What if they wake up, and Charles can't put them to sleep?

"Hey, buddy."

What if the diapers are too late?

"Yo, kid."

Oh, God, what if they go to the bathroom on my socks? Without a crib, or diapers, I'd have to move them, and change the stuff they sleep on, and make sure they don't get dirty or sick...Oh, Jesus...I really wish I were there right now...

"Hey, asshole!"

The shout brings me back to reality, and I blush in the corner store, the impatient man behind me holding a box of condoms up to display.

"I’ve got a hot bitch t' fuck, kid. Hurry yo' white ass up."

I turn to the woman behind the counter, and hand her a twenty, muttering a "thank you" as I pocket the change, and walk out with the fifty-pack of diapers under my arm, and the baby powder in my hand.

Dumping the diapers and baby powder in my car, next to the tubes of oats and bags of hay that I bought from a pet store down the block, I close the trunk and hastily get in, lest someone get greedy...For baby supplies.

Oh, trust me, it’s happened before. Drunks constantly attempt to raid the corner store for diapers and powder.

I still have no idea why. Probably some stupid diaper fetish...

As I pull away, I look into the storefront to see the condom man opening the box, and making out with the woman behind the counter. I would say it's disgusting, but I can't help but be impressed by how ballsy (and successful) his approach was.

A few minutes later, I walk into the Chase bank by my house, my bankbook clenched in my fist as the high security men monitor my progression. Admittedly, they're more lax when it comes to white guys in the bank. When there's a black guy, they're reaching for their fucking guns.

A half hour after that, I'm tapping the top of my steering wheel in impatience, glaring at the red light high above me.

“Come on, come on...I have to get home, now...” I mutter, to nobody in particular.

Finally, it turns green, and I speed down the last few blocks to my house, immediately pulling over in front.

I rush inside, diapers and baby powder in one arm, food in the other. When I get in the house, I lock and bolt the door, and place the diapers, and powder, right next to my bedroom. Seeing as how the ponies haven't eaten or drank anything as of yet, I assume that they won’t be needing them.

I bring the pony food in with me, and put it down next to my bed, across from my sock drawer, where the ponies can’t reach it.

"Charles," I whisper into the darkened room. I quickly notice that he's lying back, on my bed, and is holding Trixie. The both of them are sound asleep.

"Where am I going to sleep," I mutter to myself, smiling down at Trixie and Charles.

Just then, Charles' eyes shoot open. That's part of being a citizen here; you become an extremely light sleeper.

You never know when you might get stabbed.

Or raped.

Or robbed.

Or pranked and humiliated on YouTube. (The worst out of all of them, by far.)

"Hey, Peter," he whispers to me. "How much do we have to work with?"

"About seven hundred thousand," I whisper. Charles smiles, and strokes Trixie's mane lovingly.

“Good,” he whispers back. “We can buy enough to keep them safe and happy, if we invest it right...”

I nod. I’ll leave the investiture to Charles, as I know for a fact that he once operated his own mini tycoon of property sales. That is, until there was a fire that took down half of his potential properties. The loss was devastating for him, and he quickly lost the majority of his money in economic gambles that he couldn’t win, given his unfortunate portfolio of burned buildings. The rest of it he either lost to the people who had lived in the burned down buildings, or stored in the bank.

He takes a deep breath, and I can tell he’s been thinking quite a lot while I was gone.

“How do you think they got here?” The question broadsides me for a moment.

I shake my head, zoning out as I stare down at Celestia and Luna, their tiny little wings enveloping each other. I smile, and sit down, cross-legged, by the sock drawer, and examine their sleeping habits. For future reference, of course.

Well, that, and they’re so damn cute that I can’t tear my eyes from them.

Celestia and Luna, as I mentioned above, have their tiny wings stretched out, and barely manage to cover each others' torsos. Celestia sleeps in a protective position, and I note how the white alicorn is somewhat larger than Luna, if only by so much. I smile to myself, and divert my gaze to Derpy Hooves.

“Hey, Charles,” I whisper. “Look at Derpy.”

He does, and silently chuckles to himself.

Derpy is sleeping on her back, her wings splayed out at random angles, covered by the sock that she gums in her sleep, saliva quickly spreading all over the white cotton that has now been turned into a small blanket for the little filly.

