Disclaimer: I do not own Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own Dany and Chloe and Chloe's parents and the idea for this story, though I had a lot of help with it from my best friend.

Chloe stared up at the tall pedestal. It hadn't been there the day before. But now it was, and the lemurs, Maurice and Mort, were building a leafy chair upon it. The king had called it his throne.

She didn't understand. First the "Bouncy Castle", now this. What was happening?

With a sigh, she turned her back on the working lemurs, heading across the habitat toward the cave she shared with her parents— the new guys have been sleeping on the colorful bounce castle.

Halfway there, a wall of gray appeared in front of her, knocking her to the ground. The king glared down at her.

"Watch where you're going," he snapped.

Chloe stood up. "Sorry," she muttered. Quickly, she dashed around him, flopping down onto her bed in the cave. She didn't know how long she had been laying there when a shadow fell on her.

Looking up, she saw her mother standing in the entrance to the cave. She sat up as she approached.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" her mother asked gently.

Chloe was about to lie and say she was fine, but before she could stop herself, she was telling her mother how she was really feeling. "I don't like these new lemurs," she blurted out. "Especially the king. He's so bossy and pushy. Why did he come in here and take over like that? This was our home first. It's not fair!"

Her mother smiled kindly at her. "Oh, sweetie, it may seem unfair, but he's the king. What he says goes. You were born here without a king," she went on when Chloe was about to protest," but news of a king reached your father and I even here. We never thought we'd meet him. We should be honored to have him here."

Chloe had to stop herself from snorting. Honored? Why? she wondered. She didn't see what was so great about this lemur. He was annoying and rude. But she couldn't tell this to her mother, not after the way she spoke of him. She didn't want to disrespect her, even if she didn't like the king.

Her mother's voice broke into her thoughts. "The zoo will be closing soon. When it does, why don't you go play with Dany?"

This idea cheered Chloe up, and she nodded eagerly. Her mother left the cave and Chloe decided to stay in her bed until the zoo closed. She didn't want to see the king again.

Finally, the noise of the humans died away, and Chloe poked her head out of the cave. She knew the zoo would be closed by this time and the zookeepers were heading home. She wasn't worried about being spotted by humans. She made sure the king was nowhere to be seen before dashing to the wall of the habitat.

She was climbing it when a voice called her back. "Where are you going?"

Sighing, she turned around to see the king standing behind her. "I'm going to go see Dany," she murmured.

"You mean that otter that said those mean things?" the king huffed, looking very upset. Then he stood a little taller, looking like he just made a very important decision. "I forbid you to see her!"

"What!" Chloe exclaimed. "But—"

"I forbid it!" the king shouted.

The other lemurs gathered around. Maurice was looking worried. Even Mort, who usually was in his own little world, looked anxious. Chloe's mother had her head bowed, avoiding eye contact with her daughter. Finally, the silence was broken by Chloe's father.

"Your Highness," he started unsurely, pausing for a long moment when Julien glared at him. Then he took a deep breath and tried again. "Is it really necessary to forbid Chloe and Dany seeing each other? I-I mean they aren't really… hurting anyone…" His voice trailed away as the king's eyes narrowed.

"Who's the king here?" Julien demanded. "That otter made fun of me and I don't want to see any of you talking to her, got it?"

At first nobody said anything, but when Julien glared at them and repeated," Got it?" in a harsher tone, his two subjects murmured an agreement. Even Chloe's parents nodded! Chloe couldn't believe it. Was everyone against her and Dany? It wasn't fair!

Hot tears formed in her eyes and she pushed past the king, running into the cave and throwing herself onto her bed. She didn't know how long she laid there, crying, but eventually night fell and her parents came in and climbed into their beds. They didn't speak to her, and she was thankful for that, at least. She couldn't face them after they just submitted to the king like that.

As the night drew on, she fell quiet and stared at the cave roof, replaying the scene with the king in her head. After a while of considering her options, she realized there was only one thing she could do.

