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// Chapter 63:  The Queen 
// Story: The Accidental Invasion 
// by computerneek 
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Hailey sighed.  It was rare for her to sit in on a Transfiguration class; Morning was one of the best Head Student Instructors on the team.  However, this class…
It scored fairly low for student satisfaction, even though the grades were exemplary.  The difference wasn’t large enough to attract the attention of the whole management team; there were larger problem spots they were working on.
It had, however, been enough to attract Morning’s attention.  She’d sat in on this class twice, and finally come to Hailey for help; she couldn’t see any reason for the scores to be so low.  Sure, Queen Chrysalis- she quite vehemently wasn’t the real thing, her parents just had bad taste in names- led the class very forcefully, and her co-instructor almost exclusively cowered in the corner all class (she knew Morning was investigating him for removal), but there wasn’t really anything to complain about.
And Hailey noticed, while sitting in the corner under her Invisibility Cloak and a quick anti-telempathy barrier to hide her from Changeling senses as well, just in case, that even Queen Chrysalis- or Crystal, as she kept trying to get ponies to call her- was hurt by the way they were forcing her to run the class.
The moment the bell rang, students instantly abandoned their tasks, seized their bags, and turned to flee, completely ignoring that Crystal had just told them what they were going to cover in the next class, and was in the middle of assigning their homework.  Morning had warned Hailey about it, but hadn’t been able to ascertain the reason.
With a silent sigh, Hailey directly used the Misty Step spell to jump to the door, then whipped her Invisibility Cloak off with one motion.  “What’s so scary?” she asked.
The effect was almost comical.  Most of the students stopped running, but forgot they couldn’t do that by just stopping moving- resulting in a series of faceplants, and the rest of the students crashed into one another in a couple of dogpiles.  Crystal’s co-instructor, who Hailey knew was a seasoned Agent not far below Bonbon’s level (which incidentally made him junior to her even without her ascension), slid to a halt of his own after flinching from her sudden appearance.  He alone, of the runners, managed to avoid finding himself on the floor.
Even Crystal jumped, letting out a squeak of fright and stumbling back from her podium, straight into the blackboard.
One of the students closest to her spoke up.  “I-It’s Queen Chrysalis,” she muttered.
“Crystal,” Hailey corrected.
At the back of the class, Crystal gasped and put a hand over her mouth.
“Her name’s Queen-!” most of the students began.
“She wants you to call her Crystal, does she not?” Hailey barked, interrupting them with the tiniest touch of Royal Canterlot Voice magic- which was currently properly termed ‘Volume Eleven’ magic when used on Earth.
The whole class flinched back from her sudden intensity.  In the back, Crystal let out another squeak and slid slowly down the blackboard to sit on the floor, while her co-instructor snapped to attention.
Finally, the class nodded silently.
“So why don’t you call her that?” Hailey demanded, dropping the RCV touch.  She didn’t need it.
The first student to speak up did so again, very timidly.  “B-Because it’s not her na-!”
“So you would disrespect her wishes, and treat her like some kind of monster, just so you can satisfy yourselves that you’re using her name?”
“Uhh…”
Hailey looked at the lone spokesperson, read her nametag, and spoke softly, but darkly.  “I thought you were above such rudeness, Clear Mind.”
The girl was twenty years old in Equestria, having gone straight from the CSGU graduation ceremony to the Hogwarts attendance list, but she’d evidently never been told off too strongly.  It made sense; she was the daughter of some duke or another in Canterlot.  She stumbled backwards, tripped over a table, and crashed to the ground with a small, terrified scream.
Hailey sighed, and looked out across them.  “Do any of you realize how many precautions there are against changelings getting into this castle?  How many trained guards are undercover as students, constantly watching for changelings, despite magically evaluating every pony before ever letting them through the portal?”
They all stared at her in silence while Clear Mind scrambled back to her feet.
“Crystal is not the Changeling Queen,” Hailey told them simply.  “It is not possible for a changeling to get into Britain, let alone into such a high-ranking and thoroughly vetted position as Student Instructor.  So.”  She put her hands on her hips- it still felt odd to do that, but not nearly as odd as it had been when she’d first done it three years before- and looked across them again.  “I’ll ask you a second time.  What are you afraid of?”
