“You should see the looks on your faces! Priceless!”
"你们应该看看自己脸上的表情！无价之宝!"
I’d heard that you see your whole life flash before your eyes just before you die. Personally, I doubted it. I’d already died once and was quite thankful that I hadn’t had to relive every embarrassing moment in 99. Then again, they also say practice makes perfect, so I suppose that it shouldn’t have been a surprise that after getting blown up I’d see it... except that perfect apparently required more practice than I’d gotten so far, since the life I was seeing wasn’t mine.
我听说在你死之前，你会看到你的整个人生在你眼前闪过。就我个人而言，我对此表示怀疑。我已经死过一次了，很庆幸自己没有重温99年的每一个尴尬时刻。话又说回来，他们还说熟能生巧，所以我想在被炸飞之后我能看到它也不足为奇......除了那个完美显然需要更多的练习，因为我看到的生活不是我的。
Figures.
数字。
I could see and hear, but that was all. It was almost like being in a memory orb, but I couldn’t tell who or even what my host was. Flim and Flam paced back and forth nervously, plucking at their business suits. The middle-aged stallions looking like they were visibly aging from stress as I watched. “I can’t believe she’s coming here! Why here? Why now, of all times?!” wailed the mustachioed Flam.
我只能看到和听到，仅此而已。这几乎就像是在一个记忆球体里，但我不能分辨谁是谁，甚至我的主人是什么。弗利姆和弗拉姆紧张地来回踱步，拉扯着他们的西装。在我的注视下，这些中年种马看起来就像是因为压力而明显变老了。"我真不敢相信她要来这里！为什么是这里？为什么偏偏是现在?!"长着八字胡的弗拉姆哀号着。
“I don’t know. I don’t know! She simply demanded to see us in person about one of our products,” Flim muttered in worry.
"我不知道。我不知道！她只是要求亲自来见我们，谈谈我们的一种产品。"。
“It can’t be the Sparkle-Cola FLASH line, can it? Maybe she found out about some of the side effects?” Flam gasped. “You don’t think she’s here for a share of the profits? I thought she signed off on that!”
"这不可能是闪光可乐的产品线吧？也许她发现了一些副作用?"弗拉姆倒抽了一口冷气。"你不认为她是来分享利润的吗？我还以为她同意了呢!"
“Well, there is some question as to if she actually signed it or not, but legal assures us it should stand up in court… probably. Sixty percent chance,” Flim said. The yellow unicorn rubbed his nose and then yelled, “Where is he? He’s supposed to prevent this, right? That was part of our deal!”
"好吧，关于她是否真的签署了这份文件还存在一些疑问，但法律向我们保证，这份文件应该在法庭上站得住脚......或许吧。60%的可能性,"Flim说。黄色的独角兽擦了擦鼻子，喊道:"他在哪儿?"？他应该阻止这一切，不是吗？这是我们交易的一部分!"
“He’d better!” said Flam, who then sat hard and wrung his hooves together. “I can’t believe it. Everything was going so well! Sure, the nightstalkers could show a better overhead, but we’ve been making a mint dropping their eggs in zebra population areas! We’ve got a whole new line of Poison Joke products starting next month! And the scorposprites have been working like a charm behind the lines. Maybe we can get through to Rainbow Dash to talk to her and…”
"最好是这样!"弗拉姆说，然后他硬坐在那里，把蹄子拧在一起。"我简直不敢相信。一切都进行得很顺利！当然，夜行者可以显示一个更好的开销，但我们已经做了薄荷下蛋斑马人口区！从下个月开始，我们有了一个全新的毒药笑话产品系列！而且天蝎座精灵在战线后面一直像魔法一样工作着。也许我们可以联系上彩虹·达什和她谈谈......"
Suddenly, there was a purple flash, and Twilight Sparkle appeared. I had to admit, though I’d seen her several times, I’d never before seen her looking so… scary. Her mane had streaks of gray, and wrinkles had set in around her eyes and mouth. Worst of all, though, was the hard look in her eyes; it made me wonder if she was going to just turn the pair into stone or something just with that glare.
突然，有一道紫色的闪光，紫悦出现了。我不得不承认，虽然我见过她好几次，但我从来没有见过她看起来这么...吓人。她的鬃毛上有灰色的条纹，眼睛和嘴巴周围也有皱纹。然而，最糟糕的是她目光坚定的样子，这让我怀疑她会不会仅仅用那种眼神就把这一对变成石头或什么东西。
“Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle! So nice to see you! We were just talking about how happy we are to have such an intellect as yourself visit us!” Flim grinned widely. “Let us formally welcome you to Hippocratic Research, where we conduct science effectively!”
"紫悦！很高兴见到你！我们刚才还在谈论有像你这样的知识分子来拜访我们，我们是多么高兴啊!"弗林咧嘴大笑。"让我们正式欢迎您来到希波克拉底研究所，在那里我们进行科学有效!"
“Efficiently!” piped up Flam.
"高效!"弗拉姆开口了。
“And ethically,” they finished in unison. Twilight’s lips didn’t budge in the slightest. You could almost see the nervous sweat popping out of their foreheads. Flam’s telekinesis pushed a button on his terminal, and music began to play.
"从道德上讲,"他们异口同声地说。暮光的嘴唇丝毫没有动。你几乎可以看到他们紧张的汗水从额头冒出来。弗拉姆的心灵遥感按下了终端上的一个按钮，音乐开始播放。
“If either of you starts to sing, I’m sending you to Pinkie Pie,” she said without missing a beat, and the two stallions froze. Twilight’s horn glowed as she pressed the same button and silenced the music. A pair of glasses and a clipboard appeared, the former settling on her muzzle as she examined the latter. “I’ve sent six letters, four polite inquiries, and five formal requests, and now I am here in person to get my questions answered: what is Flux, and how is it made?”
"如果你们中的任何一个开始唱歌，我就把你们送到小指派那儿去,"她毫不犹豫地说，两匹种马僵住了。当她按下同样的按钮并关掉音乐时，暮色的喇叭发出了亮光。一副眼镜和一个剪贴板出现了，前者停在她的口鼻上，她检查后者。"我已经发出了六封信，四次礼貌的询问，五次正式的请求，现在我亲自来到这里，要求回答我的问题:什么是Flux，它是如何制作的?"
The two stallions went from looking nervous to looking sick. Flim tapped his hooves together. “Well, you see. First we take a very precise assortment of gems and liquefy them in our proprietary super Flux recombobulator matrix, which--”
这两匹种马看起来从紧张变成了病态。弗利姆用蹄子轻轻敲打着。""好吧，你看。首先，我们对宝石进行非常精确的分类，并在我们专有的超级熔剂再分配器矩阵中液化它们，它们——"
“Does nothing,” Twilight interrupted. “I’ve examined all the formal documents you’ve submitted on Flux over the last decade. Every single one. And I’ve concluded that I’ve never seen a larger collection of gibberish in my life.”
"什么也不做,"暮光打断了他。"我检查了过去十年你在Flux上提交的所有正式文件。每一个。我得出的结论是，在我的一生中，我从未见过如此庞大的胡言乱语集。"
“Oh… you couldn’t have really read…” Flam began, and then he met Twilight’s flat gaze. His mustache drooped so much that I thought it would simply drop off. “Every… single… one?”
"哦......你不可能真的读过......"弗拉姆开始说，然后他遇到了《暮光之城》平淡的目光。他的胡子耷拉得太厉害了，我以为会掉下来的。"每一个......单......一个?"
“Yes. Every one. I’ve gone over all your submissions and patents and formulas trying to duplicate your process for producing Flux. I’ve studied your product in minute detail and come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter how many gems you liquefy or rainbows you mix together; there is no way that you can produce a substance like Flux from those raw materials.” The clipboard disappeared as she looked at the twin brothers over the top of her glasses. “So I am here, gentlecolts, in person, to find out exactly what Flux is and how you make it.”
"是的。每一个。我已经过去了所有你的意见和专利和公式试图复制你的过程中生产通量。我对你们的产品进行了细致的研究，得出的结论是，无论你将多少宝石或彩虹混合在一起，都无法从这些原材料中生产出Flux这样的物质。"当她看着眼镜上方的双胞胎兄弟时，笔记板不见了。"所以我亲自来到这里，先生们，来找出弗拉科斯到底是什么，以及你们是如何制造它的。"
The pair gave her a sickly smile. “Ah, if we may ask… by any chance, have you spoken with the director about this?” Flim asked weakly.
两人给了她一个病态的微笑。"啊，如果我们可以问一下......你有没有跟导演谈过这件事?"弗利姆虚弱地问。
“I don’t need to involve Horse, thank you very much. I am quite capable of handling this on my own.” The two shared a look.
"我不需要牵扯到马儿，非常感谢。我完全有能力自己处理这件事。"两人目光一致。
“No no. Not him? I mean the other director?” Flam winced as her gaze sharpened. A golden flash came from beneath the door to the hall.
""不，不。不是他？我是说另一个导演?"当她的目光锐利时，弗拉姆皱起了眉头。一道金光从通往大厅的门下面射了出来。
“Goldenblood is no longer director of anything! And any day now, I expect him to be thrown into a dungeon, exiled, or thrown into a dungeon wherever he’s exiled!” she shouted as her mane bristled.
"金血王不再是什么导演了！现在，我随时都希望他被关进地牢，被放逐，或者被关进地牢，不管他在哪里被放逐!"她喊道，鬃毛都竖起来了。
“Oh, I doubt I’ll get off so lightly,” rasped a familiar bastard. It was slightly mollifying to see that Goldenblood looked every bit as battered and exhausted as Twilight. His golden mane was disheveled, and his suit looked as though it’d been slept in. “My apologies for being late.”
"哦，我想我不会轻易逃脱的,"一个熟悉的混蛋粗声粗气地说。看到金血王看起来和《暮光之城》一样疲惫不堪，真是令人略感安慰。他金黄色的头发凌乱不堪，他的衣服看起来就像睡过觉一样。"很抱歉我迟到了。"
“You,” Twilight said with more outright loathing than I’d ever heard before. “You’re not late. You don’t need to be here at all!” she snapped. “You can take your sneaky bag of tricks and go, Goldenblood.”
"你,"暮光之城说，带着比我以前听到的更彻底的厌恶。"你没有迟到。你根本不需要待在这里!"她厉声说道。"你可以带上你那个鬼鬼祟祟的小把戏走了，金色血统。"
He stared into her hard gaze, and then his lip curled slowly. “Luna didn’t tell you, did she?” The question seemed to shock and unsettle her. He looked at her with an odd amused expression that made me want to kick the scarred unicorn stallion, then chuckled softly, shaking his head. “Let me guess, she said that she had no idea how Hippocratic Research produced Flux, but that she would have Horse forward the information to you?” Anger knit the mare’s brows as she
他凝视着她的凝视，然后他的嘴唇慢慢地卷起来。"卢娜没告诉你吧?"这个问题似乎使她感到震惊和不安。他用一种古怪的被逗乐的表情看着她，让我想踢那匹伤痕累累的独角兽种马，然后轻轻地笑了笑，摇摇头。"让我猜猜，她说她不知道希波克拉底研究公司是如何产生弗拉克斯的，但是她会让马把信息转发给你?"愤怒使母马皱起眉头
glared back at him.
他瞪了他一眼。
“He did, and it was all garbage. The same garbage that I’ve gotten from you for over a year!” she said as she pointed her hoof at him. “You were supposed to give me everything about Chimera, Goldenblood. Everything means everything!” She swung the hoof dramatically. “Your obstruction is why you were removed!”
"他确实这么做了，但这些都是垃圾。一年多来我从你那里收到的垃圾!"她一边说，一边用蹄子指着他。"你应该告诉我关于金美拉的一切，金血怪。一切都意味着一切!"她戏剧性地甩了甩蹄子。"你的障碍就是你被开除的原因!"
His smile didn’t change. It was the most poisonous smile I’d ever seen. “And yet, even with me gone, you’re still having problems with making alicorns.” The look was like a poisoned dagger in her chest.
他的笑容没有改变。这是我见过的最恶毒的笑容。"然而，即使我离开了，你们还是在制作橡子方面遇到了问题。"她的表情就像胸口插着一把毒匕首。
“I’ve examined every aspect of the project as it pertains to transformations and fusions. Even improved on some aspects. We don’t need the megaspell for the transformation, just for the creation of the metamorphic potion. But I’ve broken down every ingredient of the potion, adjusted and examined and readjusted my findings, and tracked down every one of its constituent elements. All but one. ‘Metamagical Flux’, which is identical to ‘Biomagical Flux’ and ‘Transmogrifical Flux’. You just put on different colored labels,” she said with a glare at the twins.
"我研究了这个项目涉及到转换和融合的各个方面。甚至在某些方面有所改进。我们不需要巨盾来进行转换，只需要变形药水的制作。但是我已经分解了药水的每一种成分，调整、检查和重新调整了我的发现，并且追踪了它的每一个组成成分。只有一个例外。'MetamagicalFlux'，与'BiomagicalFlux'和'TransmogrificalFlux'相同。你只是贴上了不同颜色的标签,"她瞪着双胞胎说。
“Ah… it was a marketing decision, I think…” Flim muttered weakly.
"啊......我想这是一个营销决定......"弗利姆有气无力地咕哝着。
“And the more I’ve worked with this stuff, the more I’ve come to realize how dangerous it is. Do you have any idea what happens to ponies exposed to it? The mutations? Do you know what it did to Sunny Days? I had to waste time and resources devising a spell just to try and negate its effects. And it’s used everywhere, Goldenblood! Manufacturing. Energy production. Medicine. Food.” She paused and fixed the twins with her glare. “Sparkle-Cola.” The pair looked as if they wanted the floor to swallow them up, but then her glare returned to Goldenblood. “I’ve been using it myself for all these years and only now realized that I don’t have a clue what it is or how it works. But that ends today.” She stomped her hoof. “If all of you don’t tell me exactly what the big secret is, then my next stop is a meeting with Luna and Pinkie Pie. We’ll find out whatever it is you’re hiding here.”
"我对这些东西研究得越多，就越发觉得它们有多危险。你知道接触到它的小马会有什么后果吗？突变？你知道它对阳光灿烂的日子产生了什么影响吗？我不得不浪费时间和资源设计一个咒语，只是为了试图否定它的效果。它无处不在，金色的血液！制造业。能源生产。医学。食物」她停顿了一下，用目光盯住那对双胞胎。"闪亮可乐"这两个人看起来好像要把地板吞下去，但是她的目光又回到了Goldenblood。"这些年来，我一直在使用它，直到现在才意识到，我不知道它是什么，也不知道它是如何工作的。但这一切将在今天结束。"她跺了跺蹄子。"如果你们都不告诉我这个大秘密到底是什么，那么我的下一站就是去见露娜和小指派。我们会查出你在这里藏了什么东西。"
Goldenblood looked at her, then said quietly, “Twilight, go back to Canterlot. You’re making great progress on your stealth suit. Focus on that. Relax and forget all about Hippocratic Research and Flux. You don’t want to know, and
金布拉德看了看她，然后平静地说:"暮光之城，回Canterlot去吧。你的隐形衣做得很好。把注意力放在这上面。放松，忘记所有关于希波克拉底研究和通量。你不会想知道的
you don’t want to force this.”
你不能强迫自己这么做"
“How… how can you know that?” She gaped at him. “You’re not the director any more, Goldenblood! You have no authority in Equestria anymore.” But he didn’t move. He didn’t even blink. If anything, his eyes were pitying rather than hard. And slowly, she took a step back. “No. I have to know. The I.M.P. project has to work. It simply has to. There’s nothing else that will end this war! I’ll get all my friends, and we’ll put this place under a microscope if we have to. I’ll get Princess Luna to…”
"你...你怎么知道的?"她目瞪口呆地看着他。"你不再是导演了，金血王！你在Equestria已经没有权力了。"但是他没有动。他连眼睛都没眨一下。如果要说有什么区别的话，那就是他的眼神是同情而不是冷酷。慢慢地，她后退了一步。"没有。我必须知道。I.m.p.项目必须成功。它必须这样做。没有什么能结束这场战争了！我会召集我所有的朋友，如果有必要的话，我们会把这个地方放在显微镜下观察。我会让露娜公主......"
“Give it up, Twilight,” Goldenblood said softly. It may have been just me, but for a moment it sounded as if he were pleading with her. “You’ve done great and incredible things, Twilight.” It might have been a kind statement, but it seemed to strike her like a blow.
"放弃吧，黄昏,"金血王轻声说。也许只有我一个人，但是有那么一瞬间，他的声音听起来好像是在恳求她。"《暮光之城》，你做了伟大而不可思议的事情。"这可能是一个善意的声明，但这似乎打击了她。
“Great and incredible?” She suddenly laughed, her mane frizzing even more. “I’ve done nothing… nothing… for five years now. Nothing since Big Macintosh died! My friends have accomplished more to help protect Equestria than I have. It’s my responsibility to come up with magic that will save Equestria! That’s what I promised Luna when I established the Ministry of Arcane Science. But even after everything she’s done for me, I’m no closer to giving Luna what she needs to end this war. Don’t you understand? I’m a failure.” I knew that look on her face; she might not have been on a mattress, but she was fighting hard to stay off it.
"伟大而不可思议?"她突然大笑起来，头发更加蓬乱了。"五年来，我什么也没做......什么也没做。自从大麦金托什死后就没有了！我的朋友们在保护小马国方面比我做得更多。创造奇迹拯救小马国是我的责任！这就是我在建立奥术科学部的时候答应露娜的。但是即使她为我做了这么多，我也不能给露娜她需要的东西来结束这场战争。你还不明白吗？我是个失败者。"我知道她脸上的表情;她可能没有躺在床垫上，但她努力挣扎着不去碰它。
Goldenblood gave the brothers a single look that promised them a trip down an elevator shaft. I saw the two unicorns share a glance, one magically sliding the Twilight bobblehead out of sight, and then they started to study the ceiling as if it was the most fascinating thing they’d ever laid eyes on. Only then did Goldenblood look back at the mare fighting so damned hard for everypony else.
金布拉德看了兄弟俩一眼，答应带他们去电梯井。我看到两个独角兽共享一个目光，其中一个魔术般地把《暮光之城》的摇头娃娃滑出视线，然后他们开始研究天花板，仿佛这是他们所见过的最迷人的东西。直到这时，金血王才回头看那匹为了其他小马拼命搏斗的母马。
He stared at her for another long moment. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I really am.” He closed his eyes and seemed to be thinking of something. I’d never seen a stallion look more… old. Goldenblood looked tired, not just in body, but in spirit too.
他又盯着她看了很长时间。"对不起，暮光之城。真的。"他闭上眼睛，似乎在想什么。我从没见过这么老的种马。金色的血液看起来疲惫不堪，不仅是身体上，精神上也是如此。
“We’re all doing what we can to save Equestria, even if some of us have become monsters in the process.” Then he looked at the brothers. “Show her.”
"我们都在尽我们所能拯救小马国，即使我们中的一些人在这个过程中变成了怪物。"然后他看着兄弟俩。"给她看看。"
Twilight lifted her head, staring at him in confusion. The brothers shuffled nervously. “I’m not sure that’s…” Flim began, but Goldenblood silenced him
暮色抬起头，困惑地盯着他。兄弟俩紧张地拖着脚步。"我不确定那是......"弗利开始说，但是金色的血液让他沉默了
with a look. “…that we should delay a second longer! We can use our own private elevator to speed the process along! Yes, the sooner we’re done here, the better.” The brother tapped the keys of his terminal and opened the elevator door.
用眼神。"...我们应该再拖延一秒钟！我们可以使用我们自己的私人电梯加快进程！是的，我们越早结束这里的工作越好。"弟弟轻轻地敲打着终端机的钥匙，打开了电梯门。
“But… why?” Twilight asked in quiet disbelief, looking at him in amazement. “Why are you showing me this now?”
"但是......为什么?"暮光以不可思议的神情安静地问道，惊讶地看着他。"你为什么现在给我看这个?"
“Because… I owe you,” he replied quietly as he walked to the elevator door. “And I’m sorry.”
"因为......我欠你的,"他一边走向电梯门，一边平静地回答。"我很抱歉。"
~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~
I awoke feeling some scrap metal half tangled in my mane and shook my head, tossing it away and receiving a sting of pain as it cut the side of my face. I sighed. Great. More crazy? Dream? Enclave mind control device finally kicking in? Possession? What kind of commentary was it on my life when I couldn’t count out any of those?
我醒来时，感觉到有一些废金属半缠在我的鬃毛里，我摇了摇头，把它扔了出去，当它划破我的脸颊时，我感到一阵刺痛。我叹了口气。太好了。更疯狂？梦想？飞地精神控制设备终于启动了？附身？当我不能指望这些的时候，它对我的生活有什么样的评论呢？
“You know, all things considered, in light of the last day or two, I think I might have made a mistake in coming back to Hoofington,” I said as I dangled in the middle of a pitch black shaft by one of my forelegs. It’d gotten caught in a tangle of cable as I plummeted past. The elevator car had gotten jammed above me and was letting out groans every time I wiggled around too much. I had no idea how far I’d fallen, or how far there was left to fall, or what exactly awaited me at the bottom. I thought for a moment that I’d heard P-21 and Rampage yelling my name, but now everything was silent.
"你知道，考虑到最近一两天的情况，我想我回到Hoofington可能犯了一个错误,"我一边说着，一边用一条前腿在漆黑的树干中间晃荡。当我垂直落下的时候，它被一团乱糟糟的电缆缠住了。我头顶上的电梯卡住了，每当我扭动得太厉害时，电梯里就会发出呻吟声。我不知道自己已经堕落到什么地步，也不知道还能堕落到什么地步，更不知道底下究竟有什么在等着我。我想了一会儿，我听到了P-21和狂暴叫喊我的名字，但是现在一切都安静了。
...Of course, I could have answered at least one of those questions by timing how long it took that scrap to fall. If I’d been paying attention. ...It had actually hit bottom, right? Oh, idea! I sniffed and snorted and coughed and hacked and finally worked up a nice wad of phlegm, then turned my head and spat, letting it fall. My ears strained, and I heard a very distant ‘plat’ far below. The elevator let out a protesting noise as I twisted, trying to see anything in the blackness that the dim red light from my eyes was, if anything, just highlighting. Pen-thin beams made lousy flashlights.
当然，我至少可以通过计算废料落下的时间来回答其中的一个问题。如果我仔细听的话。实际上已经跌到谷底了，对吧？哦，主意！我吸着鼻子，哼着鼻子，咳嗽，砍着头，终于把一团痰弄了起来，然后转过头，吐了口痰，让它掉了下来。我的耳朵紧张起来，听到远处传来一声"啪"的声音。电梯发出了抗议的声音，我扭动着身体，试图在黑暗中看到任何东西，如果说有什么的话，那就是我眼中暗淡的红光正在突出。细如钢笔的光束制成了糟糕的手电筒。
Then the cable suddenly slipped along my leg. I waved my other limbs wildly in the dark, looking for something to hold on to, and then, just as the leg came free, extended my fingers, seizing the cable and holding it fast with both forelegs. There was a tense moment as I hung there, looking up at the place where my
然后电缆突然沿着我的腿滑落。我在黑暗中疯狂地挥舞着我的其他四肢，想找个东西抓住，然后，就在腿松开的时候，我伸出手指，抓住缆绳，用两条前腿紧紧地抓住它。有一个紧张的时刻，我挂在那里，抬头看着那个地方
brain saw the faintest suggestion of a dark red leg, but the metallic digits held. “Okay, Rover, wherever you are… you’re right. Thumbs are better.” I swung my hindlegs until one hooked the cable to better support my weight. Then the elevator gave another groan and jerk. “Now, how to use freaky thumb powers to get out of here?”
大脑看到了暗红色腿部的微弱迹象，但是金属指头还在。"好吧，罗孚，不管你在哪儿......你是对的。大拇指更好。"我摆动我的后腿，直到一个钩住电缆，以更好地支持我的体重。然后电梯又发出了一声呻吟和抽搐。"现在，如何使用奇怪的拇指力量离开这里?"
From somewhere below came a number of mechanical bangs. “Okay… thumb powers expended… maybe…” I couldn’t do more than turn a page with my horn. I tried to remember the magic primer as I swung there under the groaning elevator. Magic is internal, not a bunch of magical words, chants, and incantations. And all unicorn horns glowed when we did magic; I just needed mine to glow more! I closed my eyes and imagined a little star shedding light like a candle. That’s what I needed… light… lighty light light… the electric crackle grew in my horn as it tingled. I opened an eye.
从下面的某个地方传来了一阵机械爆炸声。"好吧......拇指力量耗尽了......也许......"我只能用喇叭翻一页。当我在呻吟着的电梯下挥舞着那神奇的底漆时，我试着回忆起来。魔法是内在的，不是一堆魔法词汇，圣歌和咒语。当我们变魔术的时候，所有的独角兽角都会发光;我只是需要我的角发光更多！我闭上眼睛，想象着一颗小星星像蜡烛一样发出光芒。这就是我所需要的......光......轻盈的光......电子的爆裂声在我的喇叭里滋长，伴随着刺痛。我睁开了眼睛。
Nothing. I clenched my eyes shut and twisted my face into ridiculous expressions. Still nothing. Finally… it might not have been the most ‘magical’ of methods, but I just made like I had the worst case of constipation ever, grit my teeth, and pushed!
没什么。我紧闭双眼，把脸扭成可笑的表情。还是一无所获。最后......这可能不是最神奇的方法，但我只是做了好像我有史以来最糟糕的情况便秘，咬紧牙关，并推！
Then there was a pop and a discharge like when I fired a magic bullet, followed by a zap and an immense sense of relief. I stared at the tiny mote of light hanging in front of me. “I did it…” I murmured weakly in shock as I stared at it. Then it sank in. “I did it!” I cheered in glee, whooping. Suddenly the elevator car lurched as it dropped a foot, making me gulp… but then I looked at my little spell… my compact spell… and grinned and silently cheered.
然后是砰的一声和一声放电，就像我发射了一颗神奇的子弹，随之而来的是一声电击和一种巨大的解脱感。我凝视着悬挂在我面前的微小的光斑。"我做到了......"我盯着它，震惊地低声说。然后就沉下去了。"我做到了!"我高兴地欢呼。突然，电梯车摇摇晃晃地下降了一英尺，让我一口气咽了下去......但是我看了看我的小咒语......我的小咒语......笑了笑，默默地欢呼起来。
The feeling of euphoria quickly faded as I looked around and saw nothing but four walls and the elevator’s two guide rails. I gingerly stretched one of my forehooves towards the nearest rail but was still short. I closed my eyes and forced a grin, shaking my head. I didn’t like it… not one bit. But it wasn’t as if I had any better ideas. I swung my hind end one way, then the other. Back and forth. The elevator car overhead began to squeal in time with my swings. Just stay up there a little bit longer…
当我环顾四周，除了四面墙和电梯的两个导轨，什么也没有看到时，欣快的感觉很快就消失了。我小心翼翼地把一只前蹄向最近的栏杆伸去，但还是很短。我闭上眼睛强作笑容，摇摇头。我一点也不喜欢。但这并不意味着我有更好的主意。我的后腿向一边摆动，然后又向另一边摆动。来来回回。头顶上的电梯厢随着我的秋千开始尖叫起来。在上面多待一会儿..。
I let out a cry as I let go of the cable and smacked into the rail, all four limbs hugging it tight. Okay! This was progress. Now all I had to do was slide down the rail to a door. Easy as pie… See? I was already sliding. Sliding really fast! What exactly was the speed difference between sliding down a rail and falling
当我松开缆绳的时候，我哭了一声，然后重重地摔在了栏杆上，四肢紧紧地抱在一起。好吧！这是一种进步。现在我要做的就是顺着栏杆滑到门口。很简单...看到了吗？我已经在下滑了。真的滑得很快！从轨道上滑下来和摔下来之间的速度差是多少
down alongside one? My enameled limbs were squealing, and my chest was getting pretty damn toasty rubbing against the metal. Wait! Was this thing oiled or something?! “Ooooo… Shit!” I yelled as I fell away from the rail.
沿着一条船下去？我那珐琅般的四肢在尖叫，我的胸膛在金属的摩擦下变得非常温暖。等等！这东西上油了还是怎么了！"噢...妈的!"我从栏杆上摔了下来，大叫起来。
I fell to my death for a few seconds before I slammed my back against a curved metal surface that gave beneath me, slowing my fall with a growing hum. “Whoa there, little lady!” a robotic male drawled. I slid along the metal, my hooves banging and scratching the hovering orb before I dropped... and fell into a tangle of robotic limbs. The three cameras that apparently served as its eyes turned to focus on me. “Always told ‘em this elevator was unsafe fer pony travel, but does anypony listen to old Hank? Nooo.”
我摔死了几秒钟，然后我的背撞到了下面弯曲的金属表面上，随着越来越大的嗡嗡声减慢了我的下落速度。"哇，小姑娘!"一只雄性机器人慢吞吞地说。我沿着金属滑行，我的蹄子砰砰作响，抓挠着盘旋的圆球，然后我就掉了下去...掉进了一团机械手臂里。这三个摄像头显然是它的眼睛，它把焦点对准了我。"我总是告诉他们，这部电梯对小马来说不安全，但是小马会听老汉克的话吗？不。"
“Please don’t explode! Please don’t explode!” I really really hoped that the joke had finally run its course as I clung to the levitating robot.
"请不要爆炸！请不要爆炸!"我真的很希望这个笑话终于在我抓住悬浮机器人的时候结束了。
“I ain’t gonna explode. Ol’ Hank’s the finest Handy you ever seen! Oooof… you sure are a healthy girl, aintcha?” the robot crackled as we dropped down the shaft. “Need to maximize my levitation repulsor drive!”
"我不会爆炸的。汉克是你见过的最好的汉迪！你真的是一个健康的女孩吗?"我们下去的时候，机器人发出噼啪声。"需要最大限度地利用我的悬浮推进器!"
“I… um… have more metal in me than most mares.” No shooting the lifesaving robot over a weight joke, Blackjack. I looked around the elevator shaft.
"我.....。.嗯...我身上的金属比大多数的母马都多不要因为一个体重笑话就开枪打救生机器人，Blackjack。我环视了一下电梯井。
“Is that so? Sheee-oot, and here Ol’ Hank was convinced my sensor talismans were fritzed fer good! Looked at you and couldn’t tell if you were a mechanical or biological. Good thing I kept my access probe to myself. Wouldn’t want to get fresh.”
""是吗？天啊，在这里，奥尔·汉克确信我的传感器护身符被损坏得很好！看着你，不知道你是机械的还是生物的。还好我把探测器留给了自己。我可不想变得新鲜。"
We finally reached the bottom of the shaft; two tunnels led off in different directions. I slipped out of Hank's limbs and onto the concrete floor, very, very glad to be back on something solid again. “I don’t suppose that you know where I can find Sanguine, do you?” The spidery robot floated there a moment, and I added, “Er, I think his name is Trueblood?”
我们终于到达竖井底部，有两条通道向不同的方向延伸。我从汉克的四肢滑落到水泥地上，非常非常高兴又回到了坚实的东西上。"我想你不知道我在哪里可以找到桑吉尼，对吗?"蜘蛛般细长的机器人在那儿漂了一会儿，我又加了一句:"呃，我想它的名字是真布拉德吧?"
“The doc? Oh, he’s probably somewhere in the facility over yonder. Been making a mess o’ things. I keep on putting out repair citations and notifications and the like, but nopony’s gotten back to poor Ol’ Hank since we got the call fer the big sleep.”
"那个医生？他可能在那边的某个地方。把事情弄得一团糟。我不断地发出修理的传票和通知之类的东西，但是自从我们接到大睡一觉的电话之后，没有任何小马回到可怜的奥尔·汉克身边。"
“Big sleep?” I frowned.
"好好睡一觉?"我皱起了眉头。
“Oh, it was a long time back. Big order went out to power down and wait fer further commands. So most of us done went quiet like the rest o’ the city. ‘Course, Maintenance Quad B was left out. The four of us tried to keep everythin’ neat and tidy, but after a while things break down and wear out. Ol’ Hank’s all that’s left to keep things workin’.” He sighed. “Seemed like a damned shame. We had so much work we need to do. Floors to polish. Hinges to oil. And I haven’t gotten round to fixing Ms. Moonstar’s desk drawer. Hope she’s not too cross.”
