Easy Like Sunday Morning...

“This is totally pointless.” Brainstorm breathed to himself as he set the artifact he had found on a small study table in his home. He slid out of his chair and stretched, rewarded by several popping sounds in his back and an immediate relief of some tension. “Those late-night study-sessions have got to stop. I’ll never figure out what that thing does if I’m working half-asleep.”

He glanced back at the small, hoof-sized ruby dragon that sat on the desk. It was brilliantly crafted and intricate to the extreme, but that was not all there was to it. It emanated a mystical energy, something that pulled the eye and made one crave to touch it, to hold it, to possess it. Brainstorm was only free of the curse thanks to the spell he had learned to block the effects. Otherwise, to simply look upon it would be to desire it.

But Brainstorm knew there was more to it than just that.

The power he could feel from it was much stronger than the desire spell it cast, and he knew there had to be some un-tapped magical potential to the item. He just couldn’t begin to figure out what.

With a sigh, he opens the desk and slides it in, locking the drawer shut so that nopony would accidently see it and fall for the spell. That would be a lot of trouble for him, and he didn’t even want to THINK of the consequences or what he would have to go through to get it back. He had taken a risk bringing back to Ponyville, but if anyone had a chance to resist the greed it caused; it was these pony-folk.

He smirked a bit at his own corny train of thought. “I’m such a hopeless romantic sometimes.” he said to himself with a chuckle, heading for the door of his house with a saddle-bag he had packed his lunch in. It was a clear, sunny day outside and he could see the Pegasus ponies were taking it easy today, seeing as the weather was staying pretty clear on its own. It was a slow Sunday morning.

With a deep breath of fresh air, Brainstorm shut his door and headed out into Ponyville’s town square. He made his way calmly, smiling and nodding to the other pony-folk who seemed to be taking the day slow as well.

Brew was in his shop, looking around the town square through the window. Why the hay wasn't anypony coming in? Normally he at least got a couple of customers for an illness potion or something. Yet his shop was deserted.

Come to think of it, the whole town square wasn't really visiting any shops at all. It was really just cafés and restaurants that ponies were visiting. He sighed and decided he'd just close up; no reason for wasting his time in the shop if he was just going to spend his time slamming his head on the desk out of sheer boredom. He trotted up to the door and put the 'open' sign to 'closed'. He left the shop and went back to his house, which was only a 5 minute walk away. Looking around the house, not much was different since he lived alone. 

Going upstairs, Brew went into his room. He walked over to the cage housing Charlie, his pet tarantula. Brew cooed a little, petting his pet. He looked over to the wall and his eyes widened. He groaned and facehoofed. 

It was a Sunday. He'd wasted his entire morning sitting in the stupid shop. He went back to the town square, grumbling. He sat in a café, thinking about what he should do. He was thinking of getting Charlie a friend. Another tarantula.

As it happened, Brainstorm had headed to the very same cafe'. He sat at his table with his back to Brew's, not taking long to decide his order since he always got his usual. "Strong hot tea and some pear tarts please." he said to the waitress without even opening the menu, handing it over to her.

"Really Mr. Brain, you should try something else once in a while. A pony can't live on tarts alone." the waitress said with a chiding smirk.

"I'm sure it's all wonderful," he replied with a grin, "but I'm and old soul stuck in his old ways." For one so young, Brainstorm had always acted a bit older than himself. The waitress smirked and nodded, then went about to the other tables while Brain began to stretch in his seat, knocking the back of Brew's chair by mistake. "Oh, pardon me." he said with a bit of a flush.

Brew ordered himself a coffee and a sandwich. He listened to the stallion behind him having a laugh with the waitress. Cute. He got finished his food quite slowly, mainly because he was trying to decide whether to get a male Tarantula or a female. He didn't want little baby tarantulas running about but he also didn't want one of them to kill the other, as would likely happen.

His thoughts were cut short when the stallion behind him have him a bump. Brew smiled good naturedky, and calmly said:

"S'alright pal. These things happen."

 He was about to let the stallion get on with his business when a question sprang to mind. 

"What's the deal with that waitress? You and her a thing or something?"

Brainstorm smiled, but then blinked confusedly at the question he obviously hadn't even considered. "Well no, I don't believe. I come here most-every morning, so we chat a lot is all." He smiled a bit awkwardly. "I'm not the dating sort."

He rubbed the back of his mane a bit with an apologetic look. "Oh, I'm babbling. Aren't I?" He chuckled a bit and offered a hoof. "I'm Brainstorm, or Brain if you like. Yourself?"

The waitress had come back with his order as he had begun to introduce himself, luckily missing his rambling. "There you are, Mr. Brain." He turned and replied, "Thank you Maple." She nodded with a friendly smile and went back to work, leaving Brain to turn back around and say, "I see you're eating alone. Care to join?"

Brew laughed a little.

"I don't see how giving appropriate context is babbling, but whatever you say. Anyway, my name's Mixed Brew. Nice to meetcha brain."

At Brain's offer, Brew shrugged.

"Alright then."

The Heterochromiac stallion picked up his coffee and sandwich then sat at the table with Brain. He wasn't yet sure what to make of this new guy. He seemed nice enough but it seemed a little weird to suddenly offer to join somepony for lunch.

Still, it's not like Brain was a serial killer. The guy was probably just friendly.

Introverts, hoooooo! Brain wasn't all that great at communicating due to his solitary lifestyle, but the few chances he got to mingle he most-always enjoyed. "Pleasure's mine." He sipped at his tea a bit before asking, "So, Mr. Brew, I have to say you look familiar. Do you run any shops or stores in Ponyville?"

Undeniably, he was a bit of an oddity; but he was social despite his nature. There was always an air of uncertainty about him, but it seemed to be more humbling than depressing; like a deep desire for honest approval from the eyes of anypony he met.

Brew nodded.

"Yeah, I run that alchemist's shop over there."

He pointed to his shop out the window. 

"Y'know, I think you came in for a potion once, right? I think you mentioned something about solving problems for a hobby. Was that you or am I mixing you up with that Wild Card lunatic?"

He sipped his tea while waiting the answer.

(Sowwy for the late post. Been busy for most of today.)

(It happens.)

Brainstorm nodded with a friendly smile as he answered, "Oh yeah, I remember that now." He placed down the tea and looked over to the shop. "I was running errands for somepony that day. My shop is Odd-Jobs, so I get a lot of orders to run errands for people. Probably the bulk of my business."

"Keeps my days interesting." he adds as he looks over the pony-folk out and about in the square. It struck him just how few of them he knew by name, seeing as his business was mostly reliant on a few regulars. He had always been an introvert, but he knew that the lifestyle wasn't without it's disadvantages.

"Anyway, I take Sundays off." he went back to smiling at Brew. "So I'm sort of passing the time today."