“Darn it! Now you got me acting all sappy!”
"该死！现在你把我弄得神经兮兮的!"
There were ghosts in Star House. They breathed softly, silently, in the night. One moved through the rooms, restless, watching the slumbering occupants in the afterglow of desperate celebration. The house was in shambles; it’d take days to clean everything up and put things as nice and neat as when they’d first entered. The ghost walked quietly amidst the cast off Sparkle-Cola bottles and slumbering ponies. Many virtually sprawled out on the floor, snatching a few precious hours of sleep before the coming day. But not all.
星宫里有鬼魂。他们在黑夜里轻轻地，默默地呼吸着。一个人穿过房间，坐立不安，看着沉睡的居住者在绝望的庆祝活动的余辉中。房子里乱七八糟，要花好几天才能把所有东西都打扫干净，把东西摆得像他们第一次进来时一样整齐干净。鬼魂在丢弃的闪亮可乐瓶和沉睡的小马中静静地走着。许多人几乎四肢伸开地躺在地板上，在新的一天到来之前争取几个小时宝贵的睡眠时间。但不是全部。
Whisper and Stygius curled up together on the couch, oblivious to the outside world. That was how they survived and maintained themselves; they focused on that which was dear to them and shut out the rest of the horribleness. Like this, Whisper didn’t need to inflict pain upon the world before it hurt her. There were the whispers, squeaks, giggles, and soft sighs of intimate cuddles. The ghost moved on. Time waited for nopony. Not even ghosts.
窃窃私语和冥河蜷缩在沙发上，对外面的世界一无所知。这就是他们如何生存和维持自己的方式;他们把注意力集中在对他们来说珍贵的东西上，把其余可怕的东西拒之门外。就像这样，Whisper不需要在这个世界伤害她之前给它带来痛苦。亲密的拥抱发出低声细语、尖叫声、咯咯的笑声和轻轻的叹息声。鬼魂继续前进。时间在等待小马。甚至连鬼魂都没有。
She walked past a sleeping filly murmuring softly in her sleep from underneath the kitchen table. “Eight caps per Sparkle-Cola times forty-eight bottles… sixteen boxes of Sugar Apple Bombs… carry the two…” Carefully, her head was raised, and an old pillow abandoned on the floor was slid under it. The yellow filly gave a tiny smile. “Five percent discount…” That was how she lived, by what the world owed her and what she owed the world.
她从一个熟睡的小姑娘身边走过，小姑娘在厨房的桌子下面熟睡着，轻声地喃喃自语。"每瓶8瓶装的闪亮可乐乘以48瓶......十六盒糖苹果炸弹......装着两个......"她小心翼翼地抬起头，一个被遗弃在地板上的旧枕头滑到下面。黄色的小母马微微一笑。"5%的折扣......"这就是她的生活方式，世界欠她什么，她欠世界什么。
The door to the room occupied by P-21 and Scotch Tape was open. The pair slept side by side with P-21 holding her safely in his hooves. They slept the sleep of the secure, the happy, the loved. The ghost couldn’t help but smile as she looked down at the pair. They endured simply through being. Though hardship had battered both, they’d weathered it, father and daughter alike, with caring and
P-21和透明胶带所在房间的门开着。两人并肩睡觉，P-21用蹄子安全地抱着她。他们在安全、幸福和被爱的人的睡眠中安然入睡。鬼魂低头看着这对情侣，忍不住笑了。他们只是通过存在来忍受。尽管艰难困苦折磨着他们，但是他们依然以关心和爱护的态度度过了难关，无论是父亲还是女儿
concern. He’d given her security and affirmation. She’d given him hope.
关心。他给了她安全感和肯定。她给了他希望。
Next door, in Rampage’s old room, LittlePip’s friends rested. Calamity snored blissfully next to a Velvet who seemed to have adapted to it. Ditzy’s family had refused to stay away where it was safe, arriving at the end of the party.
隔壁，在雷格的旧房间里，小皮普的朋友们在休息。灾难幸福地打着鼾，旁边是一位似乎已经适应了这一切的天鹅绒。迪茨的家人拒绝离开安全的地方，聚会结束时才到达。
Lionheart, Silver Bell, and the curious pink-eyed mouse lodged in the wagon, barely visible outside the window. What did ghouls do when the living slept? Did they walk among the sleeping like ghosts: enviously, hungrily, wistfully?
狮心、银铃和那只好奇的粉眼老鼠卡在马车里，窗外几乎看不见。食尸鬼在活人睡觉的时候做了什么？他们是否像鬼魂一样在睡梦中行走:羡慕地，饥渴地，渴望地？
Homage lay curled up, her back to Calamity, a pair of headphones covering her ears and plugged into the PipBuck she wore. Tears still lingered in the corners of her eyes as she slept, music a poor substitute for the warmth of the mare she loved.
她蜷缩着身子，背对着卡拉米特，耳朵上戴着一副耳机，插在身上的PipBuck耳机上。当她睡着的时候，泪水仍然在她的眼角徘徊，音乐可怜地代替了她所爱的母马的温暖。
The ghost ascended. There were others outside who kept watch and would give warning when trouble came. Outside the upstairs door, barely muted giggles could be heard. “…want to continue your research?” Tenebra said from within.
鬼魂升天了。外面还有其他人在看守，遇到麻烦时会发出警告。在楼上的门外，可以听到几乎没有声音的笑声。"...想继续你的研究吗?"坦内布拉从内部说。
“I think that, with all I’ve learned from Triage, Rover, and the Project Steelpony notes, I could help ponies all across the Hoof. Maybe the Wasteland. Cybernetics are a double-edged sword, but if we’re careful, the potential for good is phenomenal,” Glory said.
"我认为，凭借我从分类、罗孚和Steelpony计划中学到的知识，我可以帮助所有的蹄子马。也许是荒原。控制论是一把双刃剑，但如果我们小心谨慎，它的潜力是非凡的。
“If it grants Father vision again,” Tenebra murmured, “I suppose it is okay.” Silence for a few seconds and a soft sigh. “Do you think you could help my… attacks… with some device?”
"如果它能让父亲重见光明,"坦内布拉喃喃地说,"我想也没什么问题。"寂静了几秒钟，轻轻地叹了口气。"你认为你能帮助我的...攻击...用一些设备吗?"
“Maybe. I think so. I’d be glad to find out. You didn’t have an attack our last time,” Glory giggled again. “I guess I didn’t do a good job...”
"也许吧。我想是的。我很乐意知道。上次你没有进攻,"格洛里又咯咯笑了起来。"我想我没有做好......"
“You were wonderful,” Tenebra countered at once. “Though I’m glad you stopped trying to tie me up. And it was nice to do it without… well… everything. Whisper often tried to trigger an attack at her ‘parties’. It was… aggravating… unlike this,” she continued, followed by the sounds of kissing. The ghost rose, to leave them to their privacy. Then, “And you can help Blackjack, too.” The ghost froze, silence pouring out from under the door. “I know you still care for her. I see how you look at her,” Tenebra pressed.
"你太棒了,"Tenebra立刻反驳道。"尽管我很高兴你不再试图把我绑起来。这样做很好，没有......嗯......一切。"耳语"经常试图在她的"派对"上引发袭击。这......令人恼火......不像这样,"她接着说，接着是亲吻的声音。鬼魂站了起来，让他们单独呆着。然后,"你也可以帮助Blackjack。"鬼魂僵住了，寂静从门缝里涌出来。"我知道你还在乎她。我知道你是怎么看她的。"。
“Blackjack… needs to get through this. I can’t be both her special somepony and come along and help her. She gets distracted, and I don’t want to compromise her. When everything is all done… when it’s all done, then we’ll see,” Glory
"黑杰克...需要熬过这一关。我不能既是她特别的小马，又来帮助她。她会分心，我不想让她受到伤害。当一切都完成了...当一切都完成了，我们就会看到,"晨辉"
said. “We have to finish this. I’ll do whatever I can so that she can be done and finally take the rest she deserves.”
说。"我们必须完成这件事。我会尽我所能，让她完成使命，最终得到她应得的休息。"
“And me?” Tenebra asked in a tiny, barely perceptible voice.
"那我呢?"特内布拉用一种微弱的、几乎听不见的声音问道。
“You…” Glory was silent for a moment. “You’re more than just a rebound, Tenebra. I like you. I’d like this thing we have to be more.” A soft sigh. “Blackjack’s got the biggest heart in the Wasteland. I’m sure she’ll understand.”
"你......"晨辉沉默了一会儿。"你不仅仅是一个反弹，Tenebra。我心悦你。我希望我们的关系能更进一步。"一声轻轻的叹息。"黑杰克是这片荒原上最大的心脏。我相信她会理解的。"
“Maybe the three of us?” Tenebra asked.
"也许是我们三个?"特内布拉问道。
“Not you too,” Glory groaned, then relented. “Maybe. Maybe something might work out. But it’ll be tomorrow. Everything will be settled, one way or another, tomorrow.” A soft sigh. A gentle kiss. A rustling of sheets. Silence broken only by the longing in the air.
"你不也是吗?"晨辉呻吟了一声，然后心软了。"也许吧。也许会有办法的。但那是明天。无论如何，明天一切都会解决的。"一声轻轻的叹息。一个温柔的吻。床单的沙沙声。只有空气中的渴望打破了寂静。
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow… the ghost walked to the last room, gaze sweeping over the cardboard boxes, the desk in the corner which held the IF-88, and the tousled bed. Tomorrow… time marched endlessly onward in plodding steps from now to the ending of the universe. What folly had it witnessed? What cruelties? What joys? What sorrows? And if the grand totality of the events of the universe were tallied, which would ultimately predominate?
明天，明天，明天......鬼魂走到最后一个房间，凝视着那些纸板箱，角落里放着IF-88的桌子，还有凌乱的床。明天......时间从现在一直拖着沉重的脚步无休止地向前走，直到宇宙的终结。它见证了什么样的愚蠢？什么残忍？什么快乐？什么悲伤？如果计算出宇宙中所有事件的总和，那么哪一个最终会占主导地位呢？
In the window, the ghost beheld herself. White. Red. Black. A blurred panoply. So different from the mare who'd been birthed in the depths of a damned stable, blissfully ignorant of its wretchedness. She’d come full circle, but oh so much more worn for the passage. Pressing her brow to the cool glass, she stared through the warped and indistinct pane and into unknown darkness. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. What was the price to see tomorrow?
在窗户里，鬼魂看见了自己。白色。红色。黑色。一件模糊的全套礼服。与那些生在该死的马厩深处的母马是如此不同，幸福地不知道它的可怜。她兜了一圈又回到了原地，但是在这一段时间里她更加疲惫不堪了。她把额头压在冰冷的玻璃上，透过扭曲的、模糊不清的玻璃窗，凝视着未知的黑暗。明天。明天。明天要看的价格是多少？
And could a ghost pay for the privilege?
鬼魂能为这种特权买单吗？
“Bwackjack?” Boo asked behind me. I turned and saw her standing in the door, watching me with wide scared eyes. Not scared in general; I knew that expression too well. Boo’s face showed an odd fear… for me? “You scared?”
"疯子杰克?"布在我身后问道。我转过身来，看见她站在门口，瞪大恐惧的眼睛看着我。一般来说不害怕，我太熟悉这个表达了。阿布的脸上流露出一种奇怪的恐惧...对我？"你害怕了?"
“Me? Scared?” I said with a lazy grin I’d practiced so well. “No way, Boo. No,” I lied as smoothly as I ever had before, but Boo trotted right up to me, put her hooves around me, and gave me a hug. “It’ll be fine, Boo,” I assured her.
"我？害怕了?"我懒洋洋地笑着说，我已经练得很好了。"不可能，阿布。没有,"我像以前一样顺利地撒了个谎，但是布小跑着来到我面前，用她的蹄子围着我，给了我一个拥抱。"没事的，布,"我向她保证。
“Mhmmm…” she replied, holding me tightly.
"嗯......"她回答，紧紧地抱着我。
“Nothing to worry about,” I said, now feeling awkward. “Easy peasy.”
"没什么好担心的,"我说，现在感到很尴尬。"小菜一碟"
“Mhmmm…” she answered again. And once more I felt myself start to shake, and she murmured, “Don’t die, Bwackjack.”
"嗯......"她又回答道。我又一次感到自己开始颤抖，她喃喃地说:"不要死，怪人。"
“I’ll try my best not to…” I started to say when my voice cracked and I swallowed hard. “I’m not going to…” Again, that lump in my throat silenced me. “Boo…”
"我会尽量不......"我开始说话，声音嘶哑，艰难地咽了口唾沫。"我不会......"又一次，喉咙里的哽咽让我哑口无言。"嘘......"
“Don’t die first, Bwackjack,” she said as she pressed her face into my shoulder. The tremors increased as her words pierced me. Dying first. It was like LittlePip’s Mint-al addiction; if tomorrow didn't go as perfectly as it possibly could, some of us were going to die. Who would be first? P-21? Glory? Scotch Tape? Boo? Any answer other than me tore me to my core. And that insidious part of myself that had always held me back, which had been fed by Psalm’s own torments, now whispered about how noble it would be for me to sacrifice myself for my friends. Give myself first. Make sure I died first. Then… then I wouldn’t have to see… who died next.
"不要先死，大怪物,"她把脸贴在我的肩膀上说。她的话刺痛了我，使我更加颤抖。先死。这就像小皮普的薄荷糖瘾;如果明天不能像它可能的那样完美，我们中的一些人将会死去。谁会是第一个？P-21？晨辉？透明胶带？嘘？除了我以外的任何回答都把我撕碎了。我内心那个一直阻碍我前进的阴险部分，曾经被诗篇自己的折磨所滋养，现在却低声说，为朋友牺牲自己是多么高尚的事情。首先给我自己。确保我先死。然后...然后我就不用看到...下一个死的是谁了。
Lacunae’s sad smile filled my memory, and I hated her, envied her. Nobly sacrificing herself for others so that her race would have a chance, giving back all the memories that made up her being. How dare she go first? Why couldn’t it have been me?
空隙的悲伤的微笑充满了我的记忆，我恨她，嫉妒她。高贵地为他人牺牲自己，这样她的种族才有机会，把组成她的所有记忆都还给他们。她怎么敢先走？为什么不是我呢？
Dying last… sucked. Was it any wonder Twist ripped the talisman from her chest to save Peppermint?
死在最后...糟透了。难怪特威斯特为了救薄荷把护身符从她胸前扯下来？
“Nopony is going to die, Boo,” I told her, sniffing, the words halfway between a promise and a prayer. “It’s going to be like LittlePip’s fight. We’re going to go out there and kick flank, get my body back, and save the world. Just like LittlePip.”
"小马要死了,"我闻着鼻子告诉她，这话介于承诺和祈祷之间。"这就像小皮普的比赛一样。我们要去那里踢侧翼，夺回我的身体，拯救世界。就像小匹普一样。"
Boo said nothing. She didn’t have to. She just held me tight, because right then I needed to be held.
布什么也没说。她没必要这么做。她紧紧地抱着我，因为此时此刻我需要被拥抱。
Just two ghosts, comforting each other.
只是两个鬼魂，互相安慰。
Then the door swung wide as if more specters were coming to the party, and for
然后门开了，好像有更多的幽灵来参加聚会
a moment I stared at the darkness on the other side. Then it spoke, low and soft. “Don’t shoot.” The darkness shimmered and dropped, and from it stepped Lancer. He looked horrible. Gaunt and exhausted, with fresh scars crossing his striped hide. But he still carried himself with determination. “It’s been a while, Maiden.”
我盯着另一边的黑暗看了一会儿。然后它说话了，声音低沉而柔和。"别开枪。"黑暗忽明忽暗，从中走出来的是枪骑兵。他看起来很可怕。憔悴而疲惫，他的条纹皮上有新鲜的伤疤。但他仍然坚定地挺了过来。"好久不见了，少女。"
“A bit. Still cursed?” I asked lightly.
"有一点。还被诅咒着吗?"我轻轻地问。
“We are all cursed,” he answered with a small smile. “Some more than others,” he added as he stepped in, and there was a second shimmer revealing Sekashi. A second later, a lump on her back slipped out from under the cloak and onto the floor, revealing Majina.
"我们都被诅咒了,"他微笑着回答。"有些人比其他人更喜欢,"他一边走进去，一边补充道，第二道闪光露出了Sekashi。过了一会儿，她背上的一个肿块从斗篷下滑落到地板上，露出了马吉纳。
She rushed to me, looking a little better than her son, and embraced me. “I know a funny story about a silly mare who fights great evil, but I fear how the story ends.”
她冲向我，看起来比她儿子好一点，然后拥抱了我。"我知道一个有趣的故事，讲的是一匹愚蠢的母马与邪恶战斗的故事，但是我害怕故事的结局。"
Majina tapped her mother’s shoulder, waited for her to turn so she could watch the filly’s lips, then took a deep breath and explained, “Well duh, Mama. It ends with pzow pzow, vroom, boom, and then yay! Any other ending would be stupid.”
马吉娜轻轻地拍了拍母亲的肩膀，等她转过身来，这样她就可以看着小母马的嘴唇，然后深深地吸了一口气，解释说:"嗯，妈妈。结尾是噗噗噗噗噗噗噗，砰砰砰，然后耶！任何其它结局都是愚蠢的。"
“I sure hope so,” I said as I addressed the trio. “Come to join the fight?”
"我当然希望如此,"我对这三个人说。"你是来打仗的吗?"
My question wiped the smiles from their faces. “No, Blackjack. We have come to take you to the fight,” he said gravely.
我的问题抹去了他们脸上的笑容。"不，黑杰克。"我们是来带你去打仗的,"他严肃地说。
“What do you mean?” I asked, a chill running along my mane. “She’s leaving in a few hours.”
"什么意思?"我问道，鬃毛上传来一阵寒意。"她几个小时后就要走了。"
The three of them regarded each other gravely. “No Blackjack. She is early. Your copy is leaving within the hour.”
他们三个面面相觑。"没有黑杰克。她来早了。你的复印件一小时内就会寄出去。"
Star House filled with yells and shouts as I went from door to door, rousing everyone and shouting for them to get ready. Lancer followed in my wake as everypony scrambled in the panic. Goldenblood entered from outside, took stock of the madness, and immediately relayed to Big Daddy and General Storm Chaser that it was happening now, whether the soldiers at Paradise Mall were ready or not.
我挨家挨户地喊叫着，把每个人都叫醒，叫他们做好准备。每匹小马都在恐慌中乱作一团，兰瑟紧随其后。戈登布拉德从外面进来，估量着这种疯狂，并立即向老爹和风暴追击者将军报告，不管天堂购物中心的士兵是否准备好了，现在正在发生这种情况。
“We were told it’d take hours to fuel the rockets. That it was too dangerous to fill them too soon,” I shouted as I checked the drum magazines to the shotgun.
"有人告诉我们，给火箭加燃料需要几个小时。太快装满太危险了,"我一边对着猎枪检查弹匣，一边喊道。
“It is not a danger if you force the ghouls to fuel them at gunpoint and you are not concerned with a few rockets exploding, especially if you know you can move before your enemies,” Lancer called after us. “They lost two of the older rockets, but the rest are still functional. Father has been generous providing your copy with parts to restore them, and forcing the Propoli to repair them.”
"如果你用枪指着食尸鬼给他们加油，而且你不担心几枚火箭弹爆炸，特别是如果你知道你可以在敌人之前行动的话，这就不是一个危险,"兰瑟在我们后面喊道。"他们损失了两枚较老的火箭，但其余的仍在运转。父亲慷慨地为你提供了复制品的零部件，并强迫Propoli修复它们。"
“Is the Remnant still following him?” I asked, turning to Scotch Tape as I saw the filly scrambling for some healing potions. “Make sure they’re all good. We don’t want any that have been sucked dry by Enervation.”
"例外人还在跟着他吗?"我问道，转向透明胶带，看到那匹小母马正在争抢一些治疗药水。"确保它们都没问题。我们不希望任何东西因为"衰弱"而被榨干。"
“Right!” Scotch Tape shouted back as she flicked through them one by one, discarding a few that were too pale to be any good.
"没错!"当她一个接一个地把它们翻过去的时候，苏格兰胶带也大声回应，扔掉了一些颜色太苍白而不好的胶带。
“The Remnant has been completely sidelined by the Brood. Father has taken them out of the fight, moved our people back to the staging depot for our safety. The few at the launch center were forced to come. I doubt the majority know he is working with your copy,” Lancer said as he followed in my wake.
"剩下的人已经被布伦特一家彻底排挤了。为了我们的安全，父亲让他们退出了战斗，把我们的人送回了集结站。发射中心的少数人被迫前来。我怀疑大多数人都不知道他在和你的副本打交道,"兰瑟跟在我后面说。
The staging depot that was being targeted by Storm Chaser. “Why didn’t we have any warning?” I snapped.
暴风追逐者的目标是集结仓库。"为什么我们没有得到任何警告?"我厉声说道。
“Your pegasi are good scouts, but the Brood has cyberpony unicorns with wings.
你的飞马是很好的侦察兵，但布鲁德家族有带翅膀的赛博独角兽。
It’s impossible for them to get close enough to see,” Lancer said tersely.
他们不可能靠得足够近看到,"兰瑟简洁地说。
“Got everything?” Velvet Remedy asked Calamity.
"东西都带齐了吗?"天鹅绒药方问灾难。
“Let’s see. Got my bardin’. Got my guns. Got my ammo.” He blinked and then looked around. “Muh hat! Where’s my hat?”
"我们来看看。我要吐了。拿着我的枪。拿到弹药了。"他眨了眨眼，然后环顾四周。"我的帽子！我的帽子呢?"
“On your head, Calamity,” Homage replied as she checked a Defender disintegration pistol.
"在你的头上，灾难,"致敬回答，因为她检查了一个防卫者解体手枪。
“Oh, right,” he replied, relaxing. “I’m good.”
"哦，对,"他轻松地回答。"我很好。"
“Do the Legate and Cognitum know this is Blackjack?” P-21 asked as he fell in beside Lancer.
"使节和同族知道这是黑杰克吗?"P-21一边问，一边走到枪骑兵旁边。
“Thankfully, no,” Sekashi said. “I read their lips though my son’s scope. They think this is a ploy by Big Daddy and his allies to seize power. That you are just a particularly skilled imposter and a patsy to them. They think you are attacking to kill them, and will attack soon.”
"谢天谢地，没有,"Sekashi说。"我从我儿子的望远镜里读出了他们的唇语。他们认为这是老爹和他的盟友为夺取政权而使的诡计。你只是一个特别有技巧的骗子，是他们的替罪羊。他们认为你进攻是为了杀死他们，很快就会发动攻击。"
“Does the Remnant know that the Legate is Starkatteri?” I asked as we stepped outside. My statement didn’t prompt shock from the three. “You knew, didn’t you?” I asked Sekashi.
"例外人知道使者是斯塔卡特里吗?"我们走出去的时候我问道。我的陈述并没有引起他们三人的震惊。"你知道的，不是吗?"我问Sekashi。
The mare balked. “There is a story of a mare whose husband was burned. When he healed, the black marks were as red as blood. She watched him warily but told her fears to none. Then, one night, as she did her duty as his mare, she asked he remove the skull he wore, for love cannot thrive amidst the bones of the dead. He did so, for of his wives, she had the sweetest of silver tongues. What he did not know was that she wore a charm to help see in the dark, and saw his cursed marks. She told his other wives, and they repeated the trick. When they learned what he was, they tried to flee. He could not go after them himself, so he sent his most devoted son after them.
母马停下了脚步。"有一个关于一匹母马的故事，她的丈夫被烧死了。当他痊愈的时候，那些黑色的印记就像血一样红。她小心翼翼地注视着他，却毫不畏惧。然后，一天晚上，当她履行作为他的母马的职责时，她要求他取下他戴着的头骨，因为爱情不能在死者的尸骨中茁壮成长。他这样做了，因为他的个妻子中，她有最甜美的舌头。他不知道的是，她戴着一个护身符，可以在黑暗中看东西，还能看到他被诅咒的标记。她告诉了他的其他妻子，她们重复了这个把戏。当他们知道他是什么时，他们试图逃跑。他自己不能去追他们，所以他派他最忠诚的儿子去追他们。
Lancer had the decency to appear ashamed as he turned away. “I was so proud he picked me,” he murmured, then looked at his mother a moment. They shared a smile, and he continued, facing me, “I have tried to spread the word, but they are ever skeptical. The Legate serving the stars above? It is more than they will accept.”
兰瑟转过身去的时候，体面地表现出了羞愧。"我很骄傲他选择了我,"他喃喃地说，然后看了他的母亲一会儿。他们面带微笑，他面对着我继续说道:"我已经试图传播这个消息，但是他们总是持怀疑态度。使节为天上的星星服务？这比他们能接受的还要多。"
“I hope they change their minds soon,” I said as we trotted out. If we were fighting for the future of the world, I hoped the zebras didn’t miss out on it because they blindly followed their leaders. Xenith, according to Calamity, was going to try to get zebras from Glyphmark to come to the fight, but none had arrived yet.
"我希望他们能尽快改变主意,"我们小跑出去时，我说。如果我们是在为世界的未来而战，我希望斑马不要因为盲目地追随他们的领导而错过这个机会。根据卡拉米蒂的说法，赛尼斯打算从Glyphmark召集斑马参加战斗，但是还没有斑马到达。
Outside, the chaos was rippling like a wave down towards Chapel. No, not chaos. Action. Most ponies knew where they had to go. Those that didn’t were those who had come to Chapel for sanctuary: the weak, sick, and helpless.
外面，一片混乱，像波浪一样向教堂冲去。不，不是混乱。行动。大多数小马都知道它们该去哪里。那些没有这样做的人是那些来到教堂寻求庇护的人:弱者、病人和无助者。
“You have to get the Remnant to leave their places at the depot and come to the space center. If they see what he’s doing with their own eyes, they have to accept it. Even if I have to blast that skull off his face and show everyone his marks myself,” I said with a frown. So much planning had been done for Cognitum that
"你必须让例外人离开他们在仓库的位置，来到太空中心。如果他们亲眼看到他在做什么，他们就不得不接受。即使我必须轰掉他的头骨，亲自给每个人看他的标记,"我皱着眉头说。人们已经为科涅塔姆做了这么多的计划
I had forgotten there was an immortal fighter with scary star powers pitted against me. One that would be righteously pissed when he found out I was still alive. “You’ve got to get them out of there, though. There’s a good chance that, one way or another, that depot is getting taken out, either by Raptor or megaspell.”
我已经忘记了有一个拥有可怕的星际力量的不朽战士在和我对抗。当他发现我还活着时，他会理直气壮地生气。"不过，你得把他们弄出来。这是一个很好的机会，无论如何，这个仓库正在被猛禽或者megaspell拿走。"
“Ironic,” Lancer said with a touch of bitterness, “that the Maiden of the Stars would care more for my own people than our leader.”
"具有讽刺意味的是,"兰瑟带着一丝苦涩说道,"星际少女更关心我们自己的人民，而不是我们的领袖。"
I sighed and gave him a half smile. “You know he made that up, don’t you?” All three blinked at me in surprise. “The whole Maiden prophecy thing. He used it to... um... manipulate people,” I said delicately.
我叹了口气，给了他一个微笑。"你知道这是他编的，对吧?"三个人都惊讶地眨着眼睛看着我。"关于少女预言的事。他用它来......嗯......操纵人们,"我小心翼翼地说。
“My husband may make light of many things, but no zebra, not even the Starkatteri, would make up such a thing,” Sekashi said gravely. “The Maiden of the Stars will exist, and she will strike down the city of evil. We thought it your Princess Luna. Perhaps she may still be. Prophecies may be manipulated. Exploited. But they always, always matter.”
"我丈夫可能对很多事情都不屑一顾，但是没有斑马，即使是Starkatteri斑马也不会做出这样的事情,"Sekashi严肃地说。"星之少女将会存在，她将会摧毁邪恶之城。我们以为是你的露娜公主。也许她现在还是。预言可能被操纵。被开发的。但它们总是、总是很重要。"
“Even if they are made by a monster like my father,” Lancer added.
"即使它们是像我父亲这样的怪物制造的,"兰瑟补充说。
He started to turn away, but I touched his shoulder with a hoof and stopped him. “You are a better person than you father, Lancer. You know that, right?”
他开始转身，但我用蹄子碰了碰他的肩膀，阻止了他。"你是一个比你父亲更好的人，兰瑟。你知道的，对吧?"
Lancer blinked, then gave a weary smile. “I know so, but it remains for me to prove it.”
兰瑟眨了眨眼，然后露出疲惫的微笑。"我知道这一点，但我仍需要证明这一点。"
I quickly trotted them to where Ditzy and Lionheart seemed to be having a heated debate over whether or not Ditzy should remain at Star House. After a brief discussion, I told them where I needed them to take Lancer and his family. Lionheart swore upon the soul of Princess Luna at thunderous volume that he could get them there safely. I didn’t inform him of where that soul currently resided, but then, my ears were ringing.
我赶紧把他们带到迪兹和狮心看起来正在激烈争论迪兹是否应该留在星宫的地方。经过简短的讨论，我告诉他们我需要他们把兰瑟和他的家人带到哪里。狮心王以雷鸣般的音量向卢娜公主的灵魂发誓，他一定能把他们安全送到那里。我没有告诉他那个灵魂现在住在哪里，但是，我的耳朵嗡嗡作响。
As they left, Goldenblood approached me. Of all the ponies in a rush, he appeared the most cool and collected. “I’d feared she might try this. Luna was always full of surprises, and she was sane.” He lifted his PipBuck, checked it, then looked around. “We were going to start operations in two hours. There’s no way to get you to our forces at the mall and get them moving in time to prevent the launch. It takes time getting three hundred mixed murderers, soldiers,
当他们离开的时候，金血王朝朝我走来。在所有匆匆忙忙的小马中，他显得最冷静和镇定。"我担心她会这么做。卢娜总是充满惊喜，而且神智清醒。"他举起他的皮布克，检查了一下，然后环顾四周。"我们将在两小时后开始运营。没有办法把你送到我们在商场的部队，让他们及时行动以阻止发射。要抓到300个混合杀人犯士兵需要时间
volunteers, and draftees to act in concert, even if they’re only moving five miles. We’re going to have to improvise.” He paused, and for one moment I saw a crack form in his cool façade. “Blackjack… are you–”
志愿者，和应征入伍的士兵一起行动，即使他们只走了5英里。我们必须随机应变。"他停顿了一下，有那么一会儿，我看到他冷酷的外表上有一道裂痕。"黑杰克...你..."
I silenced him with a hoof. “I’m not sure about anything, Goldenblood, but I think you’re going to be fine. Keep everypony alive, and try to save as many lives as you can. You want to make up for your crimes, this is your chance.”
我用蹄子使他安静下来。"我什么都不确定，金色血液，但我想你会没事的。让每匹马都活下来，尽可能多地拯救生命。你想要弥补你的罪行，这是你的机会。"
He swallowed, and then his features smoothed over as if he hadn’t been upset in the slightest. “Of course.” He looked over to where the alicorn trios were teleporting ponies. “Fortunately, Glory, Storm Chaser, and Velvet have worked out a plan B. It may save all our lives.”
他咽了口唾沫，然后他的面部表情变得平静起来，好像他一点也没有不安似的。"当然。"他望向那些独角兽三人组传送小马的地方。"幸运的是，晨辉、风暴追逐者和维尔维特已经制定了b计划。它可能拯救我们所有人的生命。"
“Plan B’s are good,” I answered. “Listen, if everything goes bad, there’s a secret weapon I want you to know about.” I leaned in, whispered it into his ear, and was rewarded with something utterly beautiful: an expression of profound bafflement. Whisper leaned in eagerly, almost bouncing on her hooves, and I gave her a flat glare. “No. It’s not another megaspell. This time.”
"b计划是好的,"我回答。"听着，如果一切都不顺利，我想让你知道一个秘密武器。"我靠近他，在他耳边低声说了这句话，回报我的是一句绝对美丽的话:一种深深困惑的表情。她急切地靠近我耳语，几乎在她的蹄子上弹来弹去，我狠狠地瞪了她一眼。"没有。这不是另一个megaspell。这一次。"
The yellow pegasus sighed and rolled her eyes. “Damn it. I miss out on everything,” she said, pouting as Stygius gave her a consoling pat.
黄色的天马叹了口气，转了转眼珠。"该死。我错过了一切,"她说，撅着嘴，斯蒂吉乌斯轻轻拍了拍她，安慰她。
Goldenblood’s face still showed doubts. “Blackjack, are you–” he started to say, but I cut him off with a wave of my hoof.
金色血液的脸上仍然带着疑惑。"Blackjack，你是——"他开始说，但我一挥蹄子就把他拦住了。
“Enh! It’ll work,” I said solemnly.
"恩！"会有用的,"我严肃地说。
“But–”
"但是——"
“Enh!” I repeated even louder and with another hoof wave. “It’ll work just fine.”
"恩!"我更大声地重复着，用另一个蹄子挥动着。"一切都会好的。"
“How can–”
"怎么能——"
“ENNNNNNHHHHHH!” I said, waving both hooves in his face. “Trust me! It’ll work.”
"ennnnhhhhh!"我说着，在他的脸上挥舞着两只蹄子。"相信我！它会起作用的。"
I stared at him with such an earnest grin that he finally relented.
我如此认真地盯着他，以至于他终于让步了。
“Blackjack!” Glory called from where a trio of alicorns waited. P-21, Scotch Tape, and Boo all stood there with varying expressions of impatience, worry, and
"黑杰克!"晨辉在三个橡子等待的地方召唤他们。P-21，ScotchTape，和Boo都站在那里，表现出不同程度的不耐烦、担忧和不安
eagerness. “Let’s hurry. The alicorns are going to teleport us over the roof of the Luna Space Center.” That didn’t seem like such a good idea given that there were airships, pegasi, and flying Brood that would see the flash of our arrival in the middle of the night, but I trusted the ponies who’d planned this.
