“Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few. Laughter and singing will see us through.”
"虽然争吵时有发生，但是他们的人数很少。笑声和歌声会帮助我们渡过难关。"
I’d dealt with a few monsters before. The hydra in Flank... the mutated dragonlings in Stockyard… radscorpions… manticores… all of them dangerous. But no matter how big or how small they were, they all made sense. Limbs, legs, head, fangs, hooves, stingers… the arrangement might be odd, but in their own way, they made sense.
我以前处理过一些怪物。侧翼的九头蛇......牲畜围场的变异龙......雷达蝎子......人体......所有这些都很危险。但是不管它们有多大或多小，它们都是有意义的。四肢、腿、头、尖牙、蹄子、刺......这样的安排可能有些奇怪，但是以他们自己的方式，这样的安排是有道理的。
This… this didn’t make sense.
这...这说不通啊。
The walls, floor, ceiling... everything was moving. It was impossible to tell where metal ended and flesh began. Eyes were bulging. Mouths were opened in one long scream. There were organs between the equipment. Meaty appendages… intestines… I clutched my stomach as I backed away. I felt… it felt like my insides were moving! Like my tainted guts were trying to crawl right out my throat! I fought for one moment and then puked on the inside of my helmet. It wasn’t bad compared to what followed at the other end.
墙壁，地板，天花板...所有的东西都在移动。我们不可能知道金属在哪里结束，肉体在哪里开始。眼睛突出。嘴巴在一声长长的尖叫中张开。设备之间有器官。多肉的附肢......肠子......我一边往后退一边抓着肚子。我感觉...感觉我的内心在动！就像我的内脏要从我的喉咙里爬出来一样！我挣扎了一会儿，然后吐在了头盔里面。与另一端的情况相比，这还不算糟糕。
And worst of all, I wanted to join that scream. It scratched at my throat.
最糟糕的是，我想加入那场尖叫。它抓住了我的喉咙。
“Stop it!” I shouted as I tried to back away, but my limbs were stuck to the floor! No, the floor was crawling up my legs! No! My legs were sinking into the floor! “Stop it, please!” I begged. Then things got worse.
"住手!"我喊道，我试图后退，但我的四肢卡在了地板上！不，地板在我的腿上爬！不！我的腿都陷进地板里了！"住手，求你了!"我苦苦哀求。然后事情变得更糟。
It stopped.
它停了下来。
Those eyes watched. The molded steel and flesh seemed to be waiting.
那双眼睛注视着我。塑造的钢铁和肉体似乎在等待着我们。
Watching. “She has not joined our choir…” the mouths whispered.
看着。"她没有加入我们的唱诗班......"她的嘴低声说。
Sweet Celestia… were they…
甜蜜的塞莱斯蒂亚...他们是不是..。
“You’re… you can talk?” I murmured as I stared... pony eyes. Pony mouths. Luna save me, I saw cutie marks in that mix!
"你...你会说话?"我盯着......小马眼喃喃地说。小马嘴。露娜救了我，我看到那混合物里有可爱的标记！
“She is very close. Close to joining their choir,” one mouth whispered. Rainbow spittle drizzled from its lips. “We should make her join ours instead!” the drooling lip grinned.
"她非常亲近。快要加入他们的唱诗班了,"一张嘴低声说。彩虹的唾沫从它的嘴唇滴落下来。"我们应该让她加入我们!"流口水的嘴唇咧着嘴笑。
“I don’t understand, what do you mean… a choir? I can’t sing!” I looked over at Rampage, but her eyes were wide and staring. She looked like a foal trapped in a nightmare.
"我不明白，你什么意思......唱诗班？我不会唱歌!"我抬头看了看狂暴，但她的眼睛瞪得大大的。她看起来就像一只被困在噩梦中的小马驹。
There was a long low snicker. “Oh, everypony can. Listen…”
他们长时间低声窃笑。"哦，每匹小马都可以。听着......"
The mouths began screaming. One scream of many notes going on and on and… I’d been wrong. We were both trapped in a nightmare. I wanted P-21 here to blow this all up. I wanted Lacunae here with her stupid Goddess to sneer in disdain. I wanted Glory… sweet Celestia… I needed Glory to tell me it was going to be all right. “Stop!”
嘴巴开始尖叫起来。一声尖叫，许多音符不停地响着......我错了。我们都被困在噩梦之中。我希望P-21能把这一切都搞砸。我希望这里的空隙和她那愚蠢的女神一起嗤之以鼻。我想要晨辉...甜蜜的天堂...我需要晨辉告诉我一切都会好起来的。"住手!"
And again, they did. A wide, slack mouth poking between two monitors murmured, “She does not like our song.” It sounded almost apologetic.
再一次，他们做到了。两个显示器之间一张又宽又张的嘴低声说:"她不喜欢我们的歌。"听起来几乎是在道歉。
“Why?” snickered a mare’s mouth. “She’s so close to us already. She’s singing parts herself. We’ve heard her.”
"为什么?"偷笑母马的嘴。"她已经离我们这么近了。她在唱自己的角色。我们听说过她。"
I felt something move around my hooves… but I couldn’t look. “You mean you were singers before… this?” I gasped, refusing to look down. If I saw… I would start screaming. I didn’t think I would ever stop.
我感到有什么东西在我的蹄子周围移动......但我不能看。"你是说你以前是歌手......在这之前?"我喘着气，拒绝往下看。如果我看到...我会开始尖叫。我从没想过我会停下来。
“No. We joined the choir… after,” the mare stuck in the wall beside me murmured softly.
"没有。我们加入了唱诗班......之后,"困在我旁边墙上的母马轻声地说。
“Force her to join! Make her sing!” several of the voices began to babble.
"强迫她加入！让她唱歌!"有几个声音开始咿呀学语。
“Wait! Wait! What happened here?” I asked, looking around. Oh Goddesses, my insides were moving! I felt a little wire in my mind, and it was being drawn tighter and tighter.
"等等！等等！这里发生了什么?"我环顾四周，问道。哦，女神，我的内心在动！我感觉到我脑子里有一根小铁丝，它越拉越紧。
Then it stopped. The eyes stared at me; pony eyes watching and blinking and staring. There were veins running along the deformed metal and around the equipment. They pulsed as the lips slowly moved on their own. I started at the ropey gray intestines and felt my own squirming within.
然后它停了下来。他们的眼睛盯着我，小马的眼睛看着我，眨着眼睛盯着我。沿着变形的金属和设备周围都有血管。当嘴唇慢慢地自己动起来的时候，他们开始脉动。我开始在软绵绵的灰色肠子和感觉我自己的蠕动内。
“There was a box,” whispered lips near the pedestal. “A box came with a mystery within.”
"有一个盒子,"嘴唇在底座附近低语。"一个装着神秘东西的盒子。"
Rampage murmured behind me, “Blackjack, we need to get out of here… Please, let’s get out of here.”
狂暴在我身后喃喃自语,"黑杰克，我们得离开这里......求你了，我们离开这里吧。"
“A mystery containing a wonder,” the lips whispered. I felt something on my legs, but I was incapable of moving. I could only stare into the eyes. Goddesses… was there something in my eye socket again? Glory’d burned it out! Burned it!
"一个包含着奇迹的秘密,"嘴唇低声说。我感到腿上有东西，但我动不了。我只能凝视着他的眼睛。女神啊...我的眼窝里是不是又进什么东西了？晨辉已经把它烧尽！烧了它！
One of the screens, its surface bulging out like a blister, flashed to life. The image was a mess of bilious greens and yellows as it showed stallions and mares around a small black box. One mare with some sort of pastry or cake on her rump opened the black case. “I was Applejack’s cousin. I could open it,” came a whisper from a green mouth above.
其中一块屏幕的表面鼓起来像一个水泡，亮了起来。图像是一团糟的胆汁绿色和黄色，因为它显示种马和母马周围的一个小黑盒子。一匹臀部上有点糕点或蛋糕的母马打开了黑色的箱子。"我是苹果杰克的表妹。我可以打开它,"从上面一张绿色的嘴里传来一声低语。
The silver bullet came out and was placed on the warped pedestal. “What are you doing?” I asked as I felt my stomach heave again, then swallowed.
银弹取出来，放在弯曲的底座上。"你在干什么?"我问道，感觉我的胃又胀了起来，然后咽了下去。
“Freeze… cold… so cold,” a blue pair of lips muttered before licking back a trickle of rainbow snot. On the screen, a mechanical arm swung over the pedestal, and a diamond wafer touched the metal. “We tried to cut oh so carefully… but we could not. We knew not.”
"冻死了......冻死了......冻死了,"一对蓝色的嘴唇咕哝着，然后舔回了一滴彩虹色的鼻涕。在屏幕上，一只机械手臂在基座上摆动，一块钻石晶片接触到金属。"我们试图小心翼翼地切开......但我们做不到。我们不知道。"
A twisted grin cackled, “But I remembered the secret. I remembered the metal. The note.” One of the stallions on the screen waved his hooves enthusiastically to the rest gathered around the frozen bullet. “The note of our song.”
一个扭曲的笑容咯咯地笑了起来,"但是我记得这个秘密。我记得那块金属。纸条。"屏幕上的一匹种马热情地向围在冻结的子弹周围的其他种马挥舞着蹄子。"我们歌曲的音符。"
Now I watched in fascination as the blade cut the silvery metal with ease. Unicorn magic pulled it apart. “Blackjack, we have to go. This is fucked up. We need to go now.”
现在我痴迷地看着刀刃轻而易举地切开银色的金属。独角兽魔法把它分开了。"黑杰克，我们得走了。这太糟糕了。我们现在就得走。"
But I couldn’t move. I had two choices… watch and learn, or start screaming. I felt something in the back of my throat. I prayed that I was only imagining it...
但我动弹不得。我有两个选择...要么看着学习，要么开始尖叫。我感到喉咙后面有什么东西。我祈祷那只是我的想象。
moving. “A minute…” I croaked as the silver bullet was cracked open. “I have to see this…” Because everything else would make me scream.
移动。"一分钟......"银弹裂开的时候，我用嘶哑的声音说道。"我得看看这个..."因为其他的一切都会让我尖叫。
“That’s a weird bullet,” Rampage muttered on my blind side.
"这是一颗奇怪的子弹,"狂暴在我的视线范围内喃喃自语。
That was no bullet. I might know dick about… this… all of this… but I knew bullets. It might have been bullet-shaped, but the entire thing was one solid worked piece of metal divided into two sections. The larger of the two, a distorted half-sphere near the base of the shell and with its broad, flat side on the dividing wall, was packed full of a grayish paste like P-21’s explosives. A small hole pierced through the shell to the small compartment, most of which was taken up by a strange, glowing hexagonal piece of crystalline stone that the robot arm’s saw hadn’t been able to cut through. Packed around the stone was some kind of thick goop that reminded me of the rainbow sludge now drizzling out of the... lips... of the room...
那不是子弹。我可能知道迪克关于...这...所有这一切...但我知道子弹。它可能是子弹形状的，但整个东西是一个坚实的金属加工件分成两部分。两个中较大的那个，在炮弹底部附近有一个变形的半球体，其宽而平的一面在隔墙上，里面装满了灰色的糊状物，像P-21的炸药。一个小洞穿过贝壳直达小隔间，其中大部分被一块奇怪的、发光的六角形水晶石块所占据，机器人手臂的锯子无法把它锯开。石头周围堆积着一层厚厚的黏糊糊的东西，让我想起从房间的...嘴唇...滴落下来的彩虹污泥。
I’d exposed myself to that sludge each time I’d fired Folly.
每次我炒了Folly，我都会把自己暴露在那些污泥中。
I remembered the warped and twisted bones in Ironshod Firearms R&D. Melted like this room. Scalpel had detected the taint in me days after I’d fired Folly at Miramare. After firing it in the factory, I’d been told by Triage that my taint exposure had jumped once again… I’d been killing myself with every shot of the superweapon.
我记得在铁鞋火器研发中扭曲和扭曲的骨头。像这个房间一样融化。在我向米拉马雷开火后的几天里，手术刀已经在我身上发现了污点。在工厂开火之后，我被伤检分类医生告知，我的污染程度又一次上升了......我一直在用超级武器的每一发子弹自杀。
No, not killing myself. Turning myself into… this. The room muttered, giggled, and laughed softly.
不，不是自杀。把自己变成...这样。房间里的人咕哝着，咯咯地笑着，轻轻地笑了起来。
“What is that… that crystal? That sludge? That metal?” I gasped. I lurched but managed not to fall over. I knew I’d seen that odd glowing gem before somewhere... The room, however, gave a hateful shriek that made me spasm. The walls began to pulsate.
"那是什么......那块水晶？那些淤泥？那种金属?"我倒抽了一口冷气。我踉跄了一下，但还是没有摔倒。我知道我以前在什么地方见过那个奇怪的发光宝石......然而，这个房间发出了一声可恶的尖叫，让我抽搐。墙壁开始震动。
“Blackjack… tell me we can get the fuck out of here… Blackjack?” Rampage said. I tried to wave my hoof, to buy some time, but I couldn’t lift it. “Shit… oh shit… shit shit shit…” she muttered.
"黑杰克...告诉我我们可以离开这鬼地方...黑杰克?"狂暴说。我试着挥动我的蹄子，争取一些时间，但是我抬不起来。"狗屎......哦，狗屎......狗屎，狗屎......"她喃喃自语。
“That rock… of a lesser song. The metal… of a greater glory! The potion… the ichor of the meddler… a neutral buffer to separate the two,” the mouths muttered in unison. “Sing with us. Sing your screams with us! The other cannot join. She is of a false unity. But you can be together with us!”
"那块石头......是一首次要的歌。一个更伟大的晨辉的金属！药水......爱管闲事者的水......一个中立的缓冲器，把两者分开,"嘴里齐声嘀咕着。"和我们一起唱吧。和我们一起尖叫吧！另一方不能加入。她是个虚伪的统一体。但是你可以和我们在一起!"
“Unity!” I gasped as I struggled to step back. I couldn’t step anywhere. My heart was beating so hard that I was amazed that I hadn’t fallen flat on my face. “You’re with the Goddess?”
"团结!"我喘着气挣扎着往后退。我哪儿也不能去。我的心跳得如此剧烈，以至于我惊讶地发现自己竟然没有摔得粉身碎骨。"你和女神在一起?"
The mouths were silent. One chuckled… then another… then the rest in wild, mad glee. “She is not a child of the other choir. Imitation. False. Forgery. Manufactured. She babbles her own tune and will be undone. She is not a true choir. Nor is your friend there. Isolated. Separated. She cannot join us.”
嘴巴沉默着。一个人咯咯地笑了起来...然后是另一个...接着是其他人疯狂地高兴起来。"她不是其他唱诗班的孩子。模仿。错。伪造文件。制造业。她喋喋不休地哼着自己的曲子，会被毁掉的。她不是一个真正的唱诗班。你的朋友也不在那里。孤立。分居。她不能加入我们。"
“Thank goodness. Now, Blackjack… out… now…” But I couldn’t get out. I couldn’t leave. If I did, part of me would tear its way out of my body and stay. A part that wanted to stay…
"谢天谢地。现在，黑杰克...出去...现在..."但我出不去。我不能离开。如果我这样做，我的一部分会撕开我的身体，留下来。一个想留下来的角色。
“And you’re a true choir?” I gasped for air again and swallowed, desperate to puke again if I could. I wanted to get whatever was inside me out. The walls were beating like a heart, but with an alien beat: singular contractions rather than a double pulse. I imagined my own heart was beating in time with the meat.
"你是真正的唱诗班吗?"我又喘了一口气，咽了下去，如果可以的话，我不顾一切地想再吐一次。我想把我体内的东西弄出来。墙壁像心脏一样跳动着，但是有一种异乎寻常的跳动:单次收缩而不是双次脉冲。我想象着自己的心脏和肉一起跳动。
Please. Let it only be in my head.
求你了。让它只存在我的脑海里。
“We are, but trapped in flesh. Kept apart. We will join it in time. We were the latest to join the greater choir in such a long time. The greater song,” they murmured in unison. “Let us sing for you.” And one began to scream. Then another. And another. Their screams blended together, one building on the next in a singular note. A note that grew and grew; and I was singing with it… not through my lips.
"我们是，但是被困在肉体里。分开。我们会及时参加的。在这么长的时间里，我们是最新加入大合唱团的。更伟大的歌,"他们齐声低语。"让我们为你歌唱吧。"其中一个开始尖叫。然后是另一个。再来一杯。他们的尖叫声交织在一起，一座建筑物在另一座建筑物上以一种奇特的音调出现。一个音符越来越长;我正在用它唱歌...而不是通过我的嘴唇。
No… it was coming from inside my chest. I was going to sing with it too, till there was nothing left but that song.
不...是从我胸腔里发出来的。我也打算跟着它一起唱，直到只剩下那首歌。
“Blackjack! Glory’s waiting!” Rampage yelled in my face. Then I stared at my friend, her red and white stripes seeming to melt together. Her tissue looked mottled and knotted, even scaly... and there was a wing forcing itself out of her shoulder through a gap in her armor. As I watched, a small horn was twisting slowly out the side of her head. “Are you just going to leave her up there wondering what happened to us?!”
"黑杰克！晨辉在等待!"狂暴对着我的脸大叫。然后我盯着我的朋友，她的红白条纹似乎融合在一起。她的身体组织看起来斑驳、打结，甚至有鳞片......有一只翅膀从她的肩膀上穿过盔甲的缝隙伸了出来。就在我注视着的时候，一个小角慢慢地从她的头的一侧伸了出来。"你就打算把她留在那里，不知道我们发生了什么事吗?!"
That shout and that look snapped me out for a precious moment. I looked down at my hooves, but the metal-meat amalgamation had sealed itself around each of them like concrete; I only hoped that the safety suit had prevented me from
那一声喊叫和那一个眼神在那珍贵的时刻把我给震住了。我低头看了看我的蹄子，但是那个金属肉的混合物像水泥一样把它们都封住了，我只希望是安全服阻止了我
fusing completely with the floor. “Cut me out. It’s time to get out of here!” I tugged and struggled, and Rampage tore at the floor with her hoofclaws. But each slash spattered us with rainbow ichor, and the rents healed, and the scream bored deeper into my mind with every passing second.
与地板完全融合。"把我踢出去。是时候离开这里了!"我使劲拽，奋力挣扎，然后狂暴女用她的蹄爪在地板上撕扯。但是每一道伤口都溅上彩虹般的光辉，裂缝愈合了，尖叫声每一秒都在我的脑海里越来越深。
Rampage turned to the screens; the distorted pictures now showed the bullet letting off plumes of rainbow gas and the ponies around it melting and falling into still-living heaps. One showed the wall chewing Pickets… oh Celestia… were those teeth I felt working on the ends of my limbs? Chewing through the suit? I blasted with the shotgun, wishing I’d loaded incendiary rounds.
狂暴转向屏幕;扭曲的图片现在显示出子弹发射出彩虹气体的羽毛，周围的小马融化掉进仍然活着的堆里。其中一个展示了墙上咀嚼的树桩...哦，天国...那些我觉得在我四肢末端工作的牙齿是不是？咬穿了这套衣服？我用猎枪扫射，希望自己装的是燃烧弹。
“Damn it, will you bastards play something else? That song is old!” Rampage yelled as she struggled to get my right leg free.
"该死的，你们这些混蛋能弹点别的吗？那首歌太老了!"狂暴女孩边喊边挣扎着把我的右腿弄出来。
And then I felt it. A squirm inside me at the words as the scream went on and on inside me and around me… oh Goddesses… inside me… inside me! It was screaming inside me! I felt like I was going to… give birth to something. It was going to claw its way out of me; turn me inside out. I wanted to take her ripper and tear myself open. Get it out! Get it out now!
然后我感觉到了。当尖叫声在我体内和我周围持续不断的时候，我的内心有一种不安的感觉...哦，女神们...在我体内...在我体内！它在我体内尖叫！我感觉我就要......生出什么东西来了。它要从我身上爬出来，把我翻个底朝天。我真想抓住她的把柄把自己撕成碎片。拿出来！现在就拿出来！
“Calm down, Blackjack,” rasped the Dealer in my ear. “Go into S.A.T.S.”
"冷静点，黑杰克,"庄家在我耳边刺耳地说。"进入高考"
“What…” but I couldn’t argue. I simply wanted to scream forever.
"什么......"但我无法反驳。我只是想永远尖叫下去。
I did. It was all I could think of. But S.A.T.S. didn’t help. I couldn’t target myself, and this was one time shooting Rampage wouldn’t help! Even Folly was back with my barding and saddlebags. The room didn’t offer any obvious target or weak point. It just let me see the pony flesh wiggling its way out from the gaps and vents in the room.
是的。这是我能想到的一切。但是s.a.t.s没有起作用。我不能瞄准我自己，这是一次射击狂暴没有帮助！甚至愚蠢也带着我的抵押和鞍囊回来了。这个房间没有提供任何明显的目标或弱点。它只是让我看到小马的肉从房间的缝隙和通风口蠕动出来。
But then I realized something else the spell gave me: time. Time to think. Time to calm down. If I lost it completely, then I wouldn’t be able to do anything.
但后来我意识到这个咒语还给了我别的东西:时间。是时候思考了。该冷静下来了。如果我完全失去了它，那么我将不能做任何事情。
“That’s it. Panic never helped anypony,” the Dealer said softly as he trotted out in front of me to stand beside Rampage. “Now. I know you can’t speak, but you can think. So think about this thing. What is it? What does it want? What is its weak spot? Everything has at least one.”
"就是这样。恐慌从来不会帮助任何小马,"商人轻声地说，他跑到我面前站在狂暴旁边。"现在。我知道你不会说话，但你可以思考。所以想想这件事。这是什么？它想要什么？它的弱点是什么？每样东西都至少有一个。"
I looked at the gaunt, pale stallion in the battered hat. What did the room want? To eat me… or fuse with me… no. That was what it was doing to me. A terrified
我看着那匹瘦骨嶙峋、脸色苍白、戴着破帽子的种马。这个房间想要什么？吃掉我...或者和我融合...不。这就是它对我的影响。一个恐惧的
pink pony inside me pointed out those wide mouths. It wanted to sing. It wanted me to scream right along with it. And I wanted to… some horrible, treasonous part of my mind wanted to sing right along.
我体内的粉红小马指着那些大嘴巴。它想唱歌。它想让我跟着它一起尖叫。我想......一些可怕的，叛逆的部分，我的大脑想要一直唱下去。
But I had other songs, too.
但是我也有其他的歌。
My PipBuck had a number of music files I’d collected from the Wasteland. If this thing wanted music, then I’d give it something else to listen to. Something better than just screams. I selected the song, the most powerful one I knew, and cranked the volume all the way up. I slipped out of S.A.T.S. and hit play. For a moment, I thought that the music wouldn’t be able to overcome that single horrid screaming note, but then it rose. I felt my insides spasm in response, but the song of dozens of ponies in a little chapel filled that pit… and I could almost see Priest as I listened to his majestic music.
我的PipBuck有一些我从Wasteland收集的音乐文件。如果这个东西需要音乐，那么我会给它一些别的东西来听。比尖叫更好的东西。我选了一首我所知道的最有力量的歌，然后把音量调到最大。我溜出了s.a.t.s然后按了播放键。有那么一瞬间，我还以为音乐无法战胜那个可怕的尖叫音符，但是接着音乐响了起来。我觉得我的内心在回应痉挛，但在一个小礼拜堂的几十匹小马的歌声填补了那个坑...我几乎可以看到牧师，因为我听着他的宏伟的音乐。
Sweet Celestia, full of grace. Help us find our rightful place.
甜蜜的天堂，充满恩典。帮助我们找到我们应有的位置。
Help us grow up big and strong. Laughing and singing all day long.
帮助我们茁壮成长。整天欢笑和歌唱。
Show us how we should be kind. Teach us beauty and peace of mind.
向我们展示我们应该如何友善。教导我们心灵的美丽与平静。
Sweet Celestia, full of grace. Show us your gentle, shining face.
甜蜜的天堂，充满恩典。让我们看看你温柔闪亮的脸庞。
The horrible scream faltered, with some voices babbling curses or hissing in pain. My PipBuck continued to play the swelling music made by Priest, Medley, and all the other ponies in that little knot of hope.
恐怖的尖叫声颤抖着，伴随着一些声音在牙牙学语地咒骂或痛苦地嘶嘶作响。我的皮伯克继续弹奏着普里斯特、梅德利和所有其他小马在那个小小的希望之结中发出的膨胀的音乐。
Dearest Luna, soft and strong. Keep us safe all night long.
最亲爱的露娜，柔软而坚强。让我们整晚都安全。
Under your soft and watchful eye. Let your stars fill up the sky.
在你温柔而警惕的目光下。让你的星星布满天空。
Know our hearts are always thine. Protect us with strength sublime.
知道我们的心永远是你的。用伟大的力量保护我们。
Dearest Luna, soft and strong. Let us honor you in song.
最亲爱的露娜，柔软而坚强。让我们以歌声向你致敬。
As I watched, the flesh seemed to be driven away. The eyes clenched in pain as the pulse fluctuated wildly. Rainbow ichor burst from some of the veins as the room reacted horribly to the swelling hymn to two Princesses now long parted from this world. I might not have been able to believe in goddesses any more, but I could believe in beauty, kindness, and harmony.
