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The Most Perturbing MLP infection AU — Transcript

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0:04In the woods of Everfree, horrid voices
0:07call to thee.
0:08Bile seeps like sap drip from a pine,
0:11calls to me with a voice like mine.
0:14It floods all ears and ties all tongues.
0:17Something wicked this way comes.
0:23>> [music]
0:26>> Hello everypony. I am here to tell you
0:29that as of recently I have fallen down a
0:30very weird, very scary rabbit hole.
0:33>> [laughter]
0:33>> As of the past 3 weeks, I have been
0:35absolutely basking in pony gore upon
0:38discovering a niche that I've become
0:39fairly addicted to. My Little Pony
0:42Horror, specifically but not exclusively
0:44the infection alternate universes, also
0:46known as AUs. These bad boys have some
0:49of the best horror art I've seen in a
0:50hot minute, and a good deal of them
0:52actually have some pretty compelling and
0:54perturbing stories as well. This trend
0:55got really popular back in 2024 when the
0:58fans who grew up watching the show began
0:59to draw and write their own derivative
1:01work, imagining what would happen if the
1:03world of My Little Pony was struck with
1:05some kind of horrific disease that
1:07transforms the ponies into nightmarish
1:09monstrosities. And when I say that this
1:11has some of the creepiest body horror
1:12art you'll ever see, I mean it.
1:15Anyway, I decided to pick the AU I found
1:17[music] personally most iconic, and over
1:19the course of writing this video I ended
1:20up finding out that it's also by far the
1:22most perturbing, none other [music] than
1:24Divine Swamp Fever. My goal here is to
1:27analyze the out of every single
1:29post to uncover as many secrets as I
1:30can. And I found that once you put them
1:32all together, they reveal a bigger
1:34picture that is just pure unfettered
1:36nightmare fuel.
1:38Without further ado, let's take a deep
1:39dive into this nightmarish AU.
1:43The passage I read at the beginning of
1:44the video is a warning Zecora gave to
1:46Twilight about the disease that was to
1:48come, and Twilight ignored it.
1:50Originating from the depths of the
1:52Everfree Forest, the Divine Swamp Fever
1:53is a reinterpretation of disease that is
1:55canon to the My Little Pony Friendship
1:57is Magic show, where if you come into
1:59contact with the spores of a certain
2:00plant, you contract an illness that will
2:02slowly transform you into a tree. And
2:04artist Chloe Alonzo shows us what would
2:06happen if this disease was distilled by
2:08Satan. The result
2:14it speaks for itself.
2:16The pony you're seeing here is Shining
2:17Armor. He had been sent to Ponyville to
2:19investigate why all the correspondence
2:21has [music] suddenly stopped, only to
2:22then become afflicted with the Divine
2:24Swine Fever.
2:25Unsure of his fate, he immediately tried
2:27to return home to see his wife Cadence
2:28and his daughter Flurry Heart before the
2:30worst came to pass.
2:32While he still managed to pay for travel
2:33and avoid detection on his way back
2:35home, by the time he had to re-enter the
2:37Crystal Empire, his mind was too far
2:38gone.
2:39He was quickly subdued and taken to the
2:41dungeons of the Crystal Empire, where he
2:43is monitored around the clock while a
2:44cure is being researched. By the point
2:46we see him, his mind has already been
2:48melted away by the disease, making him
2:50unable to form complete thoughts. With
2:53tears in his eyes, he repeatedly bashes
2:55his head against the wall trying to
2:56escape, even though his horn and parts
2:58of his skull are broken. All he wants is
3:00to be reunited with his family. And
3:02herein lies what makes this disease so
3:04evil. As it mangles and putrefies the
3:07body, it traps the mind in a prison made
3:09of its own hazy memories. And I believe
3:11this is not a bug, but rather a feature.
3:14We'll come back to this for one of my
3:15theories later on, but for now let's try
3:17to understand how this disease works
3:19because the Shining Armor we're seeing
3:20here is still on the early stages of the
3:22infection.
3:24The Divine Swine Fever has six distinct
3:26stages to its infection, and a pony will
3:28[music] enter the first stage upon
3:29either coming into contact with the
3:30spores produced by the Tree of Harmony
3:33or getting bitten by an infected pony.
3:35From here on out, the newly infected
3:37pony will experience symptoms of loss of
3:39appetite, irritated eyes, drowsiness,
3:41and a lot of thirst. The recommended
3:43course of action is to quarantine the
3:45pony, but it only gets worse from here
3:47on out.
3:48In stage two, [music] as the disease
3:50slowly fills the creature's insides,
3:51highly infectious black bile will start
3:54seeping from the orifices, mainly the
3:56mouth and any existing wounds.
3:59The pony will have a very hard time
4:00eating and their brain [music] fog will
4:02get to a point where they become trapped
4:03inside their own mind, unable to
4:05understand the world around them.
4:07Starting on this stage and from then on,
4:09the recommended course of action [music]
4:10when finding an infected is to
4:11neutralize them.
4:13Stage three is when the disease really
4:15picks up. The ponies will start shedding
4:17their mane and tail and in case of the
4:19pegasi, the feathers will become loose
4:21and start falling from the wings.