There was silence for several seconds, before Clear Mind spoke again.
“Y-You.”
She let out a snort.  “True enough, I suppose,”  She sighed, and looked up at them all.  “But not Crystal?”
“W-Well, she’s…  She’s harsh,” Clear Mind muttered, staring at her hands as she fiddled with them nervously.
“She’s only harsh because she’s learned that’s the only way she can get through to you numbskulls.”  Her voice was barely more than a whisper, but it didn’t need to be even that loud; the room had already gone deathly silent.  Several students hung their heads.
“I’m not a numbskull!” someone cried.
Hailey’s eyes flashed.  It was…  Yes.  Keen Mind, who was second only to Prince Blueblood in the belief that the world should do his bidding.  How he’d managed to get into the same class as somepony like Clear Mind, who was generally meek and tried to be humble despite her upbringing, Hailey would never know.  Perhaps it was because they were siblings?  “You are if you thought Crystal was the Changeling Queen,” she barked.  Commanded, more like.
He backstepped himself, tripped over a chair, and crashed to the floor himself.  The entire class completely ignored his pained wails- which told Hailey they knew him at least as well as she did, and liked him about as much as she did too.  Only Clear Mind reacted to him- and that was only to stick her nose in the air and turn her head resolutely away from him.  There was definitely no love there.
She sighed.  “Your Instructor was assigning your homework,” Hailey told them.  “It’s common courtesy to let them finish before leaving the classroom, nevermind the difficulty in completing an assignment you don’t know about.”
“I-It’s okay.”  Crystal’s voice was unnaturally high, barely more than a squeak, coming from somewhere out of sight behind the crowd.
Clear Mind fiddled with her fingers again, staring at them.  “S-She sends them by owl a couple days after class,” she muttered.  “And I…”  She shivered.  “I think she’s too frightened to finish right now anyways.”  She glanced back towards the back of the class.  “I-I’ve never heard her like that before.”
Hailey sighed again, nailed Crystal’s co-instructor to the spot with a look, and stepped aside.  The class flowed much more slowly out into the hall, albeit very shaken and similarly silent.  As they went, Hailey inconspicuously took a few deep, calming breaths.
Finally, the last student left, and Hailey turned to Crystal’s co-instructor, still standing on the spot.  “Mission Impossible,” she muttered softly.
“Yes, Ma’am?” he asked stiffly, going very rigidly to attention and staring about six inches above her head.
“Why do I need to remind you that you are Crystal’s co-instructor, not corner cabinet?”  Her tone was gentle, but disappointed- and it seemed to be hitting him even harder than her fire and thunder had hit the class.
He was, however, a highly trained Agent, so he stood his ground.  “Uhh…”  He paused uncertainly.
“I’ll expect to see a report on my desk by this time tomorrow,” she told him.  “Then that’s going to change, unless you really want to record your first failure.”
He actually flinched at that- and Hailey knew why.  His Cutie Mark Talent allowed him to accomplish any even remotely accomplishable mission without fail, so he had yet to fail a single mission.  “I-  I may need to reread the mission briefing,” he muttered.
Hailey nodded soberly.  “I expect you will.  Be sure to note exactly how you misinterpreted it in your report.”  She sighed.  “Dismissed.”
He bowed, and left the room.
Hailey took one last calming breath, then walked up to the head of the room again, to find Crystal still sitting on the floor, going through her own calming breathing exercises.  “You okay, Crystal?” she asked, before lowering herself to the floor next to her.
Crystal stared wide-eyed at her knees for a couple minutes, breathing deeply, before she spoke.  “Y-You’re a Princess,” she muttered, almost alarmingly calmly.  It wasn’t a question, so much as a statement of fact.
Hailey sighed, and leaned against the wall as well.  “Well…  I suppose it is true that I’m an Alicorn,” she muttered, then sighed again.  “But I’m also not from Equestria.  Though even then, I suppose…”  She trailed off, and sighed a third time.  “I’ve got Princess Twilight working as a psychologist, Princess Luna is an excellent Defense Against the Dark Arts student instructor, and Princess Cadence is almost alarmingly good at teaching Charms, despite juggling the Crystal Empire at the same time- then here I am, the management team lead, and basically a goddess.”  She sighed.  “I hope I never become as unapproachable as Celestia and Luna have, but I’m not entirely sure that that’s even possible.”
