“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my--ARRRGH!”
"我发誓，希望飞起来，把一个纸杯蛋糕塞进我的——啊——!"
“Okay, when I said ‘home’, I was really thinking of something along the lines of Chapel, or the Star House specifically,” I muttered as we trudged along the railroad towards Hoofington; from here, even the dark, roiling clouds over the city somehow looked darker and more… roiling-y... than the clouds everywhere else in the Wasteland. “Heck, even being teleported inside a chlorine-choked stable seemed more likely to me.” The eight metal rails stretched as far ahead and behind us as we could see. Clearly, somepony had gone to great lengths to clear these tracks. The least pitted and rusted lengths from all over the Wasteland, it looked like, had been selected to repair a single line, and the ties that were too badly rotted had been replaced.
"好吧，当我说'家'的时候，我真的想到了一些沿着教堂的路线，特别是星宫的路线,"当我们沿着通往Hoofington的铁路跋涉时，我咕哝着;从这里开始，甚至城市上空黑暗的、翻腾的云层看起来都有点黑暗和......翻腾......比荒原上其他任何地方的云层都要黑。"在我看来，甚至被传送到一个充满氯气的马厩里也更有可能。"我们可以看到，八根金属轨道一直延伸到我们的前方和后方。显然，有些小马已经竭尽全力清除了这些痕迹。从整个荒地来看，最少坑坑洼洼、生锈的长度，看起来，已经被选择来修复一个单一的生产线，而那些严重腐烂的关系已经被更换了。
“The Goddess will not risk any more of her children in that place. Not until the Enervation dilemma is solved,” Lacunae said softly. “You know how multiple alicorns cause the resonation effect. And technically, we are within the old Equestrian territorial province of Hoofington.”
"女神不会再让她的孩子冒险去那个地方了。直到"弱化困境"得到解决,"拉库尼轻声说。"你知道多个海洋公司是如何产生共振效应的。从技术上讲，我们属于胡芬顿这个古老的骑术领地。"
“Technically, the Goddess can kiss my dock,” Rampage muttered as we passed a rusted switching station with a sign that read ‘Hoofington, twenty-two miles.’ “Whine whine whine,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “A few days in Tenpony and you all go soft.” I didn’t feel tired at all! ...Though, of course, I was kinda cheating.
"从技术上讲，女神可以亲吻我的船坞了,"当我们经过一个生锈的转换站时，狂暴低声说道，那个转换站的标牌上写着"胡芬顿，22英里。""呜呜呜呜呜呜,"我转了转眼珠说。"在Tenpony待几天，你们都会变得软弱。"我一点也不觉得累！虽然，当然，我有点作弊。
“Ponies is always whining,” Rover agreed with a snort.
"小马总是在呜呜叫,"罗孚哼了一声表示同意。
“What we really need is a form of transportation like LittlePip’s,” P-21 said. Glory lowered her ears, and he glanced over. “Not necessarily a skywagon. But
"我们真正需要的是像小匹普那样的交通工具,"P-21说。晨辉垂下了她的耳朵，他扫了一眼。"不一定是空中旅行车。但是
some way to get around that doesn’t involve all of us being worn out by walking.” He stopped and looked speculatively at a simple little hoofcar sitting on a covered spur behind the switching station. He rubbed his chin. “Hey, Scotch. Are you pondering what I’m pondering?”
一种不会让我们所有人，都因为走路而筋疲力尽的方法"他停了下来，投机地看着一辆简单的小马车，它停在车站后面的一条有盖铁路上。他揉了揉下巴。"嘿，苏格兰威士忌。你在琢磨我在琢磨什么吗?"
Scotch blinked at the hoofcar and then at the scrubland around us. “I think so, P-21, but where are we going to find a dozen rockets out here?” P-21 looked back at her flatly. “What?” the filly said defensively.
苏格兰人对着马车眨眨眼，然后又对着我们周围的灌木丛林眨眨眼。"我想是的，P-21，但是我们到哪里去找一打火箭呢?"P-21直截了当地回头看着她。"什么?"小母马防御地说。
A little bit later, Scotch had checked over the car and found it good to go. I smiled as they pushed it out and onto the repaired track. “Well, I suppose it’s an improvement, but now you’re going to get all worn out working those levers.” P-21 turned to look at me, and then a small smile grew on his face. “What?” Glory glanced at me apologetically. Rampage grinned, and even Scotch was smirking. “Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked as I took a step back. “What?!”
过了一会儿，苏格兰人检查了一下车，发现车子很好。我笑着看着他们把车推出来，驶上修好的轨道。"好吧，我认为这是一种改进，但现在你要把这些操纵杆都磨损了。"P-21转过身来看着我，然后脸上露出了一丝微笑。"什么?"晨辉抱歉地瞥了我一眼。狂暴的人咧嘴一笑，甚至连苏格兰人也在傻笑。"你为什么那样看着我?"我后退一步问道。"什么?!"
* * *
* * *
“You know, I’m supposed to be the hero… leader… thingy!” I said as I trotted along. “LittlePip’s friends wouldn’t make her do this!”
"你知道，我应该是英雄......领袖......那个什么东西!"我一边小跑一边说。"小皮普的朋友不会让她这么做的!"
“P-21! It’s making that whining noise again,” Scotch Tape said as I hauled the hoofcar along the tracks, the wheels squealing softly despite the grease the filly had pumped into the bearings. In addition to the grease gun, P-21 had found a dozen or so caps, some bits, and some scrap metal while searching the switch house and maintenance shed.
"P-21！它又发出呜呜的声音了。"苏格兰磁带说，我拖着马车沿着轨道行驶，尽管小母马给轴承注入了油脂，车轮还是轻轻地吱吱作响。除了油枪之外，P-21在检查开关房和维修棚的时候还发现了一打左右的盖子、一些零件和一些废金属。
“Because it is pony engine,” Rover said with a snort.
"因为这是小马引擎,"罗孚嗤之以鼻地说。
“Well, work the reins a bit till it stops,” the stallion said as he lay back with his saddlebags pillowing his head. The filly snapped the ropes against my non-metallic ass, making me jump, blush, and glare back at my friends. “See? Pretty responsive, actually.”
"好吧，把缰绳拉紧一点，直到它停止。"这匹种马一边说，一边躺下来，鞍袋枕在头上。小母马把绳子拉在我非金属的屁股上，弄得我跳起来，脸红了，还瞪着我的朋友。""看见了吗？事实上，反应很快。"
“You all suck…” I muttered darkly.
"你们都烂透了......"我暗自嘀咕道。
“It’s just till we get to Hoofington,” Glory assured me as we rolled along. Then she rubbed her chin. “Though… really, we might be able to find a wagon with intact wheels and tires. It’d certainly save us a whole lot of walking.”
"到Hoofington就好了,"我们一路向前，晨辉向我保证。然后她抚摸着下巴。"不过......说真的，我们也许能找到一辆轮子和轮胎都完好无损的马车。这肯定会节省我们很多步行的时间。"
“I thought you said you weren’t going to turn this into a regular thing!” I protested as I tugged against the harness and received another smack from the reins.
"我记得你说过你不会把这变成一件普通的事情!"我一边用力拉着马具，一边抗议，结果又得到了缰绳的一巴掌。
“Yeah, but that was before we found out how sweet it is not to walk our hooves to the nub,” Rampage said with a laugh as she deftly sharpened her horn blade on the spinning rear wheel.
"是啊，但那是在我们还没有发现把蹄子磨到骨头上是多么甜蜜之前,"斯班格一边在纺车上熟练地磨着她的角刀，一边笑着说。
I looked at Lacunae gliding effortlessly beside me with a small smile on her lips. “What?”
我看着她轻松地滑过我身边，嘴角挂着一丝微笑。"什么?"
“Oh… nothing.” The alicorn’s amusement was nearly palpable. “I just thought I’d mention that there’s a train coming this way.”
"哦......没什么。"几乎可以明显地感觉到阿里克松的乐趣。"我只是想提一下，有一列火车正朝这边开来。"
I looked ahead and spotted the dark shape on the tracks ahead of me. Lacunae lifted the hoofcar onto some neighboring spurs as it grew closer and closer and…
我向前看，发现前面铁轨上的黑影。当马蹄越来越近的时候，Lacunae把它举到了邻近的马刺上。
“What the hell is that?” I gasped. Clearly, the idea of having a pony pulling a cart wasn’t new, but I’d never imagined a pony like this before. He was colossal. Twice as big -- no, ten times as big! -- as Big Macintosh! His bright blue hide dripped with sweat as he walked along on hooves almost as big as my entire body! Bright yellow eyes looked down at us, and he gave a great snort at the sight of me hooked to the cart.
"那是什么鬼东西?"我倒抽了一口冷气。显然，让一匹小马拉着马车的想法并不新鲜，但我以前从未想象过会有这样一匹小马。他是个大块头。两倍大----不，十倍大！——大麦金托什！他明亮的蓝色皮肤上滴着汗水，他的蹄子几乎和我的整个身体一样大！明亮的黄眼睛向下看着我们，他一看到我挂在车上就喷了一大口气。
“Wuss…” the giant pony muttered as they rolled past.
"胆小鬼......"当他们经过时，巨大的矮种马咕哝着。
“Goliath! Don’t you be talkin’ to no riff raff!” shrieked a bony yellow unicorn mare from a little platform atop his back. “You let me handle this, ya’hear? You just keep on walkin’ till ya hit the Everfree Spur!”
"歌利亚！别跟那些流氓说话!"在他背上的一个小平台上，尖叫着召唤一只黄色的独角兽。"你让我来处理，听见了吗？你就继续往前走，直到你走到永不自由马刺!"
“Yes, Momma,” he sighed. He pulled three enormous rusty tankers and two flatbeds loaded with hundreds of stacked barrels. Scraggly ponies with hunting rifles watched us sullenly as they rolled by.
"是的，妈妈,"他叹了口气。他拖着三辆生锈的巨型油罐车和两辆平板车，车上装载着成百上千的桶。拖着猎枪的小马在我们身边走过，它们阴沉地看着我们。
There was a bright flash, and the bony unicorn mare appeared before me. “Whatcherbusiness on my here railway?” she asked as she glared at… well… everypony. She twitched in aggravation. “And land sakes, which of yer is the pony in charge?”
有一个明亮的闪光，和骨独角兽母马出现在我面前。"我这条铁路上有什么事?"她一边问，一边怒视着......嗯......每个人。她激动得抽搐起来。"看在上帝的份上，你们哪一个是负责的小马?"
“That would be me,” I said. She took one look at me in the harness and summed up my failed management skills in one look.
"那就是我,"我说。她看了我一眼，一眼就总结了我失败的管理技能。
“Right… really, which o’ yer’s in charge?” she said, then looked up at Lacunae. “Yer with Red Eye?”
"好吧......说真的，你们谁负责?"她说，然后抬头看着Lacunae。"你是红眼吗?"
“What if we are?” P-21 said coolly.
"如果是呢?"P-21冷静地说。
“Well, then I’d say ya better have my pay ready! Express don’t work for no fancy talk of glorious futures. We work on pay per load, ya hear?” she snapped. I noticed she had a huge scar across her belly. Landmine? My own stomach muscles twitched in sympathy. I wasn’t exactly sure I had guts anymore…
""那么，我想你最好把我的薪水准备好！快车不会为了美好未来的幻想而工作。我们是按货付钱的，你听到了吗?"她厉声说道。我注意到她肚子上有一道巨大的伤疤。地雷？我自己的腹部肌肉同情地抽搐着。我不确定我是否还有勇气..。
Glory looked back at the immense pony. “What… happened?!”
格洛里回头看了看那匹巨大的小马。"发生什么事了?!"
She scowled at Glory. “T’aint none o’ yer beeswax, that’s what happened!”
她对晨辉皱起了眉头。"不是没有你的蜂蜡，这就是事情的经过!"
“But… he’s huge!” Glory stammered, her jaw hanging open.
"但是......他块头很大!"晨辉结结巴巴地说，她的下巴耷拉着。
“He’s blue too,” Scotch said dryly. “Just in case you missed that, Glory.”
"他也是蓝色的,"苏格兰人干巴巴地说。"万一你错过了呢，晨辉。"
The yellow unicorn snorted but gave a little smirk at the olive filly. “My boy is the damnedest biggest, strongest, dumbest, hungriest heap o’ pony to ever tangle with the blue weed. Eats a whole damn tree every time we get back around the Everfree!”
黄色的独角兽哼了一声，但对着橄榄色的小母马露出了一丝傻笑。"我的孩子是最大、最强壮、最愚蠢、最饥渴的一群小马，永远不会与蓝色的杂草纠缠在一起。每次我们回到Everfree就吃掉一整棵该死的树!"
“Ah… Killing Joke,” Lacunae said calmly. The yellow mare glared at the alicorn but didn’t deny it. “You’re the Goliath Express then?”
"啊......杀人笑话,"拉库尼平静地说。那匹黄色的母马瞪着橡子，但并不否认。"那你就是歌利亚快车了?"
“Haulin’ anything from FillyDee to Trots to the Hoof to any damn place in between if the pay is right!” the crotchety old unicorn said proudly. Then she looked at Glory and pointed behind us at her son. “He’s Goliath, case ya missed that.”
"只要报酬合理，从菲利迪到小跑，到霍夫，到任何该死的地方都可以!"古怪的独角兽骄傲地说。然后她看着晨辉，指着我们身后她的儿子。"他就是歌利亚，如果你没注意到的话。"
“But what is that stuff?” P-21 asked as he looked at the receding train cars. She glared at him sourly and suspiciously.
"但那是什么东西?"P-21看着渐行渐远的火车车厢问道。她满腹狐疑地瞪着他。
“Wern’t paid ta chat,” she snapped. “Got better things ta do than flap my lips at six idjits and a half-metal dog.”
"我没付钱聊天,"她厉声说。"除了对着六个傻瓜和一条半金属的狗撅嘴，我还有更重要的事情要做。"
I frowned, wondering if I’d have to thump her to get my answers, then reconsidered. Really, she was just trying to make a living. Be kind... “Scotch?” I said as I looked at the filly. “Can you get me... say... a hundred caps?” The filly dug through my bag, found the painted bits of metal, and held them out to the sour mare. “Now you are.” She took the caps in her magic, separated one to look at it sharply, bit it, then shrugged and slipped them into her saddlebags.
我皱起眉头，想知道我是否需要狠狠地揍她一顿才能得到我的答案，然后重新考虑。实际上，她只是想谋生。客气点..."苏格兰威士忌?"我看着小母马说。"你能给我......比如......一百个帽子吗?"小母马从我的包里翻出来，找到了那些漆过的金属片，然后把它们递给那匹酸马。"现在你是了。"她用她的魔法把帽子拿出来，分开一个尖锐的看着它，咬了一口，然后耸耸肩把它们放进她的鞍囊里。
“You fail bribery one oh one?” she snorted, “Kinda blatant, don’tcha think?”
"你没通过贿赂?"她哼了一声,"有点太露骨了，你不觉得吗?"
“You want caps and I want answers. You’d prefer alternative methods?” I asked, getting a few looks from my friends. Was I really threatening this scrawny yellow mare? Even I wasn’t sure. For some reason, I felt my annoyance growing faster than usual.
"你要大写字母，我要答案。你喜欢其他的方法吗?"我问道，朋友们看了我几眼。我真的在威胁这匹黄瘦的母马吗？连我自己都不确定。出于某种原因，我感到自己的烦恼比平时增长得更快。
She seemed to pick up my mood and relented, nodding toward the train. “Barrels are full of some flamer fuel Red Eye wants. Burner Boys been mixin’ it up special in the refinery fer weeks now. The tankers? Dunno and don’t wanna know. Got a whole nother load waitin’ fer us after this one,” she said with a shrug.
她似乎振奋了我的情绪，软化了态度，朝火车点了点头。"桶里装满了红眼想要的火焰燃料。燃烧者男孩已经在炼油厂特别混合了个星期了。油罐车？不知道，也不想知道。还有一大堆东西等着我们呢,"她耸耸肩说。
“And have you been doing this long?” Rampage asked. “Working for Red Eye, I mean?”
"你干这行这么久了?"狂暴问道。"我是说，为红眼工作?"
She twisted her mouth in a scowl before shrugging. “Naw. Red Eye was using Usury to provide the materials. When she couldn’t, Red Eye sent in his boys. Then, rather than do a couple dozen loads, he paid us to move it all fer him in five.” She looked me in the eyes with a frown, but then shrugged. “Anywho… you tell that glowy-eyed son of a bitch I want my caps and no funny bizz’ness when this is over, ya hear? Or else my boy’ll turn that there fancy buildin’ inta his next outhouse!”
她皱起了眉头，然后耸了耸肩。"没有。红眼是利用高利贷提供材料。当她不能的时候，红眼派出了他的手下。然后，他没有装几打货，而是付钱给我们，让我们在五分钟内把货全部运走。"她皱着眉头看着我，然后耸了耸肩。"不管是谁......你告诉那个眼睛发光的狗娘养的，当这一切结束的时候，我要我的帽子，不要搞笑，听到了吗？要不然我儿子就把他下一个厕所的那个奇怪的建筑物变成垃圾了!"
“Momma!” bawled the immense blue pony, his voice echoing across the scubland.
"妈妈!"他的声音在杂草丛中回荡。
“Your train is leaving without you,” Glory said. The bony mare rolled her eyes in scorn.
"你的火车不等你就要开了,"格洛里说。瘦骨嶙峋的母马轻蔑地翻着白眼。
“Goddesses’ sake, anythin’ else profound ya wanna say? Point out it’s a cloudy day? Tell me water’s wet? One winged idjit.” The bony yellow unicorn snorted and with a bright yellow flash disappeared. I could barely make the
"看在女神的份上，你还有什么深奥的话要说吗？告诉我今天是阴天？告诉我水是湿的？一个长翅膀的白痴。"那只瘦骨嶙峋的黄色独角兽哼了一声，带着一道明亮的黄光消失了。我几乎都赶不上
corresponding flash on the back of the enormous pony.
相应的闪光在巨大的小马背上。
I closed my mouth, open to ask her about what had been happening in the Hoof, and then huffed softly. I guess I’d have to find out what was happening in the Hoof the hard way.
我闭上嘴，张开嘴问她蹄子里发生了什么事，然后轻轻地喘了口气。我想我必须硬着头皮去弄清楚霍夫发生了什么。
“You want to stop them? A few good blasts into those barrels should make a pretty impressive show,” Rampage said as Lacunae lifted the hoofcar back onto the tracks.
"你想阻止他们吗？向那些桶里开几枪，应该会给人留下深刻的印象。"当拉古尼把马车举回铁轨时，拉古尼说道。
I sighed. “I’m probably going to regret this, but no. They didn’t attack us, and I really don’t want to know what Goliath can do in a fight. Let’s get home. I want to find out just what’s going on there.” I lowered my head. “Let’s see if I can’t get a little more speed out of these things!” I yelled as I started to run instead of walk. The sooner I got back, the better.
我叹了口气。"我可能会后悔这么做，但不会。他们没有攻击我们，我真的不想知道歌利亚在战斗中能做什么。我们回家吧。我想知道那里到底发生了什么。"我低下了头。"让我们看看我能不能在这些东西上多加点速度!"我边跑边喊，而不是边走。我越早回来越好。
* * *
* * *
It was weird. My back ached, my sides hurt, my ass throbbed, and my neck felt stiff as a board, but my legs were fine and dandy! I'd need to chow down on some gems soon, though; there was a little blinking message in the corner of my eye telling me that my main energy storage was getting low. The cart was squealing, too; something was burning up inside it. Scotch had used up all her grease already, and it smelled like any second the cart was either going to lock up or catch fire, maybe both. We were drawing close to Brimstone’s Fall, though; I could see the outbuildings and the perimeter fence. It looked fine and dandy. Quiet…
很奇怪。我的背部疼痛，我的两侧疼痛，我的屁股抽搐，我的脖子僵硬得像块木板，但是我的腿好极了！尽管我需要尽快吃掉一些宝石，但是在我的眼角有一个小小的闪烁的信息告诉我，我的主要能量储存正在减少。马车也在尖叫，里面有什么东西在燃烧。苏格兰威士忌已经用完了她所有的油脂，闻起来就像马车随时会锁死或者着火，也许两者都有。不过，我们离宾斯通瀑布越来越近了;我可以看到外屋和围墙。它看起来好极了。安静..。
Shit…
妈的..。
“Unhook me. Something’s wrong,” I muttered. Where was the cloud of rock dust? Where were the sentries? I shifted impatiently in the harness, my teeth working the battle saddle bit. Looking up to the north, I could see the Roosehoof Academy; it was smoldering, and the reinforced buildings were now streaked and blackened with soot. Once I was loose, I ran around through the railway gate and into the yard. The doors to the admin office and barracks were open and there were sounds of banging, whooping, and hollering. A small mob of scavengers was picking the buildings clean, tossing anything not easily edible or easily converted into caps aside.
"放开我。有点不对劲,"我喃喃自语。石灰云在哪里？哨兵在哪里？我不耐烦地在马具里挪来挪去，用牙齿咬着马鞍。向北望去，我可以看到罗斯福研究院，它正在冒烟，加固后的建筑物现在已经被煤烟熏黑了。一旦我放松下来，我就穿过铁路大门跑到院子里。通往行政办公室和兵营的大门已经打开，传来了敲打、呐喊和喊叫的声音。一小群食腐动物正在把建筑物清理干净，把那些不容易食用或者容易变成帽子的东西扔到一边。
Then one, a rancid-looking ghoul if ever I saw one, noticed me. His eyes popped wide and he croaked, “Reapers!” You know… right now, I felt like that term was pretty applicable. As the scavengers grabbed what they could and scampered, I chased him down in three leaps and pinned him outside the barracks as the rest ran with whatever knickknacks they could carry.
然后有一个，一个看起来有腐臭味的食尸鬼，注意到了我。他的眼睛睁得大大的，呱呱地叫着:"收割者!"你知道...现在，我觉得这个词非常适用。当拾荒者抓住他们能抓住的东西并且蹦蹦跳跳的时候，我三次飞快的追赶他并且把他困在了营房外面，其他人带着他们能拿的任何小玩意儿跑了。
“What happened here? Where is everypony? Where’s Dusty Trails?” I yelled into his face, beating him with my hooves. All my friends ran up to support me save Lacunae, who hung back.
"这里发生了什么事？每匹小马都去哪了？尘土飞扬的小径在哪里?"我对着他的脸大叫，用我的蹄子打他。我所有的朋友都跑上前来支持我，去救那个犹豫不决的陷阱。
“I don’t know! I don’t know anything!” the boiled-looking pony pled as he curled up defensively.
"我不知道！我什么都不知道!"这匹看起来像煮熟了的矮种马蜷缩起来防御。
“Blackjack,” Glory said sharply, snapping me out of the momentary rage. I looked down at his bent forelegs; I’d snapped both in my tackle and hadn’t even realized it. Hadn’t heard or felt a thing. I backed off, and she fished out one of our Tenpony healing potions. I noticed it was already losing some of its vibrant color. It was potent enough to heal the ghoul enough to hobble, though; some radiation and he’d be right as rain, right?
"黑杰克,"格洛里厉声说道，把我从瞬间的愤怒中拽了出来。我低头看着他弯曲的前腿;我用我的铲球把他的两条前腿都折断了，甚至都没有意识到。什么都没听到或感觉到。我后退了一步，她掏出了一瓶我们的天波尼治疗药水。我注意到它已经失去了一些鲜艳的颜色。不过，它的威力足以治愈那个蹒跚行走的食尸鬼;只要有一点辐射，它就会痊愈，对吧？
“Came here this morning, what with all the attacks. Heard there’d be top-notch salvage,” he croaked. “Please don’t kill me.”
"今天早上来到这里，发生了那么多袭击事件。听说会有一流的打捞设备,"他低声说。"请不要杀我。"
“Then tell me about the attacks,” I said evenly as I backed off enough for him to sit up.
"那就跟我说说那些袭击事件吧,"我一面平静地说，一面让他坐起来。
“They started a few days back. Right after that whole Celestia explosion that killed Security and half the Rangers. Expert merc band hit Megamart hard. I mean hard. Then they scragged the group at the Fluttershy clinic. Then Stockyard, marched the whole village into a radioactive hole and just waited for ‘em to die. Cold… man… cold. Still, might mean for a few new ghoulies,” he chuckled with a wan smile. “Hope some of ‘em are cute.”
"他们几天前就开始了。就在塞莱斯蒂亚的爆炸杀死了保安和一半的游骑兵之后。默克专业乐队狠狠地打击了麦加马特。我是说用力。然后他们在Fluttershyclinic抓住了这群人。然后斯德基亚德把整个村子拖进一个放射性的洞里，等着他们死去。冷酷...男人...冷酷。不过，这可能意味着需要几个新的食尸鬼,"他笑着说，脸上带着苍白的微笑。"希望他们中有些人很可爱。"
That got some hard looks from me, and his grin sickened as his milky eyes darted away. “Anyway, that place was picked clean, and there was already a crew up at the school thing, so we came here. Just been an hour or so.”
我狠狠地瞪了他一眼，他那双乳白色的眼睛一闪而过，露出令人作呕的笑容。"不管怎样，那个地方已经被清理干净了，而且学校的事情已经有了一个团队，所以我们来到了这里。刚过了一个小时左右。"
“Then the academy. Then here,” I murmured. I scowled at him. “But where is everypony?” I demanded.
"然后是学院。"那就在这儿吧,"我低声说。我皱着眉头看着他。"可是，每匹小马都到哪儿去了?"我问道。
“I dunno! There was like nopony here! Honest! You think I can take a whole town of ponies with my bare hooves and swinging cock?” he retorted.
"我不知道！这里好像没有小马！老实说！你以为我光着蹄子和摆动的老二就能征服整个小镇的小马吗?"他反驳道。
“What cock?” Scotch murmured scornfully.
"什么鸡巴?"苏格兰人轻蔑地低声说。
“Oh shit! Did that fall off again?” he said as he looked around under him.
"哦，该死！是不是又掉下来了?"他一边说，一边环顾四周。
I closed my eyes and shuddered with the effort to not buck him into pieces then and there. “Get lost,” P-21 said flatly. The ghoul nodded so fast it looked like his head would come off, little flakes of hide sloughing off in a cloud.
我闭上眼睛，浑身战栗，努力不把他摔成碎片。"滚开,"P-21直截了当地说。那个食尸鬼点头的速度是如此之快，以至于他的头好像要掉下来一样，一小片一小片的皮屑在云层中脱落。
“Right. Yeah. Getting lost! Sooo lost! Where am I now? Heh…” he said as he staggered away from us. “Um… Hoofington Rises and shit…”
"对。是的。迷路了！所以我输了！我现在在哪儿？嘿......"他说着摇摇晃晃地离开了我们。"唔...胡芬顿站起来了..."