"哦，那是很久以前的事了。大订单出去停电等待下一步指令。所以我们大多数人都像城里的其他人一样安静下来了。当然，维修方阵b被排除在外。我们四个人尽力保持一切整洁，但过了一会儿，东西坏了，磨损了。汉克是唯一能维持生计的人了。"他叹了口气。"真他妈的丢脸。我们有很多工作要做。地板需要打磨。石油铰链。我还没来得及修好Moonstar小姐的抽屉。希望她不会太生气。"
I frowned; I’d never thought of the bombs falling from a machine’s point of view. I tried to imagine having a life and then suddenly being told to go to sleep, then waking up to find that everything that was important to me was gone. Did Ol’ Hank realize that Moonstar had probably been dead for two centuries? That the world beyond this facility was smashed and broken? Could it imagine that?
我皱起了眉头，我从来没有想过炸弹会从机器的角度掉下来。我试着去想象我的生活，然后突然被告知去睡觉，然后醒来发现所有对我来说重要的东西都不见了。奥尔·汉克意识到月之星可能已经死了两个世纪了吗？这个设施之外的世界被摧毁了？它能想象吗？
“What did you mean when you said that Trueblood’s breaking things?” I asked.
"你说特鲁布拉德会打碎东西是什么意思?"我问道。
“Well, he ain’t much of an engineer,” Ol’ Hank muttered. “He’s trying to wake the machines down below up. Snooty things, never really talked to us much. All kinds of medical stuff that make a powerful mess when they leak. Dunno why he bothers, but lately it seems everypony’s yelling all at once fer us to wake up again.”
"嗯，他算不上什么工程师,"奥尔·汉克喃喃自语道。"他试图唤醒下面的机器。傲慢的东西，从来不和我们说话。各种各样的医疗用品，一旦泄漏就会造成严重的混乱。不知道他为什么这么烦恼，但最近似乎每匹小马都在一起大叫，希望我们能再醒过来。"
“Yelling at you?”
"对你大喊大叫?"
“Started a few weeks back. General alarm went out to the Hoofington region: zebra megaspell attack. Woke up some emergency systems, and those woke up some communication systems and those woke up some command systems and now none of them have a clue what we’re supposed to do. But there’s some folk like the doc who keep saying we’re suppose to do what he says, and at the same time we’re suppose to do what the Core Command says and at the same time we’re getting Core commands to not do what Core Command says! It’s enough to make a poor ol’ maintenance bot like me pop his processor gems!” He gave a huff. “If you don’t mind my saying so, you biologicals sure do like to cross your wires.”
"几周前开始的。Hoofington地区普遍警报:斑马巨盾攻击。唤醒了一些应急系统，唤醒了一些通讯系统，唤醒了一些指挥系统，现在他们都不知道我们应该做什么。但是有些人，比如医生，一直说我们应该按他说的做，同时我们应该按核心指挥部说的做，同时我们得到核心指挥部的命令，不要按核心指挥部说的做！这足以让一个像我这样糟糕的机器人崩溃掉他的处理器。"他大发雷霆。"如果你不介意我这么说的话，你们这些生物学家的确喜欢绕圈子。"
I thought about that with a frown. “So you’re telling me that somepony out there is giving you commands to wake up and do things, but somepony else is telling you not to do them?”
我皱着眉头想了想。"所以你是在告诉我，外面有个小马在命令你起床做事，但是有个小马却在告诉你不要这样做?"
“Mmhmm! Between when the alert went out and now, there’ve been four hundred and two million, seven hundred and ninety thousand, one hundred and twelve commands issued and four hundred and two million, seven hundred and ninety thousand, and sixty seven countermands issued. Makes it a mite tricky fer a bot to get his job done.” Wait, I might not have Glory’s head for numbers, but even I knew that those didn’t add up!
"嗯哼！从警报发出到现在，已经发出了四百二十万，七十九万，一百一十二个命令，四百二十万，七十九万，和六十七个反命令。对于一个机器人来说，完成他的工作是件很棘手的事情。"等等，我可能没有晨辉的数字头脑，但即使是我也知道这些数字加起来不对！
“Why fewer countermands?” I asked.
"为什么反命令数量减少了?"我问道。
“Well I don’t rightly know. I just clean things up,” Ol’ Hank replied in faint exasperation. “‘Course, even Ol’ Hank got the order to apply my rotary saw to the doctor’s head. Don’t rightly know why. But then that got countermanded a millisecond later and I just went back to cleaning. But personally, I reckon whoever’s making the commands is a mite faster or cleverer than whoever is canceling ‘em.” And whoever was making the commands was trying to kill Sanguine. Suddenly, all his talk of running out of time was starting to make more sense. Eventually, one of those commands would get through.
""嗯，我也不知道。"我只是把东西收拾干净,"奥尔。汉克回答道，语气中带着一丝恼怒。"'当然，即使是奥尔'汉克也得到命令，将我的旋转锯应用于医生的头部。不知道为什么。但是一毫秒之后，它被取消了，我只好继续清理。但就我个人而言，我认为发出命令的人比取消命令的人要快一点，或者更聪明一点。"不管是谁下的命令都是为了杀桑吉尼。突然间，他所有关于时间不多的说法开始变得更有意义了。最终，这些命令中的一条会通过。
But... it still didn’t make sense, really. Why didn’t he just go? Lots of ponies had trouble leaving Hoofington, but it was hard for me to imagine a pony like him not being able to set up shop somewhere else. He’d been trying to get Chimera for Red Eye, and he’d given me the evil villain ‘experiment on the Wasteland’ speech. Either would have been good enough motivation, but something didn’t quite fit. When he’d heard that I’d died he’d carved a trail of butchery to flush me out because something in the Core was woken up and after him. Why not simply leave? A ghoul of Sanguine’s capacity had options. Something had kept him here. Chimera? Was that something so important to him that he would risk his life, risk everything for it? I just didn’t see it. He’d lived well enough without Chimera for two centuries.
但是...还是说不通，真的。他为什么不直接走？很多小马都很难离开胡芬顿，但我很难想象像他这样的小马不能在其他地方开店。他一直试图为《红眼》找到奇美拉，而且他给了我一个邪恶的反派《荒原实验》的演讲。任何一个都可以成为足够好的动力，但是有些东西不太适合。当他听说我已经死了的时候，他刻下了一串屠杀的痕迹来引我出来，因为核心中的某种东西在他之后被唤醒了。为什么不干脆离开呢？一个食尸鬼的血液能力有选择。有什么东西把他留在了这里。奇美拉？是不是有什么东西对他来说如此重要，以至于他愿意冒生命危险，不惜一切代价？我只是没看出来。两个世纪以来，没有奇美拉，他也过得很好。
There was something else. “Can you tell me what Sangui-- I mean, the doc needs with Chimera?”
还有一件事。"你能告诉我桑吉——我是说，医生需要奇美拉做什么吗?"
“No idea. Not sure what yer referring to. ‘Fraid Doc doesn’t have much respect for the maintenance staff. Guess he doesn’t put much stock in clean floors,” Ol’ Hank muttered.
"不知道。不知道你指的是什么。"弗雷德·多克对维修人员不太尊重。"我想他不会把太多东西放在干净的地板上,"奥尔汉克咕哝着。
I nodded, then tried to think of who might want to countermand orders to kill Sanguine. Who would know about Chimera and want to keep him alive? A chill
我点点头，然后试着想想谁会想要取消杀死桑吉尼的命令。谁会知道奇美拉并且想让他活着？一阵寒意
ran through me. “Ol’ Hank. Does the name Goldenblood mean anything to you?” The robot just stared at me for the longest time, and I frowned. “Hank?”
从我身上穿过。"哦，汉克。金血王这个名字对你有什么意义吗?"机器人盯着我看了很长时间，我皱起了眉头。"汉克?"
The robot’s buzz saw whirred as it seized me by my throat with a pincer and plunged the rotating blade straight at my face! I brought up my forelegs and the saw teeth sputtered and sparked off the enamel. This thing had me outnumbered on fighting limbs and was way too close for me to bring my battle saddle guns to bear. Its cutting torch flared to life as a metallic scream sounded from its speakers.
机器人的圆锯嗡嗡作响，它用钳子钳住我的喉咙，把旋转的刀片直接插到我的脸上！我抬起前腿，锯齿在牙釉质上劈啪作响，闪闪发光。这东西在战斗肢体上比我寡不敌众，而且离我太近了，我的战斗马鞍枪无法承受。随着喇叭里发出金属般的尖叫声，火把闪闪发光。
I had only one thing going for me: traction. I blocked the saw and torch as best I could and powered forward with my hind legs. The robot’s levitation talisman didn’t slow it at all as I powered it into the far wall, pulled back, and slammed it again and again. Finally, something inside the robot popped and crackled, and the levitation talisman went dark. The robot fell to the ground, the shriek dwindling to a soft crackle and then falling silent.
我只有一个优势:牵引力。我尽最大努力挡住了锯子和火炬，然后用我的后腿向前冲。机器人的悬浮魔法丝毫没有减慢它的速度，我把它推到远处的墙上，拉回来，然后一次又一次地猛击它。最后，机器人里面的什么东西爆裂开来，悬浮的护身符变暗了。机器人倒在地上，尖叫声逐渐减弱为轻微的噼啪声，然后陷入沉默。
I pulled my throat out of its pincer grip and sighed. “Guess so,” I murmured, looking up the shaft. There was no sign of my friends; I supposed they were going to find another way down to me. I sighed, looking at my hooves and weapons. I really missed my telekinesis; as solid a rig as the battle saddle was, I simply wasn’t as good with it as Glory. I kept getting in fights where I just couldn’t shift my body as I needed to. I carefully removed it, sticking it in my bags, and bundled up Taurus’s rifle and the shotgun. Scotch still had Vigilance. The sword would probably be too long and ungainly if wielded in my mouth. How the heck did ponies without magic fight with those things? “Well… I guess it’s just me and my own four hooves for now.”
我把喉咙从钳子里拔出来，叹了口气。"我想是吧,"我低声说，抬头看着竖井。没有我朋友的踪影，我猜想他们会找到另一条路下来找我。我叹了口气，看着我的蹄子和武器。我真的很怀念我的心灵遥感;虽然我的装备像战斗马鞍一样坚固，但我只是不如光荣那样善于使用它。我不断地卷入战斗，我只是不能移动我的身体，因为我需要。我小心翼翼地把它拿出来，塞进包里，把金牛座步枪和猎枪捆在一起。苏格兰威士忌还有警惕性。如果把这把剑放在我的嘴里，可能会显得太长太笨拙。没有魔法的小马是怎么和那些东西打架的？"嗯......我想现在只剩下我和我的四只蹄子了。"
As silently as I could, I picked a tunnel at random and made my way down it. I tried not to think of Glory and Scotch. I tried not to imagine… I stopped and thumped my head hard on the concrete wall. “No. No. No. No. You are not doing this now. Priest was bad enough,” I muttered, then winced and rubbed my head. “And now I’m talking to myself! Ugggh!”
我尽可能安静地随便挑了一条隧道，沿着它走下去。我尽量不去想晨辉和苏格兰威士忌。我试着不去想象......我停下来，头重重地撞在水泥墙上。"没有。没有。没有。没有。你现在不能这么做。"牧师已经够坏的了,"我喃喃自语，然后皱着眉头揉揉头。"现在我在自言自语！啊!"
Okay. So I wasn’t at my finest right then.
好吧。所以当时我并不是最好的。
The tunnels were all Hoofington standar-- wait. Strike that. The blue line subway tunnels had at least showed signs of damage, rust, and overall decay. These walls were crack-free. A product of Ol’ Hank’s work, or was it because they were even
这些隧道都是胡芬顿站的等等。把这句删掉。蓝线地铁隧道至少已经显示出损坏、生锈和整体腐烂的迹象。这些墙壁没有裂缝。是奥尔·汉克工作的成果，还是因为他们是平等的
more overengineered than the rest of the underground? I supposed it really didn’t matter. I travelled further along and reached some sort of security station in front of a heavy door; there were bones behind the bulletproof glass… and a sidearm. An IF-38 Cornhusker revolver. Not the most powerful gun, but it had a mouthgrip I could use comfortably without the battle saddle.
比其他地下组织更加复杂？我想这真的无关紧要。我继续向前走，来到了一扇很重的门前的某个安全站;防弹玻璃后面有一些骨头......还有一把手枪。一种IF-38玉米剥皮机左轮手枪。虽然不是威力最大的枪，但是它有一个可以让我在没有战斗马鞍的情况下舒服地使用的枪托。
In the break room behind the station were a fold-out cot and some lockers that I cleared out… and a terminal. I chewed on my lip; this really was more P-21’s thing. Still, I knew the basics… go to the login prompt, hold down those two keys there to get the debug and look for words that might be the password. Fail too often and it’d lock up permanently.
在车站后面的休息室里有一张折叠床和一些我清空的储物柜...还有一个终端机。我咬着嘴唇，这确实是P-21的专长。尽管如此，我还是知道一些基本的东西......进入登录提示，按住这两个键来进行调试，并查找可能是密码的单词。如果经常失败，它就会永久锁定。
Ten minutes later, I felt a surge of glee as I picked out the password from the junk: ‘Cider’. There wasn’t much in the terminal. Duty roster and a complaint filed against one security stallion for being scared of the lower levels. Then there was an option to open the door. I bit my lip and toggled it.
十分钟后，当我从那堆垃圾中挑出密码"Cider"时，我感到一阵兴奋。航站楼里没什么东西。值班名册和对一个安全种马的投诉，因为害怕较低的水平。然后我们可以选择打开这扇门。我咬了咬嘴唇，把它拧了一下。
The door lifted up, revealing a little shack practically invisible behind a concrete slip nestled right up against a cliff face. I heard the river flowing by and carefully poked my head out. There was the Zenith Bridge off to my left. I barely suppressed a scream of frustration; this whole time, there was a back door to this place?! Ugh… without a way to tell Lacunae, there wasn’t a reason to leave it open and invite trouble inside.
门打开了，露出了一个几乎看不见的小棚屋，它就在一个水泥墙后面，紧靠着一个悬崖。我听见河水流过，小心翼翼地探出头来。我的左边是ZenithBridge。我几乎无法抑制沮丧的尖叫;这么长时间以来，这个地方一直有后门?！呃......没有办法告诉Lacunae，就没有理由让它开着，在里面招惹麻烦。
I closed it up and retraced my steps, picking my way along the other tunnel. Conduits and pipes ran along the walls and ceiling; I suspected that this was a maintenance access of some sort. I ran across a little alcove with a workbench and shelves of engineering supplies, as well as some ammo containers. I chowed down on some nice juicy steel nuts and bolts as I practiced my telekinesis on a bobby pin in the lock of one of the ammo boxes, the most I could manage at the moment. The first one snapped after a few fumbles, but I felt an odd little surge of pride as the second popped the lock.
我关上门，沿着另一条隧道沿原路返回。管道和管道沿着墙壁和天花板延伸;我怀疑这是某种维修通道。我跑过一个小凹室，里面有一个工作台，架子上有工程用品，还有一些弹药箱。我一边在一个弹药箱的锁上的发夹上练习心灵遥感，一边狼吞虎咽地吃着美味多汁的钢螺母和螺栓。第一个在几次摸索之后折断了，但是当第二个打开锁的时候，我感到一种奇怪的自豪感。
Bleugh, all magic gem cartridges and spark drums. Then I pursed my lips and placed one of the cartridges in the workbench vise. After a bit of determined twisting, the plastic lid popped off the cartridge’s base. I carefully shook some of the rainbow dust within onto my tongue, and the crystalline specks popped and crackled delightfully. Not exactly the same as a whole gemstone, but sti--
哎呀，所有的魔法宝石墨盒和火花鼓。然后我噘起嘴唇，把其中一个墨盒放在工作台虎钳上。经过一番坚决的扭动，塑料盖从弹药筒底座上弹了出来。我小心翼翼地把舌头上的一些彩虹色的尘埃抖落下来，晶莹剔透的尘埃突然冒出来，愉快地噼啪作响。和一整块宝石不完全一样，但是还是——
A low snuffling and rumble filled the air, making my eyes widen. Something was walking nearby, with slow, dragging, heavy steps. I slowly poked my head back into the tunnel in time to spot the dark hindquarters of… something… moving out of sight. Very carefully, I moved down after it as the scrap metal and gem dust restored my damaged limbs. The passageway I was in was opening up into some kind of storeroom; clearly, Ol’ Hank’s cleaning routine ended here. The floor was strewn with crushed and scattered drums. Rainbow goop was spattered all over the place.
一阵低沉的鼻音和隆隆声充斥着空气，使我的眼睛睁大了。附近有什么东西拖着沉重的脚步缓慢地走着。我慢慢地把头伸回隧道里，及时发现了黑暗的后躯......什么东西......从视线中消失了。我小心翼翼地跟在它后面，用金属碎片和宝石粉修复了我受损的四肢。我所在的通道通向某种储藏室;很明显，奥尔·汉克的清洁工作到此结束。地板上散落着粉碎和散落的鼓。到处都是彩虹粘糊糊的东西。
And the… thing… was moving somewhere inside. I slipped slowly out into the room and worked my way around, keeping opposite the thing and moving as quietly as possible. My rear hoof stepped in some of the goop, and I felt a momentary spike of concern as I looked back... but other than feeling like I’d just stepped in something foul, nothing was happening. Okay, another point for cyberlimbs. I just had to keep it off my hide. Maybe it was time to bust out the...
那个...东西...在里面某个地方移动。我慢慢地溜进房间，绕着房间走，保持对面的姿势，尽可能安静地移动。我的后蹄踩到了一些黏糊糊的东西，当我回头看的时候，我感觉到了一种短暂的关注...但是除了感觉好像我刚刚踩到了什么肮脏的东西之外，什么也没有发生。好了，赛博四肢又得了一分。我只是想让它离我远点。也许是时候..。
Wasn’t there a thing in here that I was supposed to be keeping an eye on?
这里有什么东西是我应该留意的吗？
The bellow nearly shook me off my hooves as I turned and looked down between the battered, tottery shelving at what I assumed was once a pony. Four hooves, head, and tail; that was a pony, right? It was as if somepony had started there and then suffered some sort of psychotic vision of massive twisted knots of flesh and barely restrained bulk. The pale form’s bloodshot eyes glared around wet leather straps that seemed to be holding most of its body together. However, all that was secondary to the size of its mouth, which was filled with broken stone-like teeth.
当我转过身来，低头看着那个破旧、摇摇晃晃的架子时，咆哮声几乎把我的蹄子都震掉了，我以为那曾经是一匹小马。四只蹄子，头和尾巴，那是一匹小马，对吗？就好像一匹小马从那里开始，然后遭受了某种精神病幻觉，大量扭曲的肌肉和几乎没有限制的体积。这苍白的身躯布满血丝的眼睛瞪着湿皮带，皮带似乎把身体的大部分连在了一起。然而，这一切都是次要的大小，它的嘴，其中充满了破碎的石头般的牙齿。
With shocking speed, the ungainly thing spun and kicked an intact drum down the aisle at me, and I barely ducked as it struck the rack behind me and burst. Quick as I could, I was running from the rain of droplets. Really. Hazardous material suit! Sounded great. Especially having doffed the battle saddle! Really, I could have done with having something a little higher caliber at my disposal, too! When this was over, I was going to take a few days to try and get my horn back in order.
这个笨拙的东西以惊人的速度旋转着，把一个完好无损的鼓踢向我，我几乎没有躲避，它撞到了我身后的架子上，然后爆裂了。我尽可能快地跑着，躲避着雨滴。真的。有害物质防护服！听起来不错。特别是在放弃了战斗马鞍后！真的，我也可以做一些更高级的事情来支配自己！当这一切结束后，我打算花几天时间试着让我的喇叭恢复正常。
The pony behemoth, which I suspected was one of Precious’s ‘fatties’, came charging around the end of the next row. Its broad hooves smashed and scattered the barrels that had fallen. Big I could handle, but big and fast... I slipped into S.A.T.S. to--
我怀疑小马是普莱舍丝的"胖子"之一，它在下一排的尽头冲了过来。它那宽阔的蹄子砸碎了掉下来的桶。我可以应付大事，但是又大又快......我溜进了s.a.t.s去——
No, I didn’t! Instead, I realized that S.A.T.S. was gone just in time to dive to the side as the colossal hooves plunged towards me. Don’t roll. Don’t slide on your belly. Put some damn distance between you and it. An instinctive part of me wanted to flee back down the tunnel, but, big as this thing was, I knew it would fit. I had to do something else…
不，我没有！相反，我意识到s.a.t.s离开的时间刚刚好，当巨大的蹄子向我冲来时，我跳到了一边。不要滚动。不要在肚子上滑行。让你和它保持一定距离。我本能的一部分想要逃回隧道，但是，尽管这个东西很大，我知道它会合身的。我得做点别的..。
I had to go up.
我不得不上去。
I leapt up to the second tier of shelving and extended my freaky fingers to grab the edge of the third. I clambered up, then on to the fourth. Beneath me, the behemoth howled and smashed the base of the shelves again and again; I was nearly knocked free as the whole structure swayed. I reached the very top, though, and looked down at the glaring beast beneath me. Okay, Rover was really right. Thumbs were saving my life more than guns.
我跳到架子的第二层，伸出我那奇怪的手指抓住第三层的边缘。我爬上去，然后又爬到第四个。在我脚下，巨兽一次又一次地嚎叫，砸碎了架子的底部;我几乎被撞翻，整个建筑物都摇晃起来。不过，我还是爬到了山顶，低头看了看下面那头耀眼的野兽。好吧，罗孚是对的。大拇指比枪更能救我的命。
The thing howled and kicked the shelves again, bending steel with each powerful blow, and the shelves gave another ominous sway. “Hey! Knock it off!” I shouted, looking at the heavy barrels stacked around me and then at the floor way, way below me. A little light lit in my brain as I grinned down. “Hey! Don’t knock it off!” A little blue pony in my head had come up with an idea, and it was gonna be awesome! I shoved a barrel over the edge, barely missing the pony creature. It bellowed in rage and slammed the shelves again. Then the metal groaned, and there was a loud ping as something gave, and then more pings, and at once the shelves stopped swaying and began a steady movement that was building momentum.
那玩意儿吼叫着，又踢了一下架子，每一下都使钢筋弯曲，架子又发生了不祥的摇晃。"嘿！别闹了!"我喊道，看着堆在我周围的沉重的木桶，然后又看了看我下面的地板。我咧嘴笑着，脑子里闪过一丝光亮。"嘿！不要停下来!"我脑子里的一个蓝色小马想出了一个主意，一定会很棒的！我把一个桶从边上推了下去，差一点就碰到了那个小马驹。它愤怒地咆哮着，再次砰地一声关上了架子。然后金属发出呻吟声，接着是巨大的砰的一声，然后是更多的砰的一声，货架立刻停止了摇晃，开始了一个稳定的运动，正在形成动力。
The pony creature realized its peril, trying to move its bulk as the shelves tumbled over and dumped thousands of pounds of drums in a cascade of steel and chemicals that pounded down on top of it. The shelves were coming apart, dumping steel beams and shelving atop it as I felt the sideways motion start to become a downward motion. I leapt for the next set of shelves as the collapsing set smashed into it, scrambling to keep the leaking rainbow goo off my hide. I looked down at the pile. If it wasn’t dead, then I’d give up.
这匹小马意识到了自己的危险，它试图移动自己的身体，因为架子翻倒在地，倾倒了成千上万磅的桶，一连串的钢铁和化学物质砸在桶上。架子散架了，钢梁倾倒下来，架子在上面搁着，我感觉到横向的运动开始变成向下的运动。我跳向下一组架子，倒塌的架子撞上了架子，我挣扎着想把漏出来的彩虹粘液从我的皮肤上弄走。我低头看着那堆东西。如果它没死，我就放弃了。
Carefully, I scrambled my way down and trotted back to the workroom. I busted out the hazardous materials suit... but having discovered the joy of thumbs, I hesitated, then broke out the sword. Somewhere, I was sure, a hazardous materials specialist was weeping as I cut off the ends of the suit’s forelegs and stuck my limbs through. Then I wiggled the rest of the way into the yellow suit,
我小心翼翼地爬下楼梯，小跑回到工作室。我脱下了危险材料的外套......但是在发现了拇指的乐趣之后，我犹豫了一下，然后拔出了剑。我确信，在某个地方，一位危险材料专家正在哭泣，我切断了宇航服的前腿末端，把四肢穿了进去。然后我扭动身子穿上了黄色的衣服
leaving my barding on under it, used a whole roll of duct tape to seal the gaps around my legs, and tugged the saddlebags around my waist. I balked at the helmet. Without my E.F.S., I’d need to rely on my eyes and ears more, and my mouth was the only way I was going to be able to use the revolver at all.
把我的包裹留在下面，用一整卷胶带封住了我腿上的缝隙，还拉了我腰上的鞍囊。我对头盔望而却步。没有了e.f.s.，我需要更多地依靠我的眼睛和耳朵，而我的嘴巴是我能够使用左轮手枪的唯一方式。
I returned to the storeroom and stalked past the oozing rainbow heap. I paused for the longest time, my ears straining for any sign that that thing was going to get back up and come after me. Small favors; it was so much goo beneath the steel. Now, as long as I didn’t meet a similar fate, I was happy.
我回到储藏室，大步走过渗出的彩虹堆。我停顿了很长一段时间，我的耳朵在努力寻找任何迹象表明那东西会回来跟着我。小小的恩惠;在钢铁下面有这么多好东西。现在，只要我没有遇到类似的命运，我就很快乐。
Trotting past it, I moved into a hall… and looked at the translucent starburst flanks of Twilight Sparkle and the scarred hide of Goldenblood. The hallway was a mess of rainbow gunk and ooze. Ponies in lab coats and hazardous material suits trotted past, appearing and disappearing as they moved. I sat down hard, immobilized by the sight. “It really is an impressive facility, but I can’t help but notice some similarities in the layout,” she said as she looked dryly at the exhausted stallion. “What, did you simply steal Maripony’s design and bury it underground?”
我小跑着穿过它，走进一个大厅......看着紫悦半透明的星暴侧翼和Goldenblood伤痕累累的藏身之处。走廊里到处都是彩虹色的粘稠物和软泥。穿着实验室大衣和有害物质服装的小马小跑着经过，在它们移动时出现又消失。我重重地坐了下来，眼前的景象使我动弹不得。"这真是一个令人印象深刻的设施，但我不能不注意到一些相似性的布局,"她说，她冷淡地看着疲惫不堪的种马。"什么，难道你只是偷了马里波尼的设计然后把它埋在地下?"
“Steal? Of course not,” he said in a faintly hurt tone. “Stealing implies removal. We steal from Stable-Tec. We copy from the M.A.S.--” He took a misstep and fell to his knees with a groan.
"偷？当然不是,"他略带伤感地说。"偷窃意味着移除。我们从Stable-Tec偷东西。我们抄袭了m.a.s.——"他走错了一步，呻吟着跪倒在地。
“Goldenblood? Are you alright?” She knelt beside him and helped nudge him to his feet. “You look… well… worse than usual.”
"金色血统？你没事吧?"她跪在他身边，帮助他站起来。"你看起来......呃......比平时更糟糕。"
“No, I’m not alright. But you needn’t concern yourself with me. I’ve learned some… unpleasant things myself lately,” he rasped as he stood with a groan.
"不，我不好。但是你不用担心我。最近我自己也学到了一些......不愉快的事情,"他站在那里发出一声呻吟。
“I’m sorry I pressed Luna to remove you. I wanted to work with you, Goldenblood. I thought that was the whole point of your office,” she said as she looked at him sternly. He blinked at her, as if not even comprehending what she’d said, before he smiled tiredly.
"我很抱歉逼着卢娜把你赶走。我想和你一起工作，金血王。我以为这就是你办公室的全部意义,"她一面说，一面严厉地看着他。他朝她眨眨眼，好像根本不理解她说了什么，然后疲惫地笑了笑。
“Oh. That. No, that’s hardly a bother at this point. My removal was inevitable, though I hadn’t realized how much more of a trial protecting others from my mistakes would be,” he said with a sigh. “Regardless, if everything turns out as it should, it won’t matter much.”
"哦。那个。不，在这一点上那不是一个麻烦。我的离开是不可避免的，尽管我没有意识到保护他人免受我的错误的考验会有多大,"他叹了口气说。"不管怎样，如果一切都按照预期发展，那就没什么大不了的了。"
“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked in worry.
"你在说什么?"暮光忧心忡忡地问。
“Don’t worry, Twilight,” he said quietly as he lifted himself to his hooves. “We’ve taken care of everything. And even if it doesn’t work out… everything comes out clean one way… or the other.” They faded from sight, as did the rest of the ponies I’d seen.
"别担心，暮光,"他平静地说，同时抬起他的蹄子。"我们已经处理好了一切。即使没有成功，所有的事情都会以这样或那样的方式结束。"它们消失得无影无踪，就像我见过的其他小马一样。
No. Not all of them. I gaped as two ghostly ponies trotted by and then faded into nothing.
没有。不是所有的。我目瞪口呆，就像两匹幽灵似的小马小跑过去，然后消失得无影无踪。
I blinked, shook my head, and looked down the trashed hallway, now empty and strewn with garbage and detritus. I stared at it in confusion. “What the hell…” I muttered with a groan, rubbing my temples as I felt a doozy of a headache start. Was this some weird Hoofington Enervation thing? Was I going crazy… er? “Do not tell me I have to choose between crazy and ghosts.”
我眨眨眼，摇摇头，顺着废弃的走廊往下看，现在空荡荡的，到处都是垃圾和碎屑。我困惑地盯着它。"见鬼......"我呻吟着，揉着太阳穴，突然感到一阵头痛。这是不是什么奇怪的胡芬顿能量感应仪式？我是不是疯了？"不要告诉我，我必须在疯子和鬼魂之间做出选择。"
I just wanted to find Sanguine and kill him. Why did that have to be so hard?
我只是想找到桑吉尼然后杀了他。为什么要这么难呢？
Moving along, I encountered something nice and familiar: automated turrets blasting at me from the ceiling. I took cover behind two barrels, almost relieved at something as reassuring as a machine firing low caliber ammunition at me. Twelve rounds later, the turrets mounted in the ceiling blew apart. That left me to see the other fun little addition to the latest house of horrors: bloody bones and viscera were heaped among piles of pale white hide. The stench made me gag as I stepped past.
继续前进，我遇到了一些美好而熟悉的东西:从天花板上向我猛烈炮击的自动炮塔。我躲在两个枪管后面，看到一台机器向我发射小口径弹药，我几乎松了一口气。十二发子弹过后，安装在天花板上的炮塔被炸得四分五裂。这让我看到了最新的恐怖屋子里的另一个有趣的小东西:血淋淋的骨头和内脏堆积在成堆的白色兽皮中。当我走过时，恶臭使我作呕。
I was liking this less and less with every minute. I was finding quarters now, bunks for the staff that had worked here. I really couldn’t see ponies commuting to and from this place. The bunks were just as trashed as the rest, most of the metal smashed to scrap; I munched on a few pieces and shoved some more into my bag for the next time I felt snacky. I searched everything, though, and found some more ammo, some bobby pins, and some ‘Sugar Tails’ porn magazines stuffed in a fire hose box. More bloody pony parts. I made my way to the cafeteria and found a cupboard with some Fancy Buck Cakes and cans of Cram. Really, what pony ate that stuff before the bombs?
