> The Tale of Harvey Scald > by Crimson Blade79 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a hot and humid day at a desert far away. A dust storm kicked as if to make it harder for the wildlife to survive these already perilous conditions. A dwarf man that wore a blue duster coat, silver shirt, grey pants, a cream colored hat, armored gloves, armored boots, and shoulder pads walked alone in this desert. The dwarf also carried weapons and these weapons were a rapier, two daggers, a crossbow, and he also had several flasks around his belt. This dwarf is none other than Harvey Scald. He now braves the desert known as the Western Approach, the most hostile and dangerous environment in all of Thedas. (Just to give you an idea of what Harvey has.) Harvey walked the treacherous desert ever since his horse died and he began to lose hope until he saw a cave leading to a dwarven ruin with an Inquisition flag in front of it. As he witnessed the sight, Harvey said, "At last, after all this time, I finally found something that could possibly lead me to the Inquisitor and about fucking time, my feet are killing me." He then took out a journal and quill to write, "I finally made it to the dwarven ruin I've been seeking. I won't let my guard down because ruins like these tend to have traps. This is why I fear for my life since I have never been to a dwarven ruin. I hope to make it out alive. Andraste guide and protect me." -Journal Entry 2- Harvey then walked into the ruin. The ruin was lit by blue torches and when Harvey went into the main chamber, it was as if nothing was disturbed. It was strange since the Inquisition usually ransacked the ruins in this desert. Harvey then saw a staff in the middle of the room that had a strange aura around it because it was laced with red lyrium. Something echoed from the staff, like it was calling Harvey and telling him to pick it up. Despite his better judgement, he picked it up. All of a sudden, a blood red rift opened as if it was a fade rift but it was different somehow and it was sucking Harvey in. Harvey said as he plunged his rapier into the ground in an attempt to hang on until the rift closed, "Oh shit, I knew I shouldn't of pulled out that damned staff." He hung on as long as he could but he eventually failed. Harvey and his rapier was sucked into the rift and as soon as they were, it vanished. Through time and space there is another world, another universe inhabited by ponies. These ponies have established a society built on friendship and harmony. Although it may not seem like it but this land has a dark past with many villians that each took control at one time but we're defeated. Now a new threat emerges. This threat is known as Queen Chrysalis of the changelings. She has infiltrated a wedding posing as the bride and trapped the real one in a sort of crystal dungeon along with a mare named Twilight Sparkle. The wedding was between Shining Armor and Princess Cadence but since changelings feed on love, they chose the wedding as a target. Now only time will tell what fate has in store for the citizens of this world. Twilight Sparkle and Cadence were discussing how to get out of the dungeon until a blood red rift appeared in front of them. Twilight looked at the rift and said, "What in Celestia's name is that?" Cadence followed Twilight's gaze and answered, "I don't know. What do you think it is Twilight?" Twilight tried to comprehend what was in front of her but before she could come up with something, Harvey fell out of the portal face first and his rapier dug into the ground beside him. Harvey said, "Ow! Damn that hurts. Where the hell am I?" He then got up and dusted himself off. He then yanked his rapier out of the ground and saw a sight that he never seen before, two multicolored ponies. Harvey also took notice that he was trapped in a crystal cave looking place and said, "Just fucking great, first I get sucked into a rift and now I'm trapped in a damned cave. What else could go wrong?" Twilight grew cautious and asked, "Who and what are you?" Harvey blinked a couple of times and asked, "Did you just talk?" Twilight answered, "Well duh." Harvey said, "That's it, I must be drunk. Either that or I've gone completely insane and I'm seeing things." Cadence approached and said, "I assure you that we are very real and we have an even more real problem. We are trapped in a crystal cave dungeon, can you by any chance help us escape?" Harvey slapped himself and said, "Okay I'm definitely not dreaming so sure, I'll play along. I think I have something that can bust us out of here." He then dug into his coat pocket and pulled out an explosive grenade. Harvey then looked for a weak spot and found one at the end of the room. Twilight said, "Wait a minute, you still haven't answered my question. Who and what are you?" Harvey groaned in annoyance and said, "Fine, if it'll keep you from nagging me. My name is Harvey Scald and I am a dwarf." Now he is close enough to both Cadence and Twilight to compare his hight and he is only a little bit taller than