Delay on "Caught and Punished" and announcement on my next writing break

I've been in the early stages of editing chapter 24 of Caught and Punished...and this has been a rough one. It's much tougher than I thought it would be going in. I hate having to delay chapters, but I don't think I'll be able to have chapter 24 feel "right" in the next 3 or 4 days, so chapter 24 is going to be delayed by one week.

More importantly, whether I'm just feeling the worn-down effects of writing a long story -- this guy's not used to writing long stories and Caught and Punished is my first 100K+ story -- or if I simply just need a good break, I've noticed that my overall writing and editing speed has slowed down over the last month. I'm thinking it could be a sign of burnout, despite the little short-breaks I've sometimes taken to try to prevent it.

So, after chapter 24 of Caught and Punished and a different story in the middle of editing are done, I'm planning to take a 2-week-long break from writing & editing. I didn't even think about it until about a minute before I started writing this blog, but it's been almost a year since I took a week-long break from writing, so this was already overdue

Chapter 25 of Caught and Punished should be out 4 weeks after chapter 24 is, or a little over 5 weeks from the time I'm writing this blog.

However, I will go ahead and show a still-unedited part of chapter 24 that's early in the chapter. It will have what's going to be one of my favorite parts of the whole story so far.

After a few minutes of walking along the roads through the city, we reached the Crystal Castle. With how it now seemed to reach to the heavens and practically glowed white-blue, this palace was even more breath-taking up close! If not for how Applejack teased me about admiring the building earlier, I would have gawked more, but I forced myself to hide my amazement.

In front of its doors, two ponies covered in gold armor stood outside. They must have two of those “Royal Guards” I heard about.

Applejack asked, “Hey, did Twilight come in earlier?”

One of the guards nodded. “Yes, she did.”

Pinkie leaned her head toward the guards with a big smile. “Do you mind if we come in too? Pleaseeeeee?”

Both guards shook their heads as one answered, “I’m sorry, folks, but only authorized personnel are allowed in the castle.”

Should have known we wouldn’t get in that easily.

Rainbow said, “I know, but we’re with Princess Twilight, and you know Spike, Sam, and Starlight, right?”

“We do, but Princess Cadance is deep in labor, so we are on higher guard than normal. Without direct permission from Princess Cadance or Captain Shining Armor, we can’t let any of you in. Truth be told, we allowed Princess Twilight in because she’s Princess Cadance’s sister-in-law and Captain Shining Armor sister, not just because she’s a fellow princess.”

Rarity stepped to the guards and said, “Oh, but could you make a litttttle exception for little ‘ol us? We don’t tell!” She battled her eyelids. It took all I had to not laugh, but I did have to look away to let out a giggle that wouldn’t stay down.

“And we can help keep Twilight calm,” Fluttershy said. “When she worries too much...it doesn’t end well.”

The two guards stared at each other. I didn’t expect them to respond. “Well...she is getting close to driving herself crazy. She even keeps asking about something Princess Cadance might need, no matter how many times we say everything is under control.”

Spike stepped forward with a sneaky grin. “Well, how about this: if you let us in, we’ll promise to be good and we’ll keep Twilight calm. I have years of experience on this.”

Rainbow asked, “Or do you think you all can keep Twilight from stressing even further?”

The guards looked at each other again, then to a few guards deeper in the castle; those guards stared back at them.

“Well...you all are in good graces of Princess Cadance and Captain Shining Armor so...okay, you all can come in. Just stay where Princess Twilight is and don’t wander through the rest of the castle unless a guard says you can.”

The two guards each stepped to the said and we followed two deeper in the castle, down the corridors. I’ve been in Twilight’s castle all the time, yet it was feeling like I’ve never been in one with how it felt in this castle. Maybe how this castle has guards makes it feel even more like a castle than Twilight’s does. Eventually into a large room, though it looked small compared to some of the other rooms. Twilight was walking in a circle in the center of the room, with her head down, mumbling to herself.

Applejack said, “I was expecting Shining Armor to be like this, not you, Twilight.”

“Eep!” Twilight jumped in the air and spun around to us, reminding me of how Starlight did it when I yelled at her to wake up after our first day together. “Oh, hi, guys. Sorry I just took off and left you back there.”

Fluttershy asked, “Do you know how long Princess Cadance has been in labor?”

“About three hours from what the guards told me. She should be delivering any time now.”

I’m no expert in this kind of thing, but I thought labor lasts longer than three hours! I asked, “Any time? I thought this was Princess Cadance’s first foal?”

Twilight said, “It is.”

“So why should she be delivering ‘any time’ if she’s only been in labor three hours?”

The mares all stared at me. Was it really such an odd question?

Rarity asked, “Why shouldn’t she? Mares usually deliver between two to four hours after they enter labor.”

“Oh,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck out of embarrassment. Why did I think pony labor lasts as long as human labor?

Fluttershy asked, “Did you think it would be longer?”

“Yeah. I was thinking about how long humans be in labor, so I didn’t even think about if it was different for ponies.”

“Really? How long does it last for humans?” Twilight asked while walking closer to me. Who knew this would be how we calm her down?

“I’m not 100% sure of the average time it lasts, but I think human labor lasts between 7-10 hours for first-time moms.”

“WHAT?! That long?!” All but Spike asked with huge eyes. Spike just looked indifferent.

“And I’ve even heard stories about it sometimes lasting over sixteen hours.”

“Over sixteen hours?!” They (except Spike) all shouted again. This time, even two of the guards still outside of the room shouted.

We spun to the guards; they coughed and looked away.

Rarity asked, “How can you handle it?! I can’t even imagine it lasting over eight hours. But over sixteen...my Celestia! The poor mothers!”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Don’t ask me. It’s not like I can ever know.”

Twilight said, “I’m ashamed to say it, but I think I might have underestimated the toughness humans have. I can see why you weren’t afraid of facing the changelings.”

A white unicorn stallion ran into the room. He was bearing a big smile, but his mane and fur were a little messy.