//------------------------------//
// 3 - Over Achiever 
// Story: SiE 
// by Bubbleshy 
//------------------------------//

	Doc pulled another apple out of his bag. Today had certainly been a long one. He brushed the sweat off his brow and checked his bag. One apple left, and he knew exactly where it was going. He pulled his attention back to where it was needed. What started as a simple little test had become an extensive sports run to find out what Blood Cry was even capable of.

Tornado stood next to Doc, looking on in excitement. Firm Roots stared on in pure shock, whose face couldn't get any more paler without having the blood drained from it. Doc glanced forward. There stood Blood Cry, perpendicular to them, on his hind legs next to a tree. Cry was pulling himself every which way to get in one last stretch before the final event began.

"I say," Doc stated before taking a bite out of his apple. "It's a good thing I pulled in that artist a year ago to get a more accurate idea for where Blood Cry's muscles are and how they perform properly. He's increased exponentially since last year! He seems to enjoy all the exercises I've come up for him."

"A good thing?" Firm couldn't turn his face to meet with Doc’s. He was still stuck in his daydream of realizing how close to death he'd been this whole time. "We had to swear that artist to secrecy before he went around and told everyone about our little pet from Tartarus. Not to mention, how is something that powerful a good thing?"

Doc smirked at Firm as he swallowed. "Oh come now Firm Roots. It's not as though he's used this power against you...yet! Not to mention, imagine all the possibilities out there for a creature like this. Once we've raised him, there is so much potential!"

Blood Cry gave one last stretch and turned to the ponies about a hundred feet from him. He gave an open grin and put a thumb up to indicate he was ready. Doc smiled at the acknowledgement and took another bite. "Alright Blood Cry! Now, I want you to sprint as fast as you can to the tree twenty meters in front of you. Let's see how fast you can move."

Cry smiled at the challenge and turned, ready to spring forth. He was going to give it all he got, and prove to every pony just what he was made of. "Ready?" Doc yelled out to him. Cry put a leg behind him, crouched down, and braced his hands on the ground below. His form was sporadic, but he was now loose enough to fire himself off like a cannon. "Go!"

What came next was not on the agenda for what could possibly be expected. When Blood Cry launched himself, he didn't just force his way forward. Cry pushed off the ground so violently, the ground beneath him literally exploded. Dirt went flying all over while an audible boom resonated in the air. Doc and Firm flinched from the pressure wave. Tornado, on the other hand, was too awestruck to let a single moment slip out of his view.

Blood Cry ran with such intensity that his legs almost seemed to disappear. Constantly, he brought his knees up to his chest with impossible speed, and slammed them down behind him. The movements were so quick; it was almost like his legs were either against him or on the ground, but never in between. Twenty meters quickly turned into ten feet. Before Cry moved any further, he leapt into the air after the tree before him. He flew at his goal in a blaze of speed. Right as the distance between the two vanished, Cry flipped around and brought both knees back up to his chest.

Cry was about to impact into the tree when he released the full volley of his legs. His feet blurred as he kicked against its base with all his might. The tree swayed clumsily towards him as his kick bowed it in the center. An old and painful crack sounded out right before a low pitched snap. Actually, it could barely be considered a snap. It was more like a rip! There, opposite of Cry, a quarter of the tree ripped itself from the base.

The tree began swaying back as Blood Cry fell to the ground. As it twisted the other way another crack snapped its way across the bow of the tree. Splinters from the bark shot off every which way, and Cry's footprints were permanently implanted into the trunk of the tree. Cry watched in fascination as the tree swayed for another minute. It finally found a place to lay still at and leaned slightly from the new damage.

Finally, Cry stood up and dusted himself off. He looked back to Doc, Firm, and Tornado about to give them a thumb's up. He smiled towards them before he stopped moving. All three ponies laid there, frozen in pure awe by what the Star Child had succeeded in. Cry chuckled at what was before him and grinned broadly at them as they marveled at his work.
 
"That...was...incredible!" shouted Tornado as he went sprinting after Cry.

Doc was the first of the two stallions to recover from his shock. He smiled, and started a trot in Cry’s direction. After a moment, he noticed that Firm Roots wasn’t following him, and turned back to the earth pony. Doc let out a chuckle once he saw the fear deep in the pony’s eyes. “Are you going to be okay Roots?”
 
Firm Roots was slowly coming back to the world around him. He began to mumble as he stared at the Star Child. The mumble slowly gained volume. He was repeating himself over and over, and he kept getting louder. “No...no...no...no...” he kept repeating under his breath.
 
Doc changed his attitude to one of concern. “It’s alright Roots, you don’t have to fear the little guy,” he tried informing Firm.
“No, no, no, no, no...” Firm Roots was now at a normal speaking level.
“We all knew he was powerful. Just because he’s a little stronger than what we first assumed is no reason to freak out.”
“No, no, no, no, no!” Firm Roots was now on the verge of screaming.
 
Doc lowered his ears. This was a moment to be celebrated. Obviously the Star Child was stronger than what was believed of him, but it was obvious the little guy could have done some damage prior to this. Firm was always avoiding Cry for that very reason. Pain was one thing, but everypony should have known Cry could have done more than nick them. He stepped towards Firm to console him before the pony finally snapped.
 
“No! No! No! No! No!” he shouted.
Firm Roots raised a hoof and slammed it on the ground as he cried, “NO!!”
 