both of them. Harvey then said, "Now clear the way, I'm gonna blow a hole outta here. Don't worry, I have experience with explosives so no need to worry." Twilight got alarmed and yelled, "Explosives! Are you mad?!" Harvey said, "Maybe, maybe not. There's only one way to find out now is there." He then threw the grenade at the weak spot in the wall. The wall then crumbled right before Twilight and Cadence's eyes which revealed a way out of the prison. Harvey then gestured towards the hole and said, "After you." > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After Harvey and the two ponies escaped their prison, they ran down a hallway but five changelings emerged from inanimate objects and startled Harvey. He accidentally decapitated one of the changelings out of fear. Green blood spurted from the stump that once supported the changeling's head with the head frozen with a look of terror as it hit the floor. The other changelings had a look of anger and shock. Harvey chuckled nervously and said, "Whoops, sorry about your friend there. I get a bit jumpy under stress." One of the changelings said, "Get back into your prison or we will use force. Our queen is not to be disturbed." Twilight's horn lit up and said, "Get out of my way! You can't stop me from saving my brother." Cadence followed suit and said, "This is supposed to be my wedding, I won't let you ruin it!" Harvey saw the interactions and thought, "Wow, drama queens much. Then again I did decapitate one of those bug creatures without warning. Bah, nevermind I'll just do what I do best." Harvey then stood with an intimidating pose with his rapier facing the changelings and said, "Unless you want to end up like your friend there, I suggest you listen to the ladies." One of the changelings yelled, "You will pay for killing our comrade you monster!" The changeling charged at Harvey but he was soon decapitated by an elegant rapier attack landed by Harvey. Harvey said with a smirk, "It's always the hard way isn't it. Stand back ladies, things are about to get messy." Twilight said, "Who put you in charge?" Harvey ignored the protest as he dashed forward. The changelings fired magical beams but Harvey deflected them with his rapier. He saw that there were only three changelings left and came up with a plan. Harvey ran right in the middle of all three changelings but right before they fired their magic, he leaped on top of one of the changelings as the other two accidentally killed each other with their magic. Thankfully Twilight and Cadence dodged the third magical beam. Harvey took out his crossbow and pointed it on the changelings head. He then said, "Jackpot." Harvey then pulled the trigger and an arrow shot right through the changeling's brain with chunks of it going everywhere. As the changeling's corpse collapsed onto the ground, Harvey dismounted the corpse and asked, "Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?" Twilight said, "I thought you knew." Harvey said, "Fuck no, I've only been here for five minutes." Twilight then answered, "These creatures are all changelings, they feed off of love and since a royal wedding produces a lot of love, they chose to invade this place to gather enough strength to invade our country and enslave us to drain us of every last drop of love." Harvey said, "Wait a minute, there's a royal wedding going on? That means tall, pink, and cranky over here is a princess and your brother's a prince?" Twilight said, "Well my brother isn't really a prince yet..." Harvey raised an eyebrow and then laughed. He then said, "Oh wow, a princess marrying a commoner. That's just a whole load of gossip and deception just waiting to happen. Just like the Orlesian Court. No wonder this wedding has been crashed." Cadence looked furious and said, "Don't you talk about my future husband that way! If you say something like that again, I'm gonna kick your ass from here to wherever you came from!" Harvey then said with sarcasm, "Oh I'd love to go back home. Go ahead, kick my ass." As Cadence began to walk towards Harvey, Twilight stopped her and said, "We don't have time for this, we have to hurry before Shining Armor kisses Chrysalis." Cadence then had a look of panic and yelled as she ran, "I'm coming Shining!" Harvey and Twilight ran after Cadence. Harvey then ran close to Twilight and said, "Thanks for saving my ass back there. If you hadn't stopped her, I would've needed healing magic just for my rump." Twilight responded, "No matter how annoying you may be, you still saved our flanks and for that I may consider you my friend." Harvey said, "Thanks purple smart. Now let's get to that wedding before your brother accidentally marries an ugly bug." At the wedding, there were to rows of benches where the guests sat in and at the altar stood fake Cadence and Shining Armor. The priest looked like the pope or maybe a divine of the Chantry. Princess Celestia and Luna stood and watched not too far from the left of the Altar. The guests included the rest of the Mane Six and the parents of Shining Armor and