Puddles wasn't moving when Maple led Wallace, Morena and Diego to the ship cabin where they had left her. Wallace had to squeeze his shoulders to fit through the door, settling for remaining in the hallway when it was clear any further would damage the ship. But Morena and Diego were instantly at her sides.
"No restraints!?" Morena bristled, staring instead at the blankets that were used to tuck Puddles' unconscious body in. "She could-!"
"I don't think she can," Starlight interrupted, walking under Wallace to enter behind them. "She wasn't looking good when I found her. I think she's hurt badly, or weakened somehow."
"Right on the money," Puddles said, her metallic windigo voice speaking without the aid of her body. "And if it isn't you three. Long time no antagonize, Morena. Thought you were going to keep a closer eye on me after all that pirate business. Don't want any ethically dubious scientists doing things to your precious daughter's body, now..."
Morena trembled in place, looking like she wanted to both punch and hug Puddles. "Where did you run off to?" she growled. "One moment we were talking with Gazelle about what would become of you, and the next he..."
"Shoveled me into a place less secure than he wants you to think he thinks it is," Puddles growled. "Brain hurt at all? He kicked me into the heretic penitentiary in Gyre for safekeeping. Right back into the hooves of Chauncey. But you and him are besties, so surely he told you all about where he was keeping me, right?"
Wallace cleared his throat. "This is the first we've heard. Starlight?" He looked to the filly. "Did you truly travel to Gyre to recover her?"
Starlight shrugged. "I was teleported. And I found her by accident."
Morena sighed. "You didn't even wake up before you were taken away. As much as I hate you, it's my daughter you're holding hostage, and this time..."
"This time you'll what? Invite me to a party so I can pit you all against each other for laughs?" Puddles' voice faded momentarily, then returned. "Nahhh. I've grown out of that. Switched teams. Had my fun. Got a few bridges to patch up..."
"Repairing bridges, are you?" Wallace frowned. "It sounds like a dubious trap."
"Or like my back's against the wall?" Puddles chuckled. "Come off it. I know what's coming. See the glowing one over there? Ironflanks, some like to call her? Have her take a wild guess what happens if she touches me and discharges all that energy right now. Go on. You'll probably get it first try."
Maple took a sharp breath. "That time under Izvaldi, when I used the last spark I had been holding since Ironridge... You really were hurt by that, weren't you?" She swallowed, looking down at herself. "And now I've got more. I could... remove you..."
Morena's eyes widened, and she was instantly grasping Maple's shoulders, nearly crushing her with brute strength. "Is this true?!"
"Spare yourself the effort," Puddles droned. "It's even easier than you think. Why don't you pull back this blanket and take a look? Butt brand, the thing you ponies are so proud of getting."
Diego lit his horn and granted her wish. On Puddles' flanks, her icy windigo cutie mark was plain to see... or not see. It was faint and faded, almost to the degree White Chocolate's had been, and the adventurers' eyes widened in surprise.
"This... looks quite like..." Wallace fumbled for words.
"See that?" Puddles sounded smug. "She's not catatonic because her body's messed up... though I did put it through the wringer a few times. Subsisting on disharmonic regeneration magic instead of food and exercise for years and recovering improperly from a battle can take its toll, not to mention everything Chauncey's goons did in Izvaldi, but it's nothing some good eating and self-care won't fix. Nah, she's like this because I'm losing my grip. My power's waning, there's nobody at the helm. If you ever wanted to know whether your kid was still in here? Just me. She's been gone since before the beginning. And I know I've yanked your chain on this a hundred different directions before, but that's the honest and final truth."
"Good eating?" Starlight scoffed. "You mean like eating a whole windigo heart? I heard about that..."
Morena's eyes wavered, wide open. "I don't believe you," she hissed.
"Relax!" Puddles urged. "I told you, it's curtains for me either way. I could hang on a while longer, or you could ask Ironflanks to finish me now... or I could just let go and slide away, and leave you with an empty shell. Excuse me for liking my taste of the good life. So do you want me to tell you how to actually get her back, or what?"
"You've gotten my hopes up this way a thousand times before." Morena winced, looking away. "I... can't put myself through this again. No. I don't want to hear it."
