It's In the Code
Vanellope paid close attention to Nightmare's racing style as they drove. While it was a no items race, there were still boosters and other such aids and obstacles scattered throughout the mapped course, which showed on their windshields as an HUD - a new addition to the game courtesy of Albert Wily's coding genius after reverse engineering what Turbo had done. It didn't do anything for the player during gameplay, since they got a map of the course anyway, but it did wonders for the sprites during off game races, or simple maneuvering.
The first thing Vanellope noticed was about the Dream Eater, though. The classification of a car as 'boostable' wasn't fully understood, either by players or by the sprites. As a result, few racers made use of karts with that stat, as they tended to have low racing stats in other areas. And at first, it seemed like a foolish decision, as Vanellope's more powerful engine was able to get a huge lead right at first...right up until Nightmare hit her first boost pad.
Not only did she get a larger boost from the pad than the average kart, easily eclipsing Vanellope's lead, but the exceptionally light weight of her kart meant that she lost that acceleration much slower than any other kart. Maintaining that boosted speed for that much longer gave her a serious advantage as long as she didn't crash into anything.
And then the high drift quotient showed its advantage. Rather than braking to make turns, Nightmare let her kart drift to the point of spinning out on a couple tight turns, releasing the throttle as the spin started and gunning it as she began pointing the right way. Because of the light weight of her kart, most of the spinning happened in mid air, and gunning the engine triggered the afterburners in the back, allowing her to change direction without losing anywhere near as much speed as most racers would on the turn. While it still reduced her back to her normal max speed, it sill put her at a major advantage over other karts that had to brake to make such turns. The lighter weight also meant that the slightest turn of the wheel let the kart dodge around obstacles.
Vanellope quickly understood the nature of the Dream Eater. It was an expert kart. In the hands of a beginner, it would be difficult to control, hard to use, and seem like a poorly designed car. In the hands of a pro, however - or the hooves of its designer, apparently - it was next to unbeatable.
Despite Vanellope's best efforts, after that first boost pad Nightmare maintained a commanding lead throughout most of the race, especially the uphill portion where Vanellope lost a lot more speed than Nightmare, both due to the comparative weights of the karts and the riders.
Having taken a shorter route to Cola Mountain, Ralph made his way into the incomplete bonus level hidden within, the place Vanellope once called home. Glancing around, he saw not much had changed since his last visit here. The track was still there. The Mentos stalactites still hung down over the bubbling cola lake. An oversized kart was parked in front of Vanellope's old lean to-
"Wait, what?" Ralph turned to examine the kart. It was definitely not there the last time he was here. It was much bigger than any of the karts he'd seen in Sugar Rush before. Far too big for any of the sprites to drive. In fact, it was nearly big enough for a Mario Kart game, sized for somebody like Bowser or Donkey Kong...
"...or me," Ralph marveled as he continued to examine the kart. Aside from its massive size, it also was definitely not matching the general theme of karts in Sugar Rush. It looked to be made of bricks...until Ralph realized they were gingerbread, held together with frosting mortar. The wheels were black licorice tires around chocolate rims. On the front were two spikes jutting out in place of headlights. When he touched the controls, they glowed in the dim light of the cavern. The controls were also built far sturdier than most karts, looking like they could handle even his clumsy hands and feet without breaking. Checking under the hood, he saw the massive engine purring like a kitten. "Is this kart...mine?"
At that moment, Dream Eater barreled through the entrance to the track, hitting a jump and clearing the cola lake as Nightmare cackled happily. "Victory!" she proclaimed happily as she came to a halt.
Vanellope pulled in shortly after. "That filly's a natural racer!" she proclaimed breathlessly. "She really knows her stuff on the track! Oh Ralphy, I see you found your kart!"
"It's...it's really for me?" he asked wonderingly, staring at the kart in awe.
"Yup!" Vanellope said happily, hopping out of her own kart and walking over. "Wily helped work the code so I could make the oversized kart, and I designed it based on how you work. He even managed to code it so even you can't break it accidentally-"
Vanellope was cut off as Ralph pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank you," he whispered, tears in his eyes.
