Dream Catcher

by Puking Coyote

A Dark Past

Chapter 3

A Dark Past

I slowly woke up to a dimly lit room with smooth shinny metal walls, as I tried to move I found that I couldn’t. I looked at my legs and saw that they were strapped onto a table by energy coils. Attached around my body were padded wires and what I could guess was an IV. “Crap” I mumbled to myself and laid my head back against the cold metallic slab. Suddenly the images of what happened to Screwball and Fireball flashed back into my mind “why did you do it, why did you kill them, WHY?!” I screamed trying to fight back my tears. “They did nothing, so why?” There was no response I then lost the battle and tears started to flow down my face.

“What is this that you are doing?” I suddenly heard the voice of the Keeper or whatever she called herself. I then saw her as she came into my eyesight from behind the slab.

“You!” I shouted as I jerked against the coils in rage.

“Such weird reactions, first your eyes are leaking then you look like you are in pain. Is that because your veins are suddenly pumping your blood harder? I have never seen a vein bulge like that before in such a short amount of time.”

“Shut up! You killed my friends and now you’re gloating? Your trash!”

“Trash? I assure you that I am a human. What other hallucinations are you experiencing?” She then leaned in closer “The stun rod might have harmed your brain but until the drones complete an analysis of your body’s makeup they can’t help.”

“It was an insult you moron!” I replied.

“Insult…moron, gloating? I will have to see if these words are in the galactic database” I then saw the red eye that was attached onto her face flicker to life. After a short while it flickered back off “Those words were banned by the collective over seven hundred years ago and their meanings are blocked.”

I looked at her with hate in my eyes but she did not react “I’ll tell you what it means it means that you just killed two innocent ponies who were my friends!” I then snorted “I will never forgive you for that, you witch.”

“Friends?” She asked confused.

“Those two that were with me, you know the ones that you terminated.”

“Oh, the two subjects, no they were not terminated. Their locators actually appeared a few miles away during the time they were being terminated, probably by teleportation. We are now tracking their movements as they make their way here.”

Suddenly a ray of hope welled inside of me “There not dead?!” I asked she nodded in response. I was so happy that if it wasn’t for these coils I would have been bouncing around the room. “Wait” I replied thinking about what she had said “there coming here?”

“Yes, you four have intrigued the collective and we have been instructed to allow them to make their way to you in order to study their actions better. I will admit that I have never seen creatures that would spend this much time and energy just to be around another. They must have long memories otherwise they would have forgotten about you by now.”

“They would never do that!”

“Why not? They have no reason to come for you” she then looked at me closer. “Why were they not incinerated even after the collective told them to be? This is all very curious I can kind of see why the collective is so interested.”

“Collective I heard this name before is he your boss?”

“Not a he but an it. The collective is a computer A.I.”

“A computer A.I.?”

“I see that you don’t know about the collective then” her eye then flickered on then off. “The collective has told me to tell you the story of its creation while we wait for the two subjects to arrive. The story begins thousands of years ago we do not necessarily know how long but it is certain that there was an invasion by another dimension into ours. These invaders were called the Sprites and ate the Elite class those made of Lithrume, in fact it’s the same substance that is within you.”

“You mean the living energy inside of me?” she nodded at my question.

“The elites were scattered to the solar winds by this foe and most were hunted down. However one particular group came to the planet Armijak to seek refuge and found a lost colony from even before the Enlightened Period. These people did not have Lithrume in them so they were immune to the sprites. The people who were later called The Keepers took up the fight for the Elites and protected them on the planet. They soon created The Collective an A.I. that would reach across the universe creating an army of self-replicating robots for the sole purpose of preserving the human race. Thanks to the collective the sprites were eliminated, it then took on its role as humanities protector and even now continues to tell us what we need to do in order to survive as a species.”

I saw the devotion and belief in what the Collective did was best for humanity in her eyes. “What about the domes, why are the elites in them?”

“The domes on the planet are actually what was used to hide the elites from the sprites, they are wonderful paradises meant only for them.”

I thought about what she said “So the keepers do not live in the domes?”

“Of course we don’t, we serve their needs not the other way around that is our role given by the collective. We protected them from the sprites and we still protect them to this day such is our role.”

“But there like kids! Shouldn’t rulers you know be able to rule?” I asked.

