A/N: And I am back! I love how this story is just so… Weird. I mean; just try and take a look on the summary! But I love it… Because I am weird too! It's true!

So here is the new chapter! Hope you like it!

I do not own Madagascar.

Undercover Stripes
Racezebra

"Not good," Marty muttered as he paced back and forth. "Not good. Not good. Not good!"

What was he supposed to do? One part of him told him to stay here… Another part told him to find the magnet and then run away as fast as he could.

Angelica had kissed him… Wait! She had not actually kissed him! She had kissed 'Troy'! There was no one who liked 'Marty'.

Sighing, Marty stopped walking. What should he do?

In the distance he could suddenly spot a familiar horse. "Spot!" he called, running after her. The horse did not walk away, but neither did she run towards him. She just remained standing.

"I was looking for you," Marty told her. "I thought you would find me after you entertained… The kids," he finished in a dark tone.

"You were busy," she said slowly.

"No, I wasn't," Marty protested. "Spot, I need to find this magnet. It is important!"

"Magnet?" she asked, repeating the word he had used.

Scolding himself mentally, Marty corrected himself. "Horseshoe. I will explain later. Can we find it now?"

"I don't think I have time," Spot said slowly.

"What?! But you promised!"

"Yes, but when I had time you were busy with kissing Angelica!"

"Excuse me, but it was Angelica who kissed me! And you can just show me where you would have searched then I will find it myself!"

"Maybe we should just wait; then you will have more time staying here."

Panicking, Marty walked forward. "But I can't stay here; that's the point. Please, Spot!"

The horse just stared at him, until she finally said, "If you tell me the truth, then I might show you it."

Widening his eyes, Marty suddenly got nervous. "Wha…? What are you…? What are you talking about?!"

"You know what I am talking about."

"No! I don't!"

Spot just continued glaring at him, and for the first time Marty saw anger in her expression. "I know that people think I am stupid. I just never imagined that you would think it too."

With that she turned around and started to run away.

"Come on!" Marty called after him. "I don't think you are stupid! If anyone is stupid then it is me!" But he got no answer. "Just great," he muttered.

What should he do now?

Then he got an idea. "Ruby!"

In a flash, the brown horse was beside him. "You called, Troy?" she said, eyes sparkling.

"Uhm… Yes! I need your help!"

"You do?" the horse asked him, stunned.

"Yeah!" Marty exclaimed. Even though he did not like to work with Ruby, he just wanted to get out of here.

Maybe he should have asked Angelica… No. After the kiss she had had to leave; much to his joy. First when she was gone he had been able to think again. "Do you remember that horse shoe I talked about?"

Ruby nodded. "Yes! Of course!"

"Great! You have to help me find it!"

"So is it just a horseshoe? Because we have really many of those here!"

"Right! It's red and white! Does that help?" Marty asked, walking closer to her.

She nodded rapidly. "I think I have seen it!"

"You have?!" Marty asked, nearly too scared to believe it. It was like a miracle! "When?! And where?!"

Ruby smiled to him, leaning her head close to his ear. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course! Man, I am the best to keep secrets! I'll never tell anyone!"

"Good! Then do you want to hear it?"

"Is it about the horseshoe?"

"Yes."

"Then of course I want to hear it!"

Ruby chuckled but then said, "Abby has this secret place where she hides all of her horseshoes. She likes collecting them."

"Collecting?" Marty asked, unsure if he had heard it right.

Ruby nodded again. "And yesterday I found one to her. And it was red and white!"

"That's the one I am looking for!" Marty exclaimed. "You have to help me get it back!"

"I don't get it; why is it so important?"

"Uhm…" Marty rubbed the back of his neck. "It is a long story."

"Okay! But I can show where it is if you promise not to tell anyone!"

Marty nodded. "I promise."

"Do you swear?"

Sighing, Marty said, "I swear."

Ruby's face became one big smile. "Great! Now I will show you!"

Marty followed her into one of the stables. "So where is it?"

"Just a minute; we have to go in here," Ruby said, walking into one of the stalls. "This is where Abby sleeps."

"Oh… Nice thing to know," Marty said.

"We just have to move some hay…" Ruby muttered. "And here it is!" she exclaiming, shoving a chest out of the stall. "Open it!"

Marty just stared at her. "You sure?" he asked, not liking to just open other persons' things.

"Yeah! It is in there!"

Marty then did what he was told, and when the chest opened a bunch of horseshoes was revealed. Quickly, Marty found the red and white one. "Weird hobby," he muttered, while examining the magnet.

Sure enough; a little key was stuck on it.

Marty smiled as he realized it; he had just saved them all!

"Thank you so much, Ruby! I really owe you one there!"

She blushed, cheeks as red as a tomato. "Oh… That is nothing. I am just so glad to help you, Troy. But if you would like to return the favor…"

She leaned forward; mouth ready for a kiss.

