(Gleaning Coin’s House)
(3 weeks later)

“GLEANING COIN! ANSWER THAT DOOR NOW!” Sapphire Flare screamed from her room while a knocking had been occurring on the front door for almost twenty constant minutes.

The young stallion burst up from his bed and started for the stairs. “Ok mom! Geez if you’d try to get up instead of-“

“WHAT WAS THAT?!”

“Getting the door!” He sprinted down the stairs, nearly tripping at the last one. “Who’d stop by this late on a Frid-“ Upon opening the door Coin saw none other than Silver Star standing there in her school uniform.

She was still knocking on the door despite it not being there, as if she were so enraptured by the action that she didn’t acknowledge the door being gone. “Oh... Hi.” The combined nervousness would’ve made any watchers recoil visibly but luckily it was just those two. “I just wanted to thank you and your friend for uh... You know...”

“Don’t mention it, it was the right thing to do. Most ponies here in Manehattan would’ve walked right by and just went on with their day but my mom tells me do what’s right. And Shadow doesn’t live here, he’s up the street.”

“Oh well I figured that since we know each other it’d be easier to come to you...” The two stood there silent, as awkward as two teenagers could be, the tension rising between the two.

“Kid if I ever did something like this my brother would slap me, ask her on a date.” A familiar voice said

“You want to go somewhere? Like a cafe or something?”

Silver Star was surprised at his sudden boldness and decided to answer. “Like a date?” She nervously asked. “I-I’d like that, so can we go now?”

*Slam*

The door slammed shut and the sound of something sprinting up stairs was heard while Silver Star stood at the door, incredulous. A crashing sound followed along with an irate voice. “GLEANING COIN WHAT WAS THAT?”

“You don’t have to yell Sapphire!” Lucky Break said aloud. “I was writing something important for Blue Dart.”

“I’m going somewhere with a friend mom!”

“Oh ok then, be safe and back before midnight.” Coin’s mom changed her tone at a drastic speed. The door flung open to Silver Star’s surprise.

“Sorry about that. I had to grab some bits and change.” Silver Star snickered while Coin looked confused. “What’s wrong?”

She stood there chuckling to herself, almost hypnotically to the colt before her fit of laughter stopped and she managed to answer. “You forgot to put pants over your underwear, nice trains though.”

Coin looked down to see that he was in fact only clad in his blue underwear with red trains. “AAH!” The door was left open this time but a faint outline of dust remained, but it was replaced with a fully clothed Gleaning Coin in the blink of an eye. “Ok let’s go to the diner not far from here.” The pair started walking, unbeknownst to them they would be in for trouble during their time.

==============================

“Our time must truly come to an end... it’s not like I can risk you stinking up the place or my clothes for that matter.” Inanis said to the headless mare who was now a shade of deep green and her flesh was starting to visibly rot. “I’ve most definitely cherished the time we had but I’ll need to find a replacement...” His horn glowed a light shade of purple and a white mist appeared around the mare that was now on the floor. “I must say goodbye and begin my search for a new-“ He stopped to lick his lips. “Partner.”

*Voom*

A deep sound reverberated through the air and like that the mare’s corpse was gone, not a single trace of the mare not even her clothes were left behind. “Now let’s go for some lunch...”

==============================
(Diner)
(10 minutes later)

“I’m just taller than she is... that’s a surprise.” Coin thought as he munched on his hay fries. “So where have you been this whole time? I haven’t seen you in a while.” Silver Star enjoyed her soda and looked out the window at a passing stallion with blonde hair who waved at her. “Isn’t that the stallion from-“

“Well I was in a therapy group to get past my trauma of nearly dying and before the the police had to talk to me about what happened so I had to wait before I was ready to come back to school.” The door opened and revealed Deep Shadow, still wearing his uniform.

“Shadow! Funny seeing you here.” Coin jumped up to hi five his friend but Shadow had a serious expression on his face.

“Coin, Dart and Hunter might’ve found the boss, so you’re gonna have to meet up with your girlfriend some other time.”

