Timelines! · 3:30am Nov 20th, 2016
Guys, I've been driving myself insane lately trying to place the story in the show's timeline. Obviously Landshark arrives in a post-Tirek world AND sometime after Cranky and Matilda's wedding, and I probably need to add the AU tag since my Equestria has changelings in it (feel free to pretend something similar to your favorite changeling redemption story took place at some point).
The little plotline with Trixie took place before the Starlight Glimmer/Trixie friendship in the show, I'd say. I really enjoyed that episode. Honestly I'm just hemming and hawing about using Starlight Glimmer. I'm fond of time-skips so I wanna say we're coming up on about a year having passed since Landshark's arrival (which took place vaguely somewhere in spring/summer).
My big concerns are basically using Starlight Glimmer and making references to Flurry Heart. I mean, her debut episode was five months after I wrote the chapter where Landshark meets Princess Cadenza.
I don't have big plans for either. I guess I'm just feeling insecure at the moment.
You're already in solid AU territory just by having Landshark exist in this story. As for character inclusion, this is your project so just do what you feel comfortable handling. At worst you can just cherry pick what works and disregard the rest.
It's kind of hard to stay completely true to the show canon since they change stuff on occasion. The changeling being the most recent example.