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// prologue: giving life 
// Story: Project F.R.I.E.N.D.S.H.I.P. 
// by SaltWriter the leviapony 
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It was another beautiful morning in the hills of Equestria. The palace of Canterlot shined with the suns rays and the town bustled with it's usual activity. And just off the mountain, to the west of the town, stood a lonely house, build into the rock, so as to make it invisible to only the most vigilant of flyers.  It was designed Victorian, with tall spires, a grey exterior, and rounded windows. In this house, a earth pony resides, and feeling lazy, woke with a yawn today.
“Huh, looks like another late start today.” the pony said with a stretch. This pony was named Tinkerer, known for his clock Cutie Mark and scientific genius. As he walked into the bathroom, he looked at the face in the mirror. The stallion was handsome, not old enough for age to show, but out of the young stage of adulthood.
“Darn it, looks like I need to reapply the dyes again,” He shook his head at the dull colors he saw in the mirror. Being the genius he was, he had extended his life through magic and science. Unfortunately, the colors of his body had faded from the experience, and he had to dye his fur and hair to make himself presentable.
He placed the bright blue dye into the bath water, and wrapped a cloth around his tail and mane to keep the colors out.  A ten minute soak later, he got out of the bath, drying off with a towel and removing the covers from his hair and tail. His fur had returned to it's navy blue sheen, and with a comb, he brushed out his hair, giving it a dark red look with striped grey. And, applying green eye lenses, he went downstairs to get some breakfast.
“Buttercup, did you get my meal from the shop?” He spoke out, laying down on the couch near the kitchen.
“Of course” the unicorn spoke out, her voice coming from the kitchen, “I got them at the same time you asked, but since you slept late today, I had to put it in the fridge.”
“Thank you, I know my weird sleep schedule is odd to you, but I like to make sure I don't break into a routine.” As he said this, the lanky unicorn walked into the living room, carrying the aforementioned breakfast. Buttercups orange and white swirled hair swished as she entered, her maids outfit covering most of her caramel fur. Her chocolate eyes looked over the items in front of her, the warm coffee, the white chocolate muffin, and cream for his  breakfast.
“No problem doc, and your items are ready for work.” She placed the clothes next to the table, and went off to the balcony to place the larger bag she held onto it.
“You didn't open that bag, did you?”
“No sir, you told me to wash the outside of it, drain it, and keep the bag clean. I didn't look in.”
“Very good, didn't want you to worry.” he nodded at the mention, and picked up the grey lab coat she placed on the table and put it on. In the front pocket, he found a headset and placed it on.
“Operation, code dragon, send Fangorn to pick me up, thank you.” After saying this, he placed the headset back into his pocket, walked over to Buttercup and gave her a kiss on the cheek, causing the unicorn to blush.
“Doc, i know you don't mean it, but could you..”
“I do this as a means of appreciation.” The Tinkerer said, putting a hoof over her mouth. “Love is so easily forgotten, but compassion is remembered much longer” As he said this, he pulled out a small bag of bits and placed it onto the floor.
“Whats this for?” she asked, picking up the bag with her magic.
“Just something to occupy your time while you wait between lunch and cleaning. Go get yourself a soak in the local spa, you deserve it.”
“Thank you, thank you. I don't know what to say.”
“Just have lunch ready by twelve thirty.” The unicorn nodded, taking the bag and heading out to get changed. The Tinkerer nodded at the sight, and went onto the balcony to wait for his ride. Buttercup had been born with a talent for origami, and because of that, never had a chance for a real job. He still remembered coming across her in the market, playing with a few sheets of paper. He had called her Buttercup for her coat color, and a paper pony later, she followed him around. Maid was just what he wanted her to do, being close in his house (and out of his dangerous experiments)
“There you are friend, have a good sleep?!” He shouted out at the figure approaching from around the mountain. The figure landed on the balcony with a thud, turning towards the Tinkerer with a smile.
“As much as I could with the bed I have in the lab.” The dragon retorted, bending his back with small popping noises. He was still small for a dragon, but large enough to make a pony scared of his appearance. He has grey scales, covered with leather straps to hold on his polished stone armor. The spikes on his back were a stark orange, but the strangest part of his appearance was the blue blindfold, covering his eyes.
