaining chapters, as well as get you all too look forward to what's coming up.

Chapter 16
Breyta Mitos
“I can only imagine the mysteries the world holds. Who knows what secrets remain yet undiscovered?” —Comet Dust

The seven friends grew more anxious as they drew closer to their destination over the five days since they set off from Astros. Heart Shield and Twilight had to camp out in the wheelhouse to keep Rainbow Dash from sneaking in to activate the jets in her impatience to reach the island. The two friends had to laugh at the irony of Heart Shield being the one to hold someone else back from acting on their impatience. The change in their treatment of each other was not lost on their other friends, who were grateful to see the two of them finally getting along again, even if neither of them shared with the others what caused them to start healing their relationship.
Heart Shield continued his meditation with Rarity and Fluttershy, but now it was by his own choice rather than being forced to in order to keep him from lashing out. He was calmer than he had been for a while, even if he had a pit of anxiety in his stomach when he checked their progress towards their destination; it was as if everyone had the version of him back from before he ever asked Twilight to come with him to the Everfree Forest. Both he and Twilight made sure to keep Princess Luna aware of their progress when they slept, as their usual mode of communication continued to remain unusable. Occasionally, Luna would connect them with Princess Celestia, who was pleased to see the two of them working together once more.
Twilight poured over the books she’d taken from the island, and had managed to decipher several new spells in them, though she was still learning how to use them properly. It was challenging to have to learn a brand new kind of magic, one that required precision when transcribing the runes that made up each varied spell as the various sigils could be combined in a multitude of ways to create the framework for each spell. She did her best to recall each iteration when going over the magic with Princess Luna at night, though a handful of times she did need to have Heart Shield brought in to provide more details with his odd level of recollection. It did frustrate the unicorn that she wasn’t able to fully grasp several more advanced spells as quickly as she wanted, but her friends were there to help support her through it all.
Everyone thought they were as prepared as they could be for what lay ahead.
They were not.