4:23The respiratory and digestive systems
4:24[music] erode along with the abdominal
4:26muscles as the disease's focus is on
4:28fully converting the ponies' organs and
4:30muscle tissue into bile, with it having
4:32already fully replaced their blood and
4:33seeping constantly from the mouth and
4:35wounds.
4:36In this stage, very curiously, they
4:38don't experience pain but rather extreme
4:40discomfort.
4:41>> [music]
4:41>> The body reacts on instinct as the mind
4:43keeps replaying old hazy memories. They
4:46can barely process what's going on in
4:47the outside world, but if a memory
4:49aligns with an external [music]
4:50stimulus, such as seeing a loved one, it
4:53may provoke a moment of lucidity.
4:56Stage four is when we start seeing major
4:58deformities, not due to some mutation,
5:00but because the body is now a carcass
5:02completely hollowed out and filled with
5:03bile, leaving nothing except for thin,
5:06fragile skin and the bones. The pony has
5:08now become little more than a walking
5:10water balloon. Their rough equestrian
5:13shape only maintained by their skeleton.
5:15At this point, the bile will start
5:16showing a curious property where once
5:18exposed to air, it will start to clot,
5:20solidifying into soft, root-like
5:22strands.
5:23>> [music]
5:24>> By the fifth stage, the pony is either
5:25slow or immobile. Rotting skin clings to
5:28the bio-scaffolding until it either
5:30falls away or is absorbed, with the
5:32latter being more common.
5:34I'm pretty sure that they're no longer
5:35aggressive at this point as their mouth
5:36is far too distended and their [music]
5:38jaw muscles have long since turned into
5:39bile.
5:41At the sixth and final stage, [music]
5:42the hooves will root in place, the head
5:44rears upward and the bile that comes out
5:46of the distended mouth will start to
5:47bundle together to form a trunk-like
5:49structure.
5:50Most of the bile in the body will
5:51coalesce into this structure, putting
5:53its skyward for a few meters before it
5:55begins to branch. At this point, they've
5:57become what are known as [music]
5:58imperfect trees, still alive and still
6:01trying to breathe out of instinct even
6:02though their lungs have long since been
6:03dissolved.
6:04>> [music]
6:05>> But evidence suggests that this isn't
6:06the end for whoever gets infected as the
6:09divine swamp fever appears to transcend
6:11what a normal [music] disease should be
6:12able to do.
6:13We'll uncover more on some of the
6:15following posts as there is something
6:17almost eldritch [music] about this
6:19disease. But regardless of its true
6:21nature, effort must be made to halt its
6:23spread.
6:23>> [music]
6:24>> Let's take a look at how some of the
6:25characters are doing.
6:27Princess Cadance is sustaining a
6:28protective barrier around the Crystal
6:29Empire until her scholars find a
6:31long-term solution for that. She is
6:33immune to the infection, but [music]
6:35maintaining the shield around the empire
6:36takes up a lot of her power and there's
6:38a chance that she could become
6:39susceptible as exhaustion takes hold.
6:42Sunburst is one of Cadance's scholars
6:44and he's working on a way to use the
6:45artifacts to sustain a long-term shield.
6:48Once a solution is found, they can work
6:49on treating Shining Armor.
6:51Discord, Twilight, and Starlight were
6:53working around the clock with the
6:54Ponyville medical staff to help the
6:56quarantined ponies, but since Ponyville
6:58is so [music] spread out, it's much
6:59harder to contain the infection.
7:01Presently, only Ponyville major is being
7:03shielded by Twilight. Their hope is to
7:05establish communication with another
7:06community to understand the scale of
7:08what they're dealing with.
7:10However, as Starlight was working in an
7:11infected [music] zone, she was attacked
7:13and didn't manage to defend herself.
7:15The flesh surrounding her spine has
7:17degraded, making it difficult for her to
7:18move and [music] leaving her slow and
7:20shambling with tears in her eyes as she
7:22struggles to make sense of what became
7:23of her.
7:24She has keen senses but is not very
7:26aggressive.
7:28Celestia works full-time maintaining
7:29shields around Canterlot and other
7:31surrounding communities. [music]
7:32Luna is in charge of working on a cure
7:34and handling logistical affairs.
7:36Since the infected are dreaming all the
7:38time, she is able to dream walk into
7:39their minds. They hope that they can
7:41learn [music] something from the
7:42infected without having to be physically
7:44near them.
7:46Applejack and her family are seen in a
7:47separate quarantine zone and are
7:49responsible for keeping Ponyville fed.
7:51And while Applejack is fulfilling that
7:52job well, Big Mac is struggling with the
7:54nightmares and guilt of having left a
7:55pony behind.
7:57Rarity has taken on nursing duties,
7:59working along with Nurse Redheart and
8:00the others on quarantining and treating
8:02the infected.
8:04No information is given on this earlier
8:05post about Fluttershy, but it's later
8:07revealed that she's staying in the
8:08Ponyville hospital.
8:10Pinkie Pie has become infected and was
8:12last seen wandering through the woods.
8:14Judging from her appearances, she looks
8:16to be in stage two. The most perturbing
8:18detail of the scene is her haunting
8:20strained laughter.