Vanellope returned the embrace for a time, then pushed away. "When did you get so mushy?" she joked. "Come on, test it out!"
"Another race!" Moony asked eagerly.
"Not just yet," Vanellope replied as Ralph climbed into his kart, surprised it actually took his weight without rocking back and forth. "First we need to make a brief stopover at the palace."
The trio drove slowly to the palace, Moony enjoying the scenery as Vanellope pointed it out, Ralph enjoying having a vehicle designed for him that he could actually drive. Other racers waved as they passed by, and he waved back. He was almost sad to see the palace looming as they reached the gates. "So what are we doing here?" he asked.
"You'll see!" Vanellope replied, driving them straight into the throne room and past the throne. "Bring your karts!"
Confused, Ralph and Nightmare followed.
She led them to a side path filled with glowing blue cables in a pure white room. At the end of the path was a massive Nintendo controller. Walking right up to it, Vanellope began pressing buttons on it. "Come on guys!" she called as she input up up down down left right left right B A start.
The controller rotated, and the door opened into a massive blackness. "There should be a detachable plaque on the dashboard of your racers," she called. "And some rope in the trunk of yours, Ralph. Tie us off to the throne and come on!"
Confused, both Ralph and Nightmare obeyed her instructions. Once they were all tied off, Vanellope led them into the vast blackness before them in a realm without hard-coded rules. Ralph didn't take too well to the lack of gravity, getting dizzy. Moony, however, flowed through the blackness as smoothly as a dolphin in water or a bird in the air.
Vanellope led them to a massive cloud of connected data blocks. "This is the code of Sugar Rush," she explained, approaching a specific cluster. "This is how Turbo altered the game's code to take control."
"Then what are we doing here?" Ralph demanded nervously.
Vanellope grinned widely. "Well, remember that rule about dying outside of your own game being permanent?" She reached a block labeled 'Secret Characters'. "Well...Wily's been working on a workaround for that." She gestured to the blank blocks that diverged from it. "Touch these. Moony, you touch this one with one hoof and the plaque." She gestured to a blank block that ran through a connector entitled 'Expert cleared with all racers'.
Confused, Nightmare did as she was bid.
The block rippled, and text appeared on it.
Nightmare Moon
Dream Eater
"Now you're recognized as a racer in Sugar Rush," Vanellope said proudly, "complete with restore code for power up damage!"
"That's incredible!" Ralph said excitedly. "Is this one mine?" he asked, reaching for another.
"One of these," Vanellope corrected, gesturing to one of the blank blocks connected through 'Locked'. "We don't want you getting unlocked during gameplay and then not be available, right?"
"Good point," Ralph said, letting the block scan him.
Wreck-it Ralph
Bull Dozer
"Oh, I like that kart name!" Ralph said eagerly.
"You two hit the track!" Vanellope called out. "I'll meet you there once I'm sure all the code connections worked."
Smiling happily, the two swam back through the void to the entrance.
Vanellope looked back at the code, frowning. After a time, once it was plain Ralph and Moony were well out of range, a unique sound filled the air. She turned as a blue and yellow saucer approached through the void. "Doctor."
The saucer opened as Wily stepped out, anchored to his saucer. "It went quite well, I'd say," he commented, approaching the code blocks.
"I don't like not telling them," Vanellope pointed out. "It feels like I'm betraying Ralph."
"Vanellope, you rule here," Wily explained. "You're responsible for the safety of your game, and of its citizens. You know that means sometimes making hard choices."
"I still don't see why we can't just tell them," Vanellope countered.
"Do you want to tell Ralph that Nightmare Moon isn't a sprite in the traditional sense of the word?" Wily demanded. "Do you want to tell him that she could single handedly destroy the code of the entire arcade if she generates too much power? Do you want him to think he's raising a monster?"
Vanellope frowned. "But...she's not a monster..."