“The Collective tells us what to do ours is to obey.”

“This makes no sense why do they act the way they do, why do they live in the domes all their lives?”

She looked down then back up “I don’t see what the problem is. They are well feed and prospering under the Collectives watchful eye.”

“But they lost who they are as a species, they are nothing like the humans that I have been told about!”

“The humans of the past were indeed different they had a horrible destructive quality called emotions, which is why the Collective suppresses our emotions to keep us from experiencing their fate.”

I was flabbergasted “You have no emotions? How, why?”

“Emotions almost destroyed humanity many times in the past so when were grown in the labs they are suppressed all but the elites, they are allowed to keep some emotions that have been deemed positive for their role.”

“That’s why the humans in the domes are overly happy they have no other emotions to balance their personalities out.” I thought. I then looked at her “But surely emotions cannot be totally suppressed?”

“The collective supplies the necessary medicine to keep the sickness from surfacing so all mankind can live good peaceful lives.” I was about to argue but her eye suddenly came on “We will have to disgust this another time it seems that the subjects have arrived.”

Suddenly a giant explosion filled the air as brain bots fell into the room burning up. I watched as they twitched and stopped moving. I looked up and saw Fireball and Screwball both charge through the destroyed wall; they then saw me on the table and the keeper next to me. “Don’t you dare hurt my friend!” Fireball screamed. His body was on fire which meant that he was preparing something big to strike at the Keeper with.

The large robot then took off from behind me after them but it suddenly disappeared into one of Screwballs portals “and that’s how we escaped” she commented smiling at me.

“Although it was a close call” Fireball replied then turned to let me see that the top part of his right ear was missing.

“Hmm magic” the woman commented to herself then pressed the device on her face again. “I understand” she then stepped forward towards Fireball “please strike with your magic if that is truly what you are going to do, this way we can get an accurate measure.”

“Fine, but you asked for it!” Fireball shouted. “Incinerating Fire!!!” A giant blue flame leapt out of his mouth and shot at the keeper who just stood there arms stretched out embracing it. The fire surrounded the keeper but something was wrong it wasn’t touching her but stopped a few inches from her skin. Fireball stopped his blast and stood there dumbfounded by what happened.

“Fireball! She has a personal shield.” I shouted after seeing a blue ripple before the shield became invisible again.

“You got to be kidding me!” Fireball exclaimed.

“That is an impressive reading” the keeper commented standing there like nothing even happened.

Fireball quickly looked at Screwball “quick trap her in a dimension.”

“That’s a mean thing to do can I just send her somewhere instead?”

“Fine, but do it quick!”

Screwball then stepped forward and with much difficulty opened a portal under the keeper who surprisingly was not sucked into it; in fact she didn’t even budge.

“How?” she asked.

“The same magic won’t work on us twice. Once we scanned your portal we were able to counter it.”

“Hiding behind your technology, why don’t you fight like a real pony?!” Fireball shouted.

“You mean magic against magic?” she then put her electronic eye down as the brain bots poured into the room surrounding them. Fireball spread his wings but when he and Screwball tried to move they were stuck to the floor I then saw that their shadows were bent into the keeper’s own shadow, she could use magic! “You lose” she then snapped her fingers and the robots shot Fireball and Screwball.

“No, not again!” I shouted as I pulled whatever magic I could from inside of me and attacked the Keeper with my mind. I did everything that I could and she started to waver but she soon grabbed her eye and put it on.

She then looked at me “Your magic doesn’t work on this eye.” She then turned to my unconscious friends “throw them into the cells, the collective still wants to experiment with them.”

The robots obeyed her order and carried them off “Do you have any questions about the story that I told you?” she asked.

“What?!”

“You forgot the story of the collective already?”

I could not believe it there was just a huge fight and my friends were taken, half the wall was gone, robots burning everywhere and she was acting like nothing happened. “Leave me alone you think that I would want to talk after what you had done? You piece of crap!”

“Your head must still be damaged I am a human, remember?”

“I know exactly what you are!” I replied hateful.

“Obviously you don’t but the drones will soon fix your mind” she then got up and left.