在我观察的时候，肉体似乎被赶走了。脉搏跳动剧烈，眼睛因疼痛而紧闭。当房间里响起隆重的赞美诗，两位公主现在早已与这个世界分离，房间里的一些血管里泛起了彩虹般的光辉。我也许再也不能相信女神了，但是我相信美丽、善良和和谐。
Sweet Celestia, we sing to thee. That our worries be set free.
甜蜜的天堂，我们为你歌唱。让我们的忧虑得到解脱。
Dearest Luna, we praise your skies. Delight us with night’s surprise.
亲爱的露娜，我们赞美你的天空。用夜晚的惊喜来取悦我们。
Know you’re in our fondest prayer. Mighty Princesses sweet and fair.
我知道你是我们最喜欢的祈祷者。美丽动人的公主。
Sweet Celestia, full of grace. Dearest Luna, our song embrace.
甜蜜的天堂，充满恩典。最亲爱的露娜，我们的歌声相拥。
My legs pulled free of the pits they were stuck in, and I took a few staggering steps. For a moment, I thought of running for it. Leaving this place forever, even seeing if P-21 could seal away or collapse it. And I would have, too… except for one thing. Just one.
我的双腿从它们卡住的凹坑中挣脱出来，蹒跚地走了几步。有那么一瞬间，我想到了逃跑。永远离开这个地方，即使看看P-21是否能够封锁或者摧毁它。我也会的......除了一件事。只有一个。
The room was crying. The dozens of mouths now sang the melody that I’d been playing. Dozens of pained, ashamed ponies turned into something horrid… but still ponies. And I had to give them something… anything… that would help.
整个房间都在哭泣。几十张嘴现在唱起了我一直在演奏的旋律。几十匹痛苦、羞愧的小马变成了可怕的东西......但仍然是小马。我必须给他们一些东西...任何东西...来帮助他们。
Not peace from violence, but peace from this horror. I slowly stepped towards the wall. “I’m sorry,” I murmured as I looked at those bright and pained eyes. “I don’t know how to help you…”
不是和平来自暴力，而是和平来自恐怖。我慢慢地走向墙壁。"对不起,"我看着那双明亮而痛苦的眼睛喃喃地说。"我不知道该怎么帮你......"
“You have,” a mare said quietly as the rest hummed the melody. “You have, so much. You reminded us of what we were… what we should be.”
"是的,"一匹母马平静地说，其余的母马则哼着歌曲。"你做到了，太多了。你提醒我们，我们曾经是什么样的人，我们应该成为什么样的人。"
“Is there… can I change you back?” I asked, thinking it had to be impossible. From the way her lips turned in a sad smile, it was. “I’m sorry. I wish I could do something… give you something…”
"有......我能把你变回来吗?"我问道，以为这是不可能的。从她苦笑的嘴唇转动的样子来看，的确如此。"对不起。我希望我能做点什么......给你点什么......"
“You can,” a stallion said softly. “In the storeroom next door… there are chemicals. Benzene. Ethanol and methanol. Hydrogen and oxygen talismans. Acetone. Toluene. Spill them… ignite them. Don’t let us go back to… to what we were.” The lips trembled and it whimpered softly. “We’re so tired of screaming.”
"你可以的,"一匹种马轻声说。"在隔壁的储藏室里......有化学药品。苯。乙醇和甲醇。氢和氧护身符。丙酮。甲苯。洒出来...点燃它们。不要让我们回到......回到过去。"嘴唇颤抖着，轻轻地呜咽着。"我们已经厌倦了尖叫。"
“Right,” Rampage said with a nod. “I’m going to need your shotgun… and it’s probably going to be ruined.”
"对,"朗格点点头说。"我需要你的猎枪......它可能会被毁掉。"
I passed it to her without hesitation. “I’ve had it less than a day,” I muttered with a thin smile. “Are you going to be okay?”
我毫不犹豫地把它递给了她。"我吃了还不到一天,"我带着淡淡的微笑喃喃自语道。"你不会有事吧?"
“Eh, I’ll burn up, but,” she said as she looked at her warped hide. “Two apples,
"嗯，我会烧起来的，但是,"她看着自己扭曲的皮肤说。"两个苹果,
one stone. I’ll be fine. Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time I’ve gotten all mutated up.” I could believe it. And I couldn’t help myself, I hugged her for helping me do this… snapping me out of it and helping these… these poor ponies.
一块石头。我会没事的。信不信由你，这不是我第一次变异了。"我可以相信。我情不自禁地拥抱了她，因为她帮助我做了这件事...把我从困境中解救出来，帮助了这些...这些可怜的小马。
“You’ve got two songs. Get clear before then. I don’t think they’ll stay lucid long,” Rampage said softly as she patted my back. Then she turned to the room and said grandly, “Okay, everypony. Let’s hear an encore!”
"你有两首歌。在那之前离开这里。我不认为他们会一直保持清醒,"拉皮特轻轻地拍着我的背说。然后她转向房间，盛气凌人地说:"好了，各位。让我们再来一次!"
And the chorus began to sing, and it hurt. Whatever had made them like this… gave them that scream to sing… also made the melody pierce like nails. Even I hurt… but at least I didn’t think that my insides were singing. Oh please, let them not be singing. As I trotted towards the door, I spotted something that had been hidden by the mat of metal flesh. It was the strange white crystal that had been inside the cut-open silver bullet. It wasn’t very big… about the same size as my hor-- as a shotgun shell.
副歌部分开始唱起来，很伤人。不管是什么让他们变成这样......让他们尖叫着歌唱......也让旋律像钉子一样穿透。甚至我也很伤心......但至少我不认为我的内心在歌唱。求你了，别让他们唱歌。当我跑向门口的时候，我发现了一个被金属垫子藏起来的东西。这就是那颗被切开的银弹里面的奇怪的白色水晶。它不是很大......和我的手臂差不多大小----就像一个猎枪的弹壳。
I peeked into the storage room. Glass bottles. Metal storage tanks. Lots of warnings about flammables and keeping the door shut at all times. Perfect. I used my magic to turn on the hydrogen and oxygen talismans, glad they were clearly labeled. There were also leaking drums, marked ‘Hippocratic Research’, that had once been filled with the rainbow crud. Just another reason to go there the second I was finished with the Rangers. Rampage grinned and said, “Get out of here. It’s going to get toasty pretty quick!” And with that, she started knocking over some large glass jugs.
我偷偷看了一眼储藏室。玻璃瓶。金属储罐。许多关于易燃物的警告和随时关上门。好极了。我用我的魔法打开了氢气和氧气护身符，很高兴他们被清楚地标记。还有一些标有"希波克拉底研究所"的泄漏桶，里面曾经装满了彩虹之液。只是另一个理由去那里的第二次我完成了流浪者。狂暴笑着说:"滚出去。很快就会暖和起来的!"就这样，她开始打翻一些大玻璃壶。
I paused at the door to the lab, picking up the white crystal and floating it beside me. “Goodbye,” I said as the room started on the next stanza. Rampage was violating every safety rule posted on the walls as she kicked the ripped barrels into the cryogenics lab, taking great glee in the destruction. I had picked my way up the stairs by the third stanza. I looked back, but kept going as I headed for the exit. As I reached it, here was a muffled bang behind me, followed by the sound of a great breath being sucked in and then let out all at once. The pressure wave knocked me over, and a tongue of flame raced up the stairs behind me, spreading out overhead.
我在实验室门口停了下来，拿起那块白色的水晶，漂浮在我身边。"再见,"我说，因为房间开始在下一节。当她把撕开的桶踢进低温实验室时，狂暴违反了贴在墙上的每一条安全规定，对破坏感到非常高兴。我已经在第三节开始上楼梯了。我回头看了看，但还是继续往前走，直奔出口。当我到达那里时，身后传来一声闷响，接着是巨大的呼吸声被吸进去，然后一下子全部吐出来。压力波把我撞倒了，一道火舌在我身后冲上楼梯，在我头顶上蔓延开来。
Fortunately, the fire didn’t go much farther than that. I lay there for a moment, then slowly sat up, my PipBuck still playing the tune. I turned it off and stared at the flames pouring up the stairs.
幸运的是，火势并没有蔓延得更远。我在那儿躺了一会儿，然后慢慢坐起来，我的皮伯克还在弹奏着曲子。我关掉了电视，盯着楼梯上倾泻而上的火焰。
A black, pony-shaped silhouette appeared amid the flames. Black plates of char and flesh moved with careful steps as she stood at the top, fire licking off her hide as the edges and tips of her armor glowed a faint red. Only Rampage could bathe in fire.
火焰中出现了一个小马形状的黑色轮廓。当她站在山顶时，黑色的炭块和肉块小心翼翼地移动着，火舌舔着她的皮，她的盔甲的边缘和尖端发出淡淡的红光。只有狂暴才能沐浴在火焰之中。
The blackened flesh sloughed off in crunchy chunks with each step as she walked towards me. She clenched her eyes hard, and when they opened she looked at me and slowly grinned. She shook herself, scattering charred, greasy flakes like so many playing cards, then coughed a little ball of rolling smoke and spat black phlegm to one side. The raw pink flesh paled to white with her familiar red stripes showing through. “Ugh… hate fire,” she said, looking at her blackened steel hoofblades. “Takes forever to clean my armor.” I just smiled in amazement.
当她向我走来时，发黑的皮肉一步一步地脱落下来，发出嘎吱嘎吱的响声。她紧紧地攥着眼睛，当眼睛睁开的时候，她看着我，慢慢地笑了。她摇了摇自己，像许多扑克牌一样散落着烧焦的、油腻的碎片，然后咳了一小团滚动的烟，把黑痰吐到一边。她熟悉的红色条纹露了出来，原本粉红色的肉变成了白色。"呃......讨厌火,"她说，看着她那发黑的铁蹄。"要花很长时间才能清洁我的盔甲"我只是惊讶地笑了笑。
“Are they…” I asked as I looked behind her.
"他们......"我回头看着她，问道。
“If they’re not, then I don’t think there’s anything we can do for them.” I started to remove the hazardous materials suit, and she raised a hoof. “I’d wash before you take it off! You’re sort of dripping there, Blackjack.” Ugh… I felt and smelled like I was trapped in a well-used toilet… but I was bad enough off taintwise at the moment. I could wait a little longer… “So,” I said as we walked out into the subway tunnels. “Just curious… where the hay did you get that armor?”
"如果他们不是，那么我认为我们无能为力。"我开始脱掉有害物质的衣服，她抬起了一只蹄子。"在你脱下来之前，我要先洗一洗！你身上有点漏水，黑杰克。"呃......我感觉和闻起来就像我被困在一个用得很好的厕所里......但是我现在已经够糟糕的了。我可以再等一会儿......"那么,"我们走进地铁隧道时，我说。"只是好奇......你的盔甲是从哪儿弄来的?"
“This?” she asked with a little smile. “This is Hammersmith’s finest work; he makes all the quality weapons for the Reapers. Since you left my armor down in the tunnels, I had to go and get it.”
"这个?"她微笑着问道。"这是哈默史密斯最好的作品，他为收割者制造了所有高质量的武器。既然你把我的盔甲留在地道里了，我就得去把它拿回来。"
“And… you didn’t get messed up?” I asked as we started up the rusty escalator.
"而且......你没有搞砸?"当我们启动生锈的自动扶梯时，我问道。
“If I did, I don’t remember it,” she replied calmly. “Down the elevator, then way up the stairs to the factory. Right where you dropped it next to Lacunae’s gatling gun,” she said with a smile. “One weird thing, though.”
"就算有，我也不记得了,"她平静地回答。"下电梯，然后上楼去工厂。就在你把它丢在拉库奈的格林机枪旁边的地方,"她微笑着说。"不过，有件事很奇怪。"
“I’m not sure I can take any more weird… like, period. I have exceeded my weirdness quota for the rest of my life…” Not that that was very long anyway. She arched a brow, and I sighed. “Okay. Lay it on me. Talking walls? Flesh melting magic fields? I can take it.” I braced myself for another soul-crushing revelation or infuriatingly vague puzzle.
"我不知道自己还能不能承受更多的奇怪......比如，句号。我的余生已经超过了我古怪的限额......"反正也不是很长。她挑起眉毛，我叹了口气。"好吧。告诉我吧。会说话的墙？融化肉体的魔法领域？我能承受。"我做好了准备，迎接另一个折磨灵魂的启示或令人愤怒的模糊迷惑。
“It was being cleaned up.” I stopped and looked at her. “Like somepony had come along and was putting everything back, fixing all the stuff you blasted.” Then she looked a little more coolly at me. “And by the way, Blackjack… I’ve got to say I am a little put out that you had some sort of mega super destruction spell you were going to fire and I wasn’t in the way.”
"正在清理。"我停下来看着她。"就像一匹小马出现了，把所有东西都放回原处，修复所有被你毁坏的东西。"然后她冷静地看着我。"顺便说一句，Blackjack......我不得不说，我有点担心你会施展某种超级超级毁灭咒语，而我没有妨碍你。"
I gave her a little smile… the most I could manage. “I was a little occupied, but I promise… the next time I fire a super taint-ridden weapon of mass destruction, I will make sure that you are in the line of fire.” I sighed as I thought about it, but honestly, my brain just couldn’t put it together. After dealing with that… choir… thing… what I’d felt beating inside my chest… hearing… I wanted to butt my head against the wall till I’d expunged the thoughts from my mind. Maybe I could get Triage to… no… no, I couldn’t do that. I’d just have to try and deal with them along with all of the other horrors of the Hoof.
我给了她一个微笑......尽我所能。"我当时有点忙，但我保证......下次我发射一枚超级污染严重的大规模杀伤性武器时，我会确保你在射击线上。"我一边想一边叹了口气，但说实话，我的大脑就是无法把它们联系起来。在处理完那个...唱诗班...的事情之后...我感到胸口在跳动...听到...我想用头撞墙，直到我把那些想法从我的脑海中抹去。也许我可以让伤员分类...不...不，我不能那么做。我只能试着把它们和霍夫带来的其他恐惧一起处理掉。
* * *
* * *
For the first time in a long time, I was glad to see that it was raining. P-21 and Glory were arguing about leaving me down there. Lacunae looked politely disengaged from their squabble. Scotch was fiddling with Glory’s busted beam rifle. At the sight of Rampage and me, Glory started towards me, but I warded her off with an upraised hoof. “One sec… I’m coated in magical death juice.”
这么长时间以来，我第一次高兴地看到下雨了。P-21和晨辉为了把我留在下面而争论不休。空隙处礼貌地从他们的争吵中抽身出来。苏格兰人正在摆弄晨辉破损的光束步枪。看到我和暴怒，晨辉向我冲来，但我抬起头挡住了她。"等一下......我浑身都是魔法死亡果汁。"
She looked like she wanted to hug me anyway. “Oh. Was it bad?” she asked as she chewed on her lip.
无论如何，她看起来都想拥抱我。"哦。情况很糟糕吗?"她咬着嘴唇问道。
I glanced at Rampage and passed a knowing look to her. Glory didn’t need to know the details. “Well, we were underground so… yeah. Pretty unpleasant.” I took off the helmet after the downpour had washed most of the rainbow stuff away and then unsealed the suit. Her eyes widened even more as I let the rain start to wash off the filth. Not for the first time, I missed the wonders of civilization… like soap. “I found out something interesting, though.” I levitated my saddlebags and took out the black case. “This seems to be the source of most of my taint.” I popped it open and lifted the bullet free. “See this half? All full of pure taint.”
我瞥了一眼朗格，心照不宣地看了她一眼。晨辉不需要知道细节。"嗯，我们在地下所以......是的。非常令人不快。"在倾盆大雨把大部分彩虹色的东西冲走之后，我脱下了头盔，然后打开了衣服。当我让雨水洗去污垢时，她的眼睛更加睁大了。不是第一次，我错过了文明的奇迹...就像肥皂一样。"不过，我发现了一些有趣的事情。"我把我的鞍囊悬浮起来，拿出那个黑盒子。"这似乎是我身上大部分污点的来源。"我把它打开，把子弹取了出来。""看到这一半了吗？都是纯粹的污点。"
“But… but why? Is it some sort of chemical shell?” Glory asked. My PipBuck started ticking.
"但是......但是为什么呢？是某种化学外壳吗?"晨辉问道。我的皮伯克开始滴答作响。
“It’s an annihilation shell, Glory. Putting poison inside would be like putting a
"这是一个湮灭的躯壳，晨辉。在里面放毒药就像是
BB gun on a tank,” P-21 said archly.
坦克上的BB枪,"P-21俏皮地说。
I spoke quickly to head off the argument. “It also has this inside.” And I held up the little white crystal. “You know gems…” I floated the glowing crystal to her.
为了避免争论，我说得很快。"它的内部也是如此。"我举起小小的白色水晶。"你知道宝石......"我把发光的水晶递给她。
“Well…” she turned it over. “It’s hexagonal… it might be quartz. It looks like it’s a talisman, but there’s no glyph for the spell inside.” She held it up to P-21, but the blue stallion just frowned and shrugged. She tossed it back to me and I caught it with my magic.
"嗯......"她把它翻过来。"它是六边形的......可能是石英。它看起来像一个护身符，但是里面没有符号。"她把它递给P-21，但是那匹蓝色的种马只是皱了皱眉，耸了耸肩。她把它扔回给我，我用魔法抓住了它。
I sighed and lifted the silver bullet next to the glowing stone. “Well… whenever this thing blows, it soaks every inch of me in taint. Heck… you know how it surrounds me with that magic field? It probably holds in all that taint residue. Which means I exposed all of you when I fired it underground.”
我叹了口气，举起了发光的石头旁边的银弹。"好吧......每当这东西爆炸的时候，它就会把我全身浸泡在污秽之中。见鬼...你知道它是怎么把我包围在那个神奇的领域里的吗？它可能保存在所有的污染残留物中。也就是说我在地下发射的时候暴露了你们所有人。"
Scotch Tape waved her hoof. “Uh… okay. What the heck actually happened down there? Because every time you say ‘underground’… my mane stands on end.” And she was scared. I could see it. She might not remember going down there, but some part of her knew it was bad. P-21 frowned and looked away. I just sighed and smiled.
透明胶带挥舞着她的蹄子。"呃......好吧。下面究竟发生了什么？因为每次你说'地下'......我的头发就竖起来了。"她很害怕。我看得出来。她可能不记得去过那里，但她内心的某个部分知道那里很糟糕。P-21皱起眉头，看向别处。我只是叹了口气，笑了笑。
“Long story short… bad stuff happened. Really. Not fun. You didn’t miss much,” I said, but she hardly looked satisfied. Okay… something to deal with later. “Anyway… Trottenheimer made these bullets… why, I have NO idea. Apparently, it was right before the bombs fell. They cut one open down in the lab and sprayed everything with taint juice. So… not going to use it again. Bad bad bullets.” And I smiled as I tapped the stone to the side of the bullet.
"长话短说......坏事发生了。真的。一点都不好玩。你没错过什么,"我说，但她看起来并不满意。好吧待会儿有事要处理。"不管怎样......Trottenheimer制造了这些子弹......为什么，我不知道。显然，就在炸弹落下之前。他们在实验室里开了一个洞，把所有东西都喷上了污染液。所以...我不会再用它了。坏子弹。"我微笑着把石头轻轻地敲向子弹的一侧。
Then it exploded. Of course it exploded! I couldn’t take a dump without it… okay, I could. But still, this was ridiculous! At least it wasn’t a full-on blow-off-my-hooves explosion. Really, it was just a flash and pop that sent the silver bullet one way and the stone the other. Me, I was flat on my back in the middle listening to my PipBuck screech.
然后它爆炸了。当然会爆炸！没有它我连大便都做不到...好吧，我可以。但是，这仍然是荒谬的！至少这不是一个完全爆炸我的蹄子爆炸。事实上，只是一个闪光和砰的一声，把银子弹和石头分开了。我平躺在床上，听着我的皮伯克尖叫声。
Wait? I stared at the rad readout as I watched the needle visibly rise! Lacunae groaned, her eyes closed with an expression of bliss and a blush on her cheeks. I was getting almost twenty rads a second; the amount was dropping fast, but… holy shit! “RadAway, gimme!” I shouted as I dug through my saddlebags. “Everypony, drink some if we have enough.”
等等？当我看到指针明显上升的时候，我盯着那个显示器！空隙呻吟着，她闭上眼睛，脸上一阵喜悦的表情和红晕。我差不多每秒得到二十拉德;数量下降得很快，但是......我靠！"拉达维，给我!"我一边大声喊着，一边挖开我的鞍囊。"每个小马，如果我们有足够的饮料。"
One dose of RadAway later, I was stabilized, though Glory insisted I have one extra. It was hard to argue; that stuff was delicious! I picked up the stone and saw a tiny scuff where I’d tapped it. I retrieved the bullet and saw that the polished silvery metal had a tiny indentation.
一剂量的雷达威之后，我的情况稳定下来了，尽管晨辉坚持让我多吃一剂。这是很难争辩的，那东西太美味了！我捡起那块石头，看到我敲打它的地方有一块小小的磨损。我取出子弹，看到抛光的银色金属上有一个小小的凹痕。
All that from a tap.
这一切都是从一个水龙头开始的。
“How the hell does this bullet have a stone inside if they explode on contact?” I asked as I put the bullet back in its case. I didn’t want to set the damned thing off just by touching one to the other!
"如果子弹一接触就爆炸，它怎么会有一块石头在里面?"我一边问，一边把子弹放回箱子里。我可不想一碰就把这该死的东西引爆！
“Perhaps the taint solution within acts as a neutral buffer? If they cannot come in contact with each other, they cannot react,” offered Lacunae. It was the best suggestion I could think of. Still, though, I’d traded the mystery of the silver bullet for the mysteries of the metal, the stone, the taint, and the reason why the hell anypony would ever make a weapon like that! One that killed its wielder? I could see Folly on a tank or as some power armor gun, but it was a pistol! Had Trottenheimer been exceptionally poorly endowed or something?
"也许内部的污染解决方案可以起到中立的缓冲作用？如果它们不能互相接触，它们就不能反应。"。这是我能想到的最好的建议。尽管如此，我还是放弃了银弹的神秘性，换取了金属的神秘性，石头的神秘性，污点的神秘性，以及任何该死的小马为什么会制造出这样的武器的原因！一个杀死它的使用者？我可以看到一个坦克或作为一些动力装甲炮愚蠢，但它是一个手枪！特罗滕海默是天赋异禀还是怎么了？
‘Thank you, Hoofington,’ I thought as I finished washing myself. Then I paused. I looked at my legs. My hide had been white before, but now my legs were piss yellow and there were ugly purple bruises at the ends of my hooves. I saw a little growth poking out the side of my fetlock. Just a little teardrop-shaped thing an inch or so long and poking about a quarter of an inch out from my leg. Then I spotted another. And another.
"谢谢你，胡芬顿,"我一边洗完衣服，一边想。然后我停顿了一下。我看着自己的双腿。我以前的皮肤是白色的，但现在我的腿是尿黄色的，我的蹄子两端有难看的紫色瘀伤。我看见我的球茎侧面长出了一个小瘤子。只是一个一英寸长或者更长的泪滴状的小东西，从我的腿边伸出大约四分之一英寸。然后我发现了另一个。再来一杯。
Suddenly, I became aware of everypony staring at me. Only Glory was actually looking… but the rest had obviously just found other things to stare at while they paid attention to my tumors. I felt... ugly. Unclean… worse than just the mess I’d made of myself. I was suddenly aware of how slat-sided I’d become; I was still eating, but it seemed like all the food was going somewhere else. I felt like I was becoming something less than a pony and more like those poor creatures in the lab. I pulled my security barding into place and strapped it down over my braces, keeping my eyes low. Don’t look at me. Please don’t look at me…
突然，我意识到每个小马都在盯着我看。实际上只有晨辉在看......但其他人显然只是在关注我的肿瘤时，发现了其他东西在盯着看。我觉得自己...很丑。不干净...比我把自己弄得一团糟还要糟糕。我突然意识到自己变得有多么地片面;我还在吃东西，但似乎所有的食物都跑到别的地方去了。我感觉自己不再是一匹小马，而更像是实验室里那些可怜的生物。我把我的安全防护装置拉到合适的位置，并把它绑在我的背带上，保持我的眼睛低。别看我。请不要看着我..。
I decided to hold on to the hazmat barding; it might come in useful later. You never knew when you’d have to descend into a taint-saturated hole of nightmares! Sweet Celestia, somepony shoot me if I ever did that again.
我决定留着危险物品抵押，以后可能会有用。你永远不会知道什么时候你不得不陷入一个充满污染的噩梦的深渊！天哪，如果我再这么做，有人会杀了我。
Well, at least I’d gotten one mystery solved… and four more added. Frustrating
好吧，至少我已经解决了一个谜团......还加了四个。令人沮丧
as that might have been, though, it took my mind off… that. Goddesses, how I hated this place! I honestly preferred running from Deus. That was a threat I understood: a great big cyberpony who wanted to rob me, rape me, and kill me. He was something to run away from or destroy, things I could do. Now, though--
虽然那可能是，但是，它让我忘记了...那个。女神们，我多么讨厌这个地方！说实话，我更喜欢躲避上帝。这是一个我能理解的威胁:一匹巨大的赛伯马想要抢劫我，强奸我，然后杀了我。他是我可以逃避或者摧毁的东西，我可以做的事情。不过，现在——
I needed to keep going. I’d fall apart if I simply stopped and let everything catch up with me.
