"Are you sure he knows where he's going?" Cora asked Marty the next day as they walked through the forest.

"Sure." Marty answered, "He said he did, and I trust him."

Alex was leading the group through the woods. He was showing them the shortcut that Maurice had told him about.

Cora was eager to go back to "The Other Side", as Marty called it. She didn't know how to get there from the Zoosters' beach. And Alex did seem to know where he was going. Still, Cora remained skeptical about Marty's lion friend. The people had said that lions were dangerous.

They also said that they ate zebras, so what do they know? Cora thought. Marty says that Alex is his best friend!

The odd bunch of animals tromped on and on.

"This shortcut's too long!" Melman puffed.

"What's wrong now, Melman?" Gloria asked.

Melman wheezed, "Asthma…attack!"

"Can we all stop for a while?" Cora asked them, "I'm getting tired, myself."

Gloria nodded, "Alex! Hold up there for one moment!" she called.

Everyone stopped. Melman plopped down and breathed deeply, "Inhaler…inhaler…my kingdom for an inhaler…" he panted.

Alex shook his head, "I don't get it. We've followed the fuzzbucket's instructions to the letter! We should be seeing people right now!"

"Or at least smelling them." Marty agreed.

"Maybe we took a wrong turn somewhere." Gloria suggested.

Alex frowned, "Or maybe the fuzzbucket didn't know what he was talking about."

"That's certainly a possibility," Gloria sighed.

Marty looked thoughtful, "Come on, guys! If we go this way far enough, we should get there, right?"

"We should've followed Marty's trail," Melman moaned, "At least we know where it goes."

"Marty's trail is long, it would've taken forever!" Alex sat down discouragedly, "I really thought we'd get to the people faster if we went this way."

"It's not your fault, Alex," Gloria reassured him, "We'll just go back to the huts and try again tomorrow."

"What about Cora? She needs to get home." Marty reminded them.

Melman blinked and looked around, "Where is Cora?" he asked.

Marty, Gloria, and Alex whirled around, trying to find her.

The horse was nowhere in sight.

Hoofprints led off from Alex's trail into the woods.

"I'll go get her!" Marty dashed down the hoofprint trail before anyone could open their mouth to object.

Gloria shook her head, "Does Cora remind you of anyone?"

Cora sat peacefully in a little clearing, drinking from a sparkling blue pond. Suddenly, she heard a crashing sound in the jungle! Alarmed, she stood up, froze, and stared into the woods.

The crashing sound came closer.

She saw a black-and-white pair of ears and stiff mane bobbing up and down. Cora relaxed; it was only Marty!

Marty burst into the clearing, "What are you doing way out here? I got kind-of worried when you disappeared!"

Cora smiled at the zebra. It's sweet of him to worry about me. She sighed and looked down. Then she looked up seriously, "I just needed to come out here and think."

Marty walked energetically up to her, "What've you got to think about?"

"Stuff." Cora couldn't meet Marty's friendly eyes.

Marty looked curiously at Cora, "C'mon, baby, what's wrong? You can tell me."

Cora finally looked at Marty, "I…haven't been entirely honest with you, Marty."

Marty frowned and sat down on a rock beside the pond. "What do you mean?" he asked Cora.

Cora looked at the water. She looked at Marty.

"I'm not what I seem." Cora said simply. Then she stepped into the pond.

Marty thought it was an odd time for a swim, "Cora…"

"Watch." The horse splashed into the pond, swam in a circle, and swam gracefully back to shore. She stood up, dripping wet. And everywhere that the water dripped off of her left a streak.

Marty gasped, "Your hair is coming off!"

"Not my hair." Cora walked closer to Marty so he could see her better, "Mud. Makeup. This is my real color." She toweled herself off with a very large leaf growing nearby.

Marty stared openmouthed for a few seconds. He just couldn't believe it.

Cora was black and white.

She had patches of black and white all over her, from her head to her round, black hooves. Her mane alternated colors all down her neck. Her sea-blue eyes looked worriedly at Marty. One side of her face was black, the other was white with a black patch around her eye, giving her an almost comic appearance.

"Wow." Marty said finally, "Why…why didn't you tell me?"

Cora picked at the ground with her hoof, "Back home on the ranch, all the other horses used to call me the "circus pony". They didn't like me because I'm different. I'm not one solid color, or even a stylish Appaloosa." The painted mare sadly turned away, "When you first met me, I was all muddy from exploring the island. Then you were from New York…which I've heard is fashion central. And I bet that you had lots of pretty girls back there…and I guess it was just easier to pretend that I was one solid color, like I want to be. I just…wanted you to like me." Cora took a breath, "But I didn't think you'd like…well…"

"Like your spots?" Marty finished.