I turned and glared right at him. “What did you just say?”
我转过身，怒视着他。"你刚才说什么?"
He froze, clearly torn between running for his life and cowering for mercy. Slowly, I rose to my hooves, my tightening jaw making Taurus’s rifle cock. “Me, say? Fuck! I didn’t say anything… nothing at all…”
他僵住了，显然是在逃命和畏缩求饶之间左右为难。慢慢地，我站起来，绷紧的下巴使金牛座的步枪旋塞。""我，怎么说？操！我什么也没说...什么也没说..."
“What you just said: Hoofington Rises. Why did you say that?” Glory asked as she stepped into my line of fire.
"你刚才说的:胡芬顿站起来了。你为什么这么说?"晨辉走进我的火线时问道。
The ghoul blinked in confusion. “Well… I don’t fucking know. It’s just shit folks say now days. Like ‘Sweet Celestia’ or ‘Luna fuck my ass with a frosty strapon.’ You know?” He looked at each of us desperately. “It’s just what people fuckin’ say!” I chewed the saddle bit. One jerk of my head and I could try out firing it.
食尸鬼困惑地眨着眼睛。"嗯......我他妈的不知道。现在人们说的都是狗屁。比如"甜蜜的天堂"或者"卢娜用冰镇弹簧带操我的屁股"你知道吗?"他绝望地看着我们每个人。"这就是他妈的人们说的!"我咬了一口马鞍。只要我的头一动，我就可以试试开枪。
Be kind, a little yellow pegasus reminded me. Do better… Glory looked back at me, spooked at my anger. She seemed to be asking how I could pardon those four but be so ready to smash some ghoul into paint. I had to admit, it bothered me too. Why was I so angry at him?
善良点，一个小小的黄色飞马提醒我。做得更好......格洛里回头看着我，被我的愤怒吓到了。她似乎在问，我怎么能原谅那四个人，却如此准备把食尸鬼砸成油漆。我不得不承认，这也困扰着我。我为什么对他那么生气？
“Go,” P-21 said darkly.
"去吧,"P-21阴沉地说。
“Can I…” He pointed at his looted goods.
"我能不能.....。。」他指着他抢来的东西。
“Take them and go!” I snapped. That was as kind as I was going to get right now. I knew that, for a scavenger like him, it’d mean the difference between life and death… but that didn’t mean I had to be happy about it. When he was gone I
"带上他们走吧!"我厉声说道。这是我现在能得到的最好的回报了。我知道，对于像他这样的拾荒者来说，这意味着生与死的差别......但这并不意味着我必须为此感到高兴。他不在的时候
stomped my hooves. “Any evidence probably got taken with the scavengers. Who--”
踩我的蹄子。"任何证据都可能被拾荒者拿走了。谁——"
“Blackjack,” Rampage said in a dark and even tone. I looked at her, then saw her pointing towards the metal doors with her armored hoof. I looked and froze. I’d been so occupied with the scavengers and the ghoul that I’d missed the letters painted six feet tall in a maroon paint that wasn’t paint.
"黑杰克,"朗格用阴沉而平静的语气说。我看着她，然后看到她用她那披甲的蹄子指着金属门。我看了看，愣住了。我被那些食腐动物和食尸鬼占据了太多时间，以至于我没有注意到那些用栗色油漆涂成的六英尺高的字母，那可不是油漆。
‘SECURITY’.
安全。
Slowly, I trotted forward, looking at the bloody slop drying in a rusty bucket beside the door and the paintbrush shoved within. I pushed the door open, and a stench rolled over my nose and skin. I didn’t know words to describe that metallic reek. All I knew was that it was bad. I didn’t have a real stomach anymore, but if I did I’d be puking like the rest of my friends.
我慢慢地向前跑去，看着门边一个生锈的桶里正在晾干的血迹，里面的油漆刷也被推进去了。我推开门，一股恶臭滚过我的鼻子和皮肤。我不知道用什么词语来形容那股金属般的臭气。我只知道情况很糟糕。我不再有一个真正的胃了，但如果我有，我会像我的其他朋友一样呕吐。
Lacunae groaned as she slumped. I looked at her sharply. “Enervation?” She nodded. Suddenly, my friends were looking at each other. They all seemed tired and drawn all of a sudden. “It wasn’t like this before,” I said softly, looking at P-21 and Glory for confirmation.
当她摔倒时，陷阱呻吟着。我用锐利的目光看着她。"衰弱?"她点点头。突然，我的朋友们互相看着对方。他们似乎都很疲惫，一下子就被吸引住了。"以前不是这样的,"我温柔地说，看着P-21和Glory等待确认。
“But… aren’t you feeling it?” P-21 asked me in concern.
"但是......你没有感觉到吗?"P-21关切地问我。
That surprised me. No, actually. I didn’t feel the lethargy or pain or anything. I felt just… me. “No. I guess the cybernetics are resistant or something.” I frowned; that didn’t seem right... “I’ll… check inside. You folks see if you can find anything not picked over yet.”
这让我很惊讶。不，事实上。我没有感觉到昏昏欲睡或者疼痛或者别的什么。我感觉就是...我自己。"没有。我想控制论是有抵抗力的。"我皱了皱眉头，感觉不太对劲......"我......进去看看。你们看看能不能找到什么还没被挑选的。"
“She throttles a scavenger and then tells us to scavenge. Inconsistent much?” Rampage muttered, but our eyes met. I was pissed, and she knew this wasn’t the time.
"她掐死了一只食腐动物，然后告诉我们去找食物。前后矛盾吗?"横冲直撞的人咕哝着，但我们的目光相遇了。我很生气，她知道现在不是时候。
I took two steps in and nearly walked right into the recorder hanging from a rope in front of me. I looked at it for the longest moment before remembering that my horn didn’t work… damn it! Slowly, I reached out with my hooves and tried to tug it free. Finally, I just downloaded the contents from the device and gave it a shove, sending it swinging in the darkness. The air was thick and heavy and silent as I selected the audio file.
我走了两步，差点就撞上了挂在我前面的绳子上的录音机。我看了它很长时间才想起我的喇叭坏了...该死！慢慢地，我伸出我的蹄子，并试图拉它自由。最后，我只是从设备上下载了内容，然后推了它一把，让它在黑暗中摇摆。当我选择音频文件的时候，空气是厚重的，沉重的，寂静的。
I looked around. One blue bar on my E.F.S. If this was a trap, and it probably
我环顾四周。我的e.f.s上有一个蓝色的条子。如果这是个陷阱
was, then they were probably using StealthBucks or zebra stealth cloaks.
那他们可能用的是StealthBucks或者斑马隐形斗篷。
For several seconds there was nothing but the sound of machinery and the movement of ponies. Then a male rasped in a familiar boiled voice, “They say the third time’s the charm.”
有几秒钟，除了机器的声音和小马的移动声，什么也没有。然后一个男人用熟悉的粗暴的声音说:"他们说第三次才是最有魅力的。"
Sanguine’s words filled the dank tunnel as if he stood beside me. “I always wondered where that came from? What, is twice ‘not trying hard enough’ and four times ‘give up ‘cause you’re fucked’? Always wondered that.”
桑吉的话充满了潮湿的隧道，仿佛他就站在我旁边。"我一直想知道这是从哪里来的？什么，两次'不够努力'，四次'因为你完蛋了而放弃'？我一直很好奇。"
I found myself trotting faster, my augmented eyes picking out the gray rails of the tunnels and avoiding pitfalls as I looked for mines, tripwires, or other traps. The air felt wrong. It felt wet.
我发现自己跑得更快了，我那双增强的眼睛在寻找地雷、绊网或者其他陷阱的过程中，挖掘出了隧道的灰色轨道，并且避开了陷阱。空气感觉不对劲。感觉很潮湿。
There was another long pause. “I guess it’s not true, though. We’ve been waiting for hours, Security… and you still haven’t shown up. No words from that DJ fuck either. But I know you, Security. I know that you didn’t die with that ship. I don’t care what they fucking say. You’re alive, because if you’re dead then I’m fucked anyway. And if you’re alive, then you’re following me. You’re just taking your fucking time.”
又是一阵长时间的沉默。"不过，我想这不是真的。我们已经等了好几个小时了，保安......你还是没有出现。那个该死的DJ也不说话。但我了解你，保安。我知道你没有和那艘船一起死。我才不管他们说什么。你还活着，因为如果你死了，我就完了。如果你还活着，那你就是在跟踪我。你只是在慢慢来。"
I sped up, trotting past the little security station halfway in. Now I was tripping every now and then as I raced forward.
我加快了速度，小跑着穿过半路上的小警卫站。现在当我向前冲的时候，我不时地被绊倒。
“Well… let me give you some more incentive to hurry your ass along. I want that program. My time is fucking up. I can’t stay here anymore. That thing in the Core is awake thanks to you. The shit is going to happen, all because of you. Red Eye might… MIGHT… be able to stop it. Who the fuck knows? But I need a bargaining chip if he’s going to keep me safe and sound. I need Chimera. For that, I need EC-1101.”
"那么......让我给你一些动力，让你赶紧走吧。我想要那个项目。我的时间到了。我不能再呆在这里了。多亏了你，核心里的那个东西醒了。狗屎要发生了，都是因为你。红眼也许...也许...能够阻止它。谁知道呢？但如果他想保证我的安全，我需要一个谈判筹码。我需要奇美拉。为此，我需要EC-1101。"
There was a horrible moment of silence, then the grinding of machinery and the terrified sniffling and sobbing of ponies. “Do it.”
接着是一阵可怕的寂静，接着是机器的摩擦声和小马吓坏了的抽泣声。"去做吧。"
Psychoshy’s voice broke in. “Sanguine… You can’t be serious. Stockyard was fucked up enough!”
心理害羞的声音突然响了起来。"乐观......你不是认真的吧。牲畜围场已经够乱的了!"
“Throw ‘em in! Now!” he snarled. “All of them. Save her for last!”
"把他们扔进去！现在!"他咆哮道。"他们所有人。把她留到最后!"
“Whatever,” muttered an unfamiliar voice. “Toss ‘em.”
"随便啦,"一个陌生的声音咕哝着。"扔掉它们"
And then the screams began… just like Gorgon had screamed. The gnashing metal noise became muted. Pulpy. I didn’t think, I simply ran. I ran as if I could somehow magically sprint back in time. I raced faster and faster, propelled by the screams of those ponies that I was already too late to save.
然后尖叫声开始了...就像戈耳贡尖叫一样。咬牙切齿的金属声变得沉寂。果肉。我没有思考，我只是简单地跑。我跑起来就好像我可以神奇地回到过去一样。我跑得越来越快，被那些已经来不及拯救的小马的尖叫声所推动。
And then, suddenly, I was in the round cavern, the ledge ending abruptly behind me as I tried to stop. Momentum carried me onwards. It flipped me forward into that dark and still void. My hooves flailed at the air as I twisted, hoping there was some magical telescopic leg thing that would let me grab the edge. But there wasn’t. And I fell as horrified screams played out of my leg.
然后，突然，我在圆形的洞穴，突然结束在我身后，因为我试图停止。动力把我带向前进。它把我推向那个黑暗而寂静的空间。我的蹄子在空中挥舞着，我扭动着，希望有一些神奇的伸缩腿，让我抓住边缘。但事实并非如此。我摔倒了，腿上发出惊恐的尖叫声。
The pool below broke my fall. It wasn’t very big… wasn’t very deep… but it was deep enough. My metal legs sent me straight to the bottom as I struggled and flailed. I opened my mouth, and then I tasted it. I screamed into the thick soup and tasted blood.
下面的游泳池阻止了我的坠落。它不是很大......不是很深......但是足够深。当我挣扎和挥舞时，我的金属腿直接把我送到了海底。我张开嘴，尝了尝。我尖叫着冲进浓汤，尝到了血的味道。
He’d put them all through the crusher.
他会把他们全部通过粉碎机。
I flailed and struggled, trying to find footing beneath me. A little O2 gauge began to drop. I might have been cybernetic, but I still needed to breathe. I could see nothing. Hear nothing. I felt bits bobbing and brushing against me as my hooves flailed and kicked out under me. I was going to drown in the crushed-up remains of dozens of pony workers.
我挣扎着，挣扎着，试图找到自己脚下的立足点。一个小的氧气表开始下降。我可能已经控制了自己，但我仍然需要呼吸。我什么也看不见。什么都别听。当我的蹄子在我脚下乱踢乱踢时，我感觉到一些东西在我身上上下起伏。我差点淹死在几十个小马工人的残骸里。
Then I felt hooves grab my neck and pull. My head broke the surface, then my mouth. I automatically took a breath; a reeking, coppery, iron breath. I wanted to be sick at this. I wanted to wake up. “Stop it, Blackjack! Stand up!” P-21 shouted in my ear.
然后我感觉到蹄子抓住我的脖子，拉了一下。我的头露出水面，然后是我的嘴。我不由自主地吸了一口气，一口臭气熏天、铜臭味熏天、铁臭味熏天的气息。我真想吐在这上面。我想醒过来。"住手，黑杰克！站起来!"P-21在我耳边叫喊。
The interruption took only a moment or two, but it was just enough for me to calm down. I got my hooves under me and stood. My muscles shook; my legs remained steady. The foul mixture of pony and rainwater was little more than chest high at the base of the crusher. The small blue stallion carefully helped me along to where the ramp led up to the ledge, my superior weight threatening to drag me down and make me slip. I’d been lucky to fall where I had and not get speared by the many spires of rock and broken bone.
打断一下只需要一两分钟，但足以让我冷静下来。我把蹄子压在身下站了起来。我的肌肉颤抖着，双腿却保持着平稳。小马和雨水的混合物在破碎机的底部只有齐胸高。那匹蓝色的小种马小心翼翼地扶着我走到斜坡通向窗台的地方，我的超重威胁着要把我拖下去，让我滑倒。我很幸运地掉到了原来的地方，没有被许多尖顶的岩石和断裂的骨头刺中。
Right. I was lucky. Brimstone’s Fall… wasn’t.
对。我很幸运。硫磺会的坠落...不是。
“You came in after me?” I asked, feeling the fetid mixture coating me slowly
"你跟在我后面进来的?"我问道，慢慢地感受着我身上散发着恶臭的混合物
dripping off. I was so glad my low light vision was in black and white. I could imagine the gray tones as just mud.
滴落。我很高兴我的弱光视力是黑白的。我可以想象灰色调只是泥巴。
“Nothing good ever comes from you going alone, Blackjack,” P-21 said with a small smile. Then he looked over at the… remains. I guessed there was enough light coming in from above for him to get a good enough look. “How could anypony do this?”
"你一个人去是不会有好结果的，黑杰克,"P-21微笑着说。然后他看了看那些...残骸。我猜想从上面照进来的光线足够让他看清楚。"怎么会有小马这么做呢?"
I stared at the gory pool; there was no way to tell how many ponies had been put through the machine. Dozens? A hundred? How many ponies had been working here? One thing was clear, though: Sanguine knew exactly how to get my attention. He’d known there was one sure-fire way to bring me to him. This was it. Then my ears twitched just a little bit.
我凝视着血淋淋的池塘，没有办法知道机器里放了多少匹小马。几十个？一百？有多少匹小马在这里工作？不过，有一件事很清楚:桑吉恩完全知道如何引起我的注意。他知道有一个万无一失的方法可以把我带到他身边。就是这个。然后我的耳朵微微抽搐了一下。
“Blackjack.”
"黑杰克。"
I stared at P-21, and the mare’s voice croaked out again. “Blackjack.”
我盯着P-21，母马的声音又低沉了起来。"黑杰克。"
I turned and saw the blue bar on my E.F.S. align with the hopper bin of the rock crusher. A chill ran through me a moment, and then I was scrambling up to the lip of the bin. Thickened blood smeared the side; a small heap of limbs and burst flesh lay in the bottom. And then part of the heap moved. Eyes opened in the gloom. “Hey, Blackjack,” croaked Dusty Trails.
我转过身，看到我的e.f.s.上的蓝色杆与碎石机的料斗对齐。我感到一阵寒意，然后爬到垃圾箱的边缘。侧面有增厚的血迹;底部有一小堆四肢和爆裂的肉。然后堆的一部分移动了。眼睛在黑暗中睁开了。"嘿，Blackjack,"DustyTrails低声说。
I didn’t hesitate. I jumped into the gruesome hopper and slid down beside the sand-colored earth pony. “Dusty! You’re alive…?” I couldn’t believe it.
我没有犹豫。我跳进那可怕的漏斗，滑到那匹沙色的地球小马旁边。"达斯丁！你还活着...?"我简直不敢相信。
“Take more than a rock crusher ta kill me.” She looked at my legs and smiled a little more. “See you got yerself some fancy new legs.”
"用石头砸死我是不够的"她看了看我的腿，又微笑了一下。"看来你已经有了一双漂亮的新腿。"
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to smile. “Yeah. They’ve even got a radio built in.” I looked at P-21 as he pulled the torn gobbets of flesh away with his hooves so we could see how she was trapped. He looked even more ill as he examined the area.
我使劲咽了口唾沫，强迫自己微笑。"是的。他们甚至内置了一台收音机。"我看着P-21，他用蹄子把撕裂的肉块拉开，这样我们就可以看到它是如何被困住的。当他检查这个地区时，他看上去病得更厉害了。
She gave a weak little smile. “He stopped the feeder when I was halfway through the jaws.” I looked down at her hips. “Cast… cast some healing magic on me. Made sure I survived,” she said, and I reached out and held her. She was burning up with fever. “Told me… give you a message. Told me yesterday… if I hung on… you might kill him. Fucking… bastard…” She coughed. “He was
她微微一笑。"当我进到下颚的一半时，他停下了喂食器。"我低头看着她的臀部。"施...施了一些治愈魔法在我身上。确保我能活下来,"她说，我伸出手，抱住了她。她因发烧而发烧。"告诉我......给你带个口信。昨天告诉我...如果我坚持下去...你可能会杀了他。该死的...混蛋..."她咳嗽道。"是的
right…I hung on… knew you’d come. Knew… Glory would… save you…”
对...我坚持...就知道你会来。知道......晨辉会......拯救你......"
“Right. Now you hang on, and we’ll find a way for Glory to save you. Just… hang on,” I said with a sniff… but I couldn’t see how. Her waist was trapped in a jagged three-inch-wide hole. Celestia only knew what condition her legs were in. I didn’t have a second life support jar for her head.
"对。现在你要坚持住，我们会想办法让晨辉来拯救你。"等一下,"我闻了闻说......但我看不出怎么办。她的腰部陷进了一个参差不齐的三英寸宽的洞里。塞莱斯蒂亚只知道她的腿是什么状况。我没有为她的头准备第二个生命支持罐。
“Don’t be an idjit…” she murmured with a frown. “You ain’t got time ta waste on me. He’s going ta Flank next.”
"别傻了......"她皱着眉喃喃地说。"你没有时间浪费在我身上。接下来他会从侧翼进攻。"
“How’d he take you out?” P-21 asked.
"他怎么把你带出来的?"P-21要求。
“Snipers. Armed with beam rifles. Took a few hours, but two of ‘em picked off everypony with a gun. Then griffins dropped stun grenades. Rounded us up with a bunch o’ freaks. After that, they marched us down here. Said they were waiting for you. Ghoul was half out of his mind. Kept waitin’ for you to show. Talkin’ to himself. Jumpin’ at his own shadow. Finally he got sick o’ waitin’ and… started tossin’ folk in. Saved me for last.”
"狙击手。手持横梁式步枪的。花了几个小时，但他们中的两个人用枪干掉了每一匹小马。然后格里芬扔下了眩晕手榴弹。用一群疯子把我们围起来。在那之后，他们把我们带到这里。说他们在等你。食尸鬼已经快疯了。一直等着你的出现。自言自语。跳到自己的影子里。最后他在等待的时候病了...开始把人扔进去。把我留到最后。"
“Griffins. Red Eye,” I muttered.
"狮鹫。"红眼睛,"我喃喃自语。
“Mebbe… if so, the way they were looking at him… if you don’t kill him, they will. They’re powerful ticked off at the moment.” She coughed again.
"Mebbe......如果是这样，他们看他的眼神......如果你不杀他，他们就会杀了他。他们现在很有权势。"她又开始咳嗽了。
“Funny. I’m powerfully ticked off at him too,” I said with a sniff.
"有意思。我也很生他的气,"我闻了闻说。
She rubbed her face with a gory hoof and looked at me. “Think you can get something for me? Doubt they found it. Weren’t much interested in lootin’.” She pointed towards the exit tunnel. “It’s that way.”
她用血淋淋的蹄子蹭了蹭脸，看着我。"你能帮我买点东西吗？我怀疑他们找到了。我们对放松不感兴趣。"她指着出口处的隧道。"在那边。"
I jumped and clambered out of the hopper, spotting the wooden crate in the direction she’d pointed. Inside was a large clay jug. I recognized it from the Arena and carefully cradled it as I walked back to the hopper. She looked up at me with a lazy smile. “That sure is some funny zebra trottin’ yer doin’ on them fancy legs of yours.”
我跳起来，从漏斗里爬了出来，发现木箱正朝着她指的方向走。里面是一个大陶壶。我从竞技场认出了它，走回跳台时小心翼翼地抱着它。她抬头懒洋洋地笑着看着我。"你那双美腿上的斑马纹一定很有趣。"
“The original owner was half zebra,” I replied as I pulled out the stopper and was assaulted by the potent alcohol fumes. It actually cut through the stench of the room. I brought the opening to her lips, and she steadied it with her forehooves and took a long drink.
"原来的主人有一半的斑马血统,"我一边拉开塞子一边回答道，这时我被烈性酒精烟雾袭击了。它实际上可以消除房间里的恶臭。我把开口放到她的嘴边，她用前蹄稳住开口，喝了一大口。
Finally, she sighed. “Muther’s milk…” She sniffed and looked up at P-21 and me. “Promise me you’ll drink the rest over his damn corpse.” I couldn’t trust myself to speak; I jerked my head in some spastic imitation of a nod. “Can you send me on muh way?”
最后，她叹了口气。"母亲的牛奶......"她嗅了嗅，抬头看着P-21和我。"答应我你会在他的尸体上喝完剩下的"我无法相信自己会说话;我猛地抬起头，像是痉挛似地点了点头。"你能送我上路吗?"
It was Flank and Mini all over again. She was dead; we all knew it. It was just a question of how long it would take her to die. Do it, Blackjack. Do it! Draw that fucking gun and give her peace! Yet I just sat there like an idiot. I couldn’t move, couldn’t draw Vigilance and give her the peace she deserved so much. “I’m sorry…” I murmured as I hung my head. “I... I wish I could. After everything… everything I’ve been through… I still can’t grant you that…”
又是米妮和弗兰克的故事。她死了，我们都知道。问题只是她需要多长时间才会死。动手吧黑杰克。动手吧！拔出那该死的枪，让她安息！然而我却像个白痴一样坐在那里。我动弹不得，不能引起警惕，不能给她应得的安宁。"对不起......"我低下头喃喃自语。"我.....。.我希望我可以。在经历了这么多......这么多事情之后......我还是不能同意你......"
“T’aint yer fault yer a decent mare,” she replied. Then she looked at P-21 calmly, and he didn’t hesitate.
"做一个体面的母马不是你的错,"她回答。然后她平静地看着P-21，他没有犹豫。
“Med-X?” P-21 asked softly as he opened his saddlebag. “Five doses?”
"Med-X?"P-21打开鞍囊轻声问道。"五剂?"
“Five doses? Mare can really end her pain with that much,” she said softly as he took out the syringes. As if it were no matter at all, she began to inject herself with the chems. “Oh… Blackjack. Can you do me one last thing?”
""五剂？"马尔真的可以结束她的痛苦与那么多,"她轻声说，因为他拿出了注射器。她开始给自己注射药剂，仿佛这根本不重要似的。"哦......黑杰克。你能帮我做最后一件事吗?"
I slipped the moonshine into my saddlebag as I looked at her. “Name it.”
当我看着她的时候，我把月光放进了我的鞍囊。"说吧。"
“On yer way out, there’s this button…” she said, her voice growing softer as more of the potent painkiller entered her system. “Red… key is in my hat…” She sighed. “Was gonna use it… but… got stunned before I could.”
"在你出去的路上，有一个按钮......"她说，随着更多强效止痛药进入她的身体，她的声音变得越来越柔和。"红色......钥匙在我的帽子里......"她叹了口气。"我本来要用的......但是......还没来得及动手就晕倒了。"
“I’ll take care of it,” I promised. I could do that at least.
"我会处理的,"我答应他。我至少可以这么做。
“Take care of things… better than I did.” She sniffed as tears started to run down her cheeks. “It… it was a good mine… Blackjack. I did right… didn’t I?” she begged as foam gathered at the corner of her lip. “Celestia’ll… be proud… won’t she…?”
"把事情处理得......比我好。"她吸了一口气，眼泪开始从脸颊上流下来。"这...这是个好矿...黑杰克。我做得对，不是吗?"她像泡沫聚集在嘴角一样乞求。"塞莱斯蒂娅会......感到骄傲......不是吗......?"
“She will. I know she will,” I said as I held her, listening to her raspy breathing becoming more and more broken. “Thank you… thank you for your help.”
"她会的。我知道她会的,"我一边抱着她一边说，一边听着她刺耳的呼吸变得越来越脆弱。"谢谢......谢谢你的帮助。"
“T’wernt nothing…” She smiled slackly, pulled her battered hat off, and set it atop P-21’s head. “Fer tha… chems… best ta… settle… debts…”
"没什么......"她懒洋洋地笑了笑，脱下她那顶破旧的帽子，把它戴在P-21的头上。"为了...钱...最好...还清...债务..."
He nodded, and then said softly, “Ayep.”
他点点头，然后轻轻地说:"是的。"
She slowly curled forward, pressing her face into my metallic limbs. Then she let out her breath in one slow rasp. Her blue bar disappeared from my E.F.S.
她慢慢地向前弯着身子，把脸紧贴在我金属般的四肢上。然后她缓缓地吐出一口气。她的蓝色棒子从我的e.f.s上消失了。
And that was that.
就是这样。
It took me a few minutes to pull myself away and crawl out of the hopper again. I reached down, hooked my hoof to P-21’s, and pulled him up after me. I sat there, hanging my head. “This was--”
我花了几分钟的时间才挣脱出来，再次爬出了那个漏斗。我弯下腰，把我的蹄子钩在P-21上，然后把他拉上来跟着我。我坐在那里，低着头。"这是——"
He kicked me so hard that I was knocked on my side. I blinked up at him in astonishment as he glared down at me, his breathing taut and hot. My head spun from the impact, and all I could do was gawk up at him as he sat on my chest.
