//------------------------------//
// The Runner 
// Story: The Outsiders 
// by Arania 
//------------------------------//

Lyra surveyed the bar, her current inebriation pleasantly obscuring the generally poorly-maintained nature of the establishment, but not quite managing to dilute the foul smell of bile and sweat that pervaded every surface in range of her unfortunately acute olfactory senses.

Two stallions were making an honest effort to beat each other senseless near the door, fighting over a not-particularly-interesting mare who now seemed to be watching with an amused gaze. Dozens of other ponies meandered around the dance floor, the occasional yelp of surprise echoing around the room as one got daring enough to intrude upon another's personal space in an intimate fashion. Still more simply sat around, trying to drink themselves into a stupor.

Lyra may have been slightly inebriated, but she was not drunk. If she had wanted to get enjoyably drunk, she wouldn't have used a bar that obviously had ambitions of playing host to many unspeakable biological contagions. No, she was here on a mission, having elected to drink only in a futile attempt to mute the horrid surroundings to a level that permitted her to ignore them and focus.

A stallion sidled up beside her, taking the seat with a smirk. He was drunk, and quite obviously so, judging by the pervasive smell of ethanol and regurgitated stomach acid. Lyra almost gagged as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Ca- cnnn..." He sputtered, faculties quite clearly impaired. "Can I get ya a drink?"

"I will buck you in the face," Lyra replied with false cheer, fixing the stallion with what she hoped was a sufficiently creepy smile.

"Oooh th- that! that sounds like funnnn," He slurred, leaning over to rest his hoof on her withers. "Fun mare. Barkeep! Two ovr- over here!"

"Get your hoof off me." Lyra growled, her smile slipping slightly. "Or I will break it off."

"Oh? And wherr- where would you put it afterwarr- after?"

"Oh for Luna's sake." She dropped her head to the bench as two shotglasses stopped in front of them, filled with a pungent white liquid. Without giving the stallion a chance to respond, she grabbed both glasses and downed them, wincing at the foul taste.

"Hey! One of those was mine!"

"Too bad, so sad. Now go away."

"You drink mah shot, ah- ahthinkyouoweme." He mutilated the last few words, trying to hold his stomach contents in place.

"Not a chance, bucko. Not that kind of mare."

"Oh? Y- ya into fillies then? I can dig that."

She turned to him, irritation making her eye twitch uncontrollably. "Okay. You want something from me? Let's step outside."

The stallion's eyes widened in anticipation as he almost fell backwards off the stool, drool dripping from his slightly-open mouth. Lyra nearly gagged as she walked past him towards the door, ducking past the two stallions who were still duking it out.

She sighed as the night air hit her face, fragmented moonlight shining down through the scattered cloud cover. It was an otherwise pleasant night, and she would have been enjoying it if she wasn't here.

"Come on little filly," The stallion gestured to a nearby alley, wobbling on his hooves. "Come show me a good time."

Lyra groaned, cracking her joints in preparation as she followed behind him. "Oh, I'll show you a good time alright..."

She stopped short as she heard the sound of a bag of coin being thrown to the ground.

"There. That's fifty bits. Now get lost, I can't stand your breath."

The stallion dashed from the alley with the bag in his mouth, a well-dressed unicorn mare emerging behind him.

"I really don't know why you insist on meeting here of all places, Sierra," Rarity drawled, looking disdainfully at Lyra. "It's disgusting."

"Not all of us can get lucky enough to get a permanent post in the Interior, Rare," She countered, smirking. "Though I'll take any chance to get your prissy little flank out into the Ruins."

"Quite."

"What was the deal with the colt? Not game to come talk to me myself?"

"You expect me to enter that reprehensible establishment? Dear, are you mad?"

"It's just a bar, Rare."

"Oh, I've seen bars, that is not a bar. That is a dive."

"You think I want to be here?" Lyra accused, gesturing at their surrounds. "This is, quite simply, the only Ruin I know of that's safe and easy to get to from the Interior. Unless you feel like dashing along an opening into the Void, or dealing with the other stuff out here."

"Why not just come to the Interior when you need to talk? It has to be better than this."

"You know, Rare, sometimes I wonder if you're secretly an Insider for how much you go on about how good the Interior is."

"That's harsh, Sierra," Rarity said in mock hurt, pulling a small grate away from an opening in the side of the building and stepping inside.

"Wouldn't surprise me, really." Lyra replied, stepping through and closing the grate, halting for a moment before stepping sideways.

The pale moonlight gave way to midday sun, an endless desert stretching out in front of her as she stepped through the breach. Piles of rubble dotted the sand where structures used to stand, some more complete than others. Lyra looked up at the sky and took in the vista, a malevolent red sun hanging perpetually overhead, countless scattered fissures of un-light searing through the atmospheric haze like scars. No matter how many times she came here, it always managed to take her breath away.

"Please don't dawdle, dear," Rarity prompted, walking towards an archway similar to the one they had just emerged from. "I'd rather not stay here long."

"Gee, I wonder why."

"Sarcasm is unbecoming of you."

"Oh, deal with it. Unlike you, I happen to like it here. I don't have to deal with all the usual crazy that being on the Exterior brings."

