Footsteps on the snowy ground could be heard over that busy little town.
Slowly the Dark Lord walked on the frozen streets.
In the surroundings, the village could be seen in full activity.
Women cleaning clothes in a nearby stream and talking to each other, some children running around playing in some houses below.
His loud laughters could be heard from Vader's location.
He was proud of everything he did, even though it was little, it was already a beginning, as he passed, people bowed their heads in respect and continued their activities.
Walking a little further, he arrived at a different wooden building, much larger than the other residences, with noises of struggle and stakes hitting.
Slowly entering, he found himself in a huge hall full of men and women with extremely well-defined physicists training and sparing in various circles, some hand-to-hand and others with wooden stakes.
He slowly positioned himself in the corner without them noticing and watched the progress of his future soldiers.
Turning his gaze to one of the groups, he noticed a sparring match that was taking place between two men.
The smaller of the two quickly dodged the attacks of the larger one, and battled the attacks when dodging was impossible, he stepped back and tried desperately to stand on the furious attacks of the bigger one, who gave no space to fight back.
Very good, they were learning not to give chances of a possible counter attack and using their larger size and brute strength to overwhelm the opponent, it was a tactic that Vader used a lot.
The Minor then spun and skid the legs of the opponent who almost lost his balance, the Minor then went on the attack, starting a sequence of blows with the wooden stake and with his other hand.
The opponent, not expecting such ferocity, started to try to deflect and hit the blows, but losing the initiative and balance, he promptly made a huge number of mistakes.
The Minor hit one attack after another, causing the opponent to have huge cuts in his body until with a jump and a spinning kick, he knocked out the opponent, throwing him hard to the ground.
To the surprise and cheers of the companions in his circle.
Khuuur Phuuuur
Every soul in the room immediately ceased their activities and conversations upon hearing their leader's iconic breath.
Everyone immediately looked in the direction of the noise and instantly noticed Lord Sith slowly emerging from the shadows in the corner of the room.
He slowly walked past the groups of students, who was now standing in respectful military stances towards their leader
Darth Vader went towards the smallest who had won against the largest, who clearly remained in total shock when he noticed that the Lord was walking directly towards him.
Vader stopped in front of the young man, who was just sweating in despair, thinking that he had done something extremely wrong to have caught the attention of the Sith.
Darth Vader was an attentive, tough and an extremely effective trainer, any mistakes his students made, he corrected vigorously and makes them pass all possible limits for them to become the best of the best.
And those who made intentional mistakes for harm others, or any type of illegal actions were punished in the most terrifying ways possible.
The young man quickly knelt in desperation.
"M-m-m-my Lord !! I-i-i-i s-s-s-swear i-i-i d-didn't m-mean t-to k-knock h-him ou-"
"Impressive."
This silenced him immediately, he slowly dared to look up and face the Dark Lord, who was returning the look, everyone was surprised by this too, receiving praise from Vader was a extremely rare and difficult thing to achieve.
Vader slowly looked at the unconscious body of the large man, and then back at the minor one.
"That trainee was twice your size, and he had many months of training, not only did you defeat him as an equal, but you also beat him in combat strategy."
The youngest slowly swallowed his fear and built up the courage to answer the Lord.
"H-h-he sacrificed h-h-his d-defenses f-for a q-quick and overwhelming v-victory, giving m-me ample c-chances to fight back, and his b-brute strength was c-clearly a two-sided knife, since I could use it to my a-advantage."
Many moments passed, with Vader just looking through the smaller one, who was sweating with nervousness, not knowing if what he said was good or bad.
"What is your name young one?"
He showed more surprise evident on his face.
"B-B-Burkhard m-my l-lord."
Vader looked slowly to the side, clearly reflecting on something, and then immediately turned his attention to Bulkhard.
"Congratulation Bulkhard, you have earned a special place in the Specter Corps"
His mouth immediately opened with surprise at that, Lord Vader, did you want him in his special forces???
"M-my l-lord! I-i-it would b-be an h-honor! H-h-however i-i am j-just an p-private!"
Darth Vader, with his hands clasped behind his back, slowly faced him, making him even more tense.
