Archive of Our Own ^beta

You hear water flowing softly like a whisper.

The breeze caressed you as if it was a soft kiss from a lover long passed.

You felt the sun hug you, surrounding you in it's warmth as old friends.

"𝘏𝘶𝘩, 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦?" you thought, scrunching your face in confusion.

You blearily opened your eyes, not wanting to get up from the comfort of the grass that you lay on to face the real world. You finally focused on what you were seeing. 𝘏𝘶𝘩.

You blinked once, twice, thrice.

Still the same block-ey scene.

𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘱𝘪𝘹𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥?

You turned your head this way and that. The square pixles remained. You went to rub your eyes, not sure you were seeing this correctly.

Nothing happened.

Confused you looked down only to realize your knee caps have disappeared- oh, wait no. You still have your knees, it's just that your hands have turned into hooves. Yeah, that's normal, totally normal, 𝘩𝘦𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘩.

𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘙𝘌 𝘏𝘖𝘖𝘝𝘌𝘚‽ 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯!? 𝘞𝘩𝘺?

Now that you paid attention, everything looked brown, or varying shades of yellow and orange. Except for the sky, the sky is actually blue, 𝘩𝘶𝘩.

"𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳-𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?" you thought to yourself.

The last thing you remembered was falling asleep on your couch watching a documentary.

You cried out, the sound that flowed through your teeth was definitly not human. The sound stoped your crying in it's tracks.

"𝘏𝘶𝘩?" You tilted your head. That did sound right.

You tried again, this time trying to talk to yourself. All that came out was a high pitched "𝗠𝘂𝗿𝗿"

A slower, confused, moo followed.

More flabbergasted than frightened at this point, you look around once more. Just taking everything in. You slowly calmed down.

Colors still looked awful, 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘩.

"𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘸," you mused.

Now that you thought about it, your 'hooves' look weirdly rectangular. "𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥. 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭?" you mused again.

Deciding that enough was enough and it was time to get get up, you try to stand. Only to fail and fall to the ground once more. You realized that standing on four limbs will take time to master.

You try again. This time staying up right for a few seconds before coming back down to the Earth. "𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 '𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩'?" you thought.

Again. You stood, you fell, you stood again.

Over and over in a seemingly never ending cycle. Staying up for just a little bit longer than the time before.

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

After hours of trying and failing you finally got the hang of blance, and even better, walking on four hooves... 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢.

You can stand in place for good while, and can take a few steps wothout falling, but anything more than that is getting closer to a drunken stumble than anything.

You followed the sound of water you heard earlier when you first woke up in this strange new world. You've gotten better at controlling your weird ear muscles now. Instead of involuntary movement one hundred percent of the time, you can now -𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧- move them on your own once in a while. And by that, you mean you can flick them sometimes.

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴.

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

As you slowly made your way to the water, you noticed something weird. The 'blocks' that make up this world you're in, they're about the sane height as you.

You feel like you should've been taller.

As you stumbled your way on you noticed a bright yellow flower. It was the closest thing that looked like it was supposed to. Other than the weird orange-y brown the stem was, 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘩.

You continue on.

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

"𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳?" you huff, unable to curse your frustrations aloud like you used to be able to.

You continue shufflig your way towards the ever growing water sound, something moves somewhere to the right of you. You turn your head to get a better look at it.

Nothing.

Your turn your head the other way, slightly more aggressively.

Nothing again.

You turn your once more and notice that what you're seeing is the tips of your ears moving with you. 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘺.

The generic clucking sound of a chicken made it's way to your elongated ears. It sound like it was ahead of you, so you moved a few steps forward. Taking small steps, because you were getting better and shuffling just wasn't cutting it.

It walked out from behind a tree.

What. The. Fuck.

𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵‽

The thing was mainly a light grey color. You wouldn't know how to describe it other than if you asked a five year old to draw a chicken, then described it only using squares.

You could see it had a yellow beak and stick legs, with a weird brown thing under it's 'head', and it looked to be slightly shorter than you.

The Chicken's beady eyes stared at you.

And you saw. You saw the evil that resides in this bird.

