//------------------------------// // Connected Pain // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Equestria. Canterlot. Nightfall. "Arcanine..." Arcanine was currently keeping Premium Polish safe from the chaos that was still going on. He ended up on the lower levels of the castle after being in a heated battle against some powerful Pokemon that Cosmos had full control over. He decided to retreat to the lower parts alongside Premium Polish's Pokemon. Cosmos had gained the advantage with all of these overwhelming numbers. "That got too close." Premium Polish sighed before sitting next to a pillar. She recalled her Pokemon as most of them ended up fainting while some were badly injured. "Cynthia's Pokemon are extra crazy strong. Wish Reshiram and Zekrom weren't in another universe right now as always...And Princess Celestia's out there hurt..." "Canine." Arcanine thought the same as Premium Polish. Both Celestia and Passion were out there, harmed and unconscious thanks to a dirty play by Cosmos'. He wanted to help them, but he had the sole task of protecting Premium Polish, especially in these circumstances. Arcanine was a Pokemon of his word but a loyal one as well. "Arcanine. It's fine." Premium Polish could feel Arcanine's struggle to choose a path. Protect Premium until this ends or help Celestia and Passion and practically all of Equestria. "You can go on ahead. They're both special and important to you, after all." "Arcanine?" "My Pokemon are hurt and some of them are down and out. But they'll still be by my side even then. So you need to be by Celestia and Passion's side too. Go." "Ar...Arcanine!" Arcanine nodded in understanding. Immediately, the Legendary Pokemon took off as Premium Polish sat there, resting up. "But...I could really use something to eat right now." It was only now that Premium Polish realized she was hungry. Despite being an android, she had natural organic needs as well. Arcanine ran up the stairs, searching for a quick way outside. The lower levels of Canterlot were vast after all and it did take him some time to even reach here. Now it would take him some time to get upstairs unless he were to use Extreme Speed. He accelerated, taking his speed to the extreme as he became a white trail. This allowed him to get around quicker. Arcanine had already seen Celestia and Passion unconscious along with the raining Cosmos' that emerged from the Chaos Storm. He only hoped that they would both get up and press on. However, whilst running through the castle and going up the stairs, Arcanine felt a sudden change. He saw it as well. Before he knew it, the layout of the castle was beginning to change, throwing him off balance. "A-Arca?!" The Fire-Type gasped, seeing how the stairs started to take on different angles. The floors separated along with the walls, mixing, shifting and moving all about in erratic and new ways. Arcanine stayed on the stairs he was currently on before being carried away. He then quickly ran once more, lunging towards the closest stairs that were also moving. He jumped from stairs to stairs while they kept getting arranged, eventually, getting the higher levels in the least expected ways. However, once he got on the last batch of stairs, while he did manage to reach the hallway where there were various windows about, the sight was not pretty at all. The door to the throne room was surprisingly close. Closer than it has ever been. Arcanine saw that the entire layout of the castle had been drastically changed and there was only one individual that had done this. Cosmos. Speaking of Cosmos, once Arcanine turned to the door, there she was. Cosmos, still fully possessing the body fo Cynthia, could be seen sitting on Princess Celestia's throne. She had adjusted the size of the throne to match Cynthia's height as the Legendary Pokemon was aghast by what he was seeing. "Oh, good. You're just in time to see the changes." Cosmos spoke to Arcanine. "I was wondering where you rushed off too." "Arca?! Arcanine?!" Arcanine called out for Celestia, Passion and even Luna. "Oh, about your trainers and the others...you might want to take a look outside." "Canine?" Arcanine went up to the window, seeing what had become of Canterlot while he fled downstairs. By looking outside, he saw that Cosmos had done it. She had won. The residents of Canterlot had been