An alarm was triggered as soon as the molecular relay was used by non-Institute personnel, so they had to hurry before synths were sent up there to deal with them before more teleported in. While Twilight and her friends had a moment to reunite before the mission started, more people came through the molecular relay: Desdemona, Preston Garvey, Deacon, Sturges, Tinker Tom and Glory. They were soon followed by more Minutemen, Railroad agents, Strong wearing pieces of super mutant armor and Eve the deathclaw wearing a makeshift armor made out of scrap metal and road signs.

“There’s no time to lose.” Nora said. “The PA system’s microphone is in my s… in the director’s quarters, as well as the terminal containing the evacuation protocol. We will likely meet heavy resistance along the way. The plan is to go through that old maintenance tunnel,” she pointed at the door Z1-14 had just opened “it will take us straight to the heart of the Institute. I don’t know what we’ll find in there, but expect anything. Remember, we’re not running an execution squad here; only fire at those who fire at us – most likely Gen 1’s, Gen 2’s and Coursers – most of the people down there are civilians.”

Applejack cracked her knuckles and her neck. Rainbow Dash popped a fresh fusion cell in her automatic laser rifle. Fluttershy climbed on the back of her deathclaw friend and patted her neck. Pinkie Pie reached into her hair and pulled out two bottles of Nuka-Cherry. Rarity checked her .44 pistol to make sure it was fully loaded. Sunset Shimmer did a quick check on her sniper rifle, as well as the many pulse grenades she was carrying on a belt – a gift from Deacon. Twilight stayed behind with Sturges and Tinker Tom to work on the teleporter.

“Alright people, move out!”

General Nora was the first to go through the door leading to the abandoned tunnels – they were dirty and in poor shape due to lack of maintenance, the polar opposite of the rest of the Institute. It was an abandoned area of the complex, but parts of it were still active, such as the ceiling and wall mounted turrets and old robots. Many synths were sent to stop them, but with Fluttershy’s deathclaw charging ahead while the others covered her, their enemies were all quickly dealt with. It was a long and dangerous descent, but eventually their combined efforts proved fruitful as they finally reached their destination: a door leading to a backroom in the BioScience department.

“Remember: no civilian casualties.” She repeated before opening the door.

It was a tight fit, but Eve managed to squeeze through, causing a panic in the laboratory. Since the alarm had already been activated, security had been reinforced and the place was crawling with synth troopers firing at the invaders. One of the scientists let loose a band of synth gorillas before fleeing and they all flocked to the biggest target in the room: Eve. It was a tough fight, but she eventually emerged victorious with only a few minor injuries thanks to her armor.

As expected, the bulk of their forces was located in the foyer of the Institute, where a small army of heavily armed synths lead by Coursers were waiting for them. A few scientists also armed themselves and tried to fight back, but the majority had fled to their quarters. A number of Gen 3 synths also joined the assault, siding with Nora’s forces in order to fight for their freedom. Bullets and laser beams were flying in every direction, most of them hitting the walls while only a couple of them managed to hit their targets. Both sides took heavy casualties, most of the ones on the Commonwealth’s side caused by the Coursers – they were tough enemies, even Eve was having trouble dealing with them. All the doors were locked and the amount of cover they had was limited, but the Minutemen-Railroad coalition fought bravely. The number of synths seemed endless, so Nora came up with a different plan:

“Rarity, how long can you keep up shields strong enough to deflect lasers?”

“They don’t require as much power as shields strong enough to block bullets, I can keep them up for a while longer – but not too long.”

“Can you make me a dome around me like last time?”

“Not right now; too tired to keep that many shields up in a complex formation for more than a second. But I can cover you with a single, large shield for a few moments. Will that be enough?”

“It will have to be. Let’s go!”

With a nod, Rarity created a shield big enough to cover Nora’s entire body and gave it a push, sending it towards the elevator. The General ran right behind it, safe from the blue lasers being shot in her direction. Once in the elevator she pushed a button that sent her down to the same corridor she was led to when she first entered the Institute, where she met the 10-year-old synth Shaun, soon followed by her first meeting with the 60-year-old human Shaun. After running up a flight of stairs she came across her son, lying on a bed.

“You had me fooled.” He said. “I really believed you were on our side.”

