The live fire test went down with other members of Calhoun's unit recording data. Wily focused his attention on trying to analyze Nightmare Moon's abilities. However, this proved difficult, as the 'decoding' aspect seemed to be continuous at this stage, and any device he built and coded to analyze her abilities became irreparably damaged by the analysis, leaving no data to be examined.
Eventually, he was forced to fall back on what his own senses were able to tell him, speculation based on what few details Moony was able to provide, and the research Uncle had provided for him. The conclusions he was able to reach this way were unsatisfying, not to mention disturbing.
Eventually, he brought his observations to a halt as Moony started getting irritable. "The Queen of the Night hungers!" she proclaimed angrily. "We desire sustenance, and we desire it now!"
"Ralph!" Albert called out. "I think you'd better take her home. She's complaining of being hungry." He scratched his chin. "Which is strange, since sprites don't actually need to eat..."
"I can get her some food in Sugar Rush," Ralph pointed out, scooping her up. "I want to introduce her to Vanellope, anyway."
"See you later, Ralph!" Felix called, waving him goodbye just before getting hit by a rocket to the torso. As soon as he landed, he whacked himself upside the head with his golden hammer, fixing all damage.
Chuckling, Ralph waved goodbye to everyone else. "Say goodbye to our friends, Moony," he instructed.
"Fight for your Queen's entertainment, peasants!" Nightmare proclaimed, startling laughter from everyone who didn't suffer from SHS(1).
Nightmare Moon's eyes nearly popped out of her head as she witnessed Sugar Rush. Sure, it was bright and colorful, which didn't really appeal to her tastes. However, given how hungry she was, something else of much greater importance caught her attention.
"The entire world is made of candy!" she shrieked happily, leaping into the scenery to begin filling her belly.
"Now don't overeat!" Ralph called out a warning. "We've got a long way to go, and you can't race on a full stomach!"
Moony lifted her head from a pool of chocolate she had been slurping from, the brown ooze dripping off her face. "Race?"
"Yeah, Sugar Rush is a racing game," Ralph replied. "I figured after we met up with Vanellope, we could make you your own kart to use, and then do a quick no items race just for fun."
Nightmare grinned widely at the idea. "But why no items?"
"Because you aren't from this game, and I don't want to risk you turning permanently into a slice of pie just because a scoop of ice cream lands on you," Ralph explained. "After all, we don't have your game of origin to reset your code with."
Moony shrugged. "Fair point." She then dashed off looking for something else to eat.
"Moony!" Ralph complained, racing to keep up with her.
After a time, another voice startled him into running faster. "Hey! Quit eating my racer you stupid horse!"
"I am no stupid horse!" Moony countered. "I am Nightmare Moon, Queen of the Night!"
"Well it's daytime, so get off my wheels before I a la mode you!"
"Brave words from a knave!" Moony shouted. "I shall smite thee with magic beyond thy ken!"
"Vanellope! Moony! Cut it out!" Ralph shouted out, rushing to the scene of the argument. Vanellope and Nightmare Moon were giving each other death glares as Moony was gripping one of the wheels on Vanellope's race cart, looking ready to rip it off and eat it.
"Ralphy!" Vanellope complained. "Get this stupid horse off my racer!"
"Daddy!" Moony complained at the same time. "Make the stupid girl give me the tasty food!"
Both froze as they heard each others words.
"Daddy?"
"Ralphy?"
Ralph groaned. "Moony, this is Vanellope, the friend I wanted to introduce you to. Vanellope, this is Nightmare Moon...my daughter." He braced himself for the awkwardness that was sure to come.
Both females backed off, looking embarrassed. "Talk about bad first impressions," Vanellope joked.
"Well, if you'd just let me take a nibble..."
"Hey, Ralph helped me make this car! Nobody's taking a bite out of it on my watch!"
Moony hung her head. "...sorry..."
Vanellope chuckled. "I know it's been a while, Ralph, but I wasn't expecting this kind of changes! I mean, isn't it the woman's job in the relationship to be out of contact for a while and then show up with the unexpected child?"
"Wha-bu-I-" Ralph stammered, her question catching him so off guard that all he could do was babble incoherently.
