Cycle: fix validation image discovery + strict ordinal parity + pytest stability

[iahncajigas]

Commit SHA: 3d97151

Summary:

1. uniqueness/image-discovery plumbing fixed (no unique_images=0 failures)
2. strict ordinal parity now passes (SSIM failures 0; figure count/order unchanged)
3. pytest -q green (test import precedence fixed)

Evidence:

• pytest -q: pass
• check_helpfile_ordinal_image_parity.py: pass (0 failures)
• check_validation_visuals.py: pass