After the medical robots looked me over they concluded that any hallucinations that I had of the keeper being trash or crap was from my own magic faults. After that I was escorted to a cell which was a big purple shield in the shape of a box located in a dark corner of the facilities basement. Anytime I tried to force through it the shield bounced me back but not without giving me a little jolt as well.

“You should stop doing that” I heard a voice after an attempt to ram the shield with my body sent me onto my back.

I looked around at the dark room and saw another cage on the other side of the room inside it was a blue Pegasus “Cloud Striker?”

“Yep.”

“Cloud Striker! I can’t believe it we were afraid that you were dead.”

“The same could be said for you.”

“What happened, how did they capture you?”

“I don’t know all that I remember was the three of you going after the soccer ball, opening some type of portal then poof” he spread his hoofs in the air mimicking an explosion “I’m in here.”

“So you know nothing of the outside world?”

“No, just waking up in here and being experimented on like a lab rat. That reminds me have I ever mentioned how much I hate needles? I don’t know if I can take much more Dream Catcher.”

I thought about what he must have endured which made me feel horrible inside “We have do what we can to escape. But until we do you have to be strong Cloud Striker.”

“I don’t think that I can” he replied cringing as some robots made their way to him.

I could see the fear on his face as the robots strapped him down to a metal slab for some more test. “Cloud Striker!" I screamed as they carted him away. “Fireball and Screwball must be experiencing the same fate as well” I thought horrified.

When they brought Cloud Striker back he was clearly distraught. When the shield was brought back up in his cell he went to its far corner and curled up into a ball shivering. “Are you ok?” I asked.

“Just the drugs I’ll be fine” he replied in a shaky voice. “They can’t defeat me that easily.”

I sat down “You know what? You are truly amazing Cloud Striker. I bet that even the royal guards could not endure what you had.”

His ears perked up at this “Your right…Your absolutely right!” He then weakly picked himself up. “This is a test of my honor and I shall not lose, not to them!” He then looked at the ceiling and screamed “You hear that! My honor is stronger than your drugs or machines it will never break!!!” He then spread out his wings “I will pass this test and beat you at your own game.”

Just then the Keeper came through the doors her face had a funny confused look to it “What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Good! You heard my triumphant cries and decided to give up and bestow upon me the honor which is rightfully mine” Cloud Striker called with a huge grin.

“Wait…wha?” The keeper looked at him confused. Her look was that of fighting a bad headache.

“You heard me, now release our bondages and let us leave with the honor we have rightfully earned.”

She put her fingers to her brow caressing it “Shut him up, I can’t think with him screaming such nonsense.”
A robot then activated the collar on Cloud Strikers neck and he fell asleep giving out big loud snores. I then realized that I also had the same type of collar on. I glanced hatefully at the Keeper as she made her way to my cage.
“I recognize that look it gives out a strange…terrible aurora, I can’t believe I have never noticed it before.”

“What do you want!” I screamed.

“More.”

“What?”

“More, I don’t know what you did to me but I can’t resist it I need more.”

“What are you talking about!” I ran to the far side of the cage as the front doors shield was dropped. She then stretched out a wired glove as she came towards me with a look of lust that I have only seen in dragons with their gold. “No stop!” I could feel the glove fall upon my head numbing my mind and bringing all my memories to the surface.

“Yes this is it…this is what I felt before when you attacked my mind. So, so addicting…powerful as if life is being born before my eyes. Pain, anger, love, hate, lust, greed, laughter, loyalty…and so much more. I could feel her grip on my mind weaken as the rush of emotions and memories started to overwhelm her. I then attacked her with my mind through magic, I was going to take control of her mind I didn’t know how but I knew that I could. As I made my way through her thoughts I suddenly saw something brown and dull, as I investigated I realized that this was her memories.

She was born in a lab in this very facility, born for the sole reason to carry out the Collectives will. The life she lived I saw was numbed by drugs and the Collectives own brainwashing there was no joy, sorrow, or compassion in her life, she just was. During the years she could not understand the weird noises called laughter that the strange smiling Elites uttered but hers was not to question it was to protect. All in the database obeyed the Collective and never disobeyed its commands that’s why the four legged creatures were so odd. The collective told them to be processed but they didn’t instead they ran away. It was impossible nothing could do different than the Collectives will but here they were, it made no sense. Then it happened again a second time they refused the Collectives will for them to be terminated, impossible. They even destroyed the Collectives robots these actions had never been done before in fact they were new to her world. As she fought them with magic something happened the one called Dream Catcher attacked her mind while she did not have the protection of the Collective on. She managed to fight him back but he left something like a glowing ember that could not be stomped out and over the next two days that ember grew and she now needed more to feed the small fire that was filling her every thought. That fire which could only be one thing, emotions.

