"Come on Cas, just try it." Dean pleaded with the scowling angel. Cas shook his head again and refused to budge.

The three of them were on a ranch, an honest to god horse ranch. They had almost driven past the sign before Dean slammed on the brakes and pulled the Impala into a hard u-turn. When Sam and Cas had asked about the dangerous maneuver all Dean could reply with was 'I wanna be a cowboy'.

So here they were, Sam and Dean saddled on top of their horses while Castiel refused to even look at the beast. He had shucked his trench coat in the car and now his arms were crossed tightly over his chest in just his white dress shirt.

"Why not Cas? You're not afraid of horses are you?" Dean asked him with just a little smirk on his face.

"Of course I'm not scared of horses Dean. I am scared of no creature of this earth." Cas said spitefully.

"Then what's the problem?"

"Horses are stupid." Cas huffed and turned up his nose. The horse under Dean huffed and snorted like he was offended.

"Horses are not stupid. They're hard working and loyal." Dean argued.

"And playful." Sam interjected.

"I can speak to most animals on earth thank you very much, and I stand by my statement that horses are stupid." Cas sneered at the beautiful chestnut coloured animal in front of him.

"Really? I always thought they would be quite smart." Sam was surprised.

"How smart can it be? It lets you humans ride them around in parades, circuses and other pathetic excuses of animal abuse. If it were smart it would buck you off and stomp you into the ground for daring to jump on its back." Cas continued. He was getting quite worked up now.

"Whoa Cas, ease up man." Dean said trying to calm the angel.

"And they're slow." Cas finished up.

"Slow? No way!" Dean was shocked.

"They are." Cas insisted.

"No they aren't. They use them to measure engines Cas. You know, horsepower?" Dean was arguing for real now. It was one thing to call the horse stupid but another to call it slow.

"I don't care what they use horses to measure Dean, they are slow." Cas said. "Compared to my wings they are comparable to you racing a snail."

"Hey that's not fair, I'm pretty sure this guy could keep up with you easily." Dean said rubbing the neck of his horse.

"I can circumnavigate the globe in the blink of an eye Dean." Cas was rolling his eyes now. Something he knew drove Dean nuts.

"But that's using your angel mojo, not just your wings. I bet in a one on one flying versus hooves race you'd loose." Dean challenged the angel.

"You think a stupid animal would beat me in a race?" Cas was livid. The angriest Dean or Sam had ever seen him and that included the night he beat Dean almost to death.

"What are you Cas? Chicken?" Dean pushed him even further. Sam held his breath, he wasn't entirely sure Cas wouldn't smite Dean where he sat on the horse.

Instead Cas drew himself up to his full height, not that impressive compared to Sam's own but still, and with a burst of grace his huge black wings came into existence on his back. Dean was open mouthed as he looked at Cas, scary bad ass Castiel, in all his angelic glory with his magnificent wings spread out behind him proudly.

"I accept your challenge Dean Winchester." he said with just a hint of his true voice which caused Dean and Sam to wince.

Sam got out his nifty little phone where he brought up a map of the ranchers paths on the property. Cas assured him he could cloak his presence so that no one would see him flying above the tree tops. He marked out the route, making sure to really push it into Dean's head so he wouldn't get lost, and set a finish marker. He would go on ahead and meet them there to declare a winner. Once Sam was where he wanted to be he called back to Dean to start the race.

"Alright guys, keep it safe please?" Sam's voice came over the speaker and Dean rolled his eyes.

"Calm down Samantha, I've ridden a horse before." Dean complained. Beside him Cas was twitching his wings impatiently.

"Shut up Dean." Sam replied. "Alright, ready?"

"I am ready." Cas said properly. Dean grunted his agreement. He slipped his phone into his pocket where he could still hear Sam.

"Set?"

"Damn right." Dean growled out with a smirk towards he angel who was crouching down into take off position.

"GO!"

Dean kicked his horse into action but he still ducked and spit out dirt from Cas's take off. He glanced up and saw Cas quickly climbing to a good height before flaring his wings out and really starting to fly. Dean encouraged his horse to go faster and soon he was hunched over its neck to avoid the wind. How in the hell did Cas think he could fly faster then this majestic beast? It was a marvel of nature this creature.

Dean looked up and was surprised to see Cas right above him. He wasn't flapping or struggling like Dean had hoped but was smoothly flying his way along. Dean could see the huge smile on Cas's face and felt his own smile coming. The angel looked happy, eager and free in the sky. He was the magnificent creature in this scenario.

"Come on Cas, is that all you got?" he shouted into the air with a smile on his face and a nudge to his horses flanks. The animal took the command and put on a burst of speed that had Dean grabbing at the reigns to keep in his saddle.

"Be careful Dean, I wouldn't want to have to heal you after beating you in a race." Cas called back with a cocky grin and an honest to god wink. Dean couldn't help it, he let out a deep laugh while still pushing his horse for more speed. He could see Sam on his horse at the finish line waving wildly as he cheered them on. Dean let his horse stretch himself out and whooped in glee as he flowed over the finish.

"YEAHHHHHH!" he hollered and patted the poor animals neck. The horse was lathered in sweat and breathing hard.

"Cas won." Sam said breaking his bother's happy bubble with a grin.

"What? No way!" Dean argued looking up to watch Cas descending with a very pleased look on his face.

"Photo finish." Sam said holding up his phone to show that Cas had indeed crossed the line before the horses nose.

"Dammit!" Dean sighed but held out his hand to the preening angel "Good race Cas."

"Thank you Dean, you too." Cas shook his hand. Dean slid down off of the horse and went to get some water for the poor animal. Cas reached out to pet the horses nose.

"And thank you Adalgo, for holding back." he said to the horse and Sam almost fell out of his saddle.

"What?" he demanded of Castiel.

"Horses really aren't that stupid." Cas said with a small smile and a gleam in his eye.

"But…you…"

"I think Dean needed to laugh. To let himself go for just a little while." Cas said in explanation before Dean was within ear shot. Sam gave him a nod in understanding.

"Here ya go boy, you deserve this." Dean said placing the bucket of water in front of the horse and holding out an apple he had snagged from the bushels laying around the ranch.

"So Sam, who do you think got the faster horse?" Dean challenged his brother.