Operation: A sight unseen
Date: June/2/2020
Location: The Persian Gulf.
Time: 01:00

You have to admit that waking up 'normally' is one of the best feelings in the world. Too bad I don't get much of it. You say to yourself as you stand up and commence stretch time. As the multiple cracks and pops are heard throughout your body, a smile comes upon your face.

To tell the truth you never liked sleeping on boats. They always rocked back and forth stirring you from your sleep. As for the sounds of the waves they never seemed to calm your nerves. However today is different, the sea is calm and the night sky is displaying its bright and beautiful stars.

Taking in a deep breath you exhale and walk up to the bridge of the ship. To your liking there sat the captain looking tirelessly ahead. Shutting the door behind you, a bit louder than you would of liked to the captain jolts up and turns towards you.

"Holly shit Anon! You scared the fuck out of me!" The captain states recomposing himself from the recent heart attack, you have just bestowed upon him.

"Sorry about that." You respond turning your head to look forwards. "So how far along are we? I kind of dozed off back there." You ask the captain.

"Still ways away Anon." The captain states looking like he could use a rest. "I would say we're about two hours away from the island."

"Well that's not that far at all." You state with a smile upon your face. "Say, how about you stop the ship here for an hour or two and take a nap?" You ask the captain while looking over the various controls of the ship.

The captain get up and pats you on the back. "That right there, sounds like an amazing idea." The captain states pulling the throttle down to the bottom. "You sure your ok with staying up while I'm gone?" The captain asks.

"Normally I would mind a bit." You state walking over to the controls. "But something is telling me that I won't be staying up alone ." You say as you push what you assume to be the horn button.

You swear you can feel the whole boat shake when you pressed the button. The look on the captains face shows that he does not approve of your actions. However when you walk back out of the bridge you have a feeling it was all worth it.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!" Rainbow Dash yells flat on the ground with her hooves covering her ears. No doubt shiting her metaphorical pants from the fog horn.

"I told you Dash, next time I would have to use a air horn to wake you up." Dash gives you a cold look before eyeing the captain with a curious look. Rainbow Dash gets up and turns to you with a confused look upon her face.

"What is he doing here? Isn't he supposed to be driving this 'boat'." Rainbow Dash states looking between you and the captain. "Who's steering the boat right now?!" Rainbow Dash asks with a hint of worry present in her voice.

"Don't worry Dash the captain here stopped the boat so he can take a rest. Trust me Dash he needs it more than we do." You state as the captain walks past you and to his respected room bellow deck. It seems that he is much more tiered then you previously thought. He doesn't even question Rainbow Dashes reactions.

Pushing it off as a good thing you return to you seat on the edge of the boat. "And good morning to you Anon." Rainbow Dash states with heavy sarcasm while taking a seat next to you. "So what are we supposed to do while he's sleeping?" Rainbow Dash asks.

"To be honest I have no idea." You reply looking out onto the calm waters below and the cloudless sky above. "Well I told you a bit about my family. So why don't you tell me a bit about yours Rainbow Dash?" You ask the rainbow maned mare.

"Sure." Rainbow Dash states sounding like it's no big deal. "My family is pretty normal, I have two parents. My mom Rainbowshine is the loving kind, she always helped me out when I needed it. My father Rainbow Blaze is the best! He taught me everything I know about flying. He's just as competitive as me which makes hanging out with him loads of fun." Rainbow Dash states.

"That's one nice family you got there Rainbow." You reply trying not to think of your own family in the process. As thinking about them will just bring bad thoughts, along with a negative mood.

"Yeah, my family is pretty awesome." Rainbow Dash states. "What's you're family like? I know you told me about your father, but what about your mother? You got any brothers or sisters?" Rainbow asks.

She had to bring it up when I least wanted it. Sighing you give up and begin your rather depressing story."Yeah, my family consist of two divorced parents. Here on Earth a child having parents that are no longer together is a quite a common thing." You state while thinking of where to go from here.

"I have heard about divorces in Equestria but it's fairly rare. " Rainbow Dash states shuffling closer to you on the edge of the boat.

"There're a lot of things that are normal in Equestria, that I would love for it to be normal on Earth. Anyways back to my life story." You state with fake enthusiasm. "My mother's name is Valerie, she is kind but not very helpful as she works all the time. My father is named Erik and let me tell you he is not someone you want to grow up calling dad."

