Darth Link 22

Darth Link 22 is a writer of fan fiction who publishes on FIMFiction. He started writing for the fandom in May of 2012. His works primarily range from slice of life/adventure dramas to romantic comedies.

The Nuptialverse
The Nuptialverse is the collective name of a series of fan fictions written by Darth Link 22. The series is so named for its first installment, Post Nuptials, a fan fiction based on the closing scene of the  episode "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2" that presents a more detailed account of the events that take place. The story is followed by an original sequel and two standalone spin-off stories. Because Darth Link 22 began writing the series before the third season of the show first aired, it is presented as an alternate universe that disregards any contradicting story elements featured in the show following season 2.

Post Nuptials
Darth Link first published Post Nuptials, his first story of the series, at FIMFiction on May 2, 2012, and completed it on June 29, 2012. It is primarily set during the postnuptial reception of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's second wedding ceremony shown in "A Canterlot Wedding: Part 2". It heavily mentions the scene in "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1" wherein Twilight Sparkle's friends, Princess Celestia, and Shining Armor shun Twilight after she accuses Cadance of being evil during the wedding rehearsal, only for the princess to be revealed as the changelings' leader Queen Chrysalis disguised as her in the next episode.

In the story, everyone who shunned Twilight expresses great remorse to her for hurting her. To their shock, Twilight insists on forgiving them all, and that only Chrysalis is to blame. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie nevertheless continue to feel guilty and, after meeting with other guests at the reception, resolve to speak with Twilight again the next day to hear her side of the story. On the train ride home, Twilight confesses she is still angry with her friends for ignoring her, but has become so taken aback by their guilt that she fears she could have lost them if she turned out to be wrong about the fake princess. The five assure her that they would have forgiven her, and the six friends reconcile.

Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is a one-shot story set during the events of Post Nuptials. Darth Link wrote it as a chapter for Post Nuptials, but excluded it for having a significantly darker tone compared to the rest of the story.

The story begins with Queen Chrysalis and her changeling army recovering from their defeat in a desert cave near Appleloosa after being ejected from Canterlot by Shining Armor and Princess Cadance's love spell (shown in "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2"). Chrysalis angrily broods over what went wrong with her plans when she begins to recall her origins.

A flashback set centuries in the past depicts Chrysalis as an unnamed, elite pegasus subordinate to Commander Hurricane. Equestria has been founded and the three pony tribes are at peace with each other (shown in "Hearth's Warming Eve"), but the pegasus remains prejudiced towards the unicorns and earth ponies. She tells Hurricane of her desire to become an alicorn by taking a set of undisclosed "Trials" to a similarly unexplained "Source". However, Hurricane is disgusted by her soldier's attack on two unicorn dignitaries, and discharges her from her army.

As she fumes over the harmony between tribes, the pegasus is approached by Discord, who claims he has come to Equestria to take the Windigos' place in creating disharmony. Discord offers to use his reality-warping powers to give her a unicorn horn and earth pony strength in exchange for her help in destroying the Energy of Friendship—the flame produced by Clover the Clever, Private Pansy, and Smart Cookie to defeat the Windigos—so he may take over. To aid her, Discord presents her with an obscure, fourth pony tribe, the flutterponies, which he transforms into changelings to serve as her army.

The pegasus sends her new changeling army to infiltrate Equestria's capital building where the Energy of Friendship is held and hold the country's six founders hostage, allowing her to destroy the orb containing the Energy. Discord then storms the building and uses his magic to brutally murder the founders. The two unicorn dignitaries challenge Discord, but he effortlessly freezes them in place. The pegasus demands Discord uphold his end of the deal, but instead of turning her into an alicorn like she expects, Discord commands the changelings to encase her in a cocoon of slime. When she comes to, she is horrified to find herself transformed into a changeling, ironically endowed with the powers of all three pony tribes as Discord had promised. Discord renames the former pegasus Chrysalis, and erases her old name from history so she can embrace her new identity.

Three months pass, and Discord is shown to be torturing innocent ponies for pleasure alongside his reluctant minion Chrysalis. He is also revealed to have turned the unicorn dignitaries immortal and murdered their families as punishment for challenging him. The two dignitaries then return, having been turned into alicorns via the "Source" and revealing them to be Celestia and Luna. Armed with the Elements of Harmony, the two use their magic to turn Discord, Chrysalis, and the entire changeling army to stone.

