The terminal was busy. Ponyville had inadvertently become a travel hub when the gap between dimensions had been bridged. A building to house the travel center had been built in the town. Inside, doorways to various places on Earth had been set up.
Amid the crowd of busy travelers, a yellow pegasus made her way towards a doorway marked “Moscow”. She did not especially like traveling, but did so on a regular basis.
The doorways resembled rectangular metal frames. When energized, they connected to their counterparts on Earth. Going through was as simple as passing from one room to another.
When it was her turn, the pony stepped through the doorway, emerging in a building similar to the one she had just left. The only difference was that the customs agents were humans instead of ponies.
She gave her passport to a man standing behind the entry processing counter. He asked her a few questions and put a stamp on one page.
“Welcome to Russia, Ms. Fluttershy,” he said, handing the passport back.
“Thank you,” she said politely. Fluttershy had given some thought to learning the local language. As the stamps in her passport indicated, she passed through often enough. However, she was afraid of mixing something up and either being laughed at or offending someone. Luckily, the customs agents were multilingual.
Fluttershy placed her passport back in her saddlebag and walked towards the exit. The problem with language was not a big one and she decided to leave that sort of thing to other ponies like her friend Twilight, who had begun obsessively studying language books shortly after the doorways had opened.
It was a sunny day, and Fluttershy stopped outside the building, blinking at the brightness. A large man with a short haircut approached.
His eyes glanced over her yellow coat, pink mane and cutie mark of butterflies. He appeared to be mentally comparing her image to a description he’d been given.
“Are you Fluttershy?” he asked.
The pony nodded. “Please come with me,” said the man. He had a noticeable accent.
A nondescript car sat nearby. The man opened the back door for Fluttershy. She had gone through this routine before, yet was still slightly nervous each time.
After the pony was settled, the man started the car and pulled into traffic. The drive took a few dozen minutes, traveling past the outskirts of Moscow.
The car passed a large sign. Fluttershy couldn’t read the Cyrillic characters, but knew what it said. It was the marker for the boundary of a military base.
A minute later, the car pulled up to a security checkpoint. Fluttershy and the man both had to show their identification. The serious looking security men with guns made the pony squirm nervously.
A short drive past the gate was a building with tall chain link fences behind it that served as dog runs. A man stood waiting with his hands folded behind his back. Unlike Fluttershy’s driver, he wore a crisp uniform. All the shiny metal buttons and buckles on it were polished, and a crimson beret was on his head.
The car stopped. The uniformed man stepped over and opened the back door.
“Thank you,” said the pony. She turned to the driver. “Thank you, too.”
The uniformed man said something in Russian. The driver nodded turned off the car’s engine, settling in to wait.
“Thank you for coming,” said the uniformed man, turning to walk back towards the building. His speech was almost without accent. That was probably why he had been picked to welcome her.
“I came as soon as I got your message, Kapitan Chekov.” While Fluttershy was not at all familiar with ranks in the Russian Army, she had met Chekov before and remembered how to pronounce his title.
“What kind of problem is it?” asked the pegasus, walking beside the soldier.
“Do you remember Miki?” asked Chekov. “He has a loose tooth.”
“Oh, the poor thing,” said Fluttershy. Luckily, she had brought dental supplies in her saddlebags.
The front of the building had several signs with Cyrillic lettering. One of them featured a gold and black shield with the silhouette of a bat. While Fluttershy couldn’t read the strange characters along the bottom, she knew what the image symbolized.
The building, and Chekov, were both in service to Spetsnaz, the special operations branch of the Russian military. Fluttershy had heard stories of the things they did, and tried to avoid thinking about it whenever possible.
Chekov opened the door for his guest. The front of the building contained a small administrative area. The second room was full of veterinary supplies. A door near the back led to the kennel.
One side of the last room had a sink and a few cabinets. The other walls were lined with metal cages. Six dogs were currently present. None of them made a sound as the door opened, but they watched intently as the man and the pony entered.
Fluttershy set her saddlebags on the floor. Chekov went over to one of the dogs, speaking to him quietly in Russian. The man opened the cage and let the animal out. He clipped a leash to the dog’s collar.
