Sugar Rush Speedway

Candy Castle Racetrack

System Clock: 2001.01.31 22:05:49

"My fellow Rushers! Your so-called 'princess' has failed you! Race, and race hard, in the name of your one true king!"

The voice echoed throughout the palace, accompanying the sounds of the thunderstorm pelting outside Candy Castle's walls, the yells of aggressive drivers, and the simultaneous roar of the engines of nearly every single Sugar Rush kart ever assembled.

The karts crashed through the castle, knocking everything over in their path, and launching weapons which crackled, splashed, squashed and even exploded through the halls. It was a scene of true havoc, and all but two Rushers were in on it.

One of those two raced against the pack, launching every weapon she could at the others. The second was taking refuge in her room, desperately trying to make sense of everything and get a plan together before... well, before she was captured, or worse.

It was how coups tended to work, after all.

---

Sugar Rush Speedway

Candy Castle, Princess Vanellope's Chambers

System Clock: 2001.01.31 22:10:10

"Destruction derby," King Candy had called it. A new race type, he'd said. The damage done would be worth the amount of new gamers it'd bring to the machine. And what better place to hold it than Vanellope's castle, the most elaborately-designed and distinguished locale in all of Sugar Rush? Why, the spectacle alone would be worth its weight in quarters!

King Candy had been making lots of suggestions like that over the past few months. First it had been brakes-free races. The next had been kart combat inside closed arenas. When the derby had been suggested, Vanellope's suspicions had been pushed to the breaking point. Upon going to the Code Room to look the term up herself, she found herself locked out.

Then she'd heard the crashes, signifying the start of the event without her permission, and realized--days too late--that she'd been had.

"Vanellope!" A familiar voice--the only one she still trusted--punctuated several harsh knocks at the door to her room. "Can you hear me? Lemme in, quick!"

Vanellope ran to the huge door and opened it. No sooner had she done so than Taffyta ran in, her outfit and face littered with splotches of candy and ice cream.

"Taffyta!" Vanellope gasped and took a step back. "Don't tell me all this time you've been-"

"Yeah." Taffyta's reply came amidst quick, deep breaths. "I'm just sorry I couldn't do more. It's total battle mode out there, Princess. And..." She lowered her head. "...and even I can't take on the entire Rusher roster myself."

Vanellope stepped back in front of Taffyta, cringing upon seeing a large tear in the girl's strawberry hat, and put her hands on her shoulders. "It's okay. You tried the best you could, and I thank you for that. If anyone here's to blame, it's me. I should've known King Candy's first suggestion, to turn half my castle into a racetrack, was a trick. It was all just a ruse to make things easier for him today!" She shook her head. "Why did I ever listen to him?"

"Because you're too nice. Which isn't your fault! You just wanted what was best for the kingdom." Taffyta crossed her arms and sat hard on the bed. "I'm just angry I didn't see this coming either!" She balled a fist and punched the sheets.

The punch was that of a tiny, light fist against fruit-leather fabric. It was no wonder, then, that the sound of it was easily drowned out by several loud crashes against the room's door. Both were momentarily startled stiff, and Taffyta leapt back up and against Vanellope, her next words escaping her lips in a soft, shaken voice.

"Vanellope. While I was out there, I tried to get through to anyone I could. But the memory loss seems to have gotten to everyone else. We're the only ones left. What do we do?"

Vanellope was strangely silent. She looked at Taffyta, then the door. Her head then bowed, and her hands fell to her sides, limp and lifeless. "I'm not sure we can do anything, Taffyta. Or should."

Taffyta recoiled, just in time to hear another loud explosion outside. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying it might just be time, okay? Look, we both know I haven't been getting much race time since the last update. No one's choosing me at the select screen anymore. They're all choosing King Candy."

Taffyta grabbed Vanellope and shook her by the shoulders. "That's why you're about to give up? Because of your race ratio? Because you're feeling sorry for yourself?"

"It's not like that!" Vanellope gave up fighting back her tears. "What's important are the gamers, Taffyta. You said it yourself--as princess, I have to worry about what's best for Sugar Rush. Both in here..." She pointed to the ground, then pointed out the nearby balcony. "...and out there. So if both the gamers and the other Rushers say they'll have a better time with King Candy as their new monarch... who am I to stand in the way?" she said, her voice cracking through her last few words.

"Who are you? The true princess, that's what! Vanellope, you can't-"

But Taffyta could tell that Vanellope already had.

Experience made it obvious. The same resigned look that appeared on Vanellope's face whenever Taffyta got too huge a lead in a race. That same look, that always ended in a spaced-out, desperate smile... yep, there it was. Right on cue.

"There's nothing I can do to stop you, is there?" Taffyta finished.

Vanellope responded with a hand on Taffyta's cheek. "Taffyta, my best friend, and ever-loyal Sugar Knight... thank you for sticking by me all of this time. Your princess asks of you only one last thing."

Taffyta gave a determined nod while stifling the lump in her throat. "Name it."

"What any sensible program does." She walked over to her dresser, and took out a small black box, bearing the royal insignia--two crossed lollipops. "Leave a backup. Some kind of memory of what Sugar Rush used to be. Maybe one day, the gamers' and Rushers' wishes will swing back around. If that happens, they'll need blueprints--and so will we."