他用力踢我，把我打翻在地。我惊讶地眨着眼睛看着他，他怒视着我，他的呼吸急促而炽热。我的头因为撞击而转动，我所能做的就是呆呆地看着他坐在我的胸口上。
“If you say the words ‘my fault’, I will hit you again,” he said sharply, then gritted his teeth and spoke slowly, his voice tense. “This wasn’t your fault. None of this. You didn’t know this was going to happen.” He stared down at me. “And if you start with that ‘I’m scum’ or ‘I fucked up’ or anything, I will beat it out of you!”
"如果你说'我的错'，我会再打你的,"他厉声说，然后咬紧牙关，慢慢地说，他的声音很紧张。"这不是你的错。这些都不是。你不知道会发生这种事。"他低头看着我。"如果你一开始就说'我是人渣'或者'我搞砸了'之类的话，我会把你打得屁滚尿流!"
“I should’ve dealt with Sanguine sooner,” I said. “If I’d--” Again his hooves thumped down against my face. Hard. “I didn’t--” Another thump. “I coulda--” Thump. Finally we just lay there, him panting and me feeling blood trickle from my swelling lip and nostril.
"我应该早点和桑吉纳打交道的,"我说。"如果我——"他的蹄子又重重地敲打着我的脸。用力。"我没有——"又一声重击。"我可以——"砰。最后我们只是躺在那里，他气喘吁吁，我感觉血从我肿胀的嘴唇和鼻孔里流了出来。
We just stared into each other’s eyes, angry tears dancing in his. “I won’t let you hate yourself for this.” Damn it...
我们只是凝视着对方的眼睛，愤怒的泪水在他的眼眶里跳舞。"我不会让你因此而憎恨自己。"该死..。
He was right. As much as my instinct wanted to pin this all on myself, I couldn’t. This was one burden that wasn’t mine to bear. I smiled. “Then let’s get the sonovabitch that did this.” He helped me to my hooves and then tugged Dusty’s wide brimmed hat more square atop his brushy mane.
他是对的。尽管我的直觉想把这一切都归咎于我自己，但我做不到。这是一个我无法承受的负担。我笑了。"那我们就去找那个狗娘养的。"他扶着我的蹄子，然后把达斯蒂的宽边帽子拉得更直，盖在他毛茸茸的鬃毛上。
We headed out, and he murmured, “I’m going to tell Scotch. About me. Her mom. Everything.” He sighed softly, rolling his eyes a little. “I guess we messed with her memories for nothing then, huh?”
我们走出去，他低声说,"我要告诉苏格兰人。关于我。她妈妈。一切。"他轻轻地叹了口气，转了转眼珠。"我想我们无缘无故地搅乱了她的记忆，对吧?"
“We wanted to protect her and keep her happy,” I replied as we made our way up. I kept a careful eye on him. He looked horrid and exhausted from the
"我们想保护她，让她开心,"我们一边走一边回答。我仔细地看着他。他看起来很可怕，精疲力竭
Enervation, but I didn’t think he was in flesh melting territory yet. The field wasn’t quite that strong. Still, it’d make the mine a deathtrap for anyone working here. One nick that wouldn’t heal and a pony would be finished. And there were still a lot of gems in these rocks and tunnels…
精神萎靡，但我不认为他已经进入了肉体融化的领域。这个领域并没有那么强大。尽管如此，对任何在这里工作的人来说，这个矿场都是一个危险的地方。一个无法愈合的伤口就能治愈一匹小马驹。在这些岩石和隧道里还有很多宝石。
I spotted the red button she’d mentioned and grinned, rubbing my metal hooves together. Then I reached for the shiny, candy-like button -- and P-21 bumped my hoof aside. “You ever think you should find out what a button does before you push it?” he asked as he lay on his back and looked at the gap between the button and the wall. “Case in point… dynamite.”
我发现了她提到的那个红色按钮，咧嘴笑着，摩擦着我的金属蹄子。然后我伸手去拿那个闪闪发亮的糖果一样的按钮——P-21把我的蹄子撞到了一边。"你有没有想过，在你按下按钮之前，应该先弄清楚它是干什么用的?"他仰面躺着，看着纽扣和墙之间的缝隙问道。"很好的例子......炸药。"
I blinked and grunted. “Why would Dusty want to blow us up…?”
我眨了眨眼，咕哝了一声。"为什么达斯迪要把我们炸飞......?"
“She didn’t. She wanted to blow up anypony stupid enough to push a button,” he said as he cradled the hat in his hooves and pulled a metal key out of the brim. He slipped it into something on the backside of the button and turned it.
"她没有。她想炸死任何蠢到去按按钮的小马,"他一边说，一边把帽子塞进蹄子里，从帽檐里拔出一把金属钥匙。他把它塞进按钮后面的什么东西里，然后转动它。
I reached for it once more… and once more he smacked my hooves away. “But… key!”
我再一次伸手去拿......他又一次拍了拍我的马蹄。"但是......钥匙!"
“I promise you can press the button…” He looked a little more and then nodded. “Looks like the key activates a delay and a fuse.” He whistled softly. “She rigged the mine to blow. Guess the idea would be get down here, get folks out through a tunnel or something, and blow the mine behind them. Smart.” He sighed as he looked back the way we’d come. “Too bad the stun grenades ruined the getaway plan.”
"我保证你可以按下按钮......"他看了看，然后点了点头。"看起来钥匙启动了延迟和保险丝。"他轻轻地吹着口哨。"她在地雷上装了炸弹。我猜他们的想法是从这里下来，让人们从隧道或者其他什么地方出去，然后炸掉他们身后的矿井。聪明。"他叹了口气，回头看着我们走过的路。"可惜眩晕弹毁了我们的逃跑计划"
“Sooo… button?” I asked with a grin.
"那么......按钮?"我咧嘴笑着问。
He sighed and closed his eyes. “Wait fifteen minutes for us to finish searching up top and get cleared out. Push it, then run for your life. Outside.” Then he trotted out, mumbling to himself about babysitting. I sighed as I waited, tapping my hoof against the wall beside the shiny button and sucking on chips and chunks of tasty gems. Each one gave me an invigorating rush, which in turn gave me inspiration for new and interesting ways to handle the job before me. Should I push it slowly and deliberately? Mash it with enthusiasm? A rear hoof jump push? It wasn’t every day a girl got to push a button rigged to a bunch of explosives.
他叹了口气，闭上了眼睛。"等十五分钟，我们就可以完成上面的搜索，然后离开。推动它，然后为你的生活奔跑。在外面。"然后他小跑出去，自言自语地说着要当保姆的事。我叹了口气，一边等待着，一边用蹄子轻敲着闪亮的按钮旁边的墙壁，吮吸着美味的薯片和宝石。每一个都让我精力充沛，这反过来又给了我灵感，让我想出新的有趣的方法来处理我面前的工作。我应该慢慢地、有意识地推动它吗？热情地搅拌一下？后蹄跳推？并不是每天都有一个女孩去按一个装有炸药的按钮。
“You sure are one twigged mare,” the Dealer murmured. I glanced over my
"你真是一匹娇生惯养的母马,"商人低声说。我扫视了一下我的眼睛
shoulder at him. “You have a friend die in your hooves, and now you’re giddy with glee at pushing a button while soaked in the blood of murdered ponies.”
肩膀靠着他。"你有一个朋友死在你的蹄子里，而现在你却沉浸在被谋杀的小马的鲜血中，为按下按钮而欣喜若狂。"
“And talking to you,” I added, refusing to let him interrupt my contemplation of buttons and the pushing of them. “P-21 already convinced me not to kick myself for not being able to stop this. Soon as I push this, we’ll head to Flank and I’ll try to think up exciting and creative ways to kill Sanguine.”
"还有跟你说话呢,"我补充说，不让他打断我思考按钮和按钮的动作。"P-21已经说服我不要因为无法阻止这一切而责怪自己。一旦我按下这个按钮，我们就去弗兰克，我会试着想出刺激而有创意的方法来杀死桑吉尼。"
“Why do you think Sanguine hit Stockyard?” Dealer asked softly.
"你认为桑吉尼为什么要袭击牲畜围场?"商人轻声问道。
“Huh?” I blinked as I looked back at him. “Because he’s a murderous asshole?”
"啊?"我回头看他的时候眨了眨眼睛。"因为他是个杀人犯?"
“Think about it for a second. He attacks Megamart. Why?”
"想一想吧。他攻击超级市场。为什么?"
I frowned. “To draw me out.”
我皱起了眉头。"把我引出来。"
“But why Megamart? Why not… say… Toll? Or Flotsam?” he asked calmly. “They’re closer to him. Instead he went all the way over to Megamart. Why?”
"但是为什么是超级市场呢？为什么不...说...通行费？还是漂浮物?"他平静地问道。"他们离他更近。相反，他大老远跑到了Megamart。为什么?"
I sighed and set aside my contemplation of button-ness. “Probably because they helped me?”
我叹了口气，把我对纽扣的沉思放在一边。"也许是因为他们帮了我?"
“But how would he know that?” he asked softly. “And after that he hit the clinic. And then Stockyard. Why Stockyard? They never helped you. Then they burned the academy. There’s not even anypony there, but he burned it. Why?”
"但他怎么会知道呢?"他轻声问道。"然后他去了诊所。然后是牲畜围场。为什么是牲畜围场？他们从没帮过你。然后他们烧了学院。那里甚至没有小马，但是他把它烧了。为什么?"
I frowned as I rubbed my nose. “Because… because that was the next place I visited. And then here!” The blood drained from my face. “But how would he know where I’ve been? I mean he…” Then I blinked as my eyes locked with his. “He’d need my PipBuck navigation information…”
我揉着鼻子皱起了眉头。"因为......因为那是我参观的下一个地方。然后是这里!"我脸上的血流干了。""可是他怎么知道我去哪儿了呢？我的意思是他......"然后我眨了眨眼睛，我的眼睛和他的眼睛对视着。"他需要我的PipBuck导航信息......"
“Which was copied onto Marmalade’s PipBuck,” he murmured softly.
"它被拷贝到了Marmalade的PipBuck上,"他低声说。
“Which I gave to him…” I looked back towards the chamber. “He told Dusty he was going to Flank!”
"这是我给他的......"我回头看了看房间。"他告诉达斯蒂他要从侧翼进攻!"
“Then count yourself lucky. He’s following the road rather than going strictly in order.” Dealer didn’t take his eyes off mine as he asked, “But where is he going when he’s done in Flank?”
""那就算你走运了。他只是循规蹈矩，而不是严格按部就班。"经销商没有把他的目光从我身上移开，他问,"但是当他在弗兰克做完后，他要去哪里呢?"
I smashed the button and heard an electric fizzle, then immediately turned and raced for the exit. I hit the door out with all four hooves and rolled out as it flew open, screaming to my friends to run.
我按下按钮，听到电流嘶嘶作响，然后立即转身冲向出口。我用四只蹄子敲了敲门，门飞快地开了，我尖叫着让我的朋友们跑开。
“Fifteen minutes, Blackjack! I said fifteen minutes!” P-21 yelled crossly as he came out of the bunkhouse.
"十五分钟，黑杰克！我说的是十五分钟!"P-21从工棚里出来时大叫起来。
“He’s going to Chapel, P-21! After Flank, he’s going to Chapel!” The blue stallion shut up immediately, and all six of us ran off through the rain away from the mine.
"他要去教堂，P-21！走过弗兰克，他要去教堂!"那匹蓝色的种马立刻闭上了嘴，我们六个人冒着雨跑开了，离开了矿井。
Moments later, the muddy ground thudded under our hooves as the charges below went off. We were outside the fence when the administration building blew apart in a cloud of wood and reinforcing sheets. The flipping ends didn’t even reach the ground before the bunk house blew as well. There was a rumble beneath our hooves and a massive gust of wind as the chamber below collapsed. I watched as pits opened in the earth where we’d been standing. I hadn’t appreciated just how big that chamber had been until I saw the wide depression before me.
过了一会儿，我们的蹄子踩在泥泞的土地上，下面的炸药爆炸了。我们正在围墙外面，这时行政大楼被炸得粉碎，形成一团木头和加固板。翻转的尾端甚至没有到达地面之前，床铺的房子也吹了。我们的蹄子下面发出隆隆的响声，下面的房间坍塌时刮起一阵狂风。我看到我们所站的地方出现了坑洞。直到我看到我面前那个巨大的凹陷，我才意识到那个房间有多大。
“What is pony thinking? Pony runs out and blowing everything up!” Rover snorted. “Why does everything explode around pony?”
"小马在想什么？小马跑出去，把所有东西都炸飞了!"罗孚哼了一声。"为什么一切都在小马周围爆炸?"
“Listen Rover, you need to get to Riverside and your people. Sanguine’s hitting every place I stopped since leaving Stable 99. We might have caught a break with Chapel, but if we didn’t…” I didn’t want to think that far ahead. Instead, I pulled the harness on. “Come on!” I grunted as I pulled, but the wheels of the hoofcar squealed as they locked up entirely.
"听着，罗孚，你得去河滨市，还有你的人。自从离开Stable99之后，Sanguine把我停下的每个地方都搜遍了。我们本来可以和查普尔分手，但是如果我们没有......"我不想想得太远。相反，我穿上了安全带。"来吧!"我一边拉车，一边咕哝着，但是马蹄的轮子吱吱作响，它们完全卡住了。
“The bearings are burned out!” Scotch said. “We’ll have to repack ‘em and I don’t even think we got parts and I know we’re out of grease. Even if we had all the stuff, it’d take hours.” I gave the car a kick. Of all the times to break down!
"轴承烧坏了!"苏格兰人说。"我们必须重新包装它们，我甚至不认为我们有零件，我知道我们没油了。即使我们拥有所有的东西，也需要几个小时。"我猛踢了一下汽车。在所有的时间里打破！
“Dog will return to den and send warning to the river ponies. River ponies whine, but have good fish,” Rover said as he scratched behind his ear.
"狗会回到巢穴，警告河边的小马。小河里的小马呜呜叫，但它们是好鱼。"罗孚边说边抓着耳朵后面。
“Will you be able to make it safely?” Glory asked in concern.
"你能安全到达吗?"晨辉关切地问道。
Rover snorted and lifted his robotic hand, showing the razor claws. “Is good for more than digging through rock, pony. Old dog know many tricks. Dog be fine.
罗孚哼了一声，举起他的机器手，露出剃刀般的爪子。"不仅仅是挖石头，小马。老狗知道许多把戏。狗没事的。
Ponies take care of ponies. Is what pony is good at,” he said, but for the first time there wasn’t the usual bitterness in his voice. “Pony stay safe.”
小马照顾小马。小马最擅长的就是这个,"他说，但是他的声音中第一次没有了往常的苦涩。"小马保重。"
“We can just hoof it straight to Chapel,” Scotch Tape piped up.
"我们可以直接步行去教堂,"ScotchTape高声说道。
“It’d take all day, and we’d be crossing unexplored territory,” P-21 countered.
P-21反驳说:"这要花上一整天的时间，而且我们要穿越未开发的领土。"。
Rampage nodded. “There’s the Halfhearts headquarters in this area and a crashed skywagon that’s a feral ghoul nest. We can follow the rail and cut over to Chapel, but that’s even farther. Same problem if we hoof it to Flank.”
狂暴点点头。"哈夫哈特斯在这个地区的总部和一辆撞毁的飞行马车是一个野生食尸鬼的巢穴。我们可以沿着铁路抄近路到教堂，但那更远。如果我们步行去侧翼也会有同样的问题。"
“Maybe Lacunae can go to Miramare, soak up some radiation, and teleport us all there?” Glory asked.
"也许Lacunae可以去米拉马雷，吸收一些辐射，然后把我们传送到那里?"晨辉问道。
“It would take many hours,” Lacunae replied, the frustration clear in her thoughts.
"这得花上好几个小时,"拉库奈回答道，她的沮丧情绪在她的脑海里清晰可见。
“What if Blackjack went alone? She can move faster now and she doesn’t get tired with these legs of hers,” Scotch offered as she rapped her hoof on my enameled foreleg.
"要是Blackjack一个人去呢？她现在可以走得更快了，而且她的腿也不会累。"苏格兰人边说边用蹄子敲打着我那漆黑的前腿。
“That’d leave her outnumbered by a lot,” Rampage said with a frown. “Personally, that’s fine for me, but I can’t die. Blackjack doesn’t have that advantage.”
"那样她就寡不敌众了,"朗格皱着眉头说。"就我个人而言，这对我来说很好，但我不能死。黑杰克没有这种优势。"
Glory was looking in the direction of the strip mall. “Blackjack… when we came by here the first time, we set a bunch of supplies and stuff on fire. Remember?”
晨辉正朝着商业街的方向望去。"黑杰克......当我们第一次来这里的时候，我们放火烧了一堆补给品和东西。还记得吗?"
“Yeah,” I replied. It was a little bit fuzzy. I was pretty sure there’d been some stallion lobbing dynamite at me or something.
"是的,"我回答。有点模糊。我很肯定有一匹种马朝我扔炸药什么的。
“Well, that was a lot of supplies. I doubt they carried it all on their backs from Flank,” the gray pegasus pointed out.
"好吧，那可是一大笔补给。我怀疑他们从侧翼背着这一切,"灰色飞马指出。
“You think they might have had a working wagon?” I asked. She flushed and nodded. I seized her in my hooves and kissed her hard enough to curl her hooves. “I love smart ponies! Let’s go.” We started towards the nearby strip mall, and I blinked back at Glory still sitting there in a daze. “Hey, Glory!” She shook her head hard, losing her befuddled smile and running to catch up.
"你认为他们可能有一辆能用的马车吗?"我问道。她脸红了，点了点头。我用蹄子抓住她，用力地吻她，使她的蹄子弯曲起来。"我喜欢漂亮的小马！我们走吧。"我们开始朝附近的商业街走去，我眨着眼睛看着晨辉，他仍然坐在那里发呆。"嗨，晨辉!"她重重地摇了摇头，失去了迷糊的笑容，赶紧跑过去。
* * *
* * *
For once, I was glad for the Hoofington rain. It was pouring down in full force by the time we reached the strip mall, and the bloody gore coating me was more or less washed off. For a minute, I was afraid we’d struck out and would be left trying to run all the way to Chapel. Then Rampage checked behind the strip mall and found a wagon that was only marginally rusty. One tire was flat and one axle squealed when Rampage pulled it out, but Scotch just rubbed her hooves together.
这一次，我为胡芬顿的雨感到高兴。当我们到达商业街的时候，倾盆大雨倾盆而下，我身上沾满血腥的血迹差不多被冲掉了。有那么一会儿，我还担心我们会被三振出局，只能一路跑到教堂。然后在商业街后面检查了横冲直撞的情况，发现一辆马车只有一点点生锈。一个轮胎瘪了，当狂暴拉出轮胎时，一个车轴吱吱作响，但苏格兰人只是把她的蹄子磨在一起。
“I’m gonna need Lacunae to levitate it up. Gonna need some Wonderglue, some turpentine, a hunk of inner tube, and some grease… any grease or oil you can get your hooves on!” With that, she got out her wrench, and we were scrambling.
"我需要Lacunae把它悬浮起来。需要一些Wonderglue，一些松节油，一大块内胎，还有一些油脂......任何你能用上的油脂!"说着，她拿出了扳手，我们慌乱了。
Fortunately, P-21 found an oil can in the back of the bar, and Glory found the inner tube and helped Scotch work.
幸运的是，P-21在吧台后面发现了一个油罐，晨辉找到了内胎，帮助苏格兰人工作。
And me? I put four bits into the jukebox, selected a song, and kicked the side of the machine with my hoof. The lights flickered, and then the machine gave a dry hum. I dug behind the bar, and hidden by dozens of empty glass bottles I found a flask of Wild Pegasus. I trotted to the table Dusty and I’d sat at so long ago and practiced with my fingers, setting up the two least-grimy shotglasses I could find. The machine clicked, and the music began to play. Out of habit, I started to record as I sat back and looked at all the cards scattered around the table.
那我呢？我往点唱机里放了四个点，选了一首歌，用蹄子踢了踢机器的一边。灯光闪烁着，然后机器发出干燥的嗡嗡声。我在吧台后面挖了一下，在几十个空玻璃瓶后面，我发现了一瓶野飞马。我小跑到达斯蒂和我已经坐在很久以前和我的手指练习，架设两个最不肮脏的霰弹眼镜，我可以找到。机器咔哒一声，音乐开始播放。出于习惯，我开始记录，我坐回去，看着桌子上散落的所有卡片。
I chewed through another mouthful of gems, then looked at one of the face-down cards on the table in front of me and stared. I tried to imagine the magic reaching out. Try to imagine it like a wind brushing against it, the book had said, like blowing on it without using your lungs. I closed my eyes, trying to focus even though my temples throbbed and my useless stub of a horn ached. I tried imagining blowing the card over. I felt the faintest magic buzz and tingle in my horn. Then I chanced a look down.
我又咀嚼了一口宝石，然后看着面前桌子上的一张正面朝下的牌，盯着看。我试着去想象那种神奇的力量。试着把它想象成一阵风吹过它，书上说，就像不用肺就能吹过去一样。我闭上眼睛，努力集中注意力，尽管我的太阳穴还在跳动，我那没用的角还在疼。我试着想象把卡片吹翻。我感到我的喇叭里有一种微弱的魔力的嗡嗡声和刺痛感。然后我偶然向下看了一眼。
Queen of spades; Princess Luna, smiling up at me. It wasn’t much at all… but it was a start.
黑桃皇后;卢娜公主，对我微笑。这并不算什么......但这只是一个开始。
I leaned back, extended my fingers, and picked up the shot glass as the song came to an end. I lifted my glass to the empty chair across from me. Who was I lifting it to? Dusty Trails? Sure. But I was also raising it to Rivets and Midnight. To those ponies in Stockyard killed simply because of a blip on my PipBuck. In
我向后靠了靠，伸出手指，在歌曲结束的时候拿起酒杯。我把杯子举到对面的空椅子上。我把它抬给谁了？尘土飞扬的小径？当然。但我也把它提高到了《铆钉》和《午夜》。对那些因为我的PipBuck上的一个短信而被宰杀的牲畜。在
a perverse way, I was lifting it to Deus as well, one monster to another in a silent pledge. Sanguine had been around for way too long. It was time to finish the bastard.
以一种反常的方式，我也把它举起来交给了上帝，一个怪物对另一个怪物默默地发誓。乐观主义存在的时间太长了。是时候干掉这个混蛋了。
The jukebox crackled and finally died. I rose to my hooves and trotted out the door. My friends looked at me, and I must have been wearing the most damned shootiest look that had ever been worn by a mare because they didn’t say a word. Scotch and Lacunae hitched me up to the wagon. I took the bit in my mouth and glanced back to make sure everypony was aboard. Glory climbed up onto the seat at the front of the wagon and took my reins. I looked back at her and grinned.
自动点唱机噼啪作响，最后熄火了。我站起来，小跑着出了门。我的朋友们看着我，我脸上的表情一定是母马穿过的最该死的鞋子，因为他们一句话也不说。苏格兰威士忌和白葡萄酒把我拉上了马车。我把那一小块放进嘴里，然后回头看看，确定每一匹小马都在船上。晨辉爬上马车前面的座位，抓住了我的缰绳。我回头看了她一眼，咧嘴笑了。
“Um… giddy-up?” she asked, giving them a little shake. No no, Glory. Not giddy-up. Ante up.
"嗯...头晕?"她问道，轻轻摇了摇他们。不，不，晨辉。没有头晕。下注吧。
I wasn’t the strongest pony in the Wasteland, but as I leaned into the harness between the covered wagon’s shafts I felt an unfamiliar but welcome orange pony pulling right along with me. Be strong, she told me. And right beside her was a blue pegasus telling me that I was going to pull it off and that it was going to be so awesome! With those two pulling alongside me, I couldn’t just run. I could practically fly!
我不是荒地里最强壮的小马，但是当我倚靠在马车车轴之间的马具上时，我感觉到一匹陌生但却受人欢迎的橙色小马一直跟着我。坚强点，她告诉我。就在她旁边，一匹蓝色的飞马告诉我，我会成功的，一切都会很棒的！有那两个人跟着我，我不能就这么跑了。我几乎能飞了！
With an eeep from my pilot, my four mechanical legs lunged forward and we raced down towards the east. Sanguine wanted to find me. He’d found a perfect way. I’m coming, Sanguine, and I’m bringing a whole lot of hurt along with me.
随着飞行员的一声嘶叫，我的四条机械腿向前冲去，我们向东飞奔而去。桑吉娜想找到我。他找到了一个完美的方法。我来了，桑吉尼，我带来了很多伤害。
* * *
* * *
Pulling a wagon had the most startling effect of focusing my world; every bit of my energy was put into moving forward. While my legs weren’t all that bothered, I had plenty of flesh and blood bits that were stressed and sweaty. I pushed through the pain. Atrocity takes time. The bastard wanted me to catch up to him. I just had to do it before anypony else died.
拉着一辆马车对我的世界产生了最令人吃惊的影响，我把所有的精力都投入到前进中去了。虽然我的腿并不是那么麻烦，但是我有大量的肌肉和血液，压力很大，出汗很多。我克服了疼痛。暴行需要时间。那个混蛋想让我追上他。我只是必须在其他小马死之前这么做。
Glory and Scotch guided me. With all my attention on running, I had no time to look for washed-out sections of road, abandoned wagons left as barricades, or bars on the E.F.S. I was too busy running! Since DJ Pon3 was off the air temporarily, my PipBuck played some of Mixers’s finest and time slowed down to just the present. I didn’t have time to think about the future. I didn’t have the energy to think about the past. I just had the pull of the reins and the thudding of
晨辉和苏格兰威士忌引导着我。我的全部注意力都集中在跑步上，没有时间去寻找路上被冲毁的路段，没有时间去寻找作为路障的废弃车辆，也没有时间去寻找e.f.s.上的酒吧，我太忙于跑步了！由于《DJPon3》暂时停播，我的PipBuck播放了一些最好的混音器，时间慢了下来，只剩下现在。我没有时间考虑未来。我没有精力去思考过去。我只是感觉到了缰绳的拉力和沙沙的声音
my hooves and the rattle of the cart to tell me what to do next.
