Chapter 1
A/N: Another Beauty and the Beast story! So, I thought of making this story because I noticed that there are not many stories out there centering around Philippe. Honestly, the horse deserves to have more stories of him, and I like Philippe, even if the 1991 movie and the 2017 movie doesn't really show much of him. And another thing, this is my first time doing POVs of characters. Plus, my first time not titling the chapters. It's kind of hard giving titles to chapters, so I decided to not name the chapters this time. I really hope this story turns out good. So, without further ado, let's get on with it! And FYI, all of my Beauty and the Beast stories are based on the 1991 movie.
Disclaimer: I do not own Beauty and the Beast. It is owned by the Walt Disney company.
Belle's POV
"Come on, Philippe, into the tub," I said gently to my horse.
The Belgian draft horse stubbornly shook his head, refusing to do so. Much like cats, he didn't really enjoy baths, all that much, especially if it had to be long. He only had to take long baths if he was dirty, but fortunately for my beautiful horse, he was not. I only wanted him to take a bath because I had to. Every horse owner had to give horses baths every week, so they won't get dirty quicker. That is the case for Philippe. Almost every day, I rode my horse to give Philippe exercise, plus, it was fun. The more days I rode Philippe, the dirtier he got.
"Please?" I innocently said.
Philippe placed his hoof in the tub filled with bubbles. He quickly took it out and shook the little water that was on it. He gave a disapproval horse noise and glared at the tub, almost as if he was angry with it.
I giggled. "Oh, Philippe. The tub won't do anything to you. You took baths in it before."
The bathtub was made specifically for Philippe. It was big and silver, filled with water and lots of bubbles. It was also outside in the castle stables. If the horse took a bath inside the castle, it would be a complete mess, and my husband, Prince Adam, would definitely be unhappy with the floor covered with water.
Ahh, Adam... My beloved husband. He meant everything to me. He was so nice, caring, protective, and sweet to me. Adam would do anything for me, and he promised to not let anything bad happened to me. My father also said the same thing since my mother died. It was so sweet for him to do anything he wanted for me, not that I needed him to do that, really. I guess he was that sweet to me. I married him over a year ago, and I would say that that was the best day of my life. Me getting dressed in my mother's wedding dress, walking down the aisle with my father, and the best of all... getting married. We both had tears in our eyes on that day. My father especially cried. Mrs. Potts had to calm him down, of course.
After we both said "I do" and kissed, we were officially husband and wife. The whole castle and the village people that we invited cheered for us. That was the day that I would never forget for many years to come. And our wedding vows... I still had a memory of them. The wedding officiant didn't even have to tell us what to say! We both made them up ourselves.
Prince Adam lovingly took my hands before staring at my hazel eyes with love and pride. "I, Prince Adam, take you, Belle, to be my wife. I vow to love you as you love me, through all hardship, darkness, and pain to reach for our joys, our hopes, and always with honesty and faith."
I smiled at my soon-to-be husband affectionately, a few tears in my eyes. I quickly wiped them off.
I then said my vow. " I, Belle, take you, Prince Adam, to be my husband. You are my love, and my guide, a true partner, a man that I will love, hold close, honor, kiss, and cry with for all the days of my life."
That special day was truly a day for us and for the entire castle. I couldn't believe that my husband was this mean and terrible beast before that soon grew to be nice, caring, and loving, that later transformed into a handsome prince that I now knew to this day. It was just incredible. After we got married, Papa and Philippe moved into it, and I was so happy. The castle had this extra room that was perfect for Papa because he could work on his inventions in there. I guess I should call it his inventing room, or a little workshop. I still and would always cherish my father for his useful inventions, even if sometimes when they didn't work.
Philippe shook his head and sat down on his haunches, eyeing the ground.
I placed a hand on my chin and looked around. My eyes then looked at some big, juicy carrots next to some haystack. I grinned and picked them up.
"Oh, Philippe! Look what I have!" I dangled the carrots back and forth in front of him like it was someone hypnotizing a person with a clock.
The horse perked up. His black eyes were eyeing on the delicious carrots. Philippe licked his lips and neighed. His blond tail swished back and forth in delight.
I chuckled. "If you take your bath, I will give them to you."
Philippe nodded and stepped into the bath. He lied on his back.
"Good horse." I smiled and grabbed the horse brush. I started bathing him.
He gave me a big smile before closing his eyes, enjoying the bathing.
Philippe was such a good horse. Although he was quite fearful and a little stubborn, he was the best horse that I ever had. Well, he was my ONLY horse I ever had. I had him ever since I was little. He was a birthday present from my father. Since I was 2-years-old, I've been begging and begging for Papa to get me a horse, and for my 6th birthday, I finally did. It was the best gift he has ever gotten for me, other than my sled that I got for Christmas, but Philippe was better. When I got him, he wasn't a grown horse, he was a little colt that was perfect for my size. He was so adorable, and quite fast even for a colt.
