Dream Catcher

by Puking Coyote

The Collective

Chapter 9

The Collective

Several weeks have passed since Equestria appeared in our world, since then The Collective had stepped up its campaign to eradicate The Coalition this was partly because of the new arrivals but also because we knew at long last where the A.I. was hiding.

“Augghhh!!!” a scream came over the communicator.

Rolling my eyes I walked over to the animation chamber and opened it to see six wide eyed Equestrian soldiers shivering like little foals with their hoofs covering their heads. Towering over them was a single bipedal robot pointing its gun at them. “That’s it simulation over” I stated, a human soldier in the control room nodded and shut down the program. I glared at the shivering ponies “What’s wrong with you?! Six armed soldiers against a single basic unit of the Collective and you lost? That should not happen, ever!” I yelled.

“But…but….it was a monster, I would rather fight a dragon than one of those machines!”

Fireball stepped up behind me “Pathetic! How are we to trust you to watch our backs and support your brothers in arms if you hide your face in the dirt every time something scary happens? It’s hard to believe that you are part of the Equestrian army.”

“What you guys are asking us to do is crazy!” The pony shouted. “We quit! I would rather live than join your crazy campaign” the six ponies then left the room in a huff.

The ponies we were finding to be pathetic soldiers, they lived in a paradise for so long that most could not cope with the war that they were thrust into. We did not have time for the ponies to adjust so to avoid panic on the field we were purposely being hard on the Equestrian forces and only taking those that showed promise and a level head. We had weeded out most of the Equestrian soldiers this way but some did show that they could fight in this war.

“Any news from the front?” I asked Fireball.

“So far the ponies that had been integrated into the human squads have not caused any trouble, however there’s a new type of enemy unit that has been spotted on the field.”

“A new unit?”

“Yes it’s a big sucker, about five stories tall. It floats like the tanks but instead of one cannon it has 36 all dangling from a metallic human shaped skull much like tentacles. Also on top of all that it has a shield that is only vulnerable to the fighter’s large guns or a high EMP blast.”

“The Collective has really stepped up its game we must be getting close to Earth.” The scout ships that we have sent to the location that dad showed us had always been destroyed when they approached the area so we have been forced to fight our way towards the silver planet blind. I still could not believe the first and only image of Earth that Night Shade showed me while on New Equestria (Planet 447). The picture was of a sparkly silver planet, not silver because of water no, it was silver because the whole planet had been transformed into a giant machine and that machine was The Collective.

“What is it?” Fireball asked seeing me in thought.

“I’m just wondering if the information that the first scout ship sent us is accurate and Earth was transformed into The Collectives body, how are we to destroy it? The power that it gets from the planets core must be massive meaning it will be hard to get through its shields.”

“Your right, I know more about the intensity of planets cores and the power they generate than anypony here…even with all The Coalitions ships we cannot break through any shield The Collective may have. That means that there is only one option left for us, magic.”

“You think your magic can do it? Disrupt Earth’s core?”

Fireball shook his head “No, I’m not strong enough. Your father or Discord might be able to do something but everypony else is too weak. I actually just had an argument with Twilight and Dash. They wanted to fight with The Elements of Harmony.”

“That’s insane! These are machines they are not affected by the Elements power. We have to stop them.”

“Whoa Dream Catcher, I’ve already taken care of it after all you wouldn’t believe that I would let my girlfriend waltz up to a killing machine with a worthless trinket around her neck for protection do you? She wasn’t happy but I convinced her to instead join the control ships and become a pilot.”

“What of Twilight?”

“Science Department, once they showed her how to access the computer and how to download information into her mind she’s been very busy.”

“Figures, she always did live up to Aunt Celestia’s expectations as a student” I replied.

Fireball raised an eyebrow “if you mean being a nerd then yes, I guess she does.”

Even though Fireball made fun of the science Department both he and I had great respect for them. The ability to use imagination to create new designs and ideas was one of the biggest advantages The Coalition had over The Collective. For unlike humans The Collective cannot easily create new designs or ideas for the war. This is actually one of the reasons why humans had not advanced much technologically since The Collective took control. To put it simple without the Science Department we would have lost this war a long time ago.

“Dream Catcher?” Nightshades voice came through my communicator.

“Here”

“News from the planet the control tower fell.”

