So this is a question that has been itching at my mind as of late, and I wanted to hear everyone's opinion on this.

Do you think Nightmare Moon is the Most Powerful Villian the show has faced thus far? I do.

Here are my comparisons with all the other villains:
1. Discord, Lord of Chaos.
He is a serious contendor in means of raw power. With a snap of his fingers, he can turn a small rain shower into a colossal thunderstorm. But his motives may give Nightmare Moon the win.

2. Queen Chrysalis.
She is only as powerful as how much love she feeds off of. So with no love, she is vulnerable in means of raw power. But what she lacks in power, she makes up for in planning. Point in case, her throne that kept any foriegn magic from being used in her kingdom. Tactically speaking that's a pretty ingenious move.

3. King Sombra.
While Dark magic was on his side, unlike Discord and Nightmare Moon, who had to be defeated by the Elements, all it took was the combined strength of the royal sisters to over throw him the first time, and the magic of the Crystal Ponies the second. Niether time was it mentioned to use the elements. And the fan video that showed Nightmare Moon appearing, only hightens the argument.

4. Lord Tirek.
This villain is only as powerful as how much of Equestria's Magic he can consume. How he was sent to Tartarus is unknown, but if Nightmare Moon caught him at a weakened state, she could easily take him.

5. Sunset Shimmer.
In the first EQG film. She does seem to be a serious contendor. But as the movies and spinoff show have progressed, I see that being less so.

6. Starlight Glimmer.
While she can give Twilight a run for her money, I don't think she's at Nightmare Moon's level. I mean, where was she in the other realities?

7. The Tantabis.
Well, it wants to encase Equestria in a Nightmare, and if Luna never was cleansed, and Nightmare Moon felt no guilt for her actions, that's another thing that even keeps it from appearing.

8. Daybreaker.
Well, she is hypothesized to be Tia's darker self, but even she had a hard time fighting the dream version of Nightmare Moon.

9. Tempest Shadow/Fizzlepop Berrytwist.
............ well, I mean with a broken horn, she's kind of at a disatvantage. But her manuverability and skill without her horn does give her an edge. Should her horn be in a restored state and she were evil, well, it's hard to say at this point with her.

10. The Pony of Shadows.
Well, it is darkness incarnate, and it does lead me to assume that part of it found Luna and turned her into Nightmare Moon, in accordance with the show, not the comics. If anything, it would probably link it's whole self to Nightmare Moon, since they roughly wanted the same thing. But if it faced Nightmate Moon via Stygian being it's vessel, I feel that Nightmare Moon would win the battle of power.

11. Midnight Sparkle.
Well, while she is linked to Equestria Girls SciTwi, that's not to say Pony Realm, Princess Twilight can't go rogue. And with her, it was taking the power of the Elements... in a sense, so she might or might not give Nightmare Moon and Discord a run for their money.

12. The Sirens.
It took Starswirl's fast thinking to send them to another realm. And Song can defeat them, so, depending on how in tune Nightmare Moon's voice is, that would most likely dictate the outcome.

13. The Storm King.
The staff may give the might of four Alicorns, but without it, he really doesn't seem to have much running for him. He's like a non pony version of Season 1 Trixie.

14. Gaia Everfree. Another EQG Villain, that their Pony counterpart could easily take on the same role. With the wielding of the elements. Her power alone, I have to say that she put up a decent fight, but her level of power felt underwhelming when battling the EQG Counterparts of the Mane Six+Sunset Shimmer, so I say Nightmare Moon wins.

Juniper Montage and Wallflower Blush I can't say count, even though they were considered villians. They were more like, mini-villians.

Also, Nightmare Moon gobbles ponies up. No other villain has been known to gobble a pony's backside.

These are just my opinions based off my understanding of the show. But I would like to know your opinion on the subject.

Please state your opinion in the comments below.

I agree with all points but I would like to point something out.

The Tantebus is effectively a form of dream demon and I would not put it past Nightmare to make one or more of them to use in phycological warfare. As well as the fact once they gain enough power. She can use them as giant tanks for her forces.

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Too true.

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1. Discord, Lord of Chaos.
He is a serious contendor in means of raw power. With a snap of his fingers, he can turn a small rain shower into a colossal thunderstorm. But his motives may give Nightmare Moon the win.

Arguably, Discord would make mincemeat of Nightmare. But Discord's MO isn't killing people, it's making their lives miserable by making them chaotic.

Whereas Nightmare's eternal night would lead to a mass extinction event.

2. Queen Chrysalis.
She is only as powerful as how much love she feeds off of. So with no love, she is vulnerable in means of raw power. But what she lacks in power, she makes up for in planning. Point in case, her throne that kept any foriegn magic from being used in her kingdom. Tactically speaking that's a pretty ingenious move.

Once again, arguably Chrysalis is even more powerful as she is the closest anyone's come to permanently overthrowing Celly (mainly because it seems like the show's writers had a massive brain fart and forgot Luna was a thing.) I'd rank her as a tie with Sombra for being the second most dangerous in the TV show.

