Is it Really?
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.”
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Human, respect.
That's what I call arguing without leaving any traces behind.
Sure, there could be counterarguments, but I don't want to see them.
And yes, I would like to see more stories about this human adviser.
How would he explain the coming food-shortage to his ruler, telling her it's her fault with her eternal night?
5472579 Well, I wrote him to be a bit of a dick, so the rudest way possible. Thanks for the comment.
5472581 You know, if the tyrant allows it, then you should be a dick to show him how wrong he/she is.
And you don't have to thank me for commenting, it's coming natural to me. I should have a cutie mark for it!
MORE!
Ugh, can't change the size of Emotes.
This requires a continuation. Well Done.
I'd love to see this continued, this human adviser is pretty interesting so far.
This really BEGS for a sequel.
Yes, more would be great.
Please sir, may I have some more
This is a really good story, I like how it played out in the end. Keep up the great work!
Nightmare Moon is bad at quoting things. It is better to be loved and safer to be feared, but above all the wise prince should endeavour to never be hated.
Continue this please.
I'd like to see more of this. It's an interesting idea. Shape up NMM into a good evil overlord. I see he already introduced her to The List. But that's merely Evil Overlord 101.
As a one off, being that showy works, if you make it longer I'd hope for more subtle dickery, otherwise I love when humans use our historical bullshit antics as an intimidation method. Proceed!
All hail democracy! Of course, by acceptable and civilized election.
At first I thought that it was either Schneizel el Britannia or Lelouch vi Britannia before you mentioned Nazi Germany. Oh well.
Nice short story that brings up a good point in alternate history. What if Hitler didn't believe that the Russians were inferior?
more
That god damned human adviser is amazing. More of the man, I say!
This is nice. I can only think of a modern age Niccolo Machiavelli talking sense into Nightmare Moon.
Speaking of Old Nick, perhaps you could use his portrait as a cover image? Better than nothing and it goes with the title.
5473354 His portrait does look kind of troll-y doesn't it? That smile...
Thanks for the suggestion.
Hell yeah I would like to hear more of this human adviser. Name him Edward. Or maybe Isaac. Ooh! How bout Michael?
Please sir may i have some more
Please continue to make more of the Human Adviser
Well, here's an image that fits the same thematic elements, if you need coverart.
https://img1.derpicdn.net/img/view/2012/6/17/4853__safe_human_nightmare+moon_wallpaper_elements+of+harmony_canterlot_tower_artist-colon-moe.jpg
5473585 Thanks.
There's a line attributed to Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord in a conversation with Napoleon Bonaparte: "You may do anything with bayonets, Sir, except sit upon them..." There's also a passage in a popular genre author's work where a mercenary officer tells a potential client, "...Force accomplishes a lot of things. They just aren't the things you want to accomplish here..." Those are the quotable quotes that came to mind when I read this confection. Watching NMM barely restraining herself from conniptions when the adviser bursts her balloon was a great deal of fun...
Liked. And, by all means, please do continue this...
5473692 Thanks. I'm glad you liked it. I will utilize those lines in the future.
I don't know about you guys but i ship this! Lol
That said i would very much want to see more of these two ship or no ship.
Fear may work temporarily, but resentment will build.
The resentment will build into a force will arise to destroy the tyrant.
And they will show no mercy.
Just a little outlook on the whole tyrant thing.
MORE I SAY! He needs a name, though. How about calling him Lucifer? Like the fallen archangel in the bible?
5472581 I wouldn't say dickish. I would say he's blunt without remorse for the fallout of what he says.
Sir this story is extremely adequate if you should decide that you shall continue with this brilliant idea then I shall be behind You the whole way ;) "like a sir"
I'd love to see this guy tearing apart the other villains in the show. Yes please on that continuation.
5473746 And thank you, as well. Feel free to lift them - as stated, they're not my lines.
I have this image in my mind. [NMM has just proposed some other egregious course of action] "... The adviser cleared his throat. "Your Majesty, you hired me to tell you what you needed to hear, instead of just telling you what you wanted to hear..." Nightmare Moon's ears fell flat against her skull. How she had learned to dread hearing those by-now ritualistic words from her human! ... And yet, she waved a hoof in surrender.
