On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

CantFocusOneThing · 2025-10-24T00:34:00+0100

ENDDRAGON said:
It's possible I might have misread something and Mandela effected myself. My bad, now to hope Shirogane meets Neo Universe. Also now wondering if Gold Ship has similar powers to her child self from the gag manga.

Normal Goldship already fight against Gods on her spare time the only things holding back Goldship is Goldship

Jetsmillion · 2025-10-24T00:44:21+0100

I hope Shirogane continues to build her relationship with the campus security. The fact that she just feels comfortable about them will confuse a lot of people.

On a different note, I really want to see Shirogane react to Rice Shower's bad luck. Perhaps she'll even wonder if there is actually someone Being X is out to get more than herself.

Edit:
I haven't gotten around to seeing the anime yet, so I had to look up Team Rigil to check on the Umamusumes Tanya would be working with. I noticed that one of the team members is Taiki Shuttle. Is the American Umamusume going to finally have someone she can convince to go shooting with? Because I doubt that would be something most Umamusume would be interested in.

9ballSeraph · 2025-10-24T01:25:11+0100

WrandmWaffles said:
"My apologies," Shirogane grunted, extracted her hand from the ruined speaker. "I should have recognized the gunshot was fake."

Toujou will one day remember that statement suddenly. As she's reviewing and analyzing Shiroganes behaviours and quirks for future training.
How does she know what a real gunshot sounds like.

Jetsmillion · 2025-10-24T01:36:42+0100

9ballSeraph said:
Toujou will one day remember that statement suddenly. As she's reviewing and analyzing Shiroganes behaviours and quirks for future training.
How does she know what a real gunshot sounds like.

Remember, Umamusumes are supposed to be a reincarnation of horses. This would lead people to believe that Shirogane isn't just a war horse, but one from a time period when guns existed.

Edit:
On a different note, does Shirogane speak German? Or whatever it was called in her last life? Because that could make for an interesting scene if Shirogane starts talking German to a girl from that country. I think Eishin Flash is German.... At least the wiki lists that as her birth place.

AmeliaNyoom · 2025-10-24T01:39:02+0100

Jetsmillion said:
This would lead people to believe that Shirogane isn't just a war horse, but one from a time period when guns existed.

That's a not insignificant period of time, guns having been used alongside horses from around the 15th century to the early 20th century.

Wild Transient · 2025-10-24T01:52:01+0100

WrandmWaffles said:
"You might be surprised," Rudolf hummed, releasing her grip with an acknowledging nod. "The Tracen gossip network is quite impressive. I try to rein it in before it can stir up trouble most of the time, but the desire to kick up dirt is strong in curious fillies."

While there was nothing truly unusual about this statement, Shirogane found it inexplicably funny, and it took almost too much force of will to avoid breaking out into laughter. That would

Oh no! Shirogane/Tanya like Nice Nature finds Rudolfs humor to their liking!

WrandmWaffles said:
Thank you," Shirogane managed to reply, successfully suppressing her inexplicable urge to laugh. "I will be in your care, Air Groove-senpai."

The honorific seemed to fluster the upperclassman momentarily, given the slight widening of her eyes and from the amused look on Symboli Rudolf's face, it was not something entirely unexpected.

Yes Air Groove. You've been senpaid.

WrandmWaffles said:
It's always good to see those scholarships being put to good use," Rudolf remarked, her gaze considering, as if thinking about a distant topic. "There is much potential that can be found out there that runs afoul of various barriers, stalling what could be exciting careers right out of the gate."

Shirogane clenched her jaw, her chest tightening as she bit down on her inappropriate laughter. Just what was so funny about Rudolf's words?!

We need her to burst out laughing at Rudolfs puns!

WrandmWaffles said:
Training weights?" It was frankly bizarre for horseshoes to be useful for umamusume, given that as far as Shirogane had been able to determine, their feet were largely similar to that of humans. She actually ran without them for a while, not having considered such a thing, before she was required to put on horseshoes during school and found that for whatever reason, they made her feet less sore after longer runs.