The dog was dark-coated and of indeterminate breed. When Fluttershy had asked on one of her earlier visits, she was told that Spetsnaz bred their own. They were used for a multitude of missions from peacekeeping police actions to direct combat.
The dog sniffed inquisitively at Fluttershy’s face. She raised a hoof to stroke along his back.
“Hello Miki. How are you doing?” Fluttershy’s voice was usually soft, but carried even greater gentleness when speaking to animals.
The pony gently examined the dog’s mouth, and he stood still for it. Chekov watched, holding the leash as Fluttershy carefully tested Miki’s teeth. When she prodded one of his premolars, he let out a faint whine.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Fluttershy. “That looks like it hurts. Let me take care of that.”
To Chekov, she asked, “How did this happen? Did he chew on something?”
“A grenade,” answered the man.
“How did that get in his mouth?” demanded Fluttershy.
Chekov looked away from her stare. “We have creative training programs.”
Fluttershy turned back to the dog. “Well, it looks like the tooth is damaged. I don’t think it can stay there.”
She patted Miki on the head. “This might hurt a little, but you’ll feel better afterwards.”
Fluttershy turned away and browsed through her saddlebags. She called over her shoulder, “Could you have him lie down, please?”
Chekov said something in Russian. Miki obediently lowered himself to the floor. Fluttershy walked over with a pair of pliers.
“Okay,” said the pony. “I’ll need Miki on his side. After that, I’d like you to brace his head and hold his mouth open.”
The man looked concerned that he was being asked to put his hands near the sharp teeth, but complied. Unlike Fluttershy, he knew a little about Miki’s service history. The dog was trained to kill.
“Easy now.” The pony looked awkward balancing the pliers between her hooves, but got them into Miki’s mouth. The metal grips closed around the loose tooth.
“This will be over soon,” Fluttershy told the dog. “Get ready,” she said to Chekov. With a swift jerk, the tooth came out. Miki whimpered slightly, but lay still.
Fluttershy carried the slightly bloody tooth over to a wastebasket and disposed of it. She returned the pliers to her bag and pulled out a small jar.
“This is an ointment that should help the healing,” she explained. She dabbed a small bit of it on the empty socket in Miki’s mouth.
After Fluttershy was done, Chekov released the dog. Miki was no worse for wear, but looked irritated. The pony gently calmed him.
“Do you have any plans to replace the missing tooth?” asked Fluttershy.
Chekov shrugged. “We have other dogs with prosthetics. I have heard that US Navy SEALs have some dogs with replacement teeth made of metal. Perhaps we’ll try that.”
Fluttershy frowned. Undoubtedly, such a thing was done to make the dog’s bite more powerful. She didn’t agree with such practices, or even the idea of warfare in general, but her job was just to take care of animals.
Chekov shut Miki back in his cage. He went over to the sink to clean the dog saliva off his hands. When he was done, Fluttershy walked over and hopped up on her back legs to clean her hooves. She didn’t think she’d gotten any contamination on them, but it never hurt to be sure.
Using her wings for balance, she washed and dried. Afterwards, she collected her saddlebags and Chekov opened the door to let her through.
“Miki is not usually so gentle,” commented Chekov. He chuckled. “I am a little surprised he did not bite my fingers off.”
“I’m happy about that,” said Fluttershy. “I think all your dogs like me.”
“You are the best I have ever seen,” said Chekov appreciatively. “Your payment is in the mail.”
“Thank you.” Fluttershy wasn’t in it for the money, but she reasoned that she could use the income to help more animals.
Outside the building, the man with the car waited. Fluttershy said goodbye to Chekov as he opened the door for her once more. He gave her one last smile of gratitude for her help.
The car rolled out of the military base. On the road, the pony asked, “Could we make a quick stop, if that’s not too much trouble?”
The man glanced in the rear view mirror. “Where do you want to go?”
“The Moscow Zoo wanted me to stop by.” Fluttershy smiled sweetly. “They say they have a bear with a neck problem.”
