Twilight sat in the throne room of her castle and used a spell to blot out all of the windows, cloaking her and the entire room in darkness. She locked the door tight and threw the key away into the darkest corner that she could find. She let out a long and weary sigh as she looked down at the map, drawn to the faint glow that it was giving off.

"What's the point of fighting?" Twilight asked as she slumped her face onto the map. "King Void broke me. I've hurt the ponies of Ponyville. I shouldn't even be here if I'm going to screw everything up." She used her horn to create a seemingly perfect replica of Midnight's mask and horn. "As long as Midnight Sparkle lives inside of me, I'm a liability to the ponies of this town, and to the Yo-kai that I've befriended." She turned away, throwing the mask into the blackened room. "I'm just going to stay in this room forever, alone in the darkness. Where I belong..."

"Twilight?" Rarity's voice echoed from the other side of the door along with a few knocks. "Are you in there? Ever since Lash attacked, you haven't come out of the castle. Is something wrong?"

"Go away." Twilight turned towards the door. "There's nothing you can do to help me."

"Twilight. Now you know as well as I do that there's no point in moping around in this time of crisis!" Whisper's voice also rang out from the door. "So what if King Void dealt you a crippling blow? That's no reason for you to just give up!"

"Shut your face, Whisper!" Twilight lashed out at the door. "You don't know anything about darkness! You're just a floating soft serve ice cream!" As soon as she came to her senses, she hung her head and sighed. "Sorry. I'm just really torn up about Midnight Sparkle being a part of me. I never thought that I was capable of such dark magic like that..."

"C'mon, Twi. We've dealt with dark magic before, haven't we?" Rainbow Dash looked through the crack at the bottom of the door. "Between King Sombra, Lord Tirek, and Nightmare Moon, I'd say that you're more than prepared to fight this King Void weirdo."

"Sure, that meanie ruined a few cakes, destroyed all of Ponyville, and caused you to become this super-evil demon girl that your friends in another world thought was long dead, but really, what else can he do?" Pinkie Pie blurted out. "What? Too soon?"

"The point is, Twilight, King Void's already given you a good example of what's to come." Applejack tried to open the door, but no matter how hard she pushed against it, it merely rattled in place. "But you can't just lock yourself away because you let everyone down."

"You don't understand, Applejack." Twilight Sparkle shook her head, throwing around tears in the shadows. "King Void didn't destroy the town and hurt hundreds of innocent ponies. I did. It was all me. Midnight Sparkle and I are identical. She's like the darkness to my light." She stood up. "I'm not safe anymore. At any given point, King Void, Kin, Gin, or one of the other Dark Ones could provoke Midnight Sparkle and cause me to lose control again. I'm not prepared to take that risk for anyone—not even the eight of you."

"Compared to Mckraken who tried to conquer the human world, and Dame Dedtime who wanted to have everything in existence, this King Void doesn't really seem to have much of a motive," said Whisper. "But then again, he is the villain. They most of the time reveal their evil plots later on in the story."

"He's still a big bully, Whisper." Jibanyan's shadow left the ground to reappear shortly afterward. "I bet that my Paws of Fury would send him running real quick."

"I appreciate your votes of confidence, but it won't help me in the slightest." Twilight walked over to the door and opened it up momentarily, revealing her pony friends, as well as Whisper and Jibanyan. "Whatever what you want to say to me, it won't erase the damage and hurt I've done to the ponies of Ponyville. Midnight will always be waiting to break free, and King Void's going to keep on tempting her to come out no matter what we do." She shut the door again, locking it tightly with both the key and her spells. "Now if you would, I have to dwell on the consequences of my actions and wait for all of this to die down. Maybe the ponies will forgive me when they forget about what I've done..."

"Well, that didn't go so well." Whisper looked at the group of ponies.

"Just forget it, nyan. She's nyot coming out for anything." Jibanyan walked away. "We tried our best to persuade her, but she's not ready yet."

"Jibanyan, come back." Fluttershy flew after Jibanyan as he waddled down the corridors towards another room of the castle.

"Man. I've never seen Twilight give up like that." Rainbow Dash looked at the door once again. "I mean, yeah, she's faced some pretty bad guys and gals before, but I've never seen her just throw in the tower after just one fight." She tried to look under the crack again until Twilight used a spell to conjure a towel, filling the gap entirely. "Whisper? Is there a Yo-kai that can make you want to give up on something?"

"There is, but I'm not detecting any near Twilight or this castle." Whisper nodded. "All of Twilight's doubts are entirely her own. If she were inspirited, I would've known by now and would come charging in to save her from whatever ruffian inspirited her."

