Personal Pony Welcoming Committee {Stephen}

[Twilight Sparkle]

After several hours of extensive training and a few dry runs, Twilight Sparkle was finally deemed ready to help mentor a new arrival. She'd been given a folder with some of the background information, some of which was rather... interesting. Something about how the VRD believed that he was a robot or had been a robot or something. In all honesty, Twilight wasn't about to dismiss that; she was a unicorn, after all. Plus, who knows, a robot might be very interesting. and she might have tucked away some information pamphlets she'd made on C.A.U.S., just maybe.

The only problem was that Twilight had spent so much time preparing that, well, she had lost track of time. As far as she was considered, this was akin to a sin, especially for the first day. It was just... just awful. So Twilight ended up sprinting toward the arranged meeting place, a section of the grounds that was rather central and not quite officially in any area. Unfortunately, Twilight was not the most athletic of individuals. It had been even worse lately, since she'd been spending nearly all her time holed up and studying, going over charts and trying to determine variables.

So now, she was still some ways off from the designated meeting place, bent over double and panting hard. A pen was stuck behind one ear, and she knew she had her pad in another. Her official mentor badge was pinned to her vest too, which would likely make her look at least a little more official. The harried appearance wasn't going to help matters. Twilight pulled herself upright, took a deep breath, and tried to speed-walk the rest of the way.

"Please still be there, please," she murmured, looking to check the time. She wasn't that late... right?

[Stephen Schmeling]

Stephen had spent most of his time just grumping around.  Everything was all green and organic and nature-y, he hated it.  Furthermore, it was a great fallacy of logic that he, a genius among the Cybertronian race, was to be taught by a mere fleshling.  How embracing.  The cleaver former-robot tended to have a hard time taking orders because he always had his own plans in mind.  Of those plans, Steph had a right mind to get his real body back and confront that slagging purple mech himself.  First though, oh how we wanted to cause some destruction - just out of spite too.   Other than being able to fly again, what he most desired was his signature weapons back.  He somehow doubted that the Earth's technology alone would be enough to let him conduct at least one new Null Ray, but he'd never been the type to not at least try.  The man in the red vest snarled and jerked his head down to check the stupid time-telling device on his wrist.  He never thought he'd miss his internal clock so much (because glancing down was so much of a hassle).  Steph let his body crash down on a steel school bench and folded his arms haughtily.

"Where is that flesh creature?  If he was a Decepticon, such tardiness would be punished," Quipped his unpleasantly high-pitched voice.

Glancing to either side, having not spotted the mentor yet, Steph's mind went back to his weapons.  What would he even use as a base for it?  It's not like military jets were just sitting around for him to steal a gun off up and even so, his squishy body wasn't big or strong enough to even hold it up.  Bringing his flesh-hand to the bridge of his nose, he sighed heavily.  Something needed to be vandalized for his frustration.  Spotting a stone on the ground, he bent slightly and snatched it from the ground.  Finding a target quickly, the now-smirking man chucked the projectile toward a nearby recycle bin.  The rock hit its target and left a dent.  Not seeing the bin fall, Steph frowned.

Slightly disappointed, he took his gaze away from the plastic thing.  Finally his pale eyes discovered the strange-haired fleshling.  A female? The whiner lifted a critical brow. Did the hair color indicate perhaps that the organic was an alien race? Who cared? A fleshling's a fleshling.

"Vector Sigma," He snorted dryly.

[Twilight Sparkle]

He was there. He didn't look happy, but he was most definitely there. Standing impatiently and, well, Twilight thought that she'd just seen him chuck a rock at a nearby trashcan. Aaaaand the trash can was dented. Well, Rainbow could get destructive when left to her own impulses (something that Twilight had learned first hand). Who was to say that someone else wouldn't get fidgety just from standing around? Not like Twilight couldn't fix it.

