Chapter Text
I let out a loud sigh as I heard the time clock beep a confirmation that I was free of work for the day. After waving good night to my coworkers, I trudged my way out to my hatchback and climbed in the front seat. My hands trailed up from the stubble on my face up to my eyes as I let out a tired sigh. I was thankful that my energy was just enough to make sure I could safely complete the five minute drive home.
I slid the keys into the ignition and started the car up as the grogginess threatened my vision as it blurred a bit. Ever since I had started having these weird dreams a couple weeks ago it felt like work had been taking more and more out of me with each passing day. Also there was a voice that almost sounded like it was calling out, beckoning me to come to wherever it wants.
..hild….. re…… com…….
And right on cue, there it was, but now I was able to make it out more clearly than it had ever been. I made the last turn needed at the intersection before home and proceeded the rest of the way to home, but now it seemed that my hearing was starting to jarble a bit and make the music playing harder to hear. I flipped the turn signal on and made the right turn into the driveway as I pulled into my usual spot, catching a very short second breath as I parked my car and got out.
Heading for the door, I felt myself stumble a bit and catch myself as my head became heavier and extremely foggy, almost like I was going to pass out right then and there. Come on body, the door is right there, we can make it. I reach out and open the door as family greeted me, but now everything sounded like it was underwater, mumbling out a response of going to bed as I made my way up to my room.
Child……. rest…… come….
Sleep was what was needed at this point, maybe it's the fact I finally got seen to begin HRT treatment, yeah it may just be my nerves are fried. Well at least I'm in my room, but my body feels like it’s made of stone. God I feel so dirty and disgusting from that shift, all kinds of sweat and concrete dust on me and in my hair and shit. And here we- ah there we go, nice soft bed... and- there we go, shoes off.
Rest dear child, calm yourself and come...
Alright, it's my day off tomorrow so I'll probably sleep in and just clean up in the morning. It feels like I’m dragging so much weight around, maybe I’ve let myself get too overworked with my job. Oh well, too tired to give two shits or even bother caring, I’ll just get some sleep and.... and....
Almost as soon as I blinked, I felt it again. That breeze, calm and licking my face like the wisps of air were welcoming me back. The scent in the area brought an odd calm to my soul, one that let me take a deep breath and exhale all my worries into it. I could make out the sound of birds chirping and leaves rustling, slowly opening my eyes to the gentle glow of a sun overhead, and a wide-open field before me. That wasn’t the strangest thing though, what caught my attention immediately was the statue that seemed to materialize in front of me.
Do you wish to start over? To be free to chase a dream and find your happiness wherever the journey takes you?
I opened my mouth to reply almost instinctively, but while my mouth moved in response, now sound came out. That was strange, even for how lucidly I must have been dreaming. This almost doesn’t feel like one, but it’s even stranger that this vision has been not just repeating, but having increasingly more added each time to it.
Very well child, now go, run towards your truth and realize who you are. Become the Umamusume that you see yourself to be!
I raised my head from its currently lowered position to return my gaze to the statue to see it was gone, and I was alone on a Japanese country road? What the hell was going on in this moment, and why do I have this new feeling in my chest? Before I could try to ponder further and try to figure out how to wake up, I heard... hooves? No those were feet in a run, but they don’t sound close or far, what gives?
I turned my head right and saw nothing, then looked to the left, I saw it. Two figures, both almost seeming to resemble the statues a moment ago. No sooner had I seen them than a feeling, a longing, in my chest gripped me tighter, almost threatening to drown me if I didn’t follow. I took a deep breath and began sprinting after to try and catch up to them, although it felt like I wasn’t getting any closer.
No, I... I need to catch up... I need to pick up the pace... I need speed... speed to catch them...
Whatever came over me in that moment was something I couldn’t describe, as I took a deep inhale, I felt every blood vessel in my body immediately feel like they had been given a massive electric shock. My body felt more like a machine built for running than the human I was. How was I moving this fast, and why did every breath feel like I was taking it in, not just for survival, but for the freedom to run?
What was going on with me, and why did I enjoy this? Why did this feel so.... so.... intoxicatingly addictive? This feeling was absolutely liberating, like I could live, and just run to my hearts content. Running as free as the wind through the valley, until I could give no more.
Just as I was starting to get lost in this feeling, my vision seemed to get more impaired as I ran farther. I could also make out the inkling of something growing from my head and something disappearing. Almost like my body was changing but I was too enamored with running to care.
These glasses that were on my face made it hard to see, so I did the only logical thing and ripped them from my face and to the earth under my feet. There was something in the back of my mind, something ethereal and ghastly telling me to go back, that I didn't deserve this.
No, I didn’t want to; I had freedom in front of me, real freedom. Almost as quickly as the voice came, it seemed to be absorbed into the wind rushing through my ears. I could see a gate of light slowly opening before me and I knew what I had to do. As my crashing feet met the firm soil beneath me, I dug my right foot in, got a good grip in the ground and....
And there’s the alarm, great, having such a good dream and now I need to get up. Odd, the bed feels nicer than when I remember going to sleep....
Wait a minute, my alarm? I don’t remember setting it before bed, I was sure no plans for my day off were made and the plan was to sleep in. Well whatever could be going on, I had to get up and go to the bathroom anyways. I rolled over with a quiet groan as my fingers found the phone and silenced the evil thing as I hauled myself out of bed.
