Screw Loose was sweaty and tired, but happy. It had been a hard day of working on the new town hall, but it had been worth it! Maybe in a few weeks they'd be done and the foremare would tell them they did a good job. Most of her friends from work were going to the bar later, but Screw Loose didn't like bars. They were noisy and smelly and it cost a lot of bits to drink really yucky things.
Besides, she told them, she promised to spend some time with a friend tonight.
Screw Loose trotted into her small cottage and pulled a tin bath from the storage room into the kitchen. She put a kettle on to heat up some water for the bath and got out her favorite shampoo ("for a luxurious, silky coat", it said in fancy unicorn letters next to a picture of a smiling dog). She didn't like baths, but she knew they were important to make sure she looked and felt her best. Well, okay, she liked baths, but making herself get into them was really hard.
The kettle whistled, and she mixed the hot water from it into the bath, along with a few buckets from the sink. She peered into the water hesitantly; the steam rising off the top looked inviting but it was a bath.
No. Not doing this. You like baths, she willed herself to think. They're way better than cold hoses. She found herself shuddering at an unwanted memory. Not time to worry about the past, either. You have to get cleaned up before Pinkie Pie gets here!
That was enough to force her hoof. She eased herself into the bath, eyes shut, one hoof at a time. With all four hooves in the water, she began lowering herself. Steady... steady... The water hit her flanks. It burned for a second, then the burn started to feel good. She relaxed into the soothing bath, eyes still screwed shut.
Screw Loose adjusted herself so that she was laying back comfortably, her fetlocks hooked over the sides of the tub. She sighed with relief; the moment where she let herself go and enjoyed a bath was one of her favorite parts of any day.
"Hi there," a familiar voice said from inches away.
She opened her eyes; she was nearly snout to snout with Pinkie Pie, her blue eyes filling almost her entire field of vision. Pinkie gave her a friendly kiss on the muzzle, then smiled.
"Oh, hi Pinkie! I didn't expect you so early."
"You were busy, so I let myself in. Whatcha doin'?" Pinkie adjusted her bath cap to sit more comfortably.
"Taking a bath. You?" Screw Loose grabbed a nearby cup and filled it with bath water, letting it pour into her mane. No matter what she did, it always seemed to be a frizzy, tangled mess by the end of the day.
"Keeping you company, silly!" She gave Screw Loose a hug. From anypony else, this would be uncomfortably close, but Pinkie Pie wasn't like other ponies. She was funny, and smart, and good at making Screw Loose feel good about herself.
She was also imaginary, but Screw Loose tried not to hold that against her. All of her friends had flaws, because everypony had flaws; Pinkie's flaw was her non-existence. So Screw Loose did the polite thing and didn't bring it up. Unfortunately, recent events forced her hoof.
"Pinkie Pie..." Screw Loose's ears fell as she debated the best way to explain the problem to her friend; she had to let her down gently, but also needed to make sure that Pinkie would understand. "Soon I won't be able to see you anymore."
"What!?" Pinkie jumped out of the bath in shock. Her bath cap flew off and landed on the kitchen counter. "I didn't mean anything by it, I was just trying to make you laugh! I'm sorry!"
"Huh?"
"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable by surprising you in the bath, please don't stop being my friend!" Pinkie was talking so fast Screw Loose had trouble following her words, but she caught the gist.
"No, it's not that. I thought it was funny, it's just..." Screw Loose started working the shampoo into her mane and coat; no reason to waste the bath just because she was having a serious conversation. "They're changing my medicine, to make me stop seeing things that aren't there. And once that happens, you'll be gone." Screw Loose teared up, partly from her confession and partly because she got shampoo in her eye.
"...Why would I disappear because of new medicine?" Pinkie sat down on the floor, her face a mask of incomprehension.
"I'm not stupid, Pinkie Pie. You're my best friend, except maybe Screwball. You're smart and funny and sweet and nice to me and you give me enough courage to face the world. And you do impossible things and I've never seen you talk to other ponies and you try really hard to make me happy, harder than any real pony would. I'm- I'm not sorry I dreamed you up, I'm just..." She trailed off, sobbing. "J-hust s-sorry I can't k-heep you."