defeated as the hundreds of Cosmos' could be seen lurking over the buildings with their claws gripping onto the roofs, causing them to crumble. Currently, they were standing to dance, but not by their will. The ground itself had been greatly damaged with multiple rock pillars being scattered. On these pillars, various citizens of Canterlot were standing on them while a massive pit of fire had been summoned. This raging fire was enough to get them all to start dancing as ordered by Cosmos herself. All of the miniature Cosmos' watched and laughed at them, enjoying this dance. They even shot out sparks of chaotic magic at them just to get them to start dancing faster or even if they stopped. Already, Cosmos made herself comfortable in Canterlot. She vowed to reign over Equestria after all and not only did she have the skills to do so but the tyranny to make sure her reign was absolute. The Pokemon were a different story. Whilst the ponies were all being forced to dance, the Pokemon had been captured. They could be found inside of these transparent orbs that had chains connected to them. These chains had been stabbed into the giant rock pillars while dangling over the pit of fire that surrounded them. Everyone's Pokemon was inside either fainted or trying to break free. Or even cowering from the ferocious flames. The Pokemon that Cosmos' controlled also watched the fiery dance, enjoying it equally as they all shared Cosmos' malicious mind. "Like it? I figured those Poke Ball things were effective in capturing those annoying creatures. So I just used my magic to create my own. Call it a Chaos Orb, if you will. How fun!" "A-Arca..." "And if you're wondering about Celestia...I made sure to give her some special treatment." Cosmos held her hand out as she summoned one of those Chaos Orbs that she made. And inside them, Celestia and Passion could be found. The Ruler of Equestria and the Embrace Pokemon, still unconscious, were captured as well. "Canine! Arcanine!" Arcanine barked at Cosmos before rushing towards her with Extreme Speed. Cosmos smiled, seeming unbothered as she continued to hold the orb out to Arcanine, teasing him with it. But the moment Arcanine got close, Garchomp appeared. Using Cosmos' magic to teleport, she appeared right in front of Arcanine, blindsiding him with Stone Edge. The rocks had been launched out of her body before crashing into Arcanine. "Gar!" "A-Arcanine!" Arcanine cried out, receiving super-effective damage. The Legendary Pokemon fell over, rolling on the floor. That surprise Stone Edge was enough to completely bewilder him to the point where he did not recover swiftly. He laid there on the floor, twitching instead. "Bahahaha!" Cosmos laughed at him, using both Cynthia and Garchomp's bodies to do so. "Oh...That's good. Sorry, but, the victor's been decided. I win. You all lose. As it should be." "C-Canine..." Arcanine growled, trying to get back up. Garchomp walked over, stepping on Arcanine's head as she forced him back down, pinning the Fire-Type to the ground. "You did put up a fight, I'll give you that. There were times when you all had me a bit frightened. Especially with this!" Suddenly, Cosmos had revealed a Z-Crystal. The Waterium Z. This belonged to Fleur-de-lis and her Milotic as it was now in Cosmos' possession. As for Milotic, she was in the orbs as well with Fleur dancing near the pit of fire. "I saw that thing building up from this and that just couldn't happen. The power I felt from it was certainly overwhelming too...But I wonder why I can't break it?" Cosmos tried crushing the Z-Crystal, only for nothing to happen. "But it's all over now that Canterlot is under my control. And don't worry. I haven't forgotten about the extras. I heard from those Rift Humans that two Pokemon would show up here. Reshiram and Zekrom, correct?" "A-Arca..." Arcanine tried getting back up, but the foot of Garchomp prevented him. He was too weak right now to even get up at all. "Those are their names. Out there protecting other universes from some empire. And now that the concept of other universes...other worlds have come up...that automatically fills a potential void in me!" Cosmos raised the orb high up. "Why stop here?! After I conquer this universe, I can go for the rest, outdoing that empire!" "Arcanine?!" "That's right! My malice can go even further beyond!" Cosmos