The 'I Wish I Could Talk to Ponies' meme is based on a classic four-panel comic strip from The Perry Bible Fellowship by Nicholas Gurewitch. In the original, a girl wishes she could speak to ponies, only for one to tell her a deeply unsettling personal secret about her father, to which she simply responds, 'Thank you.' The internet adopted this format to showcase situations where a character receives an unwanted or brutally honest opinion. It is widely used to present 'hot takes' or uncomfortable realities, leveraging the dark humor found in the juxtaposition of a whimsical childhood wish and a crushing verbal blow.