Rainbow Dash nods in agreement as she is probably recalling your little demonstration back on the beaches of Iran. However she stays silent and lets you continue your tale.

"Along with my parents are my sisters, Crystal and June. Now these two were hell to live with, and when I say hell, I mean living with them is like having your nails ripped off." You can see Rainbow Dash wince at the thought of the statement.

"I remember back when I was a little kid at the age of twelve. My sisters used to come up with these crazy 'games' that they would invite me to play. They liked to call them 'games' but you know what I called them... tourcher. For example one of the games was called prisoner. The game starts off with them tying me up in tape then they would stick me into an empty room. Just like real prisoners, but at least they had things to do like read or write."

You can see the expression on Rainbow Dashes face start to slowly change from interested to sympathy. The more you think about it, the more you realize that these ponies aren't used to the level of violence that you have grown to call normal.

Nevertheless you're going to finish what you have started and tell this cyan mare your entire life story. Well, tell her your whole family story. "However me being the prisoner I have to find a way to escape. They told me that the only way I would be set free is if I made it down a set of stairs without falling. You're probably thinking that's easy, but let me tell you when you have both your legs and arms tied up with duck tape it's not so easy anymore."

Smiling at how retarded you were back then you continue your story. "Being the over confident person I am, I took them up on that offer. Over and over again I would try to get down the stairs without falling, and by the end of it all I would be lucky if I was still conscious."

Looking over to Rainbow you can see that she is disturbed by your siblings actions. "Why didn't your mother stop them? She must of noticed sometime." Dash asks in confusion.

"That's the thing, my sisters would only play these games when my mother was out. The only person that was home was my father and he would only say to toughen up. To be honest that game wasn't even the worst in my opinion." You state getting ready to start the description of the second game.

With no response from Dash you continue on through. "The second one was less physical pain and more emotional pain. When my mother was gone for a business trip or personal vacation my sisters would pull out one of our old plastic moving boxes. These moving boxes were meant to keep what's in them, in them."

Rainbow Dash seems to be getting were this is going and the expression on her face shows that she does not like it one bit. "So as you probably guessed already, they shoved me in one for a day at a time. I didn't know why they did these things to me back then, I always thought that it was normal."

"Other than my sisters and my parents I don't really have much to say other then my grandparents are gone as most do at that age." It's funny really because you remember all the little things that your grandparents have done. They were always nice to you in small ways. Like giving you some money for a candy bar. I guess it's the little things in life that kept me from going insane.

"Not to sound rude or anything, but your family fucking sucks." Rainbow Dash state.

You can't help but laugh at Rainbow Dashes forwardness. "Yes... yes they do suck." You manage to say in between your fits of laughter. "Just be lucky you aren't me." You say as you recompose yourself.

"It's weird because when I was a filly, an idea of a family being that way wasn't even thought of. I pretty sure it's still like that back in Equestria." Rainbow Dash states looking up into the starry night sky.

"The horrible thing is that here on earth I had it good compared to a lot of people. There're some people on this planet that don't even have enough food and or water to live." You state the facts as they are.

"Then why did you want to come back here? Why not stay in Equestria if your planet is like this?" Rainbow Dash asks.

You think about your answer carefully as you don't want to mess it up. "To be honest the only reason I would want to stay here is my friends back in the United States. They were always there for me when I needed help, real bros if you ask me." You say as good memories start to flood your mind and soon a smile comes across your face.

"You're really that interested in my life?" You ask Rainbow Dash in confusion as you would of called this whole story boring and 'un-awesome'.

"Well yeah, your my friend and I want to know your full story." Rainbow Dash replies with a confident tone. "Also any friend of Anon's is a friend of mine!" Rainbow once again states in a loud tone and a smile upon her face.

"Ok, ok." You state remembering the good old days. "My best friends are Scott, Sam and Tyler. These people are the reason why I am so awesome." You state in joking tone as you know the only awesome thing about you is that you fly a F-22 raptor, can ride a motorbike and lastly you're very handy with a gun. Ok I'm pretty awesome.

"Scott is a old friend of mine. I have known him since I was ten. He was the only person that believed in my stories about my sisters. That being said I was the only one that would listen to his stories as well. I like to look at him like he is my brother." You say as you get up from the edge of the boat to stretch your legs out.

