Inheritor of Chaos - Chapter 22, City in the mountain

>The portal opens in the middle of an empty alley.
>Epona halts immediately before crashing into the nearest wall and you grab her mane- enough to not fall from the sudden stop, but not enough that it would hurt her.
>You look back and watch as the dimensional portal gets tinier second by second until it disappears from your sight.
>There was nopony around so it was a clean entrance to the new dimension. Hoo!
>"Wee! That was amazing! I want to run like that again!" Epona said excitedly, doing a little jump and a quick run even though you were still riding her.
"W-Whoa hey, at least let me get down first, hermana! (Sister!) Jeez!"
>Epona stopped her excitement for a moment and gave you a confused look.
>"Her mane? Whose mane?" She stared everywhere but didn't see anypony, she used her hoof to try and look at her mane and see if there was something odd with it. "Uhh, brother? I didn't get what you said there and... when did your voice get so funny?" Turning her head to look slightly at you she raised her eyebrow.
>You started to get down from Epona's back while carefully landing on the alley's pavement.
"¿Qué? I just said sister, just in my original language. Uh, because I... kind of feel like saying it? Caramba, I haven't felt like talking in Spanish in a while, how odd."
>Huh... somehow you feel a little off as if you lacked something.
>"There! There you go again! You just quacked! Are you becoming a duck? Is this because of the portal thingy?" Epona gasped while touching her face with her hooves as she sat on the ground. "I am gonna turn into a duck too?! I love being a pony! Noooo!"
>Okaaaay, maybe the secondary effects from the portal were silliness, because Epona was definitely being crazier than usual.
>You never thought someone would confuse the word "Que" with the sound from a duck... Eh, there is a first time for everything.
"Remind me to give you classes of Spanish later, sister." You stretch a bit and grunt, that travel was short yet you feel like you've been on Epona's back riding for weeks... "Anyway, let's get out of this creepy alley before we encounter ponies that--"
>Somehow, Epona managed to walk away from you as you were speaking... AGAIN! Just a tiny cloud of her figure was there like in some old cartoon.
"Me lleva la... ugh, not giving me a spell to detect where Epona is was a great idea, Discord! Really good!" You sigh in frustration. "Good thing I got my clones to help me search for this little rupee hunter!"
>With a smug smile, you close your eyes and focus on your chaotic magic to summon the three retards that are your special clones.
"ONE FOR ALL!"
>.
>..
>...
"Uh?"
>You looked around, even behind you and only saw your tail that... you still liked to see and wanted to chase... but not now! Focus on summoning your clones for extra help!
"What the, what? ONE FOR ALL!" You yelled at top of your lungs, but nothing happened. "Grr... ONE FOR ALL! ONE FOR ALL! TODOS PARA UNO!"
>But no matter how much you tried, it was impossible to summon your clones.
>You started breathing heavenly while sweating.
"M-Maybe I'm... just tired from the travel... yeah, that's it..." You readjust yourself and focus on the task ahead... that being looking up for Epona first, then asking questions about the crystal heart. "Right, how hard can be find a crazy brown pony in this city?"
>With newfound confidence, you walk your way out of the alley in search of your sister.

>As you come out of the dark alley, enter the streets of Canterlot city. The sun was near twilight and there were ponies going around with their own business, the streets were noisy with all the yelling and talking, and what looked to be taxis that... were actually carts being pulled by ponies.
>Uh... you never would have guessed that there were taxis in Equestria.
>It's so... interesting that this city looked so familiar to the other one that you traveled to weeks ago with Discord, the gray one that was frozen in time. Good thing this one wasn't as depressing as the other, this city was filled with colors and life.
>Remembering the other Canterlot sure made a chill run down your back.
>You gotta think like Epona to know where she went, but this place was going to be tricky as there was no bushes or vases to break at single sight.
>Maybe if you tried to teleport-sneeze to somewhere with a better view or try summoning a carrot could do the work!
>You were trying to check your Magic Pockets® around your flanks but... you couldn't feel them anywhere.
"Eh?"
>How can you sneeze without your feather now? This is fucking bullshit!
>At least you can ask if anypony saw Epona around here, that shouldn't be that hard.
"Umm, excuse me? Hello?" You tried to take the attention of various ponies that were passing through, but nopony seemed to care as they had their noses up as if they were superior at others. "I'm trying to look for my sister! Can anypony listen to me? Oi!"
>Aaaaaand nopony cared, great.
>Were ponies in here actually dicks? You don't look like some poor abandoned child, do you?
>...Actually let's not think about that, because maybe you do.