“Sorry my friend, we can’t have real gems and gold in our lab for sanitation reasons. But that's a minor thing to gripe on, I have something special for today.” as he said this, he gave the bag a gentle kick, the dragon looking in the direction of the sound. It was a shame he had been blinded by being born through a wall, but it didn't matter to the Tinkerer, he enjoyed his other senses, and he even taught him magic to give some sight to him.
“Where did you find this, you didn't do this yourself, did you?” Fangorn asked, sniffing the bag with a blank expression.
“Of course not, I found it on the edge of the Everfree, she was practically dead from Timberwolf bites and scratches.”
“So this will be the thing to start your new project?”
“Yes, her soul is still in the body, and when I place it into Project Time breaker, we will finally begin my most ambitious experiment. After some time to train her, of course.”
“Very well, I’ll take your word on it, and see it for myself.” The Tinkerer smiled at his friend's statement, leaping onto Fangorn's back and settling into the straps on his back. The dragon picked up the large bag, and flew off the balcony, flying around the mountain away from Canterlot, and circling around the back of the rock. The Tinkerer pushed a button on his headset, and a large door open up in the mountainside, the dragon turning to the sound of it opening and flew inside.
As he flew into the building, Fangorn placed his feet onto the guide rails in the floor and was slowed down to a stop. As he placed the bag down, ponies in lab coats (their fur and hair dyed grey and their Cutie Marks obscured to keep their identities secret) helped The Tinkerer down and showed the two through the doors to the main lab.
“Are all things going on schedule in the upper divisions?” The Tinkerer asked one of the coated ponies, holding out a hoof to the pony.
“Yes sir, the labs are on schedule, Otaku is down the hall waiting for you, and Ms. Keros is down stair in the testing rooms.”
“Thanks you, I hope to finish one of our major operations today, and having them prepared assures me of our success.” As he spoke, the pony handed him a pair of anklets, the objects he placed eagerly onto his hoofs, smiling as he activated the magic devices. He may not be a unicorn, but these allowed him to perform magic on his own accord. He and Fangorn made there way down the hall, passing doors where minor scientist worked on small products. Nothing major, just candies and products to make a quick bit (and fund the deeper research). As they made their way down the hall, a Pegasus saw them, and beaming, waved them down the hall.
“Tink, hey, what's up, my friend?” The Tinkerer cringed at his friends abbreviation of his name, but recovered from it as he embraced the Pegasus with a hug.
“So Otaku, how are things going with you Keros? I imagine you would have moved to the next step by now?” The pink Pegasus blushed at his comment, his left wing twitching from its resting spot on his grey lab coat. As his name suggested, he was a anime fan, several buttons from his favorite series aligned his coat, his blush vanished when he saw the bag in Fangorn's claws, and he rushed over to it, his dyed purple hair bouncing as he got close to it.
“This bag is for bodies, are you going to put a REAL SOUL into the project downstairs?”
“It would be more reliable then AI systems here in Equestria. Besides, she was near death anyway when I picked it up.”
“Cool, Its a bit weird to use a body, but HEY, this is what I signed up for.” Otaku said with a shrug as the three friends made their way to the elevator at the end of the hall. Otaku pushed the keys into the elevator, the doors sliding open, and the three went inside. Otaku pressed a key code onto the pad in the elevator wall, and the three descended towards the lower levels of the lab.
When the doors opened, a different sight was before them. The white floors were pooled in grey lights, and the ponies that worked down here were silent, hand picked and made to work in secret on the darker experiments that went down. The ponies that worked here had only the routine of their lives to do, always silent, and never to leave.
As the three made their way down the hall, a figure was communing with some of the local hands, and upon seeing the three, waved off the others and approached, giving Otaku a hug. She was a changeling, but had been mutated by accident, making her apart of the Tinkerers team. She was white instead of black, with a neon green shell and electric blue eyes. Her tail and mane had turned a violet from the mutation, and instead of the regular wings, she had a set of 2 dragonfly wings, and an intelligence brewed from being The Tinkerers second in command.
“I had hoped you’d come down soon, we just finished the last few preparations for the Alicorn, and we were waiting for you to start.” The changeling voice of hers ringed in the small hall that they were in, and as she broke off the hug, Otaku blushed hard, his pink fur showing the red off well.
“I brought something for that too, Keros.” as The Tinkerer said this, Fangorn walked past them with the bag, placing it on the floor near the door to the lab.
“Yes, you had said you wanted to use a soul for the Alicorn, but I didn't think you would..”