Crystal stared at her.  “W-Well…  You called me Crystal.”
“I did,” Hailey agreed.  “I happen to feel very strongly about chosen names…  and deadnames.”  She sighed.  “Speaking of, as the Changeling Queen, do you still prefer Chrysalis, or…?”
She shook her head.  “I’m Crystal,” she muttered.  “My mother had a nice name, Chrysanthemum- but she wasn’t very imaginative when she named me.”  She sighed.  “The whole concept of a chosen name is still new to me- I didn’t realize it was even possible to change it until a couple months into last year.  It took me until this year to make my decision, and actually chose my new name- then now…”  She sighed.  “The Hive took it a lot better than I expected.  Hardly a day after I mentioned it, and it’s like I’d always been Crystal.”
Hailey nodded.  “Yeah…  It’s a human concept, isn’t it?”  She sighed.  “I’ll admit, I’m curious how you heard of it?”
“It was Morning Sun,” Crystal told her.  “I’d made up the whole ‘parents have bad taste in names’ thing to make it hard for anypony in authority to believe that I was the real thing- hiding in plain sight, you know.  During one of our monthly review meetings, she mentioned that I might want to go by a different name, to help improve ponies’ first impressions.”  She sighed.  “While changelings go by various aliases all the time, in various forms, that was the first time I’d ever seen that suggestion being directed towards a pony- or at least, ostensibly so.  So…  I started researching it.  Learned as much as I could…  and finally built up the courage to try it.”  She smiled, and let out a small sigh.  “Nowadays, I can actually feel proud of myself- even though I’m just as unpracticed at being surprised as I ever was.”  She chuckled softly, and looked at Hailey.  “May I ask, how did you figure me out?”
She shrugged.  “I happen to have a good friend that’s a changeling,” she told her, “though she’s long since lost her link to the Hivemind.  Last year, when they made me the Management Team Lead, she helped me reverse-engineer and recreate the Hivemind- so I’ve been running a secondary one for the management team.”  She giggled.  “They think it’s a telepathic network, and have no idea it’s actually changeling magic.  It shouldn’t interfere with your Hivemind at all.
“But anyways.  Once I had a Hivemind, I started experimenting with it as well…  and cooked up a few spells useful for detecting other hiveminds out in the wild.”  She shrugged.  “Once I had that spell, it was simple.  Albeit a little bit tedious, I’ll have to admit.”  She chuckled.  “Last year, I identified one or two of your drones, but let them be- they didn’t seem to be doing anything aggressive.  This year, my future self told me you were here, and that you were nice, but didn’t tell me who you were.  A little more diligent poking with that spell, though, and I found you.”  She shrugged.  “Probably never would have if Morning hadn’t asked me for help, though.”
“Oh.”  Crystal stared at her knees.  “Are you…  worried I might attack?”
“Well, you’re nice, aren’t you?”  Hailey shrugged.  “My future self wouldn’t have said that without good reason.”
Crystal looked at her.  “If your future self said anything about me, obviously something is going to happen,” she muttered.
“Well yeah,” Hailey agreed, and smiled at her.  “That’s because I’ve got a job for a changeling, if someling is up for it.”
She raised an eyebrow.  “You do?”
She nodded.  “Yeah.  In about a month, on Christmas Day, the Yule Ball will take place.  It’s part of the Tournament, meant to help people make new friends- but I’m a judge and Harry’s a champion, and the Ball will have too much interaction for time travel to be feasible.”
She looked at her.  “You’re…”  She paused.  “You and Harry are one and the same?”
She nodded.  “I am, yes.  I used to be Harry, but…”  She shrugged.  “I cast aside that name long ago.  But Crouch Junior put his name in the Goblet of Fire, so he has to compete.”
“Crouch Junior?” she asked.  “Do you mean the bastard masquerading as Professor Moody?”
She looked at her.  “You know about him?”