“It had to be done, Shaun. After all the things you did topside? The Institute is a menace.”

“Mere collateral damage. We are humanity’s best hope for the future.”

“No, you are the best hope for yourselves. Do you have any idea how much damage you’ve done to the people of the Commonwealth in this pursuit for ways to make your own lives more comfortable? How many people were killed? How many families were torn apart? How many settlements were wiped out? You had to know, you are their director! For goodness sake, you create synthetic humans, make them sentient and self-aware, and yet still expect them to act like and treat them like machines. Like slaves. The ends do not justify the means, that’s something I would have taught you if you were raised by me.”

“Raised by you where? In that irradiated wasteland? The Institute saved me.”

“Everything I did up there, I did hoping that I would get to see you again one day. Even when I was ready to give up and just wait for death to claim me like it did so many before me… Memories of you, memories of your father, they kept me going. They gave me the strength to pick myself up and keep walking; they kept me sane in that unforgiving world.

“When we finally met you had grown so much, but I didn’t love you any less that I did when you were the newborn that I held in my arms. But after all that we’ve been through, after all the things I learned about you and the Institute, after seeing how many human lives you were willing to sacrifice just for the sake of your own little world… I can’t help but feel disappointed in you.”

“None of it matters now, I suppose. The only question left is, why are you here? Did you come to gloat?”

“I came for your terminal, it’s the only place from where I can activate the evacuation protocol. Despite what you may think of me right now, I am not a monster. I will save as many people as I can and leave nothing behind. After today, the Commonwealth won’t have to live in fear of the Institute anymore.”

With a sigh, Father closed his eyes and made himself comfortable. “Do what you must.”

After gaining access to the director’s terminal, she engaged the evacuation protocol BD-2.

“Attention all personnel.” The female voice of a pre-recorded message began to speak, overlapping the sound of the alarm. “Evacuation order issued. Authorization 1-Y-R-3-1. Please proceed to your assigned evacuation point. Thank you for your cooperation.”

As the messaged looped, Nora reached for a microphone and began to speak:

“People of the Institute, this is the General of the Commonwealth Minutemen speaking. We have seized control of this facility. Everybody is going to be evacuated without discrimination, so please stand down. If you cooperate, your safety will be guaranteed both here and above ground. We intend on destroying this facility once everybody has been evacuated, so I strongly recommend that you come with us. This is not a threat, it’s a warning. I repeat, we—”

“Shit!” Twilight’s voice interrupted her broadcast on the intercoms after she hijacked the radio frequency in an act of desperation. “Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit! General, we have a problem! Something went wrong with the molecular relay and now it’s growing unstable. We have to evacuate everybody now, because the port— that thing we talked about will happen in a matter of minutes, and everybody that is still in here when it happens is going to die.”

“Everybody, hurry!” The vault dweller spoke in the microphone once again. “We don’t have time to send you up the elevator one group at a time. There is a tunnel in the back of the BioScience laboratories with stairs that lead up to the relay. My men will show you the way, but you have to go now. Don’t pack your bags, don’t grab things you think are important, just hurry up and go!”

She turned back to her son and approached his bed.

“Get up Shaun, now. We have to leave.”

“I’m not going.” He replied, his voice sounding weaker than before.

“The Institute is gonna blow, you are going to die.”

“I am going to die either way. I never had the chance to tell you, but… I have an illness – a terminal one. Have had it for the past several years. My doctors bought me time, but it’s finally caught up with me. I don’t know how long I have left. Minutes? Hours? Even if you put me on your shoulders and carry me out of here, this is my last day on this Earth, one way or another. If you love me as much as you claim you do, let me die in peace, in the place where I grew up. Where we accomplished so much. That’s all I ask of you.”

“I…” Nora wanted to say something. Anything. But after learning something like that, she was drawing a blank. “I… understand. Goodbye, Shaun.” She caressed his hair and planted a kiss on his forehead – even if she didn’t agree with his methods and ideals, he was still her son.

She left his room and walked down the spiral staircase, back to the foyer. The firefight was already over and all that was left were bodies on the floor, synth and human alike, and a few people running toward the BioScience department. Despite what she had said some still decided to use the elevator, and she arrived just in time to see it coming back down. Being the last living person left in the area, she decided that there was no harm in using it; she was about to step into the elevator when she heard crying.