3. King Sombra.
While Dark magic was on his side, unlike Discord and Nightmare Moon, who had to be defeated by the Elements, all it took was the combined strength of the royal sisters to over throw him the first time, and the magic of the Crystal Ponies the second. Niether time was it mentioned to use the elements. And the fan video that showed Nightmare Moon appearing, only hightens the argument.

In the original show, before the actual movie not involving bastardized abominations the show writers called "Humans", the only entities who were able to stop the Sisters were Discord and the corrupted Tree of Harmony. So the two alicorn sisters, though they very much did suffer from the Worf Effect, were not people you would mess with if you were smart.

4. Lord Tirek.
This villain is only as powerful as how much of Equestria's Magic he can consume. How he was sent to Tartarus is unknown, but if Nightmare Moon caught him at a weakened state, she could easily take him.

This is a fair statement.

5. Sunset Shimmer.
In the first EQG film. She does seem to be a serious contendor. But as the movies and spinoff show have progressed, I see that being less so.

Eh... I kind of have a hard time taking Sunset seriously.

6. Starlight Glimmer.
While she can give Twilight a run for her money, I don't think she's at Nightmare Moon's level. I mean, where was she in the other realities?

Fair.

7. The Tantabis.
Well, it wants to encase Equestria in a Nightmare, and if Luna never was cleansed, and Nightmare Moon felt no guilt for her actions, that's another thing that even keeps it from appearing.

Also fair.

8. Daybreaker.
Well, she is hypothesized to be Tia's darker self, but even she had a hard time fighting the dream version of Nightmare Moon.

I can't really consider her a serious threat unless she is, physically and canonically in the show as an actual entity. As it stands, she was nothing more then a manifestation of Starlight's fear that she was driving Celestia and Luna apart.

9. Tempest Shadow/Fizzlepop Berrytwist.
............ well, I mean with a broken horn, she's kind of at a disatvantage. But her manuverability and skill without her horn does give her an edge. Should her horn be in a restored state and she were evil, well, it's hard to say at this point with her.

Well, the issue with this is that it's kind of like saying: "Who would win? Patton v. The entire Germany army"

Tempest's strength is that she's leading an army. If you're going to include Tempest, you also have to include the troops she has command of as well as the Storm King and his gas thingermerjiggerbobs that petrify ponies. Presumably Tempest would be able to do that to Nightmare as well since she was able to do it to Celly.

10. The Pony of Shadows.
Well, it is darkness incarnate, and it does lead me to assume that part of it found Luna and turned her into Nightmare Moon, in accordance with the show, not the comics. If anything, it would probably link it's whole self to Nightmare Moon, since they roughly wanted the same thing. But if it faced Nightmate Moon via Stygian being it's vessel, I feel that Nightmare Moon would win the battle of power.

Also fair.

If I had to, I would say it's

1.) Discord

2.) Sombra or Chrysalis (if we include the comics, Sombra has occupied the Crystal Kingdom twice with his only failure to take it having been the one we see in the show)

3.) Then Nightmare.

I hate to say it, but Nightmare isn't all that serious of a threat in the show. Celly was able to hold her off long enough to use the Elements. And her plan never really came to fruition. It was night for... like... what? Four hours maybe before the Elements were successfully able to purge Luna of Nightmare.

About the most threatening part of her is the fact that her evil plan, if she was successful, would mean a mass extinction event. Whereas Discord just wants to sow chaos, Sombra just wants to rule the world and Chrysalis just wants to eat.

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I can see where you are coming from with Discord. That is a fair argument.

With Sombra, I agree. The power of Celestia and Luna together is not something to be trifled with. But also looking back at the battle between the sisters 1000 years, remember, Nightmare Moon did knock Tia senseless for a moment, and that wasn't even full blast. So I have some reasons I would Disagree on Sombra's power level, based off that notion.

With Chrysalis, you have to remember with "A Canterlot Wedding", she said, "Shining Armor's love for you has made me even more powerful then CELESTIA!!!"

That would point out that, based on the love she consumes, that dictates her raw power level. So, with no love, she's vulnerable. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have tactical planning on her side. So in arguements of Raw power, I say Nightmare Moon wins. Tactical planning... Chrysalis is slightly better at that, in my mind.

As for Mass Extinction, the show does dictate that Equestria's populus can have eternal night without starving to death or freezing to death, as Season 5's finale showed. So I have to disagree on Mass Extinction.

Also, I added Midnight Sparkle and am about to add The Storm King and Sirens, as well as Gaia Everfree.

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Well, if you're talking about raw power, Discord has proven time and again in the show that he's ahead of everybody. He not only possesses the strongest magic shown in the show so far, he's also great at manipulating others, as seen in season 2. The only reason he lost twice is for the simple fact that every single villain the show has a severe case of the cliche overconfident villain syndrome

Now, the only The only other villains I'd like to comment on are Daybreaker, Queen Chrysalis, and Tirek.

With how much emphasis you've put on mentioning the villain's "raw power", I think you overlooked the fact Queen Chrysalis and Tirek are the only villains in the show which powers actually scale. Both times you compare them vs Night Mare Moon when they're on their weakened state, but if you're going to compare every villain by their "raw power", you should be comparing when they're there strongest when their "raw powers" have reached its peak.

If we're to take that into consideration, Tirek is the clear winner in the "raw power" scale, since his magic can grow indefinitely while there are other creatures to absorb more power from.

