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On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

And then immediately after that we get:

"..." Raises fist.
They do this all the time in the anime though. Like, they either do that or wave at the audience, or raise a finger just like Rudolf did to say "I'm going to be a Triple Crown Umamusume!"

And putting aside Umamusume stuff for a sec, the gesture of raising a fist and the Nazi salute are very different.
 
I kinda pity Bold Emperor here, putting aside Shirogane own view of her as merely a competitor at the moment. Despite winning last month, Bold Emperor actually saw Shirogane as someone worth keeping an eye on, and probably as a friendly rival. And she's actually friendly, playful, and willing to banter with Shirogane despite her taciturn nature, while other Uma feared her.

And now, in just a month time, she's barely mentioned at all which position she won while someone else barely beat Shirogane by just a moment.

I mean, that was always gonna happen eventually. This is not a surprise, and can be seen miles and chapters away. It's a thing even in the manga.

Yet, watching it actually happen, to someone who's both open and friendly, and see through Shirogane natural menacing intimidation ever since their first match as someone worthy of knowing. It's kinda heartbreaking to read.
Unfortunately, this reflects the result of the IRL Bold Emperor actually placing that badly in AHFS. The second worst placing in his entire career in fact(10th). Considering her IRL counterpart's performance, I believe she'll have her chance to properly contest Shirogane in later races.

Tbf she is also an End Closer, so her performance can be inconsistent. Would be nice to know if she ended up placing higher in this race compared to her IRL counterpart, and just failed to escape the wall that Shirogane made in this race unlike Grass.
 
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Y'know, on reread, Shirogane is disgustingly unbothered with losing. I

That said, I also hope she wins some, just for the narrative power.

Shirogane/Tanya is something of an outside context problem for Umas. As near as I can tell (though I have only read this fanfic for Umasumne) Umas are all race crazy, and generally regard second place as the first loser. Tanya regards racing as a means for money. She does not particularly care which means she chooses, so as long as it ends in a comfy retirement. Like I can see this being a somewhat candid interview in the future:

Reporter: So, a number of people questiont the amount of second place finishes. Were you sandbagging to intentionally come in second?

Tanya/Shirogane: Yes and No. I was not optimizing for any individual race, I was optimizing for general racing performance. A specialist will beat a generalist 8/10 times. However, because I was good enough on most courses, my winnings were significantly larger than any of my peers. I am not sure if you noticed, but I am the Uma with the most prize winnings by a factor of more than 5. Racing was a means to an end, nothing more, nothing less.

Reporter: So people who say you are not a good Uma because of your lack of gold medal finishes?

Tanya/Shirogane: I can't hear you, I have a giant purse in my ear. 😏

That said, repeatedly coming in second could cause some psychological issues. I don't know how familiar you are with the issue, but some athletes have to go through years of therapy after coming in second, enough so to the point where a number of them wished they had come in third (https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/olympics-second-place-psychology). This won't be as big of a deal to Shirogane/Tanya, but I imagine it would still be something that her trainer would be concerned with.
 
Her ult would probably named "For whom the bell tolls" or "Memento Mori". Ingame it is a mass debuff that distrupt skill activation (too OP), while lorewise it causes every uma to panic or a mass paranoia of impending doom/defeat. I can picture it now, as the lead is about to cross the finish line, they are getting a sense of dread that Shiro (Death) is close, and defeat is still possible.
 
If her checking her sword like that becomes a pre match ritual. How long before they take it away for scaring the other runners.

Also Shiro really is a grit check. If you can withstand her chasing you and not panic you have what it takes to win big.
 
"One night we heard the horses freaking out, so we went to check on them and we found a bear inside the enclosure. It was dead on the ground with its skull caved in, and Shirogane was just standing next to it like nothing happened."
Reminds me of the fact that people get surprised when they're reminded that horses aren't obligate herbivores.

