Synthetically Intelligent Neutral Equine

The room holds a silence, and a rock sturdy sense of stillness. From outside the sound of hoofsteps echo through the hall. A door opens to inside the room and two stallions enter. One is white with a labcoat on and has a silverish mane, the other is green with a stubby black and white mane, and wearing glasses.

“Nitrogen, you clearly said to get a loaf of bread, and if they had apples to get sixty.” The one with glasses said, following the other through the door.

“Binary, you came back with sixty loaves of bread.” Nitrogen said in a slightly annoyed voice as he closed the door with his blue magic.

“They had apples!” Binary yelled out in defence.

Nitrogen sighed. “Forget it, next time I’m sending you with a list.” He looked to the back of the room where two metallic eyes were already staring back. “You ready to run the functional diagnostics?” He asked Binary without looking.

“Already started.” Binary said, walking to the back of the room with a flashlight.

“Have you figured out a way we could talk to it yet?” Nitrogen asked, looking back at Binary, who was pointing a light in one of the eyes.

“No, we never put in how to talk, but it does have the capability to learn." He turned his head around to Nitrogen. "Remember how the first few days it didn’t move, and now it can sit like it is now?”

Nitrogen nodded to himself before speaking. “Yeah, it just laid there.”

Binary moved the light to the second eye, which immediately tightened in the center as the other had. “It’s still learning how to use its PCU, but the automatic functions in the eye all work.” He turned off the light and set it on the ground, freeing it from his tan-colored magic. Still looking at they eye, he saw the inner part untighten. “Mechan really did a good job with the eyes.”

“Nothing she does fails to amaze me.” Nitrogen said, looking over what he wrote down in a notebook.

~ ~ ~

Nitrogen Nickel

Canterlot Labs; Section XII

Experiment Day #51

6:20, afternoon

Entry 15

Subject SINE was still sitting upon my and Binary’s entrance into the room. Other than the eyes following us, the subject remained still, and quiet over the course of observation. Automatic functions of the eye are reportedly operational.

~ ~ ~

“It feels more like being with a deaf and mute pony than it feels like being with a robot.” Binary said, re-levitating his flashlight and going to stand next to Nitrogen. “You know it won’t learn much about anything just sitting in a plain room.” He added, now next to Nitrogen looking at SINE.

“I know.” Nitrogen said with a sigh. “But until we know what to do next we have to keep it here. Besides, it won’t be moving much until it learns how to walk.”

“Yes, but it won't be moving much so long as it’s in this room.” Binary’s horn glowed and a cookie levitated up from a pocket in Nitrogen’s lab coat. Slowly he brought it to the side of his mouth and, with a loud crunch, took a bite.

“Hey!” Nitrogen said turning quickly to see the cookie then checking his empty pocket. “That was mine.”

“I just did you a favor.” Binary said. “It’s stale.”

“Now you owe me a new one.” Nitrogen said, reverting his eyes back to SINE.

“And you owe me a fresh one.” Binary said, taking a second bite. “I have an idea.” He said, after swallowing.

“What is it?” Nitrogen asked.

“How about you do the shopping.” He said with a large smile, putting the last part of the cookie in his mouth.

Nitrogen opened the door and rolled his eyes. “Brilliant.” He went through the door, into the hall and Binary followed out and closed the door behind him.

"Well, you know how the saying goes. If you want something done right you got to do it yourself." Binary said, following Nitrogen around a corner.

"That project back there disproves that saying." He stopped in front of a door. "One moment Binary." He pushed a door open, inside the walls were covered in diagrams and notes, near the back a light blue unicorn with a charcoal mane turned from some blueprints on a table.

“Yes?” She asked.

"Mechan, it's eyes are working perfectly. Also, have you seen CC around?"

"That's great." Mechan said. "And no, I haven't seen her."

"Alright, thanks anyway." He closed the door and looked back at Binary. "Anyways, if I had tried building that myself it wouldn't have worked."

"You don't know that." Binary said, sounding optimistic.

"I do know that, I know very well that I couldn't have put in each part and programmed it." He said, pointing down the hall. He pointed to the door he had just closed. "Wish me the best of luck for an ear or an eye!"