“Hey, look at Octavia, Lyra, and Vinyl Scratch, Peter.” Somewhere in the back of my mind, my inner connoisseur of fine literature is screaming that, should a character say that in a book or story, I would fucking burn it.

I do, and my heart melts at the sight. Lyra and Vinyl Scratch are pressed up against Octavia, snuggling up against her sides in their sleep. It’s quite funny, actually, as the contrast of Octavia’s grey, Lyra’s green, (or bluish green, I can't really tell by the light of the moon,) and Vinyl Scratch’s stark white all make for a rather interesting trio of colors.

I move my eyes to the next pony, and my heart melts again.

“Look at Pinkie Pie,” I whisper, amazed at how breathtakingly cute the little pink pony looks in her sleep. I resist the urge to tickle her tummy, as she just looks so cute with her pink, puffy tail in her mouth, and I don’t want to disturb her sleep.

I look over to Twilight Sparkle, who’s sleeping next to Pinkie Pie. I smile as the lavender unicorn gently sucks the tip of her hoof, much like a human baby would suck their thumb.

I look over to Fluttershy, and find that, once again, she’s woken up. Only this time, she isn’t crying, and is sitting up, staring at me with those cute, blue eyes. “Hey, Fluttershy,” I coo to her, silently, “why aren’t you sleeping?”

The yellow Pegasus simply holds up her forelegs to me, and I have my answer.

Because I’m lonely.

I immediately pick her up, careful not to disturb Rainbow Dash, (who is sucking the cyan tip of her left wing next to Fluttershy,) and gently cradle her in my arms.

“Can I try to hold her again?” Charles whispers after a few moments. I think about it, and look down to the yellow Pegasus in my arms, who smiles up at me with all the innocence in the world.

“Okay,” I whisper in response. “Just put Trixie back in the drawer, and sit on the edge of the bed. Away from the ponies. I don’t want you to accidentally kick them or anything.”

Charles nods, and carefully replaces Trixie in the sock drawer, the blue unicorn squirming on the bed of socks as he removes his hands from her.

I stand, and slowly make my way over to the bed, and sit right next to Charles, Fluttershy still smiling in my arms.

“Fluttershy, say hello to Uncle Charles,” I coo to her. I turn her so that she can see the man beside me, and the yellow Pegasus immediately grasps what I mean, which I can tell from how she smiles at Charles. Oh, and waves gently with one of her forelegs.

He’s a friend, too.

I smile at her, amazed at how intelligent she is. I slowly start to hand the yellow Pegasus to Charles. “He’s going to hold you for a bit, Fluttershy. Don’t be scared.”

She nods, and this time, doesn’t recoil from Charles’ touch. Instead, she looks up at me for reassurance, fear passing over her features for a moment. “It’s okay,” he coos to her as I release her into his arms.

Fluttershy averts her gaze from me, and looks up at Charles as he continues to whisper to her. I’m afraid that she’s going to cry for a moment, but the moment passes, and she smiles at Charles, her tiny blue eyes shining in the darkness.

“I think she’s starting to like you,” I whisper with a smile. Charles nods, and keeps rocking Fluttershy slowly, until she falls asleep, wrapping her wings around herself to make a small blanket.

“She’s so adorable,” he whispers as he gingerly places her back. “They all are.”

I nod, still marveling at how intelligent they all are...

I mean, I know they're ponies and their intelligence goes without saying, but for babies...They're pretty damn smart.

And then, an idea hits me.

“What if the government starts to look for them? What will we do then?” I ask, my heart hammering as I imagine a man in a black suit tearing a squirming Fluttershy from my arms.

This gives Charles pause. “I...I don’t know,” he finally responds with a sigh.

I press my fingers to my temple in thought, when I suddenly realize something.

“I need to watch the news later...I need to make sure that nobody noticed the teleportation.”

Charles raises his eyebrow in a dubious fashion. “Teleportation? I thought you said you had no idea how they got here...”

“Did you hear that bang this morning?”

“Yeah.”

“That was the boxes arriving. All fourteen of them, each one holding one of the ponies.”

Charles runs a hand through his long hair. “Well, if anything, let’s hope they assume it was another car crash...”

