Story: 'Between Bassdrops and Bowstrings' by Quillian Inkheart

Read the first two chapters (ca11000 words)

Pros:
A lot of thoughtful wordbuilding.
Fitting names for the ponies that show up at the beginnig of the story, also they sound nicely.
Reading how Echo Scratch and his daughter interact in this story put a smile on my face.
Good placed hints of memories, giving the story some better emotional site.
Quite a sense of humour beneatht he surface here and there. Nothing to obvious but still subtle present.
The emotions when it comes to family talk.
Events of the show are build into the story in a very good way.
The author is able to write emotinal scenes in a touching way.

Cons:
Quite boring start, there is a lack of atmosphere in my opinion.
While the story is not tagged AU, a lot of not cannon worldbuilding is involved in matter of family bonds.
The first chapter really is in a hurry it seems, the scenes theirself don't take the time to show you around, it feels like one of Twilights checklists. More so the scenes don't seems to be realistic in my small opinion.
The story has a high rate of inflation in matter of legends. The first few ponies that show up after the school scene are all either legends or famous and stuff.
Quote from the authors note: 'not wanting to give into cheap cliche and stereotyping' <- really missed that.
The story tries to get some more atmosphere at some points but it doesn't really fit at that spots.
A lot of rough spots, lining up scenes, instead of writing a story sometimes.

Summary:
Well this story really has it ups and downs. First, I must say that the start was a dissapointment. I felt like an random scene just to have a 'The main characters met' event. Followed by some scenes that had a purpose but not really a good buildup, lack of atmosphere or realism. The author seemed to had a great bigger idea and just needed to put everything together at all cost as soon as possible. There is a lot of stuff that could be overworked and made more smooth.
On the other hand, what is really great at this story are the emotions of the characters when they 'talk/think' about themself, their situation or when the family members interact with each other. While reading you can almost grab the main idea and you can feel with the characters.

I am a bit split minded about this story to be honest. From an emotional side, I like it. Pushing the logic and realism to the side, the content is interesting, touching and entertaining, I would like to read what comes next. BUT! From a reviewers side, when I have to think about the backroundmechanics, realism of the characters and what events happens, I can just shake my head at too many spots. As a reviewer, I must focus not only on the emotions but also from the skill with which the story is written with and the general quality of all aspects. And this ruins the story for me.

So let me say, if you read it for the emotions, you will have a good time, if you read it for the overall quality and want perfection, you will be dissapointed.

Rating:
This one is not easy to judge, like said, a lot of good stuff as well as bad stuff.
For the emotions I would give 8.5/10
For the presentation and realism 3/10
For the idea itself 7/10
And a few extra points for how the show events are build into the story.

In the end I would say: 7/10

Side note: There is a linebreak to much in chapter 2 when Noteworthy and Octaviy enter the building next to the music store.