The air around Twilight grew cold and thick as a foreboding fog began to envelop the town. Grey clouds gathered in the night skies which had gone from a calm and tranquil purple to a sinister shade of blood red. The world was also losing all of its' colour. The grass, houses, and even the road beneath her hooves turned a pale white as she and whisper entered the Terror Time world.

Then, a red being descended into the mist, causing it to disperse at an erratic speed, engulfing Twilight and Whisper in a wave of cloudy fog. They threw their arms in front of each other to defend against the violent weather before they readjusted their eyes to what had landed before them.

A giant red monster wearing a brown loincloth around its' nether regions had appeared in Ponyville. It had giant yellow eyes, sharp curved teeth, and was carrying an equally big spiked club. Groaning and moaning, the titanic beast let out a furious roar as it slowly stomped around Ponyville, most likely seeking out Twilight and Whisper.

"What... is... THAT?!" Twilight stifled a whisper as she watched the monster stomp away into another area of the town.

"That, Twilight, is an Oni." Whisper pointed out the giant monster. "It is a physical manifestation of one's fears and worries come to life. Oh, and that weapon its' carrying? That's not for show. That thing has flattened countless Yo-kai, and only very few have ever managed to defeat it in battle.

"This lifeless world that we are in is known as Terror Time." Whisper stretched out his arms to the side slowly. "A nightmarish plane of existence where the weak are purged, but the victorious thrive. This whole world is one giant stealth game. Hide from the Oni, and make it to the exit, and we'll be back in Equestria, ready to fight that Boss Yo-kai."

"Well, this shouldn't be a problem with my—" Twilight was about to unfurl her wings and light up her horn, but she couldn't feel either of them on her body "—AGGGH! WHERE ARE THEY?!" A quick glance at herself confirmed it. Her wings and horn were gone.

"Terror Time doesn't want you cheating, either." Whisper crossed his arms and looked back at Twilight. "For the time being, it's made you an Earth Pony like Pinkie Pie and Applejack."

"This isn't fair at all!" Twilight cried, feeling where her wings and horn used to be. "How am I supposed to avoid that monster if I can't fly or use magic?!"

"You have legs, you know. Use them." Whisper pointed down to Twilight's four hooves. "I'm pretty sure that as soon as you escape, your body parts will be back where you left them. But for now, you're simply going to have to hide, evade, and—if that Oni or his cronies find you—run."

"When you mean cronies, what do you mean by that?" Twilight took a few steps forward and leapt back as a few creatures appeared. Some with one eye and oversized arms, while others were tall and had one eye above the other.

"Those things." Whisper pointed before he pulled Twilight behind a house. "Those are Yo-kai known as Leadoni and Suspicioni. You can befriend them once we get back to the real world, but in Terror Time, they are the Oni's additional eyes and ears. And if they find you, that thing is going to come running."

"Seriously?" Twilight asked.

"It only gets worse from there. If you spend too much time in Terror Time, then Leadoni and Suspicioni will swarm the place, making it absolutely impossible to escape without being noticed by the Oni." Whisper watched as more materialized. "Just find the exit door and fast. That's all I have to say for now."

"Hmm..." Twilight watched the Leadoni and Suspicioni patrol the area. "They seem to run on strict patterns. If we can find the gap in between their walks, we can get around town a little easier."

Twilight examined the patrol routes for a few seconds more before she found the opening. She charged forward and rolled into an alley when the Leadoni turned around to walk back. Heading down the path, Twilight and Whisper found themselves in another area of Ponyville. A more widespread one with some Suspicioni guarding a few roads, and Leadoni walking back and forth.

"So many minions, but where's the actual Oni himself?" Twilight looked around for the giant red monster that had initially landed in Ponyville. "And for that record, does he have an actual name, or are we just going to keep calling it the Oni?"

"Yes. His name is Gargaros." Whisper raised his finger. "He has a soft spot for people who lend out a helping hand in the world around them when he's not pursuing his target in Terror Time. One of the three gate guardians leading to the ruler of the Yo-kai World, Gargaros is a mighty beast that is hard to avoid in this world, and even harder to defeat, even with a team of Yo-kai at your beck and call."

