“I put two and two and two together and it added up to Matilda!”
"我把两个、两个、两个加在一起，就得到了玛蒂尔达!"
I can’t claim to be any kind of expert on parties, but it seemed to me that the cutie mark celebration was slowly winding down. Food was now in the process of digestion, the lengthening night robbed the party of its energy, and the rumble of thunder was the final nail in the celebration’s coffin; nopony wanted to have fun in the rain. Soon we were escorting the colts and fillies back down the hill to Chapel. The adults who’d attended carried two or three young ponies on their backs with slightly awkward looks. I could understand, though: these weren’t their children. Still, all of them seemed willing to do the right thing. To do better.
我不能声称自己是任何形式的派对专家，但它似乎对我来说，可爱的标志庆祝活动正在缓慢结束。食物现在正在消化过程中，漫长的夜晚剥夺了派对的活力，隆隆的雷声是庆祝活动棺材上的最后一颗钉子;小马驹想在雨中找乐子。不久我们就护送小马和小雌马回到山下的教堂。参加会议的成年人背着两三匹小马，表情略显笨拙。不过，我可以理解:他们不是他们的孩子。尽管如此，他们似乎都愿意做正确的事情。为了做得更好。
Several of the younger foals climbed into the cart the Crusaders used to move salvage, and I hauled it down the hill and around the minefield. The fillies and colts all staggered into the post office to sleep, and the adults crawled under tarps or into the few other buildings as the Hoofington skies began to pour.
几只小马驹爬上十字军用来移动打捞物的马车，我把它拖下山，绕过雷区。当Hoofington的天空开始倾盆大雨时，小雌马和小马都摇摇晃晃地进入邮局睡觉，大人们在防水布下或者爬进其他几栋建筑里。
While my friends returned to Star House, I lingered a moment. The heavy drops started to hiss as they struck the piles of lumber, stacks of recycled building material, and cracked asphalt. I looked at the ditch full of dirty water. Just yesterday, I’d jumped in and tried to save a filly. Today we were having a party. What would happen tomorrow? I grit my teeth as I felt my emotions give a sudden lurch. It wasn’t fair. Wasn’t right!
当我的朋友们回到星宫时，我逗留了一会儿。当沉重的雨点打在成堆的木材、成堆的再生建筑材料和碎裂的沥青上时，开始发出嘶嘶声。我看着满是污水的沟渠。就在昨天，我跳进去试图救一匹小母马。今天我们在开派对。明天会发生什么？我咬紧牙关，因为我感到我的情绪突然倾斜。这不公平。是不对的！
I looked at my leg, where the damned program that had caused all the trouble in my life lay. I wanted to throw it in the river then and there. I’d never relinquish it to the Harbingers–whatever they served was not worth that–but it would be satisfying to know that nopony would get their hooves on the thing. I deserved to have it, though. I deserved all the pain it…
我看着自己的腿，那该死的程序在我的生活中制造了所有的麻烦。我当时就想把它扔进河里。我永远不会把它让给"先驱者"——不管他们提供什么，都不值得——但是知道没有小马驹会把蹄子踩在上面，我会感到很满足。不过，这是我应得的。所有的痛苦都是我活该。
No! I wasn’t going to do this again. I sucked in great breaths of wet rain and struggled for control. With each breath, a little bit of the anxiety inside me escaped. I let the rain wash across my face as I fought the urge to kick myself right into the ground. This was the Wasteland, and people died. I’d tried to save her. I’d tried. Bit by bit, stability asserted itself.
不！我不会再这么做了。我深吸了几口湿漉漉的雨水，努力控制自己。随着每一次呼吸，我内心的一点焦虑都得到了释放。我让雨水冲刷着我的脸，努力克制着想把自己踢到地上的冲动。这里是荒原，人们死去。我试着去救她。我试过了。一点一点地，稳定得到了巩固。
Was EC-1101 worth all this grief? I’d had a good day. Not exactly a normal one, but good. What would it be like to have several more? I needed to think, so I walked slowly along the road down to the lonely shell of the church building. The forlorn structure hadn’t been repaired at all; all the energy had been spent on the village itself.
Ec-11101值得我们如此悲痛吗？我今天过得很愉快。虽然不是很正常，但还不错。再来几杯会是什么感觉？我需要思考，所以我慢慢地沿着路走下去，来到教堂孤零零的外壳前。这座被遗弃的建筑物根本没有得到修复，所有的精力都花在了村庄本身。
I looked up at the dark window from which Princess Celestia had once gazed down at her loving subjects. Now I could only see the black towers outlined in the stark electric green glow of the Core through the empty, shard-rimmed frame. Water dripped and pattered through the holes torn in the roof. The cushions were saturated, squishing unpleasantly beneath me as I knelt upon them. My eyes passed over the shadowed paintings of the Ministry Mares, their faces lost in the gloom. Even my augmented vision didn’t do much. The only one I could make out well at all was Twilight Sparkle; judgmental purple eyes stared down at me. They were Mom’s eyes.
我抬头看着塞勒斯蒂娜公主曾经凝视过的黑暗的窗户。现在我只能透过空荡荡的碎片边框看到核心区发出的明亮的电绿色光芒勾勒出的黑色塔楼。水哗啦哗啦地从屋顶上的破洞里滴下来。我跪在垫子上，它们湿透了，在我下面发出令人不快的吱吱声。我的眼睛扫过魔法部的母马的阴暗的画像，他们的脸在黑暗中消失了。甚至我的增强视觉也没有起到多大作用。我唯一能辨认出来的就是紫悦，一双审判的紫色眼睛低头看着我。那是妈妈的眼睛。
I closed my eyes and then accessed my recordings. Slowly, the hymn that had saved me from the nightmare beneath Horizon Labs began to play. I imagined that I could almost pick out Medley and Priest from the countless others. Of course, I couldn’t. The music sounded hollow and weak in the wet gloom, a ghost of the melody and the moment. Funny; just a few hours ago, I’d been using a ghost to save six lives.
我闭上眼睛，然后打开我的录音。慢慢地，把我从地平线实验室的噩梦中拯救出来的赞美诗开始播放。我想象着自己几乎可以从数不清的其他人中认出梅德利和普里斯特。当然，我做不到。音乐在潮湿的黑暗中听起来空洞而微弱，是旋律和瞬间的幽灵。有趣的是，就在几个小时前，我还在用一个鬼魂来拯救六条生命。
There was nothing funny about the real thing.
真实的事情一点也不好笑。
“Blackjack,” came P-21’s solemn voice from the door of the church. “I didn’t see you at the party.”
"黑杰克,"从教堂门口传来P-21的严肃声音。"我在派对上没看见你。"
“I don’t think I’m really all that much of a party pony anymore,” I replied as I looked at the water sloshing around the saturated violet cushion. “Does that mean I’m getting old?”
"我不认为我真的是一个派对小马了,"我一边回答，一边看着浸透了紫色垫子的水流。"这是不是意味着我老了?"
“Mature, maybe. I can’t imagine old. Or I can’t imagine anything but being old,” he said as he walked up slowly to stand beside me, pushing back his wide
"成熟，也许吧。我无法想象老。他一边说，一边慢慢走上前来，站在我身边，把他那张宽大的脸往后推
brimmed hat to look me in the eye. “Are you okay?”
戴着边缘帽子看着我的眼睛。"你还好吗?"
I was sitting alone in a ruined church on a rainy night all alone, and he asked if I was okay? I’d be scared of anypony who hung out in a place like this and found the term ‘okay’ applicable. “Yeah. Sure. As okay as I’ll ever be, I guess.” I looked at the blown-out window and went on, “I’m not feeling like I need to run or I’ll die. I only did one moderately stupid thing today. I’m depressed about Medley… and Boing… and everypony else I’ve failed, but I’m trying to deal with it. I’m happy for Glory and Scotch, at least. So... yeah.” I gave him a little smile. “Okay.”
在一个下雨的夜晚，我独自一人坐在破败的教堂里，他问我是否还好？我会害怕任何在这样的地方闲逛的小马，并且发现"还好"这个词是适用的。"是的。当然。我想，一切都会好起来的。"我看着被炸飞的窗户，继续说,"我不觉得我需要跑，否则我会死的。我今天只做了一件中等愚蠢的事。我为梅德利......和波音......还有其他我失败的小马感到沮丧，但是我正在努力处理它。至少我为荣誉和苏格兰威士忌感到高兴。所以......是的。"我给了他一个微笑。"好吧。"
I looked down at my PipBuck and fiddled with it as he watched me with a concerned frown. I flipped through a few songs, selecting one at random so I wouldn’t have to listen to dead ponies sing. It landed on something classical. No words. Just soft piano and strings that fit the drizzle around me. “I’ve been doing some thinking since Hightower… and Medley… and Priest… everything. I’ve been chasing after EC-1101 for weeks now, trying to find a secret. Now… now I’m wondering if I should. It was always a goal to chase after; an excuse to run myself right into the ground.”
我低头看着我的皮布克，摆弄着它，他关切地皱着眉头看着我。我翻了几首歌，随机选了一首，这样我就不用听死去的小马唱歌了。它降落在某种古典的东西上。没有言语。只有柔软的钢琴和弦乐，适合我周围的细雨。"自从海托华......梅德利......和普里斯特......所有的事情之后，我一直在思考。我已经追踪EC-1101好几个星期了，试图找到一个秘密。现在...现在我在想我是否应该。这总是一个值得追逐的目标，一个让自己陷入困境的借口。"
I looked towards the clouds above, barely visible in the green glow of the Core. “Maybe I should give up on following EC-1101. Help folks here. Deal with the Harbingers and Red Eye. Try and fix up what I can rather than just getting folks killed trying to get to a navigation tag.” I forced a smile as wide as I could. “That would be better, wouldn’t it? Glory would be happier knowing I’m keeping out of trouble. You could spend more time with Scotch. We could work out Rampage’s problems.”
我朝上面的云层望去，在地核发出的绿色光芒中几乎看不见。"也许我应该放弃追随EC-1101。帮助这里的人们。对付先驱者和红眼。尝试修复我能修复的东西，而不是仅仅为了找到一个导航标签而让人们送命。"我勉强挤出一个尽可能大的笑容。""那样更好，不是吗？知道我远离麻烦，晨辉会更高兴。你可以多花点时间在苏格兰威士忌上。我们可以解决狂暴的问题。"
But he didn’t look like he agreed with that at all. “Yeah. You could do that,” he said evenly. For almost a minute neither of us spoke, and my cheeks ached at the forced smile.
但是他看起来一点也不同意。"是的。你可以做到的,"他平静地说。我们俩几乎有一分钟都没说话，我的脸因为强颜欢笑而疼痛。
“So. That would be good. Right? Good for everypony,” I said as I rubbed my PipBuck nervously. “No more stupid adventures of Blackjack. Yay…” I forced every bit of insincerity I could into that cheer.
"所以。那太好了。对吧？对每个小马都有好处,"我一边说，一边紧张地搓着皮布克。"再也没有愚蠢的黑杰克冒险了。耶......"我强迫自己把所有的不真诚都融入到那种欢呼中。
“Except for you,” he said softly.
"除了你,"他温柔地说。
“Me?” I couldn’t believe it. My smile trembled even more. “I told you. I don’t care about EC-1101 anymore. It’s not… not worth everything we’ve been
"我?"我简直不敢相信。我的微笑更加颤抖。"我告诉过你。我不再关心EC-1101了。不值得我们付出这么多
through.” Not worth the worry I’d caused Glory. Not worth the danger I put my friends in. “I think I’ll give it to Spike or… or something.” It was a lame suggestion; I had no idea if Spike would accept it when he was already guarding the Gardens. But P-21 just looked at me with that steady blue gaze and disappointed little smile. I finally snapped. “Sweet Celestia, P-21, fuck whatever I want! What I’ve wanted has been a fucking disaster. What about what you want? You want to stay with Scotch Tape. Say I’m wrong. Glory deserves a little attention and stability. Rampage needs help more than me. Fuck my Goddesses-damned quest!”
通过。"不值得为我带来的晨辉而担心。不值得我把我的朋友置于危险之中。"我想我会把它给斯派克或者......或者别的什么。"这是个蹩脚的建议;我不知道斯派克是否会接受，因为他已经在看守花园了。但是P-21只是带着平静的蓝色目光和失望的微笑看着我。我终于忍不住了。"亲爱的塞莱斯蒂亚，P-21，我想干什么就干什么！我想要的是一场他妈的灾难。你想要什么？你想用透明胶带。说我错了。荣誉值得一点关注和稳定。狂暴比我更需要帮助。去他妈的女神-该死的任务!"
But he didn’t answer. He pulled the brim lower over his eyes. “Yeah. I do want that. These last couple of days have been… well… they’ve been the best in my life. Damned wonderful. And I know Glory’d be happy with that. Rampage too. But you’ve been following that for a month, and now you just want to give it up?”
但是他没有回答。他把帽沿拉得更低，盖住了眼睛。"是的。我确实希望如此。过去的几天是......嗯......是我一生中最美好的时光。真是太好了。我知道晨辉会很高兴的。狂暴也是。但是你已经坚持了一个月了，现在你就想放弃吗?"
“Yes! Why not? Who cares what Goldenblood did? Who gives a damn about what Project Horizons is? Why can’t I just...” Just what? Quit? The question caught in my throat and our eyes met again. This time, I was the one who looked down at my rain-streaked hooves.
"是的！为什么不呢？谁在乎金血王做了什么？谁在乎什么视野计划？为什么我不能..."只是什么？辞职？这个问题卡在我的喉咙里，我们的目光再次相遇。这一次，我是那个低头看着我雨痕累累的蹄子的人。
He put his hoof on my shoulder, and I looked into his eyes. I didn’t see the hard blue gaze of my friend. They were calmer, softer. If 99 had been different… if so many things had been different… “If I thought you really wanted to give it up, sure. But I don’t think you do. I think that this is just another case of you tearing yourself down. Something to make you miserable. Like me refusing to tell Scotch the truth. Me convincing myself that I deserved to be miserable.” He patted my shoulder, and his smile widened a little. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
他把他的蹄子放在我的肩上，我看着他的眼睛。我没有看到我朋友那坚定的蓝色目光。他们更冷静，更温柔。如果99不一样......如果很多事情都不一样......"如果我认为你真的想放弃，当然。但我觉得你不知道。我认为这只是你自我毁灭的又一个例子。让你痛苦的东西。就像我拒绝告诉苏格兰人真相。我说服自己，我活该痛苦。"他拍了拍我的肩膀，笑得有点开心。"告诉我我错了。"
I opened my mouth soundlessly once, unable to speak the lie. Finally I whispered, “You’re not wrong.” I should give it up. It was going to get me… my friends… everypony killed. “It’s just… this was a good day for everypony. I’d really like to see more of them… you know?”
有一次我无声地张开了嘴，说不出那个谎言。最后我低声说,"你没错。"我应该放弃。它会害死我...我的朋友...每个人。"只是......今天对每个人来说都是美好的一天。我真的很想多看看他们......你知道吗?"
“Me too,” he replied with an unusual smile as he nudged my shoulder. “And when you find out the answer to this mystery and EC-1101 is really done, that’ll be a great day. For you. For everypony. But no giving up on it, Blackjack. Not unless you’ll really be happy with it.”
"我也是,"他不寻常地微笑着回答，轻轻地推了推我的肩膀。"当你找到了这个谜题的答案，ec-11101也真的完成了，那将是美好的一天。给你的。给每一匹小马。但是不要放弃，Blackjack。除非你真的对它感到满意。"
I sighed and closed my eyes. And I knew I wouldn’t. The questions and mystery would be there like a thorn in my mind. Eventually I’d resent my friends for my own stupid decision. Finally, I smiled in resignation. “Okay. You’re right. I guess I’m just being… not smart again…”
我叹了口气，闭上了眼睛。我知道我不会的。那些疑问和神秘就像是我脑海中的一根刺。最终，我会因为自己愚蠢的决定而怨恨我的朋友。最后，我无可奈何地笑了。"好吧。你说得对。我想我只是...又不够聪明了..."
“You’re smarter than you think,” P-21 replied evenly.
"你比你想象的要聪明,"P-21平静地回答。
“Yeah. Brain damage did me some good.” I snorted and rolled my eyes sarcastically before frowning in seriousness. “If I just had a clue what Horizons was! Sanguine said it was something bad and something big. Real big. And apparently, from what I saw on Goldenblood’s terminal, wherever and whatever it is… it’s ready to go off. But I can’t think of anypony who’d have a clue as to what it is or what it’s meant to do. The only ones who might know are the Harbingers, and we’re not exactly on speaking terms at the moment.”
"是的。脑损伤对我有好处。"在严肃地皱起眉头之前，我不无嘲讽地哼了一声，翻了一下眼珠。"要是我知道地平线是什么就好了！桑吉尼说这是一件坏事，一件大事。真的很大。显然，从我在金血王的终端上看到的，不管它在哪里，不管它是什么...它已经准备好爆炸了。但是我想不出有谁会知道它是什么，或者它意味着什么。唯一可能知道这件事的人是"先驱者"，而且我们目前还没有正式交谈过。"
P-21 frowned, seeming lost in thought before he slowly nodded. “Yeah…”
P-21在慢慢点头之前，皱起了眉头，似乎陷入了沉思。"是啊......"
“Well, nothing I can do about that now. While I can’t quit, I think I can spare a short vacation from EC-1101. A week or two, maybe,” I said with a smile. Or till the Harbingers showed up. “See? Blackjack can learn.” Somehow, my joke didn’t reach him.
"好吧，现在我也无能为力了。虽然我不能辞职，但我想我可以从EC-1101中抽出一个短假期。也许一两个星期吧,"我笑着说。或者直到先驱者出现。""看见了吗？黑杰克可以学习。"不知怎么的，我的笑话没有打动他。
“Yeah,” he said as he stared away out the door. “Blackjack. Do you trust me?” I caught the glint of guilt in his eyes as he peeked back at me from the corner of his eye.
"是啊,"他一边说，一边目不转睛地盯着门外。"黑杰克。你相信我吗?"当他从眼角回望我时，我注意到他眼中闪烁着内疚的光芒。
“Sure,” I answered at once. “I trust all of you.”
"当然,"我马上回答。"我相信你们所有人。"
“Even if we… I… did something behind your back?”
"即使我们.....。.在你背后做了什么?"
I looked at him for a long moment, and then smiled, “All of you are a whole lot smarter than I am, P-21. If you did something and didn’t tell me… well, I trust you’d only do it for good reason. And I trust that you’d tell me sooner or later.” My response seemed to tear at him a little. I knew it couldn’t be easy for him.
我看了他好一会儿，然后微笑着说:"你们比我聪明多了，P-21。如果你做了什么事却没有告诉我......好吧，我相信你做这件事是有充分的理由的。我相信你迟早会告诉我的。"我的回答似乎对他有点儿伤心。我知道这对他来说不容易。
He turned away and seemed to debate with himself a minute. I could have asked for whatever he was hiding from me, but I didn’t want to push him. Then he glanced back at me, and our eyes met. For the longest time, we seemed to just stare at one another. For the oddest reason, I thought back to 99 and meeting outside that supply room. It felt like it’d all been a dream. He turned, his stoic
他转过身去，似乎在和自己辩论了一会儿。我可以要求他对我隐瞒什么，但我不想逼他。然后他回头看了我一眼，我们的目光相遇了。在很长一段时间里，我们似乎只是盯着对方看。出于一个最奇怪的原因，我回想起99年在供应室外面见面的情景。这一切就像是一场梦。他转过身，他的坚忍
mask spoiled by the tension of worry about his eyes. He was waiting for me to ask. I was waiting for him to tell me. Finally, he lowered his gaze. “I have something to tell you, Blackjack. You’re not going to like it, though.”
面具被紧张的眼神弄坏了。他在等我问。我在等他告诉我。最后，他放低了目光。"我有事要告诉你，Blackjack。不过，你不会喜欢的。"
I arched a brow. “About Tenpony?” Heee, it wasn’t often I got to be the smug pony.
我挑起眉毛。"关于天波尼?"哎呀，我可不是经常得意洋洋的小马。
He was silent for a moment before he sighed and frowned with an annoyed little scowl. “So Glory told you. Figures.” He shook his head grimly, as he went on, “Well, we promised Homage we would when you were ready. She promised to talk with me first though.”
他沉默了一会儿，然后叹了口气，皱起了眉头，带着恼怒的小怒容。"晨辉告诉你了。我想也是。"他冷冷地摇了摇头，继续说道:"好吧，我们答应过'敬意'，等你准备好了就去。不过她答应先跟我谈谈。"
“Actually, she didn’t,” I answered as I looked at him. “I sort of worked out that something was wrong about what happened there.” He scowled at me, skepticism clear on his face. I sighed and rolled my eyes. “And I heard you and Rampage talking about it.” Surprise showed for a moment before he recomposed himself. He swallowed and looked out at the gloom around us.
"事实上，她没有,"我看着他回答。"我发现那里发生的事情有些不对劲。"他怒视着我，脸上流露出怀疑的神情。我叹了口气，转了转眼珠。"我听到你和狂暴谈论这件事。"他先惊奇了一会儿，然后才恢复了镇静。他咽了口唾沫，望着我们周围的黑暗。
“I’m… I’m sorry. We…” He didn’t seem to know how to finish.
"我...我很抱歉。我们......"他似乎不知道该怎么说完。
“Thought it was the best thing for me,” I finished for him and gave an honest smile. Any anger I’d have normally felt was muted by the rain and the talk I’d had with Dealer. I’d lied to my friends to protect them… they’d lied to me to protect me. That was the definition of ‘fair’. It didn’t matter if fair still sucked butt.
"我想这对我来说是最好的事情,"我为他说完，给了他一个诚实的微笑。我平时感觉到的任何愤怒都被雨水和我和庄家的谈话压制住了。我对我的朋友撒谎是为了保护他们......他们对我撒谎是为了保护我。这就是公平的定义。公平是不是还吸屁股并不重要。
“Yeah,” he muttered, looking ashamed. “When you ran off with LittlePip, Glory was in a panic. Homage was beside herself. We were all… concerned.” He sighed and shook his head. “Then you returned on a flight of alicorns and… yeah. All of us were really worried.”
"是啊,"他咕哝着，看起来很羞愧。"当你和小匹普私奔的时候，晨辉陷入了恐慌。效忠于她自己。我们都......很担心。"他叹了口气，摇了摇头。"然后你乘着一队橡树果回来了......是的。我们所有人都很担心。"
“You were right to be,” I replied, putting my hoof on his shoulder. He reached up to his wide-brimmed black hat and pulled it off, then reached in and scooped up a round memory orb in his hoof. I frowned, focused, and barely managed to snag it with my feeble magic. That teleport had knocked my horn for a loop, but it didn’t diminish the fact that I’d done it. Mom had told me her mother had been able to do it, and her grandmother’s mother too. I’d never seen Mom pull it off, though.
"你是对的,"我回答，把我的蹄子放在他的肩膀上。他把手伸向他的宽边黑帽子，把它扯了下来，然后伸进去，在他的蹄子里舀出一个圆形的记忆球。我皱了皱眉，集中注意力，勉强用我微弱的魔法阻止了它。那个瞬间传送把我的喇叭打开了一个循环，但它并没有减少我这么做的事实。妈妈告诉我她的母亲已经做到了，她祖母的母亲也做到了。不过我从来没见过妈妈成功过。
“So, how’d you get it from me?” I asked. “I know I’m not as smart as LittlePip.
"那么，你是怎么从我这里得到它的?"我问道。"我知道我没有小皮普聪明。
No way I’d do it to myself.”
我绝不会对自己这么做。"
“We didn’t. It’s my memory,” he said. “No sex. No surprises. Just the truth.” He trotted to the side and took a seat in a sheltered spot. “It’s not long. I’ll watch you while you view it.” I blinked at him in shock, and his eyes popped open. “I mean I’ll watch out for you while you view it. Not watch you ‘cause I want to watch you…” He closed his eyes and pressed his hooves to the sides of his head. “Priest. Stronghoof. U-21. Calamity,” he muttered over again.
"我们没有。这是我的记忆,"他说。"没有性生活。没有惊喜。只有真相。"他小跑到一边，在一个遮蔽的地方坐下。"时间不长。你看的时候我会看着你的。"我震惊地眨了眨眼睛，他的眼睛睁得大大的。"我的意思是，当你看到它的时候，我会注意你的。我不看你，因为我想看你......"他闭上眼睛，用蹄子抵住头的两侧。"牧师。Stronghoof.U-21."真倒霉,"他又咕哝了一声。
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m pretty sure you can like both stallions and mares.”
我忍不住咯咯笑了起来。"我相信你会喜欢种马和母马的。"
That brought him back to his scowling, grumpy self. “I don’t like mares. Most are whining, chatty, hypocritical, and just plain crazy. With the exception of Scotch Tape and… I just don’t like them!” he blurted, waving his hoof at me. I couldn’t hide my smile, and he pointedly glared at anything that wasn’t me. Some things never changed. Thank Celestia for that.
这让他又回到了那个愁眉苦脸、脾气暴躁的自己。"我不喜欢母马。他们中的大多数人爱抱怨，爱唠叨，虚伪，简直是疯了。除了透明胶带和......我就是不喜欢它们!"他脱口而出，向我挥舞着他的蹄子。我无法掩饰自己的微笑，他直勾勾地盯着任何不是我的东西。有些事情永远不会改变。谢谢塞莱斯蒂娅。
Chuckling, I glanced from him to the little orb, then moved beside him. Not the opportune place, but it was better than nothing. I tapped the orb to my horn with magic and tried to make the link to the orb. According to Triage’s notes, I wasn’t supposed to force it. Then the connection took hold, and the world slipped away.
我吃吃地笑着，瞥了他一眼那个小圆球，然后走到他旁边。虽然不是合适的地方，但总比什么都没有强。我用魔法把圆球敲到我的号角上，试图把它和圆球连接起来。根据分诊记录，我不应该强迫他们。然后，这种联系占据了主导地位，世界也随之消失了。
oooOOOooo
噢噢噢
It’d be nice to say that it was the first time I had been in a pony like this, but I’d be lying. The full body ache ran from head to hoof; it wasn’t nearly as intense as the agony I’d experienced as Deus, but I couldn’t imagine anypony living like this day after day. Each step sent a wave of discomfort rolling through his muscles. Every breath was an ache-filled labor. Even blinking created a swell of pressure in his eyes. I instantly had a greater understanding for my friend’s personality. If I felt like this daily, I’d be pretty grumpy too.
如果说这是我第一次骑这样的小马，那就好了，但那是我在撒谎。全身的疼痛从头到脚，远没有我经历过的上帝那么剧烈，但我无法想象任何一匹小马能像这样日复一日地生活。每走一步都使他的肌肉感到一阵不适。每一次呼吸都是一次充满痛苦的劳动。甚至眨眼都会使他的眼睛产生压力。我立刻对我朋友的个性有了更深刻的理解。如果我每天都有这种感觉，我也会非常暴躁。
He trotted away from where all the others talked in low voices and sat. Carefully, he reached behind his head and raked his hooves through his brushy mane, pulling out three syringes of Med-X. He hesitated, looked back over his shoulder. He bit the cap covers off two of them and jammed the needles into his hind leg right above the knee that’d been crippled not so long ago. Instantly he shuddered and let out a long sigh of relief.
他小跑着离开其他人低声交谈的地方，坐了下来。他小心翼翼地把手伸到头后面，用蹄子刮着毛茸茸的鬃毛，掏出三支Med-X注射器。他犹豫了一下，回头看了看。他咬掉其中两个盖子，然后把针头扎进他的后腿，就在不久前残废的膝盖上方。他立刻打了个寒颤，长长地松了一口气。
He looked up and met the equally stoic gaze of the zebra, Xenith. I hadn’t known her very well; she’d been nothing like Xanthe, despite how similar their names were. Xanthe had been weird. Xenith had been scary. The zebra didn’t say a word; her light green eyes may have simply been cameras recording his private moment for all the judgment they held. P-21 said nothing either. Then there was some silent acknowledgement in Xenith’s tiny nod before the zebra turned away and he tossed the syringes in the trash. With a deftness that shocked me, he wound his mane around the remaining needle and hid it in his wiry blue hair.
他抬起头，与斑马色尼斯同样坚忍的目光相遇。我不是很了解她;她一点也不像赞丝，尽管他们的名字有多么相似。赞斯一直都很古怪。克尼斯一直很可怕。斑马一句话也没说;她浅绿色的眼睛可能只是摄像机在记录他的私人时刻，因为他们做出了所有的判断。P-21也没说什么。然后，在斑马转身把注射器扔进垃圾桶之前，西尼斯微微点了点头，默默地承认了这一点。他把鬃毛绕在剩下的针头上，然后把针头藏在他那金属般的蓝发里，这种机敏让我震惊。
Slowly he walked back towards the conversation. “… is having the memories extracted. To be safe, we’re going to scrub every reference to Blackjack and the rest of you from her mind before she leaves here. She wants us to save the chat she had with Red Eye, but with Lacunae following the rest of you around... We don’t want to risk the Goddess thinking Blackjack knows something,” Velvet Remedy said calmly, not noticing P-21 returning to the group.
