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Fanfic / A Storm of Chaos: A Doctor Whooves Adventure

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The 10th Doctor jumping into space... wearing a silly scarf.

A Storm of Chaos by Shotoman is a Doctor Who and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic crossover, which takes a different route from the typical Doctor-turned-to-pony setup used by most other authors and stories. In this case, the Doctor comes from the planet Gallopfrey, is the last of the Time Chargers, and the primitive world he's had his long-standing fascination with is Equestria. That said, while the backstory is a bit different than most versions of the crossover, most of the main pillars of Doctor Whooves fannon are still in place. It's still a pony version of the Tenth Doctor, and his companion is still Derpy Hooves, and they still go on typical adventures through time and space, but the Doctor comes at it with a different perspective than found in, say, Doctor Whooves and Assistant.

The story starts at a point between seasons 2 and 3 of Friendship is Magic. Discord's statue has disappeared, and Princess Celestia calls upon the Doctor to get to the bottom of it, due to certain evidence that it's something for him to take care of rather than the local heroes. While he and Derpy investigate, the Doctor's preoccupation worsens as he comes across some familiar Gallopfreyan technology and even more hidden dangers. The more and more they dig, the more disturbing these revelations become. They should, however, be fine, so long as they beware... the drums!

Time Keeps Wibbling On is the (still incomplete) sequel story.

There's also Of Princesses and Time Chargers, a short collection of one shots set in the same universe, detailing past encounters Celestia and Luna have had with various regenerations of the Doctor. And also If It Can Be Remembered, a quick one shot that has this Doctor meet the canon Doctor's 11th incarnation, Time Crash style.

A (so far) final story in this continuity is Universes Apart, which takes place a couple of months after the Season 4 battle against Lord Tirek, and brings the Doctor and Derpy into the universe of Equestria Girls.


This story contains examples of:

