Hours later, after Gerardo had awoken and relieved Shinespark of her piloting shift, Valey and Shinespark stepped into the pantry where Nyala waited, patiently shining a light against one wall. The chain that had held her once-empty body now shackled a long-maned stallion, posture slumped. He cringed as Valey entered.
"Start by explaining who this is," Shinespark requested. "Should I have seen him before?"
Valey blinked. "Uhh, yeah? This is Navarre. I told you about my past in Icereach, right? We ran into him in Izvaldi, where he was working for Chauncey?"
Shinespark shook her head. "I don't think I was there."
"Oh boy. Let's see..." Valey rubbed her head. "So, long story, just to make sure I leave nothing out. Last I saw him six years ago, he transferred himself into Nyala's body, which is why she's stuck in moon glass now, and ran off and left me with her glass. Somehow Chauncey found him, got him working for him, and then when we got down there to go bust stuff up or whatever, Chauncey was like 'Wait, you want this guy's body?' and zapped him with Stanza, which removed his cutie mark and gave us Nyala's body. I'm sure I told you that. And now he's here because... uhh..." She reddened slightly, glancing away in embarrassment.
Navarre folded his ears in fear. Shinespark slowly nodded.
Valey took a deep breath. "I kinda maybe had Felicity checking out Crystal since she nobody had made sure she was okay after we got blown up in Izvaldi, and she was all 'Hey, this mare has multiple cutie marks,' and I was kinda impulsive and wondered if touching her with Nyala's body would do anything, and figured if it was bad we could just moon glass her empty again... and guess who showed up."
Shinespark watched Navarre with a slightly open mouth. "That was probably impulsive, yes," she agreed. "So now what? If he's evil, do we seal him in moon glass again?"
"Well, we could." Valey slowly nodded. "Most of our glass is filled, but we are carrying around that piece Puddles' cutie mark was stuck in. Would be kind of fitting to stick him in there when he was the one who put her in it in the first place. I guess I could go get that? Like, nobody here wants to deal with him, right?"
Navarre bowed his head.
"Sister, wait," Nyala asked, sitting on a barrel with her light keeping Navarre captive. "He might not have his memories from before he took my body, but he does remember the work he did for Chauncey. I've been talking to him while we were flying, and he was trying to help me get my body back."
"Wait, really?" Valey blinked and tilted her head, glancing at Navarre. "What's all this about?"
Navarre cringed. "He's very afraid of you," Nyala quietly added. "But he's not the same pony you once knew."
"Okay, buddy." Valey sat down, not advancing any closer but keeping her eyes on Navarre. "You have my curiosity. She says you wanna help us?"
"If you are going to dispatch me, please make it merciful," Navarre whispered. "I have heard of my wrongs against you. But if you grant me a lease on life, I will serve you and try to right my wrongs against you and your sister."
Valey raised an eyebrow at Shinespark. "Any opinions?"
Shinespark stared him in the eye. "We're not interested in torture or drawn-out revenge. What are you afraid of, and what are you offering? We aren't short on resources, but we're very tired of being betrayed."
"Luna's Artifice." Navarre raised a hoof, pointing it at Valey. "In my past life, I located and awakened her from obsidian, and my own awakening in this body found me at the mercy of her wrathful hooves. I lived for six years without understanding of why or what I had done to her, until we met again in Izvaldi, seconds before my undoing. Less than a day ago, to me..." His ears fell. "I knew nothing of the significance of the body I inhabit, nor why you had reawakened me now, until Nyala explained. The Artifice is a wrathful result of my past life's hubris, and-"
"Okay, real quick?" Valey butted in with a frown. "Stop calling me that. My name is Valey. I know who my cutie mark came from, and I am still a pony in spite of it. You're gonna get a lot fewer wrathful results if you treat me like one. And stop talking about me like I'm not here, too."
Navarre cringed, nodded and continued. "Chauncey discovered me after I gained this body and confined me to Izvaldi in hopes that I could recreate my past work in brand transference. To this day, none remain who know the procedure that was used to pull you from the obsidian and place you in a body, Valey, nor does anyone know how we determined that your obsidian held an Artifice, or even whether we were looking for such a creation. Were that procedure to be rediscovered, you could sacrifice me and restore your sister to her body instantly. It is a fate I would happily meet with, knowing that some of my sins could be undone."