我需要继续前进。如果我只是停下来，让所有的事情都追上我，我会崩溃的。
* * *
* * *
It wasn’t that far from Horizon Labs to the Ironmare Naval Base; in prewar times, we probably could have made it in an hour. In prewar times, though, we wouldn’t have been trying to evade patrols of Steel Rangers, mobs of Reapers, and the occasional manticore flying overhead. We finally reached the base, fortunately without being spotted; the place was laid out more or less as Rampage had indicated, and the half-crumpled building that looked like a cake dropped on its side was impossible to miss. Now we just had to get as close as possible to Elder Carrots before being discovered so that Steel Rain couldn’t make us disappear. Then, hopefully, we’d be able to convince her to stop the war, and after that we’d be able to find something that would tell me where EC-1101 was supposed to go next.
从地平线实验室到铁马尔海军基地并不是很远;在战前，我们可能只需要一个小时就可以到达。然而，在战前时代，我们不会试图躲避钢铁骑兵的巡逻，收割者的暴徒，以及偶尔飞过头顶的蝎尾狮。我们终于到达了基地，幸运的是我们没有被发现;那个地方或多或少像斯皮格指出的那样被布置好了，那个看起来像掉在一边的蛋糕一样的半皱的建筑物是不可能被错过的。现在我们只需要尽可能接近老胡萝卜才能被发现，这样钢雨就不会让我们消失。然后，希望我们能够说服她停止战争，然后我们就能够找到一些东西，告诉我EC-1101下一步应该去哪里。
...But really, what was the point? I was dying, and even if I found out where to go next, even if I stopped this war… I’d still be dying. I felt it. Everything inside me just felt wrong. This didn’t feel like my body any more. This body felt old and tired and used up, an aching old bag of hurt. And no matter how fast I went, it would still be with me. This was one thing I couldn’t leave behind.
但说真的，这有什么意义呢？我快要死了，即使我知道下一步要去哪里，即使我阻止了这场战争......我还是会死。我感觉到了。我内心的一切都感觉不对劲。这感觉不再像我的身体了。这个身体感到又老又累，已经用完了，一袋老旧的疼痛的伤口。不管我跑得多快，它都会一直伴随着我。这是我不能忘记的一件事。
I was going to die. But… if I was, then I wanted my life to mean something. Something to make up for all the ponies I’d hurt and killed. It wouldn’t be enough. It would never be enough. Something to atone for the pain I’d caused all my friends. Something so that, when I died, I might have a chance at the everafter… or something better than what I thought I deserved. Finding EC-1101 and Horizons might not matter at all… but the alternative was to either give in and accept Sanguine’s tempting offer, or give up and wait to die.
我快要死了。但是...如果我是的话我希望我的人生有意义。一些东西来弥补我伤害和杀死的小马。这还不够。这永远都不够。为了弥补我给所有朋友带来的痛苦。这样，当我死的时候，我可能会有一个永生的机会......或者比我认为我应得的更好的机会。找到EC-1101和"地平线"可能根本不重要......但另一种选择是要么屈服并接受桑吉的诱惑，要么放弃等死。
All in all, death by a Ranger’s shell sounded better.
总而言之，被游侠的贝壳杀死听起来更好。
We were passing more atrocities. Rows of dead ponies pressed to a wall and then drawn through with lines of gunfire. Most of them didn’t look like Reapers.
我们经历了更多的暴行。一排排死去的小马被压在墙上，然后被枪声划过。他们中的大多数看起来都不像收割者。
They looked like dirty, desperate ponies caught in the middle of something that was chewing everypony up. The Rangers hadn’t even bothered to loot the bodies. I looked the other way while P-21 went about that job. My shotgun had gotten cooked, so I was left with Vigilance and Taurus’s rifle… and while caps were pretty much worthless to me, my friends would need them after I was gone.
他们看起来就像是一群肮脏绝望的小马驹，被卷入了什么东西之中，把每一匹小马都吃掉了。流浪者队甚至懒得去打劫尸体。当P-21去做那项工作时，我对此视而不见。我的猎枪已经煮熟了，所以我留下了警惕和金牛座的步枪...虽然帽子对我来说没什么价值，但我的朋友们在我离开后会需要它们。
We’d disguised Lacunae as well as we could; her black dress had been lost, but we’d found some canvas we could use to hide her wings. Hopefully nopony would wonder why she was half again taller than Rampage! The Goddess was clearly ignoring us, given that there wasn’t a single telepathic mutter about the indignity of her hiding her wings. I picked up telepathic mutters every now and then about ‘that little mare’ and what they were going to do when she arrived, though. Apparently, it was quite a debate between putting her in Unity, killing her, or using her. I tried to tune it out as best I could; I had enough problems myself.
我们尽可能地掩饰她的缺陷;她的黑色连衣裙不见了，但我们找到了一些帆布，可以用来遮挡她的翅膀。希望没有小马会奇怪为什么她比狂暴高一半！女神显然没有注意到我们，因为没有一个心灵感应者抱怨她隐藏翅膀的侮辱。不过，我时不时听到心灵感应的嘀咕声，比如"那匹小母马"，以及她到来时它们要做什么。显然，把她放在Unity，杀了她，还是利用她，这是一场激烈的争论。我尽量不去理会它;我自己的问题已经够多了。
And I wasn’t the only one, as we crept along the main street of Ironmare Town. I’d spotted the red bars around the corner… and a group of blue non-hostiles. I waved the others to stop and carefully poked my head around the ruined wall.
当我们沿着铁马雷镇的主要街道爬行时，我不是唯一的一个。我在拐角处发现了红色的栅栏......还有一群蓝色的非敌对分子。我挥手示意其他人停下来，然后小心翼翼地在废墟上探头探脑。
The blue bars were a small family making their way towards us from the east with a brahmin behind them. They looked desperate, their eyes alert. But they didn’t have a magic E.F.S. that could see through walls, and the red bars...
蓝色的栅栏是一个小家庭，从东方向我们走来，后面跟着一个婆罗门。他们看起来很绝望，他们的眼睛很警觉。但是他们没有能看穿墙壁的神奇的e.f.s.，还有那些红色的栅栏..。
“Well, lookie here, Crumpets. Reaper spies, if ever I saw some!” a mare said, her voice amplified by the speakers of her power armor and echoing down the side street she was trotting up.
"嗯，看看这里，松脆饼。死神间谍，如果我见过的话!"一匹母马说，她的声音被她的盔甲的喇叭放大了，回响在她小跑上来的小巷里。
“We’re not spies!” the stallion in the lead on the small band protested. “We’re just trying to get home. We live in Toll. Please, we’ve been stuck out here for days!” The others began to shy back… all except for a unicorn mare who seemed quite amused by all this.
"我们不是间谍!"领头的种马在小乐队抗议。"我们只是想回家。我们住在托尔。拜托，我们已经被困在这里好几天了!"其他人开始害羞回来...所有除了一个独角兽母马谁似乎相当愉快的所有这一切。
“They don’t look like spies, Shrapnel,” muttered the other Ranger mare in a doleful voice. “Are you certain…”
"他们看起来不像间谍，施拉普内尔,"另一匹游骑兵母马用悲伤的声音咕哝着。"你确定......"
“Look, that just means that they’re good spies!” Shrapnel laughed. “I know you’re used to dealing with things differently in Trottingham, Crumpets, but this is the Hoof! Shoot first. Shoot last. Let the Goddesses sort ‘em out!”
"看，那只是说明他们是优秀的间谍!"榴霰弹笑了。"我知道你习惯了在Trottingham用不同的方式处理事情，但这里是霍夫餐厅！先开枪。最后开枪。让女神们来挑选吧!"
Well, fuck me if I was going to let that happen. “Hey!” I yelled as I tottered
好吧，如果我让这种事发生的话，我他妈的就完了。"嘿!"我摇摇晃晃地大叫起来
around the corner. “Yooooohooo! Much better target here!”
在拐角处。"哇！这里的目标要好得多!"
“Blackjack, you idiot!” P-21 growled as he limped out after me.
"黑杰克，你这个白痴!"P-21一瘸一拐地跟在我后面咆哮着。
“Great. More nutjobs.” Shrapnel turned towards me. Grenade machinegun and missile launcher configuration. “Who are you supposed to be?” she said as she took a look at me. Three magic bullets to the head... I could drop her. I could end her life, even at this range.
"太好了。更多的疯子。"弹片转向了我。榴弹机枪和导弹发射器配置。"你以为你是谁?"她看着我说。头部中了三颗魔法子弹...我可以把她打下来。我可以结束她的生命，即使在这个范围内。
So why was I hesitating? After all the shit I’d gone through today, why didn’t I just end her there and then? She was scum threatening a family…
那我为什么犹豫不决呢？我今天经历了这么多，为什么我不当场结束她的生命？她是个威胁家庭的人渣。
You don’t kill ponies to save ponies. Security saves ponies. And I was still Security.
你不会为了拯救小马而杀小马。安全保障拯救小马。而我仍然是保安。
I suppose that also meant that I was a damned idiot too.
我想这也意味着我也是一个该死的白痴。
“I’m Security,” I said, thinking it should be obvious… but then… my barding was shot, I had braces taped to my limbs, and I was using a hunting rifle to threaten a mare with a missile launcher strapped to her side. “Really,” I added.
"我是保安,"我说，以为这应该很明显......但是......我被击中了，我的四肢绑着支架，我用猎枪威胁一匹母马，身边绑着导弹发射器。"真的,"我补充道。
“You’re either crazy or stupid…” Shrapnel muttered.
"你不是疯了就是傻了......"施拉普内尔喃喃自语道。
“Crazy. Definitely,” P-21 muttered.
"疯了。"当然,"P-21咕哝着。
“…but either way, you’re fucking dead!” she shouted, and I sighed. Sorry, Fluttershy. I wanted to do better. I tried...
"...但不管怎样，你都死定了!"她喊道，我叹了口气。对不起，小萤火虫。我想做得更好。我试过了。
Then Crumpets trotted in front of her companion. “You? You’re the Security I’ve heard so much about?” Unlike Shrapnel, Crumpets spoke with a strange, smooth accent. Her armor had slightly different decorations along its edges, and instead of heavy weapons she possessed a long rifle and what looked like a belt fed shotgun. “Jolly good to meet you, girl! Been following you ever since DJ mentioned you helping those Crusader children.”
然后松饼小跑在她的同伴面前。""你呢？你就是我久仰大名的保安?"与施拉普内尔不同，松脆饼说话的口音奇怪而流畅。她的盔甲边缘的装饰略有不同，她没有使用重型武器，而是使用了一支长步枪，看起来像是一把带弹头猎枪。"非常高兴见到你，姑娘！自从DJ提到你帮助那些十字军的孩子，我就一直在关注你。"
“Uh…” Shrapnel said exactly what I thought as Crumpets reached out and shook my hoof vigorously. “Hello! Crumpets, we’re supposed to be shooting her!” I looked past to where the family was creeping out of sight into the ruins as more Rangers approached. I’d call that a victory.
"呃......"施拉普内尔和我想的一模一样，当松脆饼伸出手，用力摇晃我的蹄子时。"你好！松脆饼，我们应该拍她的!"当更多的游骑兵队员靠近时，我看到他们一家人正慢慢从视线中消失在废墟中。我称之为胜利。
“Shooting her?” she whirled on Shrapnel. “Are you daft? She’s the heroine of Hoofington! She’s fought things I can hardly imagine! Why, half of us agreed to come to your aid because of her! And you want to shoot her?”
"向她开枪?"她旋转着弹片。"你疯了吗？她是Hoofington的女英雄！她与我无法想象的东西作斗争！为什么，因为她，我们中的一半人同意来帮助你！你想杀了她?"
“I’d rather you didn’t.” I bit my lip as I pointed at her belt fed shotgun… “Is that… that’s not an Ironpony? Is it?”
"我宁愿你不要。"我咬着嘴唇，指着她的皮带喂养的猎枪......"那是......那不是铁马吗？是吗?"
She turned and looked at it. “Oh, no. It’s an Archer 16, based off an early model of the IF-86… Useful against bloodwings, manticores, crawlers, and ‘goyles. I don’t think they made a non-power armor model, though. I think we have far more monsters about old Trottingham than you do here in the Hoof.” That certainly made sense; Hoofington was so deadly that even the monsters had a hard time.
她转过身来看着它。"哦，不。这是一个弓箭手16，基于一个早期模型的IF-86...有用的血翅膀，多核，爬行动物，和'戈伊尔。不过我不认为他们做了一个无动力装甲模型。我认为我们这里关于老特罗廷汉姆的怪物比你们这里的霍夫要多得多。"这当然是有道理的;胡芬顿是如此致命，以至于即使是怪物也很难过。
“And is that an IF-72 Longhorn?” Lacunae asked softly as she pointed at the rifle, prompting all of us to look at her. She shrank back. “I was simply curious…”
"那是一架IF-72长角战机吗?"她指着步枪轻声问道，促使我们所有人都看着她。她缩了回去。"我只是好奇......"
“Oh! Look, I’m pointing an IF-99 ‘I don’t give a fuck!’ at them. Now get with the program, Crumpets! Are you Trottingham pansies going to actually help us out or not? We have our orders and we need to take her out!” Shrapnel shouted.
"哦！看，我正用IF-99手枪指着你,'我他妈的不在乎!'看着他们。现在开始吧，松脆饼！你们这些娘娘腔到底帮不帮我们？我们有我们的命令，我们必须干掉她!"施拉普内尔喊道。
“You think I’m going to kill Security?” Crumpets replied. She turned, and her weapons clicked. “You cowardly, dishonorable, contemptible, callow slattern; I would sooner shoot a despicable fiend such as yourself than ever dare train my bullets on a hero who has bled so much for so many others!”
"你认为我会杀了保安?"松脆饼回答道。她转过身，她的武器发出咔嗒声。"你这个胆小的、不光彩的、可鄙的、乳臭未干的懒婆娘，我宁愿向你这样一个卑鄙的恶魔开枪，也不愿意把我的子弹射向一个为许多人流了那么多血的英雄!"
“I… you…” I suddenly imagined exactly what Shrapnel was seeing: a whole lot of red surrounding her. “We have orders!”
"我.....。.我突然想象出施拉普内尔看到了什么:她周围全是红色。"我们有命令!"
“Easily remedied!” bellowed a familiar voice as he loomed up behind her. Paladin Sugar Apple Bombs Stronghoof picked Shrapnel up, armor and all, and pointed her to the south. “I am immediately assigning you to accompany us to the battlefield to help defend our order! I am pleased that you will fulfill this commission to the best of your ability!” The other Rangers behind him all had the Trottingham style of armor.
"很容易补救!"一个熟悉的声音在她身后响起。圣骑士糖苹果炸弹Stronghoof拿起榴霰弹，装甲和所有，并指向她的南方。"我马上派你跟我们一起上战场，保卫我们的秩序！我很高兴你能尽你所能完成这个任务!"在他身后的其他游骑兵都穿着特罗廷汉式的盔甲。
“Paladin Bombs!” I said with a grin; in return, his blue visor gave me a dangerous gleam that made me shiver. “I mean, Paladin Stronghoof! You made it through that fight!”
"圣骑士炸弹!"我咧嘴笑着说，作为回报，他的蓝色遮阳帽发出一道危险的光芒，使我不寒而栗。"我的意思是，圣骑士斯朗霍夫！你熬过了那场战斗!"
He threw Shrapnel casually behind him as he dropped back to all fours. “Indubitably! The Stronghoof endurance has been passed down the family line for generations! And I am quite glad that it was I who found you.” He looked back over his shoulder at Shrapnel, steam blasting out of his nostrils. “As you can see, the star paladin has ordered you and your friends to be killed on sight.”
当他四肢着地倒地时，他漫不经心地把施拉普内尔抛在身后。"毫无疑问！他们的忍耐力已经代代相传！我很高兴是我找到了你。"他回头看着施拉普内尔，鼻孔里喷出蒸汽。"如你所见，圣骑士命令你和你的朋友一见面就被杀死。"
I grimaced. “Damn. I was hoping you could introduce me to your elder.” Why couldn’t it ever be easy?
我做了个鬼脸。"该死。我希望你能把我介绍给你的长辈。"为什么就不能简单点呢？
He sighed and shook his head. “Any who might aid you are being sent out to keep the line. I fear that, until you get to the elder, you won’t find any friends aboard the Celestia.”
他叹了口气，摇了摇头。"任何可能帮助你的人都会被派出去守住阵线。我担心，在你找到长老之前，你在塞莱斯蒂亚号上找不到朋友。"
That would be a problem. “How am I going to get to her, then, without Steel Rain juicing me?”
这将是一个问题。"那么，没有钢铁雨给我提供饮料，我怎么去找她呢?"
“I can think of only one way,” he said in a low voice. “You must surrender yourself to Chief Acolyte Napalm Strike. He oversees our studies of various munitions and will be at the base in the old dry docks. Give yourself up to him and request to see the elder. While he shares some of Steel Rain’s sentiments about technology, he is an honorable stallion.”
"我只能想到一个办法,"他低声说。"你必须向首席助手凝固汽油弹攻击投降。他负责监督我们对各种军需品的研究，并将在旧码头的基地工作。把你自己交给他，要求见长者。虽然他分享了钢铁雨对技术的一些看法，但他是一匹值得尊敬的种马。"
I didn’t like this at all. Giving up… and I doubted that my friends would let me hand myself over alone. “You’re sure?”
我一点也不喜欢这样。放弃了......我怀疑我的朋友们是否会让我一个人去自首。"你确定?"
He nodded once. “And you must do so soon… Even with the Trottingham reinforcements, we are being sorely pushed on all fronts. I fear that the elder may do something drastic to end the war.” He then looked at Lacunae. “Now, there is one last thing I must do…”
他点了点头。"你们必须尽快行动......即使有特罗廷汉的增援，我们在各条战线上都受到了严重的冲击。我担心老人会采取极端手段来结束战争。"然后他看了看空隙。"现在，我还有最后一件事必须做......"
I felt a nervous prickle; he didn’t seem like the type to kill her just for being an alicorn, but…
我感到一阵紧张的刺痛;他看起来不像那种仅仅因为她是个独角兽就杀了她的人，但是.....。
He approached Lacunae, my other friends moving aside. With a hiss, his helmet detached and he exposed his beautiful visage, his bright blue eyes seeming to cause sparkles to dance as he knelt and reached out to take her hoof between his. “Please… glorious lady… will you accept my humble apologies for the indignity that I performed upon you? To mar your beautiful throat with such an ugly device is a sin that weighs heavily upon my conscience! Never before have I seen such an expression of perfection, grace, dignity, or humility as yourself!”
他走向空白处，我的其他朋友靠到一边。随着一声嘶嘶，他的头盔脱落了，露出了他美丽的面容，他明亮的蓝眼睛似乎在跳舞，他跪下，伸出手把她的蹄子夹在他的中间。"求你了......光荣的女士......你愿意接受我为我对你的侮辱所做的谦卑的道歉吗？用如此丑陋的手段玷污你美丽的喉咙，是我良心上沉重的罪孽！我从来没有见过像你这样完美、优雅、尊严和谦卑的表现!"
Lacunae just blinked as she looked down into the shimmering blue eyes. “Oh my… what do I do? What do I do! The Goddess… I… we… This has never happened before!” she asked me desperately as she blushed furiously.
当她低头看着闪闪发光的蓝眼睛时，拉库奈眨了眨眼睛。"哦，我的......我该怎么办？我该怎么办！女神...我..。.我们......这以前从未发生过!"她脸涨得通红，拼命地问我。
She was asking me for relationship advice? Glory, however, smiled as she covered her lips with her hoof and gave a cough that sounded suspiciously like, “Say yes.”
她在向我寻求感情方面的建议？然而，晨辉笑了，她用蹄子捂住嘴唇，咳嗽了一声，听起来像是在说"好的"
Lacunae glanced at her, then back at the kneeling Stronghoof. “Ah. Um… yes?”
空隙瞥了她一眼，然后又回头看了看跪在地上的斯朗霍夫。"啊。嗯......怎么了?"
His eyes shimmered, and Lacunae looked quite delightfully stunned as he rose and thrust his power hoof into the air with a whistle from the pneumatic pistons. “Yes!” he roared, and I could almost have sworn that the sun peeked out behind him; how else could he be glowing like that? Then he took her in his hooves and said, “Thank you for your generous forgiveness, sweet lady. My treatment of you was unforgivable.”
他的眼睛闪闪发光，当他站起来，用气动活塞发出的哨声把他的力量蹄子抛向空中时，拉古奈看起来十分兴奋和震惊。"是的!"他吼道，我几乎可以发誓太阳在他身后隐约出现，不然他怎么会发出那样的光芒呢？然后他用蹄子抓住她说:"谢谢你慷慨的原谅，可爱的女士。我对你的态度是不可原谅的。"
Lacunae blushed from head to hoof. I wondered what the Goddess thought of it.
从头到蹄的间隙发红。我不知道女神是怎么想的。
“I noticed he’s not apologizing to me…” P-21 muttered.
"我注意到他没有向我道歉......"P-21咕哝着。
Suddenly, Stronghoof loomed over the blue stallion. “You? You attempted to glue a live grenade onto my armor through sneakiness and deception!” P-21 went white as a sheet as he cowered away from Stronghoof, looking as if he wanted to disappear into the ground. Then Stronghoof put his hoof on P-21’s shoulder. “It also took phenomenal bravery on your part to try and do so to help your friend. You easily could have paid for that with your life. Not many would think enough of an alicorn to risk their lives for her. For your gallantry, I apologize to you as well.”
突然，斯特朗幽夫出现在那匹蓝色的种马上。""你呢？你企图通过鬼鬼祟祟和欺骗把一枚活的手榴弹粘在我的盔甲上!"P-21面色苍白，畏缩着离开了Stronghoof，看起来好像要消失在地下。然后他把蹄子放在P-21的肩膀上。"帮助你的朋友也需要你非凡的勇气。你完全可以用你的生命来偿还这一切。没有多少人会想到一个孤儿会为她冒生命危险。对于你的殷勤，我也向你道歉。"
P-21’s mouth opened and then closed. Finally, he just nodded once. Really, what could you say after that?
P-21的嘴张了又闭。最后，他只是点了点头。真的，那之后你还能说什么呢？
Stronghoof straightened and put his helmet back in place. “Once, long ago, we served at the behest of Applejack, not to wage bloody war but to defend this land and its people. We’ve strayed from that noble origin and allowed ourselves to grow petty and covetous.” Shrapnel gave a sour snort, though, with a half dozen others watching raptly, I couldn’t see her trying something. But then Paladin Stronghoof turned to face her. “Yes, Shrapnel. There is more to being a Ranger than power armor and oaths to follow orders! Behind both there is an ideal, a
斯特朗霍夫伸直了腰，把头盔放回原处。"很久以前，我们在苹果白兰地的授意下服役，不是为了发动血腥的战争，而是为了保卫这片土地和它的人民。我们已经偏离了高贵的出身，任由自己变得小气和贪婪。"施拉普内尔发出一阵酸酸的鼻息声，而其他六个人全神贯注地看着，我看不出她在做什么。但是圣骑士斯特罗戈夫转过身来面对她。"是的，榴霰弹。作为一个游侠，除了强力护甲和服从命令的誓言之外，还有更多的东西！两者背后都有一个理想，一个
calling to not simply be stronger than our enemies but better as well! A standard for others to look up to. Can you say that you hold to such a standard, Shrapnel?”
呼唤我们不仅要比敌人更强大，而且要更强大！一个值得他人尊敬的标准。你能说你坚持这样的标准吗，施拉普内尔?"
The mare just stared back and shrank a little as every eye settled on her. She stammered a moment, then fell silent. The huge stallion nodded once and said gravely, “Without that idea, I fear that we are little better than a well-equipped gang. And it is past time for that point to be decided.” He turned back towards me and my friends. “Good Luck. I shall hope for your success.”
当所有的目光都注视着她的时候，母马只是回望着她，退缩了一点。她结结巴巴地说了一会儿，然后就沉默了。巨大的种马点点头，严肃地说:"没有这个想法，我担心我们比一个装备精良的团伙好不了多少。现在已经过了决定这一点的时候了。"他转向我和我的朋友们。"祝你好运。我希望你能成功。"
After that, the Rangers galloped south towards the sounds of gunfire. “Well, that was nice of him,” Glory said pleasantly before smiling at Lacunae. “And he fancies you. Imagine that!” She frowned as she looked at the furiously blushing alicorn. “Are you all right?”
在那之后，游骑兵队向南面的枪声奔去。"嗯，他人真好,"格洛里愉快地说，然后朝着拉库尼微笑。"他喜欢你。想象一下!"她皱起了眉头，看着满脸通红的玉米。"你没事吧?"
“It… won’t stop,” Lacunae muttered softly.
"它......停不下来,"拉库奈轻声咕哝着。
I smiled and shook my head. Steel Rangers hitting on alicorns. Monstrous screaming rooms singing hymns. What next? The filthy family emerged and slowly approached us. “Thanks, Security. I thought she was going to shoot us all.” The stallion rubbed his neck. “We’ve got to get out of here. Everything is nuts. Just nuts!”
我微笑着摇了摇头。钢铁骑兵追击橡树果。巨大的尖叫房间唱着赞美诗。接下来呢？这个肮脏的家庭出现了，慢慢地靠近我们。"谢谢，保安。我以为她会把我们都杀了。"那匹种马摩擦他的脖子。"我们必须离开这里。一切都是疯狂的。真是疯了!"
Rampage trotted up to him. “Anything to report?”