8:24>> [screaming]
8:30>> In the official MLP canon, it's revealed
8:32that laughter is Pinkie's way of dealing
8:34with anything that scares her.
8:36Rainbow Dash has been found plucking her
8:38own feathers, hiding away in the
8:39basement of a derelict structure. From
8:42the look of it, she also appears to be
8:43on stage two. And the cries of agony
8:45that she makes are just
8:47>> [screaming]
8:54>> Ugh, She displays a behavior not
8:56too dissimilar to that of Shining Armor.
8:59[music] The footage is even labeled
9:00self-destruction in both cases. One must
9:03wonder what it is about this infection
9:04[music] that induces this
9:06self-destructive behavior. This isn't
9:08just a really up disease. There
9:10is something bigger hiding beneath the
9:12surface, and some of the answers lie at
9:14the end of Shining Armor's storyline
9:16[music] through this AU. The containment
9:18cell could only hold him for so long. By
9:20the time we next see him, he has managed
9:22to escape and is well into stage four.
9:25He shambles through the empty stone
9:26halls, slowly rotting from the inside.
9:29The decaying muscle fibers make [music]
9:31every step a struggle. The skin sagging
9:33and deforming as the bile ferments in
9:35his insides. [music]
9:36And yet, he continues, moved by the
9:39thinnest thread of hope that he could
9:41see Cadence and Flurry Heart one last
9:43time.
9:44After some time wandering through the
9:45castle, he eventually manages to find
9:47the two, as well as Sunburst. Princess
9:50Cadence is utterly distraught to see
9:52what has become of her husband. The
9:54shock breaks her concentration on the
9:55shielding spell around the Crystal
9:57Empire, leaving it to vulnerable to the
9:58infection. Shining Armor is slowly
10:01approaching, and she can only manage to
10:02issue one order to Sunburst. Get Flurry
10:05Heart out of there.
10:07The screen cuts to black, and in the
10:09next scene, the ponies are nowhere to be
10:11seen. Except where Cadence once stood,
10:13now lies a pool of bile with hoof steps
10:15leading in Shining Armor's direction,
10:17curiously.
10:19Past this point, we never hear or see
10:21Cadence again, but we do get a few clips
10:23showing Shining Armor's last lucid
10:25moments before the infection overtakes
10:27his mind completely.
10:29He lies in the dark, tears of bile
10:31flowing freely from his eyes as he
10:32struggles to understand what happened.
10:35His boiling mind torments him with the
10:37cries of a daughter that is no longer
10:38there. And Morse code in the background
10:40spells out his thoughts.
10:42Thinking of you.
10:46Bile bursts forth from his body and
10:47mouth as the cries of Flurry Heart
10:49become distant, and are interspersed
10:51with a cacophony that is very indicative
10:52of his state of mind. Still, he clings
10:55to the fading, comforting memory of his
10:57family.
10:58The comments deciphered the Morse code
10:59to be the following sentence.
11:02I see you in my mind, always. I will
11:05wait. I lie still in the quiet. I will
11:08wait. I will roam.
11:11I will wait.
11:13In the last of the videos, as Shining
11:14Armor is in the early stages of phase
11:16six, the Morse code is too echoed and
11:18jumbled to make sense of anything past
11:20the first two letters, I and M.
11:24He looks into the camera with desperate,
11:26pleading eyes, and a message appears in
11:27the corner.
11:29Information. I have information.
11:32I am not alone in here.
11:35Now, what does that mean?
11:39Most of the clips from the Divine Swamp
11:40Fever AU are preceded by a warning that
11:42tells the viewer not to look, as well as
11:44the source from which the video was
11:46procured. Both these elements are more
11:48important than they seem at first sight.
11:50These are tapes being compiled by
11:52Twilight in an attempt to figure out how
11:54the disease works and how to cure it.
11:56She built a kind of machine capable of
11:58reading minds, and along with Princess
12:00Luna, they're peering into dreams,
12:02memories, and the streams of
12:03consciousness of both the infected
12:04ponies and those who came into close
12:06contact with them.
12:07The footage can have many sources, but
12:09the ones I'd like to bring your
12:10attention to are the sources Insider and
12:13Outsider.
12:14I've seen two prevalent theories as to
12:16what these terms could mean. The first
12:18is pretty simple. Insider pertains to
12:20infected ponies who have been found
12:22inside quarantine zones, whereas
12:24Outsiders refer to ponies found outside
12:26of the zones.
12:28The second theory is a little bit more
12:29interesting and the one I personally
12:31adhere to, as [music] there seems to be
12:33more evidence to support it.
12:35Take note of how all the footage labeled
12:37as Outsider shows ponies in the earlier
12:39stages of infection.
12:41Me at the one hit of gas stations. I
12:43counted three videos in total. All three
12:45of them show Pinkie and one of them also
12:46has Rainbow Dash. They don't look like
12:48they're doing well by any means, but
12:50from their appearance, we can tell that
12:51they can't be much further than stage
12:53three. Their mane hasn't even started
12:55shedding yet, so I would further argue
12:57that maybe they're in a transition
12:59between stages two and three.
