As group founder, I'm not terribly proud to say that I not only have a lot on my plate—let's see, dealing with kittens, chores, and piling more projects on myself than I can update, including an E-rated recursive fic of all things—but a lot of it, the latter two especially, I brought on myself. As mom always said, my eyes are far larger than my stomach. And boy, does that show.

But enough drabble-babble on my part. I may as well get this show on the road before IRL decides to shanghai me again. And what better way to do that than to knock a story out of the Pending folder right into another?

Today, we're looking at some Wandering Prey. Wordcount is sitting at a snug 25,938 words, divided into a good even six chapters and marked as incomplete… and it hasn't been updated since May of two years ago. I slogged through the first chapter. "Slogged" being the key word here.

Genre is… hoo boy. It's as follows: Teen-rated Adventure, Romance, Comedy, AU, and Hooman. Well ain't that a righty-tighty tagged mess? Only thing that I have that can hold a candle to that is my Silent Ponyville/Fall of Equestria crossover, but that's another drabble for another day, should I decide to ram that into Submissions when it reopens.

Not if. When. As of now, I am done piddly-farting around. If nothing else, I'll clear out the folders with reviews if nobody else'll step up to it. And this will be my first step.

Grammar: 9.5/10; sound, only spotted one teensy tense error and "a an" midway, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Characterization: There are three members of the Mane 6 who appear, and one who is mentioned, though all four instances are brief. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, and Applejack are very in character despite their limited story-time in chapter one, though Pinkie is… hellbent on a welcome party that's been postponed for three years straight, to the point of counting down to the last second. That said, 6.5/10 for this one.

Use of show canon: Sugarcube Corner looking like gingerbread, AJ's orchard, the marketplace, Cloudsdale cloud-walking magic, the Everfree Forest, Canterlot and potions are mentioned, though only that last one is used, and fairly early on. It also has golems (which I'll pass), Hunters (yeah, I dunno either), Sentinels, Watchers... So… 4.5/10 here; has a bit to work with, but not very fleshed out in regards to show canon.

Plot consistency: And now onto the fun stuff. First chapter in, I could barely tell what the plot even was, and that was with an exposition dump thrown right into my face. If there is any plot, then it's currently buried sideways. 2/10.

Use of OCs: Heeeeere we go. We've got two, and mention of a third. I'll focus on the primary one, who is this story's protagonist, by the name of Aiden… who is introduced by way of expo-dump pre-into-Equestria first few paragraphs in. He's a magician who runs around taking notes in Ponyville, though not before drinking a potion that gives me Conversion Bureau vibes with a side of time-limit on its effects. He does have some love put into him, and even has familiars watching his house (which is in the Everfree Forest, by the way) while he's gone, but… more attention is put on the expo-dumps than his character, and his establishing moment is a mercy kill of all things. A generous 4.5/10 here, but needs more love.

Coherence: 8/10, I understood most of it well. What I could not grasp, however, were bits and pieces regarding the expo-dump.

Extra things depending on genre: I will say this right now, this story read more like a crossover to me. A crossover that barely explained things. A crossover that seemingly expected me to know whatever the hell it was talking about from the get-go. And if it uses another franchise as the material, I don't even know what that is! And that irks me. But enough about that, let's continue with the grading.

Adventure was barely even hinted at. Aiden is established as wanting to go places, but can't. 1/10 for this one. Romance and Comedy? Not even there at all. Mentions he has feelings for AJ, but that's dashed with a "bestiality is weird" bit. Both score /10. Alternate Universe and Human are much more prominent, but even these fall a wee bit flat. 3/10 for each, partly due to expo-dump and partly due to pony-conversion potion.

Now, I will render my verdict. The story scores 42/110, or 38%. A firm rejection. It failed to impress me, to put it mildly. With this one, I'd recommend less expo-dumps and more care… and perhaps an overhaul and taking time to explain Aiden's previous universe pre-Equestria. Maybe an editor.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to corral Gizmo into bed.