What's more Intimidating then a horse killing a bear?
Finding it nibbling at the carcass in a complete reversal of the natural order.

If Shirogane was a real racing horse they would try to breed it with an incredibly fast yet fragile horse like Agnes Tachyon and hope that the offspring hit the genetic lottery. Other than the lack of top speed, Shirogane is basically a Fist of the North Star character that would somehow scare dangerous predators while being perfectly obedient to the trainers.
Yeah, if she were a real horse they'd either try to breed her with horses that are strong in other areas. (Silence Suzuka for example).

Or they'd double down on areas where she is proven to be strong to see if it can be made into a proper lineage or could be improved upon.

Like say, Stay Gold so they can try to establish a bloodline of "Super Evil & Intimidating Horses".

Though I imagine the most desirable trait amongst Horse Enthusiasts would be just how robust she is, they'd be going "Holy shit, do we actually have the opportunity to breed a trait into our horses so that they don't fucking explode if you so much as look at them funny!?".

Because a Horse is an absurd animal with multiple built-in self-destruct buttons that we aren't responsible for creating amazingly, they're just built like that.

So you can imagine the enthusiasm for making sure a trait that makes them less prone to catastrophic failure is preserved.

Of course, this is assuming the IRL Orzel is a Mare. If they were instead a Stallion there would be less competition as there'd be more opportunity to spread out those genetics, heck if they started breeding for robustness using Orzel as a stallion then even Haru Urara might have been able to establish a family line considering she survived a similarly absurd racing schedule with no injury.
 
Of course, this is assuming the IRL Orzel is a Mare. If they were instead a Stallion there would be less competition as there'd be more opportunity to spread out those genetics, heck if they started breeding for robustness using Orzel as a stallion then even Haru Urara might have been able to establish a family line considering she survived a similarly absurd racing schedule with no injury
She's aiming for the Tiara races so probs a mare IRL. In theory at least.
 
She is aiming for both sets. There was a bit some chapters ago where she thought about how all the indivual races and their qualifiers were all at least one week apart and discussed this with her trainer.
 
4 races in 2 months is Uma abuse for a regular Uma. 4 races in 1 month is Shiro taking a week off to unwind.
"Two minutes of actual paid work is hardly what I would call an exhaustive schedule."

but she's not the best in any length except for maybe long and her competition among her peers is pretty stacked with strong racers.
She is strongest at long races, but Seiun Sky, Grass Wonder and Special Week are all very good at longer distances too. Not to mention that most junior races are shorter, so in Hana's mind, Shirogane's consistent placing is actually a great sign, since in theory she should be struggling a lot. A lot of it is her being more of an unknown, so other racers aren't likely to prepare for her, combined with the inexperience of the junior runners allowing her to leverage her advantages better. At higher levels this advantage diminishes, but with her training, Shirogane is also getting faster, and there will be more long races available which play to her strengths better.

The chase scene alone would be compared to the scared Uma´s running away from the little Uma who can.
This is actually a great comparison to what Shiro running looks like to other umas, with the blank face, unerring still features aside from the limbs, and just an absurd degree of stamina.

Thinking's of Shirogane's in later yearsonce she gets a reputations of racing a lot and never getting hurt, the traditional families trying to stay relevant and have strong heirs, someone like Shirogane would be looked as a very strong potential mate for many of the strong Uma's since her stamina and ability top stay healthy with a racing story that would break most Umas.
And if they're a bit more canny about it, they'd also realize that Shirogane is not just physically gifted in a way where many runners are lacking, she's also got the brains to leverage her advantages quite effectively.

The Ascot Gold Cup awaits...
Shirogane at the 2000 Olympics running the Umathon:

"Shiro you're not supposed to race the cameraman!"
"I wasn't really seriously doing that, what's the problem?"
"He's riding a motorcycle!"
"And not going very fast, so?"

