For reasons unknown, the colt known as Flicker Nicker was a rat-reaper · 7:30am Aug 29th, 2019
The windows went from dry to drenched as the train collided with the rain. Nut looked up from his book, thankful to hear the reassuring, susurrant pitter-patter of rain. His eyes were strained, his vision blurry, and his face ached from all of his reading. Squinting to hold his monocle in place was less than ideal for marathon reading sessions and his farsightedness was ill-suited for studious endeavours. Perhaps it was time to pay heed to his father’s suggestion and get proper eyeglasses. Upon thinking of this, he scowled; he did not wish to be robbed of what he considered an asset, because farsight was a boon.
Life had taken a drastic change. He’d killed two undead abominations. Well, three, perhaps? Yes, three. It was complicated, and the book that he’d been reading proved that. The living rats were shadowborn, umbral creatures, mortal things of flesh and blood. Shadows and negative energy would coalesce in some weird, unknown way to form living flesh. That in itself was quite alarming, a worrisome development—but of course it only grew worse.
These rats lived to die.
Death empowered them. After dying, the rat’s soul went into an unknown location, some other plane of existence. At least, for a time. A sort of off-planar waiting room of sorts. These souls would leap into a vampiric body as soon as one became available. Which was, truthfully, far worse than it sounded, because these souls carried with them the knowledge and skills they learned in life. Killing the vampire rats would just send the souls back to whatever off-planar waiting room from whence they came—except for the rats killed by Flicker Nicker. Apparently, Flicker Nicker had some extraordinary means of causing soul-death, which just so happened to be a visible, observable phenomenon that was truly spectacular to witness.
For reasons unknown, the colt known as Flicker Nicker was a rat-reaper.
There is an awful lot revealed in just a few seemingly minor paragraphs. Discuss. Or not. But this goes a long way towards establishing why the rats are such a threat.
when you are turned into living rat kryptonite.
Just wear two monocles at the same time. This obviously doubles the classiness.
That is genuinely frightening but it's good to know there is a pony that can take them on. A soul shifting rat that can't be killed takes the form and skills of the undead...that gives me the shivers!
5113386
Think of it as programming that can just keep getting uploaded into new drones.
5113388
And the only way to stop it is to either wipe the programming or get rid of the drones or both. Pretty sinister!
5113388
Soooooo...Cylons ?
I REGRET NOTHING !!!!!
So the question is... how can the ponies get in on that?
They're already reincarnated, aren't they? So all they need to do is efficiently recover the memories of their past lives.
Or maybe I'm thinking of some other story.
So many rats and only one reaper? He will need deputy reapers
5113503
It's not a power he can assign though.
5113504
It was more like a jest than a serious opinion. If I remember correctly, he got his special "reaper power" from Lima Bean ...
5113517
Correct. He's the Slayer.
Ohh! Does this mean there's another Flicker story in the works?!