他慢慢地朝谈话的方向走去。"就是把记忆提取出来。为了安全起见，在她离开这里之前，我们要把她脑子里所有关于Blackjack和你们其他人的记忆删除。她想让我们保存她和红眼的谈话，但是有个陷阱跟着你们其他人......我们不想冒险让女神认为Blackjack知道些什么,"VelvetRemedy平静地说，没有注意到P-21回到了队伍中。
“Blackjack knowing things is an oxymoron,” P-21 replied sourly.
"黑杰克知道事情是一个矛盾修饰法,"P-21尖酸地回答。
“She’s lucky,” Homage nearly growled. “LittlePip is so getting punished when she’s… better. Running off like that in the middle of the night. Not telling anypony!”
"她很幸运,"向她致敬的声音近乎咆哮。"当小皮普好转的时候，她就会受到惩罚。大半夜的就这么跑了。不要告诉任何人!"
Glory looked like she’d been crying with her lovely purple eyes all bloodshot and puffy. It didn’t matter what body she possessed, she’d always be beautiful. “Punished?” she asked a little cluelessly.
格洛里看起来就像是哭过一样，她那双可爱的紫色眼睛充满了血丝和肿胀。不管她拥有什么样的身体，她永远都是美丽的。"惩罚?"她问得有点笨拙。
“Means she’s going to strap her down and take a crop to LittlePip’s hind-end till she learns not to scare us all so bad,” Calamity replied with a chuckle, making the gray pegasus blush furiously.
"意思是她要把她绑起来，在小匹普的屁股上扎根，直到她学会不要把我们都吓坏了。"卡拉米特咯咯地笑着回答，这使得灰色的飞马脸红得发狂。
“Does… does that really work?” Glory asked, blinking in surprise. When ponies looked at her, her ears folded back, and she said softly, “My… ah… my sister is like that.”
"这...这真的有用吗?"晨辉惊讶地眨着眼问道。当小马看着她的时候，她的耳朵向后收，她轻轻地说,"我的......啊......我的妹妹就是这样。"
The gray unicorn smiled kindly and then rolled her eyes. “Maybe. Maybe not. But it’s definitely going to make me feel better,” she said with a small smile at Glory and a nod at Velvet and Calamity. “Anyway. LittlePip is our problem. What about Blackjack? Is she okay?”
灰色的独角兽慈祥地微笑着，然后转动着她的眼睛。"也许吧。也许不是。但这绝对会让我感觉好些,"她对着晨辉微微一笑，对着天鹅绒和卡拉米蒂点了点头。"不管怎么说。小匹普是我们的问题。黑杰克怎么样？她还好吗?"
Glory opened her mouth, sighed, then started again. Her voice was more clipped
晨辉张开了嘴，叹了口气，然后又开始了。她的声音更加清脆
and reserved. “She drank nearly a gallon of whiskey in one go. She would have been dead of alcohol poisoning if she’d done this a week ago.” She sighed again and covered her face with a hoof and her voice shook. “I… I don’t know if it was another suicide attempt or not. I knew there’d be trauma… We nearly lost her so many times. I just… I just don’t know.”
而且很保守。"她一口气喝了将近一加仑的威士忌。如果她一周前这么做的话，她可能已经死于酒精中毒了。"她又叹了口气，用蹄子捂住脸，声音颤抖起来。"我.....。.我不知道这是不是又一起自杀未遂事件。我知道会有创伤...有好多次我们都差点失去她。我只是...我只是不知道。"
Sweet Celestia, I deserved whippings for a year for doing this to her. Velvet put her forelegs around Glory in a light embrace. P-21 stepped forward. “I doubt we’ll be able to apply the term ‘okay’ to Blackjack any time soon. We’ll see how she stabilizes… if she does. She was mutated, violated, mutilated, and then...
甜蜜的天堂，我活该被鞭打一年，因为我对她做了这些。维尔维特把她的前腿围绕在晨辉在一个轻拥抱。P-21挺身而出。"我怀疑短期内我们是否能够将'好'这个词应用到黑杰克上。看看她能不能稳定下来。她被变异侵犯肢解然后..。
she...” His voice broke for a moment as he looked away before finishing, “And then she came back as something else.”
她......"他的声音中断了一会儿，然后转过头去,"然后她变成了别的什么东西。"
A speaker beside the metal drum holding the professor’s head crackled, “At the very least, she shouldn’t feel discomfort from her augmentation. We were very careful to block as much pain input from her synthetics as we could. She shouldn’t need Deus’s Mega-X painkiller formula. That’s one benefit.”
金属鼓旁边的一个发言人举着教授的头噼啪作响,"至少，她不会因为她的增大而感到不适。我们非常小心地尽可能阻止她的合成药物产生疼痛。她不应该需要Deus的Mega-X止痛药配方。这是一个好处。"
Wait. So I was supposed to hurt? Was that why I felt so… so still inside? Were my implants rubbing against flesh, scraping at nonfunctional nerves, with every step? I’d never forget the pain Deus had been forced to live with.
等等。所以我应该受到伤害？这就是为什么我感觉如此......如此内心深处？我的植入物是不是每走一步都在摩擦肌肉，摩擦无功能的神经？我永远不会忘记天王被迫忍受的痛苦。
“Did her augments make her do this, Professor?” P-21 asked.
"是她的预感使她这样做的吗，教授?"P-21要求。
The speaker was silent a moment, then said, “It’s possible. Steelpony only had a few test subjects as heavily augmented as her. There seems to be an equilibrium point where, once so much of the body is lost, the mind becomes increasingly unstable. A few became terribly reckless in battle; after all, they had repair talismans. Why worry about damage? Others felt a loss of self and suffered depression. Still others became more aggressive as they tried to assert self on their augmentations.”
演讲者沉默了一会儿，然后说:"这是可能的。Steelpony只有少数几个测试对象像她一样被大量增强。似乎有一种平衡点，一旦身体失去了这么多部分，大脑就会变得越来越不稳定。少数人在战斗中变得非常鲁莽;毕竟，他们有修理护身符。为什么要担心损失呢？其他人感到自我的失落和遭受抑郁。还有一些人变得更加咄咄逼人，因为他们试图通过自己的增强来维护自己。"
“So her twigged behavior could be from the mess she’s lived through, a loose wire, or both?” Calamity asked before looking at Homage with a little half smile. “Kinda makes ya miss PTMs, don’t it?”
"这么说，她的扭曲行为可能来自于她所经历的混乱、一根松动的电线，或者两者兼而有之?"灾难问道，然后带着一丝半笑地看着《致敬》。"有点让你怀念PTMs，不是吗?"
“No. It doesn’t,” Homage replied before looking at Glory. “Don’t worry. We’ll get her straightened out.”
"没有。它没有,"在看到《晨辉》之前,"敬意"回答道。"别担心。我们会把她治好的。"
“We’ll go check on LittlePip. Let her know you’re coming in a bit,” Velvet said,
"我们去看看小匹普。让她知道你马上就来,"维拉韦说,
and then she and Calamity headed for the exit. P-21’s eyes lingered on the brown pegasus’s backside; I had to admit, my friend had excellent taste. I’d said it before: I didn’t know what it was, but there was just something about fliers that was nummy! A second later, noticed only by P-21, Xenith departed as well.
然后她和卡拉米蒂朝出口走去。P-21的眼睛盯着棕色的飞马座的后背，我不得不承认，我的朋友品味很高。我以前说过:我不知道那是什么，但是关于传单的一些东西是很麻烦的！第二天，直到P-21才注意到，齐尼斯也离开了。
When they’d gone, Glory sighed and looked at P-21. “Is Scotch Tape still with Lacunae?”
他们走后，晨辉叹了口气，看着P-21。"透明胶带上还有空隙吗?"
“I think so,” he answered as he took a seat across from the crimson-and-scarlet-maned stallion, Life Bloom. “If LittlePip was right…”
"我想是的,"他一边回答，一边坐在那匹猩红相间的种马对面的座位上,"生命之花"。"如果小匹普是对的......"
“She was,” Homage replied firmly. “Twilight Sparkle was pulled into Unity days after the bombs went off.” Glory shivered and shook her head.
"是的,"敬意坚定地回答。"炸弹爆炸几天后，紫悦就被拉进了尤尼蒂。"晨辉颤抖着，摇了摇头。
“Then we need to keep this from both of them. We don’t know what the Goddess would do if she knew.” Glory looked at Life Bloom. “Can’t you convince the Twilight Society to put off this stupid test?”
"那么我们需要对他们两人都保密。我们不知道如果女神知道了会怎么做。"晨辉看着生命绽放。"你就不能说服暮光协会推迟这个愚蠢的测试吗?"
“Unfortunately, no,” Life Bloom replied with a sigh and a shake of his head. “They spent a considerable amount of resources helping put Blackjack back together. They want a payback. Sooner, rather than later.”
"不幸的是，没有。"生活布鲁姆叹了口气，摇了摇头。"他们花费了相当多的资源帮助将Blackjack重新组装起来。他们想要回报。越快越好。"
“She just woke up, and the first things she did were run off into a tunnel full of feral ghouls and sneak into an enemy camp with a complete stranger,” Glory said as she wiped her puffy eyes with her wing. “Give her a little time!” she begged.
"她刚刚醒来，她做的第一件事就是跑进一个充满凶残食尸鬼的隧道，和一个完全陌生的人潜入敌人的营地,"晨辉一边说着，一边用翅膀擦了擦她肿胀的眼睛。"给她一点时间!"她苦苦哀求。
“It’s not my decision. The Society wants her tested,” Life Bloom said grimly. “Every few years we come across a Ministry Mare relative, usually an Apple, who can bypass spells keyed to the Ministry Mares.”
"这不是我的决定。协会希望她接受测试,"生命布鲁姆冷酷地说。"每隔几年，我们就会遇到一个魔法部的亲戚，通常是一个苹果，他可以绕过魔法部的母马符咒。"
“But how do you even know there is a descendant for Twilight?” P-21 asked.
"可是你怎么知道《暮光之城》有后裔呢?"P-21要求。
“A hundred and fifty years ago there was an organized attack on Tenpony. Raiders were part of an ill-planned attack on the tower itself, back when the Twilight Society made efforts to help the inhabitants around the tower. Several raiders were captured. One carried a memory orb. Before her execution, she said she’d gotten it from a strange ghoul living in Canterlot who claimed she’d gotten it from the Ministry of Peace hub. Inside were memories of Twilight having a clandestine relationship with Big Macintosh and of an unborn foal being transferred to a surrogate mother. Unfortunately, we’ve never been able to
"一百五十年前，有人有组织地攻击了腾波尼。当暮光协会努力帮助塔楼周围的居民时，袭击者是计划不周的袭击塔楼本身的一部分。几架突袭机被俘。其中一个带着一个记忆球。在她被处决之前，她说她是从一个住在Canterlot的陌生食尸鬼那里得到的，这个食尸鬼声称她是从和平部的中心得到的。里面是暮光之城与大麦金托什机的秘密关系和一个未出生的小马驹被转移到代孕母亲的记忆。不幸的是，我们从来没有能够
ascertain which of Twilight’s cousins could have been the surrogate. So for a hundred and fifty years, that memory orb has achieved near mythical status.”
确定暮光之城的哪个表亲可能是代孕母亲。因此，一百五十年来，这个记忆之球已经达到了近乎神话般的地位。"
“Why?” Glory asked with a frown. “What do they expect her to do? Be the second coming of Twilight Sparkle?”
"为什么?"晨辉皱着眉头问道。"他们想让她做什么？是紫悦的第二次降临吗?"
“Twilight ushered in an era of magical discovery unparalleled since the mythic ages of Clover the Clever and Starswirl the Bearded. Her brother was captain of the Royal Guard for several years. Her family had been integral to Equestria, and there was even speculation before the war that the Sparkle lineage was descended from those legendary ponies,” Life Bloom said calmly. “There are many in the Society who believe that any pony descended from Twilight would be destined to do great things.”
暮光之城迎来了一个神奇的发现时代，自从神话时代《聪明的苜蓿》和《长胡子的星星漩涡》以来，前所未有的发现。她的哥哥担任了几年皇家卫队的队长。她的家族是Equestria不可或缺的一部分，甚至在战前就有人推测火花家族是那些传奇小马的后裔。"。"学会中有许多人相信，任何一匹从黄昏降生的小马都注定会有伟大的成就。"
“Nevermind that she could be one good push away from a complete psychological collapse?” Glory protested.
"不要担心，她可能是一个很好的推离一个完整的心理崩溃?"晨辉抗议道。
Life Bloom closed his eyes and sighed. “In their eyes, if Blackjack is unstable, she can always have an heir or two to fit the Society’s agenda.”
生活布鲁姆闭上了眼睛，叹了口气。"在他们看来，如果黑杰克不稳定，她总能有一两个继承人来配合协会的议程。"
“Over my dead body,” P-21 said flatly.
"除非我死了,"P-21直截了当地说。
“I’d never be a party to such a thing either,” Homage said, glaring at Life Bloom.
"我也从来没有参与过这样的事情,"霍瑞米怒视着布鲁姆说。
“There are elements in the Society who would trade DJ Pon3 for the Twilight Sparkle bloodline, Homage. In a heartbeat,” Life Bloom replied grimly. I had to say, all the warm and fuzzy sentiments I may have had for the Twilight Society were going bye-bye. He looked at P-21 and Glory. “Not all, or even most, but enough. The moderates simply want to know, then make up their minds in their own time.”
"这个协会中有些人想用DJPon3来交换紫悦的血统，敬意。转眼之间,"生命布鲁姆冷酷地回答。我不得不说，我对《暮光之城》社团的所有热情和模糊的感情都要告别了。他看着P-21和晨辉。"不是全部，甚至不是大部分，但足够了。温和派只是想知道，然后在自己的时间内做出决定。"
“But if she is, then the hardliners would probably never let her leave,” Glory said with a scowl. “But if she doesn’t do their test, then they won’t let her leave either.”
"但如果她是，那么强硬派可能永远不会让她离开,"晨辉皱着眉头说。"但如果她不做检查，他们也不会让她离开。"
“Are you certain Blackjack can’t handle the knowledge?” the professor asked. “She seemed remarkably resilient.”
"你确定黑杰克玩不来吗?"教授问道。"她似乎恢复得非常好。"
Oddly, everypony looked at P-21 instead of Glory. He looked around, then sighed. “I think that with time, Blackjack can handle anything. Wait a few
奇怪的是，每匹小马都看着P-21而不是晨辉。他环顾四周，然后叹了口气。"我认为随着时间的推移，Blackjack可以应付任何事情。等一下
weeks, and she’d be able to deal with being related to the most famous unicorn in history. But throwing it at her now… no. I don’t think it’d be good. She’d react badly. Like… gassing Stable 99 badly,” he added, looking around at the others.
这样她就能接受和史上最著名的独角兽有血缘关系了。但是现在扔给她...不。我觉得这样不好。她的反应很糟糕。就像......严重地毒死了Stable99,"他看着周围的其他人补充道。
“What is the test that is being considered?” the professor asked.
"正在考虑的测试是什么?"教授问道。
Life Bloom sighed and rubbed between his eyes. “The hardliners want something definitive. Perhaps some kind of blood test. Umbra wants nothing less than an egg harvest for magic testing. The old bastard probably plans on eventual in vitro fertilization.” P-21 reached into his brushy tail, and I felt the bump of a grenade underhoof. Life Bloom glanced at P-21 and I guessed saw my blue friend’s equivalent of a shooty look. “That is not what most of the Society is after,” he added quickly, and P-21 relaxed just a little. Glory didn’t. If looks were magic bullet spells… Life Bloom continued, “Most want to see if she can open the doors.”
生活布鲁姆叹了口气，揉搓着他的双眼。"强硬派想要一些确定的东西。也许是某种血液测试。本影想要的不过是一个用于魔法测试的卵子收获。这个老混蛋可能计划着最终的体外人工受精。"P-21把手伸进他毛茸茸的尾巴里，我感觉到地下有手榴弹的爆炸声。莱芙·布鲁姆瞥了一眼P-21，我猜想看到了我的蓝色朋友那种相当于扫射的表情。"这不是协会大多数成员所追求的,"他很快补充道，P-21也稍微放松了一点。晨辉没有。如果长相是魔法子弹咒语......生活布鲁姆继续说道,"大多数人想看看她是否能打开大门。"
“Doors?” Glory asked in worry.
"门?"晨辉忧心忡忡地问。
“There’s a number of doors that were magically keyed to Twilight so that only she or close relatives could open them. Some are… very hush hush. But there are others that were more symbolic. Like the main doors to the M.A.S. meeting room where all the boring official business happened.” He looked around the building. “Before this place was made the M.A.S. hub, it was an exclusive hotel. Much of the building was modified for the M.A.S. to use.”
"有一些门被魔法般地锁上了，只有她或者她的近亲才能打开。有些是...非常隐秘的。但还有一些更具象征意义。就像通往m.a.s.会议室的大门，所有无聊的公务都发生在这里。"他环顾了一下大楼四周。"在这个地方成为m.a.s.枢纽之前，它是一家高级酒店。大部分建筑都经过了改造，以供m.a.s.使用。"
“I thought that Tenpony was built for the M.A.S.,” Glory said in surprise.
"我以为天马神驹是为m.a.s.而建的,"晨辉惊讶地说。
“A lot of things were built from the ground up for the ministries, but it’s not like they all appeared overnight,” Life Bloom replied casually. “While Maripony and the Canterlot and Hoofington hubs were being constructed, Tenpony was converted as a base of operations. It had already been modified into a broadcasting tower for the war effort before Luna rose to power, so it was a natural conversion. The uppermost floors were converted to M.A.S. use while the lower ones remained as they were for the populace.”
"很多事情都是从头开始为政府部门建造的，但并不是一夜之间就出现的,"LifeBloom漫不经心地回答道。"当马里波尼、坎特罗特和胡芬顿枢纽正在建设的时候，腾波尼被改造成了一个作战基地。在月神掌权之前，它已经被改装成了一个战争广播塔，所以这是一个自然的转换。最上面的楼层被改成了m.a.s.用途，而较低的楼层则保留了原来的用途。"
“So… before these doors were enchanted so that only Twilight could open them, the room was just an ordinary room?” P-21 asked, his brows furrowing.
"那么......在这些门被施了魔法，只有《暮光之城》才能打开之前，这个房间只是一个普通的房间?"P-21皱着眉头问道。
“I believe so, yes,” Life Bloom said with a frown.
"我想是的,"生命布鲁姆皱着眉头说。
“With ordinary locks?” P-21 asked.
"用普通的锁?"P-21要求。
Homage frowned at him. “You’re thinking of locking the doors so they won’t open for anypony.”
敬意向他皱起眉头。"你在考虑把门锁上，这样就不会有人进来了。"
“Right. Blackjack and the hardliners will see her fail to open them,” P-21 replied.
"对。黑杰克和强硬派将看到她无法打开它们,"P-21回答。
Life Bloom smiled. “And then we can have her open something else later to be absolutely sure. Perhaps Twilight’s study. It’s off the athenaeum; most ponies won’t be there.” He looked at the others. “That way I can inform more moderate members discreetly that she is Twilight’s.”
生活布鲁姆笑了。"然后我们可以让她稍后再打开其他的东西，以确保万无一失。也许是《暮光之城》的研究。它在雅典娜神庙附近，大多数小马都不在那里。"他看着其他人。"这样我就可以谨慎地告诉更多的温和派成员，她是《暮光之城》的。"
“Blackjack will never have to know,” P-21 said with a little nod, then looked at the worried Glory. “She can continue on thinking that she’s just Blackjack.”
"黑杰克永远不会知道,"P-黑杰克头说，然后看着忧心忡忡的Glory。"她可以继续认为自己只是黑杰克。"
“And the Goddess won’t know any different either,” Glory said as she closed her eyes. “Oh, Blackjack… I’m so sorry…” She sniffed. She had nothing to be sorry about.
"而且女神也不会知道有什么不同,"格洛里闭上眼睛说。"哦，黑杰克......我很抱歉......"她闻了闻。她没有什么好抱歉的。
Homage frowned at the three of us, then shook her head. “The only way I’ll agree with this is if we tell Blackjack the truth.”
致敬向我们三人皱了皱眉，然后摇了摇头。"我同意的唯一方法就是告诉Blackjack真相。"
“Homage. We know why we can’t,” Life Bloom said with a resigned sigh.
"致敬。我们知道我们为什么不能,"布鲁姆生活无奈地叹了口气说。
“And I accept that. There is a time and a place for honesty. This isn’t it. But she deserves to know the truth.” Homage looked at all of us sternly before adding, “Otherwise, I will tell her. And if that’ll be easier on all of you, then that’s how we can do it.”
"我接受这一点。诚实是需要时间和空间的。不是这样的。但她有权知道真相。"敬意严肃地看着我们所有人，然后补充说:"否则，我就告诉她。如果这对你们所有人来说都更容易，那么我们就可以这样做。"
Glory trembled a little. “I couldn’t… I wouldn’t know how…”
晨辉有点颤抖。"我不能...我不知道怎么..."
“I’ll tell her,” P-21 said in a low voice. “She knows I won’t lie to her.”
"我会告诉她的,"P-21低声说。"她知道我不会骗她。"
Homage’s eyes softened a little. “That would be welcome, but things might get… mixed up.” That was an understatement; if we went back out into the wastes, there was a chance he could die and I’d never know. “How about copying your memories of this meeting? She can access them later… if her magic recovers. It might be easier to show what we decided rather than tell her. Make it easier on her. And you,” she added.
敬意的眼神柔和了一些。"这将是受欢迎的，但事情可能会......混淆起来。"这是一个轻描淡写的说法;如果我们回到荒野，他有可能会死，而我永远不会知道。"把你对这次会面的记忆复制下来怎么样？如果她的魔法恢复了，她可以以后再看。与其告诉她，不如把我们的决定告诉她。让她轻松一点。还有你,"她补充道。
P-21 glared at the mare, then lowered his eyes. “Fine.”
P-21瞪着母马，然后垂下眼睛。"好吧。"
The rest of the memory was simple. P-21 snuck up in the early morning, avoiding cameras and personnel alike as if he were a giant blue StealthBuck. He walked right up to the fancy doors, tried to open them… nothing. He squatted, and with a pin, his screwdriver (which I thankfully learned he kept concealed in his brushy tail and not… other places), and some scrap metal jammed the heavy old lock closed.
剩下的记忆很简单。P-21一大早就悄悄潜入，避开摄像机和人员，就好像他是一个巨大的蓝色隐形巴克。他径直走向豪华的大门，试图打开它们......什么也没有。他蹲了下来，用一根别针，他的螺丝刀(幸好我知道他把螺丝刀藏在毛茸茸的尾巴里，而不是......别的地方)，还有一些废金属塞住了沉重的旧锁。
So that was it, then. My friends had conspired to keep me safe from not just myself but from others as well. And they’d been right to do so. If the Goddess had known I was related to Twilight, she might have tried to hurt me simply to torment the Twilight Sparkle within her. If the hardliners had known, I might never have left. And if I’d known… yes. I would have done something stupid and selfish. Hurt myself… or hurt my friends even more.
那就这样了。我的朋友们密谋保护我，不仅保护我自己，也保护我不受其他人的伤害。他们这样做是正确的。如果女神知道我和《暮光之城》有关系，她可能会试图伤害我，只是为了折磨她内心的紫悦。如果强硬派知道的话，我可能就不会离开了。如果我知道的话...是的。我会做一些愚蠢和自私的事情。伤害我自己...或者伤害我的朋友更多。
P-21 made his way towards the clinic when he passed by a mirror. He looked around, confirming he was alone, then stared at his own reflection. “Blackjack…” he began, then clenched his jaw and adverted his eyes from himself. “I don’t know how to say this. I don’t know if you’ll ever be well enough for this memory. Heck, we might all be dead tomorrow. I just… I wanted… I…” He covered his face with a hoof and groaned. “I think it was easier when I wasn’t allowed to talk most of the time.”
P-21经过一面镜子时朝诊所走去。他环顾四周，确认只有他一个人，然后盯着自己的倒影。"黑杰克......"他开始说，然后咬紧牙关，不再注意自己的眼睛。"我不知道该怎么说。我不知道你是否能适应这段回忆。见鬼，我们明天可能都会死。我只是...我想...我..。。」他用蹄子遮住脸，呻吟着。"我觉得大部分时间不允许我说话的时候更容易些。"
He sat for a moment, then looked at himself again. Slowly he took another breath and then said softly, “Thank you. Even if you’re the most… boneheaded, idiotic, infuriating mare in existence… you never quit. You never give up. No matter how hard it is on you. I hope you realize that we don’t want to give up either. You suffer so much for us… sometimes pointlessly… that it makes me want to scream and hug you at the same time. Don’t suffer for us. The guilt is worse than the pain. We can take it. Maybe not as much as you do, but we can handle what the Wasteland throws at us.”
他坐了一会儿，然后又看了看自己。他慢慢地又吸了一口气，然后轻轻地说:"谢谢你。即使你是世界上最愚蠢，最白痴，最令人恼火的母马，你也不会放弃。你从不放弃。不管这对你来说有多难。我希望你意识到我们也不想放弃。你为我们受了这么多苦......有时候是毫无意义的......这让我想在尖叫的同时拥抱你。不要为我们受苦。内疚比痛苦更糟糕。我们可以承受。也许不像你们那么了解，但是我们可以应付荒原给我们带来的一切。"
His lips curled in a rare, soft smile as he stared into his own blue eyes. “You can trust us with the burden sometimes. That’s all I’m saying.” He flushed and then glanced away, back again, and then added, “And... um... please don’t tell Calamity. Or talk about this... ever... or...” He groaned and shook his head. “Ugh... nevermind...”
他盯着自己的蓝眼睛，嘴唇微微一笑。"有时候你可以信任我们。我就是这个意思。"他脸红了，然后又回头看了一眼，然后补充说,"还有......嗯......请不要告诉卡拉米特。或者谈论这个......永远......或者......"他呻吟着摇了摇头。"呃...算了..."
Then he turned and continued on his way. The world swirled away as the memory ended.
然后他转身继续前进。随着记忆的结束，世界旋转着消失了。
oooOOOooo
噢噢噢
The drizzly night reasserted itself along with the strange notes of Octavia’s mournful music coming from my PipBuck. I was the descendant of Twilight Sparkle. The child she and Big Macintosh had conceived together had been passed to Marigold after his assassination. Marigold had raised Tarot as her own. By a fluke, she’d been visiting a friend when the bombs fell, and instead of ending up in the doomed stable 90, she’d gone to Stable 99 where she’d passed the filly to Card Trick. She’d grown up in a stable where the rules almost guaranteed she’d have a child. Generations later, here I was. How could all that be a coincidence?
伴随着屋大维娅哀伤的音符从我的皮布克发出的奇怪的声音，细雨蒙蒙的夜再次显现出来。我是紫悦的后裔。她和大麦金托什共同怀上的孩子在玛丽戈尔德遇刺后传给了他。玛丽戈尔德把塔罗牌当作自己的孩子养大。幸运的是，当炸弹落下的时候，她正在拜访一个朋友，她没有停在那个注定要倒霉的90号马厩里，而是去了99号马厩，在那里她把小母马交给了CardTrick。她在一个马厩里长大，那里的规定几乎保证她会有一个孩子。几代之后，我来到了这里。这怎么可能是巧合呢？
A riot was taking place in Unity as the Twilight part of the Goddess struggled to assert herself at this news. I couldn’t pick out specific words from all of the babble, but I was guessing that the Goddess wasn’t going to be too happy with me when she finally imposed order on the consensus. That hardly mattered, though. She was already plenty pissed with me.
当女神的黄昏部分在听到这个消息时挣扎着维护自己的权利时，一场骚乱正在尤尼蒂发生。我无法从这些喋喋不休的话语中挑出具体的词语，但我猜想，当女神最终对共识下达命令时，她肯定不会对我太满意。不过，这并不重要。她已经很生我的气了。
I’d go crazy if I tried to calculate the odds. I remembered being on Star Point when I realized the implications, but now... I wondered if there was some force out there playing with me, setting things up. Maybe Discord had done it all as a joke ages ago. If I found a memory orb of Goldenblood plotting this, I’d scream. Or maybe it was as simple as Celestia and Luna still managing things from the everafter. Or simply it was all chance, a trillion to one odds. Who could say?