“What? How did that happen? Our forces were nowhere near the tower!” I exclaimed.

“It was Discord he made the ground into some type of squishy sponge that sucked up the enemy units making a straight path to the tower for the demolition team” she replied.

“Amazing…how did they clear the air units from the sky though?” Fireball asked on his communicator.

“Jackson took care of that, I don’t know how but all the Collectives air units in the area stopped working and fell to the ground. The reports say that they short circuited from significant water and ice buildup. ”

I thought about this for a few seconds before answering “He can manipulate matter with his magic, a genius way to take care of those robots.”

“He can manipulate matter because he has living energy right? Does that mean you can manipulate matter too Dream Catcher?” Nightshade asked.

“In theory but I have not found out how to yet.”

“How come?”

“Well it’s kind of like trying to use a limb but not knowing what part of the brain to use to move it. Once found it can be used but right now I don’t know where to even start.” I then pulled up a hologram map of the area “Anyway I see that we have one more planet to tame before we reach Earth.”

“No, we are going straight there.”

“What?” both Fireball and I asked.

“Emotion one and two both decided that our robots will take the planet while we head to Earth. Since we have magic on our side we stand a better chance of striking through Earths shielding.”

“But we might be warping into an ambush! We have no idea of the forces that surround Earth or its defenses.”

“Our forces are spread thin the Collective has at the moment the upper hand in the conflict. We have to risk it else we may never have another chance to strike at Earth. Were putting all our bets onto this strike.”

I understood completely for this offensive was very costly and had weakened our forces to the breaking point. “When are we leaving?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Understood, thanks Nightshade” we cut the transmission just in time to see another group of scared ponies enter the training room to be tested. After a short sigh Fireball and I resumed our training sessions.

Three days we were in warp space, three long days. I would like to say that something interesting happened during that time but in all reality it didn’t. The ship was only attacked twice on rout but the opposition was small and caved in quickly to our overwhelming might. I was currently on the bridge along with the rest of the royal family except Celestia who was giving a speech to the Royal troops. As the ship started to slow down something hit me on the head upon investigation I saw that it was a popcorn kernel.

“Sorry about that” Discord replied shoving another fistful of popcorn into his mouth from an extra large bucket.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Waiting for the show!”

“What show?”

“This one” suddenly the ship came out of warp space and was now facing the silver planet which was Earth.

“I have to learn how he does that” I thought to myself.

“Please do, I would like to know as well” Discord replied to me. All I could do was stare at him wide eyed, he just read my mind! Discord then pointed above me. Surprisingly there was a giant bubble with words in it that read HE JUST READ MY MIND just like in a cartoon.

“Hey, that’s not fair” I shouted and backed away from the bubble. Discord only chuckled and popped it with his finger the bubble then zoomed across the bridge and hit Celestia in the face just as she entered the room.

Celestia who was obviously used to these things happening when Discord was around rolled her eyes and went up to the window to view the planet. “Where is the enemies ships?” she asked the captain.

The Captain who was a skinny man with a beard shook his head “It appears that they were unneeded and were sent to attack our forces left flank as we drove forward, right now our forces are on the verge of collapse.”

“Then we must rid ourselves of this planet at once!” Luna stated.

The captain then gave the command for all ships to bombard Earth. The sight was something to behold the whole planet seemed to go up in flames as energy blast after energy blast struck it but when the fires died down Earth was unscaved. “Just as we thought” the captain stated “it’s protected by a powerful shield.”

“Oh, here we go” Discord stated to himself while chomping down another handful of popcorn.

Before I could ask a huge blue humanoid head appeared before our ships it looked intensely at us then opened its mouth sending a powerful warning shot bouncing off our shield, the head then dissipated like it was made of fog. I then looked at Discord who was clearly expecting what happed “How did you know?” but my comment was only meet with a shrug.

“That last shot took out half of our shields we need to recharge before a second strike” a soldier at a control stated.

The captain then looked at us “If you are to attack now will be a good time before that head reappears.” Celestia nodded then we were all transported outside of the ship heading towards the planet with our only protection being a bubble that Discord created for us to stand in.

“Now for all those thou haft killed we will smith thee!” Luna yelled at the Collective then clashed her magic against the shield. We then all joined her in the attack but the shield was not even faltering. It seemed by the beads of sweat on Discords brow that not even his magic could penetrate Earths shield.

