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// Is it Really? 
// Story: 'Tis Better to be Feared 
// by dominatusimperator 
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Nightmare Moon was exultant. Equestria was hers. Her former sister, that foolish pawn of the light, was banished to the sun. The irony was twofold. First, Celestia was held by that which she commanded. Second, she was receiving what was a nearly identical punishment to what she had meted out to her alienated sibling a millennium ago. The Elements of Harmony were dead, the world knelt before her, and her victory was absolute. No one could stop her, no one could resist her. She cackled to herself. The demon within her roared with joy. At long last, its purpose ever since its creation by Sombra was completed. Now, she would celebrate the spoils of victory. Outside, the executioner's blade fell in the presence of a sullen crowd.
This was the first night court. Her subjects would petition her for advice. The thought of this jubilated her. Her desire was always to have the attention of those under her, even before the demon took residence in her soul. Now, she could demonstrate her absolute superiority to them. She could demonstrate that she, not her sister led the nation now. Beside her, stood her advisor. It was a bipedal creature that she had summoned from a world far away. It was apelike, yet intelligent. Yet it was subservient to her. She was truly master of all! The Human hated her, and spoke candidly. Nightmare Moon wasn’t sure if she hated that, or appreciated it. She supposed it didn’t matter. The human’s advice was always solid, even if his loyalty was questionable.   
The first applicant entered the throne room. He was an earth pony stallion of brown coloration. He bowed low to the ground, eyes closed. It made him look terrified. Perhaps he was. This satisfied Nightmare Moon much. 
“Princes-” He started.
“You will address me as ‘Your Majesty’, worm,” she replied. 
There was an instant of rage on the pony’s face. It was suppressed so quickly, that the Evil One questioned whether or not it was ever there. Submission once again reasserted itself upon his features. This satisfied the Nightmare immensely. The ponies were too afraid to question her! She was better than her sister.
“My apologies, Your Majesty. I wish to make an…appeal.”
“Proceed,” Nightmare Moon replied.
“My brother was a member of the Canterlot Royal Guard. You have scheduled their execution along with any potential dissenters. I would like to ask you to…overlook their former allegiance, and forgive my brother and his colleagues,” he teared up, “Mercy, I beg you!”
Nightmare Moon scoffed.
“Your brother could be a threat to me. It is better if he died. You have just questioned my commands. If I was under any illusions about your loyalty before, I have none now,” She gestured to her Night Guards, “Kill him, find his family, and render the same service to them.”
“No!” The pony screamed as he was dragged out by malignantly grinning soldiers. They were licking their fangs.
The Human snorted. 
“What?” Nightmare moon snapped angrily at the creature that despite everything she did was never intimidated, “Am I not being genre savvy, as you call it? Brothers have a tendency to avenge siblings!”
“You are not being genre savvy, Moonass. Quite the opposite in fact. You are trying to obtain obedience merely through fear. That will never work,” The Human smiled bitterly. 
Nightmare Moon turned red slightly at the insult, and her eyes narrowed dangerously, but as always suppressed killing the human. He was usually right. The moment he was wrong, however, his fate would be worse than death itself. She kept him merely for his usefulness. Good advisers, ones that were not brownsnouters, were few and far between. The fact that she had not been able to find any during the Great War after she executed her first one for speaking his mind showed her that. She suspected that was part of the reason she lost. Advice. Or lack thereof. 
“’Tis better to be feared than loved,” she responded, quoting the tyrant’s creed. 
The Human shook his head in disappointment, snorting, as if dealing with a particularly intellectually impaired foal. 
“You fool,” He groaned, “You’re using a line reserved for cartoon villains and rulers who are absolutely inept.”
Nightmare Moon had to suppress her rage again. It was quite hard. Restraint was never her strong point. She grit  her teeth, trying to show in no uncertain terms that she was reaching the end of her patience. The human merely grinned smugly. 
“Explain, ape” she growled. 
The human tapped his foot slightly against the marble floor, a sure sign that he himself was losing patience with what he perceived to be her lack of leadership capabilities. His teeth clenched nearly imperceptibly at the insult.  