如果我试图计算赔率，我会发疯的。我记得当我意识到这些暗示的时候，我在星点上，但是现在......我想知道是否有某种力量在那里和我一起玩，设置一些东西。也许不和谐早在很久以前就开玩笑地做了这一切。如果我发现一个金色血统的记忆球在密谋这件事，我会尖叫的。或者也许就像塞莱斯蒂亚和卢娜仍然在从此之后管理事务一样简单。或者简单地说，这完全是偶然的，一万亿分之一的几率。谁知道呢？
All I knew was my tail was soaked and my butt was cold. I turned to P-21 with a grateful smile. “Thank you.”
我只知道我的尾巴湿透了，屁股也冻僵了。我带着感激的微笑转向P-21。"谢谢。"
“You’re welcome,” Dawn said happily from beside me with her merry squint.
"不客气,"道恩从我身边愉快地眯着眼睛说。
“Gyaaaah!” I shouted, lurching back and falling over. I waved a hoof at the dove-gray pegasus looking down with an expression of concern. “Where-where’d you come from?”
"Gyaaaah!"我大叫着，踉踉跄跄地倒在地上。我朝鸽灰色的飞马挥了挥蹄子，表情关切地俯视着它。"你从哪儿来的?"
“Flankfurt… though I think today you call it just ‘Flank’,” she replied casually.
"Flankfurt......尽管我认为今天你叫它'Flank',"她随意地回答。
P-21 stepped up beside Dawn, looking a bit wet and more worried than usual.
P-21在黎明身边走了上来，看起来有点湿漉漉的，比平时更担心。
“Hey,” he murmured, looking away awkwardly as he rubbed his shoulder with his forehoof, water dripping off his battered hat. “I.. um... I hope you don’t mind.” He pointed at my PipBuck. “I wanted to play some of that Octavia broadcast.”
"嘿,"他低声说，用前蹄蹭了蹭肩膀，水从他破旧的帽子上滴下来，尴尬地转过头去。"我.....。呃......希望你别介意。"他指着我的皮布克。"我想演奏一些奥克塔维亚的广播。"
What Octavia broadcast? I opened my mouth to ask, but then I saw the familiar seriousness in his eyes and a tiny nod towards Dawn. I swallowed, and then gave a little smile. “Yeah. No problem. I love Octavia too.”
什么奥克塔维亚广播？我张开嘴想问，但随后我看到了他眼中熟悉的严肃，并向道恩微微点了点头。我咽了口唾沫，然后微微一笑。"是的。没问题。我也爱奥克塔维亚。"
“Good. You should leave it on.” I just frowned at him in bafflement, then gave a little nod. He relaxed just a hair, glanced at Dawn, and then asked in a lower voice, “Are you... okay?” I could hear the unanswered questions. ‘Okay with what we did? Okay with what you know?’
"很好。你应该让它一直开着。"我困惑地皱着眉头，然后点了点头。他放松了一根头发，瞥了一眼道恩，然后低声问道:"你......还好吗?"我能听到那些悬而未决的问题。""对我们的所作所为还满意吗？对你所知道的一切还满意吗
Was I? Twilight Sparkle was a legendary figure in my mind. To be related to her, even distantly, felt... overwhelming. But unlike at Tenpony, now I’d had time to come to terms with some of the changes forced upon me. And I’d seen that Twilight hadn’t been perfect; good, yes, but not perfect. No perfect pony could have left Discord to be processed into Flux. But she’d been willing to resign rather than continue being a part of ministries that did bad things. I wasn’t quite the fuckup that I’d always thought of myself as. Not perfect – certainly not – but trying to do better.
是吗？在我心目中，紫悦是个传奇人物。与她有亲缘关系，哪怕是遥远的关系，也让人感到...无法抗拒。但与在Tenpony不同的是，现在我有时间接受一些强加于我身上的变化。我发现《暮光之城》并不完美;是的，很好，但并不完美。没有完美的小马可以离开不和被处理成通量。但是她宁愿辞职也不愿意继续做做坏事的政府部门的一员。我并不是我一直认为的那个混蛋。不完美——当然不是——但是努力做得更好。
“Yeah. I am,” I replied. He smiled, body sagging in relief before he gave a sharp sneeze. I patted his shoulder. “We should go back inside Star House. Getting sick sucks.”
"是的。是的,"我回答。他笑了，身体松了一口气，然后打了个响亮的喷嚏。我拍了拍他的肩膀。"我们应该回到星空之家。生病真是糟透了。"
“Actually. I’d love to talk with you a moment alone, if you don’t mind,” Dawn said. I saw P-21’s features immediately grow grim.
"实际上。如果你不介意的话，我想和你单独谈谈。我看到P-21的特征立即变得严峻起来。
“I don’t think–” I began.
"我不认为——"我开始说。
“Go ahead, Blackjack,” P-21 said as he pulled his battered, floppy hat down over his face a little more.
"去吧，黑杰克,"P-21边说边把他那顶破旧松软的帽子往下拉了一点，盖在脸上。
Wait? He wanted me to go with her? “Are you sure?”
等等？他想让我和她一起去？"你确定吗?"
“Sure. I’ll go back to the house,” he said with a smile. “You should talk with her. She’s an interesting mare. Some questions and answers might help you out. Expand your horizons.” Wait... what?
"当然。我要回家了,"他笑着说。"你应该和她谈谈。她是匹有趣的母马。一些问题和答案可能会对你有帮助。拓展你的视野。"等等...什么？
My eyes went from her to him. Did he think Dawn knew something about Horizons? “If you’re sure,” I murmured, glancing past him at the amused pegasus.
我的目光从她转向了他。他认为道恩了解地平线吗？"如果你确定的话,"我低声说，瞥了他一眼那匹被逗乐了的飞马。
“Sure. Just keep her close. Friends always stick close,” he said quietly, then turned and slowly, silently, walked out into the night. Overhead, the clouds let out a long, deep rumble of thunder.
"当然。把她带在身边。朋友总是贴得很近,"他静静地说，然后慢慢地转过身，默默地走进了夜色。头顶上，乌云发出长长的、深沉的隆隆雷声。
“Such a fascinating stallion. You know, I suspect he’s secretly in love with you,” Dawn said as she looked at me with her eyes closed.
"真是一匹迷人的种马。你知道，我怀疑他暗恋着你,"道恩闭着眼睛看着我说。
“Unlikely,” I replied flatly. “He’s more interested in stallions than mares.” Dawn just seemed to find that even more amusing, and I felt a flash of annoyance. “So. What do you want to talk about?” I asked, the contrabass beginning a long, low musical sawing that made my mane crawl. I wanted to turn it off, but I remembered what P-21 had said.
"不太可能,"我直截了当地回答。"他对种马比对母马更感兴趣。"黎明似乎觉得那更有趣了，我感到一阵烦恼。"所以。你想谈什么?"我问道，低音提琴开始了一段长长的低沉的音乐，让我的鬃毛直起鸡皮疙瘩。我想把它关掉，但我想起了P-21说的话。
“If you don’t mind, I was hoping we could go for a walk and talk a bit,” Dawn said absently. “I’ve been eager to learn more about the mare who’s done so much in such a short time. It seems like Equestria is seeing an outbreak of heroes these days.”
"如果你不介意的话，我希望我们能出去走走，聊聊天,"道恩心不在焉地说。"我一直渴望更多地了解这匹母马，她在这么短的时间里做了这么多。这些天来，Equestria似乎看到了一场英雄大爆发。"
“Now?” I asked, gaping at her, looking around at the dripping rainwater. “In this?”
"现在?"我问道，目瞪口呆地看着她，环顾四周，看着滴水的雨水。"在这里?"
“Oh, it’s hardly poor weather. The rain is coming down evenly, and we shouldn’t see the worst of it for at least an hour,” she said as if it was no matter. “As to the time, I’ve long grown used to keeping unusual hours.” I disagreed with her on the ‘hardly poor weather’ part. The black skies were lit from within by the distant, dull flashes of lightning around the Core. She pointed up towards the manor. “Perhaps up to that lovely estate and back again?”
"哦，这可不是什么坏天气。雨势均匀，我们至少要一个小时才能看到最糟糕的情况,"她说，好像这没什么大不了的。"至于时间，我早就习惯了不规律的工作时间。"我不同意她关于"几乎没有坏天气"的说法。黑色的天空被远处环绕核心的暗淡的闪电从内部照亮。她指了指庄园。"也许去了那座可爱的庄园再回来?"
Right. A walk in the middle of the night to chat as a storm builds. Even I wasn’t that stupid, but it wasn’t as if I could just shake her. Not till she told me what was going on. P-21 said I should stay with her... so I faked as much enthusiasm as I could. “Sure. Sounds like fun.” I’m just taking a walk, in the rain, at night, with a storm coming, unarmed... I sighed. There were so many things wrong with this.
对。暴风雨来临时，半夜散步聊天。即使我没有那么笨，但是我也不能就这样甩掉她。直到她告诉我发生了什么。P-21说我应该和她呆在一起......所以我尽可能装出一副很热情的样子。"当然。听起来很有趣。"我只是在雨中散步，在夜晚，暴风雨即将来临，手无寸铁......我叹了口气。这里有太多的错误。
Trust me. Expand your horizons.
相信我。扩展你的视野。
I do, P-21. And I stood and followed her out into this hissing rain as the skies crackled. Octavia’s classical music seemed to rise and fall in fitful melodies. I glanced at the title. ‘Storm’. Wonderful...
是的，P-21。我站在那里，跟着她走进了这场嘶嘶作响的雨中，天空开裂了。奥克塔维亚的古典音乐似乎在断断续续的旋律中起伏。我瞥了一眼标题。暴风雨。好极了。
For Glory’s sake, I dearly wanted to cling to the hope that Dawn was here for good reasons. That P-21 was just being paranoid. That this really was good and right... I glanced at her as we walked in silence through Chapel and saw her frown a little. “I admit I have some concerns about you and Glory. I’ve heard some disturbing stories… about how dangerous you’ve been to others. And to yourself.”
为了晨辉的缘故，我深深地希望黎明出现在这里是有充分理由的。那个P-21只是疑神疑鬼。当我们默默地走过教堂时，我瞥了她一眼，看到她有点皱眉。"我承认我对你和晨辉有些担心。我听说过一些令人不安的故事...关于你对别人有多危险。还有你自己。"
“Well, the Wasteland is a dangerous place. Especially around Hoofington,” I added as I looked at the rain rolling off her wings. She was walking with her eyes closed. How in Equestria could she see where she was going? It was getting beyond ‘weird’ and into ‘creepy’.
"嗯，荒原是个危险的地方。尤其是在Hoofington附近,"我看着雨水从她的翅膀上滚落下来，补充道。她闭着眼睛走路。在Equestria，她怎么知道自己要去哪里？它已经超越了古怪，变得令人毛骨悚然。
“Mmmm. But for all its danger, Hoofington has always had potential for greatness. Did you know that, long ago, it nearly became the capital of Equestria? I’m not talking about during the war. No, this was hundreds of years before that,” she said happily as she walked slowly beside me.
"嗯。尽管有危险，胡芬顿总是有成为伟人的潜力。你知道吗，很久以前，它差点成为Equestria的首都？我不是在说战争期间。不，那是几百年前的事了,"她高兴地说，慢慢地走在我身边。
“No. I honestly didn’t,” I replied.
"没有。我真的没有,"我回答。
“Mhmmmm! This entire valley was to be a glorious city. From one side to the other. A place of beauty and majesty fit to make Manehattan look like a backwater,” Dawn said as she walked along. She faced me and added, as if sensing my skepticism, “Not all Wastelanders are ignorant savages. I’ve spent years collecting any lore that might help others understand what Equestria was… and could be again.”
"嗯，嗯！这整个山谷将成为一座辉煌的城市。从一边到另一边。一个美丽而庄严的地方，足以使曼哈顿人看起来像一潭死水,"道恩边走边说。她面对着我，仿佛感觉到了我的怀疑态度，接着说:"并不是所有的荒原人都是无知的野蛮人。多年来，我一直在搜集任何能够帮助其他人了解小马国是什么样子的知识，并且能够再次成为什么样子的人。"
“Still… Hoofington?” I muttered weakly, just not seeing it.
"还是......胡芬顿?"我有气无力地咕哝着，只是没有看见。
“No. Lunaria. The capital of Princess Luna.” My shock and confusion had to be showing. “History gave her the far less flattering title of Nightmare Moon.”
"没有。Lunaria.卢娜公主的首都。"我必须表现出震惊和困惑。"历史给了她一个远没有梦魇之月那么讨人喜欢的头衔。"
Funny. I seemed to recall a memory of Luna happily assuming that title herself. “But she was banished. And a thousand years later stripped of her powers.” You’d be surprised what you can learn on the night shift with nothing but old textbooks in storage to read... though mostly they’d just been about the importance of following rules.
有意思。我似乎想起了卢娜自己愉快地获得那个头衔的记忆。""但是她被放逐了。一千年后，她的力量被剥夺了。"你会惊讶地发现，在夜班的时候，除了储存的旧教科书，你什么也学不到......尽管大部分教科书都是关于遵守规则的重要性。
“Indeed. Celestia and her forces met Princess Luna here before her dark citadel and used the Elements of Harmony to banish her to the moon for a thousand years. The valley was all but abandoned afterwards, till centuries later the village of Hoofington was founded. And then reborn a third time as the Core.” I tried not to snort. A city only Nightmare Moon could love… “Yeah. Great place to live, if it didn’t kill everypony that got close,” I said sarcastically.
"的确。天国和她的军队在她的黑暗城堡前遇见了公主露娜，并使用和谐元素将她放逐到月亮上一千年。这个山谷后来几乎被遗弃了，直到几个世纪以后Hoofington才建立起来。然后第三次重生为核心。"我尽量不喷鼻息。一个只有恶梦之月才会喜欢的城市......"是的。这是个好地方，如果它没有杀死每一匹接近它的小马的话。"我讽刺地说。
“Yes, the automated defenses are a problem, but there is a key to shutting them down,” she replied, and I felt a chill creeping along my spine. It was now I really wished I had my barding and a gun of some kind. Even one of Glory’s cakes. There was no way to tell with her eyes closed to slits, but somehow I could feel her looking at EC-1101.
"是的，自动防御系统是个问题，但是关闭它们是有关键的,"她回答道，我感到一股寒意沿着我的脊椎蔓延开来。现在我真希望我有我的剑和一把枪之类的东西。甚至是晨辉的蛋糕。她闭着眼睛也看不出来，但不知怎么的，我能感觉到她在看EC-1101。
“And you’d want to live there?” I asked slowly, as if I were trying to disarm a landmine.
"你想住在那里吗?"我慢慢地问，好像我在试图解除地雷的武装。
“I’d like to live anywhere we can have peace. Don’t you want peace?” she asked in an almost pleading voice.
"我想住在任何我们可以和平相处的地方。难道你不想要和平吗?"她用恳求的声音问道。
“I’d like any place where people aren’t killing each other over some bottlecaps, salvage, or their next meal,” I replied. “I’d like to not have to kill anypony again. Wouldn’t you?” We passed the post office, and I saw Caprice peeking out at us. The peach mare’s pink eyes met mine for one instant, then dropped shamefully. Slowly she drew back into the building and closed the door.
"我喜欢任何一个人们不会因为一些瓶装水、残羹剩饭或者下一顿饭而互相残杀的地方,"我回答。"我不想再杀任何小马了。你不会吗?"我们经过邮局时，我看见卡普里斯在偷看我们。桃红色的母马的粉红色的眼睛遇到我的一瞬间，然后下降惭愧。她慢慢地退回大楼，关上了门。
My question seemed to amuse the gray pegasus, who sighed and shook her head. “Of course. I don’t believe in killing any more than you do. Every life lost is one more person who can’t help us rebuild the world. And I want to rebuild the world,” she said calmly. “I’m hoping that we can work together for a common good.”
我的问题似乎让灰色的飞马感到好笑，她叹了口气，摇了摇头。"当然。我和你一样不相信杀戮。每失去一个生命，就意味着又多了一个无法帮助我们重建世界的人。我想重建这个世界,"她平静地说。"我希望我们能够为了共同的利益而共同努力。"
“Your good, or mine?” I asked as we walked past the town entrance. The colts manning the light machine gun in its tower looked down at me with a seriousness that didn’t match their youthful appearance. They reminded me of Boing.
"你的好，还是我的好?"当我们走过城镇入口时，我问道。在塔上操作轻机枪的小马们用一种与他们年轻的外表不相称的严肃神情低头看着我。他们让我想起了波音。
“Why not both? You want to help the people of this city. I want the same. It seems we have some common needs that should be grounds for cooperation,”
"为什么不是两者都有呢？你想帮助这个城市的人民。我也想要。看来我们有一些共同的需求，应该成为合作的基础。"
she said very matter-of-factly. “You’ve heard of virtues, yes? Mine is salvation. I’ve devoted my entire life to bettering the world. To do better, as Fluttershy said.” She tilted her head towards me. “I imagine your virtue must be quite similar to do all that you do.”
她说得很实际。""你听说过美德，是吗？我的是救赎。我毕生致力于改善世界。就像Fluttershy说的，要做得更好。"她把头斜向我。"我想你的德行一定与你所做的一切十分相似。"
I hadn’t thought of my virtues in a long time. Salvation? No. I didn’t think so. And even as much as I threw myself into the meat grinder, I doubted that it was sacrifice. Tenacity… endurance… maybe. But I didn’t hold any illusions that I could save the Wasteland on my own. I doubted anypony could. All I could do was give ponies a chance.
我已经很久没有想到我的美德了。救赎？没有。我不这么认为。即使我把自己扔进绞肉机，我也怀疑那是牺牲。坚韧...忍耐...也许吧。但是我没有抱有任何幻想，我可以靠自己拯救荒原。我怀疑任何小马都做不到。我所能做的就是给小马一个机会。
“I just don’t want people to hurt. If I can spare them that, then I’m happy,” I replied, not quite telling the truth but not lying either.
"我只是不希望人们受到伤害。如果我能宽恕他们，那我就很高兴了。"我回答道，虽然没有说实话，但也没有撒谎。
“It’s a generous gift you want to give them,” Dawn said as we trotted along through the rain. “It was a gift my husband, Sky Striker, tried to give me. A wonderful gift. A life above the clouds.”
"你想送给他们的礼物真是太慷慨了,"当我们在雨中小跑时，道恩说。"这是我丈夫SkyStriker想送给我的礼物。一份美妙的礼物。云端上的生活。"
“Oh?” I asked, wondering where to take this strange conversation as we crawled up the hillside. “How’d you meet?”
"哦?"我问道，当我们爬上山坡的时候，我不知道在哪里进行这次奇怪的谈话。"你们怎么认识的?"
She gave a little laugh. “Oh, it was quite unexpected.” She flushed a little, running a hoof through her mane. “You know of my friends? Big Daddy? King Awesome? Carrots and Zodiac? Keeper? They were much like you and your friends.” She shook her head. “When I was just a filly, my tribe was wiped out in a brutal fight. I saw my parents, both earth ponies, killed before my eyes. Such things were common then. But I vowed on their deaths that I would stop the killing. It earned me my cutie mark,” she said as she looked at her flank and the Dashite brand. “A new day...”
她笑了一下。"哦，真是出乎意料。"她有点脸红，马蹄穿过鬃毛。""你知道我的朋友吗？大老爹？棒极了国王？胡萝卜和生肖？管理员？他们很像你和你的朋友。"她摇了摇头。"当我还是只小母马的时候，我的部落在一场残酷的战斗中被消灭了。我亲眼看到我的父母，都是地球上的小马，在我眼前被杀害。这样的事情在当时是很普遍的。但是我在他们死后发誓我会停止杀戮。它为我赢得了可爱的标志,"她一边说，一边看着自己的侧腹和大栅栏牌。"新的一天......"
My eyes lingered on the mark a moment. “What was it?”
我的眼睛在那个标记上停留了一会儿。"那是什么?"
“The sun... or what I imagined a sun to be. A great bright disk of light... illuminating the Wasteland...” She sighed and shook her head. “At least, that was what I believed.”
"太阳......或者说是我想象中的太阳。一大片明亮的光盘......照亮了荒原......"她叹了口气，摇了摇头。"至少，我是这么认为的。"
I frowned and listened as she continued. “I was just a naïve young pony going into the savage Wasteland. I met Big Daddy first. A huge braggart of a stallion seeking to become the Wasteland’s greatest fighter. He joined me to prove to the skeptical filly how mighty he was. Then Keeper, the horny scoundrel, making
我皱着眉头听着她继续说。"我只是一匹天真的小马驹，要去野蛮的荒原。我先遇到了老爹。一个巨大的种马自夸寻求成为荒原最伟大的战士。他和我一起向怀疑的小母马证明他有多么强大。然后守护者，那个好色的恶棍
his way from one end of the Wasteland to the other in search of caps. Big Daddy had to thump him regularly to protect my virtue.” She snorted, the thunder rumbling overhead as we drew closer to the manor.
他从荒原的一端到另一端去寻找帽子。为了保护我的贞操，大老爹不得不经常揍他。"当我们离庄园越来越近时，她哼了一声，头顶上隆隆的雷声响了起来。
“We met Crunchy Carrots and Zodiac trying to kill each other raiding the same pre-war bunker, trying to find the same ancient technology. Turned out to be a dead end. King Awesome joined last, bringing his own magical skills, and an ego to match Big Daddy’s, to the team.” Her smile turned wistful as she sighed. “And together we decided to save the Wasteland, starting with Hoofington. Those were the best days of my life.”
"我们遇到了嘎吱嘎吱的胡萝卜和十二生肖，他们试图在同一个战前地堡里互相残杀，试图找到相同的古老技术。结果是个死胡同。国王牛叉最后加入，带来了他自己的魔法技能和自我，以匹配大老爹的球队。"她叹了口气，脸上露出忧郁的微笑。"我们一起决定拯救荒原，从胡芬顿开始。那是我一生中最美好的日子。"
“Saving the Wasteland’s easier said than done,” I commented lightly.
"拯救荒地说起来容易做起来难,"我轻描淡写地说。
“Yes. Much. And over time, the lack of success grew... frustrating. The flaws in us pushed us apart more and more. Eventually, we were fighting each other more than the gangs and warlords of Hoofington...” She sighed and shook her head. “One day there was an incredible storm, and from the clouds above fell a wounded dragon and a pegasus. The dragon crawled off... to where, I never discovered... but I met my Sky Striker and nursed him back to health... and then... he offered to take me back with him.”
"是的。好多了。随着时间的推移，缺乏成功变得...令人沮丧。我们身上的缺陷使我们越来越疏远。最终，我们的斗争比胡芬顿的帮派和军阀还要激烈......"她叹了口气，摇了摇头。"一天，发生了一场难以置信的风暴，一条受伤的巨龙和一匹飞马从天上掉下来。龙爬到了......我从未发现的地方......但我遇到了我的天空攻击者，并照顾他恢复健康......然后......他提出带我回去。"
“Your friends allowed it?” I asked.
"你的朋友们同意了?"我问道。
“No.” She shook her head. “But by then... well... we weren’t much of friends anymore. They stayed together because of me and... well... I flew off. I abandoned them to find their own way.” She looked out into the night. “I failed them. They joined me because they believed in me...”
"没有。"她摇了摇头。"但那时......嗯......我们已经不再是朋友了。因为我，他们一直在一起，然后......我飞走了。我抛弃了他们，去寻找自己的道路。"她望着外面的夜色。"我辜负了他们。他们加入我是因为他们相信我......"
I thought of Dawn and my own friends. Would we still be friends in five years? Or even one? I’d been outside in the Wasteland for a month and a half, and look at how much I’d changed. “And once in the Enclave, you tried to get them to help the surface.”
我想起了道恩和我的朋友们。五年后我们还会是朋友吗？或者甚至一个？我已经在荒原外面呆了一个半月了，看看我改变了多少。"一旦进入昂科雷，你就试图让他们帮助浮出水面。"
“Yes,” she said with a nod. “Though I tried to be a mother first. It was... nice,” she said with a faint blush. “But my virtue had always been to try and save people below the clouds from the life I’d lived. The Enclave, even now, has power and food and the sun... so very much... that we lack below. But I failed. And soon... soon there were ponies willing to kill me to keep them from having to acknowledge the suffering below.” She shook her head again. In the flickers of approaching lightning I could make out the outlines of the manor through the
"是的,"她点了点头。"尽管我首先想做一个母亲。真是......不错,"她微微脸红地说。"但我的美德一直是努力将云层下的人们从我过去的生活中拯救出来。飞地，即使是现在，也有能源、食物和太阳......非常多......我们下面缺乏。但我失败了。很快...很快就有小马愿意杀了我，以免它们不得不承认下面的痛苦。"她又摇了摇头。在接近的闪电的闪烁中，我可以看到庄园的轮廓
pouring rain. “I say I left to protect my family... and part of that is true... but...”
倾盆大雨。"我说我离开是为了保护我的家人......其中一部分是真的......但是......"
I finished for her as the thunder growled like a stalking beast growing closer with every minute. “But you also left because you hadn’t done what you needed to. The wastes still needed saving.”
随着雷声像跟踪的野兽一样越来越近，我为她结束了这一切。"但你离开也是因为你没有做你需要做的事情。废物仍然需要拯救。"
“Yes. My friends hadn’t been able to do so. Nor had the Enclave. So I left them behind.” She stopped and, for a moment, looked skyward again. “Sometimes, though... sometimes I think I’d give almost anything to go back. To be with them... my family... my friends... Sky Striker. All I’d need is one word, and I’d fly back to that life. The feeling terrifies me at times.” She shook her head once more, as if trying to rattle the desire from her mind.
"是的。我的朋友们没能做到这一点。昂科雷也没有。所以我把它们留在了后面。"她停了下来，看了一会儿天空。"有时候，尽管......有时候我觉得我愿意放弃一切回到过去。和他们在一起......我的家人......我的朋友......天空之锤。我只需要一个字，我就会飞回那种生活。这种感觉有时让我害怕。"她又摇了摇头，好像要把这个念头从脑子里弄出来。
“Sometimes, I’d give anything to have 99 back. Do anything. Just to have a chance of making it better. There were good ponies there, even if it was messed up. I’d give anything to give ponies a chance at a better tomorrow,” I said as we started down the driveway towards the cavernous manor. With luck, it’d offer some shelter from the storm.
"有时候，我愿意付出一切来换回99。做任何事。只是为了有机会让它变得更好。那里有不错的小马，即使是一团糟。我愿意付出任何代价，只要能给小马一个拥有更美好明天的机会,"当我们沿着车道向洞穴庄园走去时，我说道。如果幸运的话，它可以为我们提供一些避风港。
Glory’s mom stopped in the rainy road and looked at me quizzically. “Then why is it you deny EC-1101 to ponies who would use it to spare countless others pain and suffering?”
晨辉的妈妈停在雨路上，疑惑地看着我。"那你为什么不给小马用EC-1101来减轻无数其他人的痛苦呢?"
No. Looking at Dawn, the sensation of hope that Glory would have a happy life with her mother again guttered, and I felt a chill pass though me. The building storm now completely forgotten, I looked on in sad resignation. P-21 had been right. She did know something! “How do you know about EC-1101? Did Glory or P-21 tell you?” Her smile, smug and knowing, informed me that Glory hadn’t. And P-21 wouldn’t...
没有。望着黎明，那种希望晨辉能和她母亲过上幸福生活的感觉又油然而生，我感到一阵寒意掠过我的身体。建筑风暴现在已经完全忘记了，我悲伤地无可奈何地看着。P-21是对的。她确实知道些什么！"你是怎么知道EC-1101的？是晨辉还是P-21告诉你的?"她的微笑，自鸣得意和了解，告诉我，光荣没有。P-21不会..。
“Oh no,” she said softly as she trotted up the road. “I’ve been searching for EC-1101 for quite a while now.”
"哦，不,"她一边小跑一边温柔地说。"我已经搜索EC-1101很长时间了。"
Then I knew the answer, like a sick punch to my gut. “You’re with the Harbingers.”
然后我知道了答案，就像给了我肚子一拳。"你是先驱者的人。"
“More accurately, I am the Harbingers,” Dawn replied matter-of-factly. ”I am their prophet for a better tomorrow.”
"更准确地说，我是先知,"道恩实事求是地回答我是他们的先知，为了更好的明天。"
For a few seconds, I wondered if my horn had recovered enough for a magic
有那么几秒钟，我怀疑我的号角是否已经恢复到可以施展魔法的程度了
bullet. If not, fingers would work. Still, I looked at the unassuming gray mare… their leader. It was a rare moment I really wished I could kill a pony in cold blood. But Dawn wasn’t just unarmed, she was unarmored and Glory’s mother besides. The second she turned red on my E.F.S., though… “So all that catching up with your daughter? Just a lie?” I asked, glaring at her in the rain.
