“Now listen here. What I’m sayin’ to you is the honest truth. Let go, and you’ll be safe.”
"现在听我说。我对你说的都是实话。放手吧，你就安全了。"
I want to do the right thing. Isn’t that simple? It should be. It’s supposed to be! There are rules; you follow them. There are choices; you consider them and then make the right choice. Then you live with the consequences.
我想做正确的事。这不是很简单吗？应该是的。应该是这样的！有规则，你要遵守它们。有很多选择，你要考虑它们，然后做出正确的选择。然后你就要承担后果。
Like males being raped by an entire community. Like Caprice selling me out to Usury. Like me killing a stable full of innocent ponies.
就像男性被整个社区强奸。就像Caprice把我出卖给了Usury。就像我杀了一群无辜的小马。
Is there a right choice anymore? Has there ever been a right choice? Maybe. Helping those ponies against the ghouls the other day. Freeing Scrapyard from Red Eye’s raiders. Those were good. But sometimes, it feels like all my choices are between ‘lose’ and ‘lose more’. I want to win. I want a clear victory. I want a frigging carrot thrown my way and a pat on the head and a ‘Good job, Blackjack’ for once.
还有正确的选择吗？有过正确的选择吗？也许吧。那天帮助那些小马抵抗食尸鬼。把废品场从红眼的袭击者手中解救出来。那些都是好东西。但有时候，我觉得我所有的选择都是在"失去"和"失去更多"之间。我想赢。我要一个明确的胜利。我希望有人给我一个胡萝卜，拍拍我的头，说一次"干得好，黑杰克"。
Is that so wrong?
这有什么不对吗？
Maybe... I didn’t go through the trouble of helping Glory just so she could tell me what a good pony I am. I didn’t take away Scotch Tape’s memories so that she’d like me more. I did them because they were the right things to do. And if that meant I got shot up a little more, or mutated a little more, or died a little more, it was worth it because they were better. I had to do better, damn it. Or what was the freaking point?
也许......我帮晨辉不是为了让她告诉我我是一匹多么好的小马。我没有拿走苏格兰胶带的记忆，这样她就会更喜欢我。我这样做是因为他们是正确的事情。如果这意味着我被注射了更多一点，或者变异了一点，或者死得更久一点，那么这一切都是值得的，因为他们更好。我必须做得更好，该死的。还有什么意义呢？
What did my life matter if it bettered theirs?
如果我的生活比他们的好，那又有什么关系呢？
And yet… I’d crossed Rampage. I’d hurt all of us by placing her in a lose-lose position. Stay with us and she’d kill Scotch. Leave, as she had, and Scotch
然而...我越过了暴怒。我把她放在一个双输的位置，这会伤害到我们所有人。跟我们在一起她会杀了苏格兰人。走吧，就像她曾经那样，还有苏格兰威士忌
would feel like she’d done something wrong. Because she didn’t understand how much Rampage wanted to help her… and how quickly she’d kill her to give her mercy. So what should I have done? What was the lesser evil?
会觉得自己做错了什么。因为她不明白狂暴有多么想帮助她......以及她会多么迅速地杀了她来施以仁慈。那么我应该做些什么呢？什么是较小的罪恶？
Sometimes, even when you win, you lose.
有时候，即使你赢了，你也会输。
* * *
* * *
The rain hissed and splashed into the cold, wet, slimy, and, from the faint ticking from my foreleg, mildly radioactive swamp water slogging around our hooves. Rotting logs and tangled weeds poked out of the obscuring rain, and only my E.F.S. indicated if they should be avoided or not. The only thing I could hope was that anypony, or anything, that could possibly give us trouble wouldn’t be stupid enough to go outside in weather like this. An acrid chemical smell was blowing from the north. Not much we could do about that besides breathe through our mouths and made the best time we could.
雨水发出嘶嘶声，溅进寒冷、潮湿、黏糊糊的地方，还有我前腿发出的微弱滴答声，带有轻微放射性的沼泽水在我们的蹄子周围滚来滚去。腐烂的木头和杂乱的杂草从模糊的雨中冒了出来，只有我的e.f.s显示是否应该避免它们。我唯一希望的是，任何可能给我们带来麻烦的东西，不会愚蠢到在这种天气出去。一股刺鼻的化学气味从北方吹来。除了用嘴呼吸和尽可能地利用时间，我们对此无能为力。
The plan was simple: head north to EC-1101’s last routing point in the Ironmare Naval Base’s command center. Somewhere along the way we’d run into the Steel Rangers. Find somepony in charge. Explain how we started this whole mess and get them to stop fighting with the Reapers. Yeah, that should be easy...
计划很简单:向北前往位于Ironmare海军基地指挥中心的EC-1101最后一个路由点。在路上的某个地方，我们遇到了钢铁骑兵。找一个负责的人。解释一下我们是怎么引起这一切的，让他们停止和收割者的战斗。那应该很简单..。
right... In the meantime, Flash Industries, the O.I.A. office, and Horizon Labs were all in a relatively straight line north of us. I checked my PipBuck again. My eyes kept drifting to that empty square off to the west near the river, just southeast of Toll: Hippocratic Research.
没错...与此同时，闪电工业、o.i.a.办公室和地平线实验室都在我们北边的一条相对直线上。我又检查了一遍我的PipBuck。我的眼睛不停地向西边靠近河边的那个空荡荡的广场移动，就在托尔:希波克拉底研究所的东南方。
Psychoshy had said that Sanguine could save my life. Regrow Glory’s wing. For all we knew, he might be able to turn us all into alicorns. I glanced over at Lacunae; if the Goddess knew where Project Chimera could be found, would she try something? Lacunae I trusted. The Goddess, not so much.
"心理害羞"说过,"血统"可以救我的命。瑞格晨辉的翅膀。就我们所知，他也许能把我们都变成海角牛。我扫了一眼Lacunae，如果女神知道奇美拉计划在哪里，她会做什么吗？我信任的缺陷。女神，就不那么好了。
I looked at the map display again. It wasn’t really all that far off our path… “Euch…” Glory exclaimed as an ambitious leech tried to wiggle its way up her flank; instead, the black slug got kicked off into the murk. Lacunae was flying low overhead, levitating Scotch Tape safely above the mire. The filly had her hooves extended as Lacunae flew her around in circles; since the alicorn’s magic shielded her from the rain, she was the driest one of us in addition to the happiest.
我又看了看地图显示。当一只雄心勃勃的水蛭试图爬上她的侧腹时,"欧几......"格洛里惊呼道，但是，黑色的蛞蝓却被踢进了黑暗中。空隙低低地飞过头顶，把透明胶带安全地悬浮在泥潭之上。小母马的蹄子伸了出来，陷阱在她身上转来转去;由于独角兽的魔法保护她不受雨水侵袭，她是我们中最干燥的，也是最幸福的。
“Flying is the best thing ever!” she cheered as she swooped around Lacunae. I liked to imagine that, somewhere, the Goddess was watching this. It was the first time the olive filly had smiled since we’d left the Collegiate.
"飞行是有史以来最棒的事情!"她一边欢呼，一边飞快地绕过拉库奈。我喜欢想象，在某个地方，女神正在看着这一切。这是我们离开学院后，橄榄小姑娘第一次露出笑容。
“She’s going to draw trouble,” P-21 muttered.
"她会惹麻烦的,"P-21咕哝着说。
Glory snorted. “Oh, let her have her fun.” Glory was watching Scotch, her eyes silently agreeing with the filly’s statement. I wondered… Lacunae could lift me, after all...
晨辉哼了一声。"哦，让她尽情玩吧。"晨辉在看着苏格兰威士忌，她的眼睛默默地赞同小姑娘的话。我在想......空隙终究能让我振作起来.....。
We moved through the rotting, flooded houses. I kept up a constant watch for red bars on my E.F.S., looking away only to flick off the more determined leeches that started to make holes in my barding. I saw two fat frogs watching us pass. Was it just me, or did they look familiar? Nothing remained of the hopper P-21 had killed earlier, not even bones. Eaten, or liquefied in its own acids? I didn’t want to know.
我们穿过腐烂的、被洪水淹没的房子。我一直盯着我的e.f.s上的红条，目光移开，只是为了甩掉那些更坚决的水蛭，它们开始在我的铠甲上钻洞。我看见两只肥蛙看着我们走过。是我的错觉，还是他们看起来很眼熟？P-21的漏斗没有留下任何东西，甚至连骨头都没有。被吃掉，还是在自己的酸中液化？我不想知道。
A deep, reverberating roar blasting through the rain sent all of us diving for cover, frogs, leeches, and ponies alike. Lacunae and Scotch winked into one of the buildings, P-21 dove behind a mossy wall, and Glory and I took cover in some thorny bushes. The roar sounded again, deep and heavy, building and falling and squealing, but sounding distant through the downpour. I couldn’t tell how far away it really was. Was there a dragon in Hoofington? That was all I could imagine making a noise like that! Nothing on my E.F.S., though, so either it was too far away to register or it was huge and invisible.
一声震耳欲聋的低沉咆哮穿过雨幕，让我们所有人都潜入水中寻找掩护，青蛙、水蛭和小马都一样。空隙和苏格兰人朝其中一座建筑眨眨眼，P-21飞到长满苔藓的墙后面，晨辉和我躲在一些多刺的灌木丛中。轰鸣声再次响起，低沉沉重，建筑物倒塌和尖叫，但在倾盆大雨中听起来很遥远。我不知道它到底有多远。Hoofington有龙吗？我只能想象出这样的噪音！不过，我的e.f.s上没有任何东西，所以要么是它太远了，无法观测，要么是它巨大而隐形。
...Now wasn’t that a pleasant thought?
这不是个愉快的想法吗？
Slowly, I crept through the rubble-choked gap between two buildings. The rain pattered off the spongy beams and decaying masonry underhoof, but besides that, silence. There was nothing on the other side of the gap except another row of decaying homes and the dark outline of a large building beyond them.
慢慢地，我爬过两栋建筑物之间布满碎石的缝隙。雨水拍打着松软的横梁和正在腐烂的石墙脚下，除此之外，一片寂静。缺口的另一边什么也没有，只有一排破败的房屋和远处一座大楼的黑暗轮廓。
...A building that moved…
一座移动的建筑。
I ducked out of sight as it growled long, low, and deep. I didn’t know what it could be; I didn’t want to know. I just didn’t want it to come this way. I backed carefully away as it growled and squealed for a moment… then growled again. Could it hear us? Smell us? It rumbled as it moved… but its rumbles were growing softer.
当它咆哮着长长的，低低的，深深的时候，我躲开了视线。我不知道会是什么，我也不想知道。我只是不想事情变成这样。我小心翼翼地往后退，它咆哮了一会儿，尖叫了一会儿......然后又咆哮起来。它能听到我们吗？闻闻我们？它一边走一边发出隆隆声......但是隆隆声越来越小了。
The roar sounded one more time, fainter and to the northeast. Lacunae and Scotch Tape cautiously emerged, the alicorn so apprehensive that she dirtied her hooves and carried Scotch on her back rather than risk being a flying, glowing target. P-21 crept out a moment later. “Right. Do we want to speculate on what that was?” I asked, looking from one face to the next. I didn’t see one spark of curiosity. “Right. Moving on! Direction: any but that one!” And, ignoring the leeches, we put as much distance between us and that… thing… as we could.
轰鸣声再次响起，越来越微弱，向东北方向传来。陷阱和透明胶带小心翼翼地出现了，亚里康非常担心，她弄脏了她的蹄子，背着苏格兰威士忌，以免成为一个飞行的、发光的目标。过了一会儿，P-21悄悄地溜了出来。"对。我们要猜测那是什么吗?"我问道，眼睛从一张脸转向另一张脸。我一点好奇心都没有。"对。继续前进！方向:除了那个，哪个都行!"而且，忽略水蛭，我们把我们和那个...东西之间的距离...尽可能远。
* * *
* * *
After reaching Celestia Boulevard and getting out of the mire (and shedding a dozen slimy hitchhikers), we started looking around for someplace to dry off. The rain gave no indication of letting up; if anything, it seemed to be falling even harder. We staggered into a ruined shop in the center of a strip that still seemed more or less intact. It was dry, at least… well, drier. I guessed from the large sheaf of wheat on the hanging sign outside the door that it had been some sort of food shop. Empty Dash inhalers, used syringes, and busted bottles of booze made it pretty clear what it was used for now… and, in true raider fashion, somepony had dressed up some yellowed ponnequins in studded bondage gear.
到达天堂大道后，我们走出泥潭(让十几个粘糊糊的搭便车的人流了下来)，我们开始四处寻找可以避雨的地方。雨丝毫没有停下来的迹象;如果说有什么变化的话，那就是雨下得更大了。我们跌跌撞撞地走进一个废弃的商店，它位于一条看起来或多或少仍然完好无损的狭长地带的中心。那里很干燥，至少...嗯，干燥。我从门外悬挂的牌子上的大捆小麦猜测，这是某种食品商店。空空的Dash吸入器，用过的注射器，以及破碎的酒瓶都清楚地表明了它的用途......而且，在真正的袭击者时尚中，一些小马给一些泛黄的ponnequins穿上了布满钉子的捆绑装备。
‘Cause that was what passed for humor in the Wasteland. A ponnequin in a leather gimp suit…
因为这就是荒原上所谓的幽默。一个穿着皮革拖鞋西装的女郎..。
“Okay. Glory, what is the deal with all the rain?” I asked as I shook myself hard.
"好吧。晨辉，这些雨是怎么回事?"我一边问，一边用力摇晃着自己。
“Is the Enclave trying to drown us?” The question was only half hypothetical.
"飞地是不是想淹死我们?"这个问题只是一半的假设。
She flung water off her wing before blinking. “Oh, no. Not at all. Believe it or not, this is all natural.”
她眨眼之前把翅膀上的水甩掉了。"哦，不。一点也不。信不信由你，这完全是自然现象。"
“This… is natural?” I gaped as I pointed out the window. That wasn’t natural. We’d be swimming at this rate!
"这......是自然的吗?"我指着窗户，目瞪口呆。这可不正常。这样下去我们就得游泳了！
“Mhmmm. Before the war, clearing the skies over Hoofington was a full time job.” She cupped her hooves. “The Hoofington valley is basically a great big bowl thirty miles across with mountains to the east and west and the highlands to the south, so all the wet air off the ocean gets blown into it and the bowl fills up. The higher you go, the colder it is. All that wet air has nowhere to go, so it cools and forms clouds and then rain. Hoofington had major problems with flooding even before the war. It gets about two hundred inches of rain a year.” I gaped. Two… hundred… inches?! ...Was that a lot? A glance outside suggested yes.
"嗯.....。战前，清扫胡芬顿上空是一项全职工作。"她把蹄子弯成杯状。"胡芬顿山谷基本上就是一个巨大的碗状区域，东西两侧都有山脉，南侧是高地，所以所有来自海洋的潮湿空气都会被吹进去，碗状区域就会被填满。"。你爬得越高，温度就越低。所有的湿空气无处可去，所以它冷却下来，形成云，然后下雨。胡芬顿甚至在战前就面临着严重的洪水问题。每年的降雨量大约为200英寸。"我目瞪口呆。200英寸?！是不是很多？看了一眼外面就知道是的。
Glory looked out the grimy window at the brown river coursing along beyond the road. “All the pegasi had to do was stop working, and nature clouded the skies for us. It probably doesn’t matter much today, but Hoofington used to be a major cloud exporter to Appleloosa and other dry regions.”
格洛里透过肮脏的窗户，望着沿路奔流的褐色河水。"飞马座所要做的就是停止工作，自然给我们的天空蒙上了一层阴影。这在今天可能无关紧要，但胡芬顿曾经是Appleloosa和其他干旱地区的主要云出口商。"
I tried to imagine teams of pegasi bundling together huge trains of wet gray clouds and pushing them out to the rest of Equestria. “I’m amazed there’re any tunnels under the city that aren’t flooded.” Then I mentally kicked myself and glanced at Scotch Tape, but she was more interested in the ponnequins. Apparently, she really didn’t remember.
我试着想象飞马座的人们将巨大的潮湿的灰色云团捆绑在一起，把它们推向Equestria的其他地方。"我很惊讶，城市地下竟然还有没被淹没的隧道。"然后我在心里自责，瞥了一眼苏格兰胶带，但她更感兴趣的是ponnequins。显然，她真的不记得了。
“If there wasn’t power, there probably wouldn’t be,” P-21 said as he rubbed his rear leg. “If you look along the riverbanks, there’re outflow pipes constantly emptying into it. Without those pumps, everything below river level would be underwater.”
"如果没有电力，可能就不会有了,"P-21一边搓着后腿一边说。"如果你沿着河岸看，就会看到不断流入的水管。如果没有这些水泵，低于河流水平面的一切都将被淹没。"
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
"你还好吗?"我问他。
“I’m fine,” he muttered, frowning at the limb. “It just hurts a lot.”
"我很好,"他喃喃自语，皱着眉头看着四肢。"真的很疼。"
Glory frowned and knelt as she looked at his limb. “It shouldn’t,” she said, glancing up at him but not touching it. With his glower, I couldn’t blame her. “I checked Triage’s files. You practically have a brand new leg.”
晨辉皱了皱眉头，跪下来看着他的四肢。"不应该,"她说，抬头看了他一眼，但没有碰它。他怒目而视，我不能责怪她。"我查了伤员分类档案。你实际上有了一条全新的腿。"
“Then they botched it up. It still hurts,” he muttered as he rubbed it with his hooves.
"然后他们把事情搞砸了。还是很疼,"他一边用蹄子摩擦，一边喃喃自语。
“Here,” I said as I floated him a syringe of Med-X. “It’s probably from walking in cold water in the rain. Can’t be doing it any good.” Glory frowned as he jabbed the needle into his leg and some of the stress and anger left his face.
"给你,"我一边说，一边递给他一针Med-X。"这可能是因为在雨中走在冷水中。不可能有什么好处。"晨辉皱起了眉头，把针扎进他的腿里，脸上的一些压力和愤怒消失了。
“Thanks, Blackjack,” he said as he swung his leg with obvious relief. Rising, he moved further back into the store. “I’ll check and see if I can find anything valuable.”
"谢谢，Blackjack,"他一边说，一边摆动着他的腿，显然松了一口气。站起身来，他向后退到商店里。"我去看看有没有什么值钱的东西。"
Glory frowned at me as he started poking around in the back. “Blackjack, you shouldn’t have given that to him. At least not without letting me examine him first. If there’s something wrong with his leg, then he needs treatment. Maybe he has a pinched nerve or something.”
晨辉开始在后面闲逛，皱着眉头看着我。"黑杰克，你不应该给他那个。至少得让我先检查一下。如果他的腿有什么问题，那么他需要治疗。也许他的神经受了压迫什么的。"
“Glory, P-21’s not going to let any mare examine him.” She started to argue, and I shook my head, “Just let it go. If he says it hurts, then it hurts. He doesn’t make stuff like that up,” I said as I looked at some photographs along the wall. She huffed and moved off to explore as well, also looking at the various outfits and restraints on the dummies. She seemed to be turning far redder than Scotch, though.
"晨辉，P-21不会让任何母驴检查他。"她开始争论起来，我摇了摇头,"算了吧。如果他说痛，那就是痛。他不会胡编乱造,"我边说边看着墙上的一些照片。她气喘吁吁地走开去探险，同时也看了看假人身上的各种服装和约束装置。不过，她似乎变得比苏格兰威士忌红得多了。
The photographs were of a blue-gray unicorn mare; I couldn’t quite make out the color of her mane from the faded images, but I thought that it might have been pink. She was dressed… oddly. Not like Rarity, whose outfits were purely for decoration. It looked almost like casual apparel. Next to her was a stallion wearing some kind of strange leather hood. A caption was written at the bottom. ‘The Crop: for when your seed needs sowing.’
这些照片是一匹蓝灰色的独角兽母马，我无法从褪色的图像中辨认出它鬃毛的颜色，但我想它可能是粉红色的。她的穿着...很奇怪。不像珍妮，她的服装纯粹是用来装饰的。它看起来几乎像休闲服装。她旁边是一匹种马，戴着某种奇怪的皮兜帽。标题写在底部。"庄稼:当你的种子需要播种的时候。"
The rest of the pictures were hard to make out, but from what I could see I started doubting my theory that raiders had dressed up these dummies. There was one of Rarity looking fabulous and giving the cameras a very ‘Wouldn’t you like to know?’ glance as she held a shopping bag in her mouth, the gray unicorn looking on in glee. Another was of a fancy pony with a lace fan cutie mark. Not nearly so fabulous, but still. Wait… Fluttershy?
其余的图片很难辨认，但是从我所看到的来看，我开始怀疑我的理论，即袭击者给这些假人穿上了衣服。其中有一个珍品看起来很漂亮，给相机一个非常'你不想知道吗?'看着她嘴里叼着购物袋，灰色的独角兽在高兴地看着。另一张是一匹花哨的小马，上面有一个可爱的花边标记。虽然没有那么神奇，但还是很神奇。等等......小萤火虫？
Okay. I stopped looking at the pictures. They made my brains hurt. I sat down on a mattress that somepony had dragged from Goddesses knew where and waited for the rain to let up…
好吧。我不再看那些照片。他们让我的大脑受伤。我坐在一张被小马从女神那里拖来的床垫上，等着雨停.....。
…
I hate waiting.
我讨厌等待。
I lasted ten minutes, checking my pistol and shotgun, organizing the potions and chems in my pockets… digging in my saddlebags…
我坚持了十分钟，检查了我的手枪和猎枪，整理了我口袋里的药水和药水......在我的鞍囊里翻找.....。
I came across the memory orbs from Blueblood Manor. Maybe there was something in there about Vanity’s nephew? No… honestly, of all the Marauders, Vanity had seemed, after Big Macintosh, the one most concerned with his teammates. I lifted the orb and caught Lacunae’s eye. “I’m going to take a peek, okay? So no hanging me upside down off the front of a boat,” I warned. Seriously, I’d come out of enough bad memory orbs and in enough bad ways already.
我偶然发现了来自BluebloodManor的记忆球。也许里面提到了虚荣的侄子？不......老实说，在所有的掠夺者中，瓦妮特似乎是继大麦金托什之后最关心队友的人。我抬起球，吸引了拉库奈的目光。"我去偷看一下，好吗？所以不要把我倒挂在船头,"我警告说。说真的，我的记忆力已经够糟糕了，而且已经够糟糕了。
She nodded once and continued to gaze out at the rain, looking a little pained.
她点了点头，继续凝视着外面的雨，看上去有点痛苦。
“Enervation?” I asked.
"衰弱?"我问道。
“For the last hour, but nothing serious. Just a drain on our potions, I suppose.” She gave a little smile. “Really. You’d think the Goddess would provide me with a simple healing spell.”
"最后一个小时，不过没什么大不了的。我想，这只是我们魔药的消耗罢了。"她微微一笑。"真的。你会认为女神会给我一个简单的治疗咒语。"
I guessed it was an indirect ‘screw Blackjack.’
我猜那是间接的"螺旋式黑杰克"
Gently, I tapped the orb against my horn. “Okay… I’m safe… this is Vanity, so it should be okay… come on… come on…” Hmmm... it wasn’t working. Was there a password or something? I thought of the Marauders… Goldenblood… Princesses… Ministry Mares… I glanced up at the picture of Rarity with her shopping bag. A spark, and the world swirled away.
我轻轻地把球放在我的喇叭上。"好的......我很安全......这是虚荣心，所以应该没问题......来吧......来吧......"嗯......不管用。有没有密码什么的？我想到了掠夺者......金血王子......公主们......事奉的母马们......我抬头看了一眼那张带着购物袋的稀有照片。一个火花，整个世界旋转而去。
oooOOOooo
噢噢噢
Okay… not quite what I was expecting.
好吧...和我想象的不太一样。
Soft sheets. Green velvet drapes around the bed. A very nice-smelling mare. And two ponies having a very good time. I gave a mental roll of my eye and did my best to think of the Ironshod Firearms catalogue. Okay, IF-80 is a twenty gauge… nope, that’s a twelve gauge… shotgun. Pump… action. Shoots a variety of ammo types including… buckshot… Sweet Celestia, shoot me now. Why on earth was he licking… oh… okay… that’s new…
柔软的床单。床周围的绿色天鹅绒窗帘。一匹闻起来很香的母马。两匹小马玩得很开心。我在脑海中翻了一个白眼，尽力想着铁鞋火器目录。好吧IF-80是二十口径的不是那是十二口径的猎枪。加油...开始。射击各种弹药类型包括......铅弹......甜甜的天堂，现在射击我。他到底为什么要舔...哦...好吧...这是新的..。
Check, please. Why wasn’t there a cancel feature on memory orbs?
请结帐。为什么内存球没有取消功能？
Finally--really, three times?--finally, they rolled off each other, and a shimmer of blue swept the drapes back to reveal the bedroom. The mare gave a groan of complete delight as she lay back in the sheets. He started to kiss along her pale neck, but then the doors banged open. Like magic, the mare was transformed into a ball underneath the sheets as Blueblood stomped in.
最后----真的，三次？——最后，他们相继离去，一抹微光打开窗帘，露出了卧室。母马躺在被单上时，高兴得呻吟了一声。他开始沿着她苍白的脖子亲吻，但随后门砰的一声打开了。就像魔法一样，当蓝血王子跺着脚走进来的时候，母马在床单下面变成了一个球。
I’d never really seen him up close pre-ghoulification before, but Blueblood was clearly a suave-looking stallion, even if he was more than twice my age. Right now though, he was a complete mess, his mane long and straggly and his eyes bloodshot. He smelled of stale grapes and pony sweat. “Vanity! Are you here? Vanity!”
我以前从来没有真正近距离地见过他，但是蓝血王子显然是一匹看起来温文尔雅的种马，即使他的年龄是我的两倍多。但是现在，他完全是一团糟，他的鬃毛又长又乱，眼睛布满血丝。他身上有陈葡萄和小马的汗味。"虚荣！你在吗？虚荣心!"
The emerald-maned stallion shook himself and rubbed his temples. “So nice to see you’re back from Canterlot early. You know, even the Princesses don’t attend to others in their beds, Blueblood. If the manor isn’t aflame, then can this please wait for later?” The mare looked as if she was attempting to dig through the mattress to escape.
那匹戴着翡翠色鬃毛的种马摇晃着身子，摩擦着太阳穴。"很高兴看到你提前从Canterlot回来了。你知道，即使是公主也不会在床上照顾别人，蓝血公主。如果庄园没有着火，那么这个能不能以后再说?"那匹母马看起来好像要从床垫里挖洞逃跑。
Blueblood seemed completely oblivious to both Vanity’s comment and the ball under the covers as he threw his forelegs wide. “She’s gone, Vanity! She was here, right here in Hoofington, at some tawdry shop. And then she was gone!”
当他张开前腿的时候，他似乎完全没有注意到《名利场》的评论和被子下面的球。"她走了，虚荣！她就在这儿，就在Hoofington，在一家俗气的商店里。然后她就不见了!"
Vanity sighed, making a face of annoyed resignation. “Good Goddesses, pull yourself together. If anypony sees you like this, they’re never going to stop talking!” He herded the exhausted, frazzled-looking Blueblood out the door. “Now, get some sleep, get something to eat, and, above all… wash. Then we’ll schedule a proper grooming. You simply have to put her behind you. She’s just one silly old mare who can’t appreciate you.”
虚荣叹了口气，做了一个恼怒的辞职表情。"好女神们，振作起来。如果有小马看到你这个样子，它们是不会停止说话的!"他把疲惫不堪、看起来疲惫不堪的贵族们赶出了门。"现在，好好睡一觉，吃点东西，最重要的是......洗漱。然后我们会安排一个适当的仪容。你只需要把她抛在脑后。她只是一匹不懂得欣赏你的愚蠢的母马。"
Was it my imagination, or did that lump under the sheets give a soft snort of outrage?
是我的想象，还是床单下的肿块发出了愤怒的轻轻的鼻息声？
Vanity’s attempt to mollify the morose stallion failed. “She’s not one mare. She’s the mare. The only one who could ever complete me. Am I supposed to court Twilight Sparkle now? Or Fluttershy? No! How could she…” At the moment, I was guessing it was pretty easy. Of course, I also remembered him running his sword through Roses’s heart. A minute later, Vanity returned to the room, closed the doors, locked them, and then, after a moment’s hesitation, levitated his heavy desk against them.
虚荣试图安抚这匹郁郁寡欢的种马，但失败了。"她不是一匹母马。她是母马。唯一能让我完整的人。我现在应该追求紫悦吗？还是Fluttershy？不！她怎么能......"此时此刻，我猜这很容易。当然，我也记得他用剑刺穿了Roses的心脏。一分钟后，瓦妮特回到房间，关上门，锁上门，犹豫了片刻之后，他把沉重的桌子靠在门上悬浮起来。
“Just another mare, huh?” a very familiar unicorn said. He turned to look at the mare sitting upright in his bed. Her purple mane disheveled and tangled about her shoulders, she looked at him with hard blue eyes. “Silly, am I? Old?” She said that word almost as if it were an obscenity.
"又是一匹母马，是吧?"一只熟悉的独角兽说。他转过身来，看着那匹母马直挺挺地坐在床上。她紫色的鬃毛凌乱地缠绕在肩膀上，她用坚硬的蓝眼睛看着他。"我很傻，是吗？老了?"她说那个词的时候几乎像是在说下流话。
Vanity chuckled as he sat down beside her on the bed. “Most sincere apologies. I had to get him out of here somehow. Your rejections completely broke him. I don’t think any mare in history has so… thoroughly… turned down a proposal.”
当他在她身边坐下时，虚荣轻声笑了起来。"最诚挚的道歉。我得想办法把他弄出去。你的拒绝彻底击垮了他。我认为历史上还没有哪匹母马如此彻底地拒绝过求婚。"
“If I knew what a big baby he was going to be, I would have passed it on to Luna.” Rarity sniffed disdainfully. “I’m sure she would have helped him get over it far more efficiently and effectively. Likely with a wartime commission,” she
"如果我知道他会长成一个多大的婴儿，我会把它传给卢娜。"雷诺轻蔑地嗤之以鼻。"我相信，她会帮助他更有效率、更有效地度过难关。很可能是战时委员会的人。"
said sourly as she flopped back against the pillows.
她一边酸溜溜地说，一边靠在枕头上。
“I shudder for the war effort,” he replied as he lay beside her, stroking her cheek.
"我为战争的努力而战栗,"他躺在她身边，抚摸着她的脸颊回答道。
“We could just let him catch us,” he said as he kissed her throat.
"我们可以让他抓住我们,"他吻着她的喉咙说。
She murred and sighed. “A few minutes of satisfaction, at the most, followed by the scandal of the century and the utter disintegration of my career and reputation. Hmmmm…” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Not that it isn’t tempting, but I simply couldn’t leave my friends alone. They need me. Besides, some scandals never fade.”
她低声叹了口气。"最多几分钟的满足，然后是世纪的丑闻，我的事业和名誉彻底崩溃。嗯......"她若有所思地拍着下巴。"不是说这不吸引人，只是我不能让我的朋友们单独呆着。他们需要我。此外，有些丑闻从未消失。"
“Would it really be so bad?” he asked as he cuddled with her.
"真的会这么糟糕吗?"他一边搂着她一边问。
“Yes, Vanity. It would.” She touched her chest lightly. “A mare who is desirable, but unobtainable, has power over those who covet her. She is a priceless commodity. But if they know that another obtained her, then she is cheapened and no longer priceless.”
