The Moon's Precious Little Star

"I don't wanna eat meat!" Cried a young griffon as he turned his beak up at the slab of meat his parents placed in front of him.

"Come on, sweetie; you need to eat properly, don't you want to become a strong and dependable griffon like your father?" The chick's mother asked while his father nodded his head sagely.

"I don't want to be a strong griffon if it means the ponies at school continue to bully me for it!" The chick cried out. "I don't want to be a griffon anymore," he said as he lowered his head and began to cry. Immediately his parents got up and wrapped their arms around him in a comforting embrace. The three of them stayed like this until the son cried himself to sleep, upon which the father carefully placed him on his back and carried him up to bed.

Once he had his son neatly tucked in, the father headed back downstairs to talk to his wife about what to do. For over an hour, the two griffons bounced ideas off of one another, but each time one of them would come up with a solution, the other would find a flaw with the plan and poke a big hole in it. Growing increasingly more and more frustrated at their situation, the two griffons slumped back onto the couch and let out a defeated sigh.

"Welp, I'm out of ideas," the mother said with a sigh. The father wasn't faring any better as he lazily fell onto his side with an overdramatic huff. Feeling like all hope was lost, the father reached for a piece of paper to ask the princesses for help when he remembered that there was one other who could help. Sitting back up, he quickly tells his wife that he heard of a griffon doctor that travels all across Equestria, assisting others of their kind. Deciding that this doctor was the best hope for their son, the two griffons wrote a letter to him and got it to the maile mare as fast as they could. As they watched her go, the two of them could only wait and hope that this doctor could help their child.

A week passed since they sent the letter asking the doctor for help, and throughout that time, their son had gotten worse as he continued refusing to eat any meat. The two griffon parents grew increasingly more and more worried that the doctor didn't get their message, or he would be too late to help their son. Unable to do anything for their child, the parents paced around the living room to occupy their time and to stop themselves from thinking about the worst-case scenario. Their pacing was interrupted by a loud and rather aggressive knocking at the doot that startled both of them. Rushing through the house, the father opened the door and standing there was an old griffon with pale fur and deep gray feathers. The only thing he wore was a pair of glasses that sat comfortably on his beak.

"Alright, where is the patient?" The doctor asked as he pushed his way into the house, ignoring the father's outstretched claw. Walking into the living room, the doctor looked around and spotted the son sitting on the couch, hunched over and nervously picking at his talons. Instantly recognizing the signs of malnutrition and stress, he slowly walked up to the chick. "So you refuse to eat properly, do you," the doctor said, and the young griffon nervously nodded his head. "And I can assume that it's due to macking or bullying?" The doctor asked, though he already knew the answer to his question. Once again, the eaglet nodded his head in confirmation. Why is it always like this; why can't these ponies practice what they preach, the doctor thought to himself with a sigh. "You need to eat properly; otherwise, you'll end up even sicker than you already are and worry your parents even more than you are right now," the doctor explained to the cub, who finally looked up at the older griffon.

"I know, but I don't want the ponies at school to bully me anymore! Can't I eat something else instead?" The chick asked, and the doctor could only shake his head in response.

"I'm sorry, but no, no, you can't. We griffons are carnivores through and through, and eating what the ponies eat can make you sicker than you already are." After hearing the doctor's explanation, the son put his head back down and started to cry. From the entryway, the parents looked at one another, not knowing if they should step in and comfort their son, or let the doctor continue his work uninterrupted. With a huff of annoyance, the doctor opened his bag and rummaged around until he found what he needed. The mother and father watched as the old griffon pulled out a plain-looking pocket watch and lifted it to their son's face.

Noticing the pocket watch in his peripheral vision, the son looked back up and gave the doctor a confused look. Without a word and a reassuring smile, the old griffon began to swing the watch back and forth in front of the chick's face. For a few seconds, nothing happened, and the parents of the eaglet were wondering if the doctor was wasting their time when their son suddenly closed his eyes and fell asleep. Not sure as to what was going on, the parents nervously shuffled from side to side in the entryway and wondered what the doctor's plan was. Once the old griffon was satisfied that his patient was in a deep enough sleep, he put the pocket watch back in his bag and got to work.