13:01Now, the footage with the source labeled
13:03as Insider shows ponies in a much later
13:05stage of infection. I counted four
13:07videos in total. We have an unknown pony
13:09who's recently reached stage six,
13:11Shining Armor who's also recently
13:13reached stage six, Starlight who we've
13:15seen transitioning between stages four
13:17to five to six,
13:22and Lyra who from this footage appears
13:24to be deep into stage five, given how
13:26distended her mouth is. If you think
13:28about it, it doesn't really make sense
13:30for the insider ponies to be the ones
13:31who have infiltrated the quarantine
13:33zones precisely because they are in the
13:35later stages of infection.
13:37Those are the ponies you'd expect to
13:39find it deep into infected areas,
13:41whereas in the supposedly clean
13:42quarantine zones, the only infected
13:44ponies you'd be seen should be in the
13:46earlier stages of infection.
13:48Remember that at the later stages, the
13:50bile consumes everything, including most
13:52of the musculature, so the late-stage
13:54infected shouldn't be anywhere near
13:56mobile enough to be able to infiltrate a
13:58quarantine zone.
14:00So, what do the terms insider and
14:01outsider mean? The second theory posits
14:04that these terms refer to the infected
14:05ponies' state of mind, where outsider is
14:08respective of ponies who are trapped in
14:09the abstract maze of their own precious
14:11memories, and insider is respective of
14:13ponies who have been fully assimilated
14:15by the tree of harmony.
14:17What Shining Armor meant by I am not
14:19alone in here is that once you get past
14:21a certain point in the disease, once
14:23your mind has fully corroded into the
14:24bile, the tree of harmony links the
14:26ponies' consciousness into a sort of
14:28hive mind that contains all other
14:30imperfect trees.
14:32I believe the jumbled Morse code we see
14:33in his final video is a representation
14:35of the voices of other infected joining
14:37in in his consciousness, and I'm pretty
14:40sure we get to see the exact moment
14:41where the transition between an [music]
14:43outsider and an insider happens. One of
14:45the videos shows Pinkie's stream of
14:46consciousness as she's well into stage
14:48four. As expected, she is trapped in her
14:51own mind, picturing herself alone at
14:52home making faces in the mirror.
14:55But an instant her blissful days breaks,
14:57and she glimpses her true appearance.
15:00She looks at her own reflection with
15:01confusion, and then we cut to this image
15:03where Morse code repeats the message,
15:05"Be not afraid."
15:08This particular choice of words with all
15:09its biblical connotations make me
15:11believe that this is a representation of
15:13the tree of harmony as it beckons
15:15[music] Pinkie to join it.
15:17To add to this, there's some tiny text
15:18in the upper left corner that spells out
15:20Pinkie's thoughts. The font is really
15:22tiny, so some parts of it are just
15:23straight-up indecipherable. Here it is
15:25in case anyone wants to give it a try,
15:27but the rest of them have been decoded
15:29by the comments to say as follows.
15:31"I knew it. My head was unusually clear.
15:34I was at ease. They put me at ease, and
15:37I'm sure something felt wrong, and they
15:39led me right back down."
15:41It's interesting to see how as this
15:43disease morphs the body, it also tries
15:45to soften you up mentally, showing you
15:47imperfect recreations of your comforting
15:49memories to get you to lower your guard
15:51for your assimilation to the hive mind.
15:54But it gets so much worse than that.
15:56We've taken a look at what the sources
15:58insider and outsider mean, but there are
16:00two other main sources, those being
16:03dream sample and memory bank.
16:06Dream sample is pretty self-explanatory.
16:08Luna and Twilight peep into the dreams
16:10of the infected to get any information
16:12they can. Luna tried doing that a few
16:14times, and it backfired a little bit,
16:17but that doesn't really deter either of
16:18them, especially Twilight, as we'll see
16:21later on.
16:22The other source, memory bank, is a
16:24little bit more elusive, but Twilight's
16:26machine, despite being literally called
16:28the dream machine, is capable of doing
16:31more than that. [music] It can also tune
16:32into ponies' minds and read their
16:34memories freely at a range, and as we'll
16:36later find out, without their consent.
16:39There are two main storylines we get to
16:41follow through these sources. The first
16:43one shows the consequences of Big Mac
16:44leaving someone behind, and the second I
16:47shall reveal much later for dramatic
16:48effect. We're not shown exactly what
16:50happens, but Big Mac was trying to help
16:52Bon Bon escape Lyra, her canonical wife.
16:56As he is running away, Bon Bon kept
16:57telling Big Mac to go back and help her,
16:59but he knew that once the infection gets
17:01to you, there is nothing that can be
17:03done. With tears in their eyes, they had
17:05to leave her, and that event marked Big
17:08Mac ever since.
17:10One of the videos shows him in a daze as
17:13memories of that day flash back in his
17:14mind.
17:18>> No!
17:18>> [screaming]
17:24>> Granny Smith shows up in the doorway and
17:26gently urges him to go to bed.
17:29He complies.
18:11Big Mac is saved by the moon peering
18:13through the window.
18:14It's Princess Luna and she's peering
18:16into his dream.
