Villains from worst to best or I guess the other way around!

I've seen other writers do this on their blogs, I'm not sure why but I thought I'd give it a try today. Now when I say villains I mean the antagonists who've had big roles in season openers, closer, or the movie. Hope you enjoy and feel free to leave feedback.

Number 5: Nightmare Moon!
Now I know what you’re thinking "he's putting an all-powerful alicorn below a regular unicorn! (Sunset), what's he thinking?" Let me explain, I have my theories about a few things in the MLP FIM universe one of them involves how Nightmare Moon was created. It is my belief that when Luna started feeling under-appreciated and neglected her powers were affected, all that anger, pain, rage, depression built up in her and from it Nightmare Moon was born! Therefor I consider Nightmare to be Luna's inner darkness which she gave into in a moment of weakness, I consider Nightmare to be a part of Luna who is not evil. It's my belief that to be truly good or truly evil one must choose their path and as Nightmare is a part of Luna who only chose darkness in as I said before a moment of weakness, therefor Nightmare does not fit my description of evil. On a power scale yes she would be further along because she can do incredible things such as creating the Shadow Bolts and bringing night eternal (or trying to anyway). All that said I do not consider Nightmare to be completely gone, remember that I consider her a part of Luna specifically her inner darkness, therefor as long as Luna exists I do not consider Nightmare gone, no I imagine that deep inside Luna's good heart there is a thorn of darkness just biding her time, waiting.

Number 4: Sunset Shimmer!
Yes, Celestia's former protégé earns the number four spot. Sunset Shimmer was (much like her successor) very talented in magic and magical knowledge that even rivals Twilight's on certain subjects (such as what happens when you take an Element of Harmony into another dimension). However unlike her successor she was not above showing her darker side when she didn't get her way this led her to eventually abandon her studies. Somehow she ended up in the human universe where she eventually established herself to be the top dog who as human Fluttershy stated "always gets what she wants." Though clearly not as powerful as Nightmare (at least not without her evil creature form) I consider her to be a better villain because of her non-magical skills. Sunset has shown to be extremely manipulative, pulling at the stings of the human mane six (technically five) and causing events that caused them to create a rift between each other. Also it was stated in the movie that every pony has a human counterpart so I gotta ask "what did Sunset do to her human?" Furthermore Sunset has shown that when running for Princess of the fall formal she is not above using dirty politics or even cheating to get her way (what Flash saw in her I'll never know). Also by her integration with human Fluttershy regarding the crown I think it's safe to say that Sunset was the big bully on campus. Sunset has also shown to have minions who follow her willingly i.e. human Snips and Snails (is it just me or do those two just seem to naturally play henchman to Twilight's rivals?) Sunset's defeat is shown to be similar to Nightmare's, she underestimates the power she's playing with and is defeated by the magic of friendship (which ironically enough created her source of power) and is reverted back to her normal form (however unlike Luna Sunset was already evil) having new knowledge and regret for what she'd done. In the end Sunset seems to rehabilitate having experienced the magic of friendship this leaves me to believe that Sunset isn't really evil just misunderstood. As for her fate I can imagine Sunset opening her heart more to the magic of friendship and living a happy life in the CH universe, her true home.