“How’d you figure that out?” Silver Star questioned while Coin looked surprised. “We never made it public and who’s this ‘boss’ you’re talking about?”

Shadow turned to her and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, it’s not your problem. Coin take her home and meet us at the alleyway we met in.”

Gleaning Coin took Silver Star’s hand and gave her a reassuring smile, the two left the diner with haste. “HEY! You need to pay for your food!” Shadow Sighed and took out his wallet to pay for the food.

Silver Star was pulled along by Gleaning Coin for about five minutes, various onlooking stallions gave him a congratulatory thumbs up at the implication but it was ignored since he only had the goal of keeping his girlfriend out of danger. “We should be right up the street. Is it ok if I use your bathroom? It’s a longer way back.”

“As long as you flush.” They ran up the street to a modest sized apartment complex and sprinted up the stairs, both were out of breath by the time they reached the fourth floor where she lived. She unlocked the door and led inside.

“It’s right off the living room right?” Coin shut the door.

*Thud*

A hand stopped the door before it could close, and Inanis was there peering through the creak. Coin called Yellow Haze in response to the danger. “Who are you?!”

“My name is Bright Inanis and I have a lust- No a need to kill mares and remove their heads.” The teenagers were shocked at the proclamation. “I’m the leader of the underground organization that resides in Manehatten and I’ve been committing these acts for almost a decade and a half now and I’ve gotten away with it because of my unique spell that can get rid of any evidence, but now...” The same white mist appeared around Inanis and Yellow Haze’s eyes widened.

“Master! This is the Specter!” Coin held a hand behind himself to protect Silver Star but the Blonde stallion took a small step closer, striking fear into the other three figures.

“Star go down the fire escape and run, don’t look back!” Silver Star hesitated but looking at the blank expression on Inanis was enough to make her go to and out a window.

“Well kid you’re awfully chivalrous... too bad you’re dying here.” The mist stayed in the air, drifting calmly as the three figures stood silently until...

“Yellow Haze!” The small Specter rushed at Inanis and threw a flurry of punches that were blocked with the mist. “What?” Each hit sounded as if it was hitting a solid wall but Inanis continued to walk closer. “You seemed so nice at first, that mare... The mare with you was dead!” Coin didn’t notice how close his enemy was until a hoof was in his stomach.

“She was but now I’ve found the perfect replacement and that’s your little friend.” The mist formed into a Specter so tall that it had to slouch to fit into the room. It was surprisingly pink and seemed to have no clothes save for a green cover over its mouth. “The Sickness is unrelenting in its pursuit for victims.”

“I thought it was the Devourer!” Yellow Haze used it recovery to pull the couch to itself and fling it at The Sickness but the Specter removed the cover over its mouth and Coin was both disgusted and shocked at what happened next.

“Graah!” The Specter’s abdomen expanded and made it look like a bloated creature but the fact that the couch was sucked into its stomach is what surprised the colt.

*Voom*

It’s stomach returned to normal. “My magic connects me to a void of vast space, I don’t know where it is but whatever goes in can not come back.” The Sickness revealed its sharp teeth and lunged at Coin who blocked the incoming claw strike with Yellow Haze and even then his arm was nearly taken off by the force. “Even before getting The Sickness I’d never been harmed in a fight and this won’t be different.

“Not good!”

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The sun was just setting as a female figure ran down a street. “Have to find somepony to help- Huh?” Silver Star landed on the ground after running into a figure just taller than her.

“Hey are you ok? You look like you took-“ She clenched her hands into the figure’s clothes. “Geez watch the material.”

“P-Please you have to help Gleaning Coin... He’s my-“ She tried her best to speak but shock was holding her back

“Where is he? Who’s he fighting?” Dart questioned

“He said he was a boss. And his name was Bright Inanis.”Dart’s eyes opened wide before he took her by the shoulders and asked

“Where are they right now?”

