Chapter 23: The Moment of Truth Is Upon Us! Their Hearts Become One! ...Maybe?

At some invisible signal—or perhaps it was an instinctual response—both horses accelerated at the same time. Their powerful legs kicked at the ground, sending up large splatters of mud.

Craaack!

Ruby’s crop lashed out at Skyred Hare’s rear, urging it to run faster.

Craaack!

Mia’s reins lashed out at the open air, urging her to keep a better grip on them lest they escape her entirely.

“Go, Skyred! Gooooo! Faster! Faster!”

Ruby’s powerful voice echoed through the stands.

Eeeeeeek! I’m going to fall! I’m falling!

Mia’s pitiful voice echoed in her heart.

Her body swayed wildly from side to side. Her feet were barely in the stirrups. Time and again, she came within a hair’s breadth of toppling off. She’d tried multiple times to slow the horse, but her desperate signaling had no effect on its blistering speed. Now a sniveling mess, her eyes watering and nose running, she gritted her teeth and tried very hard to tell herself this is fine.

What would happen if she were to slow down right now? Doubtlessly, the future foretold by the Princess Mia Chronicles would arrive unchanged. If she ran from this fight... If she allowed her mind to focus on fleeing even in the face of certain tragedy, then surely, she would never be able to stop running away, no matter the circumstances...

That’s right...I have to win this fight. I’m going to win, and then I’ll grow as a person. That’s why I have to keep up this spee— Ah, never mind. I can’t do this. Stop! Stoooop!

...She tried telling Kuolan to stop, but it refused to listen. She tried telling herself to buck up and tough it out, but she refused to listen as well. Already past her limit and blinded by her own tears, the only thing keeping her from full-blown panic was her own exhaustion. The finish line neared. Only half of the last straight stretch remained. It was coming down to the wire with Kuolan maintaining the slightest of leads.

“No more... Can’t... I’m going to... Urrk...”

Her whimper was followed by a retch. Something sour filled her mouth. The world was a blur, and she felt like she was spinning in circles. Kuolan’s ear twitched. It shot a quick glance in her direction. She saw the concern in its eyes, along with an implicit “I’ll stop if you really can’t take it anymore. Want me to?” Well, she thought she did, anyway. Despite being in the midst of the frantic final sprint, her steed was still considerate enough to spare a thought for her. This whole race, Kuolan had tried its best. How, then, could she not do the same?

Quietly, she closed her eyes. The days she’d spent with Kuolan resurfaced in her mind. She remembered all those times they’d run through this course together. All the times she’d tried to match his rhythm. And all those times she’d failed due to the profound discomfort of her rump.

Memories came one after another. She saw herself trying to pat Kuolan, him sneezing on her, him sneezing on her another time, him sneezing some more...on her... The nostalgia of their practice sessions, mucus and all, blossomed into a warm, fuzzy feeling. Granted, there had been many occasions where she felt like Kuolan was amusing himself at her expense. Nevertheless, she trusted that he had always been looking out for her, as evidenced by the fact that she’d never suffered any significant injuries riding him. Serious mode Kuolan was no joke. Had he given her no consideration, she’d have fallen off countless times by now.

Surely, he’s been watching out for me all this time, and I just didn’t realize it.

With that thought in mind, the days they’d spent practicing together suddenly seemed like times of great fun. Visions of bygone days flashed before her eyes, the memories rosy and sparkling...and flashing in a manner uncannily similar to the way they allegedly did when one was about to meet their end. But anyway, disregarding that particular observation... Those memories were now precious to her, and if today was the fruit of their shared travails, then stopping was simply not an option.

So she forced the words out of her in a strained voice.

“We’re in the home stretch! Give it all you’ve got!” she shouted. “Go for it, Kuolan! Do... Do whatever it takes to win!”

Just as she spoke, a young horse somewhere neighed, its voice coinciding with her own. Kuolan, seemingly cued by the sound, accelerated.

Go, Kuolan! Let’s win this!

Mia felt herself become one with her horse as they dashed down the course. The experience was moving. Profound, even. At last, she thought, she understood what people meant when they talked about riders connecting with their horses—when their hearts and spirits touched. Behind her she could feel Skyred Hare’s rough breathing. The steady sound of its steps told her it was keeping up. Normally, this kind of pressure would have made her hurl...again, but now, she was perfectly calm.

“You won’t lose to a horse like that, right, Kuolan?”

A vigorous whinny answered her call. It seemed to say, “You bet I won’t! We’re going to run all the way to victory! And then we’ll keep running! As far as we want, to our hearts’ content into the great beyond!”

