“THIS IS SPARTA!!!!!!”

by Sawtoothetherium

History

Luna had accompanied the group to the library to aid in the search for a way back to Equestria. She doubted that there was one to be found from the library but it was worth a shot. She and the rest dug through scrolls and books of spells and enchantments for awhile when Twilight found a book on Spartan history. She opened it and began reading, as she read her eyes grew wide with shock and disbelief. Luna noticed this and approached her.

“What did you find?” She asked.

“The history of Sparta.” Twilight said, “It is quite violent.”

“Equestrian history was very violent in the early ages,” Luna said, “They are in a violent age right now and their culture is very martial. In all honesty I dont think there is any part of them that isn’t violent.”

“You mean besides what they do in bed,” Celestia said with a teasing look at her sister.

“No, that is pretty violent to,” Luna giggled, the place between her legs still a bit sore from the remorseless pounding it had received the previous night, not to say she didn’t enjoy it.

Celestia looked at her a bit shocked, “do I want to know?”

“That is for you to decide.”

“I will never understand how you fell for such a ruffian.” Rarity said.

Twilight put a stop to that conversation before it could progress any farther, “anyway, I think that we should know this. I could read it aloud if you want to hear it.”

“Well do it already, I want to know more about these Spartans.” Rainbow said.

“Ahem...” Twilight said beginning.

---

The first time Sparta was recognized as a city state was during the golden age of the gods, during the titan war. Sparta was built by the followers of the god Ares as sanctuary for his worshipers. This was during a time when most of the gods were against Ares and therefore decided that Sparta must fall, so they assaulted the city. It was the first time that mortals ever fought with a god directly, most of the gods for that matter. Sparta had already developed a highly militarized culture because of their devotion to Ares, so they were more prepared than any. Ares himself was on the front lines and fought with the king of the gods Zeus. The Spartans fought vigorously and actually wounded the gods enough to force a retreat, Ares dwelled in Sparta for the next few centuries and had a son with a minor goddess, the child’s name was Leonidas who rules Sparta to this day. Leonidas was born of divine blood and carried the strength of his father and the caring nature of his mother. His mother was the goddess Gaea, the goddess of earth, nature and fertility, she was known for a caring nature and loving nearly everything she saw. Some of this trait was passed to her son Leonidas, so the good king is known for his kindness to those he does not consider an enemy.

Leonidas lead Sparta to victory, he never started a war in his immortal life but he does not shrink from one. First the towns around Sparta decided to attempt to sack the city. Leonidas responded very quickly, he fought off the raiders then assembled the Spartan army to invade the attackers lands. After several battles, all of them in favor of Sparta, they took the entirety of the land they lived in then proceeded to halt their movements. Then the kingdom of Crete decided to invade Sparta seeing it as a major threat, they landed on Spartan shores and their entire army was removed from the realm of the living. Sparta took their ships and invaded Crete, from there they proceeded to lay waste to the nation for ten straight years before returning home and leaving almost nothing but ash behind. Crete never bothered them again, neither did any of the other nations of Greece until Athens either got enough of a backbone or enough stupidity to try their luck. And despite Sparta having leveled the city on nine occasions Athens continues to provoke Sparta.

Then comes the Thebes Empire, they have been growing in power for about three generations and have conquered much of Greece. Sparta has reduced many of their larger armies to piles of corpses within the space of three hours with as little as one tenth their number. Thebes has continued to expand and is now surrounding Sparta on all sides. Ten years ago they ordered a surrender from the Spartans, and for an awnser they got a message that said ‘Surrender is for the weak’.
Five years later Thebes sent a message threatening the spartan populace with slavery should they win the war that would come, the Spartan king Leonidas replied with one word ‘if’.

---

There was a slight pause.

“Well he certainly knows how to leave a nation at a loss for words,” Celestia commented.

“You said it,” Twilight said, “This is just the overall history up to today, in other words this is just a summary.”

“I wonder what the detailed version will say,” Luna said intrigued.

“Well that is a bit too violent for me to hold my stomach while reading,” Twilight said.

“Well its about time we got back to looking for a way out of this world,” Celestia told them. “I would like to speak with Luna for a minute however.”

“Of course,” Twilight said.

---

Leonidas stood in the barracks planning exactly how they would march on Thebes. He then had an idea, he bagan to move the pieces around the board to show how it would be done. He prayed to posidon that he would allow them safe passage.

---

Nightmare Moon stood next to King Sombra intent on getting information from him. The question had been bothering her for days and she had to have an awnser.

“My king,” she said, “I wish to know something.”

“Ask what you will,” Sombra replied.

“How did you subdue the princesses and those pesky mares that defeated both of us?” She asked.

“I banished them.”