Episode 0: Dreams of a Mysterious Light Called Hope and Preparations of Darkness

The planet of Equus, one of many planets across the vast universe home to sentient life. Night has fallen upon the magical land of Equestria and its residents are sleeping peacefully. All that is except for a purple and green scaled young dragon named Spike who is being haunted by dark dreams of a calamitous future. Spike is in his room tossing and turning in his sleep groaning and muttering to himself as he sees a hideous fate for his home in his mind's eye.

(Spike's Dreamscape, time unknown/late night)

Spike was running as fast as his little legs could. All around him Ponyville and the surrounding area burned as nightmarish creatures from beyond Princess Luna's stars laid waste to everything led byblack giant with red lines of energy that glowed a sickening blood red. "I have to find Twilight and the others", Spike thought as he resumed running, "Maybe the Elements of Harmony can fix this somehow!".

Spike soon found his friends and smiled for a brief second before his hope turned to despair. Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash all lay on the ground exhausted with the Elements of Harmony laying broken at their hooves. Spike shook his head while muttering the word no over and over as if to deny this impossible turn of events. Suddenly, a feeling of terror washed over the young drake as he turned to see the dark giant glaring down at him and his friends as energy began to collect in his hands. Spike started to scream as he and the Mane Six were blasted into oblivion and darkness overtook his vision.

It was quiet for what felt like an eternity as Spike floated in a void of darkness before a mysterious voice accompanied by a warm and soothing light began to wash over him. The voice spoke to Spike saying, "All life is a part of the ongoing struggle between light and dark. These two forces constantly war against each other in a carefully tuned balancing act, but there are evil forces that seek to corrupt that balance and turn the tide in favor of darkness". Spike focused all his attention on the strange voice as its words reverberated with power and began to address him, "Young soul burning with the light of hope, I require your strength to stem the tide of the forces of evil and apologize for placing this burden upon you. You have nothing to fear my young friend for the light is a bond, and as long as someone is willing to take up that bond in the name of hope then it can never truly be extinguished". This news did comfort the young drake as the images from his nightmare swirled in his mind as he noticed a hand reaching out to him from the light. The light behind the figure was so bright that Spike couldn't make out any details of the mystery figure and yet he felt compelled to take his hand.

As Spike grasped the being of light's hand he felt a surge of energy run through him. The figure began to speak again, "Thank you young one and know that when the time comes my strength will be yours to use to protect those you hold dear. Good luck and I will meet you again soon".

Spike woke up with a gasp as he tried to understand what had just happened. "Damn it, that's the fifth time this week I've had that dream", he thought with a moan, "Who is that being of light and why do I have that nightmare before he shows up? Also, why do I feel something in my hand?". Spike looked in his right hand, the same hand he used to shake hands with the being of light, and found himself look atsome kind of strange dagger. Spike knew he didn't have this when he went to bed, but could also sense that it was somehow very important and he shouldn't lose it for any reason if he could help it.

Spike sighed and muttered, "I'll talk to Twilight about it in the morning. Maybe she'll have some idea about all this weird stuff", with these thoughts in mind Spike settled himself back down to sleep. Little did Spike know that his dreams had merely been a premonition of what lie ahead of him and his friends.

(Somewhere in the deep darkness of space)

It had taken him so long to recover. Centuries upon centuries of waiting and watching as his wounds healed and his strength returned. Time spent raising his army and swelling its ranks in preparation for his return and his revenge. The dark giant known Ultraloid Zagi or more precisely Dark Zagi had been idle too long and the galaxy had forgotten about him and his army of Space Beasts.

"Soon they will remember me", he thought to himself as he sat upon his throne in the Dark Meta Field dimension. Zagi's eyes looked through the fabric of reality as he sought out the first planet that would fall victim to his power and serve to announce his return. His gaze soon settled on a Earth-like planet called Equus and the continent sized land of Equestria.

Dark Zagi observed the world for a time, learning a little bit about its people and how they would react to the arrival of him and his Space Beasts and he found it enough to his liking that he couldn't help the dark chuckle that escaped his lips as he began to imagine the glorious panic and chaos that was sure to be like an all-you-can-eat buffet for his minions.

"Yes this planet will do nicely", he said to himself, 'Those fools in the Space Patrol will be hard pressed to find this planet in time to stop me". Dark Zagi began to chuckle again before his chuckle devolved into full on mad cackling at his own brilliance as he once again pictured the glorious carnage that was in store. The only thing that stopped the mad Ultraloid's laughter was his own remembering of the fact that he needed just a little more time to open a doorway between the Dark Meta Field and the planet of Equus,but he had already been patient so far and what was wrong with another half a day after untold centuries of banishment to this hellish realm?

"Soon, very soon I will have my revenge on the Space Patrol and the accursed Ultramen, especially HIM the one Ultra from whom my design and powers were copied", Dark Zagi's mood soured at the mere thought of that particular Ultraman but he composed himself as he knew that the fool he was thinking of should be incapable of interfering at time. "Just you wait Equus, your time is coming and I shall be the one to destroy you and take my first steps to proving my superiority over HIM", Zagi repeated to himself before he started cackling again at the thought of bringing down his hated foe.

Coming soon! The battle begins! New allies appear to fight alongside our hero against the darkness of despair and shine the lights of hope towards!

Next Time - Deploy Dawn Patrol and Night Raider Teams! The First Space Beast Appears! Enter Ultraman Nexus!

Author's Note:

Greetings readers, writers, and anyone interested in this. This is my first time attempting to post any type of fan fiction of any kind period. Please tell me your thought so far and if you are interested in this story or if I need to make any changes to the tags. All comments, critiques, and criticisms of the constructive variety are welcome.

I am currently in need of some cover art for this story as well as a possible beta reader so anyone interested in either please PM me and I will try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Thanks again and I hope you enjoy what I come up with.