"Thank you, Papa, for all the lovely gifts!" I exclaimed, hugging him.
"Aww, you're welcome, darling," he replied. "But there's one gift left. It's outside."
"Really? Cool!" I smiled.
"Just close your eyes." He smiled and took my hands.
"Okay." I closed my eyes.
Papa carefully lead me outside. It was a great day outside. Only a few clouds were in sight.
"Alright, you can open them now."
I opened my eyes and I gasped. Right in front of me was a Belgian draft horse, a colt to be exact. He was quite small, but bigger than me some.
"A horse! Oh, Papa! I-I don't know what to say!" I was speechless. The thing that I had been asking for was finally here.
Papa just smiled, happy for the gift that he bought me.
I hugged him and looked into his green eyes. "Thank you so much, Papa. He's perfect."
"You're welcome, my little Belle." He kissed my forehead.
I giggled. His brown mustache was tickling me.
I walked up gently to the colt. "Hi there, little horse. I'm Belle, your new owner."
The colt gave a small neigh and nuzzled me with his nose.
I giggled and stroked it.
"He likes you," Papa said.
"I like him too." I hugged his nose.
"What are you gonna name him?" Papa asked.
"Philippe. My little horsie."
I sighed happily at the little memory. When I first got him, I surely did my best to take good care of him. I fed him, bathed him, played with him, and even read him bedtime stories, just like Papa would read me my favorite bedtime stories when I was little. I loved and cared for him back then, and I still did now.
"Alright, Philippe, I'm about to bathe your tummy now," I warned him.
His tummy was his tickle spot. Even if I touch it even a little bit, he would still manage to chuckle. The poor horse was about to have a laughing fit.
The horse just sat there for a moment, blinking his brown eyes at his owner. He then simply nodded his head and waited for the many tickles that he was about to get.
I gently placed the brush on his tummy, and he was already starting giggling. I chuckled a bit before stroking the brush against his tummy back and forth in an easy motion.
Philippe began to laugh. Poor thing didn't even seem to catch a breath as I was bathing him all around his belly, stroking it in circular motions and such. Though, I did find it adorable that he would nonstop laugh whenever someone would tickle his belly. Goodness, the whole castle even knew his tickle spot. Chip thought that it was funny that his stomach was his tickle spot, so he sometimes tickled his belly, earning him amusing laughter from the stallion. I would tickle his tickle spot myself, thinking that it was fun and playful.
It had only been two minutes that I finished bathing his tickle spot. It seemed like hours to me though because I felt like his laughter would never stop. It finally did stop, fortunately for Philippe. The stallion really needed to breathe.
Philippe breathed normally and neighed. He then alarmingly stood up and was about to jump out of the tub, ready to be rinsed off.
"Philippe, not ye-"
Too late. Philippe had already jumped out of the tub and shook most of the bubbles off like a dog.
I sighed. "Oh, Philippe." I walked away to go get a bucket.
"There we go. All nice and clean." I stroked my horse's back.
Philippe neighed and stood proudly as if he was entered into a contest for only the best horses.
I suddenly heard a loud rumble that filled the stables.
"Woah! What was that?" I asked.
Philippe neighed softly and nudged the carrots.
"Oh, that was your stomach," I said before patting his belly. "Alright, boy. I will give you the carrots. After all, I did say you will have them after your bath."
Philippe nudged me happily and swished his tail.
I chuckled and greatly fed him the carrots. Those orange, plump looking juicy things were definitely a scrumptious snack for Philippe. In fact, that was his favorite snack. He did have a big appetite and would honestly crave for anything really, but he would never deny a carrot.
A few minutes later, his belly was full and happy of the carrots that I fed him.
"I'm glad you enjoyed them, Philippe. Now, I better go see what Adam and the other's are doing. I'll see you later." I petted the stallion's nose and walked inside the castle.
Philippe's POV
I smiled as I watched my owner walking inside the castle. Belle was simply a good owner, no great, no... Ah, I couldn't put my words on how amazing an owner she was. At such a young age she raised me. I couldn't ask for a better owner than Belle. She was caring, kind, good-hearted, smart, and beautiful. She often visited the stables just to see me, and ride on me too. When she was six-years-old, she promised her father that she would take good care of me, and she did. She never broke her promise. I believe that she would never break her promise. I mean, how can such a beautiful, amazing, and intelligent young woman like her break a promise? Only a fool would think she would break it. I personally think that she was the nicest person I knew. Whenever I got hungry, she fed me, whenever I got sick, she did her best to take care of me, whenever I got scared, she would hug me and say to me that everything would be alright, and so on. Overall, she was the perfect owner. No one would ever replace her.
My mouth gaped into a huge yawn. I was pretty tired, so I laid down on the ground to get a good rest. I began to close my tired eyes. They then abruptly opened when I heard running towards the stables. That sounded like that running was made from a kid.