我越来越不喜欢这样了。我现在正在为在这里工作的员工找住处和床铺。我真的看不到来往于这个地方的小马。铺位和其他的一样乱七八糟，大部分的金属都被砸成了碎片;我大嚼了几块，又往包里塞了一些，为下次吃零食做准备。我搜遍了所有的地方，找到了更多的弹药，一些发夹，还有一些塞在消防水龙带盒里的糖果尾巴色情杂志。更多血淋淋的小马零件。我去了自助餐厅，找到了一个橱柜，里面有一些奇特的巴克蛋糕和一罐罐的补习班。说真的，是哪匹小马在炸弹爆炸前吃了那东西？
Well, I was in a house of horrors, but the reek of decay didn’t put me off my appetite. I munched down on a can of meaty stuff, and then ate the can. As I chewed, I leaned against the counter. No explosions. No screaming. Had P-21 and Rampage made it down here? Were they okay? I did my best not to worry. P-21 was sneaky enough to avoid detection, and Rampage hadn’t met anything
好吧，我是在一个恐怖的房子里，但腐烂的气味并没有让我倒胃口。我狼吞虎咽地吃了一罐肉，然后把罐头吃了下去。我一边嚼着，一边靠在柜台上。没有爆炸。不准尖叫。P-21和狂暴来过这里吗？他们还好吗？我尽量不去担心。P-21鬼鬼祟祟的躲过了侦查，而狂暴没有遇到任何事情
that could kill her yet. I popped the pullring into my mouth and chewed…
可能会要了她的命。我把拉环放进嘴里咀嚼..。
Then I jumped completely out of my hooves at the sight of the mare standing right beside me. I probably would have shot her if it wasn’t clear that she wasn’t a threat to me. Unarmed and unarmored, the white earth pony with the white mane had eyes so pale that it was hard to tell where the irises ended and the sclera began. The only reason I didn’t think she might be some kind of ghost was that I couldn’t see through her. All ghosts were transparent… right?
然后我一看到站在我旁边的母马就吓得跳了起来。如果不是很清楚她对我不构成威胁，我可能会开枪打死她。没有武器，也没有盔甲，这种白色土地上的马，有着白色的鬃毛，它的眼睛是如此苍白，以至于很难分辨虹膜的尽头和巩膜的开始。我不认为她是鬼魂的唯一原因是我看不透她。所有的鬼魂都是透明的，对吧？
“Hi,” I said as she stared at me. “Hello?” More staring. “Are you okay?” More stares. I moved, and she moved. I waved my hoof in front of her eyes and she shrank back. Her ribs showed through her hide. “Hungry?” Nothing. Even more disturbing was the lack of a cutie mark on her flank. I nudged one of the Fancy Buck Cakes at her, and she pressed her nose to it, sniffing, and then started to chew on the wrapper. “Um… need some help?” I took the cake from her, unwrapped it, and then handed it to her. She munched it down, orange carrot filling smearing her lips. Then she took another and started to chew on that wrapper.
"嗨,"我说，她盯着我。"喂?"更多的凝视。"你还好吗?"更多的注视。我动了，她也动了。我在她眼前挥动我的蹄子，她缩了回去。她的肋骨露了出来。"饿了吗?"没什么。更令人不安的是她的侧腹缺少一个可爱的标志。我用肘轻轻推了她一下，她用鼻子闻了闻，然后开始嚼包装纸。"嗯...需要帮忙吗?"我从她手里接过蛋糕，打开包装，递给她。她狼吞虎咽地吃着，橙色的胡萝卜填满了她的嘴唇。然后她又拿了一张，开始嚼那张包装纸。
Okay… ghosts, body parts, monsterponies, and now a brain-damaged mare. “Can you tell me about Sanguine? Where is he? What’s going on? Hello?” But all she did was try her best to chew through the wrapper. “Great,” I muttered sullenly. Then I turned to leave the barracks and heard hoofsteps approaching.
好吧...鬼魂身体部位怪物现在又是脑损伤的母马。""你能告诉我关于桑吉尼的事吗？他在哪儿？怎么回事？喂?"但是她所做的只是尽力去咀嚼包装纸。"太好了,"我闷闷不乐地喃喃自语。然后我转身离开营房，听到马蹄声越来越近。
“One of the tubbies knocks over a whole shelf of cans, and I’m the one who has to trot up here and check it out?” a mare muttered as she trotted by the doorway. I saw a flash of yellow and orange; Fury, or whatever it was she called herself. I was just about to sneak out and head the way she’d come when there was a clatter. I looked back at the white mare, who’d knocked over a stack of plates trying to reach one of the snack cakes. And then I looked back to find myself face to face with Fury. Her orange eyes widened in shock, “You? Fuck! You can’t be here! How the fuck are you here?”
"其中一个桶子打翻了整整一架子的罐子，而我却要跑到这里来检查一下?"一匹母马在门口小跑时喃喃自语。我看见一道黄色和橙色的光闪过，她叫自己弗瑞，或者别的什么名字。我正准备偷偷溜出去，朝她来的方向走去，突然传来一阵咔嗒声。我回头看了看那匹白色的母马，她为了拿一块点心蛋糕把一堆盘子打翻了。然后我回头一看，发现自己正面对着弗瑞。她震惊地睁大了橙色的眼睛,"你呢？操！你不能来这儿！你他妈的怎么会在这里?"
By the first ‘here’ I had the revolver out. By the second, I’d put a bullet between her eyes. She began to glow even before her body hit the ground, and I scrambled back as quickly as possible. The explosion launched a wave of stinging debris at me, and as I staggered back I saw her settle into a heap of ash and then glow once more and reform into a mare. “Fuck. Jerky Boy was sure we’d have a day or two to get back and get out of here before you fuckers caught
第一次"到这儿"的时候，我已经拔出了左轮手枪。到了第二天，我已经在她两眼之间开了一枪。甚至在她的身体着地之前，她就开始发光了，我尽可能快地爬回去。爆炸产生了一阵刺痛我的碎片，当我踉踉跄跄地回来时，我看到她坐在一堆灰烬中，然后再次发光，变成了一匹母马。"操。牛肉干小子确信我们有一两天的时间回来离开这里，在你们这些混蛋被抓住之前
up,” she said as she trotted forward. The barracks were a dead end, and that end was trotting forward in a leisurely stroll.
"向上"她一边小跑一边说。兵营是个死胡同，那头小跑着往前走，悠闲地散步。
I couldn’t waste time with bantering. I put two more rounds in her head even as she heaved a scrap of bunk onto her back. I hit the deck as she exploded once again, settling into glowing ash even as I barely avoided the flying scrap metal. The heap of dust started to glow and then reformed. She glared at me in irritation. “Fuck! Still don’t get it, do you?”
我不能把时间浪费在开玩笑上。我又朝她的脑袋开了两枪，尽管她把一张床推到了背上。她再次爆炸的时候，我倒在了甲板上，在我勉强躲开飞溅的金属碎片的时候，她已经化成了发光的灰烬。这堆灰尘开始发光，然后又变成了灰尘。她生气地瞪着我。"操！你还是不明白，是吗?"
I spat the gun between my hooves, shook out the shells, tossed a hoofful of bullets into the air, caught them in my mouth, and shoved them into the empty cylinder with my lips and tongue. How the hell did earth ponies use guns at all? “Trying for Deus’s spot in the foul mouth brigade?” I asked as I snapped the gun shut and looked around; it was like fighting Rampage. I’d run out of bullets, or she’d get close enough that one of her blasts would take me out. The pale mare let out a bawling cry that drew the orange mare’s glare. “Stay away from her!” I shouted; I bit the gun and put another bullet in her head. This time, I got lucky; the scrap metal deflected off my lifted forelegs rather than biting into my throat.
我用蹄子把枪吐了出来，抖了抖炮弹，向空中扔了一把子弹，塞进嘴里，用嘴唇和舌头把它们塞进空弹筒里。地球上的小马到底是怎么用枪的？"想抢天王在臭嘴队的位置吗?"我一边问，一边把枪关上，环顾四周，像是在和狂暴的暴徒搏斗。我的子弹用完了，或者她靠得足够近，一发子弹就能把我干掉。苍白的母马放声大哭，引来了橙色母马的怒视。"离她远点!"我喊道，我咬了一口枪，又朝她的脑袋开了一枪。这一次，我很幸运，我举起的前腿没有咬到喉咙，而是被金属碎片折断了。
“Stay away from her? She’s a fucking blank,” she said, snorting in contempt. I pointed the gun at her. “Yeah. Keep trying that. Fucking idiot.” I fired again, and the concussion wave smacked me into the fire hose box. I looked at the heap of ashes as she reformed and glared at me. “Fuck! Still not dead yet?” I shot her again, more junk peppering me as she blew once more. And just like before, the heap of ashes reformed. How the fuck could I beat her? It was worse than Rampage; it was like fighting Gemini again.
"离她远点？她是个该死的空壳,"她轻蔑地哼了一声说。我用枪指着她。"是的。继续尝试。他妈的白痴。"我又开了一枪，脑震荡的波浪把我砸进了消防水龙带的盒子里。我看着那堆灰烬，她重新站起来，怒视着我。"操！还没死吗?"我又朝她开了一枪，当她再次吹气的时候，更多的垃圾向我袭来。就像以前一样，一堆灰烬又重生了。我他妈怎么能打败她？这比狂暴还要糟糕，就像再次和双子座搏斗一样。
Wait… would that work?
等等...这样行吗？
She reformed, glaring at me in clear annoyance. “Give it up! You can’t beat me.”
她改过自新，恼怒地瞪着我。"放弃吧！你打不过我的。"
“Sorry about this,” I said as I put the bullet into her head yet again. But as she glowed, I turned my back to her and threw open the fire box. The explosion slammed me into the coiled hose even as I gripped the valve handle and pulled, praying to Luna and Celestia that the water was still on. The hose hissed and immediately swelled. I turned back around, holding the fire hose, and pointed the nozzle at the glowing ashes.
"对此我很抱歉,"我一边说，一边又一次把子弹射进了她的脑袋。但是当她发光的时候，我背对着她，打开了火箱。就在我抓住阀门手柄并拉扯的时候，爆炸把我推进了盘绕的软管，我向露娜和天堂祈祷水还在。水管发出嘶嘶声，立刻鼓了起来。我转过身，拿着消防水管，把喷嘴对准炽热的灰烬。
As they began to rise, I blasted them into the heap of twisted bunks with a jet of water. The yellow mare took shape again, then gasped and stared at me in
当他们开始站起来的时候，我用一股水喷射，把他们炸到一堆扭曲的床铺上。黄色的母马又成形了，然后倒吸一口冷气，盯着我
confusion a moment. Then she looked down at the half a bunk lodged in her torso. Slowly, she reached down and tapped it with a hoof. “F…fuck…” she gasped, and then glowed bright yellow. The explosion threw more debris at me, but I didn’t flinch away. As soon as she disintegrated, I focused the stream of water on the ashes. She reformed again, and this time there were pieces of her that seemed to be missing. Pieces of mane, an ear, patches of hide... Again, she blew, and again… and again...
困惑了一会儿。然后她低头看着她躯干里的半张床铺。慢慢地，她伸手过去，用蹄子敲了敲它。"f.."操..."她喘着气，然后发出亮黄色的光。爆炸把更多的碎片抛向我，但我没有退缩。她一解体，我就把水流集中到她的骨灰上。她又改过自新了，这一次，她身体的一部分似乎消失了。一片片的鬃毛，一只耳朵，一片片的皮毛......再一次，她吹，再一次......再一次.....。
Finally, she reformed and I turned off the hose. There was no way she was going to move at me again… not with her lower body stuck in the drain in the middle of the barracks floor. She looked at me in a daze. “Fuck… fucking… poetic…” she said as she looked at herself, half trapped like Dusty Trails had been, her hide pale and her voice weak. The water sloshed and pooled around her.
最后，她改过自新了，我关掉了水管。她的下半身卡在兵营地板中间的下水道里，不可能再对我动手了。她茫然地看着我。"他妈的......他妈的......诗意......"她看着自己说，半陷入尘土之中，她的皮肤苍白，声音微弱。水在她周围流淌。
“Like I said… sorry,” I muttered as I backed away towards the terrified white mare.
"就像我说的......对不起,"我一边向吓坏了的白色母马退去，一边喃喃自语。
“Didn’t think it could happen… fuck…” And then she stiffened before slumping over. She glowed one final time, exploding in a spray of dirty water, and when I next looked back there was nothing but the gurgle of ashy liquid flowing down into the shattered drain.
"没想到会这样...操..."然后她僵硬了一下，然后就倒下了。她最后一次发出光芒，在一阵脏水中爆炸，当我再次回头看时，只有一股灰色的液体汩汩地流入破碎的下水道。
I slumped down, staring at the hole and then at the spooked mare. I really would have liked my heart pounding right about now. Some gasping for air, some relief. Slowly, the white pony stepped closer, then nuzzled one of the Fancy Buck Cakes lying in a pool of the nasty water. I tugged the wax paper wrapper away and held it out to her. She hesitated, caught it in her mouth, and trotted away to munch it down. I tapped the back of my head against the counter, watching her eat. “My life just keeps getting weirder and weirder.”
我跌倒了，盯着那个洞，然后又盯着受惊的母马。我真的希望现在我的心能够怦怦直跳。有人喘着粗气，有人松了口气。慢慢地，那匹白色的小马走近了一些，然后用鼻子蹭了蹭躺在污水池里的一块花式巴克蛋糕。我把蜡纸包装纸拉开，递给她。她犹豫了一下，把它叼在嘴里，小跑着吃下去。我用后脑勺轻轻敲着柜台，看着她吃东西。"我的生活越来越奇怪了。"
* * *
* * *
An hour later, Boo and I were getting closer to where the activity was going on. I’d named her Boo because at the slightest noise she would go scampering away for a hiding place. This proved quite a useful warning system, as her hearing seemed much better than my own. I wondered if the professor had done something with my ears, too; she hadn’t said anything, and I didn’t think my ears were worse, but whenever Boo’s eyes went round and she backed away, I’d find some little niche to hide in with her. There was more than just the big and ugly
一个小时后，Boo和我离活动进行的地方越来越近。我给她取名为Boo，因为只要有一点点动静，她就会蹦蹦跳跳地跑到一个藏身的地方。事实证明，这是一个相当有用的预警系统，因为她的听力似乎比我的好得多。我不知道教授是不是也对我的耳朵做了什么;她什么也没说，我也不认为我的耳朵更糟糕了，但是每当布的眼睛转过去，她退开的时候，我就会找一个小小的位置和她一起躲起来。不仅仅是那些又大又丑的
pony things down here. There were manticores and nightstalkers creeping about, too. I’d nearly walked into a knot of the shimmery snakedog things, but then I’d seen her backing up; fortunately, the beasts either hadn’t noticed us or weren’t interested. A scratch between the ears and an occasional snack cake kept her going. She didn’t speak and didn’t seem to understand when I spoke to her. She simply reacted to things, her eyes wide and empty. Even the name I’d given her was more for my comfort than anything the mare seemed to recognize as a name.
把东西放下来。还有人妖和夜行者四处游荡。我几乎走进了一堆闪闪发光的蛇狗，但是我看到她后退了一步;幸运的是，这些野兽要么没有注意到我们，要么对我们不感兴趣。耳朵之间的抓痕和偶尔吃点心使她坚持下去。我跟她说话的时候，她不说话，似乎也听不懂。她只是对事物做出反应，她的眼睛睁得大大的，空洞无物。甚至连我给她取的名字都是为了让我感到舒服，而不是那匹母马认为是一个名字的东西。
And she wasn’t alone. While the big pony things were the most common, there were also plenty more like her. Pale stallions and mares that stood in corners or were torn to pieces by the facility’s hungry occupants. They weren’t nearly as gaunt as Boo was, but they also didn’t seem to have her sense of survival. I watched in shock as one stallion simply trotted forward and was torn to pieces by a trio of satisfied nightstalkers. Boo’s mane was longer, her body thinner. I suspected that might mean she’d been around this place longer.
她不是一个人。虽然大马的东西是最常见的，也有很多像她。苍白的种马和母马站在角落里或被设施里饥饿的占用者撕成碎片。他们没有布那么憔悴，但他们似乎也没有她的生存意识。我震惊地看着一匹种马一路小跑向前，被三个满意的夜行者撕成了碎片。布的鬃毛更长，她的身体更瘦。我怀疑这可能意味着她在这个地方待的时间更长。
We’d come to a room that looked like some kind of zoo or something. Dozens of cages were stacked three high, and the open cages had been transformed into dens for the manticores. Right beside it was another room with large metal tables, hoists, and chains. Smashed equipment and droppings littered the floor, and Boo balked. I saw two manticores lounging within.
我们来到一个看起来像动物园之类的房间。几十个笼子堆在一起，有三个高，敞开的笼子已经变成了兽穴。紧挨着它的是另一个房间，里面有大金属桌子、升降机和铁链。摔坏的设备和粪便散落在地板上，Boo犹豫不决。我看见两个男人躺在里面。
“Who’s a good kitty for Mommy? Who is?” crooned a voice near the cages. I peeked forward and spotted Brass ruffling a third manticore’s mane. This one looked particularly large and nasty. “Did baby like his din-din? Huh? Did baby like his meaty weetie nubkins?” the mare asked before picking up a pale haunch and tearing off a hunk of meat. “About damn time that ass got the machines to crank out more than just one at a time. I swear, this whole damn place is falling apart.”
"谁是妈妈的乖宝宝？谁是?"在笼子附近低声吟唱。我向前瞥了一眼，发现布拉斯竖起了第三只狮尾狮的鬃毛。这一个看起来特别大，特别难看。"宝宝喜欢他的晚餐吗？什么？宝宝喜欢他那块肥肉吗?"母马问道，然后拿起一只淡色的腰肉，撕下一大块肉。"是时候让那些机器一次不只生产一台了。我发誓，这个该死的地方已经支离破碎了。"
Since Fury had gone boom, I needed some answers, but I didn’t want to fight Brass and three manticores at the same time. There was the problem of getting Boo to follow, though. She lay there, trembling behind me, and wouldn’t follow me away. A nasty little part of me coldly thought of leaving her; I needed to win. I couldn’t stay here till we were discovered. I couldn’t drag her kicking after me. But as I looked back at her, I took that thought and smashed it with a mental hammer till it retreated.
因为Fury已经爆发了，我需要一些答案，但我不想同时对抗Brass和三个manticores。尽管如此，还是有一个问题，那就是如何让Boo跟随。她躺在那儿，在我身后颤抖着，不肯跟我走。我心里有一个小小的阴暗面，冷冷地想着要离开她，我必须要赢。在我们被发现之前我不能呆在这里。我不能拖着她在后面踢我。但是当我回头看她的时候，我接受了这个想法，用心理上的锤子砸碎了它，直到它消失。
Softest heart in the Wasteland? Maybe, but I couldn’t do better by leaving her behind.
荒原上最柔软的心？也许吧，但我不能把她一个人留下来。
I shrugged off my saddlebags and emptied one out. I wondered how they managed to hold so dang much, but hardly had time to waste on that. I took a snack cake and broke it in two, placing it in the bottom of the empty bag. Then I gently slipped it over her face. Boo jerked back several times, but I hushed her and petted her mane. It felt strange treating a pony like an animal, but that was what I had to do to get her past this obstacle. Finally, I got the bag over her head, and she went still. She trembled, but didn’t struggle as I put her on my back and crept through the room.
我耸耸肩，从鞍囊里掏出一个来。我想知道他们怎么能够保存这么多，但是几乎没有时间浪费在这上面。我拿了一个点心蛋糕，把它掰成两半，放在空袋子的底部。然后我轻轻地把它滑过她的脸。布猛地回了几下，但我让她安静下来，抚摸她的鬃毛。像对待动物一样对待小马感觉很奇怪，但我必须这样做才能让她通过这个障碍。最后，我把袋子套在她的头上，她静静地走着。她颤抖着，但没有挣扎，因为我把她放在我的背上，蹑手蹑脚地穿过房间。
I froze as one of the beasts looked up at me. Then it closed its yellow eyes and gave a belch. I supposed that there was a downside to being well fed. I got clear of the room, moving down a much larger hall. I’d kill for a map! ‘You are here. Project Chimera here! Evil ghoul son of a mule here!’ How nice that would be!
当其中一头野兽抬头看着我的时候，我愣住了。然后它闭上黄色的眼睛，打了一个嗝。我认为吃得好也有不好的一面。我离开了房间，顺着一个大得多的大厅往下走。我真想要张地图！""你在这儿。我是奇美拉计划！邪恶的食尸鬼，骡子的儿子那该多好啊！
Boo started to wiggle, so I set her down and took the bag off her head. She blinked, sniffed, and rubbed some smeared cherry filling off her face with her hoof before snorting and looking around fearfully. She was almost like my second shadow. Up ahead came numerous screams and bellows, as well as the rattle of automatic weapons and the snap of a whip. “Get that batch into the tunnel! Move it! We need to get them cleared out or we’re not going anywhere!”
布开始扭动，所以我把她放下来，把包从她头上拿下来。她眨了眨眼睛，用鼻子闻了闻，然后用蹄子在脸上蹭了蹭樱桃馅，然后害怕地打着呼噜四处张望。她几乎是我的第二个影子。前面传来无数的尖叫声和吼叫声，还有自动武器的格格声和鞭子的啪啪声。"把那批货运进隧道！快走！我们必须把他们清理出去，否则我们哪儿也不去!"
I peeked into another large room split by two rail lines. One line was occupied by three more tanker cars like the ones I’d seen before, and the concrete docks were occupied by a dozen ponies wearing red barding and four griffins in power armor. They were herding four of the big fatties into the rail tunnel with whips and sparking metal poles, driving them towards the sounds of battle; there were a whole lot of smashed sentry robots in sight. I wondered why the ponies and griffins didn’t simply close the massive metal doors to the room. The place looked like it was under siege!
我瞥了一眼另一个被两条铁轨分开的大房间。其中一条线上还停着另外三辆油罐车，就像我以前见过的那些一样，水泥码头上停着十几匹小马，它们穿着红色的铠甲，四只狮鹫穿着动力装甲。他们用鞭子和闪闪发光的金属杆把四个大胖子赶到铁路隧道里，把他们赶向战斗的声音;眼前出现了一大群被砸坏的哨兵机器人。我想知道为什么小马和狮鹫不简单地关上通往房间的巨大的金属门。这地方看起来像是被围攻了！
On the far rail dock, a pipe on an arm extended over the rails. Bright rainbow sludge poured from the tube into the openings on top of the cars with diarrhea-like noises. Lovely. Other ponies, not white ‘blanks’ but ragged wastelanders wrapped in dirty clothes, handled the filling process. From their mottled hides and the knotty tumors popping from their bodies, I suspected that they’d been exposed to too much Flux as well. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see any way to get
在远处的铁路码头上，一根横杆上的管子延伸到铁轨上。明亮的彩虹污泥从管道倾泻到汽车顶部的开口处，发出腹泻般的噪音。真可爱。其他的小马，不是白色的空包马，而是用脏衣服包裹起来的破烂的废物，负责填充过程。从他们斑驳的皮肤和从他们的身体突然出现的多节瘤，我怀疑他们已经暴露在太多的弗拉科斯。不幸的是，我找不到任何办法
past them.
越过他们。
Hello? I spotted a flickering, ghostly Twilight and Goldenblood trotting towards a side door. Then a ghost door opened and... arrrggh! I was not smart enough to deal with this! Still, it was a better possibility than trying to storm across the rails and fight my way through a dozen guards and four power-armored griffins. I moved to the side with Boo at my heels and carefully tried the door. Locked. I fished out a bobby pin and carefully began to work the lock. P-21 could have done it without a second thought, but I was scraping and tapping and any second we’d be spotted.
喂？我发现一个忽隐忽现的幽灵似的暮光和金色血液朝一扇侧门跑去。然后一扇鬼门打开了...啊！我不够聪明来处理这件事！尽管如此，这还是比试图冲过铁轨，穿过十几个警卫和四个身穿强力装甲的狮鹫杀出一条路要好得多。我走到旁边，Boo紧跟在我后面，小心翼翼地试着开门。锁上了。我掏出一个发夹，小心翼翼地开始修锁。P-21完全可以不假思索地完成任务，但我一直在刮擦和敲打，我们随时都可能被发现。
Then a bullet smacked through the hazmat suit and into the barding over my flank, making me jump and grimace in pain. I spotted a griffin coming to do something presumably messy and quite probably deadly to me; the others were pointing and shouting over the noise the robot battle was making, and very soon they’d all be shooting as well. I pulled the pin out and twisted the lock with all the meager strength my horn allowed. The drum popped free and rotated, clicking open. Guess I still had a little luck left in me. I threw it wide and stepped into a stairwell going up... a stairwell dripping with Flux.
然后一颗子弹打穿了防护服，击中了我的侧腹，我痛苦地跳了起来，做了个鬼脸。我发现一只狮身鹰首兽正朝我走来，它可能会把我弄得一团糟，而且很可能会对我造成致命伤害。我拔出插销，用我号角所允许的微弱力量拧紧了锁。鼓弹出自由和旋转，点击打开。看来我还有点运气。我把它扔得远远的，然后走进了一个楼梯间，往上走......楼梯间滴着弗拉克斯的血。
There was no way I was going to leave Boo behind, so before she could balk and run, I scooped her up onto my back and carefully stepped into the slimy substance, closing the door behind me. Boo was no Scotch Tape. I had to focus, be strong, be enduring, and be awesome all at once. If I brushed the Flux-spattered walls; if I slipped and dropped her… I remembered the screaming room all too vividly. “Don’t wiggle… please don’t wiggle,” I groaned as I made my way up the steps. Skinny or not, she was fully grown, and she’d recently eaten a lot of snack cakes!
我不可能把阿布留在身后，所以在她还没来得及逃跑之前，我把她抱起来，小心翼翼地走进那粘糊糊的东西里，关上了身后的门。布不是透明胶带。我必须集中注意力，变得坚强，忍耐，同时变得令人敬畏。如果我刷过飞溅的墙壁，如果我滑倒摔倒了她......我就会清楚地记得那个尖叫的房间。"不要摆动......请不要摆动,"我呻吟着走上台阶。不管是不是瘦，她已经完全长大了，而且她最近吃了很多小吃蛋糕！
I made it up the first flight, reaching a barrel smeared in the faintly glowing goop. I felt the hazmat suit covering my belly brush against it as I carefully climbed over. One tear and I’d be back on the road to having screaming guts. I was halfway up the second flight when I froze just in time to avoid having a dollop of goop fall right in my face. I stared at the stringy streamer it left behind. Another drip. Down below me, the door opened. “Here pony pony,” grated a male griffin through a power armor helmet. No time. I waited for the next fat drop and scrambled up to the next landing.
我赶上了第一班飞机，够到了一个沾满微微发光的黏糊糊的桶。当我小心翼翼地爬过去的时候，我感觉到了覆盖在我腹部的防护服。只要一滴眼泪，我就会回到路上，开始尖叫。我在第二次飞行的半途中，为了避免一团黏糊糊的东西掉到我脸上，我僵住了。我凝视着它留下的纤细的飘带。再来一杯。在我下面，门开了。"这里是小马驹,"一个男性狮鹫通过一个动力盔甲头盔磨牙。没时间了。我等待着下一次降落，然后爬上了下一个着陆点。
“You’re one crazy meatwagon, coming in here,” he drawled, starting up behind
"你是一个疯狂的肉车，进来这里,"他慢吞吞地说，开始在后面
me.
我。
I started up the third flight, weaving my way around barrels that had tumbled down the stairs around me. “I am so going to eat your hindquarters first for making this annoying,” he grumbled. I reached the third landing just as he came around the corner behind me. I took one glance back and then shoved a barrel hard down the stairs at him. The rusty container flung rainbow Flux everywhere and burst like a blister when it struck him, coating his faceplate in goop. He fired wildly, blinded by the sludge as I disappeared around the corner.
我开始爬上第三层楼梯，绕过从楼梯上滚下来的木桶。"我真想先吃了你的后腿肉，因为它让你这么讨厌,"他嘟囔着。我到达第三个平台时，他正从我身后的拐角处走过来。我回头看了他一眼，然后用力把一只木桶推下楼梯朝他猛推。锈迹斑斑的容器把彩虹熔剂扔得到处都是，撞到他的时候像水泡一样破裂了，把他的面板涂上了一层黏糊糊的东西。当我消失在拐角处时，他疯狂地开枪，被淤泥遮住了眼睛。
“I don’t know how you’re not jelly yet, but I swear I am gonna smear you on a cracker!” he swore, now moving much quicker after me. Okay, that was a new one. His armor had to have some sort of protective covering for his wings; just my luck. Every barrel I could send rolling down to slow him went. Finally, I saw the top of the stairs and, past that, a Flux-free hallway. A half-full pallet of barrels was stacked there; I set Boo down in a clear area, then turned and shoved the remainder of the pallet down the stairs after him. A half-dozen drums smashed down into him, soaking him in rainbow goop. I needed something substantial, more than my pistol.
"我不知道你怎么还不是果冻，但我发誓我要把你涂在饼干上!"他发誓，现在跟在我后面快多了。好吧，这是个新问题。他的盔甲一定有某种能保护他的翅膀的东西，这是我的运气。每一桶我可以发送滚动下来，以拖延他去。最后，我看到了楼梯的顶部，经过那里，是一个没有通风口的走廊。一个半满的木桶堆在那里，我把布放在一个空旷的地方，然后转身把剩下的木桶推下楼梯，跟在他后面。六个桶砸向他，把他浸在彩虹色的浆糊里。我需要一些实实在在的东西，不仅仅是我的手枪。
Fortunately I had something more substantial.
幸运的是，我有更实质性的东西。
The griffin pushed the last barrel off his face in time to see me standing there, making like Lancer and pointing Taurus’s rifle down at him (well, not quite like Lancer; I was once again proving Rover right about thumbs). If I’d had S.A.T.S., I might have had a chance to kill him outright, but, even with armor piercing .308 rounds, I doubted I could finish him off before he brought his weapons to bear. And he probably knew it too... but I didn’t need to kill him.
狮身鹰首兽把最后一个枪管从他脸上推开，正好看到我站在那里，像兰瑟一样，用金牛座的步枪指着他(好吧，不完全像兰瑟;我又一次证明了罗孚的大拇指是正确的)。如果我有s.a.t.s，我可能有机会直接杀死他，但是，即使用.308口径的穿甲弹，我还是怀疑我能不能在他拿出武器之前干掉他。他可能也知道...但我没必要杀了他。
I just had to make a hole.
我只需要挖一个洞。
I fired as rapidly as possible, the bullets biting deep into his armor as he shoved his way clear of the barrels. I went through the entire magazine before he started shooting at me with a machinegun and I ducked back. “Cunt… whore… meatwagon…” he growled as he crawled up the stairs after me. The hallway behind me was a shooting gallery, a hundred feet at least without any cover at all. I ducked down as he struggled up the stairs, shoving a new magazine in and then making like a zebra again. As he stepped over the lip, I opened fire once more. It still wasn’t enough, and I was out of barrels.
我尽可能快地开枪，子弹深深地刺穿了他的盔甲，他推开了桶。在他开始用机关枪向我射击之前，我翻遍了整个弹夹，然后我躲开了。"婊子......妓女......肉车......"他跟着我爬上楼梯时咆哮着。我身后的走廊是一个射击场，至少有一百英尺没有任何掩体。他挣扎着爬上楼梯时，我弯下腰，把一本新杂志推了进去，然后又像只斑马一样挣扎着。当他跨过嘴唇时，我又开了一枪。但还是不够，我已经没有桶了。
“Die!” he gasped; was it just me, or did his armor look… tight? He leveled his machineguns at us.
"去死吧!"他倒抽了一口冷气，是我的错觉，还是他的盔甲看起来...很紧？他把机枪对准我们。
Well, I might have been out of barrels, but I still had a pallet. I knelt and kicked the heavy wooden platform at him with all my strength. Bullets started to shred it in midair, but it was still solid enough when it crashed into him to send him slipping and sliding down the stairs into the puddle of rainbow goop. Down below, he started to yell and then scream... and then suddenly there was a loud crunching noise and it all went silent. I stared down at armor that bulged at every seal. Red meat now oozed out the holes. I shuddered as I stepped back. Again, I really really hoped he was dead after that… and that he didn’t turn into something worse.
好吧，我可能已经没有桶了，但我还有一个托盘。我跪下来，用尽全身的力气踢着沉重的木制平台。子弹开始在半空中撕碎它，但是当它撞到他身上的时候，它仍然足够坚固，让他滑倒，滑下楼梯，掉进了彩虹色的水坑里。下面，他开始大叫，然后尖叫......然后突然传来一声巨大的嘎吱嘎吱的响声，一切都静了下来。我低头看着每一枚封印上凸起的盔甲。红肉现在从洞里渗出来了。我退后一步时打了个寒颤。再一次，我真的希望他在那之后就死了......他不会变得更糟。
I returned to the shaking Boo and, with some effort, magically wiped the sludge off my hooves using the dirty papers that littered the floor. I looked at my hooves critically. I’d hoped that the metal was resistant to the corrosive or magical influence of the Flux, but... was it just me, or did they look a little more blueish? I sighed and looked at my silent companion; what this place really needed was a balefire bomb or something.
