The sun had began to warm up the streets of Ponyville for a couple hours now, the marketplace was busy with morning ponies, stalls of fresh fruits and vegetables from the local farms and gardens.
To say Marquis wasn't an early riser was an understatement, he was hardly a riser at all to be honest.
For one of his favourite activites were to nap, sleep, slumber and many other synonyms of the same activity which he has come to master over his years of enthusiastic resting. And thus, it was with great difficulty that the foreign unicorn rubbed his eyes and put on his glasses, it was time to get up.
Since it was his day off and surprise calls from neither the princess nor his manager were forthcoming, he would have gladly slept in. Yet still, he felt the urge to get out of bed despite his fondness for a long rest. Perhaps he decided that he would make the most of today, have it all to himself.
The ponyville resident often nicknamed 'The sleepy prench butler' was getting out of bed.
Morning routines were something everypony made for themselves as a way to start their day slowly while their minds was still on auto-pilot from being awakened. This was the procedure he was attempting as he slowly went to the front door to retrieve the newspaper and set it on the living room's table, where he was planning to have his breakfast.
Entering his kitchen, Marquis began to heat up some water for his tea while his horn gathered the ingredients for a fresh batch of cookies.
Not that he wanted to have some for breakfast, but these baked goods were always fun to share, and a full cookie jar made for a wonderful detail at the center of a table, whenever he had guests around. He'll retrieve said jar from the counter when the time is right.
Putting on a pretty cooking apron, Marquis went to work preparing the pastries.
Once the dough was ready and spread into small mounds on a baking sheet, he had slipped it into the oven to bake, and went on to prepare his own breakfast, a mixed bowl of oatmeal to go with his cup of tea brewed from his own plants.
Bringing the bowl closer, he added everything needed for a balanced breakfast, such as the oatmeal, dried fruits, banana slices, a drop of honey, a few biscuits crushed into pieces and milk to top it all off.
Now he needed the tea leaves. Walking through the coridor, he glanced at his wardrobe where a few suits were hanging. Nowadays he was getting way more job opportunities as a masseuse than a butler, but he was still happy when either presented himself.
Entering the personnal spa room where he took in ponies in dire need of massages, he approached his plants near the window.
Looking over the potted tea plants, a watering can was levitated in a gentle purple aura and began pouring it's content over the dry earth. Reaching for his scissors, he cut a good branch of leaves that will do wonders for his morning brew.
Closing his eyes as the stallion listened to the water carefully dripping all over the soil, he almost dozed off standing (wouldn't have been the first time.)
A loud noise rang from his kitchen, shaking Marquis out of his drowsiness, setting down the tools, he walked to the corridor, tea leaves floating behind him and with unsteady hoofsteps.
He could already hear odd noises, such as grunts of annoyance, wings flapping and... bundles of sticks dropping on the tiled floor. Quickly putting two and two together, the butler quickened the pace.
As he walked into his kitchen, Marquis could pleasantly notice that his latest trap worked.
An enchanted rope hidden on the ceiling which triggers and reaches for anything touching the item the spell was cast upon.
In this case, the cookie jar.
Which is why Marquis was now witnessing a short green pegasus mare swinging like a pendulum from the ceiling, her left hindhoof caught by the other end of the rope, which looped around her hoof, over the hoof wrap bandages she used for protection. Said pegasus had a bow strapped to a quiver, and her current position had made the latter empty its content of several sort of arrows all over the floor.
"Bonjour, Windy."
Marquis sighed as he dropped his fresh tea leaves into his empty cup, approaching his suspended friend, he booped her on the snout to assist in slowing her rotation. Once she was done spinning in place, he took a step back.
Keeping her wings out to stay still, the mare gave a smile and a wave when she set her eyes on her friend.
"Hey Marquis ! You're upside down !"
Windy had enthusiasm enough to cheer up a lot of ponies, this mare really looked up to Pinkie Pie.
"...No, you. Mind telling me what grants me the honor of your visit ? ...Surely you aren't here just to... hang."
Teased the unicorn, making the mare groan as she gave a bored look at him, only making her look more silly from her current position.
"Hilarious... and look at you, capturing mares and torturing them with puns ? Aren't you the perfect gentlecolt ?
Hanging out sounds fun if you are offering, but i mostly came here to borrow stuff. And talk to you about something."
Taunted Windy while she was struggling still.