That's so fucking wild. Holy shit if this was an IRL horse.
If anyone reads lunaticmonster's uma stories comics, this would be prime material for them. Obscure and absurd facts and stories about the horses recounted by their trainers, grooms and jockeys.
Someone better make a bunch of omakes in lunaticmonster's style story. Or multiple such stories in one omake, such as Shirogane Orzel being a local celebrity because she's helping a restaurant delivering orders before being considered for racing by a professional horse trainer.
Yeah if she was IRL horse the owner and handlers probably have to give interviews where they explain that if they don't sign her up for races, Shirogane the horse gets very upset at them and will go on hunger strike. Later on they found out they can ameliorate this by waving around stacks of yen at her, because somehow their horse knew they were in debt, and was trying to help them pay the bills.

Shirogane might downplay her speed, but she still finished 2nd just behind a new course record. I don't think the speed gap is as much of a problem as she thinks it is.
It is closer than she thinks, as while her top speed is significantly lower than most competitive runners, her average speed is actually quite above average.

She is also absurdly fast for an uma of her 'breed', so to speak.

When Shirogane gets excited, she starts thinking about the battlefield and violence. She was so let down that it wasn't a gunshot that started the race. While it's a bit bittersweet to me how she's associated adrenaline and violence together like that, it's satisfying to see her getting into it. I can see the blueprints of the anticipated, Serious!Shiro scene where she's just having a ball rough housing and scaring everybody around her.
Shirogane would completely obliterate the boxing training.
"Did you just punch a hole in the punching bag?!"
Shirogane, watching the sand pour out with a wide grin on her face. "Success!"

Though now I wonder why she has a metal prop sword at all instead of a plastic one that would weigh less and be less dangerous in case of a fall.
this is her aunt's (great-aunt?) OG uniform, so the sword came with it. Like others said I don't think it was in Shiro's mind to change it out but even if she thought about it she might think it disrespectful.
You know, prioritizing the look of the thing rather than the durability. But I guess she feels the authenticity is more important than a few pounds?
It...uh...isn't a prop sword. It's a ceremonial sword, so could theoretically be very much used as real sword if it was sharpened (or if Shiro uses it as a mageblade conduit)

Basically, because this is 1997 Japan, most of the people who went over her race outfit were very impressed with how it was tailored to work with an uma running, and failed to recognize the aspects of it specifically designed for violence because it just didn't really cross their minds.

They did express concerns about how heavy some of the parts were, but Shiro ran better wearing it so they decided to just roll with it.

This fact with definitely never become relevant to the plot in the future.

It might be interesting if Hana or one of the senpais tentatively broaches the subject about how her fierce behavior is disruptive toward the other racers
It would be a bit hard to really explain this to her, because Shiro really isn't doing anything particularly aggressive, and to be fair, they might actually encourage it to keep doing it since it would help build a reputation.

It seems that Shirogane has taken the role of becoming the exam, less known for winning the races itself than to be the barrier that diffrentiates an exceptional uma by testing their resistance to pressure and endurance.
Shiro might become kind of a benchmark for whether someone is Golden Generation or not. "Can they beat Shirogane Orzel in a G1 race?"

Did this dork seriously raise a fist towards the crowd while dressed in military garb? Please tell me it wasn't on an outstretched arm. Shirogane, how much of your PR training is from your first life and how much of it is from your second? Cause it seems like most of it is from the second.
PR Team:
"Man, what are we gonna do about her? With that smile there's no way we can have her play up her friendliness, and that isn't in her nature either."
"Guess we should play up the serious policeuma or soldier angle?"
"Eh...wouldn't that just make her more intimidating?"
"...I think we're going to have to ask her to go for the 'step on me' aura."

Y'know, on reread, Shirogane is disgustingly unbothered with losing. I'm surprised that Grass took it so well
Grass, at this point, knows Shirogane pretty well, so knows that Shirogane is generally unbothered by everything. She also just beat someone who she felt was ahead of her, and Shiro did specifically make a maneuver to try and stop her, which means that Grass doesn't feel that Shiro took her lightly. There's also the fact that Grass is trying to learn from Shirogane's ability to be so calm, because Grass is a bit of a weabo.

