• Published 19th Apr 2017
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Locksmith - QuartzScale



The world is coming to an end and there is no way to stop it. Might as well accept any deals to keep on living. Still not feeling well enough about this but maybe holding the key to fate can change that.

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71. Prydain: Swamplands

“What is this?” Horned King looked at the orb he was given.

“Like I said… Insurance. It will do something that will keep you alive should anything go wrong.” Maleficent answered slightly annoyed that her gift was looked at with scorn… though a small part of her chuckled that she had met someone who knew not to accept what could have been an obvious looking trap.

“An explanation if you please.” Horned King demanded steepling his fingers as his red eyes glowed ominously.

“Ha ha ha… the clever humanoid knows what he wants. Listen well necromancer. This is a Soul Orb I've created. It shall save your soul and reincarnate your body to the form you are in when you use it. There are very few I've made for this… legion of like minded peers. My contribution if you will.” Malefor announced. “All you need do is make your copy here and it shall keep you safe from even death itself… something I've long conquered.”

“Interesting. Fine… insurance is always welcome.” Horned King muttered as he touched the orb.

Within seconds he felt as if his body was on fire as everything that made him was ripped strand by strand. As the heat slowly ebbed back he looked into the orb noticing a copy of his own soul, darkened and corrupted he could see his true self in all its entirety. It was beautiful.

“It is done. Should the worse come to pass… you shall not die.” Malefor stated as he idly let his wings fold back.

“Quite. Take me back stooge. They should be reaching the prize soon and I shan't let them get out of my grasp.” Horned King growled out glaring at Pete who got his cloak ready. Pete summoned a dark portal and led their honored guest back to his world.

“Was that wise, witch?” Malefor roared out as soon as the portal closed. “He is a fool who think he can match us.”

“I don't know. If he has most of his world subjugated just by his power alone, then he might be able to match us.” Cortex spoke up rubbing his chin with his finger.

“Leave it be. This is insurance like I said. While I am hesitant to trust other sorcerers I will not allow these new alliances to fall to ruin. I have learned from experience, gentleman, that keyblade wielders are unruly, misbegotten lot of goodie two shoes who get in my way one time too many. I must stack the deck in our favor lest we get caught unaware. You would agree that having more power on our side is worth the risk… would you not?” Maleficent explained as she chuckled, looking deep into her staff as Pete dropped off the Horned King within his fortress. He would return soon.

“At least now I know the meaning of those orbs you had me make.” Malefor breathed out understanding the full depth of his actions.

“But I don't use magic.” Cortex piped in.

“You are our technology expert are you not? You will probably survive better due to your human nature.” Maleficent growled out. Her real thoughts were how pathetic the doctor was but kept that snide comment to herself. There was no need to alienate her guest and ally… at the very least not at that moment.

“Indeed. It seems that I have matters to attend to. An army doesn't raise itself up.” Cortex announced as he placed on a strange jet pack.

“Of heartless?” Malefor cocked an eyebrow at the diminutive scientist.

“Well there are those… but I meant my own personal one. I'm thinking genetically mutated animals right now. Well no matter I shall get one for my own uses.” Cortex chuckled as he pulled a ripcord on his jet pack which seemed to create a rift in the fabric of reality which he confidently blasted through.

“Useful toys but a sheer buffoon of a living being. How you tolerate is nothing short of impressive.” Malefor coughed out as he started opening his own portal of darkness and leaving through it.

“Years of practice… you overgrown iguana.” Maleficent snarled under her breath as she looked over the orb that the Horned King left. Placing it next to the others she had gotten from several of the members she convinced to ally with her.

It was a shame she missed out on two worlds already but with a foothold in this world it didn't matter who won the conflict that was brewing. All that mattered was that she was prepared for anything that came her way.


It took us a few hours to finally get out amongst the swamplands. Doli had actually made us go a bit faster though with the larger group we had to bunch up with one another. Then the exit was above us meaning that for Sunshower, Spitfire and I had to play taxi service to get everyone out into the swamplands.

The dismal sight of gnarled trees bent unnaturally by the shifting of the muck and mire only painted a desolate picture of where we were going. The few trees that weren't overwhelmed by the swamp held sweeping canopies that left little pockets of cover from any rainstorms. We were lucky that the skies were merely overcast and nothing more.

“So where do we go?”

“This way… let's hurry up. This place is always bad news.” Doli cringed as he started to fly off in a certain direction.

“Sir Gray? A moment of you please.” Eilonwy called out to me surprising me. I wasn't a knight.

“I'm no sir. I was never knighted. What's on your mind though?”

“Ah well… it's more… do we actually have a plan here? While I don't doubt that we should find the Black Cauldron, would it not be best to leave it where it is? Taran seems so gung ho about acquiring it but this seems very short sighted.” Eilonwy invoked her worries which did make me think of our motivation.