“Fireball can you disrupt the planets core?” Celestia asked over the explosions of our magic as they slammed into the shield.

“No I can’t get through the shield it’s too strong” Fireball shouted back. Just then the huge head appeared again to our left then we suddenly appeared back on The Eclipses bridge.

“What are you doing Discord?” Celestia asked. “We need to break the shield!”

Discord looked at her seriously “We failed, that shield is impenetrable to our magic. If we stayed out there any longer we would have been killed.”

The captain then called for a retreat and not a moment too soon for the head had just reappeared ready for another strike. “So close” I mumbled to myself “Earth is right there and we can’t get to it” I then walked out of the room feeling quite depressed.

During the next 13 days we kept our position just out of Earths reach but much of our fleet was sent to help fight elsewhere. The Collective had regained much of the land that it had lost and was now pressing hard against The Coalition. Luckily New Equestria had not been invaded yet but it is only a matter of time. We seemed to be the only hope for the Coalition at this point but what could we do against the impregnable shield separating us from our goal? As I was thinking these things I bumped into Twilight, literally.

“Ouch!” Twilight moaned while she was rubbing her head all around her were books that she had brought from New Equestria.

“Sorry Twilight” I replied helping her pick up the books “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“I’m sorry too I didn’t see you I have just been so wrapped up in trying to find a way to break that barrier.”

“If anypony can do it it’s you” I replied. I then looked at the books now floating above her “you know you can scan those onto a reading device, it would be easier to carry.”

“I know but there’s just something about having a book it’s almost like having a close friend or a piece of home.”

I knew exactly what she meant “A piece of home kind of like sunny.”

“Sunny?”

“Yes, he was a puppy that Celestia gave me when I was little” I then looked at the ceiling “I wonder if he’s still alive in New Equestria?”

“Oh, I’m sure that Sun…ny is…o..k. I have to go!” she suddenly teleported away.

“That was weird” I replied to myself then continued on my way.

Later that day I and the rest of the royal family was summoned into a conference by the captain however as I entered the conference room which had a long steel table facing a holo screen I noticed that the captain was not in the front of the room but instead it was Twilight and our chief scientist.

“Dream Catcher! Please take a seat” Twilight said quite cheerfully. I noticed that Nightshade was there as well and sat next to her.

“Do you know what this is all about?” I asked.

“Nope” Nightshade replied. “She’s refusing to say anything until her, grand revealing” she replied giving air quotes to emphasize her point.

There mom, dad, Nightshade, Fireball, Screwball, the captain, Shinning Armor, Cadance, and I waited until at least half an hour passed but Twilight refused to start until Celestia was there. Finally the captain got up “Where are you going?” Twilight asked nervously.

“I’m afraid that I have stuff to do Twilight, I can’t wait until Celestia gets here” he replied.

“I can’t either” Nightshade replied. “I have the new recruits to train and little time to do it.”

“Please stay a little longer! I’m sure the Princess is on her way” Twilight pleaded. However after seeing that they would not wait any longer the Chief Scientist spoke up.

“I’m afraid that she’s out of time my friend” he told Twilight who looked at the ground defeated. He then looked at us “we have found a way to destroy the Collective.”

We all leaned in giving the scientist our full attention “Are you sure?!” the captain asked.

“Yes, we found that if the right mixture of magic was put into the sun we can destroy the Collective once and for all.”

“How?” The captain asked.

“With the only force that can break through its shields, a black hole.”

“It was you that gave me the idea Dream Catcher” Twilight stated.

“I did? How?” I asked surprised.

“You were mentioning your dog Sunny which brought my attention to this world’s sun and thanks to the other scientist we figured out a way to accelerate its aging process by using magic.”

“Great then let’s do it!” I replied.

“There is one problem though, we have to draw some of Celestia’s blood while she and her magic is um…agitated.”

“Thou means when she’s mad” Luna stated.

“Yes, we actually were hoping that she would be here so we can draw some of her blood and prepare the device.”

Mother simply shook her head “Thou will have a tough time, thy sisters temper doth not rise too easily.”

“Do you have what you need to draw her blood?” dad asked they nodded in response. “Good, get it ready” he then teleported out of the room leaving us perplexed.

