Queen Chrysalis… wasn’t quite sure where she was at the moment.

Granted she hadn’t opened her eyes yet, but the fact she had to open her eyes at all meant that something had gone wrong. What that was currently escaping her mind, recently awoken from unconsciousness as she was, but she knew something had recently gone awry. Scowling, her groggy brain got to work.

That’s right, she was in Canterlot. She had infiltrated the pony capital, taken the place of the to-be-wed Mi Amore Cadenza, and planned to use the wedding as the start of a swift invasion. Oh, it had been so utterly perfect and brilliant, the pride she held at how seamlessly it had all gone. Up to the private ceremony none of the dumb ponies had suspected a thing… but then there was that unicorn.

Then the name slipped her mind, but she knew they were purple and a nuisance. If she had not had her ‘future husband’ under her control, and the stupid equine had given actual evidence… but that had not mattered. It was easy to make her seem like a liar, and all those present had rightfully fallen for it. Then it was a matter of disposing of the pony, putting her in the same place as the alicorn she replaced, and finishing the real wedding.

It was there that Chrysalis realized things had gone wrong. She remembered now. Both that unicorn and Cadenza had reappeared, revealing her for who she was. At first it had seemed pointless, especially with their dear Princess Celestia so effortlessly defeated, but then Cadenza managed to cast some sort of spell. The last thing she remembered was being flung into the air, falling, and then… she wasn’t quite sure.

Am I dead? Chrysalis asked herself. It was immediately casted aside. If I was, then I wouldn’t be able to recall anything. That means I’m alive, but what about

Dozens of knots suddenly formed in her stomach, and with more effort than she wished was needed, her eyes opened up a crack. The world around her was too dark for her to see anything, yet it didn’t have the coolness of night. It wasn’t even warm, now that she focused on it, and that extended to how her back did not meet grass or dirt or rock. Even the wind was absent!

Yet, worst of all, she felt alone. Changelings had a way to always tell where each other was, disguised or not. They couldn’t talk to each other, but their presence was always there to comfort and reassure them they weren’t alone. In the many years she had lived and ruled, Chrysalis had never before felt its absence. Not until now at least.

Chrysalis’ first thoughts were to find exactly why she no longer felt her hive. Several terrifying possibilities attempted to take center stage in her brain, but she was well practiced in putting them aside. Her hive was strong, it would take more than some stupid magic spell to eradicate them! With all her strength, the queen opened her eyes as much as they possibly could… and was met with nothing.

It wasn’t nothing in the sense that it was pitch black, but literally nothing. The space around her was completely blank, with her form the only bit of life and color before her. There was no sign of the hive she and her kind called home, no sign of the city they had been blasted away from, and most despairingly of all, none of her dear hive around her. Of all the horrible scenarios that had tried to present themselves to her, this was by far the worst!

My drones. My sweet, wonderful drones, Chrysalis thought, trying to twist this way and that in the void around her. It was impossible to tell if she was actually moving. No, do not tell me. That damn pony did not–

“Your hive is fine.”

A brief moment of shock was visible in Chrysalis’ eyes, only for it to be swiftly cast aside as the possibilities behind those words hit her. Snarling, she searched for the individual that voice belonged to, yet all her eyes met was the void. Her anger rose, wings buzzing in rage.

“Release me and my hive at once! Do it quick enough and I might show mercy,” Queen Chrysalis said, the slightest fear for the life of both her and her hive making its way into her voice.

Having noticed it, her captor let out what Chrysalis could only assume was a snort of amusement. It only served to lower her mood more than it already was.

“In time. For now, know that you need not worry for the safety of your children,” her captor replied.

Chrysalis’s anger didn’t relent, but she stored it for the time being. While she abhorred how she was being kept from her drones, not to mention the fact she was this unknown creature’s captive, she had no choice but to relent on some level. Whoever this was, they were clearly a powerful enough mage to trap her in… wherever she was. It felt certain that, if she stepped out of line, things would get far worse than they already had.

“Fine,” she spat, “but do not expect me to be pleasant, especially with you hiding from sight?”

“I am not hiding, Queen Chrysalis. I have simply chosen not to reveal myself.”

Chrysalis was about to point out how they were basically the same thing, before something appeared before her. No fanfare, no sign of teleporting, where she was surrounded by nothing she now found something before her. A creature unlike any she had seen, with a strange golden ring around its middle and a body both equine yet distinctly not. Any possibility of it being a pony, however, were dashed by the weird pointy hooves, the lack of a mane, and a tail that ended in a stub instead of hairs.

“I am Arceus, and I desire to help your kind. I need only gain your approval.”