* * *

The waves churned wildly, slamming into the Fate’s Winds violently as the deafening thunder rocked the boat so hard, the ponies worried it would fall apart from the noise alone. The storm clouds outside made it seem as if they were sailing through a black void, only lit by the lightning around them. The lightning was the only reason they were able to navigate the otherwise vast expanse of darkness as the ocean seemed to fight the ship every step of the way. The pegasi couldn’t take to the skies without risking getting struck down by the very same lightning that lit their way to the island in the distance. The seven ponies had been lucky so far with their slow progression towards the island, but their luck soon ran dry. Two massive whirlpools formed in the violent waters on either side of the ship, each pulling the water in a different direction. The magical protections on the ship held long enough for the friends to realize the futility of any further attempt to get closer and to grab what supplies they could after Twilight’s quick thinking, but only just.
It started as a low groan as the magic failed and the ship strained against the force of the storm. The groan grew to a loud wailing screech before a terrifying series of sharp, snapping pops ripped through the air as the Fate’s Winds was violently wrenched apart. A violet flash of light was all that remained as the wheelhouse split in half, the wood and metal splintering as the whirlpools tore the ship in opposing directions. In a matter of mere seconds, the once sturdy Equestrian vessel was ground into unrecognizable debris before sinking into the churning waves; the last remnant of the ship that had carried the seven ponies from their homeland for so long was the ivory alicorn masthead, peeking above the waves for a few moments before the water filling what little remained of the hull dragged it under the ocean surface and into the dark depths below.
The seven friends appeared in the air not far from where they’d fled the ship and plummeted into the violent waters before Twilight was able to cast another teleportation spell. She had to cast the spell multiple times to bring them closer and closer to the island in the distance, struggling to keep the island in sight each time they teleported above the ocean. By the time she managed to get them close enough to land for them to swim the rest of the way to shore, she’d exhausted herself to the point where Applejack and Rainbow Dash had to help her stay afloat even as they all fought to keep their heads above the water. Surprisingly, the waters closest to the island were calm, as if there wasn’t a terrifying storm surrounding the island’s borders, a small mercy the ponies were grateful for.
Soaked, exhausted and chilled to their very bones, the seven ponies managed to swim to the island’s shores where they collapsed on the sand. Heart Shield hoped more than ever that he’d been right about the decision to come to the island, especially now that their only way back home was lying in broken pieces at the bottom of the ocean. Of the seven packs they had fled the ship with, only four of their waterproof saddles of supplies survived the swim. Rarity’s bag, which contained emergency rations, cooking supplies and blankets for each of them, had nearly dragged her down and needed to be abandoned to the waters. Fluttershy hadn’t finished attaching her saddle before they were teleported so it and the food, maps and sleeping bags were all ripped off her back when they landed in the violent waters. Then there was his bag. Heart Shield had stuffed several of the books from Astros that Twilight had gotten translated, a compass and some of the spare sails and rope that he’d grabbed in a hurry in case they could manage to find materials on the island for a raft, all of it gone because it was caught in the violent waves as he swam, pulled from him with almost as much ease as Fluttershy’s pack as it wasn’t a saddle custom make to fit over his wings.
They took stock of what they had remaining once everyone had caught their breath. Rainbow Dash and Applejack had recovered some tools, a couple of tents that were now soaked through, rope in Applejack’s bag, and a handful of their perishable rations. Twilight had her partially translated books on various spells, a nearly fully translated one on flora found around the world, and a randomly grabbed fully translated copy of magical gems. Pinkie’s pack somehow contained a full-size bed, paint supplies, a cannon, her party cannon, a fully decorated cake complete with twelve lit candles, a fridge with nothing in it, and an absurdly large novelty balloon of herself that defied all forms of logic and physics by already being fully blown as she struggled to pull it out. Rainbow Dash promptly took the stopper out of the balloon so that their location wasn’t telegraphed from the complete opposite side of the island and they all watched as the giant pink balloon shot off into the sky with a cartoonish PBBBBBBBTHHH.
“Aww, there goes the special decoy I had planned for our grand escape next chapter,” Pinkie whined.
“Pinkie, what the actual he-!” Rainbow Dash began to shout before Applejack shoved a hoof to the cyan pegasus’s mouth to silence her.
Applejack shook her head and pointed to the storm above them. When lightning lit up the clouds, they could see a small group of changelings flying high overhead, headed towards where the balloon had just vanished. The friends didn’t need to exchange words, hurriedly stuffing their supplies back into their surviving packs before rushing further off the shore to the start of a small forest, taking cover in some rather large bushes. Twilight decided using magic was worth the risk and hastily hid their tracks, hoping that if the changelings decided to inspect the area where the balloon came from, they wouldn’t think about trying to detect magic. The seven of them held their breath and tensed for a potential fight as the trio of changelings did indeed fly down to inspect the beach after finding the balloon suspicious.
“There’s not really a point in checking, we saw the wreckage of that ship,” said one of the changelings, a female by the sound of her voice, and set apart from the other two with a pair of deep-green insectoid wings. “Clearly it was just a leftover from the flotsam.”
“You’re too lax, Clover,” snapped one of the others, a larger male, though Heart Shield noted he was not nearly as large as the ones from Ponyville. “They have two magic users with them, teleportation is not out of the question.”
“Please, even if they were able to teleport, getting all the way here from the edge of the Maw would be impossible without leaving them completely exhausted. You heard the scouting reports from the Ponyville incident –only one of them has teleportation capabilities and group movement left her winded and out of magic after a few short hops. The distance from the confirmed ruins of the ship to here is much larger than that and through the waters of the Maw too,” the one named Clover shot back. “If they tried, we’d have seen their bodies on the shore by now.”
“Careful with your tone, mite,” the large male growled, turning to get in Clover’s face. “Bodies have not been detected in the waters-.”
“Probably because they sank with their ship and their belongings, which have been detected,” Clover replied calmly and defiantly, standing her ground against the male.
“Okay, enough you two, break it off,” said the third changeling, pushing his way between the two as the larger male readied his horn to cast some sort of spell at Clover. “We don’t have time for bickering right now. If the ponies made it to shore, they’re clearly not here right now, and if they didn’t make it then we’ll have time later to do a thorough search of the ocean to confirm. Either way, it’s out of our hooves and we have our orders to make it back to the Hive for his announcement. And I don’t think either of you want to upset him by being late.”
This seemed to snap the two out of whatever conflict they had with each other. They gave the beach a casual sweep and took to the sky once more, flying further inland in a rush. Heart Shield thought he saw Clover’s eyes dart to where he and his friends were hidden before she took flight, as if she had a guess about where they were, but if she did know, she kept that information to herself for some reason. They waited a few minutes to make sure they were all safe before finally leaving their hiding spot and slinking a bit further into the forest to keep their cover.
“Well so much for the element of surprise,” sighed Rarity.
“At the very least, they didn’t fully confirm that we’re here,” Twilight replied, trying to sound hopeful.