The demon's life in Ponyville

Neither the demon nicknamed RidleyX nor Twilight notice the last remnant of green magic evaporate from his body that came from something else casted on him earlier.

Releasing her from his grip, Ridley gives a shaky smile before sitting back down. “I know everyone won't like me, but try to make them honor Rarity's life, okay Twilight?”

She wipes her tears away and tries to smile back, but Ridley can tell its forced. “I'll try, but we both know how the rest will take it, Ridley. To think I thought today was perfect too.” She says, hanging her head in sadness.

Before Ridley can say anything though, there comes the sound of knocking. “Who…?” He says confused as he turns to Twilight. She simply shrugs in response to his gaze. Turning to the door at the end of the hallway, he heads over there.

Not even halfway there, the door opens up with a green hue of magic and in trots a white stallion unicorn with black mane and tail, green eyes and green X for a cutie mark carrying, to both Ridley's and Twilight's surprise, a fatigued but still very much alive Rarity on his back.

Stopping in front of them, the pony gives a nod to the two before letting Rarity off his back. “Ridley, Ridley, Ridley… You should know better than to hold back against threats if there is somepony you should be protecting.” The unicorn says while facehooving and shaking his head in disappointment.

“R-Rarity, you're alive!!” Ridley shouts running to her and hugging her tightly, Twilight there beside him joining in the hug.

“We thought you perished from what Ridley told me!” Twilight lets out between sobs.

“Well yes, I may have almost perished if it wasn't for RidleyX here… er, the pony one.” She chuckles, backing out the hug and pointing to the pony.

“To think somepony with my name would end up saving you…” Turning to the pony, Ridley smiles. “Thank you. I guess I owe you one now, don't I?”

Laughing, the pony smirks to him. “You best believe you do, 'Ridley.' I'm just glad I was around in the area when I heard the roars and Rarity's shrieks. Not sure how I could miss that.” He chuckles, earning a swat from Rarity.

“But yeah. I rushed to the area and managed to catch her. The fire part proved tricky as I had to sacrifice my fire-cloak to protect us both. Then I galloped away till the dragons left and had to rest here and there as she isn't exactly light.” He says chuckling again.

Puffing her face, Rarity tail-smacks RidleyX. “How rude! You shouldn't say such a thing about a lady.” She states simply.

“Yeah, yeah, Rarity. Anyway, that's the short of it.” The pony says before turning around to leave.

Seeing Twilight begin to talk with Rarity, Ridley walks after the leaving pony. “Hey man, I really do owe you one. You sorta saved my ass here, y'know?”

“I know and rest assured I will make the best of the favor.” RidleyX says while smiling devilishly.

“… Why do I have a feeling I won't like that much?” Ridley replies worriedly. “Also, you know my real name. Stop calling me Ridley as that's you and I'm even getting a tad confused.”

“I thought you had smarts to wrap your head around this, Seltzer.” The demon now known as Seltzer winces at his real name as the pony opens up the castle entrance doors. “Well, I should be going now. Don't want Midnight Star to be worried about me again. Also don't forget you owe me -big- time now, heheh.”

“Of course my pony universal counterpart would have me owe him.” Signing as he smiles, Seltzer reaches a hand and the pony bump hand-to-hoof. “Thanks again. See you later, RidleyX!” Seltzer the demon says to the pony.

RidleyX gives a smirk and trots away into town, soon vanishing from sight.

“Still very weird how there's a pony that has my name here. Hmm, nickname anyway,” Shrugging, Seltzer closes the door from the outside and begins to walk away from the crystal-castle. “Then again, I'm not from this land. I like it here and all, but this isn't my homeland. Hell, its not even my home universe. … I wonder when I can go back?” He mused to himself out loud.

“And leave me here by myself?” A refined voice says behind him, causing Seltzer to jump in fright.

Turning around, he sees its Rarity and glares at her. “Rarity! The hell is the matter with you scaring me like that?!” Releasing a breath, he sighs deeply.

“To get you from thinking silly thoughts is why, darling.” She responds back, giggling to herself. “You always like to think and never clue anypony in on your thoughts. Have you ever thought that maybe… somepony might want to… hear them sometime?” She says quietly at the end.