"Memories, huh?" Taffyta peered at the box, which mysteriously sparkled in the light. "All right, can do. But how?"

"Just touch it. Give it whatever you've got. Whatever means the most to you about your time here! Whatever you think will make a lasting impression if we ever come out of this."

"Gotcha." Taffyta reached out and held the box with one hand, and Vanellope's hand with her other. Upon seeing and feeling this, Vanellope closed her eyes, and images of days gone by rushed past her, eternally in fast-forward, impossible to catch...

...being cheered on by her subjects, with Taffyta front and center of the crowd...

...racing with the other Rushers...

...racing with Taffyta alone, giggling to herself as she saw Taffyta desperately trying to hide her smiles...

...and the sweet, tender moments which transpired once Taffyta finally stopped hiding...

Vanellope opened her eyes, warmth and happiness having replaced the worry which had been on her face seconds earlier. She nodded. "Okay. I'm done."

Taffyta opened her eyes, her face just as peaceful. "I'm done too. Whatever happens now... if it's with you, I can face it."

The two moved forward to share one last hug-

"Good to know."

-which was interrupted by a sinister voice, mirthful laughter, and Taffyta screeching upon receiving an electric shock, all at once.

Vanellope felt Taffyta fall forward onto her, shaking and twitching. She pushed her friend back to arm's length, and gasped in horror as she watched letters, numbers and assorted symbols swirling in a blur across the helpless girl's eyes.

She knew, at that moment, that she was the only one left.

---

Sugar Rush

"Double-Sided"

Chapter 3: The Truth

by Bookish Delight, 2012-2013

All characters and referred properties belong to Disney.

---

Vanellope glared daggers past Taffyta to a sneering monarch, the scepter he held still crackling from its recent use. "King Candy! What've you done to her?"

King Candy cackled and shrugged. "Same thing I've done to everyone, in case you haven't figured it out. Then again, with such a pint-sized brain to go with the rest of you, I wouldn't be surprised if you were slow on the uptake. I'll break it down for you: Sugar Rush belongs to me now," he said, fully throwing open the door to the room, and allowing the rest of the Rushers to pile in, all giving Vanellope the same rebellious glower. "By popular vote."

"There's no way you can make it last," said Vanellope. "Sugar Rush knows what it's really like! And so do its players!"

"Oh, you have no idea how wrong you almost were," said King Candy with a trio of 'tsk's. "I originally had tried to delete you first. Wipe you from the game's code and history entirely. No one would ever have known you existed. It would have been painless, too, I assure you." He growled. "Little bit of trivia, though: you were the first character ever created for this game. The rest of us were developed with you as the 'coder's compass', so to speak. Thus they left safeguards on you I couldn't break, after months of trying. And even if I had, this whole game might've come tumbling down. That bit you hate so much about how you're hard-coded to be a princess?" He got right in Vanellope's face. "That saved your life."

Vanellope gasped. "My code... saved me?"

"In that way, yes. But there's always more than one way to modify a game's engine." He gestured around himself. "Ugh. Shame the next best method had to be so... brutish. The less I have to clean up of this castle once I take it over, the better. Anyway, if I can't take your place by deleting you entirely, I just guess I'll have to change the rules. Fortunately your so-called 'subjects' were easy to teach. A little memory snip here, a few reconnections there--all away from you, all onto me. It was going smashingly until I got to this little lovely here," he said, cupping one hand around Taffyta's chin and placing his face beside hers. "This one... oh, this one took some doing. Until I realized her one simple weakness. Come on, my dear. Tell your precious princess how you really feel."

"What do you mean? Taffyta's my best friend-" Vanellope started, then noticed Taffyta glaring at her. Her eyes were cleared of the rolling code, but the eyebrows above them were noticeably slanted, and her mouth curled in disdain. "Taffyta?"

Taffyta answered with a hard push which nearly grounded Vanellope. The princess regained her balance at the last second. "Taffyta, come on! We're in this together, right?"

"As if," said Taffyta with a scoff and a place of her hands on her hips. "Look, I guess it's time you learned: the only reason I ever gave you the time of day was because I make sure to always stick with the winning side. And since that's not you anymore... "

You are Sugar Rush's other best-known racer, aren't you?" King Candy asked.

Taffy gave a proud nod. "And I didn't get there by giving in to sap. My picture's not on the side of our cabinet for nothing."

King Candy cackled again. "You see? Taffyta's got her drive, just like you have your royal status. Her complete jealousy towards you was hard-coded into her from the start. And it's what keeps her going. No matter how much she tries to be your precious 'best friend', she can't fight who she is. None of us can."

"Except in this case," said Taffyta, walking towards Vanellope and backing her towards the room's balcony at the same time. "We're fighting against your undeserved tyranny over this place!"

"What tyranny?" Vanellope's breath quickened. "Don't you get it? You're just exchanging one monarch for another! One who doesn't even care about your well-being so long as he gets the power he wants!"