"是的，虚荣心。会的。"她轻轻地摸了摸胸口。"一匹有吸引力但难以得到的母马，对那些觊觎她的人有权力。她是一件无价之宝。但是如果他们知道是别人得到了她，那么她就是廉价的，不再是无价的了。"
“Really? But you clearly wished to be obtained,” he chuckled as he smiled.
"真的吗？但是你显然希望别人得到你,"他笑着笑了。
“And how,” she said with an unapologetic smile and yet also a demure blush. “I’m not made of stone, you know.”
"怎么会呢?"她说，脸上带着毫无歉意的微笑，同时也带着羞涩的红晕。"你知道，我不是石头做的。"
“Indeed, I noticed,” he said with a soft poke to her belly. “The most delightful marshmallow in Equestria.” And he proceeded to nibble gently on that marshmallow, much to the barely stifled giggles of the mare.
"的确，我注意到了,"他轻轻地戳了戳她的肚子说。"Equestria最美味的棉花糖。"然后他开始轻轻地啃着那块棉花糖，就像母马咯咯地咯咯笑一样。
She sighed and pouted playfully. “Oh, why did I have to pick such a cruel consort?” she said, throwing a foreleg across her brow dramatically.
她开玩笑地叹了口气，撅起嘴。"哦，我为什么要选择这么残忍的配偶呢?"她说，戏剧性地把一条前腿跨过她的额头。
“Sometimes we make mistakes in those we choose to love,” he replied softly, and her smile disappeared as she looked away. He stroked that rumpled mane. “How’s Fluttershy?” he asked in a gentle, concerned tone.
"有时我们会在我们选择去爱的人身上犯错误,"他温柔地回答，当她转过脸去时，她的微笑消失了。他抚摸着那蓬乱的鬃毛。"小家伙怎么样了?"他用一种温和而关切的语气问道。
“As well as can be expected after what that bastard did to her. She’s throwing everything into… something. Some special project she thinks will change the war and end it.” She sighed softly. “It’s been almost four years now. This war and these ministries are like a fashion that’s grown quite noisome. I’d quite like something… fresh.” She looked at him and sighed. “And since he’s tiptoeing around the corners of the conversation already, what is that bastard up to?
"在那个混蛋对她做了那样的事情之后，这也是可以预料到的。她把所有的东西都投进去了。一些她认为能够改变战争并结束战争的特殊项目。"她轻轻地叹了口气。"到现在已经快四年了。这场战争和这些事工就像是一种发展得相当有害的时尚。我想来点......新鲜的。"她看着他，叹了口气。"既然他已经在谈话的角落里蹑手蹑脚地走来走去，那个混蛋到底想干什么？
Suffering, I hope.”
我希望是痛苦。"
Vanity sighed. “Actually, I think he is.” Oddly, Rarity’s satisfaction seemed to turn to a thin sympathy. “He never meant to hurt her. But he did, and he knows it. And I don’t think he’ll ever forgive himself for it.”
虚荣叹了口气。"事实上，我认为他是。"奇怪的是，罕见的满足感似乎变成了淡淡的同情。"他从没想过要伤害她。但他做到了，而且他知道这一点。我不认为他会为此原谅自己。"
She sighed and buried her face in his neck. “Why couldn’t we have met under different circumstances? One where there was no war. Or killing? Or plots and secrets? I’m so dreadfully tired of intrigue. Or fears of our loved ones being hurt. I’d thought I’d be married by now. Perhaps even a mother. And now…” She sighed, one hoof rubbing her tummy slowly. “I am starting to turn into an old mare.”
她叹了口气，把脸埋在他的脖子里。"为什么我们不能在不同的情况下见面呢？一个没有战争的地方。还是杀人？还是阴谋和秘密？我厌倦了阴谋诡计。或者害怕我们所爱的人受到伤害。我以为我现在已经结婚了。甚至可能是一位母亲。现在......"她叹了口气，一只蹄子慢慢地蹭着她的肚子。"我开始变成一匹老母马了。"
“A stunning, lovely old mare,” he replied, and she gave him a small smile in return. “We do live in interesting times. I’m just trying to keep my nephew under control and prevent him from hurting anypony. Himself. Others. I recommended he take a leave of absence. Instead, he’s just throwing himself into his work even more.” He pressed his lips together. “I’ve contemplated leaving the Marauders so I can supervise him.”
"一匹漂亮的、可爱的老母马,"他回答，她也报以一个微笑。"我们确实生活在一个有趣的时代。我只是想控制住我的侄子，不让他伤害任何小马。他自己。其他。我建议他请假。相反，他只是更专注于自己的工作。"他紧闭双唇。"我打算离开掠夺者，这样我就可以监督他了。"
“You’d leave Jetstream?” Rarity asked softly, her tone concerned as she stroked his cheek.
"你要离开Jetstream?"雷诺轻轻地问道，她抚摸着他的脸颊，语气里充满了忧虑。
“The memory modification went perfectly for once. She doesn’t remember Stonewing except as another soldier. She’s focusing on her work, too. Macintosh is keeping her busy.” He sighed and shook his head. “I guess it is a way to handle grief.”
"这次内存修改完美无缺。她不记得斯通因了，只记得他是另一个士兵。她也在专注于自己的工作。麦金托什让她忙个不停。"他叹了口气，摇了摇头。"我想这是一种处理悲伤的方式。"
“Why didn’t we meet at the gala all those years ago?” she said with a faint sigh. “Then we could have had our wonderful happily ever after.”
"那么多年前，我们为什么不在晚会上见面呢?"她轻轻地叹了口气。"那样我们就可以有我们美妙的很想和你在一起了。"
“As I recall, you saw Blueblood and quite ignored the younger prince with the acne problem behind him,” he replied with just a hint of reproach.
"我记得，你看到了蓝血王子，完全忽略了身后有痤疮问题的年轻王子,"他回答时带着一丝责备。
“Oh. Yes. Well… you must understand that those were my silly… flighty… days…” she said with a furious blush. He smiled down at her and kissed her softly upon the lips. Forget Rarity, I wanted to marry Vanity! When their lips parted, she groaned. “Ugh… stop. Please. I simply must get back to Canterlot. My staff gossips quite enough. I don’t have time for a fourth…”
"哦。是的。嗯......你必须明白，那是我愚蠢的......轻浮的......日子......"她脸红地说。他向她微笑，在她的嘴唇上轻轻地吻了一下。忘了珍妮吧，我要嫁给虚荣！当他们的嘴唇张开时，她呻吟起来。"呃...别说了。求你了。我一定要回坎特洛特。我的员工已经够八卦的了。我没有时间再来第四次......"
“Or a fifth? Or a sixth?” he teased as he nudged her hip.
""还是第五个？还是第六个?"他一边开玩笑，一边轻推她的屁股。
Or a seventh? Sweet Celestia, did Vanity compete in marathons?
还是第七个？甜蜜的天堂，虚荣参加马拉松比赛了吗？
Afterwards, they were panting and spent. She looked at him flatly. “You… are a monster.”
后来，他们气喘吁吁，精疲力竭。她直勾勾地看着他。"你...是个怪物。"
“But a very good monster…” he said, his lips parting in a grin as Rarity turned red once more.
"但是一个非常善良的怪物......"他说，当罕有再次变红时，他咧开嘴笑着说。
“Enough! Enough! I am going… before you tempt me into disaster.” But she did have time for one more kiss. Then she emerged from the bed and gave herself a shake; magically, her mane returned to its luxurious curls. Okay. That was a neat trick. I’d like that trick… then she blew him a kiss and, with a blue-white flash, she disappeared from sight.
"够了！够了！我要走了......在你引诱我走向灾难之前。"但她确实有时间再吻一次。然后她从床上爬起来，摇了摇头;奇迹般地，她的鬃毛又变成了华丽的卷发。好吧。这是一个巧妙的把戏。我喜欢这个把戏...然后她给了他一个飞吻，蓝白色的闪光，她从视线中消失了。
oooOOOooo
噢噢噢
I awoke and looked around as quickly as I could. Okay, no monsterponies, cyberponies, Enclave hit squads, Remnant hit squads, cyberdogs, manticores, giant frogs, boats, Zodi… wait. Nevermind. I swapped out Zodiacs for… nightmare hitponies dressed in black! Instead, I was almost disappointed to find myself still on the mattress. No bullet holes. No horrible wounds. Nothing…
我醒了过来，以最快的速度环顾四周。好吧，没有怪兽，赛伯马，昂科雷打击小队，残余打击小队，赛伯狗，大青蛙，船，佐迪...等等。算了。我把黄道带调换成了...穿着黑衣服的梦魇杀手！相反，我几乎失望地发现自己还躺在床垫上。没有弹孔。没有可怕的伤口。没什么..。
So why were my friends all staring at me? P-21 was smiling faintly and kept glancing over at me from his textbook. Scotch Tape was giggling. Lacunae was… blushing? And Glory was looking at me with a very… strange… smile. The gray pegasus cleared her throat softly. “So. Good memory orb?”
那为什么我的朋友们都盯着我看？P-21面带微笑，不停地从课本上瞥我一眼。透明胶带咯咯地笑着。缺陷是...脸红？晨辉用一种非常...奇怪的...微笑看着我。灰色的飞马轻轻地清了清嗓子。"所以。好的记忆球?"
I hesitated before I answered warily, rising to my hooves. “Y…yeah…” What was going on? P-21 coughed, looking like he was actually fighting the urge to grin.
我犹豫了一下，然后小心翼翼地回答，猛地站起来。"y..是啊..."发生什么事了？P-21咳嗽了一声，看起来他实际上是在抑制着咧嘴笑的冲动。
“A very good memory orb?” Glory asked again. My confusion started to give way to irritation when I sniffed, and blinked. What was that smell…? Wait… I knew that smell… and that smell was coming from me.
"一个非常好的记忆球?"晨辉又问道。当我吸气和眨眼的时候，我的困惑开始变成了愤怒。那是什么味道...？等等...我就知道那味道...那味道是我身上的。
“Blackjack’s been naughty!” Scotch Tape fell over laughing. I went as red as the stripes in my mane. Dear Luna, I was sore! How could I be sore? I hadn’t done anything!
"黑杰克真是淘气!"透明胶带在笑声中掉了下来。我脸红得像鬃毛上的条纹一样。亲爱的露娜，我浑身酸痛！我怎么会酸痛呢？我什么都没做！
“I… it wasn’t me! They were… and it was… I--” I finally lost the capacity to speak altogether and just stammered hopelessly, incapable of explaining.
"我.....。.不是我！我终于完全失去了说话的能力，只是无可救药地结结巴巴，无法解释。
“Mhmmm… very naughty,” Glory replied with nod as she walked along behind me. “We’ll have to deal with that later.” She stepped next to me, her side rubbing against my flank. And then her tail snapped against my rump. I think my blush jumped into the infrared!
"嗯......非常顽皮,"格洛里点头回答，她走在我后面。"我们以后再处理这个问题。"她走到我身边，侧身摩擦着我的侧腹。然后她的尾巴在我的屁股上啪地一声折断了。我想我的脸红跳进了红外线！
Funny, I seemed to remember not long ago that Glory was the one who could be rendered speechless through sex. I definitely recalled that to be her thing, not mine. So why was I suddenly incapable of talking besides stammering incomprehensibly? Scotch Tape seemed to find this a source of endless glee.
有趣的是，我似乎记得不久前，晨辉是那个可以通过性爱而说不出话的人。我清楚地记得那是她的事，不是我的。那么，为什么我突然除了口吃到说不出话来之外，就不能说话了呢？透明胶带似乎发现这是一个无尽欢乐的来源。
“Mares,” P-21 said in summation, despite the glares three of us gave him for it. He rose to his hooves and stretched. “Well. Now that you’re… ahem… finished… Shall we be on our way?”
"母马,"P-21总结说，尽管我们三个人给了他怒视。他站起来伸伸懒腰。"好吧。既然你已经......嗯......说完了......我们可以上路了吗?"
Yes. Yes we shall. I could do with a walk in the lovely… cold… rain. Really. A cold rain shower never looked more inviting.
是的。是的，我们会的。我想在这可爱的...寒冷的...雨中散散步。真的。一场冷雨从来没有看起来这么诱人。
* * *
* * *
I really wanted to go back into the sexy memory orb now. I really did.
我现在真的很想回到那个性感的记忆球。真的。
“Who killed them?” Glory asked in a horrified whisper as we trotted past. She had her wing draped over Scotch’s face and the filly wasn’t arguing.
"谁杀了他们?"当我们小跑经过时，晨辉惊恐地低声问道。她把翅膀搭在苏格兰人的脸上，小母马没有争吵。
“Think it matters to them anymore?” P-21 replied softly.
"你觉得这对他们来说还重要吗?"P-21轻声回答。
It mattered to me. It was all so… so stupid. Life was already hard enough; why were we killing each other? For caps? Bullets? Technology? What was the fucking point? I couldn’t tell if they were raiders, gangers, settlers… and like P-21 said, what did it matter?
这对我很重要。这一切都太...太愚蠢了。生活已经够艰难的了，为什么我们还要互相残杀呢？为了帽子？子弹？技术？那他妈的重点是什么？我不知道他们是掠夺者，分身，定居者...就像P-21说的，这有什么关系？
“We should search them,” P-21 muttered. I hissed softly, but then nodded. He was right, as much as I hated to admit it. And he could do it. Glory took Scotch around the corner. I saw her peeking. Rampage had been right. I wanted to protect her innocence, but there was no such thing in the Wasteland. How could you protect them from this?
"我们应该搜查他们,"P-21咕哝着。我轻轻地发出嘶嘶声，然后点了点头。他是对的，尽管我不愿意承认。他可以做到。晨辉把苏格兰人带到了拐角处。我看见她在偷看。狂暴是对的。我想保护她的纯真，但是在荒原没有这样的东西。你怎么能保护他们不受伤害呢？
Bodies. So many bodies. And from the smears of viscera, some of them had died badly.
身体。这么多尸体。从内脏的污迹来看，他们中的一些人死得很惨。
He came back with a scattering of ammo, caps, and a blue-banded grenade which he stowed away. And then we just left them; we couldn’t tear up the asphalt for a grave, and nopony could make a fire in this place.
他带着散落的弹药、子弹帽和一枚蓝色手榴弹回来，并把它们藏了起来。然后我们就离开了他们;我们不能为了一个坟墓而把柏油路撕碎，而且没有小马能在这个地方生火。
I was soon corrected.
我很快就被纠正了。
A block later we found three suits of blackened power armor inside a charred café. Wood had been piled beneath them. Blackened skulls hung out of the hulks. They’d been cooked inside their armor.
一个街区后，我们在一家烧焦的咖啡馆里发现了三套烧黑的动力盔甲。他们脚下堆着木头。黑色的头骨从船体中伸出来。他们已经在他们的盔甲里被烤熟了。
I looked at the Dealer. At his somber expression. Smile, damn you. Laugh. Be somepony I could focus all my hate upon. I needed that hate. But he simply watched with tired eyes. I guess even death could get sick of himself.
我看着庄家。看着他忧郁的表情。笑一个，该死的。笑。做一个我可以把所有的仇恨都集中在上面的小马。我需要那种仇恨。但他只是用疲惫的眼神看着。我想即使是死亡也会厌倦自己。
* * *
* * *
The rain hadn’t let up much. It came down in heavy sheets that seemed to wave over the cracked ground. I felt physically bruised, despite my barding. Lacunae’s rain shield barely covered herself, Scotch, and P-21. The only silver lining I could think of was that the rain kept visibility to almost nothing; as long as I had an E.F.S. and anything dangerous didn’t, we’d probably be able to avoid hostiles. We were now following the churning brown flow of the rain-swelled river. The further north we went, the bigger and more elaborate the shops became. The ones here were built along a walkway, the opposite side of which had a railing and a wall straight down to the water.
雨并没有停多少。它像一张张厚重的床单一样落下，好像在破碎的地面上翻滚。我觉得身体上有瘀伤，尽管我毫不客气。拉库奈的雨盾几乎盖不住她自己、苏格兰人和P-21。我能想到的唯一的一线希望就是雨几乎什么都看不见;只要我有e.f.s，而且没有任何危险物品，我们就可能躲过敌人。我们现在跟随着暴雨汹涌的河水翻腾着的褐色水流。我们越往北走，商店就越大越精致。这里的人行道是沿着人行道建造的，对面有一道栏杆和一堵直通水面的墙。
Then it started to hail. You know, I really hadn’t realized it was possible for memory-orb-sized pieces of ice to fall from the sky. Now I had. And suddenly, I wanted to go back in time, find whatever pony had discovered this valley and thought ‘Lets live here!’, and throw buckets of ice at her head.
然后开始下冰雹。你知道，我真的没有意识到记忆球大小的冰块有可能从天上掉下来。现在我有了。突然间，我想回到过去，找到任何发现这个山谷的小马，然后想'让我们住在这里吧!'，然后往她头上扔一桶冰块。
We finally reached a plaza, and I swore the chunks were reaching hoof size. “We can’t stay out here!” I shouted over the cracking and pinging of ice blocks bouncing off the broken pavement around us. I might make it, with my head harder than any lump of ice, but from how weak Lacunae's shield appeared, it wouldn't be long until it failed under the withering barrage. I pointed at a large three-story building. ‘Silverstar Sporting Supplies’. There was a mess of debris
我们终于来到了一个广场，我发誓这些大块的肉已经达到了马蹄的大小。"我们不能呆在这儿!"我大声喊道，因为我们周围破碎的路面上反弹着的冰块发出劈啪声。我可以用我的头比任何一块冰都要坚硬，但是从拉库纳的盾牌看起来是多么的脆弱，不用多久它就会在猛烈的炮火下失败。我指着一幢三层楼的大楼。银星运动用品。到处都是残骸
blocking the doors, but it seemed to have the most important thing: an intact roof.
挡住了门，但它似乎有最重要的东西:一个完整的屋顶。
The five of us darted across, and one chunk of ice made me reassess my estimate of my head’s toughness. It nearly took me off my hooves for a minute before I was able to shake it off. We managed to shift the mess just enough to open a door… after P-21 unlocked it, of course. I took that as a good sign.
我们五个人飞奔过去，其中一块冰让我重新估算了一下自己头部的强度。有那么一会儿，我的蹄子几乎要掉下来了，我才能把它抖掉。我们设法把这些乱七八糟的东西挪开，刚好够打开一扇门...当然，P-21打开了门。我认为这是个好兆头。
We pushed our way through and pulled the door shut, locking it behind us. A few seconds later there was a buzz, then a flicker as some of the lights tried to come to life but only made it halfway. The speakers crackled, and then some tune involving a piano and… banjos?... started to play softly. The few lights that had managed to stay lit illuminated large paintings of a gray cowpony sheriff poking fun at a bunch of scowling brown brutes. I had no idea what they were supposed to be; but apparently, from the pictures on the walls, they were big, strong, and stupid.
我们挤过去，关上门，在身后把门锁上。几秒钟后，一阵嗡嗡声，然后是一阵闪烁，因为有些灯试图恢复生命，但只是走了一半。扬声器噼啪作响，然后是钢琴和五弦琴的旋律？开始轻轻地弹奏。少数几盏灯一直亮着，照亮了一幅巨大的油画，画中是一位灰色的牧牛警长在取笑一群愁眉苦脸的棕色野兽。我不知道它们应该是什么，但是很明显，从墙上的图片来看，它们又大又结实，而且很愚蠢。
The square building had a large, open, airy build, with the second and third floors as balconies overlooking the large sales floor. There were more doors on the far side. One wall and most of the ceiling were glass panes, but water fell in strings and ribbons through dozens of cracks, saturating the filthy apparel that lay in heaps around the first floor. Every step squished as we moved deeper in; the junk and sodden clothes had congealed into a pasty mass.
这个正方形的建筑有一个大的，开放的，通风的建筑，二楼和三楼作为阳台俯瞰大的销售楼层。远处还有更多的门。其中一面墙和大部分天花板都是玻璃窗，但是水从几十个缝隙中以细绳和丝带的形式流下来，浸透了一楼堆积如山的脏衣服。我们越往里走，每走一步都发出吱吱嘎嘎的响声;那些垃圾和湿透了的衣服凝结成了一团糊状物。
“No red bars,” I murmured. Nothing invisible rushing out to attack us. I trotted to the far doors, but they were locked as well. There was a camp over by the cash registers, with heaps of dried food containers around four skeletons. They all had oversized cowpony hats like the one worn by the cartoon sheriff on the walls. The store employees, I suspected. I levitated two hunting rifles, but two centuries in the wet had made them poor clubs, let alone firearms. There were other guns, too; I was a little surprised, but the moisture hadn’t treated them any better. The brass- and copper-jacketed hunting rounds had fared much better inside their boxes, though, even if the boxes themselves were soggy. “Might as well see if there’s anything valuable in here,” I said as I looked around the cavernous space lit only by scattered, dim, flickering lamps and whatever sparse light managed to get through the clouds and windows above. Why was my mane not liking this?
"没有红条,"我低声说。没有什么无形的东西冲出来攻击我们。我小跑到远处的门口，但门也都锁上了。收银机旁边有一个营地，四具骸骨周围堆满了成堆的干粮箱。他们都戴着超大号的牛仔帽，就像卡通片里警长在墙上戴的那种。我怀疑是商店的员工。我漂浮了两支猎枪，但是两个世纪的雨天使它们变成了可怜的棍棒，更不用说枪支了。还有其他的枪，我有点惊讶，但是潮湿的空气并没有对他们有什么好处。黄铜和铜包壳的狩猎子弹在他们的盒子里的情况要好得多，尽管盒子本身已经湿透了。"不妨看看这里有没有什么值钱的东西,"我一边说，一边环顾四周，洞穴般的空间里只有散乱、昏暗、闪烁的灯光，以及任何穿过云层和窗户的稀疏光线。为什么我的头发不喜欢这样？
I really wished I had Rampage here right now. She’d know if we were in the
我真希望我现在能在这里见到狂暴。如果我们在这里她会知道的
Flash Filly territory or not. I wanted her here just to crack off some joke and relieve the tension. I just wanted her here.
不管是不是闪电小母马的领地。我希望她在这里只是开个玩笑，缓解一下紧张气氛。我只是想让她在这里。
Scotch shadowed me as she checked the bullet primers for rust. I cleared out the bits in the register for trade down the road. I looked at them, an image of Princess Luna stamped on one side and one of Princess Celestia on the other. Then I heard the filly sniff, and I looked over to see her push up her goggles and rub her eyes. “Did I do something wrong?”
苏格兰威士忌跟在我后面检查子弹底漆是否生锈。我把收银机里的零碎东西清理出来，以便路上买卖。我看着他们，一面印着露娜公主的肖像，另一面印着塞勒斯蒂娜公主的肖像。然后我听到小母马在闻，我看了看她，她推起了护目镜，揉揉眼睛。"我做错什么了吗?"
“Huh?” I knelt down to look her in the eyes. “No, of course not. Why would you think that?”
"啊?"我跪下来看着她的眼睛。"不，当然不是。你怎么会这么想呢?"
“Then… then why wouldn’t Rampage talk to me? Why does she hate me now?” she said with a sniff. “We were going into the tunnels, and then I wake up and you’re missing an eye and Glory doesn’t have a wing and Rampage doesn’t have her armor and everypony keeps acting funny. So… I must have done something wrong,” she said as she hung her head. At least she hadn't come out of the procedure early enough to also wonder why Rampage was mysteriously only a few years older than her.
"那么......那么为什么狂暴不和我说话？为什么她现在恨我?"她闻了闻说。"我们正要进入隧道，然后我醒来，你少了一只眼睛，晨辉没有翅膀，狂暴没有盔甲，每匹小马都表现得很滑稽。所以......我一定是做错了什么,"她低下头说。至少她还没有足够早地结束手术，也不知道为什么狂暴神秘地只比她大几岁。
Not remembering sucks.
不记得真是糟透了。
I took a deep breath. “Rampage doesn’t hate you, Scotch. She had Reaper things she had to do. She’ll be back someday.” Oh I really hoped that that was true. I sighed and fed her the only line I could think of. “Don’t think about it, Scotch. There’s nothing down there you’d want to remember. It was really bad,” I said as I stroked her mane. “I wish I didn’t remember,” I said sincerely. But then I never deserved to forget.
我深吸了一口气。"暴怒并不恨你，苏格兰人。她有死神的事情要做。她总有一天会回来的。"哦，我真希望那是真的。我叹了口气，把我能想到的唯一一句话告诉了她。"别想了，苏格兰人。下面没有你想记住的东西。真的很糟糕,"我边说边抚摸着她的鬃毛。"我希望我不记得了,"我诚恳地说。但是我永远不应该忘记。
I saw the hurt in her eyes. Not from anything. Just… hurt. “Yeah,” she said, frowning and kicking an empty tin. “I guess…”
我看到了她眼中的伤痛。不是因为任何原因。只是...受伤了。"是的,"她说，皱着眉头，踢着一个空铁罐。"我想......"
“Come on. Let’s find the others,” I said, walking towards the back rooms. We found P-21 tapping away on the manager’s terminal. A picture on the wall showed an aged gray stallion grinning smugly with a huge cowpony hat on his head and a sheriff’s star on his vest. Beneath the picture, a plaque:
"来吧。"我们去找其他人吧,"我边说边朝后面的房间走去。我们发现P-21在经理的终端上窃听。墙上的一张照片显示，一匹年老的灰色种马咧嘴笑着，头上戴着一顶巨大的牛仔帽，背心上印着一颗警长的星星。图片下方有一块牌匾:
‘Our Founder
我们的创始人
“Sharing and caring is for suckers.”’
"分享和关心是傻瓜才会做的事。"'
There was an odd word… an obscure word rarely used in 99. I’d always wondered about it, but it seemed to summarize the picture perfectly: Schmuck.
有一个奇怪的词...一个鲜为人知的词在99年很少使用。我一直对此感到疑惑，但它似乎完美地概括了整个画面:笨蛋。
“Find anything good?” I asked P-21. Scotch Tape picked up an intact book off the desk and began flipping through it.
"找到什么好东西了吗?"我问了P-21。透明胶带从桌子上拿起一本完好无损的书，开始翻阅。
“Unless you’re really interested in this place's earnings for the last quarter, no.
"除非你真的对这家公司上季度的收益感兴趣，否则不会。
The only thing in here that isn’t related to business is this.” He opened a file.
这里唯一与商业无关的东西就是这个。"他打开一个文件夹。
To: Miramare Terminal #3224-C.
致:Miramare航站楼#3224-C。
Hey Bro. Sorry you missed another session. It was fucking wicked. Calamity crashed the fucking train into the possessed Ursa Major! Primrose was like ‘So what’s the damage for a train?’ I just lopped off half its hitpoints right there. Still was a tough-ass fight, though. Had to pull a few crits and Calamity still lost her leg. And the Doc got eaten but, eh, Brandywine can just make another character.
嘿，兄弟。很遗憾你又错过了一次治疗。太他妈邪恶了。卡拉米蒂把他妈的火车撞上了发疯的大熊星座！普瑞姆罗斯说:"那么火车有什么损失呢?"我刚刚把它一半的命中点都砍掉了。尽管如此，这仍然是一场艰苦的战斗。不得不拉一些爆裂和灾难仍然失去了她的腿。博士被吃掉了，但是，嗯，白兰地酒只是创造了另一个角色。
Anywho, hope things are okay on the base. We all miss ya,
不管怎样，希望基地里一切都好。我们都很想你
Bro.
兄弟。
To: Miramare Terminal #3224-C.
致:Miramare航站楼#3224-C。
Brooooo! Where are yoooooouuu?! We got another mare in the group, named Parsley. Let her play Jack since you were gone. It ain’t the same. She’s got the game system down but she just can’t play a guy. You know? Anyway, Bro… old Silverstar was pissed. Apparently we got big fat roaches and not the good kind, bro.
布鲁！你在哪里?！我们队里还有一匹母马叫欧芹。既然你走了，就让她演杰克吧。这是不一样的。她已经把游戏系统搞定了，但她就是不能和一个男人玩。你知道吗？不管怎样，兄弟...老银星很生气。显然我们有大蟑螂而且不是好的那种，兄弟。
Anyway, make the next game, bro. Parsley’s like bam and whoa and shwing and yeah! You can get rid of that cherry now, Bro! Hear me? Easy poooon! Talk to you soon.
不管怎样，下一场比赛吧，兄弟。荷兰芹就像砰，哇，发出咯咯声，耶！你现在可以扔掉那颗樱桃了，兄弟！听到了吗？放松点！回头再聊。
Bro.
兄弟。
To: Miramare Terminal #3224-C.
致:Miramare航站楼#3224-C。
Hey Bro. Sorry to hear you won’t be able to make the game anymore. No, I don’t have a problem, but I dunno where we’re gonna find another Smilin’ Jack. I can’t believe you’re going to leave me alone with all these mares in the wasteland.
嘿，兄弟。很遗憾听说你不能再做这个游戏了。不，我没有问题，但我不知道哪里能找到另一个微笑杰克。我真不敢相信你要把我一个人留在荒地上和这些母马在一起。
How could you be so cruel? Let me know if you ever want a chance to play. I know things are ten gallons of suck right now for everypony. Just yesterday I got chewed out by the Sheriff about the bug problem. Got something to take care of it, I hope. Better not be like last time.
你怎么能这么残忍？如果你想玩的话就告诉我。我知道现在的情况对每个小马来说都很糟糕。就在昨天，我还因为虫子的问题被警长训斥了一顿。我希望能有办法解决。最好不要像上次那样。
So take it easy. Brohoof.
所以放轻松。男名男子名。
Bro.
兄弟。
PS: Know where we can pick up some male gamers?
知道我们在哪里可以找到一些男性玩家吗？
To: Miramare Terminal #3224-C.
致:Miramare航站楼#3224-C。
Hey Bro, you okay? I tried to call but Miramare says you’re not there. Bro, come on and talk to me. This is Bro. I know things aren’t cool right now, Bro, but just talk to me. I still got Smilin’ Jack.
嘿，兄弟，你没事吧？我试着给你打电话，但米拉马尔说你不在。兄弟，过来和我谈谈。这是兄弟。我知道现在情况不妙，兄弟，跟我说说吧。我还有微笑的杰克。
Hope I talk to you soon. Want to take you out for another romp in the wasteland.
希望能尽快与你联系。想带你去荒原再玩一次。
Bro.
兄弟。
“In the wasteland?” I read aloud again, feeling a shiver down my spine.
"在荒原上?"我又大声朗读了一遍，感到一阵颤栗沿着我的脊椎传下来。
Scotch Tape looked up from the book. “Around Appleloosa. Fighting off windigos, zombie buffalo, and mad science mares while dealing in dark magic, bullets, and grit.” Then she held up the hardback book. “See?” I leaned in a little. ‘Wasteland, a game of Western horror.’ I looked at the cover art of a steam train like I’d seen in picture books being pulled by… ponies… while a half dozen skeletal pegasi flew overhead, kept at bay by an earth pony stallion with some sort of steam driven gatling gun, a black pegasus casting a spell from floating playing cards, and a unicorn who reminded me of Vanity shooting two floating revolvers.
