From inside of the ship, it wasn't feeling quite as extreme a design as it had, when viewed from outside.
I soon realised the bridge had been up front, just the way we had placed ours. Halls lining within the inside of the ship, just as I'm used to, lined with numerous doors to the right and left. This had started to make me feel right at home, and I guess it is showing on my bearing. Not that I actually tried to hide it. Why bother.
It isn't as if it is my first visit in an alien ship, even if I didn't count the common designs from our long time allies. When you get down to business, you'd soon realise, they're mainly all one and the same. It is at least how I see it.
The colours are different, as are the writing. I couldn't allow such small details make me trip. Not now, moving forth on all fourth, but at the time it had already grown on me, guessing it wouldn't even look as if I had ever been walking on two legs, manipulating fine tools by hand.
I had pushed these thoughts out of my head, making my best impression of speaking Equestrian. Maybe I could have slipped a Translator in, into my uniform, but we had simply decided against it.
Just as back home, the walls are merely smooth metal, lights coming from overhead, and the doors seem to slip aside for us, each and every time a door is before us. Some of the times, it is automated, other times it is my guide who pulls them open for the two of us. Her magic proving very convenient. In another time, and another life, I would have been envious, to the point of jealousy, just by looking at how easy it was to her. Only now, I knew she would have felt the same way, had she seen the ease with which I could manipulate my ship, back where I came from.
I had enjoyed to just trot behind her on our way, but eventually the inevitable came to pass, and the next pair of sliding doors opened up, only to reveal what we were here to see. Engineering, that is. I knew it was coming, but this is when it hit home, I'm here.
What came before my eyes is utterly different from what I had expected, yet much of what I see is exactly what I'm used to. The one unavoidable difference, the Ponies.
I had known they would be here, I shouldn't have expected anything but Ponies. They are all Unicorns, just like the chief Engineer, maybe that should have been expected as well. There are no earth Ponies, or Pegasi in the room.
I walked into the several stories tall room, looking right and left, trying to make sense out of what I saw. Promenades lining the walls unevenly but strategically spaced along all four walls. I immediately recognised the care, standing dead centre in the room. There are panels lining the rim of the construct of their core, just as there are more panels along the walls. The look of their panels is surprisingly like the looks of ours, even if I could see signs of numerous differences all over the room, most of which are connected to the changes in anatomy, compared with us.
Hooved Ponies naturally use no buttons of levers, or anything the like, it is too impractical to them. We had left them behind, despite the ease of use in the old days. It is just so much easier to configure the system with panels, at least it is how I saw it.
My experience as Pony may be short and brief, which is the only way it could be, unless they chosen to place me in the brig for an indefinite period of time. Even then, it would require for them to be capable of preventing my friends to beam me back home. I did not foresee any the like in the near future. Maybe I'm mistaken, but it isn't how I view the Ponies of this ship. In particular, the captain by the name of Twilight Sparkle.
Since my visor is entirely passive in nature, I can't access anything, just see everything around me, even though, I guess I still could interact with the engineers in the room. I could do a few things they can't, even as an Earth Type Pony. My hooves wouldn't do much good for direct control of the equipment, but I still could help them with a few things.
“Would you mind if I have a look around? I know I can't do all that much, since the equipment is attuned to Unicorns, as opposed to Earth Ponies, but I may be able to direct some of them towards how to improve the running of your ship!” I stated, feeling secure in my experience and expertise, aside from what I could see, that they may miss, for all I knew.
“There is a good point if I ever heard one. You can't really do all that much on your own, but if you're the chief Engineer of a ship like the one you're from, I'd put a great deal on that you'd be experienced enough to give a few good pointers. I'd be curious to see you at work, even if it's not your own ship, at least not this time!” she responded, thus telling me to proceed.
I started by simply looking over the room, starting out with the core, since it is the most obvious of all there could ever be. Then moving from station to station, instrument by instrument, looking into everything I could make out from where I stand, mere yards from the door.
Once I had scanned the room casually, I moved forwards towards the core, walking slowly around it, scanning each and every panel, as well as looking directly into the systems at hand. From what I could see, everything is in order, which would have been expected, or we wouldn't be here at all. All I could make out are a few minor anomalies.
“This is interesting. I may be new to your ship, but everything seems to be exactly where I had expected it to be. I'm not saying I'm disappointed, but I guess I should be just a little bit surprised?” I pointed out with more nonchalance to the words than I had initially intended.
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