18:17This is something that she's been doing
18:19pretty liberally.
18:21Sustaining the barriers around Canterlot
18:23and the adjacent settlements is quickly
18:24exhausting Celestia's magic.
18:27As such, Luna has taken up the duties of
18:28rising and setting the sun and she's
18:31growing increasingly desperate to find a
18:32solution to the madness surrounding her.
18:38And so, she does what she does best,
18:40walking into ponies' dreams trying to
18:42understand the aspects of the disease
18:43that go beyond contagion.
19:07>> Near you.
19:13Near you.
19:30>> Bon Bon finds herself weeping before a
19:32river.
19:40A figure approaches from the other side.
20:35Let's interpret this together.
20:37Bon Bon is having a dream reminiscing of
20:39the day she lost her lover.
20:41From what we saw in the cardboard show
20:42thingy, it seemed that it was a rainy
20:44day and there was some kind of flooding
20:46or body of water involved. It would make
20:48sense that this element would be present
20:50in the dream and it would moreover serve
20:52as a barrier between her and Lyra.
20:54The thing is that the pony she's talking
20:56to is not Lyra, not anymore.
21:00Think of the way she replies to Bon Bon.
21:02Pay close attention to the way Lyra
21:04delivers her line.
21:11>> Yes, it's lots of me.
21:13>> It's said in a very monotone robotic
21:15[music] fashion, not something you'd
21:16hear from a lover reuniting with their
21:19other half.
21:19>> [music]
21:19>> And more importantly, because this is
21:22Bon Bon's dream, wouldn't it make more
21:23sense for her memory of Lyra to sound
21:25warmer or alternatively [music] pissed
21:27off?
21:28Let's look at the next line.
21:38Lyra would [music] know what Bon Bon
21:40felt guilty about. It was probably the
21:44most scarring event of both their lives.
21:46[music]
21:46She wouldn't ask for what.
21:58This may be me
21:59>> [music]
21:59>> reading too much into it, but Lyra's
22:01answer here is way too fast and also it
22:04just sounds off. Lyra seems a bit too
22:07accepting of Bon Bon and she's still
22:09delivering her lines very flatly.
22:27The one time we see emotion in Lyra's
22:29voice [music] is when she notices Luna
22:30watching them and she immediately
22:33disappears with no regard for Bon Bon.
22:35Now, why would she do [music] that
22:37unless there was something about her
22:39that she didn't want Luna to find out?
22:41>> [music]
22:42>> And another thing to note is that as
22:43Lyra disappears, it starts to rain much
22:45like how it was raining in the day they
22:47got separated. I don't know, I just
22:48thought that was a cool touch.
22:50You've probably already figured it out
22:52by now, but Bon Bon [music] in her dream
22:54is talking to the infection pretending
22:57to be Lyra.
22:58Remember that when we saw Lyra, she was
23:00deep into stage four [music] and already
23:02considered to be an insider, already
23:04part of the hive mind.
23:06While pretending to be Lyra, the
23:07infection is trying to gain the trust of
23:09Bon Bon so that it may be able to infect
23:11[music] her later on.
23:13Don't let Luna into your dreams. If she
23:15sees me, she'll realize what I am.
23:17>> [music]
23:17>> See you soon.
23:19The infection is sentient and it somehow
23:21got access to Bon Bon's [music] mind,
23:23but it doesn't stop there. Let me show
23:25you another video. This one is from
23:26Zecora's perspective as she's staying in
23:28Ponyville Hospital.
23:33A quiet night without a sound, I better
23:35take a look around.
23:43Likely thread, don't make a peep or hear
23:46this sickly pony sleep.
23:55My Fluttershy, are you all right? It's
23:57been an awfully quiet night.
24:09All right then, I'll leave you be. But
24:11if you want anything, please call for
24:13me.
24:20Oh, sweet mother of Celestia.
24:22Oops, sorry Zecora, I I didn't see you
24:24there.
24:25That's quite all right, nurse Rarity.
24:26It's hard to spook a soul like me.
24:29I've just been on edge lately. I'm sure
24:31you can relate. I feel like my head is
24:33on backwards sometimes.
24:34In times like these, so full of dread,
24:36it serves you well to keep your head.
24:39You might want to tell that to Twilight,
24:40darling. Her head's been as loose as an
24:42old frock. She's been working on her
24:44dream machine thing day and night,
24:46working herself up. I haven't even seen
24:49any dreams come through. She's covered
24:51all the footage with warnings. It just
24:52says, "Don't look." over and over.
24:55Should probably let you peek. You're her
24:57right mare, after all.
24:59Oh my goodness, I've been standing here
25:00for nearly a minute. I got to keep on my
25:02rounds. It's been lovely chatting,
25:03darling.
25:09Oh, Lyra. Oh, Macintosh.
25:12Oh, you damned moon. Evil wailing moon.
25:19This video is just one of the many tapes
25:21being compiled by Twilight, and here
25:22it's revealed that the don't look
25:24warnings we've been seeing in all of
25:25them are not a trigger warning for the
25:26audience, but rather an in-universe
25:29element Twilight deliberately put in all
25:31the tapes she's been gathering that
25:32contain information on either the
25:33infected or the people who's coming to
25:35close contact with them. But in this
25:37footage, there isn't even any infected
25:39[music] involved. Zecora has technically
25:41been in the Ponyville quarantine with
25:42Twilight, right?