The earth pony pulled his head back and shook it violently. Once done he opened his eyes and glared in Blood Cry’s general direction. “There’s no way I’ll be puttin’ up with this. No way, no how! It’s already bad enough as it is. This little varmint is always giving me trouble. Turning around and biting me back when I showed him nothin’ but kindness. Uprootin’ and eatin’ whatever he pleased from mah farm. Always fightin’ and screamin’ as he pleased. You don’t know the half of it Doc! There’s a reason I wasn’t kind ta him this morning. It’s because I am done with him. I am done! This right here was all the proof I needed to decide there’s no reason to hold on to him anymore.”
 
Everyone had stopped and stared back at Firm Roots. Doc held his ears to his head in concern. Tornado looked back in curiosity to all the screaming. Blood Cry was back on all fours with his tail raised and poofed up as he growled as soon as he discovered who it was screaming. Firm Roots paid no mind to anyone. He merely scrunched up his face in annoyance as he glared daggers back at Cry.
 
“If I knew where I could take him, I’d ship him there as soon as I could. Problem is there ain’t no place I can take him that won’t endanger everythin’ around the area! I can’t even let him loose out in these parts, because he’d just eat the animals of the local farms.”
 
Doc opened his mouth and raised a hoof to make a point, but Firm Roots cut him off before his voice could form the words. He threw a hoof in his direction and proclaimed, “Doc, we’re gettin’ rid of this little devil and that’s final! You best have a plan for him if you plan to study him anymore, because I ain’t dealin’ with it no more. As soon as I know how to dispose of him, I’mma do it. I have just the mind to write a letter to the Princess and ask her to dispose of him justly. In fact, I’ll do just that right now.”
 
Doc watched Firm leave the area. The older unicorn did not want to test his luck with speaking to the enraged earth pony. “Oh my,” he stated under his breath.
 
The unicorn turned to the two young ones behind him. He admired both the ten year old colt and the creature with unknown origins that had been on their planet for five years now. “Well, little ones, it seems my time here is short. I must head home to prepare a report for the Princess if your father is to go through with what he has planned.”
 
Doc spoke more to Tornado. All of the ponies believed the Star Child to not have the intelligence to speak. It was obvious he was smart enough to pick up on what the ponies were saying, or could at least piece it together like a normal pet, but the young creature never showed any sign of being able to reply back. Cry looked back at the vet with a curious head tilt. He knew what leaving meant, and awaited Doc’s command for its acknowledgement.
 
Doc looked solely to Cry and smiled. “So, without further ado,” he announced, laying his bag down. Cry’s whole world lit up. He became so excited, he forgot to get off his hands and bounded on all four paws to the unicorn. Tornado, not one to miss out on all the fun, ran over to Doc excitedly.
 
Doc waited for both of them to get over to him. He chuckled at their excitement. He made a tradition years ago before he left every time. It was the main reason Cry behaved so well around him. This of course was not his favorite thing about the Star Child, but it proved its worth today when he was able to show his hoof into Cry’s mouth without fear. Doc rummaged through his bag, surprised Cry hadn’t ripped it open in anticipation already.
 
“Now, before you get your treat, you have to treat me,” Doc told Cry with a smile. Cry nodded fast enough to make the unicorn’s head hurt. He pulled out the final apple from his bag. “Eat this, and you can have it.”
 
Doc tossed the apple into the air and Cry jumped up for it. He didn’t even try to catch it with anything other than his mouth. Nothing was going to stop him in getting what he wanted, and he chomped right down on it. Within seconds he ground the piece in his mouth to pulp, and grasped the remaining apple out of the dirt. Cry swallowed as fast as his throat would allow, and shoved the bottom half into his mouth. He chomped down on it quickly, chewing it with unbelievable speed, and swallowed it down. Seeds and all, this little Star Child was shoving as much of the remaining apple into his mouth and munched it away as fast as he could.
 
Doc saw that Blood Cry was almost done, and opened his burlap bag back up. He knew if he didn’t have Cry’s treat ready that he would have to get yet another bag from Dancing Needles. The very thought made the vet swallow nervously. He found his prize, and began pulling it from the bag with a levitation spell. Right as he pulled it out and hid it behind him, Cry was putting the last part of the apple in his mouth. Doc smiled at the Star Child’s progress.
 
“Okay Blood Cry! You’ve earned your treat for a check-up well done. Fortunately for you, there was a pet in this town that died of old age not too long ago. So this week, you get something better than a fish!” Doc pulled a cat out from behind him, and Cry stared at it. His mouth began to water as nothing else mattered to him anymore. Doc threw the cat out into the field so that he wouldn’t have to watch what followed. Blood Cry galloped over to the dead pile of fur and went to town on his weekly helping of meat.
 
Doc was disgusted with what he had just done, but knew the omnivorous creature needed some form of protein other than nuts. He magically lifted his bag back around his neck, and turned to walk away. Except, little Tornado was stuck watching Cry in fascination. Doc stopped, about to ask the colt what had his attention so well, but the colt answered first. “Paw says you’re breedin’ an awful habit into Bloody by doin’ that.”
 
The unicorn simply smiled and responded, “That might be true, but he would probably be more aggressive towards us if I didn’t do it.”
 
Tornado refused to look away from the bloody show before him. It didn’t bother him one bit. “I agree with ya Doc. And I think it’d be wrong for my paw to let him go. Bloody’s great if you know how to act around him!”
 
“I’m sure that’s more the natural tendency of siblinghood than it is a true relationship between the two of you. But, nonetheless, you do have a great handle on him. Just make sure to get him back to his barn before your father gets back. Something tells me he won’t want the little guy roaming after today’s events.”
 
Tornado finally looked at the vet and nodded. As Doc trotted away, the colt approached Blood Cry. He was smart enough not to mess with him while eating meat, but knew Doc was right about getting the Star Child put up. This would be the end of the day for the poor little guy. His fate rested in the hands of an angry earth pony and a studious unicorn.