“Not to be a bother but I have been having doubts as well.” Octavia spoke up which caught the attention of Vinyl whom was still sticking close to me.

“Plenty of doubts but he needs to learn. Actions have consequences. I will not shelter him from any shortsighted venture into being a knight. Not because I don't want to crush his dream… no. I want him to realize just how big a problem he can cause by running head first into a problem.”

“You're training him?” Vinyl gasped clearly uncertain of my actions.

“No. I would have been more hooves on in this case. I am merely guiding him to where he is going and from there we shall see what happens.”

“Hm… Gurgi think bay pony cruel as teacher.” Gurgi spoke up giving me a strange stink eye which I ignored.

“I know. But I'd rather he learn it on his own merit that drill it through his thick skull. He is stubborn and like most males, sticks to his guns whenever he wants to prove himself. He'll have his chance like my own father gave me mine.”

“Your father?” Octavia pried as me to get me to elaborate a bit more.

“Yeah. Good dad… he made sure I took responsibility for my actions and made me keep on the straight and narrow. Look… I'll talk about it later. Let's focus on finding out where the witches live.”

“If you say so Gray.” Vinyl chimed in.

I didn't feel like it was appropriate time to talk of my family. I briefly did wonder if I was acting like him by going along with Taran’s plan but when I fully thought about it I wasn't. He would have had a back up plan rather than charge in foolishly. Honestly I think I was trying to figure out whether or not he could handle being a warrior of any kind.

It was clear that he wasn't the one swinging the sword. It moves of its own accord and while that made him dangerous… that skill was not translated back into Taran. Throughout the walk I noticed a little bit of his immaturity leaking out. I had also stopped him before he made a big deal about gender which thanks to a little foresight from me didn't wind up with him regretting his words. I just needed to keep an eye out for him… as I did the others. Even I did stupid things when I was younger.


“We found something!” Spitfire called out as she and Sunshower zoomed back down to meet with us.

“Whatcha find then?” Vinyl spoke up lifting her glasses off her eyes.

“It's this weird treehouse thing over the next hill. It kind of reminds me of the Golden Oaks Library… only, ya know, more decrepit.” Sunshower giggled most likely from remembering something.

“Sounds promising. Let's head there at once. I've been having a bad feeling lately.”

“You've noticed it then?” Spitfire whispered in my ear. I did my best to keep calm from the suddenness. I merely nodded my head as I urged everyone to keep walking before asking her.

“What did you find?”

“There have been these weird bird things flying around at random. There's only been two but they haven't flown close enough for me to see. They're also flying at much higher altitudes than we were. I'd go up there and smack them out of the sky but that might cause too much trouble and we have two non combat members too many.” Spitfire groused.

Both Gurgi and Fflam were capable of keeping the group distracted but neither could fight. Gurgi especially was cowardly but I never said a word of it to is face. When Taran was about to I shut him up. It did not good to complain about another when the situation required multiple eyes and ears.

I looked up looking for the birds Spitfire mentioned barely seeing the glint of one that she mentioned. Even with my eyesight being on par with a pegasus… I couldn't see what kind of bird it was. And as quickly as they appeared they immediately changed course flying off for parts unknown. I would have ignored it if this was Equestria or even Nibel. Unfortunately with the abundance of heartless on this world made that notion nonexistent.

“Tell the girls to keep an eye out. We're not safe here. We were never safe on this world.”

Spitfire nodded flying off for the rest while I really took a good look at our surroundings. The swamps were murky and a low fog had rolled in behind us. Dusk looked to be coming and we were barely reaching the witches home.

They were the wild cards in all this. We had no idea how they would react or even act when we came barging in. Still there was no time like the present.


Creeper held on for dear life as the Gwythaints flapped back for the fortress. Ever since the master has returned Horned King had become emboldened to his own ideas. He had forced him onto one these wretched beasts all to spy on those weird pastel colored freaks. They would lead them to the Black Cauldron.

He just wished he could have more air. The height at which he needed to fly had nearly made him dizzy every single time and he was certain that they didn't care enough to catch him if he had fallen. The forces he had mustered were ready to catch them since the heartless were still being unruly towards the human soldiers they had.

He needed to get the men ready for a sign. The witches were extreme with their methods and the heartless would be unable to remain still… except for the newest one his master had managed to summon. He knew what needed to be done since the majority of the group followed the bat winged one. His crooked smile shone amongst the twilit skies only to grimace as the gwythaints dove towards the encampment.


It was one of the largest trees in the area that they had found. It also was built atop a large mound of dirt and for some reason it made my skin crawl. Something dark was coming from the tree and I could smell it somewhere under the ground. I ignored it for the most part due to needing to see the witches but it was prevalent no matter how hard I tried to ignore it.

“So which of us will enter this… abysmal domicile?” Fflam asked as he eyes the tree warily.