"No, you just have your own brand of crazy that comes from living in the Ruins for most of your life. This place is horrific!"

"Not as horrific as some places in the Interior. At least out here you can have legitimate safety and solitude."

"Not for much longer, I'm afraid."

"Oh cut the ponyfeathers, Rare. It takes effort to get around in here, and you contacted me for a meeting. What do you want? Does Administration want another update again? Because I can tell you now, nothing is going on out-"

"You can tell them yourself. You're being recalled. That's what I'm here for, to collect you and bring you back to Bastion for pickup."

Lyra stopped short, eyes narrowing. "Horseapples. I'm not leaving. It's quiet, and peaceful, and I get plenty of exercise, and I get to explore. This is the last remaining place in existence that is even slightly interesting."

"Be that as it may, you just said that nothing was going on out here. Not much point having you out in the Ruins keeping an eye on things if there's nothing to keep an eye on, is there?"

"I... but... you..." She plonked onto her haunches, pouting. "Not leaving."

"Oh stop being such a foal." Rarity ignited her horn, surrounding the uncooperative unicorn with a field of magic, lifting her along ahead of her. "Celestia above, sometimes I think living out here makes you stupid."

"I. am. not. Stupid!" Lyra struggled against the field, ineffectually. "Put. Me. Down!"

"Oh stop flailing."

Lyra snorted, glaring at Rarity through the field as they approached the archway.

"Glare at me all you want, I'm not putting you down until I hand you over to Operations."

Lyra stopped struggling and fixed Rarity with an inquisitive stare. "Wait... I'm getting transferred to Ops?"

"Yes, didn't I mention that?"

"...No. You said I was being recalled, not transferred."

"Oh. So sorry."

They proceeded in silence for the next few minutes, passing through the archway and off the sun-blasted desert, into a lush tropical forest.

"Why Ops, though? Don't they have enough ponies to go around as it is? What use would they have for a Runner?"

"Apparently there was an 'incident' with a retrieval mission, and one of the teams needs reinforcing to deal with the aftermath."

"Okay, so why me?"

"Something about needing a pony that can find her way around quickly. A Pathfinder."

"Makes sense," Lyra pondered, a hint of anticipation entering her voice. "Know what team they're putting me with?"

"Sorry, my ears must be deceiving me. It almost sounds as if the unabashed, outspoken Ruins inhabitant was excited about getting dragged back to the Exterior."

"Oh, eat horseapples Rare."

"Fifteen." Rarity replied, chuckling. "Team fifteen. They bungled their retrieval and lost one of their team in the process."

"Fifteen... fifteen... Oh! Walleye and Woona! They're doing retrievals now?"

"Lunatic."

"I'm sorry?"

"Fifteen's Luna goes by 'Lunatic' now."

"Oh? Well, she did always hate being called 'Woona'."

"She's also the one that they lost."

"What? Woona's dead?"

"Missing, as far as I know. Details are need-to-know at the moment."

Rarity turned another corner, through a thicket of branches, emerging into daylight out of a mouldy crack in the side of a hill. Three guards in heavy Outsider armour sat there, playing cards and plainly bored.

"Oh, wow. They sent the Shining Squad to get me, don't I feel special."

The three stallions looked up, fixing Lyra with identical goofy grins as she was gently set down by Rarity.

"Lyra! How've you been?"

"How's it feel to be back in civilisation?"

"Not too demented from all your time out there, I hope?"

"Oh Celestia above I've missed you three." Lyra grinned, glancing between each of them. "Always a fun time."

"Oh you dirty mare."

"I know just the sort of fun you're looking for."

"But you know we're married to the job."

Rarity groaned, rubbing her face with a hoof. "I'm going home. Do any of you gutter-minded ruffians need anything else from me?"

"Oh, there's plenty of stuff, filly-"

"-but I think you'd be more likely to hit us-"

"-than oblige us if we asked."

With a huff, Rarity ignited her horn, teleporting away. "Disgraceful!"

"Love you too, darling." One of the Shinings threw Lyra a nondescript gray band with an inlaid green jewel. "Your beacon. Bit bland, I think."

"Yea, well not all of us get to have suits of full armour and customised cutie-mark beacons, can we?"

The three Shinings merely shrugged.

"So what now? Do I just head back?" Lyra looked at them, waiting for instructions. "All I know is what Rare told me, that I'm getting reassigned to Fifteen."

"We've got some work to do here blocking up that Ruins breach, so you're heading back by yourself."

"The guards know you're coming."

"They'll take you where you need to go. Admin is a bit tight-lipped about the new team makeup, very hush-hush."

"Yea, I heard, Woona went missing." Lyra examined the beacon. It had been years since she'd seen this, and even longer since she'd first made it. "I'm replacing her."

"No, that's not it. You're not replacing her."

"It's to do with a candidate that they're also considering putting with Fifteen."

"She just arrived on the Exterior."

Lyra groaned, triggering the beacon. "A newbie Outsider? Just my luck they'd get put with my new team."

The three Shinings chuckled simultaneously. "She's not an Outsider."

"What?"

The world went sideways.