渴望。"我们快点吧。太空船会把我们传送到月神太空中心的屋顶上。"考虑到有飞艇、飞马座和会飞的布鲁德会在半夜看到我们到达的闪光，这似乎不是个好主意，但我相信策划这一切的小马。
“What about Calamity, Homage, and Velvet?” I asked, gesturing back at the house.
"那灾难、敬意和天鹅绒呢?"我问道，指了指房子。
“They’ll catch up,” Glory said as I reached her. Then she held up a harness attached to a backpack. “Put this on.”
"他们会赶上来的,"晨辉在我走到她身边时说。然后，她举起一个系在背包上的挽具。"穿上这个。"
“What is it?” I asked as I magically shrugged into it. All my friends, save Glory, were already wearing ones like them. We’d also made sure that all of us had PipBucks and broadcasters like the rest of the battle leaders. Sure, Boo didn’t know how to use it, but we could talk to her and find her a little easier if she disappeared. Given all the spare PipBucks in 99... well, I was glad they didn’t smell of chlorine.
"这是什么?"我奇迹般地耸了耸肩，问道。我所有的朋友，除了晨辉，都穿着和他们一样的衣服。我们也确保我们每个人都有PipBucks和播音员，就像其他战斗指挥官一样。当然，Boo不知道如何使用它，但是如果她消失了，我们可以和她谈谈，找到她会更容易一些。考虑到99年所有剩余的PipBucks...我很高兴它们没有氯气的味道。
“Something that will help us get onto the roof if plan B doesn’t work,” Glory said.
晨辉说:"如果b计划不起作用，这些东西可以帮助我们爬上屋顶。"。
“What exactly is plan B?” I asked with a frown.
"b计划到底是什么?"我皱着眉头问。
“The alicorns can’t teleport you to the general area of the Luna Space Center, since in all our hapless wandering, we never actually got down there. So plan B. It’s dark, so the alicorns will teleport us to a... position close enough to use a night vision scope to see where they need to teleport to directly.” She reached down and tugged on my straps, tightening them. “If we can’t do that either... eh...
"太阳神无法将你传送到月神太空中心的一般区域，因为在我们所有不幸的漫游中，我们实际上从未到达过那里。那么b计划，现在天黑了，所以alicorns会把我们传送到..。.位置近到可以用夜视镜看到他们需要直接传送到的地方。"她伸手拉住我的皮带，把它们系紧。"如果我们也做不到......呃.....。
Hopefully, these earth pony contraptions will work right. The one we tested did, but... don’t worry about it, Blackjack.”
希望这些地球小马玩意能正常工作。我们测试的那个有，但是......别担心，Blackjack。"
Don’t worry about it? Last time she’d told me that I’d woken up half machine! “Wait? What earth pony contrap–” I started to say when the world disappeared in a purple flash.
不用担心？上次她告诉我，我半机器半醒！"等等？什么地球上的小马驹——"当世界在一道紫色的闪光中消失时，我开始说道。
* * *
* * *
We were over the Luna Space Center.
我们在月球太空中心的上空。
Way over.
早就过去了。
The entire Hoof stretched out around me, a great concave bowl with the inky black of the reservoir and the Hoofington River behind us. I could see it all lit by the full moon. I’d seen it before when I was rushing around outside of Star House, but I hadn’t noticed it; I was too busy. Not now. There was not a single cloud anywhere in the sky over Hoofington. The trio of alicorns suspended us easily in a telekinetic bubble as we hovered over a gigantic monolith of a building that had to be the Luna Space Center. It was shaped like a crescent, the points facing west, with sloped concrete walls. The area surrounded by the crescent was paved and filled with a complicated tangle of rail lines and turntables, pipes in shadowed trenches, pits, and scorch marks. Most prominent were the six sturdy concrete pads, a central one circled by five others, occupied by towers of metal, four floodlit and two dark. Every inch of the surrounding terrain was lit up by bonfires, flares, and spotlights, and in three places I saw the bulky outlines of double-barreled tanks. Two Raptors, the Blizzard and Sirocco, circled in the sky out away from the building. Suddenly I had a deep appreciation of the cesspit that we were all going to be dunked in.
整个霍夫在我周围伸展开来，像一个巨大的凹形碗，水库和胡芬顿河的墨黑色在我们身后。在满月的照耀下，我可以看到一切。我以前在星空之家外奔波的时候见过它，但是我没有注意到它;我太忙了。现在不行。Hoofington上空一片云也没有。当我们在一个巨大的单体建筑物上空盘旋时，三只海角牛在一个遥控气泡中轻松地把我们悬挂起来，这个建筑物一定是月神太空中心。它的形状像一个新月，尖朝西，有倾斜的混凝土墙。新月环绕的区域铺设了路面，到处是错综复杂的铁路线和转盘，阴影中的管道，坑坑洼洼，还有焦痕。最引人注目的是六个坚固的混凝土平台，中间一个由五个其他平台环绕，由金属塔占据，四个泛光灯和两个黑暗。周围地形的每一寸都被篝火、照明弹和聚光灯照亮，在三个地方我看到了巨大的双管坦克轮廓。两架猛禽，暴风雪号和热风号，在远离大楼的天空盘旋。突然间，我对我们将要被扣进的污水坑有了一种深深的感激之情。
Above, the skies were clear and dark, the stars shining down at me. The stars… I stared up at them with a sense of wonder. I’d seen the sun and the moon, but peering out into that sea of blackness, I could only marvel at their beauty. They seemed to be greeting me; zebras might think that stars were bad, and the Eater of Souls proved that some truly were, but I couldn’t believe they all were. Not all of them. So many stars amidst so much blackness… I felt tears on my cheeks.
上面，天空晴朗而黑暗，星星照耀着我。那些星星......我惊奇地盯着它们。我见过太阳和月亮，但是凝视着黑暗的海洋，我只能对它们的美感感到惊奇。他们似乎在问候我;斑马可能认为星星是坏的，食魂者证明了一些确实是坏的，但我不相信他们都是坏的。不是所有的。在这么多的黑暗中有这么多的星星......我感到脸颊上有眼泪。
P-21 pressed a forehoof against one of mine, and I looked over at him, seeing a confident smile that made me forget that I was far above the world and snuffed out any fears of splatting before they could form. Then Boo took my other forehoof, and Scotch Tape pulled herself along my body to a position across from me, joining her hooves with Boo and P-21. Glory hovered beside me, and I broke my hold on Boo’s hoof to make room for her. If only Rampage had been here…
P-21把前蹄压在我的一只脚上，我看着他，看到他自信的笑容，让我忘记了我远在世界之上，在他们还没来得及形成之前就扑灭了任何溅落的恐惧。然后Boo用我的另一只前蹄，ScotchTape拉着她自己沿着我的身体到我对面的位置，把她的蹄子和Boo还有P-21连在一起。晨辉在我身边盘旋，我挣脱了对阿布的控制，为她腾出了空间。要是狂暴在这里就好了。
Okay. This wasn’t so bad. Once the alicorns had a decent view of the roof, they’d teleport down. That was plan B, right? Hard to tell given what defenses there might be, given how high we were. Well… we’d just have to move fast. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too rough. Too bad there weren’t any blue alicorns with… wait. Where were the blues? There had to be some travelling with Velvet.
好吧。这还不算太糟。一旦橡树果看到了屋顶，它们就会瞬移下来。那是b计划，对吧？考虑到我们所处的高度，很难说有什么防御措施。那我们得快点了。希望不会太粗糙。可惜没有蓝色的橡子...等等。蓝调在哪里？肯定有人和维尔维特一起旅行。
Suddenly there were flashes far below, clouds of dust and smoke rising from
突然，下面有闪光，尘土和烟雾从上面升起
them. Flares burst to light like harsh, artificial stars, and I saw the horde spilling from the edge of the light towards the space center. A veritable flood of tiny shapes I imagined as gangers, Steel Rangers, and anypony else with guns, barding, and a willingness to fight poured from the darkness. First hundreds and then thousands of attackers. I gaped in shock. Where had they all come from? If you armed every stallion, mare, and foal in the Hoof, you still wouldn’t have that many attackers streaking out in thick streams, firing wildly as they ran. From the silent night came the rumble of far-distant gunfire, then the faint crumps of explosions I realized I’d seen over ten seconds ago as the first sign of the battle.
他们。耀斑像刺眼的人造恒星一样爆发出光芒，我看到这群人从光线的边缘向太空中心溢出。一股名副其实的微小形状的洪流从黑暗中涌出，我把它们想象成分身、钢铁骑兵，以及其他手持枪械、身披铠甲、愿意战斗的矮种马。首先是成百上千的攻击者。我震惊得目瞪口呆。他们都是从哪里来的？如果你武装了霍夫的每一匹种马、母马和小马驹，你仍然不会有那么多的攻击者在密集的溪流中奔跑，一边跑一边疯狂地射击。从寂静的夜晚传来了远处枪声的隆隆声，然后是微弱的爆炸声，我意识到我在十秒钟之前看到的爆炸声是战斗的第一个信号。
My blood ran cold. It was suicide. An undisciplined slaughter. As one, the airships and tanks opened up, followed by a deluge of bullets from the defending infantry that would rip the attackers to pieces. How could Big Daddy be so reckless and callous to the casualties of such a charge? Whole platoons of ponies were torn to pieces in their mad charge. Dust cast weird shadows across the open space, and the light danced wildly about as they raced along. And still they were coming, more and more charging and charging and charging and…
我的血液变冷了。这是自杀。无纪律的屠杀。一方面，飞艇和坦克开火了，随之而来的是防御步兵的大量子弹，足以将攻击者撕成碎片。大老爹怎么能对这样一次冲击的受害者如此鲁莽和冷酷无情呢？成排的小马在疯狂的冲锋中被撕成碎片。尘埃在空地上投下了奇怪的阴影，光线在他们奔跑的时候疯狂地舞动着。他们还是来了，越来越多的充电，充电，充电..。
Wait a minute. I scowled as I watched the endless charge. There was something wrong here. Nopony would ever charge so recklessly forward seeing the people ahead of them being blown to bits. And looking from above, there was a decided pattern to the rushing soldiers. I focused and saw a distinct bright blue raider charge through a hail of gunfire, disappear in an explosion, and collapse into a crater. Twenty seconds later, the same blue raider appeared at the edge of the light, charged, and collapsed into the same crater.
等一下。我看着无穷无尽的冲锋，皱起了眉头。这里有些不对劲。没有小马会如此鲁莽地冲向前方，看着前面的人被炸成碎片。从上面看，冲锋的士兵们有一个明确的模式。我集中注意力，看到一个明显的蓝色突袭机冲过一阵炮火，消失在一次爆炸中，倒在一个弹坑里。二十秒后，同一架蓝色突袭机出现在灯光的边缘，充满电，然后倒在同一个弹坑里。
I gaped at the nearest alicorn. The green winked at me and smiled. “One of the blues was an Applewood special effects manager for the Ministry of Image. We actually planned on using this trick against Red Eye when he turned against us.” Her smile faded a little. “Never expected one pony would break us.”
我目瞪口呆地望着最近的果实。绿色向我眨了眨眼，微笑着。"其中一个蓝调是图像部的苹果木特效经理。事实上，当他背叛我们的时候，我们就打算用这招对付红眼。"她的微笑有点消失了。"没想到一匹小马会让我们崩溃。"
“But you’re not mad at Litt… the Lightbringer?” I asked. Her expression turned wistful.
"但你不生利特的气......那个光明使者?"我问道。她的表情变得忧郁起来。
“Some are. It’s complicated. Mother helped many of us with the confusion. Some are angry, while others wish to replace the Goddess. But I see it as a second chance. And I have my sister to help me.” The other green alicorn smiled as well, rolling her eyes with a snort. “Even if she’s not as fond of the unchanged as I.”
"有些是。这很复杂。母亲帮助我们许多人摆脱困惑。有些人愤怒，而其他人希望取代女神。但我认为这是第二次机会。还有我妹妹帮我。"另外一只绿色的橡子也笑了，哼了一声，转动着眼珠。"即使她不像我一样喜欢没有变化的东西。"
“I’m not your sister. I was a seventy-nine-year-old granny looking to retire in a week,” she grumbled. “You’re an intern who shouldn’t have even been at Maripony that day.”
"我不是你的妹妹。我是一个七十九岁的老奶奶，想在一个星期内退休,"她抱怨道。"你是个实习生，那天根本就不该来Maripony。"
“I was trying to score points with Gestalt for my M.A.S. application. I didn’t know it was going to turn me into this, big sis,” she said with a teasing grin, earning a sour snort from the other green alicorn.
"我试图用格式塔(Gestalt)为我的硕士申请加分。我不知道它会把我变成这样，大姐姐,"她带着逗趣的笑容说，从另一个绿色的角斗士那里得到了一阵酸涩的鼻息声。
“Greens,” the purple alicorn said with a little roll of her eyes. She received a simultaneous sticking out of tongues in return, followed by the ‘older’ green glaring in annoyance at the ‘younger’, sheepishly grinning green.
"绿色,"紫色的独角兽转了转眼珠说。她收到了同时伸出舌头作为回报，然后是年长的绿色愤怒地瞪着年轻的绿色，羞怯地咧嘴笑着。
Fascinating as alicornosity was post-Goddess, I tried to focus on the fight way way way below while trying to ignore the fact the ground was way way way below. While the air was thin and chilly, I didn’t feel as if I was going to pass out. Definitely didn’t want to stay up here for hours, though. “So if those are all illusions, where are the real fighters?” I asked.
尽管后女神时代的艺术魅力十足，我还是试图把注意力集中在下面的战斗方式上，而忽略了下面的地面是非常非常低的这一事实。虽然空气稀薄而寒冷，但我并不觉得自己要晕过去了。不过，他肯定不想在这里呆上几个小时。"那么，如果这些都是幻觉，那么真正的战士在哪里?"我问道。
Suddenly, the ground at the edge of the concrete exploded in a half dozen places, and sand dogs and earth pony Reapers raced out. Two actually emerged behind the Brood lines, and they tore into their flanks with glee. In the gaps between illusions, invisibility spells were dropped, and the attackers fanned out in a swarm to hit the Brood as they whirled to deal with the threat on both sides. The tanks disappeared behind cloaks of continuously exploding fireworks. If they were dazzling up here, I wondered how the tank crews fared. From higher up but further away, two Raptors appeared as if by magic, the massed invisibility spells on them torn away by the power of outgoing disintegration cannon fire.
突然，混凝土边缘的地面爆炸了六个地方，沙狗和地球上的小马收割者冲了出去。其中两只真的出现在了布鲁德军队的后方，它们兴高采烈地飞进了军队的侧翼。在错觉之间的空隙，隐形咒语被丢弃，攻击者成扇形散开攻击布伦特群，他们旋转着对付双方的威胁。坦克消失在不断燃放烟火的斗篷后面。如果他们在这里令人眼花缭乱，我想知道如何坦克驾驶员进展。从更高但更远的地方，两架猛禽出现了，仿佛施了魔法，集结在他们身上的隐形咒语被即将离去的解体加农炮的威力撕裂。
If we got through this, I intended to send a bottle of Wild Pegasus to every alicorn I could. Without their magic, we simply couldn’t have done this.
如果我们能熬过这一关，我打算送一瓶野飞马给每一个天牛。没有他们的魔法，我们根本不可能做到这一点。
“Okay! Take us in!” I said. Cognitum wouldn’t wait long before launching with a full-on attack going on.
"好吧！带我们进去!"我说。认知神经元不会等太久，就会发动全面进攻。
There was flash and a sense just short of smashing every atom in my body against a stone wall. “Ow...” The purple shuddered. “I’m afraid we cannot.”
有一种闪光和感觉，差一点就要把我身体里的每一个原子都撞碎在石墙上了。"噢......"紫色颤抖着说。"恐怕不行。"
“Can’t? What do you mean can’t? Is there a F.A.D.E. shield in the way?” I asked.
""不行吗？不能是什么意思？是否有f.a.d.e防护罩挡在中间?"我问道。
“No. Something magical is disrupting the spell,” the purple said, pained. Probably some zebra trick, I guessed, or nasty Starkatteri magic. She looked to Glory. “Plan C?” Wait? What’s this? Glory gave a solemn nod.
"没有。有什么神奇的东西正在破坏这个咒语,"紫色的人痛苦地说。可能是一些斑马把戏，我猜，或肮脏的斯塔卡特里魔术。她望着晨辉。"c计划?"等等？这是什么？晨辉庄严地点了点头。
“Wait? What’s plan Ceeeeeeeeeeeee!” I screamed as the telekinetic field holding us disappeared.
"等等？什么计划呀呀呀!"控制我们的隔空力场消失了，我尖叫起来。
“Good luck!” the younger green yelled down after us. Then the three disappeared in a flash. Not that I was particularly paying attention to them at that point; I was a bit preoccupied by how very, very quickly the dark rooftop of the Luna Space Center was getting bigger. The rockets looked like spikes. I could see the hard ground and I could imagine myself falling faster and faster till I transformed into thin paste and…
"祝你好运!"年轻的格林在我们后面喊道。然后这三个人一下子就消失了。当时我并没有特别注意它们;我只是有点全神贯注于月球太空中心黑暗的屋顶是如何非常非常快地变大的。火箭看起来像钉子。我可以看到坚硬的地面，我可以想象自己下降的速度越来越快，直到我变成稀糊和..。
I heard laughter and glanced over at Scotch Tape waving her hooves out at her sides. “I’m a pegasus!” she shrieked, barely audible over the rushing wind in my hair. I saw P-21 smiling too, and Boo seeming also at ease. There was only one explanation: my friends were all insane!
我听到了笑声，瞥了一眼苏格兰胶带挥舞着她的蹄子在她的两侧。"我是飞马!"她尖叫着，几乎听不见我头发里的风声。我看到P-21也在微笑，布看上去也很自在。只有一个解释:我的朋友们都疯了！
Then Glory reached behind me and pulled a cord. The backpack flipped open, a little cloth coming out, catching the air, and then dragging out a giant pink chute. It unfolded and expanded into a round parachute with Pinkie Pie’s grinning face emblazoned across it. P-21’s chute popped open, then Scotch Tape’s, and finally Boo’s. Together, we slowed, drifting towards the great building. Glory gave me a sympathetic smile as my eyes bulged, my pulse raced, and my mane and tail stood out in every direction.
然后晨辉伸手到我身后，拉了一根绳子。背包翻开了，一块小布从里面出来，抓住空气，然后拖出一个巨大的粉红色降落伞。它展开，伸展成一个圆形的降落伞，上面印着萍琪派咧嘴笑的脸。P-21的降落伞打开了，然后是透明胶带，最后是布的。我们一起放慢了速度，向那座大楼漂去。晨辉给了我一个同情的微笑，我的眼睛鼓起，我的脉搏跳动，我的鬃毛和尾巴站在每一个方向。
“Nice! They all worked,” Glory said as she drifted down next to me. “I was afraid I was going to have to catch you.”
"太好了！它们都起作用了,"晨辉一边说着，一边慢慢地走到我旁边。"我怕我会抓到你。"
“Why didn’t you tell me this was plan C?” I asked.
"你为什么不告诉我这是c计划?"我问道。
“Because you would have insisted on plan D, which would have probably have involved either some horrible attempt to parley our way in, intruding through some horrible muck-filled pipes, or attempting to charge the lines.”
"因为你会坚持执行d计划，这可能会涉及到一些可怕的尝试，试图和我们谈判，通过一些可怕的淤泥管入侵，或试图冲击线路。"
“Because those are all sane plans!” I countered as we drifted down. Finally, though, my panic abated to the point of rational thought. “...Okay. Seriously, this was genius, but I really would have loved trying to talk my way in at gunpoint.”
"因为这些都是理智的计划!"我们慢慢走下去时，我反击了一下。不过，最终我的恐慌减轻到了理性思考的程度。"好吧。说真的，这真是天才之举，但我真的很想在枪口下说服他们。"
“I know,” she said.
"我知道,"她说。
We continued our slow descent in silence; fortunately, everyone seemed to be too busy to notice and shoot us. “Keep your knees unlocked and roll as you land,” Glory warned as we approached the rooftop. It wasn’t completely abandoned; there were Brood squads firing down from the elevated edge. She darted down to the closest one and, just as one of the cyberzebras noticed something and started to turn, opened up with Pew-Pew. Beams of energy transformed the first three zebras into glittering heaps of blue, green, and red dust. She’d come a long way from the mare I’d found hiding under a floor.
我们默默地继续缓慢下降，幸运的是，每个人似乎都太忙了，没有注意到我们，也没有向我们开枪。"保持你的膝盖打开和滚动，你的土地,"晨辉警告，因为我们接近屋顶。那里并没有完全被遗弃，布鲁德军队从高处向下射击。她冲向最近的那只，就在其中一只网络斑马注意到什么并开始转身的时候，皮尤中心打开了话匣子。能量的光束把前面的三匹斑马变成了闪闪发光的蓝色、绿色和红色的灰尘。从我发现藏在地板下的那匹母马，她已经走了很远了。
Up close, it was clear that Luna Space Center had been hit by some heavy firepower in the past. The top was cratered, and in some places the blast had overwhelmed the fortification and torn great holes through to lower levels. This building was just as tough as Maripony, designed to take a beating from within and without, but parts of it were every bit as ruined as the rest of the Wasteland. Glory had wafted us towards a large intact section of roof rather than a hole filled with rubble and jagged rebar, for which I was grateful. This was going to be hard enough already, especially if I couldn’t teleport.
近距离看，很明显月球航天中心过去曾遭到猛烈的火力袭击。顶部布满了坑洞，在一些地方，爆炸冲垮了防御工事，并在较低的楼层留下了巨大的洞口。这座建筑物就像马里波尼一样坚固，设计来承受内部和外部的打击，但是它的一部分和其余的荒地一样被毁坏了。晨辉将我们带向一个完好无损的大屋顶，而不是一个充满碎石和锯齿状钢筋的洞，对此我心存感激。这已经够难的了，特别是如果我不能传送的话。
I landed more or less in a heap, which wasn’t surprising given that I had no practice with the ‘unlock your knees and roll’ thing. With the battle raging around the building, I hoped our own melee here would go unnoticed a little longer. I tried to get to my hooves, levitate up the Ironpony -- I needed a damned name for the thing! All badass guns had special names! -- and give Glory some support, but the gun was tangled in the parachute canopy, my legs got hung up on the strings, and I fell on my face with a yelp on the rough concrete.
我差不多落在一个堆上，这并不奇怪，因为我从来没有练习过"打开你的膝盖然后滚动"的动作。随着战斗在建筑物周围肆虐，我希望我们自己在这里的混战不会被注意到更长的时间。我试图得到我的蹄子，悬浮起来的铁马-我需要一个该死的东西的名字！所有的坏蛋枪都有特殊的名字！——给晨辉一些支持，但是枪被降落伞的伞罩缠住了，我的腿被绳子缠住了，我在粗糙的水泥地上大叫一声，脸朝下摔了下去。
“This is not how I wanted to start this morning,” I muttered.
"今天早上我不想这样开始,"我喃喃自语。
Boo charged forward as well, and a frisson shot up my spine. What was she doing? She didn’t have a gun or barding! One of the Brood turned his guns towards her, and I shouted a warning, about to fire a magic bullet. Then the Brood’s magazine inexplicably ejected as the automatic rifle jammed. Boo dropped and rolled like a log, tripping the Brood and sending it sprawling on its face. How... Then Scotch Tape leapt out from behind some vent ducts and bashed it in the head with her wrench once, then again.
布也向前冲了过去，一个颤抖的动作刺激了我的脊椎。她在干什么？她没有枪，也没有枪！一个布伦特家的人把枪对着她，我大声警告，准备发射一颗魔法子弹。然后布鲁德夫妇的杂志莫名其妙地因为自动步枪卡壳而弹射出去。布跌倒了，滚得像根木头，绊倒了布伦特一家，把它摔得满脸都是。怎么......然后透明胶带从一些排气管后面跳出来，用她的扳手猛击它的头部一次，然后又一次。
“I got one!” she said proudly, not noticing the two other Brood turning their
"我有一个!"她骄傲地说，没有注意到其他两个布鲁德夫妇转过身来
weapons on her. The ground beneath them suddenly exploded, the grenade raising the cyberzebras off the ground with the force of the blast. She whirled as P-21 stepped out from… well, wherever he usually came from… and grinned sheepishly. “Oopsie.”
武器在她身上。他们脚下的地面突然爆炸，爆炸产生的冲击力把斑马从地面上掀了起来。当P-21从他通常来的地方走出来的时候，她转过身来，羞怯地笑了。"哎呀。"
“Tally up when the fighting’s done. That one’s getting up again,” he told her with a slightly tense smile. The cyberzebra she’d clubbed began to stir, and she pulled out a small baton and jammed it into the base of the Brood’s skull. There was a pop and sizzle and a flash of sparks, and it went still. “Now you can count it.” Soon the remaining Brood in this area of the roof were eliminated by Glory’s beam gun, Scotch’s little shock prod, Boo’s utterly baffling little kicks and trips, and two more judicious grenades.
"战斗结束后记账。那个人又站起来了,"他带着略带紧张的微笑告诉她。她用棍子打的那只网纹斑马开始骚动起来，她拿出一根小警棍，把它插进布鲁德一家的头骨底部。砰的一声，咝咝的一声，还有一闪火花，一切都静止了。"现在你可以数数了。"不久，晨辉的光束枪、苏格兰威士忌的电击棒、布的莫名其妙的踢腿和旅行，以及两枚更加明智的手榴弹，就把屋顶这个区域剩下的那群雏龙们都消灭了。
“Nice job, Boo,” Scotch Tape told her. “Where’d you learn to fight like that?”
"干得好，Boo,"ScotchTape告诉她。"你从哪儿学会这样打架的?"
“Not fightin'. Playin’. Discord showed me how.” Little statements like that got the oddest looks, but now wasn't the time for elaboration.
"不打了。玩。不和谐的声音告诉我怎么做。"这样的小陈述看起来很奇怪，但是现在不是详细说明的时候。
Glory trotted up to where I was still tangled up in the lines. She looked down at me with a patient, almost maternal smile. “Blackjack. I broke up with you, remember? Stop trying to tempt me.”
荣誉小跑到我仍然纠结在线的地方。她低头看着我，带着一种耐心的、几乎是母性的微笑。"黑杰克。我和你分手了，记得吗？别再试图诱惑我了。"
I grinned up at her. “Hey. I’m nothing if not persistent.”
我冲她咧嘴笑了笑。"嘿。如果不坚持，我什么都不是。"
She sighed, glancing over at P-21. He wore a composed mask that barely hid his annoyance. She shook her head. “Talk to me about that tomorrow, Blackjack. Let’s just get through today.”
她叹了口气，扫了一眼P-21。他戴着一副镇静的面具，几乎掩盖不住自己的烦恼。她摇了摇头。"明天再说吧，黑杰克。让我们度过今天吧。"
“You bet,” I said, certain that with enough time I’d work something out. Maybe… visitation? P-21 during the weekdays and Glory on the weekends? I could teleport from Star House to the Citadel or Skyport. If that wasn’t reason to live, I couldn’t think of one better. And if we couldn’t work it out, it wouldn’t be for lack of trying. Tomorrow. “Now… um… untangle me?”
"当然,"我说，我确信只要有足够的时间，我就能想出办法来。也许是...探视？工作日是P-21，周末是Glory？我可以从星宫传送到城堡或者空港。如果这不是活下去的理由，我想不出更好的理由了。如果我们不能解决这个问题，那也不是因为缺乏尝试。明天。"现在......嗯......解开我?"
Soon as I was free, we all moved to the inner edge of the roof, looking down at the launch area embraced by the building. I didn’t know much about rocket stuff, but it seemed like a clever place to launch from; the high, thick building was a formidable defense against anything smaller than a balefire bomb or megaspell. Even a Raptor would have to get almost directly above the space center to make an effective attack on the launchpads. The gap was the only breach in the
当我自由了，我们都移动到屋顶的内边缘，向下看着发射区由建筑包围。我对火箭知之甚少，但它似乎是一个发射火箭的好地方;这个又高又厚的建筑物是一个强大的防御系统，可以抵御任何比巴勒火焰炸弹或麦格斯派尔更小的东西。即使是猛禽战机也必须飞到太空中心的正上方才能对发射台发动有效的攻击。这个缺口是唯一的突破口
defense, and it was most heavily protected with a tank in front of it and Brood guarding the tips of the opening.
防御，它是最重的保护与坦克前面它和布鲁德守卫的顶端开放。
In the middle was the pentagonal arrangement of launchpads with their rockets. The largest and grandest stood on the sixth pad in the center of the pentagon, a wonder of arcane science and technomagical art. The white metal of its skin bore the tarnish of two centuries of neglect, but, seeing it here so close and in person, bathed in the glow of floodlights and standing next to a tower of girders, pipes, and catwalks, it was still an awesome sight. Unlike the rockets I'd seen in memories and pictures, it had no separate boosters; the hull flowed smoothly down from the pointed nose to the broad base. The other rockets were smaller, the less advanced but still elegant models with their four aerodynamic boosters and launch towers that surrounded and embraced them instead of just standing alongside, wreathed in frigid mist and bearing more signs of slapdash repair. I also had a clearer view of the two destroyed pads; one looked as if the rocket and its support tower had exploded and partially melted into single shards of tortured metal. The other was covered in frost, shattered corpses scattered around its base. Clearly, Goldenblood hadn’t been mistaken about the risk of hasty fueling.
中间是五角形的发射台和他们的火箭。最大最宏伟的建筑矗立在五角大楼中央的第六个发射台上，这是一个神秘的科学和技术艺术的奇迹。它白色的金属外壳上带着两个世纪以来被忽视的痕迹，但是，看着它如此近距离地亲眼目睹，沐浴在泛光灯的光辉中，站在一座由大梁、管道和过道组成的塔楼旁，它仍然是一个令人敬畏的景象。与我在回忆和照片中看到的火箭不同，它没有单独的助推器;船体顺利地从尖尖的前端流向宽阔的基地。其他的火箭都比较小，没有那么先进，但仍然很优雅，有四个空气动力学助推器和发射塔，它们环绕并包围着火箭，而不是仅仅站在旁边，在寒冷的薄雾中盘旋，承载着更多的草率修复的迹象。我还清楚地看到了两个被摧毁的发射台;其中一个看起来好像火箭和它的支撑塔已经爆炸，部分熔化成一片片受到折磨的金属碎片。另一个被冰霜覆盖，粉碎的尸体散落在基地周围。显然，金血王并没有错误地认识到匆忙加注燃料的风险。
“But where is Cognitum?” I asked, trying to pick her out from all the activity. Then I glanced over at Scotch Tape peering through a pair of binoculars. I pursed my lips at her remembering to bring something I’d forgotten, then snagged them from her, ignoring her protest of annoyance. I swept the field with the glasses. If she was down there at all, she had to be near the biggest rocket.
"但是，认知在哪里呢?"我问道，试图从所有的活动中认出她来。然后我瞥了一眼透过望远镜凝视的透明胶带。我撇了撇嘴，因为她记得带了一样我忘了带的东西，然后我不顾她抗议的烦恼，把它们从她手里抢走了。我用眼镜扫过田野。如果她真的在下面，她一定是在最大的火箭附近。
“Oh,” I murmured as I spotted her.
"哦,"我看到她的时候低声说。
“Oh what?” Glory asked. I passed her the binoculars and pointed my hoof. She peered through, and a second later: “Oh. My.” She passed them to the side, flushing. P-21 took them next, and both his eyebrows arched in surprise, then furrowed. He passed them limply back to Scotch Tape, but Boo intercepted them and looked as well… at the wrong place, but still, she was trying.
"哦，什么?"晨辉问道。我把望远镜递给她，然后用蹄子指了指。她凝视了一会儿，又过了一会儿:"哦。我的。"她把它们递到一边，脸红了。P-21接着带走了他们，两条眉毛惊奇地拱了起来，然后皱了皱。他软绵绵地把它们递给了ScotchTape，但是Boo截住了它们，也看了看......看错了地方，但是她仍然在尝试。
“Let me see!” Scotch Tape demanded. “I’m the one who remembered to bring them!” Boo returned them to her, and she stared around the field. Then her jaw dropped. “Whoa. Wicked,” she whispered as she passed them back to me.
"让我看看!"透明胶带问道。"是我记得把它们带来的!"布把它们还给了她，她环顾四周。然后她的下巴掉了下来。"哇。太棒了,"她低声说着把它们递给了我。
“Yeah, wicked,” I said as I looked again. What had she done to my body? The black armor, based on Shadowbolt power armor, now had a more sleek and
"是啊，太棒了,"我边说边重新看了一遍。她对我的身体做了什么？黑色盔甲，基于暗影之箭的力量盔甲，现在有了一个更加光滑和
smooth appearance to it, as if the metal limbs were actual flesh, sinews of cable visible where the metallic... skin parted. What actual armor plates remained appeared intricately wrought and ornate, tipped with spikes. The black metal now had a faint purplish coloration to it, and there was no attempt to maintain my old cutie mark engraving or that of the Crusaders’ filly or ‘Security’. In place of mane and tail, red and black striped magic blew, snapping like flame behind her. A crown of burnished silver and rubies rested atop her head. She appeared the perfect amalgamation of magic, machine, and mare. And also very, very evil.
光滑的外观，仿佛金属肢体是真实的肉体，可以看到电缆的肌腱，金属的...皮肤分开。保留下来的实际装甲板看上去精致华丽，顶端有尖刺。黑色金属现在有一个淡紫色的颜色，并没有尝试保持我的老可爱的标志雕刻或十字军的小雌马或'安全'。红色和黑色的斑纹代替了鬃毛和尾巴，在她身后像火焰一样爆炸。她的头顶上戴着一顶由闪亮的银色和红宝石组成的王冠。她似乎是魔法、机器和母马的完美结合。而且非常非常邪恶。
A small escort of diminutive black and red gun robots flitted about her on levitation talismans, on constant vigil for something to shoot. Suddenly, I had to wonder if just a spark grenade would be enough to take her out. My earlier plan seemed to be quite shaky at this point.
