The goddesses' advisor stood in the sanctuary of the Goddess, a pristine white lobby area high above the plane of mortal ponies. He stood alone in front of the golden veil that fluttered gently on an imaginary wind, making a permanent barrier between the goddess and her subjects. The other leaders of the angelic divisions sat at the far end of the room, bar the seat for the first division, which always stood empty. The other seats were filled, as they always were when the Goddess called an audience. The angels themselves could be identified merely from their appearance, they fitted their jobs so well. The first seat of the second division, that of destruction, was Soul shifter, a large black stallion, whose ruby coloured eyes stared out of his grey mane in a permanent glare. On the other end of the spectrum was Sugar cream, the petite, beautiful first seat of the fifth division, chief officer of love. Of all of the angelic leaders, the excitable Sugar cream was the one who couldn't sit still. He returned his gaze to the veil, his ethereal wings twitched slightly in confusion.

"But your majesty, could we not simply act on this ourselves? Surely we angels have the power to stop this."

"The silhouette behind the veil sighed deeply. "You know as well as I do that we may not meddle directly in mortal affairs. Even we have to abide by the rules."

"But indirectly, your majesty?" the angel said.

"There is not much we can change, something I am sure we are both aware of. But, maybe change the outcome of a conversation, an insignificant event here and there, we can make a significant change."

"What do you propose, your highness?"

The silhouette turned to the guardians at the door to the sanctuary. "Bring to me the leader of the world singers."

The guardians stood stiffly to attention, nodded curtly and left the sanctuary. About a minute later, they returned with the lead world singer.

The world singers, or the first division of angels, were among the strangest. Their area was the closest to earth as was possible. They sat in four groups of fifteen, in circles, each surrounding a three dimensional map of the world. And here, just like their namesake, they sang. It was they who ran the natural world, in essence. When a new mountain range was to be created, it was their doing. If there was a flood, it was because the world singers had seen its happening as important.

As their leader, he was in fact the only angel of his order that did not sing. Instead, he directed the more significant events, although he did have to run them through the goddess first.

"You called for me, your majesty?"

"Indeed I did. It's been too long."

"Quite, you have not… adjusted our affairs since the volcano you created three hundred years ago." The lead world singer said, choosing his words carefully.

"Quite. But it is not something I directly want to change this time."

"Then what do you need, your highness?"

"It came to my attention that a pony was born recently with the power of your song?"

"That is correct, your majesty."

"I have a feeling that his powers might be instrumental in this war. Keep a close eye on him, we may need to direct him further."

"Yes, your majesty."

The advisor spoke up. "What about… the one they call Steelhoof? Is he not to be instrumental in defeating this evil?"

"Steelhoof… Of course. Wait, is he not fuelled by dark magic?"

"That is correct."

"And he has not been corrupted?"

"No, your majesty."

"Hmm…" The silhouette raised a hoof to its chin, thinking for a moment. "Necros must have placed his hoof in somewhere."

"Necros? But your majesty, I assumed that-"

"You assumed incorrectly." The silhouette said angrily. "Necros is not evil, at least not entirely. He never was. Perhaps this is an attempt to regain my favour?" She mused.

Necros. Even the name itself held power in the halls of valour. None dared to speak it, bar the Goddess herself. To the other angels, he was merely the fallen.

He was a god, and was once peaceful and just like the Goddess, and they were once deeply in love in the way that only gods can. But then, something catastrophic happened. There was an argument of sorts that spiralled out of control. The two gods rose against each other, calling their most loyal subjects into armies and fighting wars that tore the sky asunder. But then, the elements of binding were removed from their sacred pedestal inside the sanctuary, and the Goddess had used them to banish Necros, and cast him down into the fiery pits of the lower planes, where he would rule in agony for all eternity. This had happened so long ago, and the few who had not ascended to the highest plane, where all souls must rest eventually, kept what little of the events they knew to themselves, that the old him, and what he might truly be, were forgotten in favour of him simply being an embodiment of evil.

"Perhaps so, your highness." The advisor said, still shaking slightly at the goddesses' anger and the use of Necros's name.

She returned her phrase to the guardians. "Retrieve an angel who can connect to the seers. My daughters must be informed of this."

"Yes your majesty." They said in unison, and marched off.

"In any case, we will deal with these events as they arise. Until then, leave my presence. Everypony." She said, with a look toward her advisor. They quickly departed, and returned to their divisions, preparing their duties for the cataclysm to come.

00000000

The royal pony sisters were in the throne room. Celestia sat on the throne, as she always did, her face unreadable. Luna paced back and forth across the room, deep in thought.

"Luna, would you please stop pacing?" Celestia asked for the umpteenth time.

"But it's just so boring here, sis! Nothing happens!"

"That's a good thing, Lu."

"No it's not! I need excitement!"

Celestia sighed. "Listen, if there was action, and fear, and suspense all of the time, our ponies would be in grave danger."

