The Baying Moon

Moondancer awoke groggy and sore. Her arms and legs wouldn’t listen to her and her ass felt like it was on fire. She wiggled her butt to try and work out the issue but snapped her eyes open as the sting worsened. She was in a cave prison of some sort, the rusty barred door made that apparent. Along the walls hung pin-ups of female dogs showing off their bodies. Outside her cell was a statue of a regal dog with a lightning bolt craved down the right half of his face and a large snout held out a large carved diamond. Another dog basked over his legs. Both were atop a base engraved with the phrase Mine for Your Master.

Moondancer lifted her head from a soft headrest and looked down; she was in a weird cushioned stone seat. Her arms had been buckled onto padded armrest with a gap between them and her torso. Cuffs and straps ran tight over her upper-arms, past her elbows, and around her wrists. Her chest was held down by thick canvas belts that stretched from the chair and across her shoulders to a metal triangle that linked to a vertical strap that dug in-between her modest breast. That strap was fastened to another metal connector joined to a strap that wrapped horizontally around her whole chest under her breast. She couldn’t lean forward much and the back of that strap felt anchored to the middle of the seat. Moondancer blushed. Seeing her breast highlighted like this, especially while she was still in her sweater, was terribly awkward for her. Besides being snug and warm, it hid her breast from ogling freaks.

Her hips were tied down in a similar manner. One belt wound around her mid-section attached to the chair’s sides and was coupled to two straps that hugged her khakis and ran in-between her thighs and crotch. Moondancer’s cream cheeks blushed as red as her hair. She wiggled her body again, it caused another chafe. Her tail was hiked up against her back and her underwear was still up her butt from that sneak attack wedgie. She theorized from the constant pulling on them that her torso straps hand been fished though her briefs’ leg holes.

“Great,” sarcasm dripped from her voice, “kidnapped by a pack of pervs and comedians.”

Moondancer turned her attention to her last bit of her bondage. Her legs weren’t strapped down at all, but her ankles were hiked up level with her head and locked in thick wooden stocks with metal braces riveted on. They had a padded interior and were held together by an old brass padlock. The white rubber toe caps of her Converse peaked out over the top. Moondancer was able to wiggle her feet and knees a smidgen, but was otherwise stuck.

Most mares would panic or flip out at this point. Moondancer snorted in laughter. She was an ace magic student. She closed her eyes. Magic flowed from the core of her being, up her spine, and though her mind as she concentrated on standing outside the prison door. The magic flowed to her horn and… fizzled out. Moondancer’s eyes opened and darted side to side. She yanked her body against the chair and her underwear yanked back in retaliation. She chewed on her sweater.

“What the hay is going on?” She grumbled through wool. Her eyes darted to the spell’s point of failure and dilated. A cold bead of sweat ran down her forehead, a null ring. The runes on it shimmered. She wouldn’t be able to cast any magic with that around her horn. Moondancer flipped out.

“GAHHHHH!” She shouted at the top of her lungs. She thrashed against her bindings, wedgies be damned. Her arms moved nowhere and her fingers grasped at nothing. Her knees knocked together but her legs couldn’t kick with her feet trapped in the stocks. “Let me out of this thing! LET! ME! OU--”

“Quiet!” Whined a familiar nasally voice. The creature who’d first ambushed her stood in front of the cell door. Another dog she hadn’t seen before stepped into view too. ‘They keep getting bigger.’ Moondancer though. The brown behemoth wore a spiked helmet and a heavy chest plate with gemstones around the neckline. The guard put down their stone spear and fiddled with a key-ring. They grunted as he tugged the metal door open and closed it behind Moondancer’s kidnapper.

“Good morning girl.” The mutt said.

“Who are you!?”

“Rover, a Diamond Dog.” His claw tapped the null ring on Moondancer’s horn.

“I'm more of a cat pony. Wait… a Diamond Dog? I’ve read about your species in the encyclopedia, Enigmatic Entities of the Earth Vol. 1.” Moondancer launched into lecture mode.

