The Sweetest Dreams Come Salty

        As the bell on the door rang, Sterling greeted the visitor with his prepared response. “Be with you in just a moment!” He just needed to complete a few more stitches...

        “Work work work,” called the voice from behind him. “Don’t you ever sleep?” Sterling smiled at the familiar timbre, but kept his eyes trained on the task at hand. The glow of his magic guided the thin needle through the fabric, trailing behind it a delicate orange thread, the same color as his cutie mark. One of the only things that annoyed him about his work was that when it was done perfectly, his finesse was almost imperceptible. No one would ever see this seam, and that meant no one, no laypony anyway, would ever understand just how difficult it was.

        He sighed and tied off the thread with a little magical flourish, a knot that served as his signature. The completed waistcoat floated in front of him, and he gave it a final examination before floating it onto a hanger and covering it with a clear garment bag.

        The grey unicorn from earlier inspected the coat. “Very impressive. Who’s it for?”

        Sterling sniffed. Star Seams didn’t exactly treat customer confidentiality with the respect it deserved. “A client.”

        If Star Seams was nonplussed at Sterling’s curtness, he didn’t react. “This can’t be an everyday outfit,” he said, admiring the shine on the buttons.

        “There’s a big wedding coming up in the next month. I don’t remember all the details, but most of Canterlot is going to be there, and this is what he plans to wear.”

        “He’s just a guest?”

        “As far as I know.”

        “Then what they hay does he need something like this for?”

        Sterling Needle groaned. “Because everypony is going to be looking their best, and everypony wants to be the best dressed one there. And...” he turned on Star Seams. “...if he thinks that wearing something I’ve made is the way to do it, then I am behind him one hundred percent!” He was about to punctuate his little rant with a stomp and a snort, but his train of thought was derailed as he felt Star Seams’ neck against his own.

        “Relax, doll,” he purred, and nuzzled against Sterling. The feeling of Star’s shaggy blue mane as it brushed against his pelt caused any feelings of hostility to melt. “You know I love your work. You’re the best designer in the city.”

        Sterling felt the color rise in his cheeks. “Well, I don’t know about that.”

        “I do. Like you said, I’m behind you one hundred percent” Star said, moving up Sterling’s neck until his muzzle was right in front of the light green unicorn’s ear. “Or at least, I could be.” He exhaled a heavy, hot breath, sending a shiver up the tailor’s spine. For a moment, the thought of taking Star up on his offer seriously crossed Sterling’s mind.

        Eventually, cooler minds prevailed. “So,” he asked, somewhat flustered. “What brings you here?”

        “Can’t I just enjoy the pleasure of your company?”

        Sterling’s horn glowed a rich orange color as he focused his magic on undoing his braid. “Normally, I wouldn’t question it for a moment, but today’s already lining up to be a hectic day.” Released from behind his head, the bulk of his long blond mane, still bound in a couple of bands, fell to within inches of the floor.

        “How so?”

        “Well, my fabric supplier is running late again, so I don’t know if I’ll even get in that shipment of silks I was expecting.”

        “Your fabric supplier?”

        “You’ve seen him before. Skinny Earth pony. Has spots on his flank?”

        Star nickered and smiled. He did remember that one. “Yeah, he’s a cute one.”

        Sterling scoffed. “Forget it. He has a girlfriend.”

        “Craziness!”

        “Yeah, but it supports my theory about straight ponies being unreliable.”

        “Still, that sounds like typical business stuff.” Star rested his upper body on Sterling’s broad back, and let his forelegs hang off the other side. “What else do you got going on today?”

        Sterling bit his lower lip. “Well, its a little bit awkward.”

        “Ooooh!” Star rubbed his hooves together with delight.

        The green unicorn snorted and shrugged his friend off his withers. “It’s not like that. It’s just that when we met, I was writing fairly regularly to another stallion.”

        “And you don’t anymore?”

        “No, I still do, but not as often. And he knows about you.”

        Star shrugged. “So what has your braid in a knot today?”

        “He’s coming into town today. He says he wants to meet you. Get to know the stallion who’s hooked up with his friend.”

        “How well do you know this guy?”

        “I’ve gotten to know him pretty well through our correspondence, but aside from one date we took while I was on a business trip, we haven’t actually had that much face time.”

        Star crooked his head. “Did the date not go well?”

        Sterling chuckled off the suggestion. “It went fine, but he’s a sailor by trade. He was only in port for that night.”

        “And I’m supposed to believe that you behaved yourself around some handsome sailor on shore leave?” Star asked, a devilish grin on his face.

        Sterling’s eyes grew wide as a furious blush appeared on his face. “No!” Then, seeing Star’s already huge grin grow wider, he quickly attempted to correct himself. “I mean, yes!”