"Why would you want an ear or an eye?" Binary asked.

"Not literal." Nitrogen responded.

"While we're on the topic of ears and eyes. I think that if we took it out of that room and just did our normal interactions in front of it, then it would learn to speak."

"Why do you say that?" Nitrogen asked.

"How did you learn to speak?" Binary replied, throwing him a smile.

"Whatever." Nitrogen said, moving past Binary. "Too bad we can't do that."

"Why not?" Binary asked, following him.

"Because we still don't know what it can do."

"Nor does it."

"We just need to finish the tests."

Binary ran in front of him. "I programmed it to gather information, so that's what it will do. There isn't much information that can be gathered in that room, and there isn't much of an incentive to move either.“

“Binary. I’m sorry, but for the time being we shouldn’t let it leave that room. Now please move, I have to find CC.” He lightly pushed him aside and walked past. Binary watched him disappear around a corner, and listened as his hoofsteps faded into the walls.

“If you won’t let it learn...” He said looking down the hall the other way. “Then I will.” He started trotting back, turned a corner and knocked on a door.

“Who is it?” Mechan’s voice asked.

“It’s Binary.” He replied.

“Come in.” She said, opening the door with her blue magic. “Is there something you need?” She asked, looking up from a blueprint.

“You told me earlier that you made the ears able to pick up low level sounds.”

Mechan looked at him in the doorway. “Yes...”

“Can you turn that feature on?” He asked.

Mechan looked confused. “Yeah... why?”

A smile spread over Binary’s face. “Because we’re going to help it learn.”

"What?" She asked, in further confusion.

"Just bring what you need." Binary said, disappearing from the doorway.

Mechan got up and trotted down the hall after him. "Wait! What do you mean we're going to help it learn?" She turned a corner and found him outside the door to its room.

"You ready?" He asked.

"For what?" She replied, a puzzled look on her face.

Binary held out a hoof over her mouth. "Shhh... If it hears enough then it will learn to understand what it's hearing."

Mechan pushed away his hoof. "What are we doing?"

"We're going to help it hear better." He opened the door and motioned her to follow him. When they entered the room there were two familiar eyes looking at them. “Hey look, it has your eyes.” He said jokingly.

Mechan was staring at it. “Is it... moving?”

“Yeah.” Binary said looking at it. It’s head was looking at her, then at him, then back to him, and so on. “It’s fascinated with us, since it doesn’t get much to look at in here.”

“The last time I saw it, it was laying down.” She said, slowly moving towards it, trying to avoid looking at the emotionless look on its face; which she found unsettling. Binary held its attention while she went around to an ear. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” She said, reaching into Sine’s ear with her magic and pulling an antenna out.

“That’s fashionable.” Binary said in a sarcastic tone as he leaned against the wall watching.

Mechan ignored him and did the same to the other ear, after which she turned to him. “It's functionable.” She replied, unphased by the remark.

“So are swim fins.” He said. “That doesn’t mean they’re pretty.”

Mechan rolled her eyes. “Be quiet.” She said, nudging him aside. She got in front of Sine and looked it in the eyes. They moved to examine its face. “You’re right.” She said with a smile, “It does have my eyes.”

“It has your ears too.” He said, giggling at the antennas.

She rolled her eyes and looked at him. “Yeah? Well it has your thoughts.”

“Actually, it’s not really thinking yet.” Binary said, immediately regretting saying it as Mechan started to laugh.

“Yeah.” She said between outbursts of laughter. “It definitely has your thoughts.” She started laughing harder and fell on her back.

“Do you want to see how it thinks?” Binary asked, taking no offense to her laughter.

“Sure.” She said, still giggling. She held out a hoof and Binary helped her up. “I don’t think I’ve seen your workroom yet.” She said as they were walking out the door.

“Guess it’s time you saw it then.” Binary responded as he closed the door.

As they walked down the hall, they left behind a room with a robot in it. Its eyes were open, looking at the door. But its ears saw further than the door. Down narrow halls and through the walls. It was seeing the world now, not through its eyes, but through the echoes that drifted down the hallways. Sine heard it all, things beyond sight. Slowly it looked up to them, and copied an expression it had just seen. Slowly, the corners of Sine’s mouth went up.