Chapter 1: Another Normal Day?

I groaned in annoyance, as the ringing sound of my alarm echoed all over the room. The loud beeping sound repeated itself and continued to do so unless I woke up and turned off the alarm. Given my state of sleepiness I would have threw the alarm on the wall, destroying it and giving me peace and quiet. But having did that last month, making me use up valuable bits that could have been used elsewhere; I knew that I shouldn't do it again. Alarm clocks were expensive, since the parts, like circuit boards, were hard to get. So instead, I gently went up from bed and put my hoof over the alarm and turned it off.

"Well, another boring day in my boring life…" I mumbled to myself as I got on my hooves and headed towards the bathroom.

Entering the bathroom, I immediately headed for the mirror to see how I looked. The mirror was a small piece of glass, with sharp ends poking out on the sides. It was the best that I could have gotten, especially with mirrors being a rare accommodation for most ponies. Luckily for me, the pay I get was sufficient to buy one. Since I couldn't imagine starting the day without looking on myself at the mirror.

Looking at myself at the mirror and saw my messy mane and tired blue eyes. My gray fur could be seen, as messy as my mane, while the sight of my tired face showed that I wasn't a morning person. Seeing that complaining wouldn't do anything headed towards my shower and turned it on.

I jumped in shock, as the water fell upon me, soaking my mane and fur. The water that poured was so cold that one would believe that ice was put on it. But getting warm water was a luxury for the people who lived in the upper classes districts, like Districts 4, 7, and 8, with their big houses that were the size of four apartments. I even heard that they had a park in the District, which had tall trees spread all over. Trees! (Trees being a sight that was hard to find.) But that was only a rumor. I never actually been to those districts, and till I do, the probability of trees is just the wild imagination of somepony who wanted to spread stories.

I always grew jealous on the upper class ponies, which had wide spaces to move around and green lawns surrounding their homes. Grass was only seen in those places, while dirt and trash was the common sight in the district, I lived in, District 5.

The population density here wasn't too bad compared to others, but it was still a tight place. In every block and corner, dusty worn down apartments could be seen. The apartments were usually not well kept, it was rare to see a clean apartment block, and had parts dangling from them. The paint was usually faded and it gave a gloomy feeling to anypony who walked the streets.

But one would find it hard to notice the terrible building, since the streets were always filled with ponies who were always trying to go somewhere. When you are pushed and shoved around the middle of the district, you would find it hard to look up and complain about the architecture.

Luckily for me, I usually had not trouble going around. Since nopony wanted to mess with a mare who wore the Overwatch uniform. So it usually meant that everypony kept their distance from me when I was walking to work. Which I didn't mind, since I don't like my personal space being intruded by an earth pony late for work.

Finishing up with my shower, and other preparations. I was soon ready to head out for work. Wearing my Overwatch uniform and hat I was ready to head out. My uniform was a dark gray and blue and had had sleeves that covered my fore hooves while the rest of the uniform only covered the forward part of my body. The back part of me was left exposed, leaving my cutie mark alone.

Putting on my saddle bag, I headed towards the door, and started my day.

Closing the door behind me, I made sure that my locks were working before turning around to head down stairs. But as I did, I came face to face with white unicorn, who seemed to be leaving also. Smiling, I gave a friendly nod and greeted her.

"Morning, Autumn." I said, greeting my friend.

Autumn was one of my close friends and the one I turned to when I had problems. The two of us have known each other since we were little fillies, when we attended in the same school. The two of us had experienced a fair share of adventure when we were young, which ultimately got us in trouble. I blame Autumn's rebellious personality for that, since she never seemed to like to stick to the rules and always loved to get to the bottom of things. But despite the trouble she brought me, we remained close friends, who trust each other no matter what.

"Oh, morning Silver." She said with a bright smile. I noticed a large leather bag, glowing with a green aura, floating beside. I looked at it curiously, as she locked her door, and wondered what it as about.

"Hey, what's the bag for?" I asked.

"Hmm…" She said, turning from her door and facing me. "Oh, you mean this? Well its nothing, it's just some work that I decided to do at home."

I nodded as I continued to look at the bag. Autumn worked for the gadget repair shop nearby, and was one of the best ponies for the job. She could fix anything with a circuit, no matter how hard, for a price. She sometimes likes to bring some of her work home, since she found it fun to tinker with gadgets. But it sometimes leads to trouble, like the time she almost burnt down the entire apartment block.

"Well, it looks like you didn't encounter any problems in fixing those gadgets, since I didn't smell anything burning last night." I said as we walked down the hall towards the elevator.

"Hey! That only happened once…" She said as the loud ding of the bell alerted us that the elevator was on our floor. Once it opened, she put the bag in first, before herself. I followed after her and pressed the button for the ground floor. "…and besides, it wasn't my fault."

"Yeah, yeah, go tell yourself that." I said, rolling my eyes.

My journey to work was uneventful, and I soon found myself walking towards the entrance of the Overwatch's Area 14 Headquarters. The building was plain and bland, being a box shaped structure of five floors. Its gray paint was fading, like every building in the district, and was covered with different kind of vandalism. Each Area Headquarters covered five districts and I was one of the ten (Including the night shifts.) security technicians in charge of watching the monitors.

