Готовый перевод Последняя тарелка / One Last Bowl: One Last Bowl

"So what?"

[hr]

"It was always cold," noted Carrot.

"Yes, Caramels is right," Stable waved his hoof. "Let's just not start it over again."

[hr]

If it were true, well... Ponies failed this test.

The First Week

I know Ditzy very well. I might have never been at the same school with her—because I'd need wings for that. I don't know her parents. She seems to know not much more either. She had a very interesting life, and sometimes I forget what is wrong with her. Her rampant clumsiness... and her eyes—I and other ponies found it very amusing, though we understood that we shouldn't have laughed at her. It is not her fault that she was born like this.

And she was very afraid that her daughter would have to go through all of this. But—no, Dinky was born a perfectly healthy, strong unicorn filly. Despite all her oddities, she had so much love for her mother. And when somepony was treating poor Derp badly, she stood up for her.

What can I say. We all stood up for her. Ditzy is a part of our big family.

[hr]

[hr]

"Nope."

"How is Apple Bloom?"

"Eeyup."

"No telling. What d'ya think, Switch?"

"Looks nice. Too skinny, though."

"Let's feed her. Hey, babe!"

"Great."

[hr]

The pegasus put off his helmet. "I'm very sorry," he sighed. "We can't help you."

[hr]

"But where are they?!"

"Really. I-I don't know," the guard sighed. "They just didn't return. We think they're lost or... something worse could happen."

"What could be worse?" came a shrill voice.

The guard went silent. A respond came from his comrade, a pegasus of grey colour. "There are rumors from all over Equestria about gangs hijacking our chariots."

The Second Week

I'm still alive.

"Hey, stallion." Here she was on my doorstep, smiling her drunken smile. Swaying to and fro like a pendulum. Wine-scented, the rich odour of sherry. The mane got wet from piled-up snow.

"Berry, you're drunk," I commented.

"Erh... Yeah, I am. Just got a bottle at my place."

"I see."

"Well, so I thought... Let's drink it, eh? For good old days?"

I wasn't going to turn her out of doors. Back in the cold... What if something happened to her?

"Okay, come in. But let's make it quick."

[hr]

"You don't need to go home. You can sleep on my couch."

"I have none."

"I wish... you had," she bursts out laughing. There's a bottle of sherry on the table, and we will drink straight from it. Just like earth ponies we are should do.

"Hey, Caramel! Got some snacks?"

"Where I'd get these, I bet you?"

"Right. We got nothin' to eat. Oh, but if [i]my[/i] cellar got empty... I'd be over." Her hooves reach for the bottle again.

I look down. Yes. Lily. The first victim of the winter. I don't know how many there will be. Don't want to know. Not at the moment.

"And... here's to us. You're a good pony, Caramel. I've been watching you for a while."

"Well, that's scary. Can you stop doing that?"

"Let's go to my place! I have a nice collection down in my cellar. Have you ever tasted slivovitz? Or schnapps? Much less wines. I have so many of them—"

"With this frost outside? No way. Stay here."

"Well, I could snatch another couple of bottles or..." I only shook my head, and Berry sighed. "Okay, okay. The night's pretty cold. What about us getting warm?"

Sweet Celestia. Why is it so hot inside?

"You're cold?"

"And you?"

"I thought it were you who wanted to get warm."

"Sure. I do. Embarrassed about somethin'?"

"You're harrassing me, Berry."

"Hoity toity, we're so gentle. What's wrong with that? A stallion and a mare. Under one blanket. Gettin' warm. That's okay. Or do you have other preferences?"

"No, I like the idea. The problem is us both being drunk. We've made not enough silly things for tonight?"

"Let's make a couple more," says the mare with a malicious smirk. "Let us call them Bitter and Melony, change diapers and forget about sleep at night."

"Sad but true," she sighs. "We'll go belly up tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, chap. So I want us to forget all the bad things and make friends."

"We [i]are[/i] friends."