  • Attack of the Political Ad: The Master, much like his live-action version goes into politics with a campaign against Celestia. He has posters and stuff. Of course, it's not like he actually wants to rule the place, he's just trying to cause as much chaos as he can to fuel his plans.
  • Action Girl: Derpy Hooves is as actiony as companions come.
  • Allergic to Routine: The Doctor has actually made a little home for himself in Ponyville — all the better to accommodate Derpy and her day-to-day life — but begins the story chomping at the bit to go out and "do something interesting."
  • Alternate Continuity: As stated, this Doctor isn't the canon one made pony, he's the Ponyverse's native version of the character. This story itself is — in part at least — the ponyverse version of The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords. Though there's also elements from The Five Doctors and The End of Time.
    • The sequel picks up — at least from the Eleventh Doctor's perspective — after the events of A Town Called Mercy, with the events of The Power of Three ocurring simultaneously. The story itself is a combination of The Snowmen and The Day of the Doctor, with elements of The Five Doctors once again cropping up.
  • Always Save the Girl: Exploited Trope. The Big Bad knows the Doctor will put his companion's safety first, and therefore abducts her to get a hold over him.
  • And I Must Scream:
    • Death isn't enough to silence the drums the Master suffers from.
    • Discord's stone prison counts for one as well, and he inflicts on Borusa too.
  • Badass Boast: It is the Doctor after all. He presents a few of them.
    The Doctor: (How I'm going to beat you) is a good question. A very astute, very apt question. I'm just a simple little earth pony after all. No flight, no magic. Just my wits and my screwdriver. I could answer by bringing up all the genocidal madcreatures, power mad conspirators, and, yes, even gods of chaos I've faced and beaten. I could bring up how the most dangerous races in the universe have given me such flattering titles as 'the Oncoming Storm' and 'Destroyer of Worlds.'... I could tell you all that, but it all comes down to one thing: I'm the Doctor.
  • Badass in Distress: It doesn't last terribly long, and she doesn't exactly take it lying down, but, well, Derpy is a companion of the Doctor... also, himself once or twice, and Discord. Yes, really.
  • Badass Longcoat: Unsurprisingly, a brown trenchcoat, which the Doctor specifically wears for adventuring. He needs his pockets, after all.
  • Battle in the Center of the Mind: The final battle against Discord.
  • BBC Quarry: The Doctor actually says "Oh look, rocks," and complains about the rather high percentage of his adventures taking him into caverns and such.
  • Been There, Shaped History: The Doctor does love to namedrop.
    • He makes particular reference to historical inaccuracies in the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant. It leads to a Worldbuilding Noodle Incident or two when he mentions non canon things like the Second Great Griffon War and Captain Greymane the Brutal.
    • It's more prevalent in the Of Princesses and Time Chargers short stories, where the Doctor is there to help with the fallout from Celestia's battle with Nightmare Moon in one chapter, and was present for the first Sonic Rainboom in another.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: The Doctor, definitely, but Princess Celestia and Derpy also fall under this. The former being quick to the draw to jump to the front lines of a war.
  • Big Bad: While the Master is initially presented as the main villain, he's just an Unwitting Pawn of Borusa, who's still obsessed with obtaining immortality.
    • True Final Boss: Discord breaks free of the containment cell Borusa was holding him in, turns him to stone, and then confronts the Doctor.
  • Bigger on the Inside: The TARDIS, of course; most everything the Doctor owns, come to that.
  • Body Horror: About half of Borusa's body is stone, leftover from when he was imprisoned in this universe's version of The Five Doctors.
  • Camp: The Master, of course.
  • The Chessmaster: The Big Bad fancies himself one, very strongly. Complete with a nifty board that has figurines of our heroes on it as pawns.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: Discord, on the outwitted Big Bad, before turning him (back) into stone. Using a Herr Doktor accent, just for kicks.
  • Composite Character: Derpy has elements of all the David Tennant era companions. She shares Rose Tyler's history with the Doctor and overall perkiness, Donna Noble's "best friend going on adventures" relationship, and some of the snark, and, when neccessary, Martha Jones's practicality. And, like Clara, she's a "part-time" companion. (This last one was actually a happy accident, as the story was started quite some time before Clara came around.)
  • Continuity Cavalcade: Chapter 26 is one to Doctor Who, both old and new, slightly ponified.
  • Continuity Nod: References to Doctor Who and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic are made frequently, which occasionally form the basis for our heroes' strategies. Derpy explains to Dawn Riser that when she encountered the TARDIS interior for the first time, she remarked that it was "Smaller on the outside!"
