//------------------------------// // The Medical Appeal // Story: The Literary Appeal // by HiddenBrony //------------------------------// A new knife and a new salad later, and the two mares were quickly going nowhere in their date. Twilight’s eyes found the table legs of their fellow patrons to be the most fascinating thing on this side of Canterlot. Cheerilee had been focused on the fact that she kept lifting her hooves on the table with singular strands of pink hair stuck to her fuchsia coat. Subconsciously, Cheerilee reached for the part of her mane that currently existed as a salad dressing in the trash, nicking the side of her neck as she did. “Ssst, ow,” Cheerilee breathed, finding a small cut on the side of her neck. At the sound of constrained pain, Twilight’s eyes immediately snapped back to Cheerilee. “Oh no." Her eyes darted to and fro all over Cheerilee's neck, searching for the offending blemish. "Oh no, no, Cheerilee! Did I hurt you?” Putting her hoof back on the table a bit too quickly, Cheerilee shook her head. “It’s nothing, Twilight. A small little cut– I don’t think I’m even bleeding.” However, she hadn’t finished her sentence when suddenly she found her personal space completely ignored by Twilight as she examined Cheerilee’s neck. “T-Twilight Sparkle!” “Hold still and let me look at it,” Twilight muttered, her eyes looking at every detail of Cheerilee’s neck. Logically, she started where Cheerilee’s mane had mysteriously stopped, and quickly found a small laceration. “Oh no, this is serious,” her voice barely above a whisper. Cheerilee’s hoof quickly shoved itself between Twilight and her injury, her eyes quickly darting at everypony that was currently watching them. Which was, in fact, everypony. “Twilight, please, I’m fine.” Cheerilee had never had a single part of her body encased in magic before, and the sensation of having a limb completely cut off from her control was, to be fair, distressing. So when Twilight’s magic gripped the schoolteacher's hoof and moved it from her prying gaze, Twilight’s muzzle a hair’s breadth away from Cheerilee’s neck, her hot breath rolling down the Earth pony’s chest... She was completely taken aback by the whole of everything. “T-t-t-t-Twilight!” Cheerilee and Twilight Sparkle were sat up against the sidewall of the room, disallowing anypony from getting an accurate view of what the two mares were doing. Twilight’s mane obscured her face and her whispering was nigh inaudible to the curious ponies that surrounded them. “Don’t worry, Cheerilee, I know what I’m doing. I’ll fix this.” “Now is neither the time nor place, Twilight...!” Cheerilee trailed, her voice growing louder and higher as she spoke. Undeterred, Twilight dove ever closer to the cut, her horn starting to glow. “Just a moment, Cheerilee! I found out a new spell that’s perfect for cuts like this,” Twilight whispered, her attention focused completely on the task at hand and not at all on the fact she looked like she was moving in on Cheerilee’s neck. “Mmm, yes.” Twilight said, slightly louder. “How’s that feel?” The magic started to take effect around the wound, filling Cheerilee with an odd sense of pleasure. “O-uh-uh–Oh!” she mumbled, her eyes falling into half-moons. “Twilight, whatever you’re doing you have my express permission to keep going.” Twilight giggled despite herself– Cheerilee was such a willing participant when she wanted to be! Newly determined to make up for her mistake, Twilight focused on repairing the skin around the cut, pulling the severed bonds back together. Despite the size of the cut, the spell was causing strain on the unicorn, causing beads of sweat to form on her brow. Her muscles started to strain from the pressure, and her breathing started to become slightly labored. Cheerilee could only moan slightly as the healing process reverberated from her neck where Twilight was working her magic. “Twilight, please, just–” It was endorphins, that much was sure. “Don’t stop.” Cheerilee cursed herself. However, magically infused endorphins were probably a very dangerous substance. She knew very much that she was not in control. “Keep doing what you’re doing and– and!” That did not stop her from trying to curl her hooves up and slam the table as the pleasure of the spell healing her put her mind into fractals. Likely that was the very reason the spell wasn’t performed by medical professionals. Probably nothing else about the spell. Certainly not the fact that it was quite possibly the most awkward thing for everyone involved that wasn't Twilight Sparkle. “Ooo, dear. That! Hm! That's nice.” Cheerilee cooed despite herself. It was that or their exceeding difficulty, as Twilight’s breaths were becoming increasingly more labored, and she was almost gasping for air as she knitted the skin back together. “Nnnnnngh.” Quite possibly, the medical professionals that did know and used the spell would know to keep all attempts at healing magic sequestered away into private seeing rooms. “Twilight...” Away