我又回到颤抖的布身边，费了点劲，用地上乱扔的脏纸奇迹般地擦去了蹄子上的淤泥。我用批判的眼光看着我的蹄子。我希望这种金属能够抵抗Flux的腐蚀性或者魔力的影响，但是......是只有我这么想，还是它们看起来有点偏蓝？我叹了口气，看着我的沉默的同伴;这个地方真正需要的是一个火焰弹之类的东西。
She just stared back at me. And I’d thought P-21 was a lousy conversationalist…
她只是盯着我看。我还以为P-21是个糟糕的健谈者..。
We trotted along the hallway. Windows on one side looked down at the loading docks. There were more robots coming, sentries and something else: smaller, more spidery-looking robots that hopped, skittered, and jumped around the sentries. The power-armored griffins and the fatties they shoved into the line of fire were keeping them at bay for now.
我们沿着走廊小跑。一边的窗户向下看着卸货区。还有更多的机器人、哨兵和其他的东西:更小的、看起来像蜘蛛一样的机器人，它们跳跃着、掠过、绕过哨兵。身穿强力装甲的狮鹫和它们推进火线的胖子们暂时把它们挡在了外面。
It appeared that all of Sanguine’s shit had finally come back to bite him in the ass. Looked like I’d have some competition for taking my own chomp.
看起来Sanguine的所有事情最终都反咬了他一口。看起来我自己咬牙还有点竞争力。
“You!” yelled a voice beside me, and I turned to see a ghostly stallion pointing his hoof at me. Then I looked behind me at Goldenblood, the brothers, and Twilight Sparkle. It took me a moment to place the familiar stallion: Doctor Trueblood. “You’re not supposed to be here anymore! You’re not supposed to be anywhere near here!”
"你!"我身边有个声音喊道，我转过身来，看见一匹幽灵般的种马用蹄子指着我。然后我回头看了看Goldenblood，兄弟俩和紫悦。我花了好一会儿才找到那匹熟悉的种马:特鲁布拉德医生。"你不应该再待在这里了！你不应该出现在这附近!"
I stepped aside as Trueblood stomped towards the four. Goldenblood smiled thinly. “Hello, Trueblood. How’s the family?”
当特鲁布拉德跺着脚走向那四个人时，我站到一边。金色的血液淡淡地笑了笑。"你好，楚布拉德。家里人怎么样?"
Trueblood stormed right up to him, not seeming to notice Twilight standing right behind the brothers. “Princess Luna stripped you of your directorship, Goldenblood! This is a capital offense, you being here!”
特鲁布拉德冲向他，似乎没有注意到暮光之城就站在兄弟俩身后。"卢娜公主解除了你的董事职务，金血王子！你在这里，这是死罪!"
“Kids still feeling under the weather, then?” Goldenblood replied smoothly, and the doctor’s eyelid twitched in shock. “Well, that’s too bad. I know Sunflower will take care of things.” The complete lack of acknowledgement made the doctor’s eyes pop in rage.
"孩子们还觉得不舒服吗?"金色的血液平静地回答着，医生的眼皮因为惊吓而颤动起来。"哦，那太糟糕了。我知道向日葵会处理好一切的。"完全没有得到承认，这使医生的眼睛暴跳如雷。
Then Twilight stepped in front of Goldenblood, and the doctor’s jaw dropped. “He’s here with me. Assisting me with a little fact-finding mission, Trueblood.” The doctor sat down hard, his mouth working as he stammered.
然后暮色走到了Goldenblood前面，医生惊讶得下巴都掉了下来。"他和我在一起。帮我一个小小的调查任务，特鲁布拉德。"医生使劲坐了下来，结结巴巴地说着什么。
“But... But you can’t be here! Horse should be here if you’re… The director… I mean… you’re supposed to be in Tenpony right now! How can you be here?” He gaped at her, and Twilight frowned, her brows knitting together as she trotted towards him.
"但是......但是你不能在这里！马应该在这里如果你是...导演...我是说...你现在应该在Tenpony！你怎么会在这里?"他目瞪口呆地看着她，暮光皱起了眉头，她皱着眉头向他小跑过去。
“I am sick…” she thumped her hoof against his chest firmly, “and tired of being told where I am supposed to be and what I am supposed to do. I am tired of secrets! I am sick and tired of directors of the O.I.A. telling me what I should do!” She shot an angry look at Goldenblood. “Honestly, what is with your office? Your office is like… like… the office of sneaky shenanigans!”
"我病了......"她用蹄子狠狠地捶打着他的胸膛,"我厌倦了别人告诉我该去哪里，该做什么。我厌倦了秘密！我已经厌倦了o.i.a.的主管们告诉我应该做什么!"她愤怒地看了一眼Goldenblood。"说实话，你的办公室怎么了？你的办公室就像...就像...鬼鬼祟祟的恶作剧办公室!"
Goldenblood laughed, and that seemed to spook the twins and Trueblood even more. “It’s a very long story. Hopefully, someday you’ll hear it.” He shook his head with a smile as he looked at Trueblood. “Well, then. Care to accompany us, Trueblood? The Ministry Mare is curious about where Flux comes from. We’re showing her.”
金布拉德笑了，这似乎使双胞胎和特鲁布拉德更加害怕了。"说来话长。希望有一天你能听到。"他看着特鲁布拉德，微笑着摇了摇头。""那么，好吧。介意跟我们一起走吗，楚布拉德？魔法部很好奇弗拉科斯从哪里来。我们在向她展示。"
His mouth moved again. “I… I… I need to contact Horse. Excuse me.” He started to turn away.
他的嘴又动了一下。"我.....。.我。.我需要联系小马。对不起。"他开始转过身去。
“No,” Twilight said firmly. “I think I’d like you to come along too, Trueblood. It appears that when you brought Project Chimera to my attention, you failed to mention several key aspects of it. I’d like you here to explain anything you might have missed… without a director telling me what I should and shouldn’t know.” Trueblood just stared at her with a mortified expression. Goldenblood smiled and shook his head. She looked at him sharply. “What?”
"不,"暮光坚定地说。"我想我也希望你一起去，楚布拉德。看来，当你提请我注意Chimera计划时，你没有提到它的几个关键方面。我希望你在这里解释你可能错过的任何东西......而不是由导演告诉我应该知道什么，不应该知道什么。"楚布拉德只是带着羞愧的表情盯着她。金色血液微笑着摇了摇头。她用锐利的目光看着他。"什么?"
“Nothing. It’s just nice to see you like this again,” he murmured softly as together the five continued flickering down the hall. I couldn’t help myself; I trotted along behind them with Boo at my heels. Personally, I was just dying to find out more of Goldenblood’s secrets myself.
"没什么。再次看到你这样真是太好了,"他轻轻地喃喃地说，五个人在大厅里继续闪烁着。我情不自禁，小跑着跟在他们后面，Boo紧跟在我后面。就我个人而言，我非常想知道更多金血王的秘密。
The group disappeared and reappeared as we walked together. Three more times, Trueblood tried to excuse himself, and every time Twilight refused to let him scurry off. The windows looked down at another large room; this was full of dozens of pods similar to the ones that had held the foals in the Fluttershy clinic. Many of them had clearly been damaged or tampered with, and several held bones inside.
当我们一起走的时候，这群人消失了，又重新出现了。又有三次，特鲁布拉德试图为自己开脱，但每次暮光之城都不让他逃走。窗户朝下看着另一个大房间，里面装满了几十个类似于Fluttershy诊所里养小马驹的豆荚。它们中的许多显然已经被损坏或者篡改了，还有一些骨头被保存在里面。
Twilight looked down with obvious disgust. “What are those?”
暮色低下头，带着明显的厌恶。"那些是什么?"
“Hazardous biological samples,” Goldenblood explained. “Combinations where either the host was dangerous or the combination unstable. Some combinations… phoenixes, dragons, manticores… produced a pony hybrid that was too aggressive to field safely.”
"有害的生物样本,"Goldenblood解释说。"寄主危险或组合不稳定的组合。一些组合......凤凰、龙、马尾龙......产生了一种杂交小马，它们太具攻击性，无法安全上场。"
“We store other unique biological samples as well,” Trueblood muttered. “You never know when you might find them useful.”
"我们也储存其他独特的生物样本,"特鲁布拉德咕哝道。"你永远不知道什么时候你会发现它们有用。"
“You’d better not have any samples from me in there!” Twilight said in shock.
"你最好别在里面拿我的样品!"暮光震惊地说。
“Luna expressly forbade any biological samples from herself, Celestia, the Ministry Mares, or myself,” Goldenblood replied, looking over at Trueblood. “She was rightly concerned that some ponies might try some inappropriate meddling.”
"卢娜明确地禁止她自己、塞莱斯蒂亚、部长母马或者我的任何生物样本,"戈尔登布拉德回答，看着特鲁布拉德。"她有理由担心一些小马可能会尝试不适当的干涉。"
“I don’t like your implication,” Trueblood retorted.
"我不喜欢你的暗示,"特鲁布拉德反驳道。
“You weren’t supposed to,” Goldenblood said pointedly.
"你不应该这么做的,"金布拉德尖锐地说。
The next set of windows opened up to a room that resembled an abattoir, and I was so glad that I couldn’t smell the contents. There were four steel tables in a row with four machines hanging overhead that reminded me of Ol’ Hank’s limbs. One wall was covered with steel hatches, like dozens of refrigerators, and there were dirty white containers scattered everywhere.
接下来的一组窗户打开了，通向一个像是屠宰场的房间，我很高兴，因为我闻不到里面的东西。四张钢制的桌子排成一排，上面架着四台机器，让我想起了奥汉克的四肢。一面墙上覆盖着钢制的舱口，就像许多冰箱一样，到处都是肮脏的白色集装箱。
“This is our organ harvesting operation,” Goldenblood said smoothly. “It’s fairly
"这是我们的器官摘除行动,"金血王平静地说。"这是公平的
new, only been in operation a year or so. The system automatically removes any and all viable organs from any subject placed on the table. They’re then loaded into the stasis containers for delivery all across Equestria,” he said as he pointed down at the white boxes with a hoof.
新的，只运行了一年左右。该系统会自动从放在手术台上的任何病人身上移除任何有生命的器官。然后把它们装进停滞容器，运送到整个小马国。"他一边说，一边用蹄子指着那些白色的箱子。
“Organ… what?!” Twilight’s mane frizzed at once. “Does Fluttershy know about this?” she asked as she pointed down at the room.
"器官...什么?!"暮光的鬃毛立刻卷曲起来。"Fluttershy知道这件事吗?"她指着楼下的房间问道。
“In a general sense,” Trueblood muttered. “She understood the crippling need for ponies all across Equestria to have compatible organs. She might be somewhat ignorant as to the specifics. All she needs to know is that when a little colt or filly needs a heart transplant, her ministry can provide it. And if not, she can keep them alive till proper organs are arranged. She doesn’t need to know how it works.”
"一般来说,"特鲁布拉德喃喃自语。"她理解Equestria各地对小马的严重需求，以便它们有兼容的器官。她可能对细节有些不了解。她只需要知道，当一匹小马或小母马需要心脏移植时，她的部门可以提供。如果没有，她可以让他们活着，直到适当的器官被安排好。她不需要知道它是如何工作的。"
Twilight covered her mouth and shook her head before stepping back. “I can’t believe you would do this.”
暮色蒙住她的嘴，摇摇头，然后退了回去。"我不敢相信你会这么做。"
Flim coughed. “Well, there was quite a market incentive for it.”
弗利姆咳嗽了一声。"好吧，这是一个相当大的市场动机。"
Flam tapped his hooves together. “The Ministry of Peace has quite a lovely operating budget, and we thought it’d be a shame to be left out.”
弗拉姆用蹄子轻轻敲打着。"和平部有相当可观的运营预算，我们认为被排除在外是一种耻辱。"
Twilight looked at the pair. “You’re disgusting.”
暮光看着这对情侣。"你真恶心。"
“Oh?” Goldenblood arched a brow as he trotted in front of her. “Would you rather have ponies die when we have the magic and technology to save them? If so, make the command. We’ll shut that room down forever.” Twilight looked horrified, and he shook his head. “This is why we keep you and your friends in the dark. So that you don’t have to know these things.”
"哦?"金色血液挑起眉毛，小跑着走到她面前。"当我们有魔法和技术来拯救小马时，你宁愿让它们死去吗？如果是这样，发出命令。我们会永远关闭那个房间。"暮光看起来很害怕，他摇摇头。"这就是为什么我们把你和你的朋友蒙在鼓里。这样你就不必知道这些事情了。"
“I… I didn’t come here for this, Goldenblood!” Twilight stammered.
"我.....。.我来这儿不是为了这个，金色血统!"暮色结结巴巴地说。
“No, you came here for secrets,” Goldenblood retorted evenly. “And I am giving them to you, Twilight. Horrible, bloody, terrible secrets in all their raw glory.” He stared into her eyes. “If you can’t handle something as simple as this… if the knowing of a little secret is too much for you to bear… then stop now and go home.”
"不，你是为了秘密而来的。"金血王平静地反驳道。"我把它们给你，暮光。可怕的，血腥的，可怕的秘密在他们所有的原始的晨辉中。"他凝视着她的眼睛。"如果你不能处理这么简单的事情......如果知道一个小秘密让你难以承受......那么现在就停下来回家吧。"
That returned some iron to her, and she glared back at him. “I’m not giving up,
这回报了她一些铁，她怒视着他回来。"我不会放弃
Goldenblood. But...” Her eyes turned to the window.
金色血统。但是......"她的眼睛转向窗户。
“Then let us continue. It’s time you met Chimera as more than just notes on paper,” Goldenblood said quietly. I copied Twilight’s expression perfectly; this wasn’t going to be good.
"那么让我们继续吧。是时候让你认识奇美拉了，而不仅仅是纸上的笔记,"金布拉德平静地说。我完美地模仿了《暮光之城》的表情，这可不妙。
Why was Boo cowering like that? Oh crap...
为什么阿布那样畏缩？哦，该死..。
Brass swooped up and smashed through the glass, showering me with shards that I barely deflected with my upraised hooves. “There you are!” she shouted in glee as she pounced at me. “They said they spotted a pony with a black and red mane, but you wouldn’t believe how glad I am that I’m the one who found you!”
布拉斯猛扑过来，砸碎了玻璃，玻璃碎片溅得我满身都是，我抬起的蹄子几乎没有碰到碎片。"你在这儿啊!"她冲我扑过来，高兴地喊道。"他们说他们看到了一匹黑色和红色鬃毛的小马，但是你不会相信我有多高兴，因为是我发现了你!"
Somepony talked way too much. I brought the revolver up, but unlike Fury, Brass didn’t just let me blast her in the face. In a flash, the mare was on me, clawing and stomping and biting and stinging. Had any of my limbs been flesh and blood, they would have been torn away; as it was, the hazmat suit and Reaper barding beneath it still didn’t stop the stinger from plunging into my side. I instantly started to feel woozy as the venom began to work through my system.
有人说得太多了。我把左轮手枪举了起来，但不像弗瑞，布拉斯没有让我一枪打在她的脸上。在一瞬间，母马在我身上，抓，跺，咬，刺。如果我的四肢是血肉之躯，它们早就被撕裂了;事实上，身上穿着的防护服和死神仍然无法阻止毒刺刺入我的身体。当毒液开始侵入我的身体系统时，我立刻感到头晕。
“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to finish you!” She knocked the gun from my mouth, cackling. “I just wish you were the gray cunt. I’m looking forward to ramming that gatling beam gun right up he--”
"你不知道我有多想干掉你!"她咯咯地笑着，把枪从我嘴里打掉了。"我只希望你是那个灰色的婊子。我期待着用加特林机枪把他——"
I interrupted her by grabbing her neck and ramming my horn deep into her throat. The piercing headbutt made her choke and gag. I only wished that I had three magic bullets to follow it up with and S.A.T.S. to insta-cast them with. She jerked back, my horn coming out with a small burst of blood, trying to leap back out the window, but I couldn’t have her getting away and finding help or circling back around for another attack. No matter how sickly I felt with her poison in me, I couldn’t let her go. As she perched on the edge, I rolled forward and launched myself at her, wrapping my legs around her throat as we tumbled through the window together and down into a heap of garbage and old remains.
我抓住她的脖子，把我的角深深地插进她的喉咙，打断了她。刺耳的头部撞击使她窒息和呕吐。我只希望我能有三颗魔法子弹来跟进，然后用s.a.t.s来安装它们。她猛地回了回去，我的喇叭冒出一小股血，试图跳出窗外，但我不能让她逃走，寻求帮助，或者绕回来再次发作。不管我体内有多少她的毒素，我都不能让她离开。当她坐在悬崖边上的时候，我向前滚去，扑向她，双腿缠绕在她的喉咙上，我们一起从窗口跌落到一堆垃圾和残骸中。
I kept up the pressure on her throat as we landed; she choked as she thrashed against the ground. If I died now, would my legs keep choking until she went after me, I wondered. Except… simply killing her wouldn’t be winning. Finally, I had to shove her away as hard as I could and dig through my bags for a healing potion and some antivenom. As she fought for breath, I slugged down one and then the other. The healing potion wasn’t all that effective, but Glory’s antidote
我们着陆的时候，我一直按着她的喉咙;她摔在地上时噎住了。如果我现在死了，我的腿会不会一直哽住，直到她跟在我后面，我想。只不过...杀了她并不代表赢了。最后，我不得不用尽全力把她推开，从包里翻出药水和抗蛇毒血清。当她挣扎着喘气时，我一拳打倒了一个，然后又打倒了另一个。治疗药剂并不是那么有效，但是晨辉的解药
counteracted a lot of the woozy sensation immediately.
立刻抵消了很多眩晕的感觉。
I had all of six seconds before she was upon me. She was deadly in close combat, but she was too damn fast for me to keep out of close combat! Her tail made grappling a risky proposition, though it was becoming my best bet. Watching her closely while trying to dodge, I noticed her wounds weren’t regenerating. I could take her down if I could just get her down. High caliber shot would do it; but that would require a big rifle and a pony capable of using it. Explosives? I didn’t see anything that would otherwise go boom in here. Revolver was up there. No magic bullets…
在她扑向我之前，我只有六秒钟的时间。她在近身格斗中是致命的，但是她的速度太快了，我无法避免近身格斗！她的尾巴使我陷入了一个危险的境地，尽管它正成为我最好的赌注。仔细观察她，试图躲避，我注意到她的伤口没有再生。如果我能把她弄下来，我就能把她弄下来。大口径的子弹可以做到这一点，但这需要一把大步枪和一匹能够使用它的小马。爆炸物？我没看到任何东西会在这里爆炸。左轮手枪在上面。没有灵丹妙药..。
Shit.
该死。
“You’ve killed so damn many of my lovers and pets. I’m going to feed you to them, clone you, and feed you to them again,” she swore as her lips spread wide, showing her dozens of sharp and pointy teeth. How could it be that the undying pony who blows up was easier to kill than the idiot who screwed beasts? “Mmmm… the Blackjack diet. Somehow, that’ll make this all better.”
"你杀了那么多我的爱人和宠物。我要把你喂给它们，克隆你，然后再喂给它们,"她一边说着，一边张开嘴，露出几十颗尖利的牙齿。怎么会有一匹不死的小马被炸死比一个和野兽上床的白痴更容易被杀死呢？"嗯......黑杰克减肥法。不管怎样，这会让一切变得更好。"
“Be careful. I bet I taste like regret and failure,” I muttered as I looked around. “You know, I have to wonder just what has to break in a mare to fuck her up as much as you.” Think, Blackjack, think!
"小心点。我敢打赌，我尝起来就是后悔和失败的味道,"我环顾四周，喃喃自语道。"你知道，我不得不想知道有什么东西会闯进一匹母马，把她搞得跟你一样糟糕。"想想，黑杰克，想想！
“Ohhh… I could make up some sort of sob story for you, but the fact is that this is the way I am, and I like it. Now quit stalling and start dying!” she growled, baring her fangs.
"哦......我可以为你编造一些悲伤的故事，但事实是我就是这样的人，我喜欢这样。现在停止拖延，开始死亡吧!"她咆哮着，露出尖牙。
Oh well, thinking wasn’t my forté anyway. I had barely enough time to draw my sword before she was upon me. The silvery steel sang with a single deadly note that made me grin even as I felt a twinge inside at the sound. The wild swing was enough to make her draw up. I thought I was supposed to clench as hard as possible on the handle and swing as fast as I could, but as I held the slim weapon, I realized I had to relax my jaw. Increase the arc of my swing.
反正思考也不是我的强项。我还没来得及拔剑，她就向我扑来了。那银色的钢铁唱出一个致命的音符，让我咧嘴一笑，即使听到这个声音我内心感到一阵剧痛。那狂野的秋千足以使她停下来。我以为我应该尽可能用力握紧把手，尽可能快地挥杆，但当我握住这把纤细的武器时，我意识到我必须放松下巴。增加我挥杆的弧度。
The manticore hybrid leaned back and sprang forward with a snap, and I thought for sure I had her... but the bite stopped short. Instead of snapping her fangs at me, her tail thrust over my horizontal swing and tagged me hard in the side of my neck. The pointed shank withdrew with a spurt of blood that made me sway; I really hoped that there was enough antivenom still in me to counteract the poison. I reversed my swing, but she jerked her tail back.
这只杂种狮蝎尾兽向后一靠，啪的一声向前跳了起来，我以为我抓住她了......但是这一咬很快就停止了。她的尾巴没有咬我，而是从我的水平秋千上猛地伸过来，狠狠地扎在我的脖子上。尖尖的小腿抽出一股血，使我摇晃起来;我真希望我体内还有足够的抗蛇毒血清来中和毒素。我倒转了我的秋千，但她猛地把尾巴甩了回去。
I made a lunge to try and spear her face but she ducked low, launched forward, and dragged her claws along my exposed throat. I nicked her ear in my counterattack, but again she was too fast for me to do anything substantial. If I’d been flesh and blood, I’d probably be bleeding out right about now. Only my body’s automatic regeneration had slowed the bleeding from my neck. I suspected that if I had my PipBuck, the health monitoring system would be informing me that I was all kinds of fucked up in the head and torso regions.
我猛冲过去想刺穿她的脸，但她低下身子，向前飞去，用爪子在我裸露的喉咙上划来划去。我在反击的时候划破了她的耳朵，但是她还是太快了，我做不了任何实质性的工作。如果我是有血有肉的人，我现在可能已经失血过多了。只有我的身体自动再生减缓了我脖子上的出血。我怀疑如果我有PipBuck，健康监测系统会告诉我，我的头部和躯干部位有各种各样的问题。
She seemed quite happy to slowly rip me to pieces bit by bit, though, and my regeneration certainly wouldn’t be enough to recover from that. And from the distant sounds of yelling coming from beyond one of the room’s doorways, I suspected that soon I was going to be quite thoroughly screwed… oh, great, why’d I have to think of that?!
不过，她似乎很乐意慢慢地把我一点一点地撕成碎片，而我的再生肯定不足以从中恢复过来。从远处房间门口传来的叫喊声中，我怀疑自己很快就要彻底完蛋了......哦，太好了，我为什么要想到这个！
Suddenly, there was a click and the whirr of fans. The lights overhead flickered and came on, and the vents began to blast cold air and rattle loudly. The mechanical limbs suspended above one of the tables jerked to life and started to swing and whirl and beep. Most importantly, the doors leading towards the shouts hissed closed and locked. I looked at Brass, but she was looking around in bafflement. Finally, I shrugged and tried several sudden slashes, barely jumping away from a bite that probably would have finished me.
突然，传来一声咔嗒声和风扇的呼呼声。头顶上的灯忽明忽暗地闪烁着，通风口开始喷出冷空气，大声地嘎嘎作响。悬挂在其中一张桌子上方的机械手臂突然活了过来，开始摆动、旋转和哔哔作响。最重要的是，通向那些喊叫声的门关上了，锁上了。我看着布拉斯，但她困惑地四处张望。最后，我耸了耸肩，试了几下突然的劈叉，几乎没有从可能会结束我生命的咬痕中跳开。
The manticore pony snarled as she circled to my side, but I moved back, keeping the table with its flailing arms between us as I struggled to use my brain. I wasn’t going to be able to outfight her at this rate. She’d have killed me by now if I hadn’t been augmented. If I attacked first, chances were she was going to dodge and nail me with her stinger. I needed to make her attack first if I wanted a chance at hitting her. ...How to do that, though?
狮身蝎尾马在我旁边咆哮着，但我后退了几步，在我努力用脑子思考的时候，它挥舞着双臂把桌子挡在我们之间。照这样下去，我是打不过她的。如果我没有被强化，她现在已经杀了我了。如果我先发制人，她很有可能会躲开我，用她的刺钉住我。如果我想有机会打她的话，我得先让她发作。怎么做到呢？
Well… when in a fight to the death with a monsterpony about to tear you to pieces… I raised my forehooves in the shape of a T, then rested the blade on the edge of the table as she gaped in amazement that I would do something so… foolish. I kept the handle inches from my mouth as I smiled at her. “Listen, Brass, before you kill me and eat me and stuff… there’s one thing I just got to know: did you do this whole manticore transformation thing because you couldn’t find any of your own species to fuck?”
好吧......当我和一匹要把你撕成碎片的怪马搏斗到死的时候......我把前蹄举成t字形，然后把刀片放在桌子边上，她惊讶地张大了嘴，我竟然会做出这么......愚蠢的事情。当我对她微笑的时候，我把把手放在离嘴几英寸的地方。"听着，布拉斯，在你杀了我然后吃掉我之前......有一件事我必须知道:你是不是因为找不到自己的同类去做爱，才变成狮蝎怪的?"
That did it. With a manticore’s roar she lunged, all bestial rage and fury. She pounced forward as I took the sword and swung, the blade humming in the air as
就是这样。伴随着狮蝎怪的咆哮，她猛扑过去，充满了兽性的愤怒和狂怒。我拿起剑，挥舞着，剑刃在空中嗡嗡作响
it connected with her leading foreleg and cleaved the limb off completely. She flapped her wings to keep from falling flat on her face, and I feinted with a cut to her head... wait, when had I learned to feint? Sure enough, she pulled her snarling maw back and stabbed with her venomous tail. The sword reversed and sliced the bulbous tip away. She screamed, taking to the air as her stumps dribbled blood.
它连接着她的前腿，把她的四肢完全切断。她拍打着翅膀以免摔到脸上，我用一道伤口假装看到了她的头......等等，我什么时候学会假装的？果不其然，她把咆哮的胃往后拉，然后用有毒的尾巴刺它。那把剑倒过来，把球根状的尖端切掉了。她尖叫着，残肢上滴着血。
She let out a pained roar as she flew out of range, a roar that was echoed from above. Three manticores flew into the room through the broken window and immediately spread out as Brass found a perch and licked her wounds to slow the bleeding. The monsters began to circle me. Okay, sword, what am I supposed to do now? I gave ground, using the tables to try and keep myself in front of them. I might have pulled it off with two manticores, but with three I was going to get penned in.
当她飞出射程时，她发出了一声痛苦的吼叫，这是从上面传来的回声。布拉斯找到了一个栖息的地方，舔舐着伤口，以减缓流血的速度。那些怪物开始围着我转。好吧，剑，我现在该怎么办？我让步了，用桌子试着让自己保持在他们前面。我可能用两个manticores就可以搞定，但是用三个我就要被关起来了。
Not good.
情况不妙。
“Death Filly!” screamed Rampage as she dropped from an overhead vent and onto the back of the nearest beast. She might not have had much weight, but she didn’t need it with all four power hooves discharging simultaneously. The manticore gave a furious roar as it immediately tried to shake the Reaper off its back, but Rampage bit down and tangled her left hoof in its mane, and then proceeded to smash her right hoof against the back of its head.
"死亡小母马!"当她从头顶的通风口掉到最近的野兽背上时，她尖叫着横冲直撞。她可能没有太多的重量，但她不需要它与所有四个动力蹄同时放电。狮子怒吼了一声，它马上试图把收割者从它的背上摇下来，但是狂暴咬了下来，把它的左蹄缠在鬃毛里，然后用右蹄撞它的后脑勺。
I grinned. Now if only there were two more of her…
我咧嘴一笑。要是再有两个她就好了。
Then I heard a dull thump over the whirr of the machinery and backpedaled fast as Persuasion’s grenade blasted the other two manticores, though the big one was so tough it didn’t seem too deterred. “About time we found you,” P-21 shouted from the hole in the observation window as he cracked open the launcher with his hooves, then pulled out the spent shell, spat it aside, and smoothly loaded a fresh grenade from his bags.
然后我听到机器的呼呼声中传来一阵沉闷的重击声，随着说服的手榴弹炸毁了另外两枚人体炸弹，我迅速后退，尽管这枚大手榴弹非常坚固，似乎并没有被吓住。"我们终于找到你们了,"P-21从观察窗的洞里喊道，他用蹄子敲开了发射器，然后掏出废弹壳，把它扔到一边，顺利地从袋子里装上了一枚新的手榴弹。
The larger manticore stayed with me as the smaller soared across the room towards him. Biting the grenade launcher in his teeth, he fired it almost straight up at the ceiling! The projectile ponged off a metal strut, bounced off a vent, dropped down right behind the smaller beast, and exploded. That finished pulping the manticore, sending it crashing into a heap. He looked right at me and actually smirked! When had he learned that badass smirk? Maybe it was the hat.
较大的蝎尾狮一直陪伴着我，而较小的蝎尾狮则穿过房间向它飞来。他咬着榴弹发射器的牙齿，几乎直接朝天花板开了一枪！子弹滑落在一个金属支柱上，从通风口弹了出来，落在那个小家伙身后，然后爆炸了。制浆完毕的蝎尾狮，把它撞成一堆。他直直地看着我，真的假笑起来！他什么时候学会了坏蛋的傻笑？也许是因为那顶帽子。
The remaining manticore spared me such difficult contemplations by nearly biting my muzzle off! I managed to lift a forehoof and let him mangle that in his jaws instead of my face. It might have been metal, but it still hurt. Rather how I imagined it would feel to shove my hoof into an electric blender. I jerked to the side to stop the descending tail spike from finishing me in one stab, then swung the blade in a slash that cut across the side of the manticore’s face, taking an eye. The creature removed its fangs from my mangled metal limb, backing off warily; I really hoped that my cyberlegs could recover from this degree of damage!
剩下的狮蝎怪差点把我的嘴咬下来，使我免于陷入如此困难的沉思！我设法抬起一只前蹄，让他用下颚而不是我的脸来碾碎它。它可能是金属的，但还是很疼。而是我想象中把我的蹄子塞进电动搅拌机的感觉。我猛地向一侧扭动身体，以防止尾部的尖刺在一次刺杀中结束我的生命，然后挥动刀片在蝎尾狮的脸上划了一道斜线，刺中了一只眼睛。那个生物小心翼翼地从我损坏的金属肢体上移开了它的毒牙;我真的希望我的赛博腿能从这种程度的伤害中恢复过来！
From the side, Rampage’s power hoof made rhythmic flashes as she smashed it against the monster’s head. Finally the beast’s skull could take it no longer, shattering with a meaty crunch. The corpse collapsed on its face, and Rampage crawled off with a clear wobble. Pale foam dripped from her mouth. “Hey, Blackjack? Got any more of that antidote stuff?”
从侧面看，狂暴的力量蹄子有节奏地向怪物的头部猛击。最后，这头野兽的头骨再也承受不住了，随着肉的嘎吱声粉碎了。尸体脸朝下倒在地上，狂暴带着明显的摇晃爬了出去。苍白的泡沫从她的嘴里滴下来。"嘿，黑杰克？还有解毒剂吗?"
P-21 scrambled down towards her, and I grinned. As soon as Rampage was back on her hooves, the three of us could tear this creature down and then finish off Brass. And Brass knew it too.
P-21爬下来朝她走去，我咧嘴一笑。只要狂暴回到她的蹄子上，我们三个就可以把这个生物撕下来，然后干掉布拉斯。布拉斯也知道这一点。
She let out a roar, and the huge manticore immediately turned to attack my friends. Rampage had barely downed the antivenom from P-21 when that heavy tail swung into her body with a meaty crack. She flew across the room, smashing into the wall, and lay there limply. Alone, P-21 slung Persuasion and began to back away, tossing out mines as fast as he could push the buttons. The huge beast set one off and jerked back in pain. Its long, low growl wiped any trace of a smirk off the blue stallion’s face.