"What monarch?" Taffyta countered. "You? Since when did we ever ask you to be our ruler? Since when did we ever ask you to be princess of anything besides failure on the track?"

"I-I..." Vanellope froze, completely unsure as to how to respond. Between that and Taffyta's pressure, her body chose the last coping mechanism anyone, including Vanellope herself, would ever have expected.

Her arms did it first. They turned blue, then turned intangible. Then, as quickly as they had done so, they were back to normal, but it didn't stop there. Her legs, her torso, her head, all underwent the same change-and-back-again, in waves.

The whole thing had taken place within a single second, but that was long enough for all present to see... then to freeze and gape in shock. Taffyta was the first to say what they were all thinking.

"Oh my gosh. We... we knew something was wrong with you, but we had no idea."

"I've seen that happen before," Candlehead said, pointing. "Whenever we race around an unfinished track, they... they glitch out just like that! Does... does that mean Vanellope's been a glitch this whole time, too?"

"I can't believe this," said Taffyta. "You're not just the princess of failure, you're a mistake that shouldn't even have been here in the first place! And to think, all this time you were trying to be one of us! Trying to act like our ruler, even! You think we'd ever even share a piece of candy with you, let alone let you lead us, now that we know what you really are?"

Vanellope was positively shaking now. "Taffy, i-it's not like that at all! Y-you've got to believe-"

"I don't believe anything that comes out of your mouth! You're lucky we don't try to 'fix' you ourselves! So unless you want that to happen?"

The entire Rusher roster--save for King Candy, who looked on while wearing the most satisfied smile in the universe--advanced until Vanellope was backed towards the edge of the balcony... with Taffyta standing directly over her.

"Get out."

With those words, Taffyta gave her hardest push, and the now-former ruler of Sugar Rush fell from near the top of her castle to a surefire demise... or at least she would have had her newfound powers not manifested themselves once more.

From fifty feet up to ground level, in a moment's time. When Vanellope realized what had happened, she got up, dusted herself off... and gasped when she saw that her royal gown had been replaced with her casual clothes.

The same ones presented to her by Taffyta. Made by her subjects. Back when they loved her.

She looked back up at Taffyta, who was still looking down from atop the balcony. Their eyes met for a few split seconds before Taffyta turned away to join the others.

And Vanellope, after weighing her options, headed in the opposite direction from her home. It wasn't self-exile, she told herself. She was just going to come up with a plan, then come back... then... then...

The tears finally came days later, when she was forced to accept that she didn't have a plan... and that furthermore, she couldn't remember why she'd been trying to think one up in the first place.

---

Sugar Rush Speedway

Candy Castle, Vanellope's Chambers

System Clock: 2012.12.24 23:49

Taffyta regained consciousness with a gasp, and an upright-sitting start.

"Oh my gosh," she said. "That is what happened. I'm starting to remember it now. I can't believe I was so... Vanellope, can you ever... Vanellope?"

She looked around, and saw that her friend was no longer directly next to her. She was, instead, curled up on her bed. Taffyta rose, walked closer, and saw what she worst feared after the feed from the box had concluded.

The tears from the past had carried over to the present.

And when Taffyta wiped them away and got a good look at Vanellope's face, Vanellope went white as a sheet, scurrying further back. "Taffyta! Yyou...!"

Once again, Taffyta knew that look. She'd worn it not two hours ago. "Vanellope. You know that wasn't me in there. Well, okay, I mean it was, but I wasn't myself. You know I'd never do anything like that to you and mean it, right?"

Vanellope didn't answer.

"R-right...?" Taffyta tried again.

After a deep breath, Vanellope spoke. Her voice was low, choked and shaken. For the second time that night, Taffyta cursed the stupid box which had gotten them to this point.

"I-I want to believe you, Taffyta. I really do. But... but I think this might have been a mistake after all. I'm sorry. I think..." she got off of the bed, and backed towards the doorway. "...I think I need some time alone."

Taffyta gasped and jumped to her feet. "No you don't, Vanellope! Wait up! If you think I'm abandoning you after all this, you've got another-" She lunged for her friend, but Vanellope simply warped away, through the doorway and out of sight.

She ran after her, but it was no use. In under a minute, she heard engine sounds. By the time Taffyta reached the castle doors, the Sugar Rush President's kart was zooming away from the castle at top speed, into the rapidly darkening night.

"Darn it!" Taffyta made moves to her own kart... then remembered that she had none. She hurried back to Vanellope's room to get a better view of her departure, but even a high perch couldn't prevent Vanellope's eventual disappearance from her view.

"Well, this is just great." Taffy flopped onto the bed. "Now what do I do?"

A bright green light shone to her side. Tafyta looked and saw that the black box was at its old tricks yet again.

"Ohhhh, no you don't," she said, rolling off of the bed and stomping towards it. "Every time I even think about touching you, something bad happens. Like losing a best friend the second I get reunited with her!" She reared back one foot. "I've got half a mind to kick you into-"

A strawberry-topped blonde appeared over the box, directly in front of Taffyta, licking a lollipop. "Yeeeeeeah, no. I wouldn't do that."

Faced with the view of herself, Taffyta lost consciousness for the third time that evening.