In that moment, she was gripped by the liberating impression that so long as Kuolan was with her, she could go wherever she wished and as far as she wanted. He would take her to the very ends of the earth and over!

“Ah—”

But her epiphanous moment didn’t last. She suddenly realized the finish line was retreating behind her.

“Ah...”

A second later, the silence of concentration broke, and the sounds of the venue came rushing back. It was deafening. Throngs of spectators had exploded into roars. Amidst the rumbling symphony of excitement, she heard the voices of her cheering squad. They screamed her name, extolling her victory.

“I... I won?”

Gaping at her surroundings, her wide, disbelieving eyes eventually settled on the sight of her friends waving at her. They wore wide smiles.

“...I won! I did it! I really won!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air in a reflexive gesture of excitement.

She then waved said hands at her friends. She waved and waved, for only through such vigorous waving could she convey her elation. Needlessly to say, during this process, the reins were entirely removed from her palms.

“...Oh?”

She felt an odd sensation. It was as if her weight had abruptly taken leave of her. And so it had, for she’d forgotten a crucial fact. After two whole laps at a full gallop, she’d gotten so used to Kuolan’s breakneck speed that she mistook a slowing of its pace after it passed the finish line as an actually slow pace. It wasn’t; she was still going very fast. Physics therefore dictated that should her steed suddenly stop, she would continue forward at her considerable velocity without it. Therefore...

“Oh? Oh?”

The world spun in a circle as the form of Kuolan, its motion ceased after digging its hooves into the ground, began to shrink from her view.

And that was how Mia experienced flight. Again.

“...Eh?”

Mia soared through the air with mouth agape. A figure blew past her, a gale to her breeze, and intersected her trajectory.

“Gotcha. Careful, miss.”

Lin Malong, who’d been waiting near the finish line, had snapped his horse into action, matching the speed of her parabolic flight to catch her in his arms like a professional catcher of flying girls. He tucked her against his side and rode out the rest of the momentum with another lap around the course.

“You can’t be letting go of your reins and looking around when you’re on a horse, miss. Distracted riding is dangerous. People’ll start wondering what I’m teaching you.”

Mia’s shoulders slumped at his rightful admonishment.

“I’m terribly sorry. That was indeed very foolish of me...” she said, looking like a scolded puppy.

Her awkward victory lap did not, however, dampen the crowd’s enthusiasm, and they continued to root loudly for her.

After reaching the finish line for a third time, Mia’s feet finally felt solid earth beneath them.

“Well, that was certainly humiliating. Ugh...” she grumbled.

Her expression brightened a little as she looked around for her trusty steed.

“I must admit though, that was a lot of fun. Especially in those last moments when it was like...Kuolan and I became one. I wanted him to go faster, and he just knew. We connected. I need to give him a pat and tell him he did a great job.”

A quick scan of the venue revealed a trio of horses near the goal.

“Oh?”

One of them was Kuolan’s boss, Kayou, who’d come to watch the race. Beside her was her little foal. The third was Kuolan himself, who was rubbing himself against the other two in a decidedly affectionate fashion. It almost looked like the three were a loving family.

“Hey, Kuolan. Good job. Glad you got to show off to your wife and kid, aren’t you?” said Malong, patting each of them in turn.

“...Say what?”

Mia’s jaw hung open as she stared at Kuolan, whose tail was swinging happily from side to side.

A-Ah... Well, I suppose that makes sense. That little horse does resemble Kuolan, she thought, reluctantly working through the logic.

“Hm? That reminds me... That spot where he sped up during the race...wasn’t that where Kayou and her baby were standing? And when he moved his head...was he actually looking at them? Did he try so hard at the end because he wanted to impress his family?”

It was an idea that she pondered only for a brief moment before dismissing it.

“N-No way. I’m being silly. Kuolan and I definitely became one with each other. We won because our hearts were conjoined. Mm hm.”

She had a feeling that no joy would come of contemplating the possibility further, so she scrunched it up and pitched it over her horizon of memories which, conveniently, doubled as a horizon of thought.

Kayou... Here I was thinking you’re the future me, but you have terrible taste in men, she thought, gazing at the female horse with a sense of pity.

Kayou tilted her head as though puzzled by the look. Then...

“Hm?”

Mia felt the familiar sensation of a cool breeze on the back of her neck.

“D-Don’t tell me...”

She turned around to find herself staring down the twin barrels of Kuolan’s mucus launchers. They flared.

“E-Eeeeeeek!”

And that is the story of how Mia won the race in triumphant fashion. The exact degree of triumphant-ness was perhaps debatable.