But when nothing happened, she opened her eyes to see that Marty was in the other end of the stable.

He grinned to her. "Again; thank you so much! You are crack-a-lacking!"

Ruby just stared at him, not even reacting as he left the stable.

Freedom! Marty was running on two legs, holding the magnet with his front legs. He could go home! He could leave this place! But Angelica… And Spot…

What would they say?

Suddenly, lost as he was in his own thoughts, Marty bumped into someone. More exactly; Abby.

"Uhm… Hey!" Marty said but it was already too late.

"What are you doing with my horseshoe?" Abby asked him sternly. "It's mine!"

Marty shook his head. "Actually it is not. Ruby found it when one of my friends lost it."

"Your friends?" Abby asked, raising an eyebrow. "And who gave you permission to look through my stuff?"

"Ah… Abby, I am sorry, but I have to go now!"

"Leaving so soon?" a new voice asked, and suddenly he was surrounded by horses. Marty seemed to shrink as Oliver stood in front of him.

Walking backwards, he said, "Yeah… It's time for me to go, you know? It was nice to meet you all!"

"Are you really going, Troy?" a voice asked, and Marty then saw Angelica walking towards him.

"No!" he exclaimed. "Or yes… I don't know!"

"And why did you take my horseshoe?"

"It's just like a said; he does not belong here!"

Marty slowly backed away only to realize he was surrounded. "But…"

"Have you lied to us?"

"You can't just steal; it is wrong!"

"Where are your humans?"

"What is going on?"

"I am a zebra!" Marty suddenly exclaimed. "That's what is going on! Please don't kick me!"

But all they did was to stare. Suddenly, one started laughing. "I told you; his jokes are so funny!" It was Ruby. Slowly the laughter spread, but Marty still could not relax.

"I really have to go," he almost whimpered.

"My horseshoe…" Abby began.

"Fine!" Marty exclaimed. "Just let me do something first!" With all his might he tried to get the key of the magnet, but it just would not move. Apparently, the magnet was very strong. "Uhm…"

Abby glared at him. "Troy. My horseshoe."

"I can't…"

"Okay! That's it! You are stealing a lady's shoe?!" Oliver thundered, moving forwards threatening.

Marty shook his head. "What?! No! That's not what is going on at all!"

"Then what is?!"

"I…" What could he say? Backing away Marty stared at the big horse in fear. Here it comes… Another kick… Then his left eyes would match the other one. Great!

Preparing himself for the hit, Marty closed his eyes. But something happened.

A roar.

A roar so loud that it made the horses freeze, then widened their eyes in fear.

"Alex?" Marty asked quietly, and sure enough soon a familiar lion came into sight.

The horses all turned around, running away as fast as they could. It was obviously that they knew that they were the prey and he was the predator. What they did not know was that Alex had no really intention of hurting them.

Instead he turned towards the remaining 'horse'. "Marty!" he exclaimed, running towards him. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I am!" Marty snorted. "What are you doing here?!"

"Helping you!"

"What? I don't need help!"

Alex rolled his eyes. "Right!"

"Okay… Kinda. But I got it!" he said and held out the magnet. "Look!"

"Great! Not let us get out of here…"

"The key," Marty said, cutting Alex off. "Can you pull it off?"

Alex shrugged. "Sure." And so he did, using his claws. "Here we go."

"Thank man!" Marty grinned. "But you just keep the key; I'll just end up losing it." But he took the horseshoe and then laid it on the grass. Now Abby could keep it.

"Hey, Marty?" Alex asked. "What was going on here?"

"Long story," Marty sighed. "What has happened while I was gone?"

Alex rubbed the back of his neck. "Well… They know about the mission."

"What?!"

"Sorry! But they got suspicious!" Alec explained. "But they don't know about your eye."

Letting out a relieved sigh, Marty said, "At least that is a good thing."

"Troy!" somebody called and Marty turned around to see Angelica slowly coming towards them.

"Troy," another voice said quietly and the zebra could now see Spot coming from another stable.

Not good!

"Troy, what is going on?" Angelica asked. "Who is he?"

"Uhm…" Marty tripped over his own words as he tried to explain. "I…"

But suddenly, a lot of water was splashed on him. "Alex, what are you doing?" Marty exclaimed, knowing what was going to happen.

"Giving the explanation to the two ladies," Alex said. "Don't hate me."

And so the black color was gone… Well, except the stripes that remained.

"What…?" Angelica whispered.

Marty looked at the ground. "I am so sorry." He looked at them both.

Then Angelica recognized him. "You…" she whispered. "You creep!" she then shouted, running away.

Spot remained standing, looking at him calmly.

Marty walked closer. "You don't look surprised."

"Five minutes ago you told everyone you were a zebra," she said. "I was there too."

"But apparently it was a joke," Marty said. "A bad one, after my opinion."