透明胶带从书上抬起头来。"在阿普卢卢萨周围。在黑魔法、子弹和沙砾中战胜风魔、僵尸水牛和疯狂的科学母马。"然后她举起精装书。"看到了吗?"我靠近了一点。《荒原》，西方恐怖游戏我看着蒸汽火车的封面艺术，就像我在图画书里看到的那样，被......小马拉着......同时半打瘦骨嶙峋的飞马从头顶飞过，被一匹地球上的种马用某种蒸汽驱动的格林机枪牵制着，一匹黑色的飞马用漂浮的扑克牌施展着魔法，还有一只独角兽让我想起《名利场》用两把漂浮的左轮手枪射击的情景。
A game? Real life horror wasn’t bad enough, so ponies had to make up others? It didn’t seem like any kind of game I knew. I looked around the filthy, derelict office. “Well, if all this is a game, I’d sure like to quit and play Happy Fluffy Bunnies Land.” P-21 snorted softly and even Scotch Tape seemed to like the idea. “So, nothing else?” He suddenly looked evasive, his eyes darting to the side. “What?”
一场游戏？现实生活中的恐怖还不够糟糕，所以小马还得编造其他的？这不像是我所知道的任何一种游戏。我环顾了一下这个被遗弃的肮脏的办公室。"好吧，如果这一切都是一场游戏，我肯定会退出，去玩《兔女郎快乐乐园》。"P-21轻轻地哼了一声，就连透明胶带似乎也喜欢这个主意。"那么，没有别的了?"他突然闪烁其词，眼睛转向一边。"什么?"
He looked at the terminal and sighed, bringing up another.
他看了看航站楼，叹了口气，拿出了另一个。
To: Miramare Terminal #3224-C.
致:Miramare航站楼#3224-C。
Bro. I don’t know if you’re alive, Bro. I’m not sure if anypony is still alive. Everything’s crashed. The shield went up before the half dozen of us could get in the city. I dunno if you’re going to get this, Bro. I don’t even know if you’re around to get this. There’s green snow everywhere. Prim went out to look for survivors, and when she came back, she was dying. Gone the next day. So the rest of us just holed up in here. Just feel like all kinds of nasty.
兄弟。我不知道你是否还活着，兄弟。我不确定是否还有活着的小马。一切都崩溃了。在我们六个人进入城市之前，防护罩就已经升起来了。我不知道你要不要接这个电话，兄弟。我都不知道你能不能接这个电话。到处都是绿色的雪。普利姆出去寻找生还者，当她回来时，她已经奄奄一息了。第二天就走了。所以我们其他人就躲在这里。感觉就像是各种各样的恶心。
Believe it or not, I’ve been making Wasteland characters to try and get by. It’s fucking crazy, bro. After the bombs and death and everything, it’s all there is to do. Ironic, huh? Well, that and fuck, but I’m worn to the fucking nub, Bro. Like, can’t even get it up anymore. Yeah, just like grandpa. Never thought I’d say that, man. I wish you were here so you could finally take care of that cherry of yours. Fucking ironic.
信不信由你，我一直在制作《荒原》中的人物来维持生计。太他妈疯狂了，兄弟。在经历了炸弹和死亡之后，这就是我们要做的一切。很讽刺吧？好吧，那个和他妈的，但我他妈的累死了，兄弟。就像，再也不能勃起了。是啊就像爷爷一样。没想到我会这么说。我希望你在这里，这样你就可以最终照顾你的樱桃。真他妈讽刺。
Fuck. You’re probably dead and I’m giving you shit. Sorry Bro.
操。你可能已经死了，我还要给你好看。对不起，兄弟。
Lights are flickering again, dunno how much longer we’ll have power. Shields are still up, so hopefully somepony comes out of the city to get us. Just wish shit would stop screaming. I think there’s somepony nearby that keeps on yelling… I’d bring them in here if they’d just stop. Makes my head hurt. Till then, we’ll just keep hopin’. Take care.
灯又在闪烁，不知道我们还能用多久。防护罩还在希望有人从城里出来救我们。只是希望狗屎停止尖叫。我想附近有一匹小马一直在叫......如果它们停下来的话，我会把它们带到这里来。让我头疼。在那之前，我们只能继续希望。保重。
Bro.
兄弟。
Shit. Now I knew why P-21’d not shown me that one. Those little reminders of life… of millions who died for no reason. As ‘millions of ponies’, you could ignore it. ‘Lots of ponies died. Whatever.’ But turn one of those millions into ‘Bro’, and suddenly I was sniffing and rubbing my eyes. The Dealer just looked at me from the corner office, his lips pressed tightly together in a stark frown as he pulled his hat down over his eyes.
该死。现在我知道为什么P-21没有给我看那个了。那些小小的生活提醒...成千上万无缘无故死去的人们。作为"数百万匹小马"，你可以忽略它。很多小马死了。随便了但是把其中的一百万变成"兄弟"，突然间我开始嗅来嗅去，揉着眼睛。商人只是从角落的办公室里看着我，他的嘴唇紧紧地闭在一起，皱着眉头，把帽子拉下来遮住眼睛。
The lights were growing stronger now. The music crackled a little less and started playing a little message about a two for one special. ‘Don’t be as dumb as a buffalo, Pardner!’
现在灯光越来越亮了。音乐稍微平缓了一些，开始播放一些关于买一送一的信息。"别像水牛一样傻，Pardner!"
“Hey… Blackjack? How many ponies do you think died in here?” Scotch Tape
"嘿...黑杰克？你觉得这里死了多少匹小马?"透明胶带
asked with a frown.
皱着眉头问道。
“Six… according to the messages,” I replied, feeling tired. I thought of going back to the bedrolls by the counter. My head was killing me!
"六......根据短信,"我回答，感觉很累。我想回到柜台边的铺盖间。我的头疼死了！
“Then why are there seven skeletons?” Scotch Tape asked. “Or eight? Nine?”
"那为什么有七具骷髅呢?"透明胶带问道。""还是八个？九个?"
There’d been four out by the register. Three in the office… and was that all of them? I stood and trotted out into the hallway. Bones. You overlooked them in the Wasteland; there’re so damn many that, eventually, you just shrug and go ‘oh look, more dead.’ But now I was taken in by the sight. I grabbed the sodden, rust-stained clothes and lifted them from the mess. Raider style.
收银台旁边有四个人。办公室里有三个...这就是他们所有人吗？我站起来，小跑到走廊里。骨头。你在荒原上忽略了他们;那里有那么多该死的东西，最终，你只是耸耸肩说'哦，看，更多的死亡。'但是现在我被这景象迷住了。我抓起那些湿透了、锈迹斑斑的衣服，把它们从垃圾堆里拿了出来。突袭机风格。
“The door had been locked…” I murmured.
"门已经锁上了......"我低声说。
“To the outside. There wasn’t anything to stop us from locking it once we were--” P-21 began, then stopped. He looked around. “Do you hear that?”
""到外面去。没有任何东西可以阻止我们锁定它，一旦我们——"P-21开始，然后停止。他环顾四周。"你听到了吗?"
I did hear that. A high and distant noise… like a scream.
我确实听到了。远处高高的噪音......就像尖叫。
I ran out into the main floor, grabbed the closest mound of sodden cloth and heaved with my magic and my hooves. The lump broke free with a sickening wet pop, and soaked bones clattered free. Another. And another. There weren’t six bodies here. There were dozens.
我跑到主楼，抓住最近的一堆湿布，用我的魔力和蹄子使劲推。肿块随着一声令人作呕的潮湿的爆裂声挣脱开来，浸透的骨头哗啦一声挣脱开来。另一个。再来一杯。这里没有六具尸体。有几十个。
“Lacunae!” I called out. “Glory!” Glory staggered into view on the edge of the third floor balcony. “Find Lacunae! We’ve got to get out of here.” I walked to the doors out, my already unsteady hooves not finding purchase on the sloppy ground. Now that I was paying attention to them, it was impossible to miss the bones sticking out of the rotten clothes. Most of these looked like scavengers. What a score, they must have thought. Started collecting all the things left behind… and then fell asleep wondering who was screaming. I wanted to fall asleep. My heart flopped in my chest; I swore I could almost hear the wet, slapping noise inside my chest cavity.
"空白!"我大声喊道。"晨辉!"晨辉跌跌撞撞地出现在三楼阳台的边缘。"找到缺口！我们必须离开这里。"我走到门口，我已经不稳的蹄子在泥泞的地面上找不到东西。既然我已经注意到了它们，就不可能看不到从腐烂的衣服里露出来的骨头了。其中大多数看起来像是食腐动物。他们一定认为这是多么了不起的成绩啊。开始收集所有遗留下来的东西......然后想着是谁在尖叫就睡着了。我想睡觉。我的心砰砰直跳，我发誓我几乎能听到胸腔里湿漉漉的拍打声。
But that was nothing compared to the screaming.
但是这跟尖叫比起来算不了什么。
It wasn’t a true scream, not like somepony yelling for help. It was a steady sound, almost mechanical. I wasn’t sure if I was hearing it with my ears or with my head, but it was growing louder and more distinct.
那不是真正的尖叫，不像小马在叫救命。那是一种平稳的声音，几乎是机械的。我不确定我是用耳朵还是用脑袋听到的，但是声音越来越大，越来越清晰。
I ran to the doors and shouldered them hard, but the junk stacked up behind them didn’t budge. I tried each one in turn but couldn’t find the one we’d cleared away. In desperation, I lifted my shotgun and fired two rounds; the ballistic glass chipped. “Goddesses-damned overbuilt garbage!” I screamed as my friends staggered out onto the main floor with me.
我跑到门口，用肩膀使劲推开门，但是堆在门后的垃圾一动也不动。我依次尝试了每一个，但是找不到我们清理掉的那个。绝望之中，我举起猎枪开了两枪，弹道玻璃碎了。"女神们——该死的过度建设垃圾!"当我的朋友们和我一起跌跌撞撞地走到主楼层时，我尖叫起来。
This whole building was a trap. Ponies would come in, not notice the Enervation until it was too late, and keel over dead or die in their sleep. Others would come in and see the bounty of salvage and die before they could escape. It was like Flank and the tunnels. I felt so tired, my head pounding. Worse, my taint just seemed to go nasty around the Enervation fields. My heart was… crap… I couldn’t even describe it. It didn’t feel like beating so much as undulating.
这整个建筑就是个陷阱。小马会走进来，直到为时已晚才注意到它们的衰弱，它们要么死了，要么在睡梦中死去。其他人会进来看到大量的救援物资，在他们能够逃脱之前就死了。就像弗兰克和地道。我感到很累，头重重地撞了一下。更糟糕的是，我的污点似乎在能量场周围变得令人讨厌。我的心脏...糟透了...我甚至无法形容。与其说是跳动，不如说是起伏。
Six months might have been overly optimistic.
六个月可能过于乐观了。
“We’ve got to get out of here. We’re up to our horns in Enervation,” I said as they looked at each other. “Ideas?”
"我们必须离开这里。"我们已经疲惫不堪了,"我说，他们互相看着对方。"想法?"
“Shoot our way out?” suggested Glory, starting to stroke her remaining wing in worry. I pointed at the door I’d shot. She still blasted it with her beam rifle, but it merely scorched the glass. “Oh, darn… no wonder this place is intact.”
"杀出一条血路?"建议晨辉，开始抚摸她剩下的担心的翅膀。我指着我射中的那扇门。她仍然用步枪扫射，但只是把玻璃烧焦了。"哦，该死......难怪这个地方完好无损。"
I looked at Lacunae, but she could barely stand, let alone teleport. “Okay. We’re stuck, but we know about it. So, nopony fall asleep. If your healing potions have any purple at all left, drink them. If not, toss them.” Stupid country banjos played some folksy tune as the lights now filled the store with steady illumination.
我看着Lacunae，但她几乎站不起来，更不用说瞬移了。"好吧。我们被困住了，但我们知道这一点。所以，小马不会睡着。如果你的治疗药水里还有紫色的东西，喝了它。如果没有，就扔掉。"愚蠢的乡村班卓琴演奏了一些民谣曲调，灯光稳定地照亮了整个商店。
Most of my potions were an unwholesome shade of brown. That was fast... really fast. But if the Enervation here was that strong, why hadn’t we noticed immediately? Why had those bodies rotted? The Enervation still wasn’t strong enough to liquefy flesh, but it certainly seemed strong enough to prevent rotting. I drank the watery potion that remained; at least the others’ healing drinks were in slightly better condition.
我的大部分药水都是有害健康的褐色药水。很快...真的很快。但是如果这里的衰弱如此强烈，为什么我们没有立即注意到呢？那些尸体为什么会腐烂？这种能量还不足以使肉液化，但是它看起来确实足以防止腐烂。我喝了剩下的水状的药水;至少其他人的治疗饮料的状况稍微好一点。
Okay, right now, I was really missing a super-strong striped mare. If she showed up before we keeled over, I’d give her a nice big happy kiss. “Okay. Glory, look for a back door or window or anything. I’ll take a broken leg jumping from a third story window at this point.” She nodded at once and headed for the stairs. “P-21, can you rig a bomb to blow open the doors?”
好吧，现在，我真的想念一匹超级强壮的有斑纹的母马。如果她在我们倒下之前出现，我会给她一个快乐的吻。"好吧。光荣，寻找一个后门或窗口或任何东西。此时此刻，我宁愿摔断一条腿，从三楼窗户跳下去。"她立刻点了点头，朝楼梯走去。"P-21，你能装个炸弹把门炸开吗?"
“I’ll have to convert frag grenades into a satchel charge. It’ll take a while,” he said as he bit his lip, then winced. A trickle of blood dripped from the bite. “I’ll get right on it.”
"我将不得不把破碎的手榴弹变成背包炸药。这需要一段时间,"他咬着嘴唇说，然后皱了皱眉。一滴血从咬伤处滴下来。"我马上去办。"
“I’ll help,” Scotch said at once, and P-21 looked shocked. “I don’t know much about bombs, but I know enough about fixing things to hand you tools and stuff,” she said as she gestured to her utility barding. Finally, he nodded and trotted to the registers, fishing out the apple grenades from his saddlebags.
"我来帮忙,"苏格兰人立刻说，P-21看起来很震惊。"我对炸弹了解不多，但我对修理东西足够了解，可以把工具和东西递给你,"她一边说，一边指了指自己的实用工具。最后，他点点头，小跑到登记处，从他的鞍囊里掏出苹果榴弹。
That left me with Lacunae. I trotted to where the mighty alicorn slumped and pressed my horn to hers. Suddenly, that scream increased to the point that it felt like rusty claws in my mind, like it was trying to tear me right out of my body. “Why didn’t you notice sooner?”
这样我就只剩下空白了。我小跑到那匹强壮的阿里克羊驼驼背的地方，把我的喇叭按在她的喇叭上。突然，尖叫声越来越大，在我的脑海里就像生锈的爪子，好像要把我从身体里扯出来一样。"你怎么没早点发现?"
“It… increased…” was all she said before collapsing. In that last moment, I sensed she was fighting just to keep herself together.
"它......增加了......"她在崩溃前只说了这么一句话。在那最后的时刻，我感觉到她正在努力保持自己在一起。
Increased? How could it increase? I rubbed my runny nose as I looked around the brightly lit shop. We’d moved the scrap, picked the lock, come inside, and started scavenging. I looked at the cartoon buffathingies and the grinning sheriff. I’d preferred it when the lights were dim… it looked less like the cartoon was mocking us.
增加？它怎么会增加呢？我揉着流鼻涕的鼻子，环顾着灯火通明的商店。我们搬动了废料，撬开了锁，进了屋，开始清理。我看着卡通水牛和咧着嘴笑的治安官。我更喜欢灯光暗下来的时候......看起来不像漫画在嘲笑我们。
Wait… A little pink pony clicked on a lightbulb in my mind. The lights came on… but not nearly all of them, at first. Slowly. We must have tripped some sensor that started an automated system. As the power turned on, the Enervation increased. Something here was causing the Enervation…
等等......一只粉红色的小马在我脑海里点亮了一个灯泡。灯光亮了起来......但一开始并不是所有的灯光都亮了。慢慢地。我们一定是触发了某个传感器，启动了自动化系统。随着能量的开启，能量增加。这里的某些东西导致了衰弱..。
If it hadn’t been bad with the power off…
如果不是停电的话..。
I raced towards the back of the store. P-21 was busy; if this didn’t work he’d be our best shot at getting out of here. I licked my lips… and tasted blood. I rubbed my muzzle again and looked at the crimson on my barding. Oh, not good.
我冲向商店的后面。P-21很忙，如果这招不管用，他就是我们离开这里的最佳机会。我舔了舔嘴唇...尝到了血的味道。我又擦了擦嘴巴，看了看我帐篷上的深红色。不太好。
I really didn’t want to be reduced to bloody goo and bones.
我真的不想沦落到血肉模糊。
Rushing into the manager’s office, I looked at the terminal. The menu didn’t offer much hope. Sales figures, inventory, employee hours, messages… then I spotted, at the bottom, ‘store functions’. I scrolled down to it and clicked.
我冲进经理的办公室，看了看终端。菜单上没有什么希望。销售数据、库存、员工工作时间、信息......然后我在底部看到了"商店功能"。我滚动到它和点击。
>Store automation: On
商店自动化:On
>Lights: On
灯光:打开
>Ambiance: On
氛围:On
>Coffee Machine: Warning. Critical failure!
咖啡机:警告。严重失败！
I didn’t look much further than that. I turned everything to ‘off’. The lights flicked off one after another, then music crackled and went silent. The screaming continued. Okay. Plan B. I pulled back my barding, took off a brace, and with my sword sliced my foreleg. Holding the floppy limb outwards I started to sweep it back and forth.
除此之外我什么都没看到。我把所有东西都关掉了。灯光一盏接一盏地熄灭，然后音乐噼啪作响，静了下来。尖叫声继续着。好吧。B计划我收起我的剑，取下一个支架，我的剑划伤了我的前腿。我把软绵绵的肢体向外伸出，开始来回扫动。
If whatever was doing this was deep underground, we were screwed. But then I felt a sharp stab in the outstretched leg… the wound seemed to be spreading right in front of my eye! I did the worst possible thing and started to limp in that direction, into the back of the store. There were just heaps of ruined clothes and other litter, but I kept walking. Kept walking even as my insides clenched. Whichever way hurt more, that was the way I went.
如果不管是什么东西在地底下，我们就完蛋了。但是接着我感到伸出的腿被刺了一下......伤口似乎就在我眼前扩散开来！我做了一件最糟糕的事情，开始朝那个方向一瘸一拐地走去，走到商店的后面。那里只有一堆破旧的衣服和其他垃圾，但我还是继续走着。即使我的内心紧握，我还是继续走着。无论哪种方式更痛苦，这就是我的方式。
This was a really bad idea. I could feel the injury spreading. But the idea was working. Whatever the source, it seemed to be in the far back of the store. Almost there… almost… and then I came to a concrete wall and groaned. My head was splitting; my whole body ached. There was nothing here but a stupid metal box on the wall.
这真是个糟糕的主意。我能感觉到伤口在扩散。但是这个想法起了作用。不管是什么来源，它似乎就在商店的后面。快到了......快到了......然后我来到一堵水泥墙前，呻吟起来。我的头快要裂开了，整个身体都在疼。墙上除了一个愚蠢的金属盒子什么都没有。
A stupid metal box straight ahead of me. It wasn’t big, maybe the size of my hoof. It read ‘Roseluck’ something or other. My eye wasn’t seeing very clearly. I slowly opened the box. Inside were a pair of wires attached to a metal ring that let out a baleful green glow. Just looking at it made my eye throb.
一个愚蠢的金属盒子就在我前面。它不大，也许只有我的蹄子那么大。上面写着'罗斯鲁克'什么的。我的眼睛看得不是很清楚。我慢慢地打开盒子。里面是一对电线连接到一个金属环，发出恶意的绿色光芒。光是看着它就让我的眼睛悸动不已。
This… little thing? This was the source of the Enervation? Or was it magnifying it somehow? I tried to reach for it, but the muscle spasms in the limb made my whole body ache. I lifted the shotgun with my magic, but my focus was shit. Once again, earth pony firearm techniques saved the day. I fired into the box again and again, my ears pounding.
这个...小东西？这就是能量的来源？还是说，它在某种程度上放大了它？我试着去够它，但是肢体上的肌肉痉挛使我全身疼痛。我用我的魔法举起了猎枪，但我的注意力是狗屎。再一次，地球小马火器技术拯救了这一天。我一遍又一遍地朝盒子里开枪，耳朵嗡嗡作响。
Seven shells later, the box was scrap. The thin metal ring flew into the air and disappeared into the mess. It didn’t matter, though. The glow was gone and the
七枚炮弹之后，这个盒子就成了废品。那个薄薄的金属环飞到空中，消失在一片狼藉中。不过，这并不重要。光芒消失了
agony in my skull retreated to a dull throb. The screaming faded to a whisper and then to silence. Slowly, I started back, the end of my left foreleg looking like it’d been put in a food processor. It wasn’t hard to find my way. Just follow all the red. I limped onto the sales floor just in time to meet Lacunae coming towards the hall.
我脑子里的痛苦消退到了无聊的悸动。尖叫声渐渐变成了耳语，然后又变成了沉默。慢慢地，我开始往回走，左前腿的末端看起来像是被放进了食品加工机。找到自己的路并不难。跟着所有的红色。我一瘸一拐地走上销售楼层，正好赶上了走向大厅的空隙。
“Feel better?” I asked, and then my eye rolled back and I passed out on the filth-covered floor.
"感觉好点了吗?"我问道，然后我翻了个白眼，昏倒在脏兮兮的地板上。
* * *
* * *
“The Goddess wishes for me to remind you, once again, that this does not constitute gratitude or obligation to you. She merely does not wish for so valuable an asset to be lost to the vagaries of the Wasteland unless it can suit her purposes,” Lacunae said as her horn glowed a faint purple. The dark alicorn’s lips curled a little more. “Oh, she apparently did not want me to tell you that last part.” The magic was knitting together flesh and tendons under Glory’s watchful eye.
"女神希望我再次提醒你，这并不是对你的感激或义务。她只是不希望如此宝贵的资产被荒原上变幻莫测的人们夺走，除非这些资产能够满足她的目的,"拉古纳说着，她的角发出淡淡的紫色光芒。黑色的橡树果的嘴唇微微弯曲了一些。"哦，她显然不想让我告诉你最后那部分。"魔法是在格洛里警惕的眼睛下，把肌肉和筋腱编织在一起。
“Yeah, yeah. I love her too,” I muttered sarcastically as my injury slowly healed. I would have liked it even more if she’d healed Glory back when she’d gotten injured… but that was apparently too much to ask back then. “I’m glad the Goddess finally taught you a healing spell.”
"是的，是的。我也爱她,"当我的伤口慢慢愈合时，我讽刺地喃喃自语。如果当她受伤的时候能治好晨辉的话，我会更喜欢的......但是这显然对当时来说要求太多了。"我很高兴女神终于教会了你一个治疗咒语。"
“Oh, she didn’t teach it. The spell is Windyreed’s. She was a medic during the war.” Lacunae made a face. “It was simply put into me by the Goddess. To learn it would have taken far too long.”
"哦，她没有教过。这个咒语是Windyreed的。她在战争期间是一名医生。"空隙做了个鬼脸。"只是女神把它放在我身上的。要学会这一点，花的时间太长了。"
“So why doesn’t she just put a bajillion spells into every alicorn and take over the Wasteland?” Glory said as she supervised the procedure. Apparently having the spell didn’t make her an expert on how to use it.
"那她为什么不在每个角斗士身上施上无数魔法，接管荒原呢?"晨辉在监督手术过程时说。显然，拥有这个咒语并不能让她成为使用咒语的专家。
“She’s tried that. The results were unfortunate. The mind would have so many options, most of them alien to us, and we would make mistakes. Rather, we are given a minimum of spells to focus on, but we know them exceedingly well.
"她已经试过了。结果是不幸的。大脑会有很多选择，其中大多数对我们来说都是陌生的，我们会犯错误。相反，我们被给予一个最低限度的法术集中，但我们知道他们非常好。
And we are always learning new applications for them. There is one mare in particular who is definitely pushing our learning curve.” She gave a little smile. “I am something of a special case, though,” she added.
我们一直在为他们学习新的应用程序。特别是有一匹母马正在推动我们的学习曲线。"她微微一笑。"不过，我是一个特例,"她补充说。
I looked at her, the alicorn dustbin of unwanted thoughts and feelings. The pony
我看着她，把自己不想要的思想和感情扔进了垃圾桶。小马驹
who never was a pony. I wanted to ask who she was before becoming an alicorn.
他从来都不是小马。我想问问她在成为独角兽之前是谁。
Family. Friends. A life. All those things she’d never had.
家庭。朋友。一种生活。那些她从未拥有过的东西。
“This is amazing, though, Blackjack,” Glory said, once more excited. “Nopony has ever been able to find a source for Enervation! It was always assumed to be some kind of magical damage to the environment or some zebra weapon, but its distribution’s been a mystery. If it’s caused by devices, then we might be able to eventually remove them!”
"这真是太棒了，黑杰克,"晨辉再次兴奋地说。"小马从来没有能够找到能量来源！它一直被认为是某种对环境的魔法破坏或者是某种斑马武器，但它的分布一直是个谜。如果它是由设备引起的，那么我们可能最终能够移除它们!"
“I don’t know what it was. I was pretty messed up at that point. But I don’t think it’s gone gone. Just turned back down to normal,” I said as I watched them work in the normal Hoofington gloom. Evidently, after turning everything off, I’d powered down the terminal. Now we couldn’t get it turned back on.
"我不知道那是什么。那时候我真是一团糟。但我不认为它已经消失了。只是回到了正常的状态,"我说，看着他们在正常的胡芬顿阴暗处工作。显然，在关掉所有设备之后，我关掉了终端。现在我们无法让它重新开启。
“Still, it’s a phenomenal breakthrough,” Glory said with glee. “I so can’t wait to write my teacher about it. Hee!” She was literally dancing on her hooves. I listened for Rampage to make a sarcastic quip about Glory being an egghead… but nothing. Goddesses, I missed her. P-21 was packing away his satchel bomb; Lacunae could teleport him outside to reopen the door. Scotch Tape was looking for any food, medicine, or ammo that was still good. She was almost as good at scavenging as her daddy… but I kept that to myself. See? Blackjack can be taught.
"尽管如此，这仍然是一个非凡的突破,"晨辉高兴地说。"我迫不及待地想写信给我的老师。嘿!"她简直是在用蹄子跳舞。我听着狂暴说了一句关于晨辉是知识分子的讽刺俏皮话......但是什么也没听到。女神，我想念她。P-21正在收拾他的背包炸弹;Lacunae可以把他传送到外面重新打开大门。透明胶带正在寻找任何食物，药品或弹药仍然是好的。她几乎和她爸爸一样善于捡垃圾......但我没有告诉别人。看到了吗？黑杰克是可以教的。
So when we came in, that box powered up and started killing all of us. Why? How? No idea. But at least we knew what was causing it. I tried to think of what was written on that box before blasting it. Roseluck… gardens? Businesses? Security? Ugh, now I was afraid I was making stuff up trying to remember.
所以当我们进来的时候，那个盒子启动了，开始杀死我们所有人。为什么？怎么做？不知道。但至少我们知道是什么引起的。我试着想想那个盒子上写了什么，然后把它炸了。罗塞卢克...花园？商业？安全问题？呃，现在我害怕我是在为了回忆而编造故事。
We’ve dodged another bullet, I thought as Lacunae finished. Not that I’d say it, but her healing had left me stiff and sore in that limb. Well, beggars can’t be choosers, Blackjack. The bony bastard hadn’t taken me yet. But as I looked at the bones behind the register, I heard the shuffling in my mind. ‘Just wait,’ they seemed to say.
我们又躲开了一颗子弹，我想当拉库尼结束的时候。虽然我不想这么说，但是她的治疗使我的四肢僵硬而疼痛。要饭的不能挑肥拣瘦的黑杰克。那个瘦骨嶙峋的混蛋还没把我抓走。但是当我看着收银机后面的骨头时，我听到了脑海中的慢吞吞的声音。"等着瞧吧,"他们似乎在说。
* * *
* * *
We reached a major road that came out of the Core; another four-lane highway that cut straight as an arrow… due east. Okay, so it wouldn’t be much good for us. The bigger concern was the broken bridge that had once spanned the river.
我们到达了一条主要的道路，来自核心;另一个四车道的高速公路，削减像箭头一样笔直...正东。好吧，这对我们没什么好处。更令人担忧的是曾经横跨这条河的断桥。
What remained of the huge concrete arch was covered with wagons of all types,
巨大的混凝土拱门的残余部分被各种类型的货车所覆盖,
and they’d been cobbled together into a settlement of a decidedly unpleasant sort. Spiked decorations were never a good sign around Hoofington.
他们被拼凑在一起，形成了一个绝对令人不快的解决方案。在Hoofington，钉满钉子的装饰品从来不是什么好兆头。
“So… what are we going to do?” P-21 asked as he looked up at the... town.
"那么......我们该怎么办?"P-21一边抬头看着......镇一边问道。
“Can’t we just go around?” Glory asked, pointing at the wet walkway that went under the bridge.
"我们不能绕过去吗?"晨辉指着桥下潮湿的人行道问道。
He pointed a hoof up. “Would you look at that place? Are you telling me we should just leave it? They could be raiders!”
他踢了踢蹄子。"你看看那个地方好吗？你是在告诉我我们应该就这么算了吗？他们可能是掠夺者!"
“Could be, but they’re not attacking us. Hoofington is dangerous enough; are you suggesting we go out of our way to pick fights with whatever ponies we come across if we don’t like the look of them?” Glory countered with a scowl. My friends glared at each other.
"有可能，但他们没有攻击我们。胡芬顿已经够危险的了，你是说，如果我们不喜欢它们的样子，我们就要故意找它们打架吗?"格洛里皱着眉头反驳道。我的朋友们互相怒目而视。
“Hey. Hey. Simmer down a notch,” I said in concern. Glory and P-21 weren’t usually on the same page, but they rarely looked ready to blast each other. I looked over at the worried Scotch and sighed. What I wouldn’t give for Rampage to be here right now… “Look, there’s a really simple way to resolve this.” Both blinked at me; I supposed that Blackjack as the voice of reason was a little surprising. “I’ll trot up there and say hi. If they shoot at me, we’ll know that they’re bad ponies.” Like that scavenger near the MASEBS tower? I winced inwardly. “Um, if they shoot at me a lot while shouting about how they’re going to rape me or eat me or fuck me up… then we know they’re bad ponies,” I amended.
"嘿。嘿。冷静一下,"我担心地说。晨辉和P-21通常不在同一页上，但他们很少看起来准备轰炸对方。我看了看忧心忡忡的苏格兰威士忌，叹了口气。我不希望狂暴现在在这里......"看，有一个非常简单的方法可以解决这个问题。"两个人都对我眨了眨眼睛，我猜想黑杰克作为理智的声音有点让人吃惊。"我要小跑过去打个招呼。如果他们朝我开枪，我们就知道他们不是好马。"就像MASEBS塔附近的那个拾荒者？我心里一阵抽搐。"嗯，如果他们一边朝我开枪，一边大喊他们要怎么强奸我，怎么吃我，怎么干我......那我们就知道他们不是好马,"我修正道。
Okay. Now THAT was the look I was more familiar with.
好吧。这才是我更熟悉的表情。
“Blackjack, are you trying to get killed?” Glory blurted. “We just healed you!”