Number 3: Discord!
The shape shifting, chaos spreading, draconequus is deserving of the number three spot. Discord has shown to command tremendous power and takes great enjoyment in the misery of others of course he's shown to enjoy his more comical and tamer chaos more (such as the sneezing pony or the tutu buffalo) making him a very comical villain. Unlike Sunset and Nightmare Discord does not underestimate the power of the magic of friendship and upon his return uses his manipulative skills to turn the bearers of the elements into their opposite selves. Discord has shown to be more manipulative then Sunset in the sense that while Sunset uses her skills to keep the mane six angry at each other Discord can uses his to embrace their opposite sides by poking at the just what he needs to, to get the mane six to do what he want; using Pinkie's insecurity, Rarity's lust for jewels, and ironically enough he was able to use Rainbow's loyalty to Cloudsdale to make her disloyal to her friends! However Discord's manipulation skills are shown to have their limits when he attempts to trick Fluttershy into embracing her cruel side and has to resort to simply graying her (perhaps that's why Celestia thought Fluttershy would be the key to rehabilitating Discord because she is 100% aware of her imperfections and is ok with them making her immune to his manipulation). In the end Twilight reminds the others who they really are and Discord is returned to his stone prison. However Discord returns a season later when Celestia tasks the ponies with rehabilitating him. At first with his freedom Discord goes right back to his old habits and even manages to create a rift between Fluttershy and the others by using her kindly nature against her. However when Fluttershy declares that she defends Discord "because that's what friends do" he is almost moved to tears by the fact that she considers him a friend. Later after Discord tricks Fluttershy into promising to never use her element on him Discord thinks he's free forever and can begin to spread as much chaos as he wants, however when Fluttershy states she will not be his friend if he does bad things at first Discord just laughs it off "you think I'm just gonna change all this back because you say so, because if I don't I'll lose the only friend I've ever had?" which is when it hits him that friendship is something he never wants to lose "well played Fluttershy" and returns the chaos he's spread to normal. Discord then begins to use his powers for good (though only Fluttershy seems to believe he's really changed) leaving me to believe that he, like Sunset is merely misunderstood. As for Discords final fate I believe he really has changed and is ready to use his powers for good (looks outside and sees a storm of chocolate rain), most of the time.

Number 2: Queen Chrysalis!
Yes I believe that this shape shifting queen is worse than Discord. As Queen of the changelings it is her job to find food for her subjects (who feed on love) and she's shown to do whatever it takes to feed her subjects regardless of the cruelty to others. While impersonating Cadence (whom she locked in the crystal catacombs) Chrysalis is shown to be extremely rude, demanding, and a bit of a bully (hmm she and Sunset would get along pretty well I guess) but when you think about it she has to stay low profile so that's probably her definition of nice! So why do I think this queen is so bad? For the simple fact that with her power she could be anypony at any time, she could be impersonating a background pony in every episode and we could never know! Chrysalis's weakness is shown to be her inability to understand the potential of the very force she and her subjects feed on, love this is shown when Cadence states that her love will give Shinning the strength he needs to defeat the changelings she laughs them off. As for her final fate I hope that after her defeat in Equestria she’ll search for other areas to feed off of, but I know that like Nightmare with her power she could be back at any time.

Number 1: King Sombra!
Yes in my opinion this former king is considered the baddest of the bad! Unlike the other villains were not given much background on Sombra we merely know that at some point he took over the Crystal Empire and was defeated by the royal sisters. Besides Sunset Sombra is the only villain who’s supposed to be a regular unicorn but when you look at him he looks more like a cross between a demon and a unicorn, I believe this is because he’s dabbled too far in the dark arts. What makes Sombra worse than Chrysalis is that while the latter is shown to care about her subjects King Sombra is shown to be incredibly cruel to his subjects who he regards as “my crystal slaves.” Sombra is shown to be incredibly adapt at magic, particularly dark magic this is evidenced by the defenses he gives to the tower containing the crystal heart; a door which can only be revealed with black magic, a door that leads to your worst fear, an endless stair case, and an alarm that lets him no when your close. Sombra has also shown to be adapt in competitive magic as even in his shadow form he’s able to cancel out Shinning’s shield and leave a nasty bit of black crystal things on his horn when the two battled. Sombra is shown to be a silent villain as he mostly just growls and roars this means he’s not guilty of the monologuing that so many other villains are. Also Sombra never really has a moment of weakness where he over looks anything he’s merely defeated because Spike and Cadence got the heart to its pedestal and he got blasted! As for his final standing, I know he’s been officially declared dead by Hasbro, but I just can’t shake the feeling that he’s out there somewhere, too weak to carry on, for now!