我的蹄子和马车的嘎嘎声，告诉我下一步该怎么做。
Then I felt the reins pull back and the squeal of the wagon’s brakes. Obstinately, I wanted to keep running! But then sense settled in; there was a good reason to stop. We were here. Glory hopped down beside me as I looked at the wall of rubble that had been erected around the town. There was smoke and fire, but not a whole lot of shooting. I still couldn’t feel myself breathing, but my vision was flashing warnings about dehydration, caloric intake, and power reserves again. Why’d my insides have to be written in egghead?
然后我感觉到缰绳往后拉，马车的刹车发出尖锐的声音。固执地，我想继续跑下去！但是后来这种想法逐渐形成，我们有充分的理由停下来。我们在这里。当我看着城镇周围竖立起来的碎石墙时，晨辉在我身边跳跃。有烟和火，但没有大量的枪击。我仍然感觉不到自己的呼吸，但是我的视觉闪烁着关于脱水、卡路里摄入和能量储备的警告。为什么我的内心一定要写在书呆子身上？
Glory hopped out and immediately cracked open a bottle of filtered water with her teeth and hooves and held it to my mouth. I slugged it down as Scotch released me from the harness. My body… hurt wasn’t the accurate term. I wasn’t in pain so much as a full-body ache spread through my organic parts. Was that because I’d just never really put myself to moving like this before, or something else?
晨辉跳了出来，立刻用她的牙齿和蹄子打开了一瓶过滤水，把它放到我的嘴里。苏格兰人把我从马具上放下来时，我一口气把它喝了下去。我的身体...伤害并不是准确的术语。与其说是疼痛，不如说是全身疼痛在我的器官部位蔓延。是不是因为我以前从来没有像这样移动过，或者别的什么原因？
Once I’d finished the bottle of water and was unhooked, I trotted my way clear a bit and looked around. Flank had seen better times, but it looked, surprisingly, that Caprice had followed through on my suggestions. Two of the turrets Glory had made were still functional atop their buildings. The single gate had been blown open, but, judging by the dead ponies scattered around it, the assault had cost the attackers dearly.
当我喝完一瓶水，解开钩子后，我小跑着清理了一下道路，环顾四周。弗兰克已经看到了更好的时代，但它看起来，令人惊讶的是，Caprice已经遵循了我的建议。晨辉建造的两座塔楼仍然在它们的建筑物顶部运作。唯一的大门被炸开了，但是从周围散落的死马判断，袭击者付出了沉重的代价。
“Is it just me, or does the Enervation feel… worse?” Glory asked, looking at the pained expression on Lacunae’s face.
"是只有我这么觉得，还是感觉受到了更大的伤害?"晨辉问道，看着陷阱脸上痛苦的表情。
“I don’t know. I can’t feel it just yet,” I said as I trotted towards the main gate, alert for red bars. Maybe something was turning up the Enervation across the whole valley? Wasn’t that a pleasant thought! I still couldn’t feel the tearing sensation or the fatigue, though. Was I just not being affected by the draining energies, or were my synthetic parts resistant to the field’s power?
"我不知道。我现在还感觉不到,"我一边说，一边小跑着朝大门走去，警惕着红色的栅栏。也许有什么东西让整个山谷都变得衰弱了？这不是一个愉快的想法吗！但是我仍然感觉不到撕裂的感觉和疲劳。我只是没有被吸干能量影响，还是我的合成部分对能量场的能量有抵抗力？
Trotting towards the settlement, I looked around. I remembered the addicts and half-starved ponies lingering outside in the marshy ruins of the town, but they were nowhere to be seen now. Instead, there were a cluster of tents and banners (three black vertical bars on a green field) and a couple dozen ponies standing around watching us head into Flank. They weren’t shooting at us, and I didn’t see any monsterponies, so for the moment my curiosity was sated. Still... I’d
我一路小跑向定居点，环顾四周。我记得那些瘾君子和半饥饿的小马在城外的沼泽废墟中徘徊，但是现在已经找不到它们了。取而代之的是一群帐篷和横幅(绿色的田野上有三个黑色的竖条)和几十匹小马围着我们看着我们进入弗兰克。他们没有朝我们开枪，我也没有看到任何怪物，所以我的好奇心暂时得到了满足。不过...我还是想
have to check them out... soon.
很快就要检查他们了。
I made my way inside, looking at the metal wagons turned on their sides and braced together to form a secondary security wall. From the scorching on the inside, they’d been attacked by some sort of flamer so intense it’d slagged the metal. Rooms was on fire still, and from the four dead manticores it was clear that at least one monsterpony had been here as well. Still, Flank had clearly put up a tougher fight than Brimstone’s Fall. I could imagine the beam rifle snipers picking ponies off through the chain link that had protected the settlement before, the defenders split in two guarding both entrances.
我朝里面走去，看着那些翻转着的金属货车，并把它们支撑在一起，形成了第二道安全墙。由于里面烧焦了，他们遭到了某种火焰枪的猛烈攻击，以至于把金属划伤了。房间里仍然着着火，从四具死尸中可以清楚地看出，至少有一匹怪兽小马曾经来过这里。不过，弗兰克显然经历了一场比宾斯通沦陷更艰难的战斗。我可以想象射线狙击手通过之前保护定居点的链环挑选小马，防御者分成两个守卫两个入口。
Then, from out of nowhere, a red bar appeared, a mare in pink barding racing at me faster than I’d ever imagined a pony could move. In a flash she was in my face, and so was the revolver in her jaws. I rolled away just in time to avoid a bullet to the forehead. Still, her next three shots bit through my barding, barely slowing. Her pupils were tiny points in her pink eyes, and she was on top of me before I could recover. The mare was smaller than me, but her hooves slammed into me with more force than I’d thought possible.
然后，不知从哪儿冒出来一个红色的横杆，一匹穿着粉红色军装的母马向我疾驰而来，速度之快超出了我对小马的想象。刹那间，她出现在我的面前，左轮手枪也出现在她的嘴里。我及时地滚开了，以免被子弹打中前额。尽管如此，她接下来的三个镜头还是穿透了我的身体，几乎没有减速。她的瞳孔在她那粉红色的眼睛里是微小的点，我还没来得及恢复，她就趴在我身上了。那匹母马比我小，但是她的蹄子猛地撞在我身上，力度比我想象的还要大。
Rampage tackled her off me, the pair rolling across the rain-slick street. Another frenzied mare charged Glory, a pair of metal batons glowing as the pegasus turned and hosed her attacker with green beams of magic. Astonishingly, the mare didn’t seem fazed at all as the bolts burned at her flesh. Glory raised her hooves as the batons smashed into her face and legs.
狂暴把她从我身上扑倒，两人在雨水打湿的街道上打滚。另一匹疯狂的母马带走了晨辉，一对金属警棍在飞马转身时闪闪发光，用绿色的魔法束喷射攻击者。令人惊讶的是，这匹母马似乎一点也不担心，因为那匹马的肉被烧焦了。当警棍猛击她的脸和腿时，晨辉抬起了她的蹄子。
Lacunae’s magic glow wrapped the frenzied mare and threw her back. She rolled, tried to rise, and failed, but two more ponies raced to their fallen ally and jabbed her with hypodermics. In an instant, she was back on her hooves again. I aimed some suppressive fire at the three and they took cover... at least for the moment.
Lacunae的魔法光芒包裹着那头疯狂的母马，把她甩了回去。她打了个滚，试图站起来，但是失败了，但是另外两匹小马跑到它们倒下的盟友身上，用皮下注射器扎了她。不一会儿，她又恢复了正常。我瞄准他们三个火力压制，他们躲了起来......至少目前是这样。
“Stay down!” Rampage roared as she raised her hooves and smashed them down on the thrashing mare. The earth pony kicked out furiously, denting her armor. “Stay down!” she repeated with another stomp of her forelegs, the kick making the mare bounce. Still she kept trying to get back up. “Stay down!” Rampage yelled. The mare rose to her hooves, bleeding and broken and still on the attack. One more stomp and the mare’s head crunched like a nut. She trembled and went still. Rampage’s pink eyes met my own, and she gave a shrug. “Told her to stay down.”
"趴下!"当她举起蹄子猛踩在那匹狂乱的母马上时，暴怒咆哮起来。大地上的小马猛烈地踢打着，击穿了她的盔甲。"趴下!"她又用前腿重复了一遍，那一踢让母马跳了起来。但她还是不停地试图站起来。"趴下!"暴跳如雷。母马站了起来，血流不止，伤势严重，仍然在攻击。再跺一下，母马的脑袋就像坚果一样嘎吱作响。她颤抖着，一动不动地走了。狂暴的粉红色眼睛与我对视，她耸了耸肩。"让她趴下。"
There were a lot more red bars on my E.F.S. now, the ponies matching them fighting with incredible ferocity and resilience. They were all coming out of Mixers. I had no idea where P-21 was in all this, but I hoped he could hear me. “P-21! Kill the robot in the club!” I had a distinct worry that this was what ‘everything’ did to a mare.
现在我的e.f.s上有了更多的红色条纹，小马匹以令人难以置信的凶猛和韧性与它们相匹配。他们都是从混音器里出来的。我不知道P-21在这一切中的位置，但我希望他能听到我的声音。"P-21！杀掉俱乐部里的机器人!"我非常担心这就是所有事情对母马的影响。
I moved around as quick as I could. One downside of the battle saddle was that it made me less effective in melee combat. Pumped up with Stampede and Buck, these mares’ kicks and blows hurt! I almost preferred getting shot to some of the applebuck kicks that connected. I moved away, clenching my jaw on the left trigger and blasting buckshot. The lead was more little more than irritating to the mare it hit, but I didn’t know how to swap out ammo without my horn and I lacked earth pony tenacity and resilience. Scotch tried to keep behind me as the two circled.
我以最快的速度跑来跑去。战斗马鞍的一个缺点是它使我在近战中不那么有效率。这些母马被踩踏和巴克弄得喘不过气来，它们的脚和拳头都受伤了！我几乎宁愿挨枪子儿，也不愿意尝试一些与此相关的苹果鹿踢腿方式。我走开了，紧咬着左边的扳机，开始发射铅弹。领先的优势不过是让被它击中的母马感到恼火，但我不知道如何在没有喇叭的情况下更换弹药，而且我缺乏地球小马的韧性和适应能力。苏格兰人试图跟在我后面，因为这两个人转了个圈。
“Scotch! I need green shells!” I said, tossing her on my back.
"苏格兰威士忌！我需要绿色的贝壳!"我说，把她扔在我背上。
“Got it! Use the rifle,” she yelled, and I twisted the right side of my jaw. I didn’t have a chance to hit; the mares were so jazzed up on Dash that I didn’t think they could physically stop moving at that point. I heard the sounds of the olive filly attaching a belt of green shells to the shotgun; not a real Ironpony, but a semi-automatic IF-84. “You’re loaded!”
"知道了！"用来福枪,"她喊道，我扭了扭右边的下巴。我没有机会去撞;母马们在冲刺的时候非常兴奋，我不认为它们在那个时候会停止移动。我听到橄榄小姑娘把一条绿色弹壳绑在猎枪上的声音，不是真正的Ironpony，而是半自动IF-84。"你喝醉了!"
The green toxic rounds weren’t much more fatal than the lead, but the chemicals slowed the ponies’ movements enough that I was able to plant a few solid shots in their torsos. Still, under the effects of Stampede and Med-X, and probably Hydra too, they just weren’t dropping! Worse, they had plenty of fresh healing potions on hand and weren’t shy about using them.
绿色的有毒子弹并不比铅弹更致命，但是化学物质足以减缓小马的移动速度，所以我能够在它们的躯干上植入一些固体照片。不过，在惊跑和医疗x的影响下，可能还有九头蛇的影响下，它们并没有掉下来！更糟糕的是，他们手头有很多新鲜的治疗药水，并且毫不羞于使用。
Suddenly, there was a loud whistle, and P-21 emerged from Mixers with a familiar pinched-looking medical pony in tow. One of the frenzied mares moved back, shaking with the effort not to attack. The unicorn lifted a strange tube with her magic, loaded some sort of dart, put the end of the tube to her mouth, and shot the dart out of the other end at one of the mares harrying me. She took three steps, staggered to the side, and fell on her face. Another dart, and the next one went down. The mares were frothing at the mouth as I moved back, letting the Flank security mares see to... their dosed comrades? They were all wearing the same uniform!
突然，一声响亮的口哨声响起，P-21从混频器里走出来，身后拖着一匹熟悉的、看起来很憔悴的小马。其中一匹疯狂的母马退了回去，努力不去攻击，浑身发抖。独角兽用她的魔法举起了一根奇怪的管子，装上了某种飞镖，把管子的一端放到她的嘴边，然后从另一端射出飞镖，射向一匹缠着我的母马。她走了三步，摇摇晃晃地走到一边，脸朝下倒在地上。又一支飞镖，又一支飞镖飞了下去。当我往回走的时候，那些母马正在口吐白沫，让那些负责保卫的母马去照看......它们被下药的同伴？他们都穿着同样的制服！
Scalpel looked at us and said sourly, “Sorry. Didn’t recognize you. Thought you might have been those mercs come back for another round or those nutjobs across the way.” She looked at the lucid mares in their pink security barding. “Come on! Get them back in my office before their hearts stop!”
解剖刀看着我们，酸溜溜地说:"对不起。没认出你来。我还以为你是那些雇佣兵，或者是路对面的那些疯子。"她看着那些头脑清醒的母马们穿着粉红色的保镖服。"来吧！在他们心脏停止跳动之前，把他们带回我的办公室!"
“What did you shoot them with?” I asked.
"你用什么打的他们?"我问道。
“Fixer and a Moon Dust solution,” the doctor replied smoothly.
"修理工和月尘溶液,"医生平静地回答。
Now that the fight was over, ponies were coming back onto the street. Lacunae was seeing to Glory, her horn glowing as she healed the pegasus’s injuries. I, if I was right about what the glowing messages in my vision correctly, needed something entirely different to fix my damage. I looked around, gave the melted barricade a second look, and then eyed a spur of metal. I bit down, trying to close my mouth enough to activate the softening spell. Finally, the rusty metal peeled off, and I chewed it with a disapproving face. Needed salt.
现在打斗结束了，小马又回到了街上。拉库尼正在照顾晨辉，她的号角在治疗飞马的伤口时发出光芒。如果我正确地理解了视觉中闪烁的信息，我需要一些完全不同的东西来修复我的损伤。我环顾四周，又看了一眼熔化的街垒，然后又看了一眼铁刺。我咬了一口，试图闭上嘴，以激活软化咒语。最后，锈迹斑斑的金属剥落下来，我不以为然地咀嚼着。需要的盐。
“I suppose that after three Prices, I shouldn’t be surprised by what you can eat,” said a familiar voice. Caprice didn’t look well. Some of her softness had worn thin, and her quiet humor was now silent worry. The peach mare looked at me in concern with a shaky smile. “I’m glad Glory was able to fix you up. She said… she said you were pretty bad.”
一个熟悉的声音说:"我想，三个价格之后，我不会对你能吃到什么感到惊讶。"。卡普里斯看起来不太好。她的一些温柔已经消失了，她那平静的幽默现在变成了无声的忧虑。那匹桃色的母马关切地看着我，脸上挂着颤抖的微笑。"我很高兴晨辉能把你治好。她说......她说你很坏。"
“I was,” I said as I looked around at Flank while the rain fell upon us. Thick black smoke billowed from the first and second floors of Rooms. “You got hit pretty hard too.”
"是的,"我说，同时我环顾四周看着弗兰克，这时雨正落在我们身上。浓浓的黑烟从房间的第一层和第二层滚滚而来。"你也受到了沉重的打击。"
“Thanks to you,” snapped an orange unicorn mare as four of her fellows glared at me.
"多亏了你,"一匹橙色的独角兽母马厉声说道，她的四个伙伴瞪着我。
“Citrine…” Caprice said in a tired tone. “If Blackjack hadn’t made us step up our defenses, none of us would have made it into 69 or gotten into Mixers. We would have been completely at their mercy.”
"黄水晶......"卡普莱斯用一种疲倦的语气说。"如果黑杰克没有让我们加强防御，我们谁也不会进入69人队或混音队。我们会完全听凭他们的摆布。"
“And considering the people who hit you put everypony in Brimstone’s Fall through their own rock crusher, I doubt that would have been very pretty,” P-21 added as he stepped up beside me.
P-21一边走到我身边，一边补充道:"考虑到那些打你的人把宾斯通瀑布镇的每匹小马都砸进了他们自己的碎石机，我怀疑那样做会不会很漂亮。"。
“And if you’d just given Sanguine what he wanted weeks ago, then hundreds of ponies would still be alive,” Citrine retorted with a sweep of her hoof. “I heard
"如果你几个星期前就给桑吉尼他想要的东西，那么成百上千的小马就还活着,"西特琳用蹄子扫了一下，反驳道。"我听说了
the DJ talking about you. Your noble sacrifices for other ponies. Well, how many ponies have died because you’ve hung on to whatever he wants? Hundreds? Or are you up to thousands now?”
Dj在谈论你。你为其他小马做出的高贵牺牲。有多少匹小马因为你执着于他想要的东西而死去？几百个？还是你现在已经有几千人了?"
“He’s a monster,” Glory objected.
"他是个怪物,"晨辉反对道。
“And what is she?” Citrine demanded as she pointed a hoof at me. “Since she showed up around the Hoof, everything’s gone from bad to worse! We didn’t have griffin mercs, monsterponies, and bounty hunters attacking us every other week till she turned up. If she hasn’t killed folks on her own, then she’s gotten everything stirred up!”
"那她是什么?"黄水晶问道，她用蹄子指着我。"自从她出现在霍夫附近，一切都变得越来越糟了！在她出现之前，没有格里芬雇佣兵、怪兽和赏金猎人每隔一周攻击我们一次。如果她没有自己杀人，那么她就把一切都搅乱了!"
“Citrine, that’s enough,” Caprice said, now with an edge in her voice. “Blackjack didn’t ask for any of this to happen!”
"柠檬水，够了,"卡普莱斯说，现在她的声音有些尖锐。"Blackjack并没有要求这一切发生!"
“No, but she’s sure willing to shed rivers of blood to keep it going!” the orange mare said. And worse, more of the ponies listening in looked angry. “What is so damned special that he wants that you can’t give it up?” I hung my head, her words echoing in my ears. Was all of this really my fault? If I’d just handed it over at the beginning, could I have prevented all this? “Why don’t you just give it up?”
"没有，但是她肯定愿意流血牺牲来维持生计!"橙色的母马说。更糟糕的是，更多的小马在旁边听着，看起来很生气。"他到底有什么特别的要求，让你不能放弃?"我低下头，她的话在我耳边回响。这一切都是我的错吗？如果我一开始就把它交出来，我能阻止这一切吗？"你为什么不放弃呢?"
“Do you know what she’s been through trying to help everypony in the Hoof?” Glory demanded. “Can you even imagine?”
"你知道她为了帮助霍夫的每匹小马都做了些什么吗?"晨辉的要求。"你能想象吗?"
“Oh, shut up, Turkey. Go back to your clouds. You can’t imagine what she’s done to life here in the Hoof!” Citrine countered. “Dozens of Halfhearts dead in a war she started. The Fillies are gone! Because of her. The Rangers blown to pieces! So I want to know what the hell she has that’s worth more than all those lives!”
"哦，闭嘴，土耳其。回到你的云彩中去。你无法想象她对霍夫的生活做了什么!"黄水晶反驳道。"数十名Halfhearts人死于她挑起的战争。小雌马不见了！因为她。游骑兵被炸成碎片！所以我想知道她到底有什么东西比那些人的命还值钱!"
“It’s the key to Equestria!” I shouted over the din, and even Citrine went silent. “It’s the key to firing every megaspell still charged. It unlocks every dirty secret weapon from two centuries ago. It’d let Sanguine make an army of monsterponies… and that’s just Sanguine.” My voice fell as I sat down hard. “For all I know, it’s the key to getting into the Core. Or something even worse,” I said as I closed my eyes.
"这是开启小马国的钥匙!"我的喊叫盖过了喧嚣，甚至连黄水晶都沉默了。"这是解雇每一个仍在收费的巨无霸的关键。它解开了两个世纪以来所有肮脏的秘密武器。这样就可以让桑吉纳组成一支庞大的军队......这就是桑吉纳。"我重重地坐下，声音低了下来。"就我所知，这是进入核心区的关键。或者更糟糕的事情,"我闭上眼睛说。
“Blackjack,” P-21 said as he put a hoof on my shoulder.
"黑杰克,"P-21一边用蹄子踩我的肩膀一边说。
“No, P-21. She’s got a point,” I said, and I looked at Citrine out of the corner of my eye. “Holding onto this has cost me every pony in my stable, save two. It’s forced me to kill dozens due to a stupid bounty. It’s thrown one of the deadliest ponies I’ve ever known against me.” Then I looked at her and snapped, “You think I haven’t thought of just giving it up? Handing it over? Maybe I would have, if you’d told me a month ago I’d lose both eyes and all four legs over it! Or lose almost everypony I knew! But I didn’t. And once I found out what it could do…” I shook my head and rose to my hooves, stepping towards the orange mare and staring into her yellow eyes. “Do you want Sanguine to have that kind of power? Or Red Eye? Or somepony even worse than both of them? Because that’s what’s at stake.”
"不，P-21。她说的有道理。"我用眼角余光看着Citrine。"为了保住它，我让马厩里的每匹小马都付出了代价，除了两匹。为了一个愚蠢的赏金，我不得不杀了几十个人。这是我见过的最致命的小马之一。"然后我看着她，厉声说,"你以为我没有想过放弃吗？交出去？也许我会的，如果你一个月前告诉我，我会因此失去两只眼睛和四条腿！或者失去几乎所有我认识的小马！但我没有。一旦我发现它能做什么......"我摇摇头，站起来，走向那匹橙色的母马，盯着她那双黄色的眼睛。"你希望桑吉尼拥有那种权力吗？还是红眼？或者比他们俩更糟糕的小马？因为这才是关键所在。"
I had to give Citrine credit, she kept her eyes locked to mine for half a minute before she said slowly, “That might be true. All I know is that I lost a mother when Deus came for you, a brother when the Halfhearts fought the Rangers, and a little sister when…” She stopped and looked at the burning Rooms building before sniffing. “And, sorry… any one of them was worth a thousand keys to Equestria.” With that, she turned and walked to join the mares watching Rooms burn.
我不得不称赞Citrine，她的眼睛盯着我的眼睛看了半分钟，然后慢慢地说:"这可能是真的。我只知道，当天王来找你的时候，我失去了一个母亲;当哈夫哈特家族与游骑兵作战的时候，我失去了一个兄弟;当......"她停下脚步，看着着火的房间，然后嗅了嗅。"而且，对不起......他们中的任何一个人都值得小马国的一千把钥匙。"说完，她转身加入母马的行列，看着房间燃烧。
Caprice trotted up beside me. “You should probably go.” I looked at her and saw the apology in her eyes.
凯普莱斯小跑着来到我身边。"你也许该走了。"我看着她，看到了她眼中的歉意。
“Yeah. Did they go north?” I asked as all of us trotted out the melted gate. I knew the answer, and I pretended I could feel my heart rise in my chest. I found a tin can in the gutter and bit down, trying to get my teeth to soften it so I could chew. Caprice made a face. Clearly, the sight of the fingers on the end of my limb and me eating tin were turning my visit a little surreal.
"是的。他们往北走了吗?"我问道，我们一起快步走出融化的大门。我知道答案，我假装我能感觉到我的心在胸膛里升起。我在排水沟里发现了一个锡罐，我咬了一口，想让牙齿变软，这样我就可以咀嚼了。卡普里斯做了个鬼脸。很明显，看到我的手指在我的肢体末端和我吃罐头使我的访问有点超现实主义。
“Three or four hours ago,” Caprice said. “We’d killed off about twenty or thirty of their foot soldiers before the monsters got into the fray. They had a pony who breathed fire and another who exploded! After that, we were falling back. But by then the griffins in power armor were getting pretty impatient. They looked ready to waste Sanguine themselves. Nasty bastards.”
"三四个小时以前,"凯普莱斯说。"在这些怪物加入战斗之前，我们已经杀死了大约二十到三十个他们的步兵。他们有一匹会喷火的小马，还有一匹会爆炸！在那之后，我们撤退了。但是那时身穿强力盔甲的狮鹫已经变得非常不耐烦了。他们看起来准备自相残杀。讨厌的混蛋。"
“Red Eye’s got a couple in his employ,” I said as we trotted back outside. I felt Citrine’s eyes on my back, but when I glanced back the last I saw was her yellow eyes turned towards the burning building. “Psychoshy said Sanguine was in deep shit…”
"红眼酒吧雇了两个人,"我们小跑着回到外面时，我说。我感觉到Citrine的眼睛在我的背上，但是当我回头看的时候，我最后看到的是她黄色的眼睛转向着燃烧的建筑。"心理害羞说桑吉尼有大麻烦了......"
Caprice nodded. “He is. If you do nothing, I think they’ll waste him.”
卡普里斯点点头。"是的。如果你什么都不做，我想他们会杀了他的。"
“I can’t wait. They’re going to Chapel,” I said softly. Fighting griffins and monsterponies? I needed… something. A plan… some sort… Then I looked at her a long moment. “Will you help me?”
"我等不及了。他们要去教堂,"我轻声说。战斗狮鹫和怪兽？我需要...一些东西。一个计划...某种...然后我看了她一会儿。"你愿意帮我吗?"
Caprice returned my gaze. “If you promise me you’ll kill the son of a mule…”
凯普莱斯回应了我的目光。"如果你答应我你会杀死一头骡子的儿子......"
“I do. You’re not the first I’ve made that promise to,” I answered. I told her what I’d need, and she nodded. It was going to cost us a serious chunk of caps, and that was with our discount. When she finished taking down my order, I nodded my head towards the small encampment. “What’s their story? Is that where Sanguine’s guys made camp?”
"我知道。你不是我第一个做出这种承诺的人,"我回答。我告诉她我需要什么，她点点头。这会让我们损失一大笔资金，而且还有我们的折扣。当她记下我的点餐后，我对着那个小营地点了点头。"他们有什么故事？桑吉纳的人就在那里扎营吗?"
“No. They’re followers of the Prophet,” Caprice replied with clear distaste. “Bunch of wackos thinking they’re going to find some sort of paradise in the Core.”
"没有。他们是先知的追随者。"。"一群疯子认为他们将在核心区找到某种天堂。"
“Do they? I think I’ll go have a chat with them,” I said, then looked at the peach pony as she turned away. “Caprice?” She looked back in concern. “I’m sorry.” I only hoped I imagined P-21 grinding his teeth like that. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you back when we were trying to make Flank more secure.”