Rolling his eyes, Marquis shook his head, stomping a hoof on the floor.
"Hey now ! You are the one sneaking into my house again, i wouldn't even need these traps if you asked for treats instead of stealing them !"
"But where is the fun in that ?"
Interrupted the coy mare, only making the stallion more peeved as he tapped a hoof on the floor impatiently.
"And as always, 'borrowing' implies you'll give it back, and i have yet to see you bring back m-"
Began the stallion about to mention one of the many items that vanished from his home... but this was exactly the distraction the thief was hoping for as this escape artist managed to slip out of the rope by loosening the hoof wrap she was wearing.
And just like that, with one hoof bare, Windy landed on the floor, bow in her grasp, loaded with one of her dangerous Tickling Arrow, and aimed at her friend.
This dangerous delinquent was free and armed.
"AH HA ! No ropes can contain me ! Now surrender your cookie jar or face my wrath !"
This model of arrow crafted by Windy herself thanks to what she learned from watching her father make toy windmills for a living, allowed the pegasus to deliver devastating tickling to whoever was unlucky enough to make it to the archer's hitlist. As long as the arrow traveled enough through the air to trigger the inner mechanism and hit an area without clothes, the suction cup would prevent anypony without opposable thumbs to easily remove the ammunition from their skin. She improved her arrows often, and was eager to test each prototypes on innocent ponies and her friends, which earned her quite the reputation of serial tickler through Ponyville. Her wanted poster read 'The Mistress of Leaves and Feathers.', she had come up with the name herself, and almost gave the Ponyville's mayor a heart attack when she dropped in uninvited to ask for a framed picture of her poster.
Not wishing to agree with stereotypes, but Marquis the prench pony quickly sat and held his hooves up, clearly showing his surrender.
"HOLD YOUR FIRE ! I'd rather not you make a mess of my kitchen again ! Last time was hard enough to clean ! If you want the jar, here..."
Began the unicorn as he very slowly levitated the cookie jar close to the delinquent and levitated the cover off.
The victorious spark in the bandit's eye died down when the lid was removed from her prize.
"E-empty ?! B-but where are the cookies ?! You made a huge batch just the other day ! Did you eat them all ?"
She exclaimed, sliding the arrow back into her quiver before taking the jar away from Marquis's magic, she held it upside down, shook it and reached inside, making sure it wasn't a trick or some unfair unicorn magic act on his part.
"You are correct, i did make a great batch of them this week, but yesterday i brought the jar to the spa to share it with the patrons and with my employers, the spa sisters."
Explained the stallion as he retrieved the container to set it back on the counter, he raised a hoof to point at the oven.
"A new batch is coming along, but you are too early, these aren't ready to be stolen yet."
Now noticing the light coming from the oven, Windy went to sit in front of the kitchen appliance, both hooves and her snout pressed against the glass.
"D'aaaawwwwwwwnnnnnn... but i want cookies now..."
She let out a whine, from Marquis's point of view, it looked like one of these romantic train scene where somepony was looking at a loved one through their window as they are driving away into the sunset. This mare really loved cookies.
With all her fighting spirit spent, Windy was about to give up on her cookie heist, however her eyes caught on something...
"WELL, I'm off. You are right, Marquis, I'm just too early, i better go. It's very improper of me to drop by unannounced anyway. I'll see you later."
Exclaimed the mare as she began to retrieve her arrows from the floor, her back turned to Marquis.
Twitch.
Went Marquis's lower right eyes. A nervous signal that had helped him in the past. Acquired from empathically listening to others and dealing with stress, this often happends to him when he was confronted with harduous situations, heard lies or felt danger...
Carefully looking around the room, Marquis attempted to understand where this sudden chill came from... which trial was he about to be put through... and this is when his perceptive butler eyes noticed the oven's timer.
It was on...
DING !
The oven's ringing went off like the bell of high noon in some Western countries, down in Appleloosa, and the green pegasus spun around, an arrow with a suction cup and an odd device at the end was loaded into her weapon of choice, string drawn back. She only took half a second to aim at her target before letting go !
Luckily, thanks to his foresight, Marquis levitated a platter to act as a shield. The situation was dire, if he used magic to stop a projectile, another would come, and if he grabed his adversary, she'd just have a clear shot at him. The kitchen apron he was currently wearing was granting some protection, but he knew better than to rely on just that against such a precise adversary.