狂暴的人跑向他。"有什么要汇报的吗?"
“The Rangers hauled a bunch of giant bullets and stuff out of the water while we were collecting radigator eggs. Really huge bullets. They’re also moving lots of materiel on board from the shore. They’ve had power armor going in and out of the water for a while now,” the stallion reported. “Twenty more arrived from Trottingham this morning, and another thirty from all over. As you can see, they’re saving their own. Bastards.” He looked in the direction the paladin had gone. “And they’re sending their best to die.”
"游骑兵队在我们收集散热器鸟蛋的时候，从水里拖出了一大堆巨大的子弹和其他东西。非常巨大的子弹。他们还从岸上运走了大量的物资。它们的强力装甲在水中进进出出已经有一段时间了。今天早上又有二十个来自Trottingham还有三十个来自世界各地。如你所见，他们正在拯救他们自己。混蛋。"他朝圣骑士走去的方向看去。"他们把最好的东西送去送死。"
Rampage nodded. “Well, hopefully all this will be over soon. Bloody butcher’s bill is gonna be terrible. Doubt there will even be any Fillies or Burners after this fight is over. Heck, might not be any Reapers. We lost Deus and Gorgon. Splitter bought it this morning. Frenzy, too. Nopony’s seen Black Dog or Talon. That leaves Big Daddy, Brutus, me, and Psychoshy of the top ten.”
狂暴点点头。"好吧，希望这一切很快就会结束。该死的屠夫账单会很糟糕的。在这场比赛结束后，我怀疑是否还会有小雌马或者燃烧者。见鬼，可能不是什么收割者。我们失去了天王和戈耳贡。Splitter今天早上买的。还有狂热。没见过黑狗或魔爪。只剩下老爹、布鲁图斯、我和"神经病"排名前十了。"
“Something else, too,” the stallion said. “Ghouls have been more active than
"还有别的东西,"种马说。"食尸鬼比其他人更活跃
usual. Rocket Town’s under attack.”
老样子。火箭城遭到了攻击。"
“By who?” Rampage snorted. “Nopony can get within five miles of that place! Radiation’s so bad it gives me a sunburn.”
"被谁?"横冲直撞的人嗤之以鼻。"小马不能靠近那个地方五英里以内！辐射太强了，我都被晒伤了。"
“Hellhounds, I’ve heard. Whole damn pack attacking the missile base. Not the space center, though. Not yet. Red Eye is making a mess of the VC all over the east. Zebras sniping at Society ponies in the south. It’s crazy. Just crazy.” He shuddered. “We’ll get a report in, then get back to Toll. Hell, maybe move to Megamart or Riverside. Everywhere else is just insane right now.”
"地狱犬，我听说过。整个部队都在攻击导弹基地。不过不是太空中心。还没有。红眼把整个东部的VC搞得一团糟。在南方，斑马对学会的小马不屑一顾。太疯狂了。太疯狂了。"他打了个寒战。"我们会得到一份报告，然后回到托尔。也许搬到Megamart或者河滨。其它地方现在都疯了。"
“Or you could just leave the Hoof,” P-21 pointed out dryly.
"或者你可以把蹄子留下,"P-21干巴巴地指出。
“Nopony leaves the Hoof,” the dirty, haggard stallion said fatalistically before continuing east.
"NoponyleavestheHoof,"这匹肮脏、憔悴的种马在继续向东前听到了宿命般的声音。
Glory stared at them as they left before gaping at Rampage. “You mean they really were spies?!” I just smiled, shaking my head a little.
在他们离开之前，晨辉盯着他们，目瞪口呆地看着暴行。"你是说他们真的是间谍?!"我只是笑了笑，摇了摇头。
Rampage rolled her eyes. “Right now, anypony who isn’t in power armor is a spy against the Rangers. You’ve only really known Stronghoof; the fact is, most Rangers don’t give a shit about helping others. They think that they have a Goddesses-given right to take whatever tech they like. Every now and then, you might find a good Ranger. Your Stronghoofs or Steelhooveses--maybe it’s a ‘hoof’ thing--but inevitably, they get eaten up while the rest hide in their bunkers and survive.
狂暴转动着她的眼睛。"现在，任何不穿强力盔甲的小马都是游骑兵的间谍。你只知道斯特朗霍夫，事实上，大多数游骑兵根本不在乎帮助别人。他们认为他们拥有女神的权利，可以拿走他们喜欢的任何技术。有时候，你可能会找到一个好的游骑兵。你的幻影怪或者铁蹄怪----也许这是一个'蹄'的东西----但是不可避免的，他们被吃掉，而其余的躲在他们的掩体里生存下来。
“Big Daddy told me about it once. They’d found a water talisman in a gutted stable. The professor extracted it and got it working. It was amazing. Clean water, enough for a settlement. But, of course, they couldn’t decide what exactly to do with it. Keeper wanted to sell it. Awesome wanted to install it in his own little kingdom. Dawn wanted to give the water away. The professor wanted to study it. But Carrots insisted that it be returned to her. Not to do anything with it. Simply because it was old tech. Anything made by Stable-Tec was the Rangers’ by right. And when the others pressed the issue, she took it and stomped it to dust rather than let another use the M.W.T.’s tech. That is what the Rangers represent. Stronghoof might be what they could someday be, but he’s a minority… and he knows it.”
"大爸爸曾经告诉过我。他们在废弃的马厩里发现了一个水中护身符。教授把它提取出来，让它工作起来。太神奇了。干净的水，足够解决问题了。但是，当然，他们不能决定到底用它来做什么。管理员想卖掉它。想把它安装在他自己的小王国里。道恩想把水分给别人。教授想研究它。但是胡萝卜坚持要把它还给她。什么都不用做。仅仅因为它是老式的技术。任何由Stable-Tec制造的东西都是由Rangers制造的。当其他人提出这个问题的时候，她拿起它，把它踩成了灰尘，而不是让另一个人使用m.w.t.的技术。这就是游骑兵队所代表的。他们也许有一天会变得更强壮，但他是少数民族......他知道这一点。"
I sighed, looking to the north. I could only hope that there was something I could
我叹了口气，望着北方。我只能希望我能做点什么
say or offer. “I’m more worried about them loading the ship with ‘giant bullets’. Maybe they just want to stock up, but...” I’d only seen the Celestia from a distance, but I remembered the size of those guns.
说或提议。"我更担心的是他们在船上装载'巨型子弹'。也许他们只是想囤积，但是......"我只是在远处看到了天堂，但是我记得那些枪的大小。
* * *
* * *
We’d crept as close as I cared to creep. Every second that passed, I kept remembering two little things: ‘two mile accuracy’ and ‘120mm’. That was the size of my hoof. Peeking through my scope, I saw Rangers keeping lookout for us. All their firepower aside, I just imagined Steel Rain’s guns turning any one of us, or all of us, into a fine, lingering red mist. The Rangers’ perimeter looked pretty well laid out; I couldn’t see any way to get through it or over it, and I wasn’t even going to try to find a way under it.
我们蹑手蹑脚地走得很近，我想蹑手蹑脚地走。每过一秒钟，我就不断地回忆起两件小事:两英里精度和120毫米。那是我蹄子的大小。从我的望远镜里偷看，我看到游骑兵在为我们放哨。撇开他们所有的火力不谈，我只是想象着钢铁雨的枪把我们中的任何一个人，或者我们所有人，变成一团细小的，挥之不去的红雾。流浪者队的防线看起来布置得很好，我看不到任何可以穿过它或者越过它的方法，我甚至不打算尝试在它下面找到一条路。
But that was what an alicorn was for: cheating.
但这就是阿里克松的作用:欺骗。
We were a mile from the crumpled headquarters building, and Lacunae had a nice load of radiation boosting her. She peered through my rifle’s scope at the collapsed pile of rubble; there was at least one Ranger on the roof and another one at the base, but none in the middle.
我们离那座倒塌的总部大楼只有一英里远，拉库娜受到了很强的辐射。她透过我步枪的瞄准镜，凝视着倒塌的瓦砾堆;屋顶上至少有一个游侠，基地里也有一个，但中间没有一个。
There were constant sounds of gunfire behind us; the Reapers were pushing in from all sides. Power armor didn’t matter much against ten to one odds, and with every Ranger they killed, they moved closer to taking the base. Normally, that wouldn’t bother me… but now that I’d met Stronghoof and Crumpets, I knew that the good ones were the ones who would die first.
我们身后不断传来枪声，收割者从四面八方向我们推进。在十分之一的几率下，强力装甲并不重要，而且每杀死一个游侠，他们就离攻占基地更近了一步。通常情况下，这不会困扰我......但是现在我遇到了Stronghoof和Crumpets，我知道好的那些人会先死。
Lacunae found a spot she hoped she could get us in from, and we gathered together. In a purple flash, we disappeared and reappeared on a narrow shelf next to a door. Fortunately, it was strong enough to support us. My PipBuck started a slow clicking. One rad per second. No problem now, but if we lingered here for too long…
拉库尼找到了一个她希望能带我们进去的地方，于是我们聚在一起。在一道紫色的闪光中，我们消失了，重新出现在门边的一个狭窄的架子上。幸运的是，它足够强大来支持我们。我的PipBuck开始慢慢地点击。每秒一拉德。现在没问题，但如果我们在这里逗留太久..。
Overhead there was a dull rumble of thunder, and I narrowed my eye, glaring up at the rain. Of course… it had to start really pouring now…
头顶上传来隆隆的雷声，我眯起眼睛，怒视着雨。当然...现在开始下大雨了..。
The door was locked, but P-21 worked his own magic on the lock and we were in. Papers were strewn all across the floor, and the walls were covered in cracks and gaping rents. Many of the walls had an ominous lean to them, not quite enough to come crashing down but definitely enough to make me worry. Still, I
门是锁着的，但是P-21在锁上施展了他自己的魔法，我们进去了。文件散落在地板上，墙上满是裂缝和张开的裂缝。许多墙都有一种不祥的倾斜感，虽然还不至于倒塌，但足以让我担心。尽管如此，我
was encouraged by the garbage covering the floor; it meant that the Rangers didn’t come through this section.
被地板上的垃圾所鼓舞;这意味着游骑兵队没有通过这个区域。
“Okay, magical mystical PipBuck,” I said as I checked my navigation. “This is a great big blasted building and I don’t have all day. Where do I need to go?” There, on my navigation, was a tiny little chevron to the south. Well… at least I had a direction. Now I just had to figure out how to get to it.
"好吧，神秘的PipBuck,"我边说边检查我的导航。"这是一座该死的大楼，我没有一整天的时间。我需要去哪里?"在我的航行路线上，有一个小小的雪佛兰向南。好吧...至少我有个方向。现在我只需要想办法到达那里。
I don’t know what I’d expected in a Hoofington ‘command center’, but it wasn’t all these offices. We passed one after the next, most collapsed or well looted. Just because the Rangers didn’t come through here didn’t mean somepony else hadn’t come a century before them. P-21 found the obligatory random assortment of bottlecaps, bullets, clipboards, and coffee mugs as we picked through the offices. My sword picked off the radroaches that came scurrying out with suicidal glee.
我不知道我在胡芬顿的"指挥中心"期待什么，但它不是所有这些办公室。我们一个接一个地经过，大部分都倒塌了，或者被洗劫一空。仅仅因为游骑兵队没有经过这里，并不意味着其他的小马在他们之前一个世纪没有来过。P-21发现我们在办公室里随机挑选瓶子、子弹、写字板和咖啡杯。我的剑拔掉了那些带着自杀般的欢乐匆匆跑出来的流氓。
Looked like we’d have to go down… and that was never a good direction in Hoofington.
看起来我们得往下走...在Hoofington这不是个好方向。
There weren’t any intact stairs, but there was an elevator shaft. Lacunae hovered in the middle and lowered us all down to the next level. More offices, these a bit more intact. More radroaches, too. I let Rampage take care of these; the relish she tore into them with was still a bit disconcerting, but at least she was enjoying herself.
这里没有完整的楼梯，但有一个电梯井。空隙盘旋在中间，把我们都降低到下一个水平。更多的办公室，这些更加完整。还有更多的土拨鼠。我让狂暴来处理这些东西;她津津有味地享用着这些东西，这仍然有点让人不安，但至少她很享受。
“Blackjack, did I kill somepony?” Scotch’s question stopped all of us cold. I saw her off to the side, staring at a heap of bones.
"黑杰克，我是不是杀了什么小马?"苏格兰人的问题使我们大家都不寒而栗。我看见她站在一边，盯着一堆骨头。
“Why… why would you ask that?” Glory said in a voice loaded with forced sweetness.
"为什么......为什么你要问这个?"晨辉用一种强装甜蜜的声音说道。
“I just… I keep feeling like something really bad happened… and I don’t know what.” She looked up at us with her brilliant green eyes as she chewed on her lip. “I… I wonder if I did something bad or… or something.”
"我只是......我一直觉得发生了一些非常糟糕的事情......我不知道是什么。"她咬着嘴唇，用明亮的绿眼睛看着我们。"我.....。.我在想我是不是做了什么坏事或者......什么的。"
She was bringing this up now? I sighed. Of course she was. Because I made a mistake. And because it bothered her. And because I was the only one who would tell her...
她现在才提起这件事？我叹了口气。当然了。因为我犯了个错误。因为这让她很困扰。因为只有我会告诉她..。
P-21 just stared away. Lacunae simply looked sad, Rampage angry, and Glory
P-21只是望着别处。空隙只是看起来悲伤，暴怒，和晨辉
scared. I sighed and took a seat. “Come here, Scotch.” I wondered if this was how Mom felt. “The part of your life you can’t remember… we were in the tunnels. We came across a monster… really big and scary. And for a time afterwards, you tried to deal with it. But…” I glanced at P-21, but he simply focused on his bum leg. “You did kill somepony… trying to save my life. But it bothered you a bunch. You said you wished you didn’t remember any of it. So I asked Triage to modify your memories. Take them away…”
害怕。我叹了口气，坐了下来。"过来，苏格兰人。"我想知道妈妈是不是也是这么想的。"你不记得的那部分生活......我们在隧道里。我们遇到了一个怪物...真的很大很可怕。在那之后的一段时间里，你试着去处理它。但是......"我瞥了一眼P-21，但他只是把注意力集中在他那条废腿上。"你确实杀了一匹小马......为了救我的命。但这让你很困扰。你说你希望什么都不记得。所以我让分诊医生修改你的记忆。把他们带走......"
“You…” Scotch backed away from me. “You… you’ve messed with my mind?”
"你......"苏格兰人退开了。"你...你扰乱了我的思想?"
“I did,” I said softly. “It was my call… mine alone. The others were against it,” I lied, glancing at Glory’s shamed face. “I wanted to give you peace… keep you safe.”
"是的,"我轻声说。"这是我的决定......我一个人的。其他人都反对,"我撒了个谎，瞥了一眼晨辉羞愧的脸。"我想给你安宁......保护你的安全。"
“By messing with my mind?” she yelled, glaring at me. “Were you planning on taking away that battle just now too? Or how about destroying my home? How about killing everypony I ever knew!” she shouted in rage. “How about Mom dying! Why didn’t you take that memory away, Blackjack?!”
"通过扰乱我的思想?"她怒视着我大喊大叫。"你刚才是不是也打算夺走这场战斗？或者毁了我的家怎么样？杀掉我认识的每一匹小马怎么样!"她愤怒地喊道。"妈妈死了怎么办！你为什么不把那段记忆带走呢，黑杰克?"
Well... this was going swimmingly... “I only wanted to help you,” I said softly, feeling tired.
嗯......事情进展得很顺利......"我只是想帮你,"我轻声说，感觉很累。
“Help me? You’ve been fucking with my mind! I hate you! You came back to 99 and destroyed my entire life! I hate you!” she screamed at me and then turned, galloping away and sobbing.
"帮帮我？你一直在扰乱我的思想！我恨你！你回到99年毁了我的一生！我恨你!"她冲着我尖叫，然后转过身，飞奔而去，哭泣着。
“Scotch!” Glory shouted. I glanced at P-21, but he just sat there like an angry blue lump.
"威士忌!"晨辉呼喊着。我瞥了一眼P-21，但他只是坐在那里，像一个愤怒的蓝色肿块。
“I’ll go help her,” Rampage said as she rose to her hooves. Maybe it was the phrase, maybe it was the tone... but as I stared at the striped pony starting to walk after Scotch, my mane prickled.
"我去帮她,"朗格站起身来说。也许是因为这句话，也许是因为这个调子......但是当我盯着这匹条纹小马在苏格兰威士忌后开始走路的时候，我的鬃毛刺了一下。
“No,” I said as I stood too. “Glory, go bring her back. Rampage, you’re staying with us.”
"不,"我也站着说。"晨辉，去把她带回来。狂暴，你和我们呆在一起。"
The armored pony tilted her head towards me and smiled gently. So very kindly. “Only I can give her the help she truly needs. I’ll take the hurting away, forever.” And as I watched, that soft, kindly smile stretched wider and wider as her whole body slowly tensed like a wound spring.
那匹披着盔甲的小马把头斜向我，温柔地微笑着。非常友好。"只有我能给她真正需要的帮助。我会把伤痛带走，永远。"就在我看着她的时候，她那温柔亲切的微笑变得越来越宽广，她的整个身体像一个弹簧一样慢慢地绷紧。
“Glory, go,” I said as I lifted the sword and Vigilance and looked into a murderess’ eyes. Suddenly, Rampage turned and charged. Two hundred pounds of steel-encased fury smashed into me like a wrecking ball and knocked me off my hooves. Lacunae lifted Rampage into the air, but she twisted and thrashed, slamming her hooves against the ceiling and powering down at Lacunae. Hoofclaws dug deep into the alicorn’s purple side, tearing six bloody furrows in her flank.
"晨辉，加油,"我说，我举起剑和警惕，看着一个女杀手的眼睛。突然，狂暴转身冲了过来。两百磅重的钢铁包裹的愤怒像破坏球一样砸向我，把我的蹄子撞掉了。拉库尼把拉库尼举到空中，但是她扭动着，猛击着，用蹄子狠狠地撞击着天花板，在拉库尼镇静下来。蹄爪深深地挖入角斗士紫色的身体一侧，在她的侧腹撕裂出六道血淋淋的犁沟。
I rammed Rampage with as much power as my braced legs could muster. My magic pressed the pistol under her chin and fired, but she jerked away at the last moment; all I did was blow off half her muzzle. Glowing arrows flashed from Lacunae, slamming through Rampage’s thick plating and into her sides.
我尽可能用支撑着的双腿去撞击狂暴。我的魔法把手枪压在她的下巴下面开了一枪，但是她在最后一刻突然转身离开了，我所做的只是把她的枪口打掉了一半。发光的箭从Lacunae射出，穿过厚厚的钢板，射进了她的身体两侧。
The holes closed before my eyes as her grin twisted back into place. She pounced atop me, her hoofclaws tangling with my leg braces as I was knocked onto my back. I stamped Vigilance to her belly and fired again… and again… “Let me give you peace, too. You hurt so damn much… but I’ll help you! I’ll help you like you helped Scotch!” she said as she twisted her hoofclaws back and forth. Working the tips into my flesh. My focus broke, and I dropped my weapons as I felt her rear claws start to dig into my rear legs and belly.
当她的笑容扭曲回到原来的位置时，眼前的洞就闭上了。她扑向我，她的蹄爪与我的腿支架缠绕在一起，我被撞倒在我的背上。我在她肚子上跺了跺警惕牌，然后一遍又一遍地开枪......"让我也给你和平吧。你伤得太重了......但我会帮你的！我会像你帮助苏格兰人那样帮助你!"她一边说，一边前后扭动着她的蹄爪。把尖端插进我的肉里。我的注意力分散了，我放下了我的武器，我感觉到她的后爪开始挖进我的后腿和腹部。
Then my sword went through her eye, and I looked up to see the handle gripped by P-21. He shoved it deep and twisted hard, the tip digging into her brain and making her spasm and jerk. Slowly, she turned to stare up at him. “You’re hurting too…” she slurred, then slowly pushed herself towards him, more and more of the blade slicing through her head.
然后我的剑刺穿了她的眼睛，我抬起头来，看到P-21紧紧地抓着把手。他把它推得很深，使劲地扭着，尖头扎进她的脑子里，使她痉挛和抽搐。慢慢地，她转过身来盯着他。"你也受伤了......"她含糊地说，然后慢慢地把自己推向他，越来越多的刀片划过她的头。
Wasn’t this whole thing supposed to be some kind of stealth mission? Hadn’t that been part of the plan?! I’m pretty sure that getting hated by a filly and attacked by a friend didn’t belong in a stealth mission!
这整件事不是应该是某种秘密行动吗？这难道不是计划的一部分吗！我敢肯定，被一匹小母马讨厌，被一个朋友攻击，并不属于秘密行动！
Then he twisted the blade hard and she screamed, blood spurting over his face. Every time she resumed moving, he twisted it back and ripped a new hole. Again and again he wrenched the blade inside her skull. Finally, she went limp atop me. There was a pause, silent but for P-21’s panting. Then, “Can you please… get this… fucking… thing out of my eye?” Rampage slurred thickly. He looked at me, and I nodded. If she wasn’t talking about hurting and peace, it was probably okay.
然后他用力地扭动刀刃，她尖叫起来，鲜血从他的脸上喷涌而出。每次她重新开始动作，他就把它扭回去，撕开一个新的洞。他一次又一次地把刀刃扭进她的头骨里。最后，她一瘸一拐地趴在我身上。一阵沉默，除了P-21的喘息声。然后,"你能不能......把这该死的......东西从我眼睛里拿开?"横冲直撞的声音含糊不清。他看着我，我点了点头。如果她说的不是伤害和平静，那可能也没关系。
He pulled it free, and she shuddered as the hole he’d augured healed. She kept shaking slightly as she pulled herself off me, sniffing. “I’m not crying, okay? I just had a sword in my eye. It hurts.” She looked at Lacunae and me and grit her teeth. “Fuck… not again. Is Scotch okay?”
他把它拔了出来，她浑身颤抖着，因为他预言的洞已经愈合。她不停地微微颤抖，抽着鼻子把自己从我身边拉开。"我没哭，好吗？我的眼睛刚刚被剑刺中了。很痛。"她看着我和拉库尼，咬紧牙关。"操......又来了。苏格兰威士忌可以吗?"
“Scotch Tape is okay,” I replied. “Pissed with me… but she didn’t see that.” Lacunae was using her cheating alicorn powers to slowly regenerate while she pointed her horn to the cuts in my limbs to heal them.
"透明胶带可以,"我回答。"生我的气...但她没看出来"Lacunae正在用她那骗子的魔力慢慢再生，同时她用她的角指着我四肢上的伤口来治愈它们。
P-21 stared at me for several long seconds like there was something he was fighting with. Then he turned his head and spat the weapon away. His eyes were hard and pitiless as he stared at Rampage. Almost frantically, he started to wipe the blood away, his eyes digging in as he glared at the mare and ground his teeth.
P-21盯着我看了好几秒钟，好像有什么东西在跟他搏斗。然后他转过头，把武器吐了出来。他的眼睛冷酷无情地盯着暴怒。他几乎疯狂地开始擦去血迹，眼睛深深地盯着母马，咬紧牙关。
“I should go. I shouldn’t have come back. I was… I was just so happy to be with you again…” she shook her head. “I felt like… like I was somepony more than a killer.”
"我该走了。我不该回来的。我......我只是很高兴能再次和你在一起......"她摇了摇头。"我觉得自己不仅仅是一个杀手，更像是一匹小马。"
“Well, that’s what you are,” P-21 snapped crossly as he rose to his hooves. “If you were in 99, you would have been best friends with Daisy. I bet you would have hit the breeding queue every second you could.”
"好吧，你就是这样的人。"P-21站起来，怒气冲冲地说。"如果你在99岁，你会和黛西成为最好的朋友。我敢打赌，你会尽可能每秒都赶上繁殖队列。"
“P-21!” I yelled, making him round on me. Not him too! What was with everypony? All my friends were going crazy!
"P-21!"我大声喊道，把他逼得转过身来。不会也是他吧！每匹小马都是怎么回事？我所有的朋友都疯了！
His eyes narrowed as he hissed, “And you! Why don’t you just accept facts? It’s over, Blackjack. You’re dying. She’s crazy. Scotch is helpless. Glory is hopeless. The sanest damn one of us is the damned alicorn! Rampage wants to go? She should go! We should all go! Do you really think we’re going to hang on together once you die? Carry on your great quest? It’s time to face the fact that we’re done. You’re going to die and… and…” He clenched his head and squeezed his eyes closed tightly.
他眯起眼睛，嘶嘶地说:"还有你！你为什么不接受事实呢？结束了，黑杰克。你快死了。她疯了。苏格兰人无能为力。光荣是没有希望的。我们中最理智的就是该死的独角兽！狂暴想走？她应该去！我们都应该去！你真的认为你死后我们还会在一起吗？继续你伟大的探索？是时候面对现实了，我们已经结束了。你会死的，然后......然后......"他紧握着头，紧紧地闭上眼睛。
I stretched out a hoof toward him as tears crept out from between his eyelids. “It’s okay, P-21.”