from the public spectacle. “Finished!” Twilight gasped, her head snapping back to its neutral position. Wiping the sweat from her brow with a free hoof, Twilight wearily returned to her seat. “See! I made it all better!” Cheerilee’s eyes fluttered, her neck still craned back from her moment. “I... yes, Twilight.” Coughing uneasily, her brain started to whirr back to life. “Yes, um. Thank you.” Tentatively, Cheerilee reached her hoof up to the spot where the cut had been. A few careful rubs on the prickling area of skin was enough to confirm that any damage that had been done was completely fixed. “Wow, I’ve... never had that happen before.” “I learn a lot of things from books.” “You’re really good at putting it into practice then. That’s really exciting, Twilight.” “Did I ever tell you about what I learned about running from a book?” Twilight beamed, her conversational partner suddenly looking around the restaurant. “I’m just so glad I could fix my error earlier.” “I really thought you were just trying to...” Cheerilee locked eyes with the waiter, who was standing across the room with a dumb look on his face. “To kiss it and make it better...” She looked at another pony across the aisle from her. That pony was staring at her, too. Everypony was looking at them. Cheerilee knew that. But no none of them were talking. To be fair, no one was sure if they were drawing breath anymore. “Oh... Horseapples.” “What?” Twilight asked, her attention finally diverting toward the rest of the ponies. “Oh! Um.” Twilight’s eyebrow furrowed as everypony in the vicinity quickly delved back into the food, not wishing to make eye contact with her. As the entire restaurant flooded back into a din of chatter, Twilight looked back at Cheerilee. “What was that about?” “I... um...” Cheerilee’s face was redder than Big Mac. “Oh dear, Twilight I think you got their attention.” “What? You mean with my spell?” Twilight asked, before gesturing to the table next to her, where two stallions were enjoying dinner. The pegasus and the unicorn quickly looked up, their eyes filled with stars as Twilight addressed them. “Excuse me, sirs, were you interested in what I was doing? If you’d like, I could show you,” Twilight gestured to the unicorn, “how to do it for you!” “Wh-what!?” the midnight blue pegasus sputtered. Looking over to the peach-colored unicorn, he was almost equally horrified at the gigantic grin on his mate’s face. “You can’t be serious.” The stallion unicorn shrugged. “Aw, Canvas, she’s asking. It’s only polite to humor her!” the unicorn smiled. Canvas hid behind his canary yellow mane and whimpered. Cheerilee reached over to Twilight and, after making a quick check for flying cutlery, placed a calming hoof on Twilight’s leg. “Twilight, um, I don’t think they know what you mean.” Leaning back to her own table, Twilight gave Cheerilee an incredulous look. “Well, what else could they think I mean?” Looking over at their neighbors, the two ponies quickly saw that the stallions had vacated the premises. “Oh, they’re– gone?” “Twilight, I’m trying to say that, well,” Cheerilee, spun her hooves around one another, trying to come up with the best way to approach Twilight. “What you did was a little... suggestive.” “They didn’t pay their bill– suggestive?” Twilight said, her voice sharp. “What could I have possibly done to be suggestive?” Cheerilee’s face deadpanned. “You’re not serious.” This was the mare she was falling for. “Of course!” Twilight waved her hooves about, her voice growing a few octaves. “All I did was follow the book’s instructions! It said I had to be close to the neck, and make sure to focus on what I was doing. As long as the pony felt good, then I was doing it right!” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “And by the look of your neck, I did it very right.” The smug look on her face would have offended Discord. “Oh sweet merciful Celestia.” Cheerilee buried her head in her hooves. “Twilight, it looked like you were necking me.” A blank stare. It was like she was back in the classroom. Although she had to admit, teaching general Sex-Ed to ponies generally garnered the same reaction. “It means kissing. A lot.” Twilight’s pupils started to dilate. “On the neck.” Twilight began to sweat again. "In an extremely sensual fashion." Twilight's breathing became fast and sharp. Cheerilee raised the bottle of wine and poured it into Twilight’s waiting glass. Without waiting for the glass to fill, Twilight’s hoof shot out, grabbed her glass, and downed the alcohol within a second. “Another please.” Cheerilee did as she was bidden. It was already gone when she finished. “Another.” “Twilight...” “Please.” Pour. Drink. Glass hit the table. “Another.” “I might have to order another bottle. How much do you need?” “Until I can’t feel shame.” Cheerilee stared at Twilight, the latter’s hooves trembling. With a sigh, Cheerilee inwardly cursed her younger, wilder days for the actions she was about to partake in next. “We’re going to need stronger wine.”