On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[Killdread]

End of her First year Shiro will likely have placed in a double digit number of races, and have won several. By comparison other Uma may have run double digit races at the end of their first year. Most will be somewhere in the 5-7 range.

She started earlier than most and is running about two and a half times as much, achieving respectable placements, and not getting injured/burnt out. She's monstrously enduring, running the race isn't enough to tire her out at all even. She's the most OP.

 

[RogueInquisitor]

Shiro might have more races under her belt than Haru Urara (113 starts) by the time she retires, and a much better record, too.

 

[Lyrista]

and a much better record, too.

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Not exactly a high bar to clear....

 

[Tomato]

She's not running with a sword, right?

 

[drake_azathoth]

I refuse to believe Taiki's revolver is empty. Loaded with blanks, gotta be.
Snap caps at minimum.

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They'd almost certainly be snap caps. Taiki uses a colt single action army revolver, and she is a champion quick draw competitor. You don't need a firing range for quick draw practice with snap caps and they protect the firing pin on the gun so it makes sense she would use them quite a bit to keep in practice, maybe visiting a firing range rarely to keep up her aim - though that's not as crucial for quick draw contests. Practicing any kind of performance with blanks would also be a lot harder.

It'd also be a lot safer to use snap caps if she's still target shooting - you really don't want to use the same gun or even similar looking guns with blanks and regular bullets because if there's even a tiny piece of debris left in the barrel, the blanks will shoot it out like a bullet. That's what killed Brandon Lee.

Ironically if she was actually just using the gun as a prop and didn't have a lot of skill with them or use them for anything else blanks would be more plausible.

 

[MARch Of Time]

Shiro's OPness, as it were, is in her ability to not get injured and run as many races as she wants, more or less. She's definitely not going to be winning every race, or even the vast majority of them, based on the entirety of the story so far

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Not even just that, but she's likely to be such a mentality or psychological barrier to so many racers when she really gets going, that she really might end up representing the separation between those who are above and beyond, the truly Greats, because they'd be the ones who have it within themselves to resist and compete with the overwhelming nature of what it means to race for keeps against Shirogane Orzel.

Because more likely than not, you WILL face racing her multiple times if you want to even qualify for G1s, just from the sheer number of races she's present in and in top form for. Reliable to be exactly the kind of racer she's always been, (except for some perhaps standout supernatural performances and crazy bad luck on other racers, because Luck is a Skill too), and if you can't beat that, you'll never stand up to the likes of Uma who lock the fuck in and overcome Shirogane's pressure.

Because for however intimidating or pressuring Shirogane is, the mark of the fanatical, the great, the insane, and the downright unfair are the ones who look at her death glare and her suicide pacing, and think "BET" "FIGHT ME SEMPAI" and "WEEEIIII". There are plenty of racers in this category and Shiro came into the racing scene with this already factored in and all-but dismissed as a concern. She's bloody terrifying from a professional athletic mentality standpoint, rock solid. And on the rare occasions where she's [Motivated], it's like a Goldshi moment, just "what can you do?"

Whether or not Grass can get her mental on lock during a G1 against Shiro will be a defining moment for her, I think, it truly coming into her own as a pro that reaches her potential (only to retire next year and watch Shiro do it again and again against generation after generation of insane standout top racers, never faltering)

 

[WrandmWaffles]

I wonder if Shirogane's fans are going to start wearing military uniforms when ever they go to her races as a form of support.

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A bunch of Polish costuming companies are going to be confused by the number of orders from Japan.

"Cosplaying a Japanese schoolgirl" lmao. I need Shiro to diss every single uma's outfit because most of them are complete nonsense from a practical racing perspective and/or references to their horses that Shiro would have no way of knowing.

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To be fair, most of the Golden gen's outfits aren't too ridiculous, probably El Condor Pasa and Tsuyoshi might be the worst since they have more drag. Air Groove or Eishin Flash though...

Though Shiro is going to look vaguely similar to Rudolf since she also has a uniform. Which is part of why the staff liked it.

Also, Shiro's reactions to the umas continuing to be dorks and having weird habits inherited from their horse lives continues to be funny.

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"I am too old for this shit."