Looking around, Nora noticed two little redhead twin girls, hugging and crying on each other’s shoulder in their hiding spot. She ran towards them, grabbed them both by the hand and pulled them into the elevator with her. As they ascended she watched the Institute from above, all the death and destruction they had left behind. As the little twins sobbed, she thought about the situation: had she not spotted them, they would have been left behind and died in the impending implosion. What were the odds that more people were being left behind, too scared, too sick or too old to move quickly and reach the molecular relay in time? Were they being helped along by their colleagues? Or were they being left behind because they were slowing everybody else down?

When they reached the control center, Nora directed the two little girls to the molecular relay where they were transported to the outside together while holding hands, alongside Desdemona, Tinker Tom, Sturges and Preston Garvey, who was holding the notebook in which Fluttershy detailed all her findings regarding the creatures of the Commonwealth.

“What happened here?” She asked Twilight.

“I’m so sorry, it was my fault.” Twilight explained “I scanned my necklace so the relay would identify its signature energy and bridge this world and mine. It’s a process that would take a few minutes to complete, but it was going to run in the background and not interfere with the current settings of the relay unless I gave authorization. But I forgot the first rule of dealing with magic: it behaves unpredictably, it won’t always give you the results you want. Now it triggered something that, instead of leaving the connection on standby when the computer finishes analyzing the energy, it will open the portal as soon as it’s completed and I can’t stop it.”

Applejack emerged from the maintenance tunnel with the last of the scientists and directed them to the relay. The few Minutemen and Railroad who stayed behind to help were also instructed to leave.

“It’s just us now, y’all!” She shouted.

“General, you’re next.” Twilight said. “Fluttershy, send—”

Suddenly the molecular relay activated itself despite no one being there to use it, sending blue sparks flying everywhere. The blue sparks eventually turned pink and a glowing vortex of pink and purple energy emerged in the center of the relay.

“No!” Twilight said. “No no no, not yet! Nora still hasn’t… Oh no! We have to go now!”

Twilight was the first to run into the portal, soon followed by Sunset Shimmer – who couldn’t walk properly due to a leg injury and was being helped by Rarity. One by one the others followed, until the only ones left were Rainbow Dash and Nora.

“Aren’t you coming?”

“But I—”

Without waiting for a response, the blue speedster grabbed Nora by her leather chest piece and pulled her into the portal. The portal closed behind them, leaving behind a small, glowing sphere of dark purple energy. As if it were a miniature black hole, the sphere began to suck everything around it; the structure of the teleporter was crushed inwards until it was ripped from the walls, but since the energy orb wasn’t a portal anymore the pieces just clashed in the middle. The concrete walls themselves began to crack due to the force of the pull caused by the sphere, but before they could give way the orb stopped pulling and began growing.

Everything that was touched by the expanding ball of purple energy was reduced to dust; the metal of the teleporter, the concrete walls, the terminal used to control the relay… Eventually the entire Institute was consumed until only the giant orb of destruction was left in place. After becoming dangerously large the ball stopped growing and began to dissipate, leaving only a perfectly spherical hole in the earth. Without earth beneath it to keep the ground stable, the old CIT ruins above it began to sink until they fell, along with a few more buildings located around it. The hole was soon filled with water from the ocean and the Institute was no more.

The survivors regrouped in the Castle, where they celebrated their victory and mourned the fallen. A monument was built in honor of their General and her companions, who gave their lives to free the Commonwealth from the Institute and give them the chance to rebuild without fear of being replaced or infiltrated.

…

…

…

Or so they thought.

She could feel the grass under her. The sun on her face. The sounds of civilization. Before even opening her eyes, Sunset Shimmer smiled; it worked. They were home. After two years living through hell, they finally made it back. When she opened her eyes, though, she screamed: looking down at her was none other than Eve, the friendly deathclaw.

“Fluttershy!” She called as she sat up, wincing in pain due to her leg wound. “What is she doing here?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Fluttershy said as she ran up to Eve and began petting her neck, earning herself a lick on the face that caused her to giggle. “I was going to send her through the teleporter, but the portal back home opened before I had the chance to. Twilight told us to go and I couldn’t just leave her to die.”