"No, she is," Wily said bluntly, copying Nightmare Moon's data block and collapsing it. "But that doesn't mean she's bad. She can be good. She can be worthwhile. But that doesn't make her any less dangerous or capable of destruction. And I know I'm not the only one to realize this." Collapsing the code block copy, he turned it into a data file. He approached another code block.
Dr. Albert Wily
The Saucer
He put the data file into the code block. In the saucer, a data file containing a full analysis of Nightmare Moon's capabilities in code format appeared. "And we need to know exactly what she's capable of," Wily continued, "so she doesn't destroy us all by accident, just because she gets scared."
Vanellope sighed. She knew he was right, just as she'd known he was right when he'd set this all up with her last night after he'd left Tappers. "Being a Princess - or a President - isn't as fun as the stories make it out to be," she grumbled.
"No, it's not," Wily agreed. "Good people rarely enjoy the job, and you'd have to be evil to want all the hard decisions it comes with." He grinned. "And now you know why so many bad guys are would be conquerors."
Chuckling ruefully, Vanellope returned to the castle, composing herself and focusing on enjoying a race with Ralph and Moony.
Wily quickly made his way through the code realms, the underside of the games and Grand Central Station, making his way back to his own game, where he had the tech to analyze the data he had acquired.
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And... fortunately they weren't planning something too bad. I would never have forgiven you if they had been planning something bad behind their backs!
Damn. Poor Moony's under stealth surveillance...
Good chapter, showed that the others are indeed aware of just how powerful NMM could be. Still kinda sad that with this it means that Venelope hasn't actually accepted the position of Mom, can't really do that while coming up with contingency plans to erase Moony.
And I'll say that it's fun to see the interaction between Ralph and the other game characters after the movie.
So now, Ralph, Wily and Nightmare Moon are guest racers? Sounds great to me!
Wily, you gigantic ham! Even when you give bad news, you still steal the show.
i cant wait till moonie Teleports herself ralph and venelope into the arcade
WELL... this is not going to be a fun combination later in a series.
Poor Moony... this is going to be a problem later on, and I wonder if there is actually going to be villains in this series, I mean, Turbo was one surely, but that passed by with the giant bug zapper, is there any true villains still about?
6014221 you realize that Turbo is most likely back right? it was foreshadowed two chapters ago
No, wait! Where's the rest? Nooo!
This is brilliant.
Oh no
6014308
Oh... well, shows what I know, I have been out of sorts so I forget 'small' details like him.
Hypothesis: Wily is trapped somewhere while Turbo disguises as Wily.
TURBO YOU CODE-HACKING *err*
6014080
Probably not, just that she is unlike anything he's ever seen and has powers that can apparently unravel the very fabric of their digital existence.
You don't have to be a mad scientist to want to keep a sharp eye on that.
5974134 It makes sense that the graphics were so cruddy, it was the first completely cgi show to air.
*EDIT: for some reason, when I clicked reply, it pointed to 5974142, which was not what I was replying to. Fixed now.*
What that's it? I want more!
Meh. Why go behind the back when they could just explain face to face and avoid so much drama!?
6014692
That was actually addressed in Wily's dialogue.
5994502 I have been tinkering around with a 'game character' game I'm making, and "robbing the beta" will now be a phrase in it, if you don't mind.
triggered the afterburners in back
An oversized kart was parked in front of Vanellope's old lean to-
1. Triggered the afterburners in the back. Or is this another saying that's used not too often?
2. Umm... Did you mean Lawn? Does she even have one that can be classified as one?
Surprised Vanelope didn't use her teleport in the race. Then Moony would think she could use magic if to a limited degree.
Wonder if one of the sprite would just up and say; To us, life isn't a game. Or something along the lines.
6014720
A 'lean to' is a type of make shift tent, an accurate description of Vanellope's living arrangements at the time of the movie.
6014752 Hmm, interesting to know.
You know, I've been wondering about this for a little bit. Are you eventually planning on putting the displaced ponies you're doing stories on in the same universe together? I mean, after you finish all your projects? Think about this how you like, but I think it'd be pretty cool. Or maybe have a little backstory to how all these ponies got to their respective worlds and why all of them got turned into fillies. What do you think?