一小队身材矮小的黑红相间的机器人乘着悬浮的护身符在她周围飞来飞去，不停地寻找着可以射击的东西。突然，我不得不想知道是否只要一枚火花弹就足以把她干掉。在这一点上，我早先的计划似乎相当不可靠。
Next to her, the Legate seemed positively ordinary. He still had his hooves wrapped in the glyph-marked cloths and wore the skull, but those now seemed almost amusing in comparison to Cognitum. I could see Cognitum’s lips moving… what were they saying?
在她旁边，使节看起来非常普通。他的蹄子仍然裹在有铭文标记的衣服里，头上戴着骷髅，但是这些蹄子现在看来和科涅土比起来几乎是有趣的了。我能看见认知神经的嘴唇在动...他们在说什么？
“Give me a minute,” I said as I pulled out the Perceptitron and jammed it on my head. I entered my old PipBuck tag and let the world swirl away.
"给我一分钟,"我一边说，一边把感知器拿出来塞在头上。我输入了旧的PipBuck标签，让这个世界旋转着离开。
oooOOOooo
噢噢噢
Not only did she appear different, but she felt… odd. This was my old body, and yet not. I could feel the strange, smooth metal limbs far more intimately than I had the old ones, which had been more like phantom limbs. There was a pulse, but it was a pulse of energy. Everything felt tight and oversensitive. I could now feel the pressure of my baby as a constant sensation punctuated by slight movements and tiny discomforts.
她不仅看起来与众不同，而且她觉得...很奇怪。这是我以前的身体，但不是。我能感觉到那些奇怪的、光滑的金属肢体，它们比我以前那些更像幻肢的老肢体要亲密得多。有一个脉冲，但它是一个能量的脉冲。一切都感到紧张和过度敏感。我现在可以感觉到宝宝的压力，就像一种持续的感觉，不时被轻微的动作和微小的不适打断。
“…foals have shown their faces at last,” the Legate was saying. “They don’t realize how their factions are already falling apart. The Steel Rangers in Stable 99 are now reinforcing your Harbingers, as are certain Reapers and gangs. Their attack is a desperate gamble.” She stared down at the smaller zebra stallion. “When you return, the Hoof, then all the Wasteland, will kneel to you.”
"小马驹们终于露出了他们的面孔,"使节说。"他们没有意识到自己的派系已经分崩离析。钢铁骑兵在稳定99现在加强你的预兆，因为某些收割者和帮派。他们的进攻是一场孤注一掷的赌博。"她低头看着那匹小斑马。"当你们回来的时候，霍夫和所有的荒原都将向你们下跪。"
“Be that as it may, we should have gotten word from Steel Rain by now. I dislike that I have so little direct control at this point. Before, when I wanted to act, I simply did. Now, I must give orders. It is frightfully limiting,” Cognitum said in
"尽管如此，我们现在应该已经得到钢铁雨的消息了。我不喜欢自己在这一点上几乎没有直接的控制权。以前，当我想要行动的时候，我就会直接行动。现在，我必须发号施令。这是可怕的限制,"Cognitum在年说
a voice that sounded odd. She sat and stroked a metal hoof idly over her belly. “I do not like it, but if this is how I must rule again, so be it.”
一个奇怪的声音。她懒洋洋地坐着，用一只金属蹄子在肚子上蹭来蹭去。"我不喜欢这样，但如果这是我必须再次统治的方式，那就这样吧。"
“Are you still determined to keep those lumps of tissue inside you?” the Legate asked, lip curling.
"你还是决定把这些组织块留在体内吗?"使节撇着嘴问道。
“Do not bring that up again! You serve me, remember?” she snapped. “These babies… my babies… I did not get to have one before. My children will love me. I will raise them, and in time, all of Equestria will be theirs! All the world!”
"不要再提那件事了！你是我的侍从，记得吗?"她厉声说道。"这些孩子......我的孩子......我以前从未拥有过。我的孩子们会喜欢我的。我会抚养他们，到时候，整个Equestria都会是他们的！全世界!"
I wished I could see his face behind that skull. “Well, good luck with that,” he said dryly. “You should depart soon. Before the Raptors get close enough to target the rockets.”
我真希望能在那个头骨后面看到他的脸。"好吧，祝你好运,"他干巴巴地说。""你很快就要走了。在迅猛龙接近火箭并瞄准之前。"
“I will leave when I am good and ready. Do not presume to tell me otherwise,” Cognitum snapped, turning to regard the rockets. “I will go to the moon once more, alter the trajectory, and the Core shall be reborn. Greater than any ever imagined!” she proclaimed. “My Harbingers will put down these rebellious subjects and your puppets.” She purred softly. “I look forward to seeing their faces when I catch this fraud they’re calling Blackjack and tear her to pieces before their eyes.”
"等我准备好了，我就走。不要妄想告诉我不是这样的,"科涅塔姆厉声说，转过身来看着火箭。"我将再次登上月球，改变轨道，地核将获得重生。比任何人想象的都要伟大!"她宣称。我的先知必除灭这悖逆之民和你的傀儡她轻轻地咕噜了一声。"我期待着看到他们的脸，当我抓到这个骗子，他们称之为Blackjack，并在他们眼前把她撕成碎片。"
“Of course, o Goddess of Equestria,” he said with a bow of his head. “And then I shall be rewarded,” he said with a chuckle. “We shall all get precisely what we deserve.”
"当然可以，哦，Equestria女神,"他低下头说。"那么我就会得到奖赏,"他笑着说。"我们都将得到我们应得的。"
“Oh yes,” she replied, smiling beatifically at him. She turned and flew easily up to the open hatch at the top of the rocket, her drones following, where a Harbinger awaited in combat armor. “As soon as we go, kill him. Then direct my people to stamp out the Brood and Remnant for good. Hoarfrost and Afterburner have their instructions to assist in the elimination. I’ll not have him in place with his minions.” The Harbinger saluted and trotted back down the steps. She hissed in annoyance. “What is Steel Rain up to? He should have checked in on these disturbances in the Core hours ago.”
"哦，是的,"她回答，带着幸福的微笑看着他。她转过身，轻松地飞到了火箭顶部打开的舱口，她的无人机紧随其后，在那里等待着穿着战斗装甲的"先驱者"。"我们一走，就杀了他。然后指示我的人消灭魔龙军团和残余军团。白霜和加力有他们的指示，以协助消除。我不会让他和他的奴才们呆在一起的。""先驱者"行了个礼，小跑着下了台阶。她恼怒地发出嘶嘶声。"钢铁雨在干什么？他几小时前就应该检查核心区的这些扰动。"
She stepped into a small chamber with a dozen reclining seats spaced around the edges, two rings of six each. In the center of the room, two seats surrounded by controls and screens stood by a narrow spiral staircase leading down. Instead of pilots, a cobbled-together assembly of computer hardware was strapped and taped into them with wires running into gaping access panels on the consoles. A
她走进一个小房间，里面有十几个靠背靠背的座位，每个座位有两个六环。在房间的中央，两个座位被控制装置和屏风包围着，旁边有一个狭窄的旋转楼梯通往下面。不是飞行员，而是一个拼凑在一起的电脑硬件组装被绑在上面，电线连接到控制台上张开的访问面板上。答:
battered ghoul unicorn in a torn and faded flight suit worked frantically on the jury-rigged system, unscrewing another access panel as I watched. “Are the flight controls ready?”
穿着破旧褪色飞行服的饱受摧残的独角兽在应急系统上疯狂工作，在我看着的时候拆开了另一个接入面板。"飞行控制系统准备好了吗?"
“Soon. Soon! Fifteen, twenty minutes tops. But is very risky. These computers ran flight simulations, not actual rockets,” he rasped. No surprise that Cognitum would trust a machine pilot over a pony.
"很快。很快！最多十五到二十分钟。但是这是非常危险的。这些计算机运行的是飞行模拟，而不是真正的火箭。难怪Cognitum会相信一个机器飞行员而不相信一匹小马。
“Well, they’d better work. If they don’t, I’ll teleport to safety, and then I’ll come down here and squish the rest of you into undead jam, do you understand?” Cognitum asked him sharply, the hovering gun pods all orienting on him.
"好吧，他们最好能成功。如果他们不这样做，我会传送到安全的地方，然后我会下来把你们其余的人压成僵尸，你们明白吗?"科涅塔姆尖锐地问他，那些盘旋的枪群全都指向他。
“Yes. Yes. They’ll work! They’ll work!” the ghoul squawked, going back to furiously wiring the machines. “Once they’re active, we can signal control room to start launch.”
"是的。是的。他们会成功的！它们会起作用的!"食尸鬼叫了起来，回去疯狂地给机器配线。"一旦它们启动，我们就可以通知控制室开始发射。"
“Good. If I have to launch these things manually, I’ll start them with you,” she replied dismissively as the ghoul worked his mouth silently, clearly trying to work out the threat. She took a seat, sitting back and rubbing her shiny black tummy. “I’ll save the world for you, my babies. For all my subjects. For everyone.” Then she caught the ghoul staring at her. “Work!” she snapped furiously.
"很好。如果我不得不手动启动这些东西，我会和你一起启动它们,"她轻蔑地回答，这时食尸鬼默默地用嘴工作着，显然是想解决这个威胁。她找了个座位坐下，靠在椅背上，抚摸着自己亮晶晶的黑肚子。"我要为你们拯救世界，我的孩子们。对于我所有的臣民。对每个人来说。"然后她发现食尸鬼盯着她看。"工作!"她狠狠地咬了一口。
oooOOOooo
噢噢噢
I severed the connection. “We have fifteen or twenty minutes,” I said, trying to stem my rage from her talking about ‘her’ babies. Cognitum was a crazy program with a dead Princess’s soul jammed inside her. It was my body and my baby. Babies! More than one! Was my happiness doubled, or my fear? Both. “The... baby is okay,” I said to P-21 as I packed the Perceptitron away.
我切断了联系。"我们还有十五到二十分钟,"我说，试图把我的愤怒从她谈论'她'的孩子中平息下来。认知是一个疯狂的程序，一个死去的公主的灵魂卡在她的身体里。那是我的身体和我的孩子。孩子们！不止一个！是我的幸福加倍了，还是我的恐惧？两者都有。"......宝宝没事,"我一边把感知器收起来，一边对P-21说。
A relieved smile spread across his face. “What’s the plan?”
他脸上露出宽慰的笑容。"计划是什么?"
“Get to the middle rocket. Get her stunned. Swap me in for her. Go to the moon and stop Horizons. Easy.” I then looked at the dozens, if not hundreds, of Brood and Harbinger soldiers all over the launch field. “Okay... Maybe not quite easy.” I took a risk and tried to tele–
"到中间的火箭上去。让她目瞪口呆。用我来代替她。去月球停止地平线。很简单。"然后我看着几十个，如果不是几百个，布鲁德和哈宾格士兵遍布发射场。"好吧......也许不是很容易。"我冒险试着打电话
“Blackjack? Are you okay?” Scotch Tape asked as I blinked up at my friends.
"黑杰克？你还好吗?"我向朋友眨眨眼，透明胶带问道。
Small wonder the purple alicorn hadn’t been able to teleport down here.
怪不得紫玉簪不能传送到这里来。
“No. Just... teleporting is out.” I glanced at Glory and P-21. “Any ideas?”
"没有。只是...瞬移已经结束了。"我瞥了一眼晨辉和P-21。"有什么想法吗?"
Both of them shook their heads, but Scotch Tape said, “Emergency releases.” Suddenly all eyes were on her, and she balked. “Well, they had to make safeties for the fueling. If they had to dump the fuel for a fire or an attack or something, they’d need a way to do so remotely and quickly. If it doesn’t have any fuel, it can’t launch.” She gestured out towards the large gap in the crescent. “Probably vents way out there.”
两人都摇了摇头，但是ScotchTape说,"紧急释放。"突然，所有的目光都聚焦在她身上，她犹豫了。"他们必须保证燃料的安全。如果他们不得不为了火灾或者袭击之类的事情倾倒燃料，他们需要一种远程而快速的方法。如果没有燃料，它就不能发射。"她指了指月牙形的那个大缺口。"可能通风口在那边。"
“Scotch, you’re a genius!” I said as I grinned at the rocket. “If we can vent some of the fuel, they’ll have to stop and refill it. Cognitum’s not going to risk getting stuck on the moon. And if it does vent way out there, I think it’ll provide a heck of a distraction when it all goes up.” I was imagining a great geyser of flamer fuel raining down on the Brood forces. “We vent the fuel, get inside the rocket amidst all the confusion, take her out with a well-placed spark grenade or that prod of yours, and then let them refill the rocket and go!”
"苏格兰威士忌，你是个天才!"我对着火箭咧嘴笑着说。"如果我们能排出一些燃料，他们就不得不停下来重新加满。认知神经元不会冒险被困在月球上。如果它真的在那里发泄，我认为当它上升的时候，它会提供一个大大的干扰。"我想象着一个巨大的喷火器间歇泉像雨点一样落在布鲁德军队身上。"我们释放燃料，在混乱中进入火箭，用一枚放置得当的火花弹或者你的刺棒把它干掉，然后让他们重新装满火箭然后离开!"
“Anypony else seeing the great big gaping holes in that plan?” Glory asked with a smile.
"还有其他人看到这个计划中巨大的漏洞吗?"晨辉微笑着问道。
“Sure,” P-21 replied, “but when has that ever stopped us before?”
"当然,"P-21回答说,"但是我们以前什么时候因为这个而停下来过?"
“Nothin’ stops Bwackjack!” Boo agreed.
"没有什么能阻止疯子!"布同意了。
“Where would these emergency releases be?” I asked Scotch Tape.
"这些紧急释放物将在哪里?"我问透明胶带。
“I dunno, but if it were me, I’d want at least one in their main control room and another right by the launch pad,” the olive filly replied. “I mean, I don’t know exactly where, but normally safeties are marked with great big orange and yellow signs, you know?”
"我不知道，但是如果是我的话，我希望至少有一个在他们的主控制室，另一个在发射台旁边。"橄榄小母马回答。"我的意思是，我不知道确切的位置，但是通常保险箱上都有很大的橙色和黄色的标志，你知道吗?"
“Plus, if we control the control room, that should buy us more time,” Glory pointed out.
"另外，如果我们控制了控制室，应该可以为我们争取更多的时间,"晨辉指出。
We moved out as one, running along the roof to the nearest intact stairwell. P-21 made short work of the lock, and we scampered down. “Keep an eye out for generators and guards,” I said quietly. “They’re going to need power to run these systems. The more noise, the better the odds are that’s where we need to be.”
我们一起出发，沿着屋顶跑到最近的完好无损的楼梯井。P-21很快就把锁修好了，我们飞快地向下跑去。"留意发电机和警卫,"我平静地说。"他们需要电力来运行这些系统。噪音越大，我们到达目的地的可能性就越大。"
Unfortunately, this was an absolutely gargantuan building. It would probably
不幸的是，这绝对是一个庞大的建筑。很有可能
take an hour at least to walk all the way around it. Most of it was simply uninhabited, and I could feel the tick tick ticking of time. Any minute... any second... we’d hear the roar of the rockets launching, and then that would be it. Maybe we could somehow, some way, get the Elements of Harmony to banish me to the moon... but I doubted it.
走一圈至少要一个小时。大部分都是无人居住的地方，我能感觉到时间的滴答声。任何时候......任何时候......我们都会听到火箭发射的轰鸣声，然后就是这个声音。也许我们可以用某种方式，让和谐元素把我放逐到月亮上......但我对此表示怀疑。
I kept feeling the temptation to sing ‘I am your enemy, come and kill me’ so that we’d at least have some idea as to a direction. In one large boardroom, we encountered heaps of rotting ghouls, some of them still twitching; presumably, these were the other inhabitants of what I assumed had been ‘Rocket Town’ before Cognitum arrived. There were disabled turret defenses and melted robots here and there, showing signs of the violent takeover.
我一直觉得唱'我是你的敌人，来杀了我吧'的诱惑，这样我们至少可以知道一些方向。在一个很大的会议室里，我们遇到了一堆腐烂的食尸鬼，其中一些还在抽搐。炮塔防御系统瘫痪，熔化的机器人到处都是，显示出暴力接管的迹象。
Then we walked right into the Brood.
然后我们径直走进魔龙军团。
There were six of them, and soon as I stepped around the corner, they opened up at us. Glory cried out as several rounds struck her dragonhide flight jacket, and I felt the familiar thud of impacts absorbed by my operative barding. I didn’t have time to wait for an explosive from P-21; I simply levitated up the Ironpony, flicked a switch, and pulled the trigger.
他们有六个人，我一转过街角，他们就向我们开火了。几发子弹击中了她的蜻蜓飞行夹克，格洛里大声叫了起来，我感觉到了我的手术刀所承受的那种熟悉的撞击声。我没有时间等待P-21的爆炸;我只是简单地悬浮在Ironpony上，按下开关，然后扣动扳机。
The half-dozen Brood were separated into metal and blood, the former falling in sparking, smoking heaps and the latter splattering the wall behind them as it was utterly resurfaced by lead. My shooting was shit; I just didn’t have the LittlePip levels of telekinesis needed to control the damned thing, and the most I could do was try to keep it aimed ‘that way’. And I hit ‘that way’. In the space of a second, everything in that hall had been obliterated. Six meaty mounds of scrap where they’d stood, and two dozen shell casings littered the floor around me.
半打的布鲁德被分成金属和血液，前者掉下来冒着火花，冒着烟的堆，后者飞溅在他们身后的墙上，因为它是完全重新浮出水面的铅。我的射击是狗屎;我只是没有一点点点的心灵感应水平需要控制该死的东西，我能做的最多是试图让它瞄准'那种方式'。然后我按了那个方向。就在一瞬间，大厅里的一切都被抹去了。他们站过的地方堆满了六堆肥肉，我周围的地板上散落着二十几个弹壳。
My barding’s helmet protected my hearing well enough, but my friends wiggled their hooves in their ears, trying to get theirs back. I stared at the casings and the bloody lumps, smoke rising from the barrel. I felt the heat radiating against my face. I lifted the gun before me. “Okay…” I said breathlessly. “I hereby dub thee... Sexy!”
我的头盔很好地保护了我的听力，但我的朋友们在他们的耳朵里扭动着蹄子，试图找回他们的耳朵。我盯着弹壳和血块，烟从枪管里冒了出来。我感到热气向我的脸辐射。我把枪举到面前。"好吧......"我气喘吁吁地说。"我在此称呼你...性感!"
“Sexy,” P-21 said flatly. “Really.”
"性感,"P-21直截了当地说。"真的。"
“What? Did you expect something more profound?” Glory asked with a smile.
"什么？你还期待更深刻的东西吗?"晨辉微笑着问道。
“Hey. I can do profound,” I said as I pouted at her. “And ‘Sexy’ is profound. It
"嘿。我可以做得很深奥,"我撅着嘴说。"而'性感'意义深远。它
fucks the target over and leaves them a complete wreck afterwards.”
干掉目标，然后让他们一败涂地"
“In that case, shouldn’t you name it ‘Blackjack’?” Scotch Tape asked. Suddenly I, P-21, and Glory were all varying degrees of embarrassed, and she snickered. “I win.” Somefilly should have been left at Chapel...
"这样的话，你不应该叫它'Blackjack'吗?"透明胶带问道。突然间，我、P-21和晨辉都不同程度地尴尬起来，她窃笑起来。"我赢了。"有些小姑娘应该留在教堂里。
I coughed, trying desperately to regain some dignity. “Okay. Full auto is excessive. Good to know.” I swapped out the drum magazine and reloaded the first; Sexy was one hell of an ammo hog. The Brood had been so torn up by the barrage that P-21 didn’t even try and search them for valuables. He’d need a sieve.
我不顾一切地咳嗽，试图恢复一些尊严。"好吧。全自动是过度的。很高兴知道这些。"我换掉了鼓弹匣，重新上了第一发子弹;赦西是个超级大枪手。布伦特一家被密集的炮火撕得粉碎，以至于P-21甚至没有尝试去搜寻他们身上的贵重物品。他需要一个筛子。
Much of the space center building seemed to be devoted to the public. We trotted through a large museum hall that put the building’s foundation at the start of the war. No wonder it was located in one of the worst spots in Equestria. Then again, if you were going to repurpose rockets into ballistic missiles, maybe it wasn’t so poorly placed. I ran past pictures of ponies testing model rockets on a field, then larger ‘liquid fuel’ rockets using alcohol and oxygen. Then rockets twice or three times the height of a pony.
航天中心的大部分建筑似乎都是为公众服务的。我们小跑着穿过一个巨大的博物馆大厅，那里是战争开始时建筑物的地基。难怪它坐落在Equestria最糟糕的地方之一。不过话又说回来，如果你打算把火箭改造成弹道导弹的话，也许它并不是那么糟糕。我浏览了小马在田野上测试火箭模型的照片，然后是使用酒精和氧气的更大的液体燃料火箭。然后火箭的高度是小马的两到三倍。
Another hall seemed to be dedicated to rockets themselves rather than just the history of them, but it was mostly empty. Only models had been left behind, and a huge hole in the ceiling suggested that some of the rockets on the field had once occupied this hall. I felt a rising surge of panic in my throat. There should have been some kind of massive sign that read ‘control room’! Or maybe a map with a convenient ‘you are here’ label. I was going to fail simply because I was lost.
另一个大厅似乎是专门供火箭使用的，而不仅仅是火箭的历史，但大部分是空的。只留下了模型，天花板上的一个巨大的洞表明，场地上的一些火箭曾经占据过这个大厅。我感到喉咙里涌起一阵恐慌。应该有一些巨大的标志，上面写着"控制室"！或者一张贴有"你在这里"标签的地图。我会失败，仅仅因为我迷失了。
“Boo!” I whirled on the white mare. “Which way do you think we should go?” She blinked her pale eyes in bafflement.
"嘘!"我向那匹白色的母马疾驰而去。"你认为我们应该走哪条路?"她困惑地眨着苍白的眼睛。
“Blackjack?” P-21 asked, just as perplexed.
"黑杰克?"P-21同样困惑地问道。
“Just trust me on this!” I told him as I stared into her eyes. “Just pick which way.”
"相信我吧!"我盯着她的眼睛告诉他。"随便选一条路。"
She rubbed her chin and started counting. “Eenie, menie, miney, moe, catch a pony by its... that way,” she said abruptly, pointing down a side hall that read ‘Planetarium’.
她揉揉下巴，开始数数。"Eenie，menie，miney，moe，抓住一匹小马的......那边,"她突然说，指着一个侧厅，上面写着'天文馆'。
“Blackjack? Are you sure?” Glory asked.
"黑杰克？你确定吗?"晨辉问道。
“Shh! Don’t doubt the Boo!” I warned as I turned and raced in the direction she’d pointed. I burst through the double doors into a familiarly round room dominated by a complex projector in the middle. It was almost identical to the one at the Collegiate, though perhaps a little bit bigger. As my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I spotted an even smaller and more unassuming door with a large sign saying ‘Warning: No unauthorized civilians allowed in Operations areas.’ “Excellent,” I said, patting her on the head as we passed her, the mare suddenly halted, seeming uncertain. I looked back at her. “Everything okay?”
"嘘！不要怀疑嘘声!"我转过身，朝她指的方向跑去。我冲进双开门，进入一个熟悉的圆形房间，房间中央放着一台复杂的投影仪。它几乎和学院大学的那个一模一样，只是可能稍微大一点。当我的眼睛适应了黑暗，我发现了一个更小，更谦逊的门与一个巨大的标志说:警告:未经许可的平民不允许进入作战区"太好了,"我说，当我们经过她的时候，我轻轻地拍了拍她的头，母马突然停了下来，看上去犹豫不决。我回头看着她。"一切都还好吧?"
“It’s the right way,” she said as she stared up at the shadows of the great vault. “Just feels... spooky.”
"这是正确的方法,"她说，她盯着巨大的拱顶的阴影。"只是觉得...有点毛骨悚然。"
“Just keep an eye out for trouble, okay?” I said, keeping my eyes open as we moved through. I understood what she said, my eyes squinting into the dark pools between emergency lights. Damn, for the first time, I really missed not having glowy night vision eyes. “P-21, work your magic.”
"随时注意麻烦，好吗?"我说，一边睁着眼睛一边走过去。我明白了她说的话，我的眼睛斜视着紧急照明灯之间的黑色水池。该死，第一次，我真的很怀念没有发光的夜视眼睛。"P-21，施展你的魔法。"
We crossed the round room to the far side, and P-21 knelt, starting to work on the lock when the double doors we’d entered suddenly slammed shut with a resounding boom, sealing Boo outside the planetarium. One by one the emergency lights went dark. Almost as one, we clicked on our PipBuck lamps, producing four little pools of wan amber light. Then there was a crackle from the center of the room, and one by one the projector lights popped on, the lights reflecting off the overhead dome in a sickly array of light.
我们穿过圆形房间来到远处，P-21跪下来开始修理门锁，我们进入的双扇门突然砰的一声关上了，把布关在了天文馆外面。应急灯一个接一个地熄灭了。我们几乎合为一体，点击了我们的PipBuck灯，产生了四个小池子的wan琥珀色灯光。接着，房间中央传来劈啪声，投影仪的灯一盏接一盏地亮了起来，灯光从头顶的圆顶上反射出来，形成一道令人作呕的光线阵列。
“Ashur,” a mare whispered in the dark.
"阿舒尔,"一匹母马在黑暗中低语。
“Dagon,” hissed a second mare.
"大衮,"第二匹母马嘶嘶地叫道。
“Namtar,” moaned a third.
"纳姆塔,"第三个人抱怨道。
“Nibiru,” said a final, lighter voice.
"尼比奴,"一个最后的、轻松的声音说。
In the pale light, four cloaked figures stood on the periphery of the room. Three adults and a foal, going by size. Given that they wore cloaks and spoke the names of freaky stars that made my mane crawl, I lifted Sexy to the closest of the four. It swung its hoof, and a pale blue streak of dust crossed the distance,
在昏暗的灯光下，四个披着斗篷的人影站在房间的四周。三头成年马和一头小马驹，按体型计算。考虑到他们穿着斗篷，说着让我毛骨悚然的怪异明星的名字，我举起了"性感"，离他们最近。它摆动着蹄子，一道淡蓝色的灰尘掠过远方,
coating the weapon. An instant later, an inch of ice flashed into being around it, transforming it from a firearm into an icy doorstop.
在武器上涂层。不一会儿，一英寸厚的冰块在它周围闪过，把它从火器变成了冰冷的门挡。
“The black star Ashur’s cold embrace overcomes your weak technology,” the mare said as she drew back her hood. The old zebra’s mane, stripes, and eyes were almost faded to nothing. Elsewhere in the line, the smallest of the four took out a piece of paper and dangled a crystal over it.
"黑星阿舒尔冰冷的拥抱战胜了你脆弱的技术,"母马一边说一边拉开她的帽子。老斑马的鬃毛、条纹和眼睛几乎消失得无影无踪。在队伍的其他地方，四个人中最小的一个拿出一张纸，在上面悬挂着一块水晶。
Glory snapped her gun down at the old zebra, but one of the others tossed a hoofful of crimson dust into the air. The cloud twisted and formed flaming serpents that streaked towards Glory and chased her around the projector. “Did you think we’d overlook your plans, little pretender? The stars warned us of your attempt,” she said as she pulled back her hood, showing a mare whose face was a mask of smooth burn keloid on which circular tattoos stood out as clear as day. “Dagon shall consume you!”
晨辉朝着那只老斑马猛地放下枪，但其中一只向空中抛出一团深红色的尘土。那团云盘旋着，形成了火焰般的巨蛇，它们向晨辉飞去，绕着放映机追逐着她。"你以为我们会忽视你的计划吗，小冒牌货？星星警告了我们你们的企图,"她一边说，一边拉开兜帽，露出一匹母马，她的脸上是光滑的瘢痕疙瘩的面具，上面的圆形纹身像白天一样清晰。"大衮会吃了你!"
“I don’t have time for this!” I shouted as I pointed my horn at the cold zebra and fired a volley of S.A.T.S.-guided magic bullets at her head.
"我没有时间做这个!"我大叫着，用喇叭指着冰冷的斑马，向她的头部发射了一连串s.a.t.s制导的魔法子弹。
The filly let out a yell of alarm. “Block!”
小母马发出惊恐的叫声。"布洛克!"
Another hoofful of blue dust slashed through the air a moment before the volley hit, as if she’d been expecting it, and a thick wall of ice deflected each of my shots away. I stared at it, then at the filly, who gave a little smirk that said ‘what are you going to do about it?’
又一团蓝色的尘埃在空中划过，仿佛她早就预料到了一样，一堵厚厚的冰墙挡住了我的每一个镜头。我盯着它，然后盯着小母马，小母马露出一丝得意的笑容，说'你打算怎么办?'
“We have eternity and more,” intoned a third, then looked at the filly. “Where is he?” she said in a voice like tar. The filly, not taking her face off the paper before her, pointed her free hoof over to the left. The elder mare snapped her hoof, and green dust whipped out like a comet, coalesced into an orb of energy, and exploded with a bright rainbow-green flash, revealing P-21 with a grenade in his hoof. All our PipBucks began to crackle madly at the radiation. The ghastly illumination showed a mare’s features which appeared distorted like soft wax. “The stars rot for eons, and you shall join them. Namtar demands it.”
"我们拥有永恒和更多,"第三个说，然后看着小母马。"他在哪儿?"她用焦油一样的声音说。小母马没有把脸从面前的纸上移开，把空着的蹄子指向左边。年长的母马猛踩一下蹄子，绿色的尘土像彗星一样飞溅出来，结合成一个能量球，随着一道明亮的彩虹般的绿色闪光爆炸了，蹄子里夹着一颗手榴弹，露出了P-21。我们所有的PipBucks开始在辐射下疯狂地噼啪作响。阴森的光线显示出一匹母马的面貌，扭曲得像软蜡。"星星永远腐烂，你也要加入他们。纳姆塔要求这样做。"
As my horn recharged, I tried to close the gap with the old zebra, but her funky blue dust kept stymying me. She turned the floor under me to slippery ice, sending me sprawling on my face, and dropped jagged frozen spurs the size of my hooves down at me. Fortunately, my telekinesis deflected them; LittlePip would have just rammed them right up the zebra’s ass. Glory was still busy
当我的角重新充电，我试图弥合与老斑马的差距，但她时髦的蓝色灰尘继续造型我。她把我脚下的地板打成了滑溜溜的冰块，把我的脸打得四仰八叉，还用锯齿状的冰刺朝我踢来。幸运的是，我的心灵遥感使它们偏离了方向;小匹普会直接把它们塞进斑马的屁股里。格洛里仍然忙碌着
dodging the seeking snakes while the green one calmly kept trying to blow up P-21.
躲避着寻找的蛇，而绿色的那只则冷静地继续试图炸毁P-21。
Scotch Tape blinked at the three adult zebras, then charged the only one her size. Without looking up from the paper, she jerked it aside at the last minute and left Scotch Tape sliding through empty air. “Hey, you! Fight me!” Scotch demanded. “Ain’t ya got spooky star stuff to spout at me?”
透明胶带对着三只成年斑马眨了眨眼睛，然后向身材仅有的一只斑马收了钱。在最后一分钟，她没有从报纸上抬起头来，就把它拉到一边，留下透明胶带在空气中滑动。"嘿，你！跟我打!"苏格兰人问。"难道你没有什么吓人的星星之类的东西可以对我滔滔不绝?"
“Yeah yeah. Nibiru curse you. Whatever,” the zebra said, pulling back her hood enough to reveal a filly the same age. I was taken by how pretty she was for her age, despite the arcane markings on her delicate face. Even Scotch Tape gaped for a second. “Busy now.”
"是的，是的。尼比奴诅咒你。不管怎样,"斑马一边说，一边拉开她的帽子，露出一匹同龄的小母马。我被她的年龄所吸引，尽管她精致的脸上有些神秘的印记。即使是透明胶带也会张口结舌一秒钟。"现在很忙。"
“D-Don’t you ignore me!” Scotch Tape yelled, her cheeks flaming, diving at her. Once again without looking up, the filly kicked back, planting her hoof upside Scotch’s head. Scotch fell back, holding her head in her hooves, bit down on her wrench, and dove once more, swinging wildly. The little zebra thrust out her rear legs and braced herself against Scotch’s head, holding the olive filly at bay as her mouth swung and her forehooves thrashed the air. “Gonna... beat you...”
"别无视我!"苏格兰胶带喊道，她的脸颊着了火，扑向她。小母马再一次没有抬头，反踢了一脚，把她的蹄子顶在了苏格兰人的头上。苏格兰人向后退去，用蹄子顶着头，一口咬住扳手，又一次俯冲下去，疯狂地摆动着。小斑马伸出后腿，支撑着自己靠在苏格兰人的头上，把橄榄小姑娘托在海湾里，她的嘴在空中摆动，前蹄在空中翻腾。"我要...打败你..."
“Told you. Busy now,” she said, then looked at the old zebra. “Atropos, the signs don’t make any sense. This may not be the Maiden, but Nibiru is going nuts here! I don’t know who she is, but she’s not a nopony.” She shoved Scotch Tape away, her cloak flipping up around her shoulders. “And this one isn’t helping!” she snapped as she kept scrying the paper. “...and stop staring at my butt!”
""告诉你了。"现在很忙,"她说，然后看着那只老斑马。"阿特罗波斯，这些迹象毫无意义。这可能不是梅登，但是尼比奴在这里发疯了！我不知道她是谁，但她不是小马驹。"她把透明胶带推开，披风竖在肩上。"而且这个也没什么用!"她一边看报纸，一边厉声说道。"别再盯着我的屁股看了!"
“Focus on the later, not the now, Pythia,” the old zebra rasped.
"聚焦在以后，而不是现在，皮提亚,"老斑马恼怒地说。
“Finally! We will be ascendant after ten thousand years!” the scarred mare laughed as she tossed more incendiary powder up after Glory. With the flames seeking Glory under their own enchantments, the burned zebra was free to dance away from any of Pew-Pew’s beams that happened to get near her. “We shall rule this world as is our right!”