Puddles' body slowly animated, like a marionette with its strings activating one at a time. She slid down from the bed, cutie mark almost growing visibly fainter at the action, and opened her pupilless eyes. "That's too bad. Really trying to go out on a good note, here..." She turned to Wallace and Diego, then Maple and Starlight. "Anyone else? Any takers? I'm being serious, here. Who wants to fix Puddles?"
Wallace bowed his head. "I will listen."
"The real Puddles' soul is attached to her brand, and that's stuck in a piece of moon glass somewhere," Puddles began, starting without ceremony. "You'll need to find that. Once you do, should be just as easy as letting this body hold it for a while. It takes some powerful stuff to sever a brand from a pony, and even stronger to sever a soul, but they're pretty good at coming back together."
Everyone held their breath, listening, so Puddles continued. "The pony who swapped her out and me in is a scumbag called Navarre. He used to be in the eastern Yakyakistan region where you first got me. But remember how you brought me around the empire, looking for someone who would help, and Chauncey bit? He took an expedition out there to look for clues, and supposedly brought back nothing? Lies. He found him, captured him and brought him back, and now has him slaving away in the tunnels beneath the hospital on research projects." Her eyes narrowed. "Research conducted on yours truly. Really feels wonderful, having the guy you turn to for help submit me to science under the one who gave you me in the first place, doesn't it?"
Morena watched Puddles with a steely expression. "It sounds like we have a situation to investigate. But we won't be taking any action until then."
"Navarre is in Izvaldi?" Maple's pupils shrank. "But he's the one who..." She swallowed. "I need to tell Valey."
Wallace lifted a leg to allow her an easy way out, but Maple almost immediately stopped, nearly running into Amber as she tried to round the corner. "Amber!"
"Hi, Maple." Amber gave her a quick shoulder squeeze, then ducked into the room herself. "Do what you need to. I'm just listening."
As the mares traded places, Wallace cleared his throat. "You're firing quite the volume of accusations at our benefactor," he declared. "Trying to pit allies against each other is an act you've been sorely guilty of in the past, beast."
Puddles shrugged. "Sounds like your problem to me. What I know is, he had the obsidian with the real Puddles inside back when this began. Maybe he still has it. Maybe Chauncey took it from him. Who knows? But it's your lead to follow."
"As a matter of fact..." Amber stepped forward, smiling a restrained smile. "That won't be necessary."
Wallace, Morena and Diego all stared at her. Puddles blinked. "What's that you say?"
"Bananas, I'm here!" Valey stumbled into the room, still looking floppy from her ordeal. "Who said what about Navarre being in Izvaldi?"
"Oh, hey, Valey." Amber waved to her. "I was just about to remind everyone about a little something from Ironridge. Remember this?"
She held up a tiny, velvet drawstring bag, slightly smaller than her hoof. Valey blinked very, very slowly, Maple entering again behind her. "Puddles," Valey whispered.
"Puddles." Amber nodded, opening the bag and dropping a single chunk of moon glass into her hoof. Carefully manipulating the bag, she turned it inside-out, revealing the word written sloppily on the inside. "We were all there when we found it, but the words? Only you and Gerardo knew, and me because I saw it when you were showing me later. But after you were calling me and told me about her, and when I realized neither of you remembered..." She grinned. "Also, Gerardo really needs to learn to hide important things better. But here it is. Puddles' cutie mark."
Diego snatched the bag from her in his telekinesis, reading over it with a critical eye. He passed it to Morena, who frowned. "Where did you get this?"
Valey blinked at Amber, then stepped forward. "In, uhhh... In a safe in Kero's private villa in Ironridge. Mercenary leader griffon dude. And bananas, he's an Izvalden, isn't he?"
Wallace frowned down at Puddles. "It seems there are developments that support your case."
"...Huh." Puddles regarded the artifact. "That's it. I can feel it pulling on this body from here. Looks like it's almost time for curtains."
Maple flickered slightly with harmonic energy, but she hesitated. "What's making you lose your grip, anyway? Why are you just accepting this as a lost cause?"
Puddles grinned, her voice momentarily fading again. "Oh, there's plenty I could say on a lot of things... Let's see how far I get before someone gets tired of my last words."