        “Sounds to me like you don’t remember what happened, Mr. Needle.”

        “Nothing happened! We just had dinner and exchanged addresses! That’s all!”

        Star sighed theatrically. “And then I had to come along and ruin this perfect romance, before it could blossom into the beautiful saga it was certainly destined to become! What a homewrecker I am!”

        Sterling responded with an indignant snort, which elicited a chuckle from the blue-maned unicorn. “Do you think you could behave yourself a little bit when we actually meet Seashore? I consider him a friend, and I’d like him to stay that way.”

        “Yeah, yeah, yeah. How does my hair look?”

        “I tell you every day you desperately need a manecut.”

        “Perfect.”

        The cab ride to the port was uneventful, though it did give Star Seams more opportunities to grill Sterling about the stallion he was about to meet. He wasn’t really that surprised that the date with Seashore had been an innocent affair. Sterling was a bit of an old-fashioned romantic, and liked to take things slow. And though Star considered himself a pretty smooth operator, it had still taken three dates before the pair had spent their first night together.

        “What a night that was,” Sterling said with a smile. That was the night he learned about Star’s special talents, and what all the coy smiles and misdirection were about whenever the topic of his cutie mark came up. He found out that night, but only after having already passed out from exhaustion.

        It had been a while since Sterling had been down to the docks, but the smell was one that he could never forget. He knew that griffins liked fish, and that up North was reportedly a community of ponies who enjoyed the taste, but even the thought of eating one of those slimy, smelly creatures made Sterling’s skin crawl. Almost all of the ocean rubbed him the wrong way. He didn’t even like seaweed. He hoped that Seashore would appreciate the lengths he was going to in the name of hospitality.

        The HCM Seapony was moored to the dock, and evidently had been for sometime, as the last of the crew was disembarking the ship. Even from a distance, Sterling could tell it was Seashore, and immediately starting waving. Star turned to look at the sailor, and could instantly identify the pony they were looking for.

        The first thing you noticed about Seashore was his bright orange mane, a mass of curls that you could spot from any distance. Star suspected that the mane’s color, combined with a matching bob of a tail, probably came in handy for any sailor trying to locate the ship that he was on. His pelt was a deep blue, not quite as bright as Star’s mane, but a lovely shade that seemed perfect for a stallion of the sea. He could already see why Sterling said “yes” to that date.

        “Sterling!” called out the blue pony as he sped up his trot down the gangplank.

        “Seashore!” responded the green pony as he ran up to meet his friend with a big hug.

        But while Sterling’s embrace had been aimed at the sailor’s midsection, Seashore’s forelegs wrapped around Sterling’s neck, and before he even realized what was happening, Seashore was pressing his lips against his. The few remaining sailors on the dock immediately started making loud whooping noises. As the center of attention, Sterling would have been embarrassed even if his coltfriend weren’t a few steps behind him, his jaw on the ground.

        Sterling ducked out of the embrace, and tried to look as cross as he could, despite the warmth in his belly. “Seashore? What are you doing?”

        “Well,” Seashore said, smiling. “I only got to kiss you that one time after our first date. I just figured, after all this time, it was time for another.”

        “But I’m seeing another pony! You know that!”

        Seashore shrugged. “He doesn’t have to know that you kissed me.”

        “I kissed you?”

        “I felt it.”

        Sterling was about to defend his honor when he heard laughter from behind him. He sighed and moved to the side. With a sweep of his hoof, he introduced the two. “Seashore, this is Star Seams, my coltfriend.”

        The sailor’s eyes went wide, but his tension subsided when Star produced his hoof. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Sterling’s had great things to say about you.” Seashore gave it a shake.

        “Ditto. I like the beard.”

        Star stroked his long blue goatee, and turned his attention to Seashore’s, a shorter one the same bright color as his mane and tail. “I like yours too. Very cute. Sterling’s always had good taste.”

        “I’m right here, you know!”

        The cab ride to the hotel was an animated one, with Star full of similar questions to the ones he had posed to Sterling on the ride there. Most of the questions were perfectly friendly, which Seashore answered politely, but occasionally, he would try to slip in a more inappropriate question, which Sterling would interrupt with a swift “Star!”

        For his part, Seashore smiled the whole time, at least until they got to the hotel. When he had booked his room for the next couple of nights, he had been unaware that the window faced a brick wall. He had been trapped on a ship in the middle of the ocean for months. The last thing he wanted to feel while he was on dry land was confinement.

        Thankfully, Star came to the rescue, sort of. “You can stay with Sterling!”

        Both ponies stared at Star for a moment. Seashore was impressed with Star’s generosity, while Sterling was flabbergasted at how Star could offer up someone else’s home to a lodger. Sterling tried to politely defer, but as soon as Star mentioned the unicorn’s view of the treetops, and how the sailor would almost certainly awake to the music of songbirds, Seashore was excited to see his new quarters.