Magical Sparkly Umamusume Physiological Bullshit.

WrandmWaffles said:
Both of them gave an affirmative, crouching slightly in preparation, watching for when the gates would open–

Bang!

CRUNCH!

"Wah?!"

Shirogane blinked, finding herself turned around and her fist smashed through the speaker that had played the starting…gun noise.

Oh.

Heh! Her previous life's military experience acting up in a most comedic way.

Lyrista · 2025-10-24T02:04:40+0100

Herofox said:
They're horses tbf. Also girls, but still horses. They can startle easy and like to hit things.

They are, but Tanya is a veteran of running busy streets during rush hour and dealing with noisy traffic for years.

But she's also a veteran of a war as a child solider and it was the gunshot itself, not the loud noise, that triggered a brief fight or flight reaction that landed hard on fight as she went into solider mode as her child solider PTSD triggered.

Neo3932156 · 2025-10-24T02:22:36+0100

ENDDRAGON said:
Something I'm curious about from earlier do human born umamusume also have human ears instead of just uma ears?

Dunno about the main UmaMusume-verse but here, they all have one set of ear. Human have normal human ears while UM have UM ears.

Here's a WoG:

WrandmWaffles said:
She also doesn't hide her lack of human ears most of the time,

Mentos · 2025-10-24T02:30:09+0100

ENDDRAGON said:
Something I'm curious about from earlier do human born umamusume also have human ears instead of just uma ears?

Shirogane, at minimum, does not.

WrandmWaffles said:
The Morning Gallop of a Little Horse
[...]
Suzuki-chan returned her gaze evenly, her ears alert but still as always. After all of Yoko's experience with how expressive those ears could be, it was slightly unnerving to see them so still. Coupled with how Suzuki-chan did not feel the need to cover her lack of human ears like most umamusume, the young girl was far more intimidating than really warranted for how polite she was.

Good stuff, good stuff. Liked the chatter with the security staff, Shiro-tan liking Rudolf's puns Even though she doesn't recognize them as such, and her being antsy for her first race here.

globalwarmth · 2025-10-24T02:35:41+0100

Neo3932156 said:
UM have UM ears.

these girls missed the smartphone until bluetooth came along

Alts · 2025-10-24T02:53:46+0100

Why did it take so long for me to get the notification for this thread?

Anyway, it seems like the unfamiliar is stressing her out more than she thought it would. Also I assume her best distance is long due to her stamina and wit

WrandmWaffles · 2025-10-24T04:35:24+0100

Sky3Fall said:
Lol peak soldier instincts: hear an unexpected gunshot -> There's an enemy! Attack!

Most horses have much stronger flight responses compared to fight. Shirogane is the opposite. Her automatic response to almost being hit by a car is jumping over it.

Sky3Fall said:
It also seems like some part of her uma instincts are showing themselves? Getting twitchy/excited before a race, even if it's just a scrim, is the sort of thing I'd expect from umas.

She is an umamusume, albeit one with a very unusual amount of self control. She's mostly just better at managing her desires and emotions.

IHTP said:
Air Groove loving Shirogane just because she's respectful lmao.

Air Groove: "Hooray! A normal teammate!"
Shirogane: smashes starting gun speaker
Air Groove: "Mostly normal."

ConsumerJTC said:
I'm guessing that they expected her to instinctively kick at the general direction of the noise instead of performing a fatality on the speaker?

They were expecting a flinch or a late start. Toujou actually expected Shirogane to be fine, since she was used to cars. Unfortunately for Shirogane a gunshot triggers a more visceral reaction in her mind.

Koyori said:
How is Tanya going to react to Goldship?

They are not really going to get along, at least a first.

TheOuroboros1 said:
>is a half-pole uma
>gives her a feldgrau and a red armband with some sort of symbol in the center

To be fair, feldgrau does show up in uniforms from other countries too, though the red armband calls rather specifically to a certain political party affiliation, or student council. Most of those uniforms look a bit too modern, since what Shirogane's mother passed down to her is an Uhlan uniform closer to Napoleonic in design.