"Scott was the person that helped my buy my first motorbike. Let me tell you, what a bike it was. The dirt bike that we were on was nothing compared to what me and him bought. If the rift doesn't pull us back once we reach the State's then I will be happy to show you." It seems that you have intrigued Rainbow Dash as she speaks up.

"Faster than the one me and you were on!" Rainbow Dashes eyes light up and she hops off the edge of the boat towards you. "You have to show me when we get there!"

"Don't worry I will if we have the time." You reply. "Anyways my next best friend Sam, was a real comedian. He always liked to make people happy with jokes and pranks, kind of reminds me of pinkie pie. I'm sure those two would have a blast together. However if I remember correctly he was made fun of a lot. Something about watching a cartoon for a younger audience. I was never hip on the slang people use." You state trying to remember what the word people called him was. You know it started with a 'bro' so it can't be that bad.

"Sounds like interesting dude." Rainbow Dash states commencing her own little stretch time that she seems to be taking from you.

"He is an interesting dude, always with the references and the internet slang. Anyways moving on to my last best bro Tyler. Tyler was like the smart dude of the group, he knew anything and everything about everything." You pause a moment. Did that make sense? whatever. "You could literally ask him anything and he would have a answer to it." You state with a sense of pride present.

"Yeah now that you mention it he does remind me a lot about Twilight. Very how do you say it 'egghead'." This seems to get a snicker out of Rainbow Dash as you both make your way to the edge of the boat again.

Pulling your leg up and over the edge of the boat you face outwards towards the water. With Dash doing the same thing you continue your personal autobiography. "Being smart person, Tyler always questions you about what you're doing. Trust me it gets annoying sometimes when he says that something is 'physically' impossible."

"You're telling me!" Rainbow Dash states. "Twilight always tells me that my next big trick is going to end badly, but I always prove her wrong. Like on the first day I met her she didn't believe I could clear the sky in ten seconds."

Chuckling you reply to Rainbow Dash. "I don't doubt you Rainbow Dash. From what I have seen I expect you to do it faster than that." You state with a smirk.

"Is that a challenge for when we get back to Equestria?" Rainbow Dash states. "Because If it is then let's start the bet now." Rainbow Dash states with her signature smirk. "How about another one of those dare's as the prize again?" Rainbow Dash asks.

Rainbow Dash spits in her own hoof and you both shake on it. However when you attempt to bring her hand back you're unable to. Instead it feels like Rainbow Dash is holding you tighter. "Umm Dash you can let go now." You states with a hint of worry present in your voice.

"You know what the best feeling in the world is Anon?" Rainbow Dash states as she lean forward over the water.

"Waking up normally? I have no idea Rainbow what?" You ask Rainbow Dash but you have the feeling you're not going to like the answer.

"Fu-" Is all you get to say before you feel the full force of Rainbow Dashes weight and succumb to gravity. Hitting the ice cold water with a pretty big splash you can't help but to start shivering. Holy shit is this water ever cold! Do sharks dwell in this part of the world? You ask yourself. Meh I always liked to live on the edge. You state to yourself as you get used to the chilling temperature.

Once your body has gotten used to the water you look to your stomach to see Rainbow Dash latched on rather tightly. "You OK Dash?" You ask. The water is not that cold. You will admit that it was pretty bad when you first got in, but now that you got used to it, it's not that bad.

"Its fucking freezing in here!" Rainbow Dash yells shivering the whole time. Well it looks like her idea for another swimming lesson has gone out the window. You state to yourself with a smile upon your face.

Not wanting Dash to catch hypothermia you climb back up onto the boat. "It was not that cold." You say when you reach the top of the boat. "I mean it was pretty cold when I first jumped in, but then I got used to it."

Dash doesn't respond instead she tightens her hug on you and places her head upon your chest. You have to admit it is pretty fucking adorable. Not wanting to ruin anything you place your own arms around Dash pulling you both into a nice hug.

You don't realize it till you put your arms around Dash, but as soon as you do you realize how cold she actually is. "Holly shit Dash your freezing!" You state rubbing he back trying to generate some heat with friction. Looks like these ponies don't take the cold very well.