Cora nodded.

"But I love them!" Marty exclaimed.

Cora looked surprised, "Really? You do?"

"Yeah!" Marty held out a striped leg, "Besides, I'm not exactly solid-colored myself!"

"You're a zebra," Cora said, "I'm a horse."

"What's the difference?" Marty shrugged, "Maybe I'm a striped horse…or you're a spotted zebra!"

Cora smiled, "I guess I never thought about it like that before!"

"Sure!" Marty happily waved to the woods, "Now will you come back? The others are probably wondering where we went."

Cora once again seemed nervous, "I don't think your friend likes me at all."

"Aw," Marty waved a hoof as though to brush that comment aside, "Don't worry about him, Alex'll come around once he gets to know you."

You don't even know me, Marty. I've only told you one secret…the horse thought of something. "Has he ever tried to…you know…eat you?" Cora asked, disgustedly curious.

Marty thought about how to answer this.

He said hesitantly, "Well, let me tell you a story while we go back to the others…"

Because he was in the lead, Alex was the first to spot the human camp. And the boat. Excitedly, he bounded toward it.

Gloria caught him, "Alex, wait. Stop and think. We need to make a good impression on the people if we want them to take us back to New York!"

Alex stopped and thought for about two seconds. He leapt back into the air to bound towards the camp. He was too excited to sit still.

Gloria sighed exasperatedly, "Shouldn't we wait for Marty? He can't be too far behind us."

Melman looked sternly at the over-excited lion, "We should've just waited for him where he left us."

Alex said nothing. He was entirely focused on the human camp; all he could think of was New York, and staying in one spot was making him crazy!

"Marty?" Alex asked breathlessly.

"Yes, Marty!" Gloria grabbed Alex's head and held it still. She stared hard into the lion's crazy eyes, "Your best friend, Marty! Remember him? Stripes…energetic…fun…you grew up together…"

Alex nodded, still with a silly look on his face, "Yeah, the guy who got us all transferred away from New York. We grew up in New York together, but he thinks home is here. He doesn't want to leave. ButIdo. Helovesithereit'shishome. Butit'snotmyhomesoIwanttogobacktoNewYorkonthatboatoverthere…" Alex started talking really fast, and not making much sense.

Gloria could see that she wasn't getting through to him. She let go of his head and frustratedly kicked a tree trunk. A coconut fell from the tree and hit Alex squarely on the head.

"Alex!" Gloria gasped, "Are you all right? I'm so sorry!"

"Fine." Alex swayed, holding a paw to his head, "I'm fine…" he looked at Gloria and Melman. "Marty! Where's Marty? He should be here by now!" Alex frantically searched the bushes around the trail.

"Alex?" Melman nervously stared at the human camp, "Um, Alex?"

Gloria turned her attention away from the lion and looked at the camp. She froze, "Alex!"

Alex looked up, "What, Glo…"He saw what they were staring at.

The humans were now all in the clearing, looking suspiciously around at various parts of the jungle.

Alex grinned, "Now we're getting somewhere!"

The people heard the lion sound and spun around to stare at the spot where the three animals were.

"Uh, Al…" Melman gulped. These people didn't look friendly.

"Don't worry," Alex stepped forward, "I know what I'm doing!"

"I have a better idea." Melman whispered to Gloria, "Worry!"

"Uh, oh." Gloria agreed.

Alex stepped out of the jungle and began talking to the people, "Hi! How are you? Look we, my friends and I, were kinda marooned on this island for a couple of…dreadful weeks, and we need a ride back to New York as soon as possible. Yeah. So we were wondering, since you have such a nice big boat, if you wouldn't mind only four extra passeng…whoah! No, it's alright!" Alex backed up as the now terrified men reached for their guns.

Alex kept backing up, "It's alright, really, we'll go on board without those things, I promise!" he said, remembering the tranquilizer guns the people had used to load him onto a ship the previous time.

The men raised their guns at the lion, who backed up a little more. He closed his eyes, maybe this was the way it had to be. If it would get him to New York, it'd be worth it.

"Alex! NO!" Two black-and-white figures leapt out of the jungle and into the clearing.

"Marty?" Alex was confused.

The humans were momentarily distracted by the horse and zebra suddenly disturbing camp.

"Alex, those aren't tranquilizer guns! Those guns will kill you!" Marty yelled to his friend.

Alex was stunned. Was Marty trying to get out of leaving Madagascar? Why would humans want to kill him? "What? How do you know?"

"You just have to believe me, Alex!" Marty cried.

Some of the humans turned their deadly weapons back to Alex. He saw in their eyes that they meant business. He held up his paws, "Hold on, guys, can't we talk about this?"