Moony looked up at Vanellope with doleful eyes. "Are...are you my Mommy?" she asked sorrowfully.
Vanellope chuckled. "Sure, I'll be your Mommy! Makes sense for a Princess to mother a Queen." Reaching over, she gently scratched Nightmare Moon behind one ear.
As Ralph groaned in frustration, Moony giggled. "Daddy's funny when he gets verklempt, isn't he?"
Vanellope giggled. "I like you already, squirt!" She began scratching just a little more firmly.
Moony closed her eyes in pleasure. "Fingernails..." she moaned happily.
Ralph shook his head ruefully. "Well, as long as you two are getting along," he allowed.
"Hop in, Moony!" Vanellope said happily. "We're gonna make you a racer! Then we're going to see if you're as much of a racer as your Mom!"
Squealing happily, Moony hopped into the kart with Vanellope, who promptly gunned the engine. Groaning, Ralph took off after them. Thankfully, the Candy Constabulary gave him a lift before he fell too far behind.
At the factory, Vanellope gestured around at the kart options. "Pick the design you think will suit you best!" she said happily.
Grinning, Moony ran towards one of the less used designs, nearly flat with flaring wings.
"Hmm," Vanellope mused. "Low max speed, high acceleration and drift, low weight, and boostable...interesting choice." She raced in after Nightmare, gesturing to the controls. "Now get all the good stuff into the batter and none of the bad!"
Smiling, Nightmare energized her horn, grabbing every ingredient as they came out the chutes and sending the good stuff into the bowl and the bad stuff into the trash. "I did the right stuff, right?"
"That's right!" Vanellope proclaimed. "Now you need to keep it at the right temperature while baking!"
Grinning, Nightmare pumped the bellows to maintain the temperature until the oven went ding.
Ralph came into the factory just as they got to the toppings. "Four wheels!" Vanellope proclaimed.
Grinning, Nightmare fired off the gun to drop in the four wheels. Turning to the frosting, she dumped dark blue blueberry and black super dark chocolate. She then dropped in a bunch of tiny white sprinkles.
"Here's your racer!" the factory voice proclaimed as the time ran out, and the door opened.
The machine that rolled out was sleek and smooth, stark contrast to many racers that had come out before. The bottom and wheels were a very dark blue, while the top was near pitch black and speckled with the tiny white sprinkles. The afterburners flared out from the back as the engine purred. Yellow gumdrop headlights looked like glowing eyes. With the flared wings on the sides, it looked like a chunk of the night sky had come to life as a manta ray to swim onto the race track.
"Whoa..." Vanellope breathed as she stared at the race kart.
"That's...wow..." Ralph admitted, staring at it.
Nightmare Moon grinned. "I love it!" she proclaimed, cackling wickedly. "I shall call it...the Dream Eater!"
Vanellope grinned. "Let's see how you race!" She raced to her own kart.
Cackling again, Moony leapt into the Dream Eater, her horn glowing as she manipulated the stick, pushing the pedals with her hind hooves as she clutched the steering wheel with her fore hooves.
"From here to Cola Mountain!" Ralph proclaimed, drawing the course on a nearby map. "I'll meet you there!"
With that, the pair revved off into a race.
(1) Silent Hero Syndrome: Some hero sprites are, unfortunately, programmed to never speak for some reason. Within their games, this generally causes no problems as the world around them is programmed to take it into account. Outside their own game, however, this causes a great deal of problems in communication. However, most arcade residents do their best to be understanding and welcoming of such sprites, finding a way to communicate with them, mostly via charades, and occasionally written dialogue.
I visualised Moony's kart as the classic 90s Batmobile.
Ah yes, SHS/SPS. Sometimes, it sucks.
It gets better when you read it in the characters voices.
What about those that speak through dialogue trees like some Bethesda titles, how would they work outside the games?
6003903
.....
....
...!!!!
........
...
6003919
That doesn't happen in arcade games.
The Super Blooper finally got used!
WHY COULDN'T IT BE THE CLASSIC DRAGSTER?!
... Dream Eater: A term that's used WAY too many time in video games (All of two: can you believe that?).
