Disclaimer: Penguins of Madagascar doesn't belong to me!

AN: A little snippet that got in my head and wouldn't go away, or let me finish it.


Once upon a time ... what strange words to start a story with. Maurice mused a he listened to a teacher read to her class from a book. Why not just say when it happened? They couldn't, he knew, the stories were pure fiction. But why lie to children? It was something he'd never understand. When he told a story, he started with the name of the ruler whose reign the story had happened in.

For he was Maurice, the lore-keeper of the tribe, advisor and butler of King Julien. He knew the name of every ruler, the names and tales of all the great lemur heroes, be they royalty or not.

"Pssst, Maurice!" A familiar voice hissed softly. He could see Julien looking in his direction, so he only angled his ear toward the hiding spot of Private to show he was listening. "Could you spare a mango? I've got this wonderful idea for a new smoothie, mango-minnow!"

Eugh. He thought as Julien's attention turned to getting Mort off 'De Royal Feet'. "All the fruit is under the bar, you're welcome to take what you can carry without getting caught!" He whispered back before, unbidden, an image of Rico's almost unnatural storage capacity came to mind. "In your flippers!" He amended as the black and white blur vanished. He didn't worry too much, he knew that only Rico could ... do what he did. He continued to listen to the story and didn't notice when Private returned, mango in flipper.

"Cinderella! I love this story!" Was the young penguin's cheery comment before he made himself comfortable in the hiding spot to listen to the rest of it. Maurice lifted a skeptical eyebrow before a thought occurred. Private's been around humans longer, he'd probably know the point.

"Hey, what's the deal? Why are the adults telling kids those lies? Wouldn't it be better to just tell them the truth?"

"What? The fairytales?" A long pause and he felt the sombre silence sit heavily in the air between them. He also felt a bit of satisfaction, Private was thinking about his answer, that meant he was taking his question seriously. "They're too young for the truth. So adults tell them these stories with their happy endings to make sure that they know that no matter how bad things look, it'll turn out alright in the end. Besides, they're not kids forever, the adults want them to stay innocent as long as they can."