“NOOO!’’
Radiant Hope woke up with a scream one night. She began to shudder in fear. The nightmares. The nightmares won’t stop coming to her.
It has been a month since her friend turned to the dark side. She thought that he was a good friend to her, but it turns out, he became nothing more than a monster.
Her ‘friend’ was none other than Sombra. Who was used to be Hope’s best friend, but things changed when he became a pony of darkness.
It began with the Crystal Heart. A powerful crystal that could see into other ponies’ future. When Hope stared into the heart, she could see herself as a princess. She then found out that what she saw into the heart, might possibly come true. She wanted to ask Sombra what he saw, but she decided that she didn’t want to.
Then the Crystal Faire arrived, and Hope was excited to go, but somehow Sombra became ill. Hope had to stay and take care of Sombra, which made her miss the faire. The next day, Sombra became better. But on the next Crystal Faire, Sombra became ill again.
One day however, Sombra’s body becomes crystalized and fractured. Hope then used her magic to heal Sombra, and it worked. Hope earned her cutie mark in the process. She was so happy.
Her abilities gained the interest of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who then invited Hope to study with them in Canterlot. She told Sombra about this, but he ran off so suddenly.
Hope then found Sombra corrupted by darkness and that the ruler of the Crystal Empire, Princess Amore was imprisoned in stone. Hope pleaded for Sombra to stop, but he refused. Sombra was going to rule over the empire and the many crystal ponies who tormented him. He offered Hope to rule by his side, but she refused. And that makes Sombra shatter Princess Amore into pieces.
Radiant Hope then ran off to Canterlot to tell the princesses about Sombra’s rise to power, and they flew over to the Crystal Empire to defeat him. When Sombra is defeated, he enacts a curse that makes the empire disappear. Hope is now forced to watch her home vanish before her very eyes.
Now, Hope is now living in the castle studying under the princesses. But she will always have these nightmares about Sombra corrupting her with dark magic, and telling her that she will rule alongside him as his queen.
“Why? Why won’t they just go away?!” Radiant Hope said. Ever since her only friend was gone, these nightmares just keep getting more horrible. She wondered when it would finally stop.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Princess Celestia walked into Hope’s bedroom.
“Radiant Hope? Are you okay?” Princess Celestia asked.
“I...I’m fine, Princess. Just had another bad dream.” Hope said, trying to calm down after having that nightmare. Celestia became a little more worried after hearing that.
Celestia knew about Hope’s nightmares, and whenever she tried to talk to her about them, Hope would brush it off, saying it’s nothing. But everytime she told her that, it made the sun princess more worried about it.
“Hope, I know a lot about these nightmares of yours. And what I do know is that you need to calm down. King Sombra is gone now, and he won’t come back to hurt you.” Celestia said, reassuring Hope.
Radiant Hope still began shuddering in fear. “I know.. But these nightmares just won’t stop! They keep getting worse and worse and I don’t know how to stop them! Ever since my only friend is now gone, they arrived and tortured me in my sleep! And I can’t fall asleep because I'm afraid that the nightmares might come! All I ever wanted is for them to stop, But they won’t! They just keep coming and coming! All I ever wanted is to sleep peacefully! All I ever wanted is to dream happily! ALL I EVER WANTED IS FOR THOSE NIGHTMARES TO STOP!”
Princess Celestia was shocked after hearing Hope. She never knew that she felt this way. But that’s when she got an idea.
“Hope, I know you want them to stop. But I'm afraid that they won’t be able to. But I do know how you can make them stop for one night.” Celestia said.
The princess then grabbed a purple and dark purple spotted dragon egg from her bag with magic and brought it to Radiant Hope. “I want you to hatch this dragon egg, Radiant Hope.” Princess Celestia said.
“Really? You want me to hatch this egg?” Hope asked Celestia. She was confused. Why would the princess want her to hatch an egg? It doesn’t make any sense.
“You do want those nightmares to stop, do you?” The princess asked. Hope nodded, hoping that Celestia knew what she was doing. “Then hatch this egg, and it might help your nightmares go away.” Celestia instructed.
Radiant Hope closed her eyes and focused real hard on hatching the egg, her magic grew stronger and stronger as she focused on hatching it. Then, she heard a crack, and another one. Hope knew that the egg was almost done hatching, so she focused more and more on it.
She heard a few cracks until eventually, the egg broke revealing that inside was a baby dragon. Hope saw the baby dragon and squealed with joy. “Oh my gosh! A baby dragon! It’s so cute!” Hope squealed. Celestia smiled. She had done it.
“I’m glad you're happy about the baby dragon, but I think you’ll be more happy if I told you that you are going to keep it.” Celestia told Hope. And after hearing that, Hope squealed more with joy. “Thank you so much princess! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Hope said with so much joy.
“You’re very welcome. Now, what are you going to name your new baby dragon?” Celestia asked. Hope thought about it for a moment, until eventually she came up with a name.
“Spike. That’s what I'll call him.” Hope said hugging the dragon in her arms. Celestia smiled. “What a good name for your new dragon.” She said, looking at how happy Hope is.
“Princess, I think I can sleep now.” Hope told the princess knowing that she’ll sleep easily tonight. The princess smiled knowing that her job is done. “I’m just glad that I can help you, my dear Hope.” Celestia said.
She walked out of Hope’s bedroom and turned to see Hope smiling. “Good night, Princess.” Hope said. Celestia smiled. “Good night, Radiant Hope.” she replied. Celestia then closed the bedroom door.
Radiant Hope with her baby dragon Spike in her hooves smiled happily before going to sleep. And on that night, those nightmares never haunted her.
On that night, Radiant Hope dreamt happy and pleasant dreams.