""是吗？我想我要去和他们聊聊,"我说，然后看着那匹桃红色的小马，她转过身去。"任性?"她关切地回头看。"对不起。"我只希望P-21能像那样咬牙切齿。"很抱歉，我们试图让弗兰克更安全的时候，我没有回应你。"
“I really thought you were just pretending not to know who I was,” she said with a little half smile.
"我真的以为你只是假装不知道我是谁,"她微微一笑说。
“Yeah, well… this whole ‘thinking’ thing is really challenging for me,” I said with a rueful smile. She looked sad and regretful as she smiled back.
"是的，嗯......这整个'思考'的事情对我来说真的很有挑战性,"我苦笑着说。她回以微笑，显得悲伤而懊悔。
“I’ll talk to Scalpel and get what you need. Shouldn’t even be half an hour,” Caprice said in a polite tone of deference, then stopped. “Blackjack…” She looked evasive for a moment. “About Deus…”
"我会和手术刀谈谈，弄到你需要的东西。应该不会超过半个小时,"凯普莱斯礼貌地说，然后停了下来。"黑杰克......"她闪烁其词地看了一会儿。"关于上帝..."
“It’s old news, Caprice. He’s dead. Usury is scraping up brahmin turds. There’s nothing else to say,” I said with a smile.
"这是老新闻了，凯普莱斯。他死了。高利贷正在清理婆罗门的粪便。没什么好说的了,"我笑着说。
She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her eyes slid away. “Yeah… sure… sorry…” She gave a little smile. “I’ll get your stuff.”
她张开嘴，然后又闭上了。她的目光移开了。"是的......当然......对不起......"她微微一笑。"我去拿你的东西。"
“Oh! And if you’ve got any grease lying around, we could use it!” Scotch piped
"哦！如果你身上有油的话，我们可以用!"苏格兰威士忌
up, pointing at the wagon. “Damn thing wobbles and whines worse than Blackjack after a crate of Wild Pegasus.”
站起来，指着马车。"这该死的东西摇摇晃晃的，哭哭啼啼的，比黑杰克追着一箱野飞马还要厉害。"
“I do not wobble and whine when drunk. I have it on good authority that I am undefeatable while drunk out of my gourd,” I said with a prim nod. Of course, once it all metabolized…
"我喝醉时不会摇摇晃晃，也不会发牢骚。我有充分的理由相信，当我喝得酩酊大醉时，我是不可战胜的,"我一本正经地点点头说。当然，一旦新陈代谢完毕..。
“Don’t ask about the bathtub,” P-21 said with a shudder.
"别问浴缸的事,"P-21战栗地说。
“And I’ll be saying hi to your new neighbors,” I said with a glance over at the collection of tents.
"我会向你们的新邻居问好的,"我扫了一眼收集的帐篷说。
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to make enemies with a new bunch of ponies,” Glory said with a sigh.
"请不要告诉我你要用一群新的小马来树敌,"晨辉叹了口气说。
“I’m just going to talk!” I snorted. “I don’t make enemies with every group of ponies I cross in the Hoof.”
"我只是想谈谈!"我哼了一声。"我不会和我在霍夫遇到的每一匹小马都树敌"
“Fallen Arch?” Rampage said with a small roll of her eyes, “The Flashers. Burners. Technically the Reapers, too, though that’s our typical audition.”
"倒下的拱门?"朗格转了转眼睛说:"闪光者。燃烧器。技术上来说，收割者也是如此，尽管这是我们典型的试镜方式。"
“You certainly didn’t make a good impression with Enclave Intelligence when you ran across them,” Glory pointed out.
"当你遇到他们的时候，你肯定没有给他们留下好的印象,"晨辉指出。
“And you nearly speared Triage through the throat after she saved you at the Collegiate,” P-21 added.
P-21补充说:"她在大学里救了你之后，你差点刺穿了你的喉咙。"。
“I think it would be better if I did not add how the Goddess feels about you,” Lacunae murmured.
"我想如果我不加上女神对你的感情，会更好一些,"拉库纳低声说。
I felt something winding up in my brain, like a wire drawn too taut that was about to snap. I was trying to do better! Really! It wasn’t my fault I made enemies as easily as sneezing. “Okay! Fine! I am going to walk over there, say hi, and probably meet another group of ponies wanting to kill me!” I said with an indignant snort, lowering my head as I grumbled to myself. “Okay?”
我感到有什么东西缠绕在我的脑子里，就像一根拉得太紧的电线快要断了。我只是想做得更好！真的！我的敌人就像打喷嚏一样容易造成，这不是我的错。"好吧！好吧！我打算走过去打个招呼，说不定还会遇到一群想杀我的小马呢!"我愤怒地哼了一声，低下头，自言自语道。"好吗?"
“Good enough for me,” Rampage said as she trotted up next to me and grinned back at my friends look. “What? I don’t mind ponies shooting at her. Lot less boring than all that negotiating stuff.”
"对我来说已经够好了,"朗格一边说，一边小跑到我旁边，咧嘴笑着看着我的朋友们。"什么？我不介意小马向她开枪。没有那些谈判那么无聊。"
The two of us trotted towards the tents, and Rampage asked quietly, “How’s Scotch holding up?”
我们两个小跑着走向帐篷，兰帕德平静地问道:"苏格兰人怎么样了?"
“I… don’t know?” I asked as I looked over at her. “She seemed fine in Tenpony.”
"我.....。.不知道?"我看着她问道。"她在Tenpony看起来还不错。"
“She was a mess in Tenpony. When you died... I had to go out and pick a fight with some alicorns and what they call raiders there just to get away from her,” Rampage said with a worried look. “She’s trying to put on a brave face now that you’re back, but I think she still blames herself. She’s also scared to death of male ponies now.”
"她在Tenpony一团糟。当你死的时候......我不得不出去和一些长角羚以及他们所谓的掠夺者打一架，只是为了躲开她,"狂暴带着担忧的表情说。"现在你回来了，她试图装出一副勇敢的样子，但我想她还是在责怪自己。她现在也怕死雄性小马了。"
“Huh?” I frowned. “They didn’t touch her…” The thought froze me down to my hooves. “Did they?” Had I missed one and didn’t hear it?
"啊?"我皱起了眉头。"他们没有碰她......"这个想法把我冻结在我的蹄子上。"是吗?"我是不是漏掉了一个而没有听到？
Rampage snorted. “Blackjack, she didn’t have to be raped. They worked you over for an hour, and she heard it all. I think the only stallion she can be around at the moment is P-21.” Rampage looked back at where Scotch, Glory, and Lacunae were fixing the wagon. “Pretty sure she wets the bed.”
横冲直撞的人嗤之以鼻。"黑杰克，她不需要被强奸。他们盘问了你一个小时，她全都听见了。我认为目前她身边唯一的种马是P-21。"狂暴回头望着苏格兰、晨辉和空隙正在修理马车的地方。"她肯定尿床了。"
I sighed, ears drooping. “Great. Another thing I need to address.”
我叹了口气，耳朵耷拉着。"太好了。还有一件事我需要解决。"
“Or you could have P-21 talk to her about it. I would talk to her myself. I’ve gone through a ploughing more than a few times. But if she starts bawling…” The striped pony gave a sickly smile before shrugging.
"或者你可以让P-21跟她谈谈这件事。我会亲自和她谈。我经历过不止几次的耕作。但是如果她开始嚎啕大哭......"条纹小马脸上露出病态的微笑，耸了耸肩。
“You’ve been raped?” I blinked and received another ‘you’re being stupid again, Blackjack’ look. Was this something from Twist or... something else? I couldn’t imagine anypony raping Rampage.
"你被强奸了?"我眨了眨眼，又收到一个'你又在犯傻了，黑杰克'的表情。这是《扭扭舞》里的还是别的什么？我无法想象任何小马强奸狂暴。
“I told you I had,” she said, and I wanted to kick myself for forgetting. How do you forget that? She snorted and shook her head at my lapse. “Lots of ponies in the Wasteland have been raped. Mostly mares, but stallions too. Flashers were notorious for it.” She sighed and looked in the direction of the air station. “When I was pried out of the wreckage at Miramare, I was a blank slate. I was also a hole. The ghouls who kept me pimped my ass out to every stallion with a twitchy ball sack. Celestia only knows how I didn’t get knocked up. Maybe I did and I just killed the foal… like Hope,” she said in that horrible, fragile voice.
"我告诉过你我忘了,"她说，我想责怪自己忘了。你怎么会忘记呢？她哼了一声，对我的失误摇了摇头。"荒地上的许多小马被强奸了。大部分是母马，但也有种马。闪光者因此而臭名昭著。"她叹了口气，朝航空站的方向望去。"当我从米拉马雷的残骸中被撬出来时，我还是一张白纸。我也是一个洞。那些让我拉皮条的食尸鬼用一个抽搐的蛋蛋麻袋把我的屁股给了每匹种马。塞莱斯蒂亚只知道我怎么没有怀孕。也许是我干的，我只是杀了小马驹......就像霍普一样,"她用那可怕而脆弱的声音说。
“One day, those two ghouls got bored and sold me to the folks that got Paradise
"有一天，那两个食尸鬼觉得无聊，就把我卖给了买天堂的人
started. After a while, though, I figured out that explosive collars aren’t much of a deterrent when you can regrow your head. I busted out, and I was on my own again. Bonesaw and Scalpel were kind enough to win me over, the first two who didn’t try to inseminate me for caps.”
开始。不过过了一段时间，我发现爆炸性颈圈并不能阻止你的头部重新长出来。我逃了出来，再次独自一人。Bonesaw和Scalpel非常友好地赢得了我的支持，他们是前两个没有尝试给我输精的人。"
“Then how are you so normal? I mean…” I stammered as she looked at me like I was a idiot again… which, to be fair...
"那你怎么会这么正常？我的意思是......"当她看着我的时候，我结结巴巴地说，好像我又变成了一个白痴......说句公道话.....。
“Normal? What makes you think I’m normal, Blackjack? I have nightmares. The old flashbacks. Every time I came to 69, I paid a mare to let me sob into her chest for an hour or two and call her Mommy. Then I’d pay twice as much just to keep her quiet. Crybaby Reapers are a liability,” she said with a grin, but I saw past it into her eyes. “Sometimes, I’ll go into a place and I can just see the looks. The ‘I can fuck you if I want’ look. I wear jagged steel armor and am as strong as three ponies, and I still get that look. So what I really want to know is, how are you so normal?”
"正常？你凭什么认为我是正常的，黑杰克？我会做恶梦。过去的回忆。每次我到了69岁，我付钱给一匹母马，让我在她胸前哭一两个小时，然后叫她妈妈。然后我会付双倍的价钱让她闭嘴。爱哭的死神是个累赘,"她咧嘴笑着说，但我从她的眼睛里看出来了。"有时候，我走进一个地方，我只能看到他们的表情。如果我愿意，我可以操你。我穿着锯齿状的钢铁盔甲，像三匹小马一样强壮，现在仍然有那种表情。所以我真正想知道的是，你怎么会这么正常?"
“Huh?”
"啊?"
“I heard from P-21 and Glory. You were a glazed donut by her account. I smelled the blood and spunk. Probably still can on the Seahorse. So why aren’t you a cringing ball of terror around males?”
"我从P-21和Glory那里得到消息。根据她的说法，你是个甜甜圈。我闻到了血和精液的味道。也许在海马上还可以。那么，为什么你不是一个令男性畏缩的恐怖球呢?"
I looked at her flatly. “I think we should hurry up and get going.”
我直截了当地看着她。"我认为我们应该抓紧时间出发。"
But she jumped in front of me. “No, really. What’s your secret? I mean, you probably had four different cocks in your ass and your mouth…”
但是她跳到了我前面。"不，真的。你的秘诀是什么？我的意思是，你可能有四个不同的阴茎在你的屁股和你的嘴......"
“Look, we don’t have time…” I muttered, going red.
"看，我们没有时间了......"我嘟囔着，脸涨得通红。
“I mean, did you choke or swallow fast enough--“
"我的意思是，你吞咽的速度够快吗?"
“Rampage. I don’t want to fucking talk about it. It happened. It’s over. Fucking drop it.”
"横冲直撞。我他妈的不想谈这个。事情发生了。结束了。他妈的放下。"
“I mean, to get that ploughed and be perfectly fine…”
"我的意思是，要把它犁得很好......"
“Shut the fuck up, Rampage!”
"闭上你的臭嘴，疯子!"
“Or did you like it a litt--“
"还是你有点喜欢——"
I smashed my hooves into her face. “Shut up!” And suddenly, I couldn’t stop. I had to kick and kick and kick again. Her blood splashed over me as a dark rage suddenly flowed out of my brain like boiling acidic blood. I hated her. I hated her for picking open the wound. I hated her for being wounded in the first place. I thought that I could just ignore it. That I’d gotten lucky and it hadn’t affected me. That somehow I’d owned that dreadful hour back on the Seahorse. I wanted to smash her to pieces. I wanted to hurt as badly as I’d been hurt.
我用蹄子猛击她的脸。"闭嘴!"突然间，我停不下来。我不得不又踢又踢。她的血像沸腾的酸性血液一样从我的大脑中突然流出一股黑暗的愤怒，溅满了我的全身。我恨她。我恨她，因为她揭开了我的伤口。我一开始就讨厌她受伤。我以为我可以无视它。我很幸运，它没有影响到我。不知何故，我在锡霍斯度过了那段可怕的时光。我真想把她打成碎片。我想像受伤一样受伤。
My fingers found a brand new function as they locked on her throat and squeezed with every bit of force I could muster. She’d never ever hurt me again. Never. I’d tear her head off before I let her! I squeezed harder, feeling the cartilage give and listening to it crackle...
我的手指发现了一个全新的功能，它们锁住了她的喉咙，用尽了我所有的力气挤压着。她再也不会伤害我了。从来没有。我宁愿把她的头拧下来也不会让她这么做！我更用力地挤压，感觉到软骨的屈服，听着它劈啪作响.....。
And then I looked down at her battered face and crushed neck and jerked my hooves back. Pink light flashed as her injuries healed before me. Any other pony... I imagined Glory or P-21... Scotch... I sat down, glad for the rain. So glad for it. She looked up at me with a sure smile as she healed. “Sure... you’re just fine... aren’t you?” she rasped with soft sarcasm.
然后我低头看着她受伤的脸和破碎的脖子，猛地拉了拉我的蹄子。她的伤口愈合时，粉红色的灯光在我面前闪烁。任何其他的小马......我想象着晨辉或P-21......苏格兰威士忌......我坐下来，为雨水而高兴。我很高兴。她抬头看着我，脸上带着坚定的微笑。"当然...你很好...不是吗?"她用温柔的讽刺刺激着我。
I’d been raped. I wasn’t okay with it. I was so damned angry I wanted to kill somepony. I was scared that it’d happen again. And I was ashamed. No matter how I tried to rationalize it… no matter how I tried to make it sound like it’d been preferable… the fact was that I’d been hurt. Hurt bad… maybe forever. I wanted to shake, but everything was a damn calm inside me, aching.
我被强奸了。我不能接受。我非常生气，恨不得杀了一匹小马。我害怕这种事再次发生。我感到羞愧。无论我如何试图为它找借口...无论我如何试图让它听起来更可取...事实是我受到了伤害。伤得很重...也许是永远。我想要颤抖，但是一切都在我内心该死的平静，疼痛。
Rampage groaned and rolled onto her belly. “Ow… Therapy isn’t supposed to hurt this much.”
狂暴呻吟着，滚到了她的肚子上。"哦...心理治疗不应该这么疼的。"
“Rampage… I…” I stammered in horror.
"暴怒......我.....。。」我吓得结结巴巴地说。
She sighed as she looked at me. “You didn’t do anything that any mare or stallion who’s been put through what we have wouldn’t do.” Slowly, she rose to her hooves and shook herself. “You have a nasty tendency to repress stuff. So do I. So does P-21. But you need to know those landmines are there now, because otherwise somepony is going to come along and step on them, and it’s going to be ugly.”
她看着我，叹了口气。"你所做的一切，是任何经历过我们所遭受的苦难的母马或种马都不会做的。"慢慢地，她站起身来，抖了抖身子。"你有压抑事物的可怕倾向。我也是。P-21也是。但是你需要知道那些地雷现在就在那里，因为否则一些小马会走过来踩在上面，那将是丑陋的。"
“Right…” I murmured softly. Victim… I was used to thinking of other ponies as the victims; they were the ones hurt, and I was the one dealing with addressing it. Victims were weak and helpless, like Dusty Trails caught in the crusher.
"对......"我轻声说。受害者......我习惯于把其他小马当作受害者;它们是受伤的，而我是处理这个问题的人。受害者都是软弱无助的，就像被压碎机压住的满是灰尘的小径。
Ponies to be saved by ponies bigger and stronger and nicer, like me. Was all my supposed heroism just an excuse to feel superior?
小马被越来越大，越来越强壮，越来越漂亮的小马所拯救，就像我一样。难道我所谓的英雄主义仅仅是一个感到优越的借口吗？
I couldn’t say for certain… but the thought had me shivering in my synthetic legs.
我不能肯定地说......但是这个想法让我在我的人造腿上颤抖。
I looked at the blood speckling my hooves and imagined it coming from one certain pegasus. That night in Tenpony had been wonderful… no question… but sitting here now in the rain, I thought back. One wrong touch… one reckless moment… and I could have hurt Glory just as badly as I had Rampage. The thought nearly floored me, and I looked back at Glory way over by the wagon, barely visible through the rain at this distance. Thank Celestia none of them seemed to realize what I’d done. “That’s why you were able to talk to P-21…”
我看着我蹄子上的血迹，想象着它来自一匹飞马。在Tenpony的那个夜晚很美好......毫无疑问......但是现在坐在这里的雨中，我回想起来。一个错误的触摸...一个鲁莽的时刻...我可能会伤害晨辉就像我有狂暴一样严重。这个想法几乎把我难住了，我回头看了看马车那边的晨辉，在这么远的距离，透过雨水几乎看不见。谢天赐，他们似乎都没有意识到我做了什么。"这就是你能与P-21对话的原因......"
“And you couldn’t. And it’s why I can talk to you like this and about this, and Glory can’t,” she said quietly as we continued towards the tents.
"你不能。这就是为什么我可以像这样和你们谈论这件事，而晨辉不能,"当我们继续向帐篷走去时，她平静地说。
“No offense… but couldn’t you have waited till after we pulped Sanguine? I’ve got to say your timing stinks.”
"无意冒犯......但是你就不能等到我们把桑吉尼做成肉酱之后再说吗？我不得不说，你的时机糟透了。"
“Why’d you let Citrine spout off at you like that?” she asked with a nod over her shoulder back at Flank.
"你为什么让黄水晶像那样对你滔滔不绝?"她回到弗兰克，肩上点了点头，问道。
“She was right,” I muttered.
"她是对的,"我喃喃自语。
“She was hurt, and you knew it. And you know hurt, Blackjack. But there’s a difference between hurt and right. Her pain didn’t make her right. If pain were all it took to be right, then every half-baked raider in the Wasteland would be right in doing whatever they wanted. We’re all victims, Blackjack. The only difference is what we do with our hurt.” She nudged my rump with her own. “That’ll be fifty caps for one three minute Wasteland therapy session.”
"她受伤了，你知道的。你知道我受伤了，黑杰克。但是伤害和正确是有区别的。她的痛苦并没有让她恢复正常。如果痛苦是正确的一切，那么荒原上每一个半生不熟的突袭者都会做他们想做的事情。我们都是受害者Blackjack。唯一的区别是我们如何处理我们的伤害。"她用自己的屁股碰了碰我的屁股。"一次3分钟的荒地治疗就要五十次。"
I couldn’t help myself, laughing softly. “So there is a therapist in the Wasteland.”
我情不自禁地笑了起来。"所以荒原上有一个治疗师。"
“You bet. Helping you makes it easier for me to repress and ignore all my own fucked-up issues,” she laughed.
"当然。帮助你让我更容易压抑和忽视我自己的问题,"她笑着说。
I shook my head as we reached the little encampment and several things struck me at once. There were only about twenty or so ponies sitting around the fires. At once, I took in their grubby and gaunt appearances; it didn’t match their
当我们到达那个小营地的时候，我摇了摇头，有几件事立刻打动了我。只有大约二十匹小马围坐在火堆旁。我立刻看穿了他们肮脏、憔悴的外表;这与他们的外表不相称
clothes. Those looked practically new! And their weapons still had the sheen of manufacturer’s oil. Boxes of pre-war food were stacked in heaps. But for the overabundance, the ponies just sat in circles around their fires, humming one... continuous... tone...
衣服。这些看起来几乎是新的！而且他们的武器仍然带有制造商油脂的光泽。一箱箱的战前食品堆成了一堆。但是由于马匹数量过多，它们只是围着火堆坐成一圈，哼着一个......连续的......调子.....。
A tone I’d heard before...
我以前听过这种口气..。
I sat down with a sensation of horror creeping over me. I glanced beside me at Rampage and imagined her covered in foal cadavers. P-21 as a bloody tyrant, his own daughter a ‘breeder’. And Glory... Glory made a thing. I wanted my heart to pound. I wanted to gasp for air. I wanted to scream! Rampage was saying something as I fell on my face, hugging it, trying to black the thoughts out. Trying to stop that noise! I’d seen exactly this. Heard exactly that. It had been a dream, hadn’t it? Or had it been some kind of vision? Had it even been my dream, given how mutated my body was by that time?
我坐下来，一种恐怖的感觉悄悄地爬过我的身体。我瞥了一眼旁边的狂暴，想象着她身上布满了小马驹的尸体。P-21是个血腥的暴君，他的女儿是个"饲养员"。晨辉......晨辉创造了一切。我想让我的心跳动起来。我真想喘口气。我想尖叫！当我摔倒在地上时，狂暴说了些什么，拥抱着它，试图遮住我的思绪。试着阻止那些噪音！我看到的就是这个。我听到了。这只是一个梦，不是吗？或者是某种幻觉？鉴于那时我的身体已经发生了如此大的变异，这是不是我的梦想？
Then I heard the faintest voice. A tiny chime, quiet and pure, filling my ears. Slowly, I lifted my face and looked around for the source, but I could see none. Rampage knelt next to me, shaking me. “Hey! Hey, are you okay? Should I get Glory? Should I start with the mayhem?” I struggled to clear my mind and think as those two tones fought inside it. Gradually, thankfully, both faded and I pulled my wits together. I looked at Rampage and slowly shook my head. A part of me really wanted to open fire; there was something fundamentally wrong in that note. But I couldn’t kill ponies just sitting there...
然后我听到了最微弱的声音。一个微小的钟声，安静而纯净，充满了我的耳朵。慢慢地，我抬起头，环顾四周，寻找源头，但是我什么也看不见。狂暴在我身边跪下，摇晃着我。"嘿！你还好吗？我应该得到晨辉吗？我应该从混乱开始吗?"当这两种音调在里面打斗时，我努力让自己的头脑清醒并思考。谢天谢地，我渐渐恢复了理智。我看着暴怒，慢慢地摇了摇头。我内心的一部分真的很想开火;那个音符中有一些根本性的错误。但我不能只是坐在那里杀小马。
“No... no...” I said. “I’m...fine. It’s all... just a little creepy.”
"不......不......"我说。"我......很好。这一切......只是有点令人毛骨悚然。"
From the look on Rampage’s face, she didn’t believe for a moment that I was telling even half the story; this was maybe the most worried I’d ever seen her.
从狂暴的表情来看，她一点也不相信我在讲故事的一半;这可能是我见过她最担心的时候了。
“You’re sure?”
"你确定?"
“Yeah. Let’s just... go talk to them. I need answers.”
"是的。我们去跟他们谈谈吧。我需要答案。"
“Well, okay. Just let me know when to start the rampaging!” she said with a familiar wide grin and only a fading hint that her worry had far from gone away. I steeled myself, faced the encampment again, and stepped forward.
"好吧，好吧。只要告诉我什么时候开始横冲直撞就行了!"她带着熟悉的咧嘴大笑说道，只是淡淡地暗示着她的担心还远远没有消失。我鼓起勇气，再次面对营地，向前走去。
A brown earth pony approached, all welcoming smiles and apparently paying no attention to my episode. Something ugly growled in the back of my mind. He
一匹棕色土地上的小马走了过来，脸上洋溢着欢迎的微笑，显然没有注意到我的插曲。在我的脑海里，有一个丑陋的东西在咆哮。他
was too clean. Too well fed. “Welcome. I am Auger. Have you come to join the faithful?” I looked at the corkscrew cutie mark drilling through a heart; I supposed that this was a step up from his old life.
太干净了。吃得太饱了。"欢迎。我是奥格。你是来加入信徒的吗?"我看着钻穿心脏的螺旋状小可爱标记，我猜想这是他过去生活的一个进步。
“Faithful?” I asked, looking at the humming ponies. “What, them?”
"忠诚?"我看着那些嗡嗡作响的小马问道。"什么，他们?"
His smile faded a touch. “The faithful have come to this city of wonders to be saved from the horrors of the Wasteland. Soon, the doors shall open, and we will return to a world of plenty and paradise.” He immediately reached over and scooped up a box of Sugar Apple Bombs. “Please accept this blessing of plenty from the Hoof.”
他的微笑淡了一点。"信徒们来到这座奇迹之城，是为了从荒原的恐怖中得到拯救。很快，大门就会打开，我们就会回到一个富饶的天堂。"他立刻伸出手，舀起一盒糖苹果炸弹。"请接受霍夫赐予我们的丰盛祝福"
I took the box in a hand and looked at it skeptically. On the one hoof, I was really leery of accepting anything from these ponies. On the other, the box looked unopened, I could eat rocks and rusty old cans… and I was hungry and they were Sugar Apple Bombs. Well...the hum probably wasn’t contagious through food. I shook the cereal into my mouth and chewed. My eyes popped wide; even for Sugar Apple Bombs, these were good! “Where did you find this?”
我用手拿起盒子，怀疑地看着它。就一只蹄子而言，我真的很害怕接受这些小马的任何东西。另一方面，盒子看起来没有开封，我可以吃石头和生锈的罐头......我饿了，它们是糖苹果炸弹。嗯...这种嗡嗡声可能不会通过食物传染。我把麦片摇进嘴里嚼了起来。我的眼睛睁得大大的;即使是糖苹果炸弹，这些都是好的！"你在哪儿找到这个的?"
“The city guided me to an old recharging station in which we found that treasure.”
"城市把我带到了一个旧的充电站，我们在那里找到了宝藏。"
“Treasure? You have no idea,” I said around a mouthful. This was the best of the best cereal ever, and it was hitting my snacky perfectly! I licked the powder off my lips and then frowned. I looked at the box. Something was off. “You said this was in a recharging station?”
