What Is The 'My Little Pony Infection' Trend?

Despite ending nearly 5 years ago and having faded out of popularity even earlier, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is back in the public eye in the most bizarre way. A viral trend on TikTok began in late 2023, with users creating AUs, or 'alternate universes' in which the characters of My Little Pony become infected with horrific viruses, causing an apocalypse. Where did this grim and gorey trend begin? And why is it so popular? Let's discuss!

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Petz Catz 2 OST

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All credit goes to the musicians and composers! This video is not meant to target or harass any person. This video does not condone or encourage anyone to harass or contact any person or persons discussed in this video. This video is purely for entertainment and informational purposes.

[starrycircus]

"Happy to see his babygirl" Scared me to absolute death upon seeing it for the first time. Now I just see him as a silly guy with sick dance moves

[reicse]

i saw one au where when the ponies get infected they turn into anatomically correct horses, and another one where they are actually little plastic toys and getting infected by plastic-eating worms that twilight made lmao

[zackpumpkinhead]

I think "weird and/or gross my little pony" has been a genre since the first physicians of the Renaissance performed public dissections

[uncocharmaggedon]

For Swamp Fever AUs, I’d love the idea of “counting trees” being a common practice. The infected would resemble normal trees but still be able to move. Ponies would have to remember how many trees were in an area incase a new one suddenly appeared overnight.

[ifeeldead]

Shoutout to that one artist on Twitter whose infection AU is basically "the cartoon horses are turning into realistic horses". It was hilarious

[elibrooks]

"whats the point of making a whole new universe if you cant put your silly little guys in there" this is so real

[EHB-mvdd]

It’s been so weird seeing these with no context. Just scrolling and seeing gore of pinkie pie. Sure brings me back to the good ol days of my childhood

[Everysinglepersonismyenemy]

I like how grimdark MLP:FiM fiction is one of the few constants on the Internet. Times change, trends rise and fall, eras come to an end, but there will always be fanart of Pinkie Pie covered in blood

[Starbonsai]

I saw an au where their cutie marks infect them and make them sort of possesed by their cutie marks, hyperfocusing on their elements to a very dangerous extent around them. I think this is such a fun version of this au because it adds that magic part that equestria has. Might try to make my own version of this

[Starving_indev]

When I was a kid I created an AU in my head where Flattershy died storming the beaches of Normandy
I cried so many nights out thinking about it😭

[WhateverThisIsItsWeird]

I think its a mixture of nostalgia and the trauma of enduring COVID-19 that allows these infection AUs to gain traction

[Zyvear]

So many fandoms die out soon after new content stops being made for the media they’re centered around, so it brings me so much joy that mlp still has a pretty large fandom, despite the series ending 5 years ago.

[strawbebbycat]

One thing I really love about the infection aus is how so many of them have a direct breakdown of how the various diseases progress/present, I've always been more interested in the virus aspect of zombie virus horror but a lot of times the format doesn't give an opportunity to really study the virus, so I appreciate people giving me the chance to play make believe scientist lol

[animalsandlifelife]

I actually have one called Pony Wasting Disease. Its an infection that mainly only affects ponies (more on that in a sec) and the symptoms will make them loopy and unpredictable, sometimes writhing around and sometimes attacking others. But the thing its that its a very new infection, so everyone is learning in real time the stages and symptoms of the infection, as it only started half a week ago in the story. The mane 6 are all held in Celestia's castle in a bunker to help research a cure, and Twilight gives out radio updates to the outside world.

But, by name, this only affects PONIES, earth ponies pegasi and unicorns. Other species of creatures in equestria do not know if they would be affected by it or not. A zebra, hidden changeling, and hippogriff are searching for safety. A batpony joins them, but they are unsure if she could carry the disease or not. I did this because i love exploring the potential of the other species in the show.

[silja]

It's interesting how these MLP Infection AUs have gotten so big that they're being made in other fandoms too. Like I've seen a few Trolls infection AUs around. People just love making messed up art of the most lighthearted colorful kids' franchises huh 😭

[sinnamon-wade]

I feel like the popularity of analog horror might of helped too, i learned about the swamp infection one through analog horror at least. I think people just enjoy horror and love turning innocence things into something horrifying

[Chasm]

I’ve been following the Everfree Infection au by mrsgendered. The simplicity of their infected ponies are more creepy to me than the other grandiose ones I’ve seen /lh. The posts are not in chronological order, so it’s fun watching people connect the dots.
Edit: the father himself appears omgg 😭😭

[honestlynotarobot]

I believe AUs where there are infections, trauma etc are just a healthy way of exploring difficult emotions by yourself or with others. And if you have this old series with an established lore, world and characters that others know of already, you have a melting pot of creative ways to share ideas with a broad net of like minded people. The allure of "what if..." is palpable.

And we have a recent global infection trauma we are still working through, so safely expressing those emotions creatively with others through fandom is really, really healthy. Yes, even through Ponies.

One of the darkest, stressful times of my life years ago I went full first into a fandom with AUs and discussions all day every day. It got goofy, it got edgy and at one point really gorey but.. we all drew mad stuff together. I am so grateful to have been so sincerely supported and encouraged to create at the time when I needed it most.

I recommend to anyone to find your mad fandom people. Make weird TV programme stories, rewrite the world of a movie, idk make walter white have long black hair with red highlights - DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO

[effluviah]

On Tumblr I saw one younger poster say something along the lines of "I think the MLP infection AU is a reflection of how fucked up the pandemic has made us. Like, I fully believed it would be like a zombie apocalypse at first. I had dreams about my family's faces rotting off while everyone died around us, and I'm not the only one because my friends all had some version of this nightmare. Adults were forced to go to work and carry on as they all keep dying and getting sick around each other, but I think teens and below have the blinders off and we can still see the damage and feel the fear." I think that was just a really interesting thing to hear, because I think they might be right, at least for some people/younger/new fans-- The appeal of the Infection AU might be working through ongoing pandemic trauma.

[thecryingsoul]

You talking about your own AU was the sweetest part of this, I just love how much heart you approach the topics you cover with