She wrinkled her nose.  “I can smell him from across the room,” she muttered.  “Er…  Empathically.  You know.”
She nodded.  “I do.  Anyways, Junior is trying to get Voldemort back to power- which I need as well, because that’s going to make him vulnerable to things like death.  That said, his method for doing that is going to be a convenient time to get Harry killed, though I’m not sure how that’s actually going to happen.  My future self just said that he comes back from the Third Task dead, and that I shouldn’t worry about it.”  She shrugged.
“But if he’s you…?” Crystal muttered.
She smiled.  “At the end of each Task, I left a magic construct behind and warped out- and my future self told me to warp out of the third task early, so…  I did.”  She shrugged.  “The Ball will be too complex of a situation for a construct to be successful, or I’d just use another one.”
Crystal rubbed her chin.  “So you need someling to play Harry?”
She nodded.  “It’s not critical or anything- I’m sure that between Dumbledore and Twilight, we can come up with something- but a changeling is the easiest solution, yes.  You’re just so good at it already.”
She chuckled softly.  “Yes, we are, aren’t we?”  She paused.  “Why did Crouch pick Harry?”
Hailey shrugged.  “He’s famous,” she answered simply.  “Specifically, he’s famous for surviving the Killing Curse, and actually bouncing it back at Voldemort, causing him to fall from power in the first place.”  She smiled.  “That’s actually become my cutie mark power- I’m completely and totally indestructible, even to the Killing Curse.  Even Princess Celestia couldn’t breach my skin when we were standing on the surface of her Sun.”
“Oh my,” Crystal muttered.  “That’s probably going to find you as a ruler at some point.  Paired with Alicorn immortality, and even Celestia won’t be able to hold a candle to your rule.”  She chuckled softly, and held out a hand.  “If ever you need advice, don’t be afraid to ask.  While I will admit to going a little, ah, crazy, shall we say, at times, I am also about three thousand years older than dear old Celly, and have been the Changeling Queen ever since I was about two hundred and eight.”
“Yeah…”  Hailey sighed, looking up at the ceiling.  “Chrysanthemum was one of the first casualties in the First Great War, wasn’t she?  Then her friend, the goddess Eliothame, had to sacrifice herself to end that war short of mutual destruction.”
Crystal looked at her.  “Elio was a goddess?”
She nodded.  “That’s what Harmonia said.”
There was silence for about two seconds.  “Y-You’ve spoken to Grandmother?”
Hailey blinked, then looked at her.  “Grandmother?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Crystal muttered.  “Not in the normal sense, though.”  She looked up.  “I’m…  not sure exactly how it happened, but Chrysanthemum was basically Harmonia’s brain child- created in her image.  I think that’s why we’re so complex, yet still made entirely of magic- we are, essentially, the most complex constructs in the universe.  We even share a number of their characteristics- malleable form, simulated mass, perfect recall…”  She sighed.  “But we’re alive.  We live, we grow, we adapt.  We think, learn, study, teach, and even reproduce.  In the end…”  She sighed a second time.  “Where do you draw the line between a magic construct and a pony?”
“The Soul,” Hailey answered promptly.  “Anything with a soul is a being, anything without is a construct, however complex it may be.”  She sighed.  “I happen to be friends with the Dementors.  They possess the power to remove the soul, and in so doing turn a human into a flesh golem.”  She chuckled.  “As a matter of fact, they are the only thing in this universe capable of hurting me- even changeling attacks would fall victim to my natural wards.”
“The…  soul,” Crystal muttered.  “How would you test for that?”  She scowled.  “Do changelings have souls?”
“Yes,” Hailey told her simply.  “Only beings can access the Astral Plane; the body never actually gets there, only the soul does.  And of course, I recently successfully taught a changeling to reach the Astral Plane.”  She smiled.  “A being is a soul piloting a particularly complex construct, be it of flesh, magic, or some other substrate, so…”  She sighed.  “Come to think of it, I heard there were theories about changeling origins?”
Crystal looked at her.  “That’s because you weren’t talking to a Queen,” she muttered.  “This is all top secret, Queens-Only information.  You won’t tell, will you?”