The violence that the poultry 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙣𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙝 𝙤𝙣 𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙨.

𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗹𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗻𝗼 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗯𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗱𝗼, 𝗶𝗳 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗯𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲.

𝗜𝗳 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗽𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱.

𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼-

𝘖𝘩𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺.

You couldn't take your eyes off the creature in front you as you slowly backed away. Step by step.

The chicken turned to you.

You froze in fear.

It gave you one of the most judgemental looks a pixelated chicken could give before walking away.

You let out the breath you were holding.

That was one scary chicken.

Still nervous, you move forward.

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

Finally, the source of the water sound! You've found it!

The water sound was a river had to be at least thirty feet across. It sloped down large cubes at a time, evens out, then slopes up in the same manner on the other bank.

You look down into the water hoping to see your reflection. Only to find it clear, no reflection whatsoever.

𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦.

Then, the world dimmed.

You looked around to see what was happening.

𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯?

You looked up and searched for the sun. It wasn't above you. You turned your head this way and that until you located the mass of fire.

"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘦," you thought, squinting your eyes against the rays.

The sun was on the horizon.

"𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯'𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨," you guessed.

You watched the sunset and all the colors of it. Orange, yellow, brown, grey, blue, and purple? You can see purple? It was a very bright purple, probably violet or something. It was beautiful.

Then, the sun disappeared from behind the horizon. You looked up to the night sky and saw thousands of tiny stars, square as they were too. You sat down and stared. You didn't stop staring, absolutely amazed, until you heard a loud hissing sound behind you.

You whip your head around and see the biggest spider you've ever encountered just six feet away. It had eight long rectangular legs to pair with it's eight glowing brown eyes, and fangs that had to be the size of a human finger. It was the same hight as you, which is absolutely terrifying, and twice the width and length.

"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴," your inner voice trembling.

Your body finally decided that being eaten isn't what it wants to do, so it let you start moving again.

And by god, did you start moving again.

You were able to get good enough to trot with few problems, but felt that that wasn't enough for this. You galloped.

You stumbled a few times, but kept at it, looking back every few seconds to make sure the cow sized spider wasn't tailing you. Trees blocking your path every so often, making you stumble.

In this particular back glance, you hit a squishy wall that spawned into existence before you.

You fell on your behind and looked ahead. All you saw were what you were now starting to associate with legs. Long, rectangular, and pixelated.

Only, these legs were blue and thicker than what you've seen so far. You slowly tilted your head up to see what was standing before you.

𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘴, 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘵.

The color changed to a murky blue.

𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩, 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬, 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴.

It had an orange-y brown face?

It was a bipeadal thing. With a shirt and pants, and now thst you looked at it, shoes. Maybe this world's equivalent to a human?

𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦!

"𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴," you reasoned out.

You looked at the black pits you assumed were the human's eyes and saw a sort of blank face. They looked to be zoning out. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯?

The human looked down at tilted their head.

"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥," you laughed in your head.

You made a little moo at them, hoping they'd find you cute and take you home.

They looked up and started a slow meander towards the tree to your left.

You followed them.

They stood there for a while.

You layed down beside your new companion and went to sleep.

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

When you awoke, it was daylight again. The sun rising behind you.

You looked to your conpanion and noticed them still under the tree, holding their light greay thing on a stick. They were turning their head every so often, making strange sounds every few seconds.

𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦?" you wondered, "𝘛𝘰𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦."

You stood up, leagues shorter than them, and tried to get their attention with a huff.

The human looked down, then snapped their head up and growling.

You looked in the direction they were looking, bewildered.

Off in the distance you saw another bipedal, probably, human. It looked like they were... jumping? Every time they touched ground they'd bounce back up, legs moving in slow motion.

The new human looked like your companion, but instead of the orange-y brown skin they have brighter orange skin.

They stopped and looked around. You think that they spotted your companion because they started doing the jump thing again towards you. They pulled out a long grey blade on a stick. You decideed to call it a sword for simplicity's sake.

Your companion growled agian and started walking to the new one.

