Description:
Originally posted on: June 16, 2020 at 3:04 AM UTC
> From One Devil To Another Pt. 1 [w/ story]
> Most people knew about this during my prime as a musician, but before I was discovered, I used to be the technical manager and personal servant to another famous singer during her heyday. That singer was none other than Estelle, a British musician famous for her beauty in both voice and appearance, being a rare breed of unicorn and all. People all around the world thought she was the prettiest and most generous unicorn out there, a sort of successor to Rarity, if you will. What people didn’t know, however, was that she grew into a rotten bitch.
> Before I worked with her, I idolized her much like everyone else back in the day. She was my most favorite musician, and I aspired to be just like her. The only problem was I had very low confidence in my singing voice, and thus I never sang in front of others. Tay insisted I at least try to perform to others via the karaokes hosted at clubs and bars, since being a musician would pay much more than my tiny paycheck at the local mechanic shop, but I didn’t fall through with her advice. Besides, being the local teen mechanic and the lady of the night wasn’t that bad of a life to me.
> That all changed when Estelle’s tour bus stopped by the mechanic shop I was working at. Their bus had broken down and needed to be running again asap, and I was the only mechanic present. And let me tell you, it was no easy fix: not only was the engine out of power due to a dead battery, but the engine itself was in such bad shape that I pondered how it even made it to Fillydelphia. After one excruciating hour, I managed to fix up the engine and replace the battery as best I could.
> After camping out inside the bus the whole time, Estelle herself came out to see what the hold-up was. After the driver explained everything to her, she turned to me and said this:
> “Well, love, you’ve got some technical skill for someone your age. How do you feel about coming along and helping us out? Your talent would be put to better use and you would be making a lot more money.”
> Of course I said yes, and after making a quick trip home to say my goodbye’s to Tay, we were on the road. Things were pretty normal until we got to our first performance in Neigh York, where we had to set up the lights and sound equipment. I didn’t realize I was humming until one of the stage crew complemented how great I sounded. I just awkwardly waved it off until Estelle pulled me aside for a talk:
> “While my employees will try to be nice to each other about this sort of thing, I will be more critical since this is my field of expertise. To be frank, you sound only halfway decent; nice enough to be tolerable, but not good enough for a prolonged period of time. Since I would hate to see you get yelled at after a bit, I would try to refrain from humming for their sake and your own, okay?”
> She sounded like she was saying this out of kindness, but I still detected a tiny bit of… bitter jealousy. It was barely noticeable, but I still picked up on it. Since I was so timid, and because she was such a good singer, I assumed she knew what she was talking about and I took her advice. Plus, I didn’t want to make her angry.
> After everything was set up, it was time for the performance. I was put up on the catwalk with a task of keeping the spotlight on Estelle during the entire thing as well as making changes to lighting when necessary. It was a bit lonely, since I was the only one up there, but at least I got a good view of the stage. Besides, her voice still left me mesmerized.
> Maybe a little too mesmerized, however, because I nearly missed my cue to dim the spotlight during a quiet moment of one of her songs. I was able to dim it just in time, but it was off-beat to the music by just a millisecond. Through the darkness, I could see Estelle’s eyes on me… she had that look of understanding, but they still held a tiny bit of fury. She kept her usual smile, but I could almost feel her orange eyes burning on me, even if it was barely noticeable.
> I tried my best not to fuck up afterwards, and the rest of the time she would glance up at me with those eyes and made sure I didn’t mess up a second time. Luckily the rest of the show went by pretty smoothly, and once the sound of the applause filled the air as the curtains came to a close, it was time to pack up. Estelle pulled me aside again, but this time she just calmly explained that she understood my mistake since it was my first time and told me to be sure not to mess up again. I was kind of surprised by this after I sensed all those hints pointing to the opposite reaction, but I shrugged it off and we went back onto the road to continue the tour.
> Things got a bit better as the tour went on; I got better as I got the hang of the ropes, and eventually made changes that only enhanced each performance. Even Estelle was impressed, to the point that she offered to give me private singing lessons since I held so much potential. It meant a lot coming from her, so of course I accepted her offer. As we spent more time on the lessons between shows, both my singing and our relationship started to improve.
