Forty-Six Days to Rise

"Late, per usual." Emerald May sighed to herself. "Can Photo Finish for once be on time to a shoot? I'm not being paid to sit in this lobby waiting for her." Emerald looked around the studio. There was nopony else in there besides the secretary and a few photographers.

Being a model wasn't an easy job if you don't have a lot of patience. Especially with a manager like Photo Finish. She was always late, simply because she didn't care. She didn't care about about Emerald's patience, or any of her model's for that matter. It was only about two things. Money and fame.

According to Photo Finish, everypony who's anypony wants to be rich and famous, and the only reason Emerald is a model anyway is because she harassed her into it. Emerald just cracked, and because she wasn't doing well financially anyway, what with her perfume shop being shut down, she agreed and signed a contract that practically sold her soul to the company.

Emerald can't even leave for another 3 years of modelling, and she was already tired of it. But hey, easy money. But it still didn't feel right. It wasn't what she wanted to do, or even felt happy doing. Celestia knows her family didn't approve. They all reacted as if she was going into porn.

Emerald wasn't a very famous model. Nopony had really recognized her yet. Which was okay, because she didn't all together love attention. She had few friends. Palette Swap and Line Code were her two main friends. Other than that, she didn't really hangout with any other pony.

So here she was, just sitting in the Studio waiting room, waiting for Photo Finish. Minutes felt like hours as she waited. The shoot was supposed to have started at 1:30. It was now 2:27. The shoot was supposed to have ended a half hour ago. I mean, they didn't even have magazines in the waiting room. So you can expect it was pretty boring just waiting there for an hour. To keep herself busy she just counted the tiles on the floor. They were really small white tiles. There were 538, excluding places she couldn't see. She was too lazy to get up and count the tiles. It was already hard enough just waiting there.

Suddenly, the door in the lobby opened. Emerald turned her head to see who it was, but it was just another photographer. It was already 2:45 and she really wanted to go outside. She quickly got up from her seat and went over to the secretary's desk.

"Um, excuse me?" Emerald asked. The secretary slowly brought her face up from the book she was reading. "Yes?" She asked. "Do you know when Photo Finish will be here? I was supposed to have a shoo-" "No, she's not coming in today." The secretary interrupted. "What? Why? I've been sitting here for an hour and a half waiting for her, and she's not even coming in? Did she say why?" Emerald questioned. "No, the only thing I know is that she can't come in today. Now if you'll excuse me." She said impatiently. "When did you hear about this? Why didn't she tell me?" Emerald went on.

The secretary sighed. "I knew about it since yesterday. Why you weren't told, I have no idea." She said, not looking up from her book. "So you mean I never had to come in here? Why didn't you tell me?" She was starting to get frustrated, and her wings slowly stood up.

The secretary looked up from her book again. "Look, if I had known, I would've told you. But I didn't know you were her model. So I didn't." She said quickly. "Fine. It's almost 3 now, and I've wasted most of a perfect afternoon in here. That's just great." Emerald said on her way to the door. "I can't believe she wouldn't even tell me that the shoot is canceled." She said under her breath. "I can't stand that crazy blue mare sometimes."

As Emerald pushed open the door of the studio, she was greeted by the outside world with the warm, bright sun bathing the land in light. The grass was warm, and the air smelled of apples and freshly plowed earth. The trees swayed in the light wind. There was a slight breeze, as well.. But in the distance she could see some pegasi gathering dark rain clouds. She didn't have much time to enjoy the perfect day anymore. It was all wasted inside a stupid studio.

Emerald trotted down the street to go meet her friend Palette Swap by the tall oak tree they originally met at when they were fillies. As she went the street, she glanced around, and noticed something strange. Nopony else was outside anymore. It was still a nice day outside, but there wasn't a soul around. Rose wasn't at her flower shop, nopony was out walking, no families together, no fillies laughing and playing. There was nopony for as far as she could see. Strange, indeed, she thought. Maybe everypony was at the park.

When Emerald arrived at the park, nopony was there except for Palette Swap sitting by the oak on a wood bench, who looked somewhat concerned. "Palette Swap!" Emerald greeted cheerily as she walked towards her. "You won't believe what happened to me today. So I was waiting in the stu-" "Uh, Em, can I talk to you for a second?" Palette interrupted slowly. "Yeah, sure. What's up?" Emerald asked, sitting down next to her.