“Everyone ok?” Applejack asked, looking around to make sure all her friends were in one piece and accounted for.

“My head is still spinning, but other than that I’m unharmed.” Twilight responded before adjusting her crooked glasses.

“Girls? My eye is missing!” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Just kidding, it was already like that.”

“You think Princess Twilight can grow a new one with magic?” Pinkie Pie inquired.

“I swear, I will not leave my bathtub for a week.” Rarity commented as she took off her cowl and sunglasses. Her eyes widened when she spotted a person lying down by the horse statue/portal – a person wearing a blue jumpsuit with the number 111 on the back. “Oh my goodness. Agent Whisper!” Rarity hooked Nora’s arm around her shoulder and helped her stand up. “Are you alright, darling?”

“I feel like I’m gonna throw up…” Nora muttered.

“Sometimes that happens to first-timers – it’s not a common occurrence, but it’s not abnormal either.” Sunset explained while Fluttershy helped tend to her leg wound. “All things considered, you’re doing fine; I threw up within seconds after my first trip through a portal.”

After a moment passed, the reality of their situation finally began to sink in: they were home. No more wasteland. No more fighting for survival. No more starvation. No more sleeping with one eye open, afraid someone was going to sneak up on them in the middle of the night and kill them.

Twilight fell to her knees and let out a sigh of relief as she placed a hand on her chest.

Pinkie Pie laughed as she happily rolled on the green grass.

Fluttershy wrapper her arms around Sunset Shimmer and cried.

Sunset Shimmer, feeling a little awkward, just patted Fluttershy on the back with one hand.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack shared a friendly hug.

Rarity, still helping Nora stand up, wiped away a tear of joy.

“Where… Are we, exactly?” Nora asked as she looked around.

“Welcome to our world, darling.” Rarity replied. “This is Canterlot, year… Hm. I know where we are, but not when we are!”

“March 30, 2019.” Pinkie Pie read from a newspaper nobody bothered to ask where she got it from. She gasped loudly. “We’ve been gone for over two years!”

“Exactly the amount of time that passed while we were in the Commonwealth.” Twilight added. “That means our two timelines, even though they are over 200 years apart, still have a certain degree of connection.”

“To heck with all that, I need to go find my family!” Applejack said as she ran down the street. “See y’all later!”

“Now that she mentioned it, so do I.” Rainbow Dash also left.

“I miss my mom, my dad and my sisters. I’M COMING HOME, FAMILY!” Pinkie screamed. “Oh, I also have to make this.” She reached into her slacks and pulled out a red folder with the word “confidential” stamped across it. “120% the recommended daily value of sugar!” She skipped away while singing. “What if there was a place with all the zip of Nuka-Cola~?”

“I’m sorry, darling, but I need to go see my family as well. My poor little sister must miss me so much.” Rarity said to Nora. “Are you gonna be ok?”

“I’ll manage, thank you.” To illustrate her point, Nora removed her arm from around Rarity, showing that she was able to stand on her own.

“If you need a place to stay, don’t hesitate to call me. My door is always open.” Rarity waved at them as she walked away. “Ta-ta!”

“How am I gonna call, though?” Nora asked a little too late.

“They do have a point; I’ll have all the time in the world to theorize about the progression of time in the multiverse after my family knows that I’m alive.” Twilight said as she headed to a nearby bus stop, only to remember that she didn’t have any money to pay for the bus fare. She then changed her course to a police station so that they could call her family.

“I need to find my journal, Princess Twilight will want to hear about what happened.” Sunset Shimmer said before limping towards Canterlot High. “Also it wouldn’t hurt to inform Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna that we’re back.”

The only ones left were Nora, who sat down with her back against the base of the horse statue, and Fluttershy, who had removed her helmet, goggles and Pip-Boy, and was looking at Eve while rubbing her chin.

“What are we gonna do about you?” She asked, earning herself another face lick.

Author's Note

And that's the end! Thanks for sticking with me, writing TFTC was a lot of fun and reading all the feedback was even more fun. Hope to see you again next time I write something.

Also here's a last minute challenge: can you remember how many times people got shot in the leg? I don't and I wrote the damn thing!

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