"So Twilight's really given up for real?" Pinkie Pie's mane deflated as she looked at the door one last time. "That really bums me out, Whisper."

"I know it has, Pinkie, but we must respect Twilight's decision." Whisper poked his head through the door, looking into the darkness. He flew back out as soon as he saw Twilight fire a magical bolt at his face. "Phew. That was a close one. Anyway, as I was saying." He looked back at the ponies. "Twilight will eventually get over this. She's gotten over tougher enemies before, right?"

"Yes, but none of them ever caused her to become some monster with a mask that destroyed the entire town, Whisper." Rainbow Dash pointed towards the nearby windows. "Just look outside and see all of the damage that Midnight Sparkle did to Ponyville, and you'll see just how bad Twilight feels."

"I already know how bad the damage is, Rainbow Dash." Whisper shuddered as he looked out of the window at all of the ruined houses and buildings. "Venoct and Kyubi are lending a helping hand in restoring the town, as are the rest of Twilight's Yo-kai friends, but even with all of their help, the town's not gonna be fixed for a few days at least, what with how most of the stuff was erased from existence by Midnight's assault."

"Well, without Twilight to lead us through this time, what will it matter when King Void returns to attack it all over again with his Dark Yo-kai?" Rarity raised a brow, her eyes darting between the door and windows. "We need her now, more than ever if we're going to defeat this monster."

Twilight listened to all of her friends talking from the other side of the door, but still she sat in the darkness, refusing to even acknowledge they were even there. Everything had already been laid out before her. The destruction of Ponyville was her fault, and Midnight Sparkle would always be a part of her. She was responsible for it all, despite King Void's interference.

"I just deserve to be forgotten." Twilight cried lightly as she thought about every pony that she had hurt with her battle against Lash. "I'm a liability to the ponies of this town, and I'm just a vessel for that demon, Midnight Sparkle."

"That's right. Just hide away in the darkness. It's much better that way."

Twilight jumped up from her seat when she heard the new voice. Despite all of her friends being outside of the room, she could still hear the newcomer's voice loud and clear. It was squeaky and emanated from the roof of the room.

"Who's there?" Twilight looked around, using her horn to illuminate the darkness. "I have a Yo-kai Watch here, you know!"

Twilight looked around as hard as she could, but didn't see anyone anywhere—even underneath the map and above the chandelier. As soon as she came to the realisation, she used her Yo-kai Watch and looked around until the watch glowed, revealing the Yo-kai that had been talking to her.

There, hanging from the lowest branch of her tree-shaped chandelier, was a little vampire bat with blue and yellow wings with hashtag patterns on them. It fluttered down onto the table and looked Twilight in the eyes.

"Who are you?" Twilight raised a brow at the Yo-kai.

"My name is Hidabat." The Yo-kai fluttered its' wings. "I'm a bat Yo-kai who makes people hide away in their houses."

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. Princess of Friendship, ruler of—and evidentally—destroyer of Ponyville." She looked out of one of the windows briefly. "It's nice to meet you, Hidabat. I'm sorry if I don't seem as enthusiastic or energetic as I usually do."

"No, no, it's alright." Hidabat flew over to Twilight. "I know what it's like. You just want to lock yourself away after doing something terrible."

"What did you do?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, nothing." Hidabat shivered. "I'm just terribly frightened of the outside world. So many people looking and staring at you. It just makes me terrified..." He flew back up to the chandelier and hung from it. "If you like, maybe we could hide in the darkness together?"

"Yeah... I'd like that." Twilight looked back at Hidabat after blotting out her windows even more. "Right now, I just need to not be seen by anyone." She flapped up high and coiled her tail around the trees like a bat, used her wings to cover her face, and made the room even darker.

"Y'know, you're much braver than I am, Twilight," said Hidabat. "You were willing to face that evil monster King Void and save Ponyville. Why would you ever wanna hide like this?"

"The thing is, Hidabat, King Void poisoned me with some kind of dark Yo-kai power and unleashed this monster called Midnight Sparkle." Twilight's face fell as she glanced over at him. "When he sent out one of his lieutenants; Lash, he taunted me into letting out my inner darkness. Midnight Sparkle seized control of me and although I beat Lash, I ended up destroying the entire town in the process."

"That's horrible." Hidabat wrapped one of his wings around her. "No wonder Queen Ephemer deemed him a threat to the Yo-kai species."

"Queen Ephemer?" Twilight's eyes widened.

"Yeah. She's some kind of weird horse-human hybrid who glows brighter than the rainbow." Hidabat nodded. "She's got all of the strongest Yo-kai as her gatekeepers. The Oni, Venoct and Kyubi, Prince Nurarihyon, and even the leaders of the old Bony Spirits and Fleshy Souls factions keep her safe. Yet, despite all this, she hides as much as you do."