"Looks like my little revenge plan back fired on me." Rainbow Dash replies with her head still pressed up against your chest. "However you're nice and warm so I guess It didn't come without reward." Rainbow Dash state as her overall temperature seems to raise.

With no words being said, you and Rainbow Dash lay against the side of the boat. Time seems to pass by rather fast as what feels like minutes later the captain come up. "I see you two had no trouble keeping an eye on my boat." He states.

"Anyways we best be getting on our way if we want to make it there while the moon is still up." The captain states with confidence in his tone.

"Any particular reason you want to be there before the sun comes up?" You ask letting Rainbow Dash go to stand up. She is definitely going to be sick later on. You say giving yourself a mental note.

The captain sighs and points to the flag upon your right arm. "It doesn't take a genius to realize that you're trying to get to the UAE because you're a US soldier. The reason I want to get to the island before sun rise is so that you can get on it unseen from the Iran military."

Look at this bro. You state to yourself. "Thanks a lot man that really mean a lot to me." You state following him up to the bridge with Rainbow Dash in tow. "Is there anything we can do to help make this journey move smoother?" You ask.

The captain pauses for a moment in thought. "There is only one thing that you can do. When we arrive at the harbor I want you to jump off of the ship and swim inland. The harbor is guarded for sure and it would look really suspicious if I were to not use the harbor. I hope that contraption of yours can swim." The captain states with a wink while you and Dash take your leave.

"You expect me to swim in that water again?" Rainbow Dash is fast to break the silence. "Because I am not fucking doing that a-a-achoo, again." Great she got sick.

Sighing you reply. "Sorry Dash but it looks like you're going to be in that water again. It should be much warmer there anyways." You state arriving at the back of the boat. You don't know why you like to see the waves the boat creates, but It always calmed you down.

"You do realize once this is all over you owe me one." Dash states realizing that there is going to be no way out of this one.

"Yeah, yeah I know." You state as Dash gets on her hind hoofs and looks over the back of the boat to see the waves it creates. "How does this thing work anyways?" Dash states.

"Long story short this boat has a engine that is powered by fuel to create mini explosions. Those mini explosions push these things called a pistons in the engine and those pistons spins a propeller that in turn pushes the boat forward." You state hoping she doesn't want a more in depth explanation.

"That sound so awesome. Even if you did sound like an egghead saying it." Rainbow Dash states look over to you with a smile.

"You call me the egghead. You're the one that wanted to learn about it." You state smiling back at Rainbow Dash.

Time passed by rather slowly at the back of the ship. The rest of the ride was rather un-eventful as you and Rainbow Dash just stared out and into the vast ocean. "Five minutes!" You hear the captain yell out.

"Ready Rainbow Dash?" You ask as you know that water is not her strong suit. However you will say that she has improved a lot over the past two days.

"As ready as I will ever be." Rainbow Dash states as you step back from the back of the ship and make your way to the side of the boat. "Is this going to be as bad as back in Iran?" Rainbow states.

Leaning against the side of the boat you reply to her question. "To be honest I have no Idea. However I want to get on and off of this island as fast as we can. I think we should try not to be seen, as that will lead to less bloodshed."

Rainbow Dash nods and you look outwards towards the island. Funny how it looks so peaceful yet it is capable of such dark things. You say to yourself as you scan the harbor for the guards the captain said would be there.

Surly enough you can see the little silhouettes of the solders upon the docks. They seem to be resting at the moment but with this ship in rout, you doubt they will stay sitting down. "I suggest you two jump now while they're occupied." The captain states.

Agreeing with the captains command you look over to Dash and climb over the edge. "Ready?" You ask one last time before the jump.

"Ready." Rainbow Dash states and the both of you jump into the still freezing waters.

Fuckin' hell it's still cold as shit. You say to yourself as you look around to see Rainbow Dash having a bit of trouble staying afloat. "You need help?" You ask Rainbow while you look around.

"No I'm fine." Rainbow Dash states regaining control of her swimming. "Lead the way I will be right behind you." Rainbow Dash states as the last of the boat passes you and you both are left out in the open.

With quick thinking you immediately dive into the water and start heading towards the island. Every now and then you remember to look behind you to make sure Rainbow Dash is still with you. Looking back one last time before you hit the shore you see Rainbow Dash signalling to go up.