她发出一声吼叫，巨大的蝎尾狮立刻转身攻击我的朋友们。狂暴刚刚喝下P-21的抗蛇毒血清，那条笨重的尾巴就随着一道肉肉的裂缝进入了她的身体。她飞快地穿过房间，撞在墙上，软绵绵地躺在那里。一个人，P-21挂起劝说，开始后退，以最快的速度扔出地雷。那个巨大的野兽发射了一枚导弹，痛苦地抽搐了一下。它长长的低吼声抹去了蓝色种马脸上任何一丝得意的笑容。
I moved to go to his aid when Brass launched herself from her perch and slammed into me as a hissing, clawing missile. As P-21 and the huge manticore circled one another, she threw herself on me. The sword pierced through the shoulder of her severed limb, emerging out the far side before her thrashing body tore the weapon from my mouth. Her jaws closed on my throat, grating on something in my… skin? Something else the professor hadn’t told me about, I guessed. At least it stopped her from ripping out my neck and taking the vital plumbing to my brain with it. Instinctively, I swung our bodies as hard as I could, throwing us both off balance and onto the metal table behind us.
当布拉斯从栖木上跳下来，像一枚嘶嘶作响的飞弹一样扑向我的时候，我跑过去帮助他。当P-21和巨大的蝎尾狮彼此环绕时，她扑向我。剑刺穿了她被切断的肢体的肩膀，从远处出现，然后她猛烈的身体从我的嘴里撕下了武器。她的下颚紧咬着我的喉咙，摩挲着我...皮肤上的什么东西？我猜，还有些事教授没有告诉我。至少这样她就不会扯断我的脖子，也不会把重要的管道带进我的大脑。出于本能，我使出浑身解数，把我们俩甩到身后的金属桌上。
The machine overhead whirled, pincers snapping and saws whirring as we wrestled. I couldn’t get a breath through my crushed throat. She screamed into
当我们摔跤时，头顶上的机器旋转着，钳子折断了，锯子也旋转着。我的喉咙被压得喘不过气来。她尖叫着
my neck as the machine opened up her flank with a scalpel, her thrashing tail knocking the metallic limb aside. A mechanical claw gripped my head, saw blade trying to cut around my eye socket as I jerked and thrashed. This was not how I wanted to fight! I glanced down into her furious, blazing eye. An eye that swore evisceration for me and then P-21, then all-you-can-eat buffet status for Rampage. I’d killed her pets and her lovers, and that frenzied glare promised to do the same to me and mine.
当机器用手术刀切开她的侧腹时，我的脖子，她扑腾的尾巴把金属肢体撞到一边。一只机械爪子抓住了我的头，当我猛然抽搐时，锯片试图划破我的眼窝。这不是我想要的战斗方式！我低头看了一眼她那怒火中烧的眼睛。一只眼睛为我发誓挖出内脏，然后是P-21，然后是狂暴的自助餐。我杀了她的宠物和她的情人，那疯狂的目光承诺要对我和我的爱人做同样的事。
So I extended my fingers, grabbed the side of her head, and shoved my metallic thumb into her eye socket till I felt it grind against the bottom. She disengaged her jaws enough for an agonized roar, thrashing wildly as I pushed and shoved her away. I grabbed the edge of the metal table, pulling as hard as I could.
于是我伸出我的手指，抓住她头部的一侧，把我的金属拇指塞进她的眼窝里，直到我感觉到它在底部摩擦。她张开嘴巴，发出一声痛苦的吼叫，我把她推开，她猛烈地抽打着。我抓住金属桌子的边缘，用尽全力拉。
Bloody strips were torn from my ears and cheek as I pulled myself out of the machine’s grip and flopped on to the filthy floor. My throat was a ruin, my face was coated in blood, which I’d lost far more of than could be healthy, implants or no, and I wasn’t sure if I was breathing through my mouth or through the hole left by her fangs.
当我从机器的手中挣脱出来，扑通一声倒在肮脏的地板上时，我的耳朵和脸颊上都沾满了血迹。我的喉咙一片废墟，我的脸上布满了血，我失去的血远远超过了健康的程度，不管是不是植入的，我不确定我是通过我的嘴呼吸还是通过她的尖牙留下的洞呼吸。
And, looking back at Brass, I realized that I’d gotten lucky. The mechanical pincers seized her thrashing limbs and flopped her on to her back. She screamed in terror, and had I been able to move, to stop what I knew was coming, I would have. As it was, I was too battered to even look away as her limbs were pulled taut. A sickle on the end of a thin beam swung down and stroked from crotch to throat almost like a lover’s caress. It hesitated for a moment at her chest, but then hummed and vibrated as it tore through her sternum.
回头看看布拉斯，我意识到我已经很幸运了。机械钳子抓住她颤动的四肢，把她猛地推倒在背上。她惊恐地尖叫起来，如果我能够移动，阻止我知道即将发生的事情，我一定会的。事实上，当她的四肢被拉紧的时候，我已经被压得无法移开视线。一根细梁的末端，挂着一把镰刀，从胯部划到喉咙，仿佛是情人的爱抚。它在她的胸前犹豫了一会儿，但是随着它穿过她的胸骨，嗡嗡作响，振动起来。
I looked away then, but nothing spared me from the sound of the bone cracking or the scream she let out as the metal hands opened her wide.
我把目光移开了，但是当金属手打开她的身体时，骨头断裂的声音和她发出的尖叫声丝毫没有影响到我。
The huge manticore forgot all about P-21 at that point and roared, flying over the table with such incredible ferocity that the harvesting machine was torn from the ceiling in a shower of sparks, the bloody mechanical claws releasing as the limbs and equipment were scrapped. Stumbling to my hooves, I looked at the mess that was left of Brass and pulled the sword out of her. She stared at me, and I did all I could not to look at her failing organs. This was way beyond a healing potion or ten. This was more than even Hydra could heal.
巨大的蝎尾狮当时忘记了P-21的一切，咆哮着飞过桌子，其凶猛程度令人难以置信，以至于收割机在一阵火花中从天花板上被扯下来，血淋淋的机械爪随着肢体和设备的报废而释放出来。我跌跌撞撞地走过去，看着布拉斯留下的烂摊子，把剑从她身上拔了出来。她盯着我，我竭尽全力不去看她衰竭的器官。这远远超过了一剂或十剂治疗药水。这是连九头蛇都无法治愈的。
“Sanguine… can fix… please… don’t wanna die…” she whimpered at me and swallowed hard. “I’m sorry I’ve been a bad pony,” she gasped as she shook on
"乐观......可以治好......求你了......不要死......"她向我呜咽着，艰难地咽了口唾沫。"对不起，我一直是一个坏小马,"她喘着气，她握手
the table.
桌子。
I couldn’t say a word, given my throat was still slowly knitting back together. At least I could breathe... kinda. The huge manticore returned, and I backed away as it gave a low snarl. Rampage was back on her hooves, but she still looked like half the bones in her body were in the process of healing. The immense beast scooped up Brass in his paws with incredible care, cradling her in his forelegs as he gave a soft chirring sound and nudged her with his broad leonine nose.
我一句话也说不出来，因为我的喉咙还在慢慢地编织着。至少我还能呼吸。巨大的蝎尾狮回来了，我向后退去，它低低地咆哮着。狂暴又回到了她的蹄子上，但是她看起来仍然像她身体里一半的骨头正在愈合。巨大的野兽小心翼翼地把布拉斯抱在爪子里，前腿托着她，发出轻柔的唧唧声，用狮子般的大鼻子轻轻推了她一下。
She lifted her remaining forelimb and stroked his uninjured cheek. “You big baby…” she rasped as the manticore started to lick her wounded face and mane. She licked back once, then finally closed her eye and went still.
她抬起剩下的前肢，抚摸着他未受伤的脸颊。"你这个大婴儿......"当蝎尾狮开始舔她受伤的脸和鬃毛时，她粗声粗气地说。她舔了一下回去，最后闭上眼睛静静地走了。
“Let’s go, Blackjack,” P-21 said as he heaved my bloody body across his back and struggled to carry me up the heap of debris to the shattered observation window. The lights began to turn off, and the clicking machines stilled. Boo shook as she followed, keeping her distance from all of us; I couldn’t blame her, with me in this state.
"走吧，黑杰克,"P-21一边说着，一边把我血淋淋的身体扛过他的背，挣扎着把我从废墟中抬到破碎的观察窗前。灯光开始熄灭，滴答声停止了。布一边跟着我，一边颤抖着，与我们所有人保持着距离;我不能责怪她，因为我处于这种状态。
We were well down the hall when the huge manticore let out a long and mournful cry I wouldn’t ever forget.
我们正在走廊尽头，这时巨大的蝎尾狮发出了一声长长的悲伤的叫声，我永远也忘不了。
* * *
* * *
We found a large office where I could collapse and munch down on some Sugar Apple Bombs and three cans of Cram, along with a box of paperclips that had been left long ago on the desk. “So, we circled around like you said to go down to that sealed door. We got inside, but then we ran into turrets and those huge white ponies--” P-21 began before I waved my hooves to interrupt him. Boo was in a corner munching down on some more snack cakes and making a mess of herself.
我们找到了一个大办公室，在那里我可以倒下来，大口大口地吃一些糖苹果炸弹和三罐Cram，还有一盒很久以前放在桌子上的回形针。"所以，我们就像你说的那样，绕着圈子走到那扇密封的门前。我们进去了，然后我们跑进了角楼和那些巨大的白色小马——"在我挥动我的蹄子打断他之前，P-21已经开始了。布在角落里大口地吃着点心蛋糕，把自己弄得一团糟。
“Wait wait wait. I told you what?” I frowned, pink crumbly meaty… stuff… stuck to my lips. I didn’t remember any of that! I frowned, chewing the can thoughtfully as I looked at the pair.
"等等，等等，等等。我告诉过你什么?"我皱了皱眉，肉松松的粉红色的东西...粘在我的嘴唇上。我什么都不记得了！我皱起眉头，若有所思地咀嚼着罐头，看着这一对。
“Remember? We called down for five or six minutes; the elevator was only ten or twenty feet down before it jammed. You finally said you were all right and that we should go through the door and meet you down here. Warned us to watch out for the turrets too,” P-21 said, sharing a look with Rampage; that ‘Is she
""还记得吗？我们向下呼叫了五六分钟;电梯在卡住前只下降了二十英尺。你终于说你没事了，我们应该穿过那扇门，在这里等你。警告我们也要小心炮塔,"P-21说，同时也看了看狂暴,"是她吗?"
going crazy, or does she just not remember?’ look.
疯了，还是她只是不记得了看。
“Well, the first thing I remember after falling was hanging under the wreck. If there hadn’t been a robot in the elevator shaft, I would have been goop at the bottom.” I shook my head, trying to recall anything between the explosion and waking up. “You’re sure it was me? And I told you to watch out for turrets?”
"嗯，摔倒后我记得的第一件事就是吊在残骸下面。如果电梯井里没有机器人的话，我可能已经在底部黏糊糊的了。"我摇摇头，试图回忆起爆炸和醒来之间的任何事情。"你确定是我吗？我告诉过你要小心炮塔吗?"
Rampage nodded as she looked up at me. “Yeah. I thought you were just telling us to be careful, but we came to this one hall and there were like… four popup turrets. If Blue over here hadn’t been on his hooves with a grenade ready, I think I would have been dusted and he would have been toast.”
当她抬头看着我时，狂暴点了点头。"是的。我以为你只是告诉我们要小心，但我们来到一个大厅，那里有像......四个弹出式塔楼。如果布鲁没有用蹄子准备好手榴弹，我想我可能已经灰飞烟灭了，他可能已经被烤熟了。"
P-21 frowned at her but looked back at me. “It wasn’t like we were just trotting along, but yeah, your warning had my eyes open for the turret casings in the floor. Anyway, soon as we started running into those huge things, we tried sneaking into the vents to move around.”
P-21对她皱起眉头，但回头看了看我。"我们并不是一路小跑，但是，是的，你的警告让我注意到了地板上的炮塔外壳。不管怎样，当我们开始撞上那些巨大的东西时，我们试着偷偷溜进通风口四处走动。"
“Yeah, they’re always doing that in the books,” Rampage said with a grin that faded as she considered. “Though it was a little bit tight, and there were nightstalkers. And there was the whole ‘getting lost’ thing.” I winced as my mangled metal hoof began to ping and pop, the repair talisman’s pink glow slowly pulling it back together. Cram with rubies; the perfect choice of regenerative snack for cyberponies. Who knew? Once I was ‘digesting’ the can and some stones, I lay back and let my body mend itself.
"是的，他们总是在书里这么做,"兰帕德笑着说，她想了想，笑容渐渐消失了。"虽然有点紧，还有一些夜行者。还有'迷路'的事情。"当我那损坏的金属蹄子开始砰砰作响时，我皱起了眉头，修复用的护身符的粉红色光芒慢慢地把它拉回到一起。塞满红宝石，赛博小马再生零食的完美选择。谁知道呢？一旦我消化了罐子和一些石头，我躺下来，让我的身体自我修复。
I was ready to take a break for an hour or two, but then again I had no idea how much time we had. My eyes scanned over the old photos scattered on the desk. A smiling mare and two colts beamed out of the grainy black and white photographs. There were a few pictures that had been clearly damaged; any with a stallion had been cut to omit his face.
我准备休息一两个小时，但又不知道我们还有多少时间。我的眼睛扫视着散落在桌上的旧照片。一匹面带微笑的母马和两匹小马从黑白照片中露出笑容。有几张照片明显地被损坏了;任何一张带有种马的照片都被削去了脸部。
I took a little more interest in the office and noticed the terminal. For once, P-21 wasn’t all over it with his mad arcane science skills! Yet. After much harassment, he got up and started to hack into it. There was something here. Something! I just knew it. After several attempts, he finally got in. I was right; there was a whole ton of medical and scientific gibberish I couldn’t begin to understand. Finally, though, I found something I could: the message box.
我对办公室更感兴趣了，注意到了终端。这一次，P-21没有用他疯狂的神秘科学技能完成任务！然而。经过多次骚扰之后，他站起来开始黑进去。这里有东西。什么东西！我就知道。经过几次尝试，他终于被录取了。我是对的，里面有一大堆医学和科学上的胡言乱语，我根本无法理解。不过，最终我还是找到了我能找到的东西:消息框。
O.I.A. Internal Message #345-01-92> Look, I know you can’t access any of the systems with them on lockdown, but you can keep extracting Flux from the
O.i.a.内部信息#345-01-92听着，我知道你在锁定状态下无法访问任何系统，但你可以继续从系统中提取通量
source. Right now, your job is to find any dirt on Goldenblood you can, particularly related to ‘Project Redoubt’ and ‘Project Horizons’. I swear, we’re finding more skeletons than I ever imagined possible. We’ve got to keep the Ministry Mares from knowing the truth. If they found out… well, just keep your eyes open. I wish that Trottenheimer and Silver Stripe were cooperating, but that halfbreed is dragging her hooves and I haven’t been even been able to find out where Trottenheimer was transferred! Horse.
来源。现在，你的工作是找到任何关于金色血统的污点，特别是关于"堡垒计划"和"地平线计划"。我发誓，我们发现的骷髅比我想象的还要多。我们必须阻止魔法部的Mares知道真相。如果他们发现了...那就睁大你的眼睛。我希望Trottenheimer和SilverStripe能够合作，但是那个混血儿拖着她的蹄子，我甚至还没有找到Trottenheimer被转移到了哪里！马。
O.I.A. Internal Message #349-01-92> I understand your concerns about Twilight Sparkle’s pursuit of the Impelled Metamorphosis Potion. Please understand that it is not in Equestria’s best interests for her to succeed. In this, I am in agreement with that bastard. Do not attempt to contact Princess Luna directly about this potion. You won’t like where it lands you. Just make like Flim and Flam and send her the usual garbage. Oh, and remind them who’s buttering their bread now. I’ll cut them off from the Flux if they forget again. Horse.
O.i.a.内部信息#349-01-92我理解你对紫悦追求刺激变形药水的担忧。请理解，她的成功不符合Equestria的最大利益。在这一点上，我同意那个混蛋的看法。不要试图直接联系卢娜公主关于这个药水。你不会喜欢它降临在你身上的地方。就像Flim和Flam一样，给她送一般的垃圾。提醒他们现在是谁在给面包涂黄油。如果他们再忘记，我就把他们从通量星切断。马。
O.I.A. Internal Message: Forwarded #351-20-01> Honey, please come home again soon. I know you’re under a lot of stress with things happening at work. I know that you can’t tell me what you’re doing, but remember that I love you. We love you. I hope you make it back in time for the Gala. I know some time off will do wonders for my very special pony.
O.i.a.内部信息:转发#351-20-01亲爱的，请尽快回家。我知道工作上发生的事让你压力很大。我知道你不能告诉我你在做什么，但请记住我爱你。我们爱你。我希望你能及时赶回来参加晚会。我知道休息一段时间会对我那匹特别的小马产生奇妙的效果。
Huh… nothing shattering. Still, it made me wonder about the cut up photographs. Jealous coworker? Guilty spouse? I turned to get P-21 and Rampage’s opinions, but then I spotted him tossing an empty Med-X syringe into the trash and frowned. “Did you get hurt?” Rampage glanced at him, and immediately her smile sickened.
没什么大不了的。尽管如此，这还是让我对那些被剪掉的照片产生了疑问。嫉妒的同事？有罪的配偶？我转过身去听P-21和狂暴的意见，但随后我发现他把一个空的Med-X注射器扔进垃圾桶，皱起了眉头。"你受伤了吗?"狂暴瞥了他一眼，立刻露出恶心的微笑。
“Haven’t we all?” he replied without meeting my eyes.
"我们不都是吗?"他没有看到我的眼睛就回答了。
I frowned as I looked at him. I’d gotten hurt. In fact, I could have done with a shot of the painkiller myself, if I didn’t know my body was repairing the damage. But despite all that fighting, I didn’t recall him getting scratched. “Uh, no. Actually. No. I don’t think you got hit since we entered the woods.”
我看着他，皱起了眉头。我受伤了。事实上，如果我不知道我的身体正在修复损伤，我本可以自己打一针止痛药。但是尽管打了那么多架，我不记得他被抓伤过。"呃，没有。事实上。没有。我想自从我们进入树林以后，你就没中过枪。"
“Well then, my leg hurts, alright?” He scowled, leaning back with a sigh. “I’m just worn out. I hate this place. With everything that’s happened, I just need it to keep me steady.” He closed his shadowed eyes a moment and then looked at me; I didn’t think I’d ever seen him looking so... tired.
"那么，我的腿疼，好吗?"他皱着眉头，向后靠着，叹了口气。"我只是累坏了。我讨厌这地方。发生了这么多事，我只是需要它让我保持稳定。"他闭上朦胧的眼睛一会儿，然后看着我;我想我从来没有见过他看起来这么...疲惫。
“Okay. Just… take it easy on that stuff, okay?” I said with a small frown. He didn’t answer as he lowered his eyes on his leg. I looked over at Rampage, but she simply shrugged.
"好吧。只是......少喝点那东西，好吗?"我皱着眉头说。他垂下眼睛看着自己的腿，没有回答。我看了看狂暴，但她只是耸了耸肩。
“So… what’s her story?” the filly asked as she pointed at Boo sitting nervously in the corner. I’d been so coated with blood that she hadn’t come any closer to me; I was a little worried that she might try and run off.
"那么......她有什么故事?"小母马一边问，一边紧张地指着坐在角落里的布。我浑身是血，她没有走近我;我有点担心她可能会试图逃跑。
“I don’t know. I’ve seen at least a dozen; all earth ponies, same color, eyes and everything. The only ones that are different are the big, aggressive ones. Otherwise, the only difference is gender.” I gave a little shrug and looked at Boo again. “I think she’s been around longer than the rest. She was hungrier than the others and knew to hide to stay safe.”
"我不知道。我至少见过一打，所有的土地上的小马，一样的颜色，一样的眼睛，什么都有。唯一与众不同的就是那些大块头的，咄咄逼人的。否则，唯一的区别就是性别。"我耸了耸肩，又看了看布。"我认为她比其他人活得更久。她比其他人更加饥饿，知道要躲起来以保证安全。"
“Yeah, but the others? We saw two just stand there when some of Red Eye’s ponies were playing target practice. They didn’t get what guns were, didn’t try and fight them off or anything. They just stood there, and when one died, the other just looked at her. It’s like they’re animals or something,” Rampage said with a frown. “Stupid animals at that.”
""是的，但是其他人呢？我们看到两只红眼的小马正在练习射击，它们就站在那里。他们不知道什么是枪，也没有试图击退他们。他们只是站在那里，一个死了，另一个只是看着她。他们就像动物一样,"兰皮皱着眉头说。"那是愚蠢的动物。"
I sighed and shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.” I looked out the door; this place was hazardous and a whole lot bigger than I anticipated. “The only question… okay, the big question is: where’s Sanguine?”
我叹了口气，耸了耸肩。"你的猜测和我的一样准。"我向门外望去，这个地方很危险，比我预想的要大得多。"唯一的问题......好吧，最大的问题是:桑吉在哪里?"
Rampage replied, “One of Red Eye’s ponies said they were dicking around with Chimera. Apparently, they got back and are trying to get EC-1101 to work while they finish loading something.“ That would be the tanker cars, I suspected. “They say this place is too damned dangerous.”
狂暴回答说:"红眼的一匹小马说他们在和奇美拉鬼混。显然，他们回来了，并试图让EC-1101的工作，而他们完成装载东西。"我怀疑那是油罐车。"他们说这个地方太危险了。"
“They’re under attack.” By something; the thing in the Core? I sighed and rubbed my nose. Then I remembered something else. “Have you two been seeing ghosts too?” Predictably, both of them looked at me like I was crazy. I sighed, waving my mangled limb, wincing as the repair magic pulled and pushed and remolded the leg back into its original form. It felt like the whole thing was made of wax. “Okay, okay. Not ghosts, but images? Transparent things that are there one moment and then gone the next?”
"他们受到了攻击。"被什么东西，核心里的东西？我叹了口气，揉了揉鼻子。然后我想起了另外一件事。"你们两个也看见鬼了吗?"可以预见的是，他们两个都看着我，好像我疯了一样。我叹了口气，挥动着我损坏的肢体，在修复魔法的作用下缩回原来的形状。感觉整个东西都是用蜡做的。"好吧，好吧。不是鬼魂，而是图像？透明的东西，前一刻还在，下一刻就消失了?"
“You’re our expert on seeing things that aren’t there,” P-21 said with a sigh. “What is it this time?”
"你是我们看到不存在事物的专家,"P-21叹了口气说。"这次又是什么事?"
“Twilight Sparkle, Goldenblood, Sanguine, and the two brothers. When she came here to find out about how Flux was made; apparently it was a big stink. Goldenblood first told her to go, but something changed his mind. Then they were touring this place.” I rubbed the back of my neck with my good foreleg. “Then I got tackled by Brass, so I dunno if they said anything after that.”
紫悦、金血、三古尼和兄弟二人。当她来到这里想知道弗拉科斯是如何产生的时候，很明显，这是一个很大的臭味。金布拉德第一个叫她走，但是有些事改变了他的主意。然后他们在这个地方巡回演出。"我用我健康的前腿摩擦我的脖子后面。"然后我被布拉斯拦截了，所以我不知道他们在那之后说了什么。"
P-21 looked at me for several seconds before he finally shrugged. I looked at Rampage, but the striped filly just deadpanned, “Don’t look at me. I got as much clue about stuff like that as she does!” She gestured over at the oblivious Boo.
P-21看了我几秒钟，最后耸了耸肩。我看了看狂暴，但那条纹小母马面无表情地说:"别看我。我对这类事情的了解和她一样多!"她指了指没有注意到的布。
I sighed, rubbing my head. “I’d just be glad if I had a map.”
我叹了口气，揉着头。"如果我有张地图，我会很高兴的。"
“Oh, we found one,” Rampage said as she looked at P-21. Okay, Blackjack. Don’t facehoof. I looked at him, but he simply gave me a flat stare in return. Ugh, what was wrong with him? He dug into his bag after several seconds of me staring and pulled out a folded piece of paper. I focused on it, then finally got it levitated and unfolded.
"哦，我们找到了一个,"朗格看着P-21说。好吧黑杰克。不要面朝前。我看着他，但他只是平淡地看了我一眼作为回报。他到底怎么了？我盯着他看了几秒钟之后，他把手伸进包里，掏出一张折叠好的纸。我把注意力集中在它上面，最后把它悬浮起来，展开。
“Hey, not bad!” Rampage said with a confident smile.
"嘿，还不错!"狂暴带着自信的微笑说。
“I figure I’ll be able to use a gun again in a year or ten,” I replied dryly, trying not to flush at the compliment. I could count the number of times somepony had complimented me on my magic on zero hooves.
"我估计一年或十年后我还能用枪,"我干巴巴地回答，尽量不冲脸。我可以数清有多少次有人称赞我的魔术没有蹄子。
“Yeah. I figure you’ll have that whole magic thing licked in no time. Dunno if it’s worth it, though. Seems overrated. All those prancy unicorns with their magic and wine and cheese. And don’t you have to sparkle and shimmer?” she asked with a snort.
"是的。我想你很快就能搞定这件神奇的事。不知道这是否值得。似乎被高估了。所有那些神奇的独角兽，还有美酒和奶酪。你不需要闪闪发光吗?"她哼了一声问道。
“It’s a steep price, I won’t lie,” I said as I scanned the page and the crude drawing, then glanced at P-21. He wasn’t having any of it. I shook my head and looked back down at the page.
"这是一个很高的价格，我不会撒谎,"我一边说，一边浏览着这页纸和粗糙的图纸，然后瞥了一眼P-21。他什么都没得到。我摇摇头，低头看着那一页。
‘I know you keep getting lost down here, but don’t let security catch you with this’ was mouth-scrawled at the top of the page on the back of a some sort of spreadsheet. There were six circles on a ring around a larger central circle. The circle at the top was marked ‘Security / Barracks’. The upper left and lower left circles were ‘Storage / Pens’ and ‘Distribution / Receiving’ respectively. The bottom circle was marked ‘Organs / Live Storage / Refrigeration’, the lower right circle was ‘Fusion’ and the upper right ‘Copyroom’. In the middle was
"我知道你一直在这里迷路，但是不要让保安抓住你的把柄。"在某种电子表格的顶部潦草地写着。一个环上有六个圆，围绕着一个更大的中心圆。顶部的圆圈标记为"警卫/兵营"。左上方和左下方的圆圈分别是"贮存/笔"和"分发/接收"。底部的圆圈标记为"器官/活体储存/冷藏"，右下角的圆圈标记为"Fusion"，右上角的圆圈标记为"Copyroom"。中间是
‘Production’.
生产。
There were halls connecting to the center, but the note was finished with a warning. ‘No matter how late you are, never try to cut through production. Those security ponies do not accept ‘I’m late’ as an excuse. If you absolutely have to cut through, you can follow the elevated pipes to get from the copyroom to distribution, but you’ll have to shell out at least fifty bits at each end. And remember the golden rule: never go down below into production. It’s practically all red tunnel down there.’
有几个大厅与中间相连，但是这张便条最后只是一个警告。无论你迟到多久，都不要试图减少生产。那些保安不会接受"我迟到了"作为借口。如果你一定要抄近路，你可以沿着高架管道从复印室到分发室，但是你必须在每一端支付至少五十比特。记住一条黄金法则:永远不要在下面投入生产。下面几乎全是红色隧道
I didn’t see anything marked ‘Chimera’ or ‘Control’, so I had so assume it was either in the middle or somewhere down below. I suspected it would be in the most secure area of the facility. Still, something about the layout made my eyes linger. I frowned; why did it look... familiar? Then it hit me: it looked almost exactly like the symbol used by the O.I.A. Somehow, I didn’t believe that could be a coincidence.
我没有看到任何标有'Chimera'或'Control'的东西，所以我只能假设它要么在中间，要么在下面的某个地方。我怀疑它会在最安全的地方。尽管如此，布局上的一些东西还是让我的眼睛流连忘返。我皱了皱眉头，为什么看起来这么眼熟？然后我突然想到:这个符号看起来几乎和o.i.a.使用的符号一模一样。不知怎么的，我不相信这是个巧合。
“So... we can just go straight to production?” I asked with a frown, looking at Rampage.
"那么......我们可以直接投入生产吗?"我皱着眉头问道，眼睛盯着暴怒。
P-21 sighed and muttered, “Blackjack, when has it ever been as simple as ‘go straight there’?” Of course... silly me.
P-21叹了口气，喃喃自语道:"黑杰克，什么时候玩过'直接去那儿'这么简单的游戏?"当然...我真傻。
“There’re big doors that are closed up tight. Heck, even the vents are barred,” Rampage said with a frown. “We’ll have to find another way around.”
"有些大门紧紧地关闭着。见鬼，连通风口都封死了。"。"我们必须另辟蹊径。"
I looked at the map, then tapped the circle marked ‘Copyroom’. If there was a way to get to production undetected from there...
我看了看地图，然后点击了标有"复印室"的圆圈。如果有办法在不被发现的情况下进入生产..。
“So we just continue around past fusion to here, and look for pipes,” I said, smiling at the others. Rampage nodded, but P-21 just stared off into space. I trotted up next to him. “Hey, you with me?”
"所以我们只是继续绕过核聚变到这里，寻找管道,"我笑着对其他人说。狂暴点点头，但是P-21只是盯着太空。我小跑着走到他旁边。"嘿，你跟我一起吗?"
“Yeah. Just tired,” he muttered, closing his eyes. “Can’t stop thinking about Priest. How he died. Right there, just like that.”
"是的。只是累了,"他闭上眼睛喃喃自语道。"不能停止想念牧师。他是怎么死的。就在那儿，就像这样。"
Rampage frowned. “No offense, but aren’t you taking this just a little bit hard? You knew him… what… two days? Not exactly a long time.” He glared sharply at the striped filly, but she didn’t balk. “Don’t get me wrong. He was a good pony, but it wasn’t like you two were making adorable sweaty stallion lovin’,
狂暴皱起了眉头。"无意冒犯，但你不觉得这有点难吗？你认识他...多久...两天？也不是很久。"他狠狠地瞪了那匹有条纹的小母马一眼，但她并没有退缩。"不要误会我。他是匹不错的小马但你俩又不是在做可爱的汗流浃背的种马爱
right?”
对吧?"
“I don’t have to justify my feelings to you, Rampage!” he snapped. “I liked him!”
"我不需要向你解释我的感受，狂暴!"他崩溃了。"我喜欢他!"
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. So did everypony else. He was the nicest damned pony in the Wasteland. Really. I think he had an allergy to being mean or something,” Rampage said as she trotted towards him, looking evenly into his eyes. “But it’s takes a lot more to make a relationship than a few days of cuddling. You have more of a relationship with Blackjack than you did with Priest.”
她翻了翻白眼。"是的。其他小马也是如此。他是荒原上最好的小马。真的。我想他是对刻薄之类的东西过敏,"朗格一边说，一边朝他小跑过去，平静地看着他的眼睛。"但是，建立一段感情需要的不仅仅是几天的拥抱。你和Blackjack的关系比和Priest的关系还要亲密。"
“Rampage, that’s enough!” I snapped, then looked at the miserable-looking blue stallion.
"暴怒，够了!"我厉声说道，然后看了看那匹看起来惨不忍睹的蓝色种马。
He sighed and shook his head. “I just hope that when we kill Sanguine... some of these things I’m feeling die too. I’m so sick of this place.” I sighed too, looking at Rampage. The filly just snorted softly and turned away, muttering about him needing to lose an extremity before being allowed to be sick of Hoofington.
他叹了口气，摇了摇头。"我只是希望，当我们杀死桑吉尼时......我感觉到的一些东西也会死去。我讨厌这个地方。"我也叹了口气，看着暴怒。小母马只是轻轻地哼了一声，转身走开了，咕哝着说，在他被允许厌倦Hoofington之前，他需要失去一只手臂。
I forced a smile, nudging his shoulder. “Come on, P-21. Let’s get this done so we can go catch up to Glory and Scotch. Then you can tell her everything she needs to hear.”
