"S-U-G-A-R Jump into your racing car~" Candlehead sings to herself as she rinses her breakfast plate. She occasionally stops to glance at the glorious ring on her finger, smiling broadly every time it caught her eye. The cake loving baker could still hardly believe that she was going to be married to the love of her life. But then, she had only had one evening to get used to the idea. One evening that had mostly been filled with cuddling, cooing, and kissing. Setting the now clean plate on a drying rack next to the sink, she dries off her hands on a washcloth and absently runs her fingers through her hair. Luckily, it was a Sunday, so she had all the time in the world to celebrate the new engagement. Actually, now that she thought about it, she really needed to tell Taffyta and Rancis the big news. "Maybe I could invite them out to lunch at the cafe." She says to no one in particular as she ties her hair in their signature pigtails. She smiles at her hand once more before fetching her cellphone. A few quick messages later, and the date was set. "Alrighty! Now I better go get dressed." She giggles to herself before twirling around once and heading down the hall to her bedroom.

*.*.*.*

Candlehead speeds down the sugary roads towards the town. She always had loved this area. It was so full of life, always bustling with the activity of the village. Not to mention it harbored all the best places to eat. As she pulls up to the cafe, Candlehead notices the candy cars of her two best friends, already parked outside the building. She smiles before hopping out of her signature car and strolling into the cafe. As she had guessed, Rancis and Taffyta were already seated at their favorite table. "Hey guys! I'm glad you could make it." She says, sliding onto the chair next to her taffy loving friend.

"You know it!" She replies with a grin, giving her friend a quick side hug.

"What's up, Candlestick?" Rancis asks, glancing at her from around his handheld mirror. He brushes back a stray hair before setting down the mirror.

"Well... Something happened. And I wanted you guys to be the first to know."

"Wait, what? You didn't want to tell your boyfriend first?" Rancis asks, raising an eyebrow with disbelief.

"Um. He's kinda already involved." She replies, jumping in surprise as Taffyta gasps loudly.

"Oh my Code, Candles! Are you...?" She puts a hand on her best friend's stomach and shoots her a meaningful look, causing the somewhat innocent racer to blush right to her roots.

"No! No no no, definitely not." She says quickly, shoving Taffyta's hand away and glaring at her. Her two friends seemed to find this absolutely hilarious, as they both start laughing. "Ugh. You guuuuuuys! This is serious, okay?"

Taffyta giggles one last time and grins at her friend. "Sorry Candlehead. Go on."

She rolls her eyes before slowly allowing her happy smile to return to her face. "Well, last night Gloyd invited me over to his place and we had a nice little dinner, a bit of wine, you know, the usual stuff. And then..." She pauses, glancing between her two friends before finishing, "...he asked me to marry him!"

Taffyta's eyes instantly widen to the size of dinner plates and Rancis practically chokes on his water. They both stare at their friend in shock, trying to process the information. Candlehead stares right back at the two racers, awaiting their reactions with an increasingly nervous air. Finally, when she was just beginning to fear that something was wrong, her best friends snap out of their stupor. Taffyta reacts first, gasping audibly and throwing her arms around Candlehead in an excited hug. "Oh my Code, I can't believe it! Candlehead!" She cries, practically squeezing her friend to death before sitting back and gasping again. "Ooh ooh, we have got to get Crumbelina to design your dress, and we need to decide when you are going to have the wedding, and where you'll be going for the honeymoon and-"

"Taff!" Rancis at last says, snapping his fingers to stop the stream of elated babbling. She stops mid sentence and blushes slightly, nodding for Rancis to continue. "Anyway, that's great news Candles! We're happy for you." Taffyta nods, a broad grin stretched across her face.

Candlehead giggles. "Thanks guys. I'm really happy too." Then she frowns, furrowing her brows and humming quietly. "But now that you mention it, there really is a lot to do."

"Starting with telling all of Sugar Rush." Taffyta cuts in, having managed to calm down enough to actually speak normally. "I mean, the first ever marriage in the game? That's big news. And big gossip."

"Oh, you're right…" The newly engaged racer murmurs, glancing down at her lap and fingering her lower lip thoughtfully.

"…Well I have an idea." Rancis says after a moment of contemplative silence. "Sugar Rush's anniversary is next week. Maybe you could announce it then. At the big party."

She thinks about it for a moment before nodding slowly. "…That could work. A week is a pretty long time to keep a secret like that though."

"If anybody asks, you could obviously tell them the truth." Taffyta puts in with a nonchalant shrug.

Candlehead nods again. "That's true… Okay then, I'll tell Gloyd. We'll announce it next week."

"Great! So, what are you gonna wear?"

*.*.*.*

"I don't know about you girls, but I am super pumped for tonight." Vanellope says as a candy handmaiden drags a brush through her hair, a frown marring her sweet face as she tries to work out the many tangles peppered within it. The president barely winces as she hits a particularly rough spot before continuing. "I mean, twenty-one years of being plugged in? That's pretty huge."