Herofox said:
They're horses tbf. Also girls, but still horses. They can startle easy and like to hit things.

Lyrista said:
They are, but Tanya is a veteran of running busy streets during rush hour and dealing with noisy traffic for years.

This is actually the first time Toujou has seen Shirogane actually startle at something. Which, to be fair, is also the first time she's seen Shirogane in an unfamiliar environment. It's also a bit unusual for the startle response to be so accurately targeted.

Jetsmillion said:
I noticed that one of the team members is Taiki Shuttle. Is the American Umamusume going to finally have someone she can convince to go shooting with? Because I doubt that would be something most Umamusume would be interested in.

Shirogane might actually be able to challenge Taiki Shuttle's quick draw champion title. Taiki would still win at speed shooting with a revolver though.

9ballSeraph said:
Toujou will one day remember that statement suddenly. As she's reviewing and analyzing Shiroganes behaviours and quirks for future training.
How does she know what a real gunshot sounds like.

Toujou has already noticed Shirogane's odd wording. She's brushed it off for now as Shirogane kicking herself mentally for thinking that they might be using an actual gun.

Wild Transient said:
Oh no! Shirogane/Tanya like Nice Nature finds Rudolfs humor to their liking!

Shirogane, unfortunately, doesn't realize Rudolf is trying to make jokes, so does everything she can not to laugh for what seems to her to be no reason at all. Air Groove actually thinks Shirogane is a bit intimidated by Rudolf since she kind of stiffened up when Rudolf was talking. This was because Shirogane was holding a laugh, but it looked a bit different to Air Groove, who is used to umas being a bit starstruck by Rudolf. Rudolf, meanwhile, feels a bit of deja vu.

Stranger1950 · 2025-10-24T04:55:43+0100

WrandmWaffles said:
Shirogane, unfortunately, doesn't realize Rudolf is trying to make jokes, so does everything she can not to laugh for what seems to her to be no reason at all. Air Groove actually thinks Shirogane is a bit intimidated by Rudolf since she kind of stiffened up when Rudolf was talking. This was because Shirogane was holding a laugh, but it looked a bit different to Air Groove, who is used to umas being a bit starstruck by Rudolf. Rudolf, meanwhile, feels a bit of deja vu.

Imma be honest and say Rudolf puns here is too well done (and I feel too much reference to irl horses, which shouldn't work). Rudolf puns in general tend to be far more forced and cringe inducing. Trying to force puns in places that should not be placed in. Also, considering Shiro lives by herself, I think it will be inevitable that Air Groove will at some point to visit to destress/clean up, only to get disappointed at Shiro cleanliness.

Anyway, just curious but who else is in this iteration of Rigil. Because while Brian, Rudolf and Air Groove fits. Sounds like Umas such as Taiki Shuttle (big dog energy), Maruzensky (too chill and running for fun) and TM Opera O (very bombastic), and El Condor Pasa (genki wrestler) shouldn't fit in this team.

RandomNew · 2025-10-24T04:59:38+0100

WrandmWaffles said:
Rudolf, meanwhile, feels a bit of deja vu.

How so? I'm not too familiar with Uma, either anime or game. I just know them through osmosis knowledge.

GigaVanguard · 2025-10-24T05:11:23+0100

Cubbyhb1 said:
B.) ...I couldn't catch most of the puns in this chapter. am I Air Groove?!

(AWFUL)
Mood Down…

glocknar · 2025-10-24T05:15:03+0100

WrandmWaffles said:
Air Groove: "Hooray! A normal teammate!"
Shirogane: smashes starting gun speaker
Air Groove: "Mostly normal."

Air Groove: "Still more normal and sane than 95% of the people here."

manatherindrell · 2025-10-24T05:48:08+0100

Wait, there were puns?

Welpimscrewed · 2025-10-24T05:56:11+0100

...I didn't even notice there were Puns, I'm disappointed in myself

Wild Transient · 2025-10-24T06:07:40+0100

manatherindrell said:
Wait, there were puns?