子弹。如果没有，手指也可以。尽管如此，我还是看着那头谦逊的灰色母马......它们的领袖。那是一个难得的时刻，我真希望我能冷血地杀死一匹小马。但是道恩不仅没有武器，她没有武器，晨辉的母亲也没有武器。然而，当她对我的e.f.s.脸色发红的那一刻......"那么，所有这一切都是为了赶上你的女儿吗？只是个谎言?"我问，在雨中怒视着她。
“No. It was a gift. A miraculous indulgence,” Dawn replied, her smile fading a little. She looked towards Star House with that infuriating squint. “It was wonderful to meet her again. To talk to her like we did years ago. And I thank you for giving me the opportunity, Blackjack. I do. But time is running out. I’m here to ask for your help. No guns. No tricks.”
"没有。这是一份礼物。真是奇迹般的放纵,"道恩回答道，她的微笑渐渐消失了。她怒目而视地望着星宫。"能再次见到她真是太好了。像几年前那样和她说话。谢谢你给我这个机会Blackjack。我知道。但是时间已经不多了。我是来寻求你的帮助的。没有枪。不耍花招。"
“Really? So this isn’t just an attempt to get me alone and kill me?” I asked sharply.
"真的吗？所以这不仅仅是想让我一个人呆着，然后杀了我?"我尖锐地问道。
She looked at me evenly. “Believe it or not, while I do want EC-1101, I also want my daughter to be happy. You make her happy. Happier than I ever could,” she said, her voice a soft note of shame.
她平静地看着我。"信不信由你，虽然我确实想要EC-1101，但我也希望我的女儿快乐。你让她开心。比我任何时候都快乐,"她说，声音里带着一丝羞愧。
I snorted in disbelief. “You’re the leader of the Harbingers. You’ve been hunting me for the last week. Why in hell would I ever work with you?”
我不相信地哼了一声。"你是先驱者的领袖。上个星期你一直在找我。我到底为什么要和你一起工作?"
“Because you want to save the Wasteland. And together, we can save it from Project Horizons.”
"因为你想拯救荒原。我们可以一起把它从"地平线计划"中拯救出来。"
I felt as if lightning had struck me again, and I stared at her in shock. “Project Horizons? You know what it is?”
我觉得好像又被闪电击中了，我惊恐地盯着她。"地平线计划？你知道这是什么吗?"
“A bit,” she replied with a small smile. “And I know that you’ve been trying to figure out what Goldenblood and the O.I.A. did two hundred years ago,” she said, trotting off through the rain towards the front of the manor. “If you want to know more, come with me. We’ll talk, and I’ll tell you what I know.”
"有一点,"她微笑着回答。"我知道你一直在试图弄清楚两百年前金血王和o.i.a.做了什么,"她说着穿过雨水小跑到庄园前面。"如果你想知道更多，跟我来。我们谈谈，我把我知道的都告诉你。"
I stopped in my tracks. Going with her would need a level of idiocy astounding even to me. This clear ploy had to lead me into a trap. It was obvious from a mile away. I tried to send a message to Lacunae to try and find P-21. To give some kind of warning to Glory. The riotous argument being held in Unity made me unsure if it got through to my friend, though.
我停下脚步。即使对我来说，和她一起去也需要一定程度的白痴才行。这个明显的策略把我引入了一个陷阱。从一英里外就能看出来。我试图向空白处发出信息，试图找到P-21。给予晨辉某种警告。不过，在Unity上举行的这场闹剧让我不确定我的朋友是否听懂了。
I’d already walked into one... two... too many death traps trying to unravel the
我已经走进了一个...两个...太多的死亡陷阱试图解开
mystery of Horizons, and I’d promised Glory I wouldn’t get into trouble.
神秘的地平线，我答应晨辉我不会惹上麻烦。
“Thanks, but–” I began, and then I froze.
"谢谢，但是——"我开始说，然后我愣住了。
My eyes returned to Dawn. I had friends. I had to trust in them. P-21 had been right. I could no more give up on learning about Horizons than I could cut off my own head. And now I had a chance to find out something about Horizons itself.
我的眼睛又回到了黎明。我有朋友。我必须相信他们。P-21是对的。我不能放弃学习地平线，就像我不能砍掉自己的头一样。现在我有机会去发现一些关于地平线本身的东西。
Falling in step with the pegasus, I asked, “So. What is it?”
与飞马同步，我问:"那么。这是什么?"
“Horizons itself was a superweapon developed two hundred years ago by Goldenblood to prevent a coup by the Ministry Mares. I don’t know where it is or how it works, but being that it was designed by Trottenheimer, who adapted megaspells to weaponized purposes, we can assume the destruction would be substantial. You saw what his silver bullets could do,” Dawn said as she walked beside me.
"地平线本身是一种超级武器，两百年前由黄金血液开发，以防止政变由部长马里斯。我不知道它在哪里，也不知道它是如何工作的，但由于它是由Trottenheimer设计的，他将megaspells用于武器化目的，我们可以假定这种破坏将是巨大的。你看到了他的银弹的威力,"道恩在我身边走着时说。
“How do you know this?” I asked with a frown.
"你怎么知道的?"我皱着眉头问。
“Because thirty years ago my friends learned about the activities of the O.I.A. and the existence of their secret projects. Not hard, given that Zodiac worked on one of them. We scraped the surface and learned just the barest hints of the projects, but that was enough. Unfortunately, the struggle between my friends was too much to bear, and we separated before we could learn more. But I knew of it.” She sighed and hung her head a little and continued, “And unlike the others, I remembered.”
"因为三十年前，我的朋友们知道了o.i.a.的活动以及他们的秘密项目。不难，因为十二宫杀手曾为其中一个工作过。我们刨根问底，只了解到项目最基本的线索，但这已经足够了。不幸的是，我的朋友们之间的斗争太难以忍受了，我们还没来得及了解更多就分手了。但我知道这件事。"她叹了口气，低了一下头，继续说:"不像其他人，我记得。"
“Zodiac said she didn’t know anything about it,” I countered.
"黄道带说她对此一无所知,"我反驳道。
“She lied.” Dawn shrugged. “Or she simply forgot. I suppose living for two hundred years could make a pony somewhat forgetful,” she said simply. “I’d suspect the former, though. She was always casual with the truth.” The gray mare sighed and shook her head. “In any event, when I returned to the Wasteland, I sought out something… anything… that could save it. The Enclave was too isolated. They would have killed me before they lifted a feather to help the surface. So I travelled far and wide in search of anypony who could bring order to the world.
"她撒谎了。"道恩耸耸肩。"或者她只是忘记了。我想活两百年可能会让小马有点健忘,"她简单地说。"不过，我怀疑是前者。她对真相总是漫不经心。"灰色的母马叹了口气，摇了摇头。"无论如何，当我回到荒原，我找到了一些东西...任何东西...可以拯救它。昂科雷太孤立了。在他们举起一根羽毛帮助浮出水面之前，他们就会杀了我。所以我走了很远很远的路去寻找能够给世界带来秩序的小马。
“I came across a few prospects. A griffin warlord trying to recoup his people’s fallen glory. A dragon with the intelligence and skill to manipulate ponies, living
"我遇到了一些潜在客户。一个狮鹫首领想要夺回他的人民的荣誉。一条拥有智慧和技巧的龙，可以操纵小马，生活
in an old prison and trying to establish control around his lair. The most promising by far was a cyberpony willing to do or give whatever he could to re-establish civilization. Each of them, however, fell short. The first was too consumed by hatred, the second obsessed with greed, and the last callous to the suffering he caused. When I returned to Hoofington, I was prepared to die. I went into the tunnels, ready to rot away and be done with life,” she said solemnly. “And it was there that she found me.”
在一个旧监狱里，试图控制他的巢穴。到目前为止，最有希望的是一匹愿意为重建文明做任何事或付出任何东西的赛博矮种马。然而，他们每个人都做得不够好。第一个是被仇恨吞噬，第二个是被贪婪吞噬，最后一个是对他造成的痛苦麻木不仁。当我回到Hoofington的时候，我已经准备好去死了。我走进隧道，准备腐烂，结束生命,"她严肃地说。"就是在那里，她找到了我。"
“She?” I asked with a frown as we walked towards the camp where the Crusaders had gathered their salvage. So far, there were only two red bars, but I had no idea if they were Harbingers at the edge of my sensor range or radroaches trying to get out of the rain. From the movement, possibly the latter. Still, there could easily be snipers focused on me this very second.
"她?"我皱着眉头问道，我们向十字军收集废品的营地走去。到目前为止，只有两根红条，但我不知道它们是在我的传感器范围边缘的预兆者，还是试图躲避雨水的流氓。从运动，可能是后者。尽管如此，此时此刻很容易就会有狙击手瞄准我。
“I was sick, dying, and delirious when she found me and saved me from the Enervation beneath the city. I was nursed to health and given the ability to understand her.” She turned to me and smiled in bliss. “She is the Goddess of the Core.”
"当她发现我并把我从城市下面的衰弱中拯救出来时，我已经病入膏肓，奄奄一息。我被照顾得很健康，并且被赋予了理解她的能力。"她转向我，幸福地微笑着。"她是核心女神。"
I halted in my tracks at the mouth of the empty camp, and so did she. “Goddess?
我在空营地的入口处停了下来，她也是。"女神？
As in… Princess Celestia goddess?” Or alicorn-creating crazy evil goddess?
塞勒斯蒂娅公主的女神?"还是阿里康创造的疯狂邪恶女神？
“Yes. A goddess of technology and knowledge. Cognitum. She is trapped and integrated with the Core, but she showed me such wonders. The Core is there… a city that can contain and care for the entire population of the Wasteland ten times over. It is a place where all sapient life… not just ponies but zebras, griffins, hellhounds, and even dragons can live in peace. Even with the extensive damage that time and the war inflicted, there is more than enough for all.” She smiled gently. “You’ve already felt her blessing. She was the one who overrode the interference to fire the defense beam at the ghoul in Hightower.”
"是的。智慧女神掌管技术和知识的女神。认知属。她被困住并与核心融合在一起，但是她向我展示了这样的奇迹。核心就在那里...一个城市可以容纳和照顾十倍以上的整个荒原的人口。这是一个所有智慧生命的地方......不仅仅是小马，还有斑马、狮鹫、地狱犬，甚至是龙都可以和平地生活。尽管当时和战争造成了广泛的破坏，但对所有人来说还是绰绰有余的。"她温柔地笑了笑。"你已经感受到她的祝福了。她克服了干扰，向海托华的食尸鬼发射了防御光束。"
“Interference?” I frowned in confusion.
"干扰?"我困惑地皱起了眉头。
Dawn sighed. “When Equestria fell, countless automated spell matrixes were locked out. Though Cognitum is wise and powerful, nearly every system in the Core disobeys her. It is a struggle for her to exert her will on even the smallest system.” She then smiled once more. “But, with effort, she can.”
道恩叹了口气。"当小马国沦陷时，无数自动拼写矩阵被锁定在外。虽然认知是明智而强大的，但是核心中的几乎每一个系统都不服从它。对她来说，即使是在最小的系统上施展自己的意志，也是一种挣扎。"然后她又笑了。"但是，只要努力，她就能做到。"
“I see. So she fried the ghoul,” I said slowly.
"我明白了。所以她把食尸鬼炸了,"我慢慢地说。
“And she took over the holo-emitters in Flash Industries and killed your enemies,” Dawn said with a wide smile. “See? Even though you have never known, she’s assisted you several times before.”
"她接管了闪光工业的全息发射器，杀死了你的敌人,"道恩笑容满面地说。""看见了吗？即使你不知道，她以前也帮过你好几次。"
Funny, I recalled her assistance practically ripped my leg off and nearly killing Glory! I scowled and put that aside for the moment; I needed answers, not to pick a fight just yet. “So this Cognitum told you more about Horizons?”
有趣的是，我记得她的帮助几乎把我的腿扯下来，差点杀了晨辉！我皱起眉头，暂时把这个问题放在一边;我需要答案，暂时不要挑起争执。"那么，这个认知神经告诉你更多关于地平线的事情了?"
Dawn’s smile faded a little. “Yes. It is a device capable of destroying not just the Wasteland but potentially far more. EC-1101 serves as its trigger. When Equestria fell and EC-1101 went active, the fuse was lit, but then through sheer chance the spell became trapped within your stable, and the fuse was then delayed. Now it is out, and once more Horizons is primed to fire.”
黎明的微笑消失了一点。"是的。它不仅能摧毁荒原，而且可能摧毁更多。Ec-1101作为其触发器。当小马骑士倒下，EC-1101启动时，导火索点燃了，但是由于纯粹的偶然性，导火索被困在了你的马厩里，然后导火索被延迟了。现在它已经出来了,"地平线"又一次准备着火了。"
“And how does giving you EC-1101 figure in?” She hadn’t told me much about Horizons, but I definitely wanted to know more. P-21 had been right, again.
"那么给你的EC-1101是怎么计算的呢?"她没有告诉我很多关于地平线的事情，但是我确实想知道更多。P-21又一次说对了。
“Right now, Cognitum struggles to assert herself over the most basic of systems. Without the authority granted by EC-1101, she is only able to utilize one ten thousandth of her normal capabilities. She struggles through interference and dealing with the damaged systems. Once EC-1101 is in her hooves and properly activated, she will be able to cancel Horizons and establish a new Equestria from here. All will be welcome. All will be equal in her true unity. And then… then we will have peace.”
"现在，认知力在最基本的系统中挣扎着维护自己。没有EC-1101的授权，她只能利用她正常能力的千分之一。她挣扎着通过干扰和处理损坏的系统。一旦EC-1101踏上她的马蹄并且正确的启动，她将能够取消视野并且从这里建立一个新的小马国。我们欢迎所有人。在她真正的统一中，所有人都是平等的。然后......然后我们就和平了。"
That meant that this Cognitum had to be a descendant of a ministry mare too. “So Cognitum sent Sanguine to my stable?”
这意味着这个认知也一定是一个牧师母马的后代。"所以科涅塔把血红送到了我的马厩里?"
“Yes,” she replied simply. “The price was the restoration of his family. But Sanguine was a coward. When he learned of the true Goddess, he sought to retrieve EC-1101 and flee. He would have run beyond her reach and, in doing so, doomed us all. Eventually, EC-1101 will conclude that Luna has been deposed and fire Horizons. When that happens, the Wasteland, perhaps the world, will be destroyed.”
"是的,"她简单地回答。"代价就是他家庭的复兴。但桑吉内是个懦夫。当他知道了真正的女神后，他试图找回EC-1101并逃跑。他会跑到她够不着的地方，这样做会把我们都害死的。最终，EC-1101会得出卢娜已经被废黜的结论，并开启地平线。当这种情况发生时，荒原，也许是世界，将被摧毁。"
I frowned; something about this was off. Goldenblood had been paranoid, no doubt about that. He’d done everything he could to ensure that Luna had remained in power. He’d manipulated the ministries and the entire kingdom for her. But if Luna was deposed or killed… why blow everything up? Some sort of vengeance? It couldn’t have worked as a deterrent because nopony knew about
我皱起了眉头，感觉有点不对劲。毫无疑问，金布拉德是个偏执狂。他已经竭尽全力确保卢娜继续掌权。他为她操纵了政府部门和整个王国。但是如果卢娜是被废黜或者被杀死的...为什么要炸毁一切呢？某种复仇？它不可能起到威慑作用，因为没有小马知道这件事
it. I looked at the gray pegasus with a long frown. If this Cognitum had lied to Dawn, there was only one way to figure out the truth.
它。我长长地皱着眉头看着那匹灰色的飞马。如果这个认知力对道恩撒了谎，那么只有一个办法可以弄清楚真相。
“I need to meet her,” I said sullenly. And that meant a trip to the deadliest place in Equestria. We stopped in front of the Crusaders’ salvage camp built before the main entrance of Blueblood Manor. The dark building loomed above me, thunder booming through the dark skies above. A lone lightning bolt illuminated the scoured front of the structure.
"我得见见她,"我闷闷不乐地说。这意味着我们要去Equestria最危险的地方。我们在十字军营地前停了下来，营地建在蓝血庄园的正门前。黑暗的建筑隐约出现在我的头顶，雷声在黑暗的天空中隆隆响起。一道孤零零的闪电照亮了被冲刷过的建筑物前部。
The manor had certainly seen better days; the Crusaders had stripped it of anything that was even remotely of value like a gleeful swarm of radroaches on a corpse. Lying about were crates of pipes and coils of wire that had been ripped from the building but not hauled away yet. The structure itself, with its reinforced walls and beams, might stand for a century more before it collapsed completely, but nothing of value would remain within… except for Vanity’s bedroom, if Charity had honored her promise.
这个庄园当然过得不错;十字军把它剥夺了一切，哪怕是一丁点有价值的东西，就像一群兴高采烈的光秃秃的尸体。周围摆放着成箱的管道和线圈，这些都是从大楼上拆下来但还没有拖走的。结构本身，加固的墙壁和横梁，可能在它完全倒塌之前再坚持一个世纪，但是没有任何有价值的东西会留在里面...除了虚荣的卧室，如果Charity遵守了她的承诺。
Dawn’s lips curled in a grin even wider than she’d shown when she’d been with Glory. “And you will. When you give EC-1101–”
道恩的嘴唇微笑着，比她和晨辉在一起时露出的嘴唇还要大。"你会的。当你给EC-1101-"
“No,” I interrupted. “I’m not giving EC-1101 to you. Nor her,” I said levelly, leaving the mare as stunned as if I’d kicked her upside the head. “You don’t get it. She exposed my home to a disease that turned almost everypony I knew into cannibals. And you and your Harbingers made the exact same mistake Sanguine did. You shot first. You should have tried this conversation before sending squads of killers after me.”
"不,"我打断了他。"我不会把EC-1101给你。"也不是她,"我平静地说，让母马目瞪口呆，好像我踢了她的头一样。"你不明白。她把我的家暴露在一种几乎把我认识的每一匹小马都变成食人族的疾病面前。你和你的先知们也犯了同样的错误。你先开枪的。在你派一队杀手追杀我之前，你应该试试这个对话。"
Dawn’s mouth opened and closed. “I… we thought there was no choice. After Sanguine took it from you, I ordered Steel Rain to retrieve it at all costs. We had no idea who had it; perhaps you, or a minion of Red Eye or some raider acquired it.”
道恩的嘴张开又合上。"我.....。.我们以为别无选择。在桑吉纳从你那里拿走它之后，我命令钢铁雨不惜一切代价把它找回来。我们不知道是谁得到了它，也许是你，或者是红眼的一个走狗，或者是某个掠夺者得到了它。"
I glared at her. “But you found out it was me soon enough. You chased me all the way across the Hoof.”
我怒视着她。"但你很快就发现是我干的。你一路追着我穿过霍夫。"
“I wasn’t in charge of that. I simply...” Dawn struggled to justify herself and then said, “Steel Rain informed me that you would never willingly surrender EC-1101. I simply followed his recommendations.”
"那不是我负责的。我只是......"道恩挣扎着为自己辩护，然后说,"钢铁雨告诉我，你永远不会愿意交出EC-1101。我只是听从了他的建议。"
“And he was probably right. What matters is that you didn’t even try. You should
"他可能是对的。重要的是你甚至没有尝试。你应该知道
have had this talk with me after we left Hippocratic Research. Instead, you tried to blow my head off and take it, just like Deus and his bounty hunters,” I replied sharply. “If you’d spoken to me in the Fluttershy Medical Center, I would have been happy to give it to you. Or at least to talk it over. But your Cognitum killed Sanguine and I’m pretty sure sent a super-sentinel after me. Your seekers hounded me. Steel Rain–”
在我们离开希波克拉底研究所后和我谈过这个。相反，你试图打爆我的头拿走它，就像上帝和他的赏金猎人一样,"我厉声回答。"如果你在Fluttershy医疗中心和我说话，我会很高兴把它给你。或者至少讨论一下。但是你的认知神经杀死了桑吉尼而且我确信派了一个超级哨兵来追杀我。你的探索者追杀我。钢铁雨-"
Dawn suddenly straightened. “Would it help if you could get revenge on him for what he did to you and your friends?”
黎明突然站直了。"如果你能报复他对你和你的朋友所做的一切，这会有帮助吗?"
“What?” I blinked, lightning flashing and booming above me as I stared at her.
"什么?"当我盯着她时，我眨了眨眼睛，闪电在我头顶上方闪烁，轰隆隆地响着。
“You said so yourself. Steel Rain advised me to take it by force, and in the process wronged you. If you like, you can take his place.” She reached out and tapped my chest. “You can make certain that the Harbingers remain an order of good virtue.” Remain?
""你自己说的。钢铁雨劝我用武力拿走，在这个过程中冤枉了你。如果你愿意，你可以代替他。"她伸手拍了拍我的胸口。"你可以确定，先知仍然是一个美德的秩序。"留下？
“He’d never just let me kill him!” I gasped, staring at her in shock. Was she actually serious about this?
"他不会让我杀了他的!"我喘着气，震惊地盯着她。她真的是认真的吗？
“You may be surprised,” Dawn said as she looked at the front door to the manor. “We can deal with that right now, if you like.” Then she stated firmly, “Rain. Come here. No armor or guns.” For several minutes I just stared in shock before the door creaked slowly open, and then I tensed as a blue bar appeared. He wouldn’t actually come out here unarmed. Dawn was crazy if she thought he– “I knew that you’d never give it up,” the stallion said as he emerged from the manor. On instinct, my horn’s magic reached for weapons that were probably in some locker at the Rainbow Dash Skyport. I was surprised to see two things: one, he wore only a PipBuck. Two, he looked positively cute! The stallion with guns as massive as Deus’s seemed disturbingly vulnerable without his fancy armor. His pink mane was plastered to his purple coat, and his kindly face wore an oddly embarrassed expression.
"你可能会感到惊讶,"道恩看着庄园的前门说。"如果你愿意，我们现在就可以处理这个问题。"然后她坚定地说:"下雨了。过来。没有装甲和枪支。"好几分钟，我震惊地盯着门，然后门吱吱嘎嘎地慢慢打开了，然后我紧张起来，一根蓝色的杠子出现了。他不会赤手空拳来这里的。当这匹种马从庄园里出来时，它说:"我就知道你永远不会放弃。"。出于本能，我的号角的魔法伸手去拿那些可能在彩虹跑道上某个储物柜里的武器。我惊讶地发现了两件事:第一，他只穿了一件PipBuck。第二，他看起来真的很可爱！这匹拥有和天王一样大规模枪支的种马，没有了他华丽的盔甲，似乎显得脆弱得令人不安。他那粉红色的鬃毛贴在紫色的外套上，和蔼的脸上带着一种奇怪的尴尬表情。
Again, for the second time of the night, I really wished I were a pony who could kill an unarmed enemy. “You’re showing a lot of guts trotting out here like that,” I said. I ground my teeth, trying to think of some way I could beat the ever loving snot out of him and not have Fluttershy give me dirty looks inside my head.
又一次，那天晚上的第二次，我真的希望自己是一匹能够杀死手无寸铁的敌人的小马。"你这样跑出来真是胆大包天,"我说。我咬紧牙关，努力想办法把他那永远充满爱意的鼻涕打出来，不让Fluttershy在我脑子里恶狠狠地看我一眼。
“I don’t have much choice in the matter...” He paused and then rolled his eyes. “I figured there was a fifty-fifty chance you’d kill me at first sight anyway after what happened on the Celestia and at Goldenblood’s house. Or maim me, at least.”
"在这件事上我没有太多选择......"他停顿了一下，然后翻了翻眼睛。"在塞莱斯蒂亚号和Goldenblood的房子发生的事情之后，我认为你有一半的机会在第一眼看到我的时候杀了我。或者至少让我残废。"
“I’m thinking about it. I’d treat a fart as a deadly weapon from you,” I growled.
"我正在考虑。"我会把你放的屁当成致命武器,"我咆哮着。
“Please. I don’t want you two to argue. This is about the future of Equestria and getting Blackjack’s cooperation,” Dawn told the unarmored stallion firmly.
"求你了。我不想你们俩吵架。这关系到Equestria的未来，也关系到与Blackjack的合作。"。
“Of course, Prophet,” the former Steel Ranger said smoothly. “But unfortunately, you still don’t realize just what lengths Blackjack will go to win. Just what she’s capable of. You should accept that she will never willingly part with EC-1101 or join the Harbingers. We’re the ‘bad ponies’.” He grimaced and sat, making little quote wiggles with his forehooves.
"当然，先知,"前钢铁骑兵顺利地说。"但不幸的是，你仍然没有意识到黑杰克能赢多少钱。就是她的能力。你应该接受，她永远不会愿意与EC-1101或加入先驱者。我们是'坏小马'。"他做了个鬼脸，坐了下来，用前蹄扭动着小小的引用。
“Teaming up with him was a big mistake,” I said to Dawn without taking my eyes off him. “I’m surprised he hasn’t shot you in the back long before now, Dawn. He betrayed his last leader for technology. He’ll do the same to you.” A half dozen more ponies were emerging from the manor. All were unarmed and unarmored and keeping their distance as they moved around the camp. My eyes kept looking for snipers or whatever was Steel Rain’s plan B.
"和他合作是一个大错误,"我对道恩说，目不转睛地看着他。"我很惊讶他很久以前没有在你背后开枪，道恩。他为了技术背叛了上一任领导人。他也会这样对你的。"又有六匹小马从庄园里跑了出来。所有人都没有武器，没有装甲，在营地周围走动时保持着距离。我的眼睛一直在寻找狙击手或者钢铁雨的b计划。
My comment added a bit of amusement to the embarrassment on his face. “Ah yes. That had been my plan, I admit,” he replied with a small grimace as he pressed a hoof to his chest. “Unfortunately, a certain measure has been taken to ensure that I cannot betray Cognitum or her prophet.” He met my gaze and gave an almost sheepish smile. “It seems my ambitious nature was better known than I anticipated. There’s a kill implant nestled right in my chest. One signal from either, and it will immediately puree my insides.”
我的评论给他脸上的尴尬增添了一点乐趣。"啊，是的。"我承认，这本来就是我的计划,"他一边回答，一边把蹄子压在胸前，做了个小小的鬼脸。"不幸的是，已经采取了一些措施，以确保我不会背叛科尼图姆或她的先知。"他迎着我的目光，露出几乎羞怯的微笑。"看起来，我雄心勃勃的天性比我预期的更为人所知。我的胸腔里植入了一个致命的植入物。只要一个信号，我的内脏就会马上变成浆糊。"
I remembered the prospector in Tenpony vomiting bloody viscera and blinked in shock, then looked at Dawn. “When we discussed how to retrieve EC-1101,” she said calmly as she trotted up beside me, “Steel Rain was quite adamant that it could only be done by force. That you were using the megaspell for your own agenda. I believed him. My mistake for thinking you were a monster after I heard what you did to your stable.”
我想起了Tenpony的探矿者呕吐着带血的内脏，在震惊中眨着眼睛，然后看着黎明。"当我们讨论如何取回EC-1101的时候,"她平静地走到我身边说,"钢铁雨坚信只有用武力才能取回。你利用megaspell来达到你自己的目的。我相信了他。我听说了你对马厩的所作所为之后，错误地认为你是个怪物。"
Steel Rain chuckled. “Oh, she is. The worst kind,” he said with a casual smile that didn’t hide the fear in his eyes. “A monster who thinks she can stop being
钢铁雨咯咯地笑了。"哦，她是的。最糟糕的那种,"他不经意地笑着说，眼睛里毫不掩饰他的恐惧。"一个认为自己可以不再成为
one.”
一。"
I looked from her to him and back again. I didn’t know what to say to this. “If you like, I can kill him now. Or maim him. Or simply exile him with a command that the kill implant goes off if he uses any technology more advanced than a can opener,” Dawn said evenly, her smile returning and the purple stallion’s gentle features growing resigned as he sighed. “Consider it a repayment for following bad advice.”
我把目光从她身上转向他，又转回来。我不知道该怎么说。"如果你愿意，我现在就可以杀了他。或者让他残废。或者干脆放逐他，命令他如果使用任何比开罐器更先进的技术，植入式杀伤装置就会启动,"道恩平静地说，她的微笑回来了，紫色种马的温柔面容在他叹息时变得顺从起来。"把这当成是对听从错误建议的回报吧。"
“What?” I gasped as I backed away from both of them. “Whatever happened to believing in not killing?”
"什么?"当我从他们身边退开的时候，我倒吸了一口气。"你怎么不相信不杀人了?"
“If his life is the price for saving all of the Wasteland, then it’s one that I will accept. What’s one life compared to the multitudes that will be saved?” Dawn asked with that blissful smile.
"如果他的生命就是拯救整个荒原的代价，那么我愿意接受。一条生命与众多将被拯救的生命相比算得了什么?"道恩带着幸福的微笑问道。
“Everything,” Steel Rain said with another sigh before he smiled at me apologetically. “Well, I won’t pretend like I don’t have it coming. Go on then. At least it’ll be relatively quick.”