Twilight. The priest said, "You may now kiss the bride." Just before fake Cadence kissed Shining Armor, the doors swung wide open revealing the real Cadence saying, "Stop! That's not the real Cadence, I am!" Everyone gasped except for fake Cadence and she thought, "Not now! I'm so close to taking over this wretched country." Everypony gasped again when they saw Harvey and Twilight run behind Cadence. Harvey said, "What, is there something on my face?" Twilight said, "This claim is true because the Cadence on that altar is not Cadence, it is a changeling." Somepony said, "But you said that earlier." Twilight said, "I assure you that I am right." Harvey drawn his rapier from his sheathe and said, "I'm only askin' you once bug queen, reveal your true form or I'll kill you anyway." The fake Cadence clapped her hooves and said as she transformed into her true form, "Bravo, you really outdone yourself Twilight. You even went as far as to entrust a killer to take me down." Everypony gasped at the grotesque sight that was Chrysalis. Everypony gasped again and Harvey asked, "Oh come on, what's a few dead changelings to you?" Harvey immediately regretted his remark as Chrysalis yelled as she pushed aside Shining Armor, "THEY WERE MY BABIES, MY CHILDREN!! I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER!" She then shot a huge beam of magic towards Harvey. An army of changelings then bursted through the huge window behind the altar. A brawl soon ensued between the changelings and the ponies. The Twilight and Cadence behind Harvey didn't budge but were frozen with fear. Harvey began to panick as he rummaged through his pockets and thought frantically, "Come on, come on, where's that damn amulet of magic resistance." Just before the beam hit Harvey, he held the amulet of magic resistance in front of him and when the beam hit it, it conjured a blue barrier protecting Harvey, Cadence, and Twilight. The amulet broke to peices when the beam was gone. Harvey then picked up his rapier that he dropped and coated it with a strange liquid from the green flask on his belt. Harvey then bluffed by saying, "Hey Chrissy, you missed." Chrysalis's eyes were wide and said, "Impossible, you should have died!" Harvey snickered and said, "Let's just say I'm not a one trick pony." He then realized what he said and thought, "Wow that was a bad joke. I hope nobody noticed that one." He then pointed his rapier at Chrysalis and said, "Let's finish this Chrissy, you and me." Twilight said to Harvey, "But that's suicide." Cadence also said to Harvey, "You can't take her alone, she's fed off of too much love. She'll kill you." Harvey smirked and said, "Don't worry, I know exactly how to take her down." With this he received confused looks from Twilight and Cadence. Chrysalis grabbed a sword out of seemingly nowhere and said, "Fight me murderer, let us see who's stronger." Harvey then ran towards Chrysalis and swiped his rapier at Chrysalis but she parried the blow. Harvey then swiped left but still got parried. This endless cycle of parrying continued until Harvey punched Chrysalis in the face and did a double slash down her chest that formed an X. Chrysalis screamed in pain and swung her sword at Harvey again but it was his turn to parry Chrysalis's attacks. Chrysalis eventually began to feel weaker and Harvey saw another opening as he slashed her legs. Chrysalis let out a pained yell as she crouched to the floor and dropped her sword as her magic grip on it faded. Chrysalis had a look of horror as she discovered she couldn't move or use her magic. She then asked Harvey, "What have you done to me?!" Harvey said, "It's simple really, I poisoned you and now you're completely helpless." Chrysalis then pleaded, "Please don't kill me. All I wanted was to feed my hive, was that so wrong?! Do I deserve death for trying to feed my children, my kingdom?!" Harvey then contemplated his next action and said, "Hmm..." Press X to kill Chrysalis. Press B to spare Chrysalis. > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You pressed the B button Harvey loomed over Chrysalis, preparing to bring down his rapier but suddenly lowered his weapon as he thought, "Dammit, I just can't kill her. She doesn't deserve to die but I've killed so many so it shouldn't bother me to kill her right? No, it's just not right, she's just trying to feed her people to the point of resorting to raid another country, I've seen my fair share of those situations to know this and I just can't bring myself to kill someone trying to feed her country. I gotta spare her, maybe I can help her change her ways and help her find another way. Alas I don't want to leave with her for these ponies may hold the key to bring me back home but before I do anything important like that, I might as well stick around for the party after I make Chrysalis leave." He then said to Chrysalis as he sheathed his rapier, "I spare you Chrysalis, I just can't bring myself to kill you." An angry pony shouted, "Kill her, she tried to take over Equestria!" Harvey angrily shouted at the