Bit ticked as he considered the upgrades he had managed to install in the apartment building. Since his computer had been a minor failure, he had salvaged what he could and combined it with some other scrap to create a sizable upgrade in the building's security. Hopefully he would have time to explain its function to Vincent before too long passed, or failing that, Madam Lala. Yes, she would be the better option, as she would be the one using it most of the time.

Just then, the female Leavanny of hour appeared from her ground-floor apartment and greeted him. "Good morning, Bit. Have a productive night?" She had learned that he didn't exactly sleep, so much as work quietly.

"Affirmative," he replied before hovering away from the reception desk. "This unit has installed a security monitor as well as motorized support for the front doors. A simple control panel has been clearly labeled, to prevent accidents."

The Bug-type paused before seating herself behind the desk and looking at the upgrades with barely disguised awe. "My word. Where did you get the parts for something like this?"

"After the failure of my computer, I decided to put the parts from it and some additional scrap to better use than that of sitting around," the Porygon-Z replied. "It would be cheaper to rebuild from the ground up than attempt to re-purpose my old parts."

Lala was stunned again. It took her a moment to reply properly. "Bit, you don't have to do that..."

"It is already done," the Program replied. "I am merely appreciative that my failure can still serve some purpose."

He floated off before there could be a rebuttal delivered. If his calender was functioning correctly, there was an event going on today that Seth had requested his presence for...

Clothes, what few we have?

"Check," Lucy said as she opened a piece of luggage and nodded.

Spending Bits? Vincent was going over his mental checklist for all the things they would need in Canterlot for the contest.

"Check." Here the Lucario merely nudged a piece of luggage with her foot, causing it to shift and clink.

Backup Berries, in case we need some food and there's nothing around we like?

The Aura 'mon opened the last piece of luggage before nodding and closing it. "And check. I think we're good. All that we should need now is Bit and we can head up to Canterlot-"

The young pair were rudely interrupted by Christine the mutated Gabite walking into their apartment. "Vincent, I cannot find the coffee in my place any...where..." The Landshark's original statement trailed off as she looked at the luggage between the Kadabra and the Lucario. "Okay, where are you heading?"

Bit, Lucy, and myself are going to Canterlot to see an old friend and help him out, Vincent replied as he turned to face the more temperamental of the tenants.

"I see," the dragon said with a nod. "I'm going with you."

The blunt nature of the statement caught the other two off-guard for a moment. "I'm sorry?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yup. Just found you two again. Not letting you run off without me." There was no budging the Landshark from her position, it seemed.

And what of the others here? Vincent tried to persuade Christine by appealing to her logic. An appeal that would fail, sadly.

"Meh, I trust Sam and your mom to be able to handle anything that comes up, if anything comes up. Plus there's that Lala lady. I think they've got it handled." With those words delivered, the Gabite nodded again and moved to shift the luggage around before starting to stack it. The Bits went on the bottom, the Berries went on top of them, and the clothes topped the whole thing off. Fortunately, they had rolling luggage, so with a few moves on Vincent's part, the entire pyramid was mobile.

"When do we go?" the Gabite asked.

...Well, once we get Bit, we can go-

"Already here, Vincent," the Porygon-Z said as he floated in the front door. The Lucario and Kadabra sighed before the psychic merely nodded.

Fine, next stop, the train station. And after that, Canterlot!

With that, the four forms and their luggage were covered in a blue glow before popping out of existence. Ten seconds later, a Bellossom walked into the room, curious as to where everyone she had been about to serve pancakes to had gone.

Vincent sighed as he sat back in the compartment, already more at ease thanks to the presence of Lucy next to him. Bit and Christine had opted to get their own compartment, something he was quite grateful for. It gave the two of them time alone. Time to think about...everything that had happened, in such a short time-span. Lucy took the prolonged silence as a bad thing, though, and verbally prodded her mate. "What're you thinking about?"

What isn't there to think about? We're strangers in a strange land, though we've done much to make it more homely than our old world. The psychic of the pair let out a physical sigh as he looked at Lucy. The real questions, I suppose, are 'will the ponies ever accept us' and 'what can we do to help that happen'?

The Lucario hugged her mate a little tighter before answering his worries. "Screw them."

...I beg your pardon?

"You heard me. If they aren't going to accept us, then screw 'em. We didn't have a choice in this, but we can still make the best of it. And if they don't choose to do so as well, then they can get left behind."

Vincent looked at Lucy with a small smirk on his muzzle. While I might agree with some of what you've said, when did you start taking lessons from Christine in attitude?

"Hey, this is the first time in years we've had anything resembling anything good besides each other, is it so wrong of me to want to hold onto it?"

The Kadabra chuckled before he hugged her back. No, no it is not.

The train chugged on as the pair of 'mon found comfort in each other's presence again.

Author's Notes:

This title is more about what Bit does for the apartment and my own situation than what goes on in the chapter, honestly.

Short chapter to set up the family's involvement in the Canterlot Contest. It's been a LONG time coming, but I'll soon get my stuff from Book One done.