I love that Wonder Grass has a rivalry with her, but Shirogane doesn't even realize they're trying to be intimidating.

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Grass isn't strictly trying to be intimidating, necessarily, she just sees Shirogane as one of the bigger challenges in their circle since she can't beat her in endurance while she can outlast most of the others to some degree.

I believe Windy's biting habit is a reflection of her real horse self behavior wasn't it?

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Yes, a lot of the umamusume character behaviors are based on the behavior of their irl horse, such as Special Week not always getting along with other horses, or Silence Suzuka being very mild mannered for a Sunday Silence child.

It remeinds me of something Shiro said. It was that racer families pressure their young umas to race if they don't pick it up themselves. Even if its voluntary its still a pressure they get while they grow up. The expectation on it.

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Especially in a family which puts a lot of stake into their racing like the Mejiros and Symbolis. The Satonos, for example, are also quite wealthy outside of equestrian stuff, so the pressure isn't quite the same.

I liked that Grass understood that there's more to the reason why Shiro began running before her. Realizing why and what she must train more in. Nice!

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Grass is probably the next smartest uma in the Golden Gen class, though that isn't going to stop her from feeling envious about some things.

Now, if Shirogane is running Front Runner and Grass Wonder is going Late Surger, they are setting up a devastating one-two punch for all those unprepared Umas

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Worth pointing out this is true for quite a few of her classmates, since King Halo and Special Week are also late surgers. Sky is a front runner, but she's tricksy and is familiar with Shirogane, so they can really mess up other runners' rhythms too.

Hopefully Shiro will also get as much as credit she deserves while she's the one that's setting up Grass for success. That people won't only look at Grass who will win all those races.

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This probably will stick in Grass' craw if some people say that Shirogane is the one who does the suicide running to help her win races. They are on the same team after all, so it would makes sense as a strategy.

Cause she's a "historically acurate" polish cavalryman (cavalryuma?) That actually well, charges

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Sort of historically accurate, since it's a fairly accurate recreation for parade duties in the 1920-30s, rather than an actual uniform from the Napoleonic Era. Which could be a cause of some debates.

Does she really have the armor plates in the outfit too?

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She basically has a primitive plate carrier in the front of her uniform jacket. Including the steel plate, so elbowing her is not the best idea. The boots and gloves are also armored like greaves and gauntlets for obvious reasons.

Why do I get a feeling that the uniform is going to give her a huge intimidation buff while racing.

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It makes her look about a foot taller.

Uniform get! I can't wait for Shirogane to spook even more unsuspecting Uma.

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Some of the participants of the Asahi Hai have raced against her before, but not in her G1 costume.

She's definitely not going to be winning every race, or even the vast majority of them, based on the entirety of the story so far

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End of her First year Shiro will likely have placed in a double digit number of races, and have won several. By comparison other Uma may have run double digit races at the end of their first year. Most will be somewhere in the 5-7 range.

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Currently her record is something like 8-2-6-0

She's not running with a sword, right?

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She's not supposed to run with it drawn...

 

[Radiant Knight]

I'm personally just waiting for Shiro to lock in enough she uses Magic again .

 

[MARch Of Time]

Currently her record is something like 8-2-6-0

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The Silver Eagle indeed, that's 8 starts/races, 2 wins, 6 second places, right?

Our beloved Eternal Placer, It would be so funny if she never wins a bronze, ever. If she places, it's 1 or 2
Meanwhile, someone else seems to be collecting all the bronzes...

 

[Bbob]

She's not running with a sword, right?

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She's not supposed to run with it drawn...

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Counterpoint, have Shiro run the America Derby

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She'll do amazing with a rifle instead of a sword, and the fact she sometimes taunts the others in German is a problem for her family to figure out later.

 

[Killdread]

Currently her record is something like 8-2-6-0

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The Silver Eagle indeed, that's 8 starts/races, 2 wins, 6 second places, right?

Our beloved Eternal Placer, It would be so funny is she never wins a bronze, ever. If she places, it's 1 or 2
Meanwhile, someone else seems to be collecting all the bronzes...

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Betting odds for Shirogane Orzel
First place 2:3
Second place 100:101
Third place 1:1000
Fourth place 4:5

 

[Tomato]

She's not supposed to run with it drawn...

