Do I Have Too Many Characters? · 9:56pm May 3rd, 2017
Hi guys. Honest opinion now because something's bugging me.
Do my fics have too many characters? And if it does, is it at least easy to keep track of who's who and what they're doing?
This is the problem with writing Fimfic this late into the series. 
Between Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Starlight, Sunset, Shining, Thorax, Discord and several others, the heroes have so many characters that could get them out of potential scrapes and I want to make sure the villains have each one preoccupied until the final showdown to keep everyone on their toes.
Because I hate it when people ask 'Why didn't Celestia help?' or 'Where were the Royal Guard during this whole fiasco?' 
And I want to ensure that doesn't happen here, particularly not after I've made such a song and dance about how dangerous and crafty Cascadius is.
So honestly, would a couple more villains into the mix just complicate matters? Or would you be okay with this?
If there is a problem, can you recommend a solution.
Let me know and thanks for all your help. 
Too many characters isn't, of itself, a problem, but having a lot of characters increases the risk you'll get bogged down trying to give them all screen time and lose sight of the actual plot, and you've shown early signs of that problem. If you keep things tight and moving, though, you should be OK. Thus far, I'm mostly managing to keep track, but I do have the slight advantage that I'm actively cataloguing everything in the Tropes page.
If you're bothered, remember that we don't need to know the backstory and history of everyone, especially where it'll break up the flow of current events, and we don't necessarily need to know all the details of what's tied up X group until the dramatically appropriate time to appear. One of them giving a brief explanation after their arrival or during the post-battle winding down could well work, especially if you've left small hints earlier; you can do a lot of foreshadowing with a carefully-chosen offhand comment.
4518937 Okay. Thanks for the tip.
I'll try to keep things running smoothly.
4518937 Just a question, if I may.
Would it be more practical to writer and readers if I kept one character arc per chapter.
Or is the structure okay as it is?
Also, i'm okay with the characters, its always interesting to See new Guys for me.
4518994 The structure works well as it is, and everything's reasonably easy to follow. I've seen a one arc/chapter structures work well, and work badly. Done well, it makes it easier to get a tonal consistency within a chapter and means that readers have less to keep track of in a single session of reading, but done badly it can lead to problems with people losing track of arcs that haven't been seen for a while and means you lose storytelling opportunities. You mix the arcs quite well, providing interesting contrasts in tone, and the lighter sections give the reader a breather between the more intense events.