They Breathe

"Okay, you can do this Fluttershy." The yellow pegasus told herself as she supported herself on a floating log. It had been a few weeks now since great amount of water flooded over Equestria. As far as she knew, she was the last pony alive, she had seen things swimming under water, but she was not sure what they were. She was only now mustering up the courage to dive under and explore the deep, hoping to find something under there.

Taking a deep breath, she submerged herself, letting go of the log. She begun to swim towards the bottom, Fluttershy noticed there were air bubbles heading towards the surface. She allowed one to enter her mouth, as to refill her oxygen supply. As she kept swimming, she saw something below. She stopped, scared of whatever it was, though she couldn't make it out because the water was too murky, she could tell it was alive.

It kept swimming below her, letting off some bubbles, too small for her to use. Eventually, it let off a large bubble, as it started to sink towards the bottom. She assumed it had drowned, feeling bad for it, but she couldn't let it get to her. She continued her swim downwards, collecting bubbles on the way down. She stopped again, freezing as she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Shakily turning her head, she saw it was a pair of frogs, but they didn't look like they wanted to hurt her, instead, they looked like they need help.

"Oh my goodness, I think they're drowning!' She thought as she swam towards them, gently nudging them to some bubbles, watching as their color returned to them. After some bubbles for the frogs and for herself, the frogs regained their green color, having enough strength now to swim to the surface. Fluttershy smiled at them before continuing her descent downwards. As she continued to swim, a flash from the bottom startled her. She stopped, wondering what it was that flashed, after a moment, a glowing creature appeared from the bottom.

It was a jellyfish like creature, but it had an upside down frog attached to it. The creature charged towards Fluttershy, who was too scared to move. The jellyfish hit her, hurting her and knocking some air out of her lungs. She begun to swim away from the creature, with tears in her eyes.

"Why is it attacking me?" She question as she dodged another charge from the jellyfish. She watched as it ran into a bubble, collecting it, the bubble went into the jellyfish first, then being transferred over to the frog. With the air came a burst of energy, the jellyfish charged at Fluttershy with incredible speed, hitting her again, knocking out even more air. As she recovered, she quickly swam for the nearest bubble, needing more oxygen. As she collected a bubble, she was hit again, becoming desperate for air now.

Fluttershy could already feel herself drowning, more tears formed as she thought this was the end. However, she saw that the jellyfish had drowned, letting off a large bubble. She quickly swam to where it would be, being directly above it. As she allowed the air to enter her lungs, she began to calm down, knowing she was going to make it. She continued to travel down, collecting as many bubbles as possible on the way. Another flash lit the bottom, most likely meaning another jellyfish was coming, but out of the corner of her version, Fluttershy saw another frog needing her help.

But from the bottom, another jellyfish emerged. She dodged its first charge, going to to help the frog next. But out of her vision, the creature had caught a bubble. It charged again, managing to hit Fluttershy, and in the process, entangle the frog. As she recovered from the hit, she saw the frog being dragged under. Her eyes widened as she put her hooves over her mouth. The helpless frog continued to sink with the jellyfish. As it vanished in the murky water, another flash occurred.

Emerging from the depths was the frog, but now in the possession of another jellyfish. It was followed by the one that had dragged it down under. But the first drowned soon after, leaving only the new jellyfish, and Fluttershy. It charged at her with such speed, Flutershy had no time to react to it. She was hit as the jellyfish flew out of her vision. She quickly collected bubbles, the large one from the jellyfish, and some smaller ones.

Looking back up, she saw that the jellyfish was charging at her again, she quickly moved out of the way, only missing it by a few inches. It turned around, about to charge again, until it drowned, ending its assault. Fluttershy watched as it sank to the bottom and out of sight, feeling horrible about the poor frog. But she couldn't dwell on it, she needed to push forward. As she continued to swim and collect air, she began to see polyp's on the trees of the sunken forest.

"I'm probably getting closer to the bottom." Fluttershy thought, as she saw another flash, as two more jellyfish appeared, along with two other frogs. As she looked at the frogs, she was not going to let these two suffer the same fate. As the jellyfish charges, Fluttershy moved out of the way, going to help the frogs. She gently pushed one towards some bubbles. After two, it had enough strength to swim on its own back to the surface. The jellyfish made their second attempt to attack Fluttershy, she was hit by one, but she pushed the frog out of the way so the other could not capture it.