"What was your son's name again?" The doctor asked the parents, who told him that it was Jonas. Nodding his head, the old griffon turned his attention back to his patient and smiled. "Alright, Jonas, I want you to listen to me very carefully, understand?" Immediately the chick nodded his head in response to the doctor's words. "From now on, you will no longer care if ponies see you eating meat. You won't care if the colts and fillies at school bully you, and if any of them object, you'll tell them off in the usual griffon way. The doctor told Jonas; though he knew the "usual griffon way" would cause a few problems on its own, he didn't want his patient to go through a relapse and waste all his efforts. "When I snap my claws, you will wake up and take all that I have said to heart and no longer trouble your parents with this nonsense about not eating properly." After a slow and deliberate count to three, the doctor snapped his claws, and Jonas immediately opened his eyes. Without any prompts, the parents rushed into the room and practically shover the doctor to the side so they could check on their son.

"Sweetie, are you all right?" Jonas' mother asked her son. For a few tense moments, their son didn't say anything and just looked forward with a blank expression on his face. Fearing that the doctor's hypnosis left his son brain dead, the father spun around and was about to break the older griffon's beak when his son finally spoke up.

"I'm fine mom. I'm so sorry that I worried you for so long, and I think I would like a steak, I'm starving," Jonas said to his parents, who beamed with happiness, and the three of them embraced in a hug. Seeing that he was no longer needed, the doctor picked up his bag and exited the house as quietly as he could so that the family could have their happy moment in peace, only leaving a bill and a note on whom to send the bits to as evidence he was ever there.

Having left the house, the doctor made his way through the center of town to the train station. As he walked through the streets, he couldn't help but take note of the sorry of the area. The buildings were in shambles, some of them even in advanced states of disrepair. There was trash littered all over the street, and he was sure he could see a few ponies in the alleyways huddled together doing something nefarious.

While he continued on his way, the doctor noticed that he was receiving some pretty intense glares of hatred and disdain. The old griffon did his best to ignore them as he completely understood why he was getting them. It had only been about a hundred years or so since the war between Equestria and the griffon empire came to an end. It was most likely some of them were still holding a grudge against his kind for how much strife they caused. Letting out a tired sigh, the doctor pushed his way through the crows of ponies until he reached the train station.

The second the doctor exited the crowd, he immediately noticed that the train sitting in the station wasn't the usual one. Instead of the worn down, beat up and overtaxed locomotive he was used to seeing in these remote border towns was an ornate train of pristine whites and dark blues. Wondering what in the world was going on, the doctor pushed his way forward to ask the conductor what was happening when the pony suddenly turned the second he spotted the griffon out of the corner of his eye.

"Ah, doctor Gabriel I presume?" The train conductor asked, and the doctor nodded his head in confirmation. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, but I must insist that you board the train immediately as the others are running behind schedule." Before Gabrel could say anything, the conductor walked behind the old griffon and started to push him onto the train. "Once you are inside, the royal guards shall take care of you." Once again, before he could say anything, the doctor was shoved into a train car and practically had the door slammed on his face.

Groaning, Gabriel turned to face the guards who, without a word, gestured for him to follow before they started marching in step with each other. Rolling his eyes at the guards' ridiculous insistence of stoicism, Gabriel reluctantly followed the armoured ponies through the train cars. Looking around, the doctor noticed that the inside of the cars was just as ornate as the outside; every wall seat and table had a golden trimming. The interior made the doctor feel like he was walking through a mini ballroom; there were even small chandeliers to light up the train at night. Stopping for a second, the old griffon poked the cushion of one of the seats, and it was one of the softest materials he had ever felt in his life, much better than the hardwood he was used to sitting on. After several minutes of walking and passing through several train cars, the guards stopped marching and stood on both sides of the door to the next car. Without a word, as usual, one of the guards opened the door and beckoned for the doctor to go on through. Wanting to get this over with as fast as possible, Gabriel walked through the door without protest and was shocked to see the pony waiting for him. Sitting in the middle of the train car was princess Luna.