I came out of her memories now realizing just a little bit by the flashes that I saw how empty her life has been. She was but an empty shell of a human but there was something else in her as well, I sensed it when she defeated Fireball she had magic.

“Aughh!” The keeper screamed and pulled her hand away from me. She then pulled her legs to her chest as she sat against the cages walls. “What have you done to me?” she finally asked. I just looked at her and saw many emotions spread over her face as if trying to figure out where to place themselves in their new host. “I am the Keeper this world this should have never happened, the Collective forbade it…I disobeyed.” She then began to cry from this revelation and a worried look came upon her face “I am broken.”

“No, you’re not broken” I replied going up to comfort her “you have been fixed.”

“How would you know!” I then saw rage fall upon her face. “What right do you have to decide what is right and wrong.” She then looked down to the ground “I feel bad now sorrowful…but why?”

“That’s called remorse it usually follows anger.”

“What have I done?”

I looked at her, even though she did so much against my friends I now realized that it was not her doing instead she was a puppet of the Collective and now she was free. “Humans need emotions to live what your life was before was not living it was just being.”

She wiped her tears and looked around the room “I have to go” she then left the cell closing it behind her. After a while Cloud Striker woke up and I filled him in on what had happened.

“Really, they have no emotionS at all?” he asked very surprised.

“The Elites are allowed some good emotions but the Keeper had little to none, that is until now.”

“Outrageous, so their emotions have been stripped by this A.I. The Collective, how could their ancestors allow that to happen?”

“My guess is to protect themselves from the Sprites they gave up all their freedoms to the Collective in order to survive as a species. The Collective gave them the best chance to survive so they gave all that they were to it and it never gave it back.”

“But why didn’t it give it back?”

“Because its primary function is to protect mankind” the Keeper replied. We both looked and saw her standing at the doorway listing to us. “The Collective deemed it necessary to keep mankind from destroying itself by taking control of them. If man does not make decisions then chaos is thrown out of the picture and pure logic can rule.”

“But this logic isn’t letting man live surely you see that. Yes mankind as a species will probably last forever but it does not matter if there is no progress. Tell me what has man accomplished under the Collectives rule? Nothing! In fact they have taken a step backwards, this is simply not progress.”

The Keeper looked down at the ground “Then what is progress?”

“You have seen my memories, you already know my answer.”

“Friends, the positive interaction of one person with another to further a societies goals.”

“Only by supporting one another can true peace be achieved. Drugs and emotionless computers are not the answer to mankind’s survival but love is. Mankind is not flesh and blood that’s just their avatars but they are instead emotions themselves and to stifle that is to destroy them as a race.”

“You do make sense” she admitted. “To have no emotions makes us more like the computers than man. I have much to think about” she then started to leave.

“Wait” I called.

“Yes?”

“I have a question to ask. Why do you have magic?”

She gave a small smile then looked at me and Cloud Striker “You’re not the only ones that the Collective has experimented on.” She then left leaving us to ponder what she had said.

The next three days the Keeper had came back periodically to talk to me and Cloud Striker. I had learned to my dislike that she had showed my memories and feelings to other Keepers on other worlds to get their thoughts on them. These keepers for the most part agreed that emotions were not bad and they were going to petition to the Collective for its legalization. In the meantime the Keeper told us more about the history of man after the sprites. It was during these stories that we learned that the Collective spliced human DNA with that of a captured Sprite and after many failures a rare strand was created which was what she was made from. This gave her magic over all shadows and the objects that cast them which was why Fireball and Screwball could not move when she captured them. The Collective however did not create many magic users because magic beings are hard for it to track.

“Your home sounds like a lovely place” the Keeper commented.

“Thank you Keeper” Cloud Striker replied.

“Please don’t call me that” she replied. “I want a name like you two.”

“Then what do you want to be called?”

“I’ve thought about it and think that I should be named like those in your world after my magical talents, I think that Night Shade is good.”