As soon as your companion stepped out of the tree's shade they started making pained noises. They sounded like they were sizzling. You looked up at them and saw that 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦‽

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯‽

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵‽

You stood in place, not sure what to do. Antsy.

"𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱," you silently wished the stranger would help another person.

When the stranger met your companion half way they jumped one more time, and then brought the sword down on your companion. Again and agian, until your companion groaned one last time before they turned completely muddy brown and fell to the ground.

𝙉𝙤!

"𝘞𝘩𝘺‽" you tried to call out, but all that left your mouth was a strangles moo, not really processing what just happened.

The Stranger turned to you, bloody sword in hand, and started walking forwards. You stumbled back, thinking you'd be next.

But instead of slaying you like they did your companion, the stranger pulled something yellow out of thin air. Your body involuntarily noved towards it.

"𝘕𝘰 𝘯𝘰 𝘯𝘰, 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵?" you thought frantically as your body continued to move without your input.

When you got close, the stranger backed up a bit. Over and over and over again, you'd get close and they'd back up.

Every once in while looking behind themselves to see where they were going.

You did everything you could think of to stop followong the Stranger, from closing your eyes to trying to trip yourself, nothing worked.

On and on it went.

You had no choice but to follow the murder infront of you.

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

The Stranger lead you to a structure you think might be their house. They corraled you into a fence and then left right afterwards. You thank god they finally stopped. It'd been hours since they started leading you, it was sunset by the time they went inside.

You looked around your new cage and saw another cow, this one was twice your height and had a deeper 'moo' than you.

You layed down and dozed off, hoping this was all just a bad dream.

Just you this cow, all alone in the cage of a monster.

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

You woke up with the sun this time. you stood up and noticed something a little off. You looked down and found that you doubled in height.

You looked around and saw the cow from yesterday, it seemed to be the same height as you.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘯 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯?

You heard the same sound from yesterday when the Stranger went into their house. This time you knew they were coming out. You backed up to the far side of the fence, hoping they go somewhere else so that you can figure out how to escape.

No such luck. The Stranger made a beeline towards your enclosure, with more of that yellow stuff in their hand.

"𝘖𝘩 𝘯𝘰, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯," you thought as your body made it's way to the edge of the fence with the other cow.

The Stranger fed then other cow first, red hearts coming from its body.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵?

Then they fed you.

You and the other cow walked towards each other slowly and pressed your faces together.

A 'ping' sound, then a baby cow appeard between you.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵.

The Stranger left, and you were stuck with a calf following you around.

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

The Stranger came back at sunset and fed you and other cow again. Another calf popped into existence and they left again.

𝘏𝘰𝘸‽

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

The Stranger kept doing this every morning and every evening.

When the calves grew up, the Stranger would feed them too and they would make more calves.

Before you knew it the pen you were all kept in filled up, almost no room to move let alone walk. You all kept bumping into eachother.

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

The next morning came and the Stranger went over to the fence. This time they weren't holding the yellow stuff. This time they were holding the sword.

"𝘖𝘩, 𝘰𝘩 𝘯𝘰," you thought, worried.

The stranger jumped up and started cutting the cows. Moo's of anguish erupting from the fence.

One by one your breathren were slayed before you. All of them running around in panic, ramming into eachother or the fence, only to be slain by the Stranger.

It came down to three cows left in the pen. The Stranger started slowly walking towards you.

You backed up as far as you could go, but got stuck between them and the fence.

You could see it in their eyes, you weren't going to make it out of this encounter.

Instead of jumping and swinging like you expected them to, the Stranger stalked up to the left of you and swung their sword.

You felt the metal pierce the flesh of your side.

You mooed in pain.

They swung again, this time the sword biting into your flank.

You cried out again, feeling the blood flowing from both of your wounds.

You hoped it'd be over soon.

The stranger waited a moment.

You looked them in the eye.

They brought the blade up one more time and brought it down once more, smiling all the while.

You felt the blade cut your neck for the last time.

You fell to the ground, mind fading.

"𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺," you thought, "𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘸."

And just like that, you died. Leaving behind two raw beef and a single piece of leather.