25:44Well, in a status [music] update post
25:46that came before this video which you
25:47just watched, we see how most of the
25:48characters are doing and it says that
25:50Zecora is shaken after an encounter with
25:52the Tree of Harmony. We're not really
25:55shown what this encounter [music] is,
25:56but my guess is that the infection's
25:58hive mind manifested itself in Zecora's
26:00dream, much like it did to Bon Bon. The
26:02difference being that Zecora realized
26:04the nature of what she was interacting
26:05[music] with. And as it turns out,
26:07Twilight had an inkling about what that
26:09could imply, which is why she decided to
26:11probe her memories.
26:13Zecora wasn't too keen on that, as we'll
26:15see [music] in the next clip that gives
26:16out the biggest mind of the whole
26:18AU so far.
26:19A simple transcript of a conversation
26:21[music] between the Princess of
26:22Friendship and her right-hoof mare.
26:26How long has it been?
26:28How much time has come to pass? Why does
26:30it matter to ask?
26:32Zecora.
26:33What good would it do for you to peep
26:35into my mind while it's asleep?
26:38You know why I'm doing this.
26:40My words before you did not heed. Now my
26:42thoughts you want to read? I already
26:44know my years are full. A grinding
26:46voice, like a blade that stole. No good
26:49will come from what I recount. I believe
26:51this will keep the sickness out.
26:54>> What? Your memories? You think your
26:56memories are contagious? That's
26:57ridiculous. You're being selfish.
26:59>> Stupid, overly cautious. You know it's
27:00physical. I've proven it already. I just
27:02need to see exactly what you saw. I I
27:04need to know how it started.
27:07>> Was it not you who first had thought the
27:09mind is what invites the rot?
27:12>> I was just taking extra precautions.
27:13I've looked at hours of footage and I
27:15have zero symptoms.
27:17>> Sure, you have no bile or blight, but
27:19what makes you certain you are all
27:20right?
27:27>> Please, Zecora.
27:31>> No.
27:39>> Absolutely nuclear lore drop that the
27:41infection can spread memetically. Merely
27:44witnessing [music] an infected, hell,
27:45even the footage of an infected can be
27:47enough to compromise someone's safety.
27:49That's why Twilight has been putting all
27:50those warnings because information about
27:53the infection is enough of an opening.
27:55Once you've witnessed the infection, it
27:56will sit at the back of your mind,
27:58whispering, beckoning, [music]
28:00masquerading as whatever will most
28:02effectively get you to be a part of it.
28:04That's why it manifested [music] as a
28:05forgiving, loving Lyra in Bon Bon's
28:07dream, and as a deformed monstrosity in
28:10Big Mac's dream. It's targeting the
28:12weaknesses, Bon Bon's consuming grief
28:14and Macintosh's overwhelming [music]
28:16guilt. The Tree of Harmony even speaks
28:18to him directly, once again telling him
28:20in Morse code to be not afraid.
28:22Seeing an infected is not safe. Seeing
28:24footage of an infected is not safe.
28:26Dreaming is not safe. at this
28:28point maybe even thinking is not safe.
28:30So, one must wonder, how come Zecora,
28:33Twilight, and Luna are doing okay?
28:36Well, Zecora [music] sort of told us
28:37that she isn't. Already now my ears are
28:40full, a grinding voice [music] like a
28:42blade that's dull.
28:44She's not referring to Twilight's voice.
28:46She's talking about the infection, the
28:48one that speaks to her every time
28:49[music] she goes to sleep. Remember the
28:51warning she gave to Twilight all the way
28:53back in the beginning of the epidemic?
28:55It floods all ears and ties all tongues.
28:58The infection has already invaded
29:00Zecora's mind, putting her at risk. But
29:02at least it's just her at risk, and even
29:04though we will see her, she didn't
29:06strike me as someone with brain fog as
29:08you'd expect with the early stages of
29:10the infection.
29:11She was locked in, but you know who
29:13wasn't?
29:15Twilight.
29:16Remember that the infection plays to the
29:18host's weaknesses. I don't know how
29:20Twilight is characterized in the
29:21official show, but in all the infection
29:23AUs I've seen, she's always a bit of a
29:25tweaker.
29:26>> [music]
29:27>> She is the smart one from the group,
29:28always coming up with plans and trying
29:29to prove things empirically. It's why
29:31she's so frequently the one [music]
29:33working on finding a cure in most AUs.
29:35But she is a known control freak, and at
29:37least in the [music] AUs, she doesn't
29:38react well to being confronted with
29:40something that goes against her plans or
29:41beliefs.
29:42And the way she reacted to Zecora not
29:44[music] giving her consent to proper
29:45memories is pretty telling.
29:47She's already acting in that erratic way
29:49she's known for. And notice how when
29:51Zecora asked how she knows if she's all
29:53right, she doesn't have a reply. [music]
29:55Twilight herself knows that the disease
29:57can spread through information. Why else
29:59would she have put the warnings in all
30:00the tapes, including the [music]
30:01transcript? But then if she knows of
30:03that property, why does she insist on
30:05using the [music] dream machine and
30:06keeps probing ponies' memories?
