Chapter Text
The Umaverse: URA Finale
Prologue: Destination Unknown
I saw the world open out.
Not above me, but below me.
Ever higher, ever faster.
I reached for that forever, endless horizon.
The lights were blindingly bright.
Not in a bad way, they could never be bad.
Bright lights meant something exciting was about to happen.
Bright lights meant a race.
Bright lights meant the very air itself felt tingly and fizzy, ready to pop like rock candy.
A chance to twinkle, to shine, to stand proud.
Mayano Top Gun thought she might burst into sparkles before she even reached the starting gate.
"Ehehehe..."
The white race apron with the number 13 and her name marked her Debut Race.
"Mayano."
Her ears perked up at the calm and familiar voice, calling out to her like a hand catching a paper airplane before it hit the ground.
"Kairin!" Her whole face lit up.
"That's Trainer Kairin, to you." Her trainer sighed, seemingly used to this. She stood just by the exit of the tunnel, clipboard tucked under one arm, her expression looking how she always did when she was trying very, very hard to look serious and professional - which never fully worked.
"I'm the number one favorite! Did ya hear?" Mayano gave a little dance as she reached the end of the tunnel.
"Yes. I know." She looked at Mayano both with worry, but also some level of anticipation. Her eyes always softened when she looked at her Umamusume trainee. She was always checking her notes over and over when she got trainer's nerves like this.
She had told Mayano three separate times not to push off too hard from the start with her right foot, which meant she was still worried about her leg.
Mayano puffed out her cheeks. "I know, I know." She got in quick before her trainer could even open her mouth. "Don't overdo it. Don't force the start. Don't go zoom-zoom if the footing feels off. You already told me all this stuff!"
Trainer Kairin's mouth opened and then closed, the tiniest sigh left out.
"I... was just going to say good luck is all."
"Oh."
Mayano blinked.
Then she slowly grinned, bright and shamelessly. "That too!"
She darted closer to her in two quick steps, stopping right in front of her, close enough to see her reflection in the golden buttons on her outfit.
"Nervous?"
"I'm not the one racing."
"Mm-hm, but you are making faces again."
"W-what faces?"
"The ones where you think you look all cool and calm." Mayano lowered her voice dramatically, "But in reality your heart is going doki doki for Maya~☆"
Trainer Kairin's expression did not change. Unfair. But Mayano knew she'd won the battle of wits regardless. She was Mayano Top Gun after all, the brightest, shiniest new feature on the roster, the one the many URA tabloids and blogs had noted to keep an eye on before she had even properly debuted. The one Umamusume people kept calling 'prodigy', 'genius', and 'a sure winner.'
Favorite to win.
And much, much overdue. Too long overdue. Mayano had been beyond patient, given her unique circumstances. Though if she was honest, it was worth the wait if only to hear the excited buzz spilling down from the stands overhead; that feeling that everyone was there to see her.
All those eyes would turn toward the track where she would run, and she would twinkle. That's what mattered most to her.
"Don't worry, I'll do umazingly!" She gave her trainer a bright little salute.
"I know you'll do your best."
Mayano's ears twitched. Then she huffed and spun on one heel before the feeling grew any bigger.
"Well, yeah. Obviously." She spoke, a bit too over-confidently.
The staff began calling the racers forward and one by one the other runners made their way out onto the racecourse. Mayano walked backwards a few steps, pointing at her trainer dramatically
"Watch me super carefully, okay? No blinking! If you miss my big win, I'm making you take me on a date after!"
"Sounds less like a threat and more like a wish."
She laughed and turned to run and catch up to the others, the roar of the crowd hit all at once. The sound washed over the track like a living wave, voices, cheers, announcement echoes, the metallic hum of decade-old speakers and the rattle of camera shutters. Above it all hung the late morning air, cold, crisp and dry.
It was the track however, that pulled her eyes back down.
Dirt.
