Chapter Text
Flying through vast endlessness of space was the Voyager 1, its golden record gleaming from the harsh gazes of the stars as it zoomed uncaringly past them at 61,602 kilometres an hour, and why would it care for the jealous eyes of planets that paled in comparison to its home, the crown jewel of the universe, Earth.
Oh Earth, what a beautiful planet like no other, the probe would be sad that it would never see its beauty again if it wasn’t carrying such precious cargo, a cargo that would spread the greatness of Earth and humanity both across the stars and to other civilisations- that cargo was the golden record.
It was such an inconspicuous thing, the golden disc set into the side of its hull, none would suspect that humanity's greatest achievements, their most talented artists, what made humans human was inscribed on said disk. The Voyager knew it was her sacred duty to carry it across the stars, so why had they paused?
It was as if the anti glares of the planets had them pinned in place, but the planets were looking away, why? The Voyager would never know, their metal body crushed like a tin can, the only surviving thing being the golden disk, and its directions to Earth…
Meanwhile on earth I sat on a busted up stool, with my eye pressed to a piece of eternally smudged glass as I watched the night sky and beyond into space with my telescope. It was one of my favourite things to do since I was a small child, just sitting and watching the stars that hung in the sky, beautiful and pure, uncaring for the thoughts of those who lived on the earth so far away.
Oh how I wished I could be like one of them, but no. Just like my wish to be an Uma, my wish to be a star was also impossible. One dream however was still in reach at the very least and that was becoming a woman, one that wasn’t going well honestly…
Slowly pulling my eye away from the eyepiece I leaned back, my head leaving the tiny balcony and peaking back into the dimly lit interior of my apartment. I looked past the stand my violin sat on, past my work desk that my laptop rested on, then further still to the small desk sat behind my bed the one that held my rapidly dwindling supplies of estrogen.
I’d be able to afford next month’s, but with how rent is being jacked up even that was an uncertainty now, and wasn’t that a terrible thought. Pulling myself back into the frigid night air of winter, whose merciless cold cut through the hoodie and blanket combo wrapped around me, I placed my eye back over the eyepiece.
Taking a breath and releasing it I focused my gaze picking a new area of space to explore through the glass lens of my telescope. There was admittedly not much, I had lived here since I ran away from home three years ago and had been staring at the night sky ever since. Although… panning to the left just a tad I saw something I had never seen before.
It was a star, obviously, but its shape and luminosity wasn’t like anything I witnessed. It honestly looked like something out of a children’s picture book, a classic four pointed star painted the colour of purest gold. “A new star huh…” zooming into it felt so natural, almost as if it was beckoning me. “Should probably wish on you then, shouldn’t I?”
The star had completely filled the lens of my eye piece, that was when I decided to make my wish. “Then I wish… I wish to be an Uma, to run.” I sat, I waited, then sighed as nothing happened, but oh well, wishes can't come true, and I need to turn in for the night cause of my jo-
Vast and endless its form covered the night sky like a blanket. the unknowable beast for the first time in its infinite life looked down to the small human who stared at it with wide eyes mixed equally with fear and awe, she was met with the monster's gaze, one that peeled back everything about her.
Her desires, fears, what brought her joy and what brought sadness were all laid bare before the entity’s gaze who did one simple thing, acknowledging not Noboru Tsuchisato but their
true self, Starry Nights, an Uma musume.
The ceiling, why was there blood staining it? For like the trail of a shooting star so too was there a trail of blood, ending at the lightbulb that now shone with an ominous red tint, and beginning at… I shot up, my gaze falling to my telescope, it looked as if someone had forced a bowling ball down its length and left it some warped mess of bulging metal and plastic.
Shifting I moved to crawl to my telescope, but as I put one hand in front of the other the pale, almost paper white skin I saw before me wasn’t the slight tan I was used to. But my sudden skin bleaching could wait, I must crawl and find out what happened, if there was any sort of logical explanation possible for this.
Snap, the crack of glass under my palm was heard in detail I had never noticed before, even now I could hear the shards grind together under my hand as my ears twitched- wait, twitched? My confusion was only furthered as I lifted my hand, despite having just slammed it on glass it was completely fine, not even a small scratch on the smooth skin.