“Hmm, not really. I mean, just look at me! I'm a freaking demon for crying out loud! Except for the humans I freed from a tyrannical king, the rest are scared of me 'cause of what the rest of my kind does.” He states, frowning at his race. “I'm used to being alone and reading tons of books. Plus, my brother… nah, that's a headache I'd rather not think about.”

Having decided to sit at a bench, Seltzer sees Rarity hop up beside him. “You have a brother?” She says astonished.

“Sworn-brother to be correct, but yeah. He was a human and despite being a different race from us demons, we had a sworn-oath to always protect every being. He… He was a good brother.” Seltzer signs as bad memories spring forth.

“Oh, I'm so sorry for your loss, dear.”

“Hmm? Er, he's not dead or anything, Rarity. Long story short, he became obsessed with power and turned against our plan to protect others. He was recently freed and I did banish some evil from him, but he despises me now.”

“Ohhh. So you never really had anypony to talk or spend time with?”

“Hit the nail in the coffin right there. Between trying to save my planet and form relationships which fail, I'm still feared by humans. Having your family sealed away by your own race or a brother-turned-evil doesn't help.”

“Well, you certainly have made friends here, darling. Maybe you could open up more to them?” Rarity asks hopefully, dropping subtle hints.

Turning to the snobbish mare, he stares at her for a few seconds and a smile creeps onto his face. “You ponies do have good points sometime.” He states, grinning.

“Barring the time I arrived here when it was just a day after y'all dealt with Discord and everypony panicked when they caught site of me, you ponies grew to trust me and don't run away anymore or give me the fearful-eye despite me being capable of fighting your princesses and winning easily.”

Out of nowhere, a small frozen chunk of rock crashes into his head from the sky, startling him and Rarity. “Ow! I was only saying! Sheesh…”

“Where did-” Rarity starts to ask before Seltzer replies.

“Princess moonbut- er, moonflank. Your highness's sure love to observe me at times.” He says simply, dodging another chunk of rock that flew at him again from the night sky.

“Anyway, you ponies trust me and are not fearful of me anymore.” He starts saying while looking at Rarity, seeing her face show hopefulness. “I… suppose I can open up now to you all-” Is all he can say as he gets a face full of white.

“Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou, darling!” Rarity squees hugging and nuzzling his cheek, making him blush.

“How did I ever end up like this? I only managed to be liked by ponies of all things… my brother would call me out on this for disgracing warriors! Even more so for being friends with ponies!!” Seltzer thinks to himself, hugging the mare back after a couple seconds. “Wealp. Gonna go with the flow now and see where the waterfall takes me now.” He thinks again, deciding to scratch behind her ears.

She coos happily and leans more into his embrace. “Your hands are simply divine.” She dreamily says.

“Why? Why me?” He thinks before saying, “Oh really? Next thing I know you'd be wanting me to help you with your work.” He replies matter-of-factly.

“Keep this up and I'll have to hire you for sure.” She says in that delicate voice he finds charming.

“Heheh. If you do… I wouldn't mind helping the lovely Rarity.” He chuckles and kisses her muzzle lightly. “After all, this pony is the Element of Generosity.” He says after leaning back onto the bench.

“Hmph. You do seem to know. Guess there's some hope for your mind after all.” She replies in her typical slightly-snobbish way.

Signing with a smile, he ruffles her mane and laughs. “Keep it up. See where it gets you.” He growls and sees only a wide smirk on her face. “… Oh who am I kidding. We both know I won't do anything to you!” He grabs her into a hug and nuzzles her face.

“Is the great Ridley falling for this lady? My word, I must be doing something right!” She squees into his embrace.

“Since I've decided to open up, I should tell you my name isn't RidleyX as that's my nickname. My actual name… is Seltzer, Rarerare.” The demon happily smiles to her.

Rarity returns his smile with a smirk. “I had a hunch it wasn't Ridley. It didn't suit you well.”