>You spot a pony near an entrance of a local wearing a golden armor and holding a spear with his right hoof, he’s probably a guard.
"Better chances are that he helps me than all of these..."
>Okay Anon, you gotta remember to act like a kid now. You are a colt and you must act like one... one that lost her sister and wants her back.
>You get close to the pony guard, he was staring ahead with a serious expression ready for anything to happen. His eyes were yellow and probably hasn't noticed that you were this close to him yet.
>After you poked his spear, he blinked and stared below at you and his expression changed from serious to a kind smile.
>"Oh, hello there little fella. You need any help?" The guard asked kindly, leaving his spear to his right side and kneeling to look straight at you.
"W-Well, I was playing with my sister and she... I... I don't know where she went..." You tried to evade eye contact from the guard and while doing circles on the floor of the street, you take a sniff and stare back at him. "Can you help me find her, Mr. Guard?"
>You yelped as you felt your body surrounded by a yellow aura around you. Looking up at the guard, his helmet was shining, meaning he was a unicorn and was levitating you on top of his back.
>"It is my duty to protect the citizens of Canterlot, it'll be my pleasure to help out anypony that requires it." The guard gave you his helmet, probably so you wouldn't cry and know everything was okay. You took a glance at his mane, which was a light orange and was a bit long. "Can you tell me where you two were playing and what your sister looks like? Anyplace that she likes to go works too."
>You nod to the guard and tell him details of Epona and where you were.
>This helmet... doesn't weigh that much. And somehow smells like aloe vera? Hmm, curious.

>"And her head couldn't go past the door because her long neck didn't let her in! And she always forgot about it! Isn't it hilarious?"
>You start giggling at the story the guard was telling you.
"She isn't really that clever if she doesn't remember how long her neck is, ha!"
>"I know, right? She is so silly!"
>You discovered various things while you were searching for Epona with this guard.
>First off, Epona is a fucking master at Hide and seek. Second, ponies around here can be 'from the elite' but others actually care for others, like this guard and others you've seen as you were with the guard. Third... is that this guard wasn't a stallion, but a mare.
>That solves why her helmet smelled like aloe vera, it's just some... conditioner probably. You are also not a genius at guessing voices too.
>Aaaaand fourth is that ponies are comfy to ride, but it gets too embarrassing even if nopony knows you around here, so you decided to walk at her side while returning her helmet.
>The name of the guard was Viper Star, she didn't tell you much about her other than the story about the time she was a prison guard and meet a giraffe that was actually more evil than she looked.
>It wasn't that funny or hilarious, but you gotta follow up since she was helping you out.
>Yes, you are the prince of chaos but you gotta find Epona first. Mischief can come later after you find your sister and have an idea of where the crystal heart is.
>It was getting late already and there was no sight of Epona, you were starting to get worried about your big sister as the moon was already up.
>...You should be the big brother just for this, ugh.
"Uh... I need to think about a place she could be... think, think..."
>Hmm...
>Then you heard a distant voice yelling at something, your ear raised and you believe that's who you were looking for.
"Wait, let's go to where that voice is coming, I think... it's her!"
>Viper Star nodded and you two trotted your way to where the yelling was coming.

>"NO! YOU!" It was obvious by now that the voice was from Epona, yelling at something with such anger. "YOU ARE! NO! NOT ME! YOU!"
>Epona was looking at a fountain while screaming at it.
>You sigh while hoof-facing yourself.
"She is doing it again... Dios... (God...)"
>"Well, that filly fills with the details you told me about your sister, but... is she okay? Did you two had a fight or something? I haven't seen a kid this angry ever since the sugar factory malfunctioned for a weekend and there was no candy to make next week." Viper Star was probably concerned at the sanity of your sister.
>You don't even reply to her, you just walk straight to Epona.
>There were ponies passing around the fountain giggling and finding adorable what Epona was doing, somehow. Others were just watching while talking to each other.
"Epona."
>"No! Not you! No! Stop copying me!" She was nearly throwing her hoof at the fountain in adorable rage.
"Epona..."
>"Just wait until I call my brother! Ha? You got a brother too? Well, me too! He is the best! Not yours! Mine!"
"EPONA POR EL AMOR DE-- (For goodness sake--)"
>As you yell to call her attention, she jumps scared enough to fall into the fountain.
>You... you didn't mean to do that.
"Sister! You okay?" You try to check on your sister, which was now doing bubbles in the fountain while staring innocently at you.
>...
"Are you--"
>Then she used both her hooves to throw you in the fountain with her as she hugged you.
>"Brother! You saved me from that horrible pony that looked like me!" She snuggled you as everypony near was seeing and saying things like 'how adorable' and what not.
