Starlight stood and watched the proceedings, a memory silently replaying in her head. She was with Maple, Amber and Willow, Valey and Shinespark and Gerardo, some mercenaries from Ironridge and maybe some others, examining the villa they had been granted upon Kero's disappearance. Surrounded by Skyfreeze's golden walls, they looted his old home, stumbling on a safe and large amounts of moon glass. There had also been a bag, with a single piece and a will... Starlight shuddered as she remembered the will, full of important and untrustworthy language that put Maple deeply on edge. She had suggested they all go down to the crystal palace, and everyone who stayed behind had dealt with the problem. She didn't recall anything about Puddles' name... but then again, she had pushed the incident as far from mind as possible.
"Kiddo? Hey, kiddo, wake up!" Puddles growled. "I'm asking if you want to know more about Stanza!"
"Huh?" Starlight perked her ears. "Stanza? Maybe?"
Diego frowned. "Stanza? That's a name that surfaces from time to time on Izvaldi documents. Best we can tell, it's someone related to Chauncey who's contracted by Gyre to build and run a penitentiary there for Garsheeva's heretics."
"Royal business," Wallace muttered. "In my days, the condemned were kept in Garsheeva's own cathedral fortress prior to execution. But advances in transportation technology made it recently possible to hold them off-site, so in response to citizen concerns about that many villains in the Empire's capitol, Meltdown decreed such a site be built. It was one of her first acts upon appearing in her position. The contract was awarded to a joint venture between Izvaldi and Gyre, and that's as far as we've stuck our beaks and noses into it. You likely know my feelings on Garsheeva's heretics."
"Funny coincidence, that's where I was for the last two months..." Puddles said. "It's where Starlight was taken, too."
"It's not a nice place." Starlight swallowed. "It's definitely not ran by good ponies."
"Can confirm." Valey nodded. "It's evil. That place itself is pure evil."
Wallace looked concerned, but Puddles didn't give him time to talk. "Hello, on a timer here?" She raised an eyebrow. "Think fast, kiddo: where have you seen pipes like the ones in those tunnels before?"
Starlight raked through her memories, thinking... and her eyes widened. "Your room. The place in Izvaldi with the lift. All the walls were made of pipes just like those..."
Valey blinked, then nodded. "And they were pretty flimsy, too. But bananas, you're right..."
Puddles grinned. "Odds are, that lift's still broken. If you want to learn something very interesting?" She tilted her head, neck bouncing slightly like she wasn't entirely in control of her muscles. "Sounds like Valey's already going down there to look for a certain scientist. Maybe you've got a reason to go too, now, hmm?"
"And what's your reason for giving me a reason?" Starlight countered with an eyebrow of her own. "Why do you want all of us to go beneath Izvaldi? What are we supposed to find?"
"You too, parent squad." Puddles shrugged at Wallace, Morena and Diego. "I've told you before about all the nasty experiments Chauncey's scientists do to me down there. This is your chance to see what's really up! What I want?" Her eyes narrowed. "Weren't you listening? I'm switching sides. Getting in good with the good guys one last time while I still can, and the best way I can do that is by putting your enemies in a bad place. Telling you how to look for all of their secrets."
Maple frowned. "Our enemies, or yours? And why are you losing control, anyway? I know you're not lying, because you could run if you thought you had a chance at self-preservation."
"Oh, this?" Puddles looked down at herself. "Turns out eating a whole windigo heart has some pretty serious side effects on a windigo in a pony body. Who would have thought?" She shrugged again. "Turns out all it takes is a little bit of my own material, and I start... slipping. Almost like you batponies and moon glass, only I have a lot more control over where and how I go. I've had complete control over this body for a long time, now, really. I could probably even grow her a third eye if I really, really tried."
Morena grimaced. "...Please don't."
Puddles winced. "Hey! I'll have you know I treated your daughter's body perfectly well! Look, come on, look at me." She beckoned Morena closer. "Sure, she may be a little scrawny around the ribs, but do you think you could have done better getting stabbed and having your limbs torn off and being injected over and over with weird substances? The only thing I've gotten to eat this whole shebang was a single wedding cake, and that wasn't very pleasant coming back up..." She looked briefly green.
Cautiously, Morena examined her, Wallace nodding sagely. "You're beginning to trust her, I see. She could easily retaliate from that position."