But then we come to the topic of Chrysalis. From all the villains listed, she's the only one that works differently. Her strang doesn't rely on raw power, but on subtlety. She's by far the most successful villain the show have since she managed to effectively conquer Equestria by subduing the Royalty twice, and she only lost because of the overconfident villain syndrome every other villain in the show have for the first time, and a deus ex machina for the second time . Unfortunately, we haven't seen how far her powers can grow, but she easily became more powerful than the sun goddess that managed to defeat Nightmare Moon (albeit with the elements of harmony.) So defeating Nightmare Moon wouldn't be so far fetched. And to top it all off, she's the only one that actually had an army.

So if you were to consider her strategies, raw power at peak performance and overall resources, Queen Chrysalis would rule over all other villains. (She's even almost immune to retaliation since all the powerful villains use magic and her hive is protected against non-changeling magic, completely nullifying Discord. Again, she only lost because of deus ex machina )

I would argue that Discord is the most powerful EX-Villian, but in terms of raw power, Nightmare's ONLY rival is Daybreaker, they are essentially sisters and equal in strength, if they could see eye to eye, then no one, not even Discord could stand against them. >=3

Dunno why you featured 'Storm King' on your list... the guy's a joke... a friggin clown not a Villain... Tempest was more of a VILLAIN than he was! ¬3¬

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Also, Nightmare Moon gobbles ponies up.

This, I think, is the key. In a larger sense, NMM was the only villain I can think of that preferred killing her enemies to imprisonment, petrification, etc. like the other villains. It's all about the will to do harm. Her abilities are also quite formidable. Space travel, apparently limitless transformation potential (including multiple entities at once and inanimate objects), weather manipulation, highly powered horn beam capable of disintegrating rock, stone-shattering hoof strikes, banishing power without the elements of harmony, haunting/corrupting ability, and who even knows what powers in the dream realm.

Of course, there's also her natural weapons (see avatar).

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There are a lot of factors to consider in this sort of discussion, and while you've touched on a lot of them, you didn't really do a very consistent job of it as pointed out by AniMun.

Raw power is one important factor. That easily eliminates several contenders straight off of your list to be questionable why you even included them:
Sunset Shimmer, for all her importance in EqG, is mostly a nobody. While a villain, she relied only on manipulation, intimidation, blackmail, and so on. She had a plan to steal an artifact, thus affirming to us that she has no real power of her own, beyond being a reasonably talented unicorn.

The Tantabus was less a "villain" and more a weird magical force of questionable intellect. It was more force of nature, like Windigos, than a villain.

Daybreaker isn't anything. She's the dream-creation of Starlight Glimmer's imagination, and "fought" Starlight Glimmer's other dream-creation of Nightmare Moon. You can assert absolutely nothing about her from someone's dream. That would be like declaring Person A stronger than Person B because some kid you talked to on the street said that Person A reminded them of a comic hero they like, rather than any actual contest between A and B. You may as well declare the flowers in Rainbow Dash's dream to be the strongest on the list.

I'd be tempted to toss Midnight Sparkle off the list as well, simply for being a teenage girl, but "can rip holes in dimensions" is at least kind of strong. She's also pretty smart, but that really pushes us to better define "raw power."

Ability to inflict harm, or "intensity" is one aspect of raw power. Bigger lasers are more powerful. There is also sustainability. A Nuke is one-use, but a lesser weapon with lots of ammunition that can be used more often in case of misses, or more situations coming up to need it are often important. Control is another important factor. How difficult is it to use the powers, how well they can be "aimed," and what side effects happen are all important too. Lastly, you have Effectiveness. Not quite the same as intensity. But how applicable the power is. How many uses it has, or the variety of situations it is useful.

As AniMu pointed out, and I plan to go further with, some of the entries on the list needed "powering up" during their episodes. Part of the function of their power was to get external power to raise their own strength. Rather than just assume a comparison between their weakest to NMM's strongest as you did, or "strongest to strongest" as AniMu suggested, I say you have to do all such configurations. How reliant the villain is on external power, how easy it is to get that power, and what upper limits, if any, that stolen power seems to hit are all relevant as well.

Outside of raw power, as hinted at by my mention of Midnight Sparkle, there are other factors than simply "powers." Some of the villains are particularly devious, cunning, manipulative, or aggressive. A lot of your assessment seems to involve letting NMM be able to plot and/or orchestrate things such that she hits rivals at their weakest instead of strongest.

There is also a lot of context missing. If you're trying to imagine some kind of 1v1 death battle, some villains (Like high-power Tirek) seem better suited, while others (like a recently transformed and still inexperienced Midnight Sparkle) seem ill-suited, regardless of raw power. If instead, you're trying to do a side by side sandbox style comparison where each villain is given their own Equestria to attack, and rate each one on how well they do, could do, or what variety of heroes and defenses they could overcome, you'd have an entirely different context. If you stuck them all in the same reality and had them all compete with each other to conquer/destroy Equestria, then you'd have still another sort of context to work with.