我向他伸出一只蹄子，眼泪从他的眼皮间流了出来。"没关系，P-21。"
“No, it’s not okay, Blackjack!” he said as he shook his head. “We just keep fighting and we just keep losing. Rampage can’t control herself any more than when she killed Thorn. You can’t keep Scotch safe and happy. Glory just watches you falling apart more and more every hour. And nopony is willing to
"不，一点都不好，黑杰克!"他摇摇头说。"我们一直在战斗，一直在失败。狂暴无法控制自己，就像当她杀死索恩时一样。你无法保证苏格兰威士忌的安全和快乐。晨辉只是看着你越来越崩溃。而且没有人愿意这么做
admit it that this… this… stupid little dysfunctional band of emotional retards is doomed! I’m sick of it!” he said as he hissed his breath through his teeth and looked at me miserably. “Why can’t we just go home? It’s better there. I didn’t have to see… everything in the Goddesses-damned Wasteland hurting you.”
承认吧，这个...这个...愚蠢的不正常的情感弱智小团体，注定要失败！我受够了!"他边说边用牙齿嘶嘶地喘着气，痛苦地看着我。"为什么我们不能回家呢？那里更好。我没有必要看到...女神该死的荒原上的一切都在伤害你。"
I carefully put my hoof on his shoulder. He recoiled a bit, then slowly turned and curled against it. “My whole life…” I said, “I was nothing. A failure of a daughter and a joke of a security mare. I was clueless… unwilling to admit just how fucked up my home was. Then I came out here with you and… suddenly I’m doing something with some meaning. Saving ponies… fighting monsters… even trying to unravel this stupid quest thing.” I hugged him lightly. “I know I’m going to die. We all do, eventually. So before I go, I want to do something that matters. I want to give this damned city what it deserves and help as many ponies as I can.”
我小心翼翼地把我的蹄子放在他的肩上。他往后缩了一下，然后慢慢地转过身来，蜷缩在上面。"我的一生......"我说,"我什么都不是。一个女儿的失败和一个保安母马的笑话。我毫无头绪......不愿承认我的家有多糟糕。然后我和你一起来到这里，突然我做了一些有意义的事情。拯救小马...对抗怪物...甚至试图解开这个愚蠢的任务。"我轻轻地拥抱了他。"我知道我要死了。我们最终都会这么做。所以在我走之前，我想做一些有意义的事情。我想给这座该死的城市应得的东西，尽我所能帮助更多的小马。"
He sniffed as he looked at me, and I touched his cheek softly. “A person a lot better than I am once told me how to make up for getting Scoodle killed. He said that you do everything you can to make up for it. You devote yourself to spending every second trying to do better. And you hope that, when it’s all over, the good you do will even start to come close to paying for your mistakes. And I’ve made mistakes, P-21, and they’ve hurt ponies who never deserved it. Scoodle. Those foals. Clover. Those zebras. 99. I know that I can never fully pay the price for those mistakes. Not ever. And if I hurt… well, it’s just a little tipping of the scales to make things square. That’s why I have to do this. Because if I give up and go off to die comfortably without trying to do better, then their deaths really were pointless murder.”
他看着我的时候抽了抽鼻子，我轻轻地摸了摸他的脸颊。"一个比我强很多的人曾经告诉我，如何弥补让史酷德被杀的过错。他说你会尽一切努力来弥补。你把自己的每一分每一秒都奉献给了努力做得更好。你希望，当一切都结束时，你所做的好事甚至会开始接近为你的错误付出代价。我也犯过错误，P-21，他们伤害了不该受到伤害的小马。史酷德。那些小马驹。三叶草。那些斑马。99.我知道我永远不会为这些错误付出代价。永远不会。如果我受伤了...好吧，这只是一个小倾斜的天平，使事情平方。这就是为什么我必须这么做。因为如果我放弃了，去舒舒服服地死去，而不去努力做得更好，那么他们的死就真的是毫无意义的谋杀。"
“It’s so… stupid,” he sniffed, shaking his head.
"这太......愚蠢了,"他闻了闻，摇了摇头。
“Hey. It’s my plan. Of course it’s stupid. I’m not a smart pony, remember?” So much for my plans. I needed a few backup plans. Preferably made by somepony other than me.
"嘿。这是我的计划。这当然很愚蠢。我不是一匹聪明的小马，记得吗?"我的计划到此为止。我需要一些备用计划。最好是别人做的而不是我做的。
He gave the ghost of a smile. “Yeah. But you’re a good one.” He rubbed his eyes and sniffed. “Sorry, Rampage.”
他鬼使神差地笑了一下。"是的。但你是个好人。"他揉揉眼睛，嗅了嗅。"对不起，狂暴。"
She looked at him evenly and shrugged. “Eh. Don’t worry about it. Like I said: doing all this stuff with you guys makes me feel like I’m doing something important for the first time in my life.” She pointed a hoof at me and added with
她平静地看着他，耸了耸肩。"嗯。别担心。就像我说的:和你们一起做这些事情让我觉得我人生中第一次做了一些重要的事情。"她用蹄子指着我，又加了一句
a sharp grin, “Even if you get in the weirdest frigging situations, Blackjack! Seriously… what is it with you and rooms that want to eat you?” And with me constantly having to shoot her in the head, I wanted to add, but with her blood still smeared on my sword, I thought better of it.
他咧嘴一笑,"即使你陷入了最诡异的境地，Blackjack！说真的，你和那些想吃掉你的房间到底是怎么回事?"我想补充一句，因为我经常不得不一枪打在她的头上，但是她的血还沾在我的剑上，所以我改变了主意。
* * *
* * *
Once we were regrouped and restored, we continued downwards. Scotch Tape wasn’t speaking to me; I couldn’t blame her for that. My attempt to try and protect her had gone down in flames. Glory kept giving me the ‘she’ll get over it’ look, but she didn’t know just how long a mare in 99 could hold a grudge. I mean, I was still ticked off at Pastels for stealing my crayon. Well… okay, not really, but we had gotten really good at not letting old slights be forgotten. Still, I had to think of some way to make it up to Scotch. Some way that wasn’t going to blow up in my face in a few more days.
一旦我们重新集结和恢复，我们继续向下。透明胶带不和我说话，我不能因此责怪她。我试图保护她的努力失败了。晨辉一直用'她会克服的'的表情看着我，但是她不知道一头99岁的母马会怀恨多久。我的意思是，我还在为偷了我的蜡笔而生Pastels的气。嗯...好吧，不是真的，但我们真的很擅长不让旧的轻蔑被遗忘。尽管如此，我还是得想办法补偿苏格兰威士忌。一些不会在几天之内在我面前爆炸的方法。
The deeper we went into the command center, the more apprehensive I became. We’d passed an armory looted within an inch of its life. The only things that hadn’t been cleaned out were two large security storage boxes set in the walls, their surfaces scored from where somepony had tried to cut them out of the wall entirely. There was a stock of IF specialty ammunition; I was particularly interested in the 12mm rounds with bright blue tips and loaded several of Vigilance’s magazines with the spark rounds. It might have been a pistol, but I’d do my best to give whatever Rangers I came across a break. I also loaded a magazine with explosive rounds and another with armor piecing, though, just in case.
我们越深入指挥中心，我就越担心。我们经过一个被掠夺一寸生命的军械库。唯一没有被清理干净的东西是两个安全储藏箱，它们的表面被一些小马试图把它们从墙上完全挖出来。有一个IF特种弹药的股票;我特别感兴趣的12毫米子弹与亮蓝色的提示和装载了几个警戒的弹匣与火花发射轮。这可能是一把手枪，但是我会尽我所能给流浪者队一个突破。为了以防万一，我还在一个弹匣里装上了爆炸性子弹，在另一个弹匣里装上了装甲部件。
Now we were underground, and still the PipBuck navigation tag was below us. How it knew what it was after, I couldn’t imagine, and, honestly, my legs ached so much that I didn’t care. My chest hurt and my lungs burned. When nopony else was looking, I pulled aside my patch and let Glory check my eye socket. She looked grim, replaced the patch, and then kissed my forehead and told me not to worry about it. I tried my best.
现在我们在地下，但PipBuck的导航标签还在我们下面。它怎么知道它在找什么，我无法想象，而且，说实话，我的腿疼得厉害，我也不在乎。我的胸口疼痛，我的肺也烧伤了。当没有其他人在看的时候，我把眼罩拉到一边，让晨辉检查我的眼窝。她看起来很严肃，补上了补丁，然后吻了吻我的额头，告诉我不用担心。我尽力了。
Now we were in the more intact areas of the base, and I recognized where we were: this section was almost an exact copy of Miramare. It was a little bigger and had some more extensive damage, but I knew that below us and ahead, was the base operations center. Like Miramare, only the close balefire blast and radiation had killed the base occupants. We could have split up to do things more
现在我们到了基地更完整的地方，我认出了我们所在的地方:这个区域几乎完全是米拉马雷的翻版。它有一点大，有一些更广泛的破坏，但我知道，在我们的下面和前面，是基地行动中心。和米拉马雷一样，只是近距离的爆炸和辐射杀死了基地的居民。我们本可以分开做更多的事情
efficiently, but after the lab I was done with splitting us up while we were underground. We reached the operations room and found it dead cold. The door’s motors weren’t locked or anything; there just wasn’t any power. Glory and Scotch held an impromptu conference, and we set out to find the circuit breaker and power supply.
但是在实验室之后我们在地下的时候我把我们分开了。我们到了指挥室，发现里面冷得要命。门上的马达没有锁，也没有任何东西，只是没有任何动力。晨辉和苏格兰人举行了一次临时会议，我们出发去找断路器和电源。
Ugh… why couldn’t this be any easier?
呃......为什么就不能简单点呢？
Since it was more or less on the way, we stopped by security. I picked up a slightly dusty assault rifle; an IF-64 Bloomberg, if I recalled. Still, I finally had something to do with all those light rifle rounds! There were even extended magazines! When we moved on to the medical room, I took an opportunity to oil and service the weapon as well as I could. I caught Scotch’s eye for a second before she looked away, lips pressed together, determined to be pissed at me.
因为差不多是在路上，我们在安检处停了下来。我拿起一把有点灰尘的突击步枪，一把IF-64布隆伯格(Bloomberg)，如果我记得的话。尽管如此，我终于和那些轻步枪子弹有点关系了！甚至还有加长版的杂志！当我们进入医务室的时候，我抓住机会给武器上了油，并且尽我所能地维护它。我吸引了苏格兰人的目光一会儿，她转过脸去，嘴唇紧闭着，决定要对我发火。
After picking out every last drug, we made our way to the maintenance bay and then finally to the power supply. While P-21 filled his saddlebags with goodies, Glory and Scotch Tape pored over several gigantic switches set in a wall next to three massive cables coming out of the ground. I peeked down through the grate on the shaft they descended into, but, even with my mutated vision, I couldn’t see the bottom. Scotch finally took out a rubberized cloth, stuck it in her mouth, and grabbed one switch. It clicked into place with a loud electric buzz. Then the second switch and with it another buzz. Then a third switch and noise. The lights flickered to life overhead.
在挑选出每一种药物之后，我们前往维护舱，最后到达电力供应处。当P-21在他的鞍囊里装满好东西的时候，Glory和ScotchTape在一堵墙上的几个巨大的开关上钻来钻去，旁边是从地下冒出来的三根粗大的电缆。我从通风井的栅栏往下看，但是，即使我的视力发生了变化，我还是看不到底部。最后，苏格兰人拿出一块橡胶布，塞进嘴里，抓住一个开关。它发出巨大的电子嗡嗡声。然后是第二个开关，伴随着另一个嗡嗡声。然后是第三个开关和噪音。头顶上的灯光闪烁着生命的光芒。
Hoofington Rises.
胡芬顿上升。
It was painted on the wall in bright red letters. The author lay in a pile of bones beside the message, paint can between its forehooves. I couldn’t tell if it was two or two hundred years old. It still made my mane crawl. “Come on. I’m getting all kinds of weird vibes,” I said as we walked back to the operations door. “Just in and then out. I want to get out of here.”
它被用鲜红的字体画在墙上。作者在一堆骨头旁边留下了信息，画可以在其前蹄之间。我不知道它是两百年还是两百年前的。它仍然让我的鬃毛爬行。"来吧。我感觉到了各种各样奇怪的气氛,"我们回到操作室门口时，我说。"只是进进出出。我想离开这里。"
“Me too. This place is creepy,” Scotch said, then glanced at me as if questioning if this was due to the overwhelming creeposity of the place or my brain manipulation.
"我也是。这个地方真令人毛骨悚然,"苏格兰人说，然后瞥了我一眼，好像在质问，这是因为这个地方充满了令人毛骨悚然的东西，还是因为我的大脑被操纵了。
We trotted back to the door to the operations center, now powered but locked, and P-21 started banging away at the computer. Meanwhile, our PipBucks were ticking from the slow, steady radiation. Scotch Tape pulled out a spanner and in
我们小跑着回到了指挥中心的大门，虽然现在已经启动，但是已经锁定，P-21开始敲击着电脑。与此同时，我们的PipBucks正因为缓慢而稳定的辐射而滴答作响。透明胶带拉出一个扳手进去
less than a minute had a panel next to the door out. “Why couldn’t Daddy have been a unicorn?” she muttered before sticking her hoof in the space and fishing around. I looked at the flustered P-21 as he tried for the password even faster, in a de facto race with his daughter.
不到一分钟，门边就有一块嵌板。"为什么爸爸不是独角兽呢?"她喃喃自语，然后把蹄子伸进空地里，四处摸索。我看着手忙脚乱的P-21，他试图更快地得到密码，这实际上是在和他的女儿比赛。
There was a spark of wires coincident with the beep of the computer, and both declared simultaneously ‘Done!’ before glaring at one another. I smiled, closing my eye and shaking my head as I stepped to the door.
电线的火花与计算机的哔哔声同时出现，两者同时宣布"搞定!"然后互相怒目而视。我微笑着，闭上眼睛，走向门口时摇了摇头。
I opened it just in time to see a crackling green fireball being flung right at us!
我打开它，正好看到一个噼啪作响的绿色火球正向我们飞来！
Fortunately Lacunae had been paying attention, and she teleported in front of us to block it; the blast of magical fire still washed us all in crackling radiation, but only the alicorn bore the brunt of it. I should have known this’d been going too smoothly! Red bars were lightning up right and left, and a choir of undead ponies howled in mindless hunger. Behind them reared a unicorn glowing with a harsh green glare and firing off balls of radioactive fire at us. The rest of the ghouls, now racing towards us on broken, jagged hooves, still had combat armor on.
幸运的是，Lacunae一直在注意，她传送到我们面前阻止它;魔法火焰的爆炸仍然在噼啪作响的辐射中冲刷着我们所有人，但只有橡子首当其冲。我早该知道事情进展得太顺利了！红色的栅栏左右闪电，不死的小马唱诗班在无意识的饥饿中嚎叫。他们后面站着一只独角兽，闪着刺眼的绿光，向我们发射着放射性的火球。其余的食尸鬼，现在跑向我们断裂，参差不齐的蹄子，仍然有战斗装甲。
“Nothing is good under Hoofington! Nothing!” I shouted as I stepped beside Lacunae, Glory taking position on the other side of the purple alicorn. My rads were climbing rapidly, so I shouted for everypony to take a Rad-X and chewed down on a tablet myself. Time to put the assault rifle to the test. I blasted automatic bursts at the first of the undead ponies that charged, the alternating armor piercing and explosive rounds chewing great gooey rents in them. Glory laid down a strafing barrage of green beams; it looked like she’d gotten the conversion finished. Lacunae shielded us from the rain of fire, her own magic bolstered by the radiation washing over her. Too bad the rest of my friends weren’t so well fortified.
"胡芬顿统治下没有什么是好的！什么都没有!"我边走边喊道:晨辉在紫玉簪的另一边占据了位置。我的拉德爬得很快，所以我大声叫每匹小马吃一片拉德-x，然后自己嚼一片药片。是时候对突击步枪进行测试了。我向第一批冲锋的不死矮种马发射自动爆破炮弹，交替发射穿甲弹和爆破弹，它们身上粘粘的气味很大。晨辉用绿色射束扫射，看起来她已经完成了转化。空隙保护我们免受火雨的侵袭，她自己的魔法也被冲刷在身上的辐射所支撑。可惜我的其他朋友没有这么坚强。
There were too many coming too fast. I didn’t have time to look as I heard the clattering of hoofclaws in the hall behind me. Rampage leapt onto Lacunae’s back and sprang over the alicorn as a ball of flame burst against her shield. Trailing burning tatters, the unimpeded pony smashed into one of the armored ghouls with such force that his body nearly exploded in a pulpy mess. Rolling smoothly, she laughed gleefully as she latched her hoofclaws into one charging Glory and swung him away.
有太多太快了。我没有时间去看，因为我听到我身后大厅里蹄爪的咔嗒声。当一个火球冲向她的盾牌时，狂暴跳到了拉库尼的背上，跳过了这个魔角。这匹不受阻碍的小马尾随着燃烧的碎布，以极大的力量撞上了其中一只装甲食尸鬼，他的身体几乎在一片混乱中爆炸。她顺利地翻滚着，兴高采烈地笑着，把她的蹄爪扣进一只猛攻的晨辉之中，把他甩开了。
“Invaders!” roared the undead unicorn. “Die, you striped bastards! You won’t take us without a fight!” The ghoul’s voice barely reached me over the sounds of battle.
"入侵者!"不死的独角兽咆哮着。"去死吧，你们这些有条纹的混蛋！你不会不战而降的!"食尸鬼的声音在战斗的声音中几乎没有传到我耳边。
I could have used some help myself. The assault rifle barked spray after spray of fire, and I jumped into S.A.T.S. as often as possible; if I didn’t destroy the head they just regenerated the damage. Three charged me at once, and I braced myself for some more pain. Then Persuasion thumped and the blast knocked the three flying. I spotted a blue pony in the corner, barely visible as he loaded another.
我自己也需要帮助。突击步枪发出一阵又一阵的枪声，于是我尽可能多地跳进了S.A.T.S.，如果我没有摧毁他的头部，他们只是重新造成了伤害。三个人同时向我冲过来，我鼓起勇气面对更多的痛苦。然后，说服声响了起来，爆炸声把三个人都炸飞了。我在角落里发现了一匹蓝色的小马，几乎看不见，因为他正在装载另一匹。
Even Scotch joined in the battle, lying on her stomach as she fired at any ghoul that got too close to Lacunae. The glowing ghoul unicorn halted lobbing exploding balls and turned to pouring out a stream of radioactive flame. I hissed as it scorched my legs and face from a near hit.
甚至苏格兰人也加入了战斗，她趴在地上向任何靠近拉库奈的食尸鬼开火。发光的食尸兽停止了抛出的爆炸球，转而倾泻出一股放射性火焰。我发出嘶嘶的声音，因为它差点被撞到，烧焦了我的腿和脸。
“You shall never make me abandon my post!” the unicorn screamed as we fanned out. It was hard to say which would get me first, the fire or the radiation. “Burn, stripes! Burn in Luna’s righteous fury!” Radioactive fire sprayed from her horn like a sprinkler in all directions, and I dove under a desk as I lined up a shot. My bullets flickered and melted away as they got close to the ghoul, unable to penetrate the layer of radioactive flame around it.
"你决不能让我擅离职守!"我们散开的时候，独角兽在尖叫。很难说哪个会先伤到我，是火灾还是辐射。"烧死你，条纹！在月神正义的愤怒中燃烧吧!"她的号角像洒水器一样向四面八方喷射出放射性的火焰，我在排成一排准备射击的时候钻到了一张桌子下面。我的子弹在接近食尸鬼时不停地闪烁和融化，无法穿透它周围的放射性火焰层。
Oh, for fuck’s sake…
他妈的。
I focused hard, hoping that maybe I’d mutated up enough that all this radiation was doing me some good too. S.A.T.S. and four magic bullets, go! My glowing bolts shot across the room, guided by the precision spell to impact against the ghoul’s skull. The flames died a little as each luminescent round smashed home; the quartet sent it reeling, its heat diminishing. A volley of magical arrows, green beams, and a grenade blew the rest of the ghoul apart.
我努力集中注意力，希望也许我已经变异到足以让所有的辐射也给我带来一些好处。高考和四颗魔法子弹，上！我发光的螺栓穿过房间，在精确咒语的引导下，对食尸鬼的头骨进行撞击。当每一发冷光击中房屋时，火焰稍微熄灭了一点;四重奏使它旋转起来，它的热量逐渐减少。一阵魔法箭头、绿色光束和一枚手榴弹将其余的食尸鬼炸得粉身碎骨。
I was relieved to find that the radiation in the room was dropping… but not to zero. “I need some RadAway, bad…” We probably all did. Glory broke out one for each of us save Lacunae. The alicorn said nothing, but I thought I caught a look of ‘poor mortal creatures’ in her eyes.
我松了一口气，发现房间里的辐射正在下降......但还没有降到零。"我需要一些RadAway，坏......"我们可能都需要。晨辉为我们每个人爆发了一个，除了缺口。阿里克什么也没说，但是我想我在她的眼睛里看到了可怜的凡人的眼神。
With my rads bouncing in the yellow, I approached the unicorn ghoul’s corpse. The Dealer stood by and sighed, placing a queen of hearts on her still-glowing side. The uniform she had worn had burned away, leaving bits of metal fused with her hide. I spotted one still-glowing chunk. Gen. Shimmerstar. A little
随着我的喇叭在黄色中跳动，我走近了独角兽食尸鬼的尸体。"商人"站在一旁叹了口气，把一个红心皇后放在她仍然发光的一面。她穿的制服已经烧坏了，留下一些金属碎片和皮革粘在一起。我发现了一块还在发光的东西。施默斯塔尔将军。一点点
square appeared around the name tag in my vision and dancing lines of data scrolled rapidly before terminating with:
在我的视野中，方块出现在名牌的周围，跳动的数据线快速滚动，最后以下面的方式结束:
EC-1101 Status update> General Shimmerstar: Deceased. Denied.
Ec-1101状态更新:已故。拒绝。
Okay. That cleared that up. I spotted the terminal in the corner and clattered over towards it. “Okay… so where do you want to go now?” I asked as I tapped the terminal keys... pretty much at random. I’d need P-21 to… whoa. The screen immediately flashed to life and began to scroll with numbers that made no sense to me.
好吧。这就澄清了这一点。我发现了角落里的终点站，然后朝着它咔嗒咔嗒地走过去。"好吧......那你现在想去哪儿?"我一边问，一边轻敲着终端键盘......几乎是随机的。我需要P-21来..。屏幕立刻闪现出生命，开始滚动那些对我来说毫无意义的数字。
EC-1101 Routing information> Fluttershy Medical Center, Hoofington.
Ec-1101路由信息HoofingtonFluttershy医疗中心。
“I’ve already been there!” I groaned and smacked my PipBuck. “Stupid freaky magic tech!”
"我已经去过那里了!"我呻吟着拍打着我的皮伯克。"愚蠢的变态魔术技术!"
“Blackjack, can we get out of the deadly radiation now?” P-21 drawled as he looked around. The room was still damned hot, and I nodded. “Lacunae, can you teleport us back to where we came in?”
"黑杰克，我们现在能摆脱致命的辐射了吗?"P-21慢吞吞地向四周张望。房间里仍然非常热，我点了点头。"空隙，你能把我们传送回我们来的地方吗?"
“With this much power…” there was a purple flash, and disorientation made my head spin. “Certainly.” Ooooh… somepony gets cheeky when she’s high on radiation. We were back on the floor with all the offices, and the radiation meter dropped to a comfortable slow click every few seconds. Everypony--but Lacunae, again--looked sick, though, even myself. “We have any more RadAway?” I asked Glory.
"有这么大的力量......"有一道紫色的闪光，迷失方向让我头晕目眩。"当然。"哦...有些小马在辐射高的时候会变得厚脸皮。我们和所有的办公室一起回到了地板上，辐射测量仪每隔几秒就会舒服地慢慢滴答响一下。每个矮种马----除了Lacunae----看起来都病了，甚至包括我自己。"我们还有拉达威吗?"我问晨辉。
“One pouch,” she said with a small frown.
"一个袋子,"她皱着眉头说。
I sighed and nodded my head over to where Scotch was being sick. “Give it to Scotch.”
我叹了口气，朝苏格兰威士忌生病的地方点了点头。"给苏格兰威士忌吧。"
Glory nodded and trotted over to her. I’d accomplished… well… something. Fluttershy Medical shouldn’t be a problem… oh… don’t start thinking that, Blackjack! Still, I couldn’t think a finer place in Equestria to suck out all the radiation swirling around inside me. Once Lacunae picked the location out of my memories, we could teleport straight there; after all, there was plenty of radiation around here for her to soak up. If the worst came to the worst, she could tap that crystal and silver bullet together a few times and hopefully not blow up.
晨辉点点头，小跑向她。我完成了...嗯...一些事情。FluttershyMedical不应该是一个问题...哦...不要开始思考这个问题，Blackjack！尽管如此，我还是想不出在Equestria还有什么更好的地方能够吸出我体内所有的辐射。一旦Lacunae从我的记忆中选择了地点，我们就可以直接传送到那里;毕竟，这里有足够的辐射让她吸收。如果最坏的情况发生，她可以把水晶和银子弹放在一起几次，希望不会爆炸。
Now for the harder step: getting to Elder Crunchy Carrots and negotiating an end to this. And for that, I needed a plan. Giving myself up to this acolyte might get me in. Or it might get me killed. More importantly, it might get my friends killed…
现在是更困难的一步:得到脆老胡萝卜和谈判结束这一点。为此，我需要一个计划。把自己交给这个侍僧也许能让我进去。否则我可能会送命。更重要的是，这可能会害死我的朋友..。
Crap, I couldn’t just hand myself over and make it up on the fly. I had to think… think of something. I looked at Glory as she tried to convince Scotch to drink the RadAway. She made me smile as she explained the effects of radiation poisoning, and that smile only continued as my eyes trailed along her flank. Her sweet, sweet…
该死，我不能就这么把自己交出去，然后马上就和好。我得想想...想想办法。我看着晨辉，她试图说服苏格兰人喝雷达威士忌。当她向我解释辐射中毒的影响时，我的脸上露出了笑容，我的眼睛一直盯着她的侧腹。她的甜蜜，甜蜜..。
There was a flickering bulb going off in my brain. Shit… would that work?