>If Epona was chaotic, this would be considered adorable chaotic. You just... you just take the wet snuggles and don't complain, even if there were ponies staring and giggling at the adorable act of your favorite rupee hunter.
>Viper Star was laughing a bit, but regardless she used her magic to help you two get out of the fountain.

>"You two be careful now, okay? It's already late and your parents could be worried. If you two want, maybe I can help you get home safely?" Viper Star asked kindly to you two.
>OH SHIT! Your only father is Discord and that means you got no father in this dimension! You gotta say something now before--
>"Our father is Discord! And he isn't near here since we ran a looooooot! I ran for my brother as he was riding on my back! It was a fun adventure!" Epona said, probably without thinking and delivering a squeak at the end.
>You were sweating, you don't know what influence Discord has in this Equestria but that is worrying.
>Viper Star started to laugh though, as if it was a silly joke.
>"Okay you got me there. Discord? As in, the bad guy that is no longer bad but rather a mischievous child under Princess Celestia and Princess
Twilight's sight? Sure, kiddo! Haha!"
>Well, Discord was right when he said that the other Discords got reformed. Also who the hell is Princess Twilight? There were only two princesses in your Equestria, hmm...
"And who is this... princess Twilight? We heard of Celestia and Luna but, never of other."
>Viper Star rolled her eyes with a tiny smile as if you two were playing more jokes.
>"Right, right. Now you don't know who she is, next you two will ask me who Princess Cadence is, too."
>Jesus Christ, just how many princesses are out there!? Why is there no queen? What in the hay is going on?
>"Come on now, tell me where you live so I can escort you there!"
>Epona was just about to talk again, but you quickly put your hoof on her muzzle to hush her before she tries ruining it again.
"The truth here Miss Viper, is that... well, we don't have parents or home here in Camelo-- I mean, Canterlot." You try to speak with all the seriousness in your colt blood you had. "We never meet our mama, as for our dear father... he abandoned us! So we decided to forget about them like they did with us and move on... just run and keep running."
>Viper Star was in shock, believing the story you were just making up while holding her tears.
"And we walked all the way from Mexico to here! My sister is good at finding rupees and we managed our money until here but, she is as silly as her mother sometimes so usually she gets lost."
>"Oh, I-I never thought you two-- w-wait, didn't you said you two never meet your mother?" Viper Star was wiping out her tears.
"Ah... yes! That's what our father told us, but you know... eh... it's a hard life, but nothing will stop us from our goal to get to the Crystal Empire!"
>"And from all the places, why there? Mexicolt is really far away from Canterlot, really, really far away for two foals to make it this way..."
>Shit, she was probably getting suspicious.
>"Our parents were born in the Crystal Empire! We wanna go there and live there!" Epona comes up with the save.
>Oh and for a moment you were worried that--
>"But... you two don't look like crystal ponies at all and the Crystal Empire was under a cursed spell for over one thousand years, it hasn't been that long and you two look about ten years old, at least for me..." Viper Star was starting to get suspicious even more as you told her more lies.
>Fuck, this won't do.
"We just wanna go there, okay! That's it! We don't have family other than each other... we just wanna know about the famous Crystal Heart! We were lying but this is the truth! Okay?"
>Viper Star kneeled while placing her helmet on her right side.
>"Look, kids, lying is bad and is not encouraged unless you want to end up like somepony with a bad reputation... like that Prince Blueblood guy... ugh." Viper Star cringed a bit as she said that name, and yet you wonder how many royal ponies that you don't know are left in the list... "I could easily give you two a ride to the Crystal Empire as soon as I can, but, I need a permission from your parents or legal tutor. As for the Crystal Heart, I believe Princess Cadence is the best pony to give the details of what it does because I really don't know that much about it other than it has a shape of a heart... and it's made out of crystal."
>You just sigh until you don't have air in your lungs to sigh even more.
"Okay, we get it, at least we got a good start in our journey..." You stare at Epona. "Sis? Do you have rupees with you?"
>Epona raised her eyebrow while shaking her head at you.
>"Oh bro bro... what kind of question is that?" She suddenly raised a pocket bag full of rupees while her tail wagged with excitement and pride. "Of course I do!"
>Where the hell does she get to save her stuff while you don't have your Magic Pockets®? Is this tier Zelda of bullshit? Can she save infinite items too?
>Eh, you're not gonna question it, you just roll your eyes and giggle a bit.
"Of course you do."
>Viper Star took a look at the bag and was curious about it.
>"It is... really filled with gems... where did you find these?" Viper Star asked, surprised at Epona.
