Six years had passed, and over those six years the scouts had been busy.  King Sombra's Crystal Empire was a powerful city-state ruled by a dark lord who, from what Forgath had been told, had the right idea in terms of style and the wrong idea in terms of rulership.  A city of slaves, a city of unrest - a city of escapees-to-be.  Every few months some small band of ponies would reach their breaking point, hatch a plan, and find a way to flee into the snow and ice.  And if they were lucky, they would be found by the scouts of Ironforge and led to safe harbor as Forgath's minions.  Even protected by Forgath's arts the scouts dared not roam too close to the Empire from which they escaped, but they scoured the lands surrounding their growing fortress.