"黑杰克，你想死吗?"晨辉脱口而出。"我们刚刚治好了你!"
“That has to be one of the most idiotic plans I’ve ever heard!” P-21 retorted simultaneously.
"这肯定是我听过的最愚蠢的计划之一!"P-21同时反驳。
I stomped… and the effect was ruined by me splashing myself with muddy water. My lips twitched for several seconds before I pointed a hoof at Glory. “You’re right. We shouldn’t just shoot everypony we come across.” And then I pointed at P-21. “And you’re right; if they’re all cannibals or something, then we’ve got an obligation to prevent them from hurting anypony else. So, do either of you have an alternative?”
我跺了跺脚......效果被我往自己身上泼浑水毁了。我的嘴唇抽动了几秒钟，然后把蹄子指向晨辉。"你说得对。我们不应该把遇到的每一匹马都打死。"然后我指着P-21。"你是对的，如果他们都是食人族之类的，那么我们就有义务阻止他们伤害其他人。那么，你们还有其他选择吗?"
P-21 looked up at the bridge; the first fifty feet were completely open. “No…”
P-21抬头看着桥，前面五十英尺完全敞开着。"不......"
“Okay. So, I’ll trot up and say hi. P-21, you sneak up while they’re paying attention to me in case they’re bad. Glory, hang back with Scotch and give me cover in case I have to run. Lacunae, if things go real bad, pop in and shield me so we can fall back. Remember, this close, the city’s air defenses might find you a fine target, so no flying.” Lacunae nodded once.
"好吧。所以，我要小跑过去打个招呼。P-21，当他们注意我的时候，你悄悄靠近，以防他们坏了。晨辉，拿着苏格兰威士忌站在后面，给我掩护，以防我不得不逃跑。空白，如果情况真的很糟糕，突然出现并保护我，这样我们就可以撤退。记住，这么近的距离，城市的防空系统可能会发现你是一个很好的目标，所以不能飞行。"拉库奈点了点头。
This just screamed ‘bad idea’, but what could I do? Somepony had to pry into other ponies’ business. Might as well be me. “Well, let’s go say hello…”
这只是尖叫着'糟糕的主意'，但我能做什么呢？一些小马不得不窥探其他小马的生意。也可能是我。"好吧，我们去打个招呼......"
* * *
* * *
I walked towards the settlement with Taurus’s rifle beside me. I needed a name for the hunting rifle… Bulldozer? Nah. Old Bull? Maybe, but it needed to be cooler…
我走向居民区，身边放着金牛座的步枪。我需要一个猎枪的名字...推土机？不。老公牛？也许吧，但是需要更酷一点..。
As I stepped onto the bridge, my PipBuck chirped. ‘Fallen Arch’ appeared in my E.F.S.’s navigation tool. Now there was a name to inspire trust and community. As I approached the main gate, the back hatch of a covered steel wagon, the two watchponies stationed above it turned and started. They began banging on a metal drum, calling more to the gate.
当我走上桥的时候，我的小鸟叽叽喳喳地叫着。'堕落拱门'出现在我的e.f.s的导航工具中。现在有了一个名字来激发信任和社区。当我走近一辆有顶钢制货车的后舱口的大门时，两辆停在大门上的守门小马掉头开动了。他们开始敲击金属鼓，呼唤更多的大门。
“Who goes there?” called a stallion through the downpour as they mustered atop the metal wagons blocking the bridge. I glanced to the side and saw P-21 wiggle underneath one of the old vehicles and disappear from sight.
"谁去了那里?"在倾盆大雨中被叫做种马，他们聚集在堵在桥上的金属货车上。我向旁边瞥了一眼，看到P-21在一辆旧车下扭动身子，消失在视线之外。
“Security!” I yelled back. If anything was going to make them start shooting… but they hadn’t yet. I took that as a good sign.
"保安!"我也吼了回去。如果有什么能让他们开始射击的话......但是他们还没有。我认为这是个好兆头。
“What do you want?” the stallion yelled.
"你想要什么?"那匹种马大叫。
I’m contemplating wiping all of you out. “Just to get out of the rain,” I answered.
我在考虑把你们都赶出去。"只是为了避雨,"我回答。
“Go away,” the stallion retorted.
"走开,"种马反驳道。
“I got caps for trade.”
"我得到了交易限额。"
“I said go away!” A rifle shot pinged off the asphalt before me.
"我说走开!"一声枪响在我面前的柏油路上响起。
Then I saw P-21’s face emerge from under the wagon. He looked me in the eye and shook his head slowly, drawing a hoof across his throat.
然后我看见P-21的脸从马车下面露了出来。他看着我的眼睛，慢慢地摇着头，一只蹄子划过他的喉咙。
I sighed and then narrowed my eye at the half dozen ponies on the wall. “Now listen up! I am wet, tired, and now cranky. You will drop your weapons and open the door to this place. Whatever messed up shit you’re doing in there will be ended, and then I’ll be on my way. Otherwise, I am going to bring down such a fury upon you that you’ll wish you were never born. I will tear down this fucking bridge with my bare hooves and dump it all into the river and let Celestia deal with you in the everafter!” I shouted as I started to pace. “So what is it going to be? Because I’m sick of waiting!”
我叹了口气，然后眯起眼睛看着墙上的六匹小马。"现在听好了！我浑身湿透，疲惫不堪，现在脾气暴躁。放下武器，打开这个地方的门。不管你在里面干了什么坏事都会结束然后我就可以走了。否则，我会把这种愤怒降临到你身上，让你宁愿自己从未出生过。我会用我光秃秃的蹄子把这座该死的桥拆了，然后把所有的东西都倒进河里，让塞莱斯蒂亚永远和你做交易!"我边喊边开始踱步。"那么接下来会怎么样呢？因为我厌倦了等待!"
They stared at each other as I stood there with rain dripping off Taurus’s barrel. I could see a sniper rifle, but its owner was out in the open. He was first… then…
我站在那里，雨水从金牛座的桶上滴落下来，他们互相凝视着对方。我能看见一把狙击步枪，但它的主人却在外面。他是第一个...然后..。
Then weapons hit the ground and they were scrambling out of sight.
然后武器落到了地上，他们匆忙逃离了视线。
I blinked in surprise. “Huh,” I muttered lamely as a terrified stallion pushed open the doors to the settlement. Slowly, I approached, watching my E.F.S. for red among the blue.
我惊讶地眨了眨眼。"哈,"当一匹惊恐的种马推开定居点的门时，我一瘸一拐地咕哝着。慢慢地，我走过去，看着我的e.f.s.在蓝色中发出红光。
“Please don’t kill us,” he begged as I passed. I looked back at Glory, Scotch, and Lacunae and gestured for them to stay back. I walked through the wagon; the far end had been cut away.
"请不要杀我们,"当我走过时，他恳求道。我回头看了看晨辉、苏格兰威士忌和空隙，示意他们退后。我穿过马车，远处的一头已经被砍掉了。
Fallen Arch wasn’t much as far as settlements went. I gathered its name was due to the hundred-foot span of fallen bridge it backed onto. A half-dozen wagons had been converted into rusty shelters. “I need everypony out here right now,” I called out into the rain. One by one, the stallions emerged… and only stallions. There were maybe eight or ten. My eye swept the rusted shelters… but there was one building full of blue bars. “I said everypony!”
倒塌的拱门并不像定居点那么远。我猜想它的名字是因为它倒着倒下的那座桥有一百英尺的跨度。六辆马车已改装成生锈的掩蔽所。"我现在需要每一匹小马都出来,"我冲着雨喊道。一个接一个，种马出现了......只有种马。大概有八到十个。我的眼睛扫视着生锈的庇护所......但是有一栋建筑布满了蓝色的栅栏。"我说的是每匹小马!"
Then the door opened and two more stallions emerged, a mare wearing a filthy rag trailing them. One of the pair had his mouth clasped on a detonator. The other, who I took for a leader given that everypony kept looking at him, cleared his throat. “Hello. My name is Collar.” Oh, this boded well. “I’d welcome you, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to leave here, Miss Security. You have no business being here and no right to judge us.”
然后门开了，又出现了两匹种马，一匹母马拖着一块肮脏的破布。其中一人的嘴被雷管卡住了。另一个，我认为他是一个领导者，因为每个小马都不停地看着他，清了清嗓子。"你好。我叫科勒。"哦，这是个好兆头。"我很欢迎你，但恐怕你得离开这里了，保安小姐。你在这里没有任何权利，也没有权利来评判我们。"
I looked over and picked out P-21’s blue bar off to the side. He peeked at me,
我环顾四周，从旁边挑出了P-21的蓝色横杆。他偷看了我一眼
and I looked back at the leader. “Well, that sounds like there’s something here that needs judging. I’d really like a peek inside that wagon there,” I said as I pointed with my PipBuck, glancing over at P-21 again. He gave a tiny nod and then disappeared.
我回头看了看领队。"好吧，听起来这里有些东西需要评判。我真想看看那辆马车里面的情况,"我一边说，一边用我的皮伯克手枪指着他，又瞥了一眼P-21。他微微点了点头，然后消失了。
“That holds our mares and foals,” he replied sharply. “You will not deny us our property.” Property? Then my eye picked out the collar on the mare’s throat. Slavers. Collar coughed. “However, we are not unwilling to compromise. Leave now, and we shall allow you to take Clover with you.”
"那牵着我们的母马和小马驹,"他厉声回答。"你不能剥夺我们的财产。"财产？然后我的眼睛挑出了母马喉咙上的项圈。奴隶贩子。项圈咳嗽了一声。"然而，我们并非不愿意妥协。现在走吧，我们就让你带走克洛弗。"
I felt a loathing like I hadn’t felt in a long time. Raiders were sick. Gangers were violent. However, nothing churned my stomach like the thought of a pony selling another pony. It reminded me of 99.
我感到一种很久没有的厌恶。突袭机生病了。分身是暴力的。然而，一想到一匹小马在卖另一匹小马，我的胃就翻江倒海。这让我想起了99年。
“Now, that sounds pretty generous,” I said as I saw P-21 slip as quietly as a ghost through a window in the trailer; there were advantages to being an undersized sneaky pony. “But I’m afraid it ain’t quite enough. Why don’t you let all those mares go, and I’ll call it fair.”
"现在，听起来很慷慨,"当我看到P-21像幽灵一样悄悄地从拖车的窗户溜进来时，我说，身材矮小、鬼鬼祟祟的小马也有好处。""但是恐怕还不够。你为什么不把那些母马都放了，这样我就觉得公平了。"
“These mares are our property and our livelihood. Without them, we are as good as dead. If you try and take them by force, then we may as well liquidate our stock,” he replied calmly. Liquidate? Seriously? And I wasn’t taking his property; I was freeing ponies! I was burning to vaporize his head in the worst way…
"这些母马是我们的财产和生计。没有他们，我们就死定了。如果你试图用武力夺取他们，那么我们还不如清算我们的存货,"他平静地回答。清算？真的吗？我没有拿走他的财产，我只是放了一些小马！我想用最坏的方式把他的头烧成灰。
“Your livelihood? Your... your property?!” I fumed, my eye narrowing as I glared at him. “You’re telling me the only way you can survive is by selling the flesh of other ponies?” I knew that right now P-21 must have been taking off those collars. I had to buy him time. “Find another way! A better way!”
"你的谋生手段？你的...你的财产?"我气得眯起眼睛看着他。"你是在告诉我，你能生存下去的唯一办法就是卖掉其他小马的肉?"我知道现在P-21一定已经脱掉了那些项圈。我必须给他争取时间。"找别的办法！更好的办法!"
“This is the better way!” he retorted. “For generations we fished the scum out of the river, salvaged what we could, and hunted what we found in the marsh, and still it wasn’t enough! I watched my grandfather get consumed by disease and my father taken by famine! Finally, we sold our surplus population and purchased enough food for the rest to survive. I sold my daughters myself, rather than see them starve. We rent our females, or sell them, to sustain the community. To sustain civilization. We’ve done what we must to survive.”
"这是更好的办法!"他反驳道。"世世代代，我们从河里捞出浮渣，能捞多少就捞多少，在沼泽地里打猎，可是还是不够！我看着我的祖父被疾病吞噬，我的父亲被饥荒带走！最后，我们卖掉了多余的人口，购买了足够的食物供其他人生存。我亲自出卖了我的女儿们，而不愿看着她们挨饿。为了维持社区的生计，我们租用或出售我们的女性。为了维持文明。为了生存，我们做了必须做的事情。"
Wait... “You’re telling me…” I couldn’t even finish that thought. These weren’t just captured ponies… these were their own families? ‘Surplus population?’
等等..."你在告诉我..."我甚至无法完成那个想法。这些不仅仅是被捕获的小马...这些是他们自己的家人？人口过剩
They didn’t just hold mares as slaves, but bred them! Now I was glad I’d come up here. “Well. How nice. What you must do to survive now is take off each and every one of those collars and toss them into the river. You want to sell somepony into slavery, sell yourself!” Shit, I needed to stall. Stall! But I felt as though everything was just sweeping me along.
他们不仅把母马当作奴隶，而且还培育它们！现在我很高兴我来到这里。"好吧。太好了。你现在必须做的是脱下每一个项圈，然后把它们扔进河里。你想把一匹小马卖作奴隶，那就卖你自己吧!"妈的，我需要拖延时间。拖延！但是我觉得好像一切都在把我往前推。
It looked like he wasn’t in the mood for banter. Honestly, neither was I. The leader sighed. “I have no wish to fight you, Security. I have no doubt of your peril. But this is our community and we will ask you one more time to leave.” The mare stared at me with wide, terrified eyes. She wet herself like an animal. The sight made my heartbeat pound in my ears.
看起来他没有心情开玩笑。老实说，我也不是。领袖叹了口气。"我不想和你打架，保安。我对你的危险毫不怀疑。但这是我们的社区，我们将再次要求你们离开。"那匹母马瞪大着惊恐的眼睛盯着我。她像动物一样尿裤子。这景象使我的心跳在耳朵里怦怦直跳。
“You want to fucking die?” I shouted. The stallion with the detonator in his mouth flinched.
"你他妈的想死吗?"我喊道。那匹嘴里装着雷管的种马退缩了。
Clover exploded.
三叶草爆炸了。
It wasn’t like a grenade or anything I’d experienced. In fact the detonation was a sharp ‘Krak’ noise. The explosion was focused by the heavy metal collar. After all, nopony wanted a slave whose death might injure the owner. The resulting blast sent a pink hourglass fanning out above and below the collar as everything between her head and shoulders was atomized. Pieces of hot pony mixed with the rain.
这不像是手榴弹或者我经历过的任何事情。事实上，爆炸是一种尖锐的"Krak"噪音。爆炸的焦点是那个重金属护圈。毕竟，没有一匹小马想要一个死亡可能伤害主人的奴隶。爆炸产生的冲击波将一个粉红色的沙漏从衣领上下呈扇形散开，因为她的头和肩膀之间的一切都变成了原子。热腾腾的小马和雨水混杂在一起。
And that was the point at which everything transformed into one red scream.
就在那时，一切都变成了一声红色的尖叫。
I took one look at the one with the detonator in his mouth, hit S.A.T.S., and with three magic bolts of energy vaporized his head and the detonator too. I barely felt the impact on my left; the stallions there had taken advantage of my blind side to rearm. My barding soaked up the impacts, and my jellied bones bent rather than broke; a small blessing, I supposed, as I spun around and levitated out my shotgun. Black antipersonnel shells were loaded, and the flechettes stripped pony flesh from pony bone as I blasted cloud after cloud of razor sharp darts into the stallions.
我看了一眼那个嘴里有雷管的家伙，按下了sat键，用三个魔法能量螺栓把他的头和雷管都蒸发了。我几乎感觉不到左边的冲击力，那里的种马已经利用我的弱侧重新武装起来。我的身体吸收了冲击力，我凝结的骨头弯曲了而不是断裂了;我想这是一个小小的祝福，因为我转过身来，把我的猎枪悬浮起来。黑色的杀伤人员的炮弹已经上膛，当我向那匹种马射出一阵又一阵锋利的飞镖的时候，小马的肉从马的骨头上剥落下来。
The plan now was simple: kill every last one of these fuckers before they could get to another deton-- shit! I twisted around, looking for the leader. Where was he? Red bars were milling about all over the place. Green flashes and white arrows of magic announced Glory and Lacunae’s arrival. I just had to find the leader. If there was another detonator, he’d have it!
现在的计划很简单:在他们到达下一个目的地之前干掉这些混蛋----妈的！我转过身去，寻找那个领头的。他在哪儿？红条到处乱转。绿色的闪光和白色的魔法箭头宣告了晨辉和空隙的到来。我只需要找到领队。如果还有别的引爆器，他早就拿到了！
I figured the most intact wagon would be his, but they were all pretty thrashed. I ignored the bullets biting into me; the burning pain helped me focus as I reloaded the antipersonnel rounds. I saw a door closing and raced to it, ramming it open with my shoulder. A stallion was trying to hide under his bed! Not the stallion I needed, though!
我以为最完整的马车会是他的，但他们都被打得很惨。我忽略了刺入我身体的子弹;当我重新装载杀伤人员子弹时，灼痛帮助我集中注意力。我看到一扇门正在关上，就冲过去，用肩膀撞开了门。一匹种马正试图躲在他的床底下！不过，我需要的不是那匹种马！
I grabbed his tail in my teeth and yanked him out. “Where is Collar?” I shouted, glancing at his own hoofcuff cutie mark. I kicked him hard onto his back. I wanted to kill him then and there. I pressed my shotgun to his crotch and screamed, “Where is he?”
我用牙齿咬住它的尾巴，把它拽了出来。"科勒在哪儿?"我大声喊道，瞥了一眼他自己的马蹄袖口可爱的标记。我狠狠地踢了他的背。我当时当场就想杀了他。我用我的猎枪顶着他的胯部，尖叫着,"他在哪儿?"
“Next door!” he cried, losing control of both his bladder and bowels as he sobbed. “Please don’t kill me!”
"隔壁!"他一边哭，一边失去了膀胱和肠子的控制。"请不要杀我!"
I wanted to. I wanted to kill every last one. Chapel didn’t need to sell ponies. Riverside didn’t. Megamart didn’t. Hell, I hadn’t even seen a slave collar in Flotsam! If other places could have society without this shit, then so be it.
我想。我想杀光所有的人。查普尔不需要卖小马。河滨市没有。但超级市场没有。见鬼，我在弗洛萨姆连个奴隶项圈都没见过！如果其他地方的社会没有这些垃圾，那就这样吧。
But I’m not an executioner. I didn’t kill Roses. I wasn’t going to kill this one.
但我不是刽子手。我没有杀Roses。我本来不打算杀了她的。
But Celestia save me, I wanted to.
但塞莱斯蒂亚救了我，我想。
However, I couldn’t just trot away either. The shotgun butt on his reproductive equipment might have been excessive, but it wasn’t fatal. He curled up, whimpering. “Get another life. I see you like this again and you’re paint!” I wasn’t sure if he understood me, curled up and sobbing like that, but I’d wasted too many seconds on him. My hooves slipped out from under me as I skidded on the wet asphalt, my braced limbs flailing in the air as I struggled back to my feet. My friends were shouting for me, but I couldn’t wait. I couldn’t listen. And I charged into the last wagon, slamming it open with my shoulder.
然而，我也不能就这样离开。他生殖器上的霰弹枪枪托可能有些过度，但并不致命。他蜷缩着，呜咽着。"换一种生活。再让我看到你这副德性，你就成了油漆!"我不确定他是否理解我，像那样蜷缩着哭泣，但我在他身上浪费了太多的时间。我在湿漉漉的柏油路上打滑，蹄子从我身下滑落，支撑着的四肢在空中乱舞，我挣扎着站起来。我的朋友们都在喊我，但我等不及了。我听不进去。我冲进最后一辆马车，用肩膀猛地把它撞开。
Collar turned to face me, snapping a bomb collar around his neck. His eyes were hard, his scowl contemptuous… but his smile was triumphant. I panted as I lifted the gun, looking for another detonator. There wasn’t one. “Selling yourself now? Does that mean somepony is actually going to listen to me for a change?”
项圈转过来面向我，折断了他脖子上的炸弹项圈。他目光呆滞，愁眉不展，不屑一顾......但他的微笑却洋溢着胜利的喜悦。我气喘吁吁地举起枪，寻找另一个引爆器。根本就没有。""现在推销你自己？这是不是意味着有人真的会听我的话呢?"
“You scrapped my only detonator.” Why didn’t I feel any better as he reached up to the clasp of his collar? “Ever hear of linked collars, Security? Without the detonator setting them off… if one goes off… they all go off.” I felt a sensation like I’d just had my belly sliced open and everything had tumbled out.
"你拆了我唯一的引爆器。"当他把手伸向他的领扣时，我为什么没有感觉好一点呢？"你听说过连锁项圈吗，保安？如果没有雷管引爆......如果其中一个引爆......它们都会引爆。"我有一种感觉，就像我的肚子刚被切开，所有的东西都掉了出来。
“Don’t you want to live?” I asked desperately as I took the gun off him. I only had one or two magic bullets left in me. Could I take him out with two to the head? …did I want to risk it? “I’ll let you walk out of here! Right now. I’ll fucking pay you!” I shouted at him. “I got six thousand caps on me right now! Just… don’t!” If I killed him, would it go off? Did he have to open it or yank hard enough?
"你不想活了吗?"我一边绝望地问，一边从他身上取下枪。我只剩下一两颗神奇的子弹了。我可以用两枪打爆他的头吗？我愿意冒这个险吗？"我会让你走出去的！现在。我他妈的会给你钱的!"我对他大喊大叫。"我现在身上有六千顶帽子！只是......不要!"如果我杀了他，会爆炸吗？他需要打开它还是用力猛拉？
He spat on my chest. “You killed my son just now out there, Security. And you’ve killed my daughters. You’ve destroyed my home. Just like that. Was it hard for you? Did you even work up a sweat when you came and judged us?” he replied as he stared into my eye. I knew that fucking look, and brought the shotgun back around. “You should have just walked away, Security.” I pulled the trigger as his hoof jerked hard on the bomb collar. The boom mixed with a sharper ‘Krak’.
他朝我胸口吐唾沫。"你刚才在外面杀了我儿子，保安。你还杀了我的女儿。你毁了我的家。就这样。对你来说很难吗？你来评判我们的时候是不是汗流浃背?"他盯着我的眼睛回答。我知道那该死的表情，然后把猎枪拿了回来。"你应该直接走开，保安。"我扣动了扳机，他的蹄子猛地踩在炸弹项圈上。繁荣与更尖锐的"Krak"交织在一起。
And the sounds of popping filled the air outside. I stood petrified as Collar’s decapitated body swayed and collapsed. I stood there, spattered with blood like rain water. My lip trembled. “I would have let you live… I would have paid you… damn it...” I clenched my eye shut and covered my face. “Damn it!” I yelled into my hooves.
外面的空气中充满了爆裂的声音。当科勒被斩首的身体摇摇晃晃地倒下时，我站在那里呆若木鸡。我站在那里，血像雨水一样溅得到处都是。我的嘴唇颤抖着。"我会让你活下去......我会付钱给你......该死......"我紧闭双眼，捂住脸。"该死!"我用蹄子大叫。
No matter what I did… no matter what I tried… the Wasteland won. It killed a little more. It cut a little deeper. The Dealer just looked on at the far side of this little hovel, and I screamed as I pointed the shotgun and unloaded every round into him. When the gun was expended, I loaded explosive rounds next; I didn’t give a damn what they did to the condition of the weapon. Again and again the shotgun roared as I destroyed everything in sight. I didn’t care if there was life’s supply of Wild Pegasus in here. Everything was blasted. Incendiary rounds lit the bed on fire. The stove was soon ablaze.
不管我怎么做...不管我怎么努力...荒原赢了。它杀死了更多的人。它切得更深一些。庄家只是看着这个小破屋的另一边，我尖叫着用枪指着他，把每一发子弹都打到他身上。枪用完后，我又装上了子弹，我才不管他们对枪的状况做了什么。猎枪一遍又一遍地咆哮着，我摧毁了视野中的一切。我不在乎这里是否有野生飞马的生命供应。一切都被炸毁了。燃烧弹把床点着了。炉子很快就着火了。
For a horrible instant I wanted to stay in there and burn too. Then I smacked that idea and myself for thinking it.
在那可怕的一瞬间，我也想呆在那里，燃烧起来。然后我打击了这个想法和我自己，因为我想到了它。
I couldn’t do this. Not now. Coughing and hacking, I staggered away. Slowly I stepped out into the rain. Step by step I walked towards the wagon trailer that had held the slaves. How many had he been able to save? How many… I saw Glory and Lacunae huddled around P-21, keeping the rain off him. Scotch Tape was being violently ill.
我不能这么做。现在不行。咳嗽着，我踉踉跄跄地走开了。我慢慢地走进雨中。我一步一步地向装着奴隶的拖车走去。他救了多少人？有多少......我看见晨辉和拉库奈围在P-21周围，挡住雨水。透明胶带病得很厉害。
No other blue bars. Not a one. If there was a survivor, they’d fled out of range.
没有其他的蓝条。一个都没有。如果有幸存者，他们已经逃出了射程。
Fallen Arch was a slaughterhouse and I had been the butcher. Had I just walked past… no, that would have perpetuated this. So now was quick atrocity okay if it stopped an ongoing one? I walked slowly to P-21 as he shook so hard that Glory could barely get the Med-X into him. His forehooves had been blown off. Blood was painted across his face. He stared up at me, tears running down his cheeks.
堕落拱门是个屠宰场，而我曾经是个屠夫。如果我只是走过去...不，那会使这一切永久化。所以现在是快速暴行好吗，如果它停止了一个正在进行的？我慢慢地走向P-21，他的身体抖得如此厉害，以至于晨辉几乎不能把医疗x射线射入他体内。他的前蹄被炸掉了。他的脸上涂满了鲜血。他抬头看着我，眼泪顺着脸颊流了下来。
“I tried… I really tried...” he whimpered. “I didn’t let them die, Blackjack. Please. Please believe me.”
"我试过了......我真的试过了......"他呜咽着说。"我没有让他们死，Blackjack。求你了。请相信我。"
Did he think I would believe he’d just stood back and let their collars be detonated? As if I’d ever think he’d do such a thing…
他以为我会相信他只是袖手旁观让他们的项圈被引爆吗？好像我从没想过他会做这种事..。
As if he’d ever do such a thing…
好像他会做这种事似的。
No. Don’t think about it. I couldn’t say a word as Glory injected him with Hydra. She didn’t raise the smallest concern or complaint; P-21 needed his hooves back. A little taint was a small price to pay. The poison spreads a little more.
没有。别想了。我一句话也说不出来，因为晨辉给他注射了海德拉。她没有表现出丝毫的关心或抱怨;P-21需要他的马蹄。一点污点是一个小小的代价。毒药稍微扩散了一点。
I looked at the bloodsoaked bodies. Pony blood flowing like a river out the door. Pony blood mixing with the rain… Flowing out to meet the river. I’d never been happier for the rain. Never. It washed everything away.
我看着那些血淋淋的尸体。小马的血像河水一样从门口流出。小马的血和雨混在一起......流出来迎接河流。我从来没有因为下雨而这么开心过。从来没有。它把一切都冲走了。
Afterwards, I had to do something for the bodies, but I was at a loss. The slavers were carrion, but their victims deserved… something! Ponies weren’t exactly flammable… there wasn’t any ground suitable for burial. The thought of dumping them into the river chilled me even more, but it might be the only thing we could do.
后来，我不得不为尸体做点什么，但我不知所措。奴隶贩子是腐肉，但他们的受害者值得......一些东西！小马不是很容易燃烧的......没有适合埋葬的地方。一想到要把它们扔进河里，我就更加心寒，但这可能是我们唯一能做的事情了。
Then Lacunae stepped forward and her horn glowed. “What are you doing?” I asked softly.
然后拉库奈走上前去，她的角发出了光芒。"你在干什么?"我轻声问道。
“What a Goddess should,” she answered, and the first body lifted in her magical grip and started floating higher and higher over the river. A red light atop the massive war wall surrounding the Core grew brighter and brighter, and then a beam struck the body. For a few seconds a star burned over the river before the ash was scattered.
"什么样的女神啊,"她回答说，第一具尸体在她魔法般的掌握下升了起来，开始在河面上漂得越来越高。围绕核心的巨大战墙上的一道红光越来越亮，然后一道光束击中了他的身体。在火山灰散落之前，一颗星星在河面上燃烧了几秒钟。
Then another star. Another. Another…
然后是另一颗星星。另一个。另一个..。
Another…
另一个..。
Lacunae was gracious enough to tend to the fallen slavers as well. She was a better pony than I. There’d be one corner of the Wasteland devoid of bones. Glory had to do the scavenging, and she managed only a hoofful of bullets and caps. To be honest, I couldn’t care less. I just wanted to get going. I was sick of the rain all of a sudden. Sick of the blood. Sick of everything.
拉库尼也很慷慨地照顾倒下的奴隶贩子。她是一匹比我更好的小马，在荒原的一个角落里，没有骨头。晨辉不得不进行清除工作，她只用了几发子弹和几顶帽子。老实说，我一点也不在乎。我只是想走了。我突然厌倦了这场雨。厌恶血液。厌倦了一切。
* * *
* * *
It wasn’t my fault. I knew that. It wasn’t P-21’s, either. He wouldn’t have lost his hooves and nearly his face if he hadn’t been trying to take the collars off. The fault lay with Collar. He and the others had decided years ago to engage in selling out their own. It didn’t matter if they justified it as simple survival. You could justify anything if you worked at it long enough. They’d set up a community based on an atrocity and then had the misfortune of me trotting along.
这不是我的错。我知道。也不是P-21。如果他没有试图把项圈取下来，他就不会失去他的蹄子和几乎他的脸。错在科勒。他和其他人几年前就决定出卖自己的公司。不管他们是否认为这只是简单的生存问题。只要你努力工作足够长的时间，你就能证明任何事情都是正当的。他们在暴行的基础上建立了一个社区，然后不幸地让我一路小跑。
So why did I feel guilty? Was it because I’d been cocky, striding up there all brash and bold? They ought to rename Dash ‘Blackjack’, then. I could have stalled longer. Heck, I could have pulled out… but would Collar have planned something once he knew that I was around?
那么为什么我会感到内疚呢？是不是因为我过去骄傲自大，大摇大摆地走在那里，傲慢无礼？那么他们应该给Dash重新命名为Blackjack。我本来可以拖得更久的。见鬼，我本来可以退出的......但是，一旦卡勒知道我在附近，他会有什么计划吗？
The Dealer walked beside me, but I wasn’t talking to him and he wasn’t talking to me. He’d already said his piece. There wasn’t anything more to add. ‘You’re afraid of screwing up…’
"商人"走在我旁边，但我没有和他说话，他也没有和我说话。他已经说出了他的想法。没有什么要补充的了。你害怕把事情搞砸..
Why? I was so good at it.
为什么？我很擅长这个。
Clearly, I’d never really appreciated what ‘inches’ of rain was really like, but at least we were fortunate enough not to have to measure pounds of ice. The only sign left of the hail was the occasional overlarge ice chunk melting beside the path. Still, the rain was strong enough that nothing else was stupid enough to be following the river in it. We were passing the twisted remains of a marina, the boats and docks and pilings all tangled together in heaps from the river’s powerful flow.