> After a few weeks, however, things started to change. Less and less people were coming to the shows, and the presses revealed the reason why. Estelle’s style of gentleness and being an overall nice woman became outdated, and the style of being the “bad girl” was trending in the industry. This meant that Estelle either had to change to fit that trend, or risk dying out in relevancy.
> Her desperation was obvious; she had to stay on top, no matter the cost. She tried everything she could think of to follow that trend, and they all failed. With every failed attempt, she got more and more stressed. Eventually, while I was bringing her coffee, she got so stressed out that she took it all out on me.
> It was at that moment that she struck gold. Suddenly she had it all figured out when she first hit me, and it got her not only to conform to the trend in a way that people liked, but secured her spot as the top singer. This led to a massive shift in our relationship from a strong mentorship, to cruel abuse. There was no shred of genuine care from her anymore, and she seemed content to keep it that way if it meant she stayed on top.
> I was miserable, to the point where I resumed my original job of being a street whore whenever I’m off-duty. I didn’t even do it for the money, she still paid me the same, but I just wanted an excuse to be away from her every night. It was difficult to find anyone to sleep with, especially with how much we moved from city to city, country to country, but I still managed. However, that extra hobby only made her more hateful towards me.
> It eventually led to one of the worst moments of my life. We were in Stalliongrad to set up our next performance, or at least, that was the plan. Stalliongrad never lets outside entertainment in, so I wasn’t too surprised when they shut down our plans after we had already moved into the city. That, since it meant we were to be stuck in a near-frozen wasteland for a few days, made Estelle nearly blow a fuse.
> I’ve tried to block out what she did to me once we were somewhere private out of my memory, but it just would not fade. Every word she screamed, every blow she dealt, every pain I felt, was something I would never forget. It was no longer just about the frustration of having her plans cancelled; it became everything she hated about me. That was the traumatic moment that made me as insecure as I was when I first got together with Nightswift, and it was one I would rather not go into further detail on.
> After that was over and the night rolled in, I was completely shaken. As I sat under the streetlight of the cold, vacant streets of the sleeping city, I was still and quiet. Eventually it all came crashing down and I just broke down in utter hopelessness. I was certain I would never get away from that monster for as long as I was away from home.
> “Hey, what’s gotten you down?”
> An earnest, bright voice broke through my stifled sobs and soft winter winds. I looked up to face the owner of the voice: a tall, black unicorn with deep blue eyes and the same blue stripe down her long, black mane and tail. That appearance could not have been mistaken for anyone else, for I was face-to-face with none other than the infamous Nightswift. I was scared out of my life to be facing the most dangerous mare in all of Equestria, yet I couldn’t bring myself to run or do anything.
> “What’re you doing out here? Don’t you know there’s a blizzard coming?” She asked me in a voice that showed genuine concern, which surprised me considering what she was known for. I managed to get myself to speak coherently after a brief silence and baffled stammering.
> “I, um, I was just, uh, having a rough day. I-I better head back.” I got onto my feet and took a few rushed steps away before she grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to a stop.
> “Whoa, easy. You’re a bit far from any bus stop and like I said: a storm’s coming. How about you come back with me to my place? My car can get us there before the snowstorm kicks in, so whaddya say?”
> As much as I didn’t want to risk ending up dead or missing by her hands, she was right. It was either I take my chances with the crazy and potentially deadly mare, or freeze to death before I reach any shelter. With much reluctance, I accepted her offer.
> “Great! Hop in and we’ll be there in no time.” She led me to her car, and pretty soon she shot off onto the road at top speed.
> To be continued…
> \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
> Part 2: [https://www.deviantart.com/emc-blingds/art/From-One-Devil-To-Another-Pt-2-w-story-850353618](https://www.deviantart.com/emc-blingds/art/From-One-Devil-To-Another-Pt-2-w-story-850353618)[www.deviantart.com/emc-blingds…](https://www.deviantart.com/emc-blingds/art/From-One-Devil-To-Another-Pt-2-w-story-850353618)
> Did some more experimenting with 2D characters in 3D backgrounds. This was originally going to be two drawings combined into one image with the whole story to go along with it, but it's taking me a little longer to finish the second drawing and the second half of the story, so I decided to keep them separated into two parts.
