On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[Introverted]

Why do I get the feeling she's going to enter both the Triple Tiara and Triple Crown races?
Is it bad I kind of want Shirogane to go on a dominant run in terms of the g1s she actually participates in and wins them, and basically subverts the "canon".

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She might honestly lose the Tiara but perform much better in the Crown races.
Her Aptitude leans towards longer races after all.

 

[drake_azathoth]

She might honestly lose the Tiara but perform much better in the Crown races.
Her Aptitude leans towards longer races after all.

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Most of her class are focused on the Crown and are foregoing the Tiara though - honestly that's true of most of Tracen. (Because they are stallions IRL).

And older Umas aren't allowed to participate in the Tiara or Crown, they only get one shot at it, unlike in the video game where you can end up racing against older Umas that shouldn't qualify in the same year. (I'm sorry Maruzensky, you should not be running the Tiara for your 'Classic Year'.)

So while her distance isn't as well suited the competition is also not so harsh.

 

[Greatazuredragon]

I suppose you have a fair point there," Shirogane conceded, flicking an ear in acknowledgement since her hands were busy. "With how my classmates keep talking about the Triple Crown I assumed that was the standard for success."

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Typical "i got second place amidst the entire nation, guess I am not special" Tanya. XD
And she smiling more can only be a good thing. Trust. ;p

 

[Chibi-Reaper]

They ended up having a sort of impromptu family lunch, with Shirogane being a sort of third wheel.​

---

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Bets that they all feel like they're kind of a third wheel here?

Shirogane because the cousins are family, yes.

Tensei because Shirogane and Hana spend some of the time chatting about their business, which he understands but isn't involved in.

Hana because Shirogane and Tensei appear to be low-key flirting with each other and she doesn't get it but they get along super well.

 

[TheLastBattalion]

I feel like the Triple Tiara race Shiro would have the best chance at would be the Japanese Oaks. However, I believe she could win the Oka Sho if she used up her prodigious stamina by doing a Great Escape; while it would be an extreme gamble, it also would play mind games with everyone else she will ever face, because you just don't know if she'll pull out the Great Escape card in the future.

 

[Rexmaster1]

I literally created an account on this site just to comment on this story. Because I liked it that much.

I like seeing how other Umas react to how strange Shirogane is, an Uma who behaves more like a human in many ways.

Even though Shirogane is a high-functioning sociopath in all her lifes, thanks to the good upbringing her first parents gave her and clearly instilled in her a firm value system based on reasoning and logic, despite being a sociopath, she remains decidedly human, both mentally and spiritually.

This is noticeable in how she never gestures with her ears or tail; she is much more severe and taciturn than others, and above all, her lack of passion for running must produce an uncanny valley effect in other Umas. Even other stoic Umas like Mihono Bourbon regularly gesture with their ears and tails and still maintain their passion for running.

After all, Umas were literally born to run. Even though they can develop other passions and interests, running is always a fundamental part of their personality. Shirogane, an Uma who clearly only has a financial interest in running, must be as baffling to them as a human who never blinks and doesn't enjoy eating or drinking water is to us.

While for practically all Uma their first professional race is a "canon event" that marks a before and after in their lives, for Shirogane it's more like: "Oh yeah, I went to the dentist yesterday, nothing interesting happened." It's no surprise that Shirogane's friends are so surprised and even hurt by not being invited; it's as if she's telling them she doesn't really consider them friends.

These differences seem only going to become more pronounced as time goes on. Some of her friends, like King Halo or Grass Wonder, will probably start to resent how good Shirogane is at something she clearly doesn't even enjoy that much, and Shirogane will start to feel strange about how obsessed the other Umas are with running, as if they have no other goals or dreams in life.

Changing the subject, now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense why Shirogane wears ornaments in both ears.

If we think about it a bit, even though she justifies it by saying she wants to maintain balance, the only other Uma who also has two ornaments, Fine Motion, does so because her real-world counterpart was intersex. But Shirogane technically is too.

