A/N: And I am back! Finally I came up with something good! I know, I know; I said this was supposed to be a one-shot. But I already had over 7000 words and not even close to be finished, so I decided to make into chapters. You'll get the first one now. Hope you'll like it!

For you new readers: You might want to read my fanfic 'Triple Trouble'. You can read this without, but then the start might seem confusing.

I do not own Madagascar.

Undercover Stripes
A Night Not To Remember

"Angelica! Come on, hon! You know I didn't mean…"

"Leave me alone!" the black horse told him sternly while walking away from him.

But the zebra kept following her. "Aw, you can't mean that!"

"Yes, I can!"

"Angelica, I…"

"Don't talk to me!"

Marty bit his lower lip. "What do you mean?"

"It's over!"

"What? No!"

"We can't continue like this," the mare said sternly, not even looking at him.

The zebra widened his eyes. "But it has only been one night…"

"Exactly. If we end it here, it will hurt less."

"Can't we just give it a chance?"

"No."

Marty finally caught up with her. "Why? Is it me? You?"

"How dare you even think that it's me that is something wrong with?!"

The zebra visible flinched. "Sorry."

"Now just leave me alone!"

"But I…"

"I said; leave me alone!"

She speeded up, and for some time Marty just watched her go. But then he changed his mind. He could fix this! It wasn't such a big problem!

He just needed her to calm down and talk some sense into her! It could be fine! It could be fine!

Marty ran after her, getting closer and closer.

It could be fine! It could be…

The zebra's world went black as Angelica shoved her hoof into his face.

Panting heavily, Marty woke up. What? Wha?

He immediately calmed down as he realized it had all been a dream. Of course it had been a dream! He couldn't be that stupid, right?! Getting kicked by some girl… Yeah, right!

He stood up, his legs still shaking. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

The date with Angelica had gone fine.

Or had it...?

Marty actually couldn't remember. But why? He hadn't got drunk, had he? No, because there had been no alcohol involved. So why the memory loss?

The zebra was about to walk out of his wagon, when he suddenly started walking backwards again. First he had passed a big mirror, and now he was backing towards it again.

Had he seen right or…?

Marty took a look into the mirror again.

No…

Just no…

Why?

Why?!

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooo!" The zebra's yell woke up the other circus animals, but after some seconds thinking about what had happened, they all fell back to sleep.

But Marty kept staring at the mirror, mourning over how bad a spot looked on black and white stripes.

"Marty!" Alex called. "Marty! Seriously, how can you hide with such screaming stripes?"

"You know, scientists think that…"

"Now is not the time, Melman!"

"But where is he?" Gloria asked. "I want to know how his date with Angelica went!"

Alex grinned and said with a deep voice, "Angelica."

"Angelica?" Melman asked, obviously confused.

"Angelica," Alex repeated with the same voice as before. He then cleared his throat and turned towards Gloria, "But how are the E's going?"

The hippo raised an eyebrow, "The 'E's'?"

"Esmeralda, Esperanza and Ernestina!"

"Oh… They are fine. They are still a little confused about it all, but I think they have forgiven him."

"So it isn't them he's hiding from," Alex though out loud. Then what was wrong with his zebra friend? Well, he had to find out soon, so Alex made a plan. "You two, go ask the others if they had seen him. I'll continue search here."

Melman and Gloria nodded and quickly disappeared. Alex rubbed the back of his neck; what should he do now? "Marty!"

The lion kept walked around, looking for his friend. Where was he? "Marty!" He was about to start searching in another wagon, when he spotted the striped legs. Behind a curtain, the zebra was hidden. With the exception of his legs.

Stupid of him not to realize that the curtain was too short.

With soundless steps, Alex sneaked up on the hidden zebra. This was going to be fun. When he was close enough to him, Alex leaned his head towards the curtain and yelled, "Boooh!"

The zebra jumped up into the air, screaming. When he landed again, he fell to the ground, hooves held protectively over his head. "Don't kick me! Don't kick me! I'm sorry!"

"Marty? Marty, it's me!" the lion yelled, trying to get the zebra to look at him.

"Alex?" The zebra carefully lifted one of his hooves from his face. "Oh, it's just you!"

"Of course it's me? Who else should it be? And why should I be kicking you?"

Marty slowly stood up. "Nothing man. A nightmare has made me totally paranoia!"

"Well, you better get over it unless your next act in the show will be how to hide behind a curtain. And you really suck at doing it, by the way."

"Thank you," the zebra snorted sarcastically.

Alex leaned his back against the wall, while Marty remained by the curtain. "So how did the date with Angelica go? Can we look forward to see some zorses?"

Marty opened his mouth, but then closed it again. There went some seconds before he said, "Uhm… No. Just no."

"What? Why? Was the date bad?"

The zebra grinned nervously. "What? No! We're just taking it slowly… Like real slow."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Okay… So you are planning a next date with her?"