“I like it” I replied as Striker nodded in agreement.

“Sweet! I have a name, so much I have missed” she then gave a short laugh. “I’m so grateful Dream Cather I love my emotions!” she then laid on her back and looked up at the ceiling smiling to herself.

“I am glad that I could help a friend” I replied.

“Friend? You consider me a friend after what I have done?”

“Yes”

She bit her lip “robot drop the shields around the ponies.”

“Wait that’s against the Collectives orders!” Striker shouted. “You can get into trouble.”

“I’m already going to be in trouble” she replied with a grin as the shields dropped around us.

“Thank you” I replied.

“I couldn’t keep my friends locked up like wild animals now could I?”

The Keeper um, I mean Night Shade had changed a tad with her new emotions and was now a little sarcastic and a sometimes very corky. However since she got most of her emotions and the habits of what to do with them from me I never complained. In a way if I did it would be like complaining about myself.

“So you…” I was cut off by the sudden appearance of a portal which Screwball and Fireball fell out of.

“Dream Catcher, Striker!” Fireball called then saw Night Shade “You!” His horn stared to glow.

“Wait Fireball she’s a friend.”

“Friend, Do you know what she did to us?”

“Nothing, it was the collective that used you as a pin cushion not me” Night Shade replied.

“You are going to get it now you little liar.”

“Just try it! I have been wanting to experience the thrill of battle first hand.”

“Fireball…” I started but was too late he already shot a fireball at Night Shade. I saw it lick against her shield as her shadow connected to Fireballs. “I got you, you know Dream Catcher disappointment is an interesting emotion too she replied taking out her stun rod.”

“I’m not done yet!” Fireball exclaimed as his body caught fire disrupting the shadows on the ground. “I knew it!” he then charged at Night Shade.

Night Shade did not move but at the last second she sidestepped Fireball who went sliding on the floor. “Cage 4, activate” Just then the energy cage formed around Fireball who was not taking his defeat well.

“Let me out, now!” he screamed.

“I would but your yelling has scared me so much that I forgot how to lower the shield. Guess you’re stuck in there” she laughed.

“I’ll get you for this!”

I went over to Screwball as Fireball and Night Shade taunted each other. “I couldn’t help but notice that your portals are working again, can you get us home Screwball?”

She shook her head “I don’t know where home is. I can’t get us home without some directions otherwise we could wind up in a sun or an asteroid field.”

“But you can use portals again?”

“Yep, the portal that sent us here drained me I just needed to regain my strength.” She then looked over at the human “What about her?”

I looked over at Night Shade who was obviously having fun at Fireballs expense. I couldn’t help but give a slight smile “She has finally found out what living means.”

Screwball cocked her head confused “Don’t worry we shall tell you and Fireball what has happened” Cloud Striker stated. I looked over at him and nodded in response.

We told Screwball and Fireball all that happened since we were separated and how Night Shade didn’t even have emotions before she experienced them through my memories. Screwball immediately accepted Night Shade as a new friend Fireball however just tolerated her keeping a small grudge. We lived in the building for two weeks where we learned much about the human planet which was number 447 of 3,456 worlds. Night Shade and I were currently in the floating vehicle going to check the domes that housed the Elites. Looking over I saw a huge grin on her face as the wind rushed through her hair.

“Enjoying yourself?” I asked.

“You have no idea what’s its like to have no feelings then wham! Your whole body is filled with them. I can’t believe that I have never felt the wind upon my face before.”

“You never felt the wind before?”

“Yes, I felt the wind but I never FELT the wind, I know it makes no sense,”

“Your right it doesn’t” I replied not knowing how to take what she told me. “I guess that without the emotions to go with the feelings they just never registered, is that close?”

“Yeah one could say that” She then stopped the vehicle. “Here put these on” she then tossed me an eyepiece as she put on her own.

After staring at the device I put it on “Wow” I gasped as the world took on a new shape as dozens of domes appeared before me shimmering with their blue shields. Inside were the fantastic gardens and the Elites lying around the grass eating fruit from the trees.

“Everything checks out here what about your end?”