"Ah, doctor Gabriel, it's so good to meet you," The princess of the night said to the doctor once she noticed that he was standing there. "Come sit down; there is much for us to discuss." Wanting to know what the lunar Alicorn could want from him, the doctor did as he was asked and sat across from the princess. "Now, I'm sure you are wondering what it is I need from you?:

"Yes, yes, I am, but I'm more curious as to why you came all the way out here personally rather than send a letter or one of your servants?" Gabriel asked the princess of the night, who nodded her head in understanding.

"It's rather simple, doctor, my sister and I have a problem that needs resolving, and neither of us trusted any other pony to come and get you," Luna said as she took a sip of her coffee. "And before you ask, yes, we have gone to several other doctors already, and none of them were able to help us. We hope that you'll be able to do what the others could not and put our minds at ease." Hearing what the princess had to say, the doctor found himself intrigued by their little problem. Just the thought of an old griffon like him solving a medical issue that the best doctors in the kingdom couldn't; nearly caused Gabriel burst out with laughter. Managing to compose himself, the doctor stifled his excitement and looked the princess directly in the eyes.

"Before I agree to help you, I need to know what it is that I'll be doing," Gabriel stated to the princess, who once again nodded her head.

"I understand, doctor, but at the same time I ask that you swear to keep all that I tell you to yourself, do I make myself clear?" The tone in the princess's voice made it very clear that if Gabriel betrayed her trust in any way, he wouldn't live long enough to regret it. Nodding his head, the old griffon stood up and placed a claw on his chest, and vowed to keep all secrets told to him in the strictest of confidence. Sitting back down, the doctor sat silently and waited for the princess to proceed at her own pace. "My son is sick," She said after a long and tense silence. "It seems no matter who we got to, there appears to be no pony in the entire kingdom that can figure out what is wrong with him!" The princess yelled as she stood up out of her seat and started to pace. "My sister and I hope that a non-pony doctor might have some insight as to what avails my son, and hopefully make him better." To say that the doctor was shocked would be an understatement. Not in a million years would he guess that one of the princesses would have a kid, it just didn't seem like something either of them would do or want, at least from what little he knew about them. With his curiosity running on overdrive, Gabriel couldn't agree faster.

"Alright, princess, I'll take a look and see what is wrong with your son," Gabriel said to the night princess. Letting out the breath she was holding, Luna sat back down and profusely thanked the doctor for his assistance.

Several hours later, the train came to a stop as it rolled into Cnaterlot station. Escorted by the guard, the princess and the griffon exited the train and stepped onto the platform. Stretching after the long journey, Gabriel looked around and was surprised to see the city as complete as it was. From where he was standing, the old griffon could see the palace, and what he assumed to be the noble district were both done. Going past those two districts, the farther away from the castle you got, the more sparse finished buildings became. While looking around, the doctor noticed that there seemed to be only one street that stretched from the train station to the palace. While Gabriel was looking around, the princess stepped off of the train and cleared her throat to catch the old griffon's attention. Feeling a little foolish for staring like a wide-eyed chick, the doctor spun around and apologized for his behaviour, but Luna just waved it off.

"You don't need to apologize, doctor, I understand that seeing how far the city had come in such a short time can be a little surprising, but we aren't here to sightsee, and I would like very much to move on as soon as possible," Luna said with a hin of worry in her voice that didn't go unnoticed by the old griffon. Pushing any unnecessary thought to the back of his head, Gabriel picked up his bag and followed the princess down the main road.

The Alicorn and griffon pair walked through the city in silence, both of them deep in thought and barely paying attention to where they were going. A few times while he wasn't paying attention, the doctor walked into a ladder and knocked a paint can off the step it was sitting.

"Hey, watch where you're going, you stupid fucking turkey!" The construction pony that was using the paint can cursed at the doctor. Not seeing any benefit to saying anything, Gabriel ignored the pony and kept on walking; unfortunately, the construction pegasus took issue with this and flew down in front of the old griffon. "Didn't you hear me you overgrown chicken?" The pegasus asked the doctor as he got in his face. "Don't you have something to say to me after you rudely knocked over my paint can?" Seeing no way out of this, Gabriel let out a tired sigh and apologized.