So, my take on your list:

#1 The Storm King and Tempest Shadow
Erroneously treated as separate entries, combined for accuracy. As villains, Tempest was one of many elite minions under Storm King's command, along with a stockpile of plundered magical artifacts from various nations, and an army capable of conquering the whole world by simple conventional means. He was so powerful he wanted the magic of the four alicorns not to let him beat others, but to let him have the proper "style" while doing so.

An interesting note is that, unlike nearly all the other villains thrown at Equestria, Storm King needed to be killed to be defeated, rather than imprisoned/banished, or befriended.

Intensity
The fact that he conquered Equestria in seconds, and one of his minions took out three of the four alicorns and had conquered much of the surrounding known world is a testament to the intensity of their power.

Sustainability
His sustainability is indefinite. Even if he himself is not long-lived or immortal, conquering tyrants typically assure their legacy through heirs. Having stolen the magic of the alicorns, he may just have had access to simple immortality as well.

Control
Storm King's army was not only large and powerful but highly mobile as well. His dominion suppressed entire nations continuously, even when he wasn't personally attending to every little thing. His power was essentially "always on."

Effectiveness
A military is far more tactically and strategically useful than any amount of individual power. Storm King could exert his influence and will across the entire globe, and effect everyone beneath him, champion to newborn.

Intelligence/etc.
Storm King may or may not have personally been the smartest or brightest tactician. But he had people for that. He didn't even need to know how every little spell under his control worked, he had spies, tacticians, advisors, and minions to do all of that. Even if he was ultimately in charge, he did listen several times to what Tempest told him. Ultimately, this area was his eventual weakness and downfall, but the rule of an empire is often untouchable behind fortresses, guards, and so on.

Overall, he's at the top of the list. Frankly, anyone who doesn't put him at the top is biased and too busy whining about the movie.

#2 The Sirens.
Until their creations, the Tree of Harmony and the Elements of Harmony, surpassed them, Starswirl the Bearded and the Pillars seem to be "Old Equestria's" most powerful monster/villain fighting force. The Sirens hail from this time, and we only have a small inkling of their actual power in Equestria. That they were the go-to example of how important the Pillars are suggests some pretty high priority for them.

Most of what we know of them comes from Rainbow Rocks. Unlike all of the other "millennia-old villains" on the list, the Dazzlings have apparently been active this whole time, learning, and growing. Even thrust into a magic-less prison world, they managed to still be able to do their thing, and even a hint of Equestrian magic rekindles their ability to mind-control others merely by opening their mouths to sing. Their gaining power from sowing discontent in those around them is a nasty combination of weakening potential opponents passively/preemptively while strengthening them rather than exhausting them.

The sirens also enjoy the near-exclusive perk of still being at large. While they may have lost their power rendering them "inconsequential normals" now, they have avoided destruction, imprisonment, and capture, aside from still being in the prison-world of EqG. Considering that the doorway to Equestria is currently more or less open, it is reasonable to speculate they could escape.

Intensity
Mind control is far more powerful an effect than lasers/fireballs. Taking your opponents' strength and turning it to your cause is simply far more devastating than merely inflicting lots of damage. As the most powerful mind-controllers on the list, the sirens nearly top the Storm King in raw power, only beaten out by canon depictions of effectiveness on his part over them. Again, we're fairly limited to speculation on how powerful these three would be back in Equestria today.

Sustainability
Every part of the siren's power is highly sustainable. One of their powers drains those around them to fuel their other, more active magic. Their mind control would acquire them minions to do their bidding, easily creating an army out of everyone around them. Further, the sirens are clearly long-lived/immortal.

Control
The sirens also have one of the best ratings in this category. Like the Storm King, an army of thralls can do their bidding. They can manipulate and influence those around them without even using magic, and when pushed to actually expend any energy at all, they merely have to open their mouths and exhale.

In terms of "powering up," the very act of doing so turns those around them against each other, instead of against the sirens.

Effectiveness
Mind-controlled minions extend the sirens' power set well beyond what they personally are capable of doing, lets them tap into the creativity and knowledge of others, technology and artifacts of others, and so on. Again, the only reason the sirens don't surpass the Storm King on this list is that we haven't seen them win like we have seen him.

Intelligence/etc.
See above. Indeed, the only reason the sirens were defeated at all was circumstantial and environmental hindrances to their power, being essentially severely handicapped in their prison world.

#3 King Sombra.

Unlike the rest of this list, we don't really ever get much time on the screen showing us who Sombra is, leaving dubious sources like the comics to fill that in for us. Sombra's place on the list comes entirely from how others react to him, forcing us to assume he's actually strong enough to create those reactions. We saw in the S5 finale in the alternate timeline that his presence and actions mobilized Equestria to a stalemate-war.

Enjoys the notoriety of being one of the few villains actually killed. He now shares that fate with Storm King.

Intensity
Conquered an "empire" in name, a city-state in appearance/scope. Threatened the major nation on the continent to war in an AU.

Sustainability
Uncertain. For all of his sinister appearance, Sombra seems to have a military/tyrant with heirs sort of sustainability. His personal power to enslave his army appears to require far more effort and resources than the sirens.

Control
His magic appears to be as readily available as a standard unicorn's, relies on access to at least one major artifact (the Crystal Heart and/or the regional magic of the Crystal Empire itself), but otherwise enjoys the "always on" benefits of a proper military.