She made sure her parents were deep in sleep. Then she quietly climbed out of bed and tiptoed out of the cave. A half-moon hung in the sky, but the lights of the city kept the stars hidden. Since she was born here, she's never seen the beauty of the night sky, but she's heard stories from her parents about countless stars just above her head.

Sneaking across the open space of the habitat, she ducked behind the pedestal, feeling thankful that it was here for once since the zookeepers moved it. A quick glance around and she was running to the wall of her habitat, scaling it and dropping down on the other side.

The pathways were dark and silent. In the distance she could hear snores from the animals sound asleep in their exhibits. Sure that she was safe, she made her way through the zoo, ducking into the otter habitat.

Once she was in the exhibit, she let out a sigh of relief. The king hadn't spotted her. She didn't like how bossy he was and definitely didn't want to obey him about never seeing Dany again, which is why she was sneaking about. But at the same time, she didn't want him to see her disobeying him. It had been embarrassing having him yelling at her like that with the others watching without even stepping in to defend her.

Quietly, she crossed the otter habitat. She knew how mad Dany would be, but she still had to tell her. She'd notice if Chloe suddenly stopped hanging out with her, and she wanted her to hear it from her, before she jumped to conclusions that just won't be true.

Finally, she arrived at her friend's log and called quietly. "Dany," she whispered. When there was no reply, she said a little louder," Dany. Dany, wake up!"

She heard stirring in the log and a moment later Dany poked her head out. The little otter stepped outside and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Coco? Is that you?"

Chloe was so happy to see her best friend that for once she didn't care that Dany had called her that degrading name. Throwing her arms around the otter, Chloe pulled her into a hug. This seemed to surprise Dany, who gasped and wriggled in the lemur's grasp.

"Can't. Breathe."

Immediately Chloe let go of her, and Dany made a great show of gasping for air, falling to the ground and sucking in and breathing out. Chloe rolled her eyes, but she wasn't annoyed for once. She snorted with amusement, unable to keep it in.

After several moments, Dany stopped pretending to be struggling for air and sat up. "So, where were you today?" the otter asked, sounding more curious than upset.

Chloe found herself pouring out everything to her friend, how she had been getting ready to come hang with her when the zoo closed, but was stopped by the king, who forbade her to see Dany. As she confessed all this, Dany's eyes grew hurt and indignant. When she was finished, Dany huffed and crossed her arms. For a moment she was silent, then her anger exploded.

"I'm gonna kick his butt!" she shouted. "I'm gonna break his face! That arrogant toilet brush is gonna get his attitude shoved down his throat! He will rue this day! He shall quickly learn to fear me! I will not stand for being talked down to in this way! He must learn that he has no authority, and he shall learn it through pain! I will teach him by ramming my foot through his face!" She ended this rant with a stomp of her foot to show that she was angry.

Chloe watched her uncertainty. "What can we do?" she murmured. "He's the king. My parents said we must listen to him and obey him."

"Ain't no way I'm listening to that self important toilet brush!" Dany responded.

Sighing, Chloe asked," So what are we going to do?"

Dany said calmly," Knock some sense into his thick skull... with a brick…"

Chloe shook her head. "No, we can't do that."

"Oh, we really can..." Dany smiled evilly.

Chloe's relief at seeing her friend was quickly replaced with annoyance. She loved Dany, but she knew exactly how to rub her the wrong way. Not wanting to lose her temper, Chloe said calmly," Let's think of an idea that doesn't involve someone getting hurt."

"No one important will get hurt…" Dany replied stubbornly. "Just a toilet brush..."

With an exaggerated sigh, Chloe threw her arms in the air. "I give up!" She turned to leave.

"Yes," Dany whispered to herself as she did a little excited dance behind Chloe's back, though not discreet enough to not have been noticed. "I get to beat the toilet brush," she sang quietly to herself.

Chloe shot her a look, but decided not to say anything. She knew once Dany got an idea in her head, it was nearly impossible to convince her otherwise. And she was not in the mood to argue anymore. Yawning, she murmured," Goodnight," and ducked out of the otter habitat, running home before anyone noticed she was gone.

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