  • Cow Tools: Discord channels The Joker a bit in chapter 26. It's... chilling. In a more lighthearted note, the TARDIS control console is going through one of it's "carnival attraction gone mad" phases and has such "features" as a Whack-a-Mole.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass / Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Probably the best way to describe Derpy. She is, in fact, the same character who once dropped a piano on Twilight Sparkle's head, and who later destroyed the town hall, not knowing what went wrong, but she's really Graceful In Her Element, that element being going on Timey-Wimey adventures with the Doctor. More than once, in this story alone her "childlike enthusiasm and ocular disorder" causes somepony to underestimate her. She proves them all wrong.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: The Master learns the hard way that after you mind-control somepony, they tend to be pissed. Also, the final confrontation between the villains is pretty one-sided.
  • Darker and Edgier: This story was written as a "Season Finale" type Doctor Who story, with all the death, peril, and violence that implies, which makes this rather dark for a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic story.
  • Defiant Captive:
  • Did Not Do the Bloody Research: Intentionally evoked. This is a story about the Doctor and what essentially amounts to and American companion. He's got a bit of a foul mouth here, but it's all the usual suspects of this trope. The Running Gag is, of course, that Derpy's done the research and gives him a well deserved Dope Slap every time he does it.
  • Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: The Doctor mocks the Big Bad, lectures him and outright tells him to do his worst. And Derpy tackles him. Three times.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: The Master is presented as the Big Bad, initially, but he's actually an Unwitting Pawn of Borusa.
  • Ditzy Genius: Actually, both of them are eccentric and frightfully smart, which we had expected from the Doctor, but Derpy is wiser.
  • Don't Say Such Stupid Things!: Whenever the Doctor gets into one of his "Last of the Time Chargers" moods and either talks about how alone he is, or how un-heroic he is, this is basically Derpy's response.
  • Dope Slap: Derpy, to the Doctor, often. Especially when he cusses.
    Derpy: I know when you're cursing in alien, Doctor.
  • Doppelgänger: Quite how did the Master get a swarm of changelings to use, we never learn. But they Kill and Replace a number of ponies.
  • Dramatic Irony: Of the comedic sort - we are informed that Dawn Riser, the very serious-minded fifth most powerful unicorn ever, is the ancestor of the Great and Powerful Trixie!
  • Evil Is Not a Toy: Borusa steals Discord's statue and "frees" him, in order to siphon his magic to make himself an alicorn. When Discord gets free, he's quick to take his revenge by petrifying Borusa.
  • Evil Versus Oblivion: The Master wants to Put Them All Out of My Misery by abusing time until it just gives up, while the actual Big Bad just wants his civilisation back. Oh, and to live forever.
  • Expy: Given the way the Doctor Who elements were incorporated into this fic, a lot of characters straddle the line between this and Alternate Self. Wordsmith, for example, whose history with the Doctor and personality make it clear she's meant to be the ponyverse Sarah Jane.
  • Fisher King: Every planet in this universe has a magical field, affected by the emotions of the inhabitants — when they live in harmony, the place gets pleasant, and when hate spreads, it can theoretically even destroy the planet.
  • Foreshadowing: The Old Hoof. His cutie mark is a broken fob watch. If you've seen the New Who, don't look at the spoiler, cause it'll spoil half the story for you, seriously. There are quite a lot of hints, both subtle and less so, as to the identity of the true Big Bad before the reveal.
  • Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Derpy towards the Doctor in Chapter 10.
    Derpy: Well, you were starting to freak out, and it kinda scared me.
  • A God Am I: Borusa turns himself into an alicorn at the climax, only to get laughed off by the Doctor, who points out that Time Chargers as a species have very little magic, so even in his transformed state, Borusa is nowhere near as powerful as he thinks.
  • How Much More Can He Take?: The fight scene between our intrepid hero and his old frenemy, to keep the latter occupied while Derpy is taking care of the plot elsewhere.
    The Doctor: I was a very effective bloody pulp I'll have you know!
  • I Have No Idea What I'm Doing: Weaponized and name checked by Derpy because of course.
  • Immortality Seeker: The Big Bad. He just won't acknowledge it's impossible.
  • It's All My Fault: Defied Trope, as Derpy tries to kick herself over freeing you-know-who, but the Doctor is having none of this.
    The Doctor: You listen to me, Derpina Meringue Hooves. (...) You did not do this. Okay? Listen to me—listen! None of this was your fault. It was a watch. There's no way you could have known, alright? (...) You did none of this. It was all him. Understand?