Effectiveness
Enjoys the high effectiveness of a proper military under his control. Glimpses of his "enslaved warriors" with some kind of magical helmets on their heads implies to me a slight reduction in effectiveness over fully aware/willful and creative minions like Tempest Shadow under the Storm King, or proper mind-control of the sirens.

Intelligence/etc.
We have no real clue how strong or weak he is in this regard. Some points to his credit for an ability to use traps and wards to defend what is important to him, and an obvious aggression/willingness to enslave/conquer and fight.

#4 Queen Chrysalis.
A Canterlot Wedding was, frankly, a terrible episode. That said, she was the first villain to have anything resembling an army. Her army is naturally loyal to her rather than magically compelled, and a race of shapeshifters is insidiously filled with potential for espionage, infiltration, and stealthy power if not brute strength. Possible the scariest army out of the list, if not for the sheer size, scope, and equipment available to Storm King's.

Gets to be high on the list for successfully conquering Equestria, if only for a brief time. Also one of the few enemies still at large. While now lacking a hive, she has her own personal magic and shapeshifting powers intact, and could theoretically rebuild a new hive.

Intensity
A combination of demonstrated high personal power and a theoretically very powerful army that could contain any number of champions or elites gives her a rather high intensity. Being able to tap into "love" and gain even more might allows her to potentially scale very high.

Sustainability
Unfortunately, her "gain power from others" seems opposite in mechanic to the sirens. It takes active effort to gather/pull that power, relying on trickery/stealth rather than mere proximity. Further, that "drain" appears to be a biological need to sustain them, akin to food, thus more of a drawback than a strength. A lot of Chrysalis' efforts were to secure a more ready supply of food. Particularly powerful love from Shining Armor was entirely unexpected.

Relies on the generally expected mortal with heirs system for long-term impact.

Control
Changeling magic appears to operate roughly as easily/readily as standard unicorn magic, with some degree of "powering up their horn." Changing forms appears to be a thing they can do rather trivially, though it is questionable how useful their adopted forms are. We've seen examples of Thorax, Pharynx, and Ocelus adopting "scary" bug forms, but nothing to suggest they gain any real powers from their forms.

Effectiveness
For all the potential the stealth/shapeshifter skillset appears to have, if fanfic is anything to go by, changelings in canon don't appear to actually excel at things like infiltration and impersonation. Speculation could push the changeling army to the top of the list, but nothing actually on screen seems to suggest they're as effective in practice as they could be. Dropping the disguise and just being weird-looking pones with flight and maybe horn lasers seem to be their actual combat value, and they'd be questionably effective against any other military. So, aside from the generally high value of a military over individually powerful villains, the changelings wind up having not very much going for them.

Intelligence/etc.
To Where and Back again did a lot to raise Chrysalis' value in this department. Her performance in ACW was severely unimpressive, but at least here she actually won (at least briefly), suggesting this time around her plan was actually a good one. Identifying and nullifying various defenders using her strengths in stealth and infiltration this time around still doesn't forgive the sheer simplicity and idiocy of her first (failed) attack. Other things like her magic nullifying throne feel at least like she is capable of augmenting her power and making use of artifacts. That we need confirmation of that is telling how dumb she seems to be.

#5 Discord, Lord of Chaos.
For all his perceived possible might, Discord's power is largely local in scope. He did conquer and rule over Equestria for a fair amount of time, but is pretty bad at long-term plans, recognizing threats, and largely only seeks to cause mischief.

Intensity
Probably the highest-rated individual on the list in this category, though somewhat falling short of the sheer might at the disposal of those villains with access to an army.

A lot of what he seems to do with "chaos" magic is a mix of illusions and harmless conjurations. His real, damaging powers are a somewhat limited form of mind control, a weak version of what the sirens do merely by humming.

Despite what he could potentially do, all we ever see him actually do is parlor tricks. We know that his power can be nullified completely by at least one artifact: Chrysalis' throne, his "gray/reversing" power was countered by force of will, and he is definitely weaker than the Elements of Harmony and Tirek's magical drain.

Sustainability
As an immortal being, Discord has a lot of personal sustainability. That said, with no army, no real direction or growth to his power set, we can assume that his reign over Equestria (a large nation on a continent) is about the limit of what he can actually do, and he was only able to keep that in effect for a few years.

In terms of "stamina," his magic doesn't appear to strain him or wear him out much, if at all. This often gives the illusion that he's potentially much stronger than he actually is, under the worry that he might actually exert himself fully at some point.

Control
One of Discord's strengths is how readily available his magic is. It seems to answer his will far more than standard unicorn magic. His signature snapping of fingers/tail thing to instantly produce effects rivals and potentially surpasses even the siren's merely needing to hum. There are situations where one or both might be unable to call upon their magic, but for normal situations, both are practically tied for ease of use.

Effectiveness
Often mistaken for raw strength, Discord's actual high point is probably in this area. Things like long distance, effortless teleportation, conjuring possibly real and not illusory things at a whim, and so on hints at a very wide range of effects. While others gain high marks in this area via minions/thralls/army, Discord does so personally. That does count for quite a bit.

