Dome 541
By
Tealfeather123
Prologue
The Domes were built to house communities that worked on the underwater farms and mines, which supported the Equestrian economy. They were sprawled all over the depths of the waters near Equestria and was the ideal place for ponies to start over and leave their past behind. But that was before the war. The war which resulted to doomsday and the end of the habitable world above. The world ponies once knew and loved. Now the domes have a new mission. To be a place where refugees, from all walks of life, could live and escape the horrors of radiation, the covered the lands above, and death. But little did they know, more horrible things wait inside the metal domes.
One would think that working as a security technician, having full access to all the cameras at your assigned district, would be an exciting and interesting job that requires great skill and concentration. Well it's not. Skill and concentration wasn't really hard to get, since my cutie mark (which was a security camera) was literally made for the job. While the entire job was just plain boring. All I had to do is sit in my chair and wait for a file, search for the pony indicated and direct 'Control' teams towards them. Of course there was still the chance of catching a glimpse of the arrest or resistance of the wanted pony and being able to watch an exciting chase through the district. But that never happened and that was all because of the faulty cameras.
Sure, its fine when I searched through the district, searching and identifying the wanted pony. But once the Control team closes in on the target, my monitors suddenly turn black and gray, obscuring my view and giving me no chance to watch the arrest in which I help in. So it made it hard being proud of doing my job, knowing that I couldn't see the end result.
Of course I tried fixing the problem many times, by going through the main 'Circuit' and rewiring everything. But the only end result I got there was a bad mane day, which I didn't want to repeat again. My blue mane would prefer to stay soft and flat, rather that sticking up and burnt.
So I concluded that it must have been the cameras, who were probably way older than me, fault.
With all this problems, my job was pretty much miserable and boring. Especially when I get assigned to the quiet district, where nothing happens. So you would probably understand why I want some excitement in my veins.
Most of my day was spent sitting on my chair and watching the monitors and staying alert for crime. But I have been working here for almost a year now and I know that there hasn't been a single crime committed in this district that was caught on camera. Si it always surprised me how I get a picture of a pony, who supposedly committed a crime, and asked to search for them.
My inner senses tell me that something was weird about that fact, but my inner logic told me that they were criminals from another district. Since criminals crossing districts weren't uncommon.
With nothing to do, I spent most of my days laying back and doodling on a piece of paper. But since I was a Pegasus and found it difficult to hold a pencil, since pencils hate us that way, my drawing turned up to be crude and plain terrible.
But it doesn't mean I wasn't proud of my works of art, since I hang all of them on the wall to the right. Many question why there were drawings made by a five year old unicorn on my wall, but I remain silent. To embarrass to tell them that I drew them.
Occasionally looking at the monitors, I could see nothing happening but ponies walking around, heading for work and going home. I had a total of ten monitors in front of me and they gave me full coverage of every corner in my district of authority.
In the center was a gigantic monitor, where feed from other cameras could be displayed. The main monitor was the one I usually use or work, and by work I mean filing reports, and other stuff. But ever since I got caught playing space invaders on the screen, my bosses made sure that the only files in there were related to work.
All the monitors were connected to the main CPU which intern was connected to the 'Circuit' and 'Central Database'. The Circuit was the main line of connection to the cameras, and anything the camera sees must first go through the Circuit. Each district had their own independent Circuit, so that when one circuit was down, the other Circuits in other district would still be online.
The Central Database was located at the Ministry of Intelligence's building, located somewhere deep within their headquarters. It contained the records of everypony in Dome 541, from their birthdays to where they last ate lunch. So in other words, one could say that the Ministry of Intelligence was one big group of stalkers and that the Central Database was their filing cabinet.
Anyways, getting back to the topic… The Database was where all of the wanted ponies list comes from. So when I get a task to locate one, the Central Database would send a picture and a brief description, along with the possible location of the target. But I always wonder why they never sent me the crime the target had committed, but who am I to think of such things. I'm only a simple security technician
My main screen would usually flash red, three times, before this file appears. Once the file appears, I would search for the pony ad once that's done, I would call the Control team.
The Control team were basically the law in the Domes. Their job was to keep law and order and avoid chaos. They were charged with patrolling the districts and making sure that everypony was safe.
When I was younger, I always dreamed of being one of them. The idea of arresting evil doers always thrilled me and I remember playing around with friends, and pretending that I was a member of the Control team and they were the criminals.
But of course, my cutie mark told me otherwise. So I got the next best thing, working for the 'Overwatch' (The Overwatch being the organization in charge of monitoring the districts and pinpointing targets for the Control team). Which wasn't that bad, since I got to work with the Control team every time I got the opportunity. Now only if I could get those cameras fixed…
Anyways, that's basically what I do every day. Not the most exciting job, nor the most professional either, yet the job I was tasked with. Being a loyal citizen of Dome 541, I knew that, although my job looked small, it was still important for the proper cycle of life inside the Dome.
So with that, this is Security Technician Silver Wing, signing off for now.