'"Speak. How do you say I erred this time?" The human's lips bared his canines in an almost lascivious display of schadenfreude as he coldly and clinically dissected the monumental stupidity of {insert situationally-appropriate despot of your choice}.'
BTW, you may want to change the flag on this to "Incomplete" if you're going to add to it, rather than do a series of one-shots. New postings might get missed, otherwise.
The problem here is that the concept is actually very good. The plot of this story might be totally dialogue and debate, but this will allow opportunities for reams of character development and worldbuilding, similar to what was done in RealityCheck's The Audience. However, several problems stand in the way of this story being excellent, or even good. Other characters and Nightmare Moon are far too OOC. Equestria is a setting with magical shenanigans up the wazoo, but the population maintains an idealistic attitude overall. Moreover, the Nightmare's evil is born out of envy and ignorance, not whatever twisted idiocy this one's mind is made of. Also, the human's attitude is far too nonchalant and smug about his situation that you're describing. He should be scared, wary, and slightly bitter/biting in his retorts. Finally, the narration is sloppy and far too blatant.
In summation, the concept is good, but the execution falls short.
You should definitely consider making this a thing, but only if you can pull it off with the same finesse as this. This guy better be some stone-cold mother fu**er though. Only a true badass could shake off an execution of aliens like that.
5472961 Glad that someone finally brought up Machiavelli.
yes MORE!
this is a unique story!
are you updating here or in another story?
also get a little from Machiavelli and the athenian politicians and philosophers
Did you really need to have a human lecture NMM? That just seems contrived. And did you have to play the WWII card?
Aren't there hundreds of other stupid actions NMM is making? The fact that she requests proof without having any for her own beliefs - indeed, when there's so much proof that love leads to utopia - strikes me as hypocritical, and the MC culd play on that, making her see that she's deliberately ignoring evidence. Widespread executions encourage going wild - after all, if everyone's going to be executed anyway, we may as well go all out and try to kill the princess outright!
And her rescinding of the executions signifies weakness and inconsistency, so she shouldn't have done that - not that she should have been killing people wholesale in the first place, but since she's already started she may as well go all out;quitting now will just encourage retaliation while she's weak.
5474417
Really. If you're going to throw around philosophical quotations, you really owe it to yourself to at least know the source well enough to get them right. You just end up making yourself look ridiculous otherwise.
Wow you have a very skewed understanding of history.
Please, sir, might I have some more of this human?
This one needs more. One shot? It's a good idea, and people are liking it- time to switch off that complete tag and write moar.
5474650 I don't suppose you could elaborate for those not willing to wade through the swampy well of knowledge that is wikipedia?
nice work man, kudos to you, and yeah, if you have more in you i would like to see it.
Nice fic, though I'm preeetty sure the reason Nazi Germany lost was due to them taking on the entire world, refusing to gear up their industry for total war until 1944, and some really poor military decisions. And with regards to the Arab Spring - well, the guy who's used the most brutality (al-Assad of Syria) is still standing, so...
Again, though, nice fic, nice concept, and I guess the reasoning fits well with an idealistic place like Equestria.
5475177
Germany lost because of the Soviets, full stop. Completely accepted historical fact by anyone with a degree in the field.
5474650 to be fair it's the characters interpretation of history, he might have gotten a D- in history, or only read Wikipedia cliff notes or is twisting it to make his point.
As for this story: I'm flat out unsure of whether I like it or not. Its lazy, short and way to simple. But it does do something that I haven't seen before and providing that the human isn't just a mary sue f*** wit I would like to see where this goes.
More! :)
5474650 Actually, as far as I am aware this is pretty accurate: particularly in Ukraine, the Soviet government was utterly, UTTERLY hated, to the extent that Germany was able to form a small army of defectors. The Werhmacht's vanguard was welcomed with flowers and kisses. Only when the extent of what the Nazis had planned became clear were they dispelled of the illusion that they were being liberated.
Sequel!