//------------------------------//
// Chapter 30 
// Story: Angel of Gold 
// by Magna85 
//------------------------------//

After Discord changed me back to my normal self (for a given definition of normal), Rainbow Dash suddenly walked up to me. "Hey, Celedon, I got a question for you."

I was surprised for a second, before I answered, "Shoot."

"How fast are you? In the air I mean." For some reason she looked quite nervous.

"Well, I never measured my speed, but I have a feeling that I could technically reach Mach one, and maybe surpass it. The last time I remember that though was when Berserker tossed me at Gilgamesh. Why do you ask?"

She puffed out her chest as she said, "Well, I've got to live up to my name of 'Fastest Flier in Equestria!' What say, after we make camp, you and I have a race?"

I had a feeling several things could go wrong with us messing around. "Rainbow, not to hurt your pride, I don't think racing a two-thousand pound being would be a good idea...and if I ever got past you, you would be blown off your flight path from the wind generated from my wings."

"Ah, don't worry about that! I've created tornadoes before!"

"With the help of a whole team of other flyers," Fluttershy corrected.

Rainbow Dash looked pained for a second and apologized to Fluttershy. Then she turned back to me and said, "Right, yeah, uh, still...I want to have a race!"

I gave her a sidelong glance. She had even brought the puppy-dog eyes! Though I don't think she knew she was doing it.

I sighed. "Fine, but only one lap."

"Awesome!" She gave little leap into the air. I smirked at her reaction before returning my attention to the road ahead.

Tim, who had been walking beside me, asked, "You think you can beat her?"

"I don't know. I know she's fast, and probably much more maneuverable than I am, on account of being literally a ton lighter than me. But then again, I can maneuver at a master's level due to the knowledge Discord put into my head, I just have to put out a, pardon the expression, ton more energy to achieve the same level of flying as a normal person." I looked over to her again, she was lazily hovering backwards while talking to Twilight. Probably hypothesizing about my own abilities.





Eventually Snow Lance called to set up for a lunch break. I saw him conversing with Discord once we had stopped. If I listened closely, I heard something about being "on schedule."

"Comeoncomeoncomeon! We've got a race to do!" The instant my backpack hit the ground I was grabbed by Rainbow Dash. She tried to pull me over to a starting line.

Emphasis on tried.

I noticed right away that if I took off at max strength from where the starting line was, I would blow everything away in a massive gust.

"Rainbow, did you take into account how I have to take off?" I asked while she tried to push me towards the line. This question made her stop, stand up straight, and chuckle nervously. I shook my head lightly. Between the two of us, and with some help from Twilight, we made a starting line far enough away from the rest point that Twilight calculated wouldn't be affected by the take off.

"Alright, first one to break the sound barrier and come back wins!" Rainbow Dash said as she slipped down into a runners pose, wings flared.

Well, this is going to be interesting, I thought as I nodded and assumed the same pose. My feathers lightly chimed in the wind over the grassland. Twilight was off to my right, Dash on my left, and Twilight had conjured up a windscreen that she said would be able to negate the gusts of my wings. She was also the referee. Apparently everyone else had come to watch.

"On your marks!" I tensed my entire body to jump off the ground and into the air.

"Get set!" I could feel a faint sense of adrenaline surging through my body, even though I knew that shouldn't have been possible.

"GO!" And I took off.





Back on the ground, while the race just started, everyone was coughing from the absolutely massive dirt and dust cloud that has sprung up from Celedon's take off. A quick spell from Twilight cleared the dirt.

Almost everyone gasped at the huge craters that Celedon's feet had left when she launched herself into the air. Looking backwards, the earth was scoured to hard clay from her wings and piles of grassy earth, soil, and smaller rocks were several dozen feet away from the starting line.

"Wow...I know she's made of metal, and the appropriate force to lift something of her weight would have to be gigantic, but seeing the results..." Twilight started. Then she shuddered before she could finish.

"Ah'm worried about RD bein' caught in her wake. She might be one of the best fliers in Equestria, but those wings Celedon has are monstrous!" Applejack said.





I was pumping my wings as hard as I could, and I was just barely behind Rainbow Dash. Her wings were almost a blur with how fast she was going. I could feel the wind blowing through my hair and all over me, trying to resist my movement. I just plowed straight through. I could see Dash twisting and turning, probably her wings responding to the air currents to try and find the best path to ride the winds on.

Meanwhile, I was trying desperately to not knock her out of the sky with a mis-aimed wing beat. Slowly, she pulled ahead of me. I could see the beginning of a mach cone forming. Then I had an epiphany.

Why not use gravity to help speed me up? Still beating my wings furiously, I began rising higher into the air. Dash pulled further and further ahead due to my change in elevation, but I kept rising higher and higher. Then I flattened and folded my wings around myself after setting myself into a very fast spin. I had practically turned into a bullet.

Gravity started talking hold and tilted me downwards. I dared not peek out and look for the telltale cone of moisture just in case I lost speed. 

Then I heard a thoom. 

I looked out from where my wings had folded over me. Of course, I was still rapidly spinning, but I saw a huge rainbow ring exploding from a point a little ways in front of and below me. A solid trail of rainbow was being emitted from the center of the ring, and I could see it beginning a wide turn into the air.

So, she made it first...Let's see if I can't do the same thing.

Careful manipulation of the flat surface of my feathers increased my spinning, like a drill going through the earth. I could feel resistance forming at the 'tip' of my wings. But then, it was gone.

I opened my wings and slowly stopped spinning, before looking backwards and seeing a huge golden ring exploding from where the sound had suddenly stopped. Judging that to be my cue, I executed a left turn, in order to head back to the starting line. As I did so, I was able to hear the weirdly melodic, but still loud thoom from my own sonic boom. I looked off to my right and saw Rainbow with her fists out, hair streaking behind her. She was nearly flat in the air.

Then the golden ring passed right in front of her.