"宝藏？你根本不知道,"我满嘴说道。这是有史以来最好的麦片中的最好的一种，而且它正好击中了我的小点心！我舔了舔嘴唇上的粉末，然后皱了皱眉。我看了看盒子。有些不对劲。"你说这是在一个充电站?"
“Indeed. The city will always provide for the faithful,” Auger proclaimed. “Food for the hungry. Ammunition, weapons, and barding for our protection. Even potions unravaged by Enervation.”
"的确。这座城市将永远为信徒提供生活条件。"给饥饿者的食物。弹药，武器，和保护我们的帐篷。即使是没有被衰弱破坏的药剂。"
“This box is new,” I said softly. Rampage frowned and leaned towards it. “No fading. No dust. No warping. And the cereal inside tastes new too.”
"这个盒子是新的,"我轻声说。狂暴皱起了眉头，向它靠过来。"没有褪色。没有灰尘。没有翘曲。里面的谷物也尝起来是新的。"
“A miracle of the city, a bounty for the faithful.”
"这座城市的奇迹，是对信徒的奖赏。"
“You know, in my old stable, we had machines that could make food like this. Oh, sure, not as good or as varied, but yeah. Food from machines.” I shook the box between my hooves. “What I want to know is where the machines are.”
"你知道，在我以前的马厩里，我们有机器可以做出这样的食物。哦，当然，没有那么好，也没有那么多样，但是是的。来自机器的食物。"我用蹄子把盒子摇了摇。"我想知道的是机器在哪里。"
Clearly not the way he wanted my line of questioning to go. “The glories of the Hoof are not for us to question or to ponder,” he said in faintly hurt tones. “If you are not prepared to join us, then I suggest you take our gift and leave. But I would suggest you not begrudge those that have so very little and have suffered so much.”
很明显，这不是他想让我问的方式。"霍夫的晨辉不是我们可以质疑或思考的,"他略带伤感地说。"如果你不准备加入我们，那么我建议你带着我们的礼物离开。但是我建议你不要嫉妒那些贫穷而痛苦的人。"
“I don’t. But I do question where such plenty comes from and who is pulling the levers and why,” I said as I stood. “Thanks for the cereal.” I picked up the box in my mouth. He hadn’t sounded like he’d been hiding something. A true believer, I guessed.
"我不知道。但我的确怀疑，这么多钱是从哪里来的，是谁在拉动杠杆，为什么要这么做。"。"谢谢你的麦片。"我把盒子叼在嘴里。他的声音听起来不像是在隐瞒什么。一个真正的信徒，我猜。
We started back, but then Auger trotted up after us. “One last moment. You two seem formidable. There is a mare that has something we desire greatly. She is the murderess called Security. She wears a black device on her left hoof. If you find this mare… if you bring us what she wears, we will provide you with riches beyond compare.”
我们往回走，然后奥格小跑着跟在我们后面。"最后一刻。你们两个看起来很可怕。有一匹母马拥有我们非常渴望的东西。她就是那个叫保安的女杀人犯。她的左蹄上戴着一个黑色的装置。如果你找到这匹母马......如果你给我们带来她所穿的衣服，我们会给你无与伦比的财富。"
I stared at him for the longest time. I swore I heard my left foreleg rattle like a hundred thousand bottlecaps. “Good to know. What do you want it for?”
我盯着他看了很长时间。我发誓我听到我的左前腿咯咯作响，就像十万瓶水一样。"很高兴知道。你要它干什么?"
“It is the key to our entry to the Hoof,” he said with a broad smile. “We have seen it in a dream.” You’re not the only one... “When we have it, the doors shall open wide, and we will be permitted to enter the Core.” He bowed his head to us. “Hoofington Rises.”
"这是我们进入霍夫的关键,"他笑容满面地说。"我们在梦中见过它。"你不是唯一一个......"当我们拥有它的时候，大门会敞开，我们将被允许进入核心。"他向我们低下了头。"胡芬顿站起来了"
As he left, I gave one look at Rampage. All we needed was for this guy to talk to Citrine, and I was going to have a whole lot more trouble. But what could I do? It wasn’t like I could just kill... him… actually, I could. In fact, I was with the one mare who’d probably be just fine with it. Just slip into S.A.T.S. and use my hooves and…
当他离开的时候，我看了他一眼。我们所需要的就是让这个家伙和Citrine谈谈，而我将会有更多的麻烦。但是我能做什么呢？我不是说我可以杀了...他...事实上，我可以。事实上，我和一匹母马在一起，她可能对此没什么意见。溜进S.A.T.S.用我的蹄子..。
I shook my head hard. Killing a stallion just to make my life easier? That wasn’t me. Yet as I glanced back, that one ugly voice in my head told me I should do it anyway, just to be safe. Just in case. One less pony after my head, one step farther from that dream... I glanced at Rampage and saw the sympathy in her pink eyes, the acknowledgement of what was in my head. “Let’s go,” I said with a sigh, doubting I would ever get to be so open ever again.
我使劲摇了摇头。杀一匹种马只是为了让我的生活更轻松？那不是我。然而，当我回头看的时候，脑海中一个丑陋的声音告诉我，为了安全起见，无论如何我都应该这么做。以防万一。在我头后又少了一匹小马，离那个梦又远了一步......我瞥了一眼狂暴，看到了她粉红色的眼睛里的同情，承认了我脑子里的想法。"我们走吧,"我叹了口气说，怀疑自己再也不会这么开放了。
Back at the wagon… we needed a name for it. Road Bandit? Huh… something. Anyway, once we were back, we saw that Caprice had brought my order. I
回到马车上...我们需要给它起个名字。道路强盗？嗯...有些事。不管怎样，我们一回来，就看到卡普里斯给我送来了订单。一
shouldered into the harness once more, tore two holes in the cardboard box, and slipped my ears through, burying my muzzle in the sugary goodness. Well… at least I’d got a box of my favorite cereal out of it.
再一次被肩膀推进马具里，在纸板箱上撕开两个洞，把我的耳朵塞进去，把我的嘴巴埋在甜蜜的美味里。好吧...至少我从中得到了一盒我最喜欢的麦片。
* * *
* * *
New bonus to having a piece of machinery for a stomach: no cramps after eating. Actually, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was feeling, but I don’t think that ‘cramp’ quite described it. It was more like a strange whirring sensation where my stomach used to be. Whatever it was, though, it didn’t seem to be having any effect on my pace. I pulled us as fast and steady as I could, sucking down on a sapphire and some water every now and then to keep my energy supplies topped off.
拥有一台胃部机器的新好处是:吃东西后不会抽筋。事实上，我不是很确定我的感觉，但是我不认为那个抽筋很好的描述了它。这更像是一种奇怪的呼呼的感觉，我的胃曾经在那里。不管它是什么，它似乎对我的速度没有任何影响。我尽可能快速而稳定地拉着我们，时不时地吮吸着蓝宝石和一些水来保持我的能量供应充足。
Yeah. I had energy supplies now instead of rumbling stomach pains!
是的。我现在有能量供应，而不是隆隆作响的胃痛！
That was good, because, every minute that passed by, I was moving a little faster and a little faster. I thought of Chapel and the fillies being force marched across the bridge and the colts tossed into the churning river. The rain was getting heavier and thunder began to growl overhead. Little flickers of lightning danced between the dark clouds. I hoped Thunderhead was just feeling bored or something. I did not need to spend a few hours unconscious again!
那很好，因为，每过一分钟，我的速度就快一点，快一点。我想起了小教堂和小雌马被迫行进过桥，小马被抛进搅拌河。雨越来越大，头顶上的雷声开始咆哮起来。微弱的闪电在乌云间跳跃。我希望霹雳头只是觉得无聊或什么的。我不需要再昏迷几个小时了！
We passed Blueblood Manor and finally spotted the village. No smoke. No fires. No bodies littering the street, and there were lights in the post office and little church. For the briefest of moments, I could have pretended that everything was okay. Sanguine was dead in a ditch somewhere. We could have dinner in Star House. Everything was going to be fine and peaceful.
我们经过蓝血庄园，终于看到了村庄。没有烟雾。不要生火。街上没有尸体，邮局和小教堂里也有灯光。在那一瞬间，我可以假装一切都很好。桑吉恩死在某处的一条沟里。我们可以在星星之家吃晚饭。一切都会变得美好而平静。
That illusion was destroyed in a yellow flash that sent my head reeling and me crashing into the asphalt. Glory jerked the brake, but I was still ground along the broken road and left a few square inches of my face on the tarmac.
那种幻觉在一道黄色的闪光中被摧毁了，让我头晕目眩，撞上了沥青路面。晨辉猛地刹住了车，但我仍然在破碎的道路上踩着地面，在停机坪上只留下了几平方英寸的脸。
Psychoshy twisted so hard I thought she’d snap in two and came at me once more, but Glory’s stream of emerald beams made her veer off and instead fly by the wagon. There were a flash and a crack as her power hooves discharged and smashed Glory clear off the seat. I rose to my hooves and at once slipped into S.A.T.S., then gaped at the low hit probability. Was she really moving that damned fast? Three shotgun blasts fired in slow motion and not one hit her.
精神病扭得太厉害了，我以为她会折断成两截，再一次朝我走来，但晨辉那一束翠绿色的光束使她转向，飞过马车。一道闪光和一道裂缝出现在她的马蹄声中，格洛里从座位上摔了下来。我猛地站起来，立刻溜进了S.A.T.S.，然后被这么低的命中率吓得目瞪口呆。她真的移动得那么快吗？三声霰弹枪的慢动作射击，没有一声击中她。
Then time sped back up, and she curled in and dove again. “Unhook me!” I shouted, firing wildly to force her off to the side. I felt Scotch scrabble at the pins holding me to the cart. P-21 had Persuasion out, but he’d need her to land before he’d have a chance of blowing her wings off.
然后时间又加快了速度，她又蜷缩起来，再次潜入水中。"放开我!"我大声喊道，疯狂地开枪，想把她逼到一边。我感觉到苏格兰威士忌在把我按在车上的大头针上乱涂乱画。P-21把《劝导》派出去了，但是他需要她在他有机会把她的翅膀打飞之前降落。
That left Lacunae. The purple alicorn was large, glorious, and magical. She was also, unfortunately, slow; her magic arrows streaked in a deadly barrage that Psychoshy left in the dust. Lacunae’s shield flared with each connection of those power hooves, all four of them striking precisely to maximize force; without the cage to constrain her, Psychoshy could move ridiculously fast, and the alicorn was getting more than a little worn out by the powerful and precise flyby attacks.
这就留下了空白。紫色的角果硕大无比，光彩夺目，充满魔力。不幸的是，她的动作也很慢;她那神奇的箭射出了致命的弹幕，而精神害羞留在了尘土中。拉库尼的盾牌随着每一个动力蹄的连接点燃，四个蹄子都精确地击打着，以便最大限度地发挥力量;没有了笼子的约束，精神病患者可以快得离谱地移动，而阿里克松也被强大而精确的飞越攻击弄得筋疲力尽。
Then I was free and stepped ahead. “Lacunae! Try and grab her!”
然后我就自由了，走在了前面。"空隙！试着抓住她!"
“We are trying, but she is… infuriatingly… swift!” the alicorn said into my mind.
"我们正在努力，但她......令人气愤地......敏捷!"阿利康在我脑子里说。
“Not happening!” Psychoshy shouted as she reversed with a powerful snap of her wings and corkscrewed straight at Lacunae. With an explosive crack, the yellow pegasus blasted right through her shield and smashed both forehooves against her skull. Lacunae dropped from the sky into a heap on the dead, wet grass.
"不可能!""精神病"一边大声喊着，一边有力地扑扇着翅膀，朝着拉库尼直拧着螺丝。随着爆炸的一声爆裂，黄色的飞马正好撞穿了她的护盾，前蹄撞碎了她的头骨。空隙从天而降，堆积在干枯潮湿的草地上。
Hoping she’d take a second to brag, I tried for a S.A.T.S.-assisted rifle shot, but she didn’t slow after knocking Lacunae out and instead dove for me once again. I saw her wide, murderous grin, her blue eyes wide in glee as her power hooves crackled. Worse, I realized why her strokes were striking with such precision: on her left foreleg was a PipBuck of her very own.
我希望她能花点时间吹嘘一下，于是我试着用sat辅助步枪射击，但在把拉库奈击倒后，她没有放慢速度，而是再次扑向我。我看到了她凶残的咧嘴笑，当她的马蹄劈啪作响时，她蓝色的眼睛欢快地睁得大大的。更糟糕的是，我意识到为什么她的击球如此精准:她的左前腿上有一只属于她自己的小鸟。
Then a red-striped wall of steel hopped in front of me, and Psychoshy slammed all four hooves into Rampage’s side. I heard ribs snapping like dry branches, but while Rampage grunted and bent a little, she didn’t go down. “My turn,” she hissed through her pain, and then she reared up and slammed her hoofclaws into Psychoshy’s face. Six bloody furrows opened in the pegasus’s hide as she snapped her wings hard to get away.
然后一堵红色条纹的钢墙跳到了我的面前，神经病用四只蹄子猛地撞向了狂暴的一边。我听到肋骨像干树枝一样折断的声音，但是当狂暴咕哝着弯下腰的时候，她并没有倒下。"轮到我了,"她痛苦地嘶嘶地说，然后站起身来，用蹄爪猛击精神病害羞的脸。飞马猛扑着翅膀挣扎着想逃脱时，隐藏的身体上留下了六道血迹斑斑的皱纹。
Rampage wasn’t going to give her the chance, though; she leapt and landed on top of Psychoshy like a falling house. The yellow pegasus screamed as those claws dug into her shoulders and haunches. “Well… too bad I don’t have a wood chipper. But...” She grinned ear to ear. “Make a wish.”
然而，狂暴并没有给她这个机会;她跳了下去，像一座倒塌的房子一样落在了"心理害羞"的上面。黄色的飞马尖叫着，爪子挖进了她的肩膀和臀部。"嗯......可惜我没有削木机。但是......"她咧着嘴笑。"许个愿吧。"
“Rampage!” I shouted, stopping her from tearing the yellow pony in two. Something was wrong with this. I slowly approached while Glory and Scotch worked to revive Lacunae. Psychoshy’s eyes were wide… and terrified. Slowly, I walked in front of her and she gave a sniff. “Hey Psychoshy.”
"横冲直撞!"我喊道，阻止她把那匹黄色的小马撕成两半。这有点不对劲。我慢慢地走近，晨辉和苏格兰威士忌正在努力恢复空隙。神经病的眼睛睁得大大的......吓坏了。我慢慢地走到她前面，她嗅了一下。"嘿，害羞的神经病。"
“Flutters--” she began, then flinched away when she saw my face. “You have to help him. You have… you have to give him the program. Please!”
"颤抖——"她开始说，然后当她看到我的脸时退缩了。"你必须帮助他。你必须...你必须把节目单给他。求你了!"
“He’s tried force, bribery, and coercion, and now he sends you to beg for him?” I asked as I took a seat.
"他试过暴力、贿赂和胁迫，现在他派你来为他乞求?"我一边坐下一边问。
“He didn’t send me!” She tried to heave Rampage off her, but my friend wasn’t budging. “They’re going to kill him!”
"不是他派我来的!"她试图把暴怒从她身上拉开，但我的朋友一动不动。"他们要杀了他!"
“Funny. I’m going to kill him,” I said, smiling slowly. “Sounds like he’s fucked.”
"有意思。"我要杀了他,"我说，慢慢地笑了笑。"听起来他完蛋了。"
She sniffed as she looked up at me. “You have to save him. You have to! Somepony has to!” she said as she struggled again. “Give me the program!” she screamed in mad desperation, her hooves clawing at me.
她一边嗅一边抬头看着我。"你必须救他。你必须这么做！有些人必须这么做!"她边说边又挣扎起来。"把程序给我!"她绝望地尖叫，用蹄子抓我。
“Girl, you have completely smashed your apple,” I said with just a touch of amusement. “You really think… after everything he’s done, not to mention you… I’m just going to save him?” She looked up at me and nodded. And then, like that, the amusement was torn away, and I shouted at her, “He threw a whole settlement of miners into a rock crusher and left the last one alive to tell me where he was going next! He marched a town into a radioactive crater and watched them die! He sent Deus into my stable! And I don’t even want to imagine what he may have done that I haven’t heard about yet!”
"姑娘，你把你的苹果完全打碎了,"我带着一丝乐趣说道。"你真的认为......在他做了那么多事之后，更不用说你了......我会去救他吗?"她抬头看着我，点了点头。然后，就这样，娱乐被撕开了，我对她喊道,"他把一整个矿区的矿工扔进碎石机，留下最后一个活口，告诉我他下一步要去哪里!"！他把一个小镇押进一个放射性弹坑，眼睁睁地看着它们死去！他把上帝派到我的马厩里来！我甚至不敢想象他可能做了什么我还没听说过的事!"
She finally went limp, sobbing as she hid her face in her hooves. “I know… but he’s all I have. Nopony else is going to save him. So I have to,” she sobbed brokenly as she lay there in the mud. I stared down, and P-21 emerged from the rain to sit beside me.
她终于一瘸一拐地走了，一边啜泣一边把脸藏在蹄子里。"我知道......但他是我的全部。不会有其他人来救他。所以我不得不这么做,"她躺在泥地里，伤心地抽泣着。我低下头，看到P-21从雨中走出来坐在我旁边。
“You can’t be seriously considering this, Blackjack,” he said quietly. I couldn’t answer him. It was insane, and we both knew it. “This is the pony responsible for making our lives a living hell. That fucker exposed 99 to that damned virus! You promised Dusty Trails!” he shouted.
"你不能认真考虑这个，Blackjack,"他平静地说。我无法回答他。这太疯狂了，我们都知道。"这就是让我们生不如死的小马。那个混蛋把99号染上了该死的病毒！你答应过尘土飞扬的小径!"他喊道。
“I know!” I shouted back, making him balk. I knew that Sanguine was a
"我知道!"我也喊了回去，让他退缩了。我知道桑吉尼是一个
monster. A complete fiend who deserved to die. I knew it. But I never imagined having a pony beg for the life of such a creature. And that introduced the insidious thought into my head. Could forgiving Sanguine actually be… better? I had a very similar yellow pegasus in my mind begging me to do just that.
怪物。一个该死的彻头彻尾的恶魔。我就知道。但是我从来没有想象过会有一匹小马来乞求这样的生物的生命。于是这个阴险的想法进入了我的脑海。原谅圣吉真的会...更好吗？我脑子里有一个非常相似的黄色飞马，求我这么做。
“Please. He’s all I have,” she whimpered. “If he doesn’t get that program, he’ll kill everypony in Chapel. And then Vermilion will kill him. Or something worse in the Core will. Or you will!”
"求你了。他是我的全部,"她呜咽着说。"如果他得不到那个项目，他会杀了教堂里的每一个人。然后朱砂会杀了他。或者核心系统中更糟糕的东西。否则你会的!"
I sighed and ignored P-21’s glare. “Who is he, Psychoshy? Why should I forgive a monster like him? Who is he to you?”
我叹了口气，对P-21的怒视视而不见。"他是谁，神经病？我为什么要原谅像他这样的怪物？他是你的什么人?"
She trembled as she closed her eyes. “My momma was killed by raiders while I was still in the womb. He cut me out… used his machines to keep me alive. He… he raised me. Named me. Taught me how to read. Made sure I was better and stronger than anypony,” she said, giving a little heave against Rampage, without result.
她闭上眼睛，浑身发抖。"我妈妈在我还在子宫里的时候就被袭击者杀死了。他把我弄出来......用他的机器让我活着。他...他抚养我长大。给我取名字。教我如何阅读。确保自己比任何小马都强壮和优秀,"她说，对狂暴做了一个小举动，但没有结果。
“And you two are… ah… intimate?” Glory asked, tapping her hooves together awkwardly. All of us stared at her a moment, and she blurted, “That’s what Mallet said!”
"你们两个......啊......亲密吗?"晨辉问道，笨拙地用蹄子轻敲着。我们都盯着她看了一会儿，她脱口而出:"这就是Mallet说的!"
“What? No! That’s disgusting!” Psychoshy said in disbelief.
"什么？不！太恶心了!"精神病医生难以置信地说。
Rampage blinked in surprise. “Seriously? You’re not riding his jerky stick?” The yellow pegasus went bright red, looking away. “Oh… so you want to…”
暴怒惊讶地眨着眼睛。"真的吗？你不是在骑他的牛肉干吧?"黄色的天马变成了鲜红色，目光移开了。"哦...所以你想..."
“He’s the only pony who’s ever been nice to me…” she murmured as she closed her eyes. “But… he calls me his little filly…”
"他是唯一对我好过的小马......"她闭上眼睛喃喃地说。"但是......他叫我小母马......"
I sighed as I looked at Rampage. Why wasn’t anything ever easy? “Well, Doctor Rampage?”
我看着暴怒，叹了口气。为什么一切都不容易呢？"嗯，疯狂医生?"
“Well… she… I think… is batshit crazy,” Rampage said softly. Then she looked right at me. “You, however, have a nasty case of bleeding heart. Worst in the history of the Wasteland. You just can’t kill a pony in cold blood, can you? You can kill just fine if somepony is shooting at you, but the moment… the second… you have to face the thought of deliberately killing somepony… then your guts get all squirmy.”
"嗯......她......我觉得......疯了,"狂暴轻声说。然后她直直地看着我。"然而，你有一颗令人讨厌的流血的心。荒原历史上最糟糕的事情。你就是不能冷血地杀死一匹小马，是吗？如果有小马朝你开枪，你可以杀死它，但是那一刻......第二......你必须面对故意杀死小马的想法......然后你的肠子就会蠕动。"
“I’m not an executioner,” I muttered. I thought of Brimstone’s Fall. Of Flank. Of 99. So many ponies deserved revenge.
"我不是刽子手,"我喃喃自语道。我想起了硫磺会的坠落。弗兰克。99个。这么多小马值得报复。
“If you can’t do it, let us,” P-21 said softly.
"如果你做不到，那就让我们来吧,"P-21轻声说。
“Yeah! P-21 and I can make a game of it,” Rampage said with a chuckle.
"是的！我和P-21可以玩这个游戏,"狂暴笑着说。
Psychoshy sobbed foalishly beneath her.
心理害羞的人在她下面顽皮地抽泣着。
I sighed. P-21 groaned and covered his face. “Not the frigging sigh. I know that sigh. That’s the ‘you don’t want to kill somepony who deserves it’ sigh.”
我叹了口气。P-21呻吟着，蒙着脸。"不是那该死的叹息。我知道那声叹息。这是一种'你不想杀死那些罪有应得的小马'的叹息。"
I smiled a tiny bit, then looked down at Psychoshy. “I’m sorry Psychoshy. I can’t make any promises to spare him. Not after what he’s done. Especially after Brimstone’s Fall and what he did to Dusty. I’m sorry.”
我微微一笑，然后低头看着Psychoshy。"对不起，神经病。我不能保证放过他。在他做了那些事之后。尤其是在硫磺城沦陷和他对达斯迪做的事之后。对不起。"
Psychoshy sniffed and sobbed wretchedly, pressing her face into the mud. Rampage rolled her eyes. “I’m guessing you don’t want me to accidentally sneeze and tear her in two?” I shook my head, and she groaned. “Softest damn heart in the Wasteland. You can push a button or pull a plug, but face to face, good and ugly...”
心理害羞的女人悲惨地抽泣着，把脸埋在泥里。狂暴转动着她的眼睛。"我猜你不希望我不小心打个喷嚏把她撕成两半吧?"我摇摇头，她呻吟着。"这荒原上最柔软的心。你可以按下按钮或拔掉插头，但是面对面，好看和丑陋......"
“I’m not an executioner,” I repeated softly as I looked down at Psychoshy. “Wonderglue her wings to a tree. She’ll work herself free eventually.” She glared up at me with a teary sniff. “Then she’ll come after me… and next time, Rampage will get her wish. But I am sorry. I can’t promise you that.”
"我不是刽子手,"我低头看着Psychoshy，轻声重复道。"奇迹"把她的翅膀粘在树上。她最终会自由工作的。"她眼泪汪汪地瞪着我。"然后她就会来找我......下一次，狂暴会实现她的愿望。但是我很抱歉。我不能向你保证。"
Rampage got off her roughly, bit one of her wings, and dragged her off to the trees beside the manor while Lacunae took off her power hooves. She screamed over and over again how she was going to kill me before Lacunae silenced her with a mouthful of her own yellow feathers. P-21 just looked at me, and I looked out at Chapel. “Don’t look at me like that. I know I’m an idiot for sparing her.”
狂暴暴徒粗暴地从她身上下来，咬了她的一只翅膀，把她拖到庄园旁的树上，而拉古妮则卸下了她的马蹄。她一遍又一遍地尖叫着说她要杀了我，然后Lacunae用她自己满嘴的黄色羽毛堵住了她的嘴。P-21只是看着我，我看着外面的教堂。"别那样看着我。我知道我放过她是个白痴。"
“I don’t think you’re an idiot,” he lied, but then our eyes met and he sighed himself, rolled his eyes, and said with a half smile, “Okay, you’re an idiot. But… you’re an admirable idiot. I just hope that nopony dies because you keep giving ponies second chances.”
"我不认为你是个白痴,"他撒谎说，但是我们的目光相遇后，他自己叹了口气，转了转眼珠，带着微笑说,"好吧，你是个白痴。但是...你是个令人钦佩的白痴。我只希望那匹小马不会死，因为你总是给小马第二次机会。"
I smiled too and looked at Chapel. Hours ago I’d been so sure. Now I was fighting myself. I closed my eyes, remembering the promise I’d made to Dusty and all the other ponies who were owed some revenge. Thinking of all the
我也笑了，看着查普尔。几个小时前我还那么肯定。现在我在和自己作斗争。我闭上了眼睛，想起了我对达斯蒂和其他小马的承诺，他们欠我一些报复。考虑到所有这些
ponies who were in danger. For the longest time, I’d wanted somepony… the Dealer… the little mares in my imagination… the stars themselves… to give me a nudge one way or the other. Nothing. This was my call…
处于危险中的小马。很长一段时间以来，我都想要一匹小马......商人......我想象中的小母马......星星本身......无论如何都要推我一把。没什么。这是我的决定..。
I thought of the little figurine in my saddlebags, the mare smiling in the atrium of the Fluttershy clinic. The mare to be a mother so long ago. Sorry…
我想起了我鞍囊里的小雕像，那匹在Fluttershy诊所大厅里微笑的母马。这匹母马很久以前就要做妈妈了。对不起..。
Sanguine would have to die.