我的大脑里闪烁着一个灯泡。妈的...这样行吗？
I trotted towards Scotch Tape. “Hey,” I said as she fidgeted with the pouch.
我朝着透明胶带跑去。"嘿,"我说，她摆弄着育儿袋。
“I hate this stuff. It tastes like butt and it makes me pee rainbows,” she muttered sullenly. “Radiation never hurt…” I looked at the olive filly with a small smile, arched a brow, and pulled back my left sleeve to show her the mottled, growth-laden surface. It looked like one solid bruise, yellow with ugly greenish-red blotches beneath the skin. Glory looked alarmed, but I shook my head. Now was no time to play doctor. Scotch took the hint and started drinking the orange medicine with a sour look.
"我讨厌这些东西。它尝起来像屁股，它让我尿出彩虹,"她闷闷不乐地喃喃自语。"辐射永远不会伤害......"我看着这个橄榄色的小姑娘，带着一丝微笑，挑起眉毛，拉起我的左袖子，让她看到斑驳的、生长繁茂的表面。它看起来就像一块实实在在的瘀伤，黄色的皮肤下面有难看的绿红色斑点。格洛里看上去有些惊慌，但我还是摇了摇头。现在没有时间玩医生游戏。苏格兰威士忌领会了他的暗示，开始苦涩地喝橙子药水。
“Sorry about messing with your head,” I said as I sat down beside her. “I just wanted you happy. Guess I fucked that up, huh?” Glory rolled her eyes as she trotted away, muttering something about language.
"很抱歉把你的脑子搞乱了,"我在她旁边坐下时说。"我只是想让你开心。看来我搞砸了，是吧?"晨辉一边小跑一边翻着白眼，嘴里嘟囔着什么语言。
“You’d be happy if somepony messed with your head?” Scotch Tape asked.
"如果有人把你的脑袋弄乱了，你会高兴吗?"透明胶带问道。
“Are you kidding? I’d be bouncing on my hooves happy,” I lied. I couldn’t tell if she believed me or not as she looked down at the pouch of medicine. “I need you to do something for me, Scotch. And it’s something nopony else can do.”
"你在开玩笑吗？我会高兴得蹦蹦跳跳的,"我撒谎说。我不知道她是否相信我，因为她低头看着药袋。"我需要你为我做件事，苏格兰人。这是其他人无法做到的。"
“You’re going to ask me to stay behind so that I can stay safe. Again,” she grumbled. “Why does everypony insist on treating me like a baby? I can disassemble a sewage pump in fifteen minutes with two wrenches and a hammer…” Then she sighed. “I’m gonna end up with a toilet for a cutie mark, ain’t I?”
"你要让我留下来，这样我才能安全。又来了,"她嘟囔着。"为什么每个小马都坚持把我当小孩子对待？我可以在十五分钟内用两把扳手和一把锤子拆开一个污水泵......"然后她叹了口气。"我最终会为一个可爱的目标买一个厕所，不是吗?"
“Be nice to find a working one, that’s for sure,” I teased softly, mussing her short
"能找到一个有用的就好了，这是肯定的,"我轻轻地开玩笑，低声说道
blue mane. “And I am going to ask you to stay behind. But not because I want to keep you safe. I have to go meet with the Rangers. If everything works out… well… if it works out, then great. But if it doesn’t… the only pony who can end this war will be you. Understand?”
蓝鬃毛。""我要请你留下来。但不是因为我想保证你的安全。我得去和流浪者队会合。如果一切顺利的话......嗯......如果顺利的话，那就太好了。但是如果不成功...唯一能结束这场战争的人就是你。明白吗?"
I told her my plan, and she found a way to make it work...well, up to a point. “Still, this is crazy, Blackjack. What if they just shoot you?”
我把我的计划告诉了她，她找到了一个办法来实现它......嗯，在一定程度上。"不过，这太疯狂了，黑杰克。如果他们开枪打你怎么办?"
“Then they’re smarter ponies than me,” I replied with a smile and kissed her brow. “You know we care about you, right?”
"那么它们比我聪明多了,"我笑着回答，吻了吻她的额头。"你知道我们关心你，对吧?"
She flushed a little. “Yeah. Just… don’t get dead, Blackjack. There ain’t many 99 ponies left.”
她脸红了一下。"是的。只是...别死了Blackjack。已经没有多少99匹小马了。"
“There’s P-21,” I replied.
"那是P-21,"我回答。
“He don’t count. He hates me,” she muttered.
"他不算。他恨我,"她喃喃自语道。
I sighed. “He doesn’t hate you…” At least, he better not! “He just has a hard time with things that remind him of 99. It wasn’t easy for him there.”
我叹了口气。"他不恨你......"至少，他最好不恨你！"他只是很难接受那些让他想起99年的事情。这对他来说并不容易。"
“I know. Colts are weird…” she said, rolling her eyes.
"我知道。小马很奇怪......"她说，转动着眼珠。
“Tell me about it,” I said with a smile. Then I sighed again. “I also need you to hold on to something for me, okay? This is an IF-33 with expanded magazine. It was my mom’s. If something should happen, I don’t want the Rangers to have it. Just... be careful when you fire it. It’s got a whole lot more kick that that dinky nine mil Parasprite you shoot.”
"跟我说说吧,"我笑着说。然后我又叹了口气。"我还需要你帮我保管一样东西，好吗？这是一个IF-33与扩大的杂志。这是我妈妈的。如果有什么事发生，我不想让流浪者队得到它。开枪的时候小心点。它比你那把小巧的9毫米Parasprite手枪的威力要大得多。"
She took it with the care of someone who respects a machine that can hurt you. I appreciated that. “There’s one last thing I need you to do. You’re not going to like it, but you’re the only pony who can pull it off.” She looked intrigued as I took a breath and said, “I need you to act scared so Glory will stay behind.” I couldn’t bear to see her in another situation like the one at Flash Industries.
她带着一个尊重可以伤害你的机器的人照顾它。我很感激。"我还需要你做最后一件事。你不会喜欢的，但你是唯一一个能把它做好的小马。"她看起来很好奇，我深吸了一口气说,"我需要你表现得很害怕，这样晨辉就会留下来。"我不能忍受看到她在另一种情况下像在闪光工业。
For a moment, she looked confused and then annoyed, but finally she seemed to understand and gave a little smile and a roll of her eyes. “Great. More time with the most boring pony in the Wasteland.”
有那么一会儿，她看上去很困惑，然后很恼火，但是最后她似乎明白了，微微一笑，转了转眼珠。"太好了。有更多的时间和荒原上最无聊的小马在一起。"
I thumped her softly on her head. “Maybe, but she’s my marefriend, so be nice.”
我轻轻地拍了拍她的头。"也许吧，但她是我最好的朋友，所以对她好一点。"
Scotch Tape stuck her tongue out at me. “And finish your medicine. Remember, it’s not a rainbow if you don’t hit all six colors.”
透明胶带向我伸出舌头。"把你的药吃完。记住，如果你没有把所有六种颜色都点到，那就不是彩虹。"
She smiled crookedly as she wrinkled her nose. “Ew… gross, Blackjack… and everypony thinks I’m the filly.”
她皱着鼻子歪歪扭扭地笑了。"呃......恶心，黑杰克......每匹小马都认为我是小母马。"
I chuckled as I clattered back towards the others. You and P-21 both, kid. “Okay. We actually have a plan B. So… P-21 and Rampage are with me again… Glory, Lacunae, and Scotch are here.” And cue in three… two… “Absolutely not. I’m coming with you,” Glory said firmly, frowning.
我咯咯地笑着，咔嗒咔嗒地回到其他人身边。你和P-21都是，孩子。"好吧。我们实际上有b计划，所以......P-21和狂暴再次与我同在......晨辉、空白和苏格兰威士忌在这里。"倒计时三...二..."绝对不行。"我和你一起去,"晨辉坚决地说，皱着眉头。
“You have to stay here. Scotch is still freaked out, and if Rangers come up here, I need you to help fight them off,” I said as I glanced over my shoulder at Scotch. She mouthed my words with impudent annoyance before she caught my glare and suddenly gave Glory a big-eyed look that just screamed ‘look at me, I’m helpless!’. And if Steel Rain got his hooves on Glory, I’d give him EC-1101 and tell the elder that Big Daddy planned to turn her into a hat if I had to.
"你必须留在这里。苏格兰人还是吓坏了，如果流浪者队来到这里，我需要你帮忙击退他们,"我边说边回头瞥了一眼苏格兰人。在她抓住我的目光之前，她用无礼的恼怒的口吻说着我的话，突然给了晨辉一个大大的眼睛，只是尖叫着"看着我，我是无助的!".如果钢铁雨在晨辉上得到了他的蹄子，我会给他EC-1101并告诉长者，如果我必须的话，老爹计划把她变成一顶帽子。
Glory sure didn’t like it, but I knew that she had hoofcuffs; I’d use them if I had to. “So… not just a plan A, but a plan B?” P-21 asked with a thin smile.
晨辉肯定不喜欢，但我知道她有蹄链，如果必要的话我会用的。"那么......不只是a计划，而是b计划?"P-21带着淡淡的微笑问道。
“And a plan C...” I replied. “Yup… I am just brimming with the whole… plans… thing.” Of course, knowing me and how my plans worked out… yeah. “Let’s get started before I have to worry about a plan D.”
"还有c计划。。」我回答。"是啊......我满脑子都是......计划......事情。"当然，了解我和我的计划是如何实现的...是的。"在我不得不担心d计划之前，我们开始吧。"
* * *
* * *
The dry docks were basically four giant long buildings covered in rust and salt. Huge cranes hung on gantries overhead, silently waiting to resume work on ships that would never be completed. All of the locks had failed, filling the rooms with the reek of brackish water. The place had power and tools, though, and that, I supposed, was all that mattered. Most of the noise was coming from one corner of the cavernous space. We had everything ready… or at least as ready as it would ever get. My PipBuck was covered with duct tape that was ostensibly, and to a degree actually, holding the brace on that leg on. Everything else had been left behind with the other three.
干船坞基本上是四个长长的巨大建筑，上面布满了铁锈和盐渍。巨大的吊车悬挂在头顶的架子上，静静地等待着那些永远无法完工的船只恢复工作。所有的锁都坏了，房间里充满了咸水的臭味。不过，这个地方有电力和工具，我想这才是最重要的。大部分的噪音来自这个洞穴般的空间的一个角落。我们已经准备好了一切......或者说至少已经准备好了。我的PipBuck被管道胶带覆盖着，表面上，实际上在某种程度上，是用来固定腿上的支架的。其他的东西都留给了其他三个人。
“Glory’s starting to feel left out. She misses out on the hole of terror and now on the suicidal strut,” Rampage said as I limped along beside her. If things went
"晨辉开始觉得被冷落了。她错过了恐怖的洞，现在是自杀性的昂首阔步,"我一瘸一拐地走在她身边时，狂暴说道。如果一切顺利的话
stupid, she was our plan D. Water poured through holes in the roof in cascading columns as we stepped over heaps of rusted chain and bolts. A huge faded mural of Applejack in a sailor’s outfit saluted us all over the motto ‘Victory through blood, sweat, and tears’.
当我们跨过一堆堆生锈的链条和螺栓时，水从屋顶的层叠柱子上的洞里涌了出来。一幅褪色的巨大壁画，上面画着一位身着水手服装的苹果白兰地(Applejack)，向我们所有人致敬，题为"以血、汗、泪取得胜利"。
“Yeah, but she gets to have sex with me, so she can’t complain,” I retorted. I didn’t want to spook them and start off the shooty. I was so nervous going in unarmed... I didn’t even have a fancy sword!
"是的，但是她可以和我做爱，所以她不能抱怨,"我反驳道。我不想吓到他们，然后开始扫射。我没有武器的时候非常紧张......我甚至没有一把漂亮的剑！
“You’re that good?” Rampage asked with a smirk.
"你就那么厉害?"狂暴带着傻笑问道。
“No, but she is,” I replied.
"不，但她是,"我回答。
“Well then, maybe I should have sex with her and find out for myself when you’re gone,” Rampage said, her smirk transforming into a naughty grin.
"那么，也许我应该和她做爱，等你走了以后自己去看看,"狂暴说，她的傻笑变成了淘气的笑容。
I rolled my eyes and snorted. “Be my guest. She loves it when you nibble on--”
我翻了翻眼睛，哼了一声。"请便。她喜欢你咬她的时候——"
“Could we please cut out the lesbian sexcapade chitchat while walking towards an enemy that wants to kill us?” P-21 said tersely, his already bristly mane frizzing even more. “I don’t even know why I’m here.”
"我们能不能在走向一个想要杀死我们的敌人的时候，停止女同性恋之间的胡言乱语?"P-21简洁地说，他的鬃毛已经越来越直了。"我甚至不知道我为什么会在这里。"
“You’re here for when this chief acolyte commits his sudden and inevitable betrayal,” I replied. His name was ‘Napalm Strike’; it hardly screamed ‘trustworthy’ to me.
"你在这里是为了等待这位首席助手突然而不可避免地背叛你,"我回答。他的名字叫"凝固汽油弹打击"，对我来说，这几乎不叫"值得信赖"。
“Next question. What is the plan if the elder says ‘thank you for your concern; now I’m going to shoot you anyway’? Because that’s the step I’m missing,” he said sourly.
"下一个问题。如果老人说'谢谢你的关心，现在我无论如何都要杀了你'，你的计划是什么？因为我错过了这一步,"他酸溜溜地说。
“I shoot her in the face and we run for our lives and hope Lacunae can swoop in and port us to safety. Then we shut down the Rangers,” I said firmly.
"我朝她脸上开了一枪，然后我们逃命，希望空隙趁虚而入，把我们带到安全的地方。然后我们关闭了流浪者队,"我坚定地说。
“You’re siding with the Reapers?” Rampage asked with pleased surprise.
"你站在死神一边?"狂暴带着喜悦和惊讶问道。
I snorted. “I’m siding with whoever has less stupid and kills fewer innocent ponies. Right now, Steel Rain trumps Psychoshy in both departments.”
我哼了一声。"我支持那些不那么愚蠢、杀死无辜小马的人。现在，钢铁雨在这两个部门都胜过心理害羞。"
We stepped into view of ten or so unicorns handling all kinds of strange techy equipment while fixing up suits of power armor. They all froze at the sight of us.
我们走进了大约10个独角兽的视野，它们一边操作着各种奇怪的高科技装备，一边在装备一套强力盔甲。他们看到我们都吓呆了。
“Hi. I’m Security. I’m looking for Napalm Strike?” For several seconds, they just looked at each other and us; they were clearly not ponies who expected three dangerous, wanted strangers to trot up to them. I rose and put my hooves in the air. “We’re giving up?”
"嗨。我是保安。我在找凝固汽油弹攻击?"有几秒钟，他们只是看着对方和我们;他们显然不是小马，谁预计三危险，希望陌生人小跑向他们。我站起来，把蹄子举到空中。"我们放弃了?"
A power-armored pony pointed a gatling gun at us, and I readied myself for sharp and painful death. Then an older-looking stallion in red robes trotted towards me looking quite put out. “I’m Chief Acolyte Strike. What are you doing here? How did you get inside our perimeter?” He looked at Rampage with alarm. “You’re that Reaper! The immortal one!”
一匹装备强力装甲的小马用格林机枪指着我们，我准备痛苦地死去。然后，一匹穿着红色长袍、看起来比较老的种马朝我跑来，显得非常生气。"我是斯特雷克大副。你在这儿干什么？你是怎么进入我们的防线的?"他惊恐地看着狂暴。"你就是那个死神！不朽的那个!"
“You survive being put through a wood chipper, and suddenly you’re famous,” Rampage said with a chuckle as she shook some rusty salt water off her hoof. “I’m just glad they recognized me without the armor.”
"你活着穿过一个削木机，突然之间你就出名了,"朗格一边抖掉蹄子上的一些生锈的盐水，一边咯咯笑着说。"我很高兴他们没穿盔甲就认出了我。"
“We’re here to speak to your leader about halting this war,” I said, and the flat look he gave me did not bode well. “I’m prepared to give her the location of my stable in exchange for hearing me out.” It was full of poison gas and dead bodies, but the words got the reaction I wanted. He immediately looked intrigued.
"我们是来和你们的领导人谈停止这场战争的事情的,"我说，他平淡地看着我，这可不是什么好兆头。"我准备告诉她我马厩的位置，作为交换，听我把话说完。"里面充满了毒气和尸体，但这些话得到了我想要的反应。他立刻显得很感兴趣。
“In my opinion, you’re too late. We’re about to crush this war once and for all. But if you insist… I suppose I can take your request to her.” He nodded to the acolytes. “Search them.”
"在我看来，你来得太晚了。我们将彻底粉碎这场战争。但是如果你坚持的话......我想我可以把你的要求告诉她。"他向侍僧点点头。"搜他们的身。"
I did my best to hide my disappointment when they found the bobby pins under P-21’s tail… and in his mane. And mouth. They gave me the same treatment, even taking off my eyepatch to make sure I didn’t have a grenade or something hidden in there. Really, what were they expecting? Given that my busted braces were taped to my legs, they couldn’t exactly check them. I really doubted they wanted to. Nopony wanted to look at swollen nasty pony flesh.
当他们发现P-21的尾巴和鬃毛下面有发夹时，我尽量掩饰自己的失望。还有嘴巴。他们给了我同样的待遇，甚至取下我的眼罩，确保里面没有手榴弹或其他什么东西。真的，他们期待的是什么？因为我的牙套坏了，他们不能确切地检查我的腿。我真的怀疑他们是否愿意。没有小马想看看肿胀的讨厌的小马的肌肉。
After that, the armored Ranger fell in behind us while Chief Acolyte Strike trotted in front. I hoped that the Ranger was a real good shot if she decided to fire. We trotted out of the dry docks and towards the pier the Celestia was tied up to. Once, she’d clearly been a magnificent ship, and even after two centuries she possessed a strength and grandeur that I found impressive. Three turrets, two in the front and one towards the rear, pointed their barrels towards the city. And then… I gaped as I saw one of the rear turret’s cannon barrels slowly elevate.
之后，装甲突击队员跟在我们后面，而斯特里克大副小跑在前面。我希望，游侠是一个真正的好枪法，如果她决定开火。我们从干燥的码头跑出来，朝着塞莱斯蒂亚号被绑住的码头跑去。有一次，她显然是一艘宏伟的船，甚至在两个世纪之后，她仍拥有一种力量和宏伟，我觉得令人印象深刻。三个炮塔，两个在前面，一个在后面，把他们的炮管指向城市。然后......我目瞪口呆，因为我看到一个后方炮塔的炮管慢慢抬高。
“You got it to work?” Rampage gaped in alarm. “You’ve been working on this rustbucket for years!”
"你让它工作了?"暴跳如雷，惊慌失措。"你做这个锈桶已经好几年了!"
“Indeed, and it’s beginning to pay off. We fixed Turret Three months ago. Of course, the elder resisted our many requests to fire it. There was a lack of proper ordnance, for one thing.”
"的确如此，而且开始有回报了。我们三个月前修好了炮塔。当然，长辈拒绝了我们解雇它的许多要求。首先，那里缺少合适的武器。"
“No bullets?” I asked in surprise.
"没有子弹?"我惊讶地问。
“No shells,” he corrected, and I suspected that the orange acolyte would have been great buddies with Textbook. “The Celestia had been docked for a major refit at the time of the attack, and all her shells had been removed. Sadly, their bunker is buried under tons of debris, too much to be practically cleared. So, while we possessed ample stocks of powder, we had no shells. Until recently, that is.” He pointed to a crane that was lifting something out of the water. A dripping net with a suit of power armor hanging onto it. “Fortunately, the Luna’s ordnance was intact. Marvelous engineering.”
"没有炮弹,"他纠正说，我怀疑橙色的助手会是教科书的好朋友。"在攻击发生时，天堂号已经进行了一次大修，所有的炮弹都被移除了。遗憾的是，他们的掩体被成吨的垃圾掩埋，太多的垃圾实际上无法清理。因此，尽管我们有足够的火药储备，我们却没有炮弹。直到不久前，还是这样。"他指着正在把什么东西吊出水面的起重机。一张滴水的网，上面挂着一套动力盔甲。"幸运的是，月神号的武器完好无损。非凡的工程技术。"
I saw that the armor had been modified with numerous air tanks. “Clever.”
我看到装甲被许多空气罐改装过。"聪明。"
“Technology is to be used, not merely collected. The elder is growing to appreciate that fact,” he said matter-of-factly.
"技术是用来使用的，而不仅仅是收集的。老年人正在逐渐意识到这一点,"他平静地说。
“Except using it for war gets it blown up,” I replied, earning a sour look from the sour chief acolyte. “I’m just saying.”
"除非用它打仗，否则它就会被炸飞,"我回答，惹得侍僧大人酸溜溜地看了我一眼。"我只是说说。"
“And the elder would agree with you as well. But when we are attacked, we must respond. The codex commands it,” he said as he walked out onto the wet pier. The rain was still pouring, and it was quickly getting dark.
""长辈也会同意你的。但是当我们受到攻击时，我们必须做出反应。法典要求它这么做,"他边说边走向潮湿的码头。雨还在下，天很快就黑了。
“Well, that and common sense,” I replied. “But somehow, I doubt all the scavengers I saw with minigun bullets in them were attacking power armor.” He frowned sharply at me but said no more as we trotted along the dock. Then I noted with surprise two other ships. One was far less grand: a rust-red ship half the size of the Celestia. It was flying a flag showing the Steel Ranger emblem, but with three apples instead of gears. Between it and the Celestia was... the Seahorse.
"这个嘛，还有常识,"我回答。"但不知怎么的，我怀疑我看到的所有装有迷你枪子弹的食腐动物都在攻击强力盔甲。"他紧紧地皱着眉头看着我，但是当我们沿着码头小跑时，他没有再说什么。然后我惊奇地注意到另外两艘船。其中一艘没有那么宏伟:一艘锈红色的飞船，体积只有天堂号的一半。它挂着一面旗帜，上面有SteelRanger的徽章，但是上面有三个苹果而不是齿轮。在它和天堂之间是...海马。
“What is Thrush doing here?” I exclaimed in surprise.
"画眉在这里干什么?"我惊讶地叫道。
He chuckled dryly. “Oh, so you know that pirate? No surprise. She’s guilty of numerous counts of technology smuggling and other assorted crimes.” He pointed a hoof at the far ship. “When the… sigh… HMS Applejack was en route from Manehattan, they encountered the Seahorse, intercepted her, and towed her back here. Once we’ve wrapped things up, we’ll strip out the engine. The rest is garbage.”
他干巴巴地笑了笑。"哦，你认识那个海盗？这并不奇怪。她犯有多项技术走私和其他各种罪行。"他用蹄子指着远处的船。"当......唉......皇家海军舰艇阿普尔杰克号在从Manehattan出发的途中，他们遇到了海马号，拦截了她，把她拖回了这里。一旦我们把事情搞定，我们就把引擎拆了。剩下的都是垃圾。"
“And what happened to the captain and her crew?” Things were rapidly veering towards Plan: ‘Blackjack does something incredibly stupid and violent’.
"船长和她的船员怎么样了?"事情很快朝着计划的方向发展:黑杰克做了一些非常愚蠢和暴力的事情。
“They’re in custody. They should have been thrown to the mercy of the sea, but the Trottingham Rangers are notoriously softhearted and soft-headed. I suppose the elder will let the crew go and shoot the captain.”
"他们被拘留了。他们本该任由大海摆布，但是特罗廷汉流浪者队是出了名的软弱和头脑不清醒。我想老头子会让船员们去射杀船长的。"
“Try not to sound so disappointed,” P-21 muttered. “That reply just saved you the trouble of having Blackjack tear this place apart. She gets destructive when her friends get hurt.”
"尽量不要听起来那么失望,"P-21咕哝道。"这个回答让你省去了让Blackjack把这里翻个底朝天的麻烦。当她的朋友受到伤害时，她就变得极具破坏性。"
“Stupid, P-21. I get stupid when my friends get hurt,” I corrected. I received an uneasy look from the chief acolyte.
"笨蛋，P-21。当我的朋友受到伤害时，我就变得愚蠢了,"我纠正道。我从首席侍僧那里得到了一种不安的眼神。
He looked decidedly out of his comfort zone as we walked up the gangplank and onto the Celestia. I was surprised by the number of Rangers who weren’t trotting around in power armor. I guess I’d gotten the idea that if you didn’t have power armor you weren’t a Steel Ranger, but most of these ponies didn’t wear any. They were moving boxes and containers of supplies aboard the ship. It made sense; if the Reapers swarmed the base, they’d be sitting ducks on the pier.