我勉强笑了笑，轻轻地推了推他的肩膀。"来吧，P-21。让我们完成这件事，这样我们就能赶上晨辉和苏格兰威士忌了。然后你就可以告诉她她想知道的一切。"
He didn’t open his eyes. “What if she’s dead, Blackjack? I waited so damned long… what if she’s gone?” He hissed sharply and smacked the floor beside him, gritting his teeth and thumping the back of his head against the wall.
他没有睁开眼睛。"要是她死了怎么办，黑杰克？我等了这么久......如果她走了怎么办?"他发出嘶嘶声，狠狠地拍打着身边的地板，咬紧牙关，用后脑勺狠狠地敲打着墙壁。
“Then you tell her anyway.” I was the Equestrian grand champion of kicking myself. I knew the signs, but I’d never have expected them in my stoic blue friend. “But no matter what, we’ve got to get through this first. All that stuff comes later.” I nudged his shoulder. “We’ll be there when you do, either way.”
"那你还是告诉她吧。"我是踢自己的马术总冠军。我知道这些迹象，但我从来没有想到它们会出现在我坚忍的蓝色朋友身上。"但无论如何，我们必须先度过这个难关。所有这些东西都是后来才有的。"我轻推了一下他的肩膀。"不管怎样，我们都会支持你。"
He relaxed a little, nodding. It’s not all about me; I had to remember that. I had to. P-21 had his problems too, problems he bore silently and with dignity. I smiled at him and spread my forelegs wide. “Hug?”
他轻松了一下，点了点头。这不全是关于我的，我必须记住这一点。我必须这么做。P-21也有他自己的问题，他默默地、有尊严地忍受着这些问题。我向他微笑，张开前腿。"拥抱?"
He looked at me, then sighed and pulled himself to his hooves with a groan. “Let’s get going.”
他看着我，然后叹了口气，发出一声呻吟。"我们走吧。"
I blinked at him as he stepped back out of the office, my legs still spread wide. Then I slumped. “What’s the matter with him?” I said after a minute. “Did I do something, or…” Not all about you, Blackjack. Remember?
当他走出办公室时，我眨了眨眼睛，我的双腿仍然张开着。然后我就倒下了。"他怎么了?"过了一会儿，我说。"我做了什么吗，还是......"不全是关于你的，黑杰克。还记得吗？
“It’s probably just me… but he’s using an awful lot of Med-X,” Rampage said quietly.
"可能只有我......但他使用了大量的Med-X,"狂暴平静地说。
“So?” I asked as I looked back at the filly. She facehoofed.
"那又怎样?"我回头看着小母马，问道。她脸朝下摔倒了。
“Hello, Blackjack, weren’t you ever taught about drug addiction?” she asked in a sarcastic tone.
"你好，黑杰克，你没有学过毒瘾吗?"她用讽刺的口气问道。
“Sure. We watched a movie about a pony hoarding stable supplies because she, like, needed healing potions or something. But P-21 isn’t anything like her. I mean, she had sores and huge hollows under her eyes and I think there was some foaming at the mouth. Like, she was crazy without them.” I frowned at her incredulous look and added, defensively, “I know that Scalpel mentioned something about chem damage over time way back when.”
"当然。我们看了一部关于小马囤积稳定物资的电影，因为她需要治疗药水之类的东西。但是P-21一点都不像她。我的意思是，她的眼睛下面长满了疮和巨大的凹陷，而且我觉得她的嘴里还有一些白沫。没有他们，她简直是疯了。"我皱起眉头，看着她那难以置信的表情，防御性地补充道,"我知道手术刀在很久以前提到过化学损伤。"
Rampage looked at me in shock. “Okay… wow. You really should know this… everypony should. A lot of chems like Med-X, Mint-als, even booze… they all carry the risk of dependency. You get hooked on a chem, and pretty soon your body doesn’t know how to function when off it.”
狂暴震惊地看着我。"好吧......哇。你真的应该知道...每个人都应该知道。很多像Med-X，Mint-als，甚至是酒......他们都有依赖的风险。你迷上了一种化学药品，很快你的身体就不知道停药后该如何运作了。"
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve seen addicts. Remember Flank? He’s not an addict,” I said as I looked at the closed door. It seemed so stupid. He didn’t have that gaunt look or anything. Look at what he’d done with the grenade in that last fight! Could an addict do that?
我翻了翻白眼。"我见过瘾君子。还记得弗兰克吗？他不是瘾君子,"我看着紧闭的门说。这看起来很愚蠢。他没有那种憔悴的表情或者别的什么。看看他在上一次战斗中用手榴弹干了什么！一个瘾君子能做到吗？
“Not all addictions are grossly physical, Blackjack. There’re all kinds of mental side effects to a lot of drugs!”
"不是所有的瘾都是肉体上的，Blackjack。很多药物都有各种各样的精神副作用!"
“Yeah, and then you pop a Fixer and everything is okay... well, except for the damage,” I countered with a small frown. “Glory kinda explained this when she was going on about chems being bad. Sure Fixer’s like temporary and stuff, but all we’ve got to do is get him some. I’ll keep an eye out.”
"是的，然后你打开一个修理工，一切都好了......嗯，除了损坏,"我皱着眉头反驳道。"晨辉在谈论药品不好的时候，似乎解释了这一点。当然，修理工只是暂时的，但我们要做的就是给他找一些。我会留意的。"
“Blackjack, if P-21 is hooked, he’s going to need a lot more than just Fixer. Doctors can take care of the physical conditions. If he’s using it because of something in his head--” But I whirled on her at that.
"黑杰克，如果P-21上钩了，他需要的就不仅仅是修理工了。医生可以照顾身体状况。如果他是因为脑子里有什么东西在使用它的话——"但是我转过身对着她说。
“There is nothing wrong with his head. Okay? He’s not an addict. If he says he needs it, then he needs it. And who are you to talk, Rampage? You eat Mint-als like they’re candy! You loaded yourself up with ‘everything’ back in Flank, remember?”
"他的头没有什么问题。好吗？他不是瘾君子。如果他说他需要，那么他就需要。你有什么资格说话，暴怒？你吃薄荷糖就像吃糖一样！你在弗兰克后面装了'所有的东西'，记得吗?"
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah! And if I wasn’t eternally regenerating, I’d have died long ago,” she snorted, pointing a hoof at me. “And don’t you deflect this onto me, Blackjack. This is about his problem.”
她翻了翻白眼。"是的！如果我不能永生，我早就死了,"她哼了一声，用一只蹄子指着我。"别把话题转移到我身上，黑杰克。这是关于他的问题。"
“You’re sounding like Glory,” I muttered, and I didn’t like it because Glory was usually right. I always thought the whole ‘chems are bad for you’ line to just be her thing. Chems had saved my life more than once and saved her eyes in the sand dog tunnels. I remembered those hollow-eyed, slat-sided wretches outside Flank, and P-21 wasn’t like that. Those were addicts. He wasn’t like that, so he couldn’t be an addict.
"你听起来像晨辉,"我喃喃自语，我不喜欢这样，因为晨辉通常是对的。我一直认为整个'化妆品对你有害'的系列只是她的事情。Chems不止一次救了我的命，还在沙狗隧道里救了她的眼睛。我想起了弗兰克外面那些眼睛凹陷、面目狰狞的可怜人，而P-21不是那样的人。那些都是瘾君子。他不是那样的人，所以他不可能是个瘾君子。
Back in 99, nopony had problems with chems because they were strictly controlled out of medical. Anypony stealing chems for whatever reason could be flogged for possession or use. Even possession of an empty syringe could be construed as guilt. I admitted, since coming out of 99 I’d had brushes with chems, particularly the effects of too much Buck and Hydra. There’d even been times I’d felt like I absolutely had to have them to win and overcome. But they were a tool. I never took them just to take them.
回到99年，没有小马出现过药品问题，因为它们被严格控制在医疗范围之外。无论出于什么原因，任意小马偷药品都会因为占有或使用而受到鞭笞。即使是拥有一个空的注射器也可以被认为是有罪的。我承认，自从从99号公路出来以后，我就经常接触药物，特别是太多的巴克和九头蛇的影响。有时候我甚至觉得我必须要赢得他们，克服他们。但它们只是一种工具。我从来不是为了吃药才吃的。
Of course, Hydra had effectively rotted my heart with all the taint that had contaminated me... I met Rampage’s hard glare and said firmly, “He’s not an addict, okay? He’s just not. We’ll get him talking with Scotch and work out his problems and you’ll see.” I didn’t know how I could convince her… I wasn’t precisely sure if I was convincing myself.
当然，九头蛇已经有效地腐蚀了我的心脏与所有污染我...我遇到狂暴的严厉的目光和坚定地说,"他不是一个瘾君子，好吗？他就是不行。我们会让他和苏格兰人谈谈，解决他的问题，等着瞧吧。"我不知道怎样才能说服她......我不确定自己是否说服了自己。
* * *
* * *
We picked our way through the next area, ‘Fusion’, with few problems. Aside from the occasional white pony just standing around and one or two of the huge fatties, there wasn’t anypony about. There were a lot more ghosts, though; I saw Twilight Sparkle and Goldenblood as flickering images, but the moment I moved they faded away. Other times, if I walked just right, they’d linger and persist. Occasionally, I heard distant words and other strange noises.
我们选择了通过下一个领域的方式，融合，几乎没有问题。除了偶尔有白色的小马站在周围和一两个巨大的胖子，周围没有任何小马。不过还是有更多的鬼魂，我看到紫悦和金色血像闪烁的影像，但是我一移动它们就消失了。其他时候，如果我走得恰到好处，他们就会逗留并坚持下去。偶尔，我听到遥远的话语和其他奇怪的声音。
More than once, P-21 and Rampage assured me that they couldn’t perceive any
不止一次，P-21和狂暴向我保证他们不能察觉到任何东西
signs of the ghosts… if that was what they were. I couldn’t explain it; at times like this, I really wished Lacunae was around. If she didn’t know outright, perhaps the Goddess did.
鬼魂的迹象...如果那是鬼魂的话。我无法解释，在这样的时刻，我真的希望空隙就在身边。如果她不知道的话，也许女神知道。
I spotted the fusion megaspell chamber but felt no desire to explore inside. I still had creepy memories of a cockatrice fusing with me.
我发现了融合巨大的房间，但没有欲望去探索里面。我仍然记得一只鸡鸡和我融合在一起的恐怖记忆。
The closer we got to the Copyroom, the more white ponies there were, as well as the occasional fatty. The three of us took one down, though P-21 blasted a grenade a little too close to me for my comfort. Still, I could take it, and we killed the creature without too much hassle. Beneath the straps lashed to the thing were three Rage injectors and a sensor module. I assumed that this might account for the aggression their smaller and less mutated cousins didn’t display.
我们离影印室越近，那里白色的小马就越多，偶尔还会有肥马。我们三个人干掉了一个，尽管P-21轰炸机的手榴弹离我有点太近，让我很不舒服。尽管如此，我还是可以拿下它，我们毫不费力地杀死了那个生物。在绑在东西上的带子下面是三个怒气注射器和一个传感器模块。我认为这可能解释了为什么它们那些变异较少的小表兄弟没有表现出攻击性。
Finally we reached the ‘Copyroom’. Like the fusion megaspell chamber, it was a large round room, but it held a strange piece of equipment that resembled a large tree of metal, the golden bark spattered with old blood and filth. Fat white nodules hung from the branches like swollen fruit. The rest of the room was decorated like a forest, as if the architect had tried to ease the creepiness. It really hadn’t worked. Large pipes dropped down from catwalks over the metal tree in the center of the room, and a whole herd of ghostly white earth ponies stood quietly in clumps. There were more than a few dead bodies, too, and pits full of Flux. I imagined the blanks being shoved into them until they mutated into the hulking fatties.
最后我们到达了"影印室"。就像巨大的熔合室一样，这是一个巨大的圆形房间，里面放着一件奇怪的设备，看起来像一棵巨大的金属树，金色的树皮上溅满了古老的血迹和污秽。脂肪白色的结节挂在枝头，像膨胀的果实。房间的其余部分装饰得像一片森林，仿佛建筑师试图缓解这种令人毛骨悚然的气氛。这真的没有奏效。从房间中央的金属树上的过道上，大管子掉了下来，一群幽灵般的白色土地小马静静地一丛丛地站着。那里也有不少尸体，还有满是弗拉科斯的坑。我想象着那些空包弹被塞进他们身体里，直到他们变成了一个个笨重的胖子。
“What is that?” Twilight asked at my side, and I jumped in shock, looking at the ghostly mare’s floating head. Slowly, I moved till she came fully into view. Goldenblood appeared as well; Trueblood and the twins had departed.
"那是什么?"暮色在我身边问道，我吓得跳了起来，看着幽灵般漂浮的母马的脑袋。慢慢地，我移动着，直到她完全进入我的视线。金色的血液也出现了，特鲁布拉德和双胞胎已经离开了。
“This? Come now, Twilight. You read about everything Project Chimera developed. Or did you only pay attention to the fusion aspect?”
""这个？来吧，暮光之城。你阅读了所有关于奇美拉计划开发的东西。还是你只关注融合方面?"
“Don’t lecture me, Goldenblood,” she said irritably, her ears folding back. “What is this?”
"别对我说教，金色血统,"她烦躁地说，两只耳朵向后耷拉着。"这是什么?"
“This is one of the many heads of Chimera,” he replied as he gestured to the machine. “The biomagical replication system. We simply call it the copy machine. Mix a biological sample with the Flux, and it can produce a perfect biological copy of that pony. A clone, if you will.”
"这是奇美拉的众多头颅之一,"他一边回答，一边向机器打手势。"生物复制系统。我们简单地称之为复印机。把生物样本和磁通混合，就能制造出一个完美的小马的生物复制品。一个克隆人，如果你愿意这么说的话。"
“A clone?” Twilight Sparkle murmured, her eyes widening. “But… I thought Chimera was all about fusing ponies with other beings!”
"克隆人?"紫悦嘟囔着，眼睛睁得大大的。"但是......我以为奇美拉只是把小马和其他生物融合在一起!"
He looked almost disappointed. “Chimera’s goal was to prevent ponies from coming to harm. That was my promise to Fluttershy: to make certain nopony was hurt as badly as I hurt her,” he said with a firm frown before turning back to the machine. “Strengthening ponies was simply the beginning. How could we stop there? The organ extraction and preservation technology was used to save thousands of ponies all across Equestria. But we needed a source for those organs. And that source is this machine.”
他看上去几乎有些失望。"奇美拉的目标是防止小马受到伤害。这就是我对小蝴蝶的承诺:确保小马不会像我伤害她那么严重,"他皱着眉头坚定地说，然后转向机器。"强壮的小马只是个开始。我们怎么能就此打住呢？这种器官提取和保存技术被用于拯救遍布Equestria的数千匹小马。但是我们需要这些器官的来源。而这个源头就是这台机器。"
I stared at the machine. Sanguine had said he could replace my failing body’s organs, but by using this? “You’re butchering ponies for… for body parts?” Twilight said, aghast. “Does Fluttershy know about this? Does Luna?” she added a moment later.
我盯着机器。桑吉尼说他可以替换我衰竭的身体器官，但是用这个呢？"你为了...为了身体部位而屠杀小马?"暮色惊骇地说。"Fluttershy知道这件事吗？卢娜知道吗?"过了一会儿她又加了一句。
“Perhaps… but that depends,” he said as he walked to a terminal. I started to walk too, but it made them all fade out again. In the time it took to move back to where I was, I missed whatever he did. There was a hissing noise, followed by a pop. A ghostly white pony stallion appeared, standing before Twilight. “Is this a pony?”
"也许吧......但那要看情况,"他一边走向航站楼一边说。我也开始走路了，但是这让他们又都消失了。在我回到原来的地方的那段时间里，我错过了他所做的一切。有嘶嘶的声音，接着是砰的一声。一匹幽灵般的白色种马出现了，站在暮光之城的前面。"这是匹小马吗?"
“What is that?” Twilight murmured in faint curiosity. “Who is he?”
"那是什么?"微弱的好奇心使暮色低语起来。"他是谁?"
“This is what we call a blank. Normally I’d show you a complete copy, but with Chimera sealed, all we can do is produce blanks by cycling the systems,” Goldenblood said as he circled around the white pony. “Every single organ and body part found in the pony body, all the components perfectly assembled. No less… and nothing more than that.”
"这就是我们所说的空白。通常我会给你看一份完整的副本，但是由于奇美拉是密封的，我们所能做的就是通过循环系统生产空白,"Goldenblood说着绕着那匹白色小马转了一圈。"在小马身上发现的每一个器官和身体部位，所有的组成部分都完美地组合在一起。没有更少......没有更多。"
“Nothing more? You mean… there’s no mind?” Twilight asked as she took a closer look. The blank’s eyes didn’t even follow her as it stood there.
""没有了？你的意思是......没有思想?"暮色问道，她走近一看。空白的眼睛站在那里，甚至没有跟着她。
“None. Less than an infant. And no soul, either, or at least none we’ve ever been able to detect. A body made of pure Biomagical Flux.” He gestured to the blank. “Is this a pony? It has no parents, no magic, no spark. It has enough instinct to sleep when it gets tired or eat when it gets hungry, but it otherwise will die without care.”
"没有。比婴儿还小。也没有灵魂，或者至少没有我们能够探测到的灵魂。一个由纯生物助熔剂制成的身体。"他指了指空白处。"这是一匹小马吗？它没有父母，没有魔法，没有火花。它有足够的本能，累了就睡觉，饿了就吃东西，否则它会毫不留情地死去。"
“It’s fascinating, but… Goldenblood, this is wrong. Luna could never--” Twilight
"这很吸引人，但是......金色血统，这是错误的。卢娜永远不会——"暮光之城
began, but was cut off as her eyes met the scarred stallion’s gaze. “She doesn’t know about this. She can’t.”
开始，但是当她的眼睛遇到伤痕累累的种马的目光时，她的眼睛被切断了。"她不知道这件事。她做不到。"
“She can and does. She sees nothing wrong with using Chimera to help the lives of thousands of actual thinking, feeling ponies.” He looked at the blank standing there. “And think. If we could somehow give blanks intellect, we wouldn’t need ponies to fight anymore. We could produce whole armies of blanks, suit them up in power armor or fuse them with dragons, manticores, and phoenixes and send them against our enemies. With Chimera, we could conquer the entire world, if Luna willed it!” he said with a grand wave of his hoof, before he dropped it and stared into her eyes. “And she will. Maybe not today, or tomorrow… but she will. The temptation is inescapable,” he finished in a dreadfully quiet voice; I couldn’t tell if he was talking to Twilight or to himself.
"她可以，也确实可以。她认为使用奇美拉来帮助成千上万实际思考和感觉的小马的生活没有什么错。"他看着站在那里的空白。""想想看。如果我们能给出一些智慧的空白，我们就不再需要小马来战斗了。我们可以制造出一支空白的军队，给他们装备强大的盔甲，或者用龙、猛龙和凤凰将他们融合起来，送他们去对抗我们的敌人。有了奇美拉，只要露娜愿意，我们就能征服整个世界!"他用蹄子大摇大摆地说，然后放下蹄子，盯着她的眼睛。""她会的。也许不是今天，也不是明天......但她会的。这种诱惑是不可避免的,"他用一种可怕的平静的声音说道，我不知道他是在和《暮光之城》说话还是在自言自语。
Twilight stared at the blank in horror. Goldenblood stared into her eyes, then asked in a voice soft as a lover’s whisper, “Twilight… have you given a thought... just a thought… about what Equestria will be like if we win this war?”
暮色惊恐地盯着那片空白。金色的血液凝视着她的眼睛，然后用情人耳语般柔和的声音问道:"黄昏......你有没有想过......只是想过......如果我们赢得这场战争，小马国会是什么样子?"
She swallowed, staring at the simple ghostly pony. “I’ve been… occupied.” He glanced at her, then shook his head with a faint sigh. She looked back at him and asked quietly, “Have you?”
她咽了口唾沫，盯着那匹简单的幽灵般的小马。"我被......占据了。"他瞥了她一眼，然后微微叹了口气，摇了摇头。她回头看着他，平静地问道:"你有吗?"
He frowned at her before speaking as if confessing a horrid crime. “Lately? I’ve been incapable of thinking about anything else.”
他皱着眉头看着她，然后开口说话，仿佛承认了一桩可怕的罪行。""最近？我已经没有能力去想别的事情了。"
They moved away, flickering out. Rampage looked at me expectantly while P-21 just sat there looking sullen, as usual. “Okay, so this is the source of the blanks,” I said, spotting Boo peeking out from behind some trash bins. I pointed at the pipes overhead disappearing into the golden tree. “The Flux stuff flows in, but with Chimera sealed, all it does is put out these generic copies.”
他们走开了，忽隐忽现。狂暴满怀期待地看着我，而P-21一如既往地闷闷不乐地坐在那里。"好吧，这就是那些空格的来源,"我说，看见布从垃圾箱后面偷看。我指着头顶消失在金色树林中的水管。"通量的东西流入，但与奇美拉密封，它所做的一切是把这些通用的副本。"
“Pretty clever,” Rampage muttered. “I mean, given all the experiments these guys were doing, they needed somepony to try them out on. They couldn’t have only experimented on us.” She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, eyes narrowing. “Wonder what this shit is worth.”
"真聪明,"狂暴喃喃自语道。"我的意思是，考虑到这些人正在做的所有实验，他们需要有人来试验他们。他们不可能只在我们身上做实验。"她若有所思地揉着下巴，眼睛眯得很小。"不知道这东西值多少钱"
Wait… us? I looked at her sharply and saw a heart-shaped loop of barbed wire cutie mark. Somepony else? But then she caught my eye. “Rampage? Is that you?”
等等...我们？我用锐利的目光看着她，看到了一个心形的铁丝网圈状的小可爱标记。还有别的吗？但后来她引起了我的注意。"横冲直撞？是你吗?"
She scowled at me. “Fuck… I think…” She shook her head hard. “Fuck… what’s the matter with me?”
她怒视着我。"妈的......我想......"她重重地摇了摇头。"操......我是怎么了?"
“Can we just cut to the chase and shoot her in the head?” P-21 muttered sourly.
"我们能不能直奔主题，一枪爆了她的头?"P-21有气无力地咕哝着。
“Experiments. You were talking about ponies experimenting on you?” The question seemed to draw the barbed wire out of the tangled mess on her flank. Her expression hardened and became more insolent. I’d drawn them out… whoever was inside her. “What’s your name?” I asked gently.
"实验。你在说小马在你身上做实验?"这个问题似乎把铁丝网从她身体一团乱麻中拉了出来。她的表情变得强硬起来，变得更傲慢无礼。我把他们拉了出来...不管是谁在她体内。"你叫什么名字?"我温和地问道。
“Razorwire, Pink. You want my real name, you can check my motherfucking file.”
"Razorwire，Pink.如果你想知道我的真实姓名，你可以查我的档案。"
“Pink?” I asked, glancing at P-21. He was clearly of the ‘shoot her in the head’ attitude.
"粉红色?"我瞥了一眼P-21，问道。他的态度显然是"一枪爆头"。
She rolled her eyes and sneered, “Fine. Officer.” She said the word like I might say ‘Overmare’.
她翻了翻眼睛，冷笑道:"好吧。警官。"她说这个词的时候，好像我会说'Overmare'。
She thought I was some sort of guardpony? And from her attitude… she was some sort of ganger? I had to keep her out; if she realized she wasn’t Razorwire anymore, she’d fade away again. Or freak out. I was sure glad she wasn’t full grown. Still, I had to be careful with my questions. “What are you in for?”
她认为我是某种守卫？从她的态度来看...她是什么教唆犯？我不得不把她挡在外面;如果她意识到她不再是Razorwire了，她会再次消失的。或者抓狂。我很高兴她还没有完全长大。尽管如此，我还是要小心回答我的问题。"你为什么进来?"
“Trying to make friends with the prisoners, Pink? Fuck you. I’ve been to Shattered Hoof twice. Twice. They couldn’t break me. Hightower won’t either.” Hightower jail… Rampage rolled her eyes, tapping her lips. “Let’s see; civil disobedience, trespassing, defiance of royal edict, theft, larceny, burglary, curfew violations, trafficking stolen goods, distribution of controlled substances, lewd misconduct, and fraternization with the enemy.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “So, you going to take me upstairs? My turn in the attic? Fucking Pinks.” She spat in my face.
"你想和囚犯们交朋友吗，平克？去你的。我去过破蹄乐队两次。两次。他们无法击垮我。海托华也不会。"海托华监狱......狂暴转动着她的眼睛，轻轻拍打着她的嘴唇。"让我想想:公民抗命，非法入侵，违抗皇家法令，盗窃，盗窃，入室盗窃，违反宵禁，贩卖赃物，分销受管制物品，猥亵行为，与敌人深交。"她眯起眼睛看着我。""那么，你要带我上楼吗？轮到我上阁楼了？该死的粉红色。"她往我脸上吐唾沫。
“Maybe,” I said, trying to think fast as I wiped it away. There was a narrow window before her personalities became aware and freaked out. “What happens in the attic?”
"也许吧,"我说，一边擦掉指纹，一边试着快速地思考。在她的个性意识到并被吓坏之前，有一个狭窄的窗口。"阁楼里发生了什么?"
“Oh, you don’t want to ask that, Pink. Big trouble to ask that. You ask that and they’ll throw you in the cell. Cut you open.” Then she looked at P-21. “Shoot you in the fucking head.” Then she blinked. “Shoot you in the fucking head?”
"哦，你不会想问这个的，平克。这个问题很难回答。你这么问，他们会把你扔进牢房。把你切开。"然后她看了看P-21。"一枪爆了你的头"然后她眨了眨眼睛。"一枪爆了你的头?"
She started looking around and hugged her head as her pupils contracted. “Shit… shit shit shit…” she stammered as she started to shake, “They shot me in the fucking head!”
她开始四处张望，当她的瞳孔收缩时，她抱住了自己的头。"该死......该死......"她颤抖着结结巴巴地说,"他们朝我脑袋开了一枪!"
I grabbed her shoulders, staring into her eyes as she started to cry. “Razorwire! Focus. Who did? Why?”
我抓住她的肩膀，盯着她的眼睛，看着她开始哭泣。"剃须刀！专注。谁干的？为什么?"
“They shot me! They fucking shot me! Fucking shot me!” she screamed louder and louder before she looked at me. “I’m dead! I’m dead! They fucking shot me and I’m dead!” She wrapped her little forelegs around mine. “You killed me! You fucking killed me, you Pink!”
"他们开枪打我！他们开枪打我！他妈的开枪打我!"在她看我之前，她尖叫得越来越大声。"我死了！我死定了！他们开枪打我，我死定了!"她用她的小前腿缠住我的小前腿。"你杀了我！你他妈的杀了我，你这个平克!"
Even as a filly, she was damned strong, but I just held her. I wasn’t going to snap her out of it the easy way. “Yes, you were killed, Razorwire. But not by me. I didn’t kill you.” She screamed and fought with me in a thrashing frenzy, her power hooves sparking as they kicked my legs. “I didn’t kill you!” I told her again and again. Her rage slackened off, her struggles growing weaker and weaker before she finally stared at me with a forlorn, wide-eyed expression.
即使是小母马，她也非常坚强，但我只是抱着她。我不打算用简单的方法把她拉出来。"是的，你被杀了，Razorwire。但不是我。我没有杀你。"她尖叫着，疯狂地与我搏斗，当他们踢我的腿时，她的力量蹄子发出火花。"我没有杀你!"我一遍又一遍地告诉她。她的愤怒减弱了，她的挣扎变得越来越虚弱，直到最后她用一种孤独的、睁大的眼睛盯着我。
“Blackjack?” she whimpered, her bottom lip shaking.
"黑杰克?"她呜咽着，下嘴唇颤抖着。
“Yes… Rampage?” I asked softly as she slowly bowed her head.
"是的......暴怒?"我轻轻地问，她慢慢地低下了头。
She fell against me, sobbing, “They killed her, Blackjack. She was so mad. Why did they kill her?”
她倒在我身上抽泣着,"他们杀了她，黑杰克。她非常生气。他们为什么要杀她?"
“You remember her?” I asked as I held her firmly in my hooves.
"你记得她吗?"我一边问，一边用蹄子紧紧地抓住她。
“Like… like reading a book a long time ago,” she sniffed. “She was a criminal, a thief. She boasted that stealing was her special talent. Thought of herself as Daring Do.” She sighed, holding her head as she sniffed and shook. Daring… ah, right, the pegasus from those adventure books. From what little I remembered, the comparison might have been accurate. “Really loved the stallions. Partied hard, did special favors for Pinkie Pie. Scared to fucking death of her…” She sniffed and rubbed her eyes. “Got caught in a raid selling to zebra refugees. Got sent to Hightower. She thought Pinkie Pie would bail her out again, but… she didn’t. Left her to rot.”
"就像...就像很久以前读过一本书,"她嗅了嗅。"她是个罪犯，是个贼。她吹嘘说偷窃是她的特殊才能。把自己想象成勇敢的人。"她叹了口气，抱着头，抽着鼻子，颤抖着。大胆...啊，对了，那些冒险小说里的飞马。就我所记得的一点点而言，这种比较可能是准确的。"真的很喜欢那些种马。尽情狂欢，为平奇·派提供特殊服务。害怕得要死......"她用鼻子闻了闻，揉了揉眼睛。"在一次向斑马难民兜售商品的突袭中被抓。被送到海托华了。她以为平奇·派会再次把她保释出来，但是......她没有。任由她腐烂。"
“And the guards killed her?” I asked softly, stroking her mane. She pushed me away, though, then sniffed and rubbed her nose.
"卫兵杀了她?"我轻轻地问，抚摸着她的鬃毛。她把我推开，然后闻了闻鼻子，揉了揉鼻子。
“Yeah. They cut her open and put something inside. Then… bang.” She shook her head. “Wow… this is the first time I actually…” Then she frowned a little. In fact, she looked a bit spooked.
"是的。他们把她剖开放了些东西在里面。然后...砰。"她摇了摇头。"哇......这是我第一次......"然后她皱了皱眉。事实上，她看起来有点吓坏了。
“What? First time what?” I prompted.
"什么？第一次什么?"我提示道。
“Don’t worry about it,” she replied with a sigh, looking up at the catwalks over the mechanical tree. “There’s got to be a way up there. Let’s find it, finish jerky pony off, and go.”
"别担心,"她叹了口气回答，抬头看着机械树上的过道。"肯定有办法上去。我们找到它，干掉那匹蠢马，然后走人。"
“Yeah. I’m worried about Scotch,” I said with a frown as we trotted to a stairwell on the far side of the room. The pale blanks moved out of our way, staring dully. A few seemed to be dying of hunger. A part of me wanted badly to give them food; maybe with enough time, they might become more like Boo. Or maybe she’d stepped in some Flux and it’d done something to her. As we reached the top of the stairs, I put my forehooves on the rail, looking at the strange tree.
"是的。我很担心苏格兰威士忌,"当我们快步走向房间另一边的楼梯间时，我皱着眉头说。那些苍白的空白弹片移开了我们的视线，呆呆地盯着我们。有几个人似乎快饿死了。一部分的我非常想给他们食物;也许有足够的时间，他们可能会变得更像Boo。或者她踩到了什么东西，它对她做了什么。当我们到达楼梯顶端时，我把前蹄放在栏杆上，看着那棵奇怪的树。
“What are you thinking?” Rampage asked.
"你在想什么?"狂暴问道。
“Sanguine said he could clone me new organs. Even a whole new body, if he had Chimera.” I frowned, knitting my brows together. “What if we could use Chimera to help Scotch?”
"桑吉尼说他可以克隆我的新器官。甚至一个全新的身体，如果他有奇美拉的话。"我皱起眉头，皱起眉头。"如果我们可以用奇美拉来帮助苏格兰人呢?"
“Do you have a clue how to? I’m pretty sure none of us have a mad scientist’s certification. I mean, I know I don’t,” Rampage retorted. Then she knit her brows together. “At least, I hope I don’t!”
"你知道怎么做吗？我敢肯定我们都没有疯狂科学家的证书。"我的意思是，我知道我不知道,"狂暴反驳道。然后她皱起眉头。"至少，我希望我不会!"
I gave a little half smile, but it faded as I looked back at the golden tree and watched as one of the pods popped open and dropped a drippy, goopy blank mare to the ground. She blinked and just sat there, looking around... well...