Because they didn't collect any bubbles, the two jellyfish drowned, leaving behind a bubble for her and the frog. The frog swam up to her and give her a hug as a 'thank you' for pushing it out of the way of the jellyfish. She smiled as the frog broke away from the embrace and swam back up. As the pegasus continued her descent downwards, she was now sure she was close to the bottom, as she could see more polyps on the trees.

After a moment of swimming downwards, a green bubble passed her face. She stopped, seeing even more of these green bubbles pass her. Curious, she allowed one to enter her mouth... and immediately regretted it. Whatever the bubble was, it took away from her air. With out realizing, she had let her mouth stay open, allowing another polluted bubble to enter. She felt more oxygen disappear from her body because of that.

She put her hooves over her mouth and nose, not letting any other polluted bubbles into her system. After a moment, the bubbles stopped, assuming what was producing them was gone, Fluttershy continued downwards, collecting more bubbles to replace the oxygen she had lost. Another flash soon occurred, as another jellyfish emerged, but this was a different kind. It was a sickly green, the same could be said about the frog attached to it. Coming out of the frogs mouth were polluted bubbles, it begun to swim around, not charging at her, but trying to suffocate her with the green bubbles.

Fluttershy saw that and bubble it touched, was turned into a large polluted bubble. Fluttershy did her best not to let any of the bubbles into her lungs, but every now and then, one would manage to do so, even when her hooves were to her mouth. Soon, the green jellyfish drowned, allowing her to continue and gather more oxygen. Soon, after another flash, a frog and three other jellyfish appeared, one if the jellyfish a green one. Two two brown ones charged,while the green one stayed at the bottom, producing more green bubbles.

Fluttershy did her best to dodge the jellyfish and green bubbles, but she could only watch as the frog was getting the end of the stick. It kept breathing in the polluted bubbles, the jellyfish charged again, missing Fluttershy, but nailing the frog. The frog had suffered too much and with one final breathe, it drowned, letting out a large bubble, which was soon popped by a polluted bubble. Soon the other jellyfish drowned too, allowing Fluttershy to push forwards.

As she dove deeper, she could see the bottom of the forest, and more polyps.

"Just a little more Fluttershy, you can do this." She told herself. Soon, she saw something approaching her, she stopped, wondering what it was. She soon got her answer, it was a jellyfish, but this one didn't have a frog. It was chasing her, she tried to swim away, but it was picking up in speed. Soon it was too fast for her to outrun, reaching her and attaching itself to her. Fluttershy panicked, she tried to shake it off, but it wasn't coming off. Without her realizing, a bubble had touched the jellyfish, causing it to fill with air and let go of her.

As it tried to reach her again, it touched another bubble, filling it with more air. Upon seeing this, Fluttershy lead it to a third bubble, where upon touching it, caused it to burst from all the air. With that out of the way, she continued. She saw more and more polyps, their numbers seeming to never end. As she kept swimming, more frog-less jellyfish appeared, a total of seven. They all tried to reach her, but kept bumping into each other, breaking their momentum. In doing this, they were collecting bubbles, causing them to expand.

Soon, one burst opened, causing the large bubble to come into contact with another, causing that one to burst as well. This chain reaction continued, killing four of the jellyfish in the process. Fluttershy caught the large bubble for herself. She lead the remaining three into more bubbles, causing them to burst as well. Fluttershy continued downwards, soon finding what use to be a small pond, but now, it was nothing more than just part of the flood now.

Another flash appeared as three more jellyfish appeared, two with frogs, and one without a frog. A frog swam up from the hole as well, as if it was trying to get away from something down there. The two jellyfish charged, missing Fluttershy, who went to help the free frog. She nudged it into two bubbles, allowing it to swim to the surface. But it was caught by the frog-less jellyfish, Fluttershy could only watch as the frog struggled to get free, not knowing what to do. Looking up, she saw the two jellyfish heading for her, she managed to dodge one, but the other had managed to hit her.

The one that missed however, ran into the jellyfish that had captured the frog. It knocked out the green frog, swapping it with the brown one. Fluttershy watched as the freed frog quickly swam back up. Fluttershy kept dodging the jellyfish, while trying to lead the frog-less one into more bubbles. But one of the jellyfish ran into the frog-less one, passing over its frog, which then took all the air out of the jellyfish. Instead, she waited for the ones with frogs to drown.

Soon, the two jellyfish drowned, the large bubble of one touching the frog-less one, causing it to burst. Fluttershy continued her journey, now into the pond. As she swam down, a frog appeared out of the side of her vision, but below her was a frog-less green jellyfish. Fluttershy swam away from it and the frog, hoping to lead it away. But the frog had gotten itself in between her and the jellyfish, the jellyfish taking full advantage of this.