“You kidnap me, lock me someplace where I can’t feel my own hive, and you say you want to help?” Chrysalis asks, before scoffing and attempting to look away, only to still find Arceus there before her, as if she hadn’t moved at all. “What do you really want?”

“Exactly as I said. A child of mine has told me of your hive, and how the lack of ability to feed has driven you to desperate measures,” Arceus explained. “You and your kind feed on love, and you have been starved of it. I asked another child of mine to tell me what the course of time held for your species. Most of the outcomes are grim, and so here I am to step in.”

Chrysalis stayed silent, unsure of what to make of his words. Arceus had claimed one of his children could see the future, but as far as she knew no spell for that was ever made… or at the very least finished. There was no reason to believe his claims, and yet she didn’t need a spell to see there was truth in it.

With the ponies now aware of their existence, gathering love would be harder than it already had been. The already small amount of love they were able to collect would dwindle lower, if they were able to get any at all. That meant fewer would be fed, and her dear drones would quickly starve to death. It would only be a matter of time before she joined them.

Chrysalis lowered her head, growling at her incompetence. The invasion had possibly been the last chance she had to save her hive. Now, there was nothing left…

Nothing, save for the strange creature keeping her here.

“I should know better than to believe you; no doubt there is trickery in your words,” Chrysalis said to him, tired and dejected. “Besides, there is no doubt something you want out of your help?”

“Time has broken your ability to trust. It is unfortunate, but understandable,” Arceus replied. He sounded sorry for her, and that just proved to make Chrysalis seeth. “There is something you can do for me.”

There it is, Chrysalis thought to herself. She looked back to Arceus, trying to burn her eyes into his being. “What is it?”

“Before I tell you,” he stated. Suddenly he was much closer to her, flanking her right, despite having not moved at all since he had first shown himself, “let me show you.”

Before she could ask how he had gotten where he was, everything moved. Where once was void, Chrysalis found herself zipping between far too much, far too fast. Planets, moons, suns, and the empty space between them all, all passed under her hooves at speeds no pegasi could fly. Arceus gave her time to see none of it, every mass of earth leaving her sight far before she ever got to take even the barest glimpse of it.

At least, that was the case, until they came to a very sudden stop on some random field. Chrysalis barely even registered that everything had stopped, her stance wide and her breathing ragged as she tried to comprehend just what she had witnessed. Arceus, whatever he was, had just moved them across space with the ease of a grub crawling towards the hive’s nurse.

She had thought him a simple mage. Now, it was clear she was dreadfully wrong.

What is he?

“At the surface, the surroundings may seem no different than yours,” Arceus said, drawing the queen out of her stupor. “Merely watch, however, and you will find this is not the world you know.”

Chrysalis had a question on your tongue, but her mind was still reeling from everything she had just experienced. Still, she did as he suggested, scanning the horizon around her for anything obviously different. Before her was a grassy plain, with a road cutting it down the middle and a brook directly behind her. The wind calmly blew, and with it floated strange… blue… fluffy things.

What the…

She watched as creatures she had never seen before. They happily floated along the wind without a single care, not even as equally strange, large birds could be seen watching them with what could best be described as hunger. One took flight, and Chrysalis was ready to see it plucked up for food.

Instead, they released yellow spores, filled with an energy Chrysalis had not seen before, towards the bird. As its wings touched the spores, its body seemed to seize, and it crashed to the ground. The queen couldn’t help but wince at the impact, the bird’s prey letting out what laughter that sounded like words.

Hoping for something that makes just a little more sense, her eyes turned back to the plains itself. Her eyes caught on a small, brown tail wading through the tall grass in her direction. Wings flared out and buzzing, she waited for whatever predator was possibly coming towards them, prepared to defend herself.

Only to find a small, ferret-like creature walking out of the grass. Staring at it, Chrysalis watched it plod pass her without single care. She wasn’t sure whether to be more surprised by the fact it ignored her, or that she had even considered it a threat.

“They can’t see you, by the way,” Arceus said.

“You couldn’t have told me that before?!” Chrysalis shouted. Her anger faded away quickly, though, as she looked at the world around her. “Though, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any creatures like these before.”

“Given we are on an entirely different planet to your own, that is not a surprise,” Arceus said, tilting his head slightly in her direction. It looked back to the wilds of Johto not even a second later. “The creatures you have just seen are called pokémon. They are one of two kinds of creatures that make up the world I created.”

Once more, the world around Chrysalis sped up, though this time it was only for a few seconds. When it stopped spinning, she suddenly found herself on a concrete sidewalk, surrounded by bipedal creatures with clothes all over their body. Traveling in the shoulder, head, or by their side were various pokémon. Far too many for Chrysalis to count.

