Epilogue

Ralph laid Vanellope gently into her bed. His friend had bandages wound round her middle beneath her clothes but even so, she winced upon contact with the bed.

"Nothing much I can do about that," said Ralph. "You're just going to be sore for a long time. The scarring may be permanent."

"I have scars?" said Vanellope, grinning. "Excellent!" She paused, before asking: "How long until I can race again?"

"Around three weeks," Ralph replied.

"Three weeks?" Vanellope cried. "I can't be out for three weeks! How will the ga-"

She stopped, smiling at her own reaction. "The other racers can fill in on the roster, I guess. Meantime, I can keep sitting on my throne and making sure everyone's in place for the quarter alerts, like I always do."

"I'll come visit you every day," said Ralph.

"You'd do that Stinkbrain?" No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Vanellope grinned sheepishly. "Of course you would."

"Thanks for the help," said Ralph as he drew the covers over her. "I think you saved all our lives."

"You should thank Wynchel, Duncan, and the other racers," said Vanellope, looking at the ceiling. "I couldn't have done it without them."

"I'll do that," said Ralph.

Vanellope lay quietly for a moment.

"Ralph," she asked. "You and Felix went to Presidential Combat, right?"

Ralph nodded.

"Why didn't you both tell me?"

Ralph sighed. "Felix was going to let me handle that. I was going to tell you. You know those times I didn't get to see you?"

"Like when I went to Pong?"

"Uh huh," said Ralph. "Those were the times I was there.'

'I should apologize," Ralph continued. "That's not the only thing I didn't tell you."

Vanellope looked at him quizzically.

"That time we argued?" said Ralph. "I knew that it was possible to hack memories. I had a suspicion, but…I didn't think you'd have listened, even though it was just speculation. And then I got so angry I forgot all about it until it was too late."

"Ralph, I'd have listened," said Vanellope.

"Are you sure?"

Vanellope sighed. "Nope," she admitted.

"I'm still sorry I didn't try," said Ralph. "But that's all past. For now, you should rest." He turned to go.

"Ralph?" Vanellope called.

"Yes?"

"Do you really care about democracy?"

"I care about whatever makes you and your friends happy," Ralph replied.

As Ralph left her bedroom, Vanellope closed her eyes, a smile playing about her lips. Soon she was fast asleep.

Calhoun and Felix were waiting outside the bedroom.

"How did she take the news?" Calhoun asked.

"That she couldn't race for three weeks? Pretty well."

"Good," said Calhoun.

"That's still faster than Sour Bill," Felix added. "Almost a month for him. My land, I'd hate to be in his skin."

"How do we keep Dr. Despair from causing any trouble?" said Ralph. "I'm not letting him attack this game again."

"Word'll get out about what happened," said Calhoun. "It always does- usually at Tapper's. Meantime, we keep a sharp eye out," she said, patting her gun. "If he tries anything funny, we'll be ready."

The next month was a productive one for Sugar Rush. The first elections were held and Rancis was elected the first president. Soon, all the racers were hard at work dealing with any issues that remained. By the end of the month, the game's characters had the routine memorized, and the disruptions during hours stopped.

Ralph was as good as his word- he came to see Vanellope every single day that she spent recovering. By the end of three weeks, she was back in her kart, racing as gleefully as before. She would bear the scars from the wounds caused by the brass knuckles permanently, and she would still be a little sore for another month, but she was otherwise mended. One week later, Sour Bill was back on his feet as well.

Not long after the month had passed, Vanellope came to visit Ralph in Fix-It-Felix Jr. She wore the same bright smile that Ralph remembered so well.

"Evening, President Fart-Feathers," said Ralph when he saw her.

"It's citizen now, duh," said Vanellope. "I'm Citizen Vanellope von Schweetz!" She spread her arms dramatically. "I actually like it a bit more than the old title," she added.

"Huh, right," said Ralph. "I'll need to get used to that."

"But anyway," said Vanellope, turning a somersault, "I'm ready!"

"For what?"

"To go see Presidential Combat, Stinkbrain," said Vanellope. "You promised you'd take me."

"Oh, right," said Ralph. "Follow me."

He led her out of Fix-It-Felix Jr., through the wire, past the Surge Protector, and into Game Central Station. All the way through the station, Vanellope turned cartwheels, asking all sorts of questions to which Ralph always responded: "wait and see."

Once they had gone through the wire, Ralph paused before the door to the game. "Are you ready for this?" he asked with a smile. "I'll understand if it's too awesome for you."

"I'm going in, Stinkbrain," said Vanellope. "Just you try and stop me."

"Alright," said Ralph. He threw open the door and Vanellope passed through.

The game's interior consisted of five different arenas, each with different backdrops. Various figures in historical costumes were gathered around one of the arenas, a street with a backdrop showing buildings from Colonial Williamsburg. Two combatants were sparring in the arena. One wore a black suit and stovepipe hat, and sported a chin-curtain beard of the same color. The other also wore a dark suit, but with a white neckcloth about his throat instead of a hat. His hair was powered and tied in a pigtail at the back. He was clean shaven.

As Vanellope watched, the man with the powdered hair whipped a parchment out of his jacket pocket, which caused his adversary to stumble backwards as several sharpened quill pens popped out of nowhere and shot towards him.

"Constitution!" a voice over the loudspeaker cried.

The man's adversary quickly regained his balance, however, and pulled out a parchment of his own. A horde of pioneers materialized out of thin air

"Homestead Act!" said the voice over the loudspeaker.

The pioneers raced forward and trampled the man with the powdered hair, before disappearing at the edge of the arena.

"Abraham Lincoln wins!" the voice over the loudspeaker cried.

As the man with the powdered hair re-spawned, Ralph came forward to join Vanellope. "What do you think?" he asked.

"Candlehead was right," said Vanellope. "It's kind of a rip-off of Mortal Kombat."

"Except its educational," said Ralph.

Vanellope grinned. "Come on, Stinkbrain," she said. "Let's go check it out!"