Chrysalis reawakens over one thousand years later (during the events of "The Return of Harmony Part 1") to find herself with Discord in a cave filled with the stone forms of her changelings. Discord explains he has been freed and plans to break the current wielders of the Elements of Harmony. He instructs her to free him in case he is turned back to stone, threatening to escape again and hunt her down if he betrays her. She is left trapped in the cave until Discord is defeated (shown during "The Return of Harmony Part 2"), releasing her and the changelings. Instead of helping Discord, Chrysalis arranges her plan to invade Canterlot and absorb enough love to face Discord. Having failed, Chrysalis goes into hiding where she is found at the start of the story, and vows revenge against Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, and Princess Cadance.

Families
Darth Link 22 published a sequel to Post Nuptials, Families, on July 23, 2012. Rather than following any episodes from the show's third season, this story follows a completely original plot and is set between seasons 2 and 3. It is currently ongoing.

Set immediately after the events of the first story, Spike remains the only one of Twilight's friends who has not reconciled with Twilight over abandoning her. He has confided with the Cutie Mark Crusaders that he thinks of Twilight as his mother and, believing she would never want him as a son now, continuously avoids her whenever possible. Secondly, Rainbow Dash suspects something is amiss with Scootaloo and her parents, Speedy Delivery and Quick Delivery, who constantly want her out of the house while they work on an unknown postal project. Still hoping to be redeemed for hurting Twilight, Rainbow takes Scootaloo under her wing. Thirdly, Pinkie Pie is biding her time to tell her friends and the Cakes about her long-withheld, troubled history with her birth parents, having promised Princess Luna that she would do so.

The first two story arcs tie into a subplot in which a team of tabloid ponies, led by a stallion named Olive Branch, fuels backlash against Princess Celestia over her failure to anticipate or stop the changeling invasion. Olive uses the Canterlot ponies' prejudice against dragons to blame "Celestia's pet" Spike for a dragon attack that Olive and the tabloid ponies cause near Ponyville. Scootaloo's parents are also revealed to be conspirators.

Honeymoon
Honeymoon is another one-shot set around the events of Post Nuptials. Similar to Metamorphosis, this story was intended to be a chapter of Post Nuptials, but Darth Link 22 felt it didn't fit the focus of the original story and published it seperately.

The story primarily focuses on Princess Cadance and Shining Armor as they ride away from the wedding reception for their honeymoon, interweaved with flashbacks presenting moments of romantic development between Cadance and Shining as the two recall them. It opens with a nightmare Cadance has where she remembers accepting Shining's wedding proposal before returning to her room, where she is captured by Queen Chrysalis.

The flashbacks that follow are set further years back, depicting Cadance as an ordinary unicorn rather than an alicorn. In the story's second flashback, Shining finds and rescues the newborn Twilight from being attacked by a stray dog, earning his cutie mark as a result; Cadance tells Shining this was the moment she first fell in love with him.

Further narration reveals that Cadance's parents, members of Celestia's cabinet, die in a fire the following year after a strained meeting with a dignitary from the Griffon Kingdom takes a violent turn. When Shining goes to comfort the distraught Cadance in a third flashback, she tells him her plans to follow her parents' example of making Equestria a better place by becoming a princess.

Cadance goes missing soon afterward, sending Canterlot in an uproar until she returns three months later as an alicorn via the same "Source" first mentioned in Metamorphosis. In a fourth and final flashback, Shining confesses his love for Cadance, and the two share their first kiss. After they finish recollecting, Shining admits he still feels terrible for letting her and Twilight down, but Cadance reassures that he is still a wonderful pony.

About Last Night
About Last Night is a story written by Darth Link 22 that is set after the events of "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2", but takes place in a different setting from the Nuptialverse. Applejack invites her friends over at Sweet Apple Acres for a night of drinking hard cider to repay them for helping her drive the Flim Flam Brothers away (shown in "Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000"). After spending the night in a drunken stupor, Twilight Sparkle and Applejack wake up the next morning to find each other in Twilight's bed, wearing gold rings on their horn and hoof, respectively, and discovering a legally binding contract on the bedside table. The two friends realize someone is trying to keep them married, and work to find out who is responsible while trying to annul their marriage.

Wedding Bell Blues
Wedding Bell Blues is a fan fiction that presents an alternate sequence of events in "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2" depicting Queen Chrysalis's defeat. The story begins with Shining Armor and Princess Cadance casting their love spell on the changelings, but instead of sending Chrysalis flying across the horizon, it slams her into a wall. Twilight and her friends prepare to arrange a second wedding, but Cadance reveals she knows nothing about wanting to marry Shining, and has been trapped in the caves beneath Canterlot for as long as Shining thought he was dating her. To everyone's confusion, Chrysalis confesses she is the one he has been dating, and has now truly fallen in love with him. Cadance then shocks everyone by revealing she is in love not with Shining, but with Twilight. Twilight and Shining spend the rest of the story trying to sort out this bizarre turn of events, while Chrysalis negotiates with Princess Celestia to allow her to marry Shining.