Imaginary Friend ( episode ) As the " Enterprise " explores a nebula , a little girl ' s imaginary friend becomes terrifyingly real . Summary . Teaser . Clara , a young girl who just moved to the with her father , Ensign Daniel Sutter , talks to Counselor Deanna Troi , discussing the nature of her imaginary friend named Isabella . Troi believes that Clara imagined Isabella as she moves from ship to ship often due to her father ' s career , and hasn ' t had the opportunity to sustain a friendship . While the " Enterprise " explores the nebula , a small sphere of energy enters the " Enterprise " and roams about the corridor s , sickbay , and finally the arboretum , where Clara is assisting Keiko O ' Brien in planting nasturtium seeds . While there talking to the invisible Isabella , to her surprise , the imaginary friend appears to Clara in the arboretum seemingly in the flesh . Act One . Isabella suggests to Clara that they explore the " Enterprise " together , despite the fact that Clara thinks she should inform her father . But Isabella insists that they go anyway and they leave the arboretum . The two spend all their time together . Increasingly , Isabella gets Clara into trouble by having her do things she knows are wrong , and leading her into off - limit places , including main engineering , where Data , Geordi La Forge , and her father Daniel were discussing potential names for the nebula . After his superior officer La Forge expresses his annoyance at Clara ' s presence in engineering , Daniel orders that Clara return to their quarters . When Clara leaves , Isabella reappears . She says she needs to disappear around the adults . Meanwhile , the " Enterprise " is experiencing unexplained drops in velocity . La Forge thinks the ship is experiencing drag , as the engines are producing the same output . The rate of change in velocity decreases faster , but then Isabella tells Clara to wait and disappears . She returns , and the ship ' s velocity is back to expected . Act Two . Generally others on the ship cannot see Isabella although Worf sees her when Clara and Isabella run into him in a corridor when they aren ' t paying attention . Worf too orders the young Sutter back to her quarters but after he enters a turbolift , Clara and Isabella return to running down the corridor . While talking to La Forge in engineering , Ensign Sutter asks him if he had parents serving in Starfleet when he was a child . La Forge says yes , his father was an exozoologist and his mother served on an outpost near the Neutral Zone . Ensign Sutter remarks that the experience must have been unpleasant for him , having to always be on the move . La Forge says that children are pretty resilient and as long as they know their parents love them , they can usually handle anything life throws at them . Later on , Clara enters Ten Forward . Children on the " Enterprise " are usually prohibited from entering Ten Forward without an adult but Guinan allows it , taking on Clara as her personal guest . She has Clara sit up on the bar and serves her and Isabella papalla juice . Isabella is invisible during this time , but Guinan pretends , thinking Clara is pretending , too . She tells Clara that when she was her age , her best imaginary friend was a Tarcassian razor beast that put her to sleep every night . Counselor Troi then enters and escorts Clara out of Ten Forward . Eventually , Troi sees that Isabella is getting Clara into enough trouble that Clara has to be with other children her age . Troi insists that Clara leave her friend alone to go play with others . She comes to invite Clara to a ceramics class , without Isabella . They leave and she reappears , now angry . Act Three . The " Enterprise " is shaken again by the drag on the ship slowing it down . It stabilizes , but still unexplained . In engineering , La Forge and Sutter have determined there is a highly - charged form of plasma creating resonances on impact with the ship . They don ' t know how many there are , but they can modify the deflector dish to illuminate them for counting . They find , remarkably , an irregular lattice of about 47 million of the strands . Meanwhile , Troi takes Clara to meet Worf ' s son Alexander at the class , and they create some clay sculptures together . Isabella , however , is causing trouble , first , by annoying Troi , knocking down her cup in her quarters , twice . Then , she ruins a Klingon - style clay cup Alexander was creating for his father when he isn ' t looking . He believes Clara caused it and complains to her . An upset Clara goes to the arboretum , crying . When Isabella returns , she is very angry that she left her . Saying she liked her and wanted to protect her earlier , now she doesn ' t care and says , " " When the others come , you can die along with everyone else . " " Act Four . The strands are impeding the " Enterprise " s ability to leave the nebula . They can ' t go to warp , and are forced to muddle through . Meanwhile , Troi is concerned about her approach with Clara in Ten Forward . Guinan sits down and admits to her imaginary friend , and says a child shouldn ' t need to give that up . Then , Troi is called to the Sutters ' quarters by Ensign Sutter when Clara is having trouble going to sleep because Isabella has been threatening her . Clara now tells Troi that Isabella isn ' t imaginary anymore , and that others like her will kill everyone aboard . Troi guides her to her room to search for Isabella , and she suddenly appears and attacks Troi , who is knocked unconscious . Act Five . Afterwards , while Troi is being treated in sickbay by Dr . Crusher , Clara is brought in by Nurse Ogawa . Clara talks to her father and then talks to Captain Picard . The ship then shakes again and Picard orders the ship to stop . An energy being comes toward the " Enterprise " and starts to drain the shields . Then , more come . Picard decides to try to talk to Isabella in the arboretum . Picard appeals to Isabella to show herself in the arboretum . Suddenly , Isabella makes herself visible to everyone . The crew learns that Isabella is actually an energy - based lifeform whose home is the nebula outside the ship . He begins to talk to her about Human parenting . Isabella argues that the adults were cruel to Clara , and Picard explains that rules are for her protection , and even Clara will make some rules for her children when she eventually grows up . Isabella is convinced , and allows the ship to pass safely through the nebula . Isabella appears one last time to Clara in her bedroom and apologizes for frightening her . She tells Clara she never had a friend before and hopes she will return to the nebula someday . The " Enterprise " departs FGC 47 for open space . Memorable quotes . " " So , what are we gonna call this nebula ? FGC 47 just doesn ' t have the proper ring to it . " " " " Why don ' t we call it Sutter ' s Cloud ? " " " " No , I was thinking about something more along the lines of the La Forge Nebula . It has sort of a majestic sound , don ' t you think ? " " " " Given the selections , I prefer FGC 47 . " " " " It ' s just , I ' ve never seen you before , not for real . " " " " Well , now you can see me for real . Doesn ' t that make you happy ? " " " " It is interesting that people try to find meaningful patterns in things that are essentially random . I have noticed that the images they perceive can sometimes suggest what they are thinking about at that particular moment . Besides , it is clearly a bunny rabbit . " " " " I was going to protect you , Clara . I liked you . Now , I don ' t care . Now , when the others come , you can die along with everyone else ! " " " " Sounds scary ! " " " " Oh it was ! Especially when he smiled . " " " " Can you only communicate by threatening a small child ? " " Links and references . References . arboretum ; Brentalia ; Champs Elysees ; Children ' s Center ; childhood ; chocolate chip pancake s ; closet ; drag coefficient ; drawing ; egg s ; exozoologist ; FGC ; FGC 47 ( aka La Forge Nebula or Sutter ' s Cloud ) FGC 47 lifeform ; ; grape juice ; graviton field ; helper ; hot chocolate ; imaginary friend ; invertebrate ; Jokri River ; Kryonian tiger ; ; ; Maschinenmensch ; McClukidge ; Mintonian sailing ship ; Modean system ; nasturtium ; neutron star ; non - corporeal lifeform ; number one ; ; Paris ; pancake ; papalla juice ; piercing ; purple omelet ; purr ; puzzle ; rabbit ; red alert ; Risa ; Romulan Neutral Zone ; Samarian coral fish ; shore leave ; Tarcassian razor beast ; Tavela Minor ; Ten Forward ; thermal interferometry scanner ; trionium ; turbolift ; yogurt and raisin salad