Vinyl, Fresh, and Spitfire all raised their hooves. I was going obviously as were Taran and Eilonwy. Octavia, Sunshower and Redheart declined with a simple shake of their head. Gurgi and Fflam actually played rock, paper, scissors and since Fflam lost he was forced to go.

“Huh… that was easier than I thought it would be.”

“What did you expect to happen Gray?” Fresh Coat asked me as I turned to her.

“An argument followed by some back and forth until the person who didn't want to go was tricked into going.”

“Hm… we could still do that if it makes you feel better?” Fresh Coat offered though she was uncertain about how things would actually go if it was forced rather than fluid.

“Nah… moment’s passed and it wouldn't feel the same.”

Fresh shrugged to Spitfire who merely rolled her eyes and brushed it off with a light hearted chuckle. The small laugh got everyone a bit more pumped to head into the monster’s den. At least from an Equestrian perspective this would look like a monster’s den. My little ploy seemed to calm everyone’s nerves though how well it did was varied since anxiety was still on our human companions’ faces. I stepped forward bravely sacrificing myself to whatever awaited at the door.

Taran joined me seemingly taking from my demeanor what it could mean to be a knight. I would have been more akin to a hedge knight… though I certainly wasn't poor thanks to my adventures already. Though I couldn't overwhelmingly use much of those riches due to how suspicious it would have appeared to be.

Breaking from my flowing thoughts I threw open the door of the home and jumped in… to absolutely no one within the home. Taran followed suit nearly tripping over me when I stopped. The tripping didn't stop with just him as everyone who followed tripped into me as well though they didn't land on me since I had kept my legs locked. I was still standing though everyone was squished together behind me.

“Warn me next time you stop…” Taran muttered as he pushed back against the crown slipping out of the pile up… albeit barely.

While everyone grumbled about the pile up I started to look around for any sign of the witches. The dusty furniture and crooked bottle that lines the pantry gave off the feeling that the tree had been either abandoned or made to look like no one had lived there.

“Jeez… who leaves boxes of frogs laying around like this.” Vinyl called out as she lifted a box using her magic while keeping whatever was inside still inside.

“Maybe they like to keep pets?” Fresh offered though the amount inside that were barely able to move was unconvincing.

“Think they're food instead?” Spitfire posited since a lot of them looked overfed.

“Blugh… savages. Who would eat frog? Even then only their legs are edible.” Fflam mentioned before bumping into one of the boxes accidentally releasing several dozens of frogs. “Oomph… oh bother.”

“Well so much for stealth then.” Eilonwy sighed as she stayed looking for cover. I whistled into my wing causing my herd to do the same.

It took some coaxing as Taran was still ready for a fight. I needed to break that somehow without doing something drastic. Still I got him into cover as a loud cackling broke the silence outside.

‘Octavia… can you hear me?’

‘Ah of course… why is it working now? No matter. Gray three beings are soaring from a large procession of dark clouds. It's them. We're going to hide before we get spotted.’ Octavia mentally sent to me before the line went down. Some force or magic was making it hard for our telepathic links to actually work and it needed to stop.

I jumped up to the ceiling hiding within the shadows as three figures strode in through the blasted open door in a haze of smoke. Two skinny crones and a larger built female all with varying lengths of red hair. The tallest had the most pronounced nose and seemed to be leading the other two. The smallest kept their face hidden by a cloak while their large pointed nose stuck out. The largest seemed to be the most calm though mischievousness still painted her eyes.

“Ah… someone has been messing with our dinner!” The hunched over one scowled out looking around for any sign of intruder.

“And here he is!” The large female chuckled as she pulled Fflam out of his hiding spot… which wasn't a really good spot in the first place. “And my… so handsome as well.”

“Madam I implore you not to handle me in such a way.” Fflam muttered as he was buried within her cleavage more than once. He at the very least seemed unperturbed at the position he was in.

“A thief deserves to be punished.” The shortest growled out and waved their hand turning Fflam into a frog.

“Hey! Stop that. That cutie is mine!” The largest zapped Fflam again turning him back to normal and gripping him. “He's mine!”

“Stop getting twitterpated you dang fool!” The shortest yelled back turning him back into a frog. The fight continued until Taran was dragged into it bringing his sword out to stand in front of Fflam. I jumped down as well ready to reflect their spells with my own as Vinyl, Fresh, Spitfire and Eilonwy behind us startling the witches… if only for a moment.

“Ah there are our guests. I was wondering when they would get here. That sword… hm I see you've come from far and wide.” The tallest mentioned. “Ah where are my manners I am Orddu.” She pointed to the large woman. “This is Orwen and the other is Orgoch.”

“Charmed.” Orwen immediately grabbed onto Fflam holding onto him in a loving embrace.

“So… how did you know?”