"Are you questioning my judgment Private?"
He glupped at the question.
"N-never in a m-m-million of y-years m-my lord!"
He then slowly stepped back and nodded, clearly satisfied.
"I Expect great things from you Bulkward, now double time to your new barracks, dismissed."
He then made a quick military salute with a 'My Lord' and rushed out of the training wing.
Vader slowly look around and at all the onlookers who were watching him in surprise.
"I hope you all to follow the example of your brother, size and power is no match to an excellent strategy and great execution! Now all back to training!"
All of the trainees saluted and would all in unison respond.
"YES MY LORD!"
Vader slowly turned and walked where he came from, slowly leaving the training grounds and ignoring the flow of movement that was restarted with a new fervor at his orders.
It was a good move on his part to use the old military hierarchical base system for his forces, it was simple and very efficient, in addition, the traditions of respect and order were put together with the greetings.
He was already thinking of some banner for his forces could rally upon, but now he didn't have time for that.
Dismissing those thoughts, he slowly walked towards the main wooden building in the village, the largest and best guarded, with soldiers in black iron armor protecting the entrance.
Both made the military salute when he entered.
As he passed through the door, the guards outside immediately closed it, leaving him in a small room that could be compared to a reception, it was very simple and humble, compared to the receptions he could find in the Empire.
The woman at the table was reading a book and giggling, he slowly walked to the front of the table, hoping to get the receptionist's attention.
He felt her feelings change, from satisfaction to irritation, she had noticed him.
"I'm sorry Brother or sister, the council is busy at the moment and will not be able to meet any needs you have at the moment, please come back later."
She responded in a monotonous and bored way, Vader was not going to lie, he was amused and missed a little when he was just a nobody and he was treated as such, and he could have ordinary and boring conversations with others who treated him not with fear but yes as an equal.
"I'm sure the council would be grateful by my presence and would listen to me without question."
She then quickly close the book, and looked at him smiling with a fake smile hiding her despair, finally noticing Vader's presence as more than just any ex-slave.
"M-MY LORD! W-what a-a s-surprise! I-i didn't e-e-expect you here! S-sorry for t-the inc-"
Vader dismissed her questions with a dismissive hand wave.
"I Care little for your fake apologies, where is the council reuniting?"
She stuttered a lot in fear, and pointed to the corridor on the left, and the hurried and messy words Vader managed to decipher that they were meeting in the second room on the right.
Not wanting to waste any more time with that woman, he walked towards the room, passing through a huge corridor, from afar, the group's debates could be easily overheard.
"He doesn't care about how difficult it could be! He wants only results!"
Another voice, then answered, his irritation very apparent.
"Entering the Griffin territory's is a suicide mission liking or not! I will not risk the lives of the few good agents we have for the possible chance of a future and an improbable alliance with them!"
The other voice quickly dismissed the argument of his colleague.
"If we have to sacrifice some of them for the chance of destabilizing Equestria, it is a risk that we must take."
Now the next voice sounded furious, and sounds of of chairs being dragged could be heard.
"And what why would they do it? we are not yet a recognized power, and have you forgotten the succession crisis? They are too busy killing themselves than caring about outside problems, everyone is taking advantage of it."
A third voice entered the discussion.
"And why are we trying to get into this mess? We so soon have soldiers trained enough to patrol and protect the forest we use as a shield and refuge, if we try to get into foreign policy, it is an invitation to be discovered! We would be massacred!"
"I Disagree."
Everyone looked at the newly opened door, revealing Darth Vader, who slowly entered and gave space for the guards in the corners to close the door for him.
All of them got up from their places and all would bow for the dark lord in respect.
Slowly he walked to the bottom of the table towards his place, 4 people were in that room, three men and a single women.
Two of the men looked like elders, close to their 70s, even though they had apparently healthy bodies.
The other was apparent in his 40s, a huge scar on his right eye, as if a huge claw had cut his face.
The only female member at the table was in her likely 30's, she was blond and was very muscular.
Each of those people in that group were powerful representatives in the village and were very important to Vader's future plans.
"My lord.... We didn't expect you here...."