It captured the frog, now Fluttershy could only watch as frog seemed to choke just by being attached to it. As it continued to die, it was being flipped upside down, soon, the frog was now the jellyfish's. It swam at the bottom at incredible speed, letting off masses of polluted bubbles. Fluttershy did her best to dodge them, but as before, some managed to make it in her air supply. Without being able to collect bubbles for itself, it soon drowned, allowing the pegasus to continue downwards.

Another flash came up from the bottom as a green jellyfish, two frog, and two frog-less jellyfish entered. The green one began to let off polluted bubbles, choking her and the frogs, but not seeming to affect the other jellyfish. As Fluttershy tried to dodge the green bubbles, the two started to make their way towards her. One of them ran into a frog while the other attached to her.

This severely slowed her movement, luckily though, it was protecting her from the green bubbles. Soon, the green jellyfish drowned, leaving the two frogs, the remaining two jellyfish and Fluttershy. She head her jellyfish into a bubble, freeing her from its grasp. She immediately went to go and help the frogs, nudging the free one into some bubbles, helping it getting some air.

Without her looking, the jellyfish that was attached to her had burst from collecting too many bubbles, while the one with the from collected a bubble, letting go of the frog. As the first frog swam towards the surface, she went to help the other. She nudged it into some bubbles while trying to distract the jellyfish. She lead the jellyfish into some bubbles, causing it to burst.

She rushed over to the frog, helping it get air before it drowned. With three more bubbles, the frog had enough air to swim back up. With that taken care, she continued down, she soon saw what she thought was the bottom on the lake. She put on a small smile, hopefully she would find something there.

Three more frog-less jellyfish appeared from the bottom, one of them green. Two frogs appeared as well, she quickly lead the jellyfish away from the frogs. But, the two brown jellyfish managed to catch the frogs, but, this worked in her favor, as the green jellyfish couldn't get the two. She lead the green jellyfish into some bubbles, causing it to burst. She then helped the two frogs, leading their jellyfish into some bubbles.

Once the frogs were free, she pushed them into some bubbles, saving them. They then dealt with the last two jellyfish, leading them into a few more bubbles before they both burst. She continued down, but nothing seemed to be coming after her. As she reached the bottom, her eyes widened. There, was larger, more alien-like, jellyfish, which had four frogs attached to it.

Dead jellyfish littered the floor around it. The larger one seemed to have air inside of it, as bubbles were coming out of the frogs mouths. From the side of her vision, she saw a frog-less jellyfish coming after her. She swam towards the larger one, wanting to see something. The jellyfish ran into the larger one, taking one of its frogs. This caused it to bloat, as some tentacles shot up, as if it was trying to defend its self.

It summoned another jellyfish, this one with as frog, as the two jellyfish charged at her. She dodged them, collecting the bubbles that came from the frogs. With a few more dodges, the jellyfish drown, adding to the pile of dead ones. Two more frog-less jellyfish appeared, she managed to lead on into the larger jellyfish, causing it to loose another frog and bloat up more.

Now she needed to dodge the one with the frog as it, and the frog-less one kept swapping the frog. She waited until the jellyfish with the frog drowned, allowing her to lead it into the large jellyfish. It lost another frog, leaving one last one, it bloated up again, swiping one of its tentacles as if to shoo Flutterhsy away.

"One more should do it." She thought to herself. Another jellyfish appeared, as the two charged at her, one managing to hit her. She then realized how there was any bubbles, as only now one frog was producing them. She dodged the two jellyfish, collecting the one bubble when it was available. Soon, the two jellyfish drowned, as another frog-less one appeared.

Fluttershy quickly lead it into the jellyfish with the remaining frog. As it came into contact with it, she swam away, unsure of what would happen next. As the jellyfish took away the last the frog, with nothing else to release the air inside of it, it's own system caused it to explode. The blast pushed Flutterhsy away and killed the jellyfish in the process.

But now, Flutterhsy had a problem. She was drowning, the blast from the jellyfish preventing her from getting any of the bubbles that came from it. She put her hooves on her neck as she quickly lost oxygen. Flutterhsy looked towards the surface with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes, and, with one final breathe, she drowned.

Though she lost her own life, she managed to save many others.

Author's Note:

Check out They Breathe, by The Working Parts, on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/294140

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