I looked and saw nothing wrong with the domes or the humans inside of them “Nothing wrong here although that Elite is trying to fit his hand into his mouth.” The eye piece zoomed onto the Elite who was clearly fascinated by his ability to shove his hand into his mouth. The eyepiece seemed to react to thoughts and voice commands “I bet that this could even play games” I thought just then some card game popped onto the screen. “This is so cool!” I exclaimed under my breath. I was glad that I decided to come with Night Shade on her rounds.

“Well let’s head to the next spot” She stated as we moved towards the car.

I started to follow but we both stopped when a picture of an older looking gentleman with pepper hair and mustache came onto our screens. “This is Keeper 1 to inform on the Collectives behalf that the petition of the Keepers to allow emotions to be made legal has been denied. An emissary of the Collective will be sent to the Keepers who were on the petition, that is all.”

Night Shade banged her fist against the vehicle “No, I thought that the Collective would decide otherwise.”

“Why is that, isn’t the Collective the one that decided to ban emotions in the first place? Why would it change its decision based on a petition?”

She looked at me “Your right. Come I have to meet the emissary.”

When we came to the main building that we were staying in I saw a strange looking robot that moved around with wire-like tentacles which acted like its legs. It actually looked very similar to a spider but its front was made of a green plasma which formed a mechanical face.

“Keeper 447” it stated in a metallic screechy voice. “It has come to the Collectives attention that you and many more Keepers have been tainted by the bane of man, emotions. It is my duty to tell you that the Collective has deemed this unacceptable and has commanded those affected to be terminated in order to preserve mankind. You are to go to your nearest termination station such is the Collectives will.” The robot then flickered and teleported away to another planet to tell the same news to another Keeper.

I looked at Night Shade who was clearly struggling with what the robot said “You’re not actually thinking about letting yourself be killed just because a robot told you to, are you?”

“The Collective deemed it necessary to preserve mankind, I must” she then looked at the sky. “But why do I hesitate?”

“Because you know that it is wrong! The Collective shouldn’t be the one to decide what’s best for mankind man should be the one to decide.

Just then a holographic image of Keeper 1 appeared before Night Shade “Why are you not heading towards the termination center? Is something wrong with your teleporter?”

I looked at Night Shades face she was clearly battling between the Collectives will and what her heart was telling her to do. “She’s not going” I said coming into the holograms view “and neither should you.”

“I know you from the memories that we were shown, the bringer of mans bane.”

“Listen mankind strives and grows on emotions if you have seen my memories then you also know what I say is the truth. The Collective is wrong it can’t comprehend emotions so it discards them as unneeded but it is wrong emotions are the key to humanities growth.”

“The collective is designed to keep humanity from dying as a species we can’t disobey it if we do humanities survival is at risk.”

“Man created the Collective to stop the Sprites from destroying them and to help them repopulate, not to rule them!”

“How do you know what the founders wishes were? Nobody does but the Collective.”

“My father was a human from before the Collective and I know what he would think about all of this. So yes, in a way I know what the founders wanted and what the Collectives actions should be.

I saw the device on Keeper 1 glow as he collected information “Form your data in the database it is very possible that what you say is true. Even though your genes are mixed with another species you also have an older strand of human DNA. But even if what you say is true the Collective has decided to keep humans emotions out of the equation how can we convince it to allow them again?”

“We don’t” Night Shade finally spoke up “we take back what was stolen from us.”

“It is true the Collective has taken from mankind that which was never to be taken from them. Its programming has gone beyond that which it was supposed to you have to see this Keeper 1. It was never the founders wish for mankind’s will to be stripped from them by a computer.”

He was quiet for a long time then he spoke up “It seems that Keeper 447 had her communicator on an open channel for all the other Keepers to see and they are agreeing with your statements. They seem to believe that the Collective’s programming has been corrupted and must be dismantled for mankind to thrive again. I must admit that this thing called emotions has opened my eyes and I agree with you that the Collective is corrupted.” The hologram then disappeared and a message came into every ear piece from Keeper 1 “Listen the Collective has become corrupted any keeper still heading to the termination center must stop and return to their planets, we are taking back what the Collective took from us” his transmission then ended.

“Hey, Dream Catcher!” Cloud Striker called as he flew down to us. “What’s wrong?” he asked after noticing how me and Night Shade were acting.

“I think that I just started a war” I replied now realizing with horror what the first Keeper must have meant by his transmission.