“Now you know. I have told no one this besides my trusted adviser back home. Not even my brother knows my name!” Smirking, Seltzer focuses his gaze on her. “You better not spread word of my name out to everyone. Only tell your trusted friends and no one else!”

She waves a hoof dismissively. “You shall not worry about that Rid- I mean, Seltzer. I will keep your secret safe with me.”

“Good. Thank you.”

They sit there and watch the night sky together for a while. He has a warm-smile on his face and soon notices after a hour that she has fallen asleep in his lap. Shaking his head, he lifts her up into his arms and begins to walk to her home. Opening the door, he heads inside and walks up the stairs. He reaches the top and heads to where her room is, walking inside and lying her down under the covers.

Chuckling softly, he places a kiss on her head. “Goodnight, Rarity.” He says quietly. Turning around, he walks and heads out her home. “Guess I should head home as well. Shame we never found the gem that we were supposed to find.” He states. A strange weight is noticed inside his pants pocket that is currently rubbing against his thigh.

Reaching into it, he pulls out a green gem in the shape of a diamond. He is about to question how such a thing came into his being before he sees a flash and a pile of random gems measuring two-feet by three is summoned in front of him. “Is this…?” He says as a smile forms on his face.

“The gem we went to find. Seems it turned out to be a good end to this day after all.” He finishes happily, scooping up the gems into his arm and heading home. He forms a new idea and rushes inside his house, grabbing a sack that he drops the gems into.

“Hmm, lets see how much for these…” he walks out and heads to the local Ponyville bank, seeing they're still opened. Walking inside, he takes note its fairly empty this time of night, only a few ponies still working and two others most likely storing their hard earned bits. He heads over to the exchange desk to convert the gems into bits, knowing he won't get much since gems are common but any amount helps.

“Hello, Ridley. What can I help you with today?” A gray-coated Earth pony mare with tired-but-happy blue eyes and matching mane color asks him.

“Just seeing how much I'd get for these, Cerulean Gem.” He replies, lifting the sack onto her desk. Her eyes widen slightly as she stares at the sack and then at him as he takes a seat in the chair in front of her desk.

“I swear Cerulean, if you think I stole these or something…” Seltzer starts to say. She suddenly starts laughing as she opens the sack up and dumps the gems onto her desk.

“I was only testing you, ya goof! I know you wouldn't ever do anything of the sort.” She giggles and makes him groan as she digs through the pile. He is amused at her squees that come from seeing a few choice gems into the mix. Looking around, he sees the two ponies that trotted in with him stare with wide eyes. He gives a shrug to the two when Cerulean taps his hand with a hoof.

“My word, I would almost think these were stolen, Ridley. They are in such pristine condition! How on Equestria did you get these?!?” She exclaims, using one of those small eye magnifier things to check for any dents and scratches.

Seltzer signs and places a hand over his face, not wanting to remember what happened. “Long story.” He tiredly responds with, rubbing his hand down his face.

The mare giggles, holding a hoof over her mouth. “That bad, huh? Anyway, your total comes to 18890 bits. Will that be fine?”

A peculiar sound is heard as Seltzer falls out of his chair, crashing into the floor from the amount she just said. He zips back up quickly with an ecstatic grin on his face. “E-Eight- yes! You have yourself a deal!!” he shouts, attracting the attention of the two ponies who were leaving.

Cerulean Gem holds her hoof out and he shakes it excitedly. “The bits will be deposited into your account. Pleasure doing business with you, Ridley!” she happily says to him.

“And it was all mine. See you later, Cerulean Gem!” With that, he runs through the lobby and out the entrance doors, rushing past the same two ponies who are now outside, once again staring at him as he runs down through the street, jumping in happiness.

“What a weird being.” The stallion mutters.

“But he's happy, so that's good.” The mare next to the stallion adds. The two ponies shake their heads and share a laugh.

As Seltzer rushes back home, his mind is filled with thoughts on surprising Rarity and what he should get for her. Now with a grand total of 20000 bits after adding up what was already in his account, he is among one of the richest in Ponyville and could possibly get her anything she desires. Seems life is starting to get good for the demon-warrior known as Seltzer as he arrives home and stows the special gem away in one of his dressers…