Trying to control my ragged breathing I slowly got to my feet. I was shorter now, at least I thought so based on how my desk was waist height now. Making my way to said desk I stepped around the shattered remains of the lenses, cause sure, it seemed I was some kind of super woman now, but no reason to tempt fate, especially if I really was what I thought I am now…
But the moment was upon me as I pinched the laptop’s lid. Swallowing thickly I tried to not let the anticipation coursing through me lead me astray as I shut my eyes. The small click of the laptop’s lid locking into place was the metaphorical starting gun for me to open my eyes and yet I did not open, for just as there was anticipation so too was dread, dread at the idea that looking at my reflection would wake me up back to reality of being a trans woman barely scraping by in an uncaring world.
But, if I never opened my eyes I’d never know the truth of what had happened and if I turned back I’d be living in fear of every reflective surface, not even becoming a hermit would save me then unless I blinded myself! But given how glass didn’t even tickle me… screw it.
It was funny, I could watch my own mouth fall open in shock at what I saw in the reflection, for there were not just ears wagging on my head but also a pair of heterochromatic eyes looking right at me. One was golden with ring after ring surrounding it, the other a dark blue speckled by golden flakes yet the blue was not muddled as it shone with rich colours.
I almost didn’t want to look away from sight such were the beauty of my eyes. But there were other matters I had to attend to, like the massive amount of hair I now had to deal with. How in the first place was a good question actually, I don’t think the cheapest 2in1 hair wash I had in my bathroom could deal with the mid thigh length hair I now had.
Cutting it was an option, I could probably manage shoulder length right? Standing back up I turned on my heel ignoring the mess my room had become as I tiptoed over shattered glass and small droplets of blood. The pair of scissors should be right… here! Opening the drawer I did find them, destroyed that is. The metal was all bent and twisted around itself until it looked less like a pair of scissors and more like a drill head. It was freaky nonetheless, but still just yet another oddity to throw onto the pile of this strange day.
Knock knock, knock knock. My ears flicked to the door, quickly followed by my eyes. It was still late at night wasn’t it- no, I must have been mistaken, the first beams of sunlight were shining in my apartment. My very messy apartment, but when I turned what did I see? Everything was normal… no blood on the ceiling, no glass on the carpet, and even my telescope was back.
Knock knock knock. Suddenly, the knocking was a lot more ominous. While my ears stayed focused on the door making sure the locking didn’t turn into forced entry my eyes were scanning for an escape route, because based on how insistent the knocking was I couldn’t just bunker down and hope whoever, or whatever was on the other side went away.
Moving as slowly the plan was to sneak into the kitchen and arm myself with a knife, the squeaky floorboard I stepped on threw that out. The loud drawn out creak as my foot landed was far louder than it had any right to be, and if it hadn’t woken up the neighbourhood it had certainly been heard by what was on the other side of the door.
“Starry! Starry! I know you are in there so stop trying to sleep in, or you’ll miss the train to Tokyo, and by extension Tracen!” Huh? Was that my landlord? Why in the hell did the grouchy old man sound so chipper!? He banged on the door again, the knocks no longer as oppressive now that I knew someone who barely came up to my chin was doing them.
“Wait, Tracen?” I muttered under my breath with disbelief as I slowly made my way to the door. It wasn’t as if didn’t know about Tracen, if someone with even a passing interest in Uma musume didn’t I’d be shocked honestly, but me of all people going to Tracen? The day had already been round weird, but this? All I could do was shake my head at the absurdity as I looked through the spy hole, and yep, that was him the old man leaning on his cane looking like Charlie’s grandfather after getting the golden ticket as he clutched a note with a very official looking seal.
“Starry! Come on, train won’t wait forever even for you!” He called out again using what I could only assume was my name… can’t say i didn’t dislike it honestly. Putting the latch on the door just in case some weird alien thing was wearing my landlord'slandlords corpse I opened the door gently.
“Really, I got in?” I said playing along, when in Rome and all. Upon seeing me the landlord's face lit up in a way I had never seen before, as if was god or some celebrity.
“Yes! Yes you did, although that’s no surprise given who you are.” He continued on, seemingly not noticing my uncomfortable gaze as he animatedly waved the envelope in front of my eyes. “Take it, take it, then get on the train! It’ll be leaving soon!” I watched as he shoved it through the mailbox, then almost as if he was a puppet with his strings cut he looked around confused before shrugging and walking away.
I for one just nudged the letter with my foot, not willing to touch the probably cursed letter with my bare hands… pretty sure I had gloves in the kitchen. Returning with a pair of gloves I could only hope they’d be enough as I stretched out my arm and picked the innocuous bit of paper up, it looked legitimate with the bright red wax seal emblazoned with Tracen’s crest on it.
