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// Running out of time 
// Story: We'll figure it out somehow 
// by Techy 
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	After eating their picnic and getting to know each other a bit more, Twilight, Fluttershy and Jim all started to head back home. They had to hide in an alleyway whenever a car passed by and sometimes behind a few trashcans. Jim grew a smile when he saw that the house was in sight, but as they all rushed to it a gasp was heard behind them. When the group turned to see who it was they froze. Standing infront of them was a news team and one of the camera men was recording Twilight and Fluttershy.

"Run," Jim whispered, "Run to the house and hide."

"Why?" Fluttershy asked timidly.

"They're recording us and if I don't get that camera, then the whole world might know that you're here."

After hearing Jim say that, Fluttershy took off flying towards the house while Twilight teleported to the front door. After the ponies left, Jim started rushing towards the news team.

"Guards!" The female reporter called out, "This man is going to try to take our property!"

After that outburst, two muscly looking guys climbed out of a nearby parked van. Jim just continued to run at them while the reporter and the camera man ran back to the van, but the reporter told the camera man to wait so he could record the soon-to-be fight. Jim soon reached the two men and instantly punched one right in the face before he had the chance to attack.

The second guard grabbed Jim and held him down, but let go after getting a backwards kick to the crotch and the first guard that was about to hit Jim had missed because of this and instead hit his friend in the shoulder. The hit was enough to knock the second guard over and caused the first one to stumble. Seeing his chance, Jim ran past them and headed towards the camera man that was still recording, but the second guard that was still on the ground had grabbed his leg and caused him to trip.

Suddenly a yell was heard, "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HURT MY FRIENDS!!!!!!"

The one that yelled turned out to be Zach as he hit the first guard in the head with a baseball bat. It seemed to instantly knock the guard out as Zach turned to the second one with a crazed look in his eyes that seemed to scare the guard. Jim just watched as the now standing guard dodged the first attack, but then had the bat broken over his gut. The guard hit Zach directly in the face, which knocked him back a few feet. The guard smiled knowing that nobody could still be standing after a hit like that, but soon got a look of terror as Zach slowly turned to look at him with a smile on his face.

"That the best you got?" He asked, before running again and hitting the guard with an upper cut so strong that it launched him into the air.

"What the..." Jim muttered under his breath, before getting up and noticing that the camera man and reporter were standing there in shock.

Zach turned to look at them while panting heavily and it seemed to knock some sense into the two remaining crew members as they quickly got into the van. Before they could leave, Zach and Jim ran at them, but sadly were a few seconds too late. The two news team  members drove as fast as they could away from the crazed Zach as he ran after them and almost caught up to them before running out of breath.

"We almost had them!" He yelled, with rage in his eyes, "Did you at least see what their news station was?"

"No, I didn't see it."

"OH, COME ON!!!"

"Look, lets just get call an ambulance and go home. We can figure it out from there."

"Fine, fine. just give me a moment." Zach said while he calmed down.

"Come on, the girls are probably worried about us." Jim said as he started walking back to his house.

Zach started following before asking, "Yeah, who's the new girl?"

"That would be Twilight. She's here to help Fluttershy get back home, but needs some time."

"Cool," Zach simply said as he stepped over the unconscious guards, "Hold up, let me check these guys for some sort of badge."

Zach leaned down by the first guard and checked all his pockets but didn't find anything of importance. He checked the second guard as well, but had the same results as before.

With a sigh Zach said, "Nothing. I'll call an ambulance for these brutes."

"Alright, meet me back at my house when your done." Jim replied.

Jim then continued walking for a few more moments before reaching his house and opening the door. He slowly made his way in, shut the door and then plopped onto the couch.

"You can come out now." He said.

Instantly Fluttershy and Twilight came out of their hiding spots and gasped when they got a look at him. He didn't blame them, he was a mess. He had scrapes on his legs from tripping, some bruises on his arms from when one of the guards was holding him and his whole body was covered in sweat.

"Oh my gosh!" Twilight shouted, "What happened?!"

"And where's Zach?" Fluttershy added, before noticing Zach walk in through the door while carrying the broken baseball bat.

Zach was a mess too. His nose was bleeding and looked like it might be broken and he too was covered in sweat.

"Oh my goodness," Fluttershy said with panic, "Hold on, I'll get the first aid kit."

"It's in the kitchen." Jim told her.

"Thank you." She quickly said before rushing to the kitchen.

Fluttershy returned with the first aid and started to help Zach with his nose while Twilight helped Jim. The ambulance soon showed up and took the two guards to the hospital while also helping Zach and Jim a bit more while the ponies were hiding. After the medical team left, the girls came out of hiding and sat down on some chairs while Jim turned on the TV.

He switched to a news channel and instantly a video of him fighting the guards showed up, "...And as you can see, this man that was hiding this new species of animal is now attacking my guards in an attempt to get this footage back. This man tried to hide these animals from the world and even attacked us to try to keep them a secret," The video then showed Twilight teleporting to the front door and Fluttershy flying to the house, "Why wouldn't he want them to be discovered? Are they perhaps a science experiment? Are there more of them? Find out next time as we try to interview this mysterious man along with his crazed companion that chased us as we drove away," The video then skipped to the camera man as he recorded Zach chasing the van with that same crazed look in his eyes, "Come back by this time tomorrow to find out more."

"This is bad..." Jim said sorrowfully before hearing a knock at his door.