Jim was a human. He was a special kind of human. He was a brony. He loved colorful cartoon ponies and the whimsical stories and morals they had to share with the world. He enjoyed most of the humor, loved the music, both in the show, and surrounding it. The fanbase was fun to be a part of.

Yep, he liked them horses.

He did not expect to stagger out of his apartment one morning and end up in a hallway with some ponies in it. "The hell..."

One of them, a dark-colored mare with a severe expression, turned to him and looked him up and down. "Why do you seem lost? Do you need assistance?"

He blinked at her. Shouldn't she be freaking out too? "Uh... Hi?"

"Hello." She frowned a little. "Do you live here?"

He thrust a thumb back at his room. "Right here."

The mare looked past him to the door. "That room..." She drew in a sudden breath. "You are not a pony."

Jim shook his head a little as he looked himself over. Nope, not a pony. "You are."

She didn't argue that fact. "What are you?"

"A human?" Was he about to be attacked by a unicorn? That was bad, and kind of maybe a tiny bit awesome?

"I... see, follow me." She turned away. "I am Dark Vision, what is your name?"

"Jim, Jim Cartfield, but Jim's fine." He followed along after her, watching her curiously. He was watching an actual pony! That was exciting, but... why?

Dark led him to an elevator. Her horn glowed softly and pressed the lobby button without actually touching it. "I'm taking you to the owner of this building. She will help you."

Owner of the building? "My landlord's a guy, not a lady. Alright kind of person, not someone I'm inviting over for movie night."

"Be that as it may..." Dark swiveled an ear at the human she saw as a friendly earth pony. "You are not home. Welcome to Equestria."

Jim went quiet. Was he really? Was this really? On one hand, cool! On the other, fuuuudge. He had a life. He had friends, a job, family! Could he... Damn it...

Dark tilted her head faintly. "We will do what we can to make you comfortable. If you obey the laws and are a good person, then you are welcome here."

A soft ring of a bell announced their arrival at the ground floor and she led the way into the lobby. She hesitated a moment, then pointed outside. "What do you see?"

He looked past her, but what he saw was confusing. It looked like earth. He could see a person walking by. A few cars drove down the road. It was home, despite... home being... suddenly occupied with ponies.

One of those ponies trotted to the door and just... vanished. At least in Jim's eyes, the pony simply exited reality, as if ponies couldn't exist outside the boundary of the building itself. "The heck?"

"You see something unusual then?"

"It's... home." He took a step towards the exit, uncertain and confused. Maybe he hadn't given up his life after all? "It's right there!"

"Fascinating." Dark wrapped her magic around what she still saw as an earth pony and gently turned him around. "You are halfway between worlds."

"Is that even a thing?" Jim raised both brows in unison. "Does that mean I could go to work and just come home to pony land at the end of the day?"

"Crude, but... perhaps, yes." Dark tapped the ground with a hoof. "You have a choice. If you leave back to your world now, you may never return. If you sign a lease with this landlady, then your room will become yours, and you will be bound here. You will be... caught, between worlds, mostly in your own, visiting ours when you come here. Which would you... prefer?"

A chance to visit whenever he wanted, without ditching his life? Well, what was the downside? Wait, there it was. "I'd have to pay rent twice."

Dark raised a hoof to her chin. "I believe a deal can be reached. Your presence would help... stabilize things. That would be..." She trailed off, cutting herself off from speaking more on it. "If you wish it, we'll make it work. If not--" She gestured out the front door. "Your home awaits. Go with no ill will."

He reached for her curiously. She stared at him intently until contact was made. "You can stop that."

She was soft and fuzzy and everything a pony should be, just maybe not as warm as he'd hoped. He drew his hand back. "Are other ponies so..."

Dark rolled a hoof. "I am an imperial agent. Dark Vision, Warlock, direct servant of Princess Luna."

"Woah." That made sense, at least why she wasn't the chipper kind of pony. "So Luna's here? Twilight, Pinkie?"

Dark tilted her head faintly. "She is. What do the former Element Bearers have to do with her?"

They were all there! "Let's meet this landlady."

Dark led the way to an office. Behind a desk there was a lady! A human lady!

The lady blinked at the two of them. "Hey Dark. Who's that with you?" She looked past Dark to Jim, also seeing a big friendly earth pony stallion.

Dark gestured back at Jim. "This is Jim Cartfield, human, and potential new tenant." She then waved a hoof at the lady. "This is Tabitha. She has a second name, but rarely uses it. Tabitha will suffice."

"Jim's alright," assured Jim.

"Tabitha Taylor," explained Tabitha as she rose up. She wasn't human. At least, not... entirely? As she stood up, it became clear she was a pony from the lower belly down, leading into a pony's body like an adorable mini-centaur. "Nice to meet you? You know, right now, we both see a pony, not a human."