Mayano only kept smiling because she knew she was being watched, but her fingers clenched at her sides. She didn't hate running on dirt, but it was frustrating she had little choice in the matter, given her medical condition and subsequent recovery. It had been clear her natural aptitude was turf, but circumstances forced her trainer's hand.
Dirt dragged her speed just a little more, caught her stride just a little more. It never felt right to run on.
But: dirt was fine. She was going to be fine. Dirt was a track, and a race on dirt was still a race; one with speed, timing, openings and angles. The thrill of finding the one perfect path through the chaos.
She just wish it had been turf.
The turf called out to her like the runway, her stretch of ground on which she would take-off and fly away.
If only it hadn't been for that accursed bone spur. 'Ugh' Just thinking about it put her in a bad mood.
Mayano took her place at the far gate. Her number was the highest. Her ears twitched as the other Umamusume took their own places. Some looked focused, some looked terrified. Some stared at her.
'Of course they are. I'm the favorite. The prodigy. Dirt or Turf, this is my debut, and I'm gonna twinkle.' She held her head up higher, just a bit.
The gate loomed in front of her, and all the noises of the world around her began to narrow thin and sharply.
Mayano could hear her pulse in her head as her body tensed and waited in anticipation.
The gates burst open, and Mayano took off.
Wrong. Not all wrong. Just wrong enough…
The first thing she felt was the kick-back against her calves. The second was the drag on her feet from the dirt below. The third was the ugly hesitation in the rhythm of her pace.
She adjusted as best she could. Shorter strides, trying not to fight the ground, trying to let it hold her better.
She tried to focus ahead, looking for the way forward. It took a moment, but then she spotted it. There. A Gap.
Mayano slipped towards it, regaining some of her lost confidence almost immediately.
'See? I'm fine. Totally fine.'
The pack had already formed, Mayano reading the footwork and movement of the others the same way other people read signs. 'That one will fade by the final corner.' 'That one by the rail is guarding too aggressively.' 'The chestnut haired one two lengths up was the most dangerous.' 'Outside pressure coming up in three... two...'
'NOW!'
Mayano moved ahead, and for one beautiful moment, the race seemed to click for her. Her heart leapt. 'Yes. This was it.' This was the feeling, the part she loved most.
The dirt shifted under her again.
It wasn't enough to throw off her pace, but her push didn't proceed the way she had intended. Her foot sunk in, and moved just a fraction of a second too slowly. The uncertainty of the moment clouded her senses.
She was passed on the outside.
Mayano gritted her teeth and tried to surge. The final turn approached and the pack compressed. Dirt flung with cleats, elbows and shoulders nearly collided, the heavy thumping of the racers was audible.
She saw the finish line. She was the path she could take to win. But she couldn't move in time. Someone else took it first.
Mayano tried to veer and recover to push again, hitting with everything she had...
...but it was too late.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four-
Five.
For a moment, the world faded away. Then it came back fast, and loud.
Mayano slowed down with the others, chest heaving. The cheers from the stands continued in waves, but they no longer felt like they were meant for her.
Dirt clung to her shoes, her socks, the backs of her legs. Sweat poured down her neck.
Fifth.
Not first. Not favorite. Not twinkly.
Mayano hated that her eyes were stinging. She cursed her leg that forced her circumstances to run on dirt. She hated the dirt.
She kept walking, because stopping would have made it easier to see the tears welling up in her eyes.
By the time she reached the tunnel, she couldn't hold it down. Her fists balled at her sides. Stupid dirt! Stupid bone spur!! Stupid careful recovery schedule!!! Stupid favorite-to-win expectations!!!! Stupid race!!!!! Stupid-
"Mayano..."
Trainer Kairin was waiting, of course she was already there, likely having come down the moment the results were official.
Mayano stopped walking, but she didn't look at her.
"I-if you say 'good effort,' she muttered "I'm gonna... I'm gonna..."
She shook, unable to hold back the tears any more.
"I'm... I'm so frustrated." She couldn't bear to look at her Trainer. "I hate that track. I hate how it grabs. I hate how it makes me rethink every stupid little step. I hate that I knew exactly what to do and my body couldn't keep up..."