If she continues racing like this, she genuinely might surpass Haru Urara in terms of total races, and Haru Urara ran a race once or twice a month for four and a half years. Her average resting period between races was two weeks. Going at that pace, by the end of her Classic year, Shiro might have run 56 races already...
The knockoff Kingscem, 106 races, 106 silvers, lol.

This had me rolling. After asking what Shiro wears on a daily basis we got authorial confirmation and two lines in the very next chapter that she's got absolutely zero sense of fashion.
Shiro about her race uniform: "It was my grand aunt's, and it is actually very comfortable to run in." Does not recognize at all that it looks cool.

The funny thing is, if Shiorgane was an IRL horse, if the Mejiros wanted to breed a horse with her, Ryan would probably be on the short list, which is a very amusing thought.

Dober when she learns this out of universe fact: Your profile pic.

And she's actually friendly, playful, and willing to banter with Shirogane despite her taciturn nature, while other Uma feared her.
she's barely mentioned at all which position she won while someone else barely beat Shirogane by just a moment.
Unfortunately, this reflects the result of the IRL Bold Emperor actually placing that badly in AHFS. The second worst placing in his entire career in fact(10th). Considering her IRL counterpart's performance, I believe she'll have her chance to properly contest Shirogane in later races.

Tbf she is also an End Closer, so her performance can be inconsistent. Would be nice to know if she ended up placing higher in this race compared to her IRL counterpart
Not sure if anyone's really noticed, but generally, Late Surger or End Closer runners find Shirogane significantly less intimidating, in large part because they don't have to jockey against her for as much of race. And yeah the IRL Bold Emperor did quite poorly at this race, probably in part due to the race track being harder to surge at the end due to the slope. Though with Shiro here Bold Emperor actually got 8th, as Shiro wrecked the front runners and pace chasers harder, so Figaro, Meiner Love and Agnes World got dropped significantly lower compared to how they performed IRL.

Is Shirogane gonna get any in universe recognition of breaking a course record of her own, since Grass Wonder only barely overtook her?
Grass Wonder beat the record by 0.4 seconds, and Shirogane finished the race about 3 lengths behind her, so while she was pretty close to the previous record, she didn't actually beat it.

While Grass overtook Shiro only towards the end of the homestretch, Grass just had that big of a speed advantage in the final spurt that the gap was actually fairly large physically.
 
because somehow their horse knew they were in debt, and was trying to help them pay the bills.
Shiro most consistent super power, money sense.
"Did you just punch a hole in the punching bag?!"
Shirogane, watching the sand pour out with a wide grin on her face. "Success
My girl was in a warzone, she got killer instincts.
This fact with definitely never become relevant to the plot in the future
I look forward to her swashbuckling sword duel with Goldshi.
 
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She is also absurdly fast for an uma of her 'breed', so to speak.
I kinda want her to visit Poland and just be confused because the local Uma are so much slower than her.
They did express concerns about how heavy some of the parts were, but Shiro ran better wearing it so they decided to just roll with it.

This fact with definitely never become relevant to the plot in the future.
Her running faster wearing something heavier is funny.
 
Not sure if anyone's really noticed, but generally, Late Surger or End Closer runners find Shirogane significantly less intimidating, in large part because they don't have to jockey against her for as much of race.
The thought did come up when you mentioned that Bold Emperor was an End Closer, which now that I think about it is funny because most of the playable Golden Gen are Pace/Late except for poor Sky who's a Front/Pace. She's gonna have tank most of Shirogane's intimidation for her entire career as the only Front Runner of the Golden Generation 🤣

No one will fully understand just how impressive it is for Sky to consistently deal with Shiro's intimidation game except maybe King Halo that after that one time she tried Front Running in the Derby.
 