stood up from her throne. "Might as well live up to my name for once. Ah, and about Luna..." Cosmos snapped her fingers before finally bringing Princess Luna over. She was still inside of the Dynasite box, however, now, she was unconscious. "Passed out from all the smashing. What a shame. I was hoping she'd hang in there longer. Oh well. There's tomorrow." Cosmos then tossed the box away as it crashed into the ground. Luna bounced inside of the box as her Pokemon were nowhere to be found either. "Speaking of which, I'm feeling a bit of a nighttime mood." Cosmos raised her arm before then using magic to change the celestial bodies. She had enough magical power at the moment to lower the Sun and raise the Moon. The sun was finally setting even though it was far past its usual fall time. But with Celestia out cold, it stayed there for a while. Right after the Sun had left, up came the Moon. However, previously, the Sun had been blocked off by the chaotic storm with not a single sun ray piercing through. And the same went with the moon. The storm of chaos was so powerful that not even the light of the moon could peek through. Thanks to this, it was total darkness. It felt like a blackout as there was barely a semblance of light. The only form of light was the pit of fire that everypony was dancing on. "I may have claimed victory here but I haven't won just yet." Cosmos sat back on her throne, causing it to float. "I still need to find the remaining Andalusian Stars. Usually, the limit is 6 but now it's 7 thanks to this substitute I made out of Rift Magic. Fairly handy. I also need to defeat the rest of those Pokemon Trainers from trying to stop me and reunite with my lovely Discord. But it seems he has some friends who'll gladly try and protect him. How sweet." "Arcanine..." "After I'm done with that...I'll send every Fairy-Type into that same dimension I sent that Absol to!" Cosmos declared. "And then, my conquest will be officially done. I'd say that's a fine roadmap of what to do. And just to keep it numerical, Universe 2 will be the next universe I conquer. And Discord will be by my side as a King. I can't wait! Hahaha!" Cosmos had so many plans now. After learning about other universes, her malicious intentions would not stop in this universe. If anything, it was just the beginning as Arcanine looked over at the orb, seeing how his best friends were still down and out along with Luna, whose head was twitching. It was all grim and seemingly hopeless on this night. Premium Polish was downstairs, currently at risk. Arcanine realized that coming up here was for nothing. However, within the castle which had been altered to fit a more chaotic look, Darkrai, who was still on the floor after being possessed by Cosmos was starting to twitch. His claws trembled as Cosmos was still controlling his body, enjoying what Darkrai loved. But the moment Darkrai's eyes started opening, a mixture between his natural blue eye colour and Cosmos' controlling pink eye colour were starting to clash against each other in an erratic and conflicting way. Out in the mountains. Near the Pixie Plains. Nightfall. Meanwhile, Twilight and Pinkie Pie were going up against the miniature versions of Cosmos'. Twilight already knew that Cosmos was the one to send Absol away to the Malice Dimension, but she also learned of what Cosmos had done. Luring her friends into traps and harming Princess Celestia and Passion. All of that was enough to enrage Twilight as the magic of Horizon Storm started leaking out. Pinkie Pie gasped, backing away as the Sorrowful Rage Magic was radiating from her body. Cosmos blinked for a moment. All of them. This kind of magic was odd to them as they could even feel the rage. "Twilight..." Pinkie Pie shuddered, fearing what could become of her friend. "It's fine." However, despite the anger boiling up within her, Twilight could control Horizon Storm, preventing her from coming out. She had already done so weeks ago. "Sorry if I scared you there." "Hmph. Had me worried about nothing." Cosmos scoffed. "Oh well. About time I got you out of the way next. I've been itching to mess with another alicorn, you know!" The multiple Cosmos' finally made their move, advancing on Twilight, Pinkie Pie, their Pokemon and Mewie. "You talked about Fairy Magic with ill intent, didn't you...?" Twilight closed her