"Hello, hello, hello, this is Thorny Bends coming at you live on Radio Free Canterlot, and from where I'm sitting, folks, the Land of the Eternal Moon is looking lovely. Well, except for that nasty smog cloud rolling toward us from the coast, but hey, that's the price of progress. Still, if you're heading outside you might want to think about an Easy Breezy-brand respirator, guaranteed to make the air taste like new. Buy yours from all major retailers today!
"As I'm sure you all know, it's been almost a thousand years since the founding of our great civilization. And as the big day approaches, I sure hope the High Castle set their clocks right. I'd hate to find out it was really last Thursday. Ha! But seriously, folks. I've been doing a fair bit of thinking about our fair Canterlot, and I've realized it isn't just somewhere we all live. It's what we build together into something greater as we all reach for the moon. A symbol for a way of life and a state of mind. So, in honor of the thousand years, I'm taking an eye in the sky peek into the lives of the ponies on the streets, and a few in the penthouses too. I don't often do real news on this show, but these are some genuine equine interest stories, folks. In their own small, unique way, these ponies are as vital to the city as the princess of the night herself. So settle down, get comfortable, and don't touch that dial.
"You won't want to miss this, I guarantee."
Oh, and if anyone's wondering about the absurdly high view count, I first posted chapter one like, six months ago, and opened it seventy-something times to check continuity and tinker with the prose. In retrospect, I probably should've made a new chapter with a "zero" count and copy-pasted the text in there, but, oh well.
Something to keep in mind for next time. 
How does Princess Luna keep her eternal night from freezing and starving all of Equestria? Also, I am greatly enjoying this story.
This is off to an amazing start. The scenes you paint are so evocative... I'll definitely be watching for more.
4508492
Weatherponies, basically. They help bring the warmer climate from the lands where the sun still shines over. Also, since the plants are sickly and don't produce as much oxygen and since there's a ton of pollution, the greenhouse effect is skyrocketing, trapping what heat there is inside.
I'm not a climatologist or anything, so that was the best I could come up with.
4508660
4508492
Glad to hear you're both enjoying it!
Hm, this one is so post-modernistic, with all that Atlas Shrugged and Fight club references, and maybe a ton of others I failed to notice, being not from English-speaking country.
Still, I'm interested, where it's going.
4515687
I am a post-modernist, actually. Umberto Eco was a big influence on my writing. Ayn Rand, however, was not. That was just a little jab at her expense that fit in well with the 1950s vibe I was going for in Joe's segment.
But I've never read any Chuck Palihunak, so I'm curious what you thought was a Fight Club reference.
4517800 There is nothing wrong with referencing something you personally not very fond of, but which leaved a significant cultural trace, especially if you are referencing it for the sake of character-building, and not just for fan-service sake.
Considering Fight Club... Well, the FC kick-offs from introducing a loner character who`s only hobby - mailodering IKEA stuff, in vain pursue of happiness, which aforementioned furniture should bring. I know that entire "stuff won`t make you happy" trope is very old - it is a big thing in Christianity (in-non Protestantism branches, at least), for example, but really a lot of people of my generation (in western and ex-USSR cultures), who now in there 2X years, were introduced to the idea that furniture aren't bringing you happiness via Fight Club (mostly by movie, I guess, though the book also was popular), so I assumed that Twilight section was also a wink to FC.
4520359
Ah. Well, actually, the furniture thing was more of a reference to life itself.
Well. I am definitely going to be keeping a close eye on this one. Also, it's good to find some fellow Philip K. Dick fans here.
"Hello, hello, hello, this is Thorny Bends coming at you live on Radio Free Canterlot, and from where I'm sitting, folks, the Land of the Eternal Moon is looking lovely. Well, except for that nasty smog cloud rolling toward us from the coast, but hey, that's the price of progress."
"As I'm sure you all know, it's been almost a thousand years since the founding of our great civilization."
Reading this remembered me on something and after watching the trailer I can't help myself but reading these lines with the voice of Adrienne Barbeau:
http://youtu.be/nOZwnivtLbc?t=8s
Was the description maybe inspired by this?
Heh. The idea is intriguing (are there many rikshas in this Canterlot?), but I'll wait to read the story till it's finished.
4521972
I am a huge Carpenter fan and own almost all his movies, but it wasn't actually inspired by The Fog, at least not consciously.
I've only played the demo of Spec Ops, but I thought it was a brilliant touch how they recast the Photojournalist character as a disc jockey who comments on the player's actions. There was a little of that rambling Dennis Hopper, "He's a great man! I'm very small, but he's a great man!", and there's a little Howard Beale in Thorny Bends too, although she's more genial and less raving than either of those two. Just a kind of mad oracle of the airwaves, a grinning prophet for the "modern" age.
4521980
Quite the opposite, actually. This Canterlot is more industrialized than its canon cousin.
Also, the story is technically finished. I've already uploaded all nineteen chapters as rough drafts. I just take a few days to pass through each one, smoothing it out and beefing it up, and then it gets posted.
4521929
Watch away! Always glad to meet someone who loves his....
....literature from the pen of Philip.
Wait, a Pony version of "The Man in the High Castle!?"
....Who'll represent the Nazis and who'll represent the Imperial Japanese? The Changelings and the Griffons? Actually, never mind! I'll just read it and find out!
I also still need to finish the actual novel....