Welpimscrewed said:
...I didn't even notice there were Puns, I'm disappointed in myself

Rudolf probably trained up her Wit to do subtle puns.

Naphtali · 2025-10-24T06:13:10+0100

I didn't notice the puns the first time either- but when I read about Shirogane trying not to laugh, I went back to look again and... Sure enough, tons of horse puns.

Rudolph has outdone herself.

The Unicorn · 2025-10-24T07:56:04+0100

globalwarmth said:
these girls missed the smartphone until bluetooth came along

That's not actually at all believable. The phonehandset became universal because it worked for everyone and was cheap to make in large quantities. With the horse girls you'd probably get handsets with adjustable length, or possibly the early separate microphone and speaker setup will persist.

As for smartphone - long before smartphones come along that will be addressed with cellphones having the microphone be able to be pulled out on an extender to fit. For that matter by the time of the first smartphones microphones were good enough they didn't need to be that close to your mouth for you to be clearly heard.

Greatazuredragon · 2025-10-24T10:54:47+0100

Awesome chapter. Loved the interaction with the security and her sempais. And her Falcon Punching the speaker made me laugh. XD

Dissimilate · 2025-10-24T11:48:32+0100

Thanks for the chapter!! I loved it, though I also completely missed the puns. I am curious though as earlier (I think) in the story, Shirogane was able to subtly split the wind in front of her while running and I was assuming that was from magic from her child soldier life. So I am curious if she tried to throw up one of her hexagonal shields because of the gunshot as that was what she did during the war. Did it fail to appear, or did no one see it or did she not even cast it and went straight for the punch?

RogueInquisitor · 2025-10-24T11:53:05+0100

WrandmWaffles said:
A banner hung on the wall, displaying the words: 'Eclipse first, the rest nowhere'. She was likely missing some context, because that seemed incoherent.

For those who don't know, Eclipse was an 18th century English racehorse. At the time, races were typically 4 miles, broken into 1 mile heats. Horses more than 240 yards behind the lead were said to have placed "nowhere." Eclipse was so successful, not only was he undefeated (18 wins in 18 starts) but retired early because nobody wanted to race against him anymore. "[__________] first, the rest nowhere," is still used occasionally to denote being thoroughly dominant in some sort of competitive sport or activity.

WrandmWaffles said:
She arrived at the school racetrack as quickly as she could without outright running,

And how fast was that in kph?

As for her upcoming race against Air Groove, any bets on how much of it will Shirogane spend at a dead sprint? Her high endurance means she wants to spend as much time at max speed, to make up for her lower top speed.

Also, I kinda want to hear what the Tracen Gossip Network has to say about Shirogane.

tacobowl8 · 2025-10-24T12:34:05+0100

RogueInquisitor said:
As for her upcoming race against Air Groove, any bets on how much of it will Shirogane spend at a dead sprint? Her high endurance means she wants to spend as much time at max speed, to make up for her lower top speed.

I suspect that Shirogane will not spend very much at a dead sprint, maybe pacing herself. Remember, Shirogane here is very much not immersed in racing culture and the tactics one might pick up from that. So there will definitely be some obvious things/tactics to pull out of these early races to improve on as she catches up with the base knowledge that all the racing enthusiasts already know.

Jetsmillion · 2025-10-24T12:56:04+0100

tacobowl8 said:
I suspect that Shirogane will not spend very much at a dead sprint, maybe pacing herself. Remember, Shirogane here is very much not immersed in racing culture and the tactics one might pick up from that. So there will definitely be some obvious things/tactics to pull out of these early races to improve on as she catches up with the base knowledge that all the racing enthusiasts already know.

I think the thing that will shock the watchers the most won't be Shirogane's speed but her consistency. A brand new racer being able to maintain the exact same pace for an entire medium or long race would be quite unusual.

I'm guessing that Shirogane will be a racer with low acceleration and decent speed, but absolutely rock solid endurance. Inexperienced girls that try to keep pace with her are going to have a bad time late race.