Intelligence/etc.
Here in lies Discord's greatest weakness, putting him among the lowest on the list in this area. He's fatally arrogant, and entirely lacking in anything resembling cohesive aggression, planning, or ambition. Presumably, he could be defeated simply by being approached by someone able to entertain him. He's easily tricked and manipulated and has no one else to shore up his personal weaknesses.

#6 Starlight Glimmer.
Starlight is actually two entirely different villains, and her post-redemption arc somewhat fills in a lot of the blanks for us.

The first Starlight, at the start of S5, was less villain and more hermit. She wanted to be away from "normal" society and wound up attracting like-minded ponies around her. We've seen confirmation in ponies like Troubleshoes, Diamond Tiara, and Rumble that despite how "normal" cutie marks are for ponies, often they don't understand them and have apprehensions about them. While misguided, Starlight's village wasn't inherently wrong. Or particularly threatening or powerful. Somewhere along the line, Starlight's initially good-intentioned role as village leader warped things and drove her to follow some ambition when a Princess showed up at her doorstep. If it were just that episode alone, Starlight would not even make the list.

The end of S5 showed us the other Starlight. This one was knocked out of her reasonably happy life, and had everything she accomplished torn down around her. She wasn't as driven as some mastermind or superpowerful ancient being, she was more like some petty highschool girl seeking to ruin the friendship of the other girl that embarrassed her and turned her clique against her. Just one who had stumbled upon something dangerous to use in her revenge.

Intensity
For all the danger that could have been brought about in the S5 finale, none of Starlight's actions ultimately had any real damage inflicted. Much like Chrysalis, there appears to be a lot of potential for harm inflicted, but very little in practice. Unlike Chrysalis, we've seen that Starlight's actions were less about her own abilities and goals, and more about lucky circumstance and getting her hooves on dangerous magic.

At the end of the day, Starlight is merely a rather strong unicorn. She seems to push the envelope for what is possible with unicorn magic, with a knack for mixing spells in unorthodox ways, but she's clearly mortal, and mostly limited to impacting a small handful of opponents at a time. It takes setup and preparation to face down Twilight Sparkle on reasonably even grounds, but facing other normal ponies when unprepared prompts her to run away.

Sustainability
Most of Starlight's strength comes from her emotions, which are very short-powered. She seems to have a fairly large amount of magic for a unicorn, but nowhere near the reserves that most others on this list seem to possess. Wearing Starlight out seems like a very feasible way to defeat or surpass her.

Even when in her own village, it seems like she had nothing even remotely resembling an army, so not only is she merely mortal, she also lacks any obvious intent to control things on a massive scale or leave heirs to continue her legacy.

Control
Standard unicorn magic and haphazard access to artifacts render her rating in this area rather low.

Effectiveness
Above average marks in this area. While standard unicorn magic among well-learned practitioners has a fairly broad range of applicability, Starlight does have a slight edge in her willingness to tinker and mix spells in ways that surprise even Twilight Sparkle at times. Her ability to hack/hijack/tinker with artifacts and modify them to suit her whims is similarly a potentially high-mark in this area. But, overall, she is limited to only personally effectiveness and falls well short of the sheer scope of villainry others on the list are capable of with armies.

Of importance to note here is Starlight's version of mind control. At the top of the list are villains with access to minions either through traditional army or mind-controlled/magically compelled servants of some sort. While Starlight inflicted a rather strong-looking control spell on her friends, that magic rendered them largely useless even for simple, mundane tasks. While horrible on a personal level, not terribly useful on a villainous scale. This showcases some of the merits of the other, higher, entrants on the list: they have access to minions with useful skills (the changelings) or reasonably competent soldier training and weapons (Storm King/Sombra), as well as personally motivated and creative/capable of independent thought champions like Tempest. The Sirens were able to accomplish this level of control over individuals like Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna, demonstrating how much more powerful their control is than Starlight.

Intelligence/etc.
Depending on which "mood" Starlight was in, she can have average or low marks in this area. In both time periods, she was at least crafty enough to plot and set things up, but thinking on her feet seemed to be something of a hardship for her. She easily falls to someone like Tempest Shadow or Chrysalis.

#7 Lord Tirek.
Despite being in possession of at least some wits, ability to plot, and manipulate others, at the end of the day Tirek is really just a big magical sponge that eventually grows big and powerful enough to Godzilla everything. Even when it seemed like he was winning, it appears all Tirek wanted to do with his absorbed power is kick down a bunch of trees and break things. As such, despite defeating everyone in Equestria, he failed to actually destroy the place, conquer, it, or even really inflict any lasting damage beyond some property damage. For all his posturing and boasting, he was merely a vandal.

Intensity
Absorbing the magic of others forcible via opening his mouth and literally sucking it out of them is pretty powerful, and it seems that he visibly gets pretty strong by the end. His power scales off of what he consumes, with a pretty high upper limit. That said, the magnitude of damage he inflicts is limited to Equestria. We can only really speculate on the long-term effects of his draining all the ponies. Perhaps they'd recover, perhaps he'd digest the magic over time and need more, or maybe it would have been permanent/lethal. Maybe he could keep growing to take on the whole world. We don't really know.