桑吉娜必须死。
* * *
* * *
We looked down at the town from the road. “So… let me guess. You just trot right down there, and then we make it up as we go?” Glory asked with a half smile.
我们从路上俯瞰这个城镇。"那么......让我猜猜。你就直接跑到那儿，然后我们一边跑一边补上?"晨辉半带微笑地问道。
“I love this plan,” Rampage said, stomping her hooves in glee.
"我喜欢这个计划,"狂暴说，欢快地跺着蹄子。
“No.” I wasn’t going to have another Fallen Arch. Not here. “First, P-21 and I are going to go down there and get a good look at the place. I do not want a bloodbath.” I dug into my bags and took out the first of the tricks I’d purchased in Flank: a brand new StealthBuck. “Sit tight. We’ll be back soon.”
"没有。"我不会再有另一个堕落拱门了。不是在这里。"首先，P-21和我将前往那里，好好看看那个地方。我不想看到一场大屠杀。"我翻了翻我的包，拿出了我在弗兰克买的第一个把戏:一个全新的StealthBuck。"坐好了。我们很快就回来。"
* * *
* * *
“Okay,” I said as I extended a finger and started to draw in the dirt behind the wagon. The StealthBucks had lasted long enough to get me in and out. Since we’d gotten back, the blue stallion had been wearing an undeniably smug look on his face. “Here is the situation. We’ve got an hour or so, tops, before things get ugly. They’ve noticed Sunshine here is missing and think we’re coming soon.”
"好吧,"我伸出一个手指，开始在马车后面的泥土里画画。那些偷钱的家伙已经坚持了很长时间，足以让我进进出出。自从我们回来以后，这匹蓝色的种马一直带着不可否认的自鸣得意的表情。"情况是这样的。在事情变糟之前，我们最多还有一个小时。他们已经注意到这里的阳光不见了，认为我们很快就要来了。"
I glanced over at Psychoshy. “Sanguine’s trying to get Vermilion, the griffin in charge, to send the other fliers to check the road. Vermilion just wants to dust the whole town. I really want to hit them before they come for us.”
我扫了一眼Psychoshy。"桑吉尼试图让负责的狮身鹰首兽弗米利安派其他飞行员去检查路况。朱砂只是想把整个镇子除尘。我真的很想在他们来找我们之前打败他们。"
“Do we have a plan?” Glory asked with a smile.
"我们有计划吗?"晨辉微笑着问道。
“We actually do.”
"我们确实是这样做的。"
I drew a snaking path in the dirt, then drew squares at the approximate locations
我在泥土中画了一条蜿蜒的小路，然后在大致的位置画了正方形
of the buildings. “Two snipers are hidden in the chapel’s bell tower,” I said, putting down two bottle caps in the appropriate spot. Nopony could hide from E.F.S. after… well, okay, they could, but these two hadn’t. “They’re ponies, so they’re yours, Lacunae. Zap them. Use mind control. Drop a boat on them. Whatever.”
建筑物。"两个狙击手藏在教堂的钟楼里,"我说着，在适当的地方放下了两个瓶盖。Nopony可以躲开E.F.S....好吧，他们可以，但是这两个人没有。"它们是小马，所以它们是你的，拉库尼。消灭他们。使用精神控制。扔一艘船在他们身上。随便了。"
The purple alicorn nodded once. “I will endeavor to neutralize them appropriately.”
紫玉簪点了点头。"我会努力适当地中和它们。"
I put down a bottle cap outside the chapel, in Sekashi’s house, and in the post office. “Here are the positions for the three monster ponies. The dragonpony is here.” I touched the first. “Then the exploding one.” I touched the second. “And the manticore.” I pointed at the third. “She’s got three more of her pets in there.”
我在小教堂外，在Sekashi的房子里，在邮局里放下了一个瓶盖。"这是三匹怪兽小马的位置。小龙驹来了。"我摸到了第一个。"然后是爆炸的那个。"我碰了一下第二个。"还有狮蝎怪。"我指着第三个。"她还养了三只宠物。"
I looked at Glory. “The manticores are all yours. Keep strafing them. If they hide or run, fine. If not… do what you have to do.”
我看着晨辉。"manticores都是你的了。继续扫射。如果他们躲起来或者逃跑，没关系。如果没有，那就做你该做的。"
“Right,” she said with a little nod. Scotch Tape had divested Psychoshy of Marmalade’s PipBuck and placed it on Glory’s hoof; she was still occasionally trying to reach out and touch the E.F.S. bars in her vision.
"是的,"她点了点头说。苏格兰胶带已经剥离了Psychoshy的PipBuck，把它放在晨辉的蹄子上;她仍然时不时地伸出手去触摸她视野中的e.f.s.栏杆。
“P-21 is going to neutralize Fury and then join me at the chapel.” He just nodded once, not looking happy.
"P-21会中和弗瑞然后跟我一起去教堂。"他只是点了点头，看起来并不高兴。
“And the dragon monsterpony is mine, right?” Rampage said in glee and started dancing. “I get to fight a dragon. I get to fight a dragon!”
"龙怪马是我的，对吧?"狂暴兴高采烈地说，然后开始跳舞。"我要和一条龙战斗。我要和一条龙战斗!"
“Her name is Precious,” Scotch said firmly, and I smiled.
"她的名字叫普莱舍丝,"苏格兰人坚定地说，我笑了。
Time to burst Rampage’s bubble. “Nope,” I said, and immediately she sat down hard and glowered at me. I put four bottle caps down in one of the small residences. “There’re two griffins and two ponies in here.” I sighed and smiled. “Do what you do best.”
是时候打破狂暴的泡沫了。"没有,"我说，她立刻重重地坐了下来，怒视着我。我在其中一个小住宅里放了四个瓶盖。"这里有两只狮鹫和两匹小马。"我叹了口气，笑了笑。"做你最擅长的事。"
Inside the chapel, I put down four bottle caps. “Two more ponies are in here, along with Vermilion and Sanguine. P-21 and I will handle that. When you’ve taken care of your targets, meet us there. They have most of the children in this corner.” I put a Sparkle-Cola there and looked at Lacunae. “I would be really happy if you could get in there and keep a shield as long as you can.”
在小教堂里，我放下了四个瓶盖。"这里还有两匹小马，还有朱砂和血红。P-21和我会处理的。当你搞定你的目标后，在那里和我们会合。大多数孩子都在这个角落里。"我把一瓶可口可乐放在那里，看着空隙处。"如果你能进去并尽可能长时间地保持盾牌，我会非常高兴。"
Scotch frowned and then chewed her lip nervously. “You… you didn’t say what I’m doing. Please, I really want to help! Don’t leave me behind again!”
苏格兰人皱起眉头，紧张地咬着嘴唇。"你......你没说我在做什么。求你了，我真的很想帮忙！别再丢下我不管了!"
I smiled at her. “Don’t worry Scotch. Not this time,” I assured her, then took out a little tin of mints. “You get the most important job of all.”
我冲她笑了笑。"别担心，苏格兰威士忌。这次不会了,"我向她保证，然后拿出一小罐薄荷糖。"你得到了最重要的工作。"
* * *
* * *
The streets of Chapel stood silent and empty, looking abandoned to anypony who didn’t notice the occasional pairs of eyes peeking out into the street through boarded-up windows. A pair of beam rifles poked out at the drizzly night from the belltower, panning back and forth. Outside the large white building sat a very dejected-looking filly. At first glance, she was simply a purple unicorn filly with a slightly odd-looking green mane. Then you saw her spade-tipped reptilian tail, her clawed limbs, and that her ‘mane’ was in fact a row of green spines.
教堂的街道寂静而空旷，看起来像是被遗弃在任何小马身边，它们没有注意到偶尔有双眼睛透过木板封住的窗户窥视街道。一对横梁步枪从钟楼上探出来，在这个下着毛毛雨的夜晚来回摇镜。在那幢白色的大楼外面，坐着一匹非常沮丧的小母马。乍一看，她只是一匹紫色的独角兽小母马，绿色的鬃毛略显古怪。然后你看到了她铲尖的爬行动物的尾巴，带爪的四肢，还有她的"鬃毛"实际上是一排绿色的刺。
Then there was a shimmer, and an olive filly appeared at the corner of the building. She gave a perfect warm smile and gestured for the dragonpony to come closer. The suspicious filly stepped towards the corner, and my heart was in my chest as I watched. I had the bit in my teeth... but then the pair disappeared around the corner with no sign of violence. Slowly I let out my breath. One cap down…
然后有一个微光，一个橄榄小姑娘出现在建筑物的角落。她给了一个完美的温暖的微笑，并示意蜻蜓小马过来。那可疑的小姑娘走到角落里，我看着她，心都快跳出来了。我的牙齿上有咬痕......但是那一对在拐角处消失了，没有任何暴力的迹象。我慢慢地放松了呼吸。喝了一杯..。
I looked up at the rifles, then up further at Lacunae flying over the belltower as silently as a purple ghost. There was a bright purple flash with a twin above the river, and the three bars vanished from my E.F.S. Two more caps down, but that flash wasn’t inconspicuous...
我抬头看了看那些步枪，然后又抬头看了看更远处的空隙，像紫色的幽灵一样静静地飞过钟楼。河面上闪过一道亮紫色的闪光，闪光中有一对孪生兄弟，我的e.f.s上的三条金属条消失了，又消失了两个帽子，但那闪光并不是不显眼.....。
I moved over to the door to the building the griffin mercs were behind and set an empty Sparkle-Cola bottle upright beside it. From out in the rain came the clatter of hooves on asphalt. I looked at the door to the house, waiting… waiting… Then I knocked hard on it.
我走到雇佣军躲在后面的大楼门口，把一个空的闪亮可乐瓶竖立在旁边。外面下着雨，马蹄在沥青路面上发出咔嗒咔嗒的声音。我看着房子的门，等待着...等待着...然后我用力敲门。
The door creaked open and a metal-covered head peaked out. “Huh?” He had just a second to do the right thing; instead, he stood there gaping at the glittering form charging him.
门吱呀一声开了，一个金属外壳的脑袋探了出来。"啊?"他只有一秒钟的时间去做正确的事情;相反，他站在那里，目瞪口呆地看着那闪闪发光的身影向他冲来。
“Reapers!” she screamed as she slammed into him like an armored freight train. Me on Stampede had been ugly… Rampage on the stuff… well, at least she was happy.
"收割者!"她尖叫着像装甲车一样撞上了他。我在惊跑节上的表现很糟糕......在那些东西上横冲直撞......好吧，至少她很开心。
At the racket, the manticore mare Brass stepped out of the post office just in time to receive a blinding burst of green gatling beam fire to her face as Glory stepped into view. The monsterpony ducked back, but the next manticore that tried to leave the post office exploded in crackling light and collapsed in a heap of emerald dust.
在喧闹声中，manticoremareBrass走出邮局，正好看到Glory走进来时，一道炫目的绿色格林机关枪射向她的脸。这只怪兽马躲开了，但是下一只试图离开邮局的蝎尾狮在噼啪作响的光线中爆炸了，倒在一堆翡翠色的尘土中。
Fury raced out of her building and at once started to run towards Glory... but as she charged, there was a soft ‘Pfft’ from the gap between the houses. A metal dart appeared in her flank; she started to glow in shock, then dimmed, took a staggering step, and fell over on her side as the solution of Fixer and Moon Dust filled her veins. I turned back towards the door of the chapel. Two stallions in combat armor, one floating a sniper rifle and the other with two marksman carbines on his battle saddle, were stepping out and taking aim at Glory.
愤怒冲出了她的建设，并立即开始向晨辉...但当她充电，有一个柔和的'噗'从房子之间的差距。一个金属飞镖出现在她的侧腹;她开始在震惊中发光，然后变暗，蹒跚地走了一步，随着Fixer和MoonDust的溶液充满了她的血管，她侧身倒在地上。我转身朝着小教堂的门走去。两匹穿着战斗装甲的种马，一匹悬浮着一把狙击步枪，另一匹在他的战斗马鞍上放着两把卡宾枪，正走出来瞄准格洛里。
I supposed that a mare appearing right in front of you was more than a little bit cheating. Appearing and using S.A.T.S. to blast your face with explosive rounds was a lot cheating. To the unicorn stallion’s credit, though, it still wasn’t enough to take him down. He staggered to the side, injecting himself immediately with Stampede and a healing potion as he fired the rifle at me point blank. One downside of being able to feel my cyberpony parts was that it really hurt when that round punched clean through a forelimb.
我猜想出现在你面前的母马不只是一点点的欺骗。出现并使用s.a.t.s用爆炸性子弹轰击你的脸是一个很大的欺骗。尽管如此，对于这匹独角兽种马来说，这还不足以击败它。他摇摇晃晃地走到一边，一边近距离向我开枪，一边立即注射了斯坦佩德和一种治疗药剂。能够感觉到我的赛博马身体部位的一个缺点是，当子弹穿过我的前肢时，真的很疼。
The other merc mare raced to my side and strafed me; I drank a healing potion, but the process was horribly slow. I just had to grit my teeth as I turned and fired both rifle and shotgun blasts at the earth pony mare. She kept pouring on fire, definitely not going down easily.
另一匹奔驰母马跑到我身边，向我猛烈扫射;我喝下了一剂治疗药水，但治疗过程非常缓慢。我只好咬紧牙关，转过身来，用步枪和霰弹枪向那匹地球上的小马驹开了一枪。她不停地火上浇油，绝对不会轻易倒下。
Then a little apple with a green band arched out of the darkness behind her and landed at her hooves. She leapt aside at once and was midair when the magic grenade went off in a green sphere of energy. The magic transformed her into so much green sludge splashing across the cracked pavement.
然后一个绿色带子的小苹果从她身后的黑暗中拱了出来，落在了她的蹄子上。当魔法手榴弹在一个绿色的能量球中爆炸时，她立刻跳到一边，正在半空中。魔法把她变成了绿色的污泥，溅落在破碎的人行道上。
Unfortunately, I’d taken my eyes off the sniper unicorn, and he reminded me of his presence by putting a round into my chest. My E.F.S. lit up with flashing warnings and diagrams telling me how badly I was injured, and the burning pain was another clue that even I couldn’t miss! I looked at him, seeing right down the barrel of the gun and knowing he’d put the next round through my brain.
不幸的是，我的视线从狙击独角兽上移开了，他在我胸口开了一枪，让我想起了他的存在。我的e.f.s闪烁着警告和图表，告诉我我受了多么严重的伤，灼痛是另一个线索，即使是我也不能错过！我看着他，看着枪管的正下方，知道他会用下一发子弹打穿我的脑袋。
Then there was a resounding clang, and fragments of wet, rusty metal flew past
接着是一声响亮的叮当声，湿漉漉的生锈的金属碎片飞过
me as a dark hulk landed atop the sniper. It rocked twice, and I gaped at the rusty keel. Lacunae landed neatly atop the hulk and thought simply, “I found a boat.”
我就像一个黑色的巨人落在狙击手身上。它晃动了两次，我瞪大了眼睛看着生锈的龙骨。空隙整齐地落在巨人身上，简单地想:"我找到了一条船。"
One of the griffins leapt out the window of the house of Rampage. He whirled, wildly firing a pair of multi-disintegration-bolt guns that rained destructive magic in a cone of annihilation sweeping towards P-21, Lacunae, and myself. Like a rain of destructive death, the bolts, any one of which could turn us into matching pink slime, began to strike us; Lacunae’s shield spell was immediately rocked by the onslaught.
其中一只狮鹫从狂暴之屋的窗户跳了出去。他旋转着，疯狂地发射着一对多解体螺栓枪，像雨一样把毁灭性的魔法撒向P-21、拉库奈和我。就像一场毁灭性的死亡之雨，任何可以把我们变成粉红色粘液的闪电开始袭击我们;拉库奈的盾牌咒语立刻被猛烈的攻击震撼了。
Then the griffin opened his eyes wide as green magic crept over his body. He glanced back, his face twisting in one brief moment of agony, and then collapsed into glowing dust.
然后，当绿魔法爬过他的身体时，他睁大了眼睛。他回头看了一眼，他的脸在短暂的痛苦中扭曲了一下，然后瘫倒在炽热的尘土中。
Unfortunately, turning her gun on the griffin meant that Glory had given an opening to Brass. Like a thunderbolt, she launched herself out the double doors of the post office and into the sky. “Fuck this!” she screamed as she dove, scooped the unconscious Fury in her hooves… claws?... and started climbing, flying north as fast as her scorched wings could carry her.
不幸的是，把枪对准狮鹫意味着晨辉给了布拉斯一个机会。她像晴天霹雳一样冲出邮局的两扇门，冲向天空。"去他妈的!"她一边尖叫一边俯冲，把失去意识的愤怒用蹄子铲起来...用爪子？然后开始向上爬，以她烧焦的翅膀所能承载的最快速度向北飞去。
“Hey, get back here!” Glory yelled after her.
"嘿，回来!"晨辉在她后面喊道。
“We’ll turn you into a Reaper yet,” Rampage muttered as she limped out. She had an entire foreleg missing. The pink light was creeping out her shoulder as the limb slowly regenerated before our eyes. Glory flushed, not entirely convinced that that was a good thing.
"我们会把你变成死神的,"狂暴一瘸一拐地走出去，喃喃自语道。她失去了一条完整的前腿。粉红色的光线从她的肩膀慢慢地爬出来，四肢慢慢地在我们眼前重生。晨辉的脸红了，并不完全相信这是一件好事。
Then a voice croaked out from the chapel. “Well then… time to finish this little drama of ours.”
然后一个声音从教堂里传出来。"那么......是时候结束我们的这场小戏了。"
I winced, watching the red damage bar slowly creeping upward towards stable conditions. And this was going to take a while... I looked around, spotted some tin cans, smashed them underhoof, and popped them into my mouth. The rusty metal had the consistency of paste and didn’t taste much better. Three more cans and some scrap metal later, though, and I was getting in the yellow territory.
我退缩了，看着红色的伤痕慢慢地向稳定的状态爬升。这需要一段时间......我环顾四周，发现了一些锡罐，从地下把它们砸碎，然后把它们扔进了我的嘴里。这种生锈的金属有浆糊的稠度，味道也好不到哪里去。三个罐头和一些废金属后，虽然，我进入黄色领域。
“Blackjack, are you going to be able to take care of him?” P-21 asked in concern.
"黑杰克，你能照顾好他吗?"P-21关切地问。
I looked at him and smirked. “If he takes a hostage, he is one dead ghoul.” There
我看着他，得意地笑了。"如果他劫持了一个人质，他就是一个死亡食尸鬼。"好了
was just the issue of saving his hostage…
只是为了救他的人质。
“Only Blackjack, please,” called Sanguine.
"只要黑杰克，谢谢。"桑吉尼叫道。
“You’re crazy if you think--” Rampage began. Then there was a gunshot, and the Crusaders inside began to yell and shout as a filly cried out in pain.
"你疯了，如果你认为——"狂暴开始了。然后传来一声枪响，里面的十字军战士们开始大喊大叫，一匹小母马痛苦地叫了起来。
I looked at Lacunae. “Get Glory and P-21 in the bell tower and teleport in once I have them distracted. Rampage, he doesn’t leave out this door. Got it?”
我看了看空隙。"把晨辉和P-21带到钟楼，一旦我分散他们的注意力就传送过来。狂暴，他不会离开这扇门的。懂了吗?"
Everypony nodded. I took a deep breath; my injuries were mostly regenerated. Slowly, I walked into the chapel. The pews were all smashed and stacked in a pen or barricade that had most of the Crusaders inside. I was afraid they might have been moved or mixed up when the attack started, but they were mostly all together. Harpica, the ghoul pegasus, was softly humming to keep them all as calm as possible. Sekashi sat bleeding in the corner cradling Majina; somepony had worked her over good the last hour.
每个小马都点点头。我深深地吸了一口气，我的伤口大部分已经再生了。慢慢地，我走进了教堂。教堂的长凳都被砸碎了，堆成了一个围栏或路障，里面大部分是十字军战士。我担心在袭击开始的时候他们可能已经被移动或者混在一起了，但是他们大部分都在一起。食尸鬼飞马哈皮卡轻轻地哼着歌，尽量让他们保持冷静。Sekashi坐在角落里，流着血，抱着Majina;过去的一个小时里，有一匹小马把她折腾得够呛。
There were… however… three who were not penned up: Priest, Sonata, and a bleeding Charity. The yellow filly clutched her stomach as Sonata tried to staunch the bleeding with her hooves.
然而，还有三个人没有被关起来:牧师、奏鸣曲和一个流血的慈善机构。当索纳塔试图用蹄子止血时，这匹黄色的小母马紧紧抓住她的肚子。
“So glad to see you again,” Sanguine said from behind Priest. The boiled-looking ghoul watched me over Priest’s black back with a half lidded gaze and a smile. A glowing revolver appeared, freshly reloaded, from his saddlebags, and then he nodded over to the pen where a glowing grenade hovered over the collected children. “I really do apologize for all this. I really would have rather settled this some other way.” Then he paused. “Is Fluttershy still alive?”
"很高兴再次见到你,"桑吉尼在普里斯特身后说。那个看起来像煮熟了的食尸鬼在牧师的黑背上盯着我，带着一种半睁着眼睛的凝视和微笑。一把发光的左轮手枪从他的鞍袋里出现了，刚刚重新装上子弹，然后他对着笔点了点头，一枚发光的手榴弹在被收集的孩子们头上盘旋。"我真的为这一切感到抱歉。我真的宁愿用其他方式解决这个问题。"然后他停顿了一下。"小萤火虫还活着吗?"
“We didn’t shoot her in the gut, if that’s what you mean,” I replied.
"我们没有朝她的肚子开枪，如果你是这个意思的话,"我回答。
Sanguine had the audacity to look relieved at that! “Yes. Good. Well, lose the weapons, and I will heal her.”
桑吉尼竟厚颜无耻地看着这一幕，心里松了一口气！"是的。很好。好吧，放下武器，我会治好她的。"
“This is taking too much time,” growled a dark form lurking in corner opposite the pen. A big, dark something... Vermilion was one of the most impressive griffins I’d ever seen... and, on top of that, I wasn’t entirely sure what was armor and what was augmentation. His black armor was edged in stylish red that matched his dark red wings. The glowing eyes in his helmet narrowed slightly. “Just kill her. I’ve wasted enough time with this shit.”
"这花的时间太多了,"一个躲在围栏对面角落里的黑影咆哮道。一个又大又黑的东西......朱砂是我见过的最令人印象深刻的狮鹫之一......最重要的是，我不完全确定什么是盔甲，什么是增强。他的黑色盔甲镶有时尚的红边，与他深红色的翅膀相配。他头盔里发光的眼睛微微眯了起来。"杀了她吧。我已经在这件事上浪费了太多时间了。"
“Shut up, Vermilion!” Sanguine snapped, pink vapor trickling out his nostrils. “Security has taken out Deus and the Steel Rangers’ battleship. She is ridiculously dangerous. But she also doesn’t want to risk her filly friend here bleeding out.”
"闭嘴，朱砂!"桑吉怒吼着，粉红色的蒸汽从他的鼻孔里流了出来。"保安已经干掉了天王和钢铁游骑兵的战舰。她非常危险。但她也不想冒险让她的小母马朋友在这里流血而亡。"
“Don’t count on that, asshole,” Charity hissed despite her agony. “Blackjack owes me a ton of caps. She doesn’t have to pay if I’m dead.” Shut up, Charity. I’d much rather pay you back...
"别指望这个，混蛋,"查瑞蒂不顾自己的痛苦嘶嘶地说。"Blackjack欠我一大笔钱。如果我死了，她就不用付钱了。"闭嘴Charity。我宁愿还给你..。
“Please. You don’t have to involve the children. I’m hostage enough for you,” Priest said calmly.
"求你了。你不必把孩子们也牵扯进来。对你来说，我已经是足够的人质了,"普利斯特平静地说。
“Yeah. You’re a martyr waiting to happen,” Sanguine said, then looked at the little Sonata. “But there are advantages to having spares.” The glowing gun whirled and pressed itself to the side of the little filly’s head. There was a click as the hammer was drawn back.
"是的。你是一个等待发生的殉道者,"桑吉纳说，然后看着小奏鸣曲。"但拥有备件也有好处。"发光的枪旋转着，紧贴着小姑娘的头。锤子被拉回来时发出咔嗒一声。
“Okay!” I shouted. His eyes were narrow and desperate. Slowly, I began to remove the battle saddle.
"好吧!"我喊道。他的眼睛窄小而绝望。慢慢地，我开始卸下战斗马鞍。
“I didn’t want it to be this way. I wanted things simple. I wanted them simple!” he shouted as he stamped the gun on Sonata’s head. The weapon was shaking as his focus wavered, and I could imagine it going off by accident. “Red Eye needs male alicorns to keep the Goddess in line. I can make male alicorns… or fuse a unicorn and pegasus together and make one convincing enough for her. I can make myself useful to him, get him the materials he needs… but the one… single… thing I’m missing is the key to Chimera.”
"我不希望事情变成这样。我想让事情变得简单。我希望它们简单!"他边喊边把枪踩在索纳塔的头上。当他的注意力摇摆不定时，武器在颤抖，我可以想象它是不小心走火的。"红眼需要雄性海雀来管束女神。我可以制造雄性的海芋......或者把独角兽和飞马融合在一起，制造一个足够让她信服的。我可以让自己对他有用，给他他需要的材料......但是我缺少的唯一的......东西就是奇美拉的关键。"
“So you found out where EC-1101 got stuck and found a painkiller-addicted Deus to send after it,” I said as I carefully shed the weapons and tossed them back out behind me. “I lost the guns, now heal her.”
"所以你找到了EC-1101卡住的地方，然后找到了一种上瘾的止痛药Deus寄给我,"我一边说，一边小心翼翼地卸下武器，把它们扔在身后。"我失去了枪，现在治好她。"
“In just a second,” he replied as he kept the gun pressed to Sonata’s head. “EC-1101 was all I needed. Simple, really. But then… then… you had to go and fire a megaspell at Miramare! Do you have any clue how many alarms and sensors you set off all across the Hoof when you fired that thing? And sure enough, you woke up that thing in the Core, and now it’s taking over one system after the next.”
"等一下,"他一边回答，一边把枪顶在索纳塔的头上。"EC-1101正是我所需要的。很简单，真的。但是然后...然后...你不得不去米拉马雷解雇一个megaspell！你知道你发射那东西的时候，在霍夫身上触发了多少警报器和传感器吗？果然，你唤醒了核心中的那个东西，现在它正在接管一个又一个系统。"
“Sanguine. You’re rambling,” Vermilion said in contempt as he looked at the
"Sanguine.你在胡言乱语,"弗米利恩轻蔑地说，同时他看了看
ghoul. I had a suspicion that Sanguine was dead either way.
