Chapter 13 : A True Friend

All the pets arrived at the fire hydrant at the same time. Each was surprised to see the others there. After a few moments, they all smiled as they realized what they had come there to do. Zoe stepped forward timidly, very unusual for the purple dog. She glanced at Penny Ling, who nodded yes. Finally she took a deep breath and prepared to explain herself.

"I am the one who caused all of this trouble." Zoe said while facing everyone.

"What?" Russell exclaimed. He gave Zoe a questioning look.

Zoe glared at him and continued to tell the others about what she had done.

When she had finished Zoe glanced around at everyone to see their reactions. Minka was excited, Penny Ling was glad, Russell was shocked, Vinnie was confused, and Pepper was angry. Zoe kind of expected Pepper's reaction. After all, she had used her to turn everyone else against Mango. She stared at Pepper defiantly. The old Zoe was back. She was done hiding and being ashamed. The truth had been told and now it was time to deal with it.

The air crackled between the two. Electric currents of hostility seemed to radiate from the air. Pepper glared daggers at Zoe and Zoe was throwing back every single one of them. All the others pets took a step back, each wanting to get further away from the inferno that had consumed their friends.

"You USED me!" Pepper yelled out while pointing an accusing finger at Zoe. Her tail burst with a fog of green.

"I prefer to think of it as creatively involving you." Zoe said with a flourish. She wrinkled her nose as she fanned the smell away.

"My jokes are meant to bring happiness, and you used them to bring pain! I am never, ever going to forget this! My jokes are never to be heard by your ears again!" Pepper yelled with blazing eyes.

"Stop being so dramatic." Zoe said with a bored expression.

"ME? YOU ARE TELLING ME NOT TO BE DRAMATIC!" Peppers face was full of fury and exasperation.

"Now you two, I think we all just need to calm down." Russell said while stepping in between the two and sticking his arms out to separate them.

Just before the two were going to lunge at one another they heard noises coming from the fire hydrant. The voices didn't sound sad. They sounded happy. All the pets strained their ears to try and make out what the noises were and who was making them.

"That sounds like laughter." Pepper said.

"Are you sure?" Minka replied.

"I'm a comedian, I know what laughter sounds like." The skunk said with a haughty look.

"But who is making it?" Penny Ling said while walking toward the fire hydrant.

She peeked inside and saw something that truly surprised her. Mango and Sunil were sitting in the fire hydrant laughing. They giggled and laughed so much that they rolled on the floor. Mango looked so happy, not at all like she had earlier, and Sunil, Penny Ling had never seen him so much at ease. Penny Ling was shocked. Sunil, timid Sunil, had been the only one brave enough to visit the wolf.

Sunil was many things. He was a talented magician, sort of. A great friend, a mongoose, and an unbelievable coward. He was scared of creatures with six or more legs, loud noises, curtains, avocados and quiet jazz music, but not Mango. She giggled at the thought of scared Sunil working up the courage to climb inside the fire hydrant. He must have been more surprised than her to find out that he would end up laughing with the vicious wolf. Penny Ling sighed and climbed down without Sunil or Mango noticing. The panda felt happier than she had that morning. Mango had found a true friend.

Later that day around snack time all the pets had lined up to receive their treat. Mango and Sunil had emerged from the fire hydrant and were standing next to each other in line. They kept sneaking glances at one another and giggling. The other pets could only image what they had been talking about in the fire hydrant. Pepper and Zoe, who were back on speaking terms, shrugged their shoulders and giggled too. However, they giggled for an entirely different reason.

"Here you go sweeties, time for your snack." Mrs. Twombly passed out a small biscuit to each of the pets. "Oh! Mango, looks like you found a friend!" She patted Mango and Sunil on the head before walking out of the room muttering, "Who would have thought it would be Sunil."

All the pets turned to the pair of friends. They shuffled their feet and cleared their throats awkwardly. They never had apologized. Glancing around at each other they each remembered what had stopped them from apologizing earlier that day.

Penny Ling crawled down from the fire hydrant excitedly. She was giggling and jumping up and down. Everyone stopped what they were doing and walked over to see what had gotten he purple panda so happy.

