“Oh my! Where is everyone going?” Fluttershy asked as the various creatures of the forest scurried away, startled by something. The birds stopped singing. Leaves rustled as squirrels and chimpunks retreated further and further away.
“Did I do something wrong?” she asked. None of her little friends replied.
Her heart sank. It was very strange for all her forest friends to suddenly abandon her like that. She worried. And there was a sadness, too. A loneliness.
She couldn’t explain it, but her own senses were on edge. As if something was not quite right, something she was just not equipped to detect but nevertheless had triggered a sense of unease. Her sense of loneliness grew stronger.

There. A faint humming noise. Noise? Well she didn’t actually hear it, even though she strained her ears. But somehow she knew there was a humming. Polyphonic, with a low bass frequency that seemed to run straight through her, to reverberate through the tree trunks, and to pass across the horizon. And some sort of high-pitched accompaniment, a tone just at the very tip of her aural range, that fluctuated more quickly than the bass waves.

It was sad. She couldn’t tell you how she knew, but sadness was in the noise. Sadness, longing… and loneliness. Her own sense of abandonment was reinforced by the loneliness of the noise. It had literally struck a chord with her. And she felt a draw in it. Something deeper in the woods pulled her, like the world was sloping down towards it and gravity was giving her a gentle urging to walk in that direction.

If there was a lonely creature somewhere out there, she could comfort it. That would be just the thing to cheer both of them up. Yes, she would comfort it. She would find it and then neither of them would be lonely. Her heart beat more steadily as she realized her new mission. Forgetting the bag of bird seed at her feet, she set out with increasing surety of what she had to do.

The objective became more certain. It dwelt in her mind more strongly with each step. It quieted all other thoughts so it could have its say. As the humming grew more intense, so did the voice in her mind that gave her new purpose.

Find it.
Comfort it.
Banish the loneliness.
We’ll be so happy together.
We’ll be together.
Being apart is wrong.
Together is where we must be.

The knowledge of what she had to do was strengthened by the knowledge of where she had to go. Somehow, even though the strange two-toned humming didn’t get any louder, she felt like it gave her a compass and set her path. To either side of the point ahead was nothing important, just more loneliness. There was a direct line through all these trees she must tread to reach the end of loneliness for them both.

Her heart fluttered. It felt free now. It quickened. It pounded. Happiness was just ahead. Her dress felt so tight, trying to contain the beating of her heart. It pinched. It squeezed. It was not designed to contain the kindness she felt for whatever lay head. Her chest, hammered from within, felt so heavy and constricted.

But the loud thoughts inside her head crowded that out.

Find it.
Comfort it.
Banish the loneliness.
We’ll be so happy together.
We’ll be together.
Being apart is wrong.
Together is where we must be.

Almost there. She was vaguely aware of grinning. She must be happy. They would be together soon and then the loneliness would be gone.