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I kinda want her to visit Poland and just be confused because the local Uma are so much slower than her.
Given polish history and that polish umas would be primary target for extermination (alongside politicians, officers, doctors etc) i wouldn't be surprised if Poland don't have that many umas
 
The thought did come up when you mentioned that Bold Emperor was an End Closer, which now that I think about it is funny because most of the playable Golden Gen are Pace/Late except for poor Sky who's a Front/Pace. She's gonna have tank most of Shirogane's intimidation for her entire career as the only Front Runner of the Golden Generation 🤣
That's probably why she was the one who wanted to watch Shirogane run somebody else down during her debut.
 
They did express concerns about how heavy some of the parts were, but Shiro ran better wearing it so they decided to just roll with it.

This fact with definitely never become relevant to the plot in the future.
I can't wait for Twin Turbo to shatter course records because Shiro's fastest while chasing her with a bayoneted musket.
 
Then they proceed to run for four hours because apparently the Poles picked warhorses based on stamina.
Make sense really. Polish umas probably interbreed with various horselord umas, be it mongol, tatar etc. And on open grasslands, endurance is king. Add to the fact that Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth was vast and endurance being prioritised fits.
 
That's probably why she was the one who wanted to watch Shirogane run somebody else down during her debut.
Would do her self-esteem some good once she realizes she's able to tank Shirogane's intimidation as a Front Runner.

She would also be the first to suffer once Shiro makes a Zone breakthrough.
I can't wait for Twin Turbo to shatter course records because Shiro's fastest while chasing her with a bayoneted musket.
Too bad Twin Turbo already retired two years before Shirogane made her debut. Well, there's always the Dream Trophy League!
 
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Later on they found out they can ameliorate this by waving around stacks of yen at her, because somehow their horse knew they were in debt, and was trying to help them pay the bills.
trainer speaks into the microphone and looks into the camera: and it has to be real yen we tried with monopoly money i have never seen a horse look so offended.
and out of curiosity we tried to see the reaction to other currencies she likes both euros and złoty she is less enthusiastic about dollars and kroner but don't show her soviet ruble she bites them out of your hands spits it out and stomps on them and be upset for the rest of the day
 
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Logically her not winning any of these races makes sense, but it's also really boring to read them because I can pretty much guess where she'll place everytime.

Feels like pointless words because she also isn't really learning anything from not placing first other then her going "Oh well, I knew that'd happen." I suppose my only real complaint I guess is that she isn't really growing through adversity like a normal Uma would, I wish she'd get frustrated more often at placing the way she does, even if it's 'out of character' I do think it'd still be there because of her instincts as an Uma.
 
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Logically her not winning any of these races makes sense, but it's also really boring to read them because I can pretty much guess where she'll place everytime.

Feels like pointless words because she also isn't really learning anything from not placing first other then her going "Oh well, I knew that'd happen." I suppose my only real complaint I guess is that she isn't really growing through adversity like a normal Uma would.
The thing about Shirogane is that she would lose against the rest of the Golden Gen most of the time...IF they perform at their best.

The thing about Shiro is that she's always performing at her best, so if, say Grass, had an off-day then Shirogane will win. And Grass is one of the more stable member of the Golden Gen. While Foreign eligibility rules are probably ignored in this fic, Grass also has a high chance sit out of the Classics because of her injury unless Shiro manages to butterfly that one away. Spe can lock-in hard, but she can also be thrown off her game.

Edit: In any case, Classic Year Shirogane is going to have a decent shot at winning at least one of the Classic Crown/Tiara races as her top speed should have reached competitive levels by that point. Unfortunately, I can also see her intimidation losing its efficacy against the Golden Gen in exchange since they're used to her by that point.

This would be a good time for Shirogane to unlock her Zone. Again, poor Sky for having to deal with this the most.
 
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