FimFiction Link - Short ID: 468131/the-nothings
Published: May '20
The Nothings is a 12k word mistagged one-shot.
Luna is retired. With nothing to occupy her days, she starts exchanging letters with a little filly--Poppy--who has been having disturbing nightmares. Luna offers to help, and goes to the filly's home, linking their dreams and embarking on a journey to see just what is hiding in the filly's dreams.
The horror is nothing but a veneer. This story is a supernatural thriller, and on that aspect, it's pretty good. The dreams aren't just nonsense. You can sort of gather a notion of the filly's fears manifested in the nightmares. The same cannot be said for Luna. She's been implied to have a sort of crisis because she doesn't know what to do with her life now that she's retired. However, these never go beyond implications, and as a result, her tribulations during the dreams have little impact. Luna and Poppy have a talk where she says that while Poppy's problems are external, hers are internal, and they must be treated differently, but that felt like an excuse. Dreams are the perfect scenario to deal with introspection.
There's also a point during their dream journey where they merge into a single entity to fight the Nothing. That was weird.
Overall, I'd say it's an okay fic. It has some good ideas and fun moments, but overall lacks some punch. Enjoyable, but it's not outstanding.