Regardless of what his upper limit/details are like, at most, it seems Tirek wants to destroy everything rather than conquer it, which places him substantially lower on the list than other villains. Building and setting off a bomb is less impressive than becoming the boss of everything.

Sustainability
He spent over a thousand years in Tartarus, but we have no real idea how time/aging works there. He may or may not be long-lived/immortal. We have no idea how long his absorbed/stolen magic lasts, but we do know it can be taken back away from him. He seemed entirely uninterested in any long-term impact on the world, aside from maybe destroying it.

Control
His rating here is rather high. His draining got easier and more impactful as he gained size, and he demonstrated the ability to "eat" magical attacks launched at him. Brute strength and strong laser beams seemed to be his choice of weapons, which require very little setup or "aim" time. Significantly above a standard unicorn, but it feels not quite as high a mark as Discord or the Sirens.

Effectiveness
Possibly among the lowest on the list. Tirek is a one or two trick pony at best, trading versatility for brute strength. His ability to interact with things seems to be limited to: drain it, talk to it, punch it, or laser beam it. He doesn't even have the ability to fly.

Intelligence/etc.
Barely average. While he did manage to backstab Discord, that seems more indicative of how dumb Discord is rather than any points in favor of Tirek. That his ability to trick others rose while partnered with Discord is telling.

#8 The Pony of Shadows.
While he gets a lot of style points for appearance and a vaguely interesting backstory that ties into the lore of Equestria, Stygian/Pony of Shadows is not very well defined as a threat. Everyone else around him reacts as if he's a big dangerous threat, but we see very little actual demonstration of his power. He's mostly just kind of big, and can do a few magic tricks.

Intensity
Much like Sombra, we have no actual results to base his effectiveness on and have to speculate based on the reactions of others. Unlike Sombra, we see no indication of easily grasped powerbases, like an army. That said, we can assume he at least had the potential to destroy or conquer Equestria, which seems to be roughly a minimum to make it on the list.

Sustainability
The power granted by the Shadows seemed to, for lack of better terms, be an ability to tap into shadows/darkness as a power source, with potentially a lot of fuel available as a result.

On a larger scale, Stygian is a mere unicorn and below average at that. We have no indication that the Shadow granted any sort of longevity to him.

Control
Possibly highest on this list, depending on what you focus on and how you interpret it. He could shoot spiky lances of hard shadow from his body at merely a thought, teleported similarly, and probably had access to raw brute strength in his large, intimidating form. That his powers operated apparently just by thinking puts them just a notch above even the Sirens.

That said, he also seemed to need to rebuild his strength by hanging out in really dark places, which makes "powering up" process strong, but not as strong or readily available as Tireks or the Sirens. It is easier to access than the Changelings' feeding on love.

Effectiveness
We have little information to work with. Making the world darker, not unlike NMM's eternal night, could result in a world-killing scope of destruction, but beyond that, he seems to be more or less a high-powered unicorn with an outside fuel source to power some standard unicorn magic like interacting with nearby objects and teleportation.

Intelligence/etc.
On the one side, Stygian was the tactician and mastermind of the group, researching opponents for weaknesses and developing strategies. On the other hand, he didn't seem to have much foresight in dealing with an unknown power like the Shadow, didn't think to talk things over with his supposed friends/allies to get their permission to try to copy their magic, or so on. We didn't really get much to tell us how strong in this category he is, though I'd place him above Discord and Tirek easily.

#9 Midnight Sparkle.
The "villain" of Equestria Girls: Friendship Games. She barely makes it on this list, in that she had no actual villainous goals or intent. She, like early Starlight Glimmer, was unsatisfied with her place in life, and mostly wanted the world to leave her alone. Barely manages to stay on the list because we can at least speculate that, had she not been stopped by Sunset Shimmer, she could have probably grown into her powers and picked up all sorts of ambition.

Intensity
Incredibly brief time on-screen doing much of anything. The ability to rip holes between the EqG world and Equestria (her power stolen from Sunset/the statue) could have at least destroyed whatever sort of dimension, prison, or full universe that EqG resides in. Aside from that, it seems likely she has access to some kind of magic from each of the other girls as well.

That said, incredibly low on this list. For as impressive as "ripping dimensional holes" sounds when you try to imagine how strong you need to be to perform that feat, we don't know enough about the reality she is ripping holes into to honestly assign much value there. She didn't stay a villain for very long, nor did she actually inflict much damage at all. Her area of effect is limited to a campus, not even a town or country like most villains on this list manage.

Sustainability
What she did on screen seemed to involve a whole lot of effort, preparation (if partially accidental), and theatrics. It is more impressive in a low-magic setting like EqG than any of the feats going on in Equestria proper.

Other than that, she's just a regular high school girl. No indication that the powers she stole wouldn't need replacing or run out, let along that she gained any sort of personal magic from it that could be replenished even in the way standard unicorns can with rest. No longevity/immortality, and so on.

Control
Worse than a standard unicorn. Requires sneaking around to gather power in a device, then a big, attention-getting, several second long show of special effects to transform.

Effectiveness
Very limited, though with the potential to be more varied. Her repertoire of effects pales in comparison to most unicorns.