I felt around for my glasses and after a moment of not being able to locate them and the need of my bladder to empty itself growing, there was no point in searching. Thankfully my body seemed to auto pilot itself to the bathroom as I went in and planted myself upon the porcelain throne of relief. I rubbed my eyes some to help wake myself up as I felt something almost tail like brush against my leg.
'That’s odd', I thought to myself, 'don’t remember a cat coming into the bathroom with me, lemme just...'
Wait, why could I feel myself touching this tail-like object? Wait, why did I feel something on top of my head like ears? I reached up and began to cup my face with my hands and fervently tried to get the rest of the drowsiness from my eyes. Hold on, why does my skin feel so smooth and hair feel so soft and bouncy. Okay well if I wasn’t awake yet, the panic starting to settle in my chest definitely made sure I was now.
Okay, just breathe, and let's think this through rationally like an adult. What do I remember from last night after getting home from work? I remember getting off of work, going into my room and getting in bed, and then the dream came again. Wait the dream, maybe I’m still in it, but wait no that can’t be it, this all feels too real to be a dream anymore.
I blink hard a few times and realize that I can see just fine now, like my vision fixed itself. Also this is not what I remember the upstairs bathroom looking like. But the memories confirm it, why do I remember that I have my own small bathroom? I swallow the lump of anxiety the best I could, look down and…
That's not my body.
That's not MY tail or legs.
I reach up the side of my head slowly, passing where ears SHOULD be and find none. I crest the top of my head and feel something flick softly against my hand. I gently grasp the object as a small gasp of both fear and pleasure was elicited. I quickly cover my mouth before letting out a thankfully muffled scream of terror and confusion. The sudden realization hit like a truck doing 80mph on the highway, I was a fucking horse girl now.
I conclude my morning business and brace myself to slowly stand up, numbness creeping over me. First thing to do was calm myself down first, after that I can figure out what's going on. Once my racing heart finally calmed down to a normal rhythm I looked around the room and spotted the sink. Best way to get a gauge of the situation would be to see it for myself.
I slowly approached the mirror inside of this small bathroom, trying to brace myself for whatever may be seen in it. As I looked at the reflection in the mirror, my heart skipped a singular beat. Hair just down past my shoulder and fluffed out, a dark blue accented with caramel brown highlights and ears to match the blue, flicking almost seemingly on their own.
It was blatantly clear that I was a girl now, judging from the mounds on my chest that weren't there previously. However I honestly couldn't tell what worried me more, the fact that I could even tell from a glance this was real, or that I had become an Umamusume. Wait, I was an Umamusume, oh no, did I actually…
And just as that thought crossed my mind, there came the crushing dread grabbing my chest once again. I caught myself and slowly lowered myself to the floor. I died, and had gotten isekai'd into the world of Umamusume as one. Everyone I knew and loved weren't around anymore, and they would all be grieving a death no one expected. My family, girlfriend, friends, all gone, all of them devastated when they'd find me in bed.
Shit, had to breathe, deep slow breaths, in….. out…… iiiin………… out.
After what felt like an eternity, I let out a shaky and frustrated breath and picked myself from the floor. I glanced into the mirror again as if to confirm, pinched my cheek and sure enough observed the result. First things first, I need to find out who I am now, and the answers would be in the bedroom. That was step one, the memories were a small help but they were mostly short moments and no words came to mind from them.
I also knew that I had to get used to this body, knowing that Umas were much stronger than an average human. Just have to take this one step at a time, just get moving and hope there's time before any major development happens so I'm not blindsided.
I opened the bathroom and stepped into the room from which I awakened to find that it's a bit different from my previous one. Aside from the small touches of things like fairy lights and plushies, it was much better and cleaner than my old room. Instead of the computer that had been built and cared for, there was a laptop open on a desk near the bed. I decided to go to it and noticed next to it was a packet with a box on the ground next to the desk. I stepped over and picked it up and realized immediately what it was for, and I don't know if I was excited, or worried for my life.
A Tracen Academy New Student Introduction packet, and in the box were uniforms, school swimsuits and track suits. The Japanese dirt road in the dream made all the sense now, I wasn't just reborn as any Umamusume, this was a Japanese Umamusume.
Absolutely can confirm that the body I had been given was about high school age instead of a worn down 32 year old body. Well now that I had figured out more of that, next was to figure out what the date was; pressing the power button on the laptop and after waiting for it to boot up, I check the date and see that it's the 18th of May.
Flipping through the packet affirmed that I had till next Sunday to report to the campus for intake, so there was a week to prep and what not. I flipped back to the front page to check for the most important information I required; the name seen was unexpected.
Dawn of Myself.
Definitely wasn't a name I'd choose, but to be fair it was probably tame compared to some others. I thought back to the last life and while I could remember almost everything, the old name escaped me but something else felt like it was just at the fringes of my mind. I let out a heavy sigh and spun gently in the chair to the window, looking outside at the world that awaited me. Honestly, as terrifying as all of this was, how scared I was to have to play a new role in life, there was still one feeling that overcame it all; excitement.
Excitement for a new start, excitement to be more than what I was, excitement for what the next days would bring-
"OIIIIIII BIG SIS! MOM AND DAD SAID TO WAKE UP!"
And there came the first challenge of it all, hearing that younger female voice calling out for me to get out of bed. I knew to reply so they didn't come knocking or barging in and making my nerves even more jittery.
"I'm up, don't worry, I'll be out after I get dressed." I called out in reply. I took a moment to listen to myself quietly talk, enamored by the sound of my new voice. That was the least important thing now, what I was worried about-
What kind of family was I going to walk out to?