//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15: Chocolate Tornado 
// Story: The Inane Adventures of Hazelnut Latte 
// by Porcelain Mug 
//------------------------------//

Cocoa Jinx was three months away from her twelfth birthday and she hadn't gotten her Cutie Mark yet. This wasn't weird for Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, who were both turning eleven. Who knew that they had the same birthday? It was crazy, Rainbow Dash noted. Sweetie Belle's birthday was less than a month away. They still had time. Cocoa Jinx, if such a thing were possible, was even sicker of being blank-flanked than the other three were. She knew that one of Cocoa Jinx's older sisters hadn't gotten her Cutie Mark until she was almost thirteen, which was considered quite late when you consider that eleven was the typical age when a pony got their Cutie Mark. Regardless, they were still there to have fun at a birthday party. "Did you remember your gift for Apple Bloom?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yep." Scootaloo replied, patting the bulge in the saddle bag on the table.

"Did you remember your epi pen?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I don't think I'm going to have to worry about nuts at Apple Bloom's birthday party." Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Applejack knows about my allergy."

"Better safe than sorry, right?" Rainbow dash frowned. "I can't believe I just said that. I sound like my dad!"

Scootaloo snorted in amusement. "Hey, Grandpa Cirrus is a cool guy, aside from the frequent dad jokes."

Rainbow Dash raised a brow. "Grandpa Cirrus?"

"He asked me to call him that." Scootaloo said with a shrug.

Rainbow Dash made a mental note to have a talk with her father later. She hadn't yet adopted the filly and that was kind of getting a head of oneself. Of course, Cirrus Dash had always wanted grandchildren and Rainbow Dash was an only child. Scoots wasn't going to call her 'mom' anytime soon. Why would she call Cirrus 'Grandpa'? "Right." Rainbow Dash said. "Anyway, you should proably head off now. I still have a few errands to run before I show up."

"What kind of errands?" Scootaloo asked as she and her foster mother headed to the door.

"The 'none of your beeswax' kind." Rainbow Dash said with a grin. "Now, don't do anything that I wouldn't do." She paused. "Scratch that. Don't do anything I would do. Scratch that, too. If you do something that I would do, make sure to wear your helmet."

"Fiiiine!" Scootaloo groaned.

"Off to the party with you!" Rainbow Dash said with a smile. "I'll see you later. Bye, kiddo!"

"Bye, Mom!" Scootaloo replied automatically.

As soon as that three-letter word had been said, both ponies froze. It sounded like that three-letter word sort of just slipped out and she said it without thinking. Their eyes locked for a split second before Scootaloo turned away, quickly put her helmet on, jumped on her scooter, and sped away in a buzzing, orange blur. Once Rainbow Dash was alone, she blurted, "What the hay just happened?"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Scootaloo quickly arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, thanks to her speed on her scooter. As she sped through the orchards, she spotted something. Discord was in one of the trees, clearly moping. A cloud above him was raining chocolate milk down on him. Even Scootaloo could tell that his body language clearly said, leave me alone. She stopped when she heard hoofsteps. She looked to see a rather smug-looking earth pony stallion approaching. "Pretty Boy." Discord said with a scowl.

"Discord." Pretty Boy drawled.

The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. Scootaloo definitely wanted to get out of there. She quickly took off on her scooter once more. When she arrived at the farmhouse, the pegasus filly leaned her scooter against the side of the house before heading in. She saw Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Cocoa Jinx waiting for her. "Girls!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Happy birthday, Scootaloo!" Apple Bloom said happily.

"Happy Birthday, Apple Bloom." Scootaloo said with a grin.

Applejack trotted into the room and smiled at the fillies. "Ah'll be settin' the games up if y'all can wait a few more minutes."

"Games!" the Crusaders called out. "Yay!"

Applejack chuckled and headed off to set up the games. Scootaloo turned to Cocoa Jinx and asked, "Can you do magic well yet?"

"Not really." Cocoa Jinx said. "I can try. I'll show you."