"Not to mention all of the Leadoni and Suspicioni running around and serving as his patrollers..." Twilight looked at all of the Yo-kai and how they were devoted to the job, despite the mindless smiles on their faces. "It's not going to be easy getting out of here, I can bet."

"Terror Time is never easy to escape from, Twilight." Whisper said as Twilight stumbled through the Yo-kai towards a road that wasn't guarded. "With how Gargaros can often come out of nowhere, and his many Yo-kai servants aiding him in hunting us down, it's like we're playing some scary maze game where one wrong move means death."

"Where are you? I demand you show yourself!" Gargaros roared in the distance, his club smashing down on one of the houses. "Do not hide yourself from me, puny mortal!"

"Let me rephrase that. It means super-hyper-mega-ultra death at the hands of an Oni the size of a three-storey house if we mess up," said Whisper. "So... best not to get caught, right?"

"You're not really good at inspiring confidence, are you?" Twilight tilted her head sideways at Whisper's comment.

"What can I say? We're in dire straits here, Twilight. I tend to panic in these kind of scenarios," he said. "The very reason that I'm still remaining calm is that you haven't been caught so far. Normally, the people I've seen in Terror Time don't last two minutes without being seen by Leadoni, Suspicioni, or Gargaros himself! So the fact that you're outshining the average number of people who've been thrown into this place is keeping me from going absolutely nuts!"

"Well, it's been going good so far..." Twilight walked down the road and stopped in the middle of it. "Why do I get the feeling that I've just jinxed it by saying that?"

All of a sudden, the noise of rushing air could be heard as Gargaros came crashing down right behind Twilight and Whisper. Shuddering, the pony and the Yo-kai looked back at him and yelped, huddling up together.

"GRAAAGH!" Gargaros let out another thunderous roar as his gaze met Twilight's. "WHO DARES WANDER INTO MY DOMAIN?"

"Tw-tw-twi..." She couldn't even finish her sentence as Gargaros's malicious teeth were bared wide at her. Her legs had turned into figurative jelly as Gargaros brandished his spiked club.

"SPEAK UP!" Gargaros demanded, slamming his club on the ground, making a tiny crater.

"Twilight Sparkle! Princess of Friendship!" Twilight yelled with as little confidence as she could, and more so panicked as she spoke her name. "Please don't kill me!"

"I'm not going to kill you." Gargaros sharpened his claws on his weapon. "I'M GOING TO TURN YOU AND THAT LITTLE GHOST FRIEND OF YOURS INTO PANCAKES!" He let out another thunderous roar, causing all of the Leadoni and Suspicioni to vanish.

"RUN!" Whisper threw his arms into the air and bolted off down the road, with Twilight close behind him.

"HEY! DON'T RUN AWAY FROM ME!" Gargaros immediately gave chase, keeping up with both Twilight and Whisper, despite his immense size. "YOU'RE ONLY MAKING IT WORSE FOR YOURSELVES!"

Twilight and Whisper didn't even comment as they charged down the paths to avoid Gargaros. Their foreheads were sweating, their breathing got heavy, and they ran so fast that one minor trip-up would be the thing to ultimately doom themselves. No matter how fast they ran, Gargaros was still hot on their tails.

"How is he so fast?!" Twilight shouted as she turned a corner, causing Gargaros to ram into another building, knocking it over and causing many others to topple like dominoes.

"Search me! He's massive!" Whisper didn't look back as he and Twilight continued to run.

"DO NOT TRY TO RUN, LITTLE PESTS!" Gargaros shouted as he readied his club. He brought it up high and leapt into the air. "NIGHTMARE BEAT!" He came crashing down with the club, causing a miniature fissure to appear in the ground. The split got wider and wider until it eventually caught up to Twilight, making her running sloppy and un-coordinated.

Twilight stumbled and danced around the crack and all of the damage that it was causing. She knew that if she made one misstep, Gargaros would catch up to her and turn her into a purple puddle of goop with his club. She yelped with each and every time her hooves touched the shaky ground, but she eventually got out of it and ran towards another area of Ponyville.