显然，我从来没有真正意识到英寸的降雨到底是什么样子，但至少我们很幸运，不用测量磅的冰。冰雹留下的唯一痕迹是路边偶尔发生的巨大冰块融化。尽管如此，雨还是很大，没有什么比这更愚蠢的事情了。我们经过一个弯弯曲曲的码头残骸，船只、码头和桩子都被汹涌的河水纠缠在一起。
The rain was so heavy that we almost missed the sign. That was a trick in and of itself given its size; it was painted over a billboard that had slid down the face of an apartment building. Somepony had painted, in deep red letters, two words.
雨下得这么大，我们几乎没看见那个标志。考虑到它的尺寸，这本身就是一个小把戏;它是在一个从一栋公寓楼上滑下来的广告牌上画的。有一匹小马用深红色的字母画了两个单词。
Hoofington Rises.
胡芬顿上升。
I felt a prickle along my spine and glanced over at the Core. Hoofington Rises? A slogan from two centuries ago reappearing here? Now? The paint wasn’t weathered much. My friends watched me as I trotted towards it and put my hoof on the red letters. No one paints a thirty-foot-wide, twenty-foot-tall slogan randomly. “Blackjack?” Glory asked in concern, snapping me out of it. We were getting soaked. Well, except for Lacunae and Scotch, of course.
我感到一阵刺痛沿着我的脊柱，扫视了一下核心。胡芬顿起床了？两个世纪前的口号又在这里出现了？现在？油漆没有经过多少风化。我的朋友们看着我小跑过去，把我的蹄子踩在红色的字母上。没有人会随便画一个三十英尺宽，二十英尺高的标语。"黑杰克?"晨辉关切地问道，把我从中拉了出来。我们都湿透了。当然，除了缺口和苏格兰威士忌。
“Nothing. Just… don’t you think it’s weird?” I asked, and Glory gave a crooked smile in response.
"没什么。你不觉得这很奇怪吗?"我问道，晨辉给了我一个歪歪扭扭的微笑作为回应。
“Blackjack, we just escaped from a sporting goods store that was killing us with some sort of arcane device. Yesterday, we met a two-century-old pickled pony in a jar. And the day before that…” She trailed off, glancing at Scotch before she coughed. “Anyway. My wierdometer’s been busted for some time now.” She laughed as she nudged my rump, then frowned. “Actually, I’ve never had one. I mean, what would it detect, and how would you scale it...”
"黑杰克，我们刚从一家体育用品商店逃出来，那家商店用某种神秘装置杀死了我们。昨天，我们遇到了一个装在罐子里的两个世纪前的小腌马。还有前天......"她慢吞吞地走开了，在咳嗽之前瞥了一眼苏格兰威士忌。"不管怎么说。我的计数器坏了有一段时间了。"她用手轻轻推了推我的臀部，笑了，然后皱起了眉头。"事实上，我从来没有过。我的意思是，它能探测到什么，以及如何扩大它的规模......"
“I get the idea, Glory,” I replied with a smile, the first little smile I’d given in hours.
"我明白了，晨辉,"我微笑着回答，这是几个小时以来我给出的第一个微笑。
“It’s just a sign, Blackjack,” P-21 said quietly as he flicked his mane, trying to shake the water out of his eyes. He still had little pieces of pony in his hair, but at least he still had his hooves and his face.
"这只是一个信号，Blackjack,"P-21轻轻地抖动着鬃毛，试图把眼睛里的水抖出来。他的头发上还有小马的碎片，但至少他的蹄子和脸还在。
“Yeah,” I muttered, giving the sign one last long look before continuing along the hoofpath that ran above the wave-bashed marina. Just a sign…
"是的,"我喃喃自语，最后看了一眼标志牌，然后继续沿着冲击着海浪的码头上方的小径走去。只是一个征兆..。
* * *
* * *
“Okay. It’s official. Hoofington gets two hundred inches of suck my dock!” I muttered as we continued north while the river curved away to the west. The buildings were changing from fancy shops to more businesslike structures. Most were five or six stories; nothing compared to the towers in the Core, of course, but tall compared to what we’d been seeing for the past while. We were going slightly uphill, which, combined with all the rain pouring down on us, meant that half the time it was like we were trying to wade up a creek. The storm drains couldn’t handle all the water, and so it was surging and trickling around us all over the place. I was up to my knees in the cold flow.
"好吧。这是正式的。胡芬顿得到了200英寸的吸我的船坞!"我们继续向北行驶，河水向西流去，我喃喃自语道。建筑物正在从高档商店变成更有条理的建筑。大多数建筑都有五六层楼高;当然，与核心区的塔楼相比算不了什么，但与我们过去所看到的相比就高了许多。我们走的是轻微的上坡路，加上倾盆大雨，意味着有一半的时间我们就像是在小溪上跋涉。暴雨排水沟无法处理所有的水，所以它在我们周围不断地涌动和流淌。我在冰冷的河水中跪倒在地。
Then the ground exploded.
然后地面爆炸了。
Of course it exploded! Everything spontaneously explodes around me! Pipes! Vertibucks! Mares! Hell, I made Deus explode twice! So, really, I should not have been as surprised as I was by the missile blast that knocked me off my hooves and sent me rolling back till I hit P-21 and Glory. Lacunae, who’d kept herself and Scotch aloft, immediately raised her shield. Good thing, too, given the barrage of gatling gun fire that sprayed against it. I followed the blinking line of fire to a balcony…
当然会爆炸！我周围的一切都会自发地爆炸！管子！眩晕！母马！见鬼，我让天王爆炸了两次！所以，真的，我不应该感到惊讶，因为我被导弹的爆炸击中了我的蹄子，让我滚回来，直到我击中了P-21和晨辉。拉库尼一直保持着自己和苏格兰威士忌的高度，立刻举起了盾牌。考虑到格林机枪的密集火力，这也是一件好事。我跟着闪烁的火线来到一个阳台..。
Oh. Hello, Steel Rangers.
哦。你好，钢铁骑兵。
A pair of them. They were firing missiles and guns at my friend and the filly levitated alongside her. The mare’s purple shield flashed white with every impact. Lacunae focused all her strength on keeping it up, and more missiles from one of the suits of power armor streaked towards her. The shield flashed again and again as she struggled to maintain it.
一对。他们向我的朋友发射导弹和枪支，那匹小母马就在她旁边漂浮着。母马的紫色盾牌在每一次撞击中闪烁着白色。空隙集中她所有的力量保持它，和更多的导弹从一套电源盔甲条纹对她。当她努力维持的时候，盾牌一次又一次地闪烁着。
I’d seen Steel Ranger power armor before; frankly, I wasn’t all that impressed… mostly because I didn’t have any. But having some suits fire at me now, I had to admit that I really did not want to fight these ponies. The heavy metal seemed much more… substantial… than I anticipated now that it was firing at my friends.
我以前见过钢骑兵的动力盔甲;坦白地说，我并不怎么感兴趣......主要是因为我没有任何盔甲。但是现在有一些西装革履的人朝我开火，我不得不承认我真的不想和这些小马打架。重金属似乎更加...坚实...比我预期的现在，它正在向我的朋友开火。
Then the shield exploded as a blast knocked both of them from the air. Scotch gave a shriek and I spun as I reached out with my telekinesis to try and catch her. I barely slowed her, and I heard the crack of her landing hard. Lacunae screamed as bullets sawed through her hide while she tried to raise another flickering defense. Scotch Tape wasn’t moving.
然后防护罩爆炸了，一次爆炸把他们两个都从空中撞了出来。苏格兰人尖叫了一声，我转过身，伸出心灵遥感，试图抓住她。我几乎没有减慢她的速度，我听到她重重地落地的声音。当子弹穿过她的藏身处时，她尖叫起来，同时试图打开另一道闪烁的防线。胶带不动了。
I chowed down on a tablet of Buck and charged at the cover of the first Steel Ranger. My inventory said I’d picked up some Flash from somewhere. Fuck it. I floated it out as I ran as fast as my clattering braces allowed and bit on the tube, letting the chem fill my lungs. Time slowed to a crawl as I closed the distance. The Steel Ranger seemed to realize there was a threat other than my alicorn friend. I left the Flash-induced acceleration just in time to enter the slow time of S.A.T.S. and toggle four shots to the Ranger’s skull.
我狼吞虎咽地吃下一片巴克的药片，然后冲向《钢铁骑兵》的封面。我的存货清单上说我从某个地方拿了一些Flash。去他的。我把它漂出来，尽可能快地用我的支架跑，然后咬住管子，让化学药品充满我的肺。当我走近距离时，时间慢得像爬行一样。钢铁骑兵似乎意识到除了我的阿里康朋友还有一个威胁。我离开闪光灯诱发的加速，刚好赶上进入sat的缓慢时间，在游侠的头骨上开了四枪。
The first blast blackened her armor. The second shattered the glowing eyepiece. The third opened a foot-long crack in the side of the helmet. The fourth peeled
第一次爆炸使她的盔甲变黑了。第二颗打碎了发光的目镜。第三个人在头盔的侧面开了一条一英尺长的裂缝。第四个剥了皮
away a jagged spur of metal. I saw pink skin and a terrified blue eye staring back at me as the targeting spell wore off. I pushed hard, my Buck-infused body lifting and shoving. I felt like I was an orange mare pushing over a fully loaded apple cart. One brace gave beneath my barding, but still I lifted until the whole suit of armor fell over with a metallic crash. Vigilance pressed against that eye as I stared down at her.
去掉一个锯齿状的金属刺。随着瞄准咒逐渐失效，我看到了粉红色的皮肤和一只吓坏了的蓝眼睛在盯着我。我用力推着，我那充满了巴克元素的身体又抬又推。我感觉自己就像一匹橙色的母马推着满载的苹果车。有一个支架在我的铠甲下面支撑不住了，但我还是举了起来，直到整套盔甲随着一声金属碰撞声倒在地上。我低头看着她，警惕压住了她的眼睛。
The Dealer stood a short ways away. Pull the trigger, his solemn face seemed to say. What’s one more body? You bitch and moan about the dead, so make some more. Ponies fall like rain in the Hoof. Pull the trigger. Do it.
商人站在不远的地方。扣动扳机，他严肃的脸上似乎在说。多一具尸体算什么？你抱怨死人，那就多做点。小马在蹄子里像雨一样落下。扣动扳机。动手吧。
I’m so sick of bodies.
我讨厌死尸体了。
“She’s okay, Blackjack!” Glory yelled. My eye bored down into the Ranger’s. One more body. One more. What was one more?
"她没事，黑杰克!"晨辉大声喊道。我的眼睛钻进了护林员的眼睛。还有一具尸体。再来一杯。还有什么？
Be kind. Do better. Be strong. I had one Dealer and four ponies all fighting with the overwhelming urge to light a bonfire. But slowly, bit by bit… I reasserted my control.
善待他人。做得更好。要坚强。我有一个庄家和四匹小马，它们都极力想点燃一堆篝火。但是慢慢地，一点一点地......我重申了我的控制权。
“I don’t want to fight you,” I said slowly, my voice trembling. “I don’t want to kill you. So stop fighting me… please…” I didn’t quite trust myself as I pulled the gun back. She slowly rose to her hooves. The armor gave a pink flash and repaired itself before my eye. If there’d been a chance to kill her… it was gone now.
"我不想和你打架,"我慢慢地说，声音颤抖着。"我不想杀你。所以请不要再反抗我了......"当我把枪拉回来的时候，我不太相信自己。她慢慢地站起来。盔甲发出粉红色的闪光，在我眼前修补好了。如果有机会杀她的话...现在已经没有了。
“Salad? You okay?” asked the second Ranger as I backed off. For a moment I was certain I was finished. The other stood on a balcony above us, still raining bursts of gatling fire down on Lacunae. Her magic arrows had gouged holes in its armor, but it still fired.
"沙拉？你还好吗?"当我退后时，第二个游骑兵问道。有那么一会儿，我确信我完了。另一个站在我们上方的阳台上，仍然像雨点一样向空隙处倾泻着格林机关枪的火焰。她那神奇的箭在它的盔甲上凿出了几个洞，但它还是发射了。
“Hey, knock it off, Radishes!” boomed the first to the other as she rose. She had a missile launcher and the biggest machinegun thing I’d ever seen. It looked like it fired grenades; the only guns I’d seen that were bigger had been Deus’s cannons and Gun. The other was armed with a gatling gun and something... was that an IF-100 miniature howitzer on her other side? I’d only seen one in the Ironshod Firearms Special Edition Catalogue! “These aren’t Flashers or Reapers… I think.” I gave a terse nod. The Buck was making my heart beat so bad that it felt like it was going to crawl out of my chest.
"嘿，别闹了，萝卜!"当她站起来的时候，第一个响到了另一个。她有一个导弹发射器和我见过的最大的机关枪。它看起来像是发射了手榴弹;我见过的唯一比它大的枪是天王的大炮和大炮。另一个武装着一把加特林机枪和一些东西...是一个IF-100微型榴弹炮在她的另一边？我只在铁蹄火器特别版目录上见过一个！"我认为，这些不是闪光灯或收割者。"我简短地点了点头。雄鹿让我的心跳得很厉害，感觉就像要从我的胸膛里爬出来一样。
“But that one’s an alicorn, Fruit Salad. Aren’t we supposed to kill those on sight?” said the other as she jumped from the balcony and landed with an easy crash. Somehow that simple, agile, and carefree act scared me even more than the guns. The howitzer flipped out as she spread her legs, bracing herself. Suddenly, that feeling of them not wanting to fight was diminishing rapidly. “I bet Brown Betty can get through that shield.”
"但那是一个果实，水果沙拉。我们不是应该一见到他们就杀了他们吗?"另一个说，她从阳台上跳下来，很容易就摔了下来。不知何故，这种简单、敏捷、无忧无虑的行为比枪更让我害怕。当她张开双腿支撑自己时，榴弹炮发射了。突然之间，他们不想打架的感觉正在迅速减弱。"我打赌布朗贝蒂能穿过那个盾牌。"
I rose to my hooves and shook myself hard. Think, Blackjack! What was a good excuse for my friend being... different? “My friend isn’t one of those... ah...
我猛地站起来，使劲地摇晃着自己。想想吧，黑杰克！什么是我朋友与众不同的好借口？"我的朋友不是那种......啊.....。
monsters,” I said as I pointed at Lacunae, who looked back at me in surprise. “She always said she wanted to be like Princess Luna and she came across some killing joke!” I grinned, trying to will them to believe my flimsy lie as I added lamely, “We came out here to get away from those... monsters!” We were doomed…
怪物,"我指着Lacunae说，他惊讶地回头看着我。"她总是说她想成为像露娜公主一样的人，她偶然听到了一些杀人的笑话!"我咧嘴一笑，试图让他们相信我的谎言，然后一瘸一拐地补充道:"我们来这里是为了躲避那些......怪物!"我们死定了。
“Er… that’s right,” Lacunae said, looking down at me in some confusion. “Call me… Luna.”
"呃......没错,"拉库纳说，困惑地低头看着我。"叫我...露娜。"
The pair looked at each other, and then Radishes shrugged and Brown Betty retracted and folded in. Fruit Salad still seemed to be regarding us suspiciously, though. “Well, best stay away from Ironmare. Actually, it’s best if you turned around and went somewhere else. Anywhere else. This whole area’s a warzone. Who are you ponies?”
两人互相看着对方，然后萝卜耸耸肩，布朗贝蒂缩回去，折叠在一起。不过，水果沙拉似乎仍然对我们心存疑虑。"好吧，最好离Ironmare远点。事实上，你最好转身去别的地方。其他任何地方。这整个地区都是战场。你们这些小马是谁?"
“I’m Security, and these are my friends,” I said as I gestured behind me. “We’re actually looking for the Steel Rangers. We need to talk to somepony in charge about this war.” And find some way to stop it. They looked at each other, as if trying to decide whether to believe me or not.
"我是保安，他们是我的朋友,"我指着身后说。"我们实际上是在寻找钢铁骑兵。我们需要和负责这场战争的人谈谈。"想办法阻止这一切。他们面面相觑，好像在试图决定是否相信我。
“Well, that’s not me, ma’am. The pony ultimately in charge is Elder Crunchy Carrots aboard the HMS Celestia, or you could talk to Star Paladin Steel Rain at the front. Otherwise, you’d need to see Archivist Napalm Strike.” Fruit Salad pointed to the north with a hoof. “I’ve got to warn you, though, we’re not exactly open to outsiders, so your business had better be serious. It feels like we’re fighting half the Goddesses-damned Hoof right now.”
"哦，那不是我，夫人。最终掌权的是皇家海军天堂号上的老胡萝卜，或者你可以和前面的星际圣骑士钢雨交谈。否则，你就需要看《档案管理员凝固汽油弹罢工》了。"水果沙拉用蹄子指向北方。"不过，我必须警告你，我们并不完全对外开放，所以你最好是认真的。感觉就像我们正在和半数该死的女神霍夫作战。"
“They could talk to him,” Radishes said. “I’m sure he’d be willing to listen. He’s always willing.”
"他们可以和他谈谈,"萝卜说。"我相信他会愿意听的。他总是很乐意。"
“Him? Him wh--” Fruit Salad began, but suddenly shook their head hard. “Oh
""他？水果沙拉开始了，但他们突然使劲摇了摇头。"哦
no, not him! That’s crazy, Radish! That guy’s a nutcase!”
不，不是他！这太疯狂了，萝卜！那家伙是个疯子!"
“Who’s a nutcase?” Honestly, with my track record, I might be better off with a nutcase. And boy, that wasn’t saying much, was it?
"谁是疯子?"老实说，根据我过去的记录，我最好和一个疯子在一起。孩子，这并不能说明什么，不是吗？
“Paladin Bombs,” Fruit Salad muttered. “Personally, I’d stay away from him. The guy is a complete freak.”
"圣骑士炸弹,"水果沙拉咕哝着。"就我个人而言，我会远离他。这家伙是个彻头彻尾的怪胎。"
“You just don’t like him because he’s a unicorn,” Radishes chided.
"你只是不喜欢他，因为他是独角兽,"萝卜责备道。
“No. I don’t like him because he’s a nutcase who must have sawed off his own horn to become a paladin,” Fruit Salad countered. Okay, maybe the nutcase option wasn’t so good.
"没有。我不喜欢他，因为他是个疯子，一定是锯掉了自己的角才能成为圣骑士。"水果沙拉反驳道。好吧，也许疯子的选择不是很好。
“Not that this conversation’s wandering into Freakyville territory, but what are you two doing out here?” P-21 asked as he looked at the pair.
"不是说我们的谈话进入了Freakyville的领域，而是你们俩在这里干什么?"P-21看着这两个人问道。
“Well, you’re not Reapers, so I suppose it’d be okay to tell you. We’re skirmishing, trying to keep all the gangs from organizing. We’re outnumbered but not outgunned,” Fruit Salad said, and the machine gun thing let out an ominous ‘klak’ as something loaded. “We were playing tag with some Flash Fillies near their base when they hit one of us with a spark grenade. Completely fried his systems. He’s probably dead. Of all the gangs, the Flashers pose the biggest threat with their shock mines. One or two of those and we’re sitting ducks.”
"好吧，你们不是收割者，所以我想我可以告诉你们。我们在小规模冲突，试图阻止所有帮派组织起来。我们在人数上处于劣势，但并不是在武器上处于劣势,"水果沙拉说，机关枪发出了一声不祥的"klak"，好像有什么东西上了膛。"我们正在基地附近和一些闪光小雌马玩捉人游戏，这时它们用火花榴弹击中了我们中的一个。完全烧毁了他的系统。他可能已经死了。在所有的帮派中，闪光者的地雷是最大的威胁。只要有一两个，我们就成了活靶子。"
“He’s a male. You know Flashers like to play with them before finishing them off,” Radishes commented. I gave an inward groan. Doesn’t anypony just have normal sex in this place?
"他是个男人。你知道闪光者喜欢在完成它们之前和它们玩耍,"萝卜评论道。我内心发出一声呻吟。难道这个地方没有正常的性生活吗？
“Are they holed up in the Flash Industries building?” Glory asked as she looked from the Rangers to me.
"他们躲在闪电侠工业大楼里吗?"晨辉从流浪者队看我的时候问道。
“Yeah. That’s their main base. Not a settlement, just where their leader, Diamond, issues orders.”
“Anything else? Numbers? Do they keep slaves?” I asked, and saw P-21 wince.
""还有别的事吗？数字？他们有奴隶吗?"我问道，看到P-21退缩了。
“A few dozen, and no, Flashers don’t do that slavery thing. Robbery and release, mostly, unless you’re a stallion. Or a Steel Ranger. Then they’ll dust you,”
"几十个，不，闪光者不做那种奴隶制的事情。通常是抢劫后释放，除非你是一匹种马。或者是钢铁骑兵。然后他们会给你除尘,"
Radishes said. “Not at all like the Burner Boys. Those freaks are sick. They like taking families, wiring up mom and dad, and sending them out as suicide bombers. Otherwise they’ll cook the kids. You see anypony wearing red, kill ‘em.”
萝卜说。"一点也不像燃烧者男孩。那些怪胎真变态。他们喜欢带走家人，给爸爸妈妈发电报，然后把他们当作自杀式炸弹袭击者送出去。否则他们会把孩子煮了吃。如果你看到任何穿红衣服的小马，就杀了它们。"
“Red, it’s dead,” I muttered with a small smile. “I think I can remember that. Any other gangs?”
"红色，它死了,"我微笑着喃喃自语。"我想我还记得。还有其他帮派吗?"
“There’s the Halfhearts, though they're mostly out west. Grimmest damn ponies you're ever gonna meet. And the Highlanders, but they’re not as bad as the rest. You can find them off to the east. Some zebra tribals or something to the northeast. Ghouls, of course, creeping all over the place. And the damned Enclave.” Radishes said, and at once Glory stepped forward.
"还有哈夫哈特，虽然他们大部分在西部。这是你见过的最恐怖的小马。还有高地人，但他们没有其他人那么坏。你可以在东边找到他们。一些斑马部落或东北部的东西。当然是食尸鬼，到处都是。还有这块该死的飞地。"萝卜说，晨辉立刻走上前来。
“What’s that about the Enclave?” the gray pegasus asked with a worried frown.
"飞地是怎么回事?"灰色的飞马愁眉苦脸地问。
“They’re skulking all over this fight. Not really picking a side… we think. But there’re a lot of Reapers with bright and shiny energy weapons and spark grenades,” Fruit Salad said as the Ranger looked to the north. “Might be from the Fillies… but they usually don’t give away their toys. If you could confirm it, I know Star Paladin Steel Rain would appreciate it.”
"他们在这场战斗中鬼鬼祟祟。我们认为，我们并没有选择站在哪一边。但是有很多收割者拥有明亮闪亮的能量武器和火花榴弹。"可能是小雌马送的......但它们通常不会把玩具送人。如果你能证实这一点，我知道星际圣骑士钢铁雨会很感激的。"
I chewed my lip in thought. “I’ll see what I can do,” was all I could say. I’d have to get a better look at what I was dealing with before I could commit.
我沉思着咬住了嘴唇。"我看看我能做些什么,"我只能说这么多。在我做出承诺之前，我必须更好地了解我正在处理的事情。
“Thanks. Gotta get Hoofington under control. Like the star paladin says, it’s our duty to safeguard the technology of the kingdom. Can’t let these Reapers control the city,” Fruit Salad said, turning to Radishes. “Come on. Let’s go play some more tag.” The two disappeared into the rain.
"谢谢。必须控制住胡芬顿。正如圣骑士所说，保护王国的技术是我们的责任。不能让这些收割者控制这座城市,"水果沙拉转向萝卜说。"来吧。我们继续玩捉人游戏吧。"他们俩消失在雨中。
We took some cover in some ruins, mostly to get out of the rain again but also to talk. A stream trickled through the middle of the blasted shop we were using. Not exactly a place to hole up for the night. “So… is there a plan?” P-21 asked softly, rubbing his leg idly as he looked me. His eyes seemed to say ‘more of a plan than at Arch?’
我们在废墟中找了个地方躲起来，大部分是为了避雨，也是为了聊天。一条小溪从我们正在使用的那个该死的商店中间潺潺流过。这可不是个过夜的好地方。"那么...有什么计划吗?"P-21轻声问道，看着我，懒洋洋地揉着腿。他的眼神似乎在说:"比起阿奇，这更像是一个计划。"
There damn well better be. “We need to get in good with the Steel Rangers,” I said as I looked in the direction the two had gone. “Otherwise, they’re never going to listen. And hopefully, if we make them like us before telling them, they’ll forgive us for starting this fight in the first place.”
最好有。"我们需要和钢铁游骑兵好好相处,"我说，同时我看着他们走的方向。"否则，他们永远不会听。我们希望，如果我们在告诉他们之前让他们喜欢我们，他们会原谅我们首先挑起这场争斗。"
“And what if the war doesn’t stop?” Glory’s question was one I didn’t want to try to answer. Her eyes fixed on her hooves before she glanced at me and continued, “Are we just going to walk away and let them rip each other to pieces?”
"如果战争不停止呢?"晨辉的问题是我不想回答的。她目不转睛地盯着自己的蹄子，然后瞥了我一眼，继续问道:"难道我们就这样走开，让它们互相撕成碎片吗?"
I sighed, rubbing my temples. I wished Rampage was here. She’d been our guide, of sorts. She could tell us about the Rangers and what their goals were. Give me a hint if I should back them or not. But she wasn’t, and I had to make a choice again. I looked at Scotch, who had busted a leg in that fall. It could have been her neck. Fortunately, Lacunae was healing her snapped limb. Another injury for following me.
我叹了口气，揉了揉太阳穴。我希望狂暴在这里。她差不多算是我们的向导。她可以告诉我们流浪者队的情况和他们的目标是什么。给我一个暗示，我是否应该支持他们。但她没有，我不得不再次做出选择。我看了看苏格兰人，他那次摔伤了一条腿。可能是她的脖子。幸运的是，腔隙正在治愈她折断的肢体。又因为跟踪我受了伤。
It was scaring me to death.
它把我吓死了。
Just hours ago I’d made a choice and it’d killed thirteen mares. It hadn’t been my fault, but there was no denying that I was the instigator. And while I didn’t feel that it’d been wrong to try and do the right thing…
就在几个小时前，我做了一个选择，它杀死了十三匹母马。这不是我的错，但不可否认，我是煽动者。虽然我不觉得尝试做正确的事情是错误的..。
I closed my eye and watched Clover’s head blast apart.
我闭上眼睛，看着克洛弗的头爆炸开来。
“We’ll worry about that later.” I looked at Lacunae for a long moment. “Do you know anything about the Steel Rangers?”
"我们以后再担心这个问题。"我盯着空隙看了好一会儿。"你知道钢铁骑兵吗?"
Lacunae huffed softly, looking sour. “The Steel Rangers are a relic. Two hundred years ago, they were founded by Applejack for the war effort. They were elite shock troops of the Ministry of Wartime Technology. When the bombs fell, they weathered the attack better than the rest of the military and government. They retreated to their bunkers, made their silly oaths, sealed them up, and waited. When they finally crept out of their holes, they found themselves a formidable power. However, their ideology utterly prevents them from assisting others.”
陷阱轻轻地喘了口气，看起来很酸。"钢铁游骑兵是一个遗迹。两百年前，苹果白兰地公司为了战争的需要而成立。他们是战时技术部的精锐突击部队。当炸弹落下时，他们比军队和政府的其他人更好地经受住了袭击。他们撤退到他们的地堡里，发出愚蠢的誓言，把它们封起来，等待着。当他们最终爬出洞穴时，他们发现自己拥有一种强大的力量。然而，他们的意识形态完全阻止了他们帮助他人。"
“Why is that?” Glory asked in concern. I could understand why; swap a few words and you’d be talking about the Enclave.
"为什么?"晨辉关切地问道。我可以理解为什么;交换几句话，你就可以谈论飞地了。
The alicorn fluffed her wings in irritation. “They have the capacity to be protectors, but their ideology is to be stewards of Equestria’s technology. Their oath is to protect technology, not ponies who would benefit from it. Over the last two centuries, that ideology has defined them. Most couldn’t care less about the scum living here if it meant hoarding more weapons and technology from the past. As I said, they are a relic. Outdated ideals and misguided motivation. If
阿里克角恼怒地抖动着翅膀。"他们有能力成为保护者，但他们的意识形态是成为Equestria技术的管理者。他们的誓言是保护技术，而不是保护能从中受益的小马。在过去的两个世纪里，这种意识形态定义了他们。如果这意味着从过去囤积更多的武器和技术，那么大多数人根本不会关心住在这里的人渣。正如我所说，它们是一个遗迹。过时的理想和被误导的动机。如果
they had known about EC-1101, they would have gutted your stable to possess it and then locked it up somewhere rather than use it.”
他们知道EC-1101，他们会掏空你的马厩来占有它，然后把它锁在某个地方，而不是使用它。"
Great. Another group looking to get my PipBuck. I supposed the only reason those two didn’t pounce on mine was because it didn’t look anything like a traditional PipBuck. I was surprised at her bitter tone, though. “Sounds like you have a problem with them.”
太好了。另一个寻找我的PipBuck的组织。我猜想那两个人之所以没有扑向我的是因为它看起来不像传统的PipBuck。不过，我对她尖酸刻薄的语气感到惊讶。"听起来你对他们有意见。"
Lacunae blinked, then shrugged. “They’re not capable of fixing anything. The Goddess wishes to protect pony life, transforming it into a form able to withstand the threats of the Wasteland. Steel Rangers simply pillage and hoard. They also recognize that alicorns are the future of the pony race and so persecute us with extreme prejudice. Most of our losses have been to their weaponry.” She looked thoughtfully in the direction the two had gone. “I was honestly quite surprised that they believed you, but I suppose your excuse was explanation enough for why one of my kind would be alone with a group of ponies.”
拉库奈眨眨眼，然后耸耸肩。"他们没有能力修理任何东西。女神希望保护小马的生命，把它变成一个能够抵抗荒原威胁的形式。钢铁骑兵只是掠夺和囤积。他们也认识到小马种族的未来就是橡子，因此用反攻美国迫害我们。我们损失的大部分是他们的武器。"她若有所思地朝那两个人走的方向望去。"说实话，我很惊讶他们会相信你，但我想你的理由足以解释为什么我这种人会和一群小马单独在一起。"
Well, that was going to be a problem. And the fact that these Flashers were not going to mix well with P-21…
这就是问题所在。事实上，这些闪光器不会与P-21混合..。
I closed my eye as the rain streamed in ribbons around me. I felt something crumpling inside me as I leaned back against the cracked wall. It was like I was a bag that was slowly deflating. The Wasteland had beaten me once in 99. Almost again out on Star Point. And now I felt it creeping through me. Insidious thoughts. Horrible thoughts. It was like there was a battle going on inside me and I was losing.
我闭上眼睛，看着雨水像丝带一样倾泻在我周围。当我靠在有裂缝的墙上时，我感到有什么东西在我体内崩裂。我就像一个正在慢慢缩小的袋子。99年，荒原曾经打败过我一次。差不多又到星点街了。现在我感觉到它在我身体里蠕动。阴险的想法。可怕的想法。就好像我体内正在进行一场战斗，我输了。
Because I didn’t want my friends hurt anymore.
