Talk:Episodes, films, and shorts/@comment-25109354-20140717192413/@comment-26973802-20140719003426

Nightmare Moon - Standard villain. Not particularly dark. Tries to kill the Mane 6 once, and afterward just tries to scare them off, and later, just block them. In the episodes as released she seems lika Luna corrupted then restored to her original self, only by what Lauren Faust said can we realize she's the embodiment of Luna's jealousy demonically possessing her and was destroyed.

Discord - A different kind of villain, fun to have around with his unique powers, but darker than Nightmare Moon (in Season 1) the way he turns the Mane 6 against one another. Turns to stone, which seems a little more hardcore than what we were led to believe with Nightmare Moon seeing as how he's awake the whole time, but still, didn't kill him.

Queen Chrysalis - The first Knight of Cerebus, epic battles around her, dark, creepy, menacing, and is presumably killed, although this was staged in a way that makes it debatable, so if they did intent to kill her, it was done in a subtle way.

King Sombra - The darkest, creepiest, most menacing villain of the series, and they up front kill him off. However, this is downplayed a bit by his minimal screentime and dialog.

Sunset Shimmer - Well, she's a movie villain for Equestria Girls so she doesn't have to fit the "top the previous villain" pattern (though she does count for the gender pattern). Although her demon form up front tries to kill Twilight.

Lord Tirek - Almost as dark as Sombra, possibly darker than Chrysalis, has more screentime and lines, and the most epic battle in the series. Plus, the fact that he's Tirek, who has a reputation as the first G1 villain and being surprisingly dark and violent. Whether you believe he was killed or simply teleported to Tartarus, either way he's in hell, we explicitly see him there, and it's not going to be pleasant for him.

And so you countered the "top the villain" thing, but what about the fact that they wouldn't last five seconds against the Mane 6 with Rainbow Power?