> Nightswift @ [billy2345](https://www.deviantart.com/billy2345)
> Bling (Mel) & Estelle @ me
> From One Devil To Another Pt. 1 [w/ story]
> Most people knew about this during my prime as a musician, but before I was discovered, I used to be the technical manager and personal servant to another famous singer during her heyday. That singer was none other than Estelle, a British musician famous for her beauty in both voice and appearance, being a rare breed of unicorn and all. People all around the world thought she was the prettiest and most generous unicorn out there, a sort of successor to Rarity, if you will. What people didn’t know, however, was that she grew into a rotten bitch.
> Before I worked with her, I idolized her much like everyone else back in the day. She was my most favorite musician, and I aspired to be just like her. The only problem was I had very low confidence in my singing voice, and thus I never sang in front of others. Tay insisted I at least try to perform to others via the karaokes hosted at clubs and bars, since being a musician would pay much more than my tiny paycheck at the local mechanic shop, but I didn’t fall through with her advice. Besides, being the local teen mechanic and the lady of the night wasn’t that bad of a life to me.
> That all changed when Estelle’s tour bus stopped by the mechanic shop I was working at. Their bus had broken down and needed to be running again asap, and I was the only mechanic present. And let me tell you, it was no easy fix: not only was the engine out of power due to a dead battery, but the engine itself was in such bad shape that I pondered how it even made it to Fillydelphia. After one excruciating hour, I managed to fix up the engine and replace the battery as best I could.
> After camping out inside the bus the whole time, Estelle herself came out to see what the hold-up was. After the driver explained everything to her, she turned to me and said this:
> “Well, love, you’ve got some technical skill for someone your age. How do you feel about coming along and helping us out? Your talent would be put to better use and you would be making a lot more money.”
> Of course I said yes, and after making a quick trip home to say my goodbye’s to Tay, we were on the road. Things were pretty normal until we got to our first performance in Neigh York, where we had to set up the lights and sound equipment. I didn’t realize I was humming until one of the stage crew complemented how great I sounded. I just awkwardly waved it off until Estelle pulled me aside for a talk:
> “While my employees will try to be nice to each other about this sort of thing, I will be more critical since this is my field of expertise. To be frank, you sound only halfway decent; nice enough to be tolerable, but not good enough for a prolonged period of time. Since I would hate to see you get yelled at after a bit, I would try to refrain from humming for their sake and your own, okay?”
> She sounded like she was saying this out of kindness, but I still detected a tiny bit of… bitter jealousy. It was barely noticeable, but I still picked up on it. Since I was so timid, and because she was such a good singer, I assumed she knew what she was talking about and I took her advice. Plus, I didn’t want to make her angry.
> After everything was set up, it was time for the performance. I was put up on the catwalk with a task of keeping the spotlight on Estelle during the entire thing as well as making changes to lighting when necessary. It was a bit lonely, since I was the only one up there, but at least I got a good view of the stage. Besides, her voice still left me mesmerized.
> Maybe a little too mesmerized, however, because I nearly missed my cue to dim the spotlight during a quiet moment of one of her songs. I was able to dim it just in time, but it was off-beat to the music by just a millisecond. Through the darkness, I could see Estelle’s eyes on me… she had that look of understanding, but they still held a tiny bit of fury. She kept her usual smile, but I could almost feel her orange eyes burning on me, even if it was barely noticeable.
> I tried my best not to fuck up afterwards, and the rest of the time she would glance up at me with those eyes and made sure I didn’t mess up a second time. Luckily the rest of the show went by pretty smoothly, and once the sound of the applause filled the air as the curtains came to a close, it was time to pack up. Estelle pulled me aside again, but this time she just calmly explained that she understood my mistake since it was my first time and told me to be sure not to mess up again. I was kind of surprised by this after I sensed all those hints pointing to the opposite reaction, but I shrugged it off and we went back onto the road to continue the tour.
> Things got a bit better as the tour went on; I got better as I got the hang of the ropes, and eventually made changes that only enhanced each performance. Even Estelle was impressed, to the point that she offered to give me private singing lessons since I held so much potential. It meant a lot coming from her, so of course I accepted her offer. As we spent more time on the lessons between shows, both my singing and our relationship started to improve.