After two more unsuccessful shots in rapid succession flew, the second joined the first against the platter, but the latter ricoched off and went to hit the spice rack, spilling paprika. Windy then leapt up and to the side, the acrobatic mare bounced off Marquis's fridge and opened her wings wide to hover in midair, firing a shot aimed at her target's side !
The stallion was now quite awake as he ran around the kitchen counter, he quickly opened a cupboard's door to hunker down behind it.
He had to act fast before the tiny green hurricane gave him a full kitchen to tidy up. Luckily as he looked around through his glasses, he spoted his way out.
Upon landing on the counter and knocking the box of oatmeal, emptying the content over the counter, Windy performed a flip as she got back to the ground and aimed at her friend once more.
Her favored terrain for scuttles was the forest, full of branches and obstacles, so a kitchen was easy for her to navigate through.
"I got you now, Marqu-IIIHHHHHH !"
Triumphantly announced the mare as the kitchen's feather duster, glowing in a purple aura, flew to the rescue from behind and quickly fluttered it's soft business end over the one exposed bare hoof of the assailant.
"NOT FAI-AIHAIHAIH-AIR ! NOT MY HOOFSIES~!"
Screamed the short menace as she dropped her weapon and proceeded to roll around laughing on the floor.
The secret weakness of the acrobat lied under her protective hoof wraps, it wasn't there just to prevent scraches when she ran on roofs and in the forests, but it was mostly to prevent her sensitive hooves to taste the own medecine she dealt.
Catching his breath, Marquis went to sit next to his assaillant, resting a hoof on her forehead to have her look at him, the feather duster slowed down.
"Not today, Windy. I win."
"O-ohohoh-Allriihiihiright ! W-we'll call it a draw !"
She exclaimed, making the feather duster brush twice as fast as before, the reaction was immediate as the pegasus's laughter and struggle doubled in kind.
"Very well, in that case I'll give you some time to think about what you've done while i clean up."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
A couple minutes passed while Marquis got his kitchen back in a decent order. He had to throw away the cereals and spice, pull the arrows off his platter, wipe the hooves dirt from his fridge door and pick up the eventual green feathers which fell off his struggling guest.
The sound of cute squeaks and laughter as he tidied up the place did put a little spring in his step.
Eventually the feather duster floated away from the short pegasus and back in its place.
"Alright... what will it take you not to get up and keep ruining my kitchen today ?"
Asked the unicorn, sitting next to his panting friend, after she considered her options and caught her breath slightly, she finally answered.
"Mmmmhhhh... I want... ten cookies."
"One."
"Eight !"
"Three."
"Seven !"
"...Three and if you are a good girl, I'll pack you a few to go."
"DEAL !"
Finally exclaimed the pegasus before raising her forehooves toward her host, whom looked down at her with amusement, this was the general signal for 'Upsies'.
Not wanting to question why the mare couldn't just walk, Marquis picked up his friend to prop her on his back, which is something they did often during their adventures. Not only did it let Windy fire more precisely, but she loved the height this taller than average stallion was giving her. Rolling on her back for a moment, she took this opportunity to redo her last hoof wrap, covering the poor sensitive hoof which suffered such unfair tickling.
And so, Marquis resumed his breakfast preparation, only with a guest now. After he filled his cup with hot water, the stallion walked toward the fridge and opened it.
"Would you like something to drink ?"
He asked, showing off his modest collection of beverages, he didn't have much cool drinks, since he'd rather have hot tea in any weather.
"Well there you go, offering a drink to a lady, you are well on your way to learn some good mann-"
Began to tease the resting mare before she stood up with a gasp, making Marquis lower his head when she pressed both forehooves on it.
"You got choccy milk ?! Gimme gimme !"
After putting an empty glass and the jug of chocolate milk onto his platter, Marquis turned off the oven and slowly opened it, equipping a pair of kitchen mits, he reached in to pull out the tray of baked goods.
One didn't produce that many cookies without improving the results over time. They smelled amazing and from the melted chocolate and golden outer shell, the inside must have been a molten heaven of cocao beans.
It took a lot of willpower from Windy to not leap on the treasured treats right now, but she was way too comfortable resting her chin on Marquis's bedmane. And Marquis did promise her more cookies if she was good.