"They're not going to discuss it with you!" Cora warned.

Marty yelled again, "Run, Alex! Run!"

Alex turned around and dashed into the woods. The men fired after him, but he was already out of sight.

Marty was too concerned with Alex to notice two men sneaking up on him. One man lassoed Marty and the other lassoed Cora. Marty struggled, but Cora stood sadly still.

"What do we have here?" one man crowed, "Looks like our girl Cora found us a nice little zebra! Good job, girl! You're back up to full rations again!"

Marty looked at Cora, feeling betrayed, "What? Cora, is this true?"

"Yes…no!" Cora's eyes filled up, "It's not like that…it was…but…"

Marty's heart dropped to his small hard black feet. Just when he was really starting to like Cora.

"C'mon, you!" a man jerked hard on Marty's rope. Marty sadly followed him.

A dumb looking guy scratched his head, "I thought you said that something got the horse?"

"Apparently," another man gritted his teeth, "she just went to find us some more booty." The men led Cora away and jerked a terrified Marty along. Marty wanted to yell for help, but he didn't want Alex to get in danger again.

"Marty!" Alex stood in the jungle, watching the men rough-handling Marty. He leapt forward again, this time to defend his best friend.

Gloria stopped him, "Alex, no, they'll kill you!"

"But we have to save Marty!" Alex yelled, struggling desperately, "I can't just let them take him! What are they doing to him?"

Alex watched, horrified, as the men shoved Marty into a small wooden, slatted crate, and then hooked a cable to the crate. The cable was attached to a crane. The crane was attached to the boat.

One man yelled at the others, "You HAD to fire your guns at that lion, didn't you? Now every Fed on the island knows we're here! Get everything on board! We're gonna dump this place and get out of here! It's not worth getting caught!"

The men broke camp and piled all of their gear, several other crates, and Cora on the boat. All the men raced on board and the engine started.

Marty's crate began to lift slowly off the ground as the people operated the crane.

"Help!" Marty cried helplessly. The crate shifted and his hoof slid through a slat in the crate.

This was too much for Alex. He wasn't going to just stand there and watch as these awful people took his best friend away! He broke away from Gloria and rushed to the crate. He grabbed Marty's hoof with his paw.

"I'm right here, Marty!" Alex told his friend. He caught a glimpse of Marty's face through the slats. The zebra tried to smile, "Alex? Are you okay? They didn't hit you with those guns, did they?"

The crate jerked upward, and Alex almost lost his grip on Marty's hoof. He felt his back feet leaving the ground. The lion held on tighter and grabbed the crate with his other front paw. "I'm fine, Marty! Don't worry, I'll find a way to get you out!" Alex looked for a latch on the cage.

Marty's eyes were sad and scared, "Alex, I don't want to go to New York without you!"

"You won't!" Alex cried, fumbling with the crate's edges. There should be a latch somewhere around here! There has to be a latch!

The crate jerked again and the boat started moving away from the land. Desperately, the lion grabbed a board on the side of the cage. Alex pulled with all the strength he had. He looked into Marty's terrified face. Marty looked back at Alex.

"Alex, I can't…"

"We're gonna make it, Marty!" Alex told his best friend.

Marty slid around as the crate swung and tilted, unbalanced by a lion.

Alex pried at the board with his paw. He hung suspended from Marty's hoof with the other paw. He wondered briefly why the dialogue seemed familiar.

"Alex!" Marty cried, "We're getting farther from land…you can't swim!"

Alex's blue eyes were determined, "It's okay, Marty, almost there…"

The crate jerked again, just as Alex yanked the board loose.

Alex triumphantly held up the slat, "Yeah…ahhhh!" Unfortunately, all he was now hanging from was Marty's hoof. His weight was pulling Marty into the side of the crate, and Marty's leg had slipped all the way through the crack.

"Hang on, Alex!" Marty yelled, doing his best to keep Alex from slipping into the waves below.

Alex reached slowly up and grabbed at the crate, "It's okay…almost…got it…"

The crate jerked again. The hoof that Alex held so tightly slipped from his grasp. Down he fell, but not before seeing the horrified, horribly familiar look on Marty's face as the zebra watched Alex fall. Alex struck the water hard.

"Alex!" the crate swung onto the boat as it powered away, taking with it Alex's best friend in the whole world.

"Marty! No!" Alex barely had time to cry out before his head dropped under the water. Down, down sunk Alex.

He didn't feel Gloria lifting him back to the surface and dragging him ashore. He didn't see or hear how concerned she and Melman were about him. All he could see was the boat vanishing into the horizon. All he could hear was Marty's voice echoing in his ears.

"Marty." Alex whimpered.

But the zebra was gone in the waves.