pony, "Shut it! I won't kill her, she doesn't deserve death!" Chrysalis looked at Harvey with an expression of shock and asked, "Why are you sparing me? I thought you were a killer, a monster, why spare someone like me?" Harvey smiled as he answered Chrysalis, "Because you only did what you thought was right. Your people are starving, weak, and don't have any allies to call upon. I know what you are doing, you were trying to take over this country to feed your people but it's not really the best solution ya see." Chrysalis asked, "How did you know that? Are you trying to discourage me, are you trying to have my children starve to death?" "I've seen my fair share of small countries raiding from wealthier countries to try to feed themselves, I understand what you are going through but that isn't the best solution, these countries were only satisfied for a limited amount of time and continued to raid to the point that the victims were forced to take action and these countries were destroyed. Now my world is ruled by only a handful of countries and the smaller countries were wiped out, erased from history, but there are still various settlements and small towns inhabited by colonists. I don't want you to make the same mistake those small countries made. Forge alliances, get some help, do anything but raid another country because that always ends badly in the long run.", answered Harvey. Chrysalis sat there, staring at the ground while both changelings and ponies watched with either curiousity or interest. Chrysalis then looked up and said, "Changelings, let's leave this place and return to the hive." After she said that, the Changelings and her retreated from the Crystal Empire. Harvey then looked at the ponies. "Well, she's gone now, what're you all waiting for?" Harvey asked. After he asked that question, the wedding commenced. -fifteen minutes later- Harvey was now at the wedding party, the dance floor had many ponies on it, the place was decorated intricately, and several concessions were being held at the sides. Harvey then walked over to the apple cider stand that was there, it was run by Applejack of course. Applejack seemed to be looking him over. "What, you see something interesting?" Harvey smirked after his question. "Your outfit seems mighty strange partner. Also, you telling us you were a Dwarf earlier and saying that your kind was short where you're from but as far as I can see you ain't that short since you're just a little taller than we are." Applejack answered. "Hehehe, if only you knew." Harvey thought to himself. "So uh, what's the strongest thing ya got here?" Harvey asked. "This ain't a bar mister, all I have is apple cider." Applejack answered with annoyance. "Okay fine, I'll get one of those ciders." Harvey replied. Applejack sighed and gave Harvey a glass of apple cider for him to drink to which Harvey accepted before beginning to drink the cider. However Applejack was waiting for him to pay. "Uh, mister, aren't you going to pay for that?" Harvey then looked to her "Oh, my apologies, here." after he said this he gave her a few gold pieces much to Applejack's confusion once she observed the coins. "Uh, mister, these aren't bits." Applejack said to him. Harvey shrugged "Why would you want bits of gold when you could have gold coins?" Applejack groaned "I knew I shouldn't have served ya, you're obviously aren't from around here. Fine, I'll let you have just that one." Harvey downed his glass before giving it back to her "Alright then, in that case I'll just have that wine that they have. That at least is free for this party." he then walked away from her and to a counter that had food, a punch bowl, and bottles of wine. Harvey then took one of the bottles of wine and began to drink it, his vision beginning to get fuzzy as he was feeling the buzz coming on now. "Woah, this is stronger than I thought, time to party then." he then joined in to the dancing and had more to drink and also eat while he was partying, joining in the debauchery that was going on, after that everything past that was a blur. The next morning he found himself passed out in a closet with a lampshade on his head, his clothes ruffled and his hat to his side. He groaned as he had a bit of a hangover and got up rubbing his head after taking off the lampshade. "Ugh, my head, what the hell happened?" he got his clothes back in order by putting his jacket back on and buttoning up his fly, he then found his hat on the floor and put it back on his head although he saw a tuft of orange fur come out of his hat when he picked it up. "Hmm?" he was confused and took his hat off, looking inside it to find nothing before putting it back on. "Eh, it's probably nothing." he then left the closet to find that he was in a castle bedroom "Woah, I have no idea how I got here." he then got out of the bedroom wondering what he should do next. Press A to leave the castle and try to go somewhere else, Press B to explore the castle, Press X to try to find out what happened last night, or Press Y to find something valuable to steal