Nickballas · 2025-10-24T13:01:52+0100

Since we're in for a race next chapter I leave this here... kind of underappreciated.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYMoZYYW_mE

The Unicorn · 2025-10-24T14:54:44+0100

RogueInquisitor said:
As for her upcoming race against Air Groove, any bets on how much of it will Shirogane spend at a dead sprint? Her high endurance means she wants to spend as much time at max speed, to make up for her lower top speed.

My guess? None.
She hasn't actually spend much time racing and has spent a lot of time running long distances, it won't even occur to her to sprint because she knows if she does she'll be too tired to run all day...

I expect that while she'll lose this race (and possibly pretty badly) she's going to end the race breathing evenly and ready to keep running

Neo3932156 · 2025-10-24T15:00:55+0100

The Unicorn said:
My guess? None.
She hasn't actually spend much time racing and has spent a lot of time running long distances, it won't even occur to her to sprint because she knows if she does she'll be too tired to run all day...

I expect that while she'll lose this race (and possibly pretty badly) she's going to end the race breathing evenly and ready to keep running

Dunno about the potential outcome, but Shirogane isn't that hopeless nor inexperience, much, in a race. She did mention having the occasional informal races between friends, so she should at least have the basic of sprinting it to win it.

D'znn-Xy'lll MetaChthonia · 2025-10-24T15:17:15+0100

Shirogane frowned. In what circumstance would dropping the backpack help if a vehicle was about to collide with you?

Delivery Uma for "fell off a truck".

"How do you know about that?" the other uma hissed, her ears pulling back warily.

Found the Big Boss' PMC.

human one said (she should really learn their names).

Would be just her luck if they're literally Named "One" and "Two".

umamusume did not have to be put down if they broke a leg, though it was still usually a career ending injury.

Reminded of an Animation but not its Name.

"Guess I can't really say the same when some dumbf–" she glanced furtively at Shirogane, who did not react to her almost cursing. "Some dumb idiot blew up the mortar we were training with."

...
...
...Venom Uma? Probably doesn't have shrapnel sticking out of her skull (I still have no clue why the fuck that was a thing).

"Incompetence? Or faulty equipment?"

"He was a dumbass."

...He stuck the mortar in the tube upsidedown, didn't he? Then when it didn't go in he started hammering. Although given uow durable Umas probably are I wouldn't be surprised if it went off right next to her face from her trying to launch it into the sky after seeing what was happening.

"Any racers?"

"No."

None of 'em are racist eno-

hafu

-but apparently Thing One is. Wonder if we'll get to see if Spe is racist when she sees a chestnutter... I forget if Shiro is chestnut with a white eagle or somehow inverted and she's the first ever instance of gaining melanin or if she's blonde with the white eagle and the chatbot spitting out pure white hair for the Reference Image doesn't help in the regard.

"Sorry–wait, you're not mad?"

"You did not appear to mean offence. Did you?"

Given she was living in the first half of the 1900s she's probably quite desensitized to bigotry of all kinds by now.

"Nope, just thought you were a foreigner for a bit there, kid."

Reminds me of some VTubers. Like... Hanya? I think? Or maybe it was her previous VTuber Identity. Talked about her childhood, it involved teachers thinking she was dyeing her hair and wearing color contacts. Also some other stories of similar incidents from other people growing up in Japan.

Possibly due to inbreeding.

She doesn't know yet, Chat.

"Olrzelr?" Takanashi-san tried.

"Orlzerl?" Takada-san made his own attempt.

Yep, gonna be a Running-Gag.

"No, Polish." Part of Shirogane felt offended that they thought it was Russian…but the Russian word was not that different.

Same Root Language. You can tell it a Language spawned out of Latin because it's using Latin Word Structure Latin Alphabet with some letters added. Languages that merely adapt Latin into them have differing forms, usually only including the letters. This is also how you Know the Romans never made it to Russia.

On that thought…perhaps it would be wise to keep an eye out for hostile actions from her classmates and potential rivals.

