The Time Sweeper

        “So Flare, what do you plan on asking Dark about?” Mitro said eagerly.

        “Honestly Mitro I have no clue but I’m thinking about it. Based on what the old one said Dark doesn’t like to talk about it unless ‘the time is right’ whatever that means. Based on my own timer I think his ‘time is right’ is when my timer hits zero. I have to figure out his plan before that happens but I don’t have much longer.” I stopped for a moment, to try and regain my thoughts again. I failed. I was getting bugged out about it because I knew it was something important. I stood there thinking for a while. It was a good thing Mitro was with me, or I probably wouldn’t snap back to reality.

        “Flare? Flare are you there?” Mitro was shouting at me waving a hoof in front of my face.

        “Yeah, yeah I’m here, I just kind of phased out for a moment there.” I said as I snapped back to reality.

        “Yeah I kind of noticed that. Anyway the security system is activated. We can’t get in without being blasted!” he said worriedly.

        “Did you forget?” I angled my back so he could see my sweeper. “I control time, so getting past an ‘activated’ system is no problem.”

        He looked at me, thought for a second, then his ears perked up in excitement.

        “So all you have to do is pause time, get inside the house, and deactivate the system long enough for me to get inside, right?”

        “Why would I go through the trouble of doing that? I can control more than one timeline, so both of us can go by without having a problem.” I took off my sweeper and reset it for two timelines. “There, I’ve reset it so you’ll have no problem.” I activated the sweeper and starting walking towards the gate. Mitro was still standing in his spot, looking around for something.

        “If everything around me is paused, then why doesn’t it seem like it?”

        “I’’ll prove that we’re paused.” I picked up a rock from the ground and let it go in mid-air, the rock stayed in position.

        “What in the world?” Mitro said as he approached the rock. “But how?”

        “I would explain but we’ve wasted enough time as it is now come on.” I flew over the gate and continued towards the house. Mitro followed closely behind me.

        “Wait, so, how did you figure out how to do all this?” Mitro said as we landed.

        “How to control time?”

        “Well duh.”

        “Well when somepony wants to become a sweeper, they have to visit the factory. When they get there, a few challenges will be issued. If they pass them, they can continue training. In my case, I passed the challenges easily and continued on towards the more advanced challenges. After I passed those I did more training on my own. It was stupendous at how fast I was learning and getting better at it. But the only sad part for me, no cutie mark yet.”

        “Wait so sweeping is like your super special talent, but you don’t have your cutie mark yet? Sorry dude. But anyway what do sweepers do when they complete the challenges?”

        “They can be assigned a job after that, and that’s when their talent is really shown. For me, I have never failed. I’m one of the highest ranked and most respected sweepers for my efficiency. Now come on we have to find Dark.”

        We walked inside and I deactivated the sweeper. Surprisingly enough Dark was walking around the hallways looking for something.

        “Oh hello there. I thought I activated the system already.” His head tilted sideways as he wore a wicked smile.

        “It was activated, I just found a way around it. Now answer me something, where and what is this ‘weapon’ of yours?”

        Before I could move Dark was upon me, holding a knife to my throat and using his magic to keep me from activating my sweeper. Mitro had dived to the side to avoid being caught too and he stayed away.

        “The time is not right yet Flare.” his eyes were rolling around as if he had no control over them. “But it will be soon, oh so very soon. Oh and what’s this? I sense no fear from you Flare. Yet I’m in charge of your life right now! How are you not scared?”

        I spit at him. “You’re pathetic if you think a little knife can scare me.”

        He wiped the spit away. “Fine then, be that way. But there is something about you that’s, ‘different’, yes very ‘different.’ So different that it’s almost as if I can do this!” As he finished he pulled the knife across my neck, slicing it open as I fell to the ground. It hurt, a lot. After I fell I could see Dark running off down the hall and everything went black.

        “Flare! Flare are you okay?” I heard Mitro shouting at me as I came to.

        “Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” I said as I stood up.

        “But he just killed you! How is that possible?” he said worriedly.

        “Sweeper auto reset. It’s always active in case of sudden death. When a time sweeper ‘dies’ his or her sweeper rewinds the timeline to the last point of living status, even if they were still injured. It was a good thing he only tried to slit my throat.” I placed a hoof on my neck to make sure it was completely healed. “Good, now come on we have to find Dark! We only have a few hours left!” I took off down the hall where I saw Dark go.

        “How do you know where to go Flare?” Mitro said as he tried to keep up with me.

        “The basement is the only place where you can work on something in private, and I bet you a million bits he’s hiding that weapon down there.”

        My time was almost up. It was all or nothing. I didn’t plan to lose.