"I would like to hear the whole explanation, but first there is something you need to do," Spot told him.

"What?"

Spot turned her head in the direction Angelica had went. "This is the second time you made her sad. Maybe now is the time to apologize."

Knowing she was right, Marty nodded and started walking away. He called over his shoulder, "Stay here!"

Alex took one step closer to Spot who did what she was told. "So…" he began. "Who are you?"

"Angelica," Marty called as he found her alone in one of the stables.

"What do you want now?" she sneered.

"Listen; I never wanted to hurt you. I don't know what I did wrong on that date, but I probably deserved the kick. And about Troy… I didn't have a choice, you know? My friends needed my help-"

"I understand," she cut him off. "And I am not that angry. I just… You and I… I think it is best we don't see each other. At least not in the next couple of months."

Marty understood her completely. "Yeah… That won't be a problem. We have to travel. Life in a circus…" He sighed. "And I am sorry."

"The kiss…" she began.

"I know. You liked Troy." He let out a weak smile. "But he just doesn't… Exist."

"Exactly," she said. "And I would take the opportunity to apologize for kicking you."

He let out a laugh. "That alright. I could use someone to knock some sense into me! Maybe then I would stop doing crazy things like this."

She smiled back. "Maybe."

"Before I leave… Could you please tell me what I did wrong?"

"You were just… So freaky, no offense. It was like you had it all planned. The date, the future. And I was just doing Stefano I favor. Then you talked about zorses…"

"Stupid thing to do, wasn't it?" Marty muttered.

"We just didn't fit. And when I tried to leave."

"I kept following you. I wouldn't let you go."

She nodded. "That made me mad."

Marty blinked with his black eye. "You sure did." He turned around, ready to leave. "So… We are okay?"

"We are okay."

"Then I'll see you later… When some months have passed… Just to be safe," he said, smiling.

Angelica smiled. "I'll see you later, Marty."

He then stepped out of the table. So that was what he had done wrong. Lesson learned; don't act like you have planned the future. Especially not when the girl is not crazy about you.

"Marty!" the black horse suddenly called. The zebra stopped walking. She then said, "You weren't that bad at being a horse."

Laughing, Marty walked away, sending her a last glance.

"So how did it go?" Alex asked as Marty joined him and Spot.

"Fine," Marty said shortly. "Not exactly crack-a-lacking, but… Yeah."

Spot looked at him. "I guess this is goodbye."

"Wait!" he exclaimed. "I still haven't explained the whole thing."

"Alex did tell me something…"

Marty smiled to her. "What about I'll tell you it while we all walk back to the train?"

Spot chuckled softly. "That sounds like a good idea."

"Marty!" Gloria yelled. "We have to go now!"

"Coming!" he yelled back. Hearing how the train was about to start, he knew he did not have long time.

But something stopped him before he could jump into one of the wagons.

"Marty!" Spot yelled, running towards the train.

"Spot?" he exclaimed happily. "What are you doing here?"

It was the day after he had explained it all. Spot had understood why he had done it and had walked home with a smile. But now she was wearing s serious face.

"Is there no way that you can stay at the riding school?" she asked him. "We have black painting."

He chuckled. "I think I have to say no. It wasn't really my style…"

"The kids?"

"Kinda."

"You could be a racehorse," she suggested.

He tilted his head. "Maybe later."

"Marty!" Gloria yelled again, and the train let out a loud noise. Still, the horse did not enter it.

"And what about you?" he asked Spot. "No chance of being a circus horse? We could use you. For sure. I could teach you how to-"

"Maybe later," she cut him off, smiling.

"MARTY!" Alex yelled from one of the wagons. "Are you crazy?! Get in here!" The train was slowly starting to move.

The zebra looked over his shoulder, but then at Spot.

"You are coming back, right?" she asked him.

"Sure. I will make sure we are back here again as soon as possible," Marty promised her.

"You would make a great racehorse," she said again. "Or maybe we should call it a racezebra."

He laughed. "Maybe. And you can think about joining a circus while I am gone."

She smiled back. "Not to interrupt this, but I believe you have to use your skills again."

"What?" he asked, not getting it.

"Your train," she told him. "You are about to miss it."

Widened his eyes, he reacted by instinct. Speeding up, he ran along the already quick train. Concentrating, he took in a deep breath, then he jumped.

Luckily, he landed safely on the floor of one of the wagons. He quickly stood up, looking out of the open entrance.

Spot was too running along the train, though, just to talk with him.

"I'll see you later, racezebra!" she joked.

"See you later, circus horse!" he yelled back.

Then the train became too fast, and he lost the sight of her.

Though, he still had a smile on his lips. "Crack-a-lacking."

Things did work out greatly.

Abby and Oliver later became a great couple.

Ruby found another male horse to follow.

The circus became even more popular.

And Marty and Spot did meet again…. But that is a whole other story.

The End