        “This is beautiful,” he said, dropping his duffel onto the floor of the spacious guest room.

        “I’ve stayed here a couple of times,” Star said before grinning at Sterling. “Of course, usually I stay in the master bedroom.”

        “Star!”

        Seashore leaped up onto the bed and came down with a muffled thud. “It’s really comfortable, too. You said there are birds in the morning?”

        “As long as the weather’s nice. I can hear them alright from my room, but they have a nest in that elm out there,” said Sterling, pointing out the window with a hoof.

        “Man, I would love to have a place like this. I assume its expensive?”

        “It wasn’t cheap, but it was worth it.”

        “Sailing doesn’t exactly bring it in?” asked Star.

        “No, it doesn’t. But I love it too much to do anything else.”

        Sterling nodded. “That’s how I feel about my shop. I’m just lucky that it also pays pretty well.”

        “What about you?” asked Seashore, turning his head to Star. “What’s your talent?” Sterling coughed, and the gray unicorn couldn’t help but smile.

        “Well, it’s... shall we say... complicated?”

        “Oh, come on, Star. You’ve been asking him personal questions since he got here. You might as well be straightforward with him.” He glanced over at Seashore. “He has dream magic.”

        Seashore’s eyes lit up. “Dream magic? I’ve only heard of that! Can you show me?”

        “I can almost guarantee you, Seashore. This isn’t the dream magic that you’ve heard about. I specialize in something a little more intense.”

        “Hey, I’ve sailed the seas! I’ve survived hurricanes! I even had to help fight off a group of pirates off of the Zebrary Coast! What’s a little dream?” The blue pony laid his head down on the pillow. “Hit me with your best shot!”

        Star and Sterling smiled at each other, before both glancing back at the three white drops that floated in the purple cloud of Star Seams’ cutie mark. “You asked for it, buddy,” said Star, as his horn began to glow violet.

        “Open your eyes.”

        “Open your eyes,” the voice said, with more urgency.

        “Open your damn eyes, you worthless pile of flotsam!” Seashore’s eyes snapped open, and the first thing that caught his attention was the glint of the knife. It was mere inches from his throat. “Do I have your attention now?” asked the dark shape in the doorway.

        Seashore pulled on his limbs, but found them bound fast to the wall with thick manacles. “You’ll get nothing out of me, Bluebeard!”

        “My first mate is curious to test your mettle, Seashore. Do you have any ideas to share with the prisoner, Spines?”

        “I was thinking we could try flaying him alive. See if that loosens his lips.” Seashore responded by spitting in the mate’s eye. As Spines recoiled, the captain stepped up, but still remained shrouded in darkness, except for the thin outline of his scraggly beard.

        “You’ll pay for that, you swine.”

        “I’m not afraid of you, Bluebeard. I’ll die before I tell you where the treasure is buried!”

        “You’ll tell me everything, colt. I rather like Spines little suggestion, though I have a different plan to loosen your lips.”

        “How dare y-” Seashore was cut off as the captain hungrily pressed his lips to the prisoner’s. He felt a pair of strong hooves take his muzzle, as a warm tongue pushed its way past his teeth and into his mouth. He tasted the strong, intoxicating rum on the captain’s breath, and he began to feel so dizzy that he let his eyes close and savor the warmth. He only opened them again as he felt a nip on his ear, and a glance to the left showed him that Spines was also in on the plot, nipping down Seashore’s neck with delicate, but maddening, nibbles.

        As he felt both ponies bring a hoof towards one location, one from his hind legs, the other from his barrel, he let out an audible moan. He was already starting to sweat, and he knew that heat was coming not from outside, but within him. The first touch brought out a gasp.

        “You’re not just going to talk for us, Seashore. You’re going to scream.”

        Seashore snapped awake and sat up in bed. “Holy Hearth’s Warming!” He looked over at the two unicorns. Both looked flushed, and were panting heavily. Sterling had taken his hair bands out, and his golden locks had tumbled out onto the floor of the guestroom. The glow from Star’s horn dimmed, and then disappeared.

        “You see what we meant?” asked Star, slowly catching his breath.

        Seashore nodded. “Yeah, that was...something.” He looked at Sterling, who was blushing furiously and looking only vaguely in Seashore’s direction. “What’s up?”

        Sterling pointed, and Seashore looked down. “Oh.”

        “Yeah. Oh.” the two ponies said in unison.

        The sailor bit his bottom lip. “So,” he hesitated for a moment. “How big is this bed?”

        Sterling smiled. “Big enough.”

        And the two of them climbed up to join their new friend.