Chip, I thought.
The little boy arrived at the stables and placed his hands on his knees, panting from the running. His mother, Mrs. Potts, caught up to him. She walked, of course, not run.
"Now, Chip," the former teapot began, "we're only here to visit Philippe, not play with him, alright? Belle just told me that she just gave him a bath."
"Okay, Mama," the boy chirped.
"Hi, Philippe. How are you doing, huh?" Chip patted me on the nose.
I gave him a neigh and I nuzzled him, earning a giggle from the innocent, playful, little boy.
Chip hugged my nose. "Can I ride him later, Mama? Please?"
"Sorry, dear, but you have to wait until you're a little bit older. He's a big horse, you know, and he is pretty fast," his mother told him.
"But I'm six years old now! I'm not a baby anymore," Chip confirmed.
Belle told Chip the story of how she first got me, and how it fun it was to ride on me as a child. She also told him that she gave me the proper care, and she still did. Belle didn't actually get to ride me when she first got me because I was still too young at the time, and my bones and body still needed to grow. I was one-years-old, a yearling. It took a few years for my body to develop for riding. When I finally got old enough, Belle rode me like, almost every day. That was great exercise for me. She also got to give me walks in the village, like a dog. He had a collar and a rope used for it.
"I know, Chip, but you're still a little boy that needs a lot of growing up to do. Maybe in a couple of years or so." She lovingly stroked her curious son's hair.
Chip sighed. "No fair. I can't do anything until I'm older."
"Now, Chip, that's not true. You want to help Maurice with his inventions, and he allows you to do so. You like doing that, don't you?"
"Oh, yes! I love doing that! I feel like I'm a big help to him!" Chip exclaimed.
Mrs. Potts giggled at her adorable son. Sure, he helped Maurice with his inventions, but he only did simple stuff, like handing tools over to him or help fix a broken part and other simple stuff like that. When Chip became older, Maurice would definitely let him do advanced stuff.
"You also help Chef Bouche with cooking meals, and tasting them." She chuckled.
"Yeah! The tasting part is the best!" Chip rubbed his tummy.
"Now, you see? You can do some things you age. As you grow older, you will learn and discover new things, and you will get to do stuff you can't now," Mrs. Potts explained to him.
"Okay. I wonder what my future will be like..." Chip placed a small hand on his chin.
His mother giggled. "It's interesting to know the future, but right now, just worry about the present. The future is a long time away."
I thoughtfully listened to their conversation. Their conversation was interesting to me. A mother telling important stuff to her child was surely an amazing thing. Their innocence and not knowing what was fully out there in the world described what a normal child would be like. Poor Chip didn't even get to have a normal childhood, as he was a little teacup. He was cursed at such a young age, five, and the poor thing didn't deserve that. For ten years, he remained a teacup, never the slightest aging. Now, he could properly age. A couple months ago in February, he turned six. The whole castle had a big birthday party for him, and he loved any moment of it.
"I'm positive that you will turn into a handsome young man." His mother ruffled his blond hair.
Chip giggled and rubbed my back. "Can I at least get on him, Mama?'
"Of course, but be careful." Mrs. Potts picked up her small son and placed him on my back.
Chip instantly got his imagination take over him. "Giddy up, horsie!" he said playfully while swinging his little legs around.
I chuckled to myself as Chip was pretending that he was riding me. I loved that the boy had a wild imagination. It was part of being a kid.
For about fifteen minutes or so, Chip was continuing to enjoy being on my back, pretending that I was jumping over the fence and racing with other horses. Also, playing in the fields.
The six-year-old exhausted himself out. He lied down on my back. "Tired..."
"Looks like we best be going back inside." Mrs. Potts picked up her son. His head rested on her shoulder.
"We'll see you sometime tomorrow, Philippe," Mrs. Potts said, patting me on the head.
I gave her a little neigh and smiled at her.
The maid smiled and carried her tired son back inside.
I lifted up my head to the sound of swift walking. My brown eyes got ready to see who it was, but then I thought to myself.
Oh, Philippe, don't be silly! It's only Belle who wants to come say goodnight to you!
Belle would come to the stables to say goodnight to me every night. Such a good owner.
She was dressed in a light pink nightgown. She smiled at me and walked on over to me.
"Sleepy, huh, boy?" she gently said, caressing my head.
I stared at her with my brown eyes for a moment before grunting at her softly.
Belle gave me a lovely smile and hugged my nose. She then kissed it. "Make sure to have a great goodnight's sleep tonight, okay?"
I nodded, obeying my owner.
"Good horsie," she said playfully, chuckling a little after on what she just said.
I nudged her stomach gently.
Belle giggled and kissed my nose. "Goodnight, Philippe. I love you."
I flicked my ears a bit and grinned at her.
I love you too, Belle.