"It's going to catch us!" Twilight screamed as the chase resumed, with Gargaros once more breathing down their necks. Of all of the things that Twilight had fought before, she had never felt so helpless and weak against such a mighty foe. "Where in Celestia's name is the door?!"

"THERE SHALL BE NO ESCAPE FOR YOU!" Gargaros snarled, his club poised on his shoulders. "I SHALL CRUSH YOU BEFORE YOU FIND SALVATION! SUCH IS THE WAY OF TERROR TIME!"

After a few more minutes of running, Twilight Sparkle felt out of breath, and ready to admit defeat. Her vision became blurry as she arrived at the centre of the town, looking for the door that would get her and Whisper back to Equestria. She saw Gargaros approaching, and with the door nowhere to be seen, she shed a single tear.

"Girls... I'm so sorry..." She cried as the massive Oni finally caught up to her and raised the club for a final strike.

"TWILIGHT! THERE IT IS!" Whisper pointed out to a pair of golden sliding doors behind Gargaros. "THE DOOR'S RIGHT BEHIND HIM!"

As soon as she saw the door, Gargaros's club came down again, and she had minimal time to get away from it. She felt it come right down behind her and just barely graze her flank as she charged at the Oni's legs and slid right underneath him, narrowly missing his free hand. She then charged for the door, not even thinking about what would happen if she were to get caught again.

Whisper and Twilight didn't even have time to open the doors, and just ended up crashing through them, destroying the fabric and wood that held it all together. They ran into a burst of white light that consumed both of them whole and made Gargaros disappear effortlessly.

When Twilight and Whisper came out the other end of the door, they were back in the Ponyville they knew. The colour had returned, the sky was back to normal, and the monster that had been chasing them relentlessly was now gone. They both fell onto their stomachs and took very deep breaths as they looked at each other meekly.

"I've been in some close shaves before, but that's really cutting it close there..." Twilight wiped the sweat off of her brow and stood back up.

"I'm quite stunned too, Twilight." Whisper floated back up by her side and laid his arm on her shoulder, hanging his head to catch his breath. "Gargaros was inches away from destroying you, but you still managed to avoid his club and get out of there alive!"

"I'm just glad that it's over and that I never have to go through it again..." Twilight sighed.

"Umm... yeah. About that..." Whisper nonchalantly scratched his chin.

"No, Whisper! I'm not doing that ever again!" Twilight threw her hooves out. "Did you see how big, strong, and fast Gargaros was? Trying to enter his world again is a deathwish!"

"Terror Time occurs randomly for whoever carries the Yo-Kai Watch." Whisper cleared his throat. "You and I have no influence on it whatsoever, but since you've just been through one, it will let you off for now to catch your breath, recuperate, and make some stronger Yo-kai friends."

"Really? But then how am I supposed to predict when it'll happen again?!" Twilight waved her hooves in the air.

"You can't. That's the very reason it's called Terror Time. It's designed to strike fear into the hearts of every man, woman, and child who acknowledges its' existence." Whisper shook his head. "But, those who defeat and or outrun the Oni are said to grow stronger as a person. You narrowly avoided getting defeated by it, so I think it's safe to say that your power and confidence has gotten a little better—perhaps even enough to defeat that giant Boss Yo-kai that cat-ified your friends."

"Can you at least tell me more about the Oni so that I can prepare for the next time I'm put into Terror Time?" Twilight sat down and looked up at Whisper, pulling out a quill and scroll so that she wouldn't forget. "I'm not about to fight an enemy I have no knowledge of."

"Oh, alright then. I suppose there's no harm in telling you, seeing as you are back in the real world." Whisper stroked Twilight's mane before he pulled out his tablet, showing off Gargaros, and two other giant Oni who looked similar to him, but were different colours. "There are three guardians protecting the king, queen, lord, lady, or leader of the Yo-kai world. The one you encountered was Gargaros.