"But why would a queen ever want to hide herself from saving the world?" Twilight asked. "Isn't she worried what King Void could do without her protection?"

"Queen Ephemer is quite powerful, yes. Almost to that of Lord Enma himself." Hidabat nodded. "But in the last attack on the Yo-kai World, King Void's Dark Yo-kai attacked everywhere and caused us all to scatter. There was nowhere left for me to hide back there, so I ran away here instead."

"All of that destruction and Ephemer did nothing?" Twilight gasped when she took in Hidabat's testimony. She put her hooves together and saw them tremble in front of her. "With Lash, King Void, and Kin and Gin, history just repeated itself." She brushed away the tears in her eyes and landed at the door. "I can't just sit here moping. It's time for action!"

"Wait, Twilight!" Hidabat reached out for her.

"What is it?" Twilight ran back over to him.

"Before you go, I want you to have this." Hidabat pulled out a Yo-kai Medal from inside his wings and gave it to Twilight. "For being such a good friend to me and sharing in my pain."

"Thank you, Hidabat." Twilight gave him a smile as she pocketed his Yo-kai Medal, opened the door, and walked outside again.

"My king, aren't you upset over the loss of Lash?" Kin looked at Twilight Sparkle through a black mirror with spikes on the rim. "One of the strongest of your soldiers, and you let him die to Twilight Sparkle?"

"No, Kin. I am not." King Void folded his arms and held his hands out in a claw fashion, causing a small chessboard to rise up by his side. "Thanks to Lash's taunting, we now have all of the pieces we need for the greatest game of chess ever devised."

"Chess?" Gin cocked a brow at him. "I thought you were a no nonsense guy.."

"Now now, little sister." Kin dismissed Gin with a wave of her hand. "He means it in the metaphorical way, of course."

"Precisely, gold-haired one." King Void clicked his fingers, causing Twilight Sparkle, her pony friends, her human copy, and Sunset Shimmer to appear on both sides of a chess board in front of him. With a wave of his other hand, the ones on his side became more demonic, with Twilight transforming into Midnight Sparkle, and Sunset Shimmer taking on a demonic form. "We have all of the pieces we need.

"The rooks are Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Strong-willed, yet weak-hearted." King Void pointed at the pieces one by one. "Following them with their speed but lack of restraint are Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. The bishops on this little table are Twilight Sparkle and Rarity."

"Twilight Sparkle?" Gin tilted her head. "I thought for sure that she would be queen—or at least king by your standards."

"There are two Twilight Sparkles in this universe, Gin." King Void showed both Sci-Twi and Twilight Sparkle side by side before Kin and Gin. "The one with the glasses exists in the human world; the very same one where Dame Dedtime was slain by Nathaniel and Nate Adams."

"A second Twilight Sparkle?" Kin looked at Sci-Twi as closely as she could. "So, essentially, we could have two Midnight Sparkles instead of one?"

"Midnight still resides within this other Twilight, but she has battled hard, and reaching the other Midnight is almost impossible now with her newfound friends." King Void tapped on the Sci-Twi on his end, giving her the wings and mask that Midnight had. "But, that doesn't mean she's entirely useless to us. She and Rarity are the most adept at magic, both being unicorns, of course. But what were to happen if their magic consumed them?"

"I think I can imagine, your highness." Gin smirked.

"And finally, the centerpieces of this grand chess game; Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer." King Void showed off both Sunset and Twilight before Kin and Gin. "The two who will both fight to save and destroy the worlds. The kings and queens of both sides of the board. The most valuable... and the most fragile.

"And now, all that remain in this little game are the pawns. The cannon fodder. The ones who will throw themselves into the line of fire to defend their rooks, knights, bishops, king, and queen pieces." With another wave of his hand, he created millions of regular and Dark Yo-kai on both sides of the table. The dark ones on his side, with the normal ones on Twilight's side. "Kin, Gin. Come." He flexed his middle finger, motioning for them both to approach.

"What is it, King Void?" Kin bowed.

"Yes. How can we be of assistance, my king?" Gin kneeled before King Void.

"I want you to hound both Twilight and her human counterpart." King Void cracked his knuckles. "Follow them. Keep close tabs on all of them but do not engage without authorisation." He picked up a pawn. "If we are to destroy Twilight Sparkle and her friends, it will take time, meticulous planning, the right words, and the perfect moment. But in the end, isn't that the rule of chess?" He put his pawn down two spaces in front of its' starting point. "Now. Let the games begin..."