当我们走上跳板，登上天堂的时候，他显然已经走出了自己的舒适区。我对游骑兵中没有穿着强力盔甲到处跑的人数感到惊讶。我想我已经得到的想法，如果你没有动力盔甲，你不是一个钢游侠，但大多数这些小马没有穿任何。他们在船上搬运箱子和集装箱的补给品。这是有道理的，如果收割者蜂拥而至，他们会成为码头上的活靶子。
We were walked past the number three turret. Up close, you couldn’t miss the rusty streaks; magically protected or not, saltwater was hell on steel. Even I knew that. It looked like only the middle cannon was moving, and the gun elevated agonizingly slowly as the turret slowly ground around. Ponies were slopping grease around the edge with mouthheld mops while unicorns floated grease guns into the crevices. Clearly, battleships ran on grease.
我们从三号炮塔旁走过。近距离观察，你不会错过锈迹斑斑的地方;不管有没有魔法保护，海水就像是钢铁上的地狱。连我都知道。看起来只有中间的大炮在移动，炮塔缓慢地围绕着炮塔，大炮痛苦地缓慢升高。当独角兽们把油枪漂进缝隙的时候，小马们用嘴托着拖把把油脂弄得到处都是。显然，战舰是靠油脂运转的。
“Down,” he directed as we crossed a pegasus landing pad at the rear and clattered down some narrow stairs. I had to wonder if Rangers could even wear power armor in these tight confines! After that, we went down more stairs… and more stairs… and incidentally did I mention I didn’t like stairs? My braced legs slipped and I went rolling down to the bottom. “Are you sure you’re Security?”
"下去,"他指挥我们穿过飞马号后面的着陆平台，咔嗒咔嗒地走下一些狭窄的楼梯。我不得不想知道游骑兵是否能在这些狭窄的地方穿上强力盔甲！之后，我们下了更多的楼梯......更多的楼梯......顺便说一句，我不喜欢楼梯吗？支撑着的双腿滑了一下，我滚到了水底。"你确定你是保安吗?"
Napalm Strike asked me bluntly.
凝固汽油弹攻击直截了当地问我。
“Catch me on a day when I’m not walking on screwed-up legs, and I’ll show you Security…” I muttered as I pulled myself to my hooves, once more glad I couldn’t break my legs. Of course, I still felt like I’d been beaten with a stick, but at least nothing was broken.
"抓住我的一天，当我没有走错路的腿，我会让你看到安全......"我喃喃自语，我把自己拉到我的蹄子，再一次庆幸我没有摔断我的腿。当然，我还是觉得自己被棍子打了一顿，但至少没有骨折。
We reached a long room that smelled of salt and dead sea things and followed it along past large white plastic drums set in rows along a mechanized track. There were Rangers pushing the plastic drums from the track to a hoist that I guessed pulled it up to the gun. One of the drums had been dropped, spilling dark powder in a fan that two unicorns were very carefully scooping up.
我们来到一个长长的房间，里面散发着盐和死海的味道，沿着机械化的轨道，我们跟着它经过一排排的白色塑料桶。有游骑兵推动塑料桶从轨道到一个起重机，我猜拉它到枪。其中一个鼓掉了下来，把黑色的粉末洒在一个扇子上，两只独角兽正小心翼翼地把它铲起来。
If one drum held that much powder... There were hundreds of drums down here; too bad magic bullets didn’t create much in the way of sparks. I’d need something incendiary to do a proper job, a grenade or flamer or something. “Planning a party?”
如果一个鼓能装那么多火药......这里有成百上千个鼓;太糟糕了，魔法子弹不能产生太多火花。我需要一些燃烧物来完成正确的工作，比如手榴弹或者火焰筒之类的。"策划派对?"
“Given the possibility of the base being overrun, it didn’t seem prudent to leave a whole bunker full of gunpowder to the mercies of the Burner Boys. We loaded as much as we would need and sealed the rest away,” he replied dryly. We passed through a thick door to another room loaded with missiles and ammo crates by the thousands. There were enough bullets and missiles in here to kill everypony in Equestria a thousand times over!
"考虑到基地可能会被占领，把一个装满火药的地堡留给燃烧者男孩是不明智的。我们装了足够多的东西，其余的都封存起来了。"他干巴巴地回答。我们穿过一扇厚厚的门，来到另一个房间，里面装满了成千上万的导弹和弹药箱。这里的子弹和导弹足以杀死Equestria所有的小马！
Why in Celestia’s name would any country need so many bullets?
以Celestia的名义，为什么会有哪个国家需要这么多子弹？
Past that, we entered a space that was far more run down. Given how much effort they were putting into getting the turret working, getting the rest of the ship operational would take lifetimes. There was rust everywhere I looked, and most of the talismans were shot. Some engine or power source I couldn’t imagine growled under our hooves, though, and we occasionally passed work crews trying to get some other part of the ship to work.
在那之后，我们进入了一个更加破旧的空间。考虑到他们为了让炮塔工作而付出的努力，让飞船的其余部分投入使用将需要一生的时间。我看到的地方都是铁锈，大多数护身符都被射中了。一些我无法想象的发动机或动力源在我们的蹄下咆哮，不过，我们偶尔经过工作人员试图让船的其他部分工作。
Finally, we were escorted to an empty magazine which had far more rust and fish reek. The cages that had held the powder drums in the other room were empty in this one, and they had been converted into cells. “So… going to tell the elder straight away?” I asked him.
最后，我们被护送到一个空空的杂志前，杂志上锈迹斑斑，鱼腥味更浓。在另一个房间里装着粉桶的笼子在这个房间里是空的，它们已经变成了牢房。"那么......要马上告诉长者吗?"我问他。
His sniff told me not to hold my breath. “Eventually. I have my duties. But I will
他的嗅觉告诉我不要屏住呼吸。"最终。我有我的职责。但我会的
inform her that you wish to meet.”
告诉她你想见她"
“If you want to know where my stable is… a nice, fully-operational stable… you’ll inform her before you start firing that gun,” I said as we were marched into an empty cage. The crew of the Seahorse roused at once as we were locked in across from them.
"如果你想知道我的马厩在哪里......一个漂亮的，完全可以操作的马厩......你应该在开枪之前告诉她,"我说，我们被押进一个空笼子里。当我们被锁在他们对面时，海马号的船员立刻惊醒了。
The acolyte sniffed. “Yes, well, the elder is a very busy mare. There’s a war on, you know. I’ll see she’s informed.” I gave a little sigh. Of course he would. With that he stepped out.
侍僧闻了闻。"是的，好吧，大的是一匹非常忙碌的母马。战争正在进行，你知道。我会通知她的。"我轻轻叹了口气。他当然会。说完，他走了出去。
“Blackjack? Is that you? Are you all right?” Oilcan asked as the mare looked around. Oh yeah. I was the pony with the night vision eye.
"黑杰克？是你吗？你没事吧?"当母马环顾四周时，油罐问道。哦，是的。我是一匹有夜视眼的小马。
“Blackjack?” a mare whimpered in pain in the dark. I looked around, but the other cages were empty.
"黑杰克?"一匹母马在黑暗中痛苦地呜咽。我环顾四周，其他的笼子都是空的。
“Thrush? Where’s Captain Thrush?” I asked.
"画眉？思拉什船长在哪里?"我问道。
“Here. She’s in a bad way, though. When she caused too much trouble, they made her go into a memory orb and she still hasn’t woken up. It’s been hours!” Tarboots grumbled.
"这儿。不过她的情况很糟糕。当她惹了太多麻烦的时候，他们让她进入一个记忆球，而她仍然没有醒来。已经好几个小时了!"塔布茨抱怨道。
I recalled going into one like that, a trapped orb that had shut me down until Priest snapped me out of it again. I thought I spotted Seabiscuit in the back. I heard familiar little sniffles and sobs somewhere in the dark room. “Who is that?”
我记得我曾经进入过那样的一个星球，一个被困住的星球把我关在里面，直到普里斯特再次把我从里面拉出来。我想我在后面看到了"奔腾年代"。我在黑暗的房间里听到了熟悉的抽泣声和呜咽声。"那是谁?"
There was an uncomfortable pause and then Oilcan said quietly, “The sea ponies. They’re... in a bad way too.”
停顿了一会儿，令人不安，然后油罐公司平静地说:"海上的小马。他们......也很糟糕。"
Seaponies? Oh, shit! “Pisces? Capri?” Somepony had thrown them in here without any water?
海港？哦，该死！"双鱼座？卡普里?"有人在没有水的情况下把它们扔进了这里？
“Blackjack…” came Pisces’s whimper. “Please… help…”
"黑杰克......"双鱼座呜咽着说。"请......救命......"
“Okay. Plan B now,” I said as I pulled off my eyepatch. “P-21, do you have any pins they missed?”
"好吧。现在就执行b计划,"我一边说一边摘下眼罩。"P-21，你有他们漏掉的钉子吗?"
“Nope. They were more thorough than you. Why, do you have one?” he asked in
"没有。他们比你更彻底。怎么，你有吗?"他问道
surprise.
惊喜。
“Mhmm! They were busy searching me, but not my eyepatch.” I ripped open the padded backing and carefully tugged out the pin with my magic. The glow was one of the only wan lights in the room. I passed it to him, then carefully untaped a part of my ‘brace’ which happened to be a screwdriver.
"嗯！他们忙着搜我身，但没搜我的眼罩。"我撕开衬垫的背面，用我的魔法小心地把别针拉了出来。灯光是房间里仅有的几盏暗淡的灯光之一。我把它递给他，然后小心翼翼地解开了我的"支架"上碰巧是把螺丝刀的一部分。
He eyed it and then looked up at me. “Celestia save us… Blackjack is becoming clever. Okay, keep that little horn of yours lit up.”
他看着它，然后抬头看着我。"塞莱斯蒂亚救了我们......黑杰克变聪明了。好了，让你的小喇叭亮起来吧。"
“It’s compact! Not little!” I’d show him light! I fished around for a piece of scrap metal I could lift. I focused as much as I could to light it as he worked.
"它很小巧！一点也不小!"我要让他看到光明！我四处摸索着找一块可以举起来的废金属。我尽可能集中注意力，在他工作的时候点燃它。
A click, and the door opened. This is why he was awesome. Only he could unlock a door in near darkness.
一声咔嗒，门开了。这就是他令人敬畏的原因。只有他能在近乎黑暗的地方打开一扇门。
The lock on the Seahorse’s crew’s cage clicked, and the four ponies moved out. Then we moved to the next cell over… and I froze. I’d never really appreciated what a fish was: a creature of water. I only knew them as glittering shapes in books next to the little fact that they lived in water.
海马号船员的笼子上的锁咔哒一声，四匹小马就搬了出去。然后我们转移到另一间牢房，我僵住了。我从来没有真正意识到鱼是什么:一种水生动物。我只知道它们是书中闪闪发光的形状，仅次于它们生活在水中这个小事实。
I’d never thought of what happened to them if you took them out of water…
我从没想过如果你把它们从水里拿出来会发生什么..。
Pisces and Capricorn lay on the floor. Their scales were cracked and flaking, their skin split and bleeding. Their fins had dried out and stuck to the floor. Capri was unconscious, maybe dead. The pink seapony was partially glued to her sister. They needed water, badly, and whatever pony had thrown them in here like this needed to die.
双鱼座和摩羯座躺在地板上。他们的鳞片裂开剥落，皮肤裂开流血。它们的鳍已经干了，粘在地板上。卡普瑞不省人事，可能已经死了。粉红色的海港有一部分是粘在她妹妹身上的。他们非常需要水，不管是什么小马把他们像这样扔到这里来，他们都必须死。
It was a good thing I’d met Crumpets and Paladin Stronghoof when I had. I was in a particularly shooty mood when it came to the Rangers. I knelt as P-21 started on the lock. “Just stay easy. We’ll get you out… find a fire hose and a bucket or something.”
当我遇到Crumpets和PaladinStronghoof的时候，这是一件好事。当谈到游骑兵的时候，我的心情特别糟糕。我跪下来，看着P-21开始开锁。"别紧张。我们会把你弄出来......找根消防水管和水桶什么的。"
“Momma… please, Momma…” Capri whimpered weakly. “Not monsters… we’re… we’re not monsters…” No, you’re not. Nopony was… and I was going to save them… nopony deserved to die like this!
"妈妈......求你了，妈妈......"卡普瑞虚弱地呜咽着。"不是怪物...我们...我们不是怪物..."不你不是。小马是......我要去救他们......小马不应该这样死！
“Get it open. Please… get it open…” I begged. P-21 scowled, rubbing his knee as he got to work. The screwdriver quivered… the lock’s drum slowly rotated…
"打开它。请......打开它......"我恳求道。P-21皱着眉头，上班时揉着膝盖。螺丝刀颤抖着......锁的鼓慢慢地旋转着.....。
The bobby pin snapped.
发夹啪地一声断了。
“No! No!” I slammed it with my hooves.
"不！不!"我用蹄子狠狠地敲了一下。
“Blackjack? What’s plan B?” P-21 asked me in the dark. I lifted a rag so that everyone could at least see the pale white glow.
"黑杰克？B计划是什么?"P-21在黑暗中问我。我拿起一块抹布，这样每个人至少都能看到淡白色的光芒。
“Get free and find her ourselves, but…”
"自由自在地去找她但是..."
“You can do that. You and Rampage. Go,” he scowled at the others as they gawked. “Well, don’t just stand there. Get some sort of light and find me a damned bobby pin and a bucket of water!
"你可以这么做。你和狂暴。去吧,"当其他人呆呆地看着他的时候，他皱起了眉头。"好吧，别光站在那儿。找个灯给我找个该死的发夹和一桶水！
I looked at him with a thankful smile. “Right.” The large Tarboots threw Thrush over his shoulder. “As soon as you can get them out, get to your ship. We might have to get out of here fast if we can’t meet up with Lacunae.” I sighed and said, “I really hope plan C is ready. ‘Cause at this rate, plan D is all we’ve got left.”
我带着感激的微笑看着他。"对。"巨大的柏油靴把画眉扔过他的肩膀。"一旦你能把他们弄出来，就到你的船上去。如果我们不能赶上缺口，我们可能得尽快离开这里。"我叹了口气说:"我真的希望c计划已经准备好了。因为照这样下去，我们只剩下d计划了。"
“Relax. I excel at plan D,” Rampage said modestly.
"放松。我擅长d计划,"狂暴谦虚地说。
“I’ll remember that when Steel Rain blasts you into fine red mist,” I muttered as she opened the door.
"当钢铁雨把你吹成细细的红雾时，我会记得的,"她打开门时，我喃喃自语道。
A pony in bizarre gray barding jumped to her hooves as the hatch opened. She scrambled for a beam gun as Rampage leapt upon the mare, wrapped her legs around her neck, and heaved her clear over her back to crash to the deck with Rampage on top of her. The blue pony lay in a daze. Rampage smirked at me and tossed me the beam gun. “You forget. Close combat is my thing, Blackjack. Now take her stuff. It might keep you from getting shot.”
舱门打开的时候，一匹穿着奇怪的灰色军装的小马跳上了她的马蹄。当狂暴跳到母马身上时，她争先恐后地想要一门横冲直撞的枪，她的腿缠住了自己的脖子，然后把自己甩到后背上，狂暴跳到了甲板上。那匹蓝色的小马昏昏沉沉地躺着。狂暴的暴徒冲我傻笑，把平射枪扔给我。"你忘了。近身格斗是我的强项Blackjack。现在拿走她的东西。这样你就不会中枪了。"
I stripped the mare, passing to P-21 any gear that wasn’t a weapon as I dressed up as a Steel Ranger. “If we see Rain first, though… I’ll need to talk to him.”
我剥去了母马，传递给P-21任何装备，不是武器，因为我打扮成钢铁骑兵。"不过，如果我们先看到瑞恩......我需要和他谈谈。"
“Talk to him? Ah, Blackjack… that’s a little suicidal,” she said as I slowly began to make my way up some stairs. This was a big ship… I’d have to ask for directions. “And, no offense, Blackjack, but how are you going to know the elder when we meet her? ‘Cause I have no idea what a Steel Ranger elder looks like.”
""跟他说话？啊，黑杰克......这有点自杀倾向,"她说着，我慢慢地开始爬楼梯。这是一艘大船......我不得不问路。"还有，无意冒犯，黑杰克，但是当我们见到她的时候，你怎么会认识她呢？"因为我根本不知道钢铁骑兵的老人长什么样。"
I sighed. “She’ll either wear the biggest hat, carry the fanciest gun, have the most ridiculous outfit on, or be surrounded by ponies happy to kill us.” What,
我叹了口气。"她要么戴着最大的帽子，拿着最时髦的枪，穿着最可笑的衣服，要么被乐于杀死我们的小马围着。"什么
did I have to work out everything in advance? I’d gotten us aboard the ship, hadn’t I? Couldn’t think of everything myself, now could I?
我是不是每件事都得提前计划好？我让我们登上了飞船，不是吗？我自己不能想到所有的事情，现在我可以吗？
* * *
* * *
The HMS Celestia came in two flavors: recently refurbished machine of war or abandoned derelict, and you could find both flavors within ten feet of each other. One section would have the rust scoured away with bright and humming lights, and the next would look like it hadn’t been touched in two centuries. I couldn’t figure out any rhyme nor reason to it either. Somewhere there was an engineer in need of a good kicking. There also wasn’t a sign anywhere in a language I understood. ‘STLBCKACC’? ‘PRTENGNAV’? ‘RVTEXTBST’? WHTTHFCK?
皇家海军舰艇塞莱斯蒂亚有两种口味:最近翻新的战争机器或者被遗弃的机器，你可以在10英尺的距离内找到两种口味。一个区域会用明亮和嗡嗡作响的灯光把铁锈冲刷掉，而下一个区域看起来就像两个世纪没有人动过一样。我也想不出任何押韵的理由。某个地方有个工程师需要好好教训一下。也没有任何我能理解的语言的标志。"STLBCKACC"？'PRTENGNAV'？'RVTEXTBST'？Whtthfck？
We staggered into something that might have been a mess hall at one time but was now collecting dust… except for the hoofmarks that went through the room. I spotted a red bar ahead and moved against the wall. Another red bar moved slowly in front of us. I caught the swirl of red robes as the chief acolyte paced back and forth.
我们跌跌撞撞地走进一个可能曾经是食堂的地方，但现在已经积满了灰尘......除了穿过房间的蹄印。我发现前面有一个红色的栏杆，靠着墙走了过去。另一根红条在我们面前缓缓移动。当大祭司来回踱步时，我抓住了红色长袍的漩涡。
“Shouldn’t you be preparing the cannon?” came Steel Rain’s voice, making my mane stand on end. My eyes popped wide. He was here. Actually here!
"你不是应该在准备大炮吗?"钢铁雨的声音传来，让我的鬃毛竖了起来。我睁大了眼睛。他来过这里。实际上是这里！
“Listen up,” I said softly, and Rampage’s ears perked as the star paladin entered. To my immense relief, he was armed with a gatling gun / grenade machinegun combo… which actually was still not that good for us, but I liked it more than the idea of ‘instakill at two miles’.
"听好了,"我轻声说，当星际圣骑士走进来时，狂暴的耳朵竖了起来。让我大大松了一口气的是，他带着一把加特林机枪/手榴弹机枪的组合枪......实际上这对我们来说还不是那么好，但是我更喜欢这个主意，而不是"在两英里外杀死一个人"。
“Security is here,” Napalm Strike said.
"这里有安全措施,"凝固汽油弹攻击说。
“That’s impossible. I’ve soldiers stationed with shoot to kill orders. She couldn’t be anywhere near here,” said Steel Rain.
"那是不可能的。我已经派出了士兵执行格杀令。她不可能在这附近,"SteelRain说。
“She walked up to us politely as she pleased with her friends. Offered me the location of a stable to speak to the elder.” He hesitated, then added, “I must inform her of this. My oath--”
"她很有礼貌地向我们走来，就像她对她的朋友很满意一样。给了我一个马厩的位置，让我和长者谈谈。"他犹豫了一下，接着又说:"我必须把这件事告诉她。我的誓言——"
“Oath!” Steel Rain snarled, cutting off the other. “What good are oaths these days? We swear to obey senile fools who have the power to force order on this city but refuse to exercise it! Who could use this ship to batter down the walls of the Core and use the riches within to force a real tomorrow. Oaths...” He snorted
"誓言!"钢铁雨咆哮着，切断了另一个。"现在的誓言有什么用？我们发誓服从那些老糊涂，他们有权力在这个城市强制执行命令，但却拒绝执行！谁能用这艘船来摧毁核心的城墙，用里面的财富来强迫一个真正的明天。誓言......"他哼了一声
in disgust. “Only a fool honors a foolish oath.”
厌恶地。"只有傻瓜才会信守愚蠢的誓言。"
“But the elder…”
"但是长辈......"
“Is a dying breed. I’ve spoken with Elder Cottage Cheese and Star Paladin Nova personally about this! Naive optimists like Steelhooves and Stronghoof have no place here. They’re fodder for the city. But ponies like us, who have the vision to see the potential of technology and the audacity to use it… we are the future!” There was no hiding the fervor in his voice; it practically trembled with his every word.
"是一个濒临灭绝的品种。我曾经和老农家奶酪和星星圣骑士诺瓦私下讨论过这个问题！像Steelhooves和Stronghoof这样天真的乐观主义者在这里没有立足之地。他们是城市的饲料。但是像我们这样有远见的小马，看到了技术的潜力，并且大胆地使用它......我们就是未来!"他的声音里毫不掩饰他的激情;他说的每一句话都使他颤抖。
“She’s going to find out eventually!” Napalm Strike protested. “And then there will be questions.”
"她最终会发现的!"凝固汽油弹罢工抗议。"然后就会有问题了。"
Steel Rain chuckled long, low, and slow. “Let her find out. Let her ask her questions. But let her do it after we’ve turned the Arena, the Collegiate, and the Skyport into rubble. Once we are victorious, it won’t matter how she protests. And when the old nag finally expires, either you or I will replace her. And we’ll have a glorious new future to look forward to.”
"钢铁雨"咯咯地笑了起来，长长的，低低的，缓慢的。"让她知道吧。让她问她的问题。但是等我们把竞技场，学院体育馆和空中港变成废墟之后，就让她去吧。一旦我们胜利了，她怎么抗议就不重要了。当这匹老马终于老了，不是你死就是我亡。我们将有一个光辉的未来可以期待。"
“I suppose,” he muttered sullenly.
"我想是吧,"他闷闷不乐地喃喃自语。
“Get that cannon firing. The sooner our enemies’ strongholds are rubble, the better,” Steel Rain finished. “Let me worry about Security.”
"发射大炮。我们的敌人的坚固堡垒越快变成瓦砾越好。"让我来担心安全问题。"
I couldn’t believe my luck! This was exactly what I needed to hear! I bit my lip as I fought the urge to cheer. Then there was a pause, and my ears prickled. Then he said, in a louder voice, “You know, technology is such a wonder. Take this power armor. Rebreather. Repair talisman. The armor itself. The heavy weapons. But do you know what the most useful feature is?” I frowned as I looked at Rampage.
我简直不敢相信我的运气！这正是我需要听到的！我咬着嘴唇，努力克制着要欢呼的冲动。然后是一阵停顿，我的耳朵刺痛起来。然后他用更响亮的声音说:"你知道，科技是一个奇迹。拿这个力量盔甲来说。呼吸器。修理护身符。盔甲本身。重型武器。但你知道最有用的功能是什么吗?"我皱着眉头看着狂暴。
“Eyes Forward Sparkle,” he finished in a grave tone. Then there was a heavy choom as the grenade machinegun blasted the doorway we sheltered in. Rampage grabbed me faster than I could have imagined and threw me away as his exploding rounds blew her into chunks. Clanging forward, I barely got to my feet when he appeared in the doorway and blasted a streak of minigun fire in a spray that made my ass burn.
"眼睛向前闪耀,"他用严肃的语气结束了演讲。然后是一声沉重的枪响，手榴弹机枪轰击了我们躲避的门口。狂暴以我想象不到的速度抓住了我，然后把我扔了出去，他的子弹把她炸成了碎片。我当啷当啷地向前走着，刚站起来，他就出现在门口，喷出一连串的迷你枪火焰，把我的屁股都烧焦了。
We were now officially on plan E: run for my fucking life! So long as Steel Rain
我们现在正式执行e计划:逃命去吧！只要钢铁雨
was on me, P-21 and the others would have a clear shot, as would Rampage when she regenerated. My legs clattered and jerked, my flanks on fire as he ran down the hall behind me. I tried to yank shut hatches as I passed, but they were too heavy for my magic to move. And I didn’t dare stop as he followed. I passed a set of stairs, but with my legs wobbling around beneath me I didn’t dare try and scramble up it. One slip or trip and I would be over.
在我身上，P-21和其他人将有一个明确的射击，当她再生的狂暴。当他跑到我身后的大厅时，我的双腿噼里啪啦地跳动着，我的侧腹部着火了。当我经过的时候，我试图关上舱门，但是舱门太重了，我的魔法动不了。他跟在我后面，我不敢停下来。我走过一段楼梯，但我的腿在下面晃来晃去，我不敢爬上去。一次滑倒或绊倒，我就完了。
I dared look back behind me in time to see him pass through one of the tight hatches, and my jaw dropped in amazement as he twisted his body with ease to allow him to pass through without getting stuck. And here I could barely run and keep ahead of him. I needed a door. Something I could close. I raced past one unarmored mare who stepped behind me only to be blown to pieces by the grenades! “Get out of the way!” I screamed as I ran, passing by another two unicorn onlookers.