Intelligence/etc.
Possibly the only thing keeping her on this list at all. She's arguably the smartest member on this list. If left with her powers, she could likely refine them, improve on her design, and expand her source of power to Equestria proper.

That said, SciTwi is more "mad scientist" smart, rather than "chess master/politician" smart or "tactician" smart. She has a noticeable lack of social grace and ability to manipulate or trick others. She might embrace her power and turn from "leave me alone" to "do as I say or die" kind of aggression, but we could only speculate about that.

#10 Sunset Shimmer.
Merely an above average unicorn that had mostly social strengths. Had to steal an artifact to get any sort of raw might, and in doing so drew the attention of the heroes to her. Super low villain rating. Only barely manages to stay on the list at all due to her villainous intentions if not her particularly successful or effective plans.

Intensity
In Equestria, Sunset Shimmer has only demonstrated that she can teleport, signifying mostly that she's a "fairly high-level unicorn." She as Celestia's personal student, like Twilight, suggesting at least some degree of power to her. That said, we can only speculate on those things as we've been given next to no actual confirmation of her unicorn magic.

In EqGland, she's possibly one of the most magical beings in the land, which isn't saying much for a non-magic place. Most of what she has access to is either leaking in from Equestria, resides in an artifact like her geode or her journal, or comes from "Friendship." While she was a villain at CHS though, she had no magical power at all and returned to Equestria to steal the Element of Magic.

She only barely manages to stay on the list because one of her goals was to amass a group of minions. While it is easy to scoff at the idea of "an army of teenagers" she could also transform them (as she did to Snips and Snails) and nothing is stopping her from possibly controlling adults and/or ponies, and/or monsters in Equestria. Gaining this power and the intent to use it on Equestria lets her stay on the list, even if her version of "has an army" is substantially weaker than others on the list.

Sustainability
Her corruption of the Element of Magic seemed to grant her a fair amount of power, and it didn't seem to take much effort from her to use magic in a magic-less world.

Her goal was to conquer, thus inherently more sustainable than mere destruction. We can assume she would eagerly grab more power and more energy and more minions as those became available, making her overall plan fairly high in sustainability.

That said, while we can speculate that the Element of Magic might be a rather enduring source of power, we have learned since from canon that the EoH seems to lose power rapidly if used incorrectly, and need to be returned to the Tree of Harmony to recharge.

Control
Mostly standard unicorn, though some of the logistics behind using the Element of Magic as a power source might put a lot of effort on her part necessary to maintain/use her powers.

Effectiveness
While not as creative as SciTwi or Starlight Glimmer, or as educated on magic as Princess Twilight, Sunset Shimmer is likely among the upper limit of talented unicorns with access to a decent variety of spells. Her skillset obviously expanded with the Element of Magic, and at least her power of controlling others could grant her the versatility of an army.

Intelligence/etc.
As mentioned, Sunset Shimmer is above average smart. She's at least somewhat above average in education, and that forms a pretty solid foundation for everything else. While terrorizing CHS, she showed a willingness to use blackmail and so on to disrupt potential allies against her, gain mundane power over others, and so on. Some of the specific things she did (such as the photos) were silly, but other things like spoofing texts on cellphones are legitimately impressive for someone only in the world/tech for a few years. She seems to learn skills and things rather easily, and was ruthless enough to use them to good effect even without magic. Honestly, this overall puts her as one of the smarter ones on this list.

#11 Gaia Everfree.
Frankly doesn't even belong on this list. Her goal was to protect Camp Everfree from being bought and converted into a strip mall. While access to magic she didn't understand drove her a bit nutso, she had no ambitions that could properly classify her as villainous.

But, to at least rate her against the others, lets pretend a bit.

Intensity
Enclosed a camp in a shell of vines and did some other druidy-stuff in combat with the main characters. Overall, strictly "personal power" and not terribly impressive compared to the likes of Discord, Tirek, or Midnight Sparkle. Indeed, quite a few of the typical unicorns we see in Equestria, like Shining Armor, could probably go toe-to-toe with her. Much like other EqG villains, she's only really impressive against the standard of a low-magic setting.

Sustainability
She gained her powers from some rocks infused with Equestrian magic, which abandoned her to serve the heroes. Even if she'd kept her powers, a big part of her problem was that in her zeal to "protect the camp and campers" she was isolating them from the rest of the world, and things like food, medicine, poop, and ultimately the next generation would have rendered what she wanted to do tragic or temporary.

Control
Kind of not really well-controlled at all. She was a rather crazy person wielding a magic artifact she didn't understand in the slightest. That said, the magic did seem to respond to her wishes fairly promptly, even perhaps a bit unintentionally.

Effectiveness
Incredibly low score here. When trying to imagine her going on some kind of villainous quest to destroy or conquer anything, she could maybe... disrupt traffic or scare others into calling the police/military to shoot at her.

Intelligence/etc.
She's kind of like Nightmare Moon! Crazy!

6414274
Thank you.

You do make a lot of valid points. I wasn't asking anyone to agree with me in my decision making, so I do not intend to say you are wrong. In fact I think you are more right than I was.

So yeah, thank you for your input.

My favorite villain? Certainly. Most powerful? Ha! Not even close.