Palette was never one to get angry. She was always a happy, friendly earth pony. She loves drawing and painting, but she was bullied as a filly, and was never very brave. "Well, um, today, as I was walking down Mane Street, I realized everypony was suddenly gone. I mean, they were there one moment, and then, it's like they vanished." Palette explained. "Then as I was looking around, I saw a tall stallion dressed in all black standing at the end of the road. He just stood there, staring at me. I couldn't see his face. He just watched me until suddenly he turned left down an alley. I was very scared, so I came here looking for you. I haven't seen anypony since." Palette said.

"That's really weird. As I was walking here, I didn't see any black-clothed stallion, but I did notice everypony was suddenly gone." Said Emerald, confused. She looked to the sky to see if the pegasi from earlier were still there. They weren't, but the rainclouds were already placed, and it started to get darker rather quickly, and the wind started to pick up.

Suddenly, Palette perked up at the sight of a dark brown-maned stallion. His coat was a lighter brown, and he walked slowly, a scared look on his face. He wore a mailbag around his waist. Emerald turned her head to see what Palette was looking at and cocked her slightly. "He looks lost, Palette. We should go talk to him." Emerald suggested. "Sure. We can see if he knows what's going on." Palette added.

As Emerald and Palette walked over to the stallion, they noticed that the wind got even faster, and it got darker. "Excuse me?" Emerald called out. "Sir? We could use some help." The stallion turned his head towards the two mares, and gave a look of relief. "Are you Emerald May?" He asked as he trotted over quickly. "Uh, yes. Yes I am. How do you know my na-" "I've got this letter for you." He interrupted. "But I'm not coming this far anymore. Tell your friends to get a train ticket here if they want to talk to you." "What? What are you talking about? What friends?" Emerald asked as she took the letter. It seemed to glow like a lantern as she held in in her mouth. "What did these ponies look like?" She said through clenched teeth. "Tall. Creepy fellows," He said as he backed away. "Couldn't see their faces. They all wore the same black robes. Anyway, I've gotta go! That storm is rolling in right quick. Ciao!" He said as he ran off.

"Wait!" Emerald called after him, but he obviously didn't hear her. By now it had slightly started to rain. Emerald looked back at Palette with a scared look on her face. Palette looked no different. Suddenly, a loud and bright strike of lightning hit somewhere nearby. "We should get inside." Palette said. "My art studio is closest. Come on, quick."

By the time the two ponies got inside the art studio, they were drenched with water from head to hoof. "I'll go get us some towels." Palette said as she walked up the stairs to the housing-area of the studio, where she lived. In the meanwhile, Emerald stood dripping with rain on a rug by the door, still holding the glowing letter in her mouth. She listened to the now-heavy falling of the rain outside, before examining the studio.

The walls were a shade of green, which closely resembled the color of Emerald's mane. There were various paintings placed around, all with a signature at the bottom reading, "-PRS". There were two blank canvases in the far left corner, and another in the closest right corner, with what looked to be a drawing of a sandy beach on it, with the sun setting in the background. In the center of the room there was a small table, and a clipboard and a cup of paint brushes on it. The clipboard read, "Palette's Painting Ideas Of Boredom". To the right were stairs leading to the housing part of the studio, where Palette lived. The floor was a white tile, easy for cleaning spilled paint off of.  Emerald had only been in Palette's studio about three to four times before surprisingly, considering nopony really spent anytime indoors during the day.

Emerald went over and set her letter on the table. She was beginning to dry off, and was very curious as to why Palette was taking so long. She could hear her hoofsteps upstairs. They sounded normally paced. Suddenly, she heard a loud   bump, and the sound of something spilling over, near the top of the staircase.

But then a few paint brushes and a wood cup rolled down the stairs, and soon after came Palette holding two towels on her back. "Sorry I took so long Em, I couldn't find my extra paint brushes." Palette said. "It's fine. You nearly scared me half to death though, with the paint brushes." Emerald chuckled. "Yeah, sorry about that. I tried to balance it on my head. Turns out I can't do that quite well." Palette giggled. She handed Emerald a towel, and they both began drying themselves off quickly. Emerald balanced herself on the table and stood on two legs, bringing the towel over her damp mane until it was dry. Palette did the same, and once they were both finished she set them on the table.