因为我不想我的朋友再受到伤害。
“What are you thinking, Blackjack?” Glory asked as she knelt beside me, shielding me with her wing. I opened my mouth and closed it again. It was like a band slowly constricting on my brain. I had to say it, but it was like the words were in some strange language.
"你在想什么，黑杰克?"晨辉问道，她跪在我身边，用她的翅膀保护着我。我张开嘴，又闭上了。就像一条带子慢慢地压在我的大脑上。我不得不这么说，但这些话就像是用某种奇怪的语言说出来的。
“I…” I rasped, then choked. I couldn’t say it. I had to, but I couldn’t.
"我.....。。」我粗声粗气地说，然后哽咽了。我说不出口。我必须这么做，但我做不到。
“She doesn’t want us to go with her,” P-21 said quietly. I kept my eye squeezed shut and nodded. There was only the sound of pouring rain.
"她不想让我们和她一起去,"P-21平静地说。我紧闭着眼睛，点了点头。只有倾盆大雨的声音。
“But… why?” she asked in a hurt tone. I would rather get shot in the face again
"但是......为什么?"她用受伤的语气问道。我宁愿再挨一枪
than hear that note in her voice.
也不愿从她的声音中听到那个音符。
“I don’t want to lose you. I… I don’t want you hurt. None of you.” The words were like poison dripping out of my mouth. “I don’t want P-21 to have to fight mares like… like the Overmare. I don’t want Lacunae killed for being what she is. I need to keep doing this… but you… you don’t. You can leave… go back to Chapel. Go have a life that’s not following me around getting shot up.” I kept seeing Clover exploding before my eye, seeing Glory’s wing peel away, seeing P-21 raped by the Overmare, me ramming Vigilance into Lacunae’s mouth. Images coming again and again. I imagined a small pegasus with a sweeping mane holding me like Mom.
"我不想失去你。我。.我不想你受伤。你们谁也不是。"这些话就像毒药从我嘴里滴出来。"我不希望P-21必须像...像Overmare那样与母马战斗。我不希望Lacunae因为她的身份而被杀。我需要继续这么做...但是你...你不需要。你可以离开...回教堂去。去过一种不会跟着我到处挨枪子的生活吧。"我不断看到三叶草在我眼前爆炸，看到晨辉的翅膀剥落，看到P-21被Overmare强奸，我把警惕塞进Lacunae的嘴里。图像一次又一次地出现。我想象着一匹小飞马，鬃毛浓密，像妈妈一样抱着我。
“You don’t have to come with me. You don’t owe me anything… I’m just… I’m scared. All right? I’m scared to death that I’m going to get you all killed because I screw up.” I saw Clover exploding as if in S.A.T.S., the fear in her eyes frozen between the instant she was alive and the instant she was dead. It was as fast as that. One mistake. One moment of random chance. I had no idea who she was… just a name and a face and a death because I couldn’t keep a cool head.
"你不必跟我来。你不欠我什么...我只是...我很害怕。好吗？我害怕因为我搞砸了而害死你们所有人。"我看到三叶草仿佛在S.A.T.S.爆炸，她眼中的恐惧在她活着和死去的瞬间凝固了。就是这么快。一个错误。一个随机的时刻。我不知道她是谁......只知道一个名字，一张脸和一个死亡，因为我不能保持冷静的头脑。
Nopony spoke for the longest time. Then Glory asked faintly, “Do you think I have a life in Chapel?” I turned to look at her, to ask how she could say that. Her moist eyes stared into mine. “My life is with you. Not in Chapel. Not even in Thunderhead. With you.”
小马说了很长时间。然后晨辉微弱地问道:"你认为我在教堂有生活吗?"我转过头来看着她，问她怎么能这么说。她湿润的眼睛盯着我的眼睛。"我的生命与你同在。不是在教堂。甚至在Thunderhead也没有。和你一起。"
P-21 just rubbed his hind leg, looking down at the knee. I still remembered the sound of Daisy’s baton striking him. “I… can’t make it here without you, Blackjack. I thought I could, once. I thought that, once I was out, I’d leave and find… something. Something better. And maybe there might be something… someday. But right now, you’re the only thing keeping me… together. Maybe someday Chapel will do that for me. Maybe. But…” He trailed off and sighed. “Sorry. I’m not smart when it comes to this stuff.”
P-21只是摩擦他的后腿，低头看着膝盖。我仍然记得黛西的指挥棒打他的声音。"我.....。.没有你我不行Blackjack。我曾经以为我可以。我想，一旦我出狱，我就会离开，去寻找......一些东西。更好的东西。也许有一天会有的。但现在你是唯一能让我...在一起的人。也许有一天查普尔会为我这么做。也许吧。但是......"他说完叹了口气。"对不起。在这方面，我不够聪明。"
“Stable ponies got to stick together,” Scotch Tape said, swinging her limb experimentally. “Chapel was nice, and Virgo is funny. She just loved my PipBuck. But I want to be with you, Blackjack. You’re the closest thing to family I’ve got.” Oh, that made me cringe inside, but P-21 didn’t say a word. He just kept rubbing his aching leg.
"稳定的小马必须粘在一起,"ScotchTape一边说，一边实验性地摆动着她的四肢。"教堂很漂亮，而处女座很有趣。她很喜欢我的PipBuck。但我想和你在一起Blackjack。你是我最亲近的人。"哦，这让我感到害怕，但是P-21一句话也没说。他只是不停地揉着疼痛的腿。
“Damn it! Being with me is going to get you killed!” I snapped at the four of
"该死！跟我在一起会害死你的!"我对他们四个怒不可遏
them. There was no answer right away. “I don’t want you to die for my… my stupid quest!”
他们。没有人马上回答。"我不想让你为了我愚蠢的任务而死!"
“There are worse things to die for,” P-21 said quietly. “Everypony dies eventually. We could die in five minutes or fifty years, with you or on our own. You can’t protect us by sending us away. Chapel isn’t safer than anywhere else in the Hoof, really. Even 99 wasn’t safe.” Scotch sniffed and bowed her head. The blue stallion pressed his lips together and looked away from us.
"还有更糟糕的事情等着你去死,"P-21平静地说。"每匹小马最终都会死。我们可能会在五分钟或五十年后死去，不管是和你一起还是我们自己。你不能把我们送走来保护我们。教堂并不比霍夫的其他任何地方更安全，真的。即使是99也不安全。"苏格兰人闻了闻，低下了头。那匹蓝色的种马紧闭双唇，把目光从我们身上移开。
Glory sighed softly. “I know that you’re scared about losing us, Blackjack. I am too. But I’m more afraid for you. You want to help everypony so much, and you want to help us, too. Let us help you, Blackjack. If something bad happens… it happens. But as long as we can, we’ll be with you.”
晨辉轻声叹息。"我知道你害怕失去我们，Blackjack。我也是。但我更担心你。你这么想帮助每一匹小马，你也想帮助我们。让我们帮你吧黑杰克。如果有什么不好的事情发生......它就会发生。但只要我们可以，我们就会和你在一起。"
I could still see their bodies. Lacunae blown to pieces. P-21 hanging from that wire. Glory’s wing coming off. Scotch Tape lying so terribly still. “Alright. Well, let’s learn from Fallen Arch. Get a good look at the place and see if we can come up with a real plan that’s better than trotting up and saying ‘Hello, I’m Security. Mind letting us through?’” See? I can be taught.
我还能看到他们的身体。空隙被炸成碎片。P-21挂在那根电线上。晨辉的翅膀脱落了。一动不动的透明胶带。"好吧。好吧，让我们向堕落拱门学习。好好看看这个地方，看看我们是否能想出一个真正的计划，而不是跑过去说'你好，我是保安'。介意让我们过去吗？看到了吗？我可以被教导。
* * *
* * *
Flash Industries had at once point been the premier designer of arcane energy matrix devices, specializing in beam and pulse magical energy weaponry and protective energy fields. It was one of dozens of companies started and supported by the Ministry of Wartime Technology and was dedicated to giving Equestria a brighter, safer, flashier tomorrow. Tours of the building were every morning and evening, ten bits per adult, five for colts and fillies, foals get in free. I knew that from one of the hundreds of brochures that littered the ruins around the building. Said building was scorched, but the company logo still glowed brightly on the front face: ‘FLASH’, in white with rainbow lines underlining the name.
闪电工业公司曾经是奥术能量矩阵装置的首席设计师，专注于光束和脉冲魔法能量武器和保护能量领域。这是由战时科技部创办和支持的数十家公司之一，致力于为Equestria创造一个更光明、更安全、更华丽的明天。每天早晚参观大楼，每个成年人十比特，小马和小雌马五比特，小马驹免费入场。我是从散落在建筑周围废墟上的数以百计的宣传册中知道这一点的。这栋建筑已经被烧焦了，但是公司的标志仍然在正面闪闪发光:"FLASH"，白色的带有彩虹线的名字下面。
There’d once been several other buildings around the main office structure, but they had crumbled and fallen in on themselves and made a wall of rubble with the old front gate as the only convenient way through. The ten-story headquarters also had rooftop turrets. From the third floor of a gutted office building nearby, I picked out two entrances besides the front one. The front entrance had at least a dozen Fillies around it, but the second had only two and
主办公楼周围曾经有过几栋建筑，但是它们都坍塌了，成了一堵瓦砾墙，前门是唯一方便的通道。这个十层楼的总部还有屋顶炮塔。在附近一座被掏空的办公大楼的三楼，我挑选出了前面两个入口。前门周围至少有十几匹小雌马，但第二个只有两匹和两匹
the third was unguarded.
第三个没人看守。
Lacunae had taken a bath in some radioactive sludge we’d found in the office building’s basement (and what it was doing there I didn’t want to know) to regenerate her injuries. There was something fundamentally disturbing about the way she splashed it all over herself. Nopony should have that much fun in magical waste. Once she rejoined us, I pointed out the unguarded door, letting her see the location through my scope. “Can you teleport us all to that little side door?”
我们在办公楼的地下室里发现了一些放射性污泥，她在里面洗了个澡(我不想知道它在那里做什么)，这样伤口就会再生。她把水泼在自己身上的方式从根本上来说有些令人不安。Nopony应该有这么多的乐趣在神奇的浪费。她一回到我们身边，我就指给她看那扇没有守卫的门，让她通过我的望远镜看到那个地方。"你能把我们传送到那个小侧门吗?"
“The distance is considerable, but I think so. They will be upon us quickly, however.” There wasn’t any cover around the door at all, and we’d be trapped.
"距离很远，但我认为是这样的。不过，他们很快就会找上门来。"门周围没有任何掩体，我们会被困住。
Fortunately, I’d caught up with two ponies who’d be overjoyed to play tag at the front gate.
幸运的是，我赶上了两匹小马，它们会为在前门玩捉人游戏而欣喜若狂。
We went back down to the main floor and Lacunae trotted off to soak up a little more radiation while I explained the plan to Fruit Salad and Radishes. “That’s not much of a plan, but if you’re sure she can get you inside… well, we’d be happy to keep them nice and riled up out front. How were you five planning on getting out?”
我们回到主楼层，当我向水果沙拉和萝卜解释这个计划的时候，拉古奈小跑着去吸收更多的辐射。"这不是一个很好的计划，但是如果你确定她能让你进去......好吧，我们很乐意让他们在前面保持友好和愤怒。你们五个打算怎么出去?"
“Let me worry about that…” Because oh how I was worrying about that. “Just keep them busy at the gate for as long as you can.”
"让我来担心吧......"因为我一直在担心这个。"只要让他们在门口忙上一阵子就行了。"
The pair nodded, and then Fruit Salad stepped closer. “Your friend… she really is an alicorn, isn’t she?” she asked in a low voice.
两人点点头，然后水果沙拉走近了一些。"你的朋友......她真的是个独角兽，不是吗?"她低声问道。
I pressed my lips together for a moment. “She’s my friend.” That’s all I needed to and would say on the subject.
我紧闭双唇片刻。"她是我的朋友。"这就是我在这个问题上需要和想要说的全部。
Fruit Salad shook her head. “Only in Hoofington. Good luck. I hope you get Turnip out of there. Radishes wants our brother back bad.” Oh… saving her brother. Knowing how my day was going, I’d be lucky if I didn’t shoot him myself.
水果沙拉摇摇头。"只有在Hoofington。祝你好运。我希望你能把Turnip弄出来。萝卜非常想要我们的兄弟回来。"救她哥哥。知道我今天过得怎么样，如果我没有亲手杀了他就算幸运了。
Way to keep up the positive thinking, Blackjack.
积极思考的好方法，Blackjack。
We all gathered together on the third floor, Scotch Tape’s PipBuck and my own clicking ominously from the radiation coming off Lacunae. I watched the gate
我们都聚集在三楼，ScotchTape的PipBuck和我自己不祥地从Lacunae发出的辐射中发出的咔嗒声。我看着大门
through the scope. Glory was off to the side with Lacunae asking her some questions about her regeneration. Scotch was just acting nervous as she chewed on the end of her blue mane.
通过瞄准镜。晨辉在旁边，空隙问她一些关于她重生的问题。苏格兰人咬着她的蓝色鬃毛，表现得很紧张。
“It was my fault,” P-21 said in a voice hushed with regret, and I slowly turned to look at him. “In Fallen Arch. I saw the collars were synchronized. And… I froze. I once read a method for breaking the synchronization, but… but just then… with all of them staring at me… I just couldn’t think of it.” He looked at me with his severe blue eyes. “They were so desperate to be free. Just like me. I tried to save one… just one. She was even younger than Scotch Tape. And… she moved. I jerked the collar and…” He sighed as he looked at his regenerated hooves. I just looked at him. He was blaming himself for Fallen Arch?
"是我的错,"P-21用一种带着遗憾的沉默的声音说，我慢慢地转过身看着他。"在堕落拱门。我看到项圈是同步的。然后...我愣住了。我曾经读过一个破坏同步的方法，但是......但就在那时......所有人都盯着我看......我就是想不起来。"他用严厉的蓝眼睛看着我。"他们是如此渴望自由。就像我一样。我试着救一个...就一个。她甚至比透明胶带还年轻。然后...她动了。我拉了拉衣领......"他看着自己再生的蹄子叹了口气。我只是看着他。他因为堕落拱门而责怪自己？
Of course he was. Because he was just like me. Smarter, way too serious, but just like me.
他当然是。因为他和我一样。更聪明，太严肃了，但就像我一样。
“It wasn’t,” I replied. “Collar put a collar on himself. Then he yanked it before I could stop him. I offered him every cap on me. Spite was more important than survival.” Only in Hoofington, I supposed.
"不是,"我回答。"衣领给自己戴上了项圈。我还没来得及阻止他，他就猛地一拉。我把所有的钱都给了他。怨恨比生存更重要。"我想只有在Hoofington。
P-21 didn’t say anything, but he gave my hip a little nudge with his. I smiled a little.
P-21没有说什么，但他用肘轻轻推了一下我的屁股。我微微一笑。
Then I learned how Steel Rangers played tag. Brown Betty let out a surprisingly soft ‘krump’ noise before the howitzer shell blew out a chunk of asphalt and sent the Flashers running for cover. Fruit Salad’s missiles blasted at their cover, and that machine gun/grenade launcher -- seriously, how was anypony supposed to survive that thing? -- opened up with a line of explosive death. It didn’t take long for the Flash Fillies to start returning fire with their beam weapons. Then they started yelling for reinforcements.
然后我学会了钢铁骑兵是如何玩捉人游戏的。布朗贝蒂在榴弹炮炸出一大块沥青之前，发出了一种令人惊讶的柔和"克伦普舞"的声音，让闪光者四处寻找掩护。水果沙拉的导弹在他们的掩护下爆炸，还有那个机关枪/榴弹发射器——说真的，怎么会有小马能幸免于难呢？开启了一条爆炸性的死亡线。没过多久，闪电小雌马就开始用光束武器还击。然后他们开始呼叫增援。
That was our cue. I nodded once to Lacunae, and there was an electric flash that blurred out the world. The distance was only a thousand feet or so, but apparently that was more than enough for Lacunae. The alicorn slumped; all of us had arcane soot residue on our noses and manes, and I had spots dancing in my vision. I checked the door; locked. I nodded for P-21 to get to work as we crouched down as much as we could. If this turned nasty, I’d just killed my friends…
这是我们的暗示。我朝拉库奈点了点头，一道电光闪过，模糊了整个世界。距离只有一千英尺左右，但显然对于拉库奈来说已经足够了。阿里克角摔倒了;我们所有人的鼻子和鬃毛上都有神秘的烟灰残留物，我的视线中还有跳舞的斑点。我检查了门，锁上了。我点头示意P-21开始工作，同时我们尽可能地蹲下来。如果事情变糟了，我会杀了我的朋友..。
No. A little blue rainbow-maned pegasus reminded me firmly that my friends
没有。一匹蓝色彩虹色的小飞马坚定地提醒我，我的朋友们
chose to stand by me. And that even if this wasn’t a great plan, we were still awesome for trying it. I took a slow breath, feeling that, at any second, a Filly would look back and spot us. Any second… okay, maybe Brown Betty was pretty hard to ignore, but twenty to two wasn’t good odds. The Rangers were already falling back.
选择支持我。即使这不是一个很好的计划，我们仍然可以尝试它。我缓缓地吸了一口气，感觉到小母马随时都可能回头看到我们。好吧，也许BrownBetty确实很难被忽视，但是二十比2的几率并不大。游骑兵队已经撤退了。
The lock clicked. I pulled the door open with my magic, and my friends darted inside. I hopped in last and we pulled the door shut. The narrow hall was strewn with junk, but nothing recent. Finally, we’d gotten lucky; it looked like nopony used this section of the building. It’d been picked through at least once, but despite everything, we scavenged up some junk that might be useful as we moved through the choked offices.
锁发出咔嗒声。我用魔法把门拉开，我的朋友们冲了进去。我最后一个上车，我们把门关上了。狭窄的大厅里堆满了垃圾，但没有新的。最后，我们很幸运，看起来没有小马使用这部分建筑。它至少被翻过一次，但尽管如此，我们还是在拥挤的办公室里找到了一些可能有用的垃圾。
Then Scotch Tape nudged a terminal and there was a crackle as the monitor flickered to life. A mare’s voice started speaking, “…don’t like it, Diamond. Using magic like this to kill our enemies just seems wrong. It’s not a spell. It’s a killing machine!” My ears perked. I knew that voice!
然后苏格兰胶带轻轻碰了一下终端，随着监视器的闪烁，出现了劈啪作响的声音。一匹母马的声音开始说:"...不喜欢，钻石。用这样的魔法杀死我们的敌人似乎是错误的。这不是咒语。这是一台杀人机器!"我的耳朵竖了起来。我认得那个声音！
“So you’re saying that we should limit our troops to guns while the zebras are free to employ whatever talismans they wish?” a mare said in brisk tones. “I thought that your ministry was all for arcane sciences. That’s what you’re for, right? That’s what you’re supposed to do. So why are you here, now, tying my hooves? Magical weaponry is the next evolution in warfare.”
"所以你是说我们应该限制军队使用枪支，而斑马可以自由使用任何他们想要的护身符?"一匹母马用轻快的声音说。"我以为你们的事工都是为了神秘科学。你就是干这个的对吧？这是你应该做的。那你为什么现在在这儿绑我的蹄子？魔法武器是战争的下一个发展方向。"
“I don’t want the next evolution in warfare. I want the fighting to stop,” Twilight protested.
"我不想看到战争的下一次进化。我希望战斗停止,"暮光抗议道。
“Darn tootin’. I don’t much care for this business plan of yours ‘tall. Finding faster and flashier ways to kill somepony ain’t my idea of a good thing,” Applejack agreed.
"太好了。我不太喜欢你的这个商业计划。找到更快更华丽的方法杀死小马驹不是我认为的好事,"苹果杰克同意道。
“Funny, because that is what our enemy is doing right now,” Diamond said irritably. “We only have so many unicorns capable of combat spells. They are few and far between and are always targeted with extreme prejudice in battle. By making weapons such as this, we can give some of that power to earth and pegasus ponies. It could turn the tide and finish this war.”
"有趣，因为这正是我们的敌人现在正在做的,"戴蒙德恼怒地说。"我们只有这么多能够施展战斗魔法的独角兽。它们数量少且相距遥远，在战斗中总是成为反攻美国的目标。通过制造这样的武器，我们可以给地球和飞马一些能量。它可以扭转局势，结束这场战争。"
“I really hate to admit it, but it’d be a lot easier to fight if we didn’t have to worry about lugging around boxes of ammo up there,” Rainbow Dash said. “Not that we can’t do it, but…”
"我真的很不愿意承认这一点，但是如果我们不用担心拖着一箱箱的弹药上山，战斗会容易得多,"彩虹·达什说。"不是说我们做不到，而是......"
Twilight’s voice frayed in frustration. “But why can’t we use something else? A nonlethal spell?”
暮光的声音因沮丧而变得模糊起来。"但是为什么我们不能用别的东西呢？非致命咒语?"
“I agree,” Fluttershy chimed in. “I vote for the nonlethal.”
"我同意,"小飞燕插嘴说。"我支持非致命性武器。"
“Oh, so you Ministry Mares are going to use Luna’s mandate to research a ‘let’s all hug’ spell. Great,” Diamond muttered. “The zebras are getting more creative with their weapons. This year they used the Pink Cloud in Littlehorn. Tomorrow, who knows? We need to return the balance of power to our favor. These weapons can do that!”
"哦，所以你们部门的母马们打算利用卢娜的授权来研究一个'让我们都拥抱'的咒语。太好了,"戴蒙德咕哝道。"斑马的武器越来越有创意了。今年他们在Littlehorn使用了粉红云。明天，谁知道呢？我们需要恢复力量的平衡，使之对我们有利。这些武器能做到这一点!"
“Making a device that casts an incineration spell as a beam at the enemy is just wrong. And these other spells you’re trying to incorporate? Lightning? Disintegration? Somepony needs to draw a line. Otherwise, we’ll be the ones committing the next Littlehorn massacre,” Twilight Sparkle said firmly.
"制造一个能像射线一样对敌人施以焚化咒语的装置是错误的。还有其他你想加进去的咒语吗？闪电？分解？有些小马需要划清界限。否则，我们将是下一个Littlehorn大屠杀的紫悦。"。
“Twilight,” rasped a rusty voice that made my mane stand on end. “You know what you agreed to do.”
“I know. It’s just…” Twilight trailed off.
"我知道。只是......"暮光之城渐渐远去。
“I don’t like it much either, sugarcube. But she has a point. If zebras are using poison like at Littlehorn… well… compared to that, I guess this isn’t so bad.”
"我也不太喜欢，小甜心。但她说的有道理。如果斑马像在Littlehorn那样使用毒药......嗯......相比之下，我想情况还不算太糟。"
“I know… but… I thought I’d be researching new spells for the Princess. Not helping ponies make things to kill.”
"我知道......但是......我以为我会为公主研究新的咒语。不帮助小马制造杀戮的东西。"
Diamond snorted and said derisively, “You’ll merely provide some magical expertise, and nopony’s asking you to put your hoof in personally. For instance, we’re trying to find a gem that’s better than diamond for the spell matrix. Diamonds are useful but horribly expensive.”
戴蒙德哼了一声，嘲弄地说:"你只不过是提供了一些魔法方面的专业知识，而没有小马要求你亲自把蹄子放进去。例如，我们正在试图找到一个比钻石更好的法术矩阵宝石。钻石是有用的，但价格高得离谱。"
“You’d want something like a ruby or red sapphire, preferably a well tuned fire ru--” Twilight started to say in a perfunctory tone, then cut herself off. “Oh…”
"你会想要一些像红宝石或红色蓝宝石的东西，最好是一个调谐好的火——"暮光开始敷衍了事地说，然后切断了她自己。"哦......"
“See?” Goldenblood said in his raspy, hacking voice. “That’s not so hard after all.”
"看到了吗?"金布拉德用他刺耳的黑客声音说。"毕竟，这并不难。"
“So, will you support Flash Industries, Applejack?” Diamond asked.
"那么，你会支持Flash工业吗，苹果白兰地?"戴蒙德问道。
There was a low grunt. “I don’t like it… but all right.”
有低沉的咕哝声。"我不喜欢......不过没关系。"
Diamond’s sharp tone relaxed a bit. “Well, I’m glad that’s over with. Don’t worry, Twilight. I’m sure that, with your ministry’s assistance, Flash Industries will be able to explore… non-lethal options.” There were sounds of hooves trotting away. “So many things to do…” I heard her mutter before she trailed off completely.
戴蒙德尖锐的语气稍微放松了一点。"好吧，我很高兴这一切都结束了。别担心，暮光。我相信，在你们部门的协助下，FlashIndustries将能够探索......非致命性的选择。"马蹄疾驰而去的声音。"有那么多事情要做......"我听到她嘟囔着，然后才慢慢地说完。
“Well, that mare’s as sweet as a case of rotten apples,” Applejack muttered. “Hey, Goldie. Why ain’t Pinkie or Rarity hereabouts?”
"嗯，那匹母马甜得像一箱烂苹果,"苹果杰克喃喃自语。"嘿，戈尔迪。为什么平奇和稀世不在附近?"
“I’m sorry, but they had other business to attend to. Rarity’s meeting with media outlets and… and Pinkie Pie’s been a bit... erratic in her organization…” The rusty voice broke into deep, wet coughs. It make me wince to hear.
"对不起，他们还有别的事情要处理。稀有的会议与媒体和......和小派有点......不稳定在她的组织......"生锈的声音变成深沉，湿润的咳嗽。听到这些，我感到害怕。
“Goldenblood!” Fluttershy gasped. “You’re burning up. Oh, why didn’t you tell me you were feeling feverish? We need to get you in bed to recover.”
"金色血统!"颤抖着喘着粗气。"你发烧了。你怎么不告诉我你发烧了？我们需要让你躺在床上康复。"
Goldenblood drew a slow, wet, rattling breath. “Your ministries take priority, Fluttershy. There is so much to do, and only I can do it. I’ll be fine. Just get me to my hooves.” There was a pause and then a thud followed by deep tearing coughs.
金色的血液缓缓地、湿漉漉地、格格作响地吸了一口气。"你的部长会优先考虑，弗特希。有那么多事情要做，只有我能做到。我会没事的。只要把我弄到我的蹄子上就行了。"停顿了一下，然后是砰的一声，接着是剧烈流泪的咳嗽。
“Is that blood?” Rainbow Dash asked hesitantly. “Maybe you should go rest… you look half dead.”
"那是血吗?"彩虹·达什犹豫地问。"也许你应该去休息一下......你看起来像半死不活的。"
“One would hope,” he muttered.
"希望如此,"他喃喃自语。
“I’m taking you someplace you can rest, Golden,” Fluttershy said firmly… or as firmly as Fluttershy ever said anything. “If that’s okay with you.”
"我要带你去一个可以休息的地方，高登,"小弗坚定地说......或者像小弗说过的话一样坚定。"如果你不介意的话。"
He drew a shaky rattling breath, then muttered, “You are… too good… for this world, Fluttershy.”
他颤颤巍巍地吸了一口气，然后喃喃自语道:"你......太好了......这个世界配不上你，小蝴蝶。"
The coughing grew fainter and fainter. Finally, Twilight Sparkle said, “Is he trying to work himself to death or something?”
咳嗽声越来越微弱。最后，紫悦说,"他是想把自己累死还是怎么着?"
“I reckon there’s something mighty powerful behind all that. T’aint fair. This war seems to ruin the best of us,” Applejack muttered. “‘Least Luna listened to him about postponin’ the Gala. Shoot, having a party while trying to get all this stuff
"我认为这背后一定隐藏着某种强大的力量。这不公平。这场战争似乎毁掉了我们最好的人,"苹果杰克喃喃自语道。"至少卢娜听他说过晚会延期的事。拍摄，有一个聚会，同时试图得到所有这些东西
organized? T’aint happening.”
有组织？不会发生的。"
“Pffft. My ministry’s all done,” Rainbow Dash chuckled.
"噗。我的事工已经完成了,"彩虹·达什笑着说。
“Easy when yer ministry’s not doin’ nothing.”
"当你的部门无所事事的时候很容易"
“Hey, we do things. Awesome things. Which is why we’re done first.” But I thought about the conversation she’d had with Goldenblood and that ratty book from Rivets’s ancestor. What was the Ministry of Awesome really planning? “Anyway, all these stupid meetings made me miss breakfast. Want to go get some lunch? We can hang out together like old times!”
"嘿，我们做事情。很棒的东西。这就是为什么我们要先完成。"但是我想起了她和金血王的谈话，还有那本瑞弗斯祖先写的破书。真棒部到底在计划什么？"不管怎样，这些愚蠢的会议让我错过了早餐。想去吃午饭吗？我们可以像以前那样一起出去玩!"
“Oh… I can’t. I only came here to meet with Diamond. I’ve got an appointment with the Princess in an hour and need to get back to Canterlot,” Twilight Sparkle said awkwardly.
"哦......我不能。我来这里只是为了见戴蒙德。一个小时后我和公主有个约会，我得赶回坎特洛特，紫悦尴尬地说。
Applejack sighed. “Yeah. And I got… let’s see here… meetin’… meetin’… meetin’… oh, lookie here… another meetin’.” She sighed. “I’m plum meetin’ed out.”
苹果白兰地叹了口气。"是的。我还有......让我们看看这里......见面......见面......见面......哦，看看这里......又是一次见面。"她叹了口气。"我要出去了。"
“I thought being in charge meant we could tell them to buck off and do what we want to do,” Rainbow Dash protested. “I never get to see you guys! I don’t think the six of us have been together since we started this whole thing.”
"我以为掌权意味着我们可以告诉他们滚开，做我们想做的事,"彩虹·达什抗议道。"我再也见不到你们了！我认为自从我们开始这件事以来，我们六个人还没有在一起过。"
“Well, it’s important, Rainbow. All of Equestria counts on us,” Twilight said reasonably. She really sounded as if she meant exactly that.
"嗯，这很重要，彩虹。整个Equestria都指望着我们。"。她的话听起来真的就是这个意思。
“Yeah. It’s a peck more responsibility than just applebuckin’, that’s fer sure.”
"是的。这不仅仅是责任，更是责任，这是肯定的。"
Rainbow Dash sighed. “Just don’t like it. Well, then, I guess I’d better get back to Cloudsdale… or something.”
彩虹·达什叹了口气。"只是不喜欢罢了。好吧，那么，我想我最好回克劳斯代尔去......或者干点别的什么。"
“Cheer up, Rainbow. I’m sure that, when this war is over, we’ll all be together again,” Twilight Sparkle said brightly. “You’ll see.” The terminal crackled again, the screen now flashing an error message. No matter how P-21 fiddled with it, the terminal refused to work.
"振作起来，彩虹。我相信，当这场战争结束后，我们会再次团结在一起，紫悦说。"等着瞧吧。"终端再次发出爆裂声，屏幕上现在闪烁着一条错误信息。不管P-21多么小心翼翼地摆弄它，航站楼还是拒绝工作。
So Twilight hadn’t been eager to adapt magic into magical weaponry. Had it been Goldenblood nudging her along, or had the flow of urgency just swept her into it? I didn’t know, but I felt better about her reluctance. I know ponies whose
所以《暮光之城》并不急于把魔法变成魔法武器。是金色的血液在推着她前进，还是急促的情绪把她推进去了？我不知道，但我对她的不情愿感觉好多了。我认识一些小马
fuck ups killed millions; I wondered if Spike might have been referring to Twilight just a little. I saw both points, and honestly, I probably would have been like Applejack. If the zebras were doing it too… ugh, but they’d be doing it because we’d been doing it! No wonder nopony stopped till everything blew up. What would have happened if everything hadn’t blown up? Would we have had cyber alicorn dragon hybrids fighting alongside sentient megaspells against giant zebra-shaped robots?
