Ambassador Clavipes was clearly scared as he gazed at his Queen in the anteroom.
"Your Majesty, there are times when unwelcome advice has to be given for your own good. If you go out there and say what you want to say to the Griffin King, you could end up in his dungeons or worse."
"Nonsense. An average changeling or pony or griffin would, but I am a Queen in my own right and you an ambassador. I know that there are those who consider griffins no more then violent savages, but they are as intelligent as any of us, and they keep to the conventions of basic diplomacy. Whilst we will probably be declared persona non grata, we will be given two days to pack up our embassy and leave the Kingdom of Griffonia in peace. Should that happen, I will find you an equally good diplomatic post. Your career will not suffer because of anything I say here, I give you my royal word on that." She turned and strode into the royal throne room where the aged King of the Griffins waited, perched vulture-like upon his throne, which was made of beaten gold, and set in the shape of an eagle. He was far from alone, two griffin bodyguards in the armour of the royal guards stood by with halberds, and several councillors were also present. Chrysalis bowed slightly and received a nod of the head in return.
"Your Majesty, my...my spies have informed me that you are planning to invade Equestria and annex as much of it as you can. I ask you, as one monarch to another, please do not make war in this way. War is a waste of lives, of money that could be elsewhere, of time, and love finds it hard to survive in war...and that is a direct threat to the survival of everyling in my Hive."
The king gave an angry hiss through his beak. "Impossible, I have been planning this war for far too long to let you take it away from me...insolent insect."
"Everybody dies," said the Queen, "but some die sooner or later, and if you mess with me, you mess with my entire Hive. There are changelings within your army and court, and if you go ahead and do this, you will spend the rest of your short life in fear that every royal councillor, every general, every royal guard or castle servant, even the lowly ones who clear your dung away, could be a changeling plotting your assassination or your kidnapping and replacement. We do not commit such a killing or kidnapping of someone of your royal rank lightly, but when our vital love supply is threatened by war, all options are on the table."
Every griffin stared hatefully at her, and she had to keep her emotion gathering sacs firmly closed to avoid nausea or worse from all the negative feelings that were aimed in her direction. The griffin guards raised their lethal halberds and started slowly advancing towards her with the clear intention of hacking her into pieces.
"Stop," called the Griffin King. "She is a monarch in her own right on a scheduled royal visit, and the rules of diplomacy must be obeyed." Reluctantly the guards returned to their places. "Tell me, your Majesty, why should I not invade your lands instead for this outrage?"
"Apart from the threat posed by my spies to your royal person, our land on the surface is hot and dry and waterless except for one river. Your army would have to march or fly close to it, and every night most of it would have to be on sentry duty to avoid changeling infiltration. Our Hives are either very well hidden or true fortresses in their own right, and we are masters of the ambush. And if need be we can melt away and avoid battle until your army runs out of food, as it cannot feed on love like ours can."
"As I said before, I respect the conventions. Your diplomats are now persona non grata, at least for this year anyway-they have forty-eight hours to evacuate their embassy and leave the Kingdom of Griffonia. You too must leave, and do not return to my country without my permission. Every changeling in the open will be given the same amount of time to leave, any changeling caught spying will be executed as a spy. And I will think long and hard about what you have said today. Farewell, Queen Chrysalis."
By sunset, the Queen and Ambassador Clavipes were flying towards the Griffionian border with the rest of the Changeling diplomatic staff. "Is what you said true, your Majesty? Have we really penetrated the Griffin armed forces and the royal court itself?," the ambassador politely asked his monarch.
"Sort of, we have two at a high level, and a handful at a low level with jobs like cooking the food and cleaning the sheets, but nowhere near as many as I suggested. Knowing this particular King, he will grow suspicious of almost everyone around him and perhaps launch a purge of his army and administration. Either he will himself be overthrown, in which case the griffins will be too busy with their own affairs to invade anywhere for years. Or dozens of his best officers will end up chained up in his dungeons awaiting execution or hard labour, and his grand griffin army will be greatly weakened and it will take years to train capable new officers to replace them. Either way, Equestria and the rich love that it contains is safe for now from the horrors of war, and our Hive can continue to feed in peace. My only regrets would be if any of our spies really were uncovered and killed because of what I said to the King today."