30:09My theory is that this is [music]
30:10precisely what the infection is telling
30:12her to do. It's telling her to keep
30:14compiling the tapes and peering [music]
30:15into the affected memories because
30:17that's a way to get her infected
30:19herself.
30:20Okay, then what about Luna? Well, in the
30:22status update, we see Shining Armor,
30:24then a glitch effect, and then Luna.
30:32I don't know if this necessarily means
30:34that she's infected, but I'll choose to
30:35believe it because it supports my
30:36theory. Very well, so far we know that
30:39the infection turns you into a rotting
30:41water balloon, traps you inside your own
30:42mind, assimilates your consciousness
30:44into a hive [music] mind, spreads
30:45through non-physical means, and is
30:46seemingly sentient and cunning. Pretty
30:49bad so far, but you know what's worse
30:51than the Divine Swarm Fever? Two Divine
30:53Swarm Fevers.
30:55A new strain of the disease has been
30:56ravaging [music] through Eastern
30:57Equestria. Its symptoms are supposedly
30:59pretty similar to the original strain,
31:01but it's different in the way that it
31:03spreads. As of now, there are two tapes
31:05pertaining to [music] this new strain.
31:07The first is focused on preventative
31:08measures.
31:10The infection can spread from pony to
31:11pony, but its main method of contagion
31:13is through contaminated food. [music]
31:15Contagious spores get mixed in with
31:17things like grain, wheat, water, sugar,
31:19and produce,
31:19>> [music]
31:20>> and as such, the vast majority of ponies
31:21infected by the disease have never even
31:23seen another infected. And so, to ensure
31:26that the food is safe, you're supposed
31:27to see if it shows signs of being sore.
31:30Sore is an acronym [music] that stands
31:31for spores, oddities, rot, or edema.
31:34Basically, if there's any indication
31:36that the food has some kind of
31:37abnormality, such as odd coloring,
31:39spots, weakened integrity, and other
31:41things like that, throw it away. It's
31:43better to starve than to succumb.
31:46This new strain of the infection
31:47necessitates an official announcement
31:49from Twilight that, surprise surprise,
31:51spreads the disease memetically. Even
31:53they have the don't look warning, even
31:55though they're supposedly being shown to
31:57all of Equestria.
31:58And as if all that wasn't enough, there
32:00is one simple fact that seals this
32:03world's fate.
32:04Remember that second storyline I said I
32:06was going to reveal much later for
32:07dramatic effect?
32:09>> [music]
32:09>> Turns out that the disease managed to
32:10contaminate the one person who had a
32:12chance of fixing this whole mess.
32:15Discord [music] got infected. A full-on
32:17chaos deity with absolute control over
32:19reality has become nothing more but
32:21another victim. A [music] vomiting bile
32:23forth, his magic spasms wildly. To my
32:26knowledge, no one's been able to fully
32:27decode [music] what he says in this
32:28first clip, but the closest translation
32:30is something on the lines of I went out
32:32of my way for Fluttershy. [music]
32:35We're never shown what happens, but from
32:36the look of it, Discord sacrificed
32:38himself to save Fluttershy. And if
32:40anything, [music] he at least can rest
32:42assured in knowing that she got a chance
32:43to live another day. And she did turn
32:45out fine after all. She's resting at the
32:47hospital where we saw Rarity and Zecora.
32:49However, Discord's [music] suffering is
32:51nowhere near close to ending.
32:53The second video from him is a sample
32:55from his dreams, and it shows him trying
32:56to navigate through a forest while his
32:58mind is trapped in a maze of memories
32:59that consists mostly of Fluttershy.
33:02If you reverse the audio at the
33:03beginning of the video, you can hear a
33:05female voice.
33:06>> Yeah, this is the tree right here.
33:10>> There's also tiny text in the corner
33:12that is really hard to decipher, but my
33:14best guess is that it spells out, "I
33:16don't know what to do."
33:17I'm assuming the female voice is
33:19Fluttershy. Who else could it be? But,
33:21the tree, what tree is she talking
33:23about? Could it be that Discord tried to
33:25do a little finagle dangling [music]
33:27with the Tree of Harmony that ended up
33:28backfiring? Is this the origin of the
33:31infection?
33:33I don't know. His third and last video
33:34[music] is probably the most perturbing
33:36one. It's initially just footage of
33:38someone wandering through a open field
33:40at night while text periodically shows
33:41up in the top left corner. Much like in
33:43the last video, I believe these are
33:45Discord's [music] thoughts as the
33:46infection rages inside him. It was
33:48pretty hard to decipher what [music] the
33:50text is in this one because the lines
33:51often overlap, but here's what I
33:53managed.
33:54During the beginning of the video, I can
33:56make out good connection, [music]
33:57connected, and help help help. The
34:00vertical lines spell out, "It's [music]
34:01boiling. It's inside me. I don't know
34:03what to do." and help me a bunch times.
34:06Then they say, "Hear me. Hear me. It's
34:09all in here. I just can't make it out."