食尸鬼。我怀疑无论如何桑吉尼都已经死了。
“And now this murder spree… all to get my attention,” I scowled.
"现在这场杀人狂欢......都是为了引起我的注意,"我皱起了眉头。
“You left me no other choice!” he snapped. “I tried force. I tried bribery. I tried letting Fluttershy fight you for it. I even offered to restore your body to normal. In the names of sweet Celestia and Luna, why the fuck didn’t you just give it up?” he yelled in complete exasperation. “I have been forced to cartoonish levels of monsterdom simply to get what I need!”
"你让我别无选择!"他崩溃了。"我尝试了武力。我试过贿赂。我试过让小蝴蝶跟你争。我甚至提出让你的身体恢复正常。以塞莱斯蒂亚和露娜的名义，你他妈的为什么不放弃呢?"他完全被激怒了。"为了得到我想要的东西，我不得不把怪物画得像卡通人物一样!"
Priest carefully lowered his horn and started to heal the wound to Charity’s gut as Sanguine raved. The ghoul spotted the glow, however, and shoved his head back. “Next time you try that spell, you can see how well it works on a head wound.”
牧师小心翼翼地放下他的号角，在桑吉尼怒吼的时候开始治疗切瑞蒂内脏上的伤口。然而，食尸鬼发现了这个光芒，把头往后一推。"下次你试试这个咒语，你就会知道它对头部伤口有多管用了。"
I wanted answers, and to splatter his head across the wall... but Charity didn’t have a lot of time left. I tossed my weapons all the way out the door, and then my saddlebags too. I hissed in frustration, “I disarmed! Now heal her!”
我想知道答案，然后把他的头往墙上撞......但是Charity没有多少时间了。我把我的武器扔出了门外，然后我的鞍囊也被扔了出去。我沮丧地嘶嘶地说:"我缴械了！现在治好她吧!"
“Give me the program!” he snapped.
"把程序给我!"他崩溃了。
“Heal her first, and I will,” I countered. The filly clenched both eyes and jaw in pain. Sanguine looked half mad as his eyes darted between Vermilion and myself.
"先治好她，我会的,"我反驳道。小母马疼得两眼紧闭，下巴也咬得紧紧的。桑吉纳的眼睛在朱砂和我之间扫来扫去，看上去有点疯狂。
“To hell with this,” Vermilion muttered. A missile launcher popped out of the back of his power armor and fired straight at the pen. Then Lacunae, with impeccable timing, appeared in a glorious flash of purple light and raised a shield. The missile exploded against it. She turned her head to the floating grenade, and her own glow subsumed the light surrounding it. There was a thump, and Persuasion’s projectile arched down from the narrow stairs to the belltower and exploded in Vermilion’s face. Green bolts raked the griffin as he dodged to the side and readied another missile.
"见鬼去吧,"弗米利安喃喃自语道。一个导弹发射器从他的动力装甲后面弹了出来，直接射向围栏。然后，裂隙出现在一道耀眼的紫光中，举起一面盾牌，时机恰到好处。导弹在它面前爆炸了。她把头转向那颗漂浮的手榴弹，她自己的光芒淹没了它周围的光芒。砰的一声，说服的炮弹从狭窄的楼梯上拱起来，落到了钟塔上，在弗米利恩的脸上爆炸了。格林射出的箭在格里芬躲到一边准备发射另一枚导弹的时候轻轻扫过他。
At once, Priest’s white glow surrounded the revolver against Sonata’s head and sent the weapon flying as he turned and slammed Sanguine against the back wall. “You won’t lay a hoof on another--”
立刻，普里斯特的白色光芒包围了左轮手枪，击中索纳塔的头部，武器飞了出去，他转过身，把桑吉尼撞向后墙。"你不会踩到别人的——"
But Sanguine simply drew a deep breath and blew a bright and colorful plume of pink vapor over Priest’s face. On contact with the vapors, the black unicorn’s
但是桑吉只是深吸了一口气，然后在普里斯特的脸上喷出一股鲜艳的粉红色烟雾。一接触到水汽，黑独角兽的
flesh seemed to turn runny. He didn’t cry out. He just jerked and spasmed and then collapsed. I stared in horror at Priest’s boiled, melted face…
肉好像变软了。他没有喊叫。他只是猛地抽搐了一下，然后就倒下了。我惊恐地盯着牧师那张煮沸的、融化的脸.....。
A pair of Vermilion’s missiles blasted up, and only by jumping and falling to the floor were P-21 and Glory able to get clear as the explosions blew the upper corner of the building apart. The delicate stained glass windows shattered into clouds of shards, and the paintings of the Ministry Mares split apart as the entire front of the building peeled away into the street. Heavy timbers fell upon Glory, pinning her.
朱砂的两枚导弹发射升空，只有P-21和晨辉在爆炸把大楼上角炸得四分五裂的时候才得以逃脱。精美的彩色玻璃窗破碎成碎片云，和部分马尔斯的绘画分裂，作为整个建筑的正面剥落到街道上。沉重的木头压在晨辉的身上，压住了她。
There was a flicker as Lacunae pushed the grenade through the shield, pulled the pin, and lobbed it at Vermilion. The armored griffin leapt out into the street. I charged at Sanguine as Priest fell to the side and the ghoul threw Sonata at me.
当拉库尼把手榴弹推过防护罩，拉开拉环，向朱砂扔去的时候，有一种闪烁的感觉。披着盔甲的狮鹫跳到街上。当牧师倒在一边，食尸鬼向我扔奏鸣曲时，我向三吉纳冲了过去。
“Priest! Priest!” P-21 screamed as he scrambled across towards the fallen stallion. Glory was still trying to work her way free. Sanguine bit down on Charity’s mane and hauled the bleeding filly out through the hole. I set the sobbing Sonata aside to curl up beside Priest.
"牧师！牧师!"P-21一边尖叫一边爬向那匹倒下的种马。晨辉仍然在努力挣脱束缚。桑吉咬住了查瑞蒂的鬃毛，把流血的小母马从洞里拖了出来。我把哭泣的奏鸣曲放在一边，蜷缩在普里斯特身边。
I looked back at Glory. “Go! Get her!” she cried as she struggled to free herself.
我回头看着晨辉。"走！抓住她!"她边哭边努力挣脱。
Outside, Rampage was tearing into the armored griffin, who was tearing back and trying to shake off the mare. I spotted Sanguine making for the bridge, slowed by the injured filly. I raced after them, closing the gap. Finally, he turned, clutching the bleeding and battered Charity. “Give me the fucking program!” he shouted as he backed towards the edge.
外面，狂暴撕咬着装甲狮身鹰，狮身鹰正在撕咬并试图甩开那匹母马。我看见三桂正向大桥走去，那匹受伤的小母马减慢了速度。我跟在他们后面跑，缩小了差距。最后，他转过身来，紧紧抓住那个流着血、伤痕累累的Charity。"把他妈的程序给我!"他边往后退边喊道。
“Don’t give him shit,” Charity countered, struggling weakly. “He doesn’t deserve it.”
"别理他,"查瑞蒂反驳道，有气无力地挣扎着。"他不配。"
“Shut up, Charity,” I said, my eyes darting from him to her and back again. I stared at her and heard Citrine’s voice: ‘How many have died for this?’
"闭嘴，查瑞蒂,"我说，我的目光从他转向她，又转回来。我盯着她，听到Citrine的声音:"有多少人因此而死?"
I jumped into S.A.T.S. to think. No weapon. No healing potion. She was bleeding out... but Sanguine was here! Right here in front of me! I knew his pink breath trick. I could beat and smash him back and let the city defenses turn him into ash. I’d promised Dusty and Caprice! I owed so many ponies his head!
我跳进sat考试去思考。没有武器。没有治疗药水。她失血过多......但是桑吉娜在这里！就在我面前！我知道他的粉红色呼吸把戏。我可以把他打回原形，让城市的防御把他化为灰烬。我答应过达斯蒂和卡普里斯的！我欠那么多小马的人头！
All it would cost me was Charity’s life. I stared at her, at the blood streaking her yellow stomach. I wanted to talk to somepony... anypony. Talk me into this.
我所付出的代价就是Charity的生命。我盯着她，看着血液在她黄色的肚子上留下的痕迹。我想和一个小马...任何小马谈谈。说服我。
Convince me that I could kill him and get her to safety!
让我相信我可以杀了他把她带到安全的地方！
“Your life isn’t that easy, Blackjack,” the Dealer rasped softly as he trotted into that still scene. He looked at the filly and the ghoul with equal dispassion. “Looks like you have two choices. Kill him, let her die, keep the program. Give up the program, and she lives. Decisions, decisions...” I wanted to smack that smug smile he wore off his face. Don’t mock me with the choice. Tell me the better thing to do.
"你的生活没那么简单，黑杰克,"庄家一边小跑一边轻声说道。他同样冷静地看着小母马和食尸鬼。"看来你有两个选择。杀了他，让她死，保留这个程序。放弃这个项目，她就能活下去。决定，决定......"我真想打他脸上那自鸣得意的微笑。别拿这个选择来嘲笑我。告诉我更好的办法。
He pushed his wide-brimmed hat back and smirked at me. “Well... look at it this way... you give up the program, you can always take it back. You know a way to bring her back if she dies?” he said with a smile. I mentally groaned, and he laughed at me. “Oh. And if you’re trying to think of a third option, don’t bother. You’re not clever enough for that. So... is keeping EC-1101 worth the filly’s life?”
他把宽边帽往后一推，冲我傻笑起来。"好吧......这么看吧......你放弃了这个项目，你随时可以收回它。如果她死了，你知道怎么把她带回来吗?"他笑着说。我在心里呻吟着，他嘲笑我。"哦。如果你正在考虑第三种选择，那就别费心了。你还不够聪明。那么，留着EC-1101是否值得那匹小母马的性命呢?"
I slipped out of S.A.T.S. as the Dealer vanished again. Shit...
当"商人"再次消失时，我溜出了s.a.t.s。妈的..。
Security saves ponies...
保安拯救小马..。
“Here!” I said as I lifted my leg and opened the panel hiding the PipBuck screen.
"这里!"我一边抬起腿，一边打开屏幕，屏幕上隐藏着PipBuck。
His eyes widened, and from his saddlebags emerged a ripper. The chain whirred, and I grit my teeth. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of hearing me scream. A few surprisingly careful passes of the weapon later, he tore out the Delta out, leaving me with an ugly new cavity in my leg and making my E.F.S. vanish, and stared at it. “Finally. I can finally save them… I can…”
他的眼睛睁得大大的，从他的鞍囊里冒出了一个撕裂者。铁链呼呼作响，我咬紧牙关。我不会让他听到我的尖叫而感到满足。几次令人惊讶地小心翼翼地传递武器后，他撕开了Delta，留下一个难看的新洞在我的腿上，让我的e.f.s消失了，盯着它。"终于。我终于可以拯救他们......我可以......"
“Heal! Her!” I yelled as I pointed at Charity, the lightning flashing overhead. His lips curled in amusement.
"治愈吧！她!"我指着慈善机构喊道，闪电在头顶闪烁。他饶有兴致地撇了撇嘴。
“Heal her? Why would I do that?” he said as he tucked the Delta into his bag. “Better get her to your alicorn friend quickly and not waste time with me.”
"治好她？我为什么要这么做?"他边说边把三角洲号塞进自己的包里。"最好快点把她送到你的阿里康朋友那儿去，别跟我浪费时间。"
“Fucker!” I shouted, ...but he was right about Charity; I grabbed her and put her across my shoulders, then turned and raced back through the rain towards Chapel. The hole in my left foreleg made some unpleasant noises and twinges of pain, but the limb held. As I ran into town, I saw a dark shape overhead; Vermilion was airborne, but he was winging his way away towards the southeast.
"混蛋!"我喊道，......但是他说的关于Charity的事情是对的;我抓住她，把她放在我的肩膀上，然后转身冲向教堂。我左前腿上的洞发出了一些不愉快的声音和一阵阵的疼痛，但是我的四肢还是挺住了。当我跑进城里时，我看到头顶上有一个黑色的东西，朱砂飞在空中，但他正朝着东南方向飞去。
“You… you shouldn’t… have given it up. Bad trade,” Charity muttered weakly in my ear.
"你......你不应该......放弃。糟糕的交易,"查瑞蒂无力地在我耳边喃喃自语。
“Shut up and don’t die. You hear me?” I shouted as I scrambled into the blasted church. Lacunae was seeing to the injured, but winged over and immediately pressed her horn to Charity’s belly when she saw us, using her magic to heal the injury. Glory knelt beside Priest, who breathed slow laborious breaths though a tube inserted into his throat through his neck. His entire head was a smooth pink bullet. His eyes, nose, and mouth had melted closed from the pink vapor.
"闭嘴，别死。你听到了吗?"我边喊边爬进那该死的教堂。Lacunae正在照顾伤员，但是飞过去，当Charity看到我们时，她立刻用她的角抵住了她的肚子，用她的魔法治愈了伤口。晨辉跪在牧师身边，他通过脖子插入喉咙的管子缓慢而费力地呼吸着。他的整个头部是一颗光滑的粉红色子弹。他的眼睛、鼻子和嘴巴都被粉红色的水汽融化了。
“Did you kill him?” P-21 said in a shaky voice.
"是你杀了他吗?"P-21用颤抖的声音说。
“No. I had to bring Charity back… before she bled out,” I muttered softly.
"没有。我必须把Charity带回来......在她失血过多而死之前,"我轻声咕哝道。
“Of course you did,” P-21 said with a sniff. “That’s what you do. You save ponies.”
"当然了,"P-21嗅了一下说。"这就是你要做的。你拯救小马。"
I looked at Priest and his side moving slowly. “Can we do… anything?” I asked Glory.
我看着普里斯特，他的身体慢慢地移动着。"我们能做点什么吗?"我问晨辉。
The gray pegasus looked at me and shook her head slowly. “We… we can’t even move him,” she whispered in horror. Then I looked at where she was pointing and gasped. The melted flesh had somehow fused to the floor beneath him.
灰色的飞马看着我，慢慢地摇着头。"我们...我们甚至不能移动他,"她惊恐地低声说。然后我看着她指的地方，倒抽了一口冷气。融化的肉不知怎么融到了他脚下的地板上。
P-21 made a choking sound. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t kill him, Blackjack. I’m glad. Because when I find him… when I find him he’s going to wish that it was you he was facing! I am going to get creative when I find him! You hear me… I’m gonna… gonna…”
P-21发出了哽噎的声音。"好吧，我很高兴你没有杀他，Blackjack。我很高兴。因为当我找到他...当我找到他的时候，他会希望他面对的是你！当我找到他的时候，我要发挥我的创造力！你听我说...我要...要..."
I touched him, knowing what it was like to be ready to explode. To want to lash out at the world. Rampage had said it; we’re all victims in the Wasteland. All of us. He tensed under my touch, so rigid I thought he’d shatter. “Shhh… I understand…” I said sincerely, remembering Mom’s head on a stick.
我摸了摸他，知道准备爆炸是什么感觉。想要抨击这个世界。狂暴说过，我们都是荒原的受害者。我们所有人。他在我的触摸下绷得紧紧的，僵硬得我以为他会粉碎。"嘘......我明白了......"我真诚地说，想起了妈妈在棍子上的头。
He gave one broken sob… then another… then another. And like that all his hard anger softened to tears as he curled against me, and I held him in my embrace. “Not again… not again…” he whispered softly between sobs.
他断断续续地抽泣了一声......然后又一声......然后又一声。就这样，当他蜷缩在我身上时，他所有的愤怒都变成了眼泪，我把他抱在怀里。"又来了......又来了......"他啜泣着轻声说道。
“No… not again. This time, you have friends with you,” I said quietly.
"不......不要再这样了。这一次，你有朋友了,"我平静地说。
He nodded and pulled away. Glory trotted closer to him and gave a tiny smile. She wanted to help; she knew what it was like, too. And she touched P-21’s shoulder. For the longest time he sat there, and then he slowly turned into her embrace as well. Priest coughed; even with the tube, he couldn’t last much longer.
他点点头，然后离开了。晨辉向他小跑过来，露出一丝微笑。她想帮忙，她也知道那是什么感觉。她碰了碰P-21的肩膀。他在那里坐了很长一段时间，然后也慢慢地转向她的怀抱。牧师咳嗽了一声，即使有管子，他也坚持不了多久。
Slowly, I knelt down and spoke softly into the hole beneath the melted nub of his ear. “You saved her, Priest. You saved Sonata. They’re going to be okay.” I brushed his white mane gently, closing my eyes. “I… They said I died. Maybe I did… I can’t remember for sure. But I think that Celestia and Luna are waiting for you. Just… just follow the music.”
慢慢地，我跪下来，轻声地对着他耳朵软化的部分下面的洞说话。"你救了她，牧师。你拯救了索纳塔。他们会没事的。"我轻轻地抚摸着它那白色的鬃毛，闭上眼睛。"我.....。.他们说我死了。也许是吧...我记不太清了。但我认为塞莱斯蒂亚和卢娜正在等你。只要...只要跟着音乐走。"
I couldn’t tell for sure, but I hoped his boiled lips curled a little. His chest rose… fell… rose… fell… rose… fell… and then that was it. Priest was off on his own final pilgrimage. I hoped he’d find his way.
我不能肯定，但我希望他煮沸的嘴唇微微翘起。他的胸膛上升...下降...上升...下降...上升...下降...然后就是这样。牧师开始了他自己的最后一次朝圣之旅。我希望他能找到自己的路。
* * *
* * *
It was getting late. We’d dug the grave next to Thorn and Roses. Rampage had watched from afar, still as a statue as Lacunae lowered him into the ground. I didn’t want to imagine how Glory had freed him from the floor of the broken building. We’d found a sheet to wrap him. Scotch had rejoined us, the bemused-looking dragon filly sitting beside her. I tried to think of something to say, but no matter how hard I tried, it kept coming back to one fact:
时间不早了。我们在荆棘和玫瑰旁边挖了个坟墓。狂暴从远处观察着他，仿佛一尊雕像被拉古尼扔进了地里。我无法想象晨辉是如何把他从破败的建筑中解救出来的。我们找到一张床单把他裹起来。苏格兰人回到了我们身边，那个神情茫然的龙小姑娘坐在她身边。我试着想说些什么，但无论我怎么努力，它总是回到一个事实:
Sanguine had won.
桑吉尼赢了。
He’d gotten EC-1101 from me after so many had suffered and died. He had my PipBuck, and I now had an empty hoof. Every step was a little reminder it was gone. But right now, even with my fears, EC-1101 was nothing compared to the loss of Priest. It wasn’t over, though; not at all. I’d almost taken off after him then and there, but the thought of coming across him with Brass and Fury and maybe Vermilion too didn’t sit well with me; not even I was stupid enough to run into those odds unprepared. I’d track him down, though; he couldn’t escape us. Scotch Tape had my PipBuck tag.
他从我这里得到了EC-1101，在那么多人遭受痛苦和死亡之后。他有我的皮伯克，而我现在只有空空的蹄子。每一步都是一个小小的提醒，它已经消失了。但是现在，即使有我的恐惧，EC-1101没有什么比得上牧师的损失。然而，这一切并没有结束，完全没有。我当时差点就跟在他后面跑了，但是一想到要和布拉斯和弗里碰面，或许还有朱砂，我就觉得不舒服;即使是我，也不会蠢到毫无准备地遇到这种情况。不过我会找到他的，他逃不出我们的手掌心。透明胶带上有我的PipBuck标签。
“Blackjack?” Glory murmured, and I turned and looked at her. “I… I found some music back at the mine when I was searching Dusty’s room… I was thinking… could I play it? He… he was a nice pony.”
"黑杰克?"晨辉低声说，我转过身来看着她。"我.....。.我在矿井里找音乐的时候，在达斯蒂的房间里发现了一些音乐......我在想......我可以演奏它吗？他...他是匹不错的小马。"
I swallowed, then nodded once. “Sure. Go ahead.” She nodded and fiddled with her PipBuck, and a moment later a guitar began to play slow and simple notes. For once, it seemed, even the Hoof gave a little reprieve as the cold rain slackened off. Then a stallion began to sing in a soft, rusty voice…
我咽了口唾沫，然后点了点头。"当然。去吧。"她点点头，摆弄着她的皮布克琴，过了一会儿，一把吉他开始弹奏缓慢而简单的音符。这一次，似乎连霍夫也在冷雨减弱的时候给了他一点喘息的机会。然后一匹种马开始用柔和生锈的声音唱歌..。
Some roads are straight and narrow, some paths are high and steep
有些路又直又窄，有些路又高又陡
Some ways are slow and heavy, some tracks are dark and deep
有些路又慢又重，有些路又暗又深
But this trail is the one I follow, no matter where it leads
但是这条路就是我要走的路，不管它通向哪里
And I know I’ll never wander as long as I heed
我知道只要我留心，我就不会徘徊
No matter where or how far it goes;
不管它走到哪里，走到多远;
I’ll walk it without fail
我会毫不犹豫地走完它
Because I know that no matter what
因为我知道无论如何
I will lay my burdens down at the end of the trail.
我会在路的尽头放下我的重担。
My load is mine to carry along, I packed it all myself
我的行李都是我自己装的
I chose what to leave behind on that old and dusty shelf
我选择把什么留在那个又旧又脏的架子上
And though memories follow my tail, I’ll pay them not a care
虽然回忆跟随着我的尾巴，但我不会付出任何代价
My troubles are all my own, my treasures I will share No matter how sore my hooves, I know that I’ll go on So though I am weary I will continue along
我的烦恼都是我自己的，我的财富我将分享不管我的蹄子多么疼痛，我知道我将继续前进，所以尽管我疲倦，我将继续前进
Because no journey lasts forever, there’s an end to this tale
因为没有什么旅程是永恒的，所以这个故事就有了结局
And I will lay my sorrows down at the end of the trail.
我会把我的悲伤放在小径的尽头。
Though rocks may trip and slow me
尽管岩石可能会绊倒，拖慢我的脚步
Though rain may lash my mane
尽管雨水会鞭打我的鬃毛
Though love may call out to me
尽管爱情在呼唤我
Though pain may cause me shame
虽然痛苦可能使我羞愧
Though mud may bog my passage
尽管泥泞会阻塞我的路
Though snow may chill me through
虽然大雪可能会让我感到寒冷
Though dust and wind may blind me
尽管尘埃和风吹得我眼花缭乱
There’s one thing I must do.
有一件事我必须做。
I look ahead and find myself at the journey’s end
我向前看，发现自己已经到达了旅程的终点
And finally I see again both family and friend
最后我又见到了家人和朋友
And to those that still walk along, please don’t weep and wail
对于那些仍在前行的人，请不要哭泣和哀号
For I have laid my troubles down at the end of the trail.
因为我已经把我的烦恼放在了路的尽头。
Yes to those who still love me, please don’t weep and wail
是的，对那些仍然爱我的人，请不要哭泣和哀号
I’ll be waiting for you when you’re through at the end of the trail.
我会在路的尽头等你。
There wasn’t much else to say past that as the last of the music faded. Not much at all. And as we moved to fill the grave, Charity came up. The yellow pony kept her eyes down as she carried something on her back. “Um… Blackjack?”
随着最后一段音乐渐渐褪去，没有什么可说的了。一点也不多。当我们开始填满坟墓的时候,"慈悲"出现了。那匹黄色的小马低着眼睛，背上背着什么东西。"嗯...黑杰克?"
“Hmmm?” I couldn’t manage more than that right now. I looked at the green-outlined towers of the Core. ‘Welcome home, Blackjack’ they seemed to say.
"嗯?"我现在只能这样了。我看着绿色轮廓的核心塔。他们似乎在说:欢迎回家，黑杰克。
“I just… I… um… I know you didn’t want to give that thing up. And… I know… I know if you’d let me die, you probably would have gotten revenge and stuff.” Charity closed her eyes as she pulled off a bundle the size of a bottle of Sparkle-Cola. “I found it in the manor and… I just… here.” And she shoved it into my hooves, then turned and trotted over to where Sonata was being comforted by Allegro, Adagio, and Medley.
"我只是.....。.我知道你不想放弃。而且......我知道......我知道如果你让我死，你可能会报复什么的。"当她拿出一包闪亮可乐瓶大小的包裹时，她闭上了眼睛。"我在庄园里找到的......我只是......在这里。"她把它塞进我的蹄子里，然后转身小跑到奏鸣曲正在被快板、慢板和混音所安慰的地方。
I slowly unwrapped the dirty cloth with my hooves. It was the wrong shape for a bottle of soda… or Wild Pegasus. Then a flash of purple and white met my eyes. The cloth fell away, and I looked at the startling figurine: a white unicorn mare
我慢慢地用蹄子把那块脏布解开。这个形状不适合装一瓶苏打水...或者野飞马。然后一道紫色和白色的光闪现在我的眼前。布掉了下来，我看着那个惊人的小雕像:一匹白色的独角兽母马
with a stunning purple mane and three gems for a cutie mark. I stared at her in shock and then looked down at the little plaque at the base.
有着迷人的紫色鬃毛和三颗宝石的可爱标志。我震惊地盯着她，然后低头看了看底座上的小牌匾。
Be Unwavering
坚定不移
I stared at it and sighed softly, closing my eyes and holding it to my chest so that I could feel it better. “I’m trying, Rarity… I’m trying…”
我盯着它，轻轻地叹了口气，闭上眼睛，把它放在胸前，这样我就能感觉好些了。"我在努力，稀有......我在努力......"
 
Footnote: Level 3 reached
脚注:达到第3级
Added perk: Swift learner (rank1): You gain an additional 10% whenever experience points are earned.
额外福利:快速学习者(等级1):你额外获得10%的经验点时赚取。
 
Author's Notes:
作者笔记:
(Author note: Thanks to Kkat for creation of FoE, thanks to Hinds, Bronode, and Snipehamster for actually making this worth reading, thanks to all my readers for leading comments, and lastly thanks to people who leave bits in the tip jar through paypal to David13ushey @gmail. com. Thank you so much to so many wonderful ponies for being so supportive.)
(作者注:感谢Kkat创建了地球之友，感谢Hinds，Bronode和Snipehamster让这篇文章值得一读，感谢我所有的读者带头评论，最后感谢那些通过贝宝在小费罐里留言给David13ushey@gmail的人们。Com.非常感谢这么多优秀的小马给予我们的支持
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQlEOx9-EM0