eyes, standing there as the Cosmos' were rapidly approaching her and Pinkie Pie. "In that case...Eve! Dazzling Gleam!" "Slurpuff! You use Dazzling Gleam too!" "Espeon...!" "Not this again!" Cosmos saw this as an all too familiar force. This time, it was used by two Pokemon as two rainbow spheres dazzled from Espeon and Slurpuff's bodies. The sphere of Fairy Magic shined with great force as all of the miniature Cosmos' hissed and cried out from the energy coming from the spheres. They had been unleashed as rays right afterwards, targeting the miniature Cosmos'. Each of them were sniped out of the sky by Dazzling Gleam, feeling the volatile reaction. "Now! Shadow Ball!" "Fairy Wind!" "Esp!" After stunning them with Dazzling Gleam, Espeon jumped into the air, summoning a blob of shadows while also being joined by Slurpuff who had generated a turbulent wind made out of Fairy Magic. Cosmos retaliated, already being fearful of the Fairy Magic that was present here. She had used the chaotic lightning from above as it met with Shadow Ball. Shadow Ball had been held back before being pierced by the bolt of chaotic lightning. Espeon gasped before moving out of the way from this bolt as it had struck the ground, leaving a fairly hard hit in the process. "Mewie! Keep Mew safe!" Pinkie Pie spoke to Mew, ordering her to keep her own Mew safe for the moment while he heals. She quickly got out the rest of her Poke Balls, throwing out her remaining 5 Slurpuff. "Mew!" Mewie picked up Mew who was badly injured from the powerful smite of chaos lightning he received earlier. She backed away, leaving Twilight and Pinkie Pie to do the rest. "Go! Togekiss!" Twilight had sent out Togekiss, capitalizing on Cosmos' fear and weakness towards Fairy Magic. "Togekiss!" "Togekiss! Sky Attack! Eve! Dazzling Gleam!" "Alright! Fairy Wind altogether!" "Toge!" Togekiss shot higher into the air, enveloping herself in a golden veil of aura. But not before allowing Espeon to jump on her back. She brought Espeon along as the Sun Pokemon was charging up Dazzling Gleam. All 6 Slurpuff had used Fairy Wind, combining it into one massive pink wind. The hundreds of miniature Cosmos' had warped space immediately. Once Togekiss zoomed towards her with a sphere of pink energy surrounding her and Espeon, she quickly changed the direction of where they would go. Togekiss suddenly felt herself fly in the opposite direction. "T-Toge!?" "Espeon?!" Once their direction had changed, they had been forced into Fairy Wind, taking the turbulent pink tornado instead. They had been carried and whirled around thanks to Cosmos' interference with space. "Ah! Eve! Togekiss!" Twilight gasped before spreading her wings. She decided to get involved instead of letting her Pokemon handle thins. The Princess of Friendship took flight, using her magic to disperse the Fairy tornado. Togekiss and Espeon felt winded and dazed from it, but thankfully, they were still standing, albeit dizzy. After taking to the skies, the many Cosmos' approached Twilight in droves, throwing themselves at her with their bodies on fire. They acted like small meteors, ready to crash down on a planet. The planet in this case being Twilight Sparkle. "Slurpuff! Sticky Web!" "Slur!" One of Pinkie Pie's Slurpuff had opened her mouth, shooting out a net that she managed to weave in seconds. This web got in between Twilight and the various Cosmos', immediately catching some of them. But thanks to their small bodies, some of them managed to pass through the open spots while the others were trapped. This allowed Twilight to retaliate thanks to Slurpuff's intervention. She faced the approaching Cosmos', using her magic to create a massive reflective shield. This shield formed right as the Cosmos' got close, causing them to crash into it as if they ran into a tree or a window. Twilight smiled before expanding her magic to push them all away. She managed to fizzle those Cosmos' thanks to the pushback, including the ones on the web. However, there were still more of them coming from all sides. "Dazzling Gleam!" "Espeon!" Espeon and Togekiss combined their respective Dazzling Gleams, merging the spheres that shined around them into a sky-piercing light. Out of this light, it ended up shooting out dozens of rays that were enough to tag multiple of these tiny Spirits of Malice. Not all of them but a