She however did react when Marquis selected three cookies to levitate onto a plate.
"Nu-huh !"
Expertly exclaimed the diplomatic adept from the forest, reaching to take hold of her friend's ears and pulling on them a bit in one direction, she turned his head slightly to the right, where the larger cookies of the batch were. With an amused sigh, Marquis selected three of the bigger ones instead and set them up on the plate waiting on his platter, next to his own breakfast.
Marquis removed his apron and mitts before he levitated the platter.
Upon entering the living room, he noticed a window that wasn't opened before, surely the mare's entry point.
Making a note of that for his next trap, he placed the breakfast onto the table and added a couple pillows to act as boosters for his guest. Windy got off her ride and polietly waited for the butler to fill her glass, using the bottle of milk.
Windy looked at the drink set in front of her for a moment and then at the stallion who served it.
"Marquis, i am outraged, is this really how you treat a guest in your house ? What kind of host are you ? How dare you call yourself a butler ?"
Accused the green mare, staring down (or rather up) at Marquis's purple eyes.
The stallion started back with a blank expression and lit up his horn once more.
Soon, a big purple silly straw floated from the kitchen and landed into Windy's big glass of chocolate milk.
"Much better."
She simply stated before eagerly taking the straw into her mouth and making the sweet beverage travel the several loops of the plastic tool before reaching her mouth.
The stallion had a small desire to point out how the short mare was more of a nuisance than a guest, but seeing the happy expression of his best friend drinking made him discard the thought.
As he opened the newspaper to check on today's news, he noticed from the corner of his eyes what his friend was looking at.
With a smirk, he levitated the last pages of the daily occurence, the ones with comics and jokes on them, to settle them in front of his guest. This surely was the right call, as she began to take upon her newly acquired litterature, while munching away at the first of her treats.
Each of them eating quietly and reading, this was the most calm Marquis's house was since the intruder had entered.
Discarding the boring news pages, Marquis picked up a pen from a near drawer to get started on the crosswords and other puzzles.
"Mmhh... ten letters word for a container... starts with C."
Mumbled the stallion out loud to try and help himself think.
"Cornucopia."
The archer replied, making Marquis raise a pair of pleasantly surprised eyebrows.
"You don't go on as many adventures as me without learning some stuff !"
There was a pause.
"And speaking of adventures..."
*Twitch.*
There it was again.
"Marquis, remember how i said there was something i had to talk to you about ?"
*Twitch-twitch.* Windy paused to add some suspense but mostly to take another bite off her cookie.
"I got a plan for a new adventure!"
And there it was.
At that point, Marquis levitated his glasses off and had to press a hoof over his closed eye to stop the warnings his body was sending him.
"Non, merci ! This is my day off and i'd like to not go on a crazy adventure."
He replied, making his guest pout.
Once she finishes chewing the cookie, she gave her reply.
"But these adventures are so much more fun with you as my sidekick."
"Listen, I know you like to have me around b-... SIDEKICK ?! Your Guardian angel is what I am, missy !"
Scoffed the unicorn as he tried to focus back on his crossword and ignore the teasing mare.
Windy wasn't having it and insisted.
"You HAVE to come with me, you owe me for saving you !"
"Saving me from the messes YOU got me into doesn't count. Now let me finish my crosswords..."
As Marquis replied, he began to rotate the page to look up the solution, making sure the answer he had put in was the correct one.
What he didn't notice was that the mare had taken her silly straw between her feathers, brought it closer to her friend and tapped it above the newspaper. Drops of chocolate milk poured from the straw and stained the answers so they were unreadable.
Marquis slowly looked back up to see the smug grin of the short pegasus.
"Ooohhh, I see ! You are being cute."
"Worse ! I'm being adorable, and you cannot stop me, Sidekick !"
The butler levitated his cup to drink from it as he folded the dirty newspaper and pushed it aside.
Putting his hooves on the table, he turned to observe the mare.
"Very well, Barebow. If you can tell me a single adventure that didn't end poorly, I'll consider spending my day off on your adventures."
Announced Marquis, making Windy's smile very slowly fade.
"OOoooookkkaaay. Fine, sure. I can... do that. Let me think..."
Replied the adventurer as she chewed on another cookie.
Eventually, the mare proposed an answer to the challenging question.
"Well... there was our first adventure in the Everfree Forest, that one small temple."