> After a few weeks, however, things started to change. Less and less people were coming to the shows, and the presses revealed the reason why. Estelle’s style of gentleness and being an overall nice woman became outdated, and the style of being the “bad girl” was trending in the industry. This meant that Estelle either had to change to fit that trend, or risk dying out in relevancy.
> Her desperation was obvious; she had to stay on top, no matter the cost. She tried everything she could think of to follow that trend, and they all failed. With every failed attempt, she got more and more stressed. Eventually, while I was bringing her coffee, she got so stressed out that she took it all out on me.
> It was at that moment that she struck gold. Suddenly she had it all figured out when she first hit me, and it got her not only to conform to the trend in a way that people liked, but secured her spot as the top singer. This led to a massive shift in our relationship from a strong mentorship, to cruel abuse. There was no shred of genuine care from her anymore, and she seemed content to keep it that way if it meant she stayed on top.
> I was miserable, to the point where I resumed my original job of being a street whore whenever I’m off-duty. I didn’t even do it for the money, she still paid me the same, but I just wanted an excuse to be away from her every night. It was difficult to find anyone to sleep with, especially with how much we moved from city to city, country to country, but I still managed. However, that extra hobby only made her more hateful towards me.
> It eventually led to one of the worst moments of my life. We were in Stalliongrad to set up our next performance, or at least, that was the plan. Stalliongrad never lets outside entertainment in, so I wasn’t too surprised when they shut down our plans after we had already moved into the city. That, since it meant we were to be stuck in a near-frozen wasteland for a few days, made Estelle nearly blow a fuse.
> I’ve tried to block out what she did to me once we were somewhere private out of my memory, but it just would not fade. Every word she screamed, every blow she dealt, every pain I felt, was something I would never forget. It was no longer just about the frustration of having her plans cancelled; it became everything she hated about me. That was the traumatic moment that made me as insecure as I was when I first got together with Nightswift, and it was one I would rather not go into further detail on.
> After that was over and the night rolled in, I was completely shaken. As I sat under the streetlight of the cold, vacant streets of the sleeping city, I was still and quiet. Eventually it all came crashing down and I just broke down in utter hopelessness. I was certain I would never get away from that monster for as long as I was away from home.
> “Hey, what’s gotten you down?”
> An earnest, bright voice broke through my stifled sobs and soft winter winds. I looked up to face the owner of the voice: a tall, black unicorn with deep blue eyes and the same blue stripe down her long, black mane and tail. That appearance could not have been mistaken for anyone else, for I was face-to-face with none other than the infamous Nightswift. I was scared out of my life to be facing the most dangerous mare in all of Equestria, yet I couldn’t bring myself to run or do anything.
> “What’re you doing out here? Don’t you know there’s a blizzard coming?” She asked me in a voice that showed genuine concern, which surprised me considering what she was known for. I managed to get myself to speak coherently after a brief silence and baffled stammering.
> “I, um, I was just, uh, having a rough day. I-I better head back.” I got onto my feet and took a few rushed steps away before she grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to a stop.
> “Whoa, easy. You’re a bit far from any bus stop and like I said: a storm’s coming. How about you come back with me to my place? My car can get us there before the snowstorm kicks in, so whaddya say?”
> As much as I didn’t want to risk ending up dead or missing by her hands, she was right. It was either I take my chances with the crazy and potentially deadly mare, or freeze to death before I reach any shelter. With much reluctance, I accepted her offer.
> “Great! Hop in and we’ll be there in no time.” She led me to her car, and pretty soon she shot off onto the road at top speed.
> To be continued…
> \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
> Part 2: [https://www.deviantart.com/emc-blingds/art/From-One-Devil-To-Another-Pt-2-w-story-850353618](https://www.deviantart.com/emc-blingds/art/From-One-Devil-To-Another-Pt-2-w-story-850353618)[www.deviantart.com/emc-blingds…](https://www.deviantart.com/emc-blingds/art/From-One-Devil-To-Another-Pt-2-w-story-850353618)
> Did some more experimenting with 2D characters in 3D backgrounds. This was originally going to be two drawings combined into one image with the whole story to go along with it, but it's taking me a little longer to finish the second drawing and the second half of the story, so I decided to keep them separated into two parts.
> Nightswift @ [billy2345](https://www.deviantart.com/billy2345)
> Bling (Mel) & Estelle @ me
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