“These are the other type, humans,” Arceus said. “They are the reason I have made the proposal I have.”

“What could hairless apes do for my hive?” Chrysalis said. Then, moments after, her nose caught a hold of a smell. One far too familiar for her to not recognize, after how much she had syphoned off Shining Armor. “Wait, that’s…”

She let her muzzle hang open, and started to pull in all the ambient love around her. Trails of pure love came from every human around, and Chrysalis greedily drank it all. It caused no harm to the humans or pokémon it came from, and when she was finished there were still oceans of love surrounding her.

For the first time in years, she couldn't bring herself to have more. She was… full.

“It’s like you dropped me in the middle of a buffet,” Chrysalis mumbled.

“pokémon love humans, and humans love pokémon right back,” Arceus said. “A bond formed from generations living alongside each other. There are bad eggs, sure, but they are far fewer than the good ones.”

Chrysalis still believed there was a catch to it all, but for the first time in forever, she was willing to allow help from some creature that wasn’t one of her drones. All this love was just too good, and if she could get enough for her hive, then they might never have to worry about going hungry again! With resolve of steel, she looked to Arceus, and found he was looking right back at her.

“It is clear what your offer is, and I won’t deny it is extremely tempting,” Chrysalis says. “Now, I believe this is where you tell me what I won’t like about your deal.”

“Very well, though I believe you find it more than manageable,” Arceus replied, nodding his head. “You and your hive’s arrival would be as pokémon, not humans. There will not be any physical changes to your body, though you will find that you have obtained abilities you did not have previously… and possibly lost some.”

Chrysalis turned her eyes back to the humans. A larger amount of the love they gave off was directed towards the pokémon either with or around them. Not to say they didn’t feel it towards their fellow humans, but it was clear where her hive would get more love from. Becoming a pokémon didn’t not feel like the catch she was expecting, which meant there was more.

Arceus, having anticipated that wouldn’t be enough for the queen, continued on. “As for the ‘catch,’ there is a human child going on a journey in a few months from now. A very important child that needs to be protected. I want you to go on that journey with him, and keep him safe.”

Chrysalis smirked. That sounded a bit more like a catch to her. A rather simple one, for a creature that seemed to be as powerful as Arceus, but no doubt if this human foal needed to be protected it was for good reason.

“That’s it?” Chrysalis asked. “Just protect some kid?”

“You accept, then?” Arceus asked back.

“If it means my hive can thrive, and we can eat without issue, then keeping some child alive is nothing,” the queen said, voice brimming with confidence. “Though I will have to know who I’m looking for, when the time comes.”

“Of course,” Arceus replied. “His name is Ash Ketchum. Ten years old, tends to wear a white and red cap, and you will find a yellow mouse called a pikachu at his side. That should be enough to identify him.”

“Or at least all you are willing to give me,” Chrysalis muttered. She held her hoof out to Arceus, his focus on him to watch for any funny business. “We have a deal.”

Arceus took the hoof on his own and shook it lightly. “Then I will send you to your hives new home, and let your kind set roots.”

Chrysalis attempted to ask exactly what their new home would be, but Arceus teleported her away before her muzzle had opened. That left him alone for the moment, the humans around him still unaware of his presence. A sigh of relief, perhaps an unfitting action for a god-like being such as himself, was released. There was never a doubt in his mind he would gain her consent, but that didn’t make her abrasive nature better to deal with.

One of his children flew up and landed on him, the exact same one who had made him aware of the possible futures for the queen and her changelings. He wouldn’t deny twisting the truth slightly to better secure the deal, seeing how most of the time it was Chrysalis herself that befell a terrible fate and not her people as a whole, but that just made him more certain in his choice. For every time she would take Starlight’s hoof in friendship, she would smack it away one hundred more. For each redemption after that, a thousand more of her would come to suffer in stone… or worse.

“I get the feeling telling her to protect Ash isn’t exactly for himself, is it?” his child, Celebi, asked. She already knew the answer, no doubt, but acting like she didn’t make for better conversation with her family.

“She has long lost trust in others, but that doesn’t mean she can’t gain it back,” Arceus answered. “He has no need for extra protection, but if any human is capable of restoring her ability to trust, it is Ash.”

“Definitely,” Celebi replied, before letting out a mischievous giggle. “Though it will definitely be funny to watch.”

Arceus laughed along with Celebi, the latter already foreseeing the many possibilities that the future now held. As his true form ruffled his daughter’s head, the body he used to communicate with mortals vanished from the city.