"一切,"钢铁雨又叹了一口气，然后对我抱歉地笑了笑。"好吧，我不会假装我没有受到惩罚。那就去吧。至少它会相对快一些。"
I stared blankly, my gaze shifting from one to the other. Was she serious? Just... kill him and take his place, just like that? I looked into his pink eyes and saw an acknowledgement of defeat in them. I had no doubt whatsoever what he’d do if our positions were reversed. Right now, I could do the smart thing and kill one of my greatest enemies. I might not even have to follow through on handing over EC-1101 afterwards. There was just one little problem… “No,” I replied. Steel Rain flinched, then blinked and then paused as his pink eyes looked from Dawn to myself.
我茫然地盯着他们，目光从一个转向另一个。她是认真的吗？就...杀了他然后取代他的位置就这样？我看着他那双粉红色的眼睛，看到他承认自己失败了。我毫不怀疑如果我们的立场相反，他会做什么。现在，我可以做一件聪明的事情，杀死我最大的敌人之一。我甚至可能不需要完成交付EC-1101之后。只有一个小问题......"没有,"我回答。钢铁雨退缩了一下，然后眨了眨眼睛，然后停了下来，他那双粉红色的眼睛从黎明望着我自己。
Dawn frowned for a second, then brightened. “Oh. I understand. You want to do it yourself. Well, I can give you the kill command just as soon as–”
黎明皱了皱眉头，然后亮了起来。"哦。我明白。你想自己动手。好吧，我可以给你命令，只要..."
“Fuck no!” I snapped as I backed away from both of them. “Don’t you get it? I’m not a fucking executioner. Give him his armor and guns, and I’ll do what I can to kill him properly if he’s going to try something, but I’m not going to kill him just to give you what you want!”
"当然不是!"当我从他们两人身边退开的时候，我厉声说道。"你还不明白吗？我他妈不是刽子手。把他的盔甲和枪给他，如果他想干什么，我会尽我所能好好地杀了他，但我不会为了满足你的要求而杀了他!"
“But... the Harbingers... Cognitum...” Dawn stammered, weakly, still clearly astonished I wasn’t taking her offer.
"但是......先知们......同源体......"道恩结结巴巴地说，语气虚弱，但显然还是很吃惊我没有接受她的提议。
“Sorry, Dawn. I know you believe the Core holds all the answers, but I can’t believe in your goddess. The Core is simply death. Always has been. Always will be.” The fact she’d been willing to kill him, at all, for her mistake in believing him convinced me that the Harbingers weren’t the Wasteland’s final solution. I didn’t place my faith in goddesses and lost technology.
"对不起，道恩。我知道你相信核心有所有的答案，但我不相信你的女神。核心就是死亡。一直都是。永远如此。"事实上，她一直愿意杀了他，因为她相信他的错误，使我确信，先驱者不是荒原的最终解决方案。我不相信女神和失去的技术。
It took hard work to do better...
为了做得更好，我付出了艰辛的努力。
We stood there in the darkness and hissing rain, facing each other. Suddenly Steel Rain began to laugh. “Oh, this is too rich. I knew that Blackjack would never part with EC-1101, but I never imagined she’d pass up a chance like that! It’s too much!” He chuckled, shaking his head with a mirthful grin.
我们站在黑暗中，面对着嘶嘶作响的雨声。突然，钢铁雨开始大笑起来。"哦，这太油腻了。我知道黑杰克永远不会放弃EC-1101，但我从来没有想到她会错过这样一个机会！太多了!"他咯咯地笑着，笑得摇了摇头。
“So. Is this where the ambush occurs?” I asked bluntly, glancing around me, wondering where the stealthed and armed Harbingers might be.
"所以。这就是埋伏发生的地方吗?"我直截了当地问道，环顾四周，想知道那些偷偷摸摸的全副武装的先驱者可能在哪里。
“Don’t be ridiculous, Blackjack. Of course not. Even naked and unarmed, you’re fantastically deadly. We’d be idiots to attack you now,” Steel Rain said with his friendly smile as he waved his hoof at a large sheet of canvas covering something massive. Four ponies ran up and started pulling off the tarp covering what I’d assumed to be salvage. “We’re going to use something... else.”
"别傻了，黑杰克。当然不是。即使赤身裸体，手无寸铁，你也是致命的。"我们现在攻击你就是白痴了,"钢铁雨一边说着，一边友好地微笑着，一边挥动着他的蹄子对着一块巨大的帆布。四匹小马跑上来，开始拉开防水布，上面盖着我以为是打捞上来的东西。"我们将使用一些......其它东西。"
I glared at the pair, then watched as a black-and-white-striped mountain of metal came into view. The tank. Immediately, its engine snarled and spotlights glared to life, and it swiveled the lamps towards me. I tensed, ready to run, but then Dawn said in a quiet but horribly sure voice, “No. The other target.” For almost a minute the tank sat there, revving its engine. Then it slowly swung its main turret away. My blood froze as what I realized what the ‘other target’ was.
我瞪了他们一眼，然后看到一座黑白条纹的金属山映入眼帘。坦克。马上，它的引擎咆哮着，聚光灯闪烁着生命的光芒，它把灯转向我。我紧张起来，准备逃跑，但是道恩用一种平静但是可怕而坚定的声音说:"不。另一个目标。"坦克在那儿停了将近一分钟，发动着引擎。然后它慢慢地摆动它的主炮塔。当我意识到"另一个目标"是什么时，我的血液凝固了。
The guns pointed right down at the sleeping village below.
枪口正对着下面沉睡的村庄。
“You fucking monsters…” I whispered as I looked at the war machine, its engine snarling as if it were pissed to see me again. I struggled to break through the chaos within Unity to get a warning to Lacunae. Maybe if I could activate my broadcaster… ugh, but as I tried to turn off the music and turn on the radio, Steel Rain frowned and leaned in towards me. Damn, he remembered that trick! I quickly brought up the file and showed them EC-1101 with a twist of my hoof. “Is this worth killing innocent foals for?”
"你们这些该死的怪物......"我低声说，同时看着战争机器，它的引擎咆哮着，好像又见到我很生气。我挣扎着冲破Unity内部的混乱，向Lacunae发出警告。也许我可以激活我的播音器......呃，但当我试图关掉音乐打开收音机时，钢铁雨皱起眉头，向我倾斜过来。该死，他还记得那个把戏！我迅速拿出锉刀，扭动我的蹄子给他们看EC-1101。"这值得为此杀害无辜的小马驹吗?"
“What other choice have you given me?” Dawn replied quietly, her mane
"你还给了我别的选择吗?"道恩平静地回答，她的鬃毛
obstructing her face. “Trying to take it by force has failed. Trying to negotiate has failed as well.”
挡住她的脸。"试图以武力夺取它的努力已经失败。试图谈判也失败了。"
“Give up?” I suggested, half in contempt and half in desperation.
"放弃?"我半是蔑视半是绝望地建议道。
“Could you?” she asked coldly as she turned away from me, asking in a near whisper. And then, for an instant, she looked at me over her shoulder, her eyes open and blazing with a bright, violent green luminescence, then looked down at the village and spoke again, her voice rising with every word. “What else am I supposed to do, Blackjack? I have devoted my entire life to finding some way to save the Wasteland, just as you have! I left my husband and my children in Thunderhead for this world. I must find some way to make it safe! And I’ve found it! I’ve found it!” she proclaimed as she whirled and advanced; her green eyes glared brighter as she thrust an accusing wing at me. “And you… YOU! You refuse to let me. How dare you, Blackjack?! How dare you withhold the key to Equestria’s glorious rebirth?”
"你能吗?"她冷冷地问，转过身去，用近乎耳语的声音问道。然后，有那么一瞬间，她回过头来看着我，她的眼睛睁开了，发出明亮而强烈的绿色光芒，然后低头看着村庄，又开口说话了，她的声音随着每一个字而升高。"我还能怎么办，黑杰克？我一生都在寻找拯救荒原的方法，就像你们一样！为了这个世界，我离开了我的丈夫和孩子。我必须想办法保证它的安全！我找到了！我找到了!"她旋转着向前走去，说道，她那双绿色的眼睛瞪得更亮了，她把一只责难的翅膀伸向我。"还有你......你！你拒绝让我。你怎么敢，黑杰克?！你怎么敢截住小马国辉煌重生的钥匙?"
I gaped in horror and backed away, wishing for some armament as I beheld the furious, screaming mare and glimpsed the real Dawn within the baleful green glow of her eyes. “What in Equestria are you?” I gasped in shock. A mutant? A monsterpony? Something else?
我惊恐得目瞪口呆，往后退去，希望能得到一些武器，因为我看到了愤怒的、尖叫的母马，在她邪恶的绿光的眼睛里瞥见了真正的黎明。"你在Equestria是做什么的?"我吓得倒抽了一口冷气。变种人？一匹怪马？还有别的吗？
“I am what I needed to become, just as you are,” she said coldly as she closed her eyes once more and turned her back to me, looking up at the tank. “I do not want to kill helpless foals, no more than you want them to die. But I will kill them if you force me to it. The future of Equestria is infinitely more precious than any one village.”
"我就是我需要变成的样子，就像你一样,"她冷冷地说着，又一次闭上了眼睛，转过身来看着我，抬头看着坦克。"我不想杀死无助的小马驹，就像你不想让它们死一样。但如果你逼我，我会杀了他们。Equestria的未来比任何一个村庄都珍贵得多。"
I knew I couldn’t take the risk of calling her bluff. I’d lost EC-1101 before and recovered it. My eyes met the calculating gaze of Steel Rain, and his apologetic smile grew a little. He knew that the second the village was out of harm’s way, I’d be after them again. They’d either try and kill me or shell the village to keep me busy.
我知道我不能冒险让她虚张声势。我以前丢失了EC-1101，现在又找回来了。我的眼睛遇到了钢铁雨精明的目光，他带着歉意的微笑变得有些迟钝。他知道只要村子一脱离危险，我就会再次追捕他们。他们要么试图杀了我，要么炮轰整个村庄，让我无暇顾及。
My eyes dropped to EC-1101 in my hoof as the maudlin music rose. Was this another damned price I’d have to pay? Steel Rain’d been right. I’d pay with my own pain and suffering as long as I had to, but now was I going to have to pay with the lives of others to keep the program from my enemies? I clenched my eyes shut, as I searched within me. Could I really pay that price again?
随着伤感的音乐响起，我的目光落在了我蹄子上的EC-1101上。这又是我必须付出的该死的代价吗？钢铁雨是对的。只要有必要，我愿意付出我自己的痛苦和折磨，但现在我是否要付出他人的生命来保护我的程序不受敌人的伤害呢？我紧闭双眼，在心里寻找。我真的能再次付出那样的代价吗？
“Fine,” I said bitterly and then glared at her. “All right, Dawn. If you’re willing to slay sleeping children with a fucking tank, then I guess you win.”
"很好,"我伤心地说，然后瞪着她。"好吧，道恩。如果你愿意用坦克杀死睡觉的孩子，那我想你赢了。"
A lull in the storm calmed the air for a moment, as if the world itself had been stunned by my surrender. Dawn faced me, her eyes closed again and hiding that baleful luminescence I’d seen before. “What?”
暴风雨中的一阵平静让空气平静了片刻，仿佛整个世界都被我的投降震惊了。黎明面对着我，她的眼睛再次闭上，隐藏着我以前看到的恶意冷光。"什么?"
“I’m not going to kill more innocents just to hang on to a damned program. So congratulations. Your willingness to murder helpless children won.” My words made the mare jerk as if I’d kicked her. “I hope you’d be proud. I hope your children would be proud.”
"我不会为了坚持一个该死的项目而杀害更多无辜的人。所以恭喜你。你杀害无助儿童的意愿赢了。"我的话使母马抽搐，好像我踢了她似的。"我希望你会感到骄傲。我希望你的孩子们会感到骄傲。"
“I... I have no choice,” Dawn muttered.
"我.....。.我别无选择,"道恩喃喃自语道。
“Wrong. You always have a choice,” I replied.
"错了。你总是可以选择,"我回答。
“You have no right to lecture me after what you’ve done!” Dawn hissed at me. “You’ve killed foals! You gassed your own stable!”
"你做了那样的事，没有资格教训我!"黎明朝我嘶嘶作响。"你杀了小马驹！你用毒气毒死了你自己的马厩!"
Oddly, the attacks only made me smile. After all the beating up I’d done to myself for my mistakes, those accusations seemed petty and hollow coming from another. “Yes. I did, Dawn. So consider me an expert on mistakes. The fact you have to kill helpless ponies is a hint that what you’re doing is wrong. You know it.” I dared step towards the pegasus. “Be the better pony. You can save the Wasteland another way.”
奇怪的是，这些攻击只让我微笑。在我为自己的错误而痛打自己之后，这些指责似乎来自另一个人，显得微不足道而且空洞无物。"是的。是的，道恩。所以把我当成一个错误专家吧。事实上，你必须杀死无助的小马是一个暗示，你所做的是错误的。你知道的。"我敢向飞马号走去。"做一匹更好的小马。你可以用另一种方式拯救荒原。"
For an instant, I thought the growling thunder and flickering lightning would end. Dawn walked away from me towards Chapel and the Core lying beyond. I liked to imagine her eyes opened for real and she saw the hideous towers for what they were... a lie of a better life. A trap. That she’d think of her own family and children and do what was right. It was a hard choice...
有那么一瞬间，我以为咆哮的雷声和闪电会结束。黎明从我身边走开，朝着教堂和远处的核心走去。我喜欢想象她真的睁开了眼睛，她看到了那些丑陋的塔楼的本来面目......一个关于美好生活的谎言。一个陷阱。她会为自己的家庭和孩子着想，做正确的事情。这是一个艰难的选择..。
But then the skies boomed and the rain fell hard and heavy upon us as she hung her head. “I’m sorry...” she murmured, barely audible before the lightning flared and the thunder drowned out anything else she may have said.
但是当她低下头的时候，天空隆隆作响，大雨倾盆而下。"对不起......"她喃喃地说，几乎听不见闪电的声音，雷声盖过了她可能说过的其他话。
More Harbingers spilled out of the manor, these armed and armored, and quickly moved in around me. “Get a maintenance kit,” Steel Rain said. “Last thing we want is for one of us to damage the PipBuck.” Then he looked at me with an irritatingly contrite smile. “Oh, and please turn off your broadcaster, Blackjack.”
更多的"先驱者"从庄园里涌了出来，这些全副武装的人迅速地在我周围移动。"准备一套维修工具,"SteelRain说。"我们最不希望看到的就是我们中的一个损坏了PipBuck。"然后他带着恼人的懊悔的微笑看着我。"哦，请关掉你的播音机，Blackjack。"
“What?” I frowned, glancing at it. “I never turned it on.”
"什么?"我皱了皱眉，瞥了一眼。"我从来没有打开过。"
“Really? Because I’ve been listening to your conversation since you left Chapel.” He lifted his head and then turned it to show some kind of earphone thing. “I’ve been a big fan of Radio Blackjack.” Then he suddenly smirked. “Champion in bed? Really? That freak?”
"真的吗？因为自从你离开教堂后，我一直在听你们的谈话。"他抬起头，然后把头转过来，露出某种耳机的东西。"我一直是黑杰克电台(RadioBlackjack)的超级粉丝。"然后他突然傻笑起来。"床上的冠军？真的吗？那个怪胎?"
“I’ve changed my mind. Kill him,” I replied flatly at the worn joke, but inside I was elated. I glanced down at my PipBuck as it played the classical music. Had Glory been listening in? I could kiss a certain smart blue pony! I cancelled the transmissions and killed the music, though; they’d served their purpose, and there was no point in antagonizing the Harbingers further now when I was stalling for time... Overhead the clouds boomed deeply once more.
"我改变主意了。"杀了他,"我对这个老掉牙的笑话直截了当地回答，但心里却很高兴。我低头看了一眼我的PipBuck，它正在播放古典音乐。晨辉在偷听吗？我可以亲吻一匹漂亮的蓝色小马！我取消了广播，关掉了音乐;他们已经达到了他们的目的，现在没有必要进一步与预兆者对抗，因为我正在拖延时间......头顶上的云层又一次深深地隆隆起来。
“We should hurry. I have absolutely no doubt that Blackjack’s friends will be on their way,” Steel Rain said sharply.
"我们得赶快。我毫不怀疑黑杰克的朋友们会上路,"SteelRain尖锐地说。
“We have sentries,” Dawn replied absently.
"我们有哨兵,"道恩心不在焉地回答。
“I’ve learned that with Blackjack it is better to be safe than sorry,” Steel Rain said in worry as he scanned the night, no doubt using his E.F.S. He looked back at me with a warm smile. “I don’t want to underestimate her again. Her friends have a disturbing tendency to rescue her at inopportune moments.”
"我明白了，玩黑杰克时，安全总比遗憾好,"SteelRain一边忧心忡忡地说，一边扫视着这个夜晚，毫无疑问，他用的是自己的e.f.s。他回头看着我，脸上带着温暖的微笑。"我不想再次低估她。她的朋友们有一种令人不安的倾向，总是在不恰当的时候来救她。"
I glanced at Steel Rain for some sign that my act of mercy might gain some assistance, but the one time our eyes met he simply gave a sorry smile and a shrug. I supposed that if the purple stallion had an implant that could kill him instantly, he really couldn’t help me that much. Dawn began to address the Harbingers around us about the wonders of the Core now that they had EC-1101. A city that, despite its ruin, all could be safe in. A place where there was enough plenty that raiders wouldn’t need to raid.
我瞥了一眼钢铁雨，希望我的慈悲行为能得到一些帮助，但有一次我们的目光相遇，他只是抱歉地笑了笑，耸了耸肩。我猜想，如果那匹紫色的种马植入了一个可以立即杀死他的植入物，他真的帮不了我多少。黎明开始向我们周围的先驱者讲述核心的奇迹，现在他们有了EC-1101。一个城市，尽管它的废墟，所有可能是安全的。一个地方有足够的地方，不需要袭击者突袭。
She wasn’t crazy. That would have made this easier. She simply believed, more than anything, that this was the last chance for the Wasteland. A simple, wonderful solution. But I’d been in Hoofington long enough to know that there was no simple solution. There was a catch, and Dawn had either missed it or didn’t want to accept it. Peace, at any cost, where ponies could do better and be better and have better than they ever had before.
她没有疯。那样的话事情就简单多了。她只是简单地相信，比什么都重要，这是荒原的最后机会。一个简单，美妙的解决方案。但我在Hoofington待了足够长的时间，知道没有简单的解决办法。这其中有个圈套，道恩要么没注意到，要么就是不想接受。和平，不惜任何代价，在那里小马可以做得更好，更好，拥有比以往任何时候都好。
“So you’ll be the kindly teacher lording over us all?” I asked, perhaps a bit too
"那么你就是那个统治我们所有人的好老师了?"我问，也许有一点
sharply. An earth pony mare set a metal toolbox down next to me and began to pull out all kinds of arcane equipment.
锐利地。一匹地球上的小马母马把一个金属工具箱放在我旁边，开始拔出各种各样的奥术器械。
“Of course not, Blackjack. When the Core is open to all, I’ll return to the Wasteland for others. I’ll direct them… unicorns, pegasi, griffins, zebras, dragons, anyone who needs safety… until I die out in the wastes.” She smiled merrily as she looked at me once more with her eyes closed. “I have no illusions, Blackjack. I don’t deserve the Core, and I won’t accept a place in it. I’ve been forced to do horrible things, and I know that there’s no forgiveness for some crimes.” She cocked her head. “Would you ever be able to truly forgive yourself for what you did to your home?”
"当然不是，黑杰克。当核心对所有人开放时，我会为其他人回到荒原。我会指导他们......独角兽，飞马，狮鹫，斑马，龙，任何需要安全的人......直到我死在荒野。"她闭着眼睛再次看着我，高兴地笑了。"我没有幻想，黑杰克。我不配拥有核心，我也不会接受核心的位置。我被迫做了一些可怕的事情，我知道有些罪行是不可原谅的。"她歪着头。"你会真正原谅自己对家庭所做的一切吗?"
“No,” I replied. I could choose not to punish myself, but forgiveness? Never.
"没有,"我回答。我可以选择不惩罚自己，而是宽恕？从来没有。
“Then you understand,” she replied. “Cognitum will teach the Wasteland civility. She will return Equestria to what it should be. None will war when the consequence is immediate execution.” I glanced at Steel Rain and shivered with the thought of everypony forced to have a kill implant inside them. That was Dawn’s idea of improvement? That was doing better?
"那么你明白了,"她回答。"认知将教导荒原文明。她将使Equestria恢复到应有的状态。如果后果是立即执行，没有人会发动战争。"我瞥了一眼钢铁雨，一想到每匹小马都被迫在里面植入一个致命的植入物，我不寒而栗。这就是道恩所谓的进步？这样好点了吗？
As the brown earth pony mare worked, I could see the Harbingers watching me carefully. The tank’s cameras whirred and machine guns twitched to follow my every movement. The engine growled again and again as if the massive machine wanted to blast me into bloody scrap. I knew this was going to end with my death. There was no way it couldn’t. Yet even now, every armed pony was keeping their distance.
当那匹棕色土地上的小母马开始工作时，我可以看到先驱者们正在仔细地注视着我。坦克的摄像机嗡嗡作响，机关枪不停地抽动，以便跟踪我的一举一动。发动机一次又一次地轰鸣着，好像这台巨大的机器要把我炸成碎片似的。我知道这会随着我的死亡而结束。它不可能做不到。然而，即使是现在，每一匹武装的小马都在保持距离。
Steel Rain veered away to step inside the manor. I took a look at Dawn and the bristling guns pointed at me. All it would take was one aggressive twitch from me and they’d vaporize me where I stood. But the tank wasn’t shelling Chapel at the moment. With luck, somepony had heard my broadcast and they were getting to safety, or P-21 was somewhere out there, or… something.
钢铁雨转身走进了庄园。我看了看道恩，那些竖着的枪指着我。只要我一动，他们就会在我站的地方把我蒸发掉。但是坦克此刻并没有炮击查普尔。幸运的是，有一匹小马听到了我的广播，它们正在逃往安全的地方，或者P-21在某个地方，或者......别的什么。
Because if it was just me, then I was done.
因为如果只有我一个人的话，我就完了。
Finally there was a jerk, and the Delta PipBuck was pulled out of my hoof. Half my systems went with it, my vision filling with errors and static as readouts went dead. She passed the device to Dawn, and the gray mare cradled it to her chest as if it were a baby. “So…” I said as I was slowly herded into a spot adjacent to a solid wall. The Harbingers had formed a half circle around me with my back to
终于来了一个猛然的动作，达美的皮伯克从我的蹄子里拔了出来。我的一半系统都跟着它走了，我的视觉充满了错误和静态读数死亡。她把这个装置递给道恩，灰色的母马把它抱在胸前，就像抱着一个婴儿一样。"所以......"我说，慢慢地，我被赶到一个靠近实心墙的地方。"先驱者"们在我的背后围成了一个半圆
the Manor. I gave a slow, sickly smile. “Guess this is it.”
庄园。我缓缓地，带着病态的微笑。"我想就是这里了。"
“I guess it is,” Dawn said as she hugged the device. Steel Rain, now armored, stepped up beside her. Several seconds ticked by. A moment passed as the rain hissed around us. The lamps of the tank bathed me in their harsh white glare. I could barely make out the individual faces of the Harbingers. Only Dawn, front and center, and Steel Rain could be seen clearly. She kept her face downturned. “You understand why we’re going to kill you. We have no choice...”
"我想是的,"道恩一边说，一边拥抱着这台设备。钢铁雨，现在已经披上了装甲，走到她身边。几秒钟过去了。一会儿过去了，雨水在我们周围嘶嘶作响。坦克的灯光把我沐浴在它们刺眼的白光中。我几乎辨认不出先驱者的每一张脸。只有黎明，前方和中心，和钢铁雨可以清楚地看到。她一直低着头。"你知道我们为什么要杀你。我们别无选择......"
“You always have a choice. You just keep making the wrong one,” I said back.
"你总是可以选择。你只是一直在做错误的决定,"我回答。
“I told you. Suicidal,” Steel Rain said. At least he hadn’t put on those cannons yet. I supposed that with the tank sitting there they were somewhat redundant.
"我告诉过你。自杀,"斯蒂尔·雷恩说。至少他还没有戴上那些大炮。我猜想，坦克停在那里，他们多少有些多余。
“No,” I countered flatly. “This isn’t suicide. I don’t want to die here, like this.” My eyes swept over the shadowy silhouettes of the Harbingers around me. “I know the Wasteland sucks. Every single person knows that. But I also know that, so long as folks think the right way is more killing, nothing is going to get better. I’d like to live. I’d like to go back to Glory and tell her what an idiot I’ve been. But I also know… just like every one of you knows… that there is no easy way out. Never.” I looked at Dawn, narrowing my own eyes. “I don’t know what this Cognitum has told you, Dawn. I don’t know what the Core has to offer. But I do know that there is no simple fix to the Wasteland. No saving it. There’s only doing better, and making the hard choice.” I looked at the Harbingers around me. “Even if it hurts. Even if it gets you killed.”
"不,"我直截了当地反驳道。"这不是自杀。我不想就这样死在这里。"我的眼睛扫过我周围那些"预言者"的朦胧剪影。"我知道《荒原》烂透了。每个人都知道这一点。但是我也知道，只要人们认为正确的方式是更多的杀戮，没有什么会变得更好。我想活下去。我想回到晨辉，告诉她我是个多么愚蠢的人。但我也知道......就像你们每个人都知道......没有简单的出路。永远不会。"我看着道恩，眯起眼睛。""我不知道这个认识告诉你什么，道恩。我不知道核心能提供什么。但是我知道没有简单的修复荒原的方法。不要保存它。只有做得更好，做出艰难的选择。"我看着我周围的预兆。"即使很痛苦。即使这会让你送命。"
“What a lovely inspirational speech,” Dawn said softly, “but you are quite mistaken. There’s been nothing easy about this at all.” One second. Two. Ten. “Fire,” Dawn said quietly as I closed my eyes.
"多么可爱的鼓舞人心的演讲,"道恩轻声说,"但是你完全错了。这一点都不容易。"等一下。二。10."着火了,"我闭上眼睛，道恩平静地说。
Thunder roared around me, and everything went white.
雷声在我周围咆哮，一切都变成了白色。
Then I frowned as I became aware that I hadn’t been torn into bloody cyberpony pieces. I opened my eyes and glanced above me at the luminous shell that encompassed me and the sight of Lacunae hovering above, her brows furrowed in focus as her shield flashed and flared from the bullets striking it. Her purple eyes looked down and met mine, and she smiled.
当我意识到我并没有被撕成血淋淋的赛博马的碎片时，我皱起了眉头。我睁开眼睛，瞥了一眼上方环绕着我的发光的贝壳，看到空隙在上空盘旋，她皱起眉头，她的盾牌在子弹的打击下闪闪发光。她紫色的眼睛向下看，看到了我的眼睛，她笑了。
A second later, from the rear of the tank there blossomed an immense plume of flame that filled the air with a scream of steel. A half dozen more pops filled the
过了一会儿，从坦克的后面冒出一道巨大的火焰，空气中充满了钢铁的尖叫声。还有六个人填满了整个房间
air from the rear of the Harbingers as great billowing clouds out smoke swept out. The Harbingers wheeled about in confusion. Steel Rain swore loudly as he waved his hoof, trying to establish order in the thickening murk of the smoke grenades. Thank Celestia that most of the Harbingers didn’t seem to have E.F.S.
随着巨大的滚滚浓烟从"先驱者"号尾部吹出。先驱者们在混乱中转来转去。钢铁雨一边挥舞着他的蹄子一边大声咒骂，试图在浓密的烟雾弹中建立秩序。感谢塞莱斯蒂亚，大多数的先驱者似乎没有e.f.s。
I saw Dawn launch herself skyward only to be knocked from the air by a cyan bolt streaking by. The PipBuck tumbled from her hooves as Glory arced around and slammed her azure forehooves into Dawn’s face as the mare began to recover.
我看见黎明号自己冲向天空，结果被一个青色的螺栓从空中撞了下来。随着晨辉的弧线旋转，当母马开始恢复体力时，那匹皮伯克从蹄子上滚了下来，用它的蓝色前蹄猛撞道恩的脸。
“Killing foals, Mother? Using a tank against foals and Blackjack?” Glory shrieked. “Are you mad?!”
"杀小马驹，妈妈？用坦克对付小马驹和黑杰克?"晨辉在尖叫。"你疯了吗?!"
Dawn didn’t answer her as she twisted and dove, but Glory, in the body of one of the finest fliers in history, streaked down and smashed her hooves against Dawn’s spine. I would have expected the kick to have taken Dawn out of the sky entirely, but to my astonishment she kept flying with merely a grunt. Still, Glory was hardly through after a single kick and swooped around for another pass. Dawn snapped and rolled, disappearing into the smoke with Glory racing after her like a ghost from the past.