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I'm mostly worried about the air resistance and effects of it dangling on running posture.

I know this world runs on anime logic, but it doesn't seem in-character for Shiro.

 

[zecorezecron]

Currently her record is something like 8-2-6-0

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But more importantly, how much money has she earned?

 

[Stracio]

Though Shiro is going to look vaguely similar to Rudolf since she also has a uniform. Which is part of why the staff liked it.

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inb4 when Shirogane's Twinkle career is wrapping up, she ends up getting elected as the Student Council President so she ends up staying in Tracen longer.

Rudolf: "Of course you get monetary compensation for your time on top of the brand sponsorship you'd get as the face of Tracen. You'll have to deal with a ton of paperwork but—"
Shirogane: "Say no more, I'm in."

 

[Liar]

I'm hoping Shirogane wins her first G1 race, and shows everyone, including the media, her intense presence. Maybe she'll even get international attention.

 

[Jetsmillion]

She's not running with a sword, right?

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I mean, she wouldn't be the only one. Rice Shower carries a decent sized dagger as a part of her racing outfit.

Spoiler: Blue Rose Closer

The Silver Eagle indeed, that's 8 starts/races, 2 wins, 6 second places, right?

Our beloved Eternal Placer, It would be so funny if she never wins a bronze, ever. If she places, it's 1 or 2
Meanwhile, someone else seems to be collecting all the bronzes...

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Imagine if she takes second on both the Triple Tiara and Triple Crown.

 

[Drageos]

"I am too old for this shit."

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"You're the same age as us though!"

 

[TheManW/oAPlan]

Spoiler

You know, I am from the YJ side of things as well, so I don't know half of these characters besides Tanya/Shirogane. The plot is explained well enough to follow though, so good job. We need more best girl here.

Omake: What Makes Tanya Shirogane Sprint

"I have never seen Shirogane run that fast in her life. Not even on the track. Do you know what's causing her sudden increase in top speed? Is it a new boyfriend?" Toujou asked.

"Beats me. Honestly, I think she is in danger of retiring and joining that place as a waitress. I know her parents have their own restaurant, but they are far enough apart that they would not compete, and she has never been race crazy like every other person at Tracen, You think her spring has come?" Special Week replied.

"I don't know, but a rumor has it that her parents are bribing someone there to get her to eat more or something. And she is going along with it, willingly. While your explanation does make sense, she does not seem to notice that sort of thing. There was an entire comedy of errors where she thought some family wanted brand deal or something but the other person thought they were talking about a breeding contract. Honestly, I have no clue how we communicate so well since I haven't noticed any misunderstandings between the two of us," Toujou commented, not entirely sure what caused the change in Shirogane.

"Well, I guess it will not kill us to walk in and find out. I am sure there is some completely normal explanation for this. Let's just head in this place and ask," Special Week declared and began walking towards Serebryakov e-Spresso. Walking in, they saw a quaint little e-cafe that smelled greatly of roasted coffee beans. Various pots, syrups, and drips lined the back counter. They were about to say hi to Shirogane when they saw a blue eyed, brown haired girl talking to Shirogane. What she said surprised them.

"You know you want it. But you have to be a good girl," the blue-eyed girl commanded.

"I know, but it's so good. I can't wait for it. Can I have a little right now?" Shirogane begged.

"Be a good girl and," the blue-eyed girl continued. Special Week and Toujou could not walk out fast enough. They promptly exited the coffee shop.

"I never figured she would be into that..." Toujou commented.

"I mean, it kind of does make sense though. How she's always happy with second. Never on top," Special Week thought aloud.

Meanwhile..back inside.

"Did you hear something Victoria?" Shirogane asked.

"I don't know. Look, I'll good ahead and brew you some coffee, but that plate better be at least half-way done by the time I get back," Victoria threatened.

"Fine," Shirogane, reluctantly agreed and began eating somewhat reluctantly. She did have to save room for coffee though.

 

[y33tkr13g]

Ah yes her fans would be called the unofficial Poland army or Uma soldiers as fan name.

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Supreme Commander of Poland vs Supreme Commander of Japan

 

[CantFocusOneThing]

Supreme Commander of Poland vs Supreme Commander of Japan

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Let the greatest racist(racer) win!