Shortly after he teleported back into the room Celestia appeared her face as red as a beat with a look of pure rage in her eyes “I WILL KILL YOU JACKSON!!!!” Celestia shouted at him at the top of her Canterlot voice. Her attention was so focused on him that she failed to notice us in the room. We quickly started backing away from her in fear of being struck by some powerful magic.

Dad looked over at Twilight who was pressed against the wall in fear and motioned her to use the needle which was floating next to her. She shook her head terrified but after a stern look from him she floated the needle towards Celestias rump and stabbed her immediately withdrawing the blood she needed.

Celestias eyes widened as the needle went in and a blinding light of magic that she had gathered in her rage was released in the room. Fireball and I were able to shield the captain, Nightshade, and the chief scientist from the blast. Celestia turned towards Twilight who had put on a nervous grin as she levitated the needle back towards herself. “Who dares to…Twilight?!”

“…prin..cess…I…I can explain!” Twilight managed to blurt out. Celestia said nothing but just glared at her so Twilight continued “you see…we…needed your blood..but it had to be taken…when…you were…angry. We were going to tell you beforehand but…you did not come to the meeting and um...”

“What did you need it for?” Celestia asked coldly.

“We needed it to create a black hole from the sun and destroy The Collective.”

Celestia did not respond but turned towards Jackson and narrowed her eyes in hate before stomping out of the room slamming the door behind her with magic.

Luna looked at Jackson wide eyed “What did thou do?”

He only shrugged “Just what needed to be done.”

“But she hath never been so quick to anger before.”

“Its fine, she understands but…it might be a good idea to stay on her good side for a few days.”

“Seeing how mad she was it might take a few years” Nightshade replied to me under her breath.

“When will the device be ready?” the captain asked getting up out of his chair.

“Two days” Twilight answered.

“That is if the blood we had drawn is unstable enough from Celestia’s anger” the Chief Scientist commented.

“Ohhh trust me she does not get much angrier than that” Twilight replied with a shiver.

“Very good” The Captain replied. “I will make the necessary preparations” he then left the room. He was shortly followed by Twilight and The Chief Scientist who were already deep in discussion on the complex formulas needed to be created for the device.

I then looked at dad “What did you do to Celestia?” He only gave a slight grin at my question then left the room followed quickly by mother.

“Well, that was fun and all but I have to get back to work” Nightshade said getting up and stretching. “But first I want to get some food, what about you Dream Catcher?”

“Sure” I replied.

Nightshade glanced towards Fireball “What about you?”

Fireball shook his head “Nah, I promised to meet Dash after the meeting you two go on without me.”

“Your loss” I replied getting up Nightshade and I then headed towards the grub hall talking about what had happened in the meeting. Cloud Striker who was also going to get some food joined us.

“Are you serious! They found a way to destroy The Collective?” Cloud Striker asked.

“Yep, all we supposedly will have to do is use one of our drones to drop the device into the sun to start a chain reaction, the sun will do the rest” I explained.

“That sounds tricky though, if The Collective expects something then that head will be able to stop any drones we may send. I think that I should do it after all the time lapse of drones when they are being jammed will give The Collective too much time to react.”

“I see your point and I doubt that the captain will disagree however if we send enough of the drones…”

“Isn’t there just one device though?” Striker asked.

“I think so.”

“Then there can only be one ship that carries it and we can’t wait for more devices to be made The Collective is fastly approaching New Equestria even two days is pushing it.”

“You have a point I should tell the Captai…wait a minute you just want the honor of being the one that ended the war don’t you?” I asked squinting my eyes at him.

“No, I just want to make sure the device gets to its destination before The Collective kills anymore ponies.”

“I’m sorry I dint mean to…”

“The honor that I will get is just a bonus.”

“I knew it!”

Striker grinned then got up “I will ask the Captains permission do I have your support?”

“Yeah, you have saved my tail more times than I can count. As far as I am concerned there is nopony more qualified.”

Striker then looked at Nightshade who nodded in agreement he then trotted from us towards the bridge. “Well he looks happy” Nightshade replied.

“He has a chance to end this war single hoofed of course he’s happy. There’s no greater honor that he can wish for.”

“You don’t want the honor of being the one to plant the device into the sun and end the war?” she asked.

“I don’t think that Cloud Striker would ever forgive me if I did besides I never wanted the type of honor that came from battle; I will gain it by more peaceful means when this war is over.”