"终于来了！一万年后，我们将会蒸蒸日上!"伤痕累累的母马笑着向晨辉身后扔出更多的燃烧粉。火焰在自己的魔法下寻求晨辉，被烧伤的斑马可以自由地跳舞，远离任何碰巧接近她的皮尤-皮尤的光束。"我们将以我们的权利统治这个世界!"
The exploding green dust kept P-21 moving around the perimeter of the room. If he got much closer to us, he could have risked us being caught in the baleful green explosions. Worse, the one time he moved closer to the old zebra with the ice, the filly snapped out a warning, and the old zebra whirled and covered him with a layer of hoarfrost while the mutated zebra nearly blasted me off my hooves.
爆炸的绿色尘埃使P-21在房间周围不停地移动。如果他离我们更近一些，他可能会冒险让我们陷入可怕的绿色爆炸中。更糟糕的是，有一次他带着冰走近老斑马，那匹小雌马突然发出警告，老斑马旋转着，在他身上覆盖了一层白霜，而突变的斑马差点把我的蹄子炸掉。
“Kill them,” she said as she flung another hoofful of green dust. “I’ll feel better when the Maiden of the Stars is gone forever.” P-21 launched a grenade at her, but she detonated it in midair with more of that damned magic dust! I focused on the icy old zebra.
"杀了他们,"她一边说，一边又扔出一团绿色的尘土。"当星中少女永远离开时，我会感觉好一些。"P-21向她发射了一枚手榴弹，但她在半空中引爆了更多的该死的魔法尘埃！我把注意力集中在那只冰冷的老斑马身上。
“Forever? That rocket is coming back, you know!” I yelled at them.
""永远？火箭要回来了，你知道的!"我对他们大喊大叫。
“And a balefire missile stands ready to greet her the instant she lands,” the one flinging red dust cackled. “One specially treated with our magics to disrupt any pitiful pony shield talismans she might try to defend herself with! She’ll be vaporized before she even realizes she was used! We shall rule forever!” the scarred zebra crowed.
"一枚火箭弹随时准备在她着陆的瞬间迎接她,"发出红色尘埃的飞机咯咯地笑了起来。"一个被我们的魔法特殊对待的人，用来破坏任何她可能试图用来自卫的可怜的小马盾护身符！在她意识到自己被利用之前她就会被蒸发掉！我们将永远统治!"伤痕累累的斑马叫道。
“Shut up, Eurydale!” snapped the mutated balefire dust zebra. “Stop playing around. You’re making basic mistakes.”
"闭嘴，尤里代尔!"变异的巴利火尘斑马拍了下来。"别胡闹了。你犯了一些基本的错误。"
But what the burned mare had said nearly halted me in my hooves. The Legate had a balefire missile? But of course he did; Xanthe had told me about the warhead, and he had the remaining missiles from Grimhoof. It made sense, too. Once Cognitum had fixed Tom’s trajectory, why risk combat with her? Let her come back triumphant and be vaporized as soon as she landed. Not even a cyberpony could survive that!
但是那匹烧伤的母马所说的话几乎使我停住了脚步。特使有一枚弹射导弹？当然，他还是告诉了我弹头的事，而且他还有格里姆霍夫剩下的导弹。这也是有道理的。一旦认知力确定了汤姆的轨迹，为什么还要冒险和她战斗呢？让她凯旋归来，一着陆就被蒸发。即使是赛博小马也无法幸免于难！
“And so who’s going to rule? Which of you gets to call the shots?” Glory called out.
""那么谁来统治呢？你们谁说了算?"晨辉在呼唤。
“Why, all of us, together,” the old zebra chuckled. “Of course, the Legate will sit on the throne, and we will be the ones that actually get things done... and reap the benefits. Isn’t that the way it’s always been with powerful males?”
"为什么，我们所有人，在一起,"老斑马笑着说。"当然，大使将会坐上王位，而我们将会是那些真正把事情做好的人......并且收获利益。强大的男性不都是这样吗?"
The littlest one kept struggling to focus on the paper and keep Scotch Tape at bay. It’d be impressive if we weren’t so pressed for time. She never took her eyes off the sheet before her nor dropped the dangling pendant, even as she dodged, sidestepped, backflipped, and pirouetted around Scotch’s wild charges. “This isn’t right, Scylla! I’m seeing shadows all over the future! Something is wrong.” Scotch Tape tried to get her hooves around one of the filly’s hindlegs, and the filly barely yanked it away in time. “And would someone get her off me? It's hard enough to scry in the middle of a battle without this one distracting me!” She kicked back and nailed Scotch Tape in the face again, sending her staggering back across the floor to trip and smack her head against the base of
最小的那个人一直在努力把注意力集中在纸上，把透明胶带挡在外面。如果我们没有那么紧迫的时间，那就太棒了。她的眼睛从来没有离开过床单，也没有掉下悬垂的吊坠，即使她在苏格兰人狂野的冲锋中躲闪、回避、翻转和旋转。"这是不对的，锡拉！我看到了未来所有的阴影！有些地方不对劲。"苏格兰胶带试图把她的蹄子套在小母马的一条腿上，小母马勉强及时地把它拉开。""有人能把她从我身上弄走吗？在一场战斗中，如果没有这个人分散我的注意力，我就很难骂人了!"她向后踢了一脚，又用透明胶带在脸上敲了一下，结果跌跌撞撞地从地板上摔了下来，头撞在了地板的底部
the projector.
放映机。
“Fine,” the mutated Scylla said, then turned towards Scotch and lifted a hoofful of powder. “I’ll remove the distraction then.”
"好吧,"突变的"锡拉"说，然后转向苏格兰威士忌，拿起一桶火药。"那我就去除干扰。"
P-21, who already had a glowing ball of star magic sailing towards him, suddenly turned and launched himself at it. He rolled tight in a ball and hit the glowing dust as it started to flare, scattering it and forcing it to reform a second later behind him. The blast launched him straight into Scylla like a cannonball, smashing them both to the ground.
P-21本来已经有一个闪闪发光的魔法球朝他驶来，突然转过身来，向它发起了进攻。他紧紧地卷成一个球，在发光的尘埃开始燃烧时击中它，将它散开，迫使它在他身后一秒钟后重新变形。爆炸把他像炮弹一样直接炸进了锡拉，把他们两个都炸到了地上。
“Hah! Now who’s making rookie mistakes?” Eurydale crowed, and then she threw an enormous wad of the red powder into the air. The heat had set her mane on fire, but she didn’t seem to notice as she laughed, the airborne dust igniting in the shape of a dragon, growing larger and larger and filling the ceiling. “Fly! Fly! Fast as you can! There’s nowhere to run when all is aflame!” She laughed madly. The billowing fire caught Glory, and she covered her head as she tumbled towards the ground, feathers and tail aflame.
"哈！现在是谁犯了新手才会犯的错误?"尤里戴尔欢呼道，然后她把一大团红色粉末抛向空中。炎热的天气让她的鬃毛着火了，但她似乎没有注意到，当她笑的时候，空气中的灰尘点燃了一条龙的形状，变得越来越大，填满了天花板。"飞吧！飞吧！越快越好！当一切都在燃烧的时候，你无处可逃!"她疯狂地笑了。滚滚的火焰烧着了晨辉，当她跌落到地上时，她遮住了头，羽毛和尾巴都在燃烧。
A moment later, there was pop and then a hiss as water poured down from ceiling sprinklers. The dragon roared in agony before melting away, and Eurydale shrieked as her glowing red powder suddenly became so much dull red mud. “No! No!” she cried as Glory rose to her hooves, beam gun clenched in her jaws. The zebra flung globs of the soaked powder at Glory as she approached. “Dagon! Dagon, burn her! Burn them all!” She teared up as she stared at the red goop running down her hooves. “Dagon, why have you forsaken me?”
过了一会儿，天花板上的洒水器喷出水花，水花四溅，随即传来一阵嘶嘶声。巨龙在消失前痛苦地咆哮着，尤里代尔的发光的红色粉末突然变成了如此多的暗红色泥浆，尤里代尔尖叫着。"不！不!"当晨辉站起来，嘴里紧咬着光枪时，她哭了起来。当斑马靠近晨辉的时候，它把浸透了的粉末扔到了地上。"大衮！大衮，烧死她！把他们都烧了!"她盯着从蹄子上流下来的红色黏糊糊的东西，眼泪都流出来了。"大衮，你为什么离弃我?"
Glory gave the burned mare a shooty look, and I wondered if this was going it be it: was she going to become an executioner? Eurydale pouted, scooping up balls of red muck and watching them dribble away. She sat in a red puddle. “Go away! Dagon will burn and consume you! He shall burn all the world to ash for daring his wra–”
晨辉朝那头烧伤的母马扫了一眼，我不知道事情会不会就是这样:她会不会成为一个刽子手？尤里戴尔撅着嘴，舀起一团团的红色淤泥，看着它们一点点流走。她坐在一个红色的水坑里。"走开！大衮会烧死你！他要把整个世界烧成灰烬，因为他胆大妄为——"
Glory’s gray feathers were blackened and bent, her mane scorched, and her face distinctly ready to dust the zebra. Then she lunged and smashed her hooves against Eurydale’s head twice. “Shut! Up!” she snapped.
格洛里灰色的羽毛变黑并弯曲，她的鬃毛被烧焦，她的脸清楚地准备拍打斑马。然后她猛冲过去，用蹄子撞了欧里代尔的头两下。"闭嘴！起来!"她厉声说道。
“Atropos!” the filly wailed. “I can’t see anything but shadows now! The stars won’t show me anything!”
"阿托波斯!"小母马嚎啕大哭。"现在除了影子我什么也看不见了！星星什么也不给我看!"
The old mare said something in a voice that chilled me to my bones, and blue light struck the floor, a ring of frost flashing out from her. It ran up the walls and across the ceiling, covering everything in ice. My friends and I were glued to the floor. “Enough,” she growled. “This is over.” Overhead, four long spears of ice started to form.
老母马说话的声音使我毛骨悚然，蓝光打在地板上，一圈霜从她身上闪出来。它爬上墙壁，穿过天花板，把所有东西都覆盖在冰里。我和我的朋友被粘在地板上。"够了,"她咆哮道。"一切都结束了。"头顶上，四根长长的冰矛开始形成。
“I can tell you why you can’t see the future,” I said simply.
"我可以告诉你为什么你看不到未来,"我简单地说。
“Doubtful,” she said grimly.
"不一定,"她冷冷地说。
“The Legate is going to resurrect the Eater of Souls,” I informed her.
"使节要复活灵魂食者,"我告诉她。
There’s nothing quite so funny as seeing an old person surprised. “Let me guess. The Starkatteri were going to rule the world, right? Brood. Core. Making pony and zebra alike bend their hooves to you?” Goddesses, it was Cognitum’s routine, just to a different audience. “He’s not. He’s going to resurrect the Eater of Souls, and everything is going to die. You. Me. But not him. He can’t die, right?”
没有什么比看到一个老人吃惊更有趣的了。"让我猜猜。斯塔卡特里将会统治世界，对吗？繁殖。核心。让小马和斑马一样向你弯曲它们的蹄子?"女神们，这是科涅塔姆的例行公事，只是对不同的观众而言。"他不是。他要复活灵魂食者，所有的东西都会死。你。我。但不是他。他不会死的，对吧?"
Atropos scowled thoughtfully, those lances of ice growing longer and longer. “You know nothing of what you speak. The ritual to do so would require hundreds of my tribe. We are all that remain, we five. We could never call down a star, nor would we be foolish enough to try a second time.”
阿特洛普斯若有所思地皱起眉头，那些冰矛越来越长。"你根本不知道你在说什么。这样的仪式需要我的部落成百上千的人来完成。我们是仅存的，我们五个。我们永远不会召唤一颗星星，我们也不会愚蠢到再试一次。"
“You don’t have to,” I countered. “The Eater of Souls got a pony to bind a star to the stone that Cognitum is sending straight to the Core.”
"你不必这么做,"我反驳道。"灵魂的食者得到一匹小马，把一颗星星绑在科涅土直接送到核心的石头上。"
Again, that satisfying expression of shock… though it wasn’t as funny the second time around. “Atropos”, the small one said, “I’m seeing a gap in the shadows... but I don’t know why.” She stared at me. “Who are you?”
再一次，那种令人满意的震惊的表情......尽管第二次并不那么有趣。"阿特罗波斯,"小个子说,"我在阴影中看到了一个缺口......但我不知道为什么。"她盯着我。"你是谁?"
“Hush, Pythia,” she growled, regarding me. At least the icy spears had stopped growing. “My people have never loved the Eater of Souls. We sought to use him for our own empowerment, for he is a vast source of power. We summoned a star once at his direction, and the reaction nearly broke the world in two. At the last moment, my ancestors broke the ritual, letting the star escape. But the devastation was complete enough to eradicate our empire from the earth. We are born with this brand as a reminder of that folly.” She gestured at the orbital markings on her face.
"嘘，皮提亚,"她对着我吼道。至少冰冷的长矛已经停止生长了。"我的人民从来没有爱过灵魂食者。我们试图利用他来增强我们自己的力量，因为他是一个巨大的力量源泉。有一次，我们召唤了一位明星到他的指导下，这种反应几乎把世界一分为二。在最后一刻，我的祖先打破了这个仪式，让星星逃走了。但是毁灭性的破坏已经足以将我们的帝国从地球上消灭。我们与生俱来的这个品牌，提醒着我们那种愚蠢。"她指了指脸上的眼窝印记。
“The Legate is lying to you. Maybe there is some way to restore the Core without setting the Eater free. I can’t say it’s impossible. But I can tell you that he’s not interested in anyone ruling anything.” I pointed at the filly. “She can see the future, right? Well, can she see a future, any future, where all of you get exactly what he promised?”
"使节在对你撒谎。也许有某种方法可以在不释放Eater的情况下恢复核心系统。我不能说这是不可能的。但我可以告诉你，他对任何人统治任何事情都不感兴趣。"我指着那匹小母马。"她能预见未来，对吧？那么，她能预见未来吗，任何未来，你们所有人都能得到他所承诺的一切吗?"
Now that all eyes were on her, the filly stammered, “There are shadows. Always shadows. Just because I haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it’s not there... maybe...” She faltered. She looked down at the paper, which, now that I was frozen in place, I saw was a map of the night sky. She dangled the crystal, the gem making tiny pinpricks of light on the map. “It has to be here somewhere, right, Atropos?”
现在所有的目光都集中在她身上，小姑娘结结巴巴地说:"有阴影。总是阴影。只是因为我没有看到它并不意味着它不存在......也许......"她结结巴巴地说。她低头看着那张纸，现在我被固定在原地，我看到的是一张夜空的地图。她摇晃着那块水晶，这块宝石在地图上闪烁着小小的光点。"肯定在这里的某个地方，对吧，阿特洛波斯?"
Atropos narrowed her eyes at me. “You. You’re not a copy, are you? You’re her. Actually her. The Gambler.” She smiled a little. “You’re supposed to be dead.”
阿托波斯眯起眼睛看着我。"你。你不是复制品吧？你就是她。其实是她。赌徒。"她微微一笑。"你应该已经死了。"
“Yeah. I’m really bad at that,” I replied. “Has Amadi said anything about what you’re actually going to be doing in this glorious future? Made any real plans past ‘restoring the Core’? Anything besides promises?”
"是的。我真的不擅长这个,"我回答。"阿马迪有没有说过，在这个美好的未来，你究竟要做些什么？在恢复核心系统之前做过什么真正的计划吗？除了承诺还有别的吗?"
Atropos was quiet for so long, staring at me contemplatively, that I could have screamed. I had a deadline here! “No. I suppose not.”
阿特罗波斯沉默了很长时间，两眼直勾勾地盯着我，我几乎要尖叫起来。我在这里有一个最后期限！"没有。我想不会。"
She stomped a hoof once, the old mare suddenly seeming a lot more tired and haggard. The ice shattered into snow. Scotch Tape gave the filly a dirty look as she walked a trifle unsteadily to where P-21 had landed. “It would have been nice to not see my tribe go extinct,” the old mare said quietly, turning away from us. “Eurydale. Scylla. Pythia. Let’s go.”
她跺了一下蹄子，老母马突然显得疲惫憔悴多了。冰块碎成了雪。苏格兰胶布给了这匹小母马一个脏兮兮的表情，因为她走得有点摇摇晃晃，走到P-21着陆的地方。"如果我的部落没有灭绝就好了,"老母马轻轻地说，转身离开了我们。"尤里代尔。锡拉。女名女子名。我们走吧。"
“Wait!” I said as I shook the frost off my barding. “You need to tell the other zebras.”
"等等!"我一边说，一边抖掉身上的霜。"你得告诉其他斑马。"
“Tell them? I’m not sure if you noticed, but our tribe is cursed, stupid po–” Eurydale said with a sneer, then saw Glory’s angry glare and shrank back. Her mane, tail, and feathers were badly scorched, but the jacket seemed to have protected the rest of her.
""告诉他们？我不知道你是否注意到了，但是我们的部落是被诅咒的，愚蠢的po——"尤里戴尔冷笑着说，然后看到晨辉愤怒的目光向后退缩。她的鬃毛、尾巴和羽毛被严重烧焦，但夹克似乎保护了她的其余部分。
“Lancer, Sekashi, and Majina are trying to convince the tribe that the Legate is a Starkatteri. You have to help them,” I begged. Okay, I wasn’t exactly sure how that was supposed to work, but still! Help was good! They wanted to show
"Lancer、Sekashi和Majina正试图让部落相信Legate是一个Starkatteri。你必须帮助他们,"我恳求道。好吧，我不太确定这是怎么回事，但还是！帮助是好的！他们想要展示
everyone they were good, right?
每个人都很棒，对吧？
Atropos regarded me coolly. “We will... think about it. And if Pythia sees our glorious future, we will come back for you. But for now, we shall withdraw and consult the stars.”
阿特罗波斯冷冷地看着我。"我们会......考虑一下。如果Pythia看到我们辉煌的未来，我们会回来找你们的。但是现在，我们应该退出，向星星请教。"
“One thing,” P-21 asked as he pulled himself to his hooves, with a pained expression. “Why does the Eater of Souls draw in pony souls but not eat them? That’s never made sense to me.”
"还有一件事,"P-21一边用力蹬着蹄子，一边问道，脸上带着痛苦的表情。"为什么灵魂食者吸引小马的灵魂却不吃它们？这对我来说毫无意义。"
Atropos regarded him with surprise, and I had to admit that I did too. After all, as long as we weren't dealing with slavers or the like, P-21 never really seemed interested in who we were fighting or why. “The Eater eats the souls of Stars. It collects the souls of lesser beings to sing its praises for all of eternity. And when the Eater has consumed all the light that remains, the souls of all life will exist for nothing but aggrandizement of its own ego. Naturally, any sane,” and here she eyed the scarred and charred Eurydale, who was intently poking a ball of mud and whispering loudly ‘Dagon will burn you!’ with every jab, and heaved a sigh, “and many not-so-sane zebras, Starkatteri or not, know such a fate is punishment without end.”
阿特罗波斯惊讶地看着他，我不得不承认我也是。毕竟，只要我们不和奴隶贩子或类似的人打交道，P-21就不会对我们在和谁打仗或者为什么打仗感兴趣。"食人者吃掉星星的灵魂。它聚集了弱小生命的灵魂，为永恒歌唱赞歌。当食者吞噬了所有剩余的光，所有生命的灵魂将会无缘无故的存在，只为了自我的扩张。当然，任何理智的人都可以。"在这里，她注视着满身伤痕、烧焦了的尤里代尔。尤里代尔专心地戳着一个泥球，低声说道:"大衮会烧死你!""不管是不是斯塔卡特里斑马，许多神志不清的斑马都知道，这样的命运是无止境的惩罚。"
“Right,” I said. “Well, if you want to avoid that, try and help us. We need everyone. Even you.”
"对,"我说。"好吧，如果你想避免这种情况，试着帮助我们吧。我们需要所有人。甚至是你。"
The comment seemed to give the old zebra pause. “Interesting. You are... unsettling. I see why he fears you so. As I said. We shall consider it.” She turned and led the other three towards the exit.
这句话似乎让那只老斑马踌躇了一下。"有意思。你真是...让人不安。我明白他为什么这么怕你了。就像我说的。我们会考虑的。"她转过身，领着另外三个人走向出口。
“Wait!” the filly ran up to us holding scraps of paper with some numbers scribbled on them. “Here. The Brood guard patrols. Just take cover at these times and they should miss you.” She gave a little smile and ran after the others. “Wait for me!”
"等等!"小母马拿着几张写着数字的纸片朝我们跑过来。"这儿。布伦特病院的警卫在巡逻。只要在这些时候找个地方躲起来，他们就会想你的。"她微微一笑，跟在其他人后面跑。"等等我!"
“I’ve never been so humiliated,” Scotch Tape groaned, rubbing one of the many black and blue hoof marks that now covered her face. “She spent the entire time staring at that map, and I didn’t lay a hoof on her!” She stared in the direction that the filly had gone.
"我从来没有这么丢脸过,"苏格兰胶带呻吟着，揉着她脸上的一块蓝黑色的蹄印。"她一直盯着那张地图看，而我一个蹄子都没踩到她!"她盯着那匹小母马走的方向。
“Especially not her rear,” I added with a smirk.
"尤其是她的屁股,"我傻笑着补充道。
Scotch Tape glowered at me as she replied in icy tones, “Yes. Especially not that.” She stared at the door. “Enemies aren’t allowed to be cute like that!”
苏格兰胶带怒视着我，她用冰冷的语调回答道:"是的。尤其是这个。"她盯着门。"敌人不能那么可爱!"
“Zebras are just like that sometimes,” I said, trying not to think of Lancer atop me. I tried my broadcaster but got only static. Apparently, magical jamming wasn’t the only source of interference here, though. I trotted to the entrance and kicked the doors open, looking for Boo. Nothing. I spotted her PipBuck tag on the other side of the room and frowned, trotting to the small access door.
"斑马有时就是这样,"我说，尽量不去想骑在我身上的枪骑兵。我试了试我的播音员，但只有静电干扰。显然，魔法干扰并不是这里唯一的干扰源。我小跑到入口处，踢开门，寻找阿布。没什么。我在房间的另一边发现了她的皮巴克牌子，皱起了眉头，小步走向那扇小门。
Boo appeared in the doorway as soon as I’d gotten it open. She rushed forward, hugging me tightly. “I’m sorry! I shoulda known something bad was there.”
我一把门打开，布就出现在门口。她冲上前，紧紧地拥抱着我。"对不起！我应该知道有不好的事情发生。"
“It’s okay,” I said as I patted her mane. “How’d you get over on this side, though?” I asked with a frown.
"没关系,"我拍着她的鬃毛说。"不过，你是怎么从这边过来的?"我皱着眉头问。
“Oh! Well, doors was locked, so I found the right way!” She beamed up at me. “Ready ta go?”
"哦！门是锁着的，所以我找到了正确的路!"她朝我微笑。"准备好了吗?"
We only paused long enough for everypony to share a round of healing potions, and I was glad to see the plumage on Glory’s wings grow back. P-21 also drank heavy doses of RadAway; Scylla’s powder’s explosions had been like mini balefire eggs. For all I knew, that green powder was what balefire eggs were made from!
我们停留的时间只够每匹小马分享一轮治疗药水，我很高兴看到晨辉翅膀上的羽毛重新长出来。P-21也喝了大量的雷达威;锡拉的粉末爆炸就像是小型的火蛋。据我所知，那些绿色的粉末就是用来做蛋的！
We’d fallen behind in the fight, but with Boo leading the way and Pythia’s little scraps of times, we were able to take cover seconds before Brood came trotting into view. Not that we couldn’t take them. I’d thawed out my gun and checked it, and the rugged thing seemed to have come through okay. It was a little unsettling, though. Every time the moment came close, we’d take cover with no sign of the Brood. Then they’d come around a corner or out a door and just miss us.
我们在战斗中落在了后面，但是在布带路和皮提亚的时间碎片的帮助下，我们在布鲁德小跑进入视线前几秒钟就找到了掩护。不是说我们不能接受他们。我已经解冻了我的枪并检查了它，粗糙的东西似乎已经通过安全。不过，这有点令人不安。每次时机一到，我们就躲起来，没有布伦特一家的踪影。然后他们转过一个角落或者走出一扇门，只是想念我们。
Note to self: seeing the future is useful against your enemies!
提醒自己:预见未来对你的敌人是有用的！
The Operations section of the building was relatively small, but given the enormity of the building it was in, it still took us far longer than I was comfortable with to get past the many Brood patrols. A wave of relief swept through me when I spotted the door marked ‘Launch Control’ ahead. Sexy roared out two hammering storms of buckshot, staggering the Brood guards long enough for P-21 and Glory to finish them off. I looked at all the shells scattered
大楼的运营部分相对来说比较小，但是考虑到它所在的建筑的巨大规模，我们还是花了比我想象的要长得多的时间才通过了布鲁德的巡逻队。当我看到前面标有"发射控制"的门时，如释重负的感觉席卷了我。性感吼出两个锤风暴的铅弹，蹒跚的布鲁德卫兵足够长的P-21和晨辉结束了他们。我看着所有散落的贝壳
on the floor around me. Even on burst instead of full auto... “Someone’s a cartridge hog,” I chided the weapon affectionately, then stormed through the door.
在我周围的地板上。即使是在爆炸而不是全自动..."有人是一个弹夹猪,"我亲切地责备武器，然后冲进门。
The control room was much, much smaller than I’d anticipated. I’d expected a cavernous space with tiers of hundreds of terminals and maybe a massive holographic display floating in the middle. The somewhat underwhelming reality: a dozen terminals on ordinary desks looking out at a window angled down and curved to give a slightly distorted view of the entire launch field. A number of little displays above it showed the various rockets. A half dozen zebra technicians sat at various terminals with two Brood unicorns standing guard. At the sight of me bursting in, the former scrambled under or behind their desks and the latter opened up with bolts of lightning from their dark metal horns. I jumped back into the cover behind the doorframe, electricity sizzling past me.
控制室比我预想的要小得多。我原以为会是一个巨大的空间，里面有数百个终端，中间可能漂浮着一个巨大的全息显示屏。平淡无奇的现实是:普通办公桌上的十几个终端朝外看，窗户向下弯曲，给整个发射场一个略微扭曲的视角。上面的一些小显示器显示了各种火箭。六个斑马专家坐在各个码头，两只布鲁德独角兽站岗。一看到我闯进来，前者就从他们的桌子下面或桌子后面爬过去，而后者则从他们深色的金属喇叭里发出一道道闪电。我跳回门框后面的盖子里，电流从我身边呼啸而过。
P-21 drew a shock grenade, but I shook my head. I had no idea what those controls did. I didn’t want to launch the rockets by accident. “We require reinforcements,” I heard one of the two Brood mares say in a robotic monotone of Silver Stripe’s voice.
P-21拉了一个震荡手榴弹，但我摇了摇头。我完全不知道那些控制器是干什么的。我不想意外地发射火箭。"我们需要增援,"我听到两个布鲁德母马之一说，在一个机器人单调的银条纹的声音。
“What?! You talk?!” I gasped. “Brood can’t talk.”
"什么?！你说话?!"我倒抽了一口冷气。"布鲁德不会说话。"
“Oral communication fallback protocols enabled,” they replied dryly in unison. One of the zebra technicians began to creep towards an intercom panel on the wall, looking quite hesitant to do so. “Expedite,” they urged, not taking their eyes off the door as their horns glowed.
"启用了口头交流后备协议,"他们干巴巴地一致回答。一名斑马线技师开始缓缓走向墙上的对讲机面板，看上去犹豫不决。"快点,"他们催促着，喇叭在闪着光，眼睛没有离开门。
I could almost feel our time slipping away. Then Glory launched herself out of cover and through the doorway, her beam pistol already spitting rainbow light. The Brood were turned into sparkling dust, but not before one of them hit her hard enough with a bolt of lightning to send her slamming against the hallway wall. I rushed to her as P-21 and Scotch Tape swept into the room, shouting at the technicians. The filly tackled the zebra at the intercom, throwing her forelegs around his neck and chomping on his ear.
我几乎能感觉到我们的时间在流逝。然后晨辉从掩体里跳出来，穿过门口，她的光枪已经射出了彩虹般的光芒。布鲁德一家变成了闪闪发光的灰尘，但是其中一颗闪电狠狠地击中了她，把她摔到了走廊的墙上。我冲向她，P-21和ScotchTape冲进房间，冲着技术人员大喊大叫。小雌马在对讲机前抓住斑马，用前腿缠住它的脖子，咬住它的耳朵。
I practically shoved a healing potion down Glory’s throat, then unzipped the jacket and pressed my ear to her chest. “Don’t be dead. Don’t be dead. Don’t be dead,” I whispered over and over again.
我实际上是把一种治疗药水塞进了晨辉的喉咙，然后拉开夹克衫的拉链，把耳朵贴在她的胸前。"不要死。不要死。不要死,"我一遍又一遍地低声说。
I heard the beat of her heart. “Don’t you have a world to save?” she muttered. I
我听到她心跳的声音。"你不是还有一个世界要拯救吗?"她喃喃自语道。一
lifted my head and saw her sad smile. “You know you’re better off with him,” she said quietly.
抬起头，看到她悲伤的笑容。"你知道你最好和他在一起,"她平静地说。
“Let me decide that. We’re all getting through this. And then I’m going to work things out if it kills me,” I promised, as I stroked her cheek. “I still haven’t given up plans on making it all work between the three of us.”
"让我来决定吧。我们都会挺过去的。然后我会想办法解决，即使这会要了我的命。"我一边抚摸着她的脸颊，一边承诺道。"我仍然没有放弃让我们三个人共同努力的计划。"
“You never give up,” she murmured with a shake of her head, then zipped the jacket back up. “Tomorrow,” she promised. Then we heard the rapid approach of more Brood, and I ran into the launch control room.
"你永远不会放弃,"她低声说，摇了摇头，然后拉上了夹克衫的拉链。"明天,"她答应道。然后我们听到更多的布鲁德病迅速接近，我跑进了发射控制室。
Boo peeked down the hall and suddenly threw herself against the wall as a burst of gunfire spat at her. She rolled across the floor back into the room. “There’s a whole lot of them comin’! Zebras and ponies too!”
布顺着大厅往下看，突然一阵枪声向她吐了口水，她扑到墙上。她滚过地板回到房间里。"他们来了很多人！还有斑马和小马!"
“P-21,” I said quickly. “Persuade them to take their time. Scotch, see if you can lock that door or something.” I looked at the haggard, terrified zebras. “Propoli?” I asked, startling them and getting wary nods. I clasped my hooves together. “Okay. Time is short, and I don’t want anyone to die. First off, I need to delay the launch. Is there somezebra here who can help me with that? Maybe do an emergency venting of the fuel?”
"P-21,"我赶紧说。"说服他们慢慢来。苏格兰威士忌，看看你能不能把门锁上什么的。"我看着那些憔悴、惊恐的斑马。"Propoli?"我问，吓了他们一跳，小心翼翼地点了点头。我把蹄子紧紧地扣在一起。"好吧。时间紧迫，我不希望任何人死去。首先，我需要推迟发射。这里有没有斑马可以帮我弄那个？也许应该对燃料进行紧急排气?"
“Are you trying to blow us all up?” one zebra in huge blue glasses asked. “That’s a terrible idea!”
"你想把我们都炸飞吗?"一只戴着蓝色大眼镜的斑马问道。"这是个糟糕的主意!"
“Congratulations. You’re the leader,” I said as I trotted over to him, trying to ignore the explosions in the hall behind us. “Listen. I need to get out there. I need to get on that big, fancy rocket. Tell me how to do that,” I said as I stared into his eyes with a casual smile. He kept gaping from the window to me. “What’s your name?” I asked.
"祝贺你。你是领导,"我边说边小跑着走向他，尽量不去理会我们身后大厅里的爆炸声。"听着。我得离开这里。我要上那个又大又漂亮的火箭。告诉我该怎么做,"我一边说，一边不经意地微笑着盯着他的眼睛。他不断地从窗口向我张大嘴巴。"你叫什么名字?"我问道。
“Cerynitis,” he said unsteadily.
"塞里尼提斯,"他摇摇晃晃地说。
“Cerynitis? I’m Blackjack,” I said as I politely patted his shoulder. “I’ve told you what I need. You tell me how you can help me make it happen. Can you just delay the launch here? Wait till I’ve got everything taken care of and then send me off?” When he didn’t answer, I pointed my gun at the terminals. “If not, I’ll have to see if just breaking things works, or try that emergency fuel dump idea.”
"塞里尼蒂斯？我是黑杰克,"我一边说，一边礼貌地拍了拍他的肩膀。"我已经告诉你我需要什么了。你告诉我你怎样才能帮我实现它。你能在这里推迟发射吗？等我把一切都安排妥当了再送我走?"他没有回答，我就用枪指着航站楼。"如果没有，我将不得不看看只是打破东西的工程，或尝试紧急燃料储存的想法。"
He swallowed and adjusted his glasses. “Please don’t. This facility... it’s a
他咽了口唾沫，调整了一下眼镜。"请不要这样。这个机构...是一个
miracle it’s held up as well as it has. If it wasn’t for the ghouls that used to live here, planning to escape to the moon or somesuch, I doubt it would have at all. Still, it’s in rough shape. Most of these rockets are barely-restored literal museum pieces; I doubt half of them will make it to the moon even if they launch successfully. If you start venting the fuel and oxidizer, there’s a good chance the systems to channel it safely away won’t work. The loading systems are probably leaking some as we speak, but so many of the sensors aren’t working that I can’t even be sure of that.” He ran his hooves through his bristly, erect mane, then waved over his head. “I tried to explain to them that this was reckless, but they wouldn’t listen to me! Rocketry is supposed to be a calm, focused, deliberate use of technology. Not slapping things together, filling them with explosives, and just hoping they’ll work!”
