Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own the penguin Alex in this story.

Alex watched as the lemur king messed around with the headphones while he sat on his throne. The young penguin was bored, and she wanted to find something more interesting to do, but she tried to hide her boredom from the ring-tailed lemur. She didn't want to offend him, so she sat in front of his tall chair and stared up at the curious Julien as he looked at the cord, examining it in his paws.

Finally the king sighed and threw the headphones away as if over with it.

Instantly, Alex jumped to her feet and ran to catch them. She just barely managed to catch them in time so they didn't fall to the ground far below. She then noticed that she was on the very edge of the platform. Gulping, she took a step or two backward before she fell off. When she turned around, she found herself looking into yellow eyes and she had to stop herself from running into the king.

She waited for the lemur to say something, but it never came. He just looked at her closely, the same way he was studying the headphones. Alex felt uncomfortable, but she couldn't just tell him to knock it off. He was the king after all; it wasn't her place to talk back to him.

Although she wondered why he was looking at her like that. "Your Majesty?"

"You're really thinking I'm being a real king?" the ring-tailed lemur asked.

"Of course," Alex replied, surprised. "Your name is King Julien, right? And you wear a crown…" She pointed to the hat upon his head.

"Yes!" He stood a little taller. "I am being the king!"

Alex just looked at him, not sure what to do, so she just offered the headphones back to him, but the king shook his head.

"You can… um… be holding onto that until I get my music thingy," he said.

"Alright," Alex responded, lowering her flipper, the cord firmly gripped in it.

Then she noticed that Julien had a smile on his face, and she wanted to ask him what he wanted, but she didn't dare. She just stared back at him, hoping he would tell her. She didn't want to speak to him again without being spoken to first in respect of the king.

Instead of saying anything at first, the ring-tailed lemur circled around her, coming to a halt beside her. He put his arm on her shoulder and wrapped his tail around her body. "Would you be minding doing something for me?" he asked, looking into her eyes.

Alex was surprised that the king suddenly got so close, but she didn't want him to see her expression so she stared at the ground, shifting her feet a little. "Sure," she murmured.

"Wonderful!" Julien pulled away from her and stood in front of her again. "I'm thirsty so be going making your king a smoothie." He smiled down at her, but Alex just blinked at him, confused, not sure what he meant.

"A smoothie, Your Majesty?" Alex asked. She's never heard of such a thing.

"Yes," the lemur replied, nodding.

Alex suddenly felt embarrassed. She didn't want the king to know that she's never heard of a smoothie before so she just nodded and walked over to where he was pointing. She glanced around the area, hopping over the chairs and flat surface with no problem. She looked behind her to see Julien jumping back onto his throne. She felt a spark of horror when he glanced in her direction, and she quickly turned away from him.

She looked around, noticing a bunch of fruits and a few cups with colorful liquids in them. She then saw a weird looking metal and plastic tool that had a handle on the top and buttons on the bottom of the thing. She looked closer, wondering what it did. It was then that she realized there were tiny blades inside the plastic part.

"What's taking so long?" she heard the king call out, making Alex jump in surprise. She knew the longer she made him wait the more impatient he'd get.

"Almost done!" she lied, silently cursing herself for lying to the king, but promising herself that she'll make it up to him later somehow. She grabbed the nearest fruit— mangoes, she noticed— and took the lid off the weird looking machine. She threw the fruits in as she grabbed one of the cups, trying to hurry so the king didn't yell at her again. She squirted a few drops in, before grabbing another cup. She didn't know what was in them, because they didn't have labels, but she hoped it would make the drink tasty.

Finally satisfied with what she put in the machine, she placed the lid back on and looked at the buttons, pressing the one that read "on". She jumped in surprised when it started shaking like crazy, but then relaxed and watched in awe as the machine smashed the fruits and blended all the liquid together. After a few moments, she turned the machine off and grabbed an unused cup.

"Is it done yet?" the king asked, and Alex glanced over her shoulder to see him staring in her direction again.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" she called back as she poured the drink into the cup and grabbed a straw. She placed the straw into the drink as she walked back to the king, handing him the drink when she got there.

He took it and sat back down, taking tiny sips as if savoring it. Alex watched him carefully, brightening when she saw his eyes light up.

"It's delicious!" he exclaimed, taking bigger gulps of it now.

Alex was delighted that he liked it. "Really?" she asked, smiling up at him.

He just nodded and kept drinking it until it was all gone. Then he threw the cup behind him. Alex slid on her belly and jumped to her feet, managing to catch it just in time before it hit the ground. She set it on the bar and went back to the throne.

Julien was watching her closely. "Uh… how would you like to becoming my new subject?" he asked unexpectedly.

Alex just stared up at him, not sure what to say. Could she say no? Not that she was really considering it though. After thinking about it, she decided that it could be an interesting experience. She bowed down before him, looked up at him, and declared," I promise to always be the best subject I can be and always stay loyal to you!"

The king blinked at her, then smiled. "Great!"

"What do you want me to do now, Your Highness?" she asked, straightening and staring up at her king.

Julien jumped off his throne and ran to the other side of his habitat. Alex was trying to decide if she should follow him, when he suddenly reappeared, holding a stick with leaves at the end of it. He handed it to Alex, who took it without question. Then the ring-tailed lemur jumped onto his throne and crossed his legs.

"Begin fanning me, new subject," he declared.

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