  • Lighter and Softer: In the end, thus is still a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic story, so the Time Charger Doctor is in a much better place here than the Time Lord Doctor's been in since, at least, Doctor Who's revival in 2005, to the point that he's gone at least a little domestic and became a Ponyville resident.
  • Messy Hair: The Doctor's repeatedly described as further messing up his already messy mane.
  • Mind Manipulation: The usual M.O of the Master, utilised here as well. Strong enough to override the survival instincts of at least some.
  • Mind Rape: By the Doctor, on somepony very obstructive, for some information. He does get a skillful What the Hell, Hero? from his companion for that. Later on, he breaks into the villain's mind, mostly for a chat.
  • The Missus and the Ex: Same as School Reunion, but without the initial hostility. When Wordsmith arrives to kick start the plot, it's clear the Doctor thinks things are heading to a fight when Derpy shows up. Derpy, however, finds it incredibly undeniably awesome that she gets to meet someone else with similar experiences and her exuberance makes Wordsmith like her pretty well immediately almost in spite of herself.
  • Motor Mouth: Because it just isn't the Doctor if he doesn't ramble, think out loud, rattle his deductions out really, really fast and so on.
    Derpy: I think he's finally getting to the important part.
  • The Nicknamer: Apparently, Sole Survivor.
  • Not Hyperbole: Protip, when the Doctor incorporates The Power of Friendship in one of his Badass Boasts, especially in a world like that of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, you'd probably better run, as he's speaking very literally and has had has made a lot of friends over the centuries.
  • Oh, Crap!: The Doctor has this once Derpy explains about the Gallopfreyan symbols written on Old Hoof's fobwatch.
  • One-Winged Angel: Borusa during the climax, where he regenerates into an alicorn.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Sort of flipped on its back
    The Master: The only being in the entire universe from whom I would ever accept defeat is the Doctor.
  • Post-Victory Collapse: Although the Doctor swears he'll just take a short nap.
  • The Power of Friendship: It's magic, after all. Quite literally.
  • Put Them All Out of My Misery: The Master, the misery being those drums. And he would have succeeded, if it wasn't for the Greater-Scope Villain exasperatingly pulling a Deus ex Machina Villainous Rescue.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivered by the True Final Boss to the wannabe.
    True Final Boss: And let me tell you, nothing ticks me off quite like a coward. Except perhaps a hypocrite. And you, my friend, are both.
  • Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: That is, with being eaten. And replaced.
    Blueblood: You... You're Insane!
    The Master: Yes. Yes I am. Thanks for noticing.
  • Running Gag: The Doctor curses, Derpy responds appropriately. Like any good Running Gag, it gets reversed near the end, where Derpy exclaims "Horseapples!" and the Doctor playfully admonishes her language.
  • Screams Like a Little Girl: The Master (of all ponies...) lets out a "sudden embarrassingly high shriek", though it's nothing to be ashamed of when faced with some Daleks completely out of the blue. The Big Bad does this too, upon getting the taste of his own medicine.
  • Seen It All: This is why the Doctor takes companions. He has, they haven't. Even Derpy, who's rather experienced as a companion at this point, still sees the wonder he just doesn't.
    • To a lesser degree, at one point when the TARDIS materializes in the middle of Canterlot Castle, the older guards basically just roll their eyes at the sight.
  • Shout-Out: So its a battle of wits then!
  • Sequel Hook: The 11th Doctor, with a ponified Amy and Rory Pond crash into the Doctor's shop, to his delight.
  • Taken for Granite: Name-checked. Done to both Discord and Big Bad.
  • Taking the Bullet: The Master, for the Doctor, and it's an alicorn horn, not a bullet. Anyway, an emotional Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Tranquil Fury: Again, it is the Doctor, and more specifically, it's the Tenth Doctor. Leads to some of the Curbstomping mentioned above.
    The Doctor: And you're right. I am angry. Livid, even. Funny thing about anger. Sometimes it can blind you, cause you to make mistakes. Other times? It makes everything very, very clear.
  • Villainous Rescue: Borusa steps in to foil the Master's attempt to free Discord centuries early — thus creating a paradox that would destroy the universe — because that would destroy him too.
  • Where's the Fun in That?: Before all the craziness begins, the Doctor is repairing a clock. He determines that to get exactly the right wood for the replacement wood paneling he'd need to go to a planet called Raxxus XII. Or, you know, he could go to Manehattan to get supplies from the original clock maker, but where would be the fun in that?
  • World of Pun: As per any My Little Pony work. Not even the Doctor Who elements are safe, what with such names as Gallopfrey and Rasstallion.

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