4522118
I didn't follow the plot of the novel very closely, because just going through the motions with MLP characters would be incredibly boring. But just so you know, there is one thing in the final chapters that might spoil the story for you. Fair warning!
4522163 If it's either of the Two major things that happen near the end, I already know about those. I actually learned about the Novel while reading about Alternate History on TV Tropes. Which does pose a question: It's more of a thematic adaptation (which is more interesting) but will the Book-within-a-Book about yet ANOTHER Alternate History be present in some form? Just curious. Also, I really need to read this when I get home.
4522208
Kind of. There's a definite undercurrent about the relationship between a person (well, a pony, but you get the idea) and their fiction that goes throughout the story, but none of them deal with an alternate universe where Celestia won the battle per se. I had some plans, but the story ended up getting away from me and I needed to simplify it or I'd go crazy after being bogged down in 300,000 words (how do those Fallout people do it?!).
Dick always wanted to write a sequel, but always ended up changing the premise. Perhaps there might be one to this story on the horizon, after all is said and done, with some of my discarded ideas given new life.
4522067
Then I guess your subconscious mind took over here, because Thorny Bends totally sounds like a ponified Adrienne Barbeau.
The lines are almost the same, just "fog" replaced with "smog cloud" and "100 years" with "1000 years".
I worship you just for that reference alone!
You may want to write a MLP: FiM/The Fog crossover one day.
You would do that quite well, if it is any indication how you're nailed her radio speech from the movie here.
I'm kinda reminded of The Lego Movie, in the way life for everypony is living a kinda prepackaged life but most are happy with their lot, but only because they don't know the alternative.
Lego Movie wasn't the first to do that, not even close, but it is the one I'm most familiar with.
4508688 And all the animals have ricketts from the lack of Vitamin D.
Color me intrigued. As much by your Atlas Shrugged reference and application as anything else. It will be very interesting to see where and how everything plays out (I've not read The Man in the High Castle). I also tend toward Celestia over Luna...
Hmm, a very interesting start…
Alright, chapter 2 is coming soon, but first, I feel the need to make a public statement:
Yes, I've seen the Mitchell & Webb sketch.
Yes, the comparison occurred to me as well.
No, it wasn't based on the sketch.
Thank you.
Not sure where this is going, but I'm interested.
So now we've seen Rarity, Twilight, and Fluttershy. I wonder what the other members of the Mane 6 are doing.
4548548
And that's my final word on the subject.
Well, until I, y'know....post more chapters.
4548814
:D
I know that this is not the case, but...
You have yet to name the princess in the story, so it is (currently) possible that Celestia came out victorious, but was so distraught after banishing NMM that she went a little crazy created the eternal night...
4548968
It's possible, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
I'm saving the namedrop for the right moment.
Nice chapter.
BTW, would spacing POWs with one empty line increase readability, wouldn't it?
4549594 Ouch, nevermind, it seems that they are separated, but somehow output to .epub purge those lines
4548814
Love the story so far. Absolutely love it. I'm in the middle of writing a fic myself, and I hope to write half as well as you in the future. You are excellent.
My theory on Rainbow is that she's dead, and Fluttershy has her picture in the bathroom. The Apples are alive and well, since the world has cider. Or did Flim and Flam take over with their technology? Or did the Apples do the smart thing and embrace technology?
It's going to be sad to hear about Pinkie. There's too many ponies to please in the big cities, she would never be able to remember their names and birthdays...and without the Sonic Rainboom...
EDIT:
Oh sweet Celestia, there's no Sonic Rainboom and no Cutie Marks. The implications are frightening.
4549606
....I'm not following....?
4550113
The picture on the mirror is actually of a sculpture, by the same sculptor Twilight is reading about at the end.
That frightens you?
....you should back out now, while you still have the chance.
4550295
I think I'll stick around for the ride. This promises to be a good one.
4548968 4548997
Surprise Twist: it's actually Princess Cadence!
4550245 You mark switch from POW to POW by empty line, which is totally fine. And while reading story at the fimfiction itself, it renders fine.
But I'm really used to reading on the go, so I usually download the .epub files to handheld... And for some reason my default application failed to render <br> tag, so it all looked like a wall of text to me. So I mistook a bug in a reader app for a lack of POW spacing.
So instead of complain here I better to submit a bug to developer of the app.
4550804 Or Princess Twilight, that accidentally slipped from another AU
4550804
Damn, my cunning twist is exposed!
4551501
Aha, I see the problem. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say English isn't your first language, because a 'POW' is either a soldier who gets captured by the enemy or an onomotopeia graphic from a '60s Batman episode.
POV is the acronym you're looking for.
4552485 Yeah, English is nor my first language and neither the second
And the characters brush against each other… I wonder when they'll meet and stick?
I doubt Vinyl Scratch has done well in this timeline.
No AJ or Pinkie thus far. I wonder what they're up to?
Pinkie seems the type to be on radio.
4573950
Next chapter (almost done!) will be getting into some of that.
But, truth be told, you might wish you hadn't found out....
4574820
You've made a world where everyone is either outwardly unhappy or they put on a façade of happiness. I've read this much and expect more of the same, generally speaking.
Although I do hope their situation gets better as part of the plot.
4574983
Well, lemme put it this way. This is my unofficial theme for Chapter 4:
Surf's up!
You executed Granny Smith. *Downvote*