6003936 Maybe not the arcade, but with say ESO there is internet connectivity which may be the link between them.
SHS. Like SPS in Captain SNES?
but I wasn't expecting this kind of changes
1. Err... Do you mean These kinds of changes? Or maybe This jukebox change? I'm partial towards the former.
Yep, the ship has sailed. I'm actually wondering Vanellope knows wh- Actually, I think she does know what she's getting in to. Let the cuteness fly!
6003999
There, it's a character voice grammar issue. Vanellope doesn't always use proper grammar.
Why not always written dialogue?
6004078 Takes too long to write every word down
ooooo, a feature!
I like the idea ^^
Speaking of SHS...
Do you think chickens cause Link PTSD flashbacks?
6004043 Darn you Vanellope and your vocabularies! Oh well. Good to know. Now I'm targetting Vanellope for slip ups.
I'm watching you... *does the finger eye pointing thing*
Nightmare Moon Uses Dream Eater...It's Super Effective!
What? They haven't invented sign language?
Something is afoot! Also, maniacal filly Nightmare Moon is best nightmare moon. Great chapter!
6003963 And Pokemon, that's the second game series I can think of that uses the term.
6004268 Nope, it's a psychic-type move that can absorb the target's hp at 100 power, however it can only be used when the target's asleep (hence the term "dream eater")
Awesome job!
6003963 I personally thought of Pokémon at first
I thought Vanellope became president
6004406
She did. But she's also still technically a Princess.
6003910
Doesn't it always?
That made me laugh!
I love this chapter! The only that bothers me is that Nightmare Moon knows exactly how to operate a vehicle (only a tad bit though). It would have been funnier if they had to teach her how to use the pedals and stick shift in the next chapter. But I'm not complaining.
Eagerly awaiting your next chapter
6004429 Well, that's why only pokemon that can use sleep-inducing moves can learn it. Of course, it's always important to have other moves, like Psychic or Shadowball.
Vanellope being the stand-in Mom for Moony is weirding me out... Considering she's only 9 years old.
6004508
Considering that Ralph has been 30-40ish for the past 30 years according to the movie, I don't think physical age of sprites matters.
6004522
Vannelope actual age is also about haft of Ralph... since her game is a Mario Kart clone so is gotta be from 1996 at most.
6004522 Well, yeah. But take Sonic for example. He's been around for 23 years, but officially he's still 16. Vanellope, while being around for presumable ~30 years, is still a nine year old...
Oh well. It's your story, do what you want.
Ahhhh ahahahahah, I am in love with this!
This story frigging rules! XD
Nice job man!
DREAM EATER! how approriate.
6004570
My thought is that, since sprites don't age, the physical age of sprites has no bearing in sprite society. It doesn't matter if you look 8 or 80, you're just a sprite.
The only exception being 'custom-chibis', which are sprites created by other sprites as children.
...that's a whole nother can of worms, though.
6004429 Darkrai with hypnosis and dreameatter is a perfect combo: his ability is bad dreams which does damage to sleeping pokemon
I honestly wanted Vanellope to be a big sister not a mommy, it just feels wrong to be calling a sprite who looks like a little girl "mommy." Plus, having a cool big sis is awesome!
I can't wait to see how the race between Vanellope and Moony goes!
6004808
Nightmare doesn't actually see Vanellope as Mommy. She just knows calling her that drives Ralph crazy.
'programmed'
6004709 Darkrai with Hypnosis? Please! Dark Void for the win That, and Nightmare combined with his Bad Dreams. Nothing like killing a foe in their sleep
6004907
6004813 Ah, makes sense.
It would be awesome to see Nightmare Moons car.
6004491 well moony did hop into vanellopes cart so im sure she just watched how she operated it and applied that knowledge when driving her own cart
Things are happy at the moment.
*Reads comments* Darn you acronyms!
Moony's kart makes me think of the Shadow Star (or Devil Star in the Japanese version) from Kirby Air Ride, other than the color
vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/kirby/images/3/3a/HnK_ShadowStar.png/revision/latest?cb=20130915172413&path-prefix=en
6006216
That's the basic kart shape.
God I hippie Xehanort shows up.
6006366
I hippie he shows up too.
Ah, so here comes the parent adoption by child.
Alright, so does this mean you ship Ralph and Vanellope? Or is it just a parent thing?