(Flashback)

“No really why are two assassins at my doorstep?” Hunter had a bow with an arrow nocked while Dart stood with his arms behind him, Titus and True Shot hand their hands and talons held up.

“We just wanted to warn you about the leader of the little mob around here.” True Shot said with her hands shaking slightly from the wrapping in front of her

“Why should we trust you? You’re with the Red Claw!” Dart replies as Hunter remained silent and calm.

“His Specter’s really strong, we aren’t all that happy with our leaders and this crazy feud with the visitor from another world. You’ve had to have met him by now.”

Dart looked at Titus before answering, “No I haven’t but still why should we trust you?”

Titus decided to speak up and he managed to ask one question that caught everypony off guard. “Would we risk fighting you two for nothing?”

(Present Time)

“So this building up ahead?” Dart and Star ran and came to the apartment complex where a window broke and revealed The Sickness floating down without legs and holding Coin in its massive hand. “Put him down you freak!” He said boldly

The Specter hovered above the ground and opened its mouth to spit its own legs out right before they re-jointed themselves. “Your mistake was coming back here, I will have your body.” The Specter pointed directly at Silver Star who hid behind Blue Dart with her eyes slammed shut

“Give me the kid now...” Dart spoke with a tone that bled anger and the Specter begrudgingly gave his opponent back over. Upon feeling, Dart discovered that Coin was worse for wear and was barely breathing. “What happened to you kid?”

Coin managed a slight smile despite the blood coming from his mouth and remembered his interaction before being hurt. “Everything hurts... So bad.” He remembered laying on the floor with walls and furniture having been prey of The Sickness.

“Looks like your luck ran out kid, and to think you said you’d break my untouchable streak. Heh heh, hah hah hah!” The Sickness pulled a hand back but right before it landed its strike a pin managed to pierce Inanis’s cheek. “W-What?!”

“Looks like you aren’t untouchable...” Inanis’ face was contorted in rage and his eye was twitching. “Here I got a hit on you... And you were calling yourself untouchable? You’re... JUST A COCKY IDIOT! I’M A KID AND I HIT YOU! WHO KNOWS HOW BAD MISTER DART’LL BEAT YOU?”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” The last thing Coin remembered was a hoof coming towards his face and he looked back up at Dart with that same bloody smile.

“I got him.” He raised a hand but it slowly fell back, trying to resist but gravity won in the end as his breathing became more and more shallow until his chest stopped rising entirely.

“Kid? Kid?! Coin wake up!” Dart shook the colt but had no response since a gentle smile was etched into Gleaning Coin’s face, it was his last one. “COOIIIIN!” Dart yelled but got no response while Silver Star began to cry over the death of her significant other.

“Your tears can’t bring him back, he’s dead because he thought he could hurt me.” The Sickness opened its maw and let Inanis poke his upper body out. “You’ll end up in here so resisting is pointless.” He fully emerged from the mouth of his Specter in a dress shirt and pants, his suit having been stored in the vast space within his Specter.

Dart walked over and set Coin down to rest against a building wall. “Stay close to him, I’ll handle this.” He walked closer to Inanis.

“At least you want to get this over with, most ponies would run.”

“I can’t break you in half from over there can I? And before you ask I don’t have a Specter so I’m pummeling you with my bare hands.” Dart took his kimono top off and revealed a long sleeved black undershirt and the cuffed part of his navy blue pants.

“Alright fine then.” Dart sprung forward to deliver a punch but his arm was guided into the ground by The Sickness. “I don’t think you can match it’s speed.” The Specter had Dart by the wrist and his arm pinned into the cement.

“We’ll see about that.” He jumped and kicked it in the side, stumbling it. He threw a hit at the same time as The Sickness.

“Die!” The Specter said. “Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die Die!” It started a barrage of hits each topped off with the word, die, in rapid succession until it clashed fist to fist with Dart.

“You’re not getting off easy with what you just did to that kid.”

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Author's Notes:

I might start doing this again, uploads in Friday’s turned hard fast.

See you next time, it'll be back to 3k words on average I promise