Stable 108 was not known as a tourist spot in the Equestrian Wasteland.

The fact its entrance had been thoroughly glassed by a Balefire strike - one of thousands to strike the Equestrian mainland - was just one reason nobody went there. Other factors were its remote location, far to the northeast of Canterlot, and general lack of knowledge about where Stables were for safety concerns.

However, such deterrents meant nothing to some creatures, and a familiar sound echoed through its corridors, atriums, and rooms filled with pods of various shapes and sizes, their occupants unaware of the outside world.

A blue box, slowly materialized in an empty side room, a light atop it slowly pulsing before going dark as the box landed with a dull clunk. The door opened and three ponies trotted out of the box - a feat that surely would've boggled the mind if witnessed, given the sizes of the ponies relative to the box.

"I never expected to be back here," one of them said, ears flat against his head. His coat was a dull brownish-gray, and a pair of spectacular white eyebrows graced his face, a small matching beard jutting from his chin. Red eyes, one slightly larger than the other, gazed around the decrepit Stable and his lip curled as his horn lit up, casting a yellow glow around the area. "You always take us to the nicest places, Turner."

A pink alicorn gave him a nudge with a hind hoof, clicking her tongue disapprovingly. "Don't blame her, we agreed to this a long time ago, remember?"

"So you keep reminding me," the stallion said.

The last member of the trio, a pegasus mare who was dwarfed by her companions, glanced at them with an amused smile on her muzzle before she went over to the door and opened it. Poking her head out, she looked both ways. "I don't suppose either of you remember if Bon Bon had said whether or not the Party clones were out and about before we woke up?"

Cadence frowned, wracking her brain. Discord did the same, and the two shook their heads in unison.

"She did mention some were dead when she woke up though," Discord said, his battle saddle already humming in anticipation, chaos-imbued weapons purring warmly.

"Settle down there, bucko," Cadence said. "Something tells me we'd have known if someone had discharged unstable energy. Besides, wasn't your entire shtick that you couldn't sense any chaos energy in the Stable, only a dim feeling?"

Discord nodded slowly, cycling over to ballistic ammo. "Fair enough," he said. "Now, Turner, you said we had to make it to the lockers at the Cutie Mark Vault to make the stable time loop?"

"How else would you explain the Pip-Bucks we found?" Time Turner asked, stepping down the hall. She looked at the computer clamped to her foreleg and sighed. "It's gonna be weird saying goodbye to this after all we've been through. But without it, I don't think we'd have made it out of the Stable."

"I'm sure you could have made the one in a hundred shot straight into a raging alicorn's eye without SATS," Discord said dryly, looking through the windows they passed. "Oh hey, there's my pod!"

"No," Cadence said as he moved towards the door. Discord stuck his tongue out at her and pouted, continuing on, passing through several rooms, tracing an invisible path back to the start of their adventure.

"Weren't these doors locked when we went through here?" Cadence asked as Time Turner opened a door leading to a stairwell.

"They were," Discord confirmed. "I guess we can lock them on our way back. Although I have to ask why we didn't materialize directly in the vault room."

Time Turner shrugged, flicking her wings. "Sexy's never been one to make things easy. She's stubborn like that. Or maybe she wanted us to take the scenic route."

"As good an explanation as any, I suppose," Discord said, rolling his eyes.

Before long, they found themselves in front of the vault door, and Time Turner opened it. The room before them was eerily familiar, with a massive wall of Cutie Marks against the far wall, bathing everything within in a soft blue light. The tank holding the clone of the Stable Overmare hummed in the background and Discord glared at it.

"Imagine if we blew her sky high right now," he said wistfully. "Save ourselves the trouble later."

"Imagine if doing so caused the Stable to wake up prematurely and the paradoxes started wiping out the timeline," Time Turner said grimly.

Discord grimaced and turned his attention to a row of lockers against a wall. Cutie Marks were etched on some of them, some holding belongings put there before the war for the Stable inhabitants to use, others empty, others holding various supplies and junk.

Time Turner opened the one with an hourglass on it, and glanced at her Pip-Buck, making sure all the files were properly organized, encrypted, and everything like it was the day she first picked it up, so long ago. She removed it and placed it on one of the shelves within the locker. Something on the floor of the locker caught her attention and her jaw dropped.

"Clever, clever, clever," she chuckled, scooping up her precious Sonic Screwdriver. "No wonder I could never find you."

"When did you leave that?" Cadence asked, closing her locker, foreleg bare of her Pip-Buck.

"I don't know, so I suspect I do it later in my life," Time Turner mused.

"You mean you come back here a third time?!" Discord said, aghast. "Who in their right mind would do that? No, wait," he said, holding up a hoof. "Stupid question."

Cadence chuckled, shaking her head. "Well, that's that. Shall we go?"

"We have all of time and space at our hooftips," Time Turner said, as they began the trek back towards the TARDIS. "I do believe I promised you a trip somewhere not apocalyptic for our first trip?"

"Somewhere the sun is hot and the mares are hotter, preferably," Discord said, eyes gleaming.

"A beach would be nice. Wash off the grime of the wastes, relax, and yes, a warm sun would be absolutely divine," Cadence said. "A time when Twilight and Shining are alive would be perfect."

"And Fluttershy, and Celestia..." Discord said. "We'd have quite the story to tell them. I imagine Ditzy would be glad to see you as well," he added slyly, glancing at Time Turner.

"Not this body," Time Turner said. "She's more into stallions."

"You forget who you're talking to," Discord said dryly, as they entered the room where the TARDIS stood patiently.

"I do that a fair bit, don't I?" Time Turner said with a small smile, opening the door, waving the others through first. Casting one last look at Stable 108, she closed the door and the TARDIS dematerialized as the sky outside turned green from a Balefire detonation several miles away, in the old Maripony military base, sending a silent signal to a slumbering Stable...

Author's Note

Based off an old Fo:E RP back from 2015 or so.