lot. Twilight assisted the power of Dazzling Gleam. She used her magic to make it far more flexible as if it were a whip or made out of rubber. It could now go in multiple directions and zoom around with extra fluidity. The various Cosmos' started fleeing from the rays that were coming everywhere. Thanks to what Twilight had done, these flowing rays tagged some of the Cosmos' by being just as erratic as them. The rays were bigger than their bodies, engulfing them in the pure light of Fairy Magic. The rays had even pierced the clouds slightly, almost breaking away the chaotic storm. But it was not enough. Cosmos growled out frustration before turning that frustration into power. From the ground, giant earth claws had emerged, grabbing Pinkie Pie and her 6 Slurpuff with the force of Cosmos' rage. "Gouh!" Pinkie Pie's eyes almost felt like popping out as these earth arms had extended, threatening to slam the seven of them to the ground. "Mew-Mew!" Mew, who was resting up, decided to get involved. Even if he was injured, he prioritized Pinkie Pie's safety as he flew over. "Mew!" Mewie cried out after he flew away. But there was no use stopping him now since his trainer was in danger. "Mew...!" Mew had used Psyshock, covering himself in a massive purple and pink sphere before crashing right through the earth arm that had grabbed Pinkie Pie and the Slurpuff. The arm broke apart, dropping them. "Nice save, Mew!" Pinkie Pie cheered before realizing she was falling from a high height. "Uh oh! Wait!" "Mew!" Mewie got involved as well, immediately using Psychic to grab them all, preventing them from falling. The other earth arm was still present as it ended up grabbing the weakened Mew. "M-Mew...!" Mew groaned as the earth arms ended up slamming him against one of the mountains, leaving a dent in it. Cosmos' had also used her combined magic in this miniature forms to summon the indestructible block of Dynasite. It took all of them to make it appear as it dropped from above with a massive size. "Be crushed!" Cosmos' declared with all of these high-pitched voices. "Nothing can break through these! Gahaha!" "Nothing...?" Twilight highly doubted that. She knew that were was one way to break. And thankfully for her, she had the Pokemon that could do so along with Pinkie Pie. "Togekiss! Aura Sphere!" "Toge...Kiss!" Togekiss formed a sphere of Aura from her mouth, shooting it up at the sphere that was rapidly approaching. It was a close call due to how fast it was falling with its immense weight. It even caught on fire. However, Cosmos soon found out that there was something that could break Dynasite. Aura. It had pierced right through the cube, leaving a visible hole in it. After going straight through, the cube ended up blowing up with a blue aura emerging. Cosmos' jaw dropped with all of these miniature bodies, stunned by what she had witnessed. "W-What!? But it should be unbreakable!" "Not without Aura," Twilight added. "That's something that not even Dynasite can ignore. But not only that...it would've taken more than just one Aura Sphere to break it...That tells me one thing. Your version of Dynasite with those small bodies is far weaker, isn't it?" "Khh...!" Cosmos snarled before thinking to herself. "Curse that pony. She's right. I could make the heavier variation if my true body was here or even if I had another body aside from these smaller ones..." "I still need to find a way to reach Absol..." Twilight said to herself. "Please be okay out there, buddy." "Either way! I don't need Dynasite to win! I can prove it and have proved it already!" Cosmos bellowed summoning hundreds of earth arms from the ground. Twilight looked up to see these massive arms were almost as plentiful as the miniature Cosmos' in this area. Cosmos' was certainly going to occupy her and Pinkie Pie for a while now. "Now's as good a time as any to use these." Pinkie Pie, seeing the massive earth arms and how many of them there were, decided to even out the playing field. And there was no better time than one of the special objects that she had received. It was not the Mewnium Z. But the Dynamax band that Bea had given her. Pinkie Pie decided to combat size with size. She immediately took out Mew's Poke Ball before harnessing the power of Dynamax. Once Mew's Poke Ball was shown, the energy from the band started radiating its