"...You think I'm a fake pony, and that's why you're all saddy-waddy? I spend as much time as I can with you because I know you need it, and I give you as much attention as I can because I'm your friend." Pinkie Pie walked behind Screw Loose, pulling her into a deep, soothing hug. "I'm real. This is real." She nuzzled her friend affectionately. "I have a job and I pay rent and I throw parties." She thought for a moment. "Actually, if you think you're ready I'm hosting a party at Sugar Cube Corner tomorrow night. You can come, if you feel up to it."
Screw Loose leaned into the hug, still shaking and hiccuping from her attempt to suppress her tears. "You promise?"
"Promise that I'm real, or that you're invited to my party?" Pinkie smiled broadly.
"Both." She wiped the shampoo out of her eyes, sniffing.
"Better than that. I Pinkie Promise." She didn't want to let go of her friend, so Pinkie had to alter the motions a little. While keeping one foreleg wrapped around Screw Loose, Pinkie ran a hoof over her own chest in an X pattern, made a gesture Screw Loose didn't quite understand, then pressed her hoof into a closed eye. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. That's a Pinkie Promise, and nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise. Especially not your pal Pinkie Pie."
"Thank you, Pinkie Pie." She smiled weakly. "Do you think you could help me with my back? I can't reach." Her grin became more apologetic.
"No problem there! Let's get you nice and clean." Pinkie started working the shampoo into Screw Loose's coat. She didn't speak much; there was a time for words and a time for actions. Now was the time to remind Screw Loose that Pinkie was real and cared about her. When it came down to it, there weren't many things more real than bathing. Besides, she was getting Screw Loose clean and she had to realize that she wasn't doing that herself.
An hour later, Pinkie Pie helped Screw Loose into bed. She had a big day tomorrow, after all, and she needed her rest.
The party was nearly overwhelming. So many colors and sounds and ponies talking; Screw Loose wasn't certain what to do. It was nearly a blur, and by that night her vague memories had become exactly that.
One image cut through the fog. It started with Pinkie cutting a cake-- "I made it myself!" --and handing out pieces to the dozens of smiling ponies surrounding her.
"So, what I don't understand," Pinkie said through a mouthful of chocolate cake, "is how you thought I wasn't real but Screwball was. She's way more out there than your auntie Pinkie!"
"Don't be silly. Nurse Coldheart tells me Screwball is a bad influence all the time, but she never even says anything about me being friends with you."
"That's because her birthday is soon!" Ditzy Do excitedly popped up to say. "Nopony says bad things about Pinkie when they have a party coming up, because, she's a nice pony and they don't want her to cancel." She looked around awkwardly, then gave Screw Loose an apologetic grin. "That was a private con-ver-sa-tion, wasn't it. My bad."
Screw Loose threw her hooves around Ditzy and hugged her tightly. "It's fine, Ditzy. Everything's fine."
And for one moment, it was.
That night, Screw Loose pulled out her journal, the one nopony else ever saw, and wrote another letter for future her. The journal was full of near-identical entries, but the similarities were as important as the differences. They were written to remind future her how far she had come, and if they weren't accurate they weren't useful.
My name is Screw Loose. I was born Lefty Loosey but do not care for it. I turn twenty-six next May. My favorite comfort food as a foal was plain alfalfa. I once spent three years in a hospital because I thought I was a dog. I am better now.
I see things sometimes, like most ponies. Sometimes I see things other ponies can't see. Sometimes I see things and think other ponies can't see them. Today I learned that somepony I thought was fake was real, and then she gave me a piece of cake. Then I got to hug a friend instead of the other way around.
Tomorrow I go to the hospital again to get my new medicine but I'm not scared. I'm not staying and I know I have friends to come back to. Future me, I hope you feel the way I feel right now every day from now on.
PS: There was a party and it was scary but my friends were there and I hugged Ditzy Do and made her smile. I just want you to remember when this was.
PPS: You forgot to ask Pinkie about the dragon again.