 

[Narmish]

Imagine if she takes second on both the Triple Tiara and Triple Crown.

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So would people call her the Silver Duchess (or something similar) compared to Rudolf being the Emperor? Getting silver for both sets of races is pretty impressive.

 

[TheSmallSauce]

"I almost did it, Ojii-chan…" she couldn't speak too loudly without losing control of her voice, but her grandfather was dead, so it didn't really matter. And it would be considered rude to speak too loudly at his gravestone anyways.

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Dober...

Speaking of her, Dober was getting the sense that her serious kouhai was right about how much her family's fortunes were tied to racing. Even with her strong performance so far, it was starting to become clear that depending on the prestige of producing consistent winners was going to become more tenuous in the future.

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Shirogane, go and comfort your girlfriend senpai under the guise of giving prudent financial advice and prescient stock market information!

The poor tsundere horse. The groom who took care of her when she was a foal was quite elderly, and died during her classic year, so she was kind of standoffish to her new groom. I guess for the Umamusume Dober that would mean she had a butler or something who died recently.

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So this is this story's equivalent of her elderly groom dying IRL. Not a butler, but her grandfather instead. How cruel, how unimaginably cruel!

"Ramonu-san was disappointed. She says I could have won all three Tiaras if I had channeled my grief into running…" She let out a long breath. "Maybe she was right…but it wasn't that simple."

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Ramonu, what the fuck.

Sort of historically accurate, since it's a fairly accurate recreation for parade duties in the 1920-30s, rather than an actual uniform from the Napoleonic Era. Which could be a cause of some debates.

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Looking at some images just from a cursory search, it sure does look rather plain next to the explosion of colors that her classmates are wearing. I guess she also isn't wearing any medals or bars since Shiro definitely takes stolen valor very seriously.

"You mean the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes?" Grass Wonder posited. "Are any of you participating? Asides from Shirogane-san and I."

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Currently her record is something like 8-2-6-0

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8 races before the Asahi Hai FS is kinda ridiculous even from a videogame perspective. There are only 10 turns between the debut race and the Asahi Hai FS in-game, running from early July to early December, so she's definitely been running consecutive races. Probably two blocks of four consecutive races? I'm almost surprised that none of her classmates have commented on it, but since she didn't win, I'm guessing her name didn't appear on the noticeboard.

Now that she was in the starting gate for a proper race herself, Grass couldn't help but feel a grudging admiration for her classmate. Shirogane-san had made staying calm look so easy.

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Concentration is probably one of Shirogane's innate gold skills, isn't it?

 

[Jetsmillion]

So would people call her the Silver Duchess (or something similar) compared to Rudolf being the Emperor? Getting silver for both sets of races is pretty impressive.

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Maybe the Silver Princess or perhaps the Twin Crown Princess?

 

[Tonyloco]

I been thinking about Shirogane's racing style and got this, she's a War-Horse, Warhorses don't sprint they charge.

Like many other commented she doesn't sprints she charges, and a warhorse charge only ends once they are dead or with their objective completed.
Meaning she starts charging at the begging of the race and never stops until the race is over.

The Charge of the PaleOne

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[Ace98]

You know, If shirogane were to show up in that one quest Umamusume: Magical Derby, The moment the 'shadow race' starts, she'd be one of the few who'd Bulldoze through it because she already is familiar with magic and fighting and wouldn't need a 'gift from the goddesses' to beat the shadows.

Hell, she even enters the Track armed!

That would probably be one of the few scenarios that'd get Shirogane to seriously race.

 

[Jadalier Rune]

The Silver Eagle indeed, that's 8 starts/races, 2 wins, 6 second places, right?

Our beloved Eternal Placer, It would be so funny if she never wins a bronze, ever. If she places, it's 1 or 2
Meanwhile, someone else seems to be collecting all the bronzes...

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My God, she is the eternal silver. Never gold, never bronze. Lol.

 

[Jostev]

I figure that switching up Team Spica members might be a bit controversial, but with how much I've tried to get things to line up to irl, it makes it difficult to square Gold Ship, Vodka and Daiwa Scarlet's arcs since the timeline is quite different.