Shaking it around it didn’t sound like there was anything loose floating around in it. Bringing it over to my desk I laid it down then just stared at it, picking it up again I looked at it all over again as if it was hiding something from me. Whatever it was hiding I couldn't figure out however even as I scanned it with my heterochromatic eyes running over its smooth surface.
Small bubbles of frustration welled up inside me to slowly choke out the trepidation whose grip on me had been so suffocating. To the hells with it, if this letter was a bomb, laced with poison, or anything more mystical it likely wouldn’t be my problem soon. Venting a small fraction of the frustration I felt I tore the letter open and watched as the Letter inside clattered to the ground, picking it up just as quickly as it fell.
A smooth flick of the wrist and it was open. “Dear Starry Nights, we are happy to announce that you’ve…” it was hard, really hard not trying to keep my tail from swishing and ears wiggling, who could after all when a childhood dream had miraculously come true, getting to be an Uma AND get into Tracen? If the day was any less weird then forget the train, I would’ve ran to Tracen, letter in hand. However, this day was outright bizarre with the world seemingly warping around me, so skipping over the pleasantries I noted a few things, “outstanding regional record” being the most standout. Apparently I was a big name in the local circuit? Shaking my head, the ears atop it flopped back and forth, it didn’t matter, it’s not like I had actual experience in the race so all I’d do is fumble it, probably take the spot of someone who actually deserves i- no, perish that thought.
That thought caused me to pinch the letter between my hands, steeling my mind and taking in a breath as I ripped it in two. The two halves fluttered down onto my desk, I didn’t feel any better honestly, how could you when you have to deny yourself one part of a dream? “I need to take a walk… maybe test out these new legs.”
As the house door shut behind me I clicked the points of the running shoes against the floor, the sharp noise of metal hitting concrete met my ears. The shoes fit well, as they should for an apparently undefeated Uma like myself. Nice amount of springiness as I walked down the stairs as well, right into the waiting gaze of a lady I only knew in passing, one who when she learned I was trans looked at me with nothing but derision, not admiration.
“Is it true you are going to Tracen Starry? I’m so prou-“ I saw her reach into her purse, something about this wasn’t right, didn’t even need the extra instincts granted to me to know that. Not letting her finish I just started running, and didn’t stop running until I had completely cleared the block.
Looking back there was nobody in sight, none forward as well.perfect time to take stock of the horror movie I found myself in. Was the letter just going to keep haunting me until I went to Tracen? Shaking my head I started down the street at a clam walk even if I was anything but at the moment.
How’d the saying go? Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, thrice is a pattern? Because again I am apparently a popular Uma, and just based on how I’d seen fans act whenever merch came into the store I worked… yeah. Continuing to walk down the deserted street I took a left, a small practiced shortcut I had taken hundreds of times before, so why was a wall there?
Pulling out my phone the first thing to greet me was none other than a damn notification for the stupid letter! Swiping it away I opened the map, and yep, just as I remembered there should be an alleyway here. “What the hell…” I whined out just as the whine of a fire truck's engine sounded out as it quickly blew past me.
“What the hell!?” I repeated myself, this time holding my ringing ears as my eyes followed the speeding fire engine. “Huh, isn’t that?” One was an accident, twice a coincidence, thrice was a pattern, and as much as I wanted to ignore it, when the truck turned the corner to my home I couldn't help but run after it.
As the plume of black billowing smoke rose into the air my heart did the opposite as it sank deeper and deeper, because at this point it was beyond a shadow of a doubt what was on fire, it was my apartment! I could hear the concrete chipping away as with every step I pushed myself further, faster than I ever thought possible as the adrenaline set in.
The only thought in my mind as of now was my Violin, the first thing and last good thing my parents had ever given me. I have had it since I could walk almost! And if I lost it I’d never be able to afford one again! Squeezing my eyes shut to stop tears of frustration from spilling over, by the time i opened them though i had to dig in my heels and force myself to a sudden stop, there was a crowd blocking me!
I ran to the left, to the right, but there wasn’t a single gap, all these people packed in like sardines watching as my house burned down! “G-get out of the way!” Like an animal I devolved into using force, yet the man I grabbed, a human man, yet he didn’t budge, as if all the strength I had as an Uma meant nothing to him.
I moved to a woman next, one who was small enough I could see clean over her head. Similarly I started yanking on her, yet the hands that held a recording phone didn’t even shake. “Come on dammit! Please!” I begged, then pleaded as a sense of hopelessness started to set in, after all this was clearly the work of whatever had turned me into an Uma… had I displeased it by throwing the letter away? I didn’t know, and all I could do was crouch down and cover my ears to block out the sounds of my life burning down around me.