"No, I want us to make friends!" fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

[hr]

"Caramel! Help me!"

"I don't know!" she cried.

"But she knows she must not go outside at night!"

"I've told her!"

But we weren't afraid. We have not so much time for that.

{hr]

"She needs a doctor, Derp!"

[hr]

"Ditzy, you were robbed. I'm very sorry."

"I hope she will get better," said Stable.

"You [i]hope[/i]?" That was a strange word to hear from a doctor.

Ditzy sobbed.

"Starvation?"

Stable nodded his head. "We have enough medical supplies. So far," he said. His bag was levitating behind his back. Having opened it, the doctor pulled out a few bottles and two boxes of pills.

"Who could do such a thing?"

"Not sure yet. Maybe those Canterlot snobs?"

"...And?"

"What did she see, Stable?"

"So what's wrong with her?" I asked.

I'm going to sleep with Berry tonight. She's warm.

The Third Week

[hr]

[hr]

"What about Canterlot?"

"It... is cruelty."

"It's a necessity. I've already seen what ponies can do."

"Wait, wait. Meat? Ponies don't eat meat!"

"But where did they get it?"

"Sky? Do you hear me? Sky?"

"Just forget about it."

[hr]

"How did you manage to get them?"

And... that's all? Just leave? No, Caramel won't do that.

"You're a true friend," I blurted out. Skyfall shook his head with a wry smile.

"And you are a true pony, Caramel. I'd never think—"

"What are talking about?"

"Well... You see what's going on around. fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

[hr]

"Hey, Caramel. Come in!"

[hr]

[hr]

[hr]

"Where's my mom?"

[hr]

"Food?"

"Yes. Carrots... and stuff. For the soup."

"Somepony came to see her. It was him."

"Who was that pony?"

"I dunno. Other ponies called him Switch."

Switch. That sounded familiar. Wasn't he...

[hr]

[hr]

If little Dinky didn't realise what had happened, I knew it all at once. What Ditzy did... I could not believe it.

Ditzy didn't understand it at first. "What?"

"It was for Dinky."

"Yeah. When she grows up, she'll understand her perverted mommy."

"We had nothing to eat!"

"We all have nothing to eat!" I shouted. "But that's not a reason to fuck every stallion you meet!"

"No way." Her legs gave way under her. I turned around and went to the door, putting on my jacket.

"The blood of the innocent was spilled for this food, Derp. Have a nice dinner," I said at last.

[hr]

Those bastards had to pay. For all things they had done.

"It's urgent, Mac!"

"Later. I'm busy."

"Not now, Caramel. Leave me alone."

Mac kept pulling the sledge. I was overwhelmed. Broken. Ruined. Destroyed. But I rushed after him. "I'm with you. I... will help."

"These unicorns stayed at Rose's," he said.

"We should take them. And we better hurry up before they leave."

"They won't."

"Gather the Militia, Caramel," I heard him say.

[hr]

We approached Rose's house. I didn't really want to do mayhem there—she was our friend, after all. But there was no other way. Not tonight.

...Switch was first. He was tied up, and he squirmed all the while as Big Mac put a noose on him. I watched Clover and several other stallions grab the other end of the rope and pull it back. The unicorn wheezed—his hind hooves jerking helplessly, trying in vain to reach the ground. A minute later I heard a crunch in his neck; his body twitched convulsively and went limp.

And so they were gone, one by one.

"I have nothing to say to you, my friend. Leave this place," I uttered, wrapping myself in the jacket.

"If anyone finds out what you've done here, you're finished," he said with a shake of his head.

"You're going to Canterlot?"

"Yes. But not right now."

Epilogue

[right][i]"Hope is the most tenacious thing in the world. Everything will die, but it will wait to die last."[/i]
— H. L. Oldie[/right]

[hr]

[hr]

"This is... for Dinky," he huffed. "She needs to get well."

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Переведено на Нотабеноиде
http://notabenoid.org/book/74723/419072

Переводчики: psychoshy