“I didn't kill it, if that’s what you’re thinking.” The Tinkerer said, waving a hoof dismissively at the statement.
“Very well, you go ahead and put the soul in, I’ll prep the chambers and make sure everything's stable for the transference.”
The Tinkerer nodded, levitating the bag with his artificial magic and walking through the door to the machine that lay on the table. To the untrained eye, it would have looked like an unfinished animatronic, or perhaps a Nightmare Night costume. It was a Alicorn, a layer of leather working as the skin over it's metallic body. It sat strapped to the table, as if it would jump to life at any moment, despite a lack of light in it's eyes.
“Now young one, it's time to give you a new life, and be apart of something beyond your own life.” As he said this, his eyes went a pale yellow color, a magic ring appearing around the bag he had on the floor. As the glow continued, the robot began to glow with a similar glow.
“animae, novum transferrem ad corpus!” (This is a Latin spell, it was how he used magic, and with his gauntlets, he could use spells). As he said this, a wisp came out of the bag, following the trail of yellow, and landing in the mechanical body. When the glow died, the Tinkerer collapsed on the ground, breathing heavy from the spell, the bag dissolving when the glow died. 
“You weren't kidding Doc, the soul is already adapting, and energy readings are rising steadily. Begin activation process.” Keros’ words rang through speakers in the facility, and 4 workers rushed into the room. The three in front ran past the Tinkerer, carrying equipment to the robotic body on the panel, it's eyes now glowing pink and electric pulses coursed through the veins. A 4th unicorn picked up the Doc and the lifeless body with its magic and brought the Tinkerer back into the testing chamber, laying him down by Fangorn and rushing off to prepare the body for later work.
“Stay focused, magic shields up, attach battery, revoke regulators, run the artificial blood, and finalize status codes.” Keros continued to say orders into the speakers, the ponies working fast to comply with the orders. The Doc, with Fangorn and Otaku nearby, began to recover from his magic spell. Getting up, he walked over to the window, supported by Otaku.
“Soon, my greatest experiment, will be ready, and with time, the tests, will begin.” The Doc spoke in ragged breaths, not fully recovered yet. As he watched, the scientists began to back away, the Alicorn had been stabilized and the lights had been dimmed for the initial activation.
“We’re ready to activate her now.” Keros whispered, nodding to the Tinkerer and Otaku. The two nodded, getting into position by the window, Otaku on the left and the Doc in the middle. With a signal, the lights were dimmed, and the robot was raised so that her head was facing them, a switch was flicked, and the three watched as the machine activated.
Jade woke up with a start, trying to turn her head to see around her. That was when she made two realizations, she could only move her eyes, and she couldn't feel her body. She began to panic, her eyes darting around to see anything she could recognize.
“If you calm down, you may get answers to your questions faster.” Jades panic stopped as she heard a deep voice come from in front of her. Steadying her breathing, she focused her eyes forward. She saw three figures, a Pegasus, an earth pony, and a unicorn, their bodies covered in silhouette from the way the lights were. They seemed almost dead still, except for an occasional twitch from the Pegasus.
“You are dead, that means you are ours and ours to keep, accept that now, and things will go much smoother for your new life.” Jade saw that the earth pony was speaking, he seemed to be the leader of this operation, and his tone oozed with enough truth to hurt.
“You will now be referred to as Time striker the Alicorn, only for now. When we identify your cutie mark, you will get your normal name among us.” This was the unicorn speaking, her voice much softer compared to the earth pony. She must be a second in command if she spoke next.
“Well, ok….one two three. Darn it, this head….works right for once.” the Pegasus was talking this time, his voice cutting in and out by the faulty audio, but it was fixed as he continued, his voice edged from embarrassment.
“Sorry about that, anyway, You will be put through several trials to make sure you work properly. We will also do our best to make sure you are comfortable. You are now apart of our family, and we will do GREAT things once you get to know us…..did I do well?” he turned to the earth pony to see, and he nodded at the Pegasus. She saw him give a hoof bump to the earth pony, and he turned to her and spoke again.
“You are very special my dear, and we will make sure you become a legend in Equestria.” Jade almost thought she saw a smile grow on his face. The sight of it made her shudder, what could they be planning for her, and what was she now, that she needed tests? Before she could say anything, she felt something switch off in her mind, and she fell into a dreamless sleep.