"Shut up," Morena hissed. "This is m-my daughter, and she..." She ran her thick, scarred hooves through Puddles' coat, checking for abrasions or lacerations or anything else wrong.
"Nothing," Puddles said quietly. "I can guarantee you a mortal going through what I did would be dead many times over. And look who kept her body alive?"
Morena looked up, grimacing, tears in the corners of her eyes. "What are you playing at?"
"Trying to show you I'm sorry without saying I'm sorry, or... Ugh!" Puddles yanked on her mane in frustration. "Being a good guy is so sappy, sometimes! Look, I am wrath incarnate. A creature made from disharmonic magic! Rampaging and enforcing some arbitrary prick's careless wishes is my destiny! It's the short end of the stick, the shameful side of the kiddie pool, and I've always wanted nothing more than to say screw my race and screw the pain and punishment for not following the directive and do what I want! How was I supposed to take a body that doesn't feel physical pain from ponies being nice and kissy to each other and not want to get a taste of what every harmonic lifeform in the world gets to live with by birthright!? Slinging insults and starting fights may be in my nature, but I refuse to be constrained by that! I refuse!"
"Bananas," Valey whispered, staring at Puddles with shaking eyes. "I... really wish we had seen each other for more than just that day or two in Goldoa. I really think I could have learned a thing or two from you..."
Maple looked at her hooves, glowing faintly with pink radiance. "And now you're dying. Whether I finish you or not... and we have everything we need to put the real Puddles back together."
Puddles glanced at her. "Who said anything about dying? I'm just... slipping away. Of course, you've seen enough to guess what will happen from there."
Morena sighed. "And you expect all that to change anything? All the suffering and heartache you caused us merely by existing?"
"Creature of chaos." Puddles shrugged. "It took me a while to get things adjusted. And when you think about it, what would hurt you more? If your daughter got sacked and replaced by a beast you could one day banish? Or if the new her tried to make friends with you, and then one day you'd have to choose between getting her back and keeping-"
Her voice cut out like a broken recording, her muscles briefly growing limp. Morena silently watched, less than a hoofstep from her, then finally moved her mouth. "Then what are you after, telling me now?"
"Heh. Just want to part on good terms." Puddles' voice returned. "It wouldn't hurt to hear I did well, either. I did keep her body safe, after all. Tracked down that singer, too, when she vanished. Spilling the beans on how to follow up on some unfinished business. And I was telling you where to get the real Puddles' soul, too, before Miss Heroism here beat me to it."
"To hear you did well?" Morena shook for a moment, then wrapped her in a deep, deep hug. "I hate you so much," she whispered. "I want to see my daughter again. But letting someone redeem themselves before it's too late... Well, it's what Wallace did for me. If this is a trap, I'll never forgive you. But fine. It is impressive. I'm proud of you. Is that what it will take, making your passing easier?"
"Heehee... Silly pony eyes..." Puddles spoke with her mouth again, her voice once more back to that of a normal pony. "They're only supposed to leak when you get hurt..."
Wallace watched with something approaching awe. "This same creature that once tried to destroy our team with everything it had... Yet, some force of optimism tells me this is real."
"Bananas...!" Valey grabbed her the moment she was released, squeezing Puddles from behind in another hug. "Here's your hug, you flirty bum. I knew we had stuff in common! I was holding out in Goldoa, and didn't ditch you and fly away earlier because I wanted there to be hope for you! Because you reminded me of myself, or something... You don't even have to wonder about what you are or where you came from. You know it was pointless and bad, and... nnngh!"
"Ahhh," Puddles sighed, going limp in Valey's embrace. "Love you too, cute Valey. Heehee... See you sooner than you think..."
Her cutie mark faded completely, then was gone.
The room held a moment of silence, and then Morena stepped forward. "Is she...?"
"Look." Valey held a hoof out, stopping her.
For a few breaths, Puddles exhaled steam, like she was warm on a frosty day. She regained tension in Valey's grasp and fluttered her eyes, two pupils slowly growing in the centers of her irises until her eyes once more resembled a normal pony. And then she sat there, directionless and with nothing to do.
Maple hesitantly stepped over, reaching out a hoof and laying it on Puddles. "Let me try..." She concentrated, using her cutie mark to pour a little harmonic energy into the mare, the same way she had shocked her in the holding room a long time ago and later restored Starlight to color.