我敢回头看看，看到他从一个狭小的舱口通过，当他轻松地扭动身体让他通过而不被卡住时，我惊讶得下巴都掉了下来。在这里，我几乎不能跑在他前面。我需要一扇门。一些我可以关闭的东西。我跑过一匹没有装甲的母马，她跟在我后面，结果被手榴弹炸成了碎片！"让开!"我边跑边尖叫，经过了另外两只独角兽的围观者。
Finally, I passed around a dogleg and onto a steep stair. My legs skidded and slipped as I kicked and scrambled up. I pushed against the hatch overhead, my horn struggling with the rusty wheel. He came around the corner just as it gave with a screech and opened onto a rainswept landing pad at the rear of the ship. A few spotlights illuminated it in glaring light and shadow. I got clear as his grenade machine gun choomed and sprayed me with ricocheting metal.
最后，我绕过一条狗腿，爬上了一个陡峭的楼梯。我的腿打滑滑倒了，我又踢又爬。我顶着头顶上的舱口，我的号角在生锈的轮子中挣扎。他转过拐角时，船发出一声刺耳的响声，正好打开，落在船尾的一块雨水冲刷过的停机坪上。几盏聚光灯在耀眼的光线和阴影中照亮了它。当他的手榴弹机关枪隆隆作响并向我喷射反弹金属时，我逃脱了。
Did I mention that I hated Hoofington?
我有没有说过我讨厌胡芬顿？
Two mares scrambled to me as I lay there, writhing from the dozens of little holes that’d appeared in my hide. “Hold still!” One shouted, pulling out a healing potion. I slurped it down eagerly. There was an alarm sounding somewhere. The mare shouted to the other, “We have to get below decks! Before--”
当我躺在那里时，两匹母马从我身上出现的几十个小洞里翻滚着向我扑来。"别动!"其中一个喊道，拿出一瓶治疗药水。我狼吞虎咽地吃了下去。某个地方响起了警报。母马对另一个喊道:"我们必须到甲板下面去！之前——"
Celestia fired.
塞莱斯蒂娅开火了。
The cannon was at least a hundred feet away, but the force of its firing washed over me like a full-body sledgehammer. Maybe it was the healing potions that spared my ears, but for several minutes I just writhed futilely. Far off, a flower of flame bloomed to the southwest. I recovered first; I supposed that I was more used to getting blown up by this point. I pushed the mares down the hatch; Steel Rain was gone for the moment, and I couldn’t leave them up here.
大炮离我至少有一百英尺远，但它的射击力量像一把全身的大锤冲击着我。也许是药水的作用让我的耳朵幸免于难，但是有那么几分钟，我只是无聊地扭动着身体。远处，一朵火焰之花在西南方盛开。我先恢复过来，我想我更习惯于这个时候被炸飞。我把母马们推进了舱口;钢铁雨暂时离开了，我不能把它们留在这里。
Then I started across the flight deck, but the waves and my ringing head and
然后我开始穿过飞行甲板，但是海浪和我那嗡嗡作响的脑袋
woobly legs sent me sprawling once again. Cold rain sloshed around me. I really wanted some Buck. Something… anything… to get me out of here. The Celestia fired again, a spectacular tongue of flame scraping away the night. Flat against the deck, I had some protection, but it left me with the distinct sensation of being stepped on. “Stop… firing… damn it…” I muttered.
Wooblylegssentmesprawledonceagain.寒冷的雨水在我周围流淌。我真的很想要一些巴克。什么...什么都行...只要能让我离开这里。天堂再次发射，壮观的火舌刮走了夜晚。平躺在甲板上，我得到了一些保护，但这让我有一种被踩踏的明显感觉。"停......开火......该死......"我咕哝着。
“Did you hear that?” Steel Rain’s voice boomed from his armor as he stepped out into the rain. “That was the roar of technology. Of power! It is a sound that will be repeated all across Equestria as we finally take our proper place!”
"你听到了吗?"钢铁雨步入雨中时，他的声音从他的盔甲里发出。"那是技术的咆哮。权力的象征！当我们最终找到合适的位置时，这种声音将在整个Equestria重复播放!"
Slowly, he walked out towards me. “You’ve given me quite the gift, Security. This war. The excuse to purge this city of the filth that keeps us from our legacy. We will obliterate all that stand against us. We will put this technology to use! Not let it rot in some bunker.”
慢慢地，他朝我走来。"你给了我很大的礼物，保安。这场战争。这个借口是为了清除这座城市的污秽，让我们远离我们的遗产。我们将消灭一切反对我们的人。我们将把这项技术投入使用！不要让它在某个地堡里腐烂。"
Slowly I pulled myself to my hooves. “You also murdered innocents…” I said, trying to use my rage to focus. “I saw the execution piles!”
慢慢地，我把自己拉到马蹄上。"你还杀害了无辜的人......"我说，试图用我的愤怒来集中注意力。"我看到了处决堆!"
“Simply ridding the Hoof of a few extra mouths. Why waste it on filth like that?” he said as the rain poured down upon us. “You can never begin to appreciate the importance or usefulness of technology.”
"只是为霍夫减少几张额外的嘴。为什么要把它浪费在这种垃圾上呢?"当大雨倾盆而下的时候他说。"你永远不会开始意识到技术的重要性和有用性。"
I straightened as I looked at him. “Oh, I don’t know. I’ve gained a whole new appreciation for hot showers, soap, and flushing toilets.” Slowly, I smiled. “You know what else I’ve appreciated?” I could imagine him scowling as I swayed a little on my hooves. “Silence.”
我看着他直起身子。"哦，我不知道。我对热水淋浴、肥皂和冲水马桶有了全新的认识。"慢慢地，我笑了。"你知道我还欣赏什么吗?"我可以想象他皱着眉头，我的蹄子轻轻地摆动着。"安静。"
I pointed my hoof behind him, and there, looking down at him, was a unicorn under a rain shielding spell. I’d been right about everything except the hat. Elder Crunchy Carrots looked so rough and raw that she could chew steel and piss nails. Suddenly, I had the sensation that I was about to be grounded for the rest of my life… okay, that was actually possible at this point. The orange mare floated a strangely delicate-looking gun beside her as she glared down with a furious gaze. Around her were dozens of power armor-clad ponies and acolytes.
我把蹄子伸到他身后，在那里，低头看着他，一只独角兽被挡雨符咒困住了。除了那顶帽子，我什么都没说错。老胡萝卜看起来如此粗糙和生涩，她可以咀嚼钢铁和尿指甲。突然，我有种感觉，我的余生都要被禁足了......好吧，在这一点上，这确实是可能的。橙色的母马在她身边漂浮着一支看起来奇怪精致的枪，她怒目而视。在她周围是几十个穿着强力装甲的小马和侍僧。
At her side were Scotch Tape and Glory.
她身边是透明胶带和晨辉。
“Elder? What is going on? I…”
""长老？这是怎么回事？我。。」
“You got a big mouth,” Scotch Tape yelled as she reached to her PipBuck and
"你真是个大嘴巴,"苏格兰胶带一边大叫一边把手伸向她的皮布克
pushed a button. His voice began to play loud and clear. Nopony moved. With my night vision, I saw a dark Lacunae fly overhead and drop my barding and bags beside me. I smirked as I shed the shredded Ranger barding for my own… slightly less shredded security armor. I slipped on one of my saddlebags. The olive filly chuckled, “Courtesy of Radio Blackjack.”
按了个按钮。他的声音开始变得响亮而清晰。Nopony搬走了。透过夜视，我看到一个黑暗的空隙从头顶飞过，把我的手提包丢在身边。我得意地笑了，因为我甩掉了护林员的破烂衣服，换上了我自己的......稍微没那么破烂的安全装甲。我滑倒在我的鞍囊上。橄榄小母马咯咯地笑了起来,"这是黑杰克电台提供的。"
I smirked, tapping my covered PipBuck. “Ain’t technology grand?”
我得意地笑着，敲着我盖上的皮布克。"科技不是很伟大吗?"
“Star Paladin Steel Rain. You have demonstrated gross contempt for our order, your oaths, and your position. Have you anything to say in your defense?” the elderly orange mare said with a fierce glare. I might have done her a favor with that recording, but I had to remember that we still hadn’t settled things.
"圣骑士之星钢雨"。你们公然藐视我们的命令，你们的誓言和你们的地位。你有什么要辩护的吗?"老橙色母马怒目而视地说。我可能帮了她一个忙，录音，但我必须记住，我们仍然没有解决事情。
For several seconds, he stood there, and then slowly turned to face her. “Defense? What have I said that wasn’t the truth!? How many generations have wasted their lives hoarding and gathering weapons and technology only for it to be wasted! How many more generations will we have to suffer the weak incompetence of leaders like you who hide and cower and quote rules and talk of oaths and do nothing!” He pointed his hoof up at her. “For the first time ever, we have an unrivalled weapon against our foes. And you are the only thing standing between us and the future we deserve!”
他在那儿站了几秒钟，然后慢慢地转过身来面对她。"防御？我说的哪些话不是真的？多少代人浪费了他们的生命，囤积和收集武器和技术，只是为了浪费它们！我们还要忍受多少代像你们这样的领导人软弱无能，躲躲藏藏，引用规则，谈论誓言，什么都不做!"他把蹄子伸向她。"有史以来第一次，我们拥有了对付敌人的无敌武器。而你是我们和我们应得的未来之间唯一的障碍!"
As I finished buckling everything into place, I looked around. Then I frowned. This wasn’t going like it should. Now everypony wasn’t just facing the star paladin. Now there were more and more Rangers turning to face the elder. Oh… shit. Why did I suddenly get the sensation that everything was about to blow up?
当我把所有的东西都扣好后，我环顾四周。然后我皱起了眉头。事情进展得不太顺利。现在每匹小马都不仅仅面对着圣骑士明星了。现在越来越多的游骑兵转身面对长者。哦...该死。为什么我突然觉得一切都要爆炸了？
I’d come here to stop a damn war! Not start a second one within the Rangers themselves!
我是来阻止这场该死的战争的！不要在流浪者自己内部开始第二次！
“Are you fucking serious!?” I screamed as I stepped into the middle of it. “What the hell is wrong with all of you? I don’t care if you guard tech or use it, but are you so caught up that you can ignore the shit you’re inflicting on everypony in the Hoof?” I pointed towards the shore. “Right now, Stronghoof and Crumpets are fighting to save lives in the hopes that you are going to pull your heads out of your armored asses. I came here with that hope. I’m willing to give you the location of my stable if you only knock this shit off!”
"你他妈的是认真的吗?"当我走到中间的时候，我尖叫起来。"你们都他妈的怎么了？我不在乎你是否守护或使用技术，但你是否如此专注，以至于可以忽视你对霍夫的每匹马造成的伤害?"我指向岸边。"现在，Stronghoof和Crumpets正在为拯救生命而战，他们希望你们能从装甲车里抽出头来。我带着这个希望来到这里。我愿意告诉你我马厩的位置，只要你把这破玩意儿弄掉!"
Please, I begged mentally. Don’t do this.
求你了，我心里祈求着。别这样。
The elder glanced at me, her sour expression softening a touch. “Thank you for your kind words, Security, but this is an internal manner. For your assistance in bringing this to light, I am issuing you and the young mare here a pardon, and you are free to leave.“ She pointed back down at Steel Rain. “Paladins, arrest him!”
老人瞥了我一眼，她酸溜溜的表情缓和了一下。"谢谢你的客气话，保安，但这是内部规定。为了感谢你帮助我们揭露这件事，我赦免了你和这匹年轻的母马，你可以自由离开了。"她又指了指钢铁雨。"圣骑士们，逮捕他!"
Nopony moved. Then one armored pony slowly approached him. Then another. And another. For once, it seemed as if sanity would prevail and there’d be a hope of the butchery ending. That sanity broke as they reached Steel Rain... and turned to face the elder shoulder to shoulder. And there were more than half standing with him.
Nopony搬走了。然后，一匹装甲小马慢慢地向他靠近。然后是另一个。再来一杯。这一次，似乎理智占了上风，屠杀结束的希望也随之而来。当他们到达钢铁雨的时候，这种理智崩溃了......他们转过身来，肩并肩地面对着老人。有一半以上的人和他站在一起。
“So be it,” the elder said softly.
"那就这样吧,"老人轻声说。
Oh shit--
哦，该死
She pulled the trigger, and a bolt of lightning blasted out. A Ranger leapt in its path, the lightning cascaded over the armor, and his lights went dead.
她扣动了扳机，一道闪电劈了出来。一个游骑兵跃过它的路径，闪电像瀑布一样落在盔甲上，他的灯灭了。
A full barrage of grenades and missiles answered. The elder disappeared behind a shield as she fell back while the rest of the acolytes returned fire. I didn’t care about that, but Glory and Scotch were up there. Out came my assault rifle as the other Rangers realized I was still a threat, and I sent a line of crackling blue bullets against them. The insanity had come to a head. I’d tried my best…
一连串的手榴弹和导弹作出了回应。大女儿退到盾牌后面，其余的侍僧还击。我不在乎那个，但是晨辉和苏格兰威士忌在上面。当其他游骑兵意识到我仍然是一个威胁时，我的突击步枪出来了，我向他们发射了一排噼啪作响的蓝色子弹。疯狂到了极点。我已经尽力了..。
Some ponies refused to do better.
有些小马拒绝做得更好。
“Get Glory!” I screamed and thought as hard as I could as I staggered to some stairs up to the deck with the turret. I don’t know if Lacunae heard me or anticipated me, but she swooped down to where they’d taken cover and disappeared in a purple flash. Beside the Celestia, the Seahorse slowly pulled away. I just needed to live long enough for her to come back for me. I guessed a minute. Maybe two.
"获得晨辉!"我尖叫着，竭尽全力地思考着，摇摇晃晃地走上楼梯，来到有炮塔的甲板上。我不知道Lacunae是否听到或者预料到了我，但是她俯冲到他们藏身的地方，然后在一道紫色的闪光中消失了。在天堂旁边，锡霍斯慢慢地离开了。我只想活到她回来找我为止。我猜是一分钟。也许两个。
Two minutes is a lifetime when eighteen ponies in power armor are shooting at you. They were moving up along the ship as the elder and her acolytes fell back. I was surprised to see Napalm Strike fighting alongside the elder, the other orange unicorn conjuring up sheets of flame and exploding blasts of fire. The elder had been wounded and was being dragged back.
当十八匹穿着强力盔甲的小马向你射击时，两分钟就是一生的时间。他们沿着船向上移动，而长者和她的助手们则向后退去。我很惊讶地看到凝固汽油弹打击并肩作战的老年人，其他橙色独角兽魔术表演的火焰和爆炸的火焰。老人受了伤，正被拖回去。
As horrible as the war was, I couldn’t think of this ship being in Steel Rain’s hooves. Weapons were used for a reason. You didn’t fire them simply because you could! Speaking of Steel Rain, he seemed to come straight at me. The star paladin appeared to have taken a personal dislike towards me, and I responded with bursts of crackling blue bullets. I was taking cover far more than he was, though, as that grenade machinegun sprayed death at me. I had to get higher. Get out of here. Maybe meet up with Stronghoof and Crumpets and work out... something…
尽管战争很可怕，我还是无法想象这艘船会在钢铁雨号的马蹄下。使用武器是有原因的。你解雇他们不仅仅是因为你可以！说到钢铁雨，他似乎直冲我而来。这位明星圣骑士似乎对我有一种个人的厌恶，而我则以蓝色子弹的噼啪声作为回应。不过，当手榴弹机枪向我扫射致死时，我躲藏的时间比他多得多。我必须爬得更高。滚出去。也许可以和Stronghoof和Crumpets见面，然后商量一些事情..。
I couldn’t just give up.
我不能就这么放弃。
I staggered up to the turret, then clambered up a narrow stairway to the top of the heavily armored structure. There was so much gunfire that I wondered if somepony was taking shots at Lacunae and keeping her away. Did Rampage get out? What about P-21 and the sea ponies? “Any time now, Lacunae…”
我摇摇晃晃地走上塔楼，然后爬上一段狭窄的楼梯，来到这座重甲建筑的顶部。枪声如此之大，以至于我怀疑是不是有小马在朝拉库尼开枪，把她挡在外面。狂暴跑出来了吗？P-21和海上小马怎么样？"现在任何时候，空隙......"
Then he climbed atop the turret opposite me. I slipped into S.A.T.S. and fired four bursts… yet only two hit through all that rain. I managed to squeeze off three magic bullets that were far more lucky. They struck his helmet, peeling away smoking steel.
然后他爬上了我对面的塔楼。我溜进了s.a.t.s，发射了四发子弹......但是只有两发子弹穿过了那场雨。我设法挤出了三颗神奇的子弹，这三颗子弹要幸运得多。他们击中了他的头盔，剥落了冒烟的钢铁。
He was a surprisingly gentle-looking stallion…
他是一匹看起来非常温顺的种马..。
Then my world went black as his grenade rifle blasted the turret before me. I screamed as fire erupted in my face, shrapnel cutting deep across my front, and I tried desperately to wipe the blood out of my eye. I had to see! If I couldn’t see… why couldn’t I wipe the blood away?
随着他的手榴弹步枪炸毁了我面前的炮塔，我的世界变得一片黑暗。我尖叫着，脸上突然冒出火花，炮弹碎片深深地划过我的前脸，我拼命地想把眼睛里的血擦掉。我必须看到！如果我看不见...为什么我擦不掉血迹？
That blood was my eye.
那血是我的眼睛。
My hoof touched the fiery ruin of my missing eye. I needed Hydra. A healing potion. Something! My hooves fumbled with my saddlebag. Then a minigun burped, and pain erupted in my shoulder. At least it got the saddlebag off.
我的蹄子碰到了我失去的一只眼睛的火焰残骸。我需要海德拉。一种治疗药剂。什么东西！我的蹄子摸索着我的鞍囊。然后一把小枪打了个嗝，我的肩膀突然疼痛起来。至少它把马鞍袋弄下来了。
“I should thank you again,” he said from somewhere behind me as I scrabbled in my bags. Was that Hydra? Med-X? Rad-X? There was a burst that tore into my cutie mark, and I screamed, jerking as I fell over into the bag and scattered the syringes. “You finally brought it to the fore. Now we can have a new beginning. A proper future.” Another burst along my opposite side. I fired wildly… but once my gun was empty, I couldn’t load it blind. I reached in, desperate to find
"我应该再次感谢你,"他在我身后的某个地方说，我正在我的袋子里摸索着。那是九头蛇吗？Med-x？拉德-x？突然一阵爆裂撕裂了我可爱的伤口，我尖叫起来，猛地跌进袋子里，把注射器撒了一地。"你终于把它摆在了前面。现在我们可以有一个新的开始。一个合适的未来。"另一个沿着我的对面爆发。我疯狂地开枪......但是一旦我的枪空了，我就不能盲目地装子弹了。我伸手进去，急切地想找到
something… anything…
什么东西...任何东西..。
My hoof nudged a smooth case, and I felt it pop open. My other hoof felt the smooth, heavy barrel. I froze, feeling myself grow cold. “I am coming…” Lacunae said in my mind.
我的蹄子轻轻碰了一下一个光滑的外壳，我感到它突然裂开了。我的另一只蹄子感觉到了那个光滑沉重的桶。我僵住了，感觉自己变冷了。"我来了......"拉库尼在我的脑海里说。
Thanks, Lacunae. But I couldn’t leave this ship in the hooves of this mad pony. Inside the saddlebag, I cracked open the breech and slammed the silver bullet home. I heard the weapon latch and hum as the systems interacted with my PipBuck.
谢谢，Lacunae。但是我不能乘着这匹疯狂的小马的蹄子离开这艘船。在马鞍包里，我打开了后膛，砰地一声把银弹打回了家。当系统与我的PipBuck互动时，我听到了武器的闩锁声和嗡嗡声。
“Blackjack, don’t do this,” the Dealer said. I ignored him as I struggled to my hooves. “You know what it will do...”
"黑杰克，别这样,"庄家说。我拼命挣扎，没有理会他的话。"你知道会发生什么......"
“Yeah, but I can’t get much worse...”
"是的，但是我不能再糟糕了......"
“Blackjack... don’t...”
"黑杰克...不要..."
“I’m doing it,” I replied. I had no time for crazy any more. I had to stop this for good, if it was the last thing I did...
"我正在做,"我回答。我再也没有时间发疯了。我必须永远停止这一切，如果这是我做的最后一件事..。
Steel Rain paused in his tirade as I drew the loaded Folly from the saddlebag. “What is that supposed to be?” he asked as I pointed the weapon. “You don’t actually think you can hit anything with that, do you?”
钢铁雨停止了他的长篇大论，当我从鞍囊里抽出装满子弹的蠢货时。"那是什么?"我把枪指向他时，他问道。"你不会真以为你能用它打中任何东西吧?"
“Something... yeah,” I replied, slipping into S.A.T.S. with practiced ease. I mentally hit ‘yes’ over and over again. Then the tingle of the magic fields wrapping around me. The feeling of immobility.
"有点......是的,"我回答，熟练地溜进sat考场。我在脑海里一遍又一遍地回答'是'。然后魔法领域的刺痛包裹着我。一动不动的感觉。
Well… this was it. Folly fired.
就是这样了。被炒鱿鱼了。
Straight down.
直走。
I wasn’t sure which was worse, the sound Folly made as two feet of reinforced armor vaporized beneath me or the monstrous explosion that followed. I felt the wet pressure soaking every inch of my body; trapped against my skin by the magic. Only the magic fields kept me from an instantaneous death, but when they faded I felt the turret lifted higher and higher as if we were all floating away. Everything was tumbling end over end; up and down didn’t exist. There was simply the explosion and the scream of steel and twisting metal.
我不知道哪个更糟糕----两英尺厚的加固装甲在我脚下蒸发时发出的声音还是随之而来的巨大爆炸。我感到湿漉漉的压力浸透了我身体的每一寸，魔法般的压在了我的皮肤上。只有魔法场使我免于瞬间死亡，但是当它们消失的时候，我感觉炮塔升得越来越高，好像我们都漂走了。所有的东西都是一个接一个地翻滚着，上上下下都不存在。只有爆炸声和钢铁扭曲金属的尖叫声。
I hit the cold, salty water, bobbing there as it stung my bloody eye sockets. I could barely move. Somewhere nearby were screams and the noise of the ship. My barding… my braces… everything was dragging me down. Then I heard the sound of groaning metal above me. I lifted my battered hooves as I was crushed beneath the waves into the cold black depths.
我碰到了冰冷的咸咸的海水，它在那里上下摆动，刺痛了我血淋淋的眼窝。我几乎动弹不得。附近某个地方传来了船上的尖叫声和噪音。我的抵押...我的牙套...所有的一切都把我拖垮了。这时我听见上面有金属的呻吟声。我抬起我受伤的蹄子，被海浪碾压进冰冷黑暗的深渊。
Funny, Glory… went my very last thought as I was pushed deeper and deeper into the frigid waters… only a pony with my luck could have a boat dropped on them… twice…
有趣的是，晨辉......当我被推入越来越深的冰冷水域时，我的最后一个念头出现了......只有像我这样运气好的小马才会有一艘船落在它们身上两次.....。
 
F̴͠͡ó̵̕͜͝ớ͘͜t̵͞n̶̡͘͜ó̧͜͡͝t́͜e̕͠:̨̧́L̴̀͢͞ev̴̛͟ę̷̶̴͞l̴͟͜͞͡͞҉ų҉̛p̨̢̧̕͜͡.
F something t t e: l ev l p.
Ę̸̛Ŗ̛͝R̛͠O̴̵̷̢̡͢͝͠Ŗ̢́:̸̵̷̡͟͡O̡Ú̷̴͘T̸̢̧̛̕̕͡҉O̡̨̢̨͠F̛͝͠B̛̀͢͜O̢̨͟͞U̶̡̕͢͜N̡͜D̶̸͜S̷̵͝҉È̵̢̀͞X̴̧́̕͝C̨̢E̴̡̕Ṕ̸T̴͟I̸̛͘͜O̵̵̡͢N̢͟;̶̛Ę̡͜͡Ŕ̸͢Ŗ̛͟҉Ơ̴͝R͢͜:͞҉E̶͜͟S̸̷̴̀O̕҉T̸͟E̛҉R̴̢̀Į̛̀҉Ç̶̡̕L̕͢I̧̛͝͡M̸̶̧̛͝I̷͜͝T̵̷̡̨́͜͜҉ C̷̛͘R̴̀I̶̡̧Ţ̕͠Ì̕C̷̢̕͘Ą̧̀L̵̵̢̛̀҉
O: o t o f b o u n d s x c e something t i o n; r: e s o t e r l i m i t c i c l
 
Author's Notes:
作者笔记:
(I want to thank Kkat for creating FoE, and give massive thanks to Hinds, Bronode, and Snipehamster for spending a record 13 hours making this decent to actually read. Please, all comments are cherished, even if I can’t reply right away. Also, if you enjoyed the story, bits can be donated through paypal to David13ushey @gmail. com. Thank you.)
(我要感谢Kkat创造了FoE，并且非常感谢Hinds，Bronode和Snipehamster花了创纪录的13个小时让这本书真正地被阅读。请珍惜所有的评论，即使我不能马上回复。另外，如果你喜欢这个故事，你可以通过贝宝向David13ushey@gmail捐赠一些内容。Com.谢谢。)