The green-coated filly closed her eyes and concentrated. Her horn began to glow a verdant hue, energy building in the air before finally dissipating. Cocoa Jinx opened her eyes. "Anything?" she asked.

The other three fillies shook her head. It was then that the wind began to pick up. It was blowing harder and the three fillies began to grow nervous. Applejack headed into the room and said. "Ah'm gonna need help boardin' up the windows. Ah've seen this happen before. I reckon there's gonna be one heck of a storm."

The four fillies nodded. There was a scramble to board up the windows as the wind roared louder and louder. The doors and windows were boarded up when there was the sound of rain beating hard against the house. "It's a hurricane!" Sweetie Belle cried.

"Sweetie Bell, it ain't a hurricane." Applejack groaned. "We ain't close enough to the ocean."

The wind roared louder and Applejack had to peek through a crack in the boards. Her eyes widened. In a calm voice, the mare said, "Girls, get down to the basement."

"Applejack?" Apple Bloom questioned.

"Now!" Applejack ordered.

The four fillies hurried down to the basement, followed shortly afterwards by Applejack. The earth pony mare quickly latched the door shut from the inside before heading down the stairs. "Applejack, what's going on?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Is it a hurricane?" Scootaloo asked.

"It's not a hurricane." Cocoa Jinx said. "Like she said, we're not close enough to the ocean."

There was a brief silence before Apple Bloom said, "It's a tornado, ain't it?"

Applejack nodded and said, "Yeah. Just stay here an' we should be safe."

There was a loud racket above them, a horrible noise. The door to the basement rattled loudly as the latch struggled to hold it. Then there was a flash of light as Discord appeared in the basement, thoroughly drenched with what was obviously chocolate milk. He seemed rather annoyed and everypony noticed that he had an unconscious Pretty Boy tucked under his arm. Unceremoniously, the draconequus dropped the earth pony stallion to the floor. He let out a groan but quickly returned to unconsciousness. "He'll be fine." Discord said dismissively.

Applejack glared at the draconequus and said, "Ah shoulda known that this was yer work."

"Moi?" Discord said, clearly affronted. "I, dear Applejack, just caused some rain over in the orchard. This storm is not my doing."

"That's a bunch of hooey!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "It was you an' yer chaos magic!"

"Chaos?" Discord chortled. "Why little filly, there's only one power greater than the forces of chaos and order and that is luck. What you're hearing is not chaos magic but rather a chocolate rain storm sent horribly out of control with a tremendous amount of bad luck."

"There had to have been somethin'." Applejack said stubbornly. "It ain't like somepony used magic just before this happened and caused it."

Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom suddenly looked at Cocoa Jinx. "What are you looking at me for?" the green-coated filly asked.

"You might have caused this." Sweetie Belle suggested.

"Sweetie Belle, everypony knows that Cocoa Jinx can't cast spells." Applejack said with a frown.

"She did use magic seconds before the storm started." Scootaloo supplied.

Discord conjured a magnifying glass out of nowhere and used it to examine Cocoa Jinx. "Yep." he said. "Definitely luck magic."

"Can't ya just stop the storm, Discord?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Sadly, the forces of luck are outside my purview." Discord said airily. "It looks like little Broken Mirror here should try to stop it."

"Cocoa Jinx." Cocoa Jinx corrected.

"Details." Discord said, waving his claw dismissively.

The other three ponies looked at Cocoa Jinx. "What do ya say, Cocoa Jinx?" Applejack asked, "Do ya think ya can stop it?"

Cocoa Jinx nodded and said, "I'll try."

The little unicorn filly closed her eyes and began to concentrate. "Good luck," she whispered, "please cause good luck. Maybe if I can cause bad luck, I can also cause good luck."

Her horn glowed, then flashed. The wind still roared. "Nothing happened." Cocoa Jinx moaned.

Suddenly, there was a loud, horrible noise. The door rattled loudly but some mysterious force was keeping it from flying off the hinges. A short while later, the sound of the wind stopped. The ponies and draconequus were quiet before there was a loud thud on the door and everypony suddenly screamed. The relief was palpable when Rainbow Dash's voice called out, "Is anypony in there?"