"Isn't that what you said last year?" Candlehead glances at her friend curiously, holding a curling iron as far away from her head as possible.

"And the year before that." Taffyta says in dry tone, smirking at the president in the mirror as she skillfully applies a flick of mascara to her long lashes. The three girls were all sitting around Vanellope's room, each in various stages of getting ready for the big party that evening. Taffyta was already fully dressed, just finishing up her make-up, Candlehead just needed to get her dress on and finish up her hair, while Vanellope herself was still in her dirty racing clothes, having neglected to even start getting ready until about five minutes earlier.

The aforementioned racer scoffs and rolls her eyes, only to have her hair nearly yanked out of her head as the handmaiden at last manages to brush out a knot of tangled hair. "Ow! Clementine!" She whines, trying to squirm away from the candy as she brushes out the rest of her long, ebony locks.

"I'm sorry your highness." The candy girl chimes before setting aside the brush and instead picking up a licorice hair tie. She quickly pulls the unruly hair into a neat bun on top of her head before apparently thinking better of it and pulling it back down. "You can go change now." The maid says sweetly, jumping off her little stool and fetching Vanellope's dress from where it lay sprawled on the bed. The president sighs heavily before taking the dress from her handmaiden and walking quickly to the bathroom connected to her room.

Candlehead giggles quietly as she watches her friend before wrapping another lock of her turquoise hair around the curling iron. "Who would have thought that Vanellope von Schweetz would one day have a crew of handmaidens to attend to her appearance?" She asks aloud, grinning at Taffyta.

The taffy loving racer smirks mischievously before replying, throwing her voice to ensure Vanellope could hear her. "Well, a princess must always look her best for a special night like this. And we all know she just go to the party in her hoodie and jeans, if she had her way."

"Shut your cake-hole!" Vanellope calls through the door, resulting in both of her friends bursting into laughter.

"Love ya too!" Taffyta shoots back before flicking her short hair over her shoulder and reaching for a tube of pink lipstick.

Candlehead giggles and shakes her head before picking up her own dress from a nearby chair and draping it over her arm. She stands up and walks over to the bathroom door, waiting patiently for Vanellope to finish up. She doesn't have to wait long, as within a few minutes Vanellope stumbles out the door, twisting all around and contorting herself in odd positions as she attempts to reach the zipper running down the back of her dress. "Stupid... gown!" She mutters as she reaches yet again in vain, her fingers scrabbling for the metal zipper that lay just out of her reach. Candlehead grins, rolls her eyes, and steps into the only recently vacated bathroom.

"My Code, Van, are you having some issues there?" Taffyta teases as she watches her friend.

"Shut up Taffyta." The president grumbles as she catches her handmaiden's eye and plops down on her little stool. The handmaiden promptly scurries over and, with one simple motion, zips up the back of the gown. She then proceeds to tie her hair up in a neat bun and toss a few turquoise candies into her hair.

"There. Her majesty is ready." The handmaiden says with a satisfied smile, offering Vanellope a golden tiara, much more intricate than the simple one she had once had. With a heavy sigh, the president takes the tiara and sets it atop her head.

"Oh, you look amazing Van. The Glitch certainly cleaned up well." Taffyta comments, wrinkling her nose up with amusement.

"Knock it off, Taff. You know as well as I that I wouldn't be wearing all this if I didn't have to." She says with an annoyed sigh as she stands up and brushes off her dress. It was a beautiful dress, a turquoise floor length gown sewn from the finest cane sugar silk and accented with brown ribbons of the same fabric.

Taffyta rolls her eyes with amusement and opens her mouth to say something else before the bathroom door clicks open and Candlehead steps out. Her gown, while not as extravagant as the one her president had to wear, was just as beautiful and easily accentuated all her good sides. A sweetheart neckline of pink with shimmering white beads along it made up the bodice, the bottom of which was cinched tightly just below her bosom. From there the pink cloth flowed down breezily, ending just below her calves in a lacy, translucent material.

"Oh, Candles... You look gorgeous." Taffyta breathes, her eyes wide as she looks over her friend.

The racer giggles, glancing away slightly with embarrassment. "Not as gorgeous as you." She insists, gesturing to her best friend's hot pink dress that clung to her tightly at every curve. It was simple, but beautiful.

"Okay okay, we all look gorgeous. Can we go now?" Vanellope cuts in, rolling her eyes with annoyance.

"Just a second." Candlehead turns and quickly slicks on some pale pink lipstick. Then she shoots Taffyta a look, and her friend casually steps in between her and Vanellope, leaning against the table slightly and rolling her eyes. The newly engaged woman takes the opportunity to quickly slip on her engagement ring, which she had hidden under the table. She still had a big announcement to make this evening, and she hadn't taken any chances of somebody finding out because of the beautiful ring. Hiding her newly adorned hand behind her back, Candlehead turns back around and smiles. "Okay, now we can go."

"Alright! Let's party!" With a grin, Taffyta takes her two friends' hands and leads the way out of the room, all three racers laughing as they set off for the party.