"So, are you going to open that letter?" Palette asked, eyeing it suspiciously. "I suppose I have to," Replied Emerald hesitantly. "I'm still creeped out by how when that mail-stallion referred to these people as my 'friends'." "And how he mentioned how he came very far, as well." Palette added. "Yeah." Emerald said as she tore the top off of the letter and spit out the top.

She slowly pulled the letter out with her teeth, and let the envelope fall to the ground. She placed the still-glowing letter on the table before picking the envelope back up and putting it in the trash can next to the door. "Alright, let's open it, I guess." Emerald said sheepishly. Palette slowly leaned in closer. Then Emerald laughed. "I don't know why we're getting so scared. It's just a letter." "Heh, yeah." Said Palette, looking over to Emerald, still wearing a concerned look on her face.

Emerald took one flap of the letter and pulled the letter open. Both of their eyes went wide with confusion and fear as they read it. On it, it read "We're out of time. Your assistance is requested. Please hurry." "What? What is this supposed to mean?" Emerald asked nopony in particular. Palette seemed fairly shocked. "Wha... How..." She said with eyes as wide as a full moon. "How are we supposed to know who this is? Or where they are?" Palette blurted out. "I don't know." Emerald said coldly.

Emerald decided to spend the night at Palette's studio instead of walking back to her house. They fell asleep around 11:21 in the studio, drawing portraits of each other, trying to forget the letter. "Make sure you get my sexy side." Emerald had said. Palette just stared blankly before laughing her head off. Now the clock read 2:04 A.M. Emerald and Palette were abruptly woken from a knock on the front door, loud as can be.

Palette's head shot up and looked at the door, and then at Emerald. Palette hated being scared, and having the doors knocked on at night scared her, for an unknown reason. Emerald just nodded toward the door before pointing at the clock. Emerald mouthed the words "Who could that be?" to Palette. She just shook her head.

Emerald stood up off the cold tile floor and stretched, before slowly approaching the door. When she came face to face with it, there was another loud knock. Emerald promptly jumped out of her skin. She looked back at Palette, now standing up as well, and cocked her head. Palette nodded towards the door, and Emerald placed her hoof on the cold brass handle, and slowly started to turn.

Emerald opened the door quickly to a point where she could just see outside. Nopony. There was nopony outside. Just a windy, desolate Ponyville. She closed the door quickly, and looked back to Palette, who now had her head cocked to the side. "There's...nopony out there." Emerald said slowly. "What?" Palette looked confused. "I... I have no idea. You heard that knocking too, right?" Emerald asked. "Of course. How could I not? It was so loud." "Maybe it was the wind getting behind the door." Emerald contemplated, trotting over to the sink in the back of the room for some water.

"Maybe," Palette said. "But... then why did it only happen now? It's been windy all night long." "Beats me." Emerald said as she swallowed a mouthful of water. "Mayb-" Emerald was cut off by the knock on the door again. Palette's ears went down, and she slowly backed away. Emerald beckoned to the door with her hoof. She was currently washing her hoofs so she couldn't really check who it was. Palette, surely but hesitantly, made her way to the door, before slowly sliding it open.

Palette screamed the loudest Emerald had ever heard her scream before, and she turned her head ever so quickly to see Palette trying to shut the door, but it was being held open. By what? She couldn't tell. "Emerald! Help!" Palette squeaked. "It's...him!" "What?!" Emerald cried out. "Who?" Palette successfully shut the door before yelling back, "It's the black stallion I saw before!" There was a sudden slam on the door. Palette fell over with a thump, and the door burst open.

There he was, as black as night. Emerald almost didn't see him. Palette continued screaming, and eventually started crying. But then there was a sudden flash of white. It blinded Emerald temporarily, and she shut her eyes. When she finally regained the ability to see, Palette was gone, her screaming and crying abruptly silent. And he was where Palette used to be. Emerald let out a muffled scream.

Then there was another flash of white.

Then there was only black.

And then there was nothing.