“Governing through fear alone has never worked,” the human explained, “Fear in governance if the people have no love for the Monarch is worthless. In ruling a nation, fear is valuable, but only as long as the people can tolerate their leader. There is only so far that threats of torture and death can go. Fear easily becomes hatred.”
“Do you have any proof for this?” Nightmare moon responded. 
“Let me see…” The Human rubbed his chin. There was a few moments of silence.
Nightmare Moon grinned. He was drawing a blank! Perhaps he was outliving his usefulness at last! She dreamed of cutting out his viperous tongue. 
“Seventy years ago in my world, there was a great war,” the Human began.
Nightmare Moon blinked. The Human rarely spoke of his planet’s history. 
“The reasons are irrelevant. All that you need to know is that this war engulfed the entire world. The two primary players, however, were two great dictatorships that were ruled by tyrants, both of whom my world openly considers evil, now that they are dead. One was named Adolf Hitler, and he ruled Nazi Germany. The other was Josef Stalin, and he ruled the Soviet Union.”
“And? Get to the point, Human.”
“Shut up and I will.”
Nightmare Moon’s mouth snapped shut, more out of anger than any true compliance.
“Both were responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people, perhaps hundreds.”
The One-who-was-once-Luna’s mouth dropped. Tens to hundreds of millions? Not even she could hold a candle to that!
“They both used fear as a tool to govern their people,” The Human continued, “But one was loved by his own people. The other was reviled. You see, Adolf Hitler presented himself as a beacon of hope towards his own people. He knew how to play politics. He was charismatic, and made his people see him as just, playing on their fears and preconceived hatreds. He made their nation great after years of decline, and he breathed more than just threats. He lied, but it was a good lie. His government seemed benevolent. His people supported him until the end.”
“What of the other, Josef Stalin?” The unfamiliar name tasted foul in Nightmare Moon’s mouth. Humans were odd creatures with strange names.
“His people hated him. He oppressed them violently. He took everything from them, and if they disagreed or said anything against him, he murdered them. They obeyed, but they would kill him if they had the chance.”
“Who won?” The Queen Ascendant could not help her curiosity.
“Stalin did.”
Nightmare Moon scoffed, “Then isn’t your point moot?”
“It is not!” the Human snapped, “I haven’t gotten down to why Hitler lost.”
“Then why, pray tell, did your so called ‘loved leader’ lose?”
“Because he was an absolute bastard to the citizens of the Soviet Union. When Hitler first invaded the nation, the people who lived within the Soviet Union were willing to welcome him with open arms. But Hitler was having none of that. He thought his own race was superior, and he tried to oppress and starve the Soviets to death. Every. Last. One. All two hundred million of them. Not even Stalin did that. To that end, Stalin became preferable to Hitler. The Soviets fought furiously, and the Germans reaped what they sowed. Eleven million Germans died. Germany has never been quite the same ever since.”
Nightmare Moon gaped at her adviser. 
“The Soviet Union took fifty years to reap the consequences as well, but it still collapsed as the people threw off their oppressive government. You know what? It was inevitable. Oppression works only upon those ignorant to the fact that they are being oppressed.”
“These aren’t the only examples,” the Human continued, seemingly bored, clearly smug, “When you abducted me, a region of my world that was known as the Middle East had just gone through as series of rebellions known as the ‘Arab Spring’. Their leaders were fucking imbeciles. They tortured, they murdered, they ruled through fear alone, and their people hated them. Most of those leaders are dead. The people took the first opportunity they got. Your citizens will too. If they love you, however, then you can use your standard fear-of-punishment tactics more effectively. After all, you only need to use that against dissenters. And there will be far fewer of those."  
More silence.
“Do you get my point, Moonass?”
The silence continued, deafening.
“I think you do. Good. Then I’m off too bed. Goodnight, cupcake,” Sarcasm dripped from his voice at that last bit. 
The Human patted her cheek patronizingly before striding out of the room, swaggering slightly. 
Nightmare Moon stared ahead, before a clearing throat tore her out of her daze. She looked down to see the Captain of the Midnight Guard  standing before her. 
“Your Majesty,” He queried, “Are you well?”
Nightmare Moon’s jaw worked wordlessly before she squeaked out frantically, “Rescind all execution orders.”