Valey rubbed the back of her neck. "Bananas, the old Navarre was nowhere near this wimpy. Better than cackling mad, I guess. Sparky, any thoughts?"
Shinespark slowly frowned. "You want us to let you experiment for the sake of helping Nyala. Would these experiments involve the same things you were doing in Izvaldi? Using mothers to transfer obsidian brands to foals, or Puddles and Stanza?"
Navarre bowed his head. "Everything would be by your leave. Will it, and I will test no more, staying in chains and giving freely what I have already learned, in hopes that you could build on the acts I committed to learn it and obtain knowledge worth obtaining. Puddles and Stanza I can no longer work with, and while transference using mothers is a proven step in the right direction, it was not likely involved in my creation of Valey."
"Staying locked up and just telling us what you know already?" Valey nodded in interest. "You know, I think I've learned enough stuff I didn't want to know about what I am already to be cool with that. Probably not a lot worse you can tell me. Maybe we could play it by ear later, but Sparky?"
Shinespark hummed in thought. "You might not have had ethical considerations for what you did under Chauncey, but we do. I wouldn't be opposed to hearing knowledge you already have acquired. You have my word that we will act in good faith and not bring you undue discomfort or harm, provided you do the same and don't attempt to sabotage us or escape and notwithstanding any decision we make to seal you in obsidian."
Navarre bowed. "You are merciful. I will enlighten you as best as I am able."
"...Uh huh." Valey bit her lip. "Yeah, we'll do that. Nyala, are you okay in here watching him a while longer? I wanna maybe get someone set up on shifts for guarding him, until we can verify for sure he's trustworthy..."
"Don't worry," Nyala assured. "I've been talking with him a lot already. I won't get bored!"
Valey glanced back one more time, then strolled into the kitchen with Shinespark. "So," she said once the door was closed. "You think he's a fraud?"
"I can't say," Shinespark answered, leaning thoughtfully against a counter. "It is true that they somehow put you together from an empty batpony body and a piece of moon glass. However that works, he did figure it out. My concerns are more about his intentions than whether the problem he's working on is possible."
"Yeah, but here's the thing." Valey met her eyes. "Suppose he's selfless and really does care about atoning and is somehow a nice guy. That means he'd be legitimately trying to help. Suppose he's a selfish pig who just wants to save his own skin. Helping us is a way for him to get us to delay soul-sucking him, so he'd also want to try to help. The only way he's going to bite us in the back is if he somehow wants to screw us over enough to be willing to die for it. Now, there's a few things that don't line up with his story. Specifically, I'd love to know how and why he stuffed a windigo in Puddles prior to meeting Chauncey. But... eh, maybe I'm getting played again, but he didn't scream evil martyr to me, you know? Wasn't getting any danger, either. He wasn't even thinking about fighting me."
"Well, that's good to know." Shinespark nodded, glancing at the door to the dining hall. "Either way, I think he'll wait a day or two. Let's have that group discussion about Felicity and her sisters first, and then see what things look like for our next course of action before worrying too much about him. We're heading for Grandbell now, and I don't know how long we'll want to stay there."
Valey stretched. "Well, Gazelle's sister seems friendly enough. She's just a kid, but she's, like, actually nice. Feels bad that we had to beat up her brother, not bad that we beat him up in the first place. I dunno how much control she has there, but she could make a nice host."
"You think?" Shinespark's ears perked slightly. "I need to meet her myself. While we're discussing this, is there anything else we need to do?"
Valey rubbed an ear. "Eh... I should probably check on Ironflanks and Starlight. See how they're doing. Maple especially. I bet she just hid under a pillow the whole night long, and can't blame her. This night must have been really rough for her..."
"It wouldn't hurt to check on the entire crew," Shinespark agreed. "Having Senescey and Lord Gyre die here could have been shocking to anyone. I'm still shaken from it myself, but I'm used to coping with things like this. Shall we see who's awake and see if we can't get started?"
"Yeah... Nyaah." Valey stretched hard and yawned, wincing from her wounds. "It's gotta be at least midday. Let's go see who's about."