Vader nodded in confirmation as he slowly sat down in his specific chair at the end of the table, while everyone returned to their seats.
"My travel was fruitful Stalker, two more 'accidents' happened today in the near villages, and more 150 slaves were liberated, congratulations, your spies were accurate with the information given to me."
The man with the scar codenamed 'Stalker' slowly bowed with a smile.
"I aim to please my lord."
Slowly he would look at the women at the table.
"Guardian, Report."
The women bowed, she, the codenamed 'Guardian' would explain to him.
"I Have good news my lord, i have at least 500 new soldiers trained and geared up, they all show promise, even if the weapons are of dubious quality and our armor is not very resistant, they are capable of doing damage."
Vader would nod.
"We are not capable of producing our own equipment for now, so the captured ones will have to do."
He slowly looked at the older two.
"Elder, how is the situation in the Village while i was gone?"
The bearded old man, and his most trusted advisor bowed.
"My lord, recent harvests have proven to be very fruitful, we have food stocks for the next few months and the next one promises to be even better, we hope that the population will grow a lot due to these factors."
He hesitated a little before continuing.
"We had some accidents in recent hunts when they accidentally were shot by the nearest town garrison, and some..... died.... i am very sorry....."
Vader was silent, staring at the old man, who had looked at the table and closed his eyes in shame, waiting for his master's probable punishment.
The Sith lord, then broke the silence.
"Restrict hunting to only the most experienced and strongest and in shorter areas, send them to hunt only prey of medium and small size that travel alone to prevent encounters with large groups of likely other pony's and stop further casualties."
The old man looked surprised for a second, but nodded in understanding, Vader continued.
"Has anyone been orphaned by the incident?"
The Old Man and many others didn't hide their surprised expressions at Vader's unusual question, but he quickly pulled himself together.
"Yes, my lord.... an boy, 13 years old...."
Vader hesitated for a few moments, leaving a strange atmosphere, while everyone at the table looked at each other, not understanding why the cold and calculating god it was Darth Vader really cared about such a trivial matter.
"Put him under the tutelage of your best's Guardian, the loss will make him a more dedicated and fervent warrior, notify me of his progress in that period of time."
He then turned his attention to the scarred men.
"Stalker, send your agents to the 'accident' make sure that the authorities maintain a blind eye for any suspicions of our involvement and that they gain any ideas of checking this region."
He bowed in confirmation.
"Yes, my lord."
He then turned to the last of the council who was silent all this time, the second old man.
"Keeper, report."
He did the same as his companions and would bow.
"My lord, the indoctrination in the young ones is going really smoothly, the traumas that many have suffered from their past masters have made your teachings much easier, and your acceptance in society very simple."
He nodded his head in confirmation, and slowly analyzed everyone in silence for a few moments, thinking and rationalizing his next steps, he then slowly got up, and placed his hands on the table in what stood in the center of the county that contained the map of the world.
"As I entered this room, you were arguing about something, regarding the civil war in the Griffin Empire, I disagreed, for the simple fact that I don't care what happens to them."
He slowly held on to his belt, and walk around the table, past the council members, who were watching them with curiosity.
"But the main reason is simple, it gives us a wide and rich opportunity."
He explained as he slowly picked up a silver dagger from the wooden table and inspected it, while the rest of the county looked at each other, satiating Vader's enigma, and then, the Elder asked.
"Which is, my lord?"
Vader slowly run his hand over the Crystal Empire map while explaining.
"Everyone is busy trying to unravel the simple question of who will succeed the throne, everyone is shoving resources and men for each one to support the house that is more friendly or cooperative with them, Equestria is one of those powers, they will obviously ask for support from their vassals and puppets for the war effort, leaving them vulnerable."
He then stop, and passed his gaze on to the others before continuing.
"And thats when, we will STRIKE."
With a swift and agile movement, he would penetrate the dagger into the heart of the crystal empire, making everyone jump with fright at the sudden movement.
"They are going to underestimate us, downgrade us, and that's, our advantage."
He spoke while clasping his hands on his back under the cloak and lifting himself further.
"Their arrogance will be their downfall."