“Imaginary Friend” is episode twenty-two of season five of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Troi is speaking to a young girl, Clara, in her and her father’s quarters. Clara has an imaginary friend, Isabella. Clara describes Isabella and suggests Troi doesn’t think she’s real. Troi says she’s real for Clara and that’s real enough for Troi. Clara’s father, Ensign Sutter, tells her it’s time to go and help Keiko in the arboretum.
After Clara leaves, Troi tells Sutter there’s nothing to worry about; it’s normal healthy imaginary play. Sutter is concerned Clara isn’t making real friends. Troi says Clara has been moving from starship to starship since she was 2; Isabella is a friend she won’t have to leave behind. Just give her a chance to make new friends.
The Enterprise is going to explore FGC 47, a nebula around a neutron star. As the ship heads in, a glowing light enters it. It passes by Geordi and Data, heads through sickbay and finally ends up in the arboretum where Clara is talking to Isabella. The glowing light causes a flower to disintegrate, then passes through Clara’s head. Clara hears someone singing along with her. Isabella, just as Clara described her.
Clara asks how she can see Isabella now. Isabella asks if it makes her happy she can now. Isabella wants to do something else, and isn’t taking no for an answer.
In engineering, Geordi is wondering what to call the nebula; FGC 47 doesn’t sound great. Sutter suggests Sutter’s Cloud. Geordi was thinking of something more like the LaForge Nebula. Of the options, Data prefers FGC 47. The ship shakes from an impact with the shields, but sensors show nothing.
On the bridge, Worf reports that velocity is down. The captain checks in with Geordi. Shields say they hit something; sensors don’t. In engineering, Geordi nearly runs into Clara; her father tells her to go back to their quarters. Geordi reports that something is increasing the drag coefficient. Captain Picard suggests they may have to reverse course; Geordi says to give him a couple of minutes.
Clara asks Isabella why she disappears. Because grown-ups don’t think she’s real. She vanishes. Data reports that velocity is increasing, though he did nothing. Isabella returns and tells Clara that there was something she had to do. That’s not going to be a coincidence.
Data and Geordi report what happened to the captain and Riker. Geordi doesn’t know what happened and can’t estimate the risks. He wants to take samples.
Isabella wants to go somewhere with people. Clara asks why she’s so serious; she hasn’t smiled once today. Isabella smiles. It’s not a great improvement. Clara talks about how making friends is difficult when her father’s job keeps changing. They bump into Worf, who tells them the area is off limits for children. If they return to their quarters, he will forget the incident. Once Worf has gone, the girls return.
In engineering, Sutter talks to Geordi about what it was like for Geordi being raised by two parents both in Starfleet. Geordi reassures Sutter; kids are resilient and it was like one long adventure to him.
In Ten Forward, Guinan is telling Data what she sees in the nebula. Data gives a speech about how what people see is related to what they are currently thinking. Besides, it’s clearly a bunny rabbit. Clara enters and Guinan goes over to see her. She chats to Clara; Guinan had an imaginary friend too. Troi arrives and leaves with Clara.
Isabella, who wasn’t the most reassuring individual when she first appeared, is starting to get annoyed. She’s also dangerous. And the Enterprise also has problems.