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I think Shinko Windy is relatively underrepresented, and am happy to see more of her. Additionally, the attention to detail regarding real life racing history is very interesting and compelling. Since team Spica isn't the primary focus of the fic, breaking the established historic accuracy to include golshi, daisca, and vodka would've been slightly distracting, though I will admit that seeing the name 'Spica' immediately followed by Shinko Windy was a bit surprising.


This does beg the question of how Special Week ended up joining Spica, however. The closest equivalent to Gold Ship kidnapping Special Week would be Windy using a pitfall trap to hunt for new members in a similar fashion, I imagine. Furthermore, Spe originally decided to join because Suzuka had just joined Spica, which isn't the case here. Spe internally mentions a conversation with El and Grass (presumably when the three went to watch a race together in chapter 16), which to me implies that Spe initially decided not to join Spica, but changed her mind after a conversation with Grass and El that also resulted in El joining. Alternatively, El may have joined Spica first and helped to clear up a poor first impression.



Also, speaking of time period accurate horses that could be appearing in the story, I would like to point out that Agnes Digital is set to debut in 1999 (which is in less than two years) and unlike T.M. Opera O and her contemporaries, Digital has reason to approach/interact with Shirogane. Timeline wise, Digital is on track to enter Tracen during the Golden Generation's Senior year. She is canonically a huge fan of all uma musume, and as such would likely be particularly knowledgeable about Shirogane, who runs a lot of races (relative to a casual viewer, at least). Since she enters Tracen specifically to more closely observe her 'oshis', she will almost certainly actively look for Shirogane unlike her average junior (obviously barring those who become fans/interested due to her large number of races, relative high placement ratio, or attempt at both triple crown and tiara). Shirogane is canonically particularly observant, and would almost certainly notice Digital and may possibly even recognize her depending on how many events Shirogane participates in that allow for interaction with fans (Digital has a rather distinct appearance, and goes out of her way to attend as many such events as possible). At the very least, Digital is active as a fan at this time, and could easily serve as an outside perspective viewpoint as a fan who has had no personal interaction with Shirogane.


For contrast, the Juniors set to enter Tracen in 1998 (most notably, but in no way limited to T.M. Opera O, Meisho Doto, Narita Top Road, and Admire Vega) Don't have any particular reason to approach Shirogane until they have participated in at least one race together or are preparing to do so, meaning that unless there is some reason for them to approach Shirogane (school event, advice, or tutoring) they are not particularly likely to interact until 1999, late 1998 at the earliest. This is because Shirogane has not been shown to interact much with those outside her classes/team/friend circle unless there is a clear reason to do so, so any characters would need to be the ones approaching her. While Opera O would absolutely declare a challenge, she's unlikely to 'mark' Shiro, and is set to get injurred during her 1998 debut and not race until 1999, and while Admire Vega would probably get along well with Shirogane, she is very unlikely to approach her without a specific reason to do so. Of the year's juniors, I actually think Meisho Doto would be the most believable to start regularly interacting with Shirogane due to her clumsiness/bad luck (though I could also see Opera's flamboyance forcing an interaction depending on the situation).

(To be clear, this is a blatant attempt to remind the author of a character I like, convince them they would be a good fit for the fic, and be interesting/entertaining to write about, just in case they didn't have something planned for them already)

 

[Filosofo29]

Well, Shirogane is definitely feeling intense now.

 

[ShadowAngelBeta]

Taking second in the classic Crown and Tiara could pretty easily earn her a moniker, The Silver Tyrant or something, nevermind if she goes on to place the senior year Spring and Autumn crowns too.

Even further if she does the same for other G1s and G2s too.

Everyone out here aiming for the Crown or Tiara, meanwhile Shiro running Trailblazer/MANT career.

There are only 10 turns between the debut race and the Asahi Hai FS in-game

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When did Shiro debut? Because it might have been earlier than in game.

 

[Mentos]

There are only 10 turns between the debut race and the Asahi Hai FS in-game

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In game turns are two weeks each, and she's done — or at least talked about doing, races one week after each other, which would be like doing two races in one turn. So, if this were gameplay, it'd probably either be like, 'select up to two races when you hit the race button' or maybe 'double the turns, same three year career, just more granular'.