She needed to catch her breath first. Which mostly meant standing in front of Stephen for several seconds, her chest heaving with the effort. Twilight held up a finger, silently begging for a moment. She thought she heard him say something. Vector Sigma? Weren't those letters or something? Twilight pushed it aside. She could very well be hearing things. Rising fully upright, she took a deep breath. First things first: she looked over to the trash can, focusing for a few moments. A purple glow of wavy energy surrounded it for a moment, before the dent popped out with a slight metallic ring. Nodding, Twilight turned to look at Stephen.

"Hello! I'm Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here to be your Mentor and help you make the transfer to your new life," she prattled, sounding far too cheerful by half. She beamed a smile at him, before having to reach up and move aside some of her deep purple hair that had fallen dangerously close to her mouth. Once that was tucked back, she pulled up her pad and pulled the pen from behind her ear. "Right, so you're... Stephen Sch--Schmeling? Right?" She looked up, a hopeful expression on her face, one to match her smile. "Glad to meet you, Stephen."

[Stephen Schmeling]

He swiveled his head slightly, fallowing the female's line of vision. Pale eyes fell upon the bin he'd taken his anger out on and screwed shut quickly upon hearing the dent pop out. The former bot of science, obviously, wasn't going to first assume magic; rather, he knew that some fleshlings had access to advanced technologies. He was used to, however, seeing some sort of laser gun or similar item being pointed at the object that was to be modified. Steph had a bit of perplexity shown on his face before blinking and turning his head back.

Still feeling a bit grumpy, the man only returned the woman's friendliness with a small annoyed sneer.  He might have been slightly less rude if he were in a better mood.  Then again, Steph's never been noted for his kindness and if he appears to act genuinely altruistic, it's for a selfish reason.  He is, and will likely always be, a Decepticon to the core.  His unhappy expression faltered a small bit as he listened to his "mentor" give her speech.  What kind of name was Twilight Sparkle?  Oh sure, Steph was no stranger to silly names, but somehow the word "sparkle" came off a significantly less manly than the convoluted titles he was used to.  Upon hearing the name that the fleshlings gave to him, he pursed his lips slightly.  He was more than prepared to voice his opinions at that point.

"I had a new life before I was dropped here!  I was finally leader of the Decepticons!  It is my rightful place, and I have no interest in staying here," Spat the truly indignant man, "You may tell your superior that they will great making me, Starscream, their enemy."

The red-vested former-robot ended his speech with a hammy pose, with a fist pointed toward the sky.  Finally stepping down a bit of his high horse, Steph gave Twilight another quick lookover.  He was still wondering if she was an alien race.  Although, the idea that she might have been in the same situation as him never crossed his mind.

"Are you not also dissatisfied?" He wanted to know.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight was, by now, used to the rantings that other ponies made. Mostly because she'd engaged in some epic level variations herself. That was part of the reason she'd opted for this job. well, that and to pretty well take advantage of precisely the sort of openings like the one that Stephen provided for her. But we'll get to that, back to her mostly staring with an expression that was part "I feel your pain" and part "just let it all out." Though "Decepticons" and "Starscream" were definitely not things that Twilight wanted to hear. She wasn't stupid; she'd dealt with Discord directly, not to mention Queen Chrysalis.

She let him hold the pose though, again remembering Discord all too strongly. Except they'd actually managed to convert Discord. If only Fluttershy was here; Twilight didn't have the patience for this sort of thing. She opened her mouth to say something, but he'd already turned to look her over again and talk, and Twilight found her mouth closing almost automatically.

"Well, yes," she admitted, knowing it was hardly the official line she should be giving. Somewhere, her official trainer was groaning. "This isn't at all like my home, and I was definitely transformed from coming here. I used to be a unicorn, after all," she nodded, but wanted to keep going before the standard questions popped: "Coming here took away most of my magic too, but it's coming back. There's several of us looking for a way back too. So you're definitely not alone in that."

Another nod, and then Twilight held up her clipboard. "But we have to get you settled first. You have to get adjusted to this world before you can start figuring out how to leave. Trust me, it's much better that way."