Following her commands you both breach the surface of the ice cold water. Rainbow Dash Immediately gasps for some air. Right ponies need air as well You state to yourself as you look towards the dock. It seems that there is a fight going on as you can hear shouts coming from the docks.

"Ok I'm good now let's keep moving." Rainbow Dash states and you both turn towards the island. You will admit that the swim there was hard as the ocean currents kept pushing you back out into sea. Nevertheless you and Rainbow Dash push hard and arrive at the shore in no time at all.

"You think the captain is going to be alright?" Rainbow Dash states out of breath from the extreme work out. "The yelling didn't sound to good Anon."

You take what Rainbow Dash had to say into consideration and take one last look towards the docks. "I'm sure he is fine." You state keeping an eye on his boat. As if on time a silhouette appears on the boat by the bridge. "You see Rainbow he's fine."

A large light is given off and the silhouette falls into the dark waters below with a average size splash. You turn to stop Rainbow Dash but she is already next to you. "Why are humans so cruel! He did nothing wrong!" Rainbow Dash states loudly.

"He transported us Rainbow. They must of found something that showed he was transporting a US soldier." You hate to admit it but Rainbow has a point, the human race is cruel. However you're sure that once you're out of this hell hole things will look up.

Rainbow Dash just sits there in silence, looking out towards the docks. "We best be moving Rainbow if you want to get off this island alive." You state preparing for the long journey ahead inland. "I hate to say it Rainbow but we have to forget about him for now."

Dash seems to get the point and gets up from her spot slowly and heads towards you. "I really hope this place you're taking me to can make up for what I have seen here." Rainbow Dash states with a sad tone. I really hope it can too Rainbow. You state to yourself as you start your journey to the other end of the island.

From what the captain has told you, there is another dock on the other end of the island. The dock is mostly used for fishermen and goods transport. It sucks that the dock he decided to dock at was a military one.

The journey there will not be a easy one as the captain also stated that this island is a military island and has a rather large base on it. All you can do now is hope that the journey across the island will be smooth and the solders have tasks of their own to do today.

That being said you come off of the beach and onto a rather worn out road. With Dash behind you, you once again realize that her colors are not the most stealthy colors in the world. Not wanting to cover her in mud again you try to think of another less 'dirty' way of counselling her bright hues.

Time passes by rather fast as you think of ways to keep Rainbow Dash from being seen. The first thought was to cover her with cloth. However it doesn't take much time before you realize that you have no cloths to give. The more you walk the more ideas pop into your head, some good some bad.

During your walk down the worn out stone roads, lights start to come into view from a distant town. Not knowing the occupants of the town, you travel off the road and into the bushes and shrubs. Stopping in the bush you take off your backpack and check you survival kit.

To your disliking your survival kit lacked the one thing that you really needed, binoculars. Guess you can't plan for everything. You state to yourself as you slowly approach the town inch by inch, jumping from cover to cover.

Arriving at the town, you notice that the people within it seem to be civilians. Sighing in relief you head into the town making sure to cover up your flag on your shoulder. Made that mistake once don't want that happening again. You say to yourself as you come up to the first civilian.

"You speak English?" You ask the women. "I need to know how to get to the docks." You state hoping they will lead you to the civilian dock and not the military one.

"Yes I speak English." The women states leaning to get a look at Rainbow Dash behind you. "What did you do to that poor pony!" The women states with a surprised tone.

"I didn't do anything to that pony." You snap back as you don't want to be known as the person that mistreats animals.

The women turns around and gives you a deadpan look. "So this pony just came to you with a blue coat and a rainbow mane?" The women states.

You mentally face palm as you realize how weird Rainbow Dash must look to these civilians. "You don't understand it's a long story." You state putting your hands up to show your innocents. "And quite frankly I don't think you would believe me if I told you."

"Really? Try me." The women states petting Rainbow Dashes mane. As if to taunt you Rainbow Dash smiles as she is probably holding in her laughter. This is going to make me sound like a crazy lunatic. Whatever here goes nothing.

"That right there is a alien from another dimension. Her name is Rainbow Dash and she can talk. To be honest I have no idea why she has a cyan coat and a Rainbow tail." You state with a smile thinking about how insane this must sound.

"Well you got one thing right, I don't believe you I'm going to report you to the local police for animal harassment." The women states getting up.