我微微一笑，但是当我回头看着那棵金色的树，看着其中一个豆荚突然打开，把一头湿乎乎的空母马扔到地上时，笑容就消失了。她眨了眨眼睛，只是坐在那里，环顾四周......嗯.....。
blankly. Okay... I hated the thought, but I had to say it. “We’d need Sanguine’s help,” I said quietly. Suddenly, a harsh snarl sounded from P-21 that made all three of us stare, Boo included. He glared at me with disgust.
茫然地。好吧...我讨厌这个想法但我不得不说。"我们需要桑吉尼的帮助,"我平静地说。突然，P-21发出了一声刺耳的咆哮，我们三个人都瞪大了眼睛，包括Boo。他厌恶地瞪着我。
“Well, I’m so glad Priest, Dusty Trails, and countless more died for nothing,” he growled in a low, harsh voice. It’d been a long time since he’d ever spoken to me like we’d just left 99. “Bravo, Blackjack. I think you’re the only pony in the Wasteland capable of brushing all that off.” I’d rather he’d hit me than have said that.
"好吧，我真高兴神父、尘土飞扬的小径和无数无谓的牺牲,"他用低沉刺耳的声音咆哮着。他已经很久没有像我们刚刚离开99号公路那样跟我说话了。"太棒了，黑杰克。我认为你是这片荒原上唯一一匹能把这一切都抹掉的小马。"我宁愿他打我也不愿意那样说。
“I’m not saying we let him win. I’m saying we get EC-1101 and make him use Chimera to help your daughter,” I said sharply, and he jerked as if I’d kicked him. I looked at P-21 and Rampage. “There’s something that Sanguine wants; I think it’s more than just ‘this building’. Maybe… maybe we can work out a deal?” P-21 snorted in disgust.
"我不是说我们让他赢了。我的意思是，我们去找EC-1101，让他用奇美拉来帮助你的女儿,"我厉声说道，他猛地一抽，好像我踢了他一脚。我看了看P-21和狂暴。"桑吉纳想要的东西，我认为不仅仅是'这座建筑'。也许...也许我们能达成协议?"P-21厌恶地哼了一声。
“I’m pretty sure that, even if we get really lucky, any deal we make with him is going to include ‘let me go’,” Rampage pointed out.
"我非常肯定，即使我们真的很幸运，我们与他做的任何交易都会包括'让我走',"狂暴指出。
“So we promise him whatever he wants, get Scotch’s clone, and then kill him,” P-21 said so matter-of-factly that it chilled me. Worse, a part of me agreed with him. Kill him afterwards. That sounded so neat. So pat. So…
"所以我们答应他，无论他想要什么，得到苏格兰威士忌的克隆，然后杀了他,"P-21如此实事求是地说，这让我感到寒心。更糟糕的是，我的一部分同意他的观点。然后杀了他。这听起来太棒了。所以帕特。所以..。
So exactly what Sanguine would do.
那么，桑吉尼会怎么做呢。
When I’d lost EC-1101, it was like losing Stable 99 and Scoodle. They were moments where my actions had led to complete failure and terrible consequences for others. I wanted to win so badly that I could taste it. He’d probably believe me if I told him we’d let him go; I had that whole ‘noble idiot’ thing going. P-21 could rig something to go boom. We could do it. I could not only win, but also get vengeance on the bloody monster.
当我失去EC-1101的时候，就像失去了Stable99和Scoodle。在这些时刻，我的行为导致了彻底的失败，给他人带来了可怕的后果。我是如此渴望赢得比赛，以至于我可以尝到它的滋味。如果我告诉他我们会让他走，他可能会相信我;我有那种'高尚的白痴'的东西。P-21可以操纵一些东西爆炸。我们可以做到。我不仅能赢，而且还能报复那个血腥的怪物。
And I wanted to, as well. I had to admit that. I wanted to win; after being chased, shot up, and raped… I wanted to be on the giving end. I wanted to be the one who trotted away with everything because I was the sneaky pony who got away with it. All I had to do was get EC-1101, promise him whatever he wanted, get it, and then kill him.
我也想这么做。我不得不承认。我想要赢;在被追赶，被枪击，被强奸之后......我想要在给予的一端。我想成为那个带走所有东西的人，因为我是一匹偷偷摸摸的小马。我所要做的就是得到EC-1101，向他保证他想要的一切，得到它，然后杀了他。
Then a little orange pony bucked me right upside the head. Was that what I wanted? Deep down? Vengeance on my enemies? Lie. Cheat. Steal. Destroy. Was that what Security was all about now?
然后一匹橙色的小马从我头上跃起。这就是我想要的吗？内心深处？向我的敌人复仇？说谎。欺骗。偷。毁灭。这就是现在的安全问题吗？
I didn’t know anymore. I felt myself slipping away. I wanted to win and I wanted to be a good pony… to do better… couldn’t I do both? Was that too much to ask?
我也不知道。我感到自己正在悄悄溜走。我想赢，我想成为一匹好马...做得更好...难道我不能两者兼得吗？这要求过分吗？
In the Wasteland… yes.
在荒原...是的。
“Well, we’re putting the cart in front of the pony,” I muttered. Sanguine might not even give us a choice. I’d kill him rather than let him just escape or kill P-21.
"好吧，我们把马车放在小马前面,"我喃喃自语。乐观主义甚至可能让我们别无选择。我宁愿杀了他也不会让他逃跑或者杀了P-21。
With me taking the lead, we walked along till we met up with the pipes. A narrow catwalk just wide enough for one pony led gradually uphill.
我带头，我们一直向前走，直到遇到管道。一条窄窄的t型台，宽度刚好够一匹小马慢慢上坡。
Towards Sanguine and EC-1101.
血红素与EC-1101。
The pipes emerged into an enormous hexagonal room, a room I’d seen before. Twilight had accused him of copying Maripony; I didn’t know how accurate that was, but in this place I saw almost exactly what I’d seen in Spike’s cave. It was a cruder design; the ceiling was held up by six massive pillars instead of being freestanding under a volcanic chimney, and instead of computer equipment, these walls were covered with pipes and mechanisms. Flickering lights blinked on and off over a massive lake of pink mist that undulated and swirled around heaps of machinery barely visible through the fog. The air tasted foul and poisonous.
这些管道出现在一个巨大的六角形房间里，这是我以前见过的一个房间。暮光之城指责他模仿马里波尼;我不知道那有多准确，但是在这个地方，我几乎看到了我在斯派克的洞穴里看到的东西。这是一个比较粗糙的设计;天花板由六根巨大的柱子支撑，而不是由火山烟囱下的独立支撑，这些墙壁也没有计算机设备，而是用管道和机械装置覆盖。闪烁的灯光在巨大的粉红色薄雾湖面上忽明忽暗地闪烁着，薄雾在雾中隐约可见的成堆机器周围起伏盘旋。空气尝起来是有毒的。
And there were warning signs everywhere. Some were almost as large as the Hoofington Arena’s scoreboard. ‘Warning: absolutely no eating or drinking on the floor, no matter how good it smells.’ ‘Warning: absolutely no sneezing.’ ‘Warning: report any and all instances of music and/or singing; do not participate in any musical numbers.’ ‘Warning: anything and everything can explode when thrown, even you.’ ‘Warning: report to medical if you find your body drastically different when you wake up tomorrow. Blue spots = bad spots.’ ‘Warning: be on alert for unusual weather shifts.’ ‘In the event of catastrophic Flux spill, please think of your fellow workers and activate the water flush system; we will remember your sacrifice.’ ‘Only you can prevent a horrible fate worse than death.’
到处都有警告标志。有些几乎和胡芬顿体育馆的记分牌一样大。警告:绝对不要在地板上吃东西或喝东西，不管它闻起来有多香警告:绝对不要打喷嚏"警告:报告任何和所有音乐和/或歌唱事例;不要参与任何音乐数字。"警告:任何东西都可能在抛出时爆炸，即使是你警告:如果你明天醒来发现自己的身体有很大不同，请向医生报告。蓝点，坏点警告:对不寻常的天气变化保持警惕如果发生灾难性的漏油事件，请为你的同事着想，启动水冲洗系统;我们会记住你的牺牲只有你能阻止比死亡更可怕的命运
Of course, they were slightly better than the other signs. ‘We’re not just mixing chems and dangerous substances here: we’re mixing science!’ ‘When in doubt, throw science against the wall. See what sticks.’ ‘You are a trusted friend in science!’ ‘Not never but NOW!’ ‘Your right to work, no matter how hazardous, horrible, or harmful that work may be.’ ‘Three bit work; aren’t you glad you’re being paid four?’ ‘Donkeys: doing your part for Equestria!’
当然，他们比其他的迹象稍微好一些。我们不仅仅是把化学药品和危险物质混合在一起，我们是把科学混合在一起如果有疑问，就把科学扔到墙上。看看有什么能坚持下去你是科学界值得信赖的朋友不是永远，而是现在"你有工作的权利，不管工作是多么危险、可怕或有害。""三点工作，你不高兴拿四点工资吗?"驴子:为小马国尽你的一份力
Then, on each pillar, I saw a red box about the size of a pony. The warning on these was far more straightforward. ‘Warning: high explosives.’ I had a sneaking suspicion that most of the employees here had been illiterate, desperate, or suicidal.
然后，在每根柱子上，我看到一个小马大小的红盒子。对这些问题的警告要直截了当得多。警告:烈性炸药我暗自怀疑这里的大多数员工都是文盲，绝望或者有自杀倾向。
In the very center was a large metal pillar. Pipes of all sorts sprang from it, some coming up to meet the pipes running underneath the catwalk I was on while most dropped down to the strange machines. A metal catwalk ring surrounded the pillar about twenty or so feet from it. Carefully, the four of us made our way over that poisoned expanse towards the pillar. A guard lounged where the catwalk we were on joined the ring surrounding the silver spire; she might not have been taking her job seriously, though, given that she was smoking and looking out at the mist, but I couldn’t think of any way we could get close enough to take her out without giving her a chance to get off a warning. And shooting in here... even I could tell that that would be a bad idea.
在正中央有一根巨大的金属柱子。各种各样的管道从上面跳了出来，有些上来迎接我正在走的通道下面的管道，而大多数下降到奇怪的机器上。一个金属猫道环围绕着距离柱子大约二十英尺的柱子。我们四个小心翼翼地穿过那片有毒的区域，朝着那根柱子走去。一个警卫懒洋洋地躺在我们走过的小路旁，围绕着银色的尖顶;虽然她可能没有认真对待她的工作，因为她在抽烟，看着外面的雾气，但是我想不出任何方法，我们可以接近她，把她带出去，而不给她一个机会摆脱警告。在这里拍摄......连我都知道这不是个好主意。
Then I looked back at P-21, who was staring out into space with that sour expression. I nudged him and pointed up the ramp at the guard. He frowned and lifted Persuasion in his hooves with a questioning look. I rolled my eyes and then shook my head, mimicking lifting something with my hooves and puckering my lips. He looked at me like I’d lost my mind, then blinked and nodded. Silently, he moved closer and pulled Scalpel’s blowgun from his bags. He raised it to his lips and fired without a sound. The dart pinged off the rail next to her, and I felt my mane stand on end as she bent over to examine it. Fortunately, the second dart buried itself right in her rump. The Fixer and Moon Dust mix shot into her, and she swayed on her hooves before flopping on her face.
然后我回头看了看P-21，他带着那种酸溜溜的表情凝视着外面的空间。我用肘轻轻推了他一下，然后指着坡道上的警卫。他皱起眉头，用蹄子提起《劝导》，疑惑地看了一眼。我翻了翻眼睛，然后摇了摇头，用蹄子模仿着举起什么东西，噘起嘴唇。他看着我，好像我失去了理智，然后眨了眨眼睛，点了点头。他悄无声息地走近，从包里掏出手术刀的吹箭筒。他把枪举到唇边，一声不响地开了枪。飞镖从她身边的栏杆上飞出，我感觉到我的鬃毛竖了起来，她弯下腰去检查它。幸运的是，第二支飞镖正好扎进了她的臀部。修理工和月尘的混合物射进了她的身体，她用蹄子摇摆着，然后扑通一声落在脸上。
I just gave him a look, smiling and arching a brow inquisitively as he looked back defensively. We trotted up to the ring, and he collected the missed dart. Fortunately there were drums and crates to hide behind as we moved around towards the far side, where pieces of equipment sparked and whirred. Barely audible over the noise from this distance were several voices. As we moved around towards the front, I saw a generator surrounded by dozens of spent spark batteries. It was connected to one of the machines hooked to the exterior of the pillar. ‘Flux Extraction Pump #26’ was written on the casing.
我只是看了他一眼，好奇地微笑着，皱起了眉头，带着防御的神情回过头来。我们小跑着来到拳击场，他捡起没捡到的飞镖。幸运的是，当我们向远处移动的时候，有鼓和板条箱可以躲在后面，那里的设备碎片发出火花和嗡嗡声。从这么远的地方几乎听不见几个声音。当我们向前移动的时候，我看到一个发电机被几十个用过的火花电池包围着。它是连接到一个机器连接到外部的支柱。"流量抽取泵#26"写在机壳上。
“Try it again!” came Sanguine’s shout. “It should work for you! What are you doing wrong?”
"再试一次!"桑吉纳喊道。"这对你应该有用！你哪里做错了?"
“It’s not. It won’t work!” Psychoshy sobbed. “It just keeps telling me how Blackjack is going to kill me. It won’t open the casing.”
"不是这样的。没用的!"心理害羞的人抽泣着。"它一直在告诉我Blackjack会怎样杀了我。它打不开弹壳。"
“It must! EC-1101 was designed to work for only a select few ponies or their
""一定是的！Ec-1101的设计工作，只有选择少数小马或他们
offspring. It must work for you, Fluttershy! That’s what it was designed to do!” Sanguine hissed, and then I got far enough around the column to spot the guards, then him, and then the sobbing yellow pegasus. She looked like hell; great wads of yellow feathers had been torn from her wings, her mane was ripped and torn, and her yellow hide was bruised. “Stop screwing around and just open it!”
后代。它必须为你工作，小弗特希！这就是它的设计初衷!"血色嘶嘶地说，然后我绕过柱子，看到了守卫，然后是他，再然后是哭泣的黄色飞马。她看起来糟透了，翅膀上一团团黄色的羽毛被扯掉了，鬃毛被撕裂了，黄色的皮被擦伤了。"别胡闹了，快把它打开!"
“I can’t!” she sobbed, hanging her head as her hoof rubbed the Delta PipBuck that had been ripped out of my leg and duct taped to hers. It was rubbing her limb raw.
"我不能!"她抽泣着，低着头，她的蹄子蹭着从我腿上扯下来粘在她腿上的德尔塔皮布克。它在摩擦她的四肢。
The half-dozen guards snickered to each other, watching the pair. I didn’t know if they were protecting them or trying to prevent them from escaping. Sanguine looked at her and said, in a low voice I barely picked out over the pump, “The last tanker is almost full. Goliath and his mother have already teleported back! As soon as it’s full, they’re leaving, and either they are going kill us or that thing is going to completely occupy this facility! You can do it.”
六个守卫相互窃笑，注视着这两个人。我不知道他们是在保护他们，还是试图阻止他们逃跑。桑吉看着她，用低沉的声音说:"最后一艘油轮几乎满了。哥利亚和他的母亲已经传送回来了！一旦装满，他们就会离开，要么他们会杀了我们，要么那东西就会完全占领这个设施！你能做到的。"
“I can’t. It just keeps telling me how Blackjack is going to kill us. You didn’t say anything about a dead pony talking to me!” she suddenly wailed.
"我不能。它一直在告诉我Blackjack会怎么杀了我们。你没有提到一匹死掉的小马跟我说话!"她突然嚎啕大哭。
What was that? Was she talking about… Dealer? But… but he was my crazy! Wasn’t he?
那是什么？她说的是...毒贩吗？但是...但是他是我的疯子！不是吗？
“I’m a dead pony talking to you, and I’m telling you this is our last chance. If we fail now… or if Glue cracks Twilight’s work… there won’t be another! I won’t leave them down there!” the ragged ghoul said as he pointed down at the pink mist.
"我跟你说话就像一匹死马，我告诉你这是我们最后的机会。如果我们现在失败了...或者如果"胶水"破坏了《暮光之城》的作品...就不会有下一部了！我不会把它们留在下面的!"那个衣衫褴褛的食尸鬼指着粉红色的雾说。
Now I really wanted to have a nice long chat with the bastard.
现在我真的很想和那个混蛋好好聊一聊。
Should I act or should I wait, though? Even if the guards weren’t on Sanguine’s side, I doubted they would just let me trot right up and take him. I looked over at P-21 to see if he had any ideas. He did…
我应该采取行动还是等待？即使守卫不站在桑吉那一边，我也怀疑他们是否会让我径直走过去把他带走。我看了看P-21，看他是否有什么想法。他做到了。
He was pointing Persuasion right at Sanguine and Psychoshy.
他正把《劝导》指向桑吉尼和《心理害羞》。
I knocked the barrel up, either just in time to prevent him from firing straight or accidentally triggering it. The launcher made its soft thump, the grenade pinged off the side of the pillar, and then exploded overhead. From the glare he gave me, I wondered if I was back on his shooty list.
我把枪管敲开了，要么是为了及时阻止他直接开火，要么是不小心触发了枪管。发射器发出轻微的撞击声，手榴弹从支柱侧面发出爆炸声，然后在头顶上方爆炸。从他瞪着我的目光来看，我怀疑我是不是又回到了他的扫射名单上。
Okay… time for plan D.
好了，该执行d计划了。
“Security!? Get her!” Sanguine shouted as he grabbed Psychoshy’s tattered wing and dragged her behind cover. The six began to spread out and open fire with SMGs and battle saddle mounted light machine guns while two more circled around. ‘Get her?’ Really? He was hitting the villain clichés hard!
"保安!？抓住她!"桑金一边喊着，一边抓住了心理害羞破烂的翅膀，把她拖到了掩体后面。这六个人开始分散开来，用冲锋枪和装在马鞍上的轻机枪开火，还有两个人在周围盘旋。抓到她了吗真的吗？他狠狠地打了那个恶棍的陈词滥调！
Of course, he’d be laughing last if they did manage to get us. “Rampage!” I pointed behind us, and the filly gave a salute and scampered in that direction.
当然，如果他们真的抓到我们，他会笑到最后。"横冲直撞!"我指了指身后，小母马向我敬礼，然后朝那个方向跑去。
A few seconds later, I heard her yell, “Tag! You’re it!” Followed by the crack of her power hoof.
几秒钟后，我听到她喊道:"捉人！就是你!"随之而来的是她强有力的蹄子的劈啪声。
That left the three of us being shot at by four ponies, and Sanguine was somewhere with his poison breath. Boo immediately took cover behind a barrel, curling up as tightly as she could. P-21 pulled out a frag grenade, bit off the stem, and threw it over towards the guards. He wasn’t the only pony with that idea, as an apple grenade bounced off the crate behind me and landed in my lap. I jerked, tossing it over the edge, where it detonated a fraction of a second later in midair just below us.
这样，我们三个人就被四匹小马射杀了，而桑吉纳正在某个地方吸着毒气。布立刻躲在一个木桶后面，尽可能紧紧地蜷缩起来。P-21拿出一枚碎片手榴弹，从炮管上咬下来，扔向警卫。他不是唯一一个有这种想法的小马，一个苹果手榴弹从我身后的板条箱弹开，落在我腿上。我猛地一扭，把它扔到了边缘，不到一秒钟它就在我们下方的半空中爆炸了。
P-21 leaned to the side to get a better look as he readied another grenade while I fired with the revolver. Really, right now, I was just grateful for the lack of griffins. My aim was a lot more careful, but with automatic machinegun fire you didn’t need skill, just luck, time, and a large enough supply of bullets. P-21 rolled a grenade across the catwalk to the base of their cover. “Get ready,” he said.
当我用左轮手枪开火时，P-21靠在一边准备另一枚手榴弹，以便看得更清楚。真的，现在，我只是很感激没有狮鹫。我的瞄准要小心得多，但使用自动机枪射击时，你不需要技巧，只需要运气、时间和足够多的子弹。P-21在狭窄的通道上向他们的掩护基地投掷了一枚手榴弹。"准备好,"他说。
“For wh--” But the what was answered when a cloud of thick white smoke billowed up, cutting us off from them. I sure wasn’t wasting any time! The gunfire slackened somewhat, and I sprinted across the gap, launching myself over their cover. Now was my chance to administer a beatdown on somepony else in a battle saddle! I hooked my metallic forehooves around one light machine gun and pulled back. The mare it was strapped to clenched down on the trigger as I swung her around. Screams and shouts filled the air as the guards fired wildly back at her.
但是当一团白色的浓烟升起，把我们和他们隔开的时候，我们得到了什么回答呢。我肯定没有浪费任何时间！枪声有所减弱，我飞快地穿过缺口，从他们的掩护下冲了出去。现在我有机会对其他骑在战马鞍上的小马进行一次痛击了！我用我的金属前蹄钩住一挺轻机枪，然后向后拉。当我转动那匹母马时，它被绑在扳机上紧紧地扣住。空气中充满了尖叫声和喊叫声，守卫们疯狂地向她开火。
Finally, the pins holding the machinegun came loose and I yanked it free. Several rounds smacked into the mare as I swung the gun up and rested it across her back. I looped my hoof around the cable trailing from the trigger to the bridle
最后，握着机枪的销子松了，我猛地把它拉了出来。当我举起枪，把它放在母马的背上时，有几发子弹击中了母马。我用蹄子绕着从扳机到马笼头的绳子
and jerked it taut, bracing the gun against her body as I fired every round in the magazine in the direction of her comrades.
当我朝她的战友们开枪的时候，我猛地把枪拉紧，用枪抵住她的身体。
One came out of the dissipating smoke and slammed me against the catwalk rail, the gun falling silent as the mare I’d used for cover went down. The bulky earth pony struggled to simply toss me completely over the edge and into that vast swirly death below. And she was doing it, too! I wrapped my hooves around her neck as she shoved me over, halting my plummet. I grit my teeth and hooked my hind legs through the railing, then extended my fingers and grabbed her own shoving forelegs. With a yank, I pulled her over the edge after me, dangling there upside down as she screamed and landed on some equipment below us.
其中一个从正在消散的烟雾中出来，把我撞在t型台的栏杆上，我用作掩护的母马倒下时，枪声沉寂了下来。那匹笨重的土地上的矮种马挣扎着要把我完全扔下悬崖，扔进下面巨大的漩涡般的死亡之中。而且她也这么做了！我用蹄子勒住她的脖子，她把我推了过去，让我停下来。我咬紧牙关，用后腿穿过栏杆，然后伸出手指，抓住她自己推挤的前腿。我猛地一拉，把她拉下悬崖，倒挂在那里，她尖叫着落在我们下面的一些设备上。
The fall hadn’t killed her. As she started to howl and choke, I suspected she wished it had.
她不是摔死的。当她开始嚎叫和窒息的时候，我怀疑她真希望是这样。
There was another grenade explosion as I hauled myself up the side of the catwalk rail with my robofingers and finally flopped over on the safe side. Then Sanguine emerged from the thinning smoke and took a deep breath. I covered my face with my hooves as his thick pink poison washed over me. I might have held my breath, but it did me little good. Every inch of exposed skin burned horribly as the concentrated gas touched it. I felt my hide grow… sticky. When I rolled to the side to get out of the spray, I felt my skin tear; a second longer and I’d have been fused to my barding and the floor! As it was, I’d left a few square inches of hide glued to my forelegs and the metal beneath me.
当我用机器手指爬上t型台的栏杆时，又发生了一次手榴弹爆炸，最后我跌倒在安全的一边。接着，桑吉从渐渐稀薄的烟雾中出来，深深地吸了一口气。我用蹄子盖住了脸，他那浓密的粉红色毒药冲刷着我。我可能会屏住呼吸，但这对我没什么好处。随着浓缩气体的接触，暴露在外的皮肤上的每一寸都可怕地燃烧起来。我觉得我的皮肤变得...粘乎乎的。当我滚到一边去躲避水花的时候，我感觉到我的皮肤撕裂了;再过一秒钟，我就会被我的护具和地板给融化了！事实上，我在前腿和脚下的金属上留下了几平方英寸的皮肤。
I could only hope I’d regenerate… provided I survived. If I hadn’t been half synthetic, I think I’d have been permanently glued down by that toxic plume.
我只能希望我能再生...只要我能活下来。如果我不是半人工合成的，我想我会永远被有毒的羽毛粘住。
I reached for the revolver, but it’d fallen out somewhere. Sanguine drew in another breath as I stared up at him; I needed a magic bullet. I needed it now! I focused… imagined… concentrated… Oh, this was so much easier in S.A.T.S.! Then the white ball of light flashed out and struck him in the face! It wasn’t full power, but it was enough to knock him back and halt a second dose of the Pink Cloud.
我伸手去拿左轮手枪，但不知从哪儿掉出来了。我抬头看着他，桑吉纳又吸了一口气，我需要一颗神奇的子弹。我现在就需要！我集中注意力...想象...集中注意力...哦，这在S.A.T.S.简单多了！然后那个白色的光球闪了出来，击中了他的脸！虽然不是全部动力，但足以将他击退并停止第二次注射粉红云。
Psychoshy had kissed him? How did she still have a tongue?
神经病吻了他？她怎么还有舌头？
Unfortunately, lying there made me prime target for one of the guardponies. I didn’t have a gun, and my horn still ached horribly from one half-strength magic bullet. The bloodied guard levitated an SMG with a look of pleased satisfaction
不幸的是，躺在那里让我成了一个警卫的首要目标。我没有枪，我的号角仍然因为一颗半强度的魔术子弹而痛得可怕。那个浑身是血的警卫带着满意的表情漂浮起一个冲锋枪
in my imminent demise.
在我即将死去的时候。
Then there was a chatter of rapid fire directly behind me; shooting wild and uncontrolled. But with machineguns, you just needed one or two lucky shots. The unicorn mare jerked as two bullets pulverized her face, ripping out her eyes and the top of her head, her own fire going wild before she dropped and lay still. I rolled to my hooves, expecting to see P-21. Instead, my eyes popped wide as I stared at Boo gripping the mouth trigger of one of the guns. Her blank eyes stared back, and she swallowed. The gun went off again, spraying me briefly and punching a whole slew of holes in my limbs as I raised them reflexively. I’d just regenerated those! The terrified mare let the gun fall out of her mouth as she curled up into a trembling ball again.
紧接着，我身后传来一阵急速射击的声音，乱射一气，毫无节制。但是使用机关枪，你只需要一两发幸运的子弹。独角兽母马猛地抽搐着，两颗子弹打碎了她的脸，撕裂了她的眼睛和头顶，在她倒下静静地躺下之前，她自己的火焰变得狂野起来。我全力以赴，期待着看到P-21。相反，我瞪大了眼睛，盯着阿布紧紧抓住其中一支枪的枪口扳机。她茫然的双眼回望着她，咽了一口唾沫。枪声再次响起，对着我短暂地喷了一下，在我条件反射地举起枪时，在我的四肢上打了一大堆洞。我刚刚重生了那些东西！吓坏了的母马让枪从她的嘴里掉了出来，她又蜷缩成一个颤抖的球。
I didn’t have any time to be indignant though, as a second blast of poisoned breath washed over me. I jumped away, my body quivering from the toxic spew, and I turned to face him. One side of his face had fallen away, uncovering bone from mouth to ear and letting tendrils of pink ooze out the side of his mouth. “Now I see. EC-1101 must be… be locked onto you or something. When you die, it’ll work. I’ll be able to save them.”
然而，我没有时间去愤怒，因为第二股毒气冲刷着我。我跳开了，我的身体因为有毒的喷涌而颤抖，我转过身来面对他。他的一边脸已经脱落，从嘴巴到耳朵都露出了骨头，粉红色的卷须从嘴巴的一边渗出来。"现在我明白了。Ec-11101一定是...被锁定在你身上了。当你死的时候，它会起作用的。我能够拯救他们。"
“You couldn’t save a bottlecap by gluing it to your face,” I countered.
我反驳说:"你不能用胶水粘在脸上来节省瓶装水。"。
“I can save them!” he shouted, his eyes going wide. I wondered if he was going to go feral right in front of me. “I’m a doctor! That’s what I do! I save ponies!”
"我能救他们!"他大声喊道，眼睛睁得大大的。我不知道他会不会就在我面前发狂。"我是个医生！我就是干这个的！我拯救小马!"
“You’re a murderer, Sanguine!”
"你是个杀人犯，桑吉尼!"
“You made me one!” he screamed. “I didn’t want to kill them. I didn’t want to kill anypony! I just needed Chimera to save them. If you’d just given it to me, then we’d all have been better off. Red Eye would have his I.M.P.! I would have a comfortable life in Fillydelphia! My family would be safe! Everything promised to me by Goldenblood and Horse would be mine!” He started to pace. “I wasn’t supposed to become this. My family wasn’t supposed to die. I was going to be Equestria’s greatest biological researcher!” He pointed a hoof at me and yelled, “It’s not fucking fair!” A cloud of pink rose up from his mouth.
"你给我做了一个!"他尖叫着。"我不想杀他们。我不想杀任何小马！我只是需要奇美拉来拯救他们。如果你把它给我，我们都会过得更好。红眼会让他的i.m.p！我会在Fillydelphia过上舒适的生活！我的家人就安全了！金血王和马王答应给我的一切都是我的!"他开始踱步。"我不应该变成这样。我的家人本不该死的。我将成为小马国最伟大的生物学研究者!"他用蹄子指着我喊道:"这他妈的不公平!"一阵粉红色的云从他的嘴里升起。
“Your family?” I blinked as I stared at him. “You have a family?”
"你的家人?"我盯着他，眨了眨眼睛。"你有家人吗?"
“Is it that much of a surprise?” His horn glowed, and from his pocket he pulled out cut up little pictures like the ones I’d seen in the office and flung them to me.
"这有那么令人惊讶吗?"他的角闪闪发光，从口袋里掏出一些剪下来的小图片，就像我在办公室里看到的那些一样，扔给了我。
My pathetic magic only managed to catch one, and I stared. The stallion whose face was cut out had been kissing a pretty, blushing orange unicorn. I could see the ghoul’s charcoal face through the void before I let the photo drop. He hissed, the Pink Cloud spraying out between his rotten teeth. “Yes. My family. We were supposed to be safe in Stable One. The finest and safest stable in all of Equestria. But the poison… we couldn’t reach it.” He shook his head. “I got them here, but we were sick. Oh so sick. There was nowhere safe. Here they’d be safe. Where I could heal them. Clone them new bodies… transplant organs… they’d live! They’d have to. All I needed was Chimera!”
我那可怜的魔法只抓住了一只，我盯着它。那匹脸被割掉的种马正在亲吻一只漂亮的橘红色的独角兽。在我放下照片之前，我可以透过虚空看到食尸鬼的木炭脸。他发出嘶嘶的声音，粉红色的云彩从他腐烂的牙齿间喷射出来。"是的。我的家人。我们在稳定一号应该是安全的。全Equestria最好最安全的马厩。但是毒药......我们够不到。"他摇了摇头。"我把他们带到了这里，但我们病了。哦，太恶心了。没有什么地方是安全的。在这里他们是安全的。在那里我可以治愈他们。克隆他们的新身体...移植器官...他们会活下来！他们必须这么做。我需要的只是奇美拉!"
“You were doing all this to save your family?” I gaped at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
"你所做的一切都是为了拯救你的家人?"我目瞪口呆地看着他。"你为什么不告诉我?"
He snorted angrily. “Are you saying you’d believe me after what I did to your stable?” He had a point. I’d taken one heck of a pounding since then. I’d needed to see that office first. Read that message from a loving wife. “The sick fact is that what I am... this... this walking corpse... doesn’t deserve them. But their memory is the only thing keeping me from becoming a mindless feral. Saving them gives me purpose.”
他愤怒地哼了一声。"我对你的马厩做了那样的事，你是说你会相信我吗?"他说的有道理。从那以后我受到了很大的打击。我得先去看看那间办公室。读读这条来自爱妻的信息吧。"令人恶心的事实是，我......这个......这个行尸走肉......配不上他们。但是他们的记忆是唯一阻止我变成一个没有思想的野兽的东西。拯救他们给了我目标。"
I scowled at him. “Why’d you feed me that grand vision experiment on the Wasteland crap?”
我皱着眉头看着他。"你为什么要给我那个关于荒原的宏大愿景实验?"