[Stephen Schmeling]

Stephen started to cross his arms again, but paused short as he listened.  It looked like this member of his so-called "enemies" is not the same mindless drone sort that he encountered before.  His eyes opened up a bit wider.  Unicorn - as in the Earthling mythological equine?  Now that was just silly.  Oh well, more than half of the Decepticons he knew were crazy and convinced they were something they weren't (himself, in his firm opinion, obviously not included).  Most of the time, that sort of lunacy tired his only nerve, but, he knew, they could be easier and more dangerous to manipulate.  But even so, Steph had to admit that the flesh female sounded a small bit educated.  If that wasn't a welcome trait, he didn't know what was.  The treacherous man let a sly smirk appear.

"Intelligent and insane, I see?  How fascinating," His shrill voice crooned, before rather quickly turning the focus back on himself, "I think perhaps the most irking facet of this transition is the lack of power.  It's unfortunate the fleshlings aren't graced with operational wings, or else I might be 'adjusted' better."

He looked over his shoulder toward his back, where his jet wings usually were placed.  He still hadn't gotten used to not having them.  At least he could fit through doors a little easier without those things getting in the way.  But at the price of loosing his ability to fly, Steph would have gladly dealt with occasionally having to turn to one side to enter a room.  Loosing his armor, freakish robot strength and weapons as well was unacceptable!

"This body is a curse.  However," He lifted his chin slightly, "I am familiar already with this planet."

[Twilight Sparkle]

Lack of power? Yeah, that wasn't sending up all kinds of warning flags or anything. Most people complained about being torn away from their loved ones or their goals or something. Twilight did whine occasionally about the draining of her magic, but that had been decidedly secondary compared to being torn away from her friends. For now though, she kept her lips closed, almost too tightly, instead nodding a little. She could, after all, understand the frustration that came with the side effects of Shifting.

"Some of the flesh--people," fleshlings? And Twilight thought calling everyone "pony" was bad. "Some of the people around here used to have wings too. They're adjusting," poorly, "and there are alternative means of flight around. We can't actually use any of them, since that kind of transportation is fairly strictly limited, but it does exist.

"As for our bodies being curses, well, they are a bit awkward, but I'm sure you'll get used to them. Look at it as a new experience!" Twilight had to put a lot of forced cheer into that, and she nearly did a fist pump. Nearly, mostly because she had a feeling that such a gesture would mostly just earn her a lidded-eyed stare from Stephen. He struck her as that kind of person, or ex-robot or whatever. She knew she had one last little detail, however: "And I assure you, this world is not whatever world you came from. It's totally different. And even if it is," she shot this out quickly, attempting to smother protests, "you won't know your way around or how things work. You'll need an ID card and to figure out your housing and all kinds of things that are essentially to Tenebrae Estates."

Twilight nodded confidently, smiling in a nearly smug manner. "Now, where would you like to start? Getting your ID picture? Seeing your new house? Looking through the job registry?"

[Stephen Schmeling]

"I had a suspicion that normal human towns didn't have an air fleet to spare.  How unfortunate," He hissed under his breath.

Because if they did, he would have been out of there by now.  Steph was more than convinced he was qualified to fly a plane, seeing as how he was a literal jet.  Being a jet and flying one couldn't have been too different.  The more he thought about it, the more the fact that he lost his own wings and thrusters bothered him.  The ability to fly was something he was so used to, he often forgot he couldn't do it any more, even in a human body.  There needed to be some kind of technical solution to that problem.  He decided to let it go for the moment; it was just starting to make him depressed.  The smaller man let out a deep sigh before picking his head back up again.

"So far, human, the process doesn't sound unfamiliar to me.  Only a small bit tedious."

And unnecessary.

"Concerning your employment functions, I would like to mention that I have extensive credentials in the scientific and leadership fields.  I happened to be high-ranking officer in the Decepticon army.  However," Steph paused to glance at the sky, where he thought his home planet, Cybertron, still existed, "I assume that I am overqualified for such meaningless tasks, or that my skills will not be appreciated by most humans."

He clenched his teeth a little, remembering just how close he was to achieving leadership over the Decepticons.  What was he point in even pretending to have a life on Earth?

