The Green Glade
is a The Black Cauldron fic by LetItFlow0992. The one-shot fic was published in 2015, just a few days after the passing of Susan Sheridan, the voice actress of Princess Eilonwy.
Right after the downfall of the Horned King, Taran and his friends are travelling back to Caer Dallben. They stop to rest at a beautiful glade. A portal appears out of thin air, and Eilonwy starts to approach it, as if she were entranced. Before Taran and the others can follow her, they're attacked by four of the Horned King's soldiers, but two hooded strangers rush to their aid. As the fight goes on, Eilonwy enters the portal and finds herself in a shared universe where a mysterious voice asks her to join in an interdimensional group as the representative of her own world.
This one-shot provides examples of:
- Alliterative Title: The Green Glade.
- And the Adventure Continues: The Horned King is gone and the heroes — now accompanied by Coll and Prince Gwydion, the last member of Prydain's usurped royal family — continue returning to Caer Dallben. However, Dallben learns through Hen Wen that Arawn has somehow been freed from the Black Cauldron in the marshes of Morva, and the voice warns Eilonwy that she and Taran will be at the forefront of the darker times that will befall Prydain.
- Big Damn Heroes: Just as Taran, Fflewddur and Gurgi are about to be attacked by four armed brutes, two hooded and armed strangers appear to assist them. They afterwards reveal themselves to be Coll and Prince Gwydion.
- The Cameo: Eilonwy sees in the shared universe portrays of the Disney Princesses, starting from Snow White to Elsa and Anna.
- The Cavalry: Coll and Prince Gwydion rescue Taran, Fflewddur and Gurgi from being killed by the armed barbarians.
- Dual Wielding: Coll fights with a short sword and a dagger against the Horned King's men.
- Eviler than Thou: Arawn is regarded to be a threat to the world greater than the Horned King could have ever been.
- Evil Laugh: Arawn emerges from the Black Cauldron with deep, cold and cruel laughter.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Arawn is shown to have a deep voice when he laughs upon his liberation from the Cauldron.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Whenever a member of the Disney Princesses returns to their own universe from the shared universe or any of the other universes, they forget the experience until they're summoned again.
- Last of His Kind: Prince Gwydion is all that's left of the royal family that ruled Prydain before being usurped by the Horned King.
- Mythology Gag: The mysterious voice tells Eilonwy that, like her, some of the other princesses declined the offer to join the first time they were asked. This could be an allusion to Disney's failed attempts of making animated feature adaptations of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and other fairy tales in the 1940s before they would finally succeed in doing so decades later.
- Oh, Crap!: Hen Wen has a fit when she suddenly has a vision of Arawn emerging from the Black Cauldron.
- Riddle for the Ages: The identity of the voice in the shared universe.
- Shout-Out: The shared universe has a similar resemblance to the place Sora dreams about at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts.
- Sickly Green Glow: After the witches of Morva have brought the Black Cauldron back to their hovel, it emits green mist which takes the shape of a man before materializing into Arawn.
- This Cannot Be!: Orddu cries this out when Arawn emerges from the Black Cauldron.
- Took a Level in Badass: The previously cowardly Gurgi greatly helps Fflewddur in fighting off one of the Horned King's men.
- The Usurper: The Horned King is established to have overthrown the royal family who ruled Prydain before him. Only Prince Gwydion remains.
- Villainous Valour: When there's only one of the Horned King's men left against five heroes (two of whom are trained to fight with swords) and he realizes this, he chooses to fight to the end rather than flee.
- Wham Line: The voice provides one after Eilonwy has given her oath."Then, Eilonwy, welcome to our ranks. Welcome to the Disney Princesses."