“When this war is over…. I can’t believe that it is even a possibility. I guess that after The Collectives destroyed you will go back to New Equestria?” her words seemed to sadden at this question.

“Yes, and I want you to come with me.”

She closed her eyes and gave a slight grin “Of course I’m coming with you, I am the keeper of the planet after all. Besides who will keep you ponies out of trouble if I don’t?” She looked at the table “Besides I don’t think that I could part from you not after all that happened, you saved me.”

I looked her in the eyes knowing exactly what she meant “I feel the same way” I replied. Right then we made a promise not with words of the mouth but with words of the eyes that we would never part ways from each other no matter what the future held for us.

The two days passed quickly but just like Twilight said the device was ready. Cloud Striker was able to at the last second convince the captain to allow him to deliver the package to the sun and was now in the hanger preparing to take off.

“Remember Striker, Pinky is holding a party when you return so drop the package and get back to us as quickly as possible don’t go and do anything stupid” I told him as Striker climbed into the cockpit of his fighter.

“When I am done The Collective will be nothing but a memory” he then looked at me with a smile “you’re a good friend Dream Catcher” he said as his cockpit closed. Striker then took off along with two control ships for protection as The Eclipse maneuvered to bombard Earth as a distraction.

I quickly teleported to the bridge to oversee the mission with the rest of the Royal family including Twilight who was a nervous wreck over the mission. “I hope I didnt forget anything while making the device” Twilight said to herself as she went through her checklist for what must have been the thousandth time.

“I am sure that it will work” Celestia stated comforting her student.

The Eclipse started to bombard The Earth as Strikers team started moving towards the sun. At first we thought that the diversion would work but that hope soon faded when one of the control ships who were protecting Striker burst into flames. Fast on the heels of Striker was the giant head that we meet when we first came to Earth. The second control ship then burst to pieces leaving Striker alone against the guardian of Earth.

“Come on Striker you can do it!” Fireball said urging him on.

Screwballs ears perched up at this “Striker?” she asked. “Don’t tell me that’s Striker out there and not a drone!”

“Yes, he personally volunteered for this mission” the captain stated.

“NOOOOO!” Screwball screamed and ran to the bridges window.

“It’s ok Screwball Striker will be alright…” Nightshade began but was cut off by Screwballs wailing.

“No he won’t! You don’t understand he won’t come back!” she screamed.

“What do you mean of course he will be back” Fireball replied.

“No he won’t, any action that he will do after this will never match up, it’s the ultimate honor. He won’t come back otherwise his actions this day in history will be overshadowed by lesser deeds later in life. He is going to fly straight into the sun!!!”

For a second nopony moved as we wrapped our heads around what she had said. Screwball knew Striker better than any of us and when the idea was put against Strikers beliefs on honor it made sense. “Striker come in!” I called on the communicator but his radio was shut off “We have to save him!”

“How?” the Captain asked.

“What of the teleporter?” I asked.

“Earths shielding is preventing any type of teleportation.”

“Discord?” I asked looking at the spirit of chaos.

“I already tried” he replied sadly. “The energy from the head is preventing any magic getting through to Striker.” With this Screwballs anguish became more intense as Striker neared the sun. Striker had pulled away from the head as he neared the sun but his ship never once slowed down not until the suns surface forced it to. The Eclipse reversed its engines and got out of the system as the sun started to collapse in on itself. There we watched as the silver planet the home world of the humans was sucked into the crushing void of a black hole. Soon the communications were buzzing with claims that The Collectives forces had stopped functioning. The crew was in an uproar of celebrations as news that the war was over spread across the ship like wildfire. However on the bridge there was no celebrations as every eye was turned to tears over the senseless loss of a dear friend and comrade.

“Come back to me, come back Cloud Striker!” Screwball screamed at the void. “why…why..” she then whimpered as she stared out the observation decks thick glass towards the void.

Cloud Striker would be known throughout history as the savior of humanity. His courage and bravery in the face of utter destruction as he single handily defeated the greatest enemy to mankind since the Sprite invasion would no doubt become that of legends. However to gain the ultimate honor that he had always strove for he left all that could have been behind. Striker would never feel or hear the honor that he had gained in the end but in a way it was never for him to have but it was a gift to all those that he would one day inspire.

The End