signature light red colour as it then flowed into the Poke Ball. The Poke Ball, now influenced by Dynamax Energy, had immediately returned Mew, freeing him from the giant earth arm that was holding him in place. It had then expanded to a colossal degree, almost being too heavy for Pinkie Pie to hold, but she managed to withstand it. "Okay, Mew! Dynamax!" Pinkie Pie then threw the super-sized Poke Ball into the air. Once up there, it had unleashed the New Species Pokemon, but with a much larger size than what she usually has. Cosmos gasped as she had seen the titan that had appeared before her, having enough height to rival her earth arms. Dynamaxed Mew had arrived. "MEW...MEW!" "W-What in the?!" "Nice choice, Pinkie Pie!" Twilight cheered. "And since we're near the Pixie Plains, we can use that to our advantage as well." "I hear ya, Twilight. Let's go, Mew!" "MEW!" Ponyville. Back at Ponyville, Applejack, Goh and Hollow were still occupied with the possessed bodies of their friends. Applejack's plan had yet to come to fruition since Cosmos was doing everything in her power to keep them from trying anything clever. The Pokemon from PokePark, despite them being brought over here thanks to Ash, were also finding it difficult to overcome this challenge. "No good." Applejack growled. "How am I gonna have Cold Colt get that spell off with all this moving?" "Like I said! Whatever you're planning, I won't let you get the chance!" Cosmos exclaimed in the body of Mayor Mare. "But...frankly this is dragging out much longer than I want it to." "Then uh...what say you give up and call it a day?" Cold Colt shrugged. "As if! You two are a problem that I can't afford to let go of!" Cosmos shouted. "And even if you send those Fairies my way, it won't stop me." "Fairies?" Applejack and Cold Colt said in unison. "Your little friend Fluttershy and her posse of Pokemon are trying to come here with as many of those Fairy Pokemon she can grab. However, she's facing off against my miniature versions. While they're susceptible to Fairy Magic as well, it won't have an effect on me! They'll be occupied with those smaller variants for hours!" Cosmos laughed as Fluttershy would've been here by now but thanks to the raining Cosmos' that was not the case. "Dagnabit..." Applejack held her hat with slight agitation in her voice and face. "Gotta think of something." "I do want to call it a day, though. I have things to do now that Canterlot is under my control." Cosmos approached with the body of Mayor Mare. "So...what will you do now? Even if you do pull off your plan successfully, I can always just negate it, if you must know." "She's probably right about that..." Cold Colt agreed, much to Applejack's chagrin. Cosmos was starting to see that hope in their eyes slowly fade with how much trouble she's been giving them. And it pleased her greatly. Malice involved despair and any form of it was a plus in her book. However, as Cosmos was revelling in this moment and Applejack thinking hard, that's when something shocking happened. While they weren't looking, a few of the controlled Pokemon ended up attacking their allies. Catching them off guard, they had unleashed a stream of Normal, Grass, Flying and Water attacks. The most common type here in Ponyville. A surprise attack had been made. One that Cosmos wasn't expecting. She expected it from outside sources who hadn't yet been controlled by her but it was from the ponies and Pokemon she managed to get. "What the-" She gasped before being hit by another attack. This time Swift as star-shaped rays had been unleashed on multiple of this one Normal-Type attack was used by various Pokemon. Applejack, Cold Colt, their Pokemon and the Pokemon from PokePark stood there stunned, surprised by what they were seeing. Caught off guard and not expecting this, Cosmos was overwhelmed. Multiple of her possessed bodies were bewildered after being caught off guard like this while the ones that attacked her were fully focused. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Big Mac, Granny Smith, Carrot Top and Roseluck were among the ones who had caught her by surprise. Their Pokemon, minus Machamp who was still under Cosmos' possession were focused and free of Cosmos' control as well. "Ya'll are okay?!" Applejack gasped with joy in her voice. "But how!?" "How? You can thank her!" Sweetie Belle had then held out the Pokemon responsible for this. Phione. "Phione!" "Phione ignored Cosmos' mind control." Sweetie Belle explained. "And it's all thanks to the light of Arceus. Because of that sweet light, Phione managed to free us and let us keep it low. It was pretty scary though." "And Sweetie Belle's Meowstic was the one who made our eyes glow. Pretty neat, right?" Scootaloo grinned. "Meowstic." Meowstic crossed her arms, not seeing it as a big deal. "As long as we have Arceus by our side inside of Phione here, we're smooth sailing." Apple Bloom said. "Ah...Many thanks, Arceus!" Applejack thanked Arceus, shouting to the sky. She was truly grateful that his light had done this as this was once again another time where Arceus had helped the ponies of Equestria. Although this time, his light lived on within Phione. "WHAT'S AN ARCEUS!?" Cosmos roared before being blown back by BonBon's Azumarill using Hydro Pump. "Now's our chance!" Cold Colt saw the chance to use the spell. He ran up to Furfrou, immediately going for the spell while he had all the time he needed. Cold Colt focused his magic onto Furfrou, initiating the spell. At the same time, the ponies and Pokemon who were revealed to be undercover had continued to give Applejack that chance of victory while still catching Cosmos off guard. Furfrou grimaced with Cold Colt needing to pour he everything he had into his magic to make this spell possible. It would be a big one as it was the Connection Spell. The plan was to have every controlled body of Cosmos be fully connected. Not in the way they were currently were via sharing the same sight and everything, but in a way that would make every single possessed body of Cosmos feel a lasting effect. And thanks to the efforts of Phione and the others, Cold Colt could pull off this spell successfully as a white line had come out of Furfrou before then tagging the nearest body of a Primeape. After Primape had been hit, the line continued, tagging others, especially those who had been knocked down by the blindsided surprise attack. Cold Colt's eyes flashed with insane Rift Magic as he pushed the spell and his magic to the limit, catching them all. Before she knew it, Cosmos felt a surge of Rift Magic that had her stunned. Everyone backed away, allowing Cold Colt to work his magic. Cosmic light shined all across the castle and even pierced through the chaotic clouds. Cold Colt backed away, holding his head as that was the most magic he had to use so far. It went past his limit as he almost fell over, only for Raichu to catch him. "W-What did you do...?!" Cosmos growled in the body of Roxanne. "The Connection Spell." Applejack smirked. "Neat little thing I found out that exists thanks to Twilight. Since Cold here used it on you...everything that happens, you're gonna feel it." "Feel it!?" "That's right. All of ya'll!" Applejack chuckled. Cosmos put it together, realizing what she meant by that. It basically meant that the next series of attacks that hits Cosmos will without a doubt affect everyone else. Not only did they all now share sight, scent and hearing, but now they shared connected pain. "You sneaky little...!" Cosmos could both admire and hate how devious that plan was. She almost wanted to congratulate it but not so much since it was being used by her. "But...I ain't gonna hurt ya. Instead, we're gonna free ya." Applejack, despite having this plan focused on making sure that Cosmos felt every bit of pain of what she did to her family and friends, wanted to free their bodies from her control. And thanks to the Connection Spell, she could do it in one go. "As if I'd let you do so!" Cosmos roared with her voice booming through the skies, causing the castle to shake. "Ash...if you're nearby...we need some of that Aura to free them too. My Aura's still untamed. Unless I can pull it off somehow." Applejack thought to herself, thinking about Ash. She knew that Aura was a big key player in this as well. She was putting the rest of her faith and hope into Ash while believing in herself and the potent Aura that she possessed. Now that Cosmos' bodies, all of them, were connected far beyond what they were originally alongside her being caught off guard by ponies and Pokemon who had broken free thanks to Arceus' light, the scales had tipped once more as the journey continues. Chapter 788 End.