Flashy Step may be many things, but she is not a fool.
Sometimes she can be an internet troll, she likes to complain about silly things just to annoy people around her, she is somewhat generous and doesn't hold up to material things, her mindset is more oriented towards the legacy.
Yes. She still remembers the things her mom used to tell her.
"Enjoy running, my dear, running is so much fun, and our peak spike comes and passes by so fast that you won't even notice."
And the worst part it's the reality behind those words. Uma Musume may look exactly like humans, but they have a high-speed growth spurt, where their bodies adjust to fulfill their dreams, but that comes at a price. After two or three years, that peak starts to crumble, for some umas it's a slow process, for others it's like a free fall... and for others it's worse, one night they go to sleep and the next morning their body suddenly is way weaker than before.
When she learned it, she had cried all night. Her mother was surprised that she was so scared about this, but that wasn't the case. Flashy didn't fear the decline; she feared that she wouldn't be able to do anything worth remembering with the short time she had for her career as a runner. She had since then studied all she could, followed all kinds of training regimens, and taken care of her body the best she could.
'An uma musume body it's her temple.' She had come to that conclusion.
"Meek, it's okay, she will heal and continue running!" Aoi had said those words.
"I see, I'm happy and relieved to hear that," Flashy had answered.
That was the end of their talk. Flashy had to keep training; she soon will face her first G1. At the beginning, Aoi had highly opposed this, but she insisted, she had what it takes to run a G1, and there is a large number of people following her asking for her to run in bigger races, just crushing other umas on opening races wasn't her idea of legacy, this had to be done. But as she kept running on the turf track, her mind was focused on a single topic.
'Liar'
As she pushed her limits and gained the admiration of the umas witnessing her training, her mind was focused on the words of Aoi.
'Liar!' She felt frustrated and angry; she knew as well as her, Happy Meek may recover, but she won't be the same. 'Weren't you supposed to win the Triple Taira... Meek!' Her eyes were slowly watering as she kept running.
"Is this her best time!?" Said a helper uma, who was taking her time.
"Flashy is amazing!"
When said uma arrived, the others wanted to compliment her, but she immediately took a running stance.
"Again!" She claimed.
'Can you do it now!? Meek!' She bit her lips and took off again. She felt terrible inside; she wished that Meek had kept out of trouble, to not save that filly, but that was the right thing to do. 'Damn! I'm such a fool! How can I be so rotten inside!?'
She knew that said filly, could she also have stepped up? Of course, she wouldn't, and that ate her inside, since when did she become such a rotten character?
'Meek! I will wait for you at the summit!'
...
...
...
"THERE IS NO WAY I WILL LOSE!!!"
Flashy Step roared furiously as she ran. This wasn't the punny opening races where she could easily dominate the other umas. The hippodrome roared as a sea, as a powerful storm. Aoi felt almost fainting, she still doesn't understand how the URA approved Flashy Step's participation for this Tenno Sho (Spring). It all started the same as always: Flashy took the front lead early, but this was a 3200-meter race. Luckily, the big names of the current generation weren't present, because they were resting for the next jewel of the crown.
'Don't lose Flashy!'
Everything went kind of okay until 3/4 of the race, when the pace chasers began to make her move. Flashy still needed time to grow and mature; her opponents were umas in her classic year. Even though those vultures of the media had commented about it, they motivated her and inflated her ego to participate in this race, just to have material to feast on her defeat. First the feed her, then they comment on how arrogant a newcomer must be to challenge the elites of Japan uma musume.
"Gentildonna almost catches up with the lead Flashy Step!? Who will win!? Only 200 meters remaining!"
"Even if she loses, Flashy has proven to be a super novice, mantaining that rhythm through such a long distance race"
The commentators were praising Flashy's effort, as most of the uma musume start to make their move, only Flashy still used her tracking suit since she didn't have time to get a unique race outfit for her.
"Gentildonna takes the first place!!"
"Flashy Step doesn't surrender, she pushes forward!"
It was a vortex of emotions. She was biting the rear of the current generation, not waiting for her turn, but she was a very talented and high effort uma, Flashy wasn't about to submit to those of older generations.
"I'm going to win!"
Aoi couldn't watch; it was too intense. Some of her colleagues had already frowned at her for being reckless and allowing her trainee to compete in this race; maybe she lacked what a trainer needed to correctly guide a surging star like Flashy.
"Woaaah!" The commentator roared, "They crossed the line! Who won!? Please be patient, it's a photo finish!"
Both Gentildonna and Flashy Step had crossed at the same time for the naked eye, so they had to resort to reviewing the camera. Gentildona looked at Flashy as if she would eat her, and Flashy was resting with both hands on her knees. It was the first time she was pushed to run so hard.
"It's a tie? We have a tie!"
Aoi felt as if her soul escaped through her mouth, but Flashy heard this and raised both hands to the skies and gave a deep bow to the audience who had gathered to see the arrogant newbie get crushed, and now proclaimed her as the absolute rising monarch of her generation.
'I won't lose!' Flashy was basketing in the afterglow of the race while other umas looked at her with resignation.
"She might be a rookie, but she has the skills to back her words," Said one of the umas among the audit.
"Flashy Step isn't she!? I'm her fan now!"
"I'm your loyal dog Flashy!!"
Aoi tried to see who said that, but there were too many people, some fans were wild and scary.