34:12Then we have this mess. The top
34:14line says, "In this world and every
34:16other." but the other two lines are
34:18really hard to make out. I stared at it
34:20for like a good 30 minutes, and this is
34:23the best I managed. The middle line
34:24contains the sentences, "It's in here.
34:27All in here. Everything." and once
34:29again, "I don't know what to do."
34:31And the bottom line is one that I
34:32genuinely have no clue about. I'm
34:35decently confident that one of the
34:36sentences is everything that was or
34:39would be, but the second one
34:42dog, all I got was some pony must
34:44[music] that over ill in her.
34:47That's most certainly not what the
34:49phrase says, but you're absolutely
34:51invited to try if you want to give it a
34:52shot.
34:53>> [music]
34:53>> Then he shows up and screams.
34:58The video ends with more scold spelling
35:00out I cannot die.
35:02And yes, being immortal is fate is
35:05probably the most nightmarish of all
35:07characters. [music] The one person who
35:09cannot be saved from his now eternal
35:11torment. Nothing can save Equestria from
35:13its fate. [music] The infection is
35:15insatiable and it won't stop until the
35:17whole world is consumed. It feeds on
35:19your body and puts your mind in a
35:21pressure cooker. And once there's
35:22nothing left to putrefy, it goes for the
35:24soul. Even someone with the power to
35:26bend reality to their will is utterly
35:29and completely helpless in the face of
35:30what is essentially an Eldritch deity
35:33that manifests in the form of an
35:34infection.
35:35This is how you do [music] horror and to
35:37think that it came from My
35:39Little Pony of all places.
35:41But yeah, the bulk of what I had to say
35:42about this AU is over, though there are
35:44a couple of videos that I didn't show
35:45here, mostly because they don't really
35:47reveal that much about the main story.
35:49But let's go over them anyway.
35:51There's a video that comes from
35:52Cheerilee where she's trying to get away
35:54from an infected Lyra and the audio in
35:56this one is pretty haunting cuz you can
35:57hear Lyra softly singing as she gets
35:59close.
36:06Eventually she corners Cheerilee in a
36:08basement of a building and the comments
36:10best guess at the text at the upper left
36:11corner is as follows.
36:13I thought I left someone out there.
36:16It wasn't who I thought and [music] I
36:18didn't know they could open doors.
36:21There's a video directly from the Dream
36:22Machine that shows Cheerilee's
36:23perspective as she's hiding from an
36:25infected, presumably Lyra.
36:42There's one showing Sunburst walking
36:43through the forest on his way to
36:44Ponyville while carrying Flurry Heart.
36:47He eventually finds a house and decides
36:48to take shelter [music] in it, but an
36:49infected pony spotted him and slowly
36:51makes its approach. I've seen some
36:53people in the comments say that this is
36:54Cadence, but it's missing the wings.
36:56[music] So, I'm pretty sure this is just
36:57some random unicorn.
37:00There's this one slide all the way in
37:01the beginning, and honestly, I am not
37:03sure what it means. My first guess is
37:05that it probably has something to do
37:07with transitioning from being an
37:08outsider to being an insider, but from
37:10Pinkie's appearance here, she doesn't
37:12look to be deep enough into the
37:13infection for that to happen. To be
37:15fair, we don't really know when exactly
37:17the video of her in the mirror takes
37:19place. I said she was on stage four, but
37:21that was my guess from her appearance.
37:23Bottom line is I don't know what caught
37:24it in the between zone means.
37:26There are numbers that appear at the end
37:28of Big Mac's stream and Twilight's
37:29conversation with Zecora. I have no idea
37:31what they mean. There's this one video
37:33that has Morse code saying, [music]
37:35"I'm still here. I can hear you even
37:37when I know you're gone. My eyes are
37:39working at half. My ears are working at
37:41none."
37:42Judging from the post order and the
37:43context, this is most likely Shining
37:45Armor balls deep into stage six, but it
37:47could just as well be anyone else.
37:49Finally, there's this one video of a
37:50mall and a goofy ass [music] Pinkie Pie,
37:52but the creator herself said this isn't
37:54canon. We'll figure it.
37:55But yeah, this AU is peak, and it's just
37:58one of them. There are countless others
37:59that are just as well made. I was
38:01originally going to cover three of them
38:02in this video, but I felt like I
38:04couldn't do each justice with [music]
38:05the time I gave them. But yeah, in case
38:07you're new to this brand of horror,
38:08there is a lot more where that came
38:10from. [music] There's a link to
38:11Closecult's TikTok page in the
38:12description, and I'll also take a moment
38:14to shout out the YouTuber who got me
38:15into this mess in the first place,
38:16Daniel Profeta. He has a channel focused
38:19on horror content, and he's been doing
38:20quite a few of these infection abuse as
38:22of late. Shout out to Nyu.
38:24That was roughly all I had to say about
38:25Divine Scythe Fever. This style of video
38:27does take a fair bit of work, but I was
38:29having a blast the whole time. I can
38:31only hope that you enjoyed watching this
38:32just as much as I did making it. That's
38:34going to be it for me, and I'll see you
38:36in like two or three months, who knows.

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