After all, she was male in her first life and female in her second, so I think her gender identity is fluid.

PS: I'm 100% on board with Shirogane x Teisei. I find it simply hilarious that Shirogane doesn't realize she's lightly flirting with a man who is basically her in her first life.

 

[mauveine]

I literally created an account on this site just to comment on this story. Because I liked it that much.

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Welcome to the funhouse
We're all mad, here
Creating an account, well, isn't that an indication of appreciation for the author

 

[Eurocorp]

I literally created an account on this site just to comment on this story. Because I liked it that much.

I like seeing how other Umas react to how strange Shirogane is, an Uma who behaves more like a human in many ways.

Even though Shirogane is a high-functioning sociopath in all her lifes, thanks to the good upbringing her first parents gave her and clearly instilled in her a firm value system based on reasoning and logic, despite being a sociopath, she remains decidedly human, both mentally and spiritually.

This is noticeable in how she never gestures with her ears or tail; she is much more severe and taciturn than others, and above all, her lack of passion for running must produce an uncanny valley effect in other Umas. Even other stoic Umas like Mihono Bourbon regularly gesture with their ears and tails and still maintain their passion for running.

After all, Umas were literally born to run. Even though they can develop other passions and interests, running is always a fundamental part of their personality. Shirogane, an Uma who clearly only has a financial interest in running, must be as baffling to them as a human who never blinks and doesn't enjoy eating or drinking water is to us.

While for practically all Uma their first professional race is a "canon event" that marks a before and after in their lives, for Shirogane it's more like: "Oh yeah, I went to the dentist yesterday, nothing interesting happened." It's no surprise that Shirogane's friends are so surprised and even hurt by not being invited; it's as if she's telling them she doesn't really consider them friends.

These differences seem only going to become more pronounced as time goes on. Some of her friends, like King Halo or Grass Wonder, will probably start to resent how good Shirogane is at something she clearly doesn't even enjoy that much, and Shirogane will start to feel strange about how obsessed the other Umas are with running, as if they have no other goals or dreams in life.

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It really feels like she's going to end up being seen as a type of Rice Shower/Dream Journey possibly within Tracen, not necessarily because of breaking a proper winning streak or being ambiguously threatening, but more because of how odd she appears to Umas. Compare her to the main Golden Generation girls and her own personality there's a rather large gap. Even at the worst of King Halo the haughtiness is in part an act. But they're all very much on the obsessed with racing side and it factors into their insecurities a lot too such as Sky worrying about finally running out of tricks or El pushing her body to the breaking point.

Meanwhile Tanya here is probably close to giving them all the equivalent of one of Kyubey's "I don't get it" moments.

 

[Crispy Taco Shell]

Even at the worst of King Halo the haughtiness is in part an act. But they're all very much on the obsessed with racing side and it factors into their insecurities a lot too such as Sky worrying about finally running out of tricks or El pushing her body to the breaking point.

Meanwhile Tanya here is probably close to giving them all the equivalent of one of Kyubey's "I don't get it" moments.

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Despite constantly saying she isn't obsessed with racing, Shirogane still trains as hard, if not harder than her classmates. When her classmates are waking up, she's already been outside running for several hours. And when they get to the gym, she's already on the treadmill sprinting for several hours. That is obsessive.

Her internal monologue sees nothing extraordinary about this but this is not normal. Her training is freakishly masochistic and only works because of her monstrous endurance and intimate awareness of her body's limitations. That training will certainly get even more intense as time goes by. What new self-imposed brutality will Shirogane endure next chapter, I wonder? Weighted clothes, mud, and artillery barrages? She's practically the Vegeta or Rock Lee of Umamusume at this point.

Future prediction: As Shirogane wins more races, the other umas will attempt to copy her training regimen and utterly wreak themselves.