"I am so sorry, my good sir, for knocking over your paint can; I can assure you it will never happen again," Gabrel said with a mocking bow. The pegasus saw right through the doctor's mock apology and once again got in the griffon's face.

"Don't give me that half-assed nonsense. I expect a real apology, and I expect in now you fucking feathered fre-." The construction pony got cut off as princess Luna, who caught the tail end of his harsh words, sent him flying after she smacked his across the muzzle.

"How dare you use such filthy language to anyone, especially to a guest of your princesses! You should be ashamed of yourself!" Luna reprimanded.

"But your highness," the construction pony tried to explain, but was cut off as the princess raised a hoof.

"I don't want to heat it; I will be talking to your supervisor once my business with the doctor is complete. Perhaps you can think and reflect on your behaviour when looking for a new job; come along, doctor." With that, the Alicorn and griffon continued on their way and left the dejected pegasus lying on the ground.

The pair resumed their trek through the city, once again walking in silence and not speaking to each other. After a while, they began to pass through what Gabriel assumed to be the commercial district, and as the doctor looked around at all the shops, princess Luna was thinking about the racist slurs the construction pony threw at the old griffon.

"Doctor, I must apologize on behalf of my kingdom," Luna stated, breaking the silence and surprising the doctor. 'What that pony said to you was utterly unacceptable, and I ask for your forgiveness." Luna gave a shirt bow after her apology, leaving the old griffon confused and embarrassed.

"Please, princess stand up, you didn't do anything wrong, and besides it's not the first time some pony had called me that, hell I've even gotten it from my own kind before," Gabriel explained to the Alcorn, who while happy the doctor wasn't upset the insults. She wasn't so happy that he had received them in the past from the citizens of her kingdom.

Now that the air was cleared, the Alicorn and griffon quickly passed through the rest of the commercial district and entered the portion of the city that housed the kingdomes nobles, and the contrast was night and day. Where the houses of the common ponies had different designs based on where the construction ponies could fit them, the nobles, on the other hand, had a more unified look to them. Every single building in the district was an enormous mansion that could easily fit several dozen families with ease, though the doctor knew that only the nobles themselves would reside in the main house. Continuing to make his way through the district, the doctor could feel his blood begin to boil just by looking around as the nobility of any nation angered him beyond reason. The way they carried themselves and the fact that they loved to look down on those that they deem beneath them regardless of how much smarter they were then them drove the old griffon up the wall. Though none of that compared to what the doctor felt was the worst thing about the nobility, and that was the fact they got anyone they didn't like exiled from a kingdom, and on more than one occasion he had to stop himself from breaking their nose ar beak in a fit of rage.

Sensing Gabriel's growing anger, and knowing whom he was directing it at, princess Luna quickly teleported them from the noble district to the front of the castle. Disorientated from the sudden spatial warping, the doctor leaned against the princess for support so he wouldn't fall flat on his beak. While waiting for his head to stop spinning, the old griffon couldn't help but comment to the lunar Alicorn about how much he hated teleportation, which earned him a giggle and apology from the princess. Once the dizziness he felt subsided, Gabriel pushed himself off of the princess and took a couple of steps to test that he wouldn't fall over. Assured that he wouldn't collapse, the doctor nodded to Luna, and the two of them made their way into the castle proper. As he walked through the palace's gilded doors, Gabriel noticed that he was receiving the same looks he received elsewhere from the guards, but what surprised him was that the castle staff were greeting him like he was just another pony. Seeing the look of shock and confusion on the old griffon's face, Luna let out a hearty chuckle and explained to him that the castle staff have a standing order to ignore a guest's race until told otherwise to avoid offending them.

Completely caught off guard by the treatment he was receiving from the castle staff, Gabriel failed to notice him and the princess pass through the doors of the throne room. He only realized where he was when the doors slammed closed behind him, startling the old griffon and eliciting from him a frightened squawk. Unable to contain her amusement at the doctor's reaction, the lunar Alicorn burst out laughing.