道恩没有回答她的问题，她扭动着身子俯冲下去，但是光荣，在历史上最优秀的飞行员之一的身体里，飞驰而下，用她的蹄子猛击道恩的脊椎。我本以为这一脚会把黎明完全踢出天空，但令我惊讶的是，她仍然只发出一声咕哝。尽管如此，格洛里还是没能通过一次单脚踢球，然后又一次飞扑过去。黎明一闪而过，消失在烟雾中，晨辉像过去的幽灵一样追赶着她。
The rain and wind fought the heavy clouds of smoke as the skies poured down, lightning flashing over the manor with a resounding blast of thunder. I raced to catch my PipBuck as it tumbled to the ground. Steel Rain dove from out of the shadows towards the tiny vital piece of technology!
随着天空倾泻而下，狂风暴雨与浓烟搏斗，闪电在庄园上空响起一阵雷鸣。我赶紧抓住掉在地上的皮布克。钢雨从阴影中冲向这个微小的至关重要的技术部件！
Then my feeble magic seized the device and just barely brought it to a halt, dangling in the air above him as he sprawled in the mud. Quick as my horn could manage, I pulled it back through the air. My friend’s magic arrows flashed out, impacting against his armor. Steel Rain charged Lacunae, ready to power through her shield and thrash us into pony jam. I popped my fingers out, jumped up on her back, and pulled myself between her wings as she launched into the air. I pulled the device safely back into my hooves. The Ranger dove beneath her hooves, sliding in the mud with a roar. “Get Blackjack,” he shouted, “or shell the village!”
然后我那微弱的魔法抓住了那个装置，勉强把它停了下来，当他四仰八叉地躺在泥地里的时候，它在他头顶的空中晃来晃去。我的号角尽可能快地把它拉回到空中。我朋友的魔法箭射了出来，打在他的盔甲上。钢铁之雨充满了裂隙，准备穿过她的盾牌，把我们打成小马的果酱。我伸出手指，跳到她的背上，在她飞向空中的时候，把自己夹在她的两翼之间。我把这个装置安全地放回到我的蹄子里。突击队员用蹄子俯冲，咆哮着在泥浆中滑行。"抓住Blackjack,"他喊道,"否则轰炸整个村庄!"
“Thanks, but cutting it a little close, weren’t you?” I yelled to the alicorn.
"谢谢，但是时间有点紧，不是吗?"我对着玉米角大喊。
“Well, it was a very nice speech,” Lacunae replied calmly as she soared up over the milling Harbingers. “Besides, it took time to quietly neutralize the snipers
"嗯，这是一次非常好的演讲,"拉古奈平静地回答说，同时她飞越了那些乱七八糟的预兆。"此外，悄悄消灭狙击手也需要时间
they set up, and P-21 needed time to get that bomb together.” Up in the air, we were a huge glowing target. “One moment, and I’ll teleport us away.”
而P-21需要时间来组装炸弹。"在空中，我们是一个发光的巨大目标。"等一下，我要把我们传送走。"
“No!” I shouted, pointing down at the machine. “We have to destroy it!” Already the tank was in the process of repairing the smoking hole ripped in its back. In a few minutes it would come after us itself, but we couldn’t leave just yet. Even if we left and Dawn pursued, Steel Rain would certainly level anyplace ever allied with me. Megamart. Riverside. Meatlocker. They’d all be targets!
"不!"我喊道，指着下面的机器。"我们必须摧毁它!"坦克已经开始修复背部撕裂的冒烟洞了。几分钟后，它就会自己追上我们，但我们还不能离开。即使我们离开，黎明继续追击，钢铁雨肯定会夷平任何与我结盟的地方。Megamart.河滨市。肉类加工厂。他们都会成为目标！
Lacunae glanced back at me in worry, then returned to the ground. First thing I needed to do was shove my PipBuck back into my leg and close it up. It could be reconnected later, but I didn’t want it to fall out or something. Then I looked around for P-21. I needed a smart pony here!
空隙忧心忡忡地回头看了我一眼，然后又回到了地上。我要做的第一件事就是把我的PipBuck塞回我的腿里然后缝合。它以后可以重新连接，但是我不想它掉下来或者别的什么。然后我四处寻找P-21。我需要一匹聪明的小马！
I saw one Steel Ranger with two grenade machine guns preparing to blast us out of the sky when a white filly with red stripes jumped on their back. For a moment it was a bit of a comical sight, the armored pony giving her a piggyback ride. Then the ripper clenched in her jaws whirred as she rammed it against the side of the Ranger’s neck between two armored plates, spraying out sparks. The Ranger thrashed wildly as we flew over them, and then the armored pony started screaming as the ripper sunk through and into their neck, the screeching saw blade painting Rampage’s face red as the Ranger collapsed.
我看见一个"钢铁骑兵"带着两挺手榴弹机关枪准备把我们轰出天空，这时一匹背上有红色条纹的白色小母马跳了上来。有那么一瞬间，她看到了一幅有点滑稽的景象，一匹装甲小马驮着她骑行。然后她咬紧牙关，用两块装甲板把它撞在护林员的脖子边上，喷出火花。当我们飞过他们的时候，突击队员疯狂地抽打着身体，然后装甲小马开始尖叫，撕裂者钻进了他们的脖子，突击队员倒下的时候，尖叫的锯片把狂暴的脸刷成了红色。
Rampage pulled her weapon free, spraying a fan of crimson, and then spat the ripper out to call to us. “Like my can opener?” she shouted before disappearing into the smoky confusion with a manic filly laugh. I think I preferred her hoofclaws.
狂暴的拉开她的武器，喷出一把深红色的扇子，然后把开膛手吐出来呼唤我们。"像我的开罐器吗?"她喊道，然后消失在烟雾弥漫的混乱中，狂躁的小母马大笑起来。我觉得我更喜欢她的蹄爪。
Glory flew up beside us, laying down a constant stream of green death. Either Dawn had gotten away, or Glory had broken off to come help the rest of us, or...
晨辉在我们身边飞过，不断地撒下一串绿色的死亡。要么是"黎明"逃走了，要么是"晨辉"中断了来帮助我们其他人，要么.....。
I saw the tears in her eyes that promised she’d need a whole lot of TLC if we made it through this. She met my eyes once, and then she was gone again, drawing fire with her own suppressive strafing.
我看到她眼中的泪水，承诺如果我们能挺过这一关，她需要很多的关爱。她与我的目光相遇了一次，然后又消失了，用她自己的压制性扫射引来了炮火。
The tank began to screech and groan as it started to turn its weapons towards me. Maybe it had some version of an E.F.S. We landed a little ways away from the Harbingers behind the cover of some crates full of copper pipes. “Fuck, where is she?” Glory swore, her furious rose eyes glaring as she turned around in a circle. She glanced at me, worry momentarily replacing rage before her eyes returned to
坦克开始尖叫和呻吟，它开始把它的武器对我。也许它有某种形式的e.f.s。我们在一些装满铜管的板条箱后面着陆，离"先驱者"号不远。"妈的，她在哪儿?"荣誉发誓，她愤怒的玫瑰眼睛怒目而视，她转过身来围成一个圈。她瞥了我一眼，在她的眼睛回过神来之前，担心暂时代替了愤怒
the skies.
天空。
P-21 appeared from the shadows seconds later carrying my barding. “So, is there a plan?” I asked him.
几秒钟后，P-21从阴影中出现，手里拿着我的剑。"那么，有计划吗?"我问他。
“That’s my line,” he said wryly before he swung up Persuasion, bit the grip, and fired the weapon at a Harbinger bringing a markspony carbine to bear. The grenade struck the fighter in the face, knocking him over as it spun further out into the chaos and exploded. “We need to get out of here and–”
"那是我的台词,"他苦笑着说，然后挥起《劝导》，咬住把柄，朝一个带着马克斯宾尼卡宾枪的"预言者"开了枪。手榴弹击中了这名战士的脸，在混乱中继续旋转并爆炸，把他打倒在地。"我们得离开这里..."
“We have to take out that tank,” I shouted, pointing at the pink flashes of repair magic visible through the haze. I saw him on the verge of arguing and rushed on, “They’ll blast Chapel to pieces if we run. It’ll be Sanguine with heavy artillery!” That focused him and squashed any argument he might have had. “Tell me you can pull together another bomb or something to take it out?”
"我们必须干掉那辆坦克,"我指着雾霭中可见的修复魔法的粉红色闪光喊道。我看见他快要吵架了，就冲上去说:"如果我们逃跑，他们会把查普尔炸成碎片的。那将是带着重炮的乐观主义!"这使他集中精力，粉碎了他可能有的任何争论。"告诉我，你能再制造一枚炸弹或其他什么东西把它取出来吗?"
“I’ll need time and materials,” he said with a frown. “Some of these fuckers have got to have something that goes boom. I just need to get enough of it.” But it was four against fifty, and that didn’t allow much time at all. Not good odds, even for me.
"我需要时间和材料,"他皱着眉头说。"这些混蛋中肯定有什么东西会爆炸。我只是需要得到足够的钱。"但现在是五十对四，时间根本不够用。即使对我来说，胜算也不大。
Lacunae lifted a Harbinger’s dropped markspony carbine to me, then seized an anti-machine rifle from a staggered mare and swung it hard into her face like a giant club. “Then we’ll buy you the time you need.”
拉库尼向我举起一支先知投下的卡宾枪，然后从一匹摇摇晃晃的母马身上抓起一支反机枪，像一根巨大的棍棒一样狠狠地打在她的脸上。"那我们就给你争取时间。"
We had to get moving. Anypony with an E.F.S. was going to see us. “Scatter and delay them till we can take out that tank!” And with that we broke apart. This was one time where being outnumbered was in my favor: everywhere I looked were enemies. Still, there were three that mattered more than the rest: the tank, Steel Rain, and Dawn. I had to find them. “How much did you hear?” I asked Lacunae telepathically.
我们必须行动起来。任何带着e.f.s的小马都会来看我们。"分散和拖延他们，直到我们可以消灭坦克!"就这样，我们分手了。这是一次我在人数上处于有利地位:我看到的所有地方都是敌人。尽管如此，还是有三样东西比其他东西更重要:坦克、钢铁雨和黎明。我必须找到他们。"你听到了多少?"我用心灵感应的方式问她。
“Everything. P-21 contacted us as soon as he left Dawn. He suspected her, but none of us anticipated she was behind the Harbingers,” came the reply. Then a pause before the comment, “Blackjack, about that memory orb…”
"一切。P-21一离开黎明号就联系了我们。他怀疑她，但是我们谁也没有料到她是"预兆者"的幕后主使。然后在评论前停顿了一下,"Blackjack，关于那个记忆球......"
“Not right now,” I replied as the Harbingers started to be organizing with shouts to fan out and find us. “We can talk about it after we win!”
"现在不行,"我回答说,"先驱者"开始组织起来，大喊着散开来找我们。"等我们赢了再说吧!"
“Of course. Of course,” she said, sighting down the rifle. Her shot blew the head
"当然。当然可以,"她说着，把枪瞄准下方。她的子弹击中了头部
off a mare in combat armor.
从一匹穿着战斗盔甲的母马身上。
“Forgive me Luna, for I have taken the life of another,” I murmured as I finished off the magazine in the carbine and three Harbingers closed in around me. Bullets peppered off my barding and hide as I went into zebra stance, popped my fingers out, and grabbed the nearest one’s head. My body twisted in a spin that his head followed and his body didn’t. As his neck snapped, I heaved him over me as a shield to catch the anti-machine rifle rounds of the other two, and scooped up his carbine to replace my empty one. Rocking and twisting the body to keep it between me and their weapons, my horn levitated the carbine towards one of the mares and unloaded the entire magazine in her general direction in a spray of wild fire. I thought my horn might explode at this rate; my eyes were running as I struggled to keep focused.
"原谅我，卢娜，因为我夺走了另一个人的生命,"当我用卡宾枪结束这本杂志的时候，三个"先驱者"包围了我。当我换成斑马姿势的时候，子弹从我的身上射了出来，抓住了离我最近的一个人的头。我的身体旋转着，他的头跟着旋转，而他的身体没有跟着旋转。当他的脖子折断时，我把他举起来当挡箭牌，挡住另外两个人的反机枪子弹，然后把他的卡宾枪挖出来，替换了我空的那把。我摇晃着身体，扭动着身体，让它挡在我和他们的武器之间，我的角把卡宾枪悬浮在其中一匹母马身上，把整个弹夹朝着她大致的方向打了个落花流水。我想我的喇叭可能会以这样的速度爆炸;我的眼睛在奔跑，努力保持注意力。
As my target fell, the last mare took advantage of my distraction to dart to the side and point her pair of anti-machine rifles on her battle saddle right at me, firing at almost point blank range. I flailed in an attempt to dodge; the shots buzzed as they nearly struck me, but the weight of my corpse shield overbalanced me and sent me falling to the ground. The mare’s eyes lit up in triumph as her jaw started to tighten on the trigger bit...
当我的目标倒下的时候，最后一匹母马利用我的注意力分散，向一边飞去，用她的战马鞍上的反机枪指着我，几乎是近距离平射。我挣扎着试图躲开;枪声嗡嗡作响，几乎要击中我，但是我的护尸盾的重量压倒了我，把我打倒在地。当母马的下巴开始收紧扳机位时，她的眼睛闪耀着胜利的光芒。
Then she screamed in agony as a whirr filled the air and she fell back. Rampage squatted behind her, holding a severed rear leg in her hooves, grinning around the bloody handle of the ripper. Yes, I definitely preferred her hoofclaws to that.
然后她痛苦地尖叫起来，空气中回荡着呼呼的声音，她向后倒了下去。狂暴的暴徒蹲在她身后，用她的蹄子夹着一条断掉的后腿，对着血淋淋的开膛手手柄咧嘴一笑。是的，比起那个，我更喜欢她的蹄爪。
Heaving myself upright, I looked around for my next target, then staggered as another AM round glanced off my barding. I tried to find something I could use for a better shield than the stallion’s corpse, but something else slammed into me from the other side… an explosion? My E.F.S. showed all kinds of damage that I really wasn’t feeling like I should… thanks to Professor Zodiac. This trauma hurt in an almost abstract way; distant, more an alarm than deep visceral pain. Not the agony that Deus had been forced to live with.
我挺直身子，环顾四周，寻找下一个目标，然后在凌晨点钟又一轮扫过我的帐篷时踉踉跄跄。我试图找到一些比种马的尸体更好的盾牌，但是另外一些东西从另一边撞向我...一次爆炸？我的e.f.s显示出各种各样的损伤，我真的不觉得我应该...感谢十二宫教授。这种创伤几乎是抽象的;遥远的，与其说是内心深处的痛苦，不如说是一种警告。而不是天王被迫承受的痛苦。
Small wonder I loved any physical sensation I could get with Glory.
难怪我喜欢任何我可以得到晨辉的身体感觉。
Glory wasn’t strafing now. She was doing daring aerial maneuvers in and out of the lingering smoke to evade being torn apart by the gunfire, returning shots whenever she could to disrupt our enemies. The Harbingers were orienting themselves, organizing to focus fire. Worse, even more reinforcements seemed
格洛里现在不是在扫射。她在浓烟弥漫的空中做着大胆的空中演习，以免被枪声撕成碎片，一有机会就回击，以瓦解我们的敌人。先驱者们正在调整自己的方向，组织起来集中火力。更糟糕的是，似乎还有更多的增援
to be coming from around the sides of the manor. The odds were rapidly going from ten to one to twenty to one… or worse.
来自庄园周围的人。这种可能性很快从10变成1变成二十，甚至更糟。
Don’t think about that now. Fight. Kill. Run. Move. Fight. Reload. Take ammo. Kill. Move. Grab. Break. Throw. Aim. Fire. Run. Jump. Turn. Burst. Roll. Ignore the damage. Burst. Give P-21 time. Grab. Fire in face. Move. Ignore the red flashes on my damage display. More time. Grab. Gouge eyes. Take carbine. Shoot face. Roll with the explosion. Stand up. Move. Move! MOVE!
现在不要想这些。战斗。杀。快跑。走开。战斗。重新装弹。带上弹药。杀。走开。抓住。休息。扔。瞄准。火。快跑。跳。转弯。爆发。滚动。忽略损害。爆发。给P-21时间。抓住。面对火焰。走开。忽略红色闪光对我的损害显示。更多的时间。抓住。凿眼。拿卡宾枪来说。拍脸。随着爆炸滚动。站起来。走开。快走！快走！
I lay on my side and then became dully aware of why I wasn’t standing anymore as I looked at my rear leg and saw the brand new forty-five degree kink put in my metal limb during my explosive tumble. “Shit,” I muttered thickly, lying there in the mud as six Harbingers advanced. I tried to get my horn to teleport me like yesterday! I was Twilight Sparkle’s descendant. I could do it! My horn glowed as bullets chewed through my barding and into my body. Do it, I told my horn!
我侧身躺着，然后我看着我的后腿，看到在我猛烈翻滚的过程中，我的金属肢体被一种全新的45度的扭结缠绕着，我开始迟钝地意识到为什么我不能再站立了。"该死,"我低声咕哝着，躺在泥泞中，六个先驱者向我走来。我昨天试图让我的号角传送我！我是紫悦的后代。我能做到！子弹穿过我的盔甲，射进我的身体，我的角闪闪发光。快点，我告诉我的喇叭！
It flashed… then popped like a lightbulb burning out. My carbine dropped to the ground as I reeled like a hammer had smashed upside my horn once again.
它闪了一下......然后像一个燃烧的灯泡一样爆炸了。我的卡宾枪掉到了地上，我像一把锤子一样摇晃着，又一次砸碎了我的号角。
Okay. Maybe I should have waited a few more days before trying that…
好吧。也许我应该再等几天再试试..。
Suddenly there was a deep intake of air, followed by the roar of a flamer mixed with screams meeting my ears. Great. Looked like I was going to burn after all. I opened my eyes, expecting to see the Steel Ranger that was about to roast the meat from my bones.
突然，一阵深深的吸气声，随之而来的是火焰的轰鸣声和尖叫声在我耳边回响。太好了。看起来我要被烧死了。我睁开眼睛，期待着看到钢铁骑兵，它正要把我骨头里的肉烤熟。
“Blackjack? Are you okay?” Scotch Tape asked as she raced through the muck with the purple dragonfilly at her side. Precious jumped over me, bullets pinging off her scaled hide as she took another breath and let loose a plume of green flame that washed over three of the Harbingers. “Sorry, stupid question,” she said as she knelt beside my scrapped leg.
"黑杰克？你还好吗?"苏格兰胶带问，她跑过淤泥与紫色小龙在她的身边。普莱舍丝从我身上跳了过去，子弹从她鳞片状的皮肤上打了出来，她又吸了一口气，释放出一缕绿色的火焰，冲刷着三个预言者。"对不起，这是个愚蠢的问题,"她跪在我残废的腿边说。
“Scotch? What are you doing here?” I asked weakly as the filly struggled to help me drag myself behind the cover of the Steel Ranger that Rampage had dropped.
"苏格兰威士忌？你在这儿干什么?"我虚弱地问道，这时那匹小母马正挣扎着帮我把自己拖到狂暴扔下的钢护林员的掩体后面。
“Don’t be stupid, Blackjack. We’re all here,” Charity said as she emerged out of the bedlam with a bloodsoaked Rampage. The filly wore a miniature battle saddle that had been converted to hold two heavy revolvers, which she fired past the dragonfilly at some enemy I couldn’t see. “That’s eight caps!” she roared at
"别傻了，黑杰克。我们都在这里,"查瑞蒂说着从混乱中走出来，浑身是血，怒气冲冲。这匹小母马戴着一个微型的战斗马鞍，那是改装过的，可以装两把重型左轮手枪，她从小龙旁边向我看不见的敌人开火。"那是八个帽子!"她冲我吼道
them. “Sixteen!”
他们。"十六!"
Scotch opened my foreleg and, with far more focus and skill than the mare who’d removed it, re-attached the Delta.
苏格兰人打开了我的前腿，用远比那匹砍掉它的母马更专注和更熟练的技巧，重新接上了三角洲。
Suddenly, I saw blue bars...
突然，我看到了蓝色的条纹。
A whole lot of blue bars!
一大堆蓝色条纹！
My E.F.S. now showed a lot more blue mixed in with all that bloody red on my display. I watched in shock as the blue and red colts Adagio and Allegro raced up and dropped Octavia sideways before them and the three colts from the watchtower tossed their light machine gun across the instrument’s body. Anti-machine rounds whined and sparked off the instrument’s indestructible body as the machine gun opened up a chattering line of fire into the Harbingers. The ghoul Harpica flew high above dropping apple grenades into knots of enemies.
我的e.f.s现在显示出更多的蓝色和血红色混合在我的显示屏上。我震惊地看着蓝色和红色的小马慢板和阿莱格罗冲上来，把奥克塔维亚甩在他们前面，瞭望塔上的三匹小马用轻机枪扫过乐器的身体。反机枪的子弹轰鸣着，点燃了这个仪器坚不可摧的身体，机枪向"先驱者"开出了一道格格作响的火线。食尸鬼哈皮卡在高空飞行，将苹果手榴弹投入敌人的结中。
“Rampage! Bend that limb straight,” Scotch Tape said, digging through her tools. The filly grabbed my thigh with her hindlegs and my damaged fetlock with her forehooves, and with a grunt of effort she bent my leg till it was straight again. Scotch pulled out one of Glory’s cyberpony cakes and shoved it into my hooves before starting her work; I immediately started eating it as quickly as I could. “I hope I can do this,” Scotch Tape said as she made repairs.
"横冲直撞！"把那只胳膊弯直,"苏格兰磁带一边说，一边挖掘着她的工具。小母马用她的后腿抓住我的大腿，用她的前蹄抓住我受伤的脚，咕噜一声努力地弯曲我的腿，直到它恢复直立。在开始她的工作之前，苏格兰人拿出一块晨辉的赛马蛋糕塞进我的蹄子里;我立刻开始尽可能快地吃起来。"我希望我能做到这一点,"苏格兰胶带说，她作出修理。
“You can. It’s in your blood,” I muttered around the cake. She flushed, but smiled as I scarfed down the disk while Scotch made her field repairs. Caprice slid next to me in a blue pre-war dress utterly unsuited for battle, her eyes wide and terrified as the SMG she held jittered in her mouth. This bedlam was so beyond her, but she’d come. I could at least respect that, but I reached up with my fingers and relieved her of the 12.7mm SMG before she accidentally shot somepony on our side... like me. “Thanks,” I said, and she flushed and immediately handed me her magazines.
"你可以。"这是你的天性,"我对着蛋糕喃喃自语。当苏格兰人在现场修理的时候，我快速地吞下磁盘，她脸红了，但还是笑了。凯普莱斯穿着一身完全不适合作战的战前蓝色连衣裙滑到我旁边，她的眼睛睁得大大的，嘴里含着颤抖的SMG，感到害怕。这场混乱超出了她的能力范围，但她还是来了。我至少可以尊重这一点，但我伸出手指，把12.7毫米冲锋枪从她身上拿下来，在她不小心射中我们这边的小马之前......就像我一样。"谢谢,"我说，她脸红了，马上把杂志递给我。
“I shouldn’t have come,” she muttered, the once fabulous mare dropping her eyes to her hooves as she stood in the churned-up mud.
"我不应该来的,"她喃喃自语，当她站在泥泞中时，曾经美丽的母马把她的眼睛垂向她的蹄子。
“I’m glad you did,” I said before I bit down on the mouth handle and sighted two Harbingers that were getting ready to take out Scotch Tape. The recoil nearly shook my teeth out of my head as I emptied the magazine in two seconds. I spat it out and stared at the weapon. “Damn! This thing just loves ammo.”
"我很高兴你这么做了,"我说，然后我咬下嘴把手，看到两个预兆者正准备拿出透明胶带。当我在两秒钟内把弹夹里的子弹全部打光时，后坐力几乎把我的牙齿都震掉了。我把它吐了出来，盯着武器。"该死！这东西就是喜欢弹药。"
P-21 emerged out of the chaos holding a small block of plastic explosive that had been taped together. “This is all I could find,” he said with a frown. It was less than half the size of the bomb he had used the first time we’d faced the tank. He looked over at the grinding machine as it began to rejoin the battle. Harbinger and Crusader alike gave way as it ploughed back and forth, searching for me. “We’ve got to get it inside. If we can get it inside and kill the crew running that thing, it’ll be as good as destroyed.” He slipped a detonator into my barding.
21从混乱中走出来，手里拿着一小块粘在一起的塑胶炸弹。"我只能找到这些,"他皱着眉头说。这还不到我们第一次面对坦克时他用的炸弹的一半大小。他看着开始重新加入战斗的磨床。"先驱者"号和"十字军"号一样，在前前后后的艰难跋涉中为我让路。"我们必须把它弄进去。如果我们能把它弄进去，干掉操纵那东西的船员，那就等于把它给毁了。"他在我的帐篷里塞了一个引爆器。
I slowly groaned and sat up. Suddenly, something connected, and a jolt ran through my hind leg. It began moving once again. “You did it,” I said to Scotch, then finished off the cyberpony cake.
我慢慢地呻吟着，坐了起来。突然，有什么东西相连，我的后腿一阵震动。它又开始移动了。"你做到了,"我对苏格兰人说，然后吃完了小马蛋糕。
A wing of fliers whooshed overhead, and for a moment I thought the Harbingers had pegasi of their own, but these were Enclave! It was pointless to shout a warning to Glory; the noise and chaos ensured she wouldn’t hear me. “I’ve got to lead it away. I can’t fight it and worry about all of you and keep my head from getting pulped by a lucky AM round at the same time.”
一群飞行者在头顶上呼啸而过，有那么一会儿，我还以为那些港口有它们自己的飞马，但是这些都是飞地！向晨辉大喊警告是毫无意义的;喧闹和混乱确保了她不会听到我。"我必须引开它。我不能抗拒它，不能担心你们所有人，不能让自己的头同时被一个幸运的上午时分的人拍打。"
Charity snorted. “Don’t worry about us. These fucks owe Chapel for even dreaming that we’re helpless. Not after Priest. Never again!” she shouted as she ran forward with Precious, then stopped and looked back. “Arloste! What the fuck are you waiting for?”
Charity哼了一声。"别担心我们。这些混蛋甚至梦到我们是无助的。特别是在《牧师》之后。下不为例!"她一边喊着，一边带着珍爱向前跑去，然后停下来回头看。"阿洛斯特！你他妈的还在等什么?"
Rampage blinked and smiled as tears danced in her eyes, then snatched up her ripper and, with a gleeful scream of the weapon’s motor, raced forward with them.
狂暴眨着眼睛，微笑着，眼泪在她的眼睛里跳动，然后抓起她的撕碎者，随着武器马达的欢快尖叫，冲向他们。
“Blackjack, how are you going to lead it away? I mean, it’s a tank!” Scotch Tape shouted over the din. P-21 fired off a grenade nearby and I winced; as outnumbered as we were, there was still a chance he’d hit a friendly. I trusted he knew what he was doing, but it still made me damned uneasy.
"黑杰克，你打算怎么引开它？我的意思是，这是辆坦克!"透明胶带盖过了喧嚣。P-21在附近发射了一枚手榴弹，我畏缩了一下;尽管敌众我寡，他还是有机会打中一个友军。我相信他知道自己在做什么，但这仍然让我非常不安。
“Keep them safe,” I said as I started moving again towards the front door of the manor. On the way, I was astonished to see a striped mare move like a ghost out of the smoke with nothing more than a simple wooden pole and a snarling red wooden mask. Sekashi sprang right into the midst of three Harbingers, her hooves spinning the pole with astounding finesse. She launched forward and rammed the end into one pony’s throat, whirling it around and tripping a second,
"保证他们的安全,"我说着，又开始朝庄园的前门走去。在路上，我吃惊地看到一匹有斑纹的母马像幽灵一样从烟雾中走出来，除了一根简单的木杆和一个扭曲的红色木制面具之外什么都没有。Sekashi跳到三个"先驱者"中间，她的蹄子以惊人的灵巧旋转着杆子。她向前一推，把马尾塞进一匹小马的喉咙里，转了一圈，又绊倒了一匹,
batting away a levitated pistol and then crushing the horn of the unicorn wielding it with a sickening crack I knew all too well. The dehorned unicorn screamed as she fell back, scraping her hooves over the stump. The whirling stick rammed into the tripped pony’s head with such rapid succession that when Sekashi stopped the entire head slumped like a battered sack of meat and bone. The screaming unicorn was knocked from her hooves and then silenced with a double hoofstomp to the head.