“Come now. We're magic. Of course we can tell when things are happening in the world. And we know you are in the market for a Cauldron.” Orddu mentioned offhand as she started summoning up random cauldrons.

“No we’re here for the Black Cauldron.” Taran let out to my chagrin.

There had been many a rumor in the department, especially in the DEA, about dealers setting their price based on what you said. It was a ‘you demand it, we supply it… for a price’ kind of deal. Now they had all the power to dictate what they wanted and how to pay for it.

“Ah that old thing. What could you possibly want with that thing. You can't even use it for anything.” Orddu waved them off attempting to foist off other sundries and knick knacks that they had around them. “Now come choose something useful my boy. After all only a fool would go after that dreadful thing.”

“That is all we want. Please madam just grant us this request.” Fflam spoke up even though he was desperately trying to get out of Orwen’s embrace.

“Unfortunately, there's nothing any of you possess that could compare to the price of the cauldron. A bargain must be struck. Although… a unicorn would fetch a worthy price.” Orddu leered at Vinyl while I instinctively placed myself in front of her. Already I was ready to pull out my keyblade but stayed my wing. As useful as it would be, others would suggest to barter with it. I was lucky that everypony didn't summon their keyblades at mention of haggling with Vinyl.

“How about a sword?” Taran immediately stepped up diverting the witch’s attention to himself. He held out the longsword which had saved his life and assisted in our escape which did catch Orddu’s eye.

“Ah the first sword… if that is your offering then I shall gladly accept.” Orddu smirked as her sisters used their magic causing the very tree to fall apart leaving us around the mound it was buried at.

The sword disappeared into the clouds alongside the witches as power ripped through the landscape leaving us around a large black cauldron that had sprouted from where the tree once stood. The others immediately ran to us as we wondered what we could possibly do to it.

“Taran, were you certain of giving up the sword?” Eilonwy vocalized what a few of us were thinking.

“She was looking at the others way too closely for our own good.” Taran quickly mentioned doing his best to not look disappointed. Still… I was proud that he placed another before his dream.

“Now how do we take care of this…?”

“Ha! The fools think that they can destroy the cauldron!” Orddu laughed from out of nowhere until her astral image appeared in the sky. “Nothing can destroy that thing. It was made with only one way to disrupt its power. A being must willingly throw themselves into the cauldron but once they do their soul shall never be released!”

And with those words the witches retreated elsewhere, cackling the entire way as we were left with a useless cauldron and a dilemma of what to do with it. The utter realization that we had to protect it dawned upon a few of us. At the same time I found this perfect.

As much as keeping the cauldron out of the Horned King’s clutches was important, it didn't actually deal with him. Even without it, he now had access to the heartless and if Pete had helped him… that meant Maleficent was pulling the strings. My memories of her plans had her travel world to world to find allies wherever they could be. With Disney villains being the brunt of her forces I was more worried about what other threats she could find. It was a big multiverse and as the Forest of Nibel proved even game worlds were possible. My memories of those weren't as clear as the kingdom hearts lore I held in my brain.

For the moment we all huddled together around a fire Spitfire created. We had to come up with a plan.


“We should take it off world. Give it over to Yen Sid.”

It had taken us until the sun started to set to come to an agreement. The other options were to toss the thing into the ocean or a volcano so no one could ever touch it but there would always be a chance that someone stupid would use magic to get it back.

“Yen Sid did seem powerful enough to deal with this.” Redheart mentioned. “But first we would need to get it onto the ship.”

“That thing looks heavy. I mean we could probably carry it but with the heartless roaming we would be takin chances.” Vinyl chimed in while Fresh Coat nodded in agreement. I assumed she was thinking of using their magic to carry it.

“I should have kept my sword.” Taran muttered under his breath. I patted him on the back. I wasn't mad about the decision since it got us closer to what we needed to do, fight the Horned King.

“All we need to do from then to now is keep it safe. We will deal with the Horned King as he comes. The Black Cauldron will not be his.”

Affirming nods and accompanied chatter all filled the small campsite. It wasn't the most joyous position and melancholy about our decisions was still ambiently there.

“Gah! Gotta report to that blasted fool of a king.” Doli called out and before we could stop him he disappeared with a little flash of light.

“Guess we should - “

My ears swiveled around and my nose started to burn. Something was coming through the swamp water. The darkness was heavy creating what I almost confused for a miasma of swamp gas but there was no mistaking that it was darkness.

A large scorpion like heartless with crab claws and a snake tail swarmed into the camp grabbing me in its right claw and dragging me into the water. I barely summoned my armor as the cries of my herd and our companions broke the silence as the armies of the heartless tired through the swamp. It was clear.

They knew where we were and they were after one thing, the Black Cauldron.

Author's Note:

Took a while but I finished. Two more chapter of this arc as we are done. Woo!

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