Jim glanced at himself again. "Still human from where I'm standing. So, uh, if I sign any dotted lines, will that mean I really will be a pony, because that would be hard to explain to my boss." He was also fine being a human. He was in no hurry to ditch humanity for hooves and a tail, no matter how cute.

Tabitha held up the palms of her hands. "No! No, promise. Geeze, it wasn't a pony that... made me this way. Let's not get sidetracked by that. If you sign the lease, then everyone else who lives here will see you as you are, and vice versa. There are other tenants with 'disguises' as I call them. Yours is a rather friendly-looking earth pony. It's like if a smiling gentle giant of a pony was wearing a cute little vest. Light-blue/purple fur, dull-green mane/tail."

"Huh..."

Dark approached Tabitha. "Charge him nothing."

"What?" Tabitha scowled.

Dark drew a soft hiss. "Very well, charge him the standard fee, but present the bill to me. I'll take care of it."

Tabitha waved a hand at Jim. "No offense to him, but why so eager?"

Dark glanced between Jim and Tabitha. "Just do it. I've not led you astray so far, have I? Your interest is my interest. As your protector, please accept this request."

Jim approached slowly. He couldn't help but stare at Tabitha a little. She wasn't smoking hot as ladies went, but she was far from ugly. A B+ he decided, if you ignored the fact that she was half pony. The pony part was dressed a lot more than he'd expect a random pony to be dressed, but if she was human to start, that made sense. She was cute. He wasn't sure if that raised or lowered her grade. That depended on what one was looking for, he decided.

"Something wrong?" Tabitha raised a brow at Jim. It was the first actual guy she'd met in a while. She wasn't sure how she should feel about it, and the way he was eyeing her... Well, it wasn't too far off from how every other pony in the city had gaped at her on first meeting. She decided to let him get his one free stare. "So... how'd you get here?"

He shrugged helplessly. "I stepped out of my door to get the newspaper and... here I am? So, uh, I guess I have to sign that?"

"Right!" Tabitha started going over the rules as she pulled out a document. Dark suddenly said what floor and room he was in. That was unusual, but it was available, so she filled that in.

"Tabby?" Razz poked his head into the room then smiled. "Oh hey there!" He cheerfully greeted the pony he saw. "Are you moving in?"

Jim nodded with some uncertainty. "Looks that way. Who are you?" Now that looked like a cute and chipper pony. Just what he was expecting.

Razz trotted up to Jim. "I'm Razz Berry. I live here too. Nice to meet you." He thrust a hoof at the earth pony he saw.

Jim reached for the hoof and they 'shook'. Even though he could feel the hoof and the fur beyond it, Razz seemed to think he was just bumping hooves and shaking pony style. "Jim. Nice to meet you too."

"Alright, just sign here." Tabitha twirled the lease to face Jim and pushed it towards him.

Jim pulled a pen out of a pocket, getting Razz looking at him with new curiosity. He quickly penned his name.

Razz squeaked and fell back. The two females looked at him with more carefully curious expressions.

Nothing had changed for Jim, at least nothing he could see. "Um, hi, again?"

Dark moved for the exit. "Call if my presence is needed."

Tabitha wasn't fleeing. "So, hey, Jim." She looked him up and down. He was a reasonable specimen of male human. He had some stubble, but he seemed clean and so far he wasn't a jerk. Good signs. "Nice to see the real you."

Razz got himself back upright and blinked owlishly at the revealed human. "You're a human?! I... Wait. You're a stallion, right?" His ears perked up. "I never saw a human stallion before, just a mare."

"Just?" Tabitha raised a brow at him.

He blushed quickly. "I didn't mean anything by it! You know I love you, Tabby."

Love you? Was that a strong motion of friendship, or... "Are you two?"

Tabitha swore internally. That cat had escaped the bag in record time. "It's... complicated. I won't bore you with lessons on my personal life."

Jim was fairly certain he wouldn't be bored, but he didn't pry rudely at what was obviously a delicate subject. "Hey, no judgment. Pfft, you're half-pony, you can be with whoever you want."

Razz moved to walk past Jim and got stroked from the head to the middle of his back for the effort. Razz shivered a little as he looked up at the human beside him. "Humans love touching things," he said with growing confidence.

Tabitha patted her front as if summoning a family dog. "That we do. Come here."

Razz did obey the summons, sitting beside her as she stroked over his soft ears.

Tabitha nodded at Jim. "Friendly warning, ask first. If you aren't already good friends with a pony, just reaching for them is a bit weird. I mean, really, just like between two humans in the end."

Author's Note

Hello, Jim! You've entered the unfolding typo that is this story.