击落了一把漂浮的手枪，然后用一个我再熟悉不过的令人作呕的裂缝碾碎了独角兽的角。独角兽倒下时尖叫起来，蹄子擦过树桩。旋转的木棍如此迅速地连续撞击着被绊倒的小马的头部，以至于当Sekashi制止小马的时候，它的整个头部就像一袋破碎的肉和骨头一样下垂着。那只尖叫的独角兽被人从蹄子上踢下来，然后头部受到双蹄重击而沉默不语。
The choking stallion brought his battle saddle’s carbines up towards Sekashi’s back, but before I could fire at him, a tiny striped filly with a blowgun appeared from nowhere and shot a dart into his throat. His eyes bulged, and then he collapsed with a goofy smile. Majina waved her little hoof at me with a happy grin.
这匹令人窒息的种马把马鞍上的卡宾枪带到了Sekashi的背后，但我还没来得及向他开火，一匹不知从哪里冒出来的带着条纹的小母马不知从哪里向他的喉咙开了一枪。他的眼睛鼓了起来，然后带着傻傻的笑容瘫倒在地。马吉娜笑着朝我挥着她的小蹄子。
“This reminds me of a very funny story!” Sekashi said with a laugh as she whirled her staff; how in the world did zebras do that? “I will have to tell it to you another time, though.” And with that, the striped pair disappeared into the fight.
"这让我想起了一个非常有趣的故事!"当Sekashi转动她的手杖时，她笑着说:到底是怎么做到的？"不过，我得另找时间告诉你。"就这样，这对斑纹夫妇消失在了战斗中。
My body was almost to fifty percent as I reached the front doors to the manor. I flipped open my PipBuck and started looking for nearby transmitters. A tank had to have some kind of radio, right? Maybe I could order them to follow me into the manor. I located… well… it was close. “Security was just spotted going into the manor! Tank! Go after her! Quick!” I barked.
当我走到庄园的前门时，我的身体几乎达到了百分之五十。我弹开我的PipBuck，开始寻找附近的发射器。坦克一定有某种无线电，对吧？也许我可以命令他们跟着我进庄园。我找到了...嗯...很近。"刚才有人看到保安进了庄园！坦克！去追她！快点!"我叫道。
The tank, which had been simply rolling across the battlefield firing its machine guns at anyone who got in its way, suddenly stopped. I smiled as it turned its spotlights and main turret on me, but then paused. Why was it just sitting there?
坦克原本只是在战场上滚来滚去，用机关枪扫射任何挡路的人，突然停了下来。当它把聚光灯和主炮塔对着我的时候，我笑了，然后停了下来。为什么它就放在那里？
Suddenly its main guns blasted just as something peach slammed into me from the side, knocking me behind the sandbag barricades that’d been erected centuries ago. The shells detonated high, the blast crushing me to the ground like a massive hoof a second before an avalanche of rubble fell down upon me. I was dazed for a second, and then I opened my eyes and looked at the mare who had shoved me down.
突然，它的主炮发出爆炸声，就像有什么东西从侧面撞向我，把我撞倒在几个世纪前竖立起来的沙袋路障后面。炮弹高高地爆炸了，爆炸把我压倒在地，就像一只巨大的蹄子，然后一片瓦砾落到我身上。我头昏了一会儿，然后我睁开眼睛，看着那匹把我推倒的母马。
Caprice stared at me, her mouth moving silently as she stared straight ahead. I looked at her bloody, battered body. I was a cyberpony, and that shot had hurt. Caprice… “Lacunae! Somepony! I need a healing potion!” I screamed, hoping
凯普莱斯盯着我，她的嘴巴默默地动着，直直地盯着前方。我看着她血淋淋的身体。我是一匹赛博马，那一枪很痛。反复无常......"空白！好样的！我需要一种治疗药剂!"我尖叫着，希望着
somepony was close enough.
有人离得够近了。
The tank was moving. I heaved the peach earth pony over my shoulders and ran through the blown-in doors into the main hall. Everything remotely valuable had been stripped away and the walls, once bedecked with finery, were now bare.
坦克在移动。我把那匹桃红色的大地小马扛在肩上，穿过被风吹进来的门，跑进大厅。远处一切有价值的东西都被拿走了，曾经用华丽服饰装饰的墙壁现在光秃秃的。
Piles of rubble lay everywhere where rubbish had been heaped up. “Why? Why’d they use the cannons?” I asked. Something like that could have destroyed EC-1101! Crush me. Use machine guns. But the cannons? I popped my fingers, ripping off strips of Caprice’s ragged dress and trying to tie her bloody wounds.
垃圾堆到处都是成堆的碎石。"为什么？他们为什么要用大炮?"我问道。这样的东西可以摧毁EC-1101！碾碎我。使用机关枪。但是大炮呢？我的手指砰地一声爆开，扯下卡普里斯破烂的裙子，试图给她包扎血淋淋的伤口。
“It’s my fault,” Caprice said. “I… I told Dawn you were here. I told her… told her about Glory…” The mare whimpered as she coughed and threw up a bloody mess down her front. “Blackjack… I’m so sorry…” she croaked as tears ran down her cheeks.
"这是我的错,"凯普莱斯说。"我.....。.我告诉道恩你在这里。我告诉她......告诉她晨辉的事......"母马呜咽着咳嗽，把血淋淋的脏东西吐在前面。"黑杰克......我很抱歉......"她低声说着，泪水顺着脸颊流了下来。
“Don’t worry about that. Just hold on,” I said, trying to ignore the growling motor growing louder and louder.
"别担心。"坚持住,"我说，尽量不去理会那越来越大的咆哮声。
But she shook her head. “Listen… please… he’s with them…” she said weakly, struggling for breath. “I gave him to Dawn. He’s the tank…”
但她摇了摇头。"听着......求你了......他和他们在一起......"她虚弱地说，挣扎着呼吸。"我把他给了道恩。他是坦克......"
“Who?” I shouted, as her eyes grew unfocused. “Who’s in the tank?”
"谁?"我喊道，她的眼睛变得模糊不清。"谁在坦克里?"
“Sorry…” she whimpered. “Should have… done… better…”
"对不起......"她呜咽着说。"应该......做得......更好......"
Her blue bar disappeared.
她的蓝条消失了。
Then the building began to shake.
然后大楼开始摇晃。
I turned in time to see the smoking wall explode inward as the massive tank rammed right through, barely slowing. I retracted my fingers, dropped to all fours, and raced down the vaulted central hall as the massive war machine ripped along after me. The lamps painted the hall in their harsh white glare as the tank’s machine guns gouged lines of steel death through the air. The piles of rubble were my only cover, and the vibration of its steel treads sent them bouncing and sliding around my hooves. One misstep... one delay… I’d be either machine-gunned in half or ground to pieces beneath its massive treads.
我及时转过身，看到冒烟的墙壁向内爆炸，巨大的坦克撞过来，几乎没有减速。我缩回手指，四肢着地，跑下拱形的中央大厅，巨大的战争机器在我身后爆炸。当坦克的机枪在空中划出钢线时，灯光照亮了大厅，发出刺眼的白光。成堆的瓦砾是我唯一的掩护，它的钢踏板的震动使它们在我的蹄子周围跳跃和滑动。一个失误......一个延误......我就会被机枪扫射成两半，或者在巨大的履带下被夷为平地。
Get it inside. Get it jammed. Get the bomb inside it. That had been the plan in my head. Only the tank wasn’t playing along! Even as it tore down the second
把它放进去。卡住它。把炸弹弄进去。这就是我脑海中的计划。只是坦克没有配合！即使它拆掉了第二个
floor balconies above me, it wasn’t stopping. Its engines powered it right through the broad hallway it was supposed to be getting stuck in.
我上面的楼层阳台，没有停下来。它的引擎驱动着它穿过宽阔的走廊，它本来应该被卡住的。
I slipped for just a second, and its twin cannons roared. The shells passed through the air with a buzz like a colossal bumblebee as the blast wave picked me off my hooves and sent me tumbling forward like a cyber rag doll. The force of the shot and the detonation in the central conservatory shattered the skylights overhead, and rain began to pour in through the smoke. I picked myself to my hooves as the shaking grew stronger and stronger beneath them.
我滑了一下，它的两门大炮轰鸣了起来。炮弹在空中飞过，发出巨大的大黄蜂般的嗡嗡声，冲击波把我的蹄子刮掉，像一个网络布娃娃一样把我摔倒在地。子弹的力量和中央音乐学院的爆炸震碎了头顶的天窗，雨水开始从烟雾中倾泻而入。随着脚下的颤抖越来越厉害，我振作起来。
Through the smoke emerged two crushing treads and a broad, jagged row of steel teeth. I lifted my forehooves completely on reflex and put them right above that row as my hind legs slid backwards beneath me. My fingers struggled to find something to grab on to. Maybe if I could get on the damn thing… but then I stared at the two machine gun turrets pointing right at me. They could kill me right now…
透过烟雾，露出两个压碎的踏板和一排宽宽的、锯齿状的钢牙。我完全按照反射动作举起前蹄，当我的后腿向后滑到身体下方时，前蹄正好位于前排的正上方。我的手指挣扎着想抓住什么东西。也许如果我可以上那该死的东西......但是我盯着那两个机关枪瞄准着我。他们现在就可以杀了我..。
Then I glanced behind me at the wall and understood. Shooting was too good for me. They were going to smash me to cyberpony mush. Then I saw the smoking hole blasted into the wall five feet up. I kicked my way up onto the rubble churning in front of the machine as the wall grew closer and closer. I had no idea how to do this; I had no idea if I could do this. But my body had been made by a zebra, and I could only hope it had half their agility! I launched myself up as a yard remained between the tank and wall, curving my back as my momentum carried me through the jagged hole. I landed on my head a second before the whole building shook with the force of the impact. The engine let out a roar as I sprawled onto my back.
然后我瞥了一眼身后的墙壁，明白了。射击对我来说太好了。他们要把我打得稀巴烂。然后我看见那个冒着烟的洞被炸开了，钻进了五英尺高的墙里。当墙越来越近的时候，我用脚踢向机器前面搅动着的碎石。我不知道如何做到这一点;我不知道我是否可以做到这一点。但是我的身体是由斑马塑造的，我只能希望它有它们一半的敏捷！我抬起身子，发现坦克和墙壁之间还有一个院子，我弯曲着背，冲力带着我穿过锯齿状的洞口。我头部着地一秒钟后，整个建筑物被撞击的力量震动了。当我仰面躺下时，发动机发出一声轰鸣。
I was in some sort of large courtyard. Rain poured over my face as I lay there, bringing me back to my senses. If my ears had been flesh and blood, I’d probably be deaf now. There was a cyan flash, and Glory was there. She threw her hooves around me and hugged me close as I numbly patted her mane. We shared a wonderful and terribly poorly-timed kiss before I pulled myself to my hooves.
我在一个很大的院子里。当我躺在那里的时候，大雨倾盆而下，使我恢复了理智。如果我的耳朵是血肉之躯，我现在可能已经聋了。有一道青绿色的闪光，晨辉就在那里。当我麻木地拍打着她的鬃毛时，她用蹄子搂住我，紧紧地抱住我。在我鼓起勇气前，我们分享了一个美妙的吻，但时机却恰到好处。
“You’re safe!” Glory muttered as she held me.
"你安全了!"当她抱着我时，我的晨辉喃喃自语。
“Safe as I ever am,” I replied with a wry smile. “That was some pretty incredible flying, Glory Dash.”
"我从来没有这么安全过,"我苦笑着回答。"晨辉·达什，你的飞行技术真是太棒了。"
She immediately colored. “Don’t call me that. I was just shooting wild. I think I may have wet myself somewhere while they were blasting at me. I just had to keep firing at them.”
她立刻涂上了颜色。"别这么叫我。我只是在胡乱拍摄。我想他们朝我开枪的时候，我可能在什么地方尿裤子了。我只能继续向他们开火。"
“Glad as I am to see you, there’s a tank right on the other side of that wall, and I have a feeling they’re really pissed with me,” I muttered.
"虽然我很高兴见到你，但是那堵墙的另一边有一辆坦克，我感觉他们真的很生我的气,"我喃喃自语。
“You have that effect,” a mare in Enclave power armor said as she landed next to us, followed by two others. She immediately opened her helmet, and I saw the yellow features of Lightning Dancer. A second pegasus landed beside her, facing Glory. Then two more! Thank goodness they were blue bars... for now, at least.
"你有那种效果,"一匹穿着昂科雷威力盔甲的母马在我们旁边着陆时说，后面跟着另外两匹。她立刻打开她的头盔，我看到了闪电舞者的黄色特征。第二匹飞马降落在她旁边，面对着晨辉。还有两个！谢天谢地，至少现在它们是蓝色的。
“Fuck me. She really does exist,” one of the armored pegasi, a mare, breathed, then reached up and tapped her helmet. The lavender features of the Neighvarro mare Twister appeared, her eyes widening.
"操我。她确实存在,"一只雌马披甲的飞马呼吸着，然后伸手拍打着自己的头盔。那匹雌马扭扭先生淡紫色的五官出现了，她睁大了眼睛。
“I never thought I’d see... her...” another mare said as she retracted her helmet faceplate, her orange and yellow striped mane poking out of the opening. “Rainbow Dash...” Sunset breathed.
"我从没想过我会看到......她......"另一匹母马一边说一边收起头盔面板，橙黄相间的条纹鬃毛从开口处伸出来。"彩虹短跑......"日落轻声说道。
“No. I’m... I’m not Rainbow Dash,” Glory stammered.
"没有。我...我不是彩虹冲刺,"晨辉结结巴巴地说。
“Fooled me,” the missile-armed stallion who must have been Boomer muttered thickly.
"骗到我了,"那匹装备导弹的种马一定是布默尔，咕哝着说。
“What are all of you doing here?” I gasped, looking from one to the next.
"你们都在这儿干什么?"我倒吸了一口气，从一个看到另一个。
“Lightning, why... what’s going on?” If they were here to take Glory...
"闪电，怎么......怎么回事?"如果他们是来夺取晨辉的..。
But the yellow pegasus shook her head. “Well, after the meeting at the Skyport, Sky Striker decided he was going to find out what was going on himself. The Honored Councilor sent these three with him.”
但是黄飞马摇了摇头。"嗯，在机场会面之后，天空之星决定自己去弄清楚到底发生了什么。尊敬的议员送来了这三个人。"
“We’ve got the most experience operating in the Hoof,” Twister replied. Meeting my eye, she added, “That mare, Dusk, is okay. She was in critical condition, and the Castellanus was closer than the Skyport, so...” She trailed off as she stared at Glory. “Who… how...”
"我们在霍夫的操作经验最丰富,"特维斯特回答说。看到我的眼睛，她补充道:"那匹母马，黄昏，还不错。她当时情况危急，而卡斯特兰纳斯比飞机场更近，所以......"她盯着晨辉，慢吞吞地走开了。"谁......怎么......"
“Hey, Twisty?” Boomer said as he pointed at the wall. “Didn’t she say there was–”
"嘿，扭扭乐?"布玛儿指着墙说。"她不是说有..."
An explosion blew a cascade of dust and rubble over the six of us, and two smoking cannons pushed through the blasted hole as the machine tried to make its own door.
一声爆炸把一连串的灰尘和碎石吹到我们六个人身上，两门冒烟的大炮推开了那该死的洞，机器试图自己开门。
“Shit! Right! Tank! Roof!” Twister grabbed one of my forehooves and Glory the other, and they both lifted me up towards the roof. We barely cleared the lip when the tank rolled into the courtyard below. I didn’t really see this as much of an improvement; if the thing had an E.F.S., we were seven pretty obvious red bars.
"妈的！没错！坦克！屋顶!"龙卷风抓住了我的一个前蹄和晨辉的另一个，他们都举起了我向屋顶。当坦克滚进下面的院子里时，我们才勉强擦干净车的边缘。我并不认为这是一个很大的进步;如果这个东西有一个e.f.s，我们是七个相当明显的红条。
Lightning Dancer reached into her barding and threw down a legful of blue-banded grenades. They detonated with crackles and pops of arcing magical electricity. The tank froze, turrets sweeping back and forth. The yellow pegasus backed off along the flat, rain-washed roof. “Those spark bombs should jam its E.F.S. for a little bit.”
闪电舞者伸手进入她的帐篷，扔下了一腿的蓝带手榴弹。他们引爆了爆裂声和持久性电弧神奇的电力。坦克冻住了，炮塔来回扫射。那匹黄色的飞马沿着被雨水冲刷过的平坦屋顶往后退。"这些火花炸弹应该能够阻塞它的引信一段时间。"
“Right,” Twister said as she whirled on Glory. “What the hell is going on? We were searching Miramare with Sky Striker when he heard a broadcast about his wife fighting out here or something. And now we find Rain–”
"对,"龙卷风说，她旋转的晨辉。"这到底是怎么回事？我们和天空前锋一起搜索米拉马雷的时候，他听到广播说他的妻子在这里打架什么的。现在我们找到了雨——"
“I’m Morning Glory,” she interrupted as she frowned sternly at the mare. “I got magicked into this body! I’m not really Rainbow Dash.”
"我是牵牛花,"她打断说，严厉地看着那匹母马皱着眉头。"我的身体被魔法附身了！我不是真正的彩虹达什。"
“Striker’s kid? Oh my…” Sunset’s red eyes widened. “No wonder he set a speed record getting here.”
"斯垂克的孩子？哦，我的......"夕阳的红眼睛睁大了。"难怪他在来这里的路上创造了速度纪录。"
Twister glanced from me to Glory. “What the hell is going on here, Blackjack? The surface isn’t supposed to have ordinance like that anymore!”
龙卷风扫视了我一眼，直到晨辉。"这到底是怎么回事，黑杰克？表面不应该再有那样的条例了!"
“Tell you what? Stick close, and if we live through this, I will explain everything. Okay?” I snapped, looking down. The tank was swinging its guns around like a giant radroach’s antennae; it seemed to be searching for us.
""告诉你什么？跟紧了，如果我们能活下来，我会解释一切。好吗?"我厉声说道，低头看了看。坦克像一根巨大的雨伞的触角一样摆动着它的枪炮，似乎在搜寻着我们。
“Fair enough,” Twister said as she looked at Glory again, the lavender mare clearly spooked.
"有道理,"图斯特一边说，一边又看着格洛里，薰衣草色的母马显然受到了惊吓。
“You’re here with Father?” Glory gasped as she looked around. “Where is he? And you have Dusk?”
"你和父亲一起来的?"晨辉看了看四周，倒抽了一口冷气。""他在哪儿？还有《黄昏》?"
“I dunno where he went. This whole mission turned into a squall soon as Striker
"我不知道他去哪儿了。这整个任务很快就变成了狂风暴雨
got that message. As for Dusk, she was unconscious in the Castellanus’s med bay last I saw her,” Twister said.
收到留言了。至于《黄昏》，我最后一次见到她时，她正昏迷在卡斯特兰纳斯的医疗舱里。
“Here,” Lightning Dancer said as she dug into her saddlebags and dumped my weapons out onto the rooftop beside me. I saw the sword, and my life suddenly became a lot better. It might not have been a ripper, but it would do for a can opener.
"这里,"闪电舞女一边说，一边挖开她的鞍囊，把我的武器扔在我旁边的屋顶上。我看到了那把剑，我的生活突然变得好多了。也许不是开膛手干的，但如果是开罐器也可以。
“We have to find Father,” Glory said tersely, looking around in concern while I tucked my equipment away.
"我们必须找到父亲,"晨辉简洁地说，当我收起我的设备时，他关切地环顾四周。
“Isn’t he right over there?” Boomer asked as he pointed further along the rainswept roof towards a pair of blue bars. I glanced down at the tank as my body continued to regenerate; it was blasting the courtyard walls with machine gun fire as if in a fit of frustration. Then I looked where the stallion was pointing and saw the eyepatched Sky Striker standing two feet from Dawn. I froze. “Oh no…”
"他不就在那儿吗?"布默一边问，一边沿着被雨水冲刷过的屋顶向前指着一对蓝色的栅栏。我低头看了看坦克，我的身体还在恢复;它用机关枪扫射着院子的墙壁，好像受到了一阵挫折。然后我看了看种马指的地方，看到戴着眼罩的天空攻击者站在离黎明两英尺的地方。我愣住了。"哦，不......"
“Father... Mother...” Glory moaned, looking anguished.
"父亲......母亲......"晨辉呻吟着，看起来很痛苦。
“Glory... your mother...” I said weakly as she walked a few steps past me closer to the pair. I didn’t know what to really say now. That she might not even be a pony anymore? That she was a murderer?
"晨辉......你的母亲......"我虚弱地说着，她从我身边走过几步，走近那一对。我不知道现在该说些什么。她甚至可能不再是一匹小马？她是个杀人犯？
Up here, the sound of the grinding of the tank crashing back into the manor struggled with the fury of the fighting below and the storm raging above. Yet, despite all that, there seemed to be a calm surrounding the two like the eye of a hurricane, and I was helpless to do anything but watch. Neither of them spared us the slightest glance; all their attention was for each other. If there was any chance for Dawn giving up this suicidal mission, it was Sky Striker. If I said a word, I knew that we’d lose her to Cognitum forever.
在这里，坦克回到庄园的摩擦声与下面狂暴的战斗和上面肆虐的暴风雨进行着斗争。然而，尽管如此，这两个人周围似乎有一种像飓风眼一样的平静，我除了观察什么也做不了。他们谁也不放过我们哪怕是最细微的一瞥，他们的注意力都集中在对方身上。如果说道恩有任何机会放弃这个自杀性任务，那就是天空攻击者。如果我说一个字，我知道我们将永远失去她的认知。
But he didn’t know... and Celestia damn me, I couldn’t think of any way to warn him without losing her. I looked at the stricken Glory and swallowed. I had to give him a chance. Please... please save her, Sky Striker.
但是他不知道......塞莱斯蒂亚诅咒我，我想不出任何方法来警告他而不失去她。我看着受伤的晨辉，咽了口唾沫。我必须给他一个机会。求求你，求求你救救她，天空打击者。
I saw him look down at Dawn, concern and frustration warring with each other as Dawn hung her head. Then, with a sob, Sky Striker hugged her close to him. “You’re alive. My heart... my love... You’re alive… How… why… I thought you were gone forever…”
我看见他低头看着道恩，当道恩低下头的时候，他们之间充满了担忧和沮丧。然后，天空前锋啜泣着拥抱了她靠近他。"你还活着。我的心...我的爱...你还活着...怎么...为什么...我以为你已经永远离开了..."
“I had to go. We would have been killed. You know that,” Dawn answered as she nuzzled his neck with a small smile.
"我得走了。我们会被杀死的。你知道的,"道恩一边回答，一边微笑着用鼻子蹭了蹭他的脖子。
The one-eyed stallion sniffed. “We could have left together.”
独眼种马闻了闻。"我们本可以一起离开的。"
“And taken our children to the Wasteland? No mother could do that,” she replied quietly. “Or would you have come with me and left our children alone? Forced Dusk to become their mother when she’d just gotten her cutie mark? No… I couldn’t stay, and none of you could come with me. I had a mission to complete down here.”
""把我们的孩子带到荒地去？没有母亲能做到这一点,"她平静地回答。"或者你会和我一起走，留下我们的孩子一个人？被迫成为他们的母亲，当她刚刚得到她的可爱标记？不...我不能留下，你们也不能跟我一起走。我有任务要完成。"
“Your mission…?” he asked softly, then smiled. “I’ve tried to carry out your mission, Dawn. Thunderhead finally sent down the Volunteer Corps. It took ten years, but we finally came down and helped.” He stroked her mane gently. “You could come back with me. We could make the Volunteer Corps bigger and better than before. Do real good! Save the Wasteland.”
"你的任务......?"他温柔地问，然后笑了。"我试图执行你的任务，道恩。雷霆万钧终于派出了志愿兵团。十年过去了，我们终于下来帮忙了。"他轻轻地抚摸着她的鬃毛。"你可以和我一起回去。我们可以让志愿者队伍比以前更大更好。好好干！拯救荒地。"
She clenched her eyes tightly and buried her face in his chest. “Save the Wasteland. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. All I’ve ever dreamed of.” She gave a sob, and then said quietly, “I’d love to go back with you, my love. Back up to my life… my family. To ponies who love me. To a better world.”
她紧紧地攥着眼睛，把脸埋在他的胸膛里。"拯救荒原。这就是我一直想要的。我所梦想的一切。"她呜咽了一声，然后平静地说:"我愿意和你一起回去，我的爱人。回到我的生活...我的家庭。献给爱我的小马。去一个更美好的世界。"
I swallowed, feeling the floor rumble under my hooves. I wondered if it was from the thunder or the tank moving through the manor beneath me. Tanks should get a special E.F.S. bar! I looked back to Dawn as she trembled in his grasp.
我咽了口唾沫，感觉到马蹄下的地板在隆隆作响。我不知道是雷声还是坦克在我脚下的庄园里移动。坦克应该有一个特殊的e.f.s.吧台！当朵儿在他的手中颤抖时，我回头看着她。
He started to say something, but perhaps he sensed it at the same time I did. A wrongness that didn’t belong to the mare he loved. Dawn could never go back. She was like me. Just like me, she knew she didn’t deserve happiness. Her followers were fighting and killing children, for Celestia’s sake, but I wanted to believe she could. I wanted it as much as Glory and Striker did. Because if there was hope for her... there could be hope for me too...
他开始说些什么，但也许他和我同时感觉到了。不属于他所爱的母马的错误。黎明再也回不去了。她和我一样。就像我一样，她知道自己不配拥有幸福。为了塞勒斯蒂娅的缘故，她的追随者们正在战斗并杀害儿童，但我想相信她能做到。我和晨辉和前锋一样渴望得到它。因为如果她有希望...我也有希望..。
She swayed before melting. “Sky… I would… I would love to go back up to your castle in the sky. Forever… just like a pony tale…” And for an instant she smiled, and I knew it was over. She’d come back with us, tell me what I’d need to know, disband the Harbingers, and go home to her family. Glory would have her mother back. Striker would have his wife. Dawn would be loved once more. For an instant…
她在融化前摇摆不定。"天空......我愿意......我愿意回到你的天空城堡。永远......就像一个小马的故事......"刹那间，她笑了，我知道一切都结束了。她会和我们一起回来，告诉我我需要知道的事情，解散"先驱者"组织，然后回家与家人团聚。晨辉会让她的母亲回来。斯垂克会得到他的妻子。黎明将再次被爱。一瞬间..。
Then her eyes opened and she looked right at me.
然后她睁开眼睛，直直地看着我。
The baleful green glow of her eyes flared once as they moved to stare at my hoof. The dire luminescence rippled out from her glowing pupils, and green lines of light traced themselves across her silver irises as it passed. The light shimmered along those fine faint scars crossing her body. Then the gray hide split along those lines and sloughed wetly apart, revealing a blacker hexagon-patterned hide hidden beneath and broken by green tracers of light. From under her gray feathers, dark chisel-like blades emerged, each sporting green circuits of light. Her hooves split as mechanical fingers erupted from the disintegrating flesh of her fetlocks, each digit tipped in a long black talon surrounded by a sickly jade aura. She plunged the curved blades into his back, slicing through his black power armor as if it were butter.
当她们盯着我的蹄子时，她那双邪恶的绿眼睛突然闪烁起来。可怕的冷光从她发光的瞳孔中泛起，绿色的光线掠过她银色的虹膜。光线在她身上那些模糊的疤痕上闪闪发光。然后灰色的兽皮沿着这些线条裂开，湿漉漉地分开了，露出一个黑色的六边形图案的兽皮，隐藏在下面，被绿色的光线痕迹所破坏。在她灰色的羽毛下面，出现了深色的像凿子一样的叶片，每个叶片都闪烁着绿色的光圈。当机械手指从她的脚镣上脱落下来时，她的蹄子裂开了，每个脚趾尖上都有一个长长的黑色爪子，被恶心的翡翠光环环绕着。她把弯刀插进他的背部，像切黄油一样切开他黑色的能量盔甲。
With a furious scream, she plunged her bladed wings deep into his body and with horrifying force flung him away, his crimson blood raining down. I watched as her tail seemed to weave itself into a whiplike appendage that crackled with green lightning. Almost by reflex, Duty and Sacrifice were drawn and, slipping into S.A.T.S., I blasted eight rounds right into her face, enough to decapitate most ponies. The impacts knocked her back from us, and she launched herself into the air. Glowing green chips in her ebony dermis peeked through her ravaged face, but the hexagonal hide was barely damaged and regenerating before my eyes. She hovered there a moment, looking down at Sky Striker’s broken body with a cold stare. “Enough! No more weakness!”
随着一声愤怒的尖叫，她把她锋利的翅膀深深地插进他的身体里，用可怕的力量把他扔了出去，他的血红色的雨点落了下来。我看着她的尾巴像鞭子一样编织成一个附肢，绿色的闪电劈啪作响。几乎是条件反射，责任和牺牲被抽出来，溜进s.a.t.s.，我朝她脸上开了八枪，足以砍下大多数小马的头。撞击把她从我们身边撞了回来，她把自己抛向空中。她那乌木真皮里闪着绿光的碎片透过她受伤的脸窥视着我，但是六角形的皮肤在我眼前几乎没有损伤和再生。她在那儿徘徊了一会儿，冷冷地凝视着天空前锋破碎的身体。"够了！不要再软弱了!"