6014697 Really? Because it is still confusing as hell.
6014752 to avoid confusion, it usually has a hyphen it it (lean-to).
Awww man, Nim isn't a monster.. she's just overpowered XD
Nice job man! Nice job!
So, Willy installed a limiter in Moony?
6015519
Nope.
He snuck around to get a copy of hr 'code' to analyze.
I'll guess it now. If NMM has a melt down and Wily steps in, Vanellope will be revealed in that part of his plan and it'll put a kink in Ralph and her's friendship.
6015558
But will probably invent a limiter at some point.
My ears! Make it stop!
That's… that's not how inertia works.
Since her cart is lighter is would lose speed faster not keep it.
6016973
6017275
Remember, this takes place in a game world, so of course it would follow game physics.
(commas): she called as she input up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start.
Also - As Sour Bill stated in the movie. When vanellope crossed the finish line in Sugar Rush the game immediately reset. So - in short - The track Ralph built and the hut Vanellope lived in shouldn't be there. But hay, it only adds to the story. (just a little fact, I just wanted to state that)
Great story still!
expecting more
Moony is a natural at racing, I can't wait to see her and Ralph do some more racing. I do think they should see if she can keep up with a cart on her own hooves and wings. I do think Wily and Venelope could have been a little more upfront about what they needed to do, I don't want to see their relationships with Ralph and Moonie suffer later.
why did you have to have moony win? your just making her seem sue-ish, rather then an adorable little monstrosity.
6017448 no excuse, game physics are almost always good about this point.
6019729 I'm going to go with the explination that the gamer Luna head canon is true and that she's had a couple thousand lonely nights to hone her skills. Even if she doesn't remember it, she really would be a pro.
Also, I'm going to say it's a glitch and Turbo accidentally knocked off a negative somewhere in the physics code.
6018233 The code is actually [up - up - down - down - left - right - left - right - b - a - SELECT]
Source: I own Contra for the NES (the first game the Konami code appeared in) and the start button is how you begin the game; entering it would cause the cheat to fail.
Overly obsessive video game justice has been served! Wow I'm so bored right now :p
6022925
It's Start in the movie.
6022925
Ditto. All the time.
6014752 I think there's supposed to be a dash, "lean-to", and if not, then it might help clear up confusion anyways.
6014660 Me too
6020737 Because Gamer Luna is Best Luna.Luna is best pony!
I haven't seen the movie yet. And although this fic should be spoiling a lot, no worries. I have a classmate who saw and wouldn't stop talking about it.
6026012 Well that sucks anyway...
6017275 given the description of her kart as sleek, low profile, and with wing-like sides, it's probably generating lift, thus reducing the force of ground friction on the wheels. This would allow the kart to retain more velocity, because there is less force acting on it.
and now I'm wondering if this at some point will have a partial crossover also with Tron.
Could you imagine what would happen if Dracula from Castlevania got loose in the real world with his horde of monsters and the He/Sheroes were still stuck in virtual-land? Or how about Skorne from Gauntlet? Or the Xenomorphs from the old Aliens 2 arcade game? The Dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park games?
It'd be freaking chaos!
6014221
Well, given that they're hooked up to the Internet now...
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/817/849/f05.png
6022925 While the Konami Code was certainly popularized by Contra as "up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, select," the first game it ever showed up in was Gradius for the NES in 1986 as "up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a"
Source: Wikipedia article on the Konami Code.
Still would have preferred to have Moony take even longer to learn to drive than Vanellope did.
Also, for the sake of my sanity, I'm going to assume all this is happening after Felix and Calhoun's wedding, or that all the "networking" jokes have no basis in fact... until and unless proven otherwise.
6013988
I don't think that erasing Moony was ever on the table really?
6015558
I'm very reassured to hear that.
6018233
By that logic it should have mind-wiped all the Sprites.