Applejack hurried over to the door, unlatched it, and opened it. "Me an' the girls are all here." the earth pony mare said. "Discord an' Pretty Boy, too."

"Oh." Rainbow Dash deadpanned. "Pretty Boy. How wonderful, he survived the storm."

"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack scolded.

Applejack then looked out beyond Rainbow Dash to see that the entire house was gone, having been completely ripped up with only some pipes protruding up from the floor. The blonde mare's eyes widened in horror. She heard four gasps behind her as the fillies saw what had happened. "The house!" Apple Bloom cried. "It's... gone!"

"Good thing Granny Smith was in Canterlot gettin' cigars." Applejack said, feeling somewhat relieved. "Did anyplace else get hit?"

"Just your house and about a fifth of your orchard." Rainbow Dash replied. "I'm just glad that you all are alright."

Applejack nodded. One fifth of the orchard. It could be worse, but there was a lot of damage. They also had no house. However, they were still alive. Suddenly, the door fell clean off its hinges, which were too abused to hold it any longer. Cocoa Jinx sighed softly and said, "I'm sorry, that I couldn't save your house, Applejack."

Applejack looked at the hinges to the door and saw the damage. "By all rights, this door shouldn't've held." the orange mare said. "The door shoulda broken off in the storm."

"Yeah." Rainbow Dash said. "Whatever happened, you ponies must have had some amazing luck."

Applejack turned to smile at Cocoa Jinx. "So I really can do it." she said with a smile. "Good luck and bad luck."

Scootaloo then let out a loud, dramatic gasp. "What is it?!" Rainbow Dash cried.

"It's Cocoa Jinx!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

The other Crusaders spotted it immediately. "What is it?" Cocoa Jinx asked. 

In an almost reverent tone, Sweetie Belle said, "Cocoa Jinx, you have your Cutie Mark!"

Cocoa Jinx looked back to see that on her flank was indeed a Cutie Mark. It was a coin with a spring-like design diagonally beneath it. "What is it?" she asked.

"I think it's a flipping coin." Rainbow Dash said.

"Yes, we all know that it's a coin." Applejack said crossly. "Just what the hay is that curlicue thingie?"

"No, I mean that it's a coin being flipped." Rainbow Dash elaborated. 

"Oh." Cocoa Jinx said with a smile. "I have my Cutie Mark!"

"This calls for a celebration!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Cutie Mark Finding Day/Birthday Party! YAY!"

"Where are we going to have the party?" Scootaloo asked. "Applejack doesn't have a house."

"I think Pinkie Pie still has the cake." Rainbow Dash suggested. "Maybe we'll find someplace else to party."

A few hours later, the ponies in question were at Pinkie Pie's place. The pink earth pony in question was jumping around and singing about trout, of all things. Finally, she stopped. "I'm sorry that I don't have anything for your birthdays/Cutie Mark finding day." Pinkie apologized.

"We don't need gifts." Apple Bloom said. "We're all alive an' that's enough."

Rainbow Dash squirmed awkwardly and said, "My present to Apple Bloom was at Sweet Apple Acres. I just have Scoots' present."

"What did you get her?" Apple Bloom asked excitedly. "What did you get her?"

Rainbow Dash wordlessly handed a few papers to the pegasus filly, who quickly skimmed over them before launching herself at the cyan mare with a squeal. "Oh, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo cried before breaking into tears.

"Scoots, what's wrong?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Is this not okay?"

"Of course it's okay!" Scootaloo cried. "This is the best birthday ever!"

The other ponies present looked down at the papers. Discord smirked and said, "Saw it coming."

The other females in the room let out excited squeals, except for Applejack, who wiped a small tear from her eye. This would go down in history as the best birthday Scootaloo would probably ever have. Lying on the floor where Scootaloo had dropped them were the papers finalizing her adoption.