"You're right." She sat down on the floor. "You always are. I'm still bored though."

At this Celestia smiled. "You'll get used to it."

"You said that about the gala. It's still boring."

"The gala's different. It's always boring. I just didn't want you wandering off."

"Typical."

"That's not the point. Point is, we have to put up with the boring times just as much as fight in the interesting ones."

Luna hmphed. "We seem to spend more time waiting than fighting."

Celestia said nothing, and simply returned to staring vacantly into the throne room, losing herself in her thoughts.

But soon, her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden arrival from the rarely-used left passage.

A young-looking stallion guard cantered into the throne room, panting heavily. He adjusted his armour, which seemed just slightly too big for him, and bowed.

"What is it?" Princess Luna asked, her eyebrow raised.

"One of… the seers… your highnesses. He's found something."

"What?"

"He won't talk until he has council with you, your majesties."

Luna looked smugly at her sister. This could just be the action she was hoping for. "Shall we go, sister?"

Celestia nodded, smiling wryly.

The trio hurried down the left corridor, the guard at the lead, with Luna behind and Celestia bringing up the rear. They strode in silence, following the twists and turns of the castle with practiced ease.

Finally they came upon the open-aired chamber, a large room with a huge blue circle on the floor, which was patterned with a five pointed star inlaid with gold. In the middle of this star, an aged white stallion stood, his eyes closed and his face pointed at the floor. As the two princesses entered the room however, His attention snapped toward them. The sudden movement caused the guards and scribes stationed around him to step back, surprised.

His eyes opened, showing two, blank, glowing white orbs, a sight that had unnerved Celestia since childhood, although she'd never admit it.

The seer opened his mouth, and in the distant, mysterious tone of the seers, and speaking in the same bizarre fashion the words escaped their mouths in, he delivered his prophecy.

There was nothing we could do. In the future, in the time after chaos, and the time when a goddess would be banished for horrible crimes,

At this, the two Alicorn sisters winced painfully, as they always did whenever the Nightmare moon incident was brought up.

A new evil will rise, and rule the world with fear and hate. No force any pony can muster, be they pegasus, unicorn or earth pony can harm the monsters wresting dominion over the earth.

But, there's one even they fear, born from the same darkness that birthed this evil, a monster shall become a hero in this world's darkest hour. A traveller, he alone shall have the power to stem the tide of evil. He shall know no fear, he shall never tire, his strength is the stuff of legends, and his hide shall be impervious to all but the greatest blows. He shall be the mightiest pony that ever lived.

And he shall have hooves of steel.

And with that the seer collapsed on the floor, his power spent and his prophecy told. The scribes looked curiously at the message they had written. The princesses looked into the air in thought, trying to glean the meaning of this new prophecy.

"Do you think it could refer to Steelhoof, sister?" Celestia asked.

"It certainly sounds like it, but the prophecies are rarely that straightforward."

"Maybe the event is coming soon, and we wouldn't have enough time to translate it?"

Luna shrugged. "Maybe. Should we warn Steelhoof?"

"Yes. But we should wait until tomorrow, in case there is more to the prophecy we have not yet discovered."

Luna nodded, and they set off for the throne room once more, the guards behind them helping the seer to his feet. Finally the action Luna craved would arrive! But maybe, just maybe, it might not be quite as fun as she hoped.

00000000

Chromium bowed low in front of his master. Finally, this was his chance to prove himself! The master had never trusted him since he failed the mission that time… But he did not dwell on such mistakes. They were merely fuel, to push him harder and further than ever before! He rose, and he could sense the master's pathetic lackey tense behind him. Cobalt feared his power, he knew. But he did not want that snivelling whelp's position. All he wanted was to hurt. He wanted nothing more than to damage, to maim, to torture ponies. And the master had given him the perfect body to do just that.

And now, his orders were to kill the greatest threat to the master's plans since the alicorn sisters. But, like them, Steelhoof would fall. And his head would be severed by his blades.

Then his master spoke.

"You know what will happen if you fail, Chromium, don't you?"

"I will never fail again, master."

"You see to it that you don't. Now, you have a very narrow window to kill him before the invasion begins. So do not waste time. Understand?"

"Even to-"

"Do not waste time, Chromium."

"Yes master."

"Now go."

Chromium nodded, and allowed his complicated technological matrix to draw energy from his core. His horn flared a deep red, and with a small explosion, he popped out of existence.

He would never fail again.

Yeah, it's short. But I think it sets the scene rather nicely. Hope you like it, and as always, send any questions or opinions you might have into the reviews. Believe it or not, I love to hear what you have to say about it.

If any of you are wondering about the whole spirituality thing, then it's the brainchild of me and valourusspectre. Ask either of us, and we'll give you the whole rundown on it. If you can't be bothered, it's not really important as I'm going to give the whole thing a full story to itself.

Anyway, Happy hearth's warming everypony!