>"From the bushes madam!" Epona said, again with innocence and not a single bit of malice.
>God bless your triforce horse sister.

>While Viper Star really insisted on taking you two to your home, you couldn't think of any other lie and decided you two would get home by yourselves after staring a bit to the night sky and what not. She just bid you two farewell and said that if you two needed anything you could find her working in the center of Canterlot from morning to noon.
>That left you thinking that she used extra time from her duty to help you out, which is kind yet impressive that some ponies are like this.
>It could probably be part of her duty like a cop would do, but you appreciate the help anyway, even if you didn't do anything chaotic yet.
>Of course that at the end she asked for your name since she heard you calling out your sister's name. You were thinking for a fake name but, it is hard to think for one nickname since you don't know how ponies' names work... so, you told her your name was Anon, just Anon. Instead of taking it as an odd name she just left, as if it was a normal name.
>Speaking of chaos... you're still not feeling anything from your powers, not even the little bit of power.
>That leaves you with the final idea that, Discord left you here powerless, or maybe you need to start from zero to regain your powers.
"Man... it's gonna be tough to start again, last time it took me a whole village to gain some free powers... I wonder if I'm gonna get new ones." You say to yourself, as Epona was just staring at the sky.
>The view wasn't as good as from El Dorado, but it really was a good view undoubtedly.
>"I wish I could run up there... running from star to star!" Epona said, probably daydreaming. "Do you wish for something, brother?"
"..."
>The things you wouldn't wish for.
>You decide to not answer to Epona and just stand up from the fountain, you two haven't moved from here and is already late. There should be a hotel nearby that you two could sleep for a night, hopefully, the rupees would work as currency here.
"Okay sister, it’s time to go... it’s already late, and we need to find a place to sleep."
>"Okay!" She stands up from the fountain and stretches a bit. "Where are we sleeping?"
"Probably at some hotel... we just need a few of your rupees to pay the night and we figure out tomorrow what to do and stuff."
>Epona neighed comfortably, and was starting to hug the pocket bag filled with rupees that she had.
>"But... but my rupees! They have sentimental value! All of these have memories of all the occasions I was around with you!" She searched in the bag for a few rupees to show you. "See this blue one? I found it when Discord and you were skydiving into a glass of water! And this red one! I found it when Discord tricked you to hug the back of a Rockadile after saying those were safe but he wasn't and he almost swallowed you alive! And this--"
"OKAY! OKAY, I GET IT!" God, you didn't need any of those memories to remind you how much of a dick Discord is! The fucking skydiving was terrifying! You were inside the glass of water like it was some cartoon! It was fun, but the fact that you couldn't feel anything still irks you...
>"W-Well, I was about to say how this yellow one I found it the time we first meet and you were now my brother... I just, there are two things that make me happy... it’s not only getting rupees." Epona holds the yellow rupee with her two hooves close to her face as she closes her eyes. "Running for sure is what makes me happy, but you, brother?" She opened her eyes and stared at you kindly with a tiny smile. "You are the one that makes me the happiest in the world!"
>H-Hey... this isn't fair.
>When did this become so sentimental? You just wanted to use her rupees to get a night of sleep under a roof, not to start a feelings contest...
"O-okay I, uhmm, I just..." You cough to your hoof and try to hold a whimper. "We'll find any method to get money without using your rupees if that's what you want."
>Epona shakes her head and saves all the rupees she was showing you in her pocket bag.
>"If you want to use them, use them! You are my brother and, I think Dad Discord would call me silly for thinking like this."
>You are so not using her rupees now.
>Still, that left you with a question.
"Sister, I got a question for ya."
>"Yeah?"
"I don't know why or how you find rupees this fast, but, do you save them as a collection or to remember good days? Is that it?"
>"..." Epona stared with a smile at her pocket bag of rupees. "I have blurry memories of rupees before I was your sister, all I remember is how much I liked to run-- I still do! But, there was someone at my side that... reminds me of you somehow."
>Yeah that's Link most likely. You must look too alike like him, after all, your coat is green and your clones had the hats too, you wouldn't be surprised if she remembers something at this point.
>You really hope she doesn't.
"Okay... let's search for a taxi and go to a hotel, we'll use a few of your rupees if they work here but, eh... don't use the yellow one, okay sister?"
>Her eyes shine for a moment and Epona goes in for a tiny hug.
>"Thank yoooooou!"
>Gosh, you are in for a life of hugs and chaos.
>"Hey brother!" Epona said.
"Hmm? What is it sis?"
>"What's a taxi?"
>Right...