I roll my shoulders. “We really need to move now. If the government finds out about the teleportation alone, they’ll be all over my ass...”

Charles raises a hand to his chin, and I can tell that he’s thinking, hard. “ Wait, what if...What if we somehow...Convince them to grant the ponies U.S. citizenship?”

I scratch the stubble on my chin. Citizenship...For a pony...

“Yeah, but they’ll want to cut them open, and do a lobotomy,” I urgently whisper.

He smiles. “Not if we promise to donate their bodies to science, once they...Pass away.”

I stare at Charles, and heatedly whisper, “I don’t even want to think about that. They’re still babies, you satanic piece of -" I catch myself. "shimmering dust."

“Yeah, I guess you’re right...We’ll just have to move, and hope for the best,” he sighs, deciding not to comment on my odd choice of words.

I nod, and he takes a deep breath. “Well, what are you waiting for, Pete? Get your laptop. We’ll start browsing for properties, now that I know what our budget is...”

“Okay. Be right back...”

Fifteen minutes later, we’re sitting on the floor, next to my dresser, the laptop on Charles’ lap.

“Wait, what if the light wakes up one of the ponies?”

Charles responds by lowering the brightness, and turning it away from my dresser.

“I think you should get some sleep, man. Hold one of the ponies when you do. It’ll be good to bond with them. That, and I think they'll like it."

I nod, all too happy to return to sleep, and this time with a pony in my arms. Climbing back onto my bed, I sit up and look at my various ponies in my ridiculously large sock drawer.

Speaking of, while you may think of the ponies as cruelly bunched together as they sleep in my drawer, trust me, they’re not. I bought a dresser with drawers that could hold me, and then some. Apparently, at the time, I thought that socks were the largest articles of clothing in my wardrobe, as I bought it with socks in mind. I was going to return it, but I decided not to, and, instead, bought more socks.

And now, I’m glad that I did, because the comically huge drawer is actually serving an important purpose.

Who should I hold? I want to hold all of them, in all honesty...

I run a hand through my rather short hair, and quickly spot Rainbow Dash, who has just woken up, and is staring right at me with her adorable, tiny red eyes. I would say that it makes my heart melt if it weren't for the fact that it's already melted.

“Hiya, Rainbow Dash,” I whisper. “Why aren’t you asleep?”

In response, the cyan Pegasus simply shoves her wingtip back into her mouth, and keeps staring at me. Chuckling silently, I reach down, and carefully pick her up, ensuring that I don’t disturb any of the ponies surrounding her.

I prop my pillow up against the headboard of my bed, and lean back slightly, cradling the cyan Pegasus in my arms.

“You’re a pretty little Pegasus, Rainbow Dash,” I coo to her. “You and your sister both are.”

Smiling through the wing in her mouth, she gently presses one of her cyan hooves to my chin. Still cradling her in my left arm, I raise my right hand to her hoof, and grasp it very, very gently in my fist, rubbing the length of her furry little leg with my thumb.

“I love you,” I finally coo, as I fully accept my new role as her father, and as the father of the other thirteen ponies sleeping on my socks.

No, not my new role.

It’s not a role. A role is something you play out, something you fulfill through obligation.

No, rather, I accept the fact that I am her father, and at that moment, I know that I will press myself to be the best father, ever.

Even if that means going up against the government itself.

I smile, and close my eyes, the sound of typing and gentle breathing combining to calm both me, and the cyan Pegasus in my arms.

Within a half hour, both Rainbow Dash has fallen asleep, and one question continually enters my mind, and keeps me from the gentle embrace of slumber.

Why me, God? Why didn’t you choose someone else, someone who’s better with children, and that has more money?

Suddenly, without warning, I fall asleep. It’s almost as if I was pushed into the void of unconsciousness...

And then, I hear a voice.

And that voice says something that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

It’s the voice of what I would later come to know as an Alicorn.

Because you can help change the world by simply being their father.

Who are you...? I ask my dream, silently hoping that the voice will respond.

When the time comes, I will tell you. All you must know, is that you can change the world, and make it into a land of peace, simply by being their father.

I have so many questions, yet the voice washes them away.

When the time comes...

I quickly fall into a deep, sweet sleep, the words embedded in my memory. More or less.