[Twilight Sparkle]

Yeah, this guy couldn't sound more like a villain if he started evilly laughing and twisting his mustache after every other line. Twilight nearly rolled her eyes. Did he really think that he was fooling anybody? Okay, so maybe some of Twilight's friends would have been fooled by this. But come on, really? When Twilight thought that Stephen looked back at her, ready to answer the questions, she steadied her face, instead looking seriously at him, her expression that friendly concern yet again.

Extensive scientific training for the... Decepticon Army? Really? That was the name of their army? At least the Changelings sort of pretended that they weren't evil liars who sucked the love from people. True, Nightmare Moon was sort of exactly what her name sounded like, but she'd been possessed by evil. Twilight couldn't help but stare, losing her composure for several seconds. Maybe someone was joking around with her? No, no, she couldn't think that. Twilight had to act like this man was completely, one hundred percent serious.

"Well, you could consider taking a job teaching," suggested Twilight. She immediately wondered why, as the thought of this man near children terrified her to her core. "Or maybe you could look into research. I'm sure the Tenebrae Staff could find use for someone. If you'd like, you could even look into the official structure here. There's welcoming committee," oh, Celestia, no, "and some reception jobs. We'll talk about it on the way. Have to get your picture!"

Flash a smile, turn, and start heading for the picture taking place. Hopefully he hadn't already done this... though if he had, why hadn't he just produced his official ID...?

[Stephen Schmeling]

"Very well," He uttered absently.

Pale eyes remained fixed on the sky for a short time.  He missed his wings.  Steph eventually brought his head level with the ground and focused.  Realizing he was intended to follow, he cleared his throat and trotted at a swift pace.  He began to run though what the female had said earlier.  Unfortunately, his human brain was nowhere near as efficient at his robot one, and not able to simply save information without loss.  It was a good thing he retained his intelligence at least, so he had better processing power than most humans would.  He did remember the female had said something about research.  That particularly interested the former Decepticon.  He liked to learn - especially if it was to his immediate benefit.  But he very much disliked how vague the mentioning was.

"And, what sort of research?" Steph's voice came sharply, "What sort of information would the heads of an operation such as this want?  I am greatly intrigued."

Yes.  He knew better than most that he must be close to his enemies to take them down.  ...not that he's had much luck with that.  But at least he was diligent.

"I enjoy expanding my knowledge.  It is a valuable asset when facing an unknown circumstance.  Do you agree?  Many I know do not full appreciate its worth and ability to keep oneself alive.  Hm - one certain individual comes to my mind."  

Megatron, of course.

Steph let himself fall quiet for a time.  He glanced at a visible burn mark on his flesh-skin. Apparently, it was some sort of relic from the fact that he always got shot by said individual. Usually, such scrapes where easily repairable or covered up, but he wasn't sure the extend he could fix with human skin.  For the most part, the human body he was given reflected a somewhat unhealthy physical condition.  What an embracing reminder. Why not just give him a shirt with "loser" written on it? He scowled a bit at the mark before lifting his head again. 

He wondered if Twilight noticed.  Steph held the woman in simi-good regards and felt that she probably had.  It didn't stand out near as much as bright purple hair.  Apparently, odd appearances were a normal occurrences.  He may ask his "mentor" later about the average profile of a resident.  In such an extremely obvious structured  and evilly efficient system, he wasn't surprised his little boo-boos meant nothing (almost was enough to forgive the welcoming process).  The first person to mention his less-than-perfect appearance was getting a sarcastic response.  Oh, he certainly wanted all the sympathy, "poor Starscream"'s he could get, because he agreed, but he also did not want to look weak.  It took little to make him cry in the first place; he didn't want help.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight let out a small sigh of relief as she heard Stephen coming alongside her. She'd honestly half expected him to go off on his own. There was a willfulness there that Twilight suspected would lead to trouble if left unchecked. At least Stephen seemed to want to direct his energies to something a little more constructive... for now. As for his actual query: "I'm not entirely sure," admitted Twilight, turning to look at him slightly, still keeping one eye on their route. "They're a little tight lipped about what it is they do here," which was something of an understatement, really. "They're probably doing the same sort of research that a lot of us are interested in. Why our abilities get sapped, why some of them come back, what it means," Twilight shrugged. "I just hope they're not trying to weaponize anything."