“No!” Glory screamed and raced to her fallen father. From inside Dawn’s body, the green glow spread, a disintegration field rendering her tattered hide and feathers to ash that washed away in the rain. What remained was a mare who was more cyber than pony. For an instant those glowing green eyes looked at those mechanical fingers and claws, at her husband’s blood being washed away, and then looked down at her husband and daughter with a fleeting expression of horror. Then with a scream I’d heard in a buried city beneath the ground, she launched herself into the lightning-filled sky.
"不!"晨辉尖叫着冲向她倒下的父亲。从黎明的身体里，绿色的光芒四处蔓延，一片瓦解的田野将她破烂的皮肤和羽毛变成灰烬，随着雨水冲走。剩下的是一匹母马，她比小马还要虚弱。一瞬间，那双发光的绿眼睛看着那些机械的手指和爪子，看着她丈夫的血被冲走，然后低头看着她的丈夫和女儿，带着短暂的恐惧表情。然后，随着我在地下一座被埋葬的城市里听到的一声尖叫，她冲向了充满闪电的天空。
Lightning Dancer and I rushed to the fallen Sky Striker. “Stop her! I’ve got him!” she shouted, and the Neighvarro ponies immediately popped their helmets closed and took to the air. Glory, her face a mask of anguish, did her best to stem the flow of blood. Lightning Dancer pulled out familiar purple potions and poured them into Sky Striker’s mouth.
闪电舞者和我冲向坠落的天空前锋。"拦住她！我抓住他了!"她大声喊道，邻居们马上摘下头盔，飞向空中。晨辉，她的脸上带着痛苦的面具，竭尽全力阻止血液的流动。闪电舞者拿出熟悉的紫色药水，把它们倒进天空冲锋者的嘴里。
Glory whimpered as she struggled to save her remaining parent. “Come on, Daddy! You’ve been hurt worse! I heard all your stories. You’ve taken worse from a dragon…” But though the wounds closed a little, some force seemed to be fighting the restorative magic. The wounds were tinged with a faint, malignant green glow. “The potion’s not working, Blackjack!” the cyan pegasus sobbed in distress.
晨辉呜咽着，挣扎着去救她剩下的父母。"来吧，爸爸！你受过更重的伤！我听过你所有的故事。你从龙那里得到过更糟糕的......"尽管伤口稍微愈合了一点，但有些力量似乎正在与恢复性魔法作斗争。伤口上泛着一层淡淡的恶性绿光。"魔药不管用，黑杰克!"青天马号悲伤地抽泣着。
“Dawn… my Dawn… what happened to her?” croaked Sky Striker. “Such a fool. Heard her voice, her name… and I… such a fool…”
"Dawn...我的Dawn...她怎么了?"天空攻击者低声说道。"真是个傻瓜。听到她的声音她的名字...还有我。.真是个傻瓜..."
“Hush. You’re going to live for Glory. You understand? Glory isn’t going to lose two parents today,” I said, then looked at the two mares. “Can you get him to Star House? The potions might be more effective there.”
"嘘。你要为荣誉而活。你明白吗？光荣不会在今天失去两个父母,"我说，然后看着两匹母马。"你能把他送到星宫去吗？在那里，药水可能更有效。"
Glory pulled off the scraps of Sky Striker’s armor. “I think so,” she said in a terrified whimper, and we carefully draped Sky Striker over her back. I sent a frantic message for Lacunae to get to Star House as soon as possible and use her healing magic on Glory’s father. Then there was one last thing to cover… “You aren’t going to try and capture Glory, are you?” I asked Lightning Dancer in a tense mutter. “Please. She’s not Rainbow Dash.” I hoped I didn’t sound as much like I was begging as I feared I did.
晨辉扯下了天空攻击者的盔甲碎片。"我想是的,"她吓坏了，呜咽着说，我们小心翼翼地把天空前锋披在她的背上。我发了一条疯狂的信息给拉库尼，让她尽快赶到星宫，对晨辉的父亲使用她的治疗魔法。然后还有最后一件事要说......"你不会想要夺取晨辉，对吧?"我紧张地咕哝着问闪电舞者。"求你了。她不是彩虹·达什。"我希望自己的声音不像我害怕的那样像是在乞求。
Lightning Dancer looked at the bleeding Sky Striker and then back to me. “One hurricane at a time, Blackjack. We’ll talk about it later. For now, see to your own battle.” With that, she carefully began to fly off towards the northeast.
闪电舞者看着流血的天空前锋，然后回到我。"一次一个飓风，Blackjack。我们以后再谈。现在，你自己去打吧。"说完，她小心翼翼地开始向东北方向飞去。
I sighed, looking at the blood and ash mixing with the rainwater. Why did it always have to end in tears?
我叹了口气，看着血和灰烬混合着雨水。为什么总是以眼泪收场？
Then the tank stopped waiting.
然后坦克停止了等待。
The roof erupted beneath me, and then the world fell out in a roaring avalanche of stone and beams. I landed in a crash in the very ballroom where Blueblood had slain Roses. The elegant room hadn’t been picked over as much as the rest of the manor. The white marble floor hadn’t been torn out, and the pillars still had their golden carvings of unicorns. Darkened balconies ran across both sides of the long hall. Despite the tank’s immense size, it had more than enough room to move freely and was more than capable of blasting me to pieces.
屋顶在我脚下爆发，然后整个世界在一片巨大的石头和横梁的轰鸣声中崩塌了。我坠毁在蓝血杀死罗斯的舞厅里。这间雅致的房间没有庄园里其他房间那么显眼。白色的大理石地板没有被挖掉，柱子上还有金色的独角兽雕像。黑暗的阳台横跨长厅的两边。尽管坦克体积巨大，但它有足够的空间自由移动，而且有能力把我炸成碎片。
I slowly rose to my hooves as the engine snarled like an angry dragon. The lamps and machine guns whirred as they oriented on me. Glory had her battle. I had mine. No more running. It was time to finish this. “Okay, you metal bastard. You want to play?”
我慢慢地站起来，发动机像一条愤怒的龙一样咆哮着。灯火和机关枪对着我呼呼作响。晨辉有她的战斗。我也有我的。不要再跑了。是时候结束这一切了。"好吧，你这个金属杂种。你想玩吗?"
As crazy as it was, I grinned from ear to ear.
尽管很疯狂，我还是咧着嘴笑了。
“Ante up.”
"下注吧。"
I dove to the side as the machine guns opened up, their rounds tearing into the pristine marble floor and the blackened patch where Blueblood had died. I found momentary cover behind a pillar but didn’t dare stand still when the machine guns paused in their barrage. The cannons boomed, and the thick column disintegrated in a spray of marble, filling the air with dust and smoke. The lamps flashed back and forth as the tank turned and strafed wildly along my path. I reached the corner pillar and leapt as the cannons fired again, blasting out stone chunks and shrapnel as I slid across the floor on my side, coming to a stop in front of the stairs that forked in a Y.
机关枪打开时，我跳到一边，它们的子弹撕裂着原始的大理石地板和蓝血王子死去的那块变黑的地方。我在一根柱子后面找到了短暂的掩护，但当机枪在炮火中暂停时，我不敢站着不动。大炮隆隆作响，厚厚的大理石柱裂成一片浪花，空气中充满了灰尘和烟雾。坦克在我前进的道路上疯狂地旋转和扫射，灯光来回闪烁。我走到角落的柱子那里，在大炮再次开火的时候跳了下去，炸出大块大块的石头和炮弹碎片，我侧着身子滑过地板，在一个y字形分叉的楼梯前停了下来。
My body reacted almost on its own as the tank turned to face me and began firing its machine guns once again. Backflipping end over end, I ascended the stairs as the machine gun ripped a line of fire right after me. I saw that the marble wall behind me where the stairs split was embossed with the Blueblood family tree, and as I raced to the side the machine gun fire continued up along it. As I ducked behind another pillar at the top of the balcony, I watched it rip through the stone all the way up to the final name. ‘Goldenblood’.
当坦克转向我并开始再次开火时，我的身体几乎做出了自我反应。后空翻结束，我登上楼梯，机关枪在我身后猛烈开火。我看到身后楼梯间的大理石墙上浮雕着蓝血家族的家谱，当我跑到墙边时，机关枪继续沿着墙开火。当我躲到阳台顶部的另一根柱子后面时，我看着它把石头一直撕开，直到最后一个名字。金色血液。
I popped a sapphire in my mouth and took a peek as the turret slowly turned from one balcony to the other as the rain poured down upon it and smoke and dust drifted through the air. I waited till the cannons pointed towards the far balcony before I moved, running as quickly and as low as I could. Still the machine guns fired wildly as the main turret swung around towards me. I ducked behind a pillar as the guns blazed, their bullets ripping through the stone in a stream of lethal metal. The twin cannons came around and pointed up at me.
我往嘴里塞了一颗蓝宝石，偷偷看了一眼，这时阳台慢慢地从一个转到另一个，大雨倾盆而下，烟尘四起。我等到大炮指向远处的阳台，才动身，尽可能地跑得又快又低。当主炮塔朝我转过来时，机关枪仍然狂轰滥炸。我躲在一根柱子后面，枪声隆隆，他们的子弹穿过石头，射出一串致命的金属。两门大炮转过身来，指着我。
This was gonna hurt… I had no idea how, but I stood like a zebra and launched myself in one arching backflip off the marble balcony, feeling the fiery fingers of the machine gun rounds punching right through my limbs and body. But I couldn’t stop. My body couldn’t stop. The machine guns chattered as they
这会很疼......我不知道怎么会这样，但我像一匹斑马一样站着，从大理石的阳台上拱起后空翻起来，感受着机关枪火辣辣的手指穿过我的四肢和身体。但我停不下来。我的身体停不下来。他们一边开枪一边叽叽喳喳地说个不停
struggled to track me through the air, and a thunderous boom washed through me as the tank blasted the balcony where I’d stood two second before.
在空中挣扎着追踪我，坦克撞击着我两秒钟前站过的阳台，雷鸣般的轰鸣声穿透了我的全身。
I landed with a bloody clang atop the tank’s turret. The machine guns couldn’t target me when I was lying flat on the metal, and the turret swung back and forth wildly. I drew my sword with my fingers, clenched down on the grip, and then rolled off onto the front of the tank. With all my strength I jammed the sword into the socket of one of the machine gun turrets, and the silvery blade slipped through the metal with its magical sharpness. Wrenching it about a few times, there was a spark, and the turret froze. I quickly wiggled the blade again for good measure, then pulled it out and repeated the process on the other machine gun turret while it tried to target me. It too sparked and went dead.
我在坦克炮塔上降落时发出一声血淋淋的叮当声。当我平躺在金属上时，机关枪无法瞄准我，炮塔疯狂地来回摆动。我用手指拔出剑，握紧了剑柄，然后滚到了坦克的前面。我用尽全力把剑插进一个机关枪炮塔的插座里，银色的剑刃以它神奇的锐度滑过金属。大约有几次，有一个火花，和炮塔冻结。我迅速地摇动刀片，然后把它拔出来，在另一个机枪炮塔上重复这个过程，当它试图瞄准我的时候。它也点燃了火花，然后熄灭了。
Roaring in fury, the tank revved its engines and swung its main turret as it bucked back and forth. I clambered back on top of the turret, and then spotted it: a hatch. Holding on for dear life atop the flat turret, I levered the blade tip into the hatch and started cutting.
在愤怒的咆哮声中，坦克发动了引擎，在前后颠簸的同时转动了主炮塔。我爬回炮塔的顶部，然后发现了它:一个舱口。为了宝贵的生命，我抓住平坦的炮塔顶部，我撬动刀尖进入舱口，开始切割。
You fuckers are gonna die, I thought with cold certainty. I’m going to blow your faces off.
你们这些混蛋死定了，我冷冷地想。我要打烂你们的脸。
The tank suddenly charged the far wall and struck with such force that only my teeth and two fingers kept me from being flung off. For a moment we both sat there, the tank and I, and then it backed up and fired both cannons nearly point blank into the wall. The shockwave nearly knocked me off, and my magically sharp sword slid out of the hatch along with the cloud of rubble that cascaded over me. I held onto the hatch, looking behind the tank for the glint of silver. Then, as if sensing my intention, the damned machine backed up!
坦克突然冲向远处的墙壁，用力猛击，只有我的牙齿和两根手指阻止了我被甩出去。有那么一会儿，我和坦克都坐在那里，然后它倒退了一下，几乎是近距离地朝墙开了两枪。冲击波几乎把我击倒，我那把魔法般锋利的剑随着倒在我身上的碎石云滑出了舱口。我抓住舱口，看着水箱后面闪烁的银光。然后，仿佛感觉到了我的意图，这台该死的机器倒车了！
I gritted my teeth as I looked down at the hatch. Rain from the hole blasted in the roof pattered down around me. Even now, the machine gun turrets were glowing pink. Soon they’d be operational once more, and then the hoof-wide gash I’d managed to cut in the hatch would follow. There was only one thing to do... I hooked my fingers into the hole, squatted, and started to pull.
我低头看着舱口，咬紧牙关。雨从洞里哗啦啦地从屋顶上打下来，啪嗒啪嗒地打在我身上。即使是现在，机关枪的炮塔也是粉红色的。很快它们就可以再次使用了，然后我在马蹄上切开的裂口就会跟随而来。只有一件事可以做......我把手指伸进洞里，蹲下，开始拉。
I felt the tension build more and more. Felt the line between flesh and metal grow more acute. The motors in my legs began to whine as I put more force into them than they’d been designed to bear. Then they started to smoke as my own repair talismans struggled to keep them pulling. Pull, damn it! My flesh began to
我感到越来越紧张。感觉到肌肉和金属之间的界限变得更加尖锐。当我用力过猛时，我腿上的马达开始发出呜呜的声音。然后他们开始吸烟，我自己的修理护身符挣扎着让他们保持拉力。拉啊，该死！我的肉体开始
distort where pony ended and metal began. Warnings filled my vision as the metal hatch began to bow outwards. Just a little more. Bullet holes torn through my metal limbs twisted as smoke reached my nostrils. Just a little more...
扭曲在小马结束和金属开始。当金属舱口开始向外弯曲时，警告充满了我的视野。再来一点。子弹穿过我的金属四肢撕裂扭曲烟雾进入我的鼻孔。再来一点..。
Everything gave all at once, the motors and power talismans popping one after another in one final spasmodic tear. The stress on my metal limbs caused my already battered back leg to explode apart completely, and my right foreleg ripped off entirely, connection cup and all, leaving a bloody mass of wire, metal, and meat. My left foreleg shattered at the joint midway, flopping uselessly by my side as I finally pushed myself further than even my cyberpony body could go.
所有的一切瞬间爆发，马达和动力护身符在最后一次痉挛撕裂中一个接一个地砰砰作响。我的金属肢体承受的压力使得我已经受伤的后腿完全爆裂，我的右前腿完全被扯断，连接杯什么的，留下一团血淋淋的金属线、金属和肉。我的左前腿关节中段粉碎，无用地在我身边扑腾，我终于把自己推得比我的赛马身体还要远。
But it had been worth it: my final pull had also forced the hatch open. Now I just had to kick the explosive block off my barding and into the tank and... um... fall on the detonator?
但是这一切都是值得的:我最后的一次拉力也把舱门打开了。现在我只需要把炸药块踢出我的帐篷，扔进坦克，然后......嗯......掉到引爆器上？
I stared down into a turret filled with technology I could barely understand stuffed into a space that nopony could fit inside. It was filled with wires, talismans, and a clear glass jar that was occupied by a round globe and a few metal vertebrae. A mechanical arm tipped with a camera looked up at me, and then the equipment inside spoke in a mechanical voice.
我低头凝视着一个充满科技的塔楼，我几乎不能理解这些科技，它们被塞进一个没有小马可以塞进去的空间里。里面装满了金属丝、护身符和一个透明的玻璃罐，里面放着一个圆球和几块金属椎骨。一个装有摄像头的机械手臂抬头看着我，然后里面的设备用机械的声音说话。
“Kzzzt....K....Kuntzzz.”
"Kzzzt... k. ... kuntzz。"
Not ‘he’s in the tank.’
不是"他在坦克里"
‘He is the tank.’
他就是坦克
“Deus,” I whispered back.
"上帝,"我低声回答。
With my legs destroyed and my horn burned out, there was nothing I could do as he jerked back and sent me tumbling off the turret and onto the ground. There was nowhere to run. I had nothing left to fight with as he pulled back and pointed every turret right at me, lamps glaring. He sat there, and I could almost imagine him savoring the moment. Would he blast me to pieces? Machine gun me apart? Crush me beneath his treads? His engine revved over and over again.
我的双腿被毁，我的号角也烧坏了，我无能为力，他猛地一扭，把我从炮塔上摔了下来，摔在了地上。无处可逃。我已经没有什么可以战斗的了，因为他撤退了，把每个炮塔都指向我，灯光闪烁。他坐在那里，我几乎可以想象他正在享受这一刻。他会把我炸成碎片吗？用机关枪把我分开？用他的履带碾碎我？他的发动机一次又一次地转动。
So I rocked up into a sitting position, looked up at the tiny socket cameras beneath the lamps, and shouted as loudly as I could, “I’m sorry!”
所以我摇晃着坐起来，抬头看着灯下的微型插座摄像头，尽可能大声地喊道:"对不起!"
The engine abruptly fell to a quiet idle as I sat there, the rain pouring down upon
当我坐在那里时，发动机突然停止工作，大雨倾盆而下
me. “I’m sorry that I killed you. I saw your memory orb, Deus! I felt… how you felt. I know how Sanguine kept you on a short leash and used your pain against you… pain that nopony deserved!” I closed my eyes. “And I saw the orb in Miramare. I saw what Brass did to you… what that… that…” I clenched my jaw and then shouted, “that Cunt did to you!”
我。"我很抱歉我杀了你。我看到了你的记忆球，上帝！我感受到了...你的感受。我知道桑吉是怎样把你拴得紧紧的，用你的痛苦来对付你的......那痛苦不是他应得的!"我闭上了眼睛。"我在米拉马雷看到了那个球。我看到布拉斯对你做了什么...那个...那个..."我咬紧牙关，然后喊道,"那个婊子对你做了什么!"
Slowly, I looked up into the cameras, rain and tears streaking down my face. “I know you loved Twist… and I know that she couldn’t love you in return. That you never meant to hurt her. That you just wanted to love her. But you couldn’t. And you made a mistake… And I saw how Vanity kept you from her when all you wanted to do was to see her once! Just fucking once!” I yelled as I rocked there in the rain. “But he didn’t. He left you there in Hightower to rot. Like you were scum.”
慢慢地，我抬头看着镜头，雨水和泪水从我的脸上流下来。"我知道你爱特威斯特......我也知道她不可能以爱回报你。你从没想过要伤害她。你只是想爱她。但你做不到。而你犯了一个错误......而且我看到了当你只想见她一面的时候，虚荣是如何阻止你见她的！就他妈的一次!"我一边在雨中摇晃一边大喊。"但是他没有。他把你留在海托华等死。就像你是个人渣。"
I sat there silently, expecting the annihilating blast to come at any second. But it didn’t. All I could do was sit there as my E.F.S. flashed critical failure at me on multiple limbs. I lifted my shattered right stump, showing the cables coming out of my torn flesh. It didn’t hurt... not like it should. “I know what it’s like to be a cyberpony now, Deus. I know what it’s like to feel dead inside. To have your body move in ways you can’t understand. Like you’re not really in control anymore. I know the feeling of violation… how it feels like you’ve been turned into a thing. And I know you felt the same way, Deus. I know how it feels to have the one good flesh and blood part of you that makes you feel like a pony… and I’m sorry that I took that away from you as well.”
我静静地坐在那里，期待着毁灭性的爆炸随时会来。但事实并非如此。我所能做的就是坐在那里，看着我的e.f.s.在我的四肢上闪过严重的失败。我抬起右边粉碎的残肢，露出从我撕裂的肌肉里伸出来的电缆。一点也不疼......不像应该的那样。"现在我知道当赛博马是什么感觉了，天王。我知道内心死气沉沉的感觉。让你的身体以你无法理解的方式运动。好像你再也不能控制自己了。我知道那种被侵犯的感觉...感觉就像你变成了一个东西。我知道你也是这么想的，上帝。我知道那种感觉，你身上唯一的血肉之躯让你觉得自己像匹小马......我也很抱歉，我把它从你身边夺走了。"
The engine let one long low growl, but it dwindled away. “You were a good pony once. You fought for Equestria. You were a Marauder, gunning down enemies with a minigun to hold a hill that command told you to abandon. And you were a monster, Deus. You made a horrible mistake… there’s no lie to that. But you were never given a chance to show you could be more than that mistake. To prove you were a better pony. To do better… “I used to think that what you did to my home was horrible. That you were a monster for it, and deserved whatever you got. Well, I learned what it means to make a horrible mistake. I know what it means to become a monster, Deus. I became a monster too!” I shouted at the pony within the machine. “But I got a chance to do better. To become more than a monster. And now you do as well. You can choose the better choice. You can turn your back on the Harbingers who would have had you kill children; make up for your mistake.”
发动机发出一声长长的低沉的咆哮，但它逐渐消失了。"你曾经是一匹好马。你为小马国而战。你是一个掠夺者，用一把小型机关枪扫射敌人，守住一座命令你放弃的山头。你是个怪物，上帝。你犯了一个可怕的错误...这是不可能的。但是你从来没有机会证明你可以比那个错误更进一步。来证明你是一匹更好的小马。为了做得更好..."我过去常常认为你对我家所做的一切是可怕的。你是个怪物，罪有应得。我明白了犯下可怕错误的意思。我知道成为一个怪物意味着什么，上帝。我也变成了一个怪物!"我对着机器里的小马大喊大叫。"但我有机会做得更好。变得不仅仅是一个怪物。现在你也一样。你可以选择更好的选择。你可以背弃那些曾经让你杀害孩子的先知，弥补你的错误。"
I heard a commotion at the hole in the wall Deus had made to drive in and saw
我听到天王开车进来看到的墙洞里传来一阵骚动
P-21, Scotch Tape, and Rampage, their eyes wide in shock. My eyes met P-21’s,
P-21，透明胶带，和暴怒，他们的眼睛在震惊中睁大。我的目光遇到了P-21
I gave a little shake of my head, and he stopped the pair from charging in.
我轻轻地摇了摇头，他阻止了那一对冲进来。
I bowed my head before the tank, closing my eyes. “Please. One monster to another… please…” I whispered, “choose to be a pony… Doof.”
我在坦克面前低下头，闭上眼睛。"求你了。一个怪物对另一个怪物......请......"我低声说,"选择做一匹小马......傻瓜。"
There was a moment of silence save for the soft noise of the rain and the low rumble of the tank, and then Deus’s engine let out a mechanical scream as the cannons fired. The wall behind me blew out. Again he fired. And again. Again. The shockwaves of the cannons battered me and the concussion would have deafened me had my ears been flesh and blood. Again he fired. Again. He blew out the walls and ceiling. His machine guns ripped apart the balconies, and his cannons pulverized the marble surrounding us. Again. Again. Again.
沉默了片刻，除了雨声和坦克低沉的隆隆声，接着天王的引擎发出了一声机械般的尖叫，大炮开火了。我身后的墙炸开了。他又开枪了。再来一次。再来一次。大炮的冲击波击打着我，如果我的耳朵是血肉之躯，脑震荡会把我震聋。他又开枪了。再来一次。他炸掉了墙壁和天花板。他的机关枪打碎了阳台，他的大炮把我们周围的大理石打得粉碎。再来一次。再来一次。再来一次。
Finally the barrage ended; only a bowl of rubble remained of the ballroom. Rain hissed to steam off his barrels as the water washed the dust from his striped armor. I hadn’t moved. Slowly, my friends peeked over the edge of the debris at where I still sat, head bowed and body broken. All four cameras oriented on me. Slowly I smiled. “Thank you,” I whispered.
最后，拦河坝终于结束了，舞厅里只剩下一碗瓦砾。雨水冲刷着他条纹盔甲上的灰尘，嘶嘶作响地冲走了桶上的水汽。我一动不动。慢慢地，我的朋友们从废墟的边缘窥视着我仍然坐着的地方，低着头，身体支离破碎。四个摄像头都对着我。我慢慢地笑了。"谢谢你,"我低声说。
Deus ground his gears and turned, ramming the far wall of crumbled stone and ploughing right through it. Slowly, I looked over at my friends as they rushed to me. “Oh Sweet Celestia,” Scotch Tape said as she lifted my shattered cybernetic leg. “Blackjack… why do you keep breaking yourself?”
天王磨好齿轮，转过身，撞在远处那堵碎石墙上，正好穿过去。慢慢地，当我的朋友们向我冲过来的时候，我看着他们。"哦，甜蜜的天堂,"苏格兰胶带说，她提起我粉碎的控制论的腿。"黑杰克......你为什么老是摔坏自己?"
Maybe it was the blood loss, but I laughed, which only made them look more worried as I said softly, “Because I know there are people who can put me back together… make me a pony again.” I looked at Rampage. “Did we win?”
也许是因为失血过多，但我笑了，这只会让他们看起来更担心，因为我轻声说,"因为我知道有人可以让我重新振作起来......让我再次成为一匹小马。"我看着狂暴。"我们赢了吗?"
“Yeah,” Rampage said. “The Harbingers have run off. Steel Rain got away, though.”
"是啊,"斯兰格说。"先驱者已经逃走了。不过，钢铁雨还是跑了。"
P-21 looked the way that Deus had gone and then back to me. “How’d you beat him?”
P-21看着上帝离去的样子，然后又回到我身边。"你是怎么打败他的?"
“The same way you beat me,” I murmured softly as I leaned my broken body against his. “I gave him a chance to be a better pony.”
"就像你打我一样,"我轻声地说，把我破碎的身体靠在他身上。"我给了他一个机会，让他成为一匹更好的小马。"
Footnote: Maximum Level Reached.
脚注:已达到的最高水平。
 
Author's Notes:
作者笔记:
(Author’s note: So, before any blame falls on my editing staff, I want everypony to know that the tank battle, backflips and limb damage all, is my own fault. Some ponies have noticed I like certain animes and you might be able to pick which one inspired this battle. If you found it ridiculously cheesy and poor writing, it’s my fault. But this is something I had planned since chapter 16.... and I really thought that I’d get to it a lot
(作者注:所以，在责备我的编辑人员之前，我希望每个小马都知道，坦克战、后空翻和四肢损伤都是我自己的错。一些小马已经注意到我喜欢某些动物，你可能可以选择哪一个启发了这场战斗。如果你发现它可笑的低劣和糟糕的写作，这是我的错。但这是我从第16章开始就计划好的。我真的以为我会做很多
sooner than this.... sigh...
比这更快..。叹息..。
Anyway, I want to give my editors huge thanks for this chapter. Folks probably noticed a lot of things got in the way of getting this chapter done. But Hinds, Bro, and Snipehamster stuck it out and got through the whole thing. I’d also like to thank Fuzzy for giving his time and opinion to this chapter. There were some major questions about what was going to happen in this chapter. As always, thanks to Kkat for creating Fallout Equestria. And lastly, thanks everypony who leaves comments and feedback. It’s really important to me, even if I don’t always get to responding as promptly as I should.
无论如何，我要为这一章向我的编辑们表示衷心的感谢。人们可能注意到很多事情阻碍了这一章的完成。但是Hinds，Bro，和Snipehamster坚持了下来，挺过了整个事情。我还要感谢Fuzzy为这一章花费的时间和发表的意见。关于这一章将要发生什么，有一些主要的问题。像往常一样，感谢Kkat创造了Equestria落尘。最后，感谢每一位留下评论和反馈的朋友。这对我来说真的很重要，即使我并不总是能够及时地做出应有的反应。
I hope that everyone is happy with the pacing of the story. I know Horizons is ridiculously, freakishly long. I hope that it’s not going too long. I have a plan and an ending, I promise. Hopefully we’ll get to it before next Christmas... or the Christmas after next...
我希望每个人都对故事的节奏感到满意。我知道《地平线》长得可笑又奇怪。我希望时间不要太长。我有一个计划和一个结局，我保证。希望我们能在下一个圣诞节或者下下一个圣诞节之前找到它。
Anyhow, thanks for sticking with Horizons and I hope the story is doing well. Hopefully we’ll get one more chapter before Christmas. Take care. Thanks for reading!)
不管怎样，谢谢你坚持看《地平线》，我希望故事进展顺利。希望我们能在圣诞节前再读一章。保重。谢谢你的阅读!)