“Diamond Dogs, of the genus Canis. They are most known for their hoarding of gemstones with equal fervor to dragons. Social status seems based on gem finding ability. They live and hunt in packs. Males and females have both been observed marking territory. Able to dig though solid rock and dirt with amazing easy and speed due to their massive forepaws, they are predominantly subterraneans who live in expansive self-excavated tunnel systems. Footnote: A small surface-level kingdom, Dimondia, has been documented recently on the outskirts of the Toomba Forest. The latest records indicted it was ruled by one ‘Her Highness, Lady of the Royal Order, Queen Trixianna the First’.”

“Huh…?” Rover tilted his head and looked at Moondancer’s mouth.

“In addition, at least one documented member of the species is noted as being incredibly dull-witted.” Moondancer spat. “I’ll have to read The Origin of the Diamond Dogs now too. It’s in the restricted section of Canterlot Castle’s library, but after this incident I think I’ll be able to write a convincing petition to the crown for access to that text.”

“You talk strange.” Rover concluded. “Captain was right; you are a nerd pony. Lucky for us, we don’t need you to talk, just laugh.”

It was Moondancer’s turn to stare at him perplexed. Rover’s paws squeezed the tops of Moondancer’s sneakers. He sniffed her shoes and traced a finger down the bottom of one of them. The sound of his claw running over the rubber treads boomed in her ears.

“Explain yourself! What captain? And if you think any of this is funny you’re dead wrong.”

Rover tugged on the end of one of her laces. He used his pointer claw to finish untying the knot. He repeated the process on her other shoe. He watched the loose laces wave back and forth. Moondancer tugged each foot as hard as she could but neither budged. Rover grabbed a hold of her shoes and eased each one off. Moondancer curled her toes inside her socks. Rover pinched each sock, snatched them off, and tossed them in the back corner.

“Eep!” Moondancer squeaked. Her toes flexed as cool air blew against her naked soles. Rover shoved his muzzle into the arch of her left foot and took several sniffs. His wet nose trailed up and down the length of her foot and followed by her right one too.

Moondancer’s heart pounded against her chest but a soft giggle escaped her lips. Rover grinned. His eyes glued to the null ring on his prisoner’s horn. It flickered with a glint of light.

“Good~” He drew out the word. His tongue slipped out of his mouth and dripped saliva. He grabbed Moondancer’s Converse and pulled the laces though the stocks’ lock and knotted them. They swayed back and forth. So close, yet tied down as she was, they may as well have been light-years away.

“Oh, you pretty things.” Rover flexed his claws. His digits strummed above Moondancer’s helpless toes. He plucked his pointer claws between each one. Moondancer jumped. She sucked in a breath and threw her head back. Her eyes bore into the ceiling. ‘This is bad! This is bad! But I just have to focus on--’

“Hee!” Moondancer let out a single airy titter and interrupted her own train of thought as Rover brushed his paw down her left foot. He waited for her eyes to meet his. He repeated the action on her other foot. His paw drifted down her sole at an agonizing pace. She flopped her feet back and forth but couldn’t shake him. His claws paused on her heel and wafted back up. They skated around the edge of her foot and he pressed harder when he reached her insoles. Moondancer huffed and tittered. Rover lowered both his paws and blew across both her feet. Her fingers and toes spread and balled back up, one foot twitched but she caught her breath.

Rover’s paws pounced on the balls of her feet. Jagged claws swiped in every direction. He dug into them like he’d find precious gems just under the surface. Moondancer hollered and barked in laughter. She thrashed harder than before but couldn’t get any leverage. She barely even felt her briefs tear into her ass as every other jolt made her wedgie herself more. Her folded toes tried to protect the balls of her feet but Rover slipped his claws in-between and spread them wide. The fur on his enormous digits stroked under them. It felt rough and scruffy. Each hair jabbed, pulled, and brushed the delicate nerves all around her toes.

“Ba-Ba-Bad D-dog! Badddd Dooog!” Moondancer squealed. “Heh, heh-heel. HEEL!”