"Guess what? Sunil is in the fire hydrant with Mango and they are…" Pause for dramatic effect. "LAUGHING!" She yelled out with her arms outstretched.

"Sunil is the one making Mango laugh?" Vinnie asked with a confused look on his face.

"Yep. They are talking about something and it is hilarious! Mango seems a lot happier now." Penny said with a smile.

"Who would have thought Sunil would have been the one to help Mango?" Zoe said to everyone around her.

"We should probably just leave them alone. They seem to be having a good time." Penny Ling suggested slyly.

"But Penny Ling, how are we going to apologize?" Russell said while gazing at fire hydrant.

"Let's do it at snack time." Pepper said with a jump.

Everyone looked to Russell to see what he thought of the idea. He was scratching his head and tapping his foot. Finally he gave a sigh of resignation and nodded.

Now it was snack time and time to apologize for how they had acted. Penny Ling was the first one to step forward. This surprised everyone, including Mango. Penny Ling looked back toward the others and closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and looked at Mango and Sunil. "I just wanted to say sorry."

"Really?" Mango said with a look of distrust on her face.

"Yes, we all did. We want to say sorry for how we treated you because of what you were. We now know that it doesn't matter if you are a wolf. It doesn't matter because you were Mango first, and we all love Mango." Penny Ling said earnestly.

Everyone murmured agreement and nodded their heads. Vinnie snuck behind Zoe to hide the blush that had formed on his face when Penny Ling mentioned the word 'love'.

Penny Ling looked at Sunil and began to speak again. "I also wanted to say how brave Sunil was to go and help Mango when the rest of us did nothing."

There was once again murmurs of agreement from the pets.

"Thank you everyone. This little endeavor made me realize that sometimes you have to push your fear aside, and be there for a friend." He looked at Mango. "Because friends are like a magic trick. Am I right?" He winked at Mango, while the other pets looked at one another with confusion.

"Right." Mango said with a wink back, remembering their little talk in the fire hydrant.

"Mango, we are sorry and hope you can forgive us." Penny Ling said.

"Sorry Mango." Everyone else echoed.

"I am the most sorry. I was the one who caused you all this trouble." Zoe said while stepping forward. She quickly told Mango her story. Then she stepped backward respectfully, head and ears down. Zoe was nervous. She couldn't tell what Mango was thinking. Mango had on a blank face, not giving away even a hint of what was going on inside.

Finally Mango yelled out. "Of course I forgive you!"

All the pets, even Sunil, sighed in relief. Vinnie was so relieved he fainted.

Mango looked around at all the pets. "I forgive you all because sometimes friends fight and we all make mistakes. But most of all because you apologized and said that you like me for me. That's all I ever really wanted." She said with a warm look and shining eyes.

A rush of pets came toward Mango and surrounded her in a big, warm group hug. Mango sighed and closed her eyes. She hadn't felt this good in a long time. Her ears twitched as she heard the ringing of bells again, but this time the bells were outside of her head. She turned and saw a customer walking into the Pet Shop. She finally understood. Those bells were the sound of Littlest Pet Shop's doors being opened.

Vinnie saw the pets rush toward Mango and decided he better join in. Because he had passed out earlier he wasn't sure what they were doing. He realized with shock what was about to happen. They were about to hug Mango.

His face blushed crimson as he felt her soft, orange fur. It smelled like Mangos and was fluffier than a cloud. His hands grasped the fur as he pressed his face into it. Vinnie just wanted to hug her forever. Quickly, he pushed his face out of her fur before anyone could realize how much he was enjoying the hug.

Oh man, Vinnie thought as he finally realized what was wrong with him. I think I'm in love with Mango.

Sunil was the first one to hug Mango because he was already standing next to her. He grabbed her orange fur and pressed himself into it. Then he felt something. He began to feel funny. His heart felt full for the first time, his heartbeat sped up, and his brain got all fuzzy. All he felt was her orange fur, and all he saw was her yellow eyes. No, her sun eyes.

Sunil felt the desire to giggle and squeal like a little girl. Instead he shut his eyes and just enveloped himself in the hug. What was this funny feeling? He just shrugged it off and continued to hug his newest friend.