 

[GarfRed]

Her training is freakishly masochistic and only works because of her monstrous endurance and intimate awareness of her body's limitations.

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I feel like an IRL version of Shirogane would have a similar temperament and would be seen constantly training and never tiring. That could also explain her family's backstory of her IRL trainers and stable hands getting her to rest and eat.

 

[Neo3932156]

Despite constantly saying she isn't obsessed with racing, Shirogane still trains as hard, if not harder than her classmates. When her classmates are waking up, she's already been outside running for several hours. And when they get to the gym, she's already on the treadmill sprinting for several hours. That is obsessive.

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She may not be as obsessed as her classmates, but as her parents once told her trainer, she's dedicated. And to be fair to her classmates, they would have trained just as hard if theirs weren't as durable as Shirogane's legs. Training and racing to the point of injuries, sometimes permanently, is a common Umamusume ailment for a reason and why the training areas are monitored whenever one of them was training there.

 

[Rexmaster1]

Tanya/Shirogane isn't necessarily a passionate person, but she is extremely disciplined, especially when it affects her personally.

She simply doesn't let life drag her along; she's very proactive in improving her chances. Even in her second life, despite it being perfectly reasonable to remain a civilian to avoid the war, she voluntarily enlisted in the army at age nine to improve her odds, and by the time she was eleven, she was literally the best officer in the entire army.

That's discipline.

As Shirogane, her motivation isn't to stay alive, but to make an already idyllic life even more comfortable, both for herself and her loved ones. That's why she sees absolutely nothing wrong with subjecting herself to training regimens that could easily be considered torture. Thanks to being born with a naturally resilient body, she can essentially torture herself without ending up like Teio.

That's the kind of dedication her classmates will be up against.


I wonder what the equivalent of a Mary Sue would be in this universe. Shirogane is naturally too affable to have rivals.

Perhaps Mary Sue could also have reincarnated in this universe as an Uma, and the moment she meets Shirogane, they both feel a mutual hatred and aversion that neither of them can explain.

That's the only way Shirogane could consider someone a rival. Not through a competitive friendship where they both motivate each other to be better, but through an instinctive hatred that drives her to uttterly crush and humiliate her rival.

Imagine the families and friends of both girls, shocked by why such a stern girl (Shirogane) and/or a friendly one (Mary Sue) are so... vicious towards each other. They might think the other did something terrible, but no. Their souls simply hate each other on a conceptual and spiritual level, and they can't be in the same room for even five minutes without yelling at each other and nearly coming to blows.

 

[Cataquack Warrior]

Something that could compound tensions between Shiro and her peers is how she'd react to one of them getting close to the verge of dropping out.

I imagine most umas would be sad about something like that, and would encourage their friend to not give up, to give it their all in one last ditch chance to succeed.

Shiro, on the other hand, would "help" by preparing them for moving on in the aftermath. She'd maybe mentor them in the non-sports subjects they struggle at, or offer to help them find in-roads to other jobs and businesses. Perhaps even give some well-meaning but volatile reassurance that it's "not the end of the world", "life goes on", and "it's just a race".

Shiro would genuinely want to help them with what she sees as useful advice, thinking it's better for them to handle things realistically rather than burn out for nothing. But I think most umas would take it the wrong way. They'd be upset at the implication that Shiro thinks their failure is inevitable, resist the idea of a life that doesn't center on racing, and get upset that Shiro, who has surpassed them, seems to be okay with the idea of racing not being that important.

 

[RogueInquisitor]

Shirogane is naturally too affable to have rivals.

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Shirogane may think she doesn't have rivals. As we saw in her debut race, others will quite eagerly start up a rivalry themselves, even if Shirgane doesn't notice. In fact, at least part of the rivalry may be caused by the fact Shirogane isn't putting her soul into racing, or that she doesn't take this as seriously as her peers. Many of them have been dreaming of this since they were old enough to understand the concept. Shirogane is doing this as a potentially lucrative detour on her otherwise unrelated career path. The ones who have poured the majority of their entire lives up to this point will be offended, and will want to beat this filthy casual.

