//------------------------------//
// Act II Part I 
// Story: De_Termination// 
// by WindigogoGadget 
//------------------------------//

Aiden had come to a change in his sleep schedule to account for his newly added infamy, currently known as the thief of Golden Oaks Library, who stole nothing but books from Twilight Sparkle. That was what he had heard around town while doing his best to blend in among the background, his best consisted of hiding in plants, or far away, and seeing how far his ears could pick voices up with clarity. What little he gained from these daytime excursions had been a name for where he was, a few names, what money was called, and the location of a "Ponyville Express", a train station he could use to get around. He'd gained far more by briefly skimming the few books he had stolen, the world was called Equus, and the land he resided in was Equestria. Not so recent events included a history of how the nation was founded, by settling a hatred between the three types of ponies that had caused a snowstorm, created by Windigos feeding off the mutual hatred of everyone. The rulers, were Princess Celestia, and Luna, though one had been banished to the moon. The two sisters were virtually gods, apparently being immortal and having the ability to raise the sun and moon, another thing he learned, was the sun and moon had to be manually raised because some magic caused by a being named Discord had permanently damaged the natural order of a few things. Oh, and something about elements of harmony being used to defeat Nightmare Moon and Discord.

Of course, since pegasi could control the weather, he had a feeling what ponies considered the natural order to be far different than what he thought. Moving on with his train of thought.

Up next came the list of problems, the first one, was no bits. Even if he were to flee, he had nothing to pay in, and he would prefer not to steal purely to keep his notoriety down, not because had qualms about having to pickpocket it the old fashioned way,  his morals frankly didn't care as long as he did it similarly in his old world, by stealing small amounts from various bank accounts back in Chicago, in this case, ponies in Ponyville. But keeping his damage to the public low at this age would be difficult. Second, no place to stay and no place to go, the geography book only covered a few key locations and formations, not routes and trains. Probably outdated. Three, he wasn't equipped for a fight, especially if it involved magic. Sure, a day around this town showed they weren't all that hostile, but he preferred to be on the side of caution. Besides, it gave him the excuse of trying to learn more about magic, which while he was searching, resulted in him knowing nothing about the fox form he'd been given, everything was purely about unicorns, even the glance on magical theory was keyed around horns and already having a basic grasp on magic, as in having known to at least be able to pull on it since birth. The book on magical theory was somewhat helpful, but it was going to take a long amount of reading for him to make a breakthrough.

And fourth, the pony he stole from was officially on the search for him. It'd taken two days at the most for it to reach his ears, but word was that Twilight Sparkle was up at night searching for the thief, trying to track her books down, likey involving him being reported to the authorities, but there was an unusual note about going "full egghead on them" according to a boastful rainbow-colored pegasus.

At least that was the list of it so far, fortunately having a hide-out was sorted quickly as he had taken a liking to a pine tree on the border of Ever-Free, closest to Ponyville. His home-for-now was a spacious burrow leading to a squared-out room, with an emergency back exit dug as well in case he was discovered. He wasn't entirely used to digging with his hands- paws but it was a lot easier than his first hide-out in this world. In a corner, he had his sack of books, ready to be taken at a moment's notice if he felt the need to escape with them as well, in another, a few pilfered apples and a map nailed to the wall with toothpicks.

He was debating if this was better than, or worse, than most of his usual hide-out scenarios.  A lack of running water or light at night time ranked this one lower than his car.


Groan...


Another thing to pile onto the list, getting a breakfast that isn't just apples.


...


As tempting as it was to go and hit the closest general store at night, Aiden knew that if he continued to be such a prolific thief of anything more than the occasional apple and scrap of paper, he'd get noticed, which meant having to deal with the purple unicorn. Something about that pony felt off to him, first impressions gave him the weird feeling of a suppressed serial killer. The look in her eyes when he cut through the magic air around him was a large factor in that.

Taking a shortcut around the border of the town, the fox had finally reached a bright red barn, next to it a great orchard of apple trees. Now normally, he'd take a single apple from one of the crates they had inside at night or the trees, and leave, but this time he was going to be tailing an orange pony wearing a Stetson. The reasoning was that they were a farm, and unless the closest shops had an excessively high demand for fresh apples, someone around here had to deliver them to a bigger spot, a farmers market, anyplace where he could show up and leave undetected. Black on green stands out far too much out in the open, clinging tightly to the walls he was able to be passed off as a shadow as Aiden tipped his ears every which way, getting the sounds of idle chatter in the household. One 'Applebloom' being scolded by a 'Granny' for not washing her hooves before breakfast, something heavy moving around... If he was any less attentive he'd have complained about this being a boring job, and if he had any less patience he'd have just stolen another apple. Didn't matter if it took another ten minutes of waiting, he had to figure it out, if not from here, then somewhere else.

Letting his thoughts drift for even a moment though would remind him that keeping himself busy to ignore his new body wasn't working very well.

His ears perked up at the voice of Applebloom loudly asking if she could help with an apple stand today. Bingo,
Stands meant a free market, pawnshops, thrift stores, swap-meets. It was decidedly easier than dealing with all the hassle of cryptocurrency when in London or doing everything online.

Yes, it was convenient to buy from, but it's always going to be convenient to just buy things right then and there if it isn't something hard to find. He could make an explosive from some household products and department section chemicals in an hour if he needed something more advanced than a grenade. His cheap grenades were nothing to scoff at despite being a bundle of electronics and nails strapped to crudely made explosives in a plastic bag.

When did I start sounding like an old person?

Back to the situation at hand, a market meant being able to barter and steal. Assuming he could rip out any mentions of the Golden Oaks Library in those books, he could sell them as soon as he was finished with them. They'd find their way back to Ponyville, he was certain of it.

He'd have to look convincing and be as out of town as possible. A vagrant with no real reason to stay except trade... But trade what exactly? He was decent at working with his hands for sure, but he had his doubts about what he could offer with zero reputation as an outsider, and possibly a negative reputation should he be discovered.

Maybe he should move, put distance between him and Ponyville in the event of discovery and be closer to the market to hawk his wares and barter with the locals.

Rope? Cordage? That should sell for something, though his bushcraft was sorely lacking he did pick up a few things over the years, jokingly called old man wisdom by some of his partners. Well, he never did get any wiser.
Of course, if he did end up spending his day making rope, he'd be better off making a bag of some type with it rather than hauling things in a sack.

A sack that he didn't have on him, making vending moot. Damn it, How did I forget?

The distant sound of small bells in the distance and the dull thud of a mass of hooves moving told him all he needed to, so he stopped shadowing Applebloom and her assumed sister and ran off to investigate.

With plenty of distance between him and a possible witness Aiden Pearce ran his pockets again. He had his jacket, and a lot of pockets to go with it, but nothing to sell. It meant doing a lot of window shopping. 

On the bright side, he'd at least found an alternative route to the market, one that leads in from out of town. So there he sat on a treetop, trying to figure out what he could do.

Tea? There were plenty of wildflowers here, but he couldn't dry it in an instant, let alone not poison someone.

Labor? He was a book thief, and him even considering waltzing into the area was idiotic. He was missing the days when dressing up as forgettable as possible was the peak of public camouflage, both against Fixers, CTos, and anyone you really didn't want to be discovered by.

This fox form is limiting.

He absent-mindedly nommed on a black clustering fruit. It was tart at first but quickly turned into a pleasantly sweet flavor, though it had a stem at the center of it that was typically spat out. It looked somewhat like a blackberry if blackberries grew on trees.

Assuming he didn't get caught seconds after showing up, