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It was a normal day at the dog playground. Normal, until I heard rumors from Aniro and a few of the others that there was a gang of rogue coyotes that had wandered from the deserts to the west of the dog suburbs in search of food and that they could attack our playground. Me, Sombra, a brownish orange Alaskan Malamutt, Tommyfox, an arctic fox with a tuft of black hair, currently a good friend of mine, and Ziggo, an orange and white Corgi with green hipster shades, all sat around our leader Aniro as he lectured us about coyotes.

"They think of pups like us as easy snacks," said Aniro. Aniro was a blue wolf dragon with green hair. His face was wolf like, but he had a dragon's tail and long, gargoyle-esque wings. "They'll move into our houses slaughtering everything and strike fear with their howling," continued Aniro.

"Everything?" I gulped.

"Yes," replied Aniro affirmatively, "And they'll use our tendons to clean their teeth!"

"What are tendons?" I whimpered. I didn't really want to know.

"They are the muscles that make you able to bend your arms and legs under all that blue and white fur so without them you couldn't pull a sled, you derpy Husky," replied Aniro.

"Well, good thing I'm paper trained," I said trying to make a joke, "otherwise right now I just would've-

"You dog," scoffed Aniro.

I laughed a little, grinning.

"Don't they get closer the more you think about them?" asked Tommyfox, "you know, like Slenderhound?"

"Yes," replied Aniro, "because they can smell fear a mile away."

"See," I replied, "it's times like this where I wish I had a gun, 'cause if I was older I'd just go out with a fifty gage or an SKS and shoot the gravy out of 'em!"

"You WOULD say that, Nitro," scoffed Aniro.

"Yepp," I replied, "that's the BEST way to kill something!"

"But," continued Aniro, "as bad as they are, they are still canine. They are nowhere near as bad as...CATS."

We all growled as soon as he said that word.

"However," replied Aniro, "coyotes tend to teach killing in mass numbers to their young."

That little note made me even more nervous. I mean, it was okay for my dad teaching me how to shoot a BB gun and have me watch him shoot targets with his fifty gage, but those were just targets. I'm still a puppy. I couldn't imagine killing something at my age with only my claws and my fangs.

"In fact," said Aniro, "One time, my cousin knew a guy who knew a guy who was attacked by three coyotes."

"W-what happened?" I stammered.

"He survived, but he ended up missing an eye and one of his legs was left a bloody mess. You could see the bone."

"It's not like I haven't seen a bone before," I said, "but I haven't seen one still attached to someone's body!"

"To be fair," said Sombra, "how do we know this really happened?"

"Oh, trust me I know," said Aniro.

Sombra pulled me aside.

"Don't worry Nitro," she said, "I don't think he's telling the truth. Personally, I'm not worried at all."

"Really?" I answered in shock.

"Yes. Look, I know I don't know you that well, as you are always hanging out with Tommyfox and the other males, but what I DO know is that you are fine with some things that scare me to death."

"Like what?"

"I would never go into a haunted house at night," said Sombra, "I would never go into an ABANDONED house at night!"

Sombra laughed sheepishly.

She was right. I'm not scared of ghosts. In fact, one day I want to join a ghost hunting team. But what did that have to do with anything? Girls are weird.

"But the point is," she continued, "you're getting a fur in a bunch over nothing. And who knows? Maybe there is a pup among these coyotes who is just as scared as you. You never know, he could be a fast friend to you."

"Maybe," I said.

The day passed by and I kept thinking of what Sombra had said to me. Maybe there was something waiting for me.

Soon I found trouble. Or at least, I thought I did at first. I was going to throw away a broken bottle that I nearly cut my foot paw on in the large bone section of the dog playground. Luckily, I only scraped it, but every step I took felt like walking on blacktop in the middle of August. I limped on one foot to the dumpster by the tree a good distance away. When I threw away the bottle, I heard movement. I decided to peer into the dumpster to see what it was. In the darkness of the dumpster I saw a pair of yellowish eyes. I was scared. Actually, I take that back. I was petrified. Could not move a muscle to save my life. All I could do was whimper. I couldn't even howl for help. But then I saw that the coyote was scared too, because the eyes disappeared. Whatever it was, it had to be hiding in one of the corners of the dumpster. The fear seemed to go away from me.

"Hey," I finally said. "Are you okay?"

I can't remember what happened next. All I knew was that I was knocked off my feet and pinned to the ground. All I could see was fangs, all I could hear was excessive growling, and all I could feel was drool pouring down on me. My jeans were torn. If I had been wearing a shirt it would've been torn too.

"WHAT do you think you're doing in MY dumpster?" I heard.

"Y...your dumpster?" I stammered.

"Yeah, I reckon you heard right! You're one of those mean dogs! Tried to get away with ambushing me when I was having a snack, did ya, pardner? Well prepare to defend yerself, ya varmit!"

Whatever this thing was, it was male, its voice sounded young, and for some reason it sounded like a puppy was trying to do his best impression of Wylie Burp. Did he really think that he was a cowdog?

"I wasn't trying to hurt you," I said with every ounce of my strength as I closed my eyes, "look, I know that you just want to eat me anyway, but I swear-

There was a long pause.

"Eat ya?" said the voice.

The growling stopped. I opened my eyes to find that what was attacking me was a brown and tan furred canine that was very wolf-like in appearance, but his ears were just a tiny bit bigger. He was a puppy just like me. He didn't look fierce at all. The only thing intimidating about him was his wild turquoise Mohawk, but I thought that was cool. He also had gray paws that I also thought were kind of cool, and he was standing on two legs like me.

"I'm not gonna eat ya," said the pup, "I thought you were gonna eat ME!"

"Really?"

"Yup. We just moved here and my parents told me to act tougher than the dogs here so that they won't eat me. But it looks like you aren't gonna eat me either."

The pup reached out to me with his paw.

"Here, let me help ya."

The pup lifted me to my feet.

"Name's Silver! I'm a coyote!"

I paused. Did he just say what I think he said? "There is no way he is a coyote", I thought.

"You're a coyote?" I asked.

"Yup! Wait...did I rip up your jeans?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry, dude! I can get my sister to fix 'em for ya."

"It don't matter," I said, "I have plenty of pairs."

Was I really talking to a coyote? I was confused. This coyote was nothing like the ones Aniro had told us about earlier. He was so nice and already I liked him a lot. Maybe Sombra was right. A new friend was waiting for me, and he was right in front of me.

"So," said Silver, "do ya think we should sniff each other first?"

"Wouldn't matter to me," I said.

"Okay, we don't have to."

I looked at Silver. He looked at me. He was wagging his tail and waiting for me to say something. I decided to break the silence.

"Guess I didn't say what my name was," I said, "I'm Nitro."

"That's a pawsome name!"

"Thanks!"

"So I know you're a dog, but what kind of dog are you?"

"Oh, I'm an Alaskan Husky, and I'm blue as you can see!"

"I can see. That's really cool!"

"Thanks! You're not too bad yourself, Silver! But why were you hiding in the dumpster?"

"Cuz I was hungry and I wanted to hide from the mean dogs."

Silver sighed and looked a little bit down. Clearly, Silver needed a friend.

"You want a hug, Silver?" I asked.

"Sure...thank you, Nitro."

Just like that, I was hugging a coyote, which I had been terrified of only a little bit before.

"You ever have a friend before, Silver?"

"No."

"Well," I said, "now you do."

Silver smiled. His tail was wagging again. Suddenly, I felt Silver's stomach almost as if it were kicking me, and I thought I heard him growl.

"Whoa, Silver! What was that?"

"My gut."

"That wasn't you?"

"Nope."

"Holy fetch! Guess you're REALLY hungry! Wait, didn't you eat some stuff in the dumpster?"

"Well, yeah, but it was mostly just a bunch of fuzzy things that tasted weird. I couldn't find any meat, and the fuzzy things didn't fill me up that much."

"You're not supposed to eat those fuzzy things," I said a bit concerned, "they'll make you sick."

"I'll deal with that when it comes."

Silver needed to eat something, but the closest source of food was in the playground, and I didn't want to freak my other friends out by bringing in a coyote. Aniro and Tommyfox already knew what a coyote looked like beforehand, so they would know if I did. But I had to do something.

"Wait right here," I said, "and don't go anywhere. I'll be right back."

"Okay."

I ran back to the playground. Aniro and the others were playing with a Frisbee.

"Oh, hello Nitro," said Aniro, "where were you? You have been gone for a long time."

"Oh, uh, I just went for a walk," I said.

"Oh, okay. Do you want to play Frisbee with us?"

"No, no time. I uh...need to go somewhere."

"Where to?"

"The small house that has all the food."

"But lunch isn't until an hour!"

"Don't matter I'm starving!"

"Alright then. Wait, did you rip your jeans?"

"I fell. I have plenty of pairs. See y'all later. Bye!"

I ran past the giant water bowls and through the forest of bones. Finally, I reached the small green house that said, "Noms". I entered the door. I searched the entire area, tossing cans of wet food to the side as I searched for meat. Kibble...gravy...bones...where did Aniro put the meat? And then it hit me. It was behind the white door that said, "Cold Storage. Hope you have fur!" I pulled the latch and the door swung open. Even with all my fur it was cold. But there, in large numbers, was all kinds of meat. I didn't know what kind of meat coyotes liked, so I grabbed everything my paws could carry. Elk, bacon, chicken, deer jerky, sausage, hamburger, and many more meats that I couldn't recognize at that moment were in my arms. I also grabbed a big, juicy bone in my mouth on the way out.