混蛋杀死了数以百万计的人;我怀疑斯派克可能只是稍微提到了《暮光之城》。这两点我都看到了，说实话，我可能会像苹果白兰地一样。如果斑马也这么做......啊，但是他们会这么做，因为我们一直在这么做！难怪没有一匹马停下来，直到一切都爆炸了。如果一切都没有爆炸，会发生什么？我们是否会让赛博亚利康龙的混血儿与有知觉的巨型动物对抗巨型斑马状的机器人？
We picked our way through the trashed offices. There were a few other terminals with snippets of information. Apparently there were shipments being misplaced; spark batteries and generators for stables 90 and 92 were missing. Heads were going to roll. Questions about the AER series and the swap from rubies to emeralds. A notice of a pony having a baby. A notice of praise for the mother. Five nasty comments about how she got that way. Honestly, didn’t ponies have anything better to do two centuries ago?
我们从废弃的办公室里走出来。还有一些其他的终端带有一些信息片段。很显然，货物被放错了地方;火花电池和马厩90号和92号的发电机也不见了。人头都要掉下来了。关于AER系列和红宝石与绿宝石交换的问题。小马要生孩子的通知。表扬母亲的通知。关于她是怎么变成这样的，有五个讨厌的评论。老实说，两个世纪以前小马就没有更好的事情可做吗？
As we picked our way through, radroaches scurried forward for a meal. My sword slipped out and smoothly dispatched them as silently as possible. There were a lot of red bars on my E.F.S. I didn’t want to fight them all; I needed some information. If I couldn’t find out where Turnip or the maneframe were located, we probably wouldn’t make it out of here. Then I smelled a sharp, sweet stench. It looked like we were getting close to the Fillies’ bathroom.
当我们小心翼翼地走过去的时候，几个流浪汉匆匆向前赶去吃饭。我的剑悄悄地溜了出来，尽可能地悄悄地杀死了他们。我的e.f.s上有很多红色条纹，我不想把它们全部打败;我需要一些信息。如果我不能找到芜菁或者曼菲拉姆的位置，我们可能无法离开这里。然后我闻到了一股刺鼻的、甜甜的臭味。看起来我们离小雌马的浴室越来越近了。
Idea…
想法..。
It only took twenty minutes for one of the Flashers to get the call, and she trotted through the door in her white gang barding and rainbow-dyed mane. A tribute to Dash, or just coincidence? She walked over to the ditch cut into the cracked tiles and concrete as some mares called out, “Hurry up, Sparkler! You’re gonna miss all the fun!”
只用了二十分钟，其中一个闪光者就接到了电话，她穿着白色的马甲和染成彩虹色的鬃毛小跑着进了门。是向Dash致敬，还是只是巧合？当几匹母马大声叫喊着:"快点，烟火男！你会错过所有的乐趣的!"
The blue earth pony mare flushed. “Shut up! I’ll be there soon as I’m done shittin’!” she bellowed back, then she clenched her eyes and got to work. Clearly somepony needed more fiber in her diet. She was so focused on the task at hoof that she didn’t notice the glowing sword, horn, or eye till she finished. “Holy shit…” she muttered as the color drained from her face. Well, except for the strange red and green paint she had smeared on her hide.
蓝色大地的小马驹脸红了。"闭嘴！我一拉完屎就过去!"她吼了回去，然后闭上眼睛开始工作。很明显，一些小马需要更多的纤维在她的饮食中。她是如此专注于蹄子上的任务，以至于直到她完成后才注意到发光的剑、角和眼睛。"我靠......"她低声说道，脸色渐渐变得苍白。好吧，除了她在皮肤上涂上的奇怪的红色和绿色油漆。
“Nope,” I replied, keeping the saber to her neck. “Now, I don’t want to kill you.
"没有,"我回答，把马刀放在她的脖子上。"现在，我不想杀你。
If you’re smart… and quiet… I won’t. Deal?”
如果你聪明...安静...我不会的。成交吗?"
“You’re that psycho that beat up Fluttershy!” Sparkler scowled at me.
"你就是那个痛扁小萤火虫的变态!"烟花怒视着我。
“No. That was a different psycho. I’m the psycho holding a sword to your throat.” Honestly, did all slavers and gangers get their sense of survival taken away as soon as they signed up? “So, are you going to play along, Sparkler, or do I wait till another Filly needs to go potty?” Me knowing her name seemed to take a lot of the attitude out of her.
"没有。那是另一个神经病。我就是那个拿剑抵着你喉咙的疯子。"老实说，是不是所有的奴隶贩子和分身一签约就失去了他们的生存意识？"那么，你打算一起玩吗，斯巴克勒，还是我要等到另一匹小母马去上厕所?"我知道她的名字，似乎使她失去了许多态度。
Even better, from the look that spread across her face a moment later, she’d finally clued to the fact that the sword was quite sharp and I did not look like miss happy pony. She came quietly along back into the offices and we had a little chat. Occasionally she lapsed into threats about how the Flash Fillies were going to dust me, but a little tap of the sword against her neck snapped her out of that.
更妙的是，从一会儿后她脸上的表情来看，她终于意识到这把剑很锋利，我看起来不像快乐小马小姐。她悄悄地走回办公室，我们聊了一会儿。有时候她会突然威胁说闪电小姑娘们要给我除尘，但是她脖子上的一个轻轻的敲击就把她从这种恐惧中解脱了出来。
Turnip was being held in the CEO’s office, which was locked. Diamond, the gang leader, had the key. Duh. The maneframe was in the R&D lab. I was a cunt who was going to get my mare bits turned into a holster for her beam rifle. Okay, so not all the information was as useful as I might have hoped. And now that the other questions were done, we were left with the one of what to do with Sparkler. Clearly she was of the opinion that now we were going to slit her throat. We certainly took all of her stuff… but then what?
萝卜被关在首席执行官的办公室里，办公室是锁着的。黑帮头目戴蒙德有钥匙。废话。那把枪在研发实验室里。我是一个要把我的马蹄变成她的步枪皮套的婊子。好吧，并不是所有的信息都像我希望的那样有用。现在其他的问题都问完了，剩下的问题就是怎么处理Sparkler了。显然她认为现在我们要割断她的喉咙。我们确实拿走了她所有的东西...但是接下来呢？
Wonderglue is aptly named.
万能胶的名字很贴切。
With all four hooves glued to the floor and a rope gagging her, we left Sparkler where she’d eventually be discovered… hopefully after we were gone. Sooner or later, she’d chew through the rope.
四只蹄子粘在地板上，一根绳子堵住了她的嘴，我们离开了Sparkler，她最终会被发现......希望是在我们离开之后。她迟早会咬断绳子。
We trotted onto the second floor of a large lobby, overlooking a floor covered in crates and containers. Magical projections showed the company logo in the empty space. There were mattresses all over the balcony, and spent beam cartridges were littered all over the place. To our right, I could see the battered doors of an elevator. Down below, I heard voices raised.
我们小跑着来到一个大门厅的二楼，俯瞰着一层板条箱和集装箱。神奇的投影显示公司的标志在空旷的空间里。阳台上到处都是床垫，到处都是用过的弹药筒。在我们的右边，我可以看到一个破旧的电梯门。在楼下，我听到楼下有人说话。
“I don’t care, we can’t move it until those Rangers are taken care of. If you want to speed things up then fly out there and help!” The irate mare was an albino unicorn who had streaked rainbow paint over her body and mane. She wore
"我不在乎，我们不能移动它，直到那些流浪者得到照顾。如果你想加快速度，那就飞过去帮忙吧!"这匹愤怒的母马是一只白化独角兽，它身上和鬃毛上都有彩虹色的条纹。她穿着
barding that was half armor and half something from that shop we’d rested in earlier. To be honest, I barely paid the slightest attention to her; all of it was on the stallion in power armor she was speaking to: Operative Lighthooves.
一半是盔甲，一半是我们之前休息过的店里的东西。老实说，我几乎没有注意到她;所有的注意力都集中在那匹穿着力量盔甲的种马身上，她正在和一匹名叫"特工光剑"的种马交谈。
“The Enclave is not yet prepared to engage in open hostilities with the Rangers, Diamond. Our arrangement was with you. And you have yet to fulfill your end of the agreement,” the pegasus replied calmly and reasonably. He had two power-armored pegasus troopers with him, and Diamond had a half dozen Fillies around her. “We need those systems.”
"昂科雷尚未准备好与别动队公开交战，戴蒙德。我们是和你说好的。而你还没有完成你的协议,"飞马平静而合理地回答。他身边有两名身穿重甲的珀加索斯骑兵，戴蒙德身边有半打小雌马。"我们需要这些系统。"
“I don’t care what you need! I care about what I need! I’m the Diamond Flash of the Flash Fillies. My needs are more important. We need your vertithingy to haul some more weapons to Big Daddy,” she said as she swung her hoof imperiously. “Now stop wasting my time with stupid questions or you’ll never get those talismans.”
"我不在乎你需要什么！我在乎我需要什么！我是闪电小姑娘们的钻石闪光。我的需求更重要。我们需要你的那个旋转的东西拖着更多的武器给老爹,"她一边说，一边飞快地挥动着她的蹄子。"现在别再用愚蠢的问题浪费我的时间了，否则你永远也得不到那些护身符。"
Talismans? What kind of talismans? What did Lighthooves want with talismans? And why wasn’t I putting a bullet through his head right now? Because it would get us all killed, Blackjack… and you’re not an assassin. Damn… two good reasons. Slowly, we moved along the balcony towards the elevator. Most of the gems in the control panel were dark, but those for the lobby, the second floor, and the top floor were lit. No matter how much I pushed the button for the top floor, though, the car wasn’t moving. Damn. I scowled at the keyhole next to the button. It was so tiny that I doubted a bobby pin would fit!
护身符？什么样的护身符？光剑要护身符干什么？为什么我现在不朝他脑袋开一枪？因为那会害死我们所有人Blackjack...而且你不是杀手。该死...有两个好理由。慢慢地，我们沿着阳台向电梯走去。控制面板上的大部分宝石都是深色的，但大厅、二楼和顶层的都是亮的。不管我怎么按顶楼的按钮，车子还是不动。该死。我皱着眉头看着按钮旁边的钥匙孔。它太小了，我怀疑发夹是否合适！
Why was nothing ever easy? We needed the key. Diamond had the key on her barding. Diamond was also surrounded by her gang, Lighthooves, and two power-armored pegasi. One of us would have to go down there and get it. “Any ideas?”
为什么没有一件事是容易的？我们需要钥匙。戴蒙德手里有钥匙。戴蒙德还被她的帮派Lighthooves和两名身穿强力装甲的飞马座包围。我们中的一个得下去把它拿回来。"有什么想法吗?"
Just one. But it wasn’t going to be pretty.
只有一个。但结果并不乐观。
“I hate this. I hate you. I hate everypony!” P-21 protested as Glory tugged the filly’s uniform further down over his flank. Lacunae was working some magic to help straighten his mane while I worked Glory’s manebrush through it. Scotch smeared some of the Flasher’s paint on him in an approximation of Sparkler, who stood frozen nearby watching with shocked amazement.
"我讨厌这样。我恨你。我讨厌所有的小马!"P-21向晨辉抗议，晨辉把小母马的制服拉得更低，越过了身体的侧翼。当我用晨辉的鬃毛梳理它的鬃毛时，拉古纳正在施展某种魔法帮它梳理鬃毛。苏格兰人在他身上涂抹了一些闪光者的油漆，近似于闪光者。闪光者站在附近，目瞪口呆，惊愕不已。
“You’re the only pony who can do this,” I reminded him. “My leg braces are too conspicuous, he’d recognize Glory, Lacunae’s too big, and Scotch has a
"你是唯一能做到这一点的小马,"我提醒他。"我的腿支架太显眼了，他会认出晨辉，腔隙太大了，而苏格兰人有一个
PipBuck. You’re the same color and almost the same size.” His anger was just barely covering his fear and discomfort at the four of us dressing him up. Glory was taking great care not to set him off with a careless touch back there. “Go down, get the key, meet us in the elevator.”
皮伯克。你们的颜色差不多，身材也差不多。"他的愤怒只是勉强掩盖了他的恐惧和不适，因为我们四个给他穿衣服。晨辉在于小心翼翼，不要让他因为一个粗心的触球而离开后场。"下去拿钥匙在电梯里等我们"
“Get the key? Just like that…” he muttered. “Gee, you make it sound so easy.”
"拿到钥匙了吗？就这样......"他喃喃自语道。"哎呀，你说得好轻松。"
I sighed and looked him in the eye. “P-21, if you really don’t want to do this… tell me. We’ll figure something else out.” Maybe we could take them by surprise? That was a lot of ponies to try and surprise, though.
我叹了口气，看着他的眼睛。"P-21，如果你真的不想做这个......告诉我。我们会想出别的办法的。"也许我们可以出其不意地干掉他们？不过，还是有很多小马可以尝试给人惊喜。
He sighed and looked away. “No. I think I can do this. Just… if something goes wrong… I don’t want to fail you again, Blackjack.” He rubbed his regenerated forehooves against each other.
他叹了口气，转过头去。"没有。我想我能做到。只是......如果出了什么差错......我不想再让你失望了，Blackjack。"他用再生的前蹄互相摩擦。
“Then don’t,” I replied with a smile. “And don’t worry about failing me.”
"那就不要,"我笑着回答。"别担心让我失望。"
“Yeah, worry about getting caught,” he muttered. There wasn’t much difference between him and Sparkler now, and the mare was just watching us with a disturbed look. He trotted to Sparkler, who tried to pull back, but with her hooves glued to the floor, well… He whispered something in her ear, and her eyes widened. She nodded absently, then started and glared. But that seemed to be answer enough.
"是啊，担心被抓吧,"他喃喃自语道。现在他和斯巴克勒之间已经没有什么区别了，那匹母马只是用一种不安的眼神看着我们。他跑向Sparkler，Sparkler试图退后，但她的蹄子粘在地板上......他在她耳边轻声说了些什么，她的眼睛睁得大大的。她心不在焉地点了点头，然后开始瞪着我。但这似乎已经足够了。
“Some things never change,” he muttered and then took a deep breath. “Just promise me… whatever happens… do NOT start shooting. All right?” That made me even more apprehensive about this plan. It would have been one thing if it were me down there, but… P-21 seemed to know what he was doing.
"有些事情永远不会改变,"他喃喃自语，然后深吸了一口气。"向我保证......不管发生什么......不要开枪。好吗?"这让我对这个计划更加担忧。如果是我在下面就好了，但是......P-21似乎知道他在做什么。
Please know what you’re doing, P-21.
请清楚自己在做什么P-21。
We moved over to the elevator as I watched her… him... damn, where’d he learn to walk like that?... walk down towards the meeting with a casual step. Just another Flasher coming up to back up her boss. Nothing unusual. Just turning towards her pockets…
我们走向电梯，我看着她......他......该死，他从哪儿学会那样走路的？慢慢地走向会议室。又一个暴露狂来支持她的老板。没什么特别的。只是转向她的口袋..。
“Bitch!” Diamond roared as she wheeled on P-21, the other Fillies turning on him. Instantly, I brought up my gun, sighted her skull, and nearly took her head off before I saw P-21 looking back at me as he was set upon by her guards. Then he was saying something about turning over technology to its rightful owners; I
"婊子!"戴蒙德怒吼着，她坐上了P-21，其他小雌马则转向他。我立刻举起我的枪，瞄准了她的头骨，几乎把她的头砍下来，然后我看到P-21正在回头看我，他被她的守卫袭击了。然后他又说了一些关于把技术交还给它的合法拥有者的话
couldn’t quite make it out amid the babble. Suddenly, Diamond’s lips curled in a nasty smile.
在嘈杂的声音中听不清楚。突然，戴蒙德的嘴角露出讨厌的微笑。
“Oh, so the Rangers sent one of their little spies. Came here to free your ‘brother’?” She snickered. “Sucks to be you. Now I have a new boy toy.” I saw the tremor run through him and licked my lips in apprehension, moving the crosshairs from him and back to her.
"哦，所以流浪者队派了一个小间谍过来。到这里来解救你的'兄弟'?"她窃笑起来。"你真倒霉。现在我有了一个新的男孩玩具。"我看见他的身体在颤抖，恐惧地舔着我的嘴唇，把瞄准器从他身上移开，又移回到她身上。
Lighthooves frowned as he looked at P-21, then at the paint-smeared boss mare, “We need to kill him. Word cannot get out that I’m assisting you.” Now my rifle was on him… but… ack, why couldn’t I snipe eight ponies at once?!
Lightthoves看着P-21皱起了眉头，然后看着那匹被油漆弄脏的老板母马,"我们要杀了他。我在协助你的消息不能传出去。"现在我的步枪在他身上......但是......唉，为什么我不能一次狙击八匹小马?！
His demand, however, prompted an even nastier smirk from Diamond. “If you want him dead sooner, then you’d better get that Vertibuck here and get these guns to Big Daddy. We’re going to wipe the Rangers out of the Hoof once and for all. Then you can take your VC idiots back up to the clouds where you belong.”
然而，他的要求却引起了戴蒙德更加恶毒的嘲笑。"如果你想让他早点死，那么你最好把那辆眩晕巴克弄过来，把这些枪交给老爹。我们要一劳永逸地消灭骑兵队。然后你就可以把你那些风险投资白痴带回你的云端了。"
“And the status quo is preserved,” he finished, frowning at P-21. “You’ll be sure to dust him when you’re finished playing?”
"现状保持不变,"他最后皱着眉头看着P-21。"你玩完了一定要给他掸掸灰吧?"
“Well, I’ll have to share him first. Give the other ladies a ride. Then I’ll dust him. It’ll be over in a flash,” Diamond said as the unicorn floated a key out from around her neck and passed it to one of her guards. “Take him upstairs. While you’re up there, you can have the other one. I’m done with him.” The unicorn guard prodded P-21 with her beam pistol and he rose sullenly to his hooves.
""好吧，我得先和他分享一下。载其他女士一程。那我就给他除尘。当独角兽从她脖子上拿出一把钥匙，递给她的一个保镖时，戴蒙德说。"带他上楼去。当你在上面的时候，你可以拥有另一个。我受够他了。"独角兽警卫用她的平射手枪戳了P-21一下，P-21闷闷不乐地站了起来。
“So. You’ve got a Vertibuck to call and two Rangers outside to go dust. I have to make sure it’s ready to move,” she said, and then feigned remembering, “Oh yes. And get you those worthless talismans. Honestly, doesn’t the Enclave have targeting talismans of their own?”
"所以。你有一辆眩晕巴克要打电话，还有两辆游骑兵要出去打扫。我必须确保它已经准备好移动了,"她说，然后假装回忆道,"哦，是的。给你那些没用的护身符。老实说，昂科雷难道没有自己的护身符吗?"
“Of course. And they are very carefully inventoried. I need talismans that are off the books,” he said slowly and carefully as P-21 was marched to the lobby elevator.
"当然。这些都是经过仔细盘点的。我需要一些没有记录在案的护身符,"当P-21被押往大堂电梯时，他慢慢地、小心地说道。
“Enclave games. Honestly…” Diamond said as she trotted towards a guarded door with Lighthooves following in her wake.
"Enclavegames.老实说......"戴蒙德一边说，一边小跑着朝一扇守卫森严的门跑去，后面跟着一群灯塔。
The elevator doors beneath us chimed faintly and then opened. A moment later,
我们脚下的电梯门发出微弱的响声，然后开了。过了一会儿
they closed again. I tapped the gem beside the elevator doors on our level, and they opened. The Flasher stared at me in shock just long enough for me to slam Taurus’s rifle butt into her face. In seconds, we’d ponypiled into the now cramped elevator. I looked down at P-21. “You planned to get caught?”
他们又关门了。我敲了敲我们楼层电梯门旁边的宝石，它们开了。闪光者盯着我在休克刚刚足够长的时间，我砰的步枪枪托进入她的脸。几秒钟之内，我们就挤进了现在狭窄的电梯里。我低头看着P-21。"你打算被抓吗?"
“I asked Sparkler if Diamond always got first shot at the stallions she captured,” he replied with a smile. “I figured it was an alpha mare… thing.” I squealed in glee, hugging him tight. I love a smart pony! He gasped. “Touching! Too much touching!” I released him, both of us flushing.
"我问斯巴克勒，戴蒙德是否总是第一个射中她捕获的种马,"他笑着回答。"我以为这是一场阿尔法母马...事件。"我高兴地尖叫着，紧紧地拥抱着他。我喜欢聪明的小马！他倒吸了一口气。"真感人！太感人了!"我把他放了我们俩都冲了。
The elevator rose up to the top floor, and my jaw dropped. I’d only come across a hoofful of places that were actually clean. But this wasn’t just clean. This was… spotless! Shiny, even! I gawked at the sight of it and immediately felt my mane start to crawl. The reception room was polished marble, the walls decorated with glowing magical lines of red, green, and blue. Magnificent wooden doors bedecked with gems glittered before me as if tantalizing me with what lay beyond. “What is this?” I asked, then looked back at the concussed guard. Damn, now I wished I hadn’t hit her so hard.
电梯升到了顶楼，我的下巴都要掉下来了。我只见过一些真正干净的地方。但这不仅仅是干净。这真是...一尘不染！闪闪发光，甚至！我呆呆地看着它，立刻觉得我的鬃毛开始爬行。接待室是抛光的大理石，墙上装饰着发光的红、绿、蓝的神奇线条。华丽的木门装饰着宝石，在我面前闪闪发光，仿佛在用远处的东西逗弄着我。"这是什么?"我问道，然后回头看了看那个脑震荡的警卫。该死，现在我真希望我没有打她那么重。
We trotted out into the pristine space. As clean as it looked, it still had the musty reek of below. There was a primly dressed mare behind the desk, next to the door. She looked up from her magazine and smiled pleasantly. “Hello. I’m sorry, but Miss Diamond isn’t available at the moment. If you’re here for an appointment, I will try to reschedule. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you.” I gaped at her in shock, then arched my brow.
我们小跑进入原始的空间。尽管看上去很干净，下面还是有股发霉的臭味。桌子后面，门边，有一匹穿着整齐的母马。她从杂志上抬起头，愉快地微笑着。"你好。对不起，戴蒙德小姐现在不在。如果你是来赴约的，我会尽量重新安排时间。对此给您带来的不便，我深表歉意。"我震惊地目瞪口呆地看着她，然后皱起眉头。
“Uh, we don’t have an appointment,” I replied lamely.
"呃，我们没有预约,"我一瘸一拐地回答。
“Oh! Well, then, welcome to Flash Industries, home to many amazing and miraculous magical products. I’m sorry, but Miss Diamond isn’t available at the moment. I’m sorry, but all senior staff are unavailable at the moment. If you would like to schedule an appointment, I will do so now. If you would like to wait, I would be happy to answer any and all questions you might have about Flash Industries until somepony becomes available to see you.” The white mare smiled as she stared at me with her blue eyes. She reminded me of a cleaner, nicer version of the mare below.
"哦！那么，欢迎来到Flash工业公司，这里有许多神奇的魔法产品。对不起，戴蒙德小姐现在不在。对不起，现在所有的高级职员都不在。如果你想预约的话，我现在就去。如果您愿意等待，我很乐意回答您可能有关FlashIndustries的任何问题，直到有人愿意见您。"白色的母马微笑着，她用她的蓝眼睛盯着我。她让我想起了下面那匹干净漂亮的母马。
“You’re Diamond’s secretary?” Glory asked with a concerned frown.
"你是戴蒙德的秘书?"晨辉皱着眉关切地问。
“I am an automated photonic answering service based on Miss Diamond’s
"我是一个基于戴蒙德小姐的自动光子应答服务
secretary, Miss Beryl. I’m afraid that Miss Beryl is out of the office at this time.
秘书，贝丽尔小姐。恐怕贝里尔小姐现在不在办公室。
Would you like me to contact her for you?” the projection asked brightly.
你要我帮你联系她吗?"投影明亮地问道。
“No,” Glory said quickly, then looked back at me. “Notice the resemblance?”
"不,"晨辉很快地说，然后回头看着我。"注意到相似之处了吗?"
P-21 nodded, and I looked from one to the other. “What?”
P-黑杰克点头，我从一个看到另一个。"什么?"
“I’m guessing that Diamond downstairs is a descendant of Miss Diamond’s secretary. The system thinks she’s still alive.”
"我猜戴蒙德在楼下是戴蒙德小姐秘书的后代。系统认为她还活着。"
I pointed at the mare behind the desk. “Then what is that?”
我指着桌子后面的母马。"那是什么?"
Scotch Tape trotted up to the mare and stretched out her hoof. The mare flickered in place as she smiled pleasantly down at the filly waving her hoof back and forth inside the hologram. “Cool!”
苏格兰胶带小跑到母马，伸出她的蹄子。母马闪烁的地方，因为她愉快地微笑下来，在小母马挥动她的蹄子来回内部的全息图。"酷!"
So she was a projection too, like the professor, only a machine. “I need to get inside Miss Diamond’s office real quick.”
所以她也是一个投影，就像教授一样，只是一台机器。"我需要马上进入戴蒙德小姐的办公室。"
“I’m sorry, but that’s not allowed. If you would like to wait until Miss Diamond is available or schedule an appointment, please do so now,” the projection said brightly.
"对不起，这是不允许的。如果你想等到戴蒙德小姐有空或者预约时间，请现在就去。"。
“What are you?” Scotch Tape asked. “A ghost?”
"你是什么?"透明胶带问道。"鬼魂?"
The projection regarded her fondly. “I am an example of some of the most exciting holographic projection technology developed at Flash Industries. Although we are well known for our line of magical personal defense equipment, Flash industries is also a leading developer of light manipulation magic. Thanks to our partnership with the Ministry of Arcane Sciences, Flash Industries has worked to produce our latest and most exciting creations.”
投影深情地注视着她。"我是FlashIndustries开发的一些最令人兴奋的全息投影技术的一个例子。虽然我们是众所周知的我们的线神奇的个人防御设备，闪光工业也是一个领先的开发光操纵魔术。由于我们与奥术科学部的合作，Flash工业公司致力于生产我们最新最令人兴奋的产品。"
“What kind of creations?” Glory asked.
"什么样的作品?"晨辉问道。
“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to be more specific. Are you interested in our personal defense equipment? Holographic technology? Magic shielding technology? Or other technology?” the projection asked in a slightly condescending tone.
"我很抱歉，但你得说得更具体一点。你对我们的个人防御设备感兴趣吗？全息技术？魔法屏蔽技术？或者其它技术?"投影仪用一种有点居高临下的语气问道。
I was about to ask about Project Steelpony when Glory said, “Personal defense
我正要问关于Steelpony项目的事，这时Glory说:"个人辩护
technology? Do you mean weapons?”
技术？你是说武器吗?"
The projection frowned. “Flash Industries dislikes the negative connotations associated with that term. Our personal defense products are designed with the intention of protecting our users from harm through the application of potent, pinpoint magical force. While most famous for our beam weaponry, we have also branched out into alternative magical effects. However, please be aware that such items must be contracted through our military or Ministry of Awesome sales representative.”
投影皱起了眉头。"FlashIndustries不喜欢这个词的负面含义。我们的个人防御产品设计的目的是保护我们的用户免受伤害，通过应用强大的，精确的魔力。虽然最著名的是我们的光束武器，我们也扩展到其他的魔法效果。但是，请注意，这些物品必须通过我们的军方或者了不起的销售代表签订合同。"
So they didn’t like the word ‘weapon’? Surprise surprise. “What about--“
所以他们不喜欢'武器'这个词？惊喜惊喜。"那么——"
“What are holograms?” Scotch Tape asked, then shrunk back a little at my eye twitch and faint growl. “What?”
"什么是全息图?"透明胶带问道，然后我的眼睛抽搐和微弱的咆哮使我退缩了一点。"什么?"
“Flash Industries has developed an exciting line of magical projection technology able to duplicate almost any image with ninety nine point eight percent accuracy. Utilizing multiple projection points, we are even capable of maintaining images when a single projection source is blocked. No more annoying shadows in your image! Combined with our shield products, we are predicting exciting new hard light products to be made available at Flash Industries in years to come.” Her cheeriness was getting on my nerves.
"Flash工业公司开发了一种令人兴奋的魔法投影技术，能够以99.8%的准确率复制几乎任何图像。利用多个投影点，我们甚至能够维护图像时，一个单一的投影源被阻塞。在你的图像中不再有烦人的阴影！结合我们的盾牌产品，我们预测令人兴奋的新硬质轻型产品将在未来几年提供给闪光工业。"她的兴高采烈使我心烦意乱。
“Okay. So tell me--” I started.
"好吧。那么告诉我——"我开始说。
“Magic shields?” P-21 asked with a frown. I hissed through my teeth as my eye went flat. He’s a smart pony, don’t shoot him. He’s a smart pony… “Our latest and most exciting products to date are our magical shield products. By projecting a barrier of arcane energy, we have been able to protect vital military and government properties all across Equestria. While not available for private purchase at this time due to security concerns, we predict that within twenty years all ponies will enjoy complete personal protection through our magical shield products. Here at Flash Industries, we are proud to provide some of the strongest and most comprehensive shielding technology in Hoofington or abroad!”
"魔法盾牌?"P-21皱着眉头问。当我的眼睛变得扁平时，我的牙齿发出嘶嘶的声音。他是匹聪明的小马，别开枪。他是一匹聪明的小马......"迄今为止，我们最新最令人兴奋的产品是我们的魔法盾牌产品。通过设置神秘能量的屏障，我们已经能够保护Equestria各地至关重要的军事和政府财产。由于安全方面的考虑，目前无法私人购买，但我们预计在20年内，所有的小马都将通过我们的魔法盾牌产品得到完全的个人保护。在我们Flash工业公司，我们很自豪能够提供一些Hoofington或国外最强大和最全面的屏蔽技术!"
“But it didn’t have enough power,” I blurted. “The Hoofington shield failed because it didn’t have enough energy.” I looked out the window and… looked at a perfectly intact city! It was even sunny. The Core rose like a cluster of smoky
"但它没有足够的能量,"我脱口而出。"胡芬顿盾失败是因为它没有足够的能量。"我看着窗外......看着一个完好无损的城市！天气甚至还是晴朗的。核心像一簇烟雾一样升起
quartz. It even glistened. But… there was something off about the image. I stretched out a hoof and the entire window shimmered where my hoof penetrated. I felt grimy glass beneath it.
石英。它甚至闪闪发光。但是...图像有点不对劲。我伸出一只蹄子，整个窗户的蹄子穿过的地方闪闪发光。我感觉到它下面的玻璃杯脏兮兮的。
“I’m sorry, but to discuss specific technical inquiries, I’ll have to refer you to our engineering department. Would you like to make an appointment?”
"很抱歉，但是为了讨论具体的技术问题，我不得不把你介绍给我们的工程部门。您要预约吗?"
I sighed, about to ask about Steelpony when I stopped at looked at Lacunae. “Well?”
我叹了口气，正要问有关Steelpony的事，这时我停下来看了一眼Lacunae。"怎么样?"