“Do you really think Red Eye is big on sentimentalism? Or Reapers? Or monsterponies? I needed Red Eye’s help, he needed Flux and the Impelled Metamorphosis Potion. He’d be able to care for my family! Give them the life and safety they deserved. I wouldn’t have my wife raped by raiders or my sons turned into savages. Red Eye is creating schools. Civilization! And he doesn’t care if you’re a ghoul… unlike Tenpony.”
"你真的认为《红眼》很感情用事吗？还是收割者？还是怪物？我需要红眼的帮助，他需要通量和推动变形药水。他能照顾我的家人！给他们应得的生命和安全。我不会让我的妻子被强奸或者我的儿子变成野蛮人。红眼正在创建学校。文明！他不在乎你是不是食尸鬼，不像天马神。"
“You put them in stasis pods, like the others,” I said as I stared at him.
"你把他们放在休眠舱里，就像其他人一样,"我盯着他说。
“Yes… but once activated, I couldn’t open them! I can’t even monitor their status. Chimera would have to be activated first. I tried tampering with them from time to time, but it was risky. Killed the occupants of some by accident, woke up some of the others. Told them I could fix them, or give them whatever they wanted and needed. Set up some with the Reapers.” He glanced at Psychoshy before he resumed pacing back and forth. “I learned that the stasis pods had a flaw: not all ponies put in stayed unconscious. Some were trapped
"是的......但是一旦激活，我就打不开了！我甚至无法监控他们的状态。奇美拉必须先被激活。我时不时地试着摆弄它们，但这样做很危险。意外杀死了一些居民，唤醒了一些其他人。告诉他们我可以修好它们，或者给他们任何他们想要和需要的东西。和收割者一起建立一些。"他瞥了一眼心理害羞，然后又开始来回踱步。"我了解到停滞舱有一个缺陷:并非所有被放进去的小马都处于无意识状态。有些人被困住了
and went insane.” He shuddered, hanging his head. “I couldn’t wait after that. Not knowing if my family was trapped in their pods, trapped in their heads, screaming. Sent Deus after your stable… last place Silver Stripe traced it. And then…”
然后就疯了"他颤抖着，低下了头。"我等不及了。不知道我的家人是否被困在他们的豆荚里，困在他们的脑袋里，尖叫着。派上帝去找你的马厩...银条纹追踪到的最后一个地方。然后......"
He looked at me and screamed, “Then you fucked everything up!”
他看着我，尖叫着,"那你把一切都搞砸了!"
He launched himself at me in a frenzy, a toxic cloud pouring out of every gap and hole in him. I kept backing away, using my fingers to throw crates and barrels in his face whenever he started to exhale. It was different than fighting an enemy with a gun, though. The vapors burned, even without a direct hit. Holding my breath did no good; the toxins were entering through my hide. Finally, I trod on one of the corpses and my leg slipped out from under me.
他疯狂地向我扑来，毒云从他身上的每一个缺口和洞口倾泻而出。我不停地后退，每当他开始呼气的时候，我就用手指把板条箱和桶扔到他脸上。不过，这和用枪对付敌人是不一样的。即使没有直接击中，蒸汽仍然燃烧着。屏住呼吸没有任何好处，毒素正从我的皮肤进入。最后，我踩到了一具尸体，我的腿从下面滑了出来。
I rolled onto my back once more, and he stood over me. Pink vapors burned my cheek; I felt the flesh bubbling from the contact. He drew a long, slow wet breath. Then I looked above him…
我又一次仰面躺下，他站在我身边。粉红色的烟雾灼烧着我的脸颊，我感觉到肉从接触处冒出来。他长长地、缓缓地、湿漉漉地吸了一口气。然后我看着他的上方..。
Glory?
晨辉？
The crate dropped on Sanguine’s back with a resounding crunch, and he collapsed beneath its weight. A pink spray poured down through the catwalk grate into the sea of noxious vapor beneath us. I rolled away, feeling my flesh drip. Oh, I really, really hoped I could regenerate this! Then I stared in shock as Psychoshy landed beside him, tears streaking her cheeks.
随着一声巨响，板条箱落在了桑吉尼的背上，他在板条箱的重压下倒下了。一股粉红色的水花穿过狭窄的通道壁炉，倾泻到我们脚下有毒的水蒸气的海洋中。我滚开了，感觉我的肉在滴水。哦，我真的，真的希望我可以再生这个！然后我震惊地盯着那个神经病落在他身边，泪水在她的脸颊上留下了痕迹。
“You said it was going to be you and me, Sanguine. That it’d be us in our life with Red Eye,” the orange mare sobbed. “Were you going to kill me once you had Chimera? Or were you just going to dump me and run off with your family?”
""你说过只有你和我，桑吉尼。"我们的生活中会有红眼,"橙色的母马抽泣着说。"一旦你得到奇美拉，你会杀了我吗？还是你打算甩了我，和你的家人私奔?"
“Stupid… ungrateful… wretched… traitorous… meat. I should have thrown you away when I had the chance,” he hissed beneath the crate. Then his lips curled. “Well, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
"愚蠢的......忘恩负义的......卑鄙的......背信弃义的......肉。我应该在有机会的时候把你扔出去,"他在箱子下面嘶嘶地说。然后他的嘴唇微微翘起。"好吧，这已经不重要了。"
“Oh yeah? Why?” I asked with a snort, then a wince. I really hoped I still had the left side of my face! At least I could still blink that eye.
"哦，是吗？为什么?"我哼了一声，然后退缩了一下。我真希望我还有左半边脸！至少我还能眨眨眼睛。
“Ahem,” coughed a voice behind me. I turned and stared at three hovering griffins in power armor and a dozen more guardponies, similarly equipped. One
"咳咳,"我身后传来一个咳嗽的声音。我转过身来，盯着三只身穿强力盔甲在空中盘旋的狮鹫和十几只装备类似的警卫小马。一个
pressed a gun to P-21’s head as he pinned the struggling stallion. The lead griffin, pointing a high caliber precision rifle at my head, said, “We wanted to tell you that we’ve got the Flux loaded and are ready to leave.” He looked at the pinned ghoul. “Do you have Chimera?”
当P-21按住挣扎中的种马时，他用枪指着他的头。领头的狮鹫用一把高口径的精确步枪指着我的头说,"我们想告诉你，我们已经把飞弹装好了，准备离开了。"他看着被钉住的食尸鬼。"你有奇美拉吗?"
“Almost!” he rasped, his broken hooves scraping at the catwalk grate. “I’m so close. Just kill her… and… I just need a little more time!”
"差一点!"他粗声粗气地说，他的破蹄子在t形通道的格栅上摩擦。"我就快成功了。杀了她......我还需要一点时间!"
“I see,” the griffin replied as the guards trotted past us and Sanguine gave a growing smile. But then they simply collected their fallen comrades and their wounded, doing nothing against me or to help free him. His glassy eyes popped wide when they started to trot back out the way they came.
"我明白了,"守卫从我们身边小跑而过时，狮身鹰首兽回答道，桑吉尼露出了越来越灿烂的笑容。但是他们只是把他们倒下的战友和伤员集中起来，没有做任何反对我或者帮助他获得自由的事情。当他们开始朝来的方向小跑时，他呆滞的眼睛瞪得大大的。
“No. What are you doing? No. No no no… you can’t! You need me!” Sanguine shouted after them.
"没有。你在干什么？没有。不，不，不...你不能！你需要我!"桑吉尼在他们后面喊道。
The griffin just snorted. “Glue cracked Twilight’s notes three days ago. We don’t need you for anything. Red Eye thanks you for your offer of prewar aid but says he can’t extend any more time or resources for Chimera. In addition, for your crimes against the mining settlement at Brimstone’s Fall, Red Eye wishes for me to personally inform you that you will be shot on sight if you are seen anywhere in the vicinity of the Cathedral or Fillydelphia.”
狮鹫哼了一声。"三天前破解了《暮光之城》的笔记。我们不需要你做任何事。红眼感谢你提供的战前援助，但说他不能延长任何更多的时间或资源为奇美拉。此外，对于你在Brimstone'sFall的采矿定居点犯下的罪行，红眼希望我亲自通知你，如果你在大教堂或菲利德菲亚附近的任何地方被发现，你将被一枪毙命
I stared as they released P-21 and started to go. “Wait… you’re just leaving him?” I asked. The griffin looked amused. “You’re not going to kill us?” Somehow, I felt a little... surprised... that somepony else was showing us mercy rather than just killing us for the fun of it. That it was coming from one of Red Eye’s people was a touch more disturbing.
我凝视着他们释放P-21并开始行动。"等等......你就这么离开他了?"我问道。狮身鹰首兽看起来很开心。"你不会杀了我们吧?"不知怎么的，我感到有点...惊讶...有些小马对我们表示了怜悯，而不是仅仅为了好玩而杀了我们。这个消息来自于红眼的一个手下，这更让人感到不安。
“You’re welcome. Near as I can tell, leaving you alive in this hellhole is worse punishment than killing you. Besides, the robots in the tunnels will probably do that. As for us, our Contract is done. We have the Flux needed, and we'll deduct his payment,” he said with a wave at the pinned ghoul, "to cover the extra costs and loss of life." The griffin gave a snide grin. “Be glad I’m not Vermilion, Sanguine. After the annoyance you caused him… well, I’m pretty sure he’d take the time to get creative.” He flew off towards the others. I watched them go and sat down hard. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. I’ve had enough of pony freaks, ghouls, and killer robots in general. Hoofington can kiss my tail.”
"不客气。在我看来，把你留在这个鬼地方比杀了你还要糟糕。此外，隧道里的机器人可能也会这么做。至于我们，我们的合同已经完成了。我们有需要的通量，我们将扣除他的付款,"他说，与一波钉住食尸鬼,"以支付额外的费用和生命的损失。"狮身鹰兽露出了一个带有讽刺意味的笑容。""幸好我不是朱砂，血红。在你给他带来烦恼之后......嗯，我敢肯定他会花时间发挥创造力。"他向其他人飞去。我看着他们走了，然后坐了下来。"来吧。我们走吧。我已经受够了小马怪人、食尸鬼和机器人杀手。胡芬顿可以亲吻我的尾巴了。"
When they’d disappeared down the catwalk I turned back to look at Sanguine
当他们消失在t型台上时，我转过身去看桑吉娜
trapped beneath the crate, saying, “Well that was interes--”
被困在板条箱下面，说道,"那真是有趣——"
P-21 had jammed a grenade in his mouth.
P-21向他嘴里塞了一枚手榴弹。
“Stop!” I yelled. Psychoshy looked shocked, Rampage sighed, Boo flinched, and P-21 scowled. Sanguine stared back at me, his pink breath trickling around the apple.
"住手!"我喊道。心理害羞看起来很震惊，狂暴叹了口气，布退缩了，P-21皱起了眉头。血红色的眼睛回望着我，他那粉红色的呼吸在苹果周围流淌。
“No, Blackjack. Fuck no!” P-21 yelled, hoof poised over the stem. “This bastard needs to die. He needs to die in the worst possible way.”
"不，黑杰克。当然不是!"P-21喊道，蹄子停在茎上。"这个混蛋必须死。他必须以最糟糕的方式死去。"
“I’m not arguing that,” I said as I stepped closer to him. This was it. Get the PipBuck back… kill him. Or was I going to go for the triple win and lie to him to help Scotch? Kill him. Finish him off. Or let somepony else kill him. My hooves would be clean then… right? I sighed as I sat down, looking at the ghoul. “Why didn’t you just tell me the truth?”
"我不是在争论这个问题,"我走近他时说。就是这个。把皮伯克拿回来...杀了他。还是我打算为了苏格兰威士忌三连胜而对他撒谎？杀了他。干掉他。或者让别人杀了他。那我的蹄子就干净了...对吧？我叹了口气，坐下来，看着食尸鬼。"你为什么不告诉我真相?"
“Damn it, Blackjack! You swore to kill him! You swore to Dusty Trails as she was dying!” P-21 yelled at me. I knew I had. I did, but… “You can’t just let him live! I’ll kill him if you won’t! I’ll do it.”
"该死，黑杰克！你发誓要杀了他！你在达斯蒂·崔斯快死的时候向她发过誓!"P-21对我大吼大叫。我知道我有。我说了但是..."你不能让他活着！如果你不杀他，我就杀了他！我会的。"
“No. You won’t,” I said evenly, looking him in the eye. “Because I know that you’re a good pony, P-21, and good ponies don’t kill in cold blood.” He shook, his hoof tapping against the metal case of the grenade in Sanguine’s mouth. “Besides, I want to hear his answer.”
"没有。你不会的,"我平静地说，看着他的眼睛。"因为我知道你是一匹好马，P-21，好马不会冷血地杀人。"他颤抖着，蹄子敲打着放在桑吉尼嘴里的手榴弹金属壳。"而且，我想听听他的回答。"
P-21 gave a ragged, exacerbated laugh. “Who cares what his reason was! Does it matter? Is there anything he could possibly say that could excuse what he did in the mine? What he did to Priest?” he demanded, his eyes drilling into me. “Sweet Celestia, Blackjack! Just kill him!”
P-21发出一阵刺耳而又激烈的笑声。"谁在乎他的理由是什么！这重要吗？他有什么话可以为他在矿井里的所作所为开脱吗？他对牧师做了什么?"他问道，他的眼睛盯着我。"亲爱的天堂，黑杰克！杀了他!"
“Your call,” Rampage said with a little shrug. Psychoshy simply kept her head turned away as she wept. Boo stared, wide-eyed.
"你说了算,"朗格耸了耸肩说。精神病患者哭泣的时候，只是把头转过去。布瞪大了眼睛。
“I’ll do it. I will. I will!” P-21 yelled as he shook, gritting his teeth. One flick. Just one. I moved even closer to him. I wanted to win. Wanted to avenge Dusty and Priest. Wanted to do all of that. And so did he. Then I put my hooves around him and held him close.
"我来吧。我会的。我会的!"P-21一边抖一边大叫，咬紧牙关。一部电影。只有一个。我离他更近了。我想赢。想为达斯蒂和牧师报仇。我想做这一切。他也是。然后我用蹄子围住它，紧紧地抱住它。
“He’s not the Overmare,” I whispered softly. P-21 froze and then leaned against
"他不是奥佛梅尔,"我轻声说。P-21僵住，然后靠在
me as he sniffed. “Killing him won’t be killing her. And it won’t bring Priest back.” He let out a soft sob, muffled by my mane as I held him close. “I wish I could follow through on that promise to Dusty… I do… maybe I still will. But not like this.”
他一边闻一边问我。"杀了他并不等于杀了她。也不会让牧师复活。"他发出一声轻柔的呜咽，当我紧紧抱住他时，他的声音被我的鬃毛遮住了。"我希望我能兑现对达斯蒂的承诺......我真的......也许我仍然会这么做。但不是像这样。"
He ever so slowly pulled his hoof away and murmured, “Maybe… but he should be killed. He’s done horrible things… he deserves to die for them.” And I couldn’t argue with that. He was right. Sanguine should die. It would be a win. The right thing to do.
他慢慢地拉开他的蹄子，低声说,"也许......但他应该被杀死。他做了可怕的事情...他应该为他们而死。"我无法反驳这一点。他是对的。乐观应该去死。这将是一场胜利。正确的做法。
But I’m not an executioner.
但我不是刽子手。
P-21 moved aside, and Rampage sighed, “Softest damned heart in the Wasteland, I swear.” The filly shook her head and carefully tugged the grenade out. Then she narrowed her eyes. “I don’t have a soft heart, so if you so much a sneeze at her, I’m going to do a power hoof tapdance on your skull. Understand?”
P-21闪到一边，狂暴地叹了口气:"我发誓，这是荒原上最柔软的该死的心。"小母马摇摇头，小心翼翼地把手榴弹拉了出来。然后她眯起眼睛。"我的心脏不软，所以如果你敢对她打喷嚏，我就在你的头骨上来一段有力的踢踏舞。明白吗?"
“Sure,” he replied quietly. He hadn’t taken his eyes off me. I heaved the crate off him, and he rose slowly, staring. “Your friend is right. I do deserve to die.”
"当然,"他平静地回答。他的眼睛一直盯着我。我把那个箱子从他身上举了下来，他慢慢地站起来，盯着我看。"你的朋友是对的。我确实该死。"
“Ponies keep telling me that.” I stared back. “What I don’t understand is, if you know what you’re doing is so wrong, why do you keep on being bad? I know what it’s like to screw up. All I can try and do is do better.”
"小马一直这么跟我说。"我回头看了看。"我不明白的是，如果你知道你所做的事情是如此错误，为什么你还要继续做坏事呢？我知道把事情搞砸是什么感觉。我所能做的就是做得更好。"
“Well, some of us weren’t so good even before we became monsters,” he replied. “So. What now? As soon as those tankers leave, this place will be overrun.”
"嗯，我们中的一些人甚至在变成怪物之前就不那么好了,"他回答。"所以。现在怎么办？只要那些油罐车一离开，这个地方就会泛滥。"
“I’d love to know by who, how, and why, but I don’t have time for that. When I was dying, you said you could replace organs for me using Chimera. Well, now I have a friend who breathed a whole lungful of chlorine gas, and if she’s not dead now, she may be soon,” I said as I stared into his eyes. “So I’ll unlock Chimera if you’ll do what you have to do to make a clone for her.”
"我很想知道是谁，怎么知道的，为什么知道，但是我没有时间。我快死的时候，你说你可以用奇美拉替我换器官。好吧，现在我有一个朋友，她吸入了整整一肺的氯气，如果她现在还没有死，可能很快就会死,"我盯着他的眼睛说。"所以，如果你不惜一切代价为奇美拉制造一个克隆体，我就会解锁她。"
“You’ll just give me Chimera for that?” he stammered in disbelief.
"你就为了这个给我奇美拉?"他结结巴巴地表示难以置信。
“No. I’m not giving it to you. Sorry, I don’t trust you or Red Eye with it. But I will let you help your family. And if this is an O.I.A. facility, then I can’t believe it doesn’t have some kind of automated defenses.”
"没有。我不会给你的。对不起，我不相信你或者红眼。但我会让你帮助你的家人。如果这是一个o.i.a.设施，那么我无法相信它没有某种自动防御。"
“It does…” he murmured, then lowered his eyes. “You asked me why I didn’t tell you about my family. Why I talked like some sort of mad scientist from a bad pulp novel? The answer is simple… I’m ashamed. Being a mad scientist ghoul was better… easier… than being a father unable to beg for help. And because I never imagined you’d believe me or help me if I did.”
"是的......"他低声说，然后垂下了眼睛。"你问我为什么不告诉你我的家庭。为什么我说起话来像是一部糟糕的低俗小说里的疯狂科学家？答案很简单......我感到羞愧。成为一个疯狂的科学家食尸鬼比成为一个无法乞求帮助的父亲更好...更容易。因为我从来没有想过如果我相信了你会相信我或者帮助我。"
Rampage ripped my PipBuck off Psychoshy’s leg. The pegasus with the ratty wings couldn’t look at anypony. Sanguine glanced back at the golden-maned mare. “I’m sorry I used you, Fluttershy. Only a pony descended from a Ministry Mare could use EC-1101.”
狂暴撕裂了我的皮布克，从那个变态的腿上扯下来。飞马有着破烂的翅膀，不能看任何小马。桑吉娜回头看了一眼那匹金色鬃毛的母马。"对不起，我利用了你，小弗。只有来自马力部的小马才能使用EC-1101。"
“Is she a clone or something?” Rampage asked as she passed me my PipBuck.
"她是克隆人还是什么?"当她把我的皮布克递给我时，狂暴问道。
“No,” Sanguine said simply. “She’s Fluttershy’s daughter.”
"不,"桑吉尼简单地说。"她是小萤火虫的女儿。"
* * *
* * *
Sanguine and Psychoshy weren’t talking much about the details of that little bomb. P-21 wasn’t talking to anypony. And Rampage was duct taping my PipBuck to my limb until Scotch could wire it up properly. And now my vision was filling with all kinds of fancy little images, displays, and pictures. I winced and said, “Okay, did you mess with all my settings or something?” Had my E.F.S. always flashed and twitched like this? It was making my head hurt a little... no… strike that. It was making my head hurt bad.
乐观主义者和心理害羞主义者并没有谈论那个小炸弹的细节。P-21没有和任何小马说话。然后狂暴把我的管子绑在我的肢体上，直到苏格兰人把它绑好。现在我的视野里充满了各种各样的奇特的小图片、显示器和图片。我皱着眉头说,"好吧，你是不是把我所有的设置都弄乱了还是怎么了?"我的e.f.s总是像这样闪烁和抽搐吗？它让我的头有点...不...撞到那里了。它让我的头疼得厉害。
Then, just like that, it all stopped. Everything did. The pain, the flashes… everything. I felt like I’d just entered S.A.T.S. and was frozen in the moment of calm consideration.
然后，就这样，一切都停止了。所有的事情都是这样。疼痛，闪光...一切。我觉得自己好像刚刚进入了s.a.t.s.，一时间陷入了冷静的思考。
And the Dealer was there before me. The cards shuffled repeatedly in his hooves… and with each shuffle I saw numbers in the margins of my vision shifting and randomizing and disappearing again. His pale eyes stared into mine from under the brim of that dark hat. “So... what are you? You’re not my crazy, are you?”
"商人"比我先到。他的蹄子不停地洗牌......每次洗牌，我都能在视野边缘看到数字在不断地移动、随机化和消失。他那双苍白的眼睛从那顶黑色的帽檐下盯着我。"那么......你是什么？你不是我的疯子吧?"
“Let’s play that game when we’ve got a little more time to spare,” he rasped as he turned over the deck of cards. “You’ve got enough on your plate as it is.” He had a point, not that I liked it.
"等我们有更多的时间的时候，我们再来玩这个游戏吧,"他一边翻牌一边粗声粗气地说。"你已经够忙的了。"他说的有道理，但我并不喜欢。
“You know. I thought for a moment that, when I left here, I’d have fewer
"你知道的。我想了一会儿，当我离开这里的时候，我会少一些
questions than when I arrived.” I added a mental stomp of my hoof. “I wonder if LittlePip wants to trade? I’ll go fight brain-reading monsters, and she can deal with all this mystery horseshit!” Not like there was much in my brain worth reading.
比我来的时候更多的问题。"我用心跺了跺我的蹄子。"我想知道小皮普是否愿意交易？我去对付那些会读脑子的怪物，而她可以处理所有这些神秘的狗屎!"我脑子里没有什么值得一读的东西。
“You ought to know better,” he muttered, tilting his hat up. “You sure you want to do this, Blackjack? That ghoul doesn’t deserve your spit, let alone your mercy.”
"你应该知道得更清楚些,"他低声说，把帽子向上翘了起来。"你确定要这么做吗，黑杰克？那个食尸鬼不配得到你的唾弃，更不用说你的仁慈了。"
Was I sure? “What happens if I unlock Chimera?” I remembered Ol’ Hank talking about machines waking up and getting conflicting orders. “It’ll stop the conflicting orders here and wake up the systems, won’t it?” He smiled, seeming impressed.
我确定吗？"如果我解开奇美拉会发生什么?"我记得奥·汉克曾经说过机器醒来后会得到相互冲突的订单。"这会停止这里相互冲突的命令，唤醒系统，不是吗?"他微笑着，似乎被打动了。
“Sure. Here and everywhere. Word will go out to let Chimera be accessible along the networks and allow anypony with the right access codes to use the files. I have no idea how far and wide those networks stretch,” he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders, and then he frowned. “Funny…”
"当然。到处都是。消息将会传出去，让奇美拉可以通过网络访问，并允许任何拥有正确访问代码的人使用这些文件。我不知道这些网络延伸了多远多广,"他耸了耸肩承认，然后皱了皱眉。"有意思......"
“Funny… what?”
"有趣......什么?"
“Nothing. Just something familiar,” he said as he stared into my eyes. I almost would have blushed if I could move. “Just be careful. Once you open something, you can’t always close it again.”
"没什么。只是一些熟悉的东西,"他盯着我的眼睛说。如果我能动的话，我几乎会脸红。"小心点。一旦你打开了某个东西，你就不能总是再次关闭它。"
I wasn’t very sure about that, but I needed to help Scotch. This didn’t sit well with me, though. Once I unlocked it, then it would stay unlocked. What would stop Sanguine from coming back in ten years and starting all this back up again? I slipped out of S.A.T.S. and looked at Sanguine sitting there. He looked like a corpse. Not just the boiled appearance, with his face half torn off. He looked dead. I wondered just where the line was between a sane ghoul like Harpica and the many ferals I’d seen elsewhere, and just how close Sanguine was to crossing it.
我不是很确定，但我需要苏格兰威士忌。不过，这让我很不舒服。一旦我打开它，它就不会锁上。是什么阻止桑吉在十年后回来重新开始这一切呢？我溜出s.a.t.s.，看着坐在那里的Sanguine。他看起来像一具尸体。不仅仅是那张被煮熟的脸，还有一张被撕掉一半的脸。他看起来已经死了。我不知道像哈皮卡这样一个神智健全的食尸鬼和我在其他地方见过的许多野兽之间的界限在哪里，还有桑吉尼离这个界限有多近。
“Sanguine. Those explosives?” I pointed at the really big bombs on the pillars. “What are they for?”
"Sanguine.那些炸药?"我指着柱子上真正巨大的炸弹。"它们是干什么用的?"
It took him a while to shake out of his fugue. “If we ever lost containment, they would detonate, collapse this space and focus the force of the primary explosion,” he replied tiredly. Wait? Those big explosives weren’t for the
他花了一段时间才从他的赋格曲中恢复过来。"如果我们失去控制，他们就会引爆，摧毁这个空间，集中第一次爆炸的力量,"他疲惫地回答。等等？那些大型爆炸物不是为了
primary explosion? “Not sure if it would do any good, but it was preferable to letting it loose.”
第一次爆炸？"不知道这样做是否有好处，但总比放任自流要好。"
“It?” I asked with a frown. He gestured towards the round pillar in the center of the catwalk ring. I approached a short extension that stretched halfway across the void and looked up at the smooth face of the pillar. At the chimera carved into the face. Goat… lion… snake… all mixed and jumbled together. Written at the bottom of the strange mish-mash creature were the words: ‘Project Chimera’.
"它?"我皱着眉头问。他指着台阶中央的圆柱做手势。我走近一个延伸到中间的空间，抬头看着柱子光滑的表面。在嵌合体的脸上刻下。山羊......狮子......蛇......混杂在一起。在这个奇怪的乱七八糟的生物的底部写着:"奇美拉计划"。
Suddenly, I stiffened and felt as if a powerful hoof had suddenly pressed down on my mind. My hooves moved to walk me up to the very edge of the catwalk. The flickering numbers became even harsher, flashes and glares disrupting my sight. Suddenly, the room lit up; the pink mist had vanished, and below me whirred and clanked dozens of strange machines filling up thousands of barrels with rainbow Flux. My friends all disappeared, and I couldn’t move or speak as Twilight Sparkle and Goldenblood walked up to stand together on the edge before the immense polished cylinder. Twilight wore a look of horror on her face as she looked at the carving.
突然，我全身僵硬起来，感觉好像一只有力的蹄子突然踩在我的心上。我的蹄子动了动，把我带到了t型台的边缘。闪烁的数字变得更加刺耳，闪光和目光干扰了我的视线。突然，房间亮了起来，粉红色的雾气消失了，在我下面，几十台奇怪的机器嗡嗡作响，把成千上万的桶装满了彩虹。我的朋友们都消失了，我动弹不得，也说不出话来，这时紫悦和金布拉德一起走上前来，站在巨大光亮的圆柱体前面。暮光看着雕像，脸上带着恐惧的表情。
“No…” she whispered softly. “It can’t be.”
"不......"她轻声说。"不可能。"
“You can turn back now, Twilight,” Goldenblood murmured.
"你现在可以回去了，黄昏,"金血喃喃地说。
“Open it,” she hissed. “Right now.”
"打开它,"她嘶嘶地说。"就现在。"
“Twilight…”
"暮光之城......"
“Open it!”
"打开它!"
Goldenblood sighed and spoke formally, and I felt my lips move with him as I spoke his words. “Project Chimera containment open. Password: a wonderful, wonderful thing.”
金布拉德正式地叹了口气，说着话，我感到自己的嘴唇随着他的话一起动了起来。"嵌合体计划启动。密码:一个美妙的东西。"
The immense pillar rumbled as motors within jerked into life. A moment later, there came a hiss and crack. The top of the pillar slowly peeled open, unleashing a rainbow glare. I’d have shielded my eyes if I were capable of movement. Two panels swung wide while a third expanded downwards to form a bridge. My eyes adjusted to the light, and I saw it came from orbs embedded in the interior. I’d seen orbs like these before. A hoofful had utterly annihilated the Hoofington museum. Here, a grid of dozens, perhaps hundreds, were evenly spaced out in a
巨大的柱子隆隆作响，里面的马达猛然启动。过了一会儿，传来一阵嘶嘶声和劈啪声。柱子的顶端慢慢地打开，释放出彩虹般的光芒。如果我能动的话，我会遮住我的眼睛。两块太阳能电池板转得很宽，而第三块向下扩展形成了一座桥。我的眼睛适应了光线，我看到它来自内部嵌入的球体。我以前见过这样的球体。一个游击队员完全摧毁了Hoofington博物馆。在这里，一个由几十个，也许是几百个组成的网格，均匀地分布在一个
foot-by-foot grid covering the inner surface of the cylinder. Metallic hoses connected the pumps outside to the object in the center.
覆盖在圆筒内表面的一英尺一英尺的网格。金属软管把外面的泵连接到中间的物体上。
Mounted on a small pedestal in the middle was a glittering silver statue of the strange creature I’d seen on the outside of the cylinder. It wore an expression of absolute terror, twisted as if it had frozen in that state. The detail was such that I almost swore it was alive. “This is the basis of Project Chimera; the source of Flux. This is what your I.M.P. research is ultimately based upon. What causes the contaminations and mutations you’ve encountered time and time again. This is the secret you wanted to know so badly!” Goldenblood proclaimed as he gestured up at the silver statue.
在中间的一个小基座上安放着一个闪闪发光的银色塑像，塑像是我在圆筒外面看到的那个奇怪生物。它带着一种绝对恐怖的表情，扭曲着，好像在那种状态下已经凝固了。细节是如此之多，以至于我几乎发誓它是活的。"这是奇美拉计划的基础;通量的来源。这就是你的i.m.p.研究的最终依据。是什么导致了你一次又一次遇到的污染和突变。这就是你非常想知道的秘密!"金伯拉德指着那座银色的雕像喊道。
“Discord,” Twilight Sparkle whispered in horror, her eyes wide as she pressed her hooves to her mouth.
"不和,"紫悦惊恐地低声说，把蹄子贴在嘴上，眼睛睁得大大的。
Then a low, snide, nasal-sounding voice croaked in a condescending tone, “Hello, Twilight Sparkle. Long time no see.”
接着，一个低沉的、带着鼻音的声音用一种居高临下的口吻低声说道:"你好，紫悦。好久不见。"
 
Footnote: Level 5 Reached.
脚注:达到第5级。
New Perk added: Run 'n Gun: Halved spread with one-handed ranged weapons while walking or running.
新帕金斯补充道:跑步或跑步时单手远程武器的传播减半。
 
Author's Notes:
作者笔记:
(Author’s note: as always, I’d like to thank Kkat for creating Fallout: Equestria and Hinds, Bronode, and Snipehamster for making it worth reading. I’d also like to apologize for the chapter being late. I was horribly sick last weekend with a sinus infection. Thankyou to everypony who leaves comments and feedback, and thanks to everypony that leaves tips at David13ushey@ gmail. com through paypal. Every bit keeps this story going. I hope the chapter was entertaining. Thank you for reading.) (New Note: Also, I have a . All bits help.)
(作者注:像往常一样，我要感谢Kkat创作了辐射:Equestria和Hinds，Bronode和Snipehamster，感谢他们让这本书值得一读。我还要为这一章的迟到道歉。上周末我得了严重的鼻窦炎。感谢每一个留下评论和反馈的小马，感谢每一个在David13ushey@gmail留下提示的小马。通过贝宝。每一个细节都让这个故事继续下去。我希望这一章是有趣的。谢谢你的阅读。)(新注:此外，我有一个。所有的部分都有帮助。)