If Gold Ship is here I can already predict that she'll end up joining McQueen as GolShi's conscripted audience to her antics.

"Actually, most of the student council members were my trainees, though Narita Brian is not here today."

subbing-in-for-hana-san-be-like-by-petoka-v0-3vmr5jadhmwf1.jpeg

What Rudolf and Air Groove choose to do in their official capacity is not subject to my approval, though of course I can object if it interferes too much with their training."

I still choose to Believe they're actual staff members.

I work the best with trainees who have a more serious personality, which also tend to be the trainees that are most likely to achieve Student Council positions."

...
...
...Dadulf doesn't match that.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5_mztsOqxY

"No, many of the teachers are, in fact, quite avid fans of races as well. They, of course, are fully qualified in their respective subjects, but you should expect many racing metaphors."

I have an entire Thread of this stuff.

The student council room looked like one that might be portrayed in an anime, with a large desk for the president framed by paned windows, several other desks for the other members to work at, and even several seats for visitors.

My ROB how much am-

-just Search ".gif", that's how.

Abanner hung on the wall, displaying the words: 'Eclipse first, the rest nowhere'. She was likely missing some context, because that seemed incoherent.

Eh, even with Context it's not very coherent. It's Referencing one of the early racing horses, Eclipse.

While there was nothing truly unusual about this statement, Shirogane found it inexplicably funny, and it took almost too much force of will to avoid breaking out into laughter. That would have been a disastrous impression.

BEHOLD THE EMPEROR'S DIVINE COMEDY!

Shirogane clenched her jaw, her chest tightening as she bit down on her inappropriate laughter. Just what was so funny about Rudolf's words?!

...Shiro is gonna be the Nice Natie of their group, isn't she? Although I don't get this Joke and the last took several seconds. Is it the "barrier" and "gate"?

would help start her stay here on the right track, no?"

"You would…like me to race against one of you?" Now was not the time to laugh.

Well that one was better... Rudolf is doing this deliberately, isn't she? Actively trying to make her break composure.

but Steady was far from as renowned as the likes of the umamusume nicknamed the Emperor and Empress. There was very little likelihood of her winning even a friendly contest, but it would serve as a starting point.

Steady is also a draft Uma not a racing Uma. She's built to lift not run.

"Training weights?" It was frankly bizarre for horseshoes to be useful for umamusume, given that as far as Shirogane had been able to determine, their feet were largely similar to that of humans. She actually ran without them for a while, not having considered such a thing, before she was required to put on horseshoes during school and found that for whatever reason, they made her feet less sore after longer runs.

Thought they functioned as cleats and justification for the shoes to have heels.

"Ehem." Air Groove coughed into her fist, trying to pretend she hadn't just let out a rather undignified sound. "That is a stronger reaction than I have seen in a while."

"My apologies," Shirogane grunted, extracted her hand from the ruined speaker. "I should have recognized the gunshot was fake."

Gonna have to get her a therapist, they have another Staff Sergeant Reckless. Also there's at least 3 Umas with guns who use them on the track. Combat footrace.

"Why don't we run some mock starts first to get you used to the sound?"

They're gonna go through a lot of speakers... Wait, why are the speakers inside the gate? Shouldn't it be somewhere out of reach?

She also needed to figure out what was so laughter-inducing about Symboli Rudolf.

Guess ya have a type.

On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

It can get better and definitely can get worse

Not Gay if it is Cute

Know what you're doing yet?

Not Gay if it is Cute

Getting sticky.

Whimsical Dakka Worshipper

The Eternal Procrastinator

Versed in the lewd.

吸血鬼

ruining the weather.

Getting out there.

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Know what you're doing yet?

Know what you're doing yet?

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Versed in the lewd.

Experienced.

Getting out there.

Whimsical Dakka Worshipper

Getting some practice in, huh?

Well worn.

Connoisseur.

Not too sore, are you?

Know what you're doing yet?

Not Gay if it is Cute

I wish I had more Pride.

Well worn.

Versed in the lewd.

⌈META⌋

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