真是奇迹，它能保持得这么好。如果不是曾经住在这里的食尸鬼，计划逃往月球或其他地方，我怀疑它根本不会发生。尽管如此，它的形状仍然很粗糙。这些火箭中的大多数几乎都是文学博物馆的陈列品，我怀疑其中一半即使发射成功也不会登上月球。如果你开始排放燃料和氧化剂，系统很有可能无法将其安全排出。我们说话这会儿，加载系统可能正在漏油，但许多传感器都无法工作，我甚至不能确定这一点。"他用蹄子在直立的鬃毛上奔跑，然后在头上挥舞。"我试图向他们解释这是不计后果的，但他们不听我的！火箭技术应该是一种冷静、专注、深思熟虑的技术应用。不是把东西拼凑在一起，装满炸药，只是希望它们能起作用!"
“Eh.” I gave a minimalist shrug. “Then help me out here. How can I slow things down?” I spotted Glory examining a nearby terminal.
"嗯。"我简单地耸了耸肩。"那就帮帮我吧。我怎样才能让事情慢下来呢?"我发现晨辉正在检查附近的一个航站楼。
“We can keep the other three rockets from launching,” he said, pointing at clocks which were frozen at 1 minute. “Even if they overrode our control and manually got the launch towers down, they don't have the time or the training to fire the boosters locally without destroying the rocket. But there's nothing we can do about the one in the center. That’s an ESS-A1, the only one ever built before Equestria's space program lost funding for any new ships. It uses the finest MTRpg engines ever designed, with a TWR of–”
"我们可以阻止其他三枚火箭发射,"他指着冻结在1分钟的时钟说。"即使他们超越了我们的控制，手动摧毁了发射塔，他们也没有时间或训练在不摧毁火箭的情况下在当地点燃助推器。但是我们对中间的那个无能为力。这是ESS-A1，是在小马国的太空计划失去任何新船的资金之前唯一一艘建造的。它使用有史以来最好的MTRpg发动机，TWR为-"
“I am a technological moron, Cerynitis,” I said as I smiled at him. “Just tell me how to stop it from launching.” His mouth worked silently a moment as if trying to figure out how much to dumb this information down. “Really.”
"我是个技术白痴，塞里尼蒂斯,"我笑着对他说。"只要告诉我如何阻止它发射。"他的嘴默默地工作了一会儿，好像在试图弄清楚这个信息到底有多愚蠢。"真的。"
Finally, he said, “...Sorry. You can’t. The erector has already been locally disengaged, and the launch tower isn't sturdy enough to be a problem for the rocket even if it stays in place. It's mostly just to make cargo and passenger transfer easier; the ESS-A1 can launch and land pretty much anywhere with flat ground it won't sink into.” That was not what I wanted to hear right now.
最后，他说,"...对不起。你不能。建立者已经在当地脱离，发射塔不够坚固，即使火箭停留在原地也不会成为问题。这主要是为了方便货物和乘客的转运，ESS-A1可以在任何地方发射和着陆，而且不会陷入平坦的地面。"这不是我现在想听到的。
The doors shut, and there was a thump against them. P-21 stepped back, bobby pin in his mouth, from the door. “Okay,” Scotch Tape said. “Daddy locked it, and I think I got it jammed. It still won’t take them long to get in, though. For all I know, they can chew through it.”
门关上了，砰的一声撞在他们身上。P-21退后一步，嘴里叼着发夹，离开了门。"好吧,"苏格兰胶带说。"爸爸把它锁上了，我想我把它卡住了。尽管如此，他们还是不会花很长时间进去。据我所知，它们可以咬穿它。"
“Not unless they can get it in their mouths,” I replied with a smile, then turned back to Cerynitis. “Well then, keep the other rockets here. If I can’t stop her, I’ll need a rocket to follow her.”
"除非他们能吃进嘴里,"我笑着回答，然后转身回到了Cerynitis。"那么，把其他的火箭留在这里。如果我不能阻止她，我就需要一架火箭来跟踪她。"
“Be careful. There are magical fields that activate prior to launch. If you get stuck inside when the rocket goes up and don’t reach a bunker, you’ll be cooked,” he warned. “You’ll only have ten seconds between the fields going up and the engines firing, and that’s if everything’s working properly.”
"小心点。在发射之前会有魔法场被激活。如果火箭发射时你被困在里面，而且没有到达地堡，你就会被烤熟。"他警告说。"如果一切正常的话，你只有10秒钟的时间，从油田升起到引擎点火。"
“Plenty of time.” If I were able to teleport, damn it! Now, for the last challenge...
"有的是时间。"如果我能传送的话，该死的！现在，最后一个挑战..。
“How do I get out there?” If he said I couldn’t, that big window was going to have a date with Sexy on full auto with grenade chaperones!
"我怎么才能出去呢?"如果他说我不能，那个大窗户将会和性感全自动手榴弹伴侣一起约会！
Thankfully, he pointed a hoof at a hatch set in the room’s exterior wall. I rushed over, twisted the handle, and yanked it open; behind was a six-foot-long hall ending in what looked like a sturdy exterior door.
谢天谢地，他用蹄子指了指房间外墙上的一个舱口。我冲了过去，拧了拧把手，猛地把它拉开，后面是一个六英尺长的大厅，大厅的尽头看起来像是一扇坚固的外门。
“I should stay here,” Glory said.
"我应该留在这里,"晨辉说。
I rounded on her. “What have we learned about splitting up?” I told her. “No. I want all of you with me. No one gets left behind.”
我对她大发雷霆。"关于分手，我们学到了什么?"我告诉她。"没有。我要你们所有人跟我一起。没有人会被落下。"
“Somepony should stay,” P-21 said, examining the door. “That won’t keep Brood out forever. I could do it.”
"小马应该留下来,"P-21一边说，一边检查着门。"那不会永远把布鲁德拒之门外。我可以做到。"
“No. You couldn’t get back in time,” Glory said with a shake of her head. “I’ve got a strong enough weapon to stop them. Plus, if you do need to launch one of the other rockets, someone is going to have to push the button and fly to you before it goes up.” She patted my mane. “Don’t worry, Blackjack. I might not be Dash anymore, but I can reach you in a minute.”
"没有。你不可能及时赶回来,"晨辉摇摇头说。"我有足够强大的武器来阻止他们。另外，如果你确实需要发射另一枚火箭，就必须有人按下按钮，在它升空前飞向你。"她拍了拍我的鬃毛。"别担心，Blackjack。我可能不再是达什了，但我马上就能联系到你。"
How did I not like this? Let me count the ways. “Blackjack,” P-21 said gravely behind me.
我怎么会不喜欢这样？让我来数一数。"黑杰克,"P-21在我身后严肃地说。
“I’ll be fine,” she said as she stroked my mane. “Hurry. You don’t want to miss your flight.”
"我会没事的,"她一边说一边抚摸着我的鬃毛。"快点。你可不想错过飞机。"
I closed my eyes, feeling her hoof as it brushed my cheek. “Tomorrow,” I murmured.
我闭上眼睛，感觉到她的蹄子掠过我的脸颊。"明天,"我低声说。
“Tomorrow. Till then, do what you do best. Go,” she said, her hoof lingering a moment longer, and then she pulled away.
"明天。在那之前，做你最擅长的事。"走吧,"她说，她的蹄子在那儿逗留了一会儿，然后就走开了。
I didn’t trust myself to wait any longer. I turned stepped into the hallway and told Cerynitis over my shoulder to show her how to make the rockets launch, and then Glory closed the inner door behind us.
我不相信自己会再等下去了。我转身走进走廊，告诉切里尼蒂斯在我的肩膀上，告诉她如何使火箭发射，然后晨辉关上了我们身后的内门。
The outer door opened to a stairway that ran down along the inside wall of the crescent. “Sorry my plan didn’t work like I thought it would, Blackjack,” Scotch Tape apologized from her father’s back as we hurried down.
外面的门通向一个楼梯，楼梯沿着新月形的内墙向下延伸。"对不起，我的计划没有像我想的那样成功，Blackjack,"我们匆忙下楼时，她父亲背上的苏格兰胶带向我道歉。
“Hey. No sweat. If you could guess the inner workings of rockets a few months after getting your cutie mark, I’d feel really gypped.” They touched the ground between the concrete pads with faded stenciled signs reading '5' and '1', closer to 5 than 1. Large grates covered dark pits that I guessed were for redirected rocket exhaust. A ring of talismans gleamed around the each of the pads. ‘Arcane Bulwark. Do not stand on line.’ was written repeatedly around them, and in several places in each ring of talismans were pits with stairs leading into them and signs reading 'Emergency Shelter’. The pits seemed nearly full of water, but I couldn’t make out more than that.
"嘿。没问题。如果你能在得到你的可爱标记几个月后猜出火箭的内部运作方式，我会觉得自己被骗了。"他们触碰到了混凝土垫之间的地面，上面有模板印刷的标志，上面写着5和1，接近于5比1。大栅栏覆盖着黑色的凹坑，我猜是为了改变火箭的排气方向。一圈护身符在每个护垫周围闪闪发光。奥术壁垒。不要站在线上在每一圈护身符的好几个地方，都有一些坑，上面有通往坑的楼梯，还有写着'紧急避难所'的标志。这些坑看起来几乎都是水，但我不能辨认出更多的东西。
At the bottom of the stairs, I looked around at the others and then put a hoof around Boo. “Boo, I have a super special mission for you.” She blinked at me. “Do you feel up to it?”
在楼梯底部，我看了看周围的其他人，然后用蹄子围住了Boo。"Boo，我有一个超级特别的任务给你。"她对我眨了眨眼睛。"你觉得你能胜任吗?"
Boo’s face grew more serious. “You need to find Big Daddy or Lancer and tell them that there’s a balefire missile aimed at this place. They need to ready to pull back quickly as they can. We’re here. At this point, I’m not sure how much good they can do with their attack.”
布的脸变得更严肃了。"你需要找到大老爹或长矛兵，告诉他们有一枚火箭弹瞄准了这个地方。他们需要做好迅速撤退的准备。我们到了。在这一点上，我不确定他们的攻击能起多大作用。"
“Yer sending me away again,” she said with a pout.
"你又把我送走了,"她撅着嘴说。
“Because you’re the only pony who can make it. I know you’re lucky, and smart, and quiet.” I gave her a kiss on her forehead. “Get to them quick.” I reached down and manipulated her PipBuck, typing out a brief message. ‘Balefire bomb targeting space center. Get out. Do better. Blackjack.’ If they didn’t think I’d sent her... well... there wasn’t much I could do about that.
"因为你是唯一能做到的小马。我知道你很幸运，很聪明，也很安静。"我在她的额头上吻了一下。"快去找他们。"我伸手操纵她的PipBuck，打出一条简短的信息。巴雷火炸弹瞄准太空中心。出去。做得更好。黑杰克如果他们不认为是我派她去的......那么......我也无能为力。
Boo moved away, paused to gaze longingly back at us, and then sped out into the shadows around the side of the building. The rest of us quickly made our way
布走开了，停下来渴望地凝视着我们，然后加速驶入建筑物旁边的阴影中。我们其余的人很快就出发了
past the smaller pads towards the center. Cognitum's rocket was a shining white tower curving gracefully up to a point high above us, reaching for the stars, a scaffold tower rising next to it to allow access and looking quite utilitarian in comparison to its neighbor.
穿过较小的垫子，走向中心。科涅塔的火箭是一座闪亮的白色塔楼，优雅地向上弯曲到我们头顶的一个高处，伸向星星，一个脚手架塔在它旁边升起，与它的邻居相比，它看起来相当实用。
“Get your spark grenades ready,” I said as we approached the base of the scaffold, where a stairway and several cargo and passenger elevators stood empty alongside large wheels that must have been for moving the tower away from the rocket. “Cognitum!” I roared up at where I knew the control room hatch was. “I’m calling you out! Get down here and give me my body back!”
"准备好你们的火花榴弹,"我们走近脚手架底部时，我说。脚手架底部有一段楼梯，还有几部货运和客运电梯，空空荡荡地站在大轮子旁边，这些轮子肯定是用来把塔移离火箭的。"干杯!"我知道控制室舱口就在那里，于是大吼了起来。"我要叫你出来！下来把我的身体还给我!"
She’d do it. She was arrogant enough to do it. She’d want to squash me personally. But then a worried thought struck me. “You can hear me, right?” I hollered up at her. “Hey! Hey!” I started jumping up and down, waving my hooves in the air. “Get down here!” I really did not want to fight a flying me on a scaffold ten stories in the air.
她会这么做的。她傲慢地做了这件事。她会亲自把我压扁的。但是我突然产生了一个担忧的想法。"你能听见我说话，对吧?"我冲她喊道。"嘿！嘿!"我开始上蹿下跳，在空中挥舞着我的蹄子。"给我下来!"我真的不想在十层楼高的脚手架上和一个飞行的我搏斗。
And the Brood were coming. While most of them were occupied fighting our allies assaulting the facility from the outside, there were still plenty left to deal with us. I looked around and spotted a box marked ‘Intercom 6’ by the base of the launch tower stairway, rushed to it, and mashed my hoof against the button. “Cognitum!”
布伦特一家也来了。虽然他们中的大多数人正忙于从外面攻击我们的盟友，还有很多人要对付我们。我环顾四周，发现在发射塔楼梯底部有一个标有'Intercom6'的盒子，我冲过去，把蹄子踩在按钮上。"干杯!"
There was silence, and then her voice crackled over the intercom. “Who is this?”
一片寂静，然后她的声音在对讲机里劈啪作响。"你是谁?"
“You know who. You took my body and my baby. I want them back!” I snapped.
"你知道是谁。你带走了我的身体和我的孩子。我要他们回来!"我厉声说道。
“Your baby?” Cognitum murred. Then her voice took on a purr that nearly made me bite the box. “It is you, isn’t it? How... interesting,” she said with a note of delight.
"你的孩子?"白兰地低声说。然后她的声音发出咕噜咕噜的声音，差点让我咬掉盒子。""是你，对吗？多么......有趣啊,"她高兴地说。
“I want my body back and I want my baby back.”
"我想要回我的身体，我想要回我的孩子。"
“And how is it to want? I wanted a body and my kingdom back for two hundred years. I dare say I’m handling it much better than you are now. And, let’s be honest, I am going to be a much better mother to my babies than you ever will be.” There was a pause. “Did you just bite the intercom?”
""你想要什么？两百年来我一直想要回我的身体和我的王国。我敢说我现在处理得比你好多了。而且，说实话，我会成为一个比你更好的孩子们的母亲。"停顿了一下。"你刚才是不是咬了对讲机?"
I wasn’t going to answer that, no matter how much my teeth hurt. “I’m going to stop Horizons,” I said as I saw the Brood coming closer. “Face me!”
不管我的牙齿有多疼，我都不会回答这个问题。"我要去阻止地平线,"当我看到布伦特一家走近时，我说。"面对我!"
“Face you? Dear Blackjack, I have a world to save. I don’t have time to indulge you,” she said silkily. “However, I will make you this offer. If I return and the Legate is dead, I’ll pardon you and your friends. I’ll allow you a quiet life elsewhere in the world.”
"面对你？亲爱的黑杰克，我要拯救世界。我没有时间迁就你,"她温和地说。""不过，我可以给你这个提议。如果我回来的时候特使已经死了，我会赦免你和你的朋友们。我会让你在世界的其他地方过上平静的生活。"
“The Legate has fooled you!” I shouted. “There’s a star spirit bound to Tom. The Legate is planning on feeding it to the Eater and resurrecting it! You’re playing right into his hooves!”
"使节愚弄了你们!"我喊道。"汤姆身上有一种明星的气质。使者正计划把它喂给食者并复活它！你正中他的下怀!"
“You are deranged,” Cognitum said disdainfully. “The Tokomare will be restored and the Core rebuilt, and we shall proceed into a glorious future. Too bad you are so mired in the past.”
"你精神错乱了,"考尼顿轻蔑地说。"Tokomare将被修复，Core将被重建，我们将进入一个光荣的未来。可惜你陷入了过去的泥潭。"
Suddenly klaxons were blaring, red lights flashing on the scaffold tower as it started pulling away from the rocket with the grind of protesting machinery. “Clear Pad Six immediately. Launch sequence initiated,” a recorded voice began announcing as the ring of bulwark talismans grew brighter and a hiss began to build in the darkness beneath the rocket. “Clear Pad Six immediately…”
突然，高音喇叭发出刺耳的声音，脚手架塔上闪烁着红色的灯光，火箭随着抗议机器的摩擦声开始离开火箭。"立刻清理六号发射台。发射程序启动,"一个录音声音开始宣布，伴随着防波堤护身符的戒指变得更加明亮，在火箭下方的黑暗中开始发出嘶嘶声。"立即清理六号发射台......"
“Rampage! Stop her, Rampage! I know who you are! She’s never going to help you!” I screamed into the intercom over the noise, having to trot to keep up with the moving tower. “Dealer! I know you can hear me! You owe me, Dealer!” Still no response. In my rage, I lifted my gun and pointed it at the rocket's thick base.
"横冲直撞！拦住她，狂暴！我知道你是谁！她永远不会帮你的!"我对着对讲机尖叫着，声音盖过了噪音，我不得不小跑以跟上移动的塔楼。"经销商！我知道你能听见我！你欠我的，商人!"还是没有回应。盛怒之下，我举起枪指向火箭厚厚的底座。
P-21 tackled me, breaking my focus. “No, Blackjack! If you get through the hull at all, you could blow us all up! Come on!”
P-21撞倒了我，分散了我的注意力。"不，黑杰克！如果你能穿过船体，你会把我们都炸飞的！来吧!"
“No! Damn it!” I shouted as he shoved me towards the line of bright talismans. I’d been so sure she’d face me personally. That I’d do it and get it back. “No!” I yelled as we crossed the bulwark. He held me back, and then a shimmery field rose up, flickered, and solidified, smaller ones rising around each of the trio of exhaust grates. I pushed past him, hammering on it with my hooves, the magic flashing as I beat something the consistency of thick rubber.
"不！该死!"我喊道，他把我推向一排闪亮的护身符。我一直以为她会亲自来见我。我会去做，然后把它拿回来。"不!"当我们越过舷墙时，我大声喊道。他把我拉了回来，然后一个微微发光的能量场升起，闪烁着，凝固着，更小的能量在三个排气栅栏周围升起。我从他身边挤过去，用我的蹄子重重地敲打着它，魔力在闪烁，我敲打着厚厚的橡胶似的东西。
Then the ground leapt under my hooves, shaking so much that we nearly bounced across it. The flames under the rocket were tiny, pale things, with barely-visible columns of exhaust with an odd diamond pattern in them, but the sound that managed to escape the fields was deafening. From the exhaust grates blasted huge columns of steam, jetting out into clouds at the tops of the exhaust bulwarks. They didn't beat the rocket by much as it shot upward, its own
然后我的蹄子下面的地面突然跳起来，抖动得如此厉害，以至于我们几乎都要跳过去了。火箭下面的火焰是微小的，苍白的东西，几乎看不见的排气柱，里面有奇怪的菱形图案，但是从田野里传出来的声音震耳欲聋。从排气格栅喷射出巨大的蒸汽柱，喷射到排气舱顶端的云层中。他们并没有击败火箭，而是火箭自己向上发射
bulwark taller but still low enough that, when it finally cleared the top of it, the building noise nearly ruptured my eardrums and the hurricane blast of suffocatingly hot gas that escaped around the sides of the field picked me up from the still-vibrating ground and sent me skidding past the other waiting rockets and towards the wall of the space center. When I came to rest, I was surrounded by a stinging-hot fog, the roar of the rocket's engines growing quieter and quieter and making my ears ring from the relative silence. I lay on my back and stared up at the now-hidden sky, my ears trying to track the rocket and my eyes desperately trying to see it. The noise faded and faded, and then was gone.
墙壁更高了，但仍然很低，当它最终清除了顶部的时候，建筑的噪音几乎使我的耳膜破裂，旋风般的令人窒息的高温气体从场地的两侧喷涌而出，把我从仍在震动的地面上拉了起来，让我滑过其他等待着的火箭，朝着太空中心的墙壁滑去。当我休息的时候，我被刺热的雾气包围着，火箭发动机的轰鸣声越来越小，相对的寂静让我的耳朵嗡嗡作响。我仰面躺着，凝视着现在看不见的天空，我的耳朵试图追踪火箭，我的眼睛拼命地想看到它。噪音消失了，消失了，然后消失了。
“No…” I whispered into the quiet as the vapor began to thin.
"不......"蒸汽开始稀薄的时候，我在寂静中低声说。
“Oh yes,” a stallion said confidently, and I looked up at the wall of Brood, Harbingers, and Remnant surrounding us, guns motionlessly pointed at me. Looking down at me sat the Legate, his eyes narrowed in mirth. “Time to die.”
"哦，是的,"一匹种马自信地说，我抬头看了看布鲁德病房、港口病人和我们周围的残余者的墙，他们的枪一动不动地指着我。特使坐在那里，高兴地眯起眼睛看着我。"该死了。"
Then his chest exploded. The Harbingers opened up on him, the Brood, and the Remnant with full automatic spray. Indeed, only the flesh wall of the Brood kept the three of us from being wiped out. The Legate jerked and danced in the air as if he were being electrocuted, but he did not fall. Bullets sparked off the skull helmet. The Remnant, the smallest in number of the three, fell back, and from around us came more sounds of gunfire as the Harbingers attacked the Legate’s forces all across the field. From above, the energy blasts from the Blizzard’s secondary weapons lanced down, careful not to hit the remaining three rockets, as the Sirocco exchanged fire with the Rampage and Cyclone.
然后他的胸部爆炸了。先驱者们用全自动喷雾向他、布鲁德一家和剩余者开火。事实上，只有血肉之墙阻止了我们三个被消灭。莱盖特猛地一扭，在空中跳起舞来，就好像他是被电死的一样，但他没有摔倒。子弹从头盔上射出。例外人是三人中最小的，他们撤退了，随着"先驱者"在整个战场上攻击"使者"的部队，从我们周围传来了更多的枪声。从上面看，暴雪的辅助武器发出的能量冲击向下，小心翼翼地避免击中剩下的三枚火箭，因为热风与狂暴和飓风交火。
Fierce as the Harbingers were, though, the Brood still turned to face them. They didn’t register pain. Couldn't feel fear. Only a headshot or blasting them to pieces would really stop them. And now the ones on the field had a particularly nasty weapon: the rifles they employed fired glowing blue bullets that reminded me of Atropos’s freezing powder. The enchanted rounds coated the Harbingers’ barding with thick ice, froze their hooves to the ground, and, more than once, made huge chunks of flesh shatter off like meaty popsicles.
尽管预言者很凶猛，但是布伦特一家还是转过身来面对他们。他们没有感觉到疼痛。感觉不到恐惧。只有爆头或者把他们炸成碎片才能真正阻止他们。现在战场上的那些人有了一个特别难对付的武器:他们使用的步枪发出了发光的蓝色子弹，让我想起了阿特罗波斯的冷冻粉末。被施了魔法的子弹把"先驱者"们的帐篷罩上了厚厚的冰，把他们的蹄子冻在了地上，不止一次地把大块的肉像肉棒一样打碎。
And the Legate didn’t stop either. The gory nightmare rushed right up to the first Harbinger to shoot him and hooked his forelegs around the stallion’s neck. The blood-streaked Legate twisted and pulled, the stallion’s body gave a crack, and then his entire head came off. Again the Legate lunged, at the next and the next, killing them all with crushing blows that shattered ribs and burst blood vessels.
使节也没有停止。血淋淋的噩梦直接冲向第一个"预兆"，向他开枪，把他的前肢钩在种马的脖子上。血迹斑斑的莱格特扭动着身体，猛地一拉，种马的身体裂开了一条缝，然后整个头都掉了下来。特使又一次冲过来，一次又一次，用粉碎性的重击击碎肋骨和血管，杀死了他们所有人。
Bullets tumbled out of his body seconds after they entered. Bits shot off returned to rejoin his body.
子弹进入后几秒钟就从他的身体里滚了出来。被射出的碎片又回到了他的身体里。
The field erupted into incomprehensible chaos as the three of us collapsed into one of the shelter pits. Really, I didn’t see why it was full of shoulder deep cold water, whether that was intentional or not, but after the baking we’d just received, it was quite refreshing. Rusty breathing apparatuses hung on hooks. There was a button for an emergency hatch, but, despite mashing my hoof against it repeatedly, it wouldn’t close. The shooting went on for several seconds, and I poked my head up.
当我们三个倒在一个掩蔽坑里时，场地爆发出难以理解的混乱。真的，我不明白为什么里面全是齐肩深的冷水，不管是有意还是无意的，但是在我们刚刚收到的烘焙食物之后，感觉很清爽。挂钩上挂着锈迹斑斑的呼吸装置。那里有一个紧急舱口的按钮，但是，尽管我的蹄子不停地踩它，它还是关不上。枪战持续了几秒钟，我抬起头来。
The Legate stood on a field of carnage. Most of the Brood and all of the Harbingers that had been within his reach had died. The Remnant were beginning to emerge from gaps and cover, though most of them looked as if they wanted to be anywhere else but here. I couldn’t blame them as the Legate stood in the middle of all that gore. He then turned back to us in the shelter pit. “Come on out, little fraud. Don’t make me come in there after you.”
特使站在大屠杀的战场上。大部分的布鲁德病和所有的先兆病都在他的控制范围内死去了。例外人开始从缝隙中钻出来，进行掩护，尽管他们中的大多数看起来好像除了这里还想去别的地方。我不能责怪他们，因为特使就站在那些血腥的场面中间。然后他转过身来，在掩体的深坑里看着我们。"出来吧，小骗子。别让我跟着你进去。"
Okay. Here’s hoping he was in a talky mood. I whispered instructions to P-21 and Scotch Tape, then climbed from the pit, water streaming from me as I faced him. “Starkatteri,” I said, and instantly his eyes narrowed.
好吧。希望他心情不错。我低声指示P-21和透明胶带，然后爬出坑，水流从我面前他。"斯塔卡特里,"我说，他立刻眯起了眼睛。
“Oh? An educated fraud. Or perhaps proof that my treasonous mate is working with the damned city?” he said loudly, pointing a bloody hoof at me. “Well, no matter. Soon the city will be destroyed and the world purged of pony evil. I have sent the Maiden back to the moon, and there she will remain, forever. Should she return, I will annihilate her.”
"哦？一个受过教育的骗子。或者证明我那叛国的伙伴正在为这个该死的城市工作?"他大声地说，用一只血淋淋的蹄子指着我。""好吧，没关系。很快，这座城市将被摧毁，世界将清除小马的邪恶。我已经把少女送回月球，她将永远留在那里。如果她回来，我会消灭她。"
Why was he talking? He should just be killing me. But he’d been the same way earlier too. He had phenomenal power to kill with his own hooves, and it wasn’t enough. “You missed your calling, Amadi. You should have been an actor.” Slowly I walked to the left, all eyes on me, and none on the filly and stallion rushing away to the other side.
他为什么要说话？他应该直接杀了我。但他早些时候也是这样。他拥有用自己的蹄子杀人的惊人力量，但这还不够。"你错过了你的使命，阿玛迪。你应该去当演员。"慢慢地我向左边走去，所有的目光都在我身上，而那匹小母马和种马没有一只向另一边跑去。
He froze, his eyes wide behind the skull. “You heard me, Amadi. You’ve been playing roles for centuries now. You used the war as cover for your schemes. Used the pony and zebra hate to play one against the other. You’ve been doing it for years now.” I narrowed my eyes and grinned at him as Scotch and P-21 went to work next to a heap of bodies behind him. “I was wrong. Not an actor. You’re
他愣住了，眼睛瞪得大大的。"你听到我说的了，阿玛迪。你们已经扮演了几个世纪的角色。你利用战争来掩盖你的阴谋。使用小马和斑马讨厌玩一个对另一个。你已经做了很多年了。"当苏格兰人和P-21在他身后的一堆尸体旁工作时，我眯起眼睛对他咧嘴笑了笑。"我错了。不是演员。你是
a politician!”
一个政客!"
His eyes narrowed this time. “Who do you think you are? A mare with a dyed mane that thinks to rally this pitiful resistance?!” he said as he gestured with a hoof at the gap to the west. “You think you know me? You know nothing!”
这次他眯起了眼睛。"你以为你是谁？一匹染了色的鬃毛的母马想要集结这可怜的抵抗?!"他一边说，一边用蹄子指着西边的缺口。"你以为你了解我吗？你什么都不知道!"
“I know it was you at Littlehorn,” I said as I stood there, a perfect target, keeping a distance between me and him as Scotch and P-21 frantically smeared bloody streaks across the flight deck. “You brought the Pink Cloud talisman. Wired it with starmetal to boost it. The more that died, the more it killed. Pretty effective,” I said with as much contempt in my voice as I could muster. “I know you grabbed Goldenblood and fell to the ground floor, then unleashed the talisman. You killed so many. And, of course, afterward both sides blamed the other.”
"我知道在Littlehorn的那个人就是你,"我站在那里说道，他是一个完美的目标，我和他保持着距离，苏格兰威士忌和P-21疯狂地在飞行甲板上擦出血迹。"你带来了粉色云彩护身符。用星型金属来增强它。死的越多，死的越多。"非常有效,"我说，声音里充满了轻蔑。"我知道你抓住了金色血液，摔倒在地，然后释放了护身符。你杀了那么多人。当然，事后双方都指责对方。"
His lips quivered behind the dragon's teeth. I had a guess that he was like Goldenblood, that he had a desperate need to vent all his accomplishments. Then his mouth split in a wide grin. “It went marvelously, didn’t it? Better than I could have ever planned. Then the fire in Hoofington? I wanted to torch Ponyville, personally, but there were too many soldiers in the way.” He laughed sharply, an echo of wonder two centuries old in his voice as he went on, “But Celestia abdicating her throne and Luna taking it? I couldn’t have planned that in ten thousand years!”
他的嘴唇在龙的牙齿后面颤抖。我猜他就像金血王一样，迫切需要发泄他所有的成就。然后他咧开嘴大笑。""真不可思议，不是吗？比我计划的还要好。那么Hoofington的火灾呢？就我个人而言，我想点燃Ponyville，但路上有太多士兵。"他尖锐地笑了起来，声音里回荡着两个世纪前的惊奇:"但是塞莱斯蒂亚放弃了她的王位，卢娜夺走了王位?"？我不可能在一万年内计划好这些的!"
The other zebras looked on, muttering to each other as the Legate continued to stare at me. “But it’s been hard,” I continued. “You almost had the Tokomare activated, didn’t you? So close to Luna turning it on. Let me guess, the next plan was to raise it to the surface? Get the moonstone to it then?”
其他的斑马看着，在特使继续盯着我的时候互相喃喃自语。"但这很难,"我继续说道。"你差点就激活了德国佬，是不是？就差一点露娜就开机了。让我猜猜，下一个计划是把它升到地面？那就把月光石拿过来?"
His smile began to fade. “How...” And his pupils started to constrict. “No...” he hissed at me.
他的微笑开始消失了。"怎么......"他的瞳孔开始收缩。"不......"他对我发出嘶嘶的声音。
“The bombs falling really did ruin everything for you, didn’t it? Let me guess. You planned on Luna winning, and then you’d use her dream of a strong, futuristic Equestria to cover what you were doing. You’d keep up your exploits in the shadows till you could achieve your goal. But everything fell apart.” I grinned at him. “Ashur probably didn’t like that, did he?”
"炸弹的落下真的毁了你的一切，不是吗？让我猜猜。你计划让卢娜赢得比赛，然后用她那个强大的、未来派的小马国的梦想来掩盖你的所作所为。你会一直隐藏你的事迹直到你实现你的目标。但一切都崩溃了。"我冲他咧嘴笑了笑。"阿舒尔可能不喜欢这样，对吧?"
“That’s impossible. No...” he said as he stared at me.
"那是不可能的。不......"他盯着我说。
“All that hard work wasted, but you’re nothing if not persistent. Use the Wasteland. Use the Hoof. Use the Remnant. Use Cognitum. And then, when I stepped out with EC-1101, everything started moving again. Horizons got ready to fire. Cognitum started to move. And you had your golden opportunity.”
"所有的努力都白费了，但如果不坚持，你就什么也不是。使用荒原。使用蹄子。使用残余者。使用Cognitum。然后，当我拿着EC-1101走出来的时候，一切又开始移动了。地平线号准备发射。认知神经开始移动。你得到了你的黄金机会。"
The Legate took a step back from me. “That’s impossible! You can’t be! You’re a fake! You’re nothing! You’re dead!”
特使离我远了一步。"这不可能！你不能这样！你是个骗子！你什么都不是！你死定了!"
“Dead?” I threw back my head and laughed. “I’ve died three times, and it hasn't stuck yet. I’ve destroyed Goddesses and purged abominations from the land. I’ve broken the skies and cast down the towers. I’ve stood in the mouth of the Eater of Souls and walked out again.” I pointed my hoof at him and cried out, “I am the Maiden of the Stars, Amadi. Say my name!” His eyes bulged, as if he were in a grip of a magic spell. “Say it!” I ordered.
"死了?"我仰起头笑了起来。"我已经死了三次了，还没有死。我已经毁灭了女神，清除了这片土地上的可憎之物。我打破了天空，摧毁了双子塔。我站在食魂者的嘴边，又走了出去。"我用蹄子指着他喊道:"我是星中少女，阿玛迪。说我的名字!"他的眼睛睁得大大的，好像中了魔咒似的。"说啊!"我点了。
“Blackjack?” he whispered as if fighting to assimilate the idea, but then his eyes narrowed and he shook his head, never taking his eyes off me. “No... No! It can’t be! It’s impossible!” he said, his voice tightening in horror. He pointed his hoof at me. “Kill her! Now!” But not a one moved against me. I saw more bars turn yellow than stay red.
"黑杰克?"他低声说着，仿佛在努力接受这个观点，但随后他眯起眼睛，摇着头，目不转睛地盯着我。"不......不！不可能！这是不可能的!"他惊恐地说，声音越来越紧。他用蹄子指着我。"杀了她！现在!"但是没有一个人反对我。我看到更多的酒吧变成黄色而不是保持红色。
“Shoot me and be forever cursed!” I warned, watching more bars turn yellow.
"向我开枪吧，永远被诅咒!"我警告道，看着越来越多的酒吧变成了黄色。
“You’re not the Maiden! She’s gone to the moon!” His eyes dug into me.