Twilight shot Stephen a look after that, one that suggested that yes, she did suspect that he'd be the type to think along those lines and no, she didn't approve, not in the slightest. Twilight left the caring and being overly nice to Fluttershy; she had brains and she wasn't afraid of being suspicious if there was reason. This wasn't a Zecora situation; this wasn't some sad, misunderstood creature... but could he be  converted? Again, Twilight thought of Fluttershy, and oddly enough, she found herself wishing that her shy friend was actually here.

"But yes, I'm definitely a fan of knowledge. It's power and all that good stuff," finished Twilight, adding another nod. Since she was still looking at Stephen, she caught his not so subtle look. Her violet eyes flicked to the wound for a moment, taking it in. He had to have gotten that on the transfer.... no, people didn't get hurt by the Displacement. He must have gotten that either directly before or directly after he'd been pulled to this world. Either way, it didn't sit well with Twilight.

"They have good medicine here," she offered, pulling her eyes away from the wound to meet his eyes for a moment. A slight smile, and then she turned back toward their destination. "They clean up wounds pretty quickly. That does look like a nasty burn, so I'd make sure to get it checked out, if I were you."

Twilight considered veering off course to head for the infirmary, but figured it best to keep going. They were pretty close, and things would go smoother once Stephen had an official ID to show.

[Stephen Schmeling]

Lifting his gaze from where he had been distracted, he took a moment to scowl.  He might have been more pleasant if he wasn't in such a bad mood.  Not a single reminder of his past failures - his many, many past failures - sat well with him.  And for someone like Stephen, basically everything was a reminder.  So obsessed with his ambition was he that he often saw hostility where it wasn't existent.  But in Twilight's case, it was pretty clear she was trying some subtle...intimidation?  Or at least something to keep him in line.  Yes, he knew what she was doing.  The former unicorn had obviously guessed by now that a fellow with the title "Decepticon Leader Air Commander" was not exactly the most trustworthy guy.  The fact that he was usually a scumbag in general likely wasn't helping his case.  Oh well; he wasn't pretending like he was an upstanding citizen and if he was trying to fool her, his acting was so bad he might have just ended up worse off.  Steph internally gave Twilight some credit; she wasn't as outright stupid as some unfortunate souls who'd actually trusted him!

Still, there was the matter of his abuse wounds that had been brought up.  Stephen thought that it was demining to be spoken to in such a way.  But at that point, the fact that he was mere human and supposedly being watched, he knew he needed to swallow his pride and be submissive.  Keeping your head down around old Megs was generally a good idea (that he unfortunately only applied 30% of the time).  At the end of the day, his goal was to live to continue his wicked schemes.

"I'm not interested in sitting in a med-bay for negligible scuffs," He grumbled, "I had enough of that nonsense in my - ahem - 'universe'."

Suddenly coming upon a realization, the shorter man's eyes opened a little wider.  That was depressing.  Stupid humans and having to live as one: it was making him think of how he acted as a Decepticon too much.  We can't have any of that!  Or else he might be "good" again.  Yuck.

"Megatron was right; my existence was pitiful," He muttered to himself, then spoke up, "For future reference, where are the bars in this establishment?  I may choose to spend time there once I acquire my identification tag."

Yes, human liquor: because something's gotta keep Steph disillusioned.

[Twilight Sparkle]

"If you say so. Still, they're available, if you want it looked at. Or, you know, something bigger comes up," suggested Twilight. She punctuated the remark with a half-hearted shrug. She really hadn't expected Stephen to go along with the plan, and was honestly thankful that he seemed willing enough to tag along on the route to getting the ID. Twilight supposed she was overly concerned here: it wasn't like Stephen was her personal responsibility. Once she got him all settled, he was the community's responsibility, or, arguably, Tenebrae itself. Hardly something that Twilight needed be overly concerned about herself.

