459 words; MYO-254
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Albedo stood in front of the gingerbread train, sizing up the old monstrosity. It didn't bode well for their trip that this was the ride taking them the rest of the way.
They hesitantly stepped into the train car.
Old icing cracked beneath their hooves, and the dingy interior did little to reassure them. The other Stygians in the train did, however, put them a bit more at ease.
If today was Albedo's day to die, at least they probably would not go alone.
They squeezed themself into a deer-sized space and settled in--mentally deciding that they would figure out their avatar form after this trip--and waited.
After a few more Stygians took their places in the car, the entire train rumbled back to life and trudged forward with a jerk, almost knocking Albedo over. The sound of the old gingerbread machine crunching through stale icing on the tracks was disconcerting.
Time passed slowly. Albedo, accustomed to the wide open literal-space of their own nightmare kingdom, hated the closed confines of this candy death machine. Why did they decide to visit this place again? They doubted the reason was good enough.
As soon as they felt themself dozing off, the train screeched to a halt. A voice rang out overhead announcing their arrival to Treatropolis, and the other passengers started shuffling out. It was a slow moving crowd, and Albedo was antsy to get out of here.
As much as their nerves yelled at them to run out in front, they waited until a space opened in the crowd, and they slowly padded out with the tail end of the group.
The conductor stood just outside, chatting with each of the passengers as they departed. As they waited for their turn, Albedo let their eyes wander across the landscape of the ruins--for the first time, they felt their interest piqued, and wondered what this place looked like in its glory days.
Before they realized that the time had passed, they were brought back to reality by an annoyed voice--the conductor attempting to hail them over and… well, do whatever is was that conductors did.
They walked over and the short man launched himself into the same spiel he had probably given every other Stygian who had come off this train. Albedo felt their eyes glaze over, but the conductor didn’t seem to notice--or didn’t care--and kept talking until he was done. A few awkward seconds passed and Albedo realized they had been dismissed; the conductor wasn’t even waiting for them to leave, but had already started flagging down the Stygian behind them.
With a sigh, they headed out of the train station to find their assigned team, giving the ruins in the distance one last look as they did.