"你不是少女！她去月球了!"他的眼睛深深地盯着我。
“Not yet, I haven’t,” I countered. I raised my hoof as I saw P-21 finish painting and signal me with a hoof wave. I swallowed, glad he couldn’t see me sweat. If this didn’t work... and there were so many ways it could fail... he’d stop talking and start trying to take me apart. I raised my hoof over my head. “Now, as Maiden of the Stars, I call on the skies to strike you down and smite you.” I paused, swallowing. “Right now!” His shock melted away into a smoldering rage. “Any second...” I said as I glared upwards. “Now, damn it!”
"还没有，我还没有,"我反驳道。我抬起我的蹄子，因为我看到P-21完成油漆和信号我的蹄波。我咽了口唾沫，庆幸他没看见我流汗。如果这个方法不起作用......有太多的方法可能会失败......他就会停止说话，开始试图把我分开。我把蹄子举过头顶。"现在，作为群星中的少女，我号召天空击倒你，重击你。"我停顿了一下，吞咽着。"马上!"他的震惊渐渐消失为一种阴燃的愤怒。"随时......"我向上瞪着眼睛说。"现在，该死的!"
“Idiot,” he said in disgust as he turned from me. I watched those yellow bars turning back to red as he said contemptuously, “Kill her.” Then he froze as he stared at the ground behind him, and the letters L, E, G, A, T, and E written ten feet tall inside a crimson arrow pointing right at him.
"白痴,"他转过身，厌恶地说。我看着那些黄色的栅栏又变成了红色，他轻蔑地说:"杀了她。"然后他愣住了，盯着身后的地面，字母l，e，g，a，t和e写在一个十英尺高的深红色箭头指向他。
There was a resounding ‘CHOOM’, and he disappeared in a blinding beam of light. I fell hard on my ass, wondering which airship had taken the shot. I’d kiss
接着是一声响亮的"咻"，他消失在一道耀眼的光束中。我屁股重重地摔了一跤，不知道是哪艘飞艇开的枪。我会亲吻
them all if we made it through this. Even Afterburner and Hoarfrost. I blinked repeatedly to try and clear the line burned in my vision. Where was the Legate? I saw a blackened form in the middle of the burned patch twenty feet away.
他们所有人，如果我们通过这个。即使是加力燃烧室和白霜。我反复眨眼，试图清除视线中烧灼的痕迹。特使在哪里？我看到二十英尺外烧焦的补丁中间有一个变黑的东西。
Then I heard the scream. The inarticulate scream rising higher and higher as the body reared on its hindlegs in a scorched circle, a blackened silhouette of charred meat pulling itself back together. An accretion disk of dust swirled around him, drawing back into his body, and everyone watched in horror as the charred carcass was wrapped in muscle and organs, then blood, then skin. The blackened skull tumbled from his head and bounced around his hooves.
然后我听到了尖叫声。口齿不清的尖叫声越来越高，人们用后腿站立起来，围成一个烧焦的圆圈，烧焦的肉被熏黑了的轮廓把自己拉回到一起。一团尘埃在他周围盘旋，卷回他的身体，每个人都惊恐地看着烧焦的尸体被包裹在肌肉和器官里，然后是血，然后是皮肤。变黑的头骨从他的头上滚落下来，在他的蹄子上弹来弹去。
When it ended, the Legate stood there, his black stripes now vivid, blood red. His face covered in the satellite pattern of the Starkatteri for all to see. Smoke rose all around him as he turned and stared right at me with all the malice in the world in his gaze. “It’s true,” muttered one of the Remnant soldiers. “Starkatteri.” Almost unanimously, the remaining red bars turned yellow.
当仪式结束时，特使站在那里，他身上的黑色条纹鲜明，血红色。他的脸上覆盖着星际卡特里号的卫星图案，所有人都可以看到。当他转过身来时，烟雾在他周围升起，带着世界上所有的敌意直勾勾地盯着我。"是真的,"一个例外士兵喃喃自语。"斯塔卡特里。"几乎一致地，剩下的红条变成了黄色。
“True? True?” He gaped at the Remnant as they turned from him. He gestured to me. “She is our enemy! She will destroy all we have worked to achieve! Kill her!” he ordered.
"真的吗？真的吗?"当例外人转身离开他时，他目瞪口呆地看着他们。他向我做了个手势。"她是我们的敌人！她会毁了我们为之奋斗的一切！杀了她!"他命令道。
I stared at him in bafflement. Why the heck wasn’t he popping my head off personally like he had the others? Then it struck me. “You’re afraid to fight me,” I said, a smile creeping across my face. “That’s it, isn’t it?” I stepped towards him and watched as he took a step back. “It’s not just Xanthe and Lancer, is it? You’re afraid of me too. You’re afraid I’m the real thing, even if you thought you’d made the prophecy up, and even though you’re an immortal beast, you’re afraid I can stop you!” I said as I advanced, watching him fall back. “And best of all, if you’re afraid I can... then there’s a way.”
我困惑地盯着他。为什么他不像杀其他人那样亲自把我的头拧下来？然后我突然想到。"你害怕和我打架,"我说，一个微笑爬过我的脸。"就是这样，不是吗?"我走向他，看着他后退一步。"不只是赞斯和兰瑟，对吧？你也怕我。你害怕我是真实存在的，即使你认为预言是你编造的，即使你是不朽的野兽，你也害怕我可以阻止你!"我边说边向前走，看着他后退。"最棒的是，如果你害怕我可以......那么就有办法了。"
More and more Remnant were emerging, and baffled, battered Harbingers were showing themselves as well, the ponies looking around as if not sure what they should do now. Had they finally gotten the same message that Nails had given the other Harbinger groups, or were they simply realizing that they were in over their heads?
越来越多的例外人出现了，他们感到困惑，破败的预兆者也出现了，小马们环顾四周，好像不知道他们现在应该做什么。他们是否最终得到了与Nails给其他Harbinger组织同样的信息，或者他们只是意识到他们已经超出了他们的理解范围？
“Kill her!” he screamed, and there was a long pause, and then, as one, the Remnant raised their weapons.
"杀了她!"他尖叫起来，然后停顿了很久，然后，作为一个人，例外人举起了他们的武器。
At him.
看着他。
“It’s over, Father,” Lancer said from one of the clumps. He stepped out with his sniper rifle. Sekashi and Majina were at his flank, the filly repeating him silently to her mother. “Surrender.”
"一切都结束了，父亲,"兰瑟在一丛树丛中说。他拿着他的狙击步枪走了出来。Sekashi和Majina在他的旁边，小母马默默地向她的母亲重复着他的话。"投降。"
“Over?” He seemed to mull the world in his head. “Give up just like that, and be left with nothing?” He gave a little smile and shook his head. “No. I’ve pursued this for thousands of years. I will never surrender.”
"结束了?"他似乎在思考这个世界。"就这样放弃了，一无所有?"他微微一笑，摇了摇头。"没有。我追求这个目标已经有几千年了。我永远不会投降。"
“Give up, Amadi. She has your name. It is foolish to continue,” Sekashi said flatly. “A thousand years of folly weighs heavy, but redemption starts with a single choice.”
"放弃吧，阿玛迪。她知道你的名字。继续下去是愚蠢的。"。千年的愚昧重如累赘，惟有一次的选择，才能得救赎
He licked his lips, his red eyes desperate as he looked at me, then the zebras and Harbingers around him. For several seconds he stared at me, and I tried to will him to give it up. Do better. Find a good way. “It would be wonderful, wouldn’t it? No more plotting. No more desperation. No more fear. Peace.”
他舔了舔嘴唇，红红的眼睛绝望地看着我，然后斑马和先驱者围绕着他。他盯着我看了几秒钟，我试图用意志力劝他放弃。做得更好。找到一个好的方法。""那就太好了，不是吗？不用再密谋了。不再绝望。不再有恐惧。和平。"
I approached him. “It can still be that way.” He seemed to relax and gave a little nod and for an instant I smiled too and extended a hoof toward him. Then his arms snapped out and seized it, and his eyes locked with mine. For a second, I thought there might be a chance, some shred of equinity that I could appeal to...
我接近了他。"现在也可能是那样。"他似乎放松了下来，点了点头，我也微笑了一下，把蹄子伸向他。然后他的胳膊啪的一声伸了出来，抓住了它，他的眼睛紧紧地盯着我的眼睛。有那么一瞬间，我想也许有一个机会，一些我可以诉诸的温柔..。
and I realized that I’d finally dared to forgive too far. Thousands of years of hatred, war, blood, and more thundering behind his eyes in an unending storm. He twisted the limb almost completely around, and fire bloomed as I heard bones snapping and joints popping.
我意识到我终于敢于原谅得太过分了。数千年的仇恨，战争，鲜血和更多的雷鸣在他的眼睛后面无休止的暴风雨。他几乎完全扭动着四肢，我听到骨头断裂的声音和关节砰砰作响的声音，火焰开了起来。
“Fool,” he spat at me as I fell. Lancer shot his father, the Legate's speed nearly carrying him clear of the bullet but the blow still ripping away half his head and spinning him away from me. The blood and bone spray slowed and returned as P-21 and Scotch Tape dragged me away from the mad zebra.
"傻瓜,"我摔倒的时候他朝我吐口水。枪骑兵射杀了他的父亲，特使的速度几乎把他从子弹中带了出来，但是那一击仍然撕裂了他的半个头，把他从我身边旋转开去。血和骨头喷出来的速度慢了下来，P-21和苏格兰胶带把我从疯狂的斑马身边拖了出来。
As his eye regenerated and head reassembled, he proclaimed, “I still have the Brood, and it is a mighty army! Greater than all of you together. As we speak, that fool is travelling to the moon. She carries the soul of the true Maiden within her, and without that, you cannot defeat the Eater of Souls. This world is done!”
当他的眼睛再生和头部重新组装，他宣布,"我仍然有布鲁德，它是一个强大的军队！比你们所有人加起来还要伟大。就在我们说话的时候，那个傻瓜正在月球上旅行。她身上带着真正少女的灵魂，没有它，你就不能打败灵魂食者。这个世界完蛋了!"
P-21 pulled me to Sekashi and Majina. My leg was twisted around, the pain so sharp and real that I almost wished I had my old body back. More and more zebras and ponies tried to shoot the Legate, but their bullets couldn’t begin to seriously inconvenience him as he reassembled himself again and again.
P-21把我拉到Sekashi和马吉纳。我的腿扭曲着，疼痛如此剧烈和真实，我几乎希望我的旧身体回来。越来越多的斑马和小马试图射杀特使，但他们的子弹不能开始严重影响他重新组装自己一次又一次。
“Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow,” I repeated over and over. Sekashi didn’t waste any time. She grabbed my hoof and twisted it the opposite way. Once again, the leg let out a number of pops, grinds, and snaps that nearly knocked me completely out. Then she jammed a bright purple potion in my mouth, and I chugged for all I was worth. Majina was giving Scotch Tape loads of the precious little purple bottles. I had a sick certainty that I’d need them.
"噢。噢。噢。噢,"我一遍又一遍地重复着。Sekashi没有浪费任何时间。她抓住我的蹄子，反过来扭了一下。再一次，那条腿发出了一连串的砰砰声，磨擦声，啪的一声，几乎把我完全打晕了。然后她往我嘴里灌了一剂鲜紫色的药水，我一饮而尽。马吉纳给了透明胶带装满了珍贵的紫色小瓶子。我确信我需要他们。
“Brood! Destroy them all! Kill everything! Kill it all!” he cried out. “And destroy those rockets!”
"布鲁特！把他们全部消灭！杀光一切！全部杀光!"他大声喊道。"摧毁那些火箭!"
From the bodies on the ground came a rasp as they began to rise. The large doors set in the walls cracked open, and out came a surge of Brood fliers and cyber zebras. The defenders in the gap suddenly reversed, turning inward and rushing forward. There were only three rockets left on the pads. If they took out all three...
地上的尸体开始上升时，传来一阵刺耳的声音。墙上的大门裂开了，涌出一大群育雏传单和网络斑马。防守队员突然掉转方向，转向内侧，冲向前方。发射台上只剩下三枚火箭。如果他们把三个都干掉..。
“Crap,” I muttered as I rose to my hooves. “He really doesn’t like the Maiden, does he?” I said to Sekashi, trying to sprint to the nearest launchpads.
"该死,"我一边站起来一边喃喃自语。"他真的不喜欢少女，是吗?"我对Sekashi说，试图冲向最近的发射台。
“You are not the Maiden,” she said. “You are the Fool.”
"你不是少女,"她说。"你才是傻瓜。"
“Gee, thanks,” I said with a roll of my eyes, tears running down my cheek as my leg still zinged. I drank another healing potion.
"哎呀，谢谢,"我说着转了转眼珠，泪水顺着我的脸颊流了下来，我的腿还在跳动。我又喝了一瓶治疗药水。
“It is not an insult. The Fool terrifies because not even the Fool knows what they can do! They gamble against odds no others would dare. They dance on the edge of the precipice because they can. They overcome where all other sensibility would fail. Tyrants have always feared the Fool, for they bring disaster and suffering for their plans. They are heroes without parallel and monsters without equal, because they do what they will, and damn the plans of others.” We started moving towards the closest rocket.
"这不是侮辱。傻瓜害怕，因为即使傻瓜也不知道他们能做什么！他们冒着别人不敢冒的险赌博。他们在悬崖的边缘跳舞，因为他们可以。他们克服了所有其他敏感性都会失败的地方。暴君总是害怕傻瓜，因为他们的计划会带来灾难和痛苦。他们是无与伦比的英雄，是无与伦比的怪物，因为他们做自己想做的事，诅咒别人的计划。"我们开始向最近的火箭移动。
“That Starkatteri mare called me the Gambler, though,” I said with a little bafflement.
"不过，那个叫斯塔卡特里的母马叫我赌徒,"我有点困惑地说。
She gave a smile. “They are one and the other. The Fool plays at odds no wise person would dare. They are minions of chance, agents of chaos, and tools of discord.”
她笑了笑。"他们是一个和另一个。傻瓜闹着玩，没有聪明人敢。他们是机会的奴才，混乱的代理人，不和谐的工具。"
“Then what is the Maiden?” I asked, making sure she could see my lips.
"那么少女是什么?"我问道，确保她能看到我的嘴唇。
“Hope for some and despair for others,” she replied. “She breaks bonds and ruins fortunes. She challenges and overcomes, and breaks her enemies. She is, like the stars themselves, a catalyst. Keep her at rest, for should she act, it will mean joy for some and terror for others, and none can say which for whom,” she said gravely. “I have many stories about both, but I fear that there is no time for them now, Blackjack.” She sighed and looked around. “It is a bad day when there is no time for stories.”
"有些人是希望，有些人是绝望,"她回答说。"她打破束缚，毁掉财富。她挑战、战胜、击溃敌人。她就像星星本身一样，是一个催化剂。让她休息一下，因为如果她行动起来，有些人会感到高兴，有些人会感到恐惧，谁也说不准是为了谁,"她严肃地说。"我有很多关于这两方面的故事，但我担心现在没有时间讲它们了，Blackjack。"她叹了口气，环顾四周。"如果没有时间讲故事，这就是糟糕的一天。"
“Yeah, I know the feeling,” I replied. Then I caught her gaze again. “The Legate has a balefire missile aimed at this place. You need to get the Remnant out. As far from here as you can.”
"是的，我知道那种感觉,"我回答。然后我再次吸引住了她的目光。"大使馆有一枚弹射导弹瞄准了这个地方。你必须把例外人赶出去。离这儿越远越好。"
“We will see you on your way first,” she said, and then she turned and started to speak in rapid fire tongues to the other zebras.
"我们先在路上等你,"她说，然后转过身，开始用急促的舌头对其他斑马说话。
I stood and looked up at the nearest rocket. “Gambler and Fool, huh? That suits me just fine. Ante up.”
我站起来，抬头看着最近的火箭。"赌徒和傻瓜，是吧？这很适合我。下注吧。"
There were Brood between me and my rocket, but I had a squad of zebra commandos at my flank. Together, we charged in. The cyberzebras were trying to duct tape explosives to the booster, but precision snipers were blowing holes in their heads before they could. I made it as far as the base of the launch tower steps when there was a loud ping and a fwoosh, a short jetting puff of white vapor shooting from the side of the rocket. Alarms began to sound as more bullets punched more holes, vapor jetting from some, liquid dripping from others. Dozens. Hundreds. Eventually ones were punched too large or jagged to seal shut on their own. Brood rushed in, grenades gripped in their mouths as they continued to fire. I grabbed P-21 and Scotch Tape, and we fled. The bulwark fields rose up just before one of the boosters tore itself into a storm of shrapnel and fire that disintegrated any Brood caught inside and called the other three boosters to join it. The bulwark protected us from the devastation and the fireball rising into the night, but the twisted wreck hidden by the smoke wouldn't be flying again.
在我和火箭队之间有布鲁德，但是我的侧翼有一队斑马突击队。我们一起冲进去。网络斑马试图用胶带将爆炸物粘到助推器上，但精确狙击手还没来得及，就在他们的头上开了个洞。我走到了发射塔的台阶底部，突然传来一声巨响和嗖嗖声，一股白色蒸汽从火箭侧面喷射而出。随着越来越多的子弹打出更多的洞，一些子弹喷出蒸汽，另一些子弹滴出液体，警报开始响起。几十个。成百上千。最终其中一个被打得太大或者锯齿状，无法自行封闭。布鲁德冲了进来，他们嘴里叼着手榴弹，继续开火。我拿了P-21和透明胶带逃走了。在其中一个助推器撕裂成碎片和火焰的风暴之前，壁垒区域升起来了，任何被困在里面的幼龙都会解体，并且呼叫其他三个助推器加入它。壁垒保护我们免受破坏和火球上升到夜晚，但扭曲的残骸隐藏在烟雾不会再次飞行。
One down. Two left. I didn’t waste any time. The emergency field died within a few minutes, spilling flaming fuel across its flight pad. Most of it had gone up, but there was still plenty of fire. “Don’t let the Brood take this one out!” I yelled as we pelted towards the next-nearest launchpad. The snipers opened up and picked off the Brood racing us. We made it to the launch tower without a
搞定一个。还剩两个。我没有浪费任何时间。应急场在几分钟内就熄灭了，燃烧的燃料洒满了飞机的起落架。大部分已经烧起来了，但还有大量的火。"别让魔龙军团把这只带出去!"我们朝着下一个最近的发射台疾驰而去，我喊道。狙击手开火，干掉了布鲁德军。我们成功地到达了发射塔
problem, and I sprinted up the stairs. “Up! Up! Up! Up!” I shouted as P-21 and Scotch Tape climbed after me.
然后我就冲上楼梯。"起来！起来！起来！起来!"当P-21和苏格兰胶带跟在我后面爬升时，我大叫起来。
“Blackjack, look out!” Boo shouted from below. I stared down at where the blank mare stared up at me. “Tank!” she shouted, pointing her hoof to the side.
"黑杰克，小心!"布从下面喊道。我低头看着那头茫然的母马抬头看着我的地方。"坦克!"她喊道，把蹄子指向一边。
I leaned out and spotted the tank that that been in the gap rolling around the wreckage of a rocket, thankfully one of the ones that had already been ruined when we arrived, and swiveling its cannons towards us. “Down! Down! Down! Down!” I shouted as we all but fell down the stairs in our haste. There wasn’t any way we’d get across the bulwark before it fired. Then blue dust whirled around it, coating it in a glowing blizzard of magic. Ice began to form, and I stopped. Maybe... maybe... I looked back up at the rocket hatch.
我探出身子，看到一辆坦克停在缺口里，它正绕着火箭残骸滚动着，谢天谢地，我们到达的时候它已经被毁坏了，它还把大炮转向我们。"趴下！趴下！趴下！趴下!"当我们匆忙中从楼梯上摔下来的时候，我大声喊道。我们没有办法在它开火之前穿过壁垒。然后，蓝色的尘土在它周围旋转，在它的外面覆盖着一层魔法般的光芒。冰开始形成，我停了下来。也许...也许...我回头看了看火箭舱口。
Then the tank fired, the shockwave shattering the ice on its front. The shells gouged deep lines in the flight pad. “Down! Definitely down!” I screamed as the frost-rimmed turrets began to elevate. The magic might be slowing it down, but I didn’t doubt that it would fire. We hit the flight deck and ran for our lives. The tank fired again, and the base of the rocket blossomed in flame. I jumped, rolling across the talismans moments before the bulwark rose… mostly.
然后坦克开火了，冲击波将坦克前部的冰块震碎。炮弹在飞行平台上凿出了深深的线条。"趴下！绝对下来了!"当白霜环绕的塔楼开始升高时，我尖叫起来。魔法可能会让它慢下来，但我毫不怀疑它会开火。我们降落在飞行甲板上，逃命去了。坦克再次点火，火箭底座在火焰中绽放。我跳了起来，滚过护身符的瞬间，就在舷墙升起之前......大部分时间。
When the tank shell had torn the pad, it had crossed the circle of talismans. The thin, dim field across the gap held for a split second, then yielded. A river of fire, hotter and wider than the breath of a dozen dragons, poured out and washed over the tank. Even on this side of the rocket, I could feel the cyclone-like gush of blazing heat. The tank didn’t stand a chance. It exploded like a firecracker in a flamethrower’s scream. Then the entire fire-fused mass of the rocket and launch structure gave a whine and slowly keeled over. It hit the weakened side of the bulwark, and the field began to fade. “Running! Keep running!” I yelled. The bulwark collapsed, and the entire flaming wreck tipped over on the tank. The explosion sent flaming bits all over the pad, and our PipBucks were clicking like mad as the rad rate doubled, and doubled again! What next?! Remnant and Harbinger alike fled from the rain of flaming debris.
当坦克的炮弹划破护身符的垫子时，它已经穿过护身符的圆圈。穿过缺口的那片薄薄的、昏暗的田野持续了一瞬间，然后就屈服了。一条火河，比十几条龙的呼吸还要热、更宽，倾泻而出，冲刷着水池。即使在火箭的这一侧，我也能感觉到旋风般的炽热喷涌。坦克没有任何机会。它就像火焰喷射器尖叫中的爆竹一样爆炸了。然后整个火箭和发射结构发出一声哀鸣，慢慢地倾覆了。它击中了舷墙虚弱的一侧，油田开始衰退。"跑！继续跑!"我喊道。舷墙坍塌了，整个燃烧的残骸倾倒在坦克上。爆炸把燃烧的碎片撒得整个发射台都是，我们的PipBucks发出疯狂的滴答声，因为辐射率加倍了，又加倍了！接下来呢！残余者和哈宾格都躲避着燃烧着的碎片雨。
“I am already tired of this day,” I groaned. Boo rushed up to me, throwing her hooves around me. “Hi, Boo,” I said lightly. “How are you doing?”
"我已经厌倦了这一天,"我呻吟着。布冲向我，用她的蹄子围着我。"嗨，波,"我轻轻地说。"你好吗?"
She blinked at me a moment. “I’m fine. I found a Reaper pony with a thingy and he said he’d tell everyone to get the fuck away.” She made a scrunchy face as
她对我眨了眨眼睛。"我很好。我找到了一匹死神小马，他说他会让所有人都滚开。"她做了个皱巴巴的表情
she glowered towards the gap. “Reapers are really rude.”
她怒视着缺口。"收割者真的很粗鲁。"
I nuzzled her ear and pulled myself to my hooves. “Well, glad you’re back.”
我用鼻子蹭了蹭她的耳朵，然后用力蹬了蹬。"嗯，很高兴你回来了。"
I struggled to see the last rocket through the heat and haze and steam. Sweat soaked my barding through as I wiped the droplets from my eyes. It rested on its pad, our last hope to getting to Cognitum. There were fiery bits all around it and burning on the launch tower. “Come on,” I said as I rose to my hooves and started towards it, trying to get past the burning pools of fuel that were now spattered all around the flight deck. Here and there, ruptured fuel lines spilled gouts of fire into the air. The emergency shutoffs must not have been working too well. Of course they’d be the things that’d fail...
我挣扎着穿过高温、烟雾和蒸汽去看最后一个火箭。当我擦去眼中的水滴时，汗水浸透了我的衣服。它停在它的垫子上，这是我们到达科涅塔姆的最后希望。四周都是燃烧的碎片，在发射塔上燃烧着。"来吧,"我说，我站起来，开始向它走去，试图穿过燃烧的油池，现在飞行甲板上到处都是燃油。到处都是破裂的燃料管道，火焰喷射到空气中。紧急关闭装置一定工作得不太好。他们当然会失败。
We crossed the central pad, one of the few places that wasn’t on fire, Boo scooping Scotch onto her back after seeing the smaller mare struggling to keep up as we made our way to the base of the gantry. I stepped in something that looked like steaming water only to have ice immediately form on my barding’s hoofboot. When I staggered back, too close to a burning chunk of metal, the whole leg burst into flame for a few seconds before I could slap out the barding.
我们穿过中央发射台，这是为数不多的几个没有着火的地方之一。我踩进一个看起来像冒着热气的水的东西，结果马上在我的马蹄上结了冰。当我摇摇晃晃地往回走，离一块正在燃烧的金属太近时，整条腿瞬间燃烧起来，几秒钟之后我才能把护栏打开。
Funny, I never imagined that there was a place worse than Hightower. Fire.
有趣的是，我从没想过还有比海托华更糟糕的地方。火。
Explosions. Building radiation. All it was missing was smooze.
爆炸。建筑物辐射。唯一缺少的就是奶昔。
We’d lost our zebra escorts in the second explosion, but it looked like the Brood were dwindling. He might have an endless supply of them, but that didn’t mean he had all of them here. Between the Harbingers, the Remnant, and their self-destructive attacks, it was abundantly clear that even they weren’t lasting long. That was just out here, though. I looked up at the window of the control room and saw flashes of gunfire and energy beams.
在第二次爆炸中我们失去了护卫斑马的人，但是看起来魔龙军团正在减少。他可能有源源不断的这些东西，但这并不意味着他在这里拥有所有的这些东西。在"预兆者"、"残余者"和他们自我毁灭的攻击之间，很明显，即使他们也不会持续很长时间。不过，那只是在这里。我抬头看着控制室的窗户，看到了枪声和能量光束的闪烁。
We had to get in the rocket and get her out of there. Why had we separated? Why hadn’t I stayed behind to guard the command center? But I was only one mare... I couldn’t do it all myself. Nopony could.
我们必须登上火箭把她救出来。我们为什么要分开？为什么我没有留下来守卫指挥中心？但是我只是一匹母马...我不能自己做所有的事情。没有小马可以。
The third and last rocket was still intact, and I thought for a moment that I’d finally beaten the odds. But as I got close, I heard the strangest humming, and when I put my hooves on the metal steps, I could feel them vibrating beneath me. I stared up the stairs and spotted the Legate halfway up. His forehooves were a blur as he pounded them against the thick steel beams of the tower. A normal pony would be beating their hooves to nubs under that pounding, but of
第三枚也是最后一枚火箭仍然完好无损，有那么一瞬间，我还以为自己终于克服了困难。但是当我走近时，我听到了最奇怪的嗡嗡声，当我把蹄子放在金属台阶上时，我能感觉到它们在我脚下震动。我凝视着楼梯，发现特使已经爬到一半了。他的前蹄在铁塔厚重的钢梁上敲打着，模糊不清。一匹普通的小马会在这种重击下把蹄子敲成碎块，但是
course his regenerating body would never succumb to injury. Nor would he tire. But what was he do–
他再生的身体绝不会屈服于伤害。他也不会疲倦。但是他做了什么
There was a sharp ping, and a rivet near the bottom of the gantry popped out. As I watched, the bolts were turning slowly in their sockets as the vibration only grew more and more intense. I remembered how the Legate fought, his blows disturbing the energy in a body. This gantry was just one enormous body, and he was adding more and more energy to it, resonating it at the perfect frequency to shake it apart.
有一个尖锐的乒乓声，和一个铆钉靠近底部的龙门突然出现。正如我看到的，螺栓在他们的插座慢慢地转动，因为振动只是越来越强烈。我记得特使是如何战斗的，他的打击扰乱了身体的能量。这个龙门架只是一个巨大的身体，他增加了越来越多的能量，共振它在完美的频率，动摇它分开。
“Go!” I shouted as I tried to rush up the stairs. My hooves were sliding and humming under me as I struggled up to where he pummeled the metal. Welds cracked, and one step fell away under my hoof as I put my weight on it. The humming reminded me of the monotone note of Enervation. I felt an ominous swaying start as we made it to him.
"走!"我一边喊着，一边试图冲上楼梯。当我挣扎着走到他敲击金属的地方时，我的蹄子在我身下滑动，嗡嗡作响。焊缝裂开了，当我把重量放在上面时，一个脚印从我的蹄子下面掉了下来。这些嗡嗡声让我想起了单调的衰弱。当我们走向他的时候，我感到一种不祥的摇摆开始了。
I didn’t even hesitate; I readied Sexy and charged him, if only to break his rhythm. Only then did I really realize how infuriated Scotch Tape must have felt fighting Pythia as his rear hoof deftly flicked my gun aside and smashed my temple, the blow sending me to the vibrating deck.
我甚至没有犹豫，我准备好了《性感》并指责他，即使只是为了打破他的节奏。直到那时我才真正意识到，当他的后蹄灵巧地把我的枪拨到一边，砸碎了我的太阳穴，那一击把我送到震动的甲板上时，胶带一定是多么愤怒地与皮提亚战斗。
P-21 lifted Persuasion, did something to the grenade in the breech, and then fired it at the Legate. The grenade struck him like a solid iron hoofball, knocking him into the girder he’d been pummeling. The grenade, however, didn’t detonate, simply bounced and rattled to the catwalk floor. He loaded a second, took aim once more, and fired again. This time, the Legate kicked out, the limb folding like snapped wood as it deflected the shot, only to pop back out again. The red-striped zebra sneered at P-21. “Futile.”
P-21举起了《劝导》，对炮膛里的手榴弹做了些手脚，然后向Legate开火。手榴弹像一个结实的铁蹄球一样击中了他，把他击倒在他一直在击打的大梁上。然而，这枚手榴弹并没有爆炸，只是弹起，哗啦哗啦地掉到了t型台上。他装了一发子弹，再瞄准一次，然后又开了一枪。这一次，特使被踢了出去，他的肢体折叠起来就像断了的木头一样，挡住了射门，结果又弹了出来。红条纹斑马嘲笑P-21。"没用的。"
“Flashbang,” he replied. The Legate immediately covered his face. I wasn’t going to waste this opportunity! Two three-round bursts sent him flipping out over the railing. One hoof grabbed the gantry, but a third burst blew the limb off at his shoulder. As he fell, I glanced down at the grenade.
"闪光弹,"他回答。使节立刻捂住了他的脸。我不想浪费这个机会！两发三发子弹使他从栏杆上跳了起来。一只蹄子抓住了龙门，但是第三次爆炸把他的肩膀炸掉了。他倒下的时候，我低头看了一眼手榴弹。
“Dud?” I asked with a frown.
"哑弹?"我皱着眉头问。
“No. I just trusted him to know more about flashbangs than you,” P-21 replied as he carefully picked up the grenade and tossed it over the edge. For a brief moment, I wondered if I’d been insulted or not, but I really didn’t have time to ponder the issue.
"没有。我只是相信他比你更了解闪光弹,"P-21回答时，他小心翼翼地捡起手榴弹，扔到边缘。有那么一瞬间，我怀疑自己是否受到了侮辱，但我真的没有时间思考这个问题。
“Scotch! Is it going to stay up?” I asked, feeling the still-humming gantry. “Shhh! Shhh! Please stay up!” I said, as if trying to hush the humming, swaying structure. There were still pops and pings, and now groans too. I became aware that the whole immense structure was starting to lean sideways.
"苏格兰威士忌！它会一直开着吗?"我边问边感受着仍然嗡嗡作响的起重机架。"嘘！嘘！请不要睡着!"我说，仿佛是想让那嗡嗡作响、摇摆不定的结构安静下来。还有砰的一声和砰的一声，现在还有呻吟声。我开始意识到整个巨大的建筑开始向一边倾斜。
“I don’t think so, Blackjack!” Scotch Tape shouted as the rocket began to make metallic groans of protestation. “Run!”
"我不这么认为，黑杰克!"当火箭开始发出抗议的金属般的呻吟时，苏格兰胶带大声喊道。"快跑!"
“No! We can’t! It’s the last one!” I shouted, starting for the steps up.
"不！我们不能！这是最后一个了!"我喊道，开始往上爬。
P-21 grabbed me and pulled me back. “And that won't mean anything if we die when the tower collapses!”
P-21抓住我，把我拉了回来。"如果我们在塔倒塌的时候死了，那也不意味着什么!"
I stared up at the inviting hatch for several seconds, the boarding catwalk already slowly scraping away from it across the rocket's skin, then turned and followed Boo down the stairs. The tower leaned further and further over, and we finally had to leap the last ten feet. Don’t lock legs; roll with the landing. Good lessons. I looked up and back to see the tower fall sideways, away from the rocket… maybe it would still work… and then the tower hit one of the launch clamp supports, and I saw that the opposite one was already lying in pieces on the launchpad. The support twisted under the weight of the tower, the clamp still attached to the rocket pulled it away from the other two, and the great ship crumpled in the middle and toppled, smashing into pieces and a great pool of steaming liquid on the ground. “Maybe we can fix it?” I muttered as we backed away.