Which was good, because the thought of this guy drinking alcohol was not one that sat well with his purple-haired guide. She sighed, rubbing her face with her hand. The smile slid; Twilight just couldn't keep it up forever. Still, she supposed that if she didn't tell him, he'd find out anyway. So:

"They're in town," she replied, turning slightly to look over her shoulder at him. Oh, she definitely didn't stop walking. If anything, Twilight picked up her pace a little. "on the outskirts of town, actually. If you head toward the town center, which all the roads in town lead to, sort of like spokes in a wheel. Anyway, head to the center, and then veer toward the south. You'll find a handful of, uh, establishments oriented toward your... inclinations," Twilight finished with a nod. That was the seedy part of town, though Twilight had never been there herself.

She looked ahead, realizing that they'd come up to the building. With something akin to joy, Twilight scampered ahead, reaching for the door and pulling it. She looked entirely too triumphant as she stood to the side, gesturing for Stephen to enter. "We'll get your ID picture taken in here, and you'll give some more information to get you settled."

Then to the houses, and then Twilight could get far away from this discomforting man...

[Stephen Schmeling]

Turning his head over his shoulder, he tried to get a hold of the directions Twilight was telling him.  The former Decepticon had not been in the town-thing very long; he scarcely understood the layout.  If he could JUST FLY things would have been infinitely more easier.  Perhaps if he had gotten an internal map installed in... oh wait, humans can't do that.  Dropping his lids slightly, at this point not quite so effected by another disappointment, he decided he'd just have to wonder around downtown.  Hopefully, there weren't any bad neighborhoods because he was book-wise, not street-wise.  His faction leader and the other evil robots were useful, at least, in that they could ducked behind when things got heated.  Stephen looked back in front of him, still baring a contemplative look.

He noticed that the purple haired young lady was holding a door open for him.  Flicking his gaze up toward the higher point of the building, he was still for a second.  Walking through the entrance, he couldn't help but to give a puzzled look in Twilight's direction.  Manners were scarce in his line of work; Stephen just wasn't used to it.  Remembering he was going to have an image taken of him, he reluctantly brought a hand to his head and ran his fingers through his hair; he supposed it was the human equivalent of whipping a scuff off his armor.  Folding his arms behind his back, he came to a stop a few meters into the building.  Oh yes, this processes was very stupid but, he was somewhat grateful that he was assigned a half way competent person (at least, she didn't annoy him).  Steph acknowledged, if begrudgingly, that he'd likely require assistance if he was to return to his old life and glory.  Again, tilting his head somewhat in Twilight's direction, he noted that she seemed to know her way around.  He smiled slightly.

"Lead the way, friend," He stated, making an attempt to use a non-creepy tone.

As much as the former unicorn would have disliked it, he was rather interested in discussing the scientific business further at another time.

[Twilight Sparkle]

The readjusting Twilight recognized. She and her friends often did little fidgets like that, and considering what they were about to go do, it made perfect sense. She even smiled slightly at it, glad to see the man do something that seemed more human and less... evil (or maybe "evil") than he had been previously. He followed with a "friend" that only made Twilight shiver slightly too.

"It's right through here," Twilight said, gesturing and following through with the movement. She walked in a direction she knew all too well. Twilight had made sure to memorize all the possible paths she'd need to take when guiding a newly Shifted through the process. Sure, most of it was ground that she herself had trod only a while ago, but she was a guide now, a helper. She needed to know the process better than most. Still, Twilight couldn't help but cast a quick look at her notepad, where a checklist reminded her of what needed doing. She didn't even have quite as strong a pang at that as she normally did.

Soon enough, they were standing before a bored looking young man with a pimply face. He brightened as he saw Twilight, meeting her smile for smile. He turned that expression on Stephen next, adding a nod.

"Welcome to Tenebrae! I'm here to lend a helping hand!" he chirped, his voice only cracking slightly. He gestured for a blank wall, with a camera and computer setup sitting across from it. "Just park yourself right over there, and we can get your picture taken no problem. You'll have your official Tenebrae ID in no time!"

Twilight nodded and gestured for Stephen to follow suit. This much should be easy, and, if Twilight was lucky, Stephen wouldn't do anything too... "evil."