 

[RandomNew]

Mary Sue

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No, I hope fucking not.
Any Mary Sue appearance just ruin any fics she appear on.

Umamusume already have many characters in it. Doesn't need to add unnecessary charavter like her, when you can already have many prospect characters.

 

[Eurocorp]

Shirogane may think she doesn't have rivals. As we saw in her debut race, others will quite eagerly start up a rivalry themselves, even if Shirgane doesn't notice. In fact, at least part of the rivalry may be caused by the fact Shirogane isn't putting her soul into racing, or that she doesn't take this as seriously as her peers. Many of them have been dreaming of this since they were old enough to understand the concept. Shirogane is doing this as a potentially lucrative detour on her otherwise unrelated career path. The ones who have poured the majority of their entire lives up to this point will be offended, and will want to beat this filthy casual.

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She's going to have an effect similar to what Mayano Top Gun has on some girls, a prodigy in some respect who doesn't even view running as the most important thing in her life. Admittedly with Mayano the girl is good at anything she actually decides to focus on and racing only starts to be interesting to her when she has a rival to motivate her.

 

[FluffyVoid]

No, I hope fucking not.
Any Mary Sue appearance just ruin any fics she appear on.

Umamusume already have many characters in it. Doesn't need to add unnecessary charavter like her, when you can already have many prospect characters.

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Mary Sue tried to follow Tanya into the next life but the goddesses of Umamusume denied her entry. The excuse they used was that she didn't have her passport/correct paperwork.

 

[Wild Transient]

No, I hope fucking not.
Any Mary Sue appearance just ruin any fics she appear on.

Umamusume already have many characters in it. Doesn't need to add unnecessary charavter like her, when you can already have many prospect characters.

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Second this. I don't want no fucking Mary Sue bringing unneeded drama to Tanya/Shiroganes new peaceful life.

You want rivals for Shiro? We've got tons of canon umas for that. Hell even Happy Meek is more worthy of being a rival to her then that idiot berserker Mary Sue.

 

[Rexmaster1]

I'm only saying this because I find it interesting, as a concept, a rivalry inspired by hatred rather than friendly competitiveness.

Shirogane is, in many ways, a subversion of the typical Uma Musume protagonist (Special Week, Kitasan Black, and Narita Top Road), that is, friendly, competitive, social girls, and above all, highly motivated by running and completely immersed in the Uma running culture.

Meanwhile, Shirogane is aloof, serious, and only interested in running for financial gain, not because she wants to make friends or has any particular dream.

That's why I thought a protagonist as "different" as Shirogane should have relationships that differ from the average. More specifically, of the type: If it weren't illegal and there were witnesses, they would both legitimately try to kill each other.

The Uma Musume franchise practically romanticizes the concept of rivalry. It idealizes it as someone to grow alongside and compete with to be better, obviously always with friendly and almost homoerotic undertones.

I imagine other characters reacting to Shirogane winning a rivalry and saying, "Oh great, Shiro's finally becoming more normal," assuming it's a typical Uma rivalry like Daiwa and Vodka, or McQueen and Teio, etc.

But no. Shirogane and Mary Sue are definitely NOT friends. They DON'T want to see each other grow. And above all, they DON'T want to lose and be "less" than the other.

Imagine Agnes Digital trying to ship them, thinking they have a rivalry with yuri subtext, just the kind she likes, but then being horrified to realize that their arguments and confrontations have no romantic tension, just pure, raw HATE for each other's guts.

Although, to be honest, I understand why many people dislike Mary Sue. It means she's very good at fulfilling her purpose because she's clearly made to be hated. In many fanfics she is treated more as an OP superpowerful obstacle to the plot than a true character in her own right, that is, an Anti-Tanya.