我抬头盯着那个诱人的舱口看了几秒钟，登机时装表演已经在火箭表面慢慢地从它上面刮下来，然后转身跟着阿布下了楼梯。塔越来越倾斜，最后我们不得不跳过最后十英尺。不要锁住双腿，要随着着地而滚动。很好的教训。我抬头往后看，发射塔从侧面倒下，远离火箭......也许它还能用......然后发射塔撞上了一个发射夹板支架，我看到对面的那个已经成了碎片，躺在发射台上。支撑物在塔的重压下扭曲，夹子仍然固定在火箭上，把它从另外两个火箭上拉开，巨大的飞船在中间坍塌，粉碎成碎片，地面上有一大滩热气腾腾的液体。"也许我们能修好它?"我们后退的时候，我喃喃自语。
Then the puddles exploded, the bulwark going up and slicing the rocket in two just in time to save us from frying. I looked at the still-open, now deformed hatch in the rocket's upper half as we hastened away from the flames, just in case the bulwark had been damaged by the fall. The last rocket… the last chance to stop Cognitum…
然后水坑爆炸了，舷墙升起，把火箭炸成两半，这样我们就不会被炸死了。当我们急忙离开火焰时，我看着火箭上半部仍然开着的、现在已经变形的舱口，以防防止舷墙被坠落损坏。最后一枚火箭...最后一次阻止科涅塔姆的机会..。
The entire world had grown oddly silent. I staggered away, reached an intercom box on some machine I couldn’t identify, and sat down hard. With no way to stop Cognitum... and no Folly... there was no way I could win. I pressed my head to the warm metal, trying to abate the throbbing in my head.
整个世界变得异常沉默。我摇摇晃晃地走开了，走到一台我认不出来的机器上的对讲机前，重重地坐了下来。没有办法阻止科涅塔姆......没有愚蠢......我没有办法赢。我把头紧贴在温暖的金属上，试图减轻脑袋里的悸动。
“What now?” P-21 asked.
"现在怎么办?"P-21要求。
“Now... I dunno,” I answered, unable to look at him.
"现在......我不知道,"我回答，无法看他。
There was a crackle on the intercom. “Blackjack,” Glory said with the sound of gunshots behind her. Apparently there were still Brood that hadn’t gotten the memo they’d won.
对讲机里有劈啪声。"黑杰克,"晨辉背后传来枪声。显然还有布鲁德没有得到他们赢得的备忘录。
“Get out of there, Glory. It’s over.” Maybe LittlePip could park the S.P.P. hub in the path of Tom. Was that possible?
"快离开那里，晨辉。结束了。"也许利特尔皮普可以把S.P.P.hub停在汤姆走过的路上。这可能吗？
“No. It’s not. Get to pad one.” I frowned and looked across at the pad next to the stairs. It was one of the rockets I assumed had been destroyed in the fueling, the one covered in ice. But now... it was covered in zebras... “Cerynitis and the other Propoli are getting it ready to fly. They’ve already fixed the problem that stopped it last time; you just have to keep the Legate from attacking it long enough for them to get the oxygen tanks filled. They’re doing it now.”
"没有。并非如此。去垫一个。"我皱着眉头，望着楼梯旁边的垫子。这是一枚我认为已经在燃料中被摧毁的火箭，一枚覆盖着冰。但是现在......它上面布满了斑马......"塞里尼蒂斯和其他的Propoli正在准备起飞。他们已经解决了上次阻止它的问题;你只需要阻止特使攻击它足够长的时间，让他们给氧气罐充满氧气。他们现在正在这么做。"
Hope, terrible and wonderful hope, stirred in me. “Keep him busy...” I said as I rose to my hooves. “Yeah. I can do that.” I could see a sole remaining red bar on my E.F.S., out in the middle of the launchpads. I made sure my magazines were topped off, put on my helmet, and started walking.
希望，可怕而美好的希望，在我心中激荡。"别让他闲着......"我一边说一边站起身来。"是的。我能做到。"我可以看到我的e.f.s.上有一个残留的红色条纹，就在发射台的中央。我把杂志盖好，戴上头盔，开始散步。
The Legate stood in the middle of the circle of rockets as the flames danced around the launchpad. His blood-red stripes seemed to glow with a light that outshone the roaring glare and chaos that reigned around him. Brood against Harbingers. Remnant versus Brood. And in the eye of the madness, in the center of the grated hole of the ESS-A1’s launchpad, thin warm steam rising around him, was the striped stallion.
当火焰在发射台周围舞动时，特使站在火箭圈的中央。他那血红色的条纹似乎发出一道光芒，比他周围咆哮的眩光和混乱还要耀眼。对预言家的思潮。残余对孵化。在疯狂的目光中，在ESS-A1发射台磨碎的洞的中央，薄薄的温暖的蒸汽在他周围升起，那是条纹种马。
And he was laughing.
他笑了。
It was a joyous laugh. A rolling, ragged, elated laugh finally free of the constraints of discipline, like a slurry of madness and hateful delight was pouring out of him, and he spread his hooves wide and whirled. Head thrown back, mane snapping in the wild winds tearing around the launch pad, he shrieked in glee, reveling in the slaughter all around him. He wasn’t killing a single pony or zebra himself; he celebrated like a child who’d successfully destroyed a deep friendship out of petty spite because he had no such solace.
这是一个令人愉快的笑声。终于，他摆脱了纪律的束缚，发出了一声滚动的、粗糙的、兴高采烈的笑声，仿佛是一种疯狂和可恨的喜悦的泥浆从他身上涌了出来，他把蹄子张得很大，旋转着。头向后仰，鬃毛在狂风中猛烈地撕扯着发射台，他高兴地尖叫着，陶醉于他周围的屠杀。他自己并没有杀死一匹小马或者斑马;他像一个孩子一样庆祝，因为他没有这样的安慰而成功地破坏了一段深厚的友谊。
I stepped onto the grate with him, the wind whipping my black and red mane as I stood there, facing him. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked, his back to me. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this day.”
我和他一起走上壁炉，站在那里，面对着他，风吹拂着我那黑红相间的鬃毛。"很漂亮，不是吗?"他背对着我问道。"你不知道我等这一天等了多久。"
I was done with witty repartee. Sardonic retorts. I answered him with a storm of lead. His spiritually-fortified body jerked and spasmed in a dance of bloody spray and meaty chunks as the slugs tore him to pieces. Yet again, the bloody bits reversed direction in the air and returned to his body as soon as they were separated. The red-streaked hide reassembled it before my eyes, facing me, his smirk rematerializing before me.
我受够了机智的应答。讽刺的反驳。我用激烈的语气回答了他。他精神上坚强的身体抽搐和痉挛，伴随着血淋淋的喷雾和大块的肉，鼻涕虫将他撕成碎片。然而，那些血淋淋的碎片又一次在空中倒转方向，一分开就又回到了他的身体里。红色条纹的皮肤在我眼前重新组合起来，面对着我，他的傻笑在我面前重现。
So I smashed the gun across his face. He whirled around, but this time I reversed my swing immediately, keeping the metal between him and me, and he slammed his foreleg against the stout barrel. I was rewarded with the sight of his foreleg bending like clay around the metal with a crackling noise like snapping plywood, but even more satisfying was the look of shock on his face. Pity that that expression disappeared an instant later as I blasted away his face.
所以我用枪猛击他的脸。他转过身来，但这一次我立刻扭转了我的秋千，把那块金属挡在他和我之间，他的前腿撞在了那个结实的木桶上。我看到他的前腿像粘土一样弯曲在金属周围，伴随着噼啪作响的夹板声，但更令人满意的是他脸上震惊的表情。可惜的是，当我轰掉他的脸时，这种表情消失了一会儿。
“Futile,” he rasped from a shattered, reforming throat. But I didn’t stop. Even without eyes, he had an uncanny ability to strike back at me, his left hindhoof pistoning into my face. I staggered back, the blow making my head throb and vision blur for several seconds. But I didn’t let myself delay, pushing through the pain to spray a full auto fan of lead in his direction. Most missed, but the hail of rounds took his hooves out from under him and gave me a second to refocus. I made like a zebra: shouldered the gun, braced it with a hoof, and bathed him in fiery lead. His head and torso liquefied under the barrage, and then the drum went dry.
"没用,"他从破碎的喉咙里发出刺耳的声音。但我没有停下来。即使没有眼睛，他也有一种不可思议的能力来反击我，他的左后蹄直直地对着我的脸。我摇摇晃晃地向后退去，这一击使我的头部悸动，视线模糊了几秒钟。但我没有让自己耽搁，忍着疼痛向他的方向喷了一个全自动铅风扇。大多数都没打中，但是一轮又一轮的射击把他的蹄子从身下拽了出来，给了我一秒钟的时间重新集中注意力。我像一匹斑马一样:肩扛着枪，用蹄子支撑着它，把它沐浴在炽热的铅光中。他的头和身体在炮火下液化了，然后鼓就干了。
I looked down into the bloody ruin of his chest cavity and saw his heart. It reminded me of the phoenix talisman, but carved from a dark stone. Spiral runes and zebra glyphs decorated its surface. Attached to it was what looked vaguely like a PipBuck broadcaster made of starmetal, red and green lights flashing on it, with spikes wired directly into the stone.
我低头看着他血淋淋的胸腔，看到了他的心脏。它让我想起了凤凰护身符，但是是用一块黑色的石头雕刻而成的。螺旋符文和斑马符号装饰其表面。它附着的东西看起来隐约像是一个由starmetal制成的PipBuck播音器，上面闪烁着红色和绿色的灯光，尖刺直接连接在石头上。
I slapped in the other drum and unloaded a burst right into the accursed rock.
我啪的一声打进另一个鼓里，向那块该死的石头上猛地开了一枪。
The shots bounced off wildly, scraping tissue off the heart's surface but no faster than it was regenerated. One ricochet even slammed back into my barding. Finally, I reached in with a hoof and tried to pry the starmetal device from the smooth stone, but not only did I fail, the reassembling gore threatened to trap my hoof in his chest! I yanked by leg free, crimson streaming behind it, and pulled back. Of course it had to be a soul jar…
子弹被疯狂地弹开，从心脏表面刮下组织，但再生的速度并不快。一颗子弹甚至打到了我的背上。最后，我用蹄子伸进去，试图从光滑的石头上撬开那个星形金属装置，但我不仅失败了，重新组合的淤血威胁着要把我的蹄子夹在他的胸膛里！我一把扯开腿，腿上的红色血液在后面流淌，然后退了回去。当然是一个灵魂罐..。
Flesh surged back into the hole I'd left, reattaching and reassembling itself around the silvery box and stone. “Glory is going to die,” he glurbled through a face ripped in two by my firepower. “Right now, I am sending every Brood I have to blast her to pieces. I might have them play with her a little. Initiate her into your and P-21’s little club.” He face reformed enough to make a leer.
肉体涌回我离开时留下的洞里，在银色的盒子和石头周围重新接合和重组。"晨辉就要死了,"他的脸被我的火力撕成两半，显得有些沮丧。"现在，我要派出所有的伙伴，我要把她炸成碎片。我可能会让他们和她玩一会儿。让她加入你和P-21的小俱乐部。"他面对改过自新的形象，露出了不屑一顾的神情。
I did the only sensible thing I could in that situation. I reloaded.
在那种情况下，我做了唯一明智的选择。我重新上了子弹。
“Blackjack!” P-21 snapped as he emerged from the smoke and haze, holding me and stopping me from turning the Legate into paint again. “He’s stalling you!”
"黑杰克!"P-21突然从烟雾中出现，抓住我，阻止我再次把大使馆变成油漆。"他在拖延你!"
“I don’t care!” I snapped, aiming at him once more as a sooty Scotch Tape and Boo emerged as well.
"我不在乎!"我抓住他，瞄准他再次作为一个乌黑的苏格兰胶带和布出现了。
“Oh, but you do! You care!” the Legate hissed at me as he sprang casually to his hooves and we started to circle. “Shoot me. Shoot me all you can. Maybe you’ll find a way, false hero. Some way to end me. Some trick. Some gamble. That is what you are, after all. Dice thrown by higher powers in a desperate attempt to change a future that is immutable and irrefutable. You care so much it causes you pain.”
"哦，但是你知道！你在乎!"特使朝我发出嘘声，随意地跳起来，开始绕圈子。"杀了我吧。尽你所能向我开枪。也许你会找到出路，虚伪的英雄。以某种方式结束我。一些小把戏。一些赌博。毕竟，这就是你。更强大的力量孤注一掷，试图改变一个永恒不变、无可辩驳的未来。你太在乎了，这让你很痛苦。"
Then the Legate exploded, the lump of rock and gore bouncing across the grate. “He talks too much,” P-21 said as he lowered Persuasion, then turned to me. “Blackjack, he’s stalling you. He knows we’re trying to stop Horizons. Fighting him is doing what he wants.” I blinked at him, then over at the reconstituting lump of pure, unadulterated bastard. “You can’t shoot evil to death, Blackjack. You just have to do better.”
然后莱盖特爆炸了，一块块石头和血块在壁炉里跳来跳去。"他话太多了,"P-21一边放下《劝导》一边说，然后转向我。"黑杰克，他在拖延你。他知道我们在阻止视野号。与他作战就是在做他想做的事。"我对他眨了眨眼睛，然后看着那个重新组合的纯洁的、没有掺假的混蛋。"你不能把邪恶的东西打死，Blackjack。你只需要做得更好。"
“Let’s go, Bwackjack,” Boo nodded.
"走吧，怪人,"布点点头。
“We’ve got bigger things to do,” Scotch Tape agreed. I slowly approached and stared down at him. His spine appeared fused to the pieces pulling themselves back together again. His eyes reformed, glittering with malicious spite.
"我们还有更重要的事情要做,"ScotchTape表示同意。我慢慢地走近他，低头看着他。他的脊椎似乎已经融合在一起，再次拼凑起来。他的眼神变了，充满了恶毒的怨恨。
I couldn’t just walk away from him. Not after all he’d done. Not after all he’d hurt. I knelt down, seeing where his body was trying to reform through the launchpad grate. I stared right into his eyes and said the one word I was sure would get him like no other. “Discord.” My lips curved in a smile.
我不能就这样离开他。毕竟他做了那么多事。不管怎么说，他伤害了我。我跪了下来，看到他的身体正试图通过发射台栅格重新变形。我直直地盯着他的眼睛，说出了一句话，我确信这句话一定会让他感到前所未有的痛苦。"不和谐。"我的嘴唇微笑着弯起。
The mirth and malice disappeared as he stared at me. I rose, delighting in the
当他盯着我的时候，笑容和怨恨都消失了。我站了起来，高兴地看着
opportunity to see my foe in mental anguish. It was a heady drug. “No,” he said. “No, you can’t. He didn’t… you can’t be. You were broken!” he spat as his pupils shrank. “The stars never lie!”
有机会看到我的敌人精神上的痛苦。这是一种令人兴奋的药物。"不,"他说。"不，你不能。他没有...你不会吧。你完蛋了!"他的瞳孔缩小了，吐了一口唾沫。"星星从不说谎!"
“So? Not the first time I've been put back together,” I said coolly. “And now I’m going to stop her, stop Tom, and stop you. Because Discord convinced Cognitum to take my soul and put it in this blank.”
""那又怎样？我不是第一次被重新组装了,"我冷静地说。"现在我要去阻止她，阻止汤姆，阻止你。因为不和谐说服了认知觉，把我的灵魂放在这片空白里。"
“No! That’s impossible!” he roared up at me, all mirth gone. “You’re trapped here.”
"不！那是不可能的!"他对我咆哮，欢乐消失了。"你被困在这里了。"
“Discord could do it. Uncle Discord saved Blackjack,” Boo said with a fond smile. “Even if he had to die, he did it.” Funny how much love one mare’s eyes could have for one of Equestria’s ‘villains’. I couldn't say I didn't feel the same.
""不和谐也能做到。不和叔叔救了黑杰克,"布笑着说。"即使他必须死，他还是死了。"有趣的是，一只母马的眼睛对一个小马国的"恶棍"竟会有这么多的爱。我不能说我没有同样的感觉。
“Blackjack,” P-21 warned.
"黑杰克,"P-21警告说。
Still, I couldn’t help myself. “See that rocket? That frosty one? Turns out it still works.” I checked Sexy’s magazine coolly, then slapped it back into place. “I’m going to get my body back, and not you, not Cognitum, not even the stars will stop me.”
尽管如此，我还是忍不住。"看到那个火箭了吗？那个霜冻的？事实证明，它仍然有效。"我冷静地查看了一下《性感》杂志，然后把它拍回原位。"我要把我的身体要回来，不是你，不是认知，甚至连星星也不会阻止我。"
I started to turn away when a thought occurred to me. “Hey, Amadi. When I put my mind back into my old body, I guess I really will be the Maiden of the Stars. Least for a little while. Funny, huh? That the ‘prophecy’ you made up will actually come true?” And I turned and started away, a satisfied smile on my face. Gloating might be a terrible habit, but damn it felt good!
当一个想法出现在我脑海里时，我开始转过身去。"嘿，阿玛迪。当我把我的思想放回到我原来的身体里，我想我真的会成为星中少女。至少一小会儿。很有趣，是吧？你编造的'预言'真的会实现吗?"我转身离开，脸上挂着满意的微笑。幸灾乐祸可能是一个可怕的习惯，但该死的感觉很好！
Then he screamed. It wasn’t a scream like one a pony could make, or any beast’s. It was more the harrowed howl of a feral ghoul, devoid of any sanity, ripping from a throat indifferent to injury. An expression of such rage and fury that it encompassed every aspect of the note. If that scream could be weaponized, it would have rivaled a balefire bomb for its fury.
然后他尖叫起来。这不是一匹小马或任何野兽都能发出的尖叫声。它更像是一个凶猛的食尸鬼，没有任何理智，从一个对伤害漠不关心的人的喉咙里撕裂出来的，痛苦的嚎叫。这种愤怒和愤怒的表情包含了这张纸条的各个方面。如果这种尖叫声可以被武器化，那它的狂暴程度足以媲美一枚火焰弹。
“You’re dead! All of you! Everything! Dead! Dead! Dead!” he ranted as he struggled. For several seconds he went on like that, and then suddenly he went silent. I froze, turning to see him watching me. His eyes were wide, wild. But a smile rested on his face. A look of triumph. “Dead,” he stated, low and certain.
"你死定了！你们所有人！所有的一切！死了！死了！死了!"他一边挣扎一边咆哮。他这样说了几秒钟，然后突然沉默了。我愣住了，转身看到他在看着我。他的眼睛睁得大大的，充满野性。但他的脸上露出了笑容。胜利的表情。"死了,"他说，声音低沉而肯定。
But what could he do? He was just making idle threats. The idle threats of a
但是他能做什么呢？他只是在作无谓的威胁。一个无用的威胁
trapped lunatic. He probably really had lost his mind. And yet... yet... what could he do? I didn’t see any Brood charging the field. He was stuck. So what... what...
被困的疯子。他可能真的疯了。然而...然而...他能做什么呢？我没有看到布鲁德夫妇冲向田野。他被卡住了。那么...那么..。
That device... that thing he had wired to his heart! That had to be how he controlled the Brood. And maybe much more. Our eyes locked, and I saw such malice it stunned me. He’d use anything to kill me. Anything at all...
那个装置...那个连接在他心脏上的东西！他一定是这样控制魔龙军团的。也许还有更多。我们的眼睛紧紧地锁定在一起，我看到这种恶意使我大吃一惊。他会用任何东西来杀我。任何事..。
Oh shit. “You’re going to launch the missile,” I whispered. His eyes narrowed as his smile widened. Time seemed to slow as our eyes met and that moment of clarity and understanding joined us. The noise, the battle, the Legate suddenly didn’t matter. “We have to go! Now! Right now!”
哦，该死。"你要发射导弹,"我低声说。他的微笑使他的眼睛眯了起来。当我们的目光相遇时，时间似乎变得缓慢了，那一刻的清晰和理解也加入了我们。噪音，战斗，特使突然变得无关紧要。"我们得走了！现在！就是现在!"
We raced towards pad number one. The rocket was a dingy little sliver of gray, sheets of ice still dangling from its sides and the girders of its support structures. It was half the size of any other, but now it was my last, best hope. A dozen zebras worked to attach hoses and bang off the ice. From behind me, I heard the moan of bending metal and the wet rip of rending meat. I dared to glance back and saw in horror the muscles in the Legate’s forelegs bulging as he pushed himself out of the grate, the bars tearing lengthening rips in his body even as the force of his flesh trying to regenerate bent them.
我们冲向一号发射台。火箭是一个灰色的小条子，两侧和支撑结构的大梁上依然悬挂着冰块。它只有其他房子的一半大，但现在它是我最后、最好的希望了。十几只斑马拼命把水管接上，砰地一声从冰上落下。在我身后，我听到了弯曲金属的呻吟声和撕裂肉片的湿裂声。我敢回头一看，惊恐地发现特使把自己推出栅栏时，他前腿上的肌肉鼓起来了。
Cerynitis met us at the foot of the tower. “You made it,” he said as he brushed the frost off his brow. He waved a hoof at the rocket. “There was a catastrophic failure of the LOX hoses and the pump safeties on the first loading. We wrote the rocket off, given that it’s the oldest model we have we could make work at all. First generation. The fuel is loaded; we’d nearly finished that last time, and there’s nothing wrong with that system.”
塞里尼蒂斯在塔脚下迎接我们。"你成功了,"他一边说，一边拂去额头上的霜。他朝火箭挥了挥蹄子。"在第一次装载时，LOX软管和泵安全装置发生了灾难性故障。我们把火箭发射了，因为这是我们现有的最古老的模型，我们完全可以把它修好。第一代。燃料已经装好了，我们上次差不多完成了，这个系统没有任何问题。"
I nodded. “Listen, the Legate has a balefire missile, right?” Cerynitis gulped. “He’s fired it.”
我点点头。"听着，特使有一枚火箭弹，对吧?"尾蚴吞咽着。"他把它解雇了。"
“...Fired it?” He gaped at me, looking around wildly. “We have to go. Now! Right now.” That wasn’t the response I wanted.
"...开火了?"他目瞪口呆地看着我，疯狂地四处张望。"我们得走了。现在！就现在。"这不是我想要的回答。
“How long?” I asked him.
"多长时间?"我问他。
“I don’t know. With the missiles we had… if the crews back at Dawn Bay are slacking, fifteen minutes? Much more if they have to fuel first. But if the missile is ready to fly... five? Less? And how long ago did he fire?”
"我不知道。有了我们的导弹...如果机组人员回到黎明湾偷懒，15分钟？如果他们不得不先加油的话，就会更多。但是如果导弹已经准备好飞行了...五个？更少？他什么时候开的枪?"
I swallowed and looked up at the rocket. “Okay. Soon as you can, get out of here. I don’t want any of you dying if I can help it.” I looked up at the window of the control center, but it was dark. “It’s a minute between starting the launch sequence and taking off, right?”
我咽了口唾沫，抬头看着火箭。"好吧。尽快离开这里。如果我能帮上忙的话，我不希望你们任何人死去。"我抬头看着控制中心的窗户，但那里很黑。"从启动发射程序到起飞只有一分钟，对吧?"
“About that.” He nodded in agreement, then turned and started shouting things to the zebras working on the rocket. From the urgency in his voice, I had little doubt they knew this was coming down to the wire.
"关于那个。"他点头表示同意，然后转过身，开始对在火箭上工作的斑马大喊大叫。从他紧急的声音中，我毫不怀疑他们知道这是最后的决定。
“Boo!” I called as I turned to them. I had to trust her luck. “You have to find Big Daddy and Lancer. Tell them that the missile is on its way now!”
"嘘!"我一边转向他们一边喊道。我不得不相信她的运气。"你必须找到老爹和兰瑟。告诉他们导弹已经在路上了!"
“But I wanna go with you!” Boo wailed. “I just got back!”
"但是我想和你一起去!"布嚎啕大哭。"我刚回来!"
“If you don’t, hundreds are going to die!” I said as I turned and faced her. “I need you to do it. You’re the only one lucky enough to pull it off!” I pulled her close and gave her a fierce hug. “You’re a big girl, Boo. I’m so proud of you. Now find them. Get them out of here as fast as you can.”
"如果你不这么做，成百上千的人将会死去!"我转身面对着她说。"我需要你这么做。你是唯一一个有幸成功的人!"我把她拉近，给了她一个热烈的拥抱。"你是个大姑娘了，波。我真为你骄傲。现在去找他们。让他们尽快离开这里。"
Boo hugged me back and sniffed, “Come back quick, Mama. Come back safe.” And then she was gone, running back as quickly as she could.
布拥抱了我，嗅了嗅,"快回来，妈妈。平安回来。"然后她就走了，以最快的速度跑回来。
“Scotch Tape! Get in the cockpit. Do your best to figure out what we need to do when this takes off.” She gaped at me. “I know. You don’t have a missile cutie mark, but there’s got to be an instruction manual or something.”
"透明胶带！进驾驶舱。尽你最大的努力，弄清楚当这一切开始时，我们需要做些什么。"她目瞪口呆地看着我。"我知道。你没有一个可爱的导弹标志，但是肯定有一个说明书或者什么东西。"
“Blackjack! I can’t read a manual for a rocketship in three minutes!” she protested.
"黑杰克！我不可能在三分钟内读完一本火箭飞船使用说明书!"她抗议道。
I tapped her PipBuck. “Use S.A.T.S. That should buy you a little extra time.” She made more faintly strangled noises. “I know you can do this, Scotch. And hey, if you mess up, no one’s going to be able to tell you that you did. So get it right. P-21, they installed some kind of terminal in these to make them fly. Make sure it’s working.”
我敲了敲她的PipBuck。"使用s.a.t.s。这应该能为你争取到一点额外的时间。"她发出了更微弱的勒死的声音。"我知道你能做到，苏格兰人。而且，如果你搞砸了，没有人会告诉你你搞砸了。所以做好它。P-21，他们安装了某种终端在这些使他们飞行。确保它起作用了。"
“What are you going to do?” P-21 asked.
"你打算怎么办?"P-21要求。
There was a thud as the Legate landed next to us. His back was a grisly jumble of steel and flesh. “Buy you time,” I said. “Hurry.”
当特使降落在我们旁边时，砰的一声巨响。他的背上是一团可怕的混杂着钢铁和肉的东西。"为你争取时间,"我说。"快点。"
“You have no time to buy,” the Legate shouted as my friends ran, and then he launched himself at me once more, just as fast as before but now filled with a dreadful urgency. He went into his usual blinding flourishes of kicks and stomps, spinning this way and that, but I’d seen his technique… felt it, too… and knew it was all about circles and momentum. I refused him any momentum. I used Sexy like a shield, holding it vertically in my magic for him to break his hooves against... and his bent hoof, bones jutting from the limb, pulled the weapon aside so he could smash his face against mine.
"你没有时间买,"使节大声喊道，我的朋友们都跑了，然后他再次向我冲过来，和以前一样快，但现在充满了可怕的紧迫感。他像往常一样又踢又跺，旋转来旋转去，但是我看到了他的技术......也感觉到了......我知道这一切都是因为圆圈和动量。我拒绝给他任何动力。我用了Sexy就像一个盾牌，在我的魔法中垂直握住它，让它用蹄子撞击......它弯曲的蹄子，从四肢伸出的骨头，把武器拉到一边，这样它就可以用它的脸撞击我的脸。
It didn’t matter how my horn gouged him; he had everything to lose if he didn’t kill me or stop that rocket. The impact nearly broke my horn, sending an icepick of pain right into my skull and making my eyes water, my vision blur. I’d taken three steps back when his rear hoof swept mine out from under me, dropping me hard on my back before leaping down and smashing my gut and ribs with his extended hind legs.
不管我的号角怎么戳他，如果他不杀了我或者阻止火箭，他就会失去一切。撞击几乎弄断了我的角，一股冰锥般的疼痛直刺进我的头骨，让我的眼睛流泪，我的视力模糊了。我后退了三步，它的后蹄把我的蹄子从我身下掠过，使劲把我摔在地上，然后跳下来，用它伸展的后腿猛击我的肚子和肋骨。
I managed to snag his leg and roll, knocking him on his back beside me as I struggled to suck in a single breath, but he sprang back up to his hooves the moment he touched down. I pushed through the burning feedback in my horn and blasted him in the face with three S.A.T.S.-guided magic bullets. As he staggered away I chugged two healing potions at once, feeling my ribs popping back into place beneath my barding. Before his face could fully regenerate, I smashed the bottles between my hooves and telekinetically flung the shards into it.
我费了好大劲才抓住它的腿，然后翻滚起来，在我努力吸气的时候把它推倒在我身边，但是它一落地就立刻跳了起来。我按了按喇叭里的燃烧反馈，用三颗s.a.t.s制导的魔法子弹打在他的脸上。当他摇摇晃晃地走开时，我一口气喝下了两瓶治疗药水，感觉自己的肋骨突然重新回到了身体里的位置。在他的脸完全恢复之前，我用蹄子把瓶子砸碎，用意念力把碎片扔进去。
I figured glass inside regenerating eyeballs had to count for something, and it did. His blows were now off by inches. I now simply focused on not getting hit. He whirled, his leg whistling as it almost took off my head more than once. I gave ground and did all I could not to block. Then he switched from the spinning kicks and punches to a forward lunge, grabbing my face and headbutting again. I felt skull grinding against the tip of my horn right before I was knocked on my back yet again.
我认为再生眼球内部的玻璃必须有所作为，事实也的确如此。他的拳头现在差了几英寸。我现在只是专注于不被打击。他旋转着，他的腿吹着口哨，几乎不止一次地从我的头上掉下来。我让步了，竭尽全力阻挡。然后他把旋转踢和拳头换成向前冲刺，抓住我的脸，再次用头撞击。我感觉到头骨在我的角尖上摩擦，就在我再次被撞到背上之前。
He arched up with a jagged spur of metal, and as little P-21s danced in my vision, I watched him rip the eyes from his sockets and mash them between his hooves. A second later a bloody slurry swept back up and reformed them. He tossed the bits of broken glass at my hooves as I stared up at him. “Even without augmentations, you fight well,” he said as his eyes narrowed. Then he turned his head and looked right at the Propoli trying to get the rocket ready to fly. “They
他用一根锯齿状的铁刺拱起身体，小小的p-21在我的视线里跳舞，我看着他从眼窝里把眼睛挖出来，在蹄子里捣烂。过了一会儿，一团血淋淋的泥浆又卷土重来，把他们重新整顿了一番。我抬头看着他，他把碎玻璃片扔到我的蹄子上。"即使没有扩张，你也打得很好,"他眯起眼睛说。然后他转过头来，直直地看着前波利号，试图让火箭准备起飞。"他们
don’t.”
不要。"
He raced towards the rocket as I rolled to my hooves. If only I could teleport! Instead, I slipped into S.A.T.S. and targeted one of his hindlegs. Two magic bullets blasted it off halfway, but the stallion barely broke stride. I grabbed the dismembered leg with my magic as it slowly started to return, wrapping my hooves around the length and letting it drag me after him. As the leg reattached itself, I pressed Sexy to his pelvis and fired a full auto spray of buckshot straight into his torso.
他跑向火箭，而我则滚动到我的蹄子。要是我能瞬移就好了！相反，我溜进了S.A.T.S.，瞄准了他的一条后腿。两颗神奇的子弹把它打飞了一半，但这匹种马几乎没有停下脚步。我用我的魔法抓住那条被肢解的腿，它慢慢地开始回来，我的蹄子绕着它的长度，让它拖着我。当他的腿重新接上的时候，我把赦西按在他的骨盆上，向他的躯干发射了全自动的铅弹。
The Legate exploded, again.
特使又一次爆发了。
I rolled twice, then ran to the base of the rocket. “Hurry!” I exhorted them as the Legate rose to his hooves.
我滚了两下，然后跑到火箭底部。"快点!"当使节站起来走路的时候，我告诫他们。
If that balefire missile was on its way, I was already dead. That rocket was my only hope, and he was charging straight at it. I got in his way, unable to dodge and keep him back at the same time, and tried to block one swinging forehoof with Sexy’s reinforced barrel. I succeeded, but he gripped the gun, and his hind leg swung back, striking me in the head so hard I heard something crack and suddenly saw three of him. Then he dove past me at some hoses marked ‘LOX’ dangling from one of the launch structures. I didn’t dare shoot, so I did the only thing I could: I bit down hard on his tail, lifting my forelegs to block the double kick to my face. Bones in my forelegs cracked at the impact. Still, I kept my grip, struggling to pull him back from the rocket.
如果那枚火箭弹正在来的路上，我已经死了。那个火箭是我唯一的希望，而他正朝它直冲过去。我挡住了他的去路，无法在躲闪的同时让他后退，我试图用赦克斯的加固枪管挡住他挥动的前蹄。我成功了，但是它抓住了枪，它的后腿向后甩了一下，狠狠地打在我的头上，我听到什么东西裂开了，突然看到了它的三条腿。然后，他从我身边俯冲而过，看到一根发射架上挂着标有"LOX"的水管。我不敢开枪，所以我做了我唯一能做的事:我狠狠地咬住它的尾巴，抬起我的前腿挡住对我脸部的双脚踢。我前腿的骨头在撞击中裂开了。尽管如此，我还是紧紧抓住他，努力把他从火箭上拉下来。
The Propoli were now fleeing for their lives, moving down into maintenance spaces at the base of the wall. Cerynitis ran to the intercom and shouted into it, “Miss Glory, is everything green?”
现在，普罗波利号正在逃命，向城墙底部的维护区移动。切里尼蒂斯跑到对讲机前，对着它喊道:"晨辉小姐，一切都还好吧?"
“Yes. Pad one is green.” More gunshots over the intercom. “You need to hurry,” she said.
"是的。一号发射台是绿色的对讲机里传来更多枪声。"你得快点,"她说。
“Wheel, lever, and wedge, Miss Glory,” he said, as if the words were a benediction of some sort, and then he turned and left as well. It was now between me and the Legate.
"轮子，杠杆，楔子，晨辉小姐,"他说，仿佛这些话是某种祝福，然后他转身离开了。现在是我和特使之间的事了。
He might have been extremely strong, but even he couldn’t tear off his own tail, no matter that I tasted blood in my mouth. My feet skidded as he pulled me closer to the hoses. My horn glowed as I swung the barrel sideways and knocked
他可能非常强壮，但即使是他也不能扯下自己的尾巴，不管我嘴里尝到了血的味道。他把我拉近水管时，我的脚打滑了。当我把枪摇向一边并敲门时，我的号角发出了光芒
his feet out from under him.
把脚从他身下挪开。
“Blackjack,” came Glory’s voice over the loudspeakers. If I hadn’t been dragging the Legate back, I would have cheered to hear her voice. Instead, I battered him with my shotgun as I tried to pull him away from the remaining rocket. “I see you on the monitor. There’s a missile coming!” Rapidfire gunshots tore out of my PipBuck, and she cried out in pain. “Please! Hurry!”