"You pushed me into a trap to deactivate it, i fell down a pit of tickling vines. "
"I-i said it was an accident ! And i would have gotten you out if i didn't get captured by this weird cult."
The mare defended herself while Marquis swallowed a slice of banana from his bowl.
"I had to crawl out of the pit and cause a distraction to get you out of your cage, before we ran off."
"Right. Thanks again for that. Their vines looked even softer than the ones i push- I MEAN, you fell into. When i... bumped..."
Looking away as she recollected more and more adventures, and wishing to change the topic, she continued.
"Hey, our visit of the Crystal empire went well. The food was great, i even shared mine with you !"
"You ran up to me and gave me bags of sweets and pastries before flying off.
I thought it was a pretty sweet gesture until the guards showed up and locked me in the public pillory for stealing from a pastry shop. Do you have any idea how uncomfortable stocks made out of crystals are ?"
Windy pressed her lips together in order to suppress a laugh. The annoyed stallion chewed on some more dried fruit.
"Hold on Windy, let me help."
Having the memories of the different trips coming back to him, Marquis eventually smirked and added his own story.
"Remember when we boarded the wrong train and ended up in that one weird town ?
...Klugetown ? Was it ? I had to drag you out because you got so angry."
Asked the stallion, making Windy frown and nod.
"I didn't like this trip very much... that one minotaur thought i was your pet and tried to purchase me from you."
"Right, and you gave him a piece of your mind. That guy is probably still afraid of anything green now. But honestly... did you have to shoot down his zepplin when he was running away ? That part seemed a bit overkill."
Mentionned Marquis as his friend finished her glass and slammed it on the table.
"He got what he deserved and you KNOW IT !"
Supressing a laugh as well, Marquis refilled Windy's glass. Giving a subtle nod to thank him, she continued.
"Our trip to meet the Kirins was nice !"
"If by tainting diplomatic relations is nice, than yes it was ! I know you liked their voice, but did you have to shoot a tickling arrow at them just because you wanted to hear them laugh ?"
"Hiz mmht mmhy fa-"
Began the mare, but paused to swallow her cookie before resuming.
"Is it my fault if these creatures were so floofy? I hit that one mare on her side, but her hair jammed the mechanism..."
Grumbled the archer as she pulled one of her homemade tickling tool out of her quiver and presented the feathery device inside of the suction cup. Marquis soon tapped a hoof on the table in annoyance.
"Even if tickling creatures isn't really fine, the problem was that you wanted to retrieve the arrow so much that you pulled on it while i was appologizing on your behalf. The clump of hair came along with the arrow !"
Shuddering, the mare slipped the arrow back into the quiver.
"I'll have you know i take great care in crafting these Tools of Mass Distraction. I wanted it back... and... yeah, i know i screw up. But how would we have known that Kirins burst into flames when angry ?! ...I'm still thankful that you know so many tea and water spells... It took a couple days and half a dozen bathes until our manes and coats regained their softness."
Nodding, Marquis could only agree, he glanced back at his own tail and was glad enough shampoo removed the damaged hair.
Windy let out a gasp which brought attention back to her.
"OH, i got one ! There was that artefact we found in temple of the-"
"OH OUI ! Let's talk about this one again ! You zapped me with that item to try it out, with no idea of what it could have done !"
"It turned you into a mare ! Big deal ! You looked super duper cute too."
Windy shrugged, a slight blush on her face as Marquis pointed his spoon at the mare in an accusatory manner.
"You weren't the one having to go to work the next day, having to explain to their manager that you just suddenly were of the opposite gender ! I had to make up a story about being my sister filling in for me !"
Ranted the stallion before he sighed. Windy couldn't take it anymore and laughed out loud at the stallion's expense. Marquis attempted to chew harder on his cereal to cover the sound of the mockery. This was an embarassing day as a butler... or rather a head maid. Thanfully the change was only temporary and Marquis had recovered his form three days later.
Once Windy calmed back down and caught her breath, Marquis continued.
"By the way, did you get rid of that artefact ?
"Mmh ? Oh, of course i did."
*Twitch*
Went Marquis's right eye, his inquisitory gaze turned to the mare. As good of a liar she was, she couldn't bare the weight of Marquis's look when they both knew what she did.
"O-Okay ! Okay ! Fine ! I... i wanna change you back and get to brush your mane at least once while you are a mare... it looked really soft... it would be like... having a big sister...