"Uh…"

"You know, Gia and I could fix something up, now when you have showed us all how bad your skills at making dates are."

"What?!" For a second the zebra was so surprised that he took a step forward, but then he quickly stepped back.

And that was when Alex realized that his friend was hiding something from him. All the time they had talked, the zebra had been standing in the shadows. And then there was the fact that he was looking so nervous.

And that he was hiding the right side of his face…

"Marty…" Alex spoke slowly. "What's wrong?"

"Wha…? What do you mean with 'what's wrong'? There's nothing wrong here! Okay, the date with Angelica wasn't fantastic, but a new day, a new chance, you know!"

"Marty!"

"What?"

Alex sighed. "Just tell me what happened."

The zebra looked at the ground, sighing as well. "Okay, the date was a catastrophe! She totally hates me, man! And I am just not sure why! So I followed and tried to calm her down, you know, with my charm, but then…"

"Then what?"

Marty let out a final sigh, and then stepped out of the shadows. "It doesn't look that bad, does it?"

Alex dropped his jaw when he saw it. "She… Did that?" he asked, before breaking into laughter.

The zebra immediately seemed offended. "Hey, it wasn't my fault that she just suddenly…"

"She kicked you?" Alex asked, still laughing.

"Yes. She kicked me." When the lion laughed even harder, Marty continued, "And it's not funny!"

"Sorry. Sorry! It's just… Have you looked at yourself?"

Marty sighed. "Yes. Yes I have."

On the right side of his face, there was something completely wrong with his striped pattern. And that something was a black eye.

Alex continued laughing, when Marty told him, "It's not funny!"

"Marty, of course it's funny! She gave you a black eye!"

The zebra's face darkened. "It's not funny. And you wanna know why? Because she gave me a black eye!"

"What did you do to make her that mad?!"

"I don't know! It's…" Marty sighed. "It's a long story." He then looked around, trying to see if Alex had brought someone along. "Can't we just pretend that this never happened?"

"And how is that you are going to hide that eye, buddy?"

The zebra started walking away from him. "You know, Esmeralda, Ernestina and Esperanza have them makeup. I was thinking about using it."

Alex started laughing again. "You are going to use makeup?"

"Yes, I am that desperate."

"You know, sometimes black eyes can be really cool… But not when they are made by a girl!"

"Just help me get to the makeup without anyone seeing me!"

Alex held up his paws. "Relax, relax! Of course I am going to help you! Stay here and I'll clear the way."

"But…"

"Just stay here!" Alex stopped the zebra with a pew, and then hurried out of the wagon. Where was she? Where was she?

There! "Gia!" he called and ran after the beautiful jaguar. "Hey, honey…"

"Where have you been?" Gia asked, putting her paws on her hips. "I've been looking for you since…"

"So sorry, but Marty's in trouble!"

The jaguar widened her eyes. "Is he okay? Can I help?"

"Well, he's okay after the circumstances and yes, you can help."

"How?"

"Just go call the others and get them away from the train."

She raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because that's the plan!"

"And what should I say to them then?"

Alex rubbed his neck. "Uh… That there's a talent scout or something like that. Just keep them busy and when Marty and I am done, we'll tell them it all was just a misunderstanding."

"Fine, but you owe me a favor."

The lion leaned forward and kissed her on her cheek. "I always do, don't I?" Then he started to running back to Marty while waving to her. "Thank you, love!"

Gia rolled with her eyes, but still had a smile on her lips.

"And we are almost there!" Alex exclaimed as he and Marty jumped into the Triplets' wagon.

"Yeah, thank you, man," Marty told him as he started walking towards the mirror where the makeup was.

Alex followed him. "Don't thank me, thank Gia. I am serious, remember to thank her!"

Marty started picking out the things he needed. "I just can't believe we actually made it without getting seen!"

"You are right, Stripes," a voice suddenly said.

The zebra yelled and surprise and walked backwards, as four penguins came out from behind the mirror. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Making plans," Skipper told them.

"And why are you doing it in here," Alex asked, standing beside his zebra friend.

The four penguins came closer. "Because it's nice and quiet. Got a problem with that, lion?"

"No. Not really."

Skipper then turned to Marty. "And what exactly happened to your eye?"

The zebra coughed, embarrassed. "Well… It was an accident."

The penguins shared glances. "They all say that. Who beat you up, Stripes? Someone we should keep an eye on?"

"Uh…"

"It was his girlfriend!"

"Alex!"

"Sorry! I mean she's not his girlfriend anymore. And they only had one date…"

Skipper did a face-palm. "So the problem we are talking about is just about a girl?"

"And it was a pretty, girlie horse by the way," Alex told him.

"I… What did you say, Crazy Hair?" Skipper asked.

"That his girlfriend was some pretty horse?" Alex said, obviously confused.

Skipper turned around to face the other penguins. "Boys, our mission just got hundred thirty three percent more dangerous than expected."