“What?” she blinked in confusion.
"什么?"她困惑地眨了眨眼。
“Aren’t you going to ask about other technologies?” I asked.
"你不打算问问其它技术吗?"我问道。
“Flash Industries isn’t only involved in products involving light.” I covered my face and screamed into my hooves as the projection went on. “We have numerous other projects all across Equestria, such as our partnership with Hippocampus Energy at the New Hope solar array, various energy distribution services with the Hoofington reconstruction effort, and work with the Hoofington Planetarium and Black Pony Mountain Observatory. We also--“ “Shut up! I’m here for Project Steelpony!” I snapped.
"FlashIndustries不仅涉及光源产品。"当投影继续进行的时候，我捂住脸，用蹄子尖叫起来。"我们在Equestria各地还有许多其他项目，例如我们与新希望太阳能电池阵列的海马能源公司(HippocampusEnergy)合作，与胡芬顿重建项目合作提供各种能源分配服务，以及与胡芬顿天文馆和黑马山天文台合作。我们也——"闭嘴！我是来参加Steelpony项目的!"我厉声说道。
The projection froze. Uh-oh… Then she frowned. The mare’s voice changed to that of a deep stallion’s. “I’m sorry. Please remain where you are until appropriate security personnel arrive. Proper authorities have been alerted. If you attempt to leave, then lethal countermeasures will be employed. We apologize for this inconvenience.” And that was when the alarms began to sound throughout the entire building.
投影停止了。然后她皱起了眉头。母马的声音变成了一匹深沉的种马的声音。"对不起。请待在原地，直到适当的保安人员到达。已经通知了相关部门。如果你试图离开，那么就会采取致命的对策。我们对造成的不便表示歉意。"就在那时，警报声响彻了整个大楼。
Why did I have a distinct certainty that it wouldn’t take long for Diamond and Lighthooves to come up here and check?
为什么我非常肯定，戴蒙德和Lighthooves不会花很长时间来这里检查？
The walls around us began to shimmer and coalesced into two glowing white alicorns. Beads of blue glowed at the tips of their horns as they approached. I hoped the goddess would be flattered as I raised the shotgun and blasted a round of buckshot at the ghostly apparition. The lead pellets passed right through it without effect. Glory’s beam rifle did, if anything, even less. Magical arrows penetrated without a ripple.
我们周围的墙壁开始闪闪发光，并合成了两个闪闪发光的白色橡子。当他们靠近时，蓝色的珠子在他们的角尖上闪闪发光。我希望当我举起猎枪，向这个幽灵开了一枪时，女神会感到受宠若惊。铅弹直接穿过它，没有效果。晨辉的光束步枪，如果有什么区别的话，甚至更少。神奇的箭穿透了身体，没有一丝涟漪。
Then a blue light washed over us and… I yawned? Indeed, the lethargy was spreading through me with alarming swiftness. Even Lacunae seemed tired, and she didn’t have to sleep! Non-lethal weaponry, I remembered. It seemed like Diamond had been true to her word to Twilight. My eye watered as I struggled to keep awake, peering up at the blue light at the end of the alicorn’s horn. There was a tiny sapphire talisman floating at the tip!
然后一道蓝光照过我们......我打了个哈欠？的确，昏睡正以惊人的速度在我全身蔓延。连空隙也显得疲惫不堪，不用睡觉！非致命武器，我记得。看起来戴蒙德对《暮光之城》说的话是真的。当我努力保持清醒时，我的眼睛充满了泪水，凝视着海角角末端的蓝光。顶端漂浮着一个小小的蓝宝石护身符！
I slipped into S.A.T.S. before my eye closed completely, queued up two attacks, and hoped for the best. My first shot ignored the giant glowing target and struck the blue gemstone squarely. It shattered with a tiny pop of blue smoke. The other fractured and I had to blast three times before a lucky pellet smashed the gem.
我还没完全闭上眼睛就溜进了S.A.T.S.，排队等待着两次进攻，期待着最好的结果。我的第一枪忽略了巨大的发光目标，直接击中了蓝色宝石。它随着一股微弱的蓝色烟雾粉碎了。另一个断裂了，我不得不炸了三次，才有一颗幸运的子弹打碎了宝石。
The alicorns winked out. “Don’t worry about the alicorn. Target the gems,” I said as they reappeared, this time with red gemstones. Beams of burning energy swept across the reception room, and all of us save Lacunae dove for cover. Glory yelped as a line of char was drawn from her scarred flank down to her hoof. I swore, aiming for the fire rubies. However, a small shield appeared around each, and my pellets were harmlessly deflected.
橡子们眨眨眼睛。"不用担心阿里康。瞄准宝石,"我说，因为他们再次出现，这一次与红色宝石。一束燃烧的能量横扫了接待室，我们所有人都把空隙藏了起来。晨辉发出惨叫，因为一条炭线从她伤痕累累的侧腹一直延伸到蹄子。我发誓，瞄准着火红宝石。然而，一个小盾牌出现在每个周围，和我的子弹无害偏转。
The crimson beams dug into Lacunae’s raised shield, drilling through it at the alicorn and Scotch Tape. Suddenly, her eyes flashed. “Pitiful phantasms! You dare to challenge a true Goddess?” she declared. She reared and shouted in a booming, resonating voice, “BEGONE!”; from her horn erupted a stream of magical arrows that swept out to home in on the brilliant fire rubies. They not only shattered the two above the alicorns but sought out every gemstone emitting a hologram. When the storm passed, the reception room returned to the same rotted state as the building below. Two or three patches of light flickered anemically, and the once formidable doors were revealed to be an empty door frame.
深红色的光束刺穿了拉库尼的盾牌，在橡子和透明胶带上钻了个洞。突然，她的眼睛闪烁起来。"可怜的幻觉！你竟敢挑战真正的女神?"她宣称。她用洪亮的、引起共鸣的声音呼喊着,"滚!"从她的角里喷出一股神奇的箭，射向家里，落在那闪耀的红宝石上。他们不仅粉碎了上面的两颗橡子，还找到了每一颗发出全息图的宝石。暴风雨过后，接待室又恢复了下面建筑的腐烂状态。两三片灯光闪烁不定，曾经令人望而生畏的门现在变成了一个空门框。
Okay. Color me impressed. Lacunae looked at me and declared imperiously, “The Goddess shall NOT be mocked.”
好吧。给我留下了深刻印象。拉库尼看着我，傲慢地说:"不要嘲笑女神。"
“I’m not mocking you.” I looked at P-21. “Are you?” He shook his head vigorously. “You?” Glory’s jaw just hung loosely open. I grinned sheepishly. “See? No mocking here!” She huffed softly, looking slightly mollified as she ruffled her feathers.
"我不是在嘲笑你。"我看了看P-21。"是吗?"他用力地摇了摇头。"你?"格洛里的下巴松弛地张开着。我不好意思地笑了笑。""看见了吗？不许嘲笑我!"她轻轻地吸了一口气，竖起羽毛，看上去有点平静下来了。
Head held high, she strode through the doors into an office decorated with more holograms. It appeared spotless, but you couldn’t hide that reek of mold and
她昂首挺胸，大步走进一间装饰着更多全息图的办公室。它看起来一尘不染，但你无法隐藏霉菌和臭气
mildew. “Turnip?” I called out as I stepped through afterwards.
霉菌。"萝卜?"后来我走过去的时候喊道。
“Hey baby. I’m right where you left me. Ready for another ride on the Turnip wag... oh?” The tan stallion was tied spread eagle on a bed that looked very out of place among the holograms. From the looks of things, he was far from distressed... “I thought you’d be someone else.”
"嘿，宝贝。我就在你离开我的地方。准备好再坐一次萝卜船了吗?"那匹棕褐色的种马被绑在一张床上，展开成鹰形，在全息图中显得格格不入。从表面上看，他一点也不痛苦......"我还以为你是别人呢。"
“I’m Security. I’m here to rescue you,” I said, a little skeptically. “I mean, if you’re not busy?”
"我是保安。我是来救你的,"我有点怀疑地说。"我是说，如果你不忙的话?"
Glory covered Scotch’s eyes with her wing again. The filly brushed it aside and looked critically at the bound stallion. “Eh, I’ve seen bigger,” she said flatly. For some reason, that seemed to blow something in Glory’s brain as whatever she’d been about to say died in her throat. I was a little surprised too. Hadn’t Glory heard of sex-ed? Enclavers were weird...
晨辉又用她的翅膀遮住了苏格兰人的眼睛。小母马把它推到一边，用批判的眼光看着那匹被束缚的种马。"呃，我见过更大的,"她直截了当地说。出于某种原因，这似乎打击了晨辉的大脑，因为无论她将要说什么，都在她的喉咙里死去了。我也有点惊讶。晨辉没听说过性教育吗？恩克莱弗家的人都很奇怪。
Turnip was a pretty plain looking earth pony stallion: tan with a brown mane. He gave a small grin. “Well... you don’t have to... I’m fine here.”
萝卜是一匹相貌平平的矮种马:棕褐色的鬃毛。他微笑了一下。"嗯......你不必......我在这里很好。"
P-21 sighed, covering his face with his hooves before he said, “I’m your replacement. She’s throwing you to the rest of the Fillies, then you’ll be dusted.” His face added an unspoken ‘idiot’.
P-21叹了口气，用蹄子捂住脸，然后说:"我是你的接班人。她要把你扔给其他小姑娘，然后你就会被打扫干净了。"他的脸上增加了一个不言而喻的"白痴"。
Turnip’s grin faded and he yanked against his bonds. “Oh. Ah... well... in that case... rescue would be very welcome, yes sir, thank you please!” I shook my head as I approached with the sword. He looked down at his other head. “Stand down, boy! Heh... It’s got a mind of its own,” he said as I smiled, turning the blade over and over as I grinned down at him. His eyes grew panicked. “Get down!” I rolled my eye a little.
特尼普的笑容消失了，他猛地拉了拉他的绳子。"哦。啊......好吧......那样的话......非常欢迎救援，是的，先生，谢谢你!"当我拿着剑走近时，我摇了摇头。他低头看着另一个脑袋。"退下，孩子！嘿......它有自己的思想,"他说，我微笑着，一遍又一遍地转动刀刃，我咧嘴朝他笑。他的眼睛变得恐慌起来。"趴下!"我转了转眼睛。
“Don’t worry... I promise not to take too much off the top,” I said as I raised the sword to cut his bonds. Maybe the guy didn’t deserve it, but... honestly? Staying here with these gangers for sex? Really?
"别担心......我保证不会从上面拿走太多东西,"我一边说，一边举起剑准备切断他的债券。也许那家伙不值得你这么做，但是...说实话？和这些分身在一起做爱？真的吗？
At that moment, the elevator door chimed and the stallion fell from my attention as eight Flashers spilled out and immediately began firing red beams of incineration magic at the lot of us. The bed was the biggest thing for Glory and me to take cover behind, so we found ourselves shooting over Turnip as I tried to slash him free. Splitting my concentration wasn’t doing much good for either accuracy. I swapped to the rifle, saving my S.A.T.S. for Diamond.
就在这时，电梯门响了起来，这匹种马从我的注意力中消失了，八个闪光者涌了出来，立刻开始向我们大家发射红色的焚化魔法光束。对于晨辉和我来说，床是最重要的东西，我们躲在后面，所以我们发现我们正在向特尼普扫射，我试图把他解救出来。分散我的注意力对于任何一种准确性都没有什么好处。我换上了步枪，为戴蒙德省下了sat考试的时间。
“Cut me loose! Cut me loose!” Turnip bawled as we blasted over him, keeping the Flashers back. Scotch Tape, Lacunae, and P-21 were behind the large office desk. Persuasion thumped, but there was a unicorn quick enough with a shield spell that the grenades bounced off and back at us.
"给我松绑！给我松绑!"当我们在他身上猛烈轰击时，萝卜大叫起来，挡住了闪光者的视线。透明胶带、空隙和P-21在大办公桌后面。说服重击了一下，但是有一只独角兽很快就用盾牌咒语把手榴弹弹回弹到我们身上。
“Shut up and think small!” I shouted as I reloaded my rifle. I managed to get through two of the bindings.
"闭嘴，往小处想!"我一边大声喊着，一边给步枪重新上膛。我设法通过了两个捆绑。
Then the elevator door chimed again and out stepped more Flashers. Behind them was Diamond, a gatling beam weapon floating above her and a sphere of shimmering light surrounding her. “That’s enough! Time to dust all these freaks!” I jumped into S.A.T.S. and aimed four rounds right at her head... and saw a zero percent chance of hitting the extremity. I saved the charge and eyeballed the shot.
然后电梯门又响了起来，更多的闪光者走了出来。在他们身后是戴蒙德，一个格林机关枪在她头上漂浮，一个闪闪发光的球体环绕着她。"够了！是时候给这些怪物扫灰了!"我跳进S.A.T.S.，瞄准她的头部开了四枪......看到了一点机会都没有。我省下了电荷，目测了一下镜头。
The bullets just flicked right off the shield. Shit, I hated being right sometimes. Diamond set herself and the glowing gatling beam weapon began to strafe over the entire office in a rain of red blasts. My barding sizzled and Glory barely ducked as the beams walked from one end of the office to the other. Some miracle reached out and shielded Turnip’s bits from being vaporized. “You’re dusted! All of you!”
子弹刚好从护盾上弹了出来。妈的，有时候我真讨厌自己是对的。戴蒙德把自己和发光的加特林武器开始扫射整个办公室的红色暴雨。当横梁从办公室的一端走到另一端时，我的剑发出咝咝的声音，格洛里几乎没有躲闪。有一个奇迹伸出手，保护了芜菁的碎片，使之免于蒸发。"你被打败了！你们所有人!"
Okay. Now I could use some Goddess badassery, but it was all she could do to keep her shield up protecting Scotch Tape and P-21. Suddenly, she winked away, taking both of them with her. Something thunked to the ground, rolling out from behind the desk. Diamond paused and suddenly shrieked, “Who stole my kills?!” That was a partial relief. But it also meant that the three of us were suddenly about to be dusted.
好吧。现在我可以使用一些女神badassery，但这是她所能做的一切，以保持她的盾保护透明胶带和P-21。突然，她眨了眨眼，把他们两个都带走了。有什么东西从桌子后面滚到地上。戴蒙德停下来，突然尖叫起来,"谁偷了我的猎物?!"这是一种部分的解脱。但这也意味着我们三个人突然就要被扫地出门了。
Then the holographic office flickered and died, revealing the scummy and decayed surroundings I was so familiar with. The gemstones set in the walls near the ceiling flickered and filled the room with a strange corona of light. “What... what are you doing?” Diamond asked as she backed towards the door.
然后全息办公室忽明忽暗地熄灭了，暴露出我熟悉的那种人渣和陈腐的环境。墙上靠近天花板的宝石闪烁不定，房间里充满了奇怪的光晕。"你...你在干什么?"戴蒙德边问边向门口退去。
Suddenly, a crimson beam flashed out from one gem and swept across the ponies in the doorway, each exploding in a cloud of glowing ash. Two beams. Four. Ten. The entire room was filled with flashing and flickering light. Scarlet lances darted back and forth, catching each Flasher in red lines of death. Two, three, sometimes four beams converged and transformed the Fillies into crackling
突然，一道深红色的光束从一块宝石上射了出来，扫过门口的小马，每一匹都爆炸成一团发光的灰烬。两道光束。四个。10.整个房间充满了闪烁的灯光。深红色的长矛来来回回地飞奔，把每一个闪光者都染成了死亡的红线。两道、三道、有时甚至四道光束汇合在一起，把小姑娘们变成了噼啪作响的声音
piles. The beams were so intense that they melted criss-crossing lines in the floors and walls.
堆。横梁是如此强烈，以至于它们融化了地板和墙壁上纵横交错的线条。
“What... what did you do?” Diamond screamed as she turned to bolt for the elevator. Every single line of burning death caught her shield. The collar around her neck crackled, and the diamond gem popped. An instant later she was transformed into a glowing pony-shaped collection of dust that collapsed silently in a heap. The beams flickered, and then a pony appeared. A very familiar pony.
"你...你做了什么?"当戴蒙德转身冲向电梯时，她尖叫起来。每一道燃烧的死亡线都抓住了她的盾牌。她脖子上的项圈噼啪作响，钻石宝石砰地一声掉了下来。不一会儿，她就变成了一团发光的小马形状的灰尘，静静地倒塌成一堆。灯光闪烁着，然后一匹小马出现了。一匹非常熟悉的小马。
Goldenblood.
金色血统。
“Well done, Blackjack. I’m so glad that I could meet you face to face,” he said calmly, the illusion flickering before me. “I’m been trying to make direct contact with you and EC-1101 for the longest time. So glad I could help you now.” The golden eyes. The scarred white hide. The sincere smile...
"干得好，黑杰克。我很高兴能和你面对面地见面,"他平静地说，幻觉在我面前忽隐忽现。"我一直试图与你和EC-1101保持直接联系。很高兴我现在能帮助你。"金色的眼睛。伤痕累累的白色皮肤。真诚的微笑..。
“You’re Goldenblood,” I murmured softly. I was having difficulty standing... even breathing. “You’re... you...” What was I supposed to be feeling right now?
"你是金色的血统,"我轻声说。我站起来都很困难...甚至连呼吸都困难。"你...你..."我现在应该有什么感觉？
Here was the pony behind everything... the ministries... the projects... so many old secrets and lies that were fucking with my very immediate life. If not for him, 99 wouldn’t have been exposed to the raider disease. If not for him, Luna might not have formed the ministries. Here was a motherfucker I could blame for everything!
这是一切背后的小马...政府部门...项目...这么多古老的秘密和谎言，他妈的与我非常直接的生活。如果不是因为他，99号就不会暴露在袭击者疾病之下。如果不是因为他，卢娜可能不会成立这些部门。我可以把一切都归咎于这个混蛋！
He looked a touch annoyed at my speechlessness. “You’re a bit overwhelmed. I’m just glad I was able to help. Now.” He took a deep breath. “About EC-1101.”
他对我的无言以对显得有些恼火。"你有点不知所措。我很高兴能帮上忙。现在。"他深吸了一口气。关于EC-1101
He was after the program? I slowly approached the projection. So perfect in image. Showing up like this... now? So blunt and to the point? So... not Goldenblood. He should be schmoozing... trying to make a connection between me and him.
他是为了那个项目？我慢慢地接近投影。如此完美的形象。现在就这样出现？这么直截了当？所以...不是金色血统。他应该在闲聊...试着在我和他之间建立联系。
“What did you do to Fluttershy?” I asked softly.
"你对小萤火虫做了什么?"我轻声问道。
“Fluttershy?” it was just a moment. Just a moment of incomprehension and confusion.
"萤火虫?"只是一瞬间。只是片刻的不理解和困惑。
“What was the name of the mare you sent down the shaft?” I asked louder.
"你送下去的那匹母马叫什么名字?"我更大声地问。
He scowled at me. “How dare you--” No shock that I knew he’d killed a dead mare to protect one of his secrets.
他怒视着我。"你怎么敢——"当我知道他为了保护自己的一个秘密而杀死了一匹死去的母马时，我一点也不吃惊。
“Glory. Get Turnip out of here. Now.” I tossed my sword onto the bed. The hologram was already starting to distort. Golden seemed to be coming apart in little spirals. “I don’t know who this this is, but it’s not Goldenblood.”
"晨辉。把Turnip带出去。现在。"我把剑扔在床上。全息图已经开始变形了。黄金似乎正在以螺旋形的方式分开。"我不知道这是谁，但肯定不是金色血统。"
Suddenly, the beams flashed on my leg and I felt a tangible force lift the limb into the air. Goldenblood’s voice dissolved into an mechanical, inequine scream. “GIVE IT TO ME!” The last word rose higher and higher as I was lifted up. I had no idea where the magical shield grasping my limb had come from; perhaps it was built into the office? Regardless, it hauled me up by my PipBuck. “GIVE IT GIVEIT GIVEITGIVE GIVEGIVEITITIT...” it rattled madly. Two other shields around my rear hooves were pulling in the opposite direction. I lifted my shotgun, but a beam sliced it in two. Then my focus went all to hell as I felt my torso start to stretch.
突然，光束在我的腿上闪了一下，我感觉到一种实实在在的力量把我的肢体举到了空中。金布拉德的声音变成了一种机械的、不一样的尖叫。"把它给我!"最后一个字随着我的升高越来越高。我不知道那个抓住我手臂的神奇盾牌是从哪里来的，也许它是建在办公室里的？不管怎样，它把我的PipBuck拉了上来。"给它，给它，给它，给它，给它......"它疯狂地发出嘎嘎声。我后蹄周围的另外两个盾牌正朝着相反的方向拉动。我举起我的猎枪，但是一束光把它射成了两半。当我感到我的躯干开始伸展的时候，我的注意力就像下了地狱。
This... thing... could have just burned through my leg. Instead, it was simply going to tear it off. I gritted my teeth, not giving it the pleasure of screaming as I felt my leg bones start to stretch. I wondered what would be the first to give. My ‘bones’? Muscles? Skin?
这个...东西...差点烧穿我的腿。相反，它只是简单地把它撕下来。我咬紧牙关，没有给它尖叫的乐趣，因为我觉得我的腿骨开始伸展。我想知道第一个给予的是什么。我的骨头？肌肉？皮肤？
“Glory! Get out of here!” I screamed... and kept screaming. Torn to pieces. Slowly. Exactly what I deserved for Scoodle. For the clinic. For Clover. This really wasn’t that bad. This was poetic. Glory had cut him free. Now they could run as the voice screamed higher and higher.
"晨辉！滚出去!"我尖叫着，不停地尖叫着。被撕成碎片。慢慢地。这就是我为史酷德应得的下场。为了诊所。为了苜蓿。这真的没那么糟糕。这很有诗意。晨辉使他获得了自由。现在他们可以随着声音越来越高的尖叫而奔跑了。
Except that Glory wasn’t running for the elevator with Turnip. She was running towards the desk. Running towards the small object that P-21 had dropped: the metal apple with a blue band.
除了晨辉没有和萝卜一起跑向电梯。她朝桌子跑去。奔向P-21丢下的那个小东西:带着蓝色条纹的金属苹果。
“NOOOONONONONONOOONOONONNOOOOOONONO!!!” it screeched and filled the room with a wild barrage of red. The floor began to sag beneath me from the myriad blasts. I could do nothing... nothing but scream. Nothing but watch as that force grew more and more. I felt something in my shoulder give. Tears ran down my face in my certainty that at any moment that she would transform into so much dust.
"不不不不不不不不不不不不!!!"它发出刺耳的声音，红色的火力网充满了整个房间。在无数的爆炸中，我脚下的地板开始下陷。我什么也做不了...除了尖叫什么也做不了。只能眼睁睁地看着这股力量越来越大。我感到肩膀上有什么东西脱落了。泪水顺着我的脸颊流下来，我确信她随时都会变成那么多的尘土。
But Glory was a pegasus; she might not have been a soldier, but in that moment she was faster and more graceful than I ever could have imagined. Even as the
但晨辉是一匹飞马;她也许不是一名士兵，但在那一刻，她比我想象的更快更优雅。即使是
floor started to give, she moved without a single misstep. I don’t think I’d ever seen her more beautiful. Leaping the last yard, she slid into the grenade and bit the stem. She pulled the stem free and threw the orb into the center of the room. Beams moved to cut me to pieces, burn her to ash, and blast the grenade to scrap.
地板开始塌陷，她一步都没走错。我从没见过她这么漂亮。跳过最后一码，她滑进手榴弹里，咬住了茎。她把茎拔了出来，把球扔进了房间的中央。光束把我切成碎片，把她烧成灰烬，把手榴弹炸成碎片。
A blue band flashed.
一条蓝色的光带闪烁着。
The electronic voice screeched and blurred into one long crackle before cutting off completely. The gemstones gave one last flash, then shattered in rapid succession. I dropped in a heap, my limbs screaming in pain as I lay there on the slumping floor. Slowly, I sat up. My right foreleg dangled at my side. I wondered if it even worked anymore. I looked at her, with the stem still in her mouth, and gave a weak grin as I wept at the same time.
电子声音尖锐刺耳，模糊成一个长长的噼啪声，然后完全切断。这些宝石发出最后一次闪光，然后迅速连续地粉碎。我瘫倒在地上，四肢痛苦地尖叫着。慢慢地，我坐了起来。我的右前腿在我身边晃动着。我甚至怀疑它是否还有效。我看着她，茎仍然在她的嘴里，并给了一个微弱的笑容，而我哭泣的同时。
Then there was a resounding crack and rumble, and my world began to fall. I just looked helplessly as Glory leapt back at me. I thought that I had seen her move fast before. Now time seemed to stretch out as I felt the collapsing floor shift and give way beneath me. Her wing beat as if trying to fly the distance. I was measuring time in heartbeats... and there was an eternity between each. She reached me, scooping me in her hooves. Lifting me... moving me to the side. To safety... almost.
然后，一声巨响和隆隆声响起，我的世界开始陷落。我只是无助地看着晨辉向我扑来。我想我以前见过她动作很快。现在时间似乎伸展开来，我感觉到倒塌的地板移动，在我下面让路。她的翅膀拍打着，仿佛要飞过那段距离。我用心跳来衡量时间......每一个心跳之间都有一个永恒。她伸手抓住我，用蹄子把我铲了起来。把我举起来...把我移到一边。到安全的地方...差不多。
My PipBuck lodged in a fork of twisted metal as the floor fell away completely. My right foreleg wrapped around Glory and held her tight as we dangled over the wreckage a dozen feet below. Sweet Celestia, it hurt. It educated me in all kinds of horrific experiences of pain! I wasn’t even sure if ‘pain’ was what I was feeling anymore. But it didn’t matter. Glory was alive! I was alive. I looked into the most beautiful eyes in all of Equestria.
我的皮伯克卡在一把扭曲的金属叉子里，地板完全塌了下来。我的右前腿缠住晨辉，紧紧地抱着她，我们在十几英尺以下的残骸上方悬吊着。甜蜜的天堂，这很伤人。它教会了我各种可怕的痛苦经历！我甚至不确定"疼痛"是不是我现在的感觉。但这并不重要。晨辉还活着！我还活着。我凝视着全Equestria最美丽的眼睛。
I’d been mistaken. This was the most beautiful I’d ever seen her.
我错了。这是我见过她最美的一次。
Then the floor below us gave a colossal shudder and broke free with a roar that made my ears throb. The entire building shook, and I felt the PipBuck start to twist out of that metal fork. The next floor gave. Then the next. And now the entire gutted shell of Flash Industries was full of collapsing concrete and steel, noise and choking dust. My eyes burned, but I couldn’t look away... she was starting to slip from my grasp. I could barely breathe... could hardly see... as the collapse finally reached whatever depths were in the tower, probably crushing
然后我们脚下的地板发出巨大的震动，发出一声震耳欲聋的吼声。整个大楼都在摇晃，我感觉到皮伯克的金属叉子开始扭曲。下一层楼塌了。然后是下一个。现在整个被掏空的闪电工业外壳充满了坍塌的混凝土和钢筋，噪音和令人窒息的灰尘。我的眼睛灼烧着，但我无法移开视线......她开始从我的手中溜走。我几乎无法呼吸...几乎看不到...当倒塌最终达到塔里的任何深度，可能粉碎
the maneframe to dust. Bit by bit, I felt my left leg stretch. The brace began to give way. “Hold on!” I yelled, unable to do more than hang there. I felt the PipBuck slowly working free.
马涅弗雷姆化为尘土。一点一点地，我感觉到我的左腿在伸展。支架开始松动了。"等等!"我喊道，除了悬挂在那里，我什么也做不了。我感觉到PipBuck慢慢地自由工作了。
I felt Glory slipping away.
我感到晨辉正在悄悄溜走。
I looked into her eyes. So calm, so beautiful. I saw her wing... saw the stub beside it... the final price for my failure in the tunnels. I couldn't speak. I could only pray she could read my mind as I thought with every fiber of my being, 'Don't let go.'
我看着她的眼睛。如此平静，如此美丽。我看到了她的翅膀......看到了旁边的存根......这是我在隧道里失败的最终代价。我说不出话来。我只能祈祷她能读懂我的心思，因为我的每一根神经都在想,'不要放手。'
Please, dear Celestia... save me...
求求你，亲爱的塞莱斯蒂亚...救救我..。
She smiled. The tension on my left leg suddenly released. She dropped...
她笑了。我左腿上的紧张感突然消失了。她摔倒了..。
And stopped just beneath me in a white glow. I clenched my eye shut as I focused every bit of my will through my stupid tiny useless horn. I’d never been a strong telekinetic. All I could do was shoot things with it. But by Luna, I would happily lose my magic forever if I could just lift her up to the ledge. Take my magic Luna, but let me save her. Please. My horn throbbed in time with my worthless rotten heart. Do this! If I was ever going to do anything... do... this!
在我脚下停留在一片白色的光辉中。我紧闭着眼睛，用我那愚蠢的无用的小号角集中我的每一点意志。我从来都不是一个强大的心灵感应者。我所能做的就是用它来射击。但是到了月神的时候，如果我能把她举起来，我会很高兴地永远失去我的魔法。拿走我的魔法卢娜，但让我救她。求你了。我的号角随着我那毫无价值的腐烂的心在时间里悸动。这样做！如果我要做什么......做......这个！
I dared to look. Slowly, she rose. A foot. Two. I reached out my foreleg to her as she stretched out hers to touch my hoof ever so gently. There was no fear in her eyes. Simply wonder. Simply love.
我敢看。慢慢地，她站起来。一只脚。二。我伸出我的前腿到她身边，她伸出她的脚轻轻地触摸我的蹄子。她的眼睛里没有恐惧。只是想知道。简单的爱。
And then there was a terrible stillness in my horn, and the glow vanished. I was trapped in that horrible moment, staring into her eyes... feeling her hoof upon mine... and then...
接着，我的号角里一片可怕的寂静，光芒消失了。我被困在那个可怕的时刻，盯着她的眼睛...感觉她的蹄子踩在我的脚上...然后..。
Glory fell.
荣誉倒下了。
Her screamed name seemed to echo on and on for eternity.
她尖叫的名字似乎会永远回响下去。
Glory.
晨辉。
Glory.
晨辉。
Glory...
晨辉..。
Footnote: 75% to level.
脚注:75%到水平。
 
Author's Notes:
作者笔记:
(Unending thanks to Kkat for creating Fallout Equestria. And tons of thanks to Hinds, Bronode, and Snipehamster for making this chapter worth reading. Huge thanks for everypony that leaves comments that keep me writing. And any pony who wishes to help out the artist, bits can be donated through Paypal at David13ushey@gmail.com.) (Oh... and... um... sorry...)
(感谢Kkat创造了Equestria辐射尘。非常感谢海因兹、Bronode和Snipehamster让这一章值得一读。非常感谢每一个留下评论的小马，这些评论让我坚持写作。任何想要帮助艺术家的小马，都可以通过贝宝在david13ushey@gmail.com上进行捐赠。)(哦...还有...嗯...对不起...)
(Hinds here (I mentioned it in the comments, but I’d like duplication): We’ve changed Blackjack’s magic color from red to white, so please let us know if you spot any instances we missed in earlier chapters.)
我们已经把Blackjack的魔法颜色从红色变成了白色，所以如果你发现了我们在前面章节中遗漏的实例，请告诉我们