After that, I'll give it to Twilight or something..."
The butler couldn't help but smirk at his best friend's cute blush and bashful words.
"...I'm really spoiling you sometimes. Fine for the brushies, but only when i have days off."
"Deal."
Concluding another reminicense, they both got back to thinking. Windy looked at the last cookie bite she had left, unable to think of a suitable answer, she was starting to fear her friend didn't enjoy her company, that these adventures really just bothered him.
Slowly turning in her seat, she was about to gather the courage to acknowledge defeat and leave her friend in peace.
"...I can remember one. One adventure that ended very well."
Finally stated Marquis, breaking the silence and making Windy's ears perk up as she turned to look at him.
"Remember the tribals who captured us while we slept in our camp, near the Badlands ?"
The mare scrached her mane and nodded.
"I-i remember, we were tied up in the center of their camp as tributes for... something. I didn't understand their chanting."
"From what i understood, a creature or a spirit to bring back the rain on their land.
You managed to get loose, removed the nullyfier they had put on my horn, and-"
Windy's gleeful noises interupted the stallion, she resumed for him.
"Wait wait ! Let me tell the best part ! And then i jumped on your back and we teamed up to kick their butt !
You slammed them away using a broom. And you casted a spell on your teapot to assist me in shooting them !"
"Weaponized tea pots. That's one spell you won't find in any sorcery books."
Boasted Marquis at his personnal spellcrafting and broom handling. (One of the perks of housekeeping.)
"Do you remember what happend next ?"
The mare dug in her memory before she continued.
"Yes, after we walked away, we noticed how sad they looked about not doing their ceremony.
So we agreed to go back, you managed to communicate with them, and we helped dig a well in their village, which you filled with water using your magic ! They were so happy that they gave us some souvenirs for the trip home ! You are right, that one had a good ending !"
Exclaimed the archer as she picked up the remaining of her cookie and tossed it in the air. Aiming to catch it in her mouth, the baked treat froze near her lips, glowing in a purple aura, and instead floated to Marquis's lips. The unicorn ate the piece with a smirk as he stood up from his chair.
"These adventures may be a mess, but they are the most fun i ever have. Come along, i promised cookies to-go for a good girl. I'll come by your house later today to see your plan."
Admited the stallion as he winked to his protégé, the pegasus grinned back and leapt off the chair to follow her friend.
Entering the kitchen, Marquis levitated half a dozen cookies off the baking tray and floated them to where he had his tupperwares. Setting each of the baked goods into the box, he turned back toward the pegasus, only to have her leap at him, arms around his neck for a big hug.
After the initial surprise, Marquis wrapped his forelegs around the mare as well, stroking the back of her mane as he floated the box of cookies into her bag and closed it.
"You are a good girl, Windy~."
He whispered before letting go. The mare leapt back and immediatly walked for the door without a word.
The unicorn simply smiled at the touching- *Twitch.*
...Oh no, what was that ? And what was that noise ?
"Munch munch munch..."
Marquis's ears were perked up as he had recognised the noise, suddenly turning his head toward the baking tray.
It was empty. There were none left, save for a chocolate chip here and a crumb there.
"Windy... Barebow... EVERGRE-"
Began to yell the stallion, but before he could turn his head back toward the culprit, the air was knock out of his chest when a tickling arrow planted itself against his belly. Unable to magically pull the tool off in time, the feathers began to spin and tickle his own weakspot, making him keel over in hilarity.
Finally looking toward the shooter, he saw Windy, with her cheeks puffed out, filled with cookies, as she grabed the chocolate milk carton from the living room table and drank from it to down her prize. Her own half glass of chocolate milk getting bumped into as it spilled on the table.
"AAahhhhh~! Now that was some good cookies !
Taste even better after i won against somepony, isn't that right ? See you later, sidekick~!"
Announced the archer, a spring in her step as she walked out of the door.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
After a minute or two of perpetual laughter and rolling on the floor, the device had lost enough speed to enable Marquis to pull it out with his magic.
Not sooner than a few seconds later, he ran outside his house.
He had a grin on his face, was wearing a saddle bag, and had a floating teapot nearby, following him.
Reaching up to the handle with his hoof, he jerked it back, producing a comically clear cocking sound.
"Look out, Windy ! Your sidekick is on his way !"