"Why, Skipper?" Private asked.

"Because if a girl horse can knock out our colorblind friend, imagine what a trained soldier horse can do."

"This is not good, Skipper," Kowalski told him.

"I already know that, Kowalski."

Alex took a step forward. "What exactly are you talking about?"

Skipper cleared his throat and held his wings behind his back. "We are all in some serious trouble. Very serious trouble."

Marty dropped his jaw. "Wha…?"

"And it's all because of those sneaky horses." Skipper turned around to look at them. "They stole something from us. Something very important…"

"Good job, boys. We really showed those squirrels how to behave. I bet they won't even mention the word 'nuts' again."

All the penguins did a high-five, and started marching back towards the train. But then Private stopped. "Uh… Skipper?"

"What is it, Private?"

"Uhm… Where's the key?"

"Kowalski has it."

The called penguin suddenly looked nervous. "I don't have it."

Skipper turned around. "Rico?"

The penguin shook his head.

Skipper then did a face-palm. "Holy salmons, we lost it again!"

"It apparently seems like the squirrels still need to be taught some manners," Kowalski said.

"Or maybe we just accidently dropped the key," Private suggested.

Skipper thought over the situation, before calling out, "Kowalski."

The smart penguin already had a paper with a draft ready. "I suggest we'll build this."

Some time later, the machine was ready. Basically it was an electronic play car with a horseshoe shaped magnet hanging from a crane. Some computer screens were attached to the little car, showing the results.

With this amazing device, they would find their key in no time.

"It's getting stronger when we are turning this way," Kowalski said while pointing with his wing towards a certain direction.

"Then that's the way we are heading towards," Skipper declared. "Speed up, boys!"

And so the machine became faster, passing numerous bushes and little rocks. "It's getting stronger, stronger…" Kowalski murmured.

The magnet started to move slightly. They were getting closer…

"I think I can see it!" Private exclaimed.

Yes, there was something in the grass ahead of them that was shining. A key, probably.

But then, suddenly, the amazing machine stopped. Well, it didn't exactly do it by itself; if the penguins hadn't driven it into a fence, it probably would have continued until it ran out of batteries.

The forced kicked the car off balance, and it fell backwards, getting stuck in the ground. While doing that, the thread that held the magnet cracked, and the magnet flew to the ground. It landed just beside the key, and after a second the metal was stuck on it.

The penguins moaned as their car landed on them. "What happened?" Private asked.

"I believe we hit something."

"Great thinking, Kowalski. Now how do we get out of here?" Skipper said, trying to move his trapped body. Finally he got an idea. "Kowalski, speed up!"

"What? But, Skipper, it would…"

"Speed!" Rico yelled, and pushed the gas pedal.

The little car started roaring, and smoke started to appear.

"I was trying to say that since we are stuck, the motor will overheat…"

WHRAM! The car got enough speed, and suddenly it somehow managed to make a backflip. All the penguins and the machine ended in a nearby bush.

Slowly, the penguins could be seen again, their heads popping out of the bush. "Remind me of never to drive one of those things again," Skipper said. "Now where's the key?"

"On the magnet," Kowalski told him. "That now is about to be picked up by that horse."

"WHAT?"

And sure enough, a brown horse on the other side of the fence was picking up the magnet, looking at it closely. It was about to lay it back down, when the horse shoe formed magnet got stuck on the real horse shoe.

The horse tried to pull it off, but nothing happened. Then the horse turned around and started walking away, limping slightly with the magnet under one of its hooves.

The penguins stared as it disappeared, their jaws dropped in disbelief. What had just happened?

"The key! The key!" yelled Rico as thy all fought to get out of the crashed car.

"Kowalski, status report!"

"An unnamed horse has grabbed the key and taken it with it towards what seems like a stable. A big one. Maybe even a riding school."

"What shall we do, Skipper?" Private asked.

"Let's head back to the circus, and lay our plans. These filthy hay eaters will not get away with this!"

"And that is the story of how we ended here," Skipper finished. "And it seems like we are not the only ones that have a bone to pick with those horses."

"Wait a minute!" Marty cut in. "I don't want to…"

"So you are perfectly fine with that black eye?"

"I guess not…"

"So you are not fine with it?"

"Uhh…"

Private held up a wing. "Skipper, how are we going to take back the key?"

"What is it about this key?" Alex asked.

"None of your business," Skipper said sharply. "But I can reveal that the key is the reason why you are alive. And if we don't get it back, it's going to be bad for all of us."

Alex and Marty shared a glance. "Okay…" the lion said while backing off. "We'll just leave you to discuss your plans."

"Wait a minute!" Skipper exclaimed. "Aren't you forgetting something, Stripes?"

"The makeup!" Marty said, seeing what the penguin was holding up. "Thanks man…"

But Skipper stopped him before he could reach it. "Let's make a deal. You can cover up that embarrassing eye if you help us with one tiny mission."