Entering the building, I was greeted by the site of ponies dashing left to right, trying to file reports and other office stuff. I let out a small sight as I saw this, because it made me think that some ponies cared about nothing except for having their reports filed on time.

"Morning, Silver." A gray pony told me as I stepped on the 3D.P.I. (3 Dimensional Pony Identifier.) I nodded back, as the machine scanned me, and showed my identification on a nearby screen.

"Morning, Lance. Anything interesting today?"

"Nope." He said shaking his head, as he levitated a newspaper, which was today's copy of District 5 Daily News, in front of him. "Just the usual stuff and the usual ponies missing report on the news."

I shook my head and gave out a louder sigh. It always surprised my how a pony could end up missing inside the Dom. With all the cameras in every District, and every corner of Dome 541, it always surprised me how one could just simply disappear. But I just shrugged it off; it wasn't like it was my problem.

"Hey, Lance, tell the boss that I'll be checking the Circuit room for something. I'll check in once I'm done." I said, as I headed for the elevator.

"Trying to rewire your District's circuit again I see." He said, looking up from his newspaper.

"I have the clearance." I told him, as I stopped and prepared to pull out my clearance level card.

"I know and I'm not worried about that. I'm worried that a pretty mare like you might get hurt."

"I appreciate the concern, but that isn't enough to get me on a date on you." I informed him. Ever since I started working here, Lance has been trying desperately to get a date with me. Of course, that still hadn't happen. It wasn't that I didn't like him, since he was a nice and friendly guy. It was just because I think of him more as a close friend, rather than anything else.

"Well, can't blame a stallion or trying." He said, before bringing his attention back at his newspaper.

Half an hour later, I entered my work are with a weird and interesting object in my saddle bag. Taking a sit on my chair and activating the computers, I made sure that I didn't have any pending reports before placing my saddle bag on a nearby desk. I had to push of all the trash that was left behind the night shift, before having a clear place to put my bag. I swear, that guy in the night shift is untidy and lazy!

Having my bag placed on the table, I opened the bag to reveal a black metal object. The object was about a foot long and half a foot wide, and had two plugs on wither end. Earlier, when I found it, it was plug deep inside the District 5 circuit line. I didn't know what it was, or what it was doing there. But I was sure that it wasn't in the maintenance manual.

I was continuing to examine the object, trying to figure out its purpose, when a loud ringing sound echoed in the room. Turning around, I saw the main screen flashing red, alerting me that the Central Database found a target for me to look for.

'I guess I'll figure this out later.' I thought to myself, as I gently placed the object down and trotted towards the monitors.

Taking my place at my sit, and trying to get comfortable, I tapped my hooves on the keyboard and entered the codes to show the file report. But when the picture of the target popped out, my eyes grew wide as my mind couldn't believe on what I was seeing.

I stared at the monitor, looking at the picture in disbelief, as worry flooded through me. 'How could this be?' I thought. 'It can't be her. It just can't!' But a quick look at the name proved otherwise, as I felt my heart sink. I then started to worry about my friend and wonder about the possible crime she had committed. A small part of me said that it was probably nothing major and was just a minor crime like littering. But my common sense told me that the Central Database would not send an arrest for a simple crime like that.

So my wanting to help my friend and pretend that the computer had a malfunction, I started to do my jo and reluctantly look for the target. Switching from camera to camera, looking at all the monitors and combing the entire district, I soon found the target. She was standing near a dark alley, with no pony nearby; ad looked like she was waiting for someone.

I then zoomed in and activated the identifier, which matches the picture to the target located, and waited if it would match. Inside, I hoped it didn't, thinking that it would be some sort of computer error. But when the computer spoke up, I knew that there was no error.

"Target match…" It said. "Target, Autumn, confirmed and identified. As part of protocol, Control teams must be directed to the location as soon as possible."

I didn't do anything. I just stared at the screen, thinking over the situation that I faced. My friend, the best friend that was always there for me, was about to be arrested and I had the chance to stop it. I looked at the keyboard, hesitating on what to do.

But I soon sent the location, with deep regret at the action, knowing that my duty was to serve and protect the Dome and that friends were a lesser duty. But my heart felt broken as I did, as it told me that I betrayed somepony who trusted me.

Normally, by now, my monitors would become a blur and would cover the sight. But for some reason it didn't, it remained clear, giving me a complete view of the situation.

As I stared at Autumn, through the monitor, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She was going to be arrested, without her knowing it, and the one who gave her location away was her best friend.

I continued to watch, wondering why the Control team hasn't arrived yet, when something even more shocking came up on one of the monitors. From another corner, two unicorns, wearing black coats, walked towards her. Levitating in front of them were two pistols, complete with silencers and laser pointers. My heart rate begun to rise as I shook nervously. They moved at an efficient speed, levitating their guns without care, since there was nopony else in the vicinity.

I could see the two laser pointers on her body, and wanted to scream to her. I wanted to shout and inform her of the impending danger. But I knew that it would be no use, since she would not here me. Tears were streaming down my eyes and I couldn't help but break down because of what I was seeing. My whole body shook and I soon found myself crying harder than I thought I could possibly do.

Knowing that her fate would soon be sealed, and not being able to continue to watch, I shut off al the monitors. Refusing to watch my friend's impending death.

My tears were still streaming from my cheeks, when I galloped out of my work area and scream to the top of my lungs.

"An innocent pony was just killed!"