(POV none, Ghastly Gorge)

(One Day Later)

In the caboose of a train, Shifter and his friends were waiting for the train to reach the Ponyville station, completely bored. "Hey, Eclipse, go check and see if we're at least near the station, and be quiet. We don't want to attract any unwanted attention," Shifter told Eclipse impatiently. Eclipse did what he was told after grabbing the map and looking out of the caboose's front end (the side that's connected to the rest of the train. After looking out of the door, Eclipse's eyes widen in shock and fear.

"Uh, Shifter, I've got good news and bad news. Good news is we don't have to worry about any of the locals discovering us," Eclipse said.

"Why's that?" Shifter asked.

"That's the bad news," Eclipse said, letting Shifter know what he found out.

"Wait, you mean we're-" Shifter tried to ask before Eclipse interrupted her, saying, "Yep."

"Okay, what kind of creature would be able to cut the connection of two train cars?" Misty asked after walking up to the two, then the bridge that they were on gave way and the train car fell into the Ghastly Gorge. When the caboose hit the ground, everyone was unconscious for a few seconds.

It was completely silent inside the caboose until Shifter broke the silence after making a Chaos Spear in his hand, using it as a torch, and saying, "Alright, who's not dead? Sound off." Shifter then heard noises of pain, signalling that his friends didn't have a soft landing.

"The kind that can apparently cut an entire bridge down like it was made out of paper, Misty," Eclipse said answering Misty's early question.

"That's impossible," Misty told Eclipse.

"The remains of the bridge says otherwise," Eclipse said looking at the damaged bridge. This made Misty take a good look at what's left of the bridge and saw that the bridge's entire support was completely chopped off as if it were paper, causing Misty to drop her jaw in shock of what she was seeing.

"Two words are all I need to describe what I'm seeing: Shock and awe," Misty said staring at the damaged bridge.

"Why are you in shock of what you're seeing?" Shifter asked, then said, "You've seen demon bounty hunters and dolls that have demons inside of them."

"Well, excuse me for not thinking that cutting down a bridge like this would be impossible," Misty said. Then, the group heard some kind of silent roar that was close to them. When Eclipse looked out of the window, he was greeted by the mouth of a Quarray Eel.

(Author's note: The image below shows what the Quarray Eels look like.)

After closing the door silently, Eclipse said, "I think whoever did that was to make sure that we die before getting to Ponyville."

"Wouldn't surprise me at all if this had something to do with this Sugar Rush pony," Shifter said. Then, one of the Quarray Eels grabs the train car by chewing on it with its jaws, trying to eat the group inside. 

The car looked like the eel would bite through the entire thing within a few seconds, but before the eel could even get the chance to do so, Shifter fired a Chaos Spear into its mouth to make it drop the train car, shouting, "CHAOS SPEAR!" After they all got out of the car to avoid being crushed from the force of the impact. "Looks like we're going to have to fight our way out," Shifter said, assuming that the Quarray Eels will show no mercy at all.

"Okay Shifter, I think this is your time to redeem yourself for the bee incident," Eclipse said to Shifter.

"Alright! Time to show you what I can do against larger fighters!" Shifter said with glee. After seeing a lot of Quarray Eels surrounding him, Shifter grabbed one of them by using his Chaos Spider Silk to make replicas that could easily reach him.

"What's Shifter up to?" Eclipse asked.

"I don't know, but I think we need to back up immediately," Misty asked, which everyone agreed to and backed up immediately.

"CHAOS SPIDER SILK-PINWHEEL!" Shifter shouted, then he started to spin around with the Quarray Eel still in his grip, hitting all of the other Quarray Eels with its body and blowing his friend's minds away. After he let go of the Quarray Eel that he used as a giant bola-like weapon and made it hit a wall, Shifter went back to his friends and asked, "So what do you guys think?"

"I think you just beat a pack of one of the most aggressive animals in this entire country," Misty said.

"Yes!" Shifter shouted with excitement as he learned that he might've beaten the toughest animal in Equestria.

"How are we going to get to Ponyville now?" Eclipse asked.

"We climb," Shifter said starting to climb the wall all the way up the wall.

"You do know just how high that wall is, right?" Misty asked.

"It's either this or waiting for someone to find us, and if the latter happens, then a shit load of reporters will be on our asses, and if they manage to get our picture into the newspaper, then one of X's strongest fighters in either his main army or his Equestrian army will come into the town that he thinks we'll be staying in and try to kill us and if he doesn't find us, then he'll reduce Equestria to rubble and every citizen within even a mile of Equestria will all be killed!" Shifter explained, surprising everyone with how much he knew about the Cult of X.

"... Climbing it is!" Eclipse exclaimed, still surprised at how much Shifter knew about the Cult of X.

(Later)

Shifter and his friends made it to the top of the cliff, heavily breathing. "How do you know so much about the Cult of X, Shifter?" Misty asked.

"The bastard known as Tails Doll killed my mother because she not only fell in love with a Mobian Troll, but she also nurtured me the best way she could, and she was considered a major threat to life itself for keeping me alive," Shifter explained.

"Why would they do something like that because she kept her own son alive?" Misty asked.

"My mother was a Mobian Hedgehog. My father was a Mobian Troll. Put two and two together," Shifter said.

Misty thought for a second. Then, when realization hit her, she asked, "Are you a hybrid, Shifter?"

"Apparently. And apparently, I'm also God's biggest mistake ever and that my existence is nothing more than one big glitch. A glitch that apparently needs to be terminated," Shifter said.

"So let me get this straight. Your mother and your father are both wanted Mobians down in Hell just because they gave birth to you," Misty debunked.

"That's what everyone from the Cult of X says," Shifter said.

"You know, Shifter, right after Black Doom died, I thought that I was God's biggest mistake that he ever made, but then Rouge showed up and she showed me that even if I was the biggest mistake that God ever made, I can still do something meaningful in my life. She showed me that even if I need to die, my death would only bring sadness to those that would have cared about me. Don't let what they say about you get to you, Shifter," Misty said to Shifter.

"Misty, it's me," Shifter said, then asked, "Did you really think that I would let a few words get to me anytime soon?"

"That's the Shifter that we all know and love," Misty said. Then, after the entire team got up the cliff, they headed off for the Everfree Forest.