I exited through the back of the playground so I wouldn't have to pass by Aniro and the others. It took me a while to get back to Silver because I was carrying a lot of stuff. Finally I reached him. When he saw me carrying all the meats and the bone, his tail started wagging and he panted.

"Whoa!" shouted Silver, "where did you get all this meat and the bone? Aw, who cares?"

I dropped all the meat and Silver dove into a pile of bacon with an open mouth. In less than ten seconds, the bacon was gone. Then he started to eat the deer jerky.

"I've never tasted anything like this before," said Silver, "but it sure is good! What is it?"

"Deer jerky," I replied, a bit exhausted.

"Oh. What is the first one I ate?"

"Bacon."

"I like the sound of that!"

Soon, everything was gone except the bone. And every time Silver had started eating a different kind of meat, he asked me what it was, and I answered. But I was exhausted from all that carrying.

"Hey Nitro...Nitro?"

"I don't want nachos for breakfast," I muttered in response. I say stuff like that when I'm tired.

"But it's lunchtime, silly! Hey...you seem tired. Why don't ya chew on that bone? That helps me stay awake when I'm tired."

"Okay."

Soon, I felt fully awake as I shared the bone with Silver.

"So why didn't you know what all those meats were?" I asked.

"Cuz I've never seen 'em before. I've lived in the desert all my life, and out there we only eat lizards and prairie dogs and roadrunners, among other things."

"That sounds pretty cool," I replied.

"Oh, yeah, the desert is fun! It's just that here is nicer cuz there's more food. Maybe I could take ya over there some time!"

"I dunno...I've heard that the desert is hot."

"Oh yes, it's very hot. And dry! But it's awesome there! You'll get used to it, and then you'll have a blast!"

"Well out here is pretty fun too," I said.

"Oh yeah! You haven't showed me the playground yet!" exclaimed Silver, "I'm gonna go see! Race ya!"

Silver took off, and he ran FAST. This was not good. He was headed straight for trouble. I tried to keep up with him.

"Wait!" I yelled running as fast as I could, "STOP, Silver!"

But it was too late. Silver had already reached the playground. And not long after, I heard a high pitched yelp of pain. When I finally arrived at the playground, Silver was all tied up with ropes, and his muzzle was taped shut. I gasped in horror as I saw my new friend wriggling trying to break free. Aniro and the others were watching Silver in fear. I could hear Silver's muffled screams. Enough was enough. They had to know the truth.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" I yelled.

"This is nothing more than a coyote," said Aniro, "a derpy, evil, killing machine. So we're tying him up until animal control comes to take him away. Tommyfox was just about to call the number."

Each of Aniro's insults was like knives plunging into me. I walked right up to Aniro and looked him straight in the eye.

"Release him. NOW!"

I wanted to make sure my point was straight with him.

"Say again?"

"You heard me."

"Why would I release him? Do you want to die?"

"Because! He is just like us! He's the same age as us! He just comes from a different area!"

"Are you friends with this coyote?" Scowled Tommyfox.

"YES. Listen, all of you. This coyote is one of the nicest dogs I have ever met. He came here with no friends. He attacked me because he thought *I* was a threat. So he is just as scared of us as we are of him."

"But he came charging in here!" said Aniro.

"Because he wanted to race me there," I explained, "And he was so fast that I couldn't catch him in time. I'm telling you guys, he's harmless."

I walked back over to Silver. He was now whimpering, just trying to break free.

"Don't worry, buddy. I'll get you out of this. I'm so sorry, Silver. I should have told you that my other friends were afraid of you. I guess a lot of things happened so fast that I never really thought of it. Will you forgive me?"

Silver nodded faintly.

"Okay, buddy. I need you to stay very still. Can you do that for me?"

Silver nodded again. Gently and carefully, I started biting at the ropes with my fangs. Soon, Silver was almost free except for the tape surrounding his muzzle.

"Now this is gonna hurt a bit, so when I count to three, just close your eyes and think of the happiest thing you can. One...two...three!"

I yanked the tape off of his muzzle with my right paw. Silver yelped. I put my right paw on his left shoulder, and proceeded to give him a hug.

"Thanks, Nitro," he said, "but it's okay. It's actually great knowing that I can count on someone. I would do the same for you, buddy."

Then, something amazing happened. Everyone came together in a group hug.

"We're sorry Silver," said Aniro after the hug, "as the leader of this playground in the town of Laff, I, Aniro Dracowolf, allow you, Silver Yote, to be an official member of our club."

"Thanks, Aniro!" said Silver, "Thank you EVERYONE!"

I couldn't help but shout for joy as I knew this once misunderstood coyote would now be a part of our group. Maybe, just maybe, he would be a friend for life.