Screwy hated the Bad Room.

The Bad Room was for Bad Girls, but Screwy was a Good Girl. She tried not to be too noisy or play too rough. She took the pills the ponies in the white hats gave her, even though they made her sleepy. She tried her very hardest to obey.

So why was Screwy in the Bad Room? Did she do something wrong? Screwy pouted and looked up at the yellow pony in the white hat.

"Just relax, Screwy," said the yellow pony, with a smile. "You're going to be just fine."

As the yellow pony strapped her legs to the table, Screwy closed her eyes tight and hoped the Bad Room would go away.

"Is she ready, Nurse Snowheart?" came an unfamiliar voice. Screwy opened her eyes and saw a purple pony with a glowing carrot on her forehead. Screwy didn't trust carrot ponies. Weird things always happened around them.

"She's ready, Princess," said the yellow pony.

"Please, call me Twilight," replied the purple pony, and then she smiled down at Screwy. The purple pony seemed nice. Maybe the purple pony would let Screwy leave the Bad Room.

"It's going to be okay," whispered the yellow pony, and she petted Screwy's head fur. Screwy had a lot of fur on her head, just like a pony. Sometimes Screwy wondered if she was a pony, but that was a silly thought.

"This will only take a moment," said the purple pony. Her carrot glowed, and then everything around Screwy glowed, too. Screwy started to get a bad headache. She was scared, and she whined as the yellow pony tried to keep her head from moving.

Just then, all the straps on the table snapped! Both ponies seemed surprised. Screwy rolled over, leaped off the table, and ran as fast as she could. She ran out of the Bad Room, down the hallway, and all the way to The Outside. She ran over the long stone lines and past all the really large things and over grass and flowers until she finally reached the big trees. Screwy didn't understand why nopony followed her, but she was happy to be away from the Bad Room.

Screwy walked around the big trees for a long time, and it was boring. After a lot of walking, Screwy heard another dog. She listened carefully and headed toward the sound so she could make a new friend.

Screwy found the other dog. It was a girl dog just like Screwy, and she was whining. There was a puppy that looked like the other dog, but it was stuck under a big log and it wasn't moving and it had red fur. Screwy knew this meant something bad, and she felt sad.

Screwy spent the rest of the day with the other dog, and the other dog seemed happy again. Screwy and her new friend went to sleep together under the same tree.

When Screwy woke up, the other dog was eating something. Screwy was very hungry. The other dog let Screwy eat some of the thing, but it was red and messy and tasted very bad. Why couldn't she eat it, Screwy wondered?

Screwy was still hungry, so she walked around by herself for a while. She found the log where the puppy was. The puppy was missing some parts, and there were flies.

Screwy realized the other dog had been eating part of her puppy, and she felt very bad.

How could the other dog do that? It was like she didn't remember the food was her puppy. How did Screwy remember the puppy better than her own mother?

Being a dog was hard and sad. Screwy didn't want to be a dog anymore.

Maybe Screwy wasn't really a dog.

---

Screwy woke up on the table as Nurse Snowheart was unfastening her.

"Screwy, can you understand me?" said Nurse Snowheart.

"Y-yes?" said Screwy. Talking felt very strange.

"Excellent!" beamed Twilight Sparkle. "I'll be able to publish these results soon."

"What... what happened to the other dog?" Screwy asked.

"Oh, that? That was a false memory I inserted to remind you that you're not a dog," said Twilight.

"So... it wasn't real," said Screwy, frowning.

Nurse Snowheart gently held Screwy's hoof. "Screwy, do you understand that you're a pony?"

"I... I don't know what I am," said Screwy.

"Well, it's a start," said the purple pony to the yellow pony in the white hat.