"Wait, wait. I can prove it." You state as the women turns around and looks you dead in the eye with a expression that says 'go on I'm listening'. "This pony can talk." You state pointing towards Rainbow Dash.

Turning towards Rainbow Dash you speak up. "Go on Rainbow speak to her. Show her that I am not an insane animal harasser." Rainbow Dashes expression goes from a confused look to her signature smirk. You don't know what she means with that smirk but you will just have to trust her.

What happens next is unexpected. Rainbow Dash lets out a generic pony neigh. You got to be fucking kidding me. How did I know she was going to do something on the lines of that. You say to yourself as Rainbow Dash turns to you with a smile upon her face. At least she happy now. You say to yourself.

"Very funny. Now if you mind I have to contact the police." The women states walking off down the street.

"You happy now?" You state turning to look over to Rainbow Dash. "There goes my plan of being stealthy." You say brining your hand to your face in a rather dramatic face palm. "Was it worth it?" You ask Rainbow.

"Totally." Rainbow states as she can no longer hold in her laughter. "I was never the one for 'stealth' either." Rainbow Dash continues to roll around on the rocky road until she stops and recomposes herself. "Ok, ok I'm sorry won't do that again."

"I say we better get moving." You state remembering that the women went to call the authorities. "I don't want to be around when the cops show up." You say look towards Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah, cops. Cops are like our version of guards. They make sure that the rules are being fallowed and when they are not they are the ones that carry out the punishment. And thanks to you I have been convicted of animal harassment."

Rainbow Dash looks around the emptied streets of the town "Then what are we standing here for!" Rainbow Dash states "Let's get the Fuck out of here!." With no argument you and Dash bolt it down the street at high speeds.

To your disliking it seems that the cops react rather fast in this small town. Well it's not like they have anything better to do here. You say to yourself as two cops come into view in front of you. "Fuck." You say as you look around the area for a way out.

With no clear way out you stop and turn around to run the other way. "All you had to do was speak!" You say as you and Dash bolt it back down the same road. You can hear no response from Rainbow Dash as she probably knows that what is happening now is her fault.

As if thing couldn't get any worse two more cops appear at the other end of the road. "Fuck, well it was nice knowing you Dash." You say as the cops close onto you from both sides.

"No, you're not going to die if you act like a normal pony. However I am probably going to die." You state gulping down a large amount of dry air.

Before the cops get close you start to see a white aurora surround you. "What the Fuck?" You say out loud as it starts to form around you. "Are you seeing this Dash?" You state looking besides you to see the same thing happening to Dash.

"I have no idea." You reply as the light gets brighter and brighter. You can't help but get the feeling that you have seen this same light before. However the more you think about it the more the idea seems to slip away.

In no time the light is so bright that you're forced to close your eyes. Even with your eye lids closed you can see the bright light. Anything that you do to take the light away seems to fail. Even covering your eyes with your hand.

The event seems to go on forever until the light vanishes within seconds. What the fuck was that? You state with your hands still covering your eyes. However you start to feel different, like you are floating. Did they shoot me. I bet they shot me. You state in your mind as you take away your hands from your eyes.

To your surprise you're not greeted by more darkness or the entrance to hell. Instead you're greeted by the inside of some sort of vehicle. "What the fuck?!" You say out load. Wait where is Rainbow Dash! You state looking around the rather technical looking area.

"Your telling me!" Rainbow Dash replies from behind you. "We're mother bucking floating. THIS IS SO AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash yells.

Turning around you see Rainbow Dash floating upside down. Or am I upside down? You think to yourself. "Where are we Anon?" Rainbow Dash states as you look around to try and figure out her question.

Glancing around you can't help but take notice of a small logo upon one of the equipment. The logo read NASA. HOLY FUCKING SHIT! THIS IS NOT WERE I THINK IT IS! You state in your head with a smile as you float around to find a window of some sort.

With time passing by you're able to find a small window on the wall. "Dash." You state in a calm tone along with a smile plastered upon your face.

"What is it Anon you find out where we are?" Rainbow Dash states floating over to you.

"Just take a look for yourself." You say backing away from the window. Rainbow Dash soon moves herself in position in front of the window.

“It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Falling for a Star

by CCpone

Chapter thirteen - A sight unseen