"黑杰克,"从扩音器里传来格洛里的声音。如果我没有把特使拖回来，我会为听到她的声音而欢呼的。相反，当我试图把他从剩下的火箭上拉开时，我用我的猎枪猛击他。"我在监视器上看到你了。导弹来了!"飞快的枪声从我的皮布克身上撕裂出来，她痛苦地大叫起来。"求你了！快点!"
His rear hoof hammered back, smashing my forelegs again, and I felt bones snapping. I needed a healing potion before he crippled me; I took a chance, released his tail, and gulped two down. Battering him with Sexy, I pulled out two more, barely able to hold them with my fractured hooves. I had them half drained when his hoof flashed out and shattered them against my teeth. I screamed then as my mouth tried to expel bloody glass while healing at the same time. My magic focus was lost, and I grabbed Sexy in my hooves to keep him down with the swings.
他的后蹄重重地敲打着我的后腿，我感到骨头断裂了。在他把我弄残之前，我需要一种治疗药剂;我碰碰运气，松开了它的尾巴，一口吞下了两片。我用"性感"狠狠地揍了他一顿，又拉出了两只，我断裂的蹄子几乎抓不住它们。他的蹄子一露出来，在我的牙齿上撞得粉碎，我就把它们弄干了一半。这时我尖叫起来，因为我的嘴在愈合的同时试图排出血淋淋的玻璃。我失去了神奇的注意力，我用我的蹄子抓住了赦西，想用秋千把他压住。
The Legate grabbed my gun, and as I lifted it, it pulled him up enough that he slammed his hooves against my horn, breaking my focus. Then he swung one of his forehooves across, tearing open my scalp under my compact spire. Blood dripped into my eyes as I finally released his tail and raised my forelegs to try and block him, but, now free, he dropped down and punched me hard in the gut. I vomited noisily onto the concrete and fell back, barely able to breathe.
特使抓住了我的枪，当我举起枪的时候，枪把他拉了起来，他用蹄子猛敲我的喇叭，分散了我的注意力。然后他挥舞着他的一只前蹄，撕开了我紧凑的尖顶下的头皮。当我终于松开它的尾巴，抬起前腿试图阻挡它的时候，血滴进了我的眼睛，但是，现在它自由了，它倒下了，狠狠地打了我的肚子。我大声地呕吐在水泥地上，然后向后倒去，几乎无法呼吸。
He raced straight for the rocket, reaching over his shoulder and ripping out a long strip of bloody shrapnel from his back. It dragged along the ground beside him, and my heart froze as I made out tiny gouts of flame flashing from the fuel soaked into the poured stone. All it needed was to ignite a large enough volume, and we’d all go up!
他径直向火箭冲去，伸手越过肩膀，从背后扯下一长条带血的弹片。它沿着他身边的地面拖着，我的心也冻结了，因为我看到了从燃料中发出的微小的火焰，这些火焰浸泡在浇注的石头里。它所需要的只是点燃一个足够大的容量，然后我们就都上去了！
Then a blue cannonball landed right on his back, knocking them both to the ground and making him drop the metal bar. P-21 wasn’t a fighter, he wasn’t even all that big for a stallion, but he slammed his hooves into the Legate’s head again and again till finally the zebra was forced to fight him off. With a wild toss, P-21 went flying, landing next to one of the hoses.
然后一颗蓝色的炮弹正好落在他的背上，把他们两个都打倒在地，让他把金属棒扔了下去。P-21不是一个战士，对于一匹种马来说，他甚至没有那么大，但是他一次又一次地用他的蹄子猛击特使的头部，直到最后斑马被迫与他搏斗。随着一次猛烈的抛掷，P-21飞了起来，降落在一根水管旁边。
“Enough of this!” the Legate shouted, “No more! No more plotting. No more scheming. No more fighting. No more wasting my time with this annoying, futile hope! I am the chosen one! Supreme! Invincible!” He then snatched up the
"够了!"使节喊道:"不要再这样了！不用再密谋了。不再诡计多端。别再打架了。不要再浪费我的时间在这恼人的，徒劳的希望上了！我是天选之人！至高无上！不可战胜!"然后，他抓起一把
bar, the sharp, jagged edge glinting in the floodlights, hooking it in his hooves and raising it for a downward swing on one of the hoses.
在探照灯里闪闪发光的锋利的锯齿状边缘，钩在他的蹄子上，然后举起来在其中一根水管上向下荡秋千。
I struggled to put together enough focus to try a magic bullet. For all I knew, it would ignite everything anyway.
我努力集中足够的注意力来尝试一个神奇的子弹。就我所知，它无论如何都会点燃一切。
Then P-21 grabbed one of the hoses near where it joined a pipe on the tower and pulled with all his might. The old tube, coated in frost, gave a ripping noise and suddenly popped free in a cloud of white. He turned and pointed it right at the red-striped zebra, bathing him in a stream of evaporating fluid. Some safety had to exist, because after several seconds, the flow cut off. The Legate stood there, bar overhead, a rime of frost covering him from head to hoof.
然后P-21抓住其中一根水管，就在它与塔上的一根管子连接的地方，用尽全力拉了起来。老管子上覆盖着一层霜，发出撕裂的声音，突然在一片白云中自由地蹦出来。他转过身来，用枪指着那只红条纹的斑马，让它沐浴在一股蒸发液中。必须有一些安全措施，因为几秒钟后，水流就被切断了。使节站在那里，头顶上方有栅栏，他从头到脚都被霜冻覆盖着。
I had to drink a healing potion just to see clearly, wiping the blood out of my eyes and spitting out a shard of glass stuck in my tongue, then approached the Legate. Some of the freezing fluid was still dribbling down his body, and I could hear little creaks and pops. “Invincible this,” I said, and swung the bar with all my strength. The Legate’s limbs shattered, falling into the puddle of freezing fluids, breaking like a delicate figurine upon the ground.
为了看得更清楚，我不得不喝下一种治疗药水，擦去眼睛里的血，吐出一块卡在舌头上的玻璃碎片，然后走近使节。一些冰冻的液体仍然沿着他的身体滴落下来，我能听到咯吱咯吱的声音。"这是不可战胜的,"我说着，用尽全力挥动了那根横杆。特使的四肢支离破碎，掉进冰冷的液体水坑里，像一个精致的小雕像掉在地上。
I rushed up to P-21, trying to pull the hose away as it drooled cold-steaming liquid... It took a great deal of his fur with it… and other things that I’d need healing potions for. He shivered horribly against me. “He talks too much,” P-21 muttered, ice dangling off his mane.
我冲向P-21，试图拉开水管，因为它流出了冷蒸汽的液体...它带走了他的大量皮毛...和其他的东西，我需要治疗药水。他靠在我身上，吓得直打哆嗦。"他话太多了,"P-21咕哝着，鬃毛上挂着一块冰。
“Come on,” I said, not knowing how long we had before the Legate thawed or we all fried. Levitating my gun, I put him on my back, carrying him up the spiral gantry in the rocket’s launch tower. “Glory? Are you there?” I asked into my PipBuck as we reached the open hatch at the top. “Soon as you can, you need to start the launch sequence and get back here.” I reached the hatch. “Glory?”
"来吧,"我说，不知道我们离特使解冻还有多久，也不知道我们都被烤熟了。把我的枪悬浮起来，我把他放在我的背上，把他抬上火箭发射塔的螺旋龙门。"晨辉？你在吗?"当我们到达顶部打开的舱口时，我把手伸进皮伯克的手机。"你需要尽快启动发射程序，然后回到这里。"我到达了舱口。"晨辉?"
“Got it,” she said a little lighter than I liked.
"明白了,"她说的话比我喜欢的轻一些。
“Are you okay?” Magical interference be damned, if the answer was no, I was going to break the laws of physics and magic to bring her back safely.
"你还好吗?"该死的魔法干预，如果答案是否定的，我将打破物理和魔法的法则，把她安全地带回来。
“I’m fine, Blackjack,” Glory said. “Hurry. You don’t have long.” More gunshots sounded from the PipBuck. “I’ve started the pre-launch countdown already. It’s all automated.”
"我很好，黑杰克,"晨辉说。"快点。你没有多少时间了。"Pipbuck的枪声更多了。"我已经开始了发射前的倒计时。一切都是自动化的。"
“Good. Come straight away, okay?” I asked as I tried to ignore the sounds of shooting over the radio. I got P-21 inside the much snugger interior of our rocket. There were just four passenger seats, the fifth with the controls occupied by a cobbled-together terminal machine like the ones in Cognitum’s rocket. I set him down in one and started buckling him in. Four small portholes along the wall and in the door let me see out.
"很好。马上过来，好吗?"我问道，尽量不去理会收音机里传来的枪声。我得到了P-21在我们的火箭舒适的内部。那里只有四个乘客座位，第五个座位的控制装置是一个拼凑在一起的终端机，就像科涅塔姆火箭上的那个一样。我把他放在一个箱子里，开始把他扣上。四个小舷窗沿着墙壁和门让我看到了外面。
“...I’ll try,” Glory said quietly. That set alarms off in my head. More gunshots sounded, now from both my foreleg and a speaker in the capsule. I spotted a terminal showing the control room. Heaps of dust, dead zebras, and slain Brood littered the place. Glory looked up from a terminal and smiled at the camera. Almost instantly, a unicorn Brood teleported into the room. Glory immediately whirled at the flash, the beams from her gun lancing out and biting deep into it. Magic bullets slammed into her as her beams cut down the machine, the jacket absorbing many of the hits… but not all. Her wings and haunches wept with dozens of wounds.
"......我会试试的,"晨辉平静地说。这在我的脑海里敲响了警钟。更多的枪声响起，现在从我的前腿和一个扬声器在太空舱。我发现了一个显示控制室的终端。满地都是灰尘，斑马和布鲁德病。晨辉从终端机上抬起头，对着镜头微笑。几乎是瞬间，一只独角兽传送到了房间里。晨辉立刻在闪光中旋转起来，她的枪发出的光芒射了出来，深深地刺进去。当她的光束切断机器的时候，魔法子弹一下子打进了她的身体，夹克吸收了很多打击，但不是全部。她的翅膀和臀部伤痕累累。
I rose to my hooves as Scotch Tape strapped herself in as well. “Hang tight. I’ll be right there!” I said as I started towards the door.
当苏格兰胶带把自己也捆起来的时候，我站了起来。"坚持住。我马上就来!"我边说边向门口走去。
It swung shut in my face. There was the sound of bolts being driven into the hatch with whirring noise.
它在我的脸上猛地一挥。有螺栓被推进舱口的声音伴随着呼呼的噪音。
I slammed my hooves against the metal. “What’s going on?” I shouted, slamming my hooves against it, looking around for the doorknob as I heard the bolts thunk shut. “Glory!”
我的蹄子砰地一声撞在金属上。"怎么回事?"我大声喊道，用蹄子猛敲门把手，听到门闩砰的一声关上时，我环顾四周寻找门把手。"晨辉!"
I looked out the window in the door, which pointed right at the large window to the control room. I could see flashes of light from inside. “I can’t leave, Blackjack. I don’t know how to disable the controls. If I leave, they could abort the launch,” she said, my ears straining to catch her words over the rattle of gunfire. I rushed back to the terminal, watching as she hunkered behind the terminal, blasting again and again.
我朝门外的窗户望去，窗户正对着控制室的大窗户。我可以看到里面有闪光。"我不能走，黑杰克。我不知道怎么关闭控制器。如果我离开，他们可以取消发射,"她说，我的耳朵紧张地听着她的话，而忽隐忽现的枪声。我冲回航站楼，看着她蜷缩在航站楼后面，一遍又一遍地爆炸。
Back to the hatch, back to trying to figure out how the damn thing opened. “Get out of there, Glory! We’ll leave! Find another way,” I yelled as I beat my hooves against the metal. There had to be some way. “Open this thing, Scotch!” I said, looking at all the knobs and levers. I whipped my head around and screamed, “Open it right now! I have to get to her!”
回到舱门，回去想办法弄清楚那该死的东西是怎么打开的。"从那里出来，晨辉！我们走！"找别的办法,"我一边用蹄子敲打金属一边喊道。肯定有办法的。"打开这个，苏格兰威士忌!"我说，看着所有的旋钮和操纵杆。我猛地转过头，尖叫道:"马上打开！我必须找到她!"
Scotch Tape stared at me. Tears streaked her cheeks as she stared from me to the shivering P-21. “Do it!” I screamed at her.
透明胶带盯着我。当她凝视着我和发抖的P-21时，泪水划破了她的脸颊。"动手吧!"我冲着她大喊大叫。
“No,” P-21 said through his chattering teeth.
"不,"P-21通过他颤抖的牙齿说。
“I’d do it for you!” I yelled at him. “I’d do it for you, Scotch!” I snapped at the stricken filly.
"我愿意为你这么做!"我对他大喊大叫。"我愿意为你这么做，苏格兰人!"我厉声斥责受伤的小母马。
“And she is doing it for you,” he answered, tears streaking the lingering frost on his cheeks. “Just like we would do it for you.”
"她是为了你才这么做的,"他回答，泪水划过他脸颊上挥之不去的霜。"就像我们会为你做的一样。"
No. No no no! “I don’t want anyone to die for me!” I said as I slammed my shoulder against the hatch. Where was the ‘emergency open’? Something! “Glory!” I sobbed.
没有。不，不，不！"我不希望任何人为我而死!"我一边说，一边用肩膀撞击舱门。"紧急开放"在哪里？什么东西！"晨辉!"我抽泣着。
“Blackjack, the missile will impact in a minute,” Glory said calmly, glancing over at a display. “I can see it here.” There was a thunk, and a hiss, whine, and rattle sounded in the guts of the rocket. “I’ve checked the flight path. You're going to get to the Lunar Palace a little behind Cognitum.” My view of the control room was briefly blocked by a moving beam as the launch tower swung down and away to the sound of klaxons.
"黑杰克，导弹将在一分钟内击中目标,"格洛里平静地说，瞥了一眼显示屏。"我能在这里看到它。""砰"的一声,"嘶"的一声,"呜"的一声，还有火箭内部发出的嘎嘎声。"我已经检查了飞行路线。你要到月宫去，就在科涅塔姆后面一点。"随着发射塔随着喇叭的声音向下摆动，我看到的控制室被一根移动的横梁短暂地挡住了。
“Please, Glory… Please…” I tried to teleport, and hit the wall… tried again… hit it again. Whatever zebra talisman kept me back refused to yield. I levitated out the gun, pointing it at the hatch.
"求你了，晨辉......求你了......"我试着传送，结果撞到了墙上......又撞了一次......又撞了一次。不管什么斑马护身符阻止了我，它都不肯屈服。我把枪悬浮起来，指向舱口。
“Don’t! You’ll kill all of us!” Scotch yelled.
"不要！你会害死我们所有人的!"苏格兰人喊道。
“Blackjack,” P-21 said in tones intended to help me accept the unacceptable.
"黑杰克,"P-21用不同的语气说，意在帮助我接受不可接受的事实。
“No!” I shouted, my hooves beating against the metal.
"不!"我喊道，我的蹄子撞击着金属。
“All systems nominal. Launch tower disengaged,” the heartless computer stated coolly. “Starting core stage engines.”
"所有系统正常。发射塔脱离了,"无情的电脑冷冷地说。启动核心级引擎
I wanted to slay the damned machine, but it was the only thing that would get me to my destination. I bit my lip so hard trying not to scream that I tasted blood. “We can’t just leave her.”
我想杀死这台该死的机器，但这是唯一能让我到达目的地的东西。我拼命地咬着嘴唇，努力不让自己尖叫，以至于尝到了鲜血的味道。"我们不能丢下她不管。"
He reached out and put a hoof on my shoulder as the bulwark field activated
他伸出手，把一只蹄子放在我的肩膀上，这时舷墙区域被激活了
around our rocket and the hiss beneath us turned into a roar.
在我们的火箭周围，我们下面的嘶嘶声变成了轰鸣。
“Core stage engine thrust stable. Booster ignition in ten, nine, eight...”
"核心级发动机推力稳定。助推器点火倒计时1098..."
“No, Blackjack. It’s that... I’m sorry,” he told me in tones that couldn’t begin to console me, with words that couldn’t begin to make this right. He was also the only thread of sanity keeping me together. What was one life to that of the whole world?
"不，黑杰克。这是......我很抱歉,"他用无法开始安慰我的语调告诉我，用一些无法弥补的话语。他也是唯一让我保持理智的线索。一个人的生命与整个世界的生命有什么区别？
Everything.
一切。
It was a price to be paid. I could accept that. What I could not accept was another person paying it. I sobbed, looking out at Glory as she rose and turned to face out the window. Despite the distance that separated us, I could still make out her smile as she stared back at me. I saw her lips move, but the words were stolen by the dull roar bursting into a cacophonous thunder. The computer said something I didn’t catch. Glory and the space center were gone from the window, and I staggered over to the communications terminal against crushing pressure and the shaking of the world.
这是必须付出的代价。我可以接受。我不能接受的是另一个人付钱。我抽泣着，看着晨辉，她站起身来，转身面对着窗外。尽管我们之间隔着那么远的距离，我还是能看见她回望着我的微笑。我看见她的嘴唇动了动，但话语却被刺耳的雷声所掩盖。电脑说了些我听不懂的话。光荣和太空中心从窗口消失了，我摇摇晃晃地走到通讯终端，顶着巨大的压力和世界的震动。
I stretched a hoof towards the monitor as I saw her slump. There was blood in the corner of her mouth, one wing shot clean through and dangling beside her as if about to fall off. Out the window behind her, I could see a column of magical fields vanishing as steam drifted over an empty launchpad. I collapsed to the floor, reaching towards her, straining my hoof to touch the screen. She placed hers over mine, two ponies separated by a pane of cold glass. I stared, willing the glass to dissolve, for her to come tumbling through, tears streaking down my face.
我看见她垂头丧气，就朝监视器伸了个蹄子。她的嘴角有血，一只翅膀被射穿，在她身边晃来晃去，好像要掉下来似的。透过她身后的窗户，我可以看到一列神奇的田野正在消失，蒸汽在一个空的发射台上漂流。我瘫倒在地板上，向她伸出手，使劲的蹄子去触摸屏幕。她把她的马放在我的马上，两匹小马被一块冰冷的玻璃隔开。我凝视着，希望那杯子溶解，让她从我的脸上滚落下来，泪水顺着我的脸颊流下。
“Blackjack,” she murmured, smiling as she wept. “Tomorrow.”
"黑杰克,"她一边哭一边微笑着低声说。"明天。"
Outside the windows, the world grew light, a sunrise from below. The monitor went dark. I squeezed my eyes shut.
窗外的世界渐渐明亮起来，从下面升起了日出。显示器暗了下来。我紧紧地闭上眼睛。
Glory beneath the floor. Glory meeting me in the shower. Glory’s tears in the rain. Glory hovering beneath me, hoof outstretched, aglow. The feel of Glory holding me. Glory saving Scotch Tape. Glory throwing me across the room as Dash. Glory dancing with me in her stunning dress. Glory flying through the skies with me. Glory giving her speech to Thunderhead. Glory walking away. Glory giving me a sad smile.
地板下的晨辉。晨辉在淋浴间与我相遇。晨辉的泪水在雨中。晨辉在我脚下盘旋，蹄子伸展，发红。晨辉的感觉拥抱着我。挽救光荣的透明胶带。晨辉把我扔到房间的另一头。晨辉穿着她那漂亮的裙子和我跳舞。晨辉与我同在天空中飞翔。晨辉给她的演讲雷头。晨辉离开了。晨辉给了我一个悲伤的微笑。
I threw back my head as I was crushed to the floor, crying out her name for the whole universe to hear, lost in the roar as her sacrifice carried me into the heavens.
当我被压在地板上的时候，我把头往后一仰，大声呼喊着她的名字，让全世界都能听到，当她的牺牲把我带到天堂的时候，我在咆哮中迷失了。
 
Author's Notes:
作者笔记:
(Author’s notes: Horrible chapter. Just horrible. Horrible to write. Horrible to edit. I think this chapter has taken more time and effort than any chapter before. I’m sorry for the wait and I hope that everyone who’s read continues to do so. I want to thank my editors for extreme frustration and exhaustion many of them have faced. Many of them suffered major sleep deprivation for this chapter. I hope to get the next chapter out because... hell of a place to leave things.
(作者笔记:恐怖的一章。太可怕了。写起来太可怕了。可怕的编辑。我认为这一章比以往任何一章都要花费更多的时间和精力。我很抱歉要等这么久，我希望每个读过这本书的人都能继续读下去。我要感谢我的编辑们，他们中的许多人曾经面对过极度的挫折和疲惫。他们中的许多人因为这一章而遭受了睡眠剥夺的折磨。我希望能读完下一章，因为......这地方真他妈的适合放东西。
I’d like to thank Kkat for writing FoE. It’s really amazing to think we’re so close to being done after so long. I’d like to give special thanks to Hinds for his... expansive knowledge of rockets, Heartshine for her expansive knowledge of crazy people, Swicked for his expansive knowledge of knowing when a fight just ain’t good enough, and Bro for actually knowing great synonyms for ‘Look’.
我要感谢Kkat写的FoE。这么长时间以来，我们已经如此接近完成，这真是令人惊讶。我要特别感谢Hinds对火箭的广博知识，感谢Heartshine对疯子的广博知识，感谢他广博的知识----知道什么时候打架还不够好，感谢Bro知道'Look'的绝妙同义词。
I also want to thank everyone for reading as long as they have. Right now work is bad, given that I’m losing 500 dollars this month and 1000 dollars in december. No sub work over holidays. So I hope folks will help though Paypal to David13ushey@gmail.com. Gifts are so needed and appreciated. Feedback... sigh... yes, I hope to hear from everyone. Just know that I’m sorry.
我还要感谢每一个人，感谢他们一直以来的阅读。考虑到我这个月损失了500美元，12月损失了1000美元，现在的工作很糟糕。节假日期间没有子工作。所以我希望人们能够通过Paypal转到david13ushey@gmail.com。礼物是如此的需要和感激。反馈...叹气...是的，我希望听到大家的意见。你要知道我很抱歉。
Music I was imagining for the final scene.)
音乐是我为最后一幕想象的。)
(Hinds: ...Well now. That was… quite the ending. As you probably can understand (particularly if you know who my favorite character in PH i-- was), I’m feeling slightly emotionally dazed at the moment. I wrote the release note before reading this end scene, and I’ll probably have recovered by the time it’s time to post the chapter (hopefully) tomorrow (later edit: We’re now going to be trying for next Saturday.). Well, technically later today, since I’m typing this timestamp at 010220. Yeah.
现在好了。这就是...完美的结局。正如你可能能够理解的那样(特别是如果你知道我在PHi中最喜欢的角色是谁)，此刻我感到有点情绪上的茫然。在阅读这个结尾场景之前，我已经写好了发布说明，到明天该发布这一章的时候(希望如此)，我可能已经恢复过来了(稍后再编辑:我们现在要为下周六做准备).严格来说，是今天晚些时候，因为我在010220点钟打这个时间戳。是的。
...Well, I’m not sure what more there really is I can say about that ending. And my writing isn’t at its best at the moment. So… on with the note I planned before I even knew that this chapter would have a big ending, much less what it was. Ahem. Regarding the aesthetics of the rockets, I
我不知道这个结局还能说什么。而且我的写作现在也不是最好的。所以......在我知道这一章会有一个大结局之前，我就已经计划好了这个笔记，更不用说它到底是什么了。咳咳。关于火箭的美学，我
 
imagine that the ESS-A1 looks rather N1ish and the older ships have some similarities to the R-7 family. There are of course differences; sizes vary, and the ESS-A1 is a single stage while even the most primitive of the older ships is two stage, core and boosters, among other things, but I like to think that the general looks of the ships have commonalities. For those of you curious about the propulsion systems, the idea is that both the ESS-A1 and the older rocket core stages use Magical Thermal Rockets (propellant generating), with similarities to NTRs (including having an onboard magical reactor for power) but using magical heating on propellant generating by hydrogen talismans (as introduced in the original FoE for airships and here also powered by the reactor). Both the ESS-A1 and the older rockets therefore have effectively unlimited Delta-V in space as long as nothing breaks and the reactors have power, but they have differences in available acceleration. Most impactfully, the ESS-A1 has enough thrust to take off and land on Equus as a full SSTO. The older rockets do not; when tail-landing at the ends of their missions, they run their engines in LAMTRpg mode. Since they don’t have oxygen talismans, though, they have to run that on an internal LOX tank, and the designers decided that it would be prohibitively difficult to make this large enough for both takeoffs and landings. Launches are therefore performed with the assistance of four conventional chemical RP-1/LOX boosters. (The boosters originally were LH2/LOX, but then it turned out that Somber wanted burning pools of fuel scattered around the place; please let me know if we’ve missed any places that still suggest LH2, which now probably isn’t on the launch field at all.) (2015-08-27 correction: Bother. Equestria did have oxygen talismans. In my defense, they were only mentioned only three times in PH and not at all in the original, but still, I ought to have remembered to check even if I didn't remember the fact. I am very greatly sorry for this error I have made. Okay, the rockets are still salvageable, though. Oxygen talismans take power. Furthermore oxygen atoms are heavier, which may mean that each oxygen atom takes more power to produce than each hydrogen atom. A reactor small and light enough to fit in a rocket can only provide so much power. If the reactor cannot fuel enough biprop production to accelerate the rocket at more than 1g, the ship still can't SSTO or definitely safely make a powered descent. A LOX tank is less versatile, but this was to be a temporary design before moving on to better rockets; it was also intended, I assume, to only make planned trips to Equus orbit and the moon. A cooling talisman for the LOX tank is presumably much cheaper in terms of energy. And might lead to the overall system being cheaper in cost (during
想象一下，ESS-A1看起来相当N1ish，而且老旧的飞船与R-7系列有一些相似之处。当然有差异;大小不同，ESS-A1是一个单一的阶段，而即使是最原始的老式飞船是两个阶段，核心和助推器，等等，但我喜欢认为，总体外观的飞船有共同点。对于那些对推进系统感兴趣的人来说，这个想法是，ESS-A1和老式的火箭核心级都使用神奇热火箭(推进剂生成)，与ntr有相似之处(包括车载的神奇反应堆提供动力)，但使用氢护身符生成推进剂时使用神奇加热(在最初的飞艇敌人中引入了这种技术，这里也使用反应堆提供动力)。因此，无论是ESS-A1还是老式火箭，只要没有断裂，反应堆有动力，实际上都可以在太空中无限制地使用Delta-V，但它们在可用加速度方面存在差异。最不明智的是，ESS-A1有足够的推力作为一个完整的SSTO在马上起飞和着陆。老式的火箭则不然，在任务结束时尾部着陆时，它们会以LAMTRpg模式运行引擎。因为他们没有氧气护身符，他们必须在一个内部液氧罐上运行，设计者认为要做到足够大以便起飞和降落是极其困难的。因此，发射是在四种常规化学品RP-1/LOX助推器的协助下进行的。(最初的推进器是LH2/lox，但后来发现Somber希望燃烧的燃料池分散在这个地方，如果我们遗漏了任何仍然可以推测出LH2的地方，请告诉我，这些地方现在可能根本就不在发射场上。)(2015-08-27更正:真烦人。小马国确实有氧气护身符。在我的辩护中，它们在PH值中只被提到了三次，而在原文中根本没有被提到，但是，即使我不记得这个事实，我还是应该记得检查一下。对于我所犯的这个错误，我非常抱歉。不过火箭还是可以抢救的。氧气护身符获得力量。此外，氧原子更重，这可能意味着每个氧原子比每个氢原子需要更多的能量来产生。一个小巧轻便的反应堆只能容纳一枚火箭，但也只能提供这么多的能量。如果反应堆不能提供足够的燃料生产双螺旋桨来加速超过1g的火箭，飞船仍然不能进行SSTO，或者肯定无法安全地进行动力下降。液氧坦克没有那么多用途，但这只是一个临时设计，然后再转向更好的火箭;我猜想，它的目的也只是为了按计划进行到阿奎斯轨道和月球的飞行。据推测，液氧罐的冷却护身符在能量方面要便宜得多。并可能导致整个系统的成本更低(在年
wartime) than building ships with powerful enough reactors using the technology of the day, if that was possible at all. That's a... somewhat iffy support, but I think/hope that it's good enough.
如果可能的话，建造一艘拥有足够强大反应堆的船只比使用当时的技术要容易得多。那是一个。.虽然支持率有些不确定，但我认为/希望它足够好。
edit: Unfortunately, my tiredness and haste when composing the above correction lead to it itself containing a grievous error, which has now been corrected along with several typos. I extend further great apologies for this error.)
编辑:不幸的是，我在编写上面的更正时感到疲惫和匆忙，导致它本身包含了一个严重的错误，这个错误现在已经和几个拼写错误一起被纠正了。我对这个错误深表歉意。)
...And now I’m sad again, because it occurred to me that Glory would probably enjoy this little educational interlude…
...现在我又伤心了，因为我突然想到，晨辉可能会喜欢这段教育性的插曲..。
...Which reminds me of a bit more education, at least: Blackjack really ought to have been able to find a way to get that hatch open, and pretty quickly and easily, too. Sadly, Apollo 1 provides us with ample evidence that hatches poorly designed for emergency opening are not unrealistic. Of course, if Blackjack had gotten that hatch open, it may well have doomed the planet, but… Sigh…
至少，这让我想起了更多的教育:黑杰克真的应该能够找到打开舱门的方法，而且也应该能够非常迅速和容易地打开。遗憾的是，阿波罗1号为我们提供了充足的证据，证明为紧急情况打开舱门而设计的拙劣并非不切实际。当然，如果Blackjack打开了那个舱门，它很可能毁灭了这个星球，但是...唉..。
There wouldn’t really have been a another way for Glory to make the launch unstoppable, under the circumstances, other than sabotage, though, and that she didn’t know how to do. With all the technicians dead, she’d be more likely to either do nothing or stop the launch herself.
在这种情况下，除了破坏之外，晨辉没有别的办法可以使发射不可阻挡，而且她也不知道该怎么做。所有的技术人员都死了，她要么什么也不做，要么自己停止发射。
...And I think I’m just kind of rambling now. Well, goodnight, everyone! And welcome to the endgame of Project Horizons. It is going to be a bumpy ride.)
我觉得我现在有点语无伦次了。好了，大家晚安！欢迎来到"地平线计划"的最后阶段。这将是一段颠簸的旅程。)
(swicked: I like zebra ^_^
(我喜欢斑马^^
Also: it is truly tragic you guys will never have the pleasure of hearing the enthusiasm in Hinds’ voice when he describes his rocket erections.) (Hinds: …You know full well I’m talking about raising rockets from their horizontal transportation positions to their vertical launch positions. :)) (Heartshine: this chapter came in a time when life was really kicking everyone’s butts. Also the line “It was a price to be paid. I could accept that. What I could not accept was another person paying it.” hit me a lot harder than I thought it would when Somber and I talked about it a few months ago. Ulg… Not envious of BJ and would totally have been tempted to blow the damned door open. Somber and I have had long conversations on the meaning of sacrifice, and it’s always interesting to hear other people’s points of view on it. All I know is that I’m used to being the one who makes sacrifices, at least with my job. So when put into spots where I can’t make that sacrifice, things tend to end emotionally about as well for me as they did for Blackjack. Anyways, no one probably cares, but goddesses if this chapter didn’t hit hard.)
还有:当海因兹描述他的火箭勃起时，你们永远不会有幸听到他声音中的热情。)(欣兹:......你很清楚，我说的是把火箭从水平运输位置提升到垂直发射位置。(收集整理心灵闪耀:这一章是在生活真正把每个人打得落花流水的时候写的。还有"这是要付出的代价"这句话。我可以接受。我不能接受的是另一个人付钱。"比我几个月前和Somber讨论这个问题时想象的要严重得多。乌尔格...不嫉妒北京，会完全被诱惑，把该死的门打开。我和Somber就牺牲的意义进行了长时间的讨论，听听别人对牺牲的看法总是很有趣的。我只知道我已经习惯了做出牺牲，至少在工作上是这样。所以当我不能做出牺牲的时候，情感上的结局对我来说和对Blackjack一样好。不管怎样，也许没有人在乎，但如果这一章没有打击太大，女神们。)
(Bronode: “No one probably cares” _
(布罗诺德:"可能没人在乎")
So yes, rocket erections. I believe we have it on good authority that horsecock-shaped rockets would be “aerodynamically unsound” Three
所以，是的，火箭勃起。我相信我们有可靠的证据表明马锁形状的火箭在空气动力学上是不健全的
guesses where that came from.)
猜猜这是从哪里来的。)
(swicked: Only if they’re uncut.)
(只有没剪的时候才会。)
(Bronode: I wish I could remember more, but I kind of... overdid it on the sauce this chapter in anticipation of my favourite character getting scrubbed. To be honest, Glory going out like that kind of came out of left field for me. I actually sat down hard later and said “Glory can’t just be gone. She’s too boring to go out like that.” Three years, I’ve spent with that character. I was the one who gave her her AER-14. She wasn’t my favourite, not by a long shot, but still. And there’s at least another four chapters of this to go. Seems Somber’s not gonna be happy unless I end up with cirrhosis.)
(Bronode:<受swiched纯粹幽默感的支配......马的包皮环切术是一个正在进行的研究领域——尽快在你最喜欢的pone-dong相关的、同行评议的期刊上找到结论吧!>我希望我能记得更多，但是我有点......在这一章的酱汁上涂得太多了，因为我期待我最喜欢的角色被擦掉。说实话，晨辉的离开对我来说有点出乎意料。事实上，我后来很努力地坐下来说:"晨辉不能就这样消失了。她太无聊了，不能这样出去。"我和那个角色相处了三年。是我给了她AER-14。她不是我的最爱，虽然从长远来看不是，但仍然是。这本书至少还有四章要写。看来除非我得肝硬化，否则Somber不会高兴的。)