“Okay Nerd Pony~” Rover smiled and raked his claws down Moondancer’s arches to her heels. The gnarled thorns at the ends of his paws twisted and yanked on their journey downwards. Moondancer wasn’t sure if her next scream was from the sensation that went through her arches or that this dog had outsmarted her via a pun. Regardless of which, she giggled and titter with no control over her laughter.

Rover fulfilled his prisoner’s unintended request and tormented her heels. His claws spun around them, swiped over them, and pinched them. He poked a claw into each and swirled them in place. Next he scratched at them like they had fleas. Moondancer could not stop her laughter. She had no idea feet could be this sensitive. ‘Why did none of the anatomy books I’ve read warn me about this? It’s not fair! Why do they have to be so ticklish!?’

“Pl-pleeeeeeeease stoooop!” She cried though her ceaseless giggles.

Rover clamped his left paw around the toes on her right foot. He was more than strong enough to stop her from moving it at all. His right paw abandoned her other foot. He ground the knuckle of his thumb into the center of her foot. His claws swiped at Moondancer’s instep. They glided from the top of her foot all the way and repeated the motion dozens of times.

Tears leaked down Moondancer’s cheeks. Her left foot turned and stretched in the direction of her sneakers. ‘If I get outta this I’m never taking my shoes off again.’ She thought with what little part of her mind wasn’t dedicated to processing the overflow of information uploaded straight into it from her poor feet.

The diabolical Diamond Dog dragged one claw down Moondancer’s arch. When he reached the end of it he paused and twisted it about-face tugging the skin around it and pulled it back up to the balls of her feet.

“ST-STOOOOHAAAP IIIIIT!” Moondancer shrieked. The mare tried to suck in a lungful of air but only swallowed down the minuscule amounts needed to keep her conscious between her bouts of laughter.

“Tickle-tickle~” Rover teased. His gaze shifted from Moondancer’s blushing red feet to the null ring. It seared with bright white light. He licked his lips and raised both his paws high and slashed down.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Light exploded out of Moondancer’s horn. She raised her bushy eyebrows to see what happened. The runes and jewels on the null ring burned hot white. Rover cackled and pistoned his claws up and down the entirety of her soles with even more vigor. The light engulfed the room in shimmering pink and faded away.

A small spot on the lower wall to her right glowed. The silhouettes of crystalline shapes were visible though the rock walls like an x-ray. Rover lunged at the spot and broke through the solid stone. Seconds later he pulled out fistfuls of gems and hugged them against his chest. Sapphires, emeralds, and rubies clattered to the floor in front of him. He held up a coin sized crystal to his eye; the titular stone to his species, a diamond. He kissed the gem a few times and slid it into his vest pocket. Rover scoped up the rest and walked to the cell door.

“Bring a cart! Captain told the truth. With the ring we’ll never have to hunt for the jewels again!”

The guard pulled a mine cart in front of the door a Rover dropped the gems inside it.

“Dogs! Look for other spots nearby before the magic fades.”

Three more guards dropped from the ceiling, and bolted off with the cart. The cell guard returned to their post.

“That was amazing! The null ring was able to cast a spell using my magic just from a sustained physical sensation. I’ve read theories about this kind of enchantment but I didn’t know anyone had actually figured out the spell matrices. Do you know how it works? Who gave this to you?” Moondancer bounced in her seat as much it would allow her.

Rover lulled his head back towards Moondancer with a lopsided grin.

The captive pony gulped and tugged at her restraints. “On second thought, I don’t need to know how it works right this second. You got your gems, so release me!”

Rover shook his head no and stalked towards her.

Moondancer’s feet flinched. “You don’t wanna hang out with lame old me. Wouldn’t it be fun to dig more of those up with those other dogs?”

“I dig everything. Dirt, rocks, pony feet...” Rover trailed off in front of her trapped toes. “And only one of them has ever been fun.” He shoved in nose back into her arches and sniffed deeply. A slick trail followed as he rubbed around them. He pulled back, flashed his claws, and struck. Moondancer squeezed her lips tight desperate not to laugh. It took less than three seconds for her to fail.