Puddles blinked and purred, getting up and crawling toward Maple, closing her eyes and nuzzling up against her like a tame animal, rubbing Maple happily with her chin.
"Survival instincts. Base emotions." Valey watched her hollowly, like she was seeing a different place and a different time. "Bodies don't stop functioning without a soul... at least, not batpony ones. You could probably feed her and she'd eat. But... Amber?"
No one stopped Amber from walking forward, the moon glass from Kero's house outstretched before her. "Here, Puddles... Does this belong to you?"
Puddles blinked at it with listless eyes, then craned her neck and stepped forward. First she sniffed it, then nosed it... then took it in her mouth and sat there, staring blankly ahead.
"And now?" Maple folded her ears. "How long does it usually-?"
Puddles was already glowing. The moon glass in her mouth seemed to crack with color, a tiny streak of tan reaching up from within its monochromatic depths. Puddles' empty body seemed unable to react, an invisible force lifting her beneath the shoulders until she was reared up and then dangling slightly off the ground... and all the while, the light from the moon glass built, resonating with a few streaks shining from her bare yellow flank.
"This is quite flashier than obsidian's usual process," Wallace commented, barely daring to speak.
The light intensified, then burst... and in a shower of fading sparkles, the moon glass hit the ground, followed shortly and more gently by Puddles. Her flank was now adorned with a coiled rope and three pitons, and she clutched her head, looking woozy. "Owww... What happened...?"
"Puddles...!" Morena's breath caught in her throat. "Puddles, are you back!?"
Puddles sat up, rubbing her forehead. "Momma? This isn't our ship. And Puddles feels funny. Need a nap..."
"Puddles!" Morena gently tackled her, wrapping the restored mare in a new embrace, covering her and stroking her mane, weeping openly. "Puddles... Puddles, I missed you..."
"Guess the real her talks like that, too," Valey whispered, bumping Maple and Amber. "Come on, girls. I think this is a scene that could use some privacy."
They made it to the library before Diego caught up with them, waving them down. "Hey! You four!"
Maple looked quizzically at him. "You don't have somewhere important to be?" She pointed back down the hallway.
Diego shrugged. "I've always been more the cool uncle type to Puddles. Wallace and Morena are her real parents. I'll catch up at the after-party. Had some news for you, anyway, about the tournament."
"For me?" Valey frowned. "What's up?"
Diego nodded. "Remember the rules about using Golden Regents? Challengers who enter with them have to spend them before the end of the third round or are automatically disqualified, and you can either spare an opponent who would otherwise be knocked out of the tournament and allow them to keep fighting, or banish a defeated foe in the second round and ensure they don't come back, even if they entered through pools?"
Valey gulped. "Yeah. Did something happen with that fight with Grandpapa? I still have mine. He can't use one on me, or something, can he? Since it was a tie?"
"Pools entrants can use Regents, yes." Diego nodded. "And there's no limit to how many anyone can use, provided they have them. But no, none were spent there. We just wanted to tell you the opponent you were scheduled to fight next has met with an unfortunate fate, and had someone decide to remove them from play."
Amber brightened, nudging Valey. "So what's that mean? Does Valey get a free round for her opponent not showing up?"
Diego cleared his throat. "No, she's merely been rescheduled. Tomorrow, so you'll have time still to rest up. Also, your new opponent is Morena."
"...Seriously?" Valey's ears fell. "I have to fight two of you guys back to back?"
"Well, the odds were for it, to be honest," Diego sighed. "We're some of the best competition the tournament has to offer, and round two is gated by those at the top. The good news for you is, pass this fight, and you're through for sure. Into the third round. And with all of us getting what we wished for here and now..." He glanced back down the hallway. "Well, Morena may have certain feelings after this about just who she wants to win. Our wish has just been granted, after all, and by none other than you lot."
"So... she might..." Valey blinked, eyes widening.
"Give you a free round? Hardly." Diego chuckled. "Morena likes a challenge. But I think she'll let you win, if you give it your all and show her what you can do at your best. Good luck, Valey. We've found what we were fighting for in the tournament, and now we hope you will, too."
Valey grinned. "And all you want now is a good fight? Sure, I can give you that. Tell Morena I'll see her in the ring."
"I shall deliver your message," Diego replied, bowing and turning away. "...Thank you again," he added. "We shall forever be in your debt."
"Heh." Valey chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck. "Well, we'll try to do you proud."