Her voice wobbled on that last part, and she hated that too. She was dim and defeated. The furthest thing from twinkling. And she had lost in front of Trainer Kairin. That was the worst part of all.
"I... was supposed to win..."
"You were expected to win."
"T-that's the same thing!"
"No," She spoke. "It isn't."
Mayano finally manged to look at her, sympathetic eyes gazing back.
"You're recovering. You ran on dirt instead of turf and you still finished fifth in your debut."
Fifth.
There it was again.
But this time, it sounded different. Not good, but not terrible. Mayano looked away.
"I could've done better."
"I know..."
Trainer Kairin didn't sugarcoat, she was always brutally honest.
"And, you could have done worse."
Mayano snapped up, following the direction of her pointed finger. She was the Umamusume who had come in dead last place. She was sobbing uncontrollably, her trainer kneeling and comforting her on the dirt-covered ground.
"..."
Mayano felt sick to her stomach. Fifth place suddenly didn't seem nearly as bad.
"Could you have done better? Maybe." She continued. "And one day you will. On turf. Healthy. Properly prepared. That just wasn't today's race."
Mayano swallowed, her hand clearing her face of tears. Her chest hurt, but not from running. Just the itching, awful feeling of having so much potential inside her and not being able to use it to the right result.
"I didn't like it."
"I know."
"I really, really didn't like it."
"I know..."
Her tail slowly waved.
"But… it was still my first, real race…"
She smiled ever so faintly. The race had frustrated her, the surface had irritated her, and the results stung hard. Mayano pressed her fist tightly against her chest, as if she could hold her feelings long enough to understand them.
"It was… messy. and I hated the dirt... and... I missed the path I wanted, and... I goth fifth…"
Trainer Kairin waited.
"But… I started, and finished my very first REAL race." She smiled slowly, more and more. "And, I want to keep going…"
And with her resolve firm, trainer Kairin finally gave a smile and put her hand on Mayano's shoulder.
"That's good."
Mayano blinked. "It is?"
"It means the result didn't beat you. This 'thing' we call failure, it isn't the falling down. It's the staying down."
Mayano let the words sink in for a moment. There was certainly some truth to it. She closed her eyes, gave a chuckle, wiping one last time with the back of her hand.
"Well, duh," she grinned. "Like that could ever beat me."
"There's the Mayano I scouted."
"Hehe~"
She straightened up, and dusted some of the powdered turf off her stained cover.
"This totally still counts as a loss."
"It does."
"And I'm gonna remember it forever."
"I'd expect nothing less."
"But, when I'm healthy and back on turf, and everyone is watching, I'm gonna fly…"
For the first time since the race ended, Mayano felt confident again. She took a deep breath and slapped her cheeks.
"Okay, I'm fine. I'm done being upset for now."
"For now?"
"For now," She repeated. "I reserve the right to get upset again later. Maybe even dramatically. Maybe while eating dessert."
Trainer Kairin laughed a bit. "Sounds likely."
"It does, doesn't it?" Mayano said, brighter now, despite herself.
She planted both hands on her hips and looked up at her trainer with as much dignity as someone covered in racetrack dust could possibly manage.
"Sooooo, how about we go somewhere with cake~?"
"Right now?"
"Yes! You said it yourself, 'recovery is important!'"
"T-that isn't the type of recovery I meant..."
"It is today~"
She sighed the sigh of a woman who already knew this argument was a lost cause. Mayano grinned, spinning towards the exit, glancing back over her shoulder.
"C'mon Kairin! We've got lots to do before my real takeoff!"
"T-trainer Kairin! It's Trainer Kairin!"
Mayano laughed and took off down the tunnel, her energy and vigor seemingly replenished. Despite the sting of fifth place still burning in her chest, she would continue looking ahead towards the future.
Because Umamusume were born to run...
...but Mayano Top Gun was born to fly.