'Luna, the is no way to treat our guest, Celestia reprimanded her sister from her thone. Managing to calm her fit of laughter, Luna rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on, sister, even you have to admit that it was a little funny," Luna accused, and much to the doctor's shock, the solar Alicorn nodded her head and chuckled.

"Yes, I'll admit that it was somewhat funny, but we shouldn't laugh at every pony or griffon that gets startled by those doors." Gabriel was unsure how he was supposed to react at the moment. Here he was standing in the throne room of the rulers of Equestria, and they were laughing and carrying in like regular pair of siblings. For as long as he had lived in this kingdom, Gabriel was told over and over again by the ponies he met hoe regal and god-like the Alicorn sisters were. They went on and on about how they radiated power the demanded respect and worship, and how they never allowed emotion to cloud their judgment, and how they never disagreed with each other in the throne room. Now before the griffon's very eyes, those rumours and fanciful words were proven wrong. "I'm so sorry that we laughed at your expense, doctor, but very few have gotten used to how loud those doors can be when they shut, and in a more formal setting we need to contain our laughter so we just couldn't help it this time," Celestia explained as she stood up and walked across the room. "Now that you are here, shall we get down to business?" Realizing that he was gawking like an idiot, the doctor awkwardly coughed into his closed talons and nodded his head.

"Yes, take me to the patient," Gabriel said to the princesses, who gestured for him to follow.

The princesses led the old griffon through the castle in relative silence, only breaking it on occasion to ask the doctor of his travels across the kingdom. Each time they asked him, the conversation would always turn to the state of whatever town he was visiting was, whether that be the buildings in the area, or the ponies themselves. Gabriel did his best to answer the princess' questions, but his focus had always been on the griffons the liked in the kingdom, and rarely if ever did he pay attention to anything else. When the conversation inevitably turned to how his fellow griffons were faring, the doctor bit his tongue to keep silent; as much as he wanted to tell the two Alicorns the brutal, honest truth, the old griffon knew this wasn't the time or place.

Sensing that they weren't going to her more out of the doctor, the princesses shut their mouthes and led him the rest of the way in silence until they reached a set of doors in Luna's colours. Gabriel, wanting to get this job over and done with so he could go back to his usual routine, placed his claw on one of the doors to open it, only to be stopped by princess Luna.

"Before you enter my domain, I must ask that you do not tell any pony, griffon or minotaur what you see in there, even under pain of death!" Gabriel rolled his eyes at the princesses theatrics and was about to remind the lunar Alicorn of his professionalism when she spoke again. "Please," Luna said, barely above a whisper. Looking into the night princess' eyes, Gabriel could see the fear and anxiety Luna was hiding clear as day.

'You have my word, princess Luna that my beak shall remain sealed, and that I shall not talk to anyone outside of this castle about what I saw," Gabriel said with a deep bow. With tears in her eyes, Luna thanked the old griffon over and over, only stopping when Celestia placed a hoof on her withers and cleared her throat.

"Now that everything is settled, shall we proceed with the medical examination?" The solar princess asked. Turning to meet the gaze of the older princess, Gabriel nodded his head and watched as the princesses opened the dorrs with their magic, and by how slow they opened made the old griffon realize that there was no way he was going to get them open with his strength alone. Inside, the room was surprisingly spartan with only a few pieces of mildly ornate blue and silver furniture decorating the room. What truly caught the doctor's attention, though, was the strange creature lying on the princess' bed. While Gabriel was staring at the thing on the bed, he barely noticed the two princesses walk past him and towards it.

"Doctor Gabriel, allow me to introduce my son, the crown prince Orion," Luna said with a sweep of her wing and pride in her voice. Looking between the bed and the princesses, the old griffon wasn't sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him in his old age.

"This is your son?" Gabriel asked as he walked up to the side of his bed, all the while never taking his eyes off of the young Orion. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see princess Luna nod her head. "Well, I can definitely see why you haven't told the rest of the kingdom about him yet," The doctor said as he got to work. " Even if your son was a pony, I highly doubt the nobles would accept him unless he were one of their own; the fact that he is something else entirely must make you very nervous," Gabriel stated as he examined Orion. Behind him, the doctor could hear once of hear one of the princesses, which he assumed was Luna, let out a heavy sigh.