"As I mentioned before, Gargaros has a soft spot for people who do good in the world around them, allowing mortals to pass through his gate if they have been a samaritan, helping hand, and overall friend to the people." Whisper showed Twilight a picture of Gargaros alone. "However, as you've just witnessed, he is an EXTREMELY dangerous foe, and is not to be underestimated by any means."

"Tell me about it..." Twilight rubbed the back of her head.

"The second one is Ogralus; an Oni who values honesty above all others." Whisper flicked the screen, showing a blue Oni with two horns, a long tuft of red hair, and a green skirt around his private area. "Ogralus hates people who lie with a burning passion, and will waste no time in obliterating anyone who dares to lie to him, or anyone in the world."

"He probably won't hurt Applejack, then, as she never lies." Twilight nodded as she eyed up the blue Oni.

"The third and final defender of the ruler of the Yo-kai World is the dreaded black Oni; Orcanos." Whisper showed a black Oni with even bigger horns than Ogralus's, with white war paint on his chest and face, giant red eyes, and a red loincloth around his waist. "If you thought that Gargaros and Ogralus were intimidating, then you do NOT want to be on the bad side of Orcanos. This final Oni is feared by every living thing in existence. If you run into it, I highly advise turning away and running as fast as you can. He has taken on over a million Yo-kai, and he has not lost a single battle in his life, and he doesn't plan to start now." Whisper shook his head. "If you have fought a lot of battles, he will recognize your strength and allow you to see the ruler of our world."

"So, how do these Oni works in terms of how they show up in Terror Time?" Twilight looked at the different pictures of Gargaros, Ogralus, and Orcanos, desperately trying not to recoil at their menacing visages as she wrote down the details on all three of them.

"Gargaros is the basic hunter in Terror Time, but he can be felled by a strong enough team." Whisper put away the tablet. "If you defeat him, then Ogralus will take his place the next time you're put into that world. Beat Ogralus, and Orcanos himself—the undefeated Oni, might I add?—will be there to finish the job the third time you go into Terror Time.

"Ahh, best not to let those thoughts fester in our minds, though. We've got work to do, haven't we?" Whisper pointed towards Town Hall, which was lit up from the inside and had a muffled chorus of purring and meowing coming from inside. "There's still a Boss Yo-kai that needs a good old thrashing waiting for us inside, so let's show them what for and get back to our lives, shall we?"

"Y-yeah..." Twilight put away her finished scroll and quill as she walked towards the Town Hall with her Yo-Kai Watch poised and ready for battle. But as prepared as she was to fight the Boss Yo-kai, she would never be able to shake of the thought that she was nearly killed by Gargaros, and he would be haunting her for a long time to come. "Let's just hope that we can win this..."

Author's Notes:

In case you're wondering about Ogralus and Orcanos, they are Oni that appear in Terror Time alongside Gargaros in the 3DS games of Yo-Kai Watch. They only appear once Gargaros is felled, just as Whisper says in this chapter, and each one is progressively tougher than the last.

And as for the whole gatekeeping thing that he mentions, I'm basing most of my Yo-Kai Watch lore off of the 3DS games, instead of the anime. Yes, the Yo-kai I'm bringing in have similiarities to the ones mentioned in the anime and their inspiriting powers are identical to the ones used in the show, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's blatant plagiarism.

Speaking of which, Yo-Kai Watch 2 is coming out to America in a few days, while we in England have to wait until the end of September to pick up Bony Spirits and Fleshy Souls on our 3DS systems. As for which game I'm getting, it's gonna be a toughie between the two. Why? Because if my intuition is right on this, Bony Spirits and Fleshy Souls will be similar to the Pokemon games, where you can only get a select few Yo-kai in one edition, in comparison to the other. This'll make it really hard for me to choose between the two, and I'll have to just guess which one has the Yo-kai that I like more.

That being said, Blizzaria was always my favourite Yo-kai in Yo-Kai Watch, and if she's in both versions of Yo-Kai Watch 2, then I'll be happy. And in case you're wondering, both she and Frostina will be making an appearance in this story. And all I can say is, prepare to have your heart melt in your hands...