'That is one of my concerns, yes, but at the moment, my son's health is my only concern, and the nobles can rot in Tartarus for all I care!" The concern in the night princess' voice and the hated she showed towards the nobility made the old griffon smile.

"By the way, princess, what have you been giving your son to eat?" Gabriel asked out of the blue.

"Just a standard pony diet."

"And what symptoms have you noticed your son suffering?" Taking a moment, Luna thought back to the last few months before answering the doctor's inquiry.

"His skin seems paler than usual. Recently he seems to be having trouble lifting his toys. I've also seen him have difficulty breathing on occasion, not to mention he seems a little moody lately. Once Luna was finished explaining, Gabriel let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his beak.

'Well, that definitely makes it easy to tell what is wrong with your son," the doctor said as he started to rummage through his bag. Luna took a step forward and was about to ask the old griffon what he was talking about when he suddenly tossed something over his shoulder. Catching the object with her magic, princess, Luna noticed that it was a bottle, turning it over she read the label.

"Vitamin b12 supplement, What is this for?" Luna asked. With another sig, the doctor stood up and faced the lunar Alicorn.

'That is a supplement for a vital and necessary vitamin that all meat-eating species need to survive," the doctor explained, and a soon as he finished, he noticed the colour drain from Luna's face.

"Are you telling me that my son in a carnivore?" Princess Luna asked with fear in her eyes, whether it was fear for her son's safety or the irrational fear ponies felt towards predatory species, the doctor couldn't tell.

"That's not a problem for you, is it?" Gabriel asked with just a tad too much smugness that got him a look from lunar Alicorn that could melt steel.

'I will love my son no matter what hie is, doctor, but I fear that his being a carnivore will make it much harder for the citizens of the kingdom to accept him." Once again, the words of the princess of the night made the old griffon smile.

"Well, you don't have to worry too much. The structure of your son's teeth tells me that he is an omnivore, not a carnivore, meaning you can feed him a pony diet, but don't forget the beef every once in a while." The princess of the night let out a sigh of relief and walked back over to her sister to let the doctor continue his work.

"Dipping his claw into his bag, Gabriel pulled out a syringe and carefully inserted it into Orion's arm and extracted a little blood. Returning to his bag, the old griffon slowly placed the vial of blood into a special padded pouch before turning his attention to the princesses once again.

"Alright, that should about do it. I have to check the blood sample to make sure my diagnosis is one hundred percent correct, but based on what you told me and the structure of Orion's teeth, I'm confident that it's a vitamin B Twelve deficiency he suffers from." Relieved that her son's life wasn't in danger, Luna walked up to the side of the bed and nuzzled the side of her son's head. "Now, if that is everything, I'll be on my way," Gabriel said as he picked up his bag and started towards the door but was stopped when princess Celestia stepped forward and cleared her throat.

'Before you go, doctor, me and my sister would like to offer you an invitation," the solar Alicorn said, catching the old griffon's attention. Turning to face the princesses, Gabriel gestured for her to continue. "Seeing that you were the only one out of several dozen doctors to figure out what was wrong with Orion, we would like to offer you a position here at the castle. You would primarily be Orion's doctor, but no pony will accost you if you wish to treat other patients," Celestia said with a smile.

"What about my regular patients, they are all poor or working-class griffons who can't pay from a ticker to Cantetlot every time they need to see me?" Gabriel asked, and much to his surprise, the solar princess' smile widened.

"Don't worry about all that, all they need to do is send you a letter like usual, and I will send a carriage to bring them here." IN an instant, the old griffon's surprise turned to shock. Not only were the rulers of the nation offering him a position in their home to keep the crown prince healthy, but they were also willing to bring random griffons into their home for nothing so he would agree. Finding all of his preconceptions about the princesses to be wrong, doctor Gabriel couldn't help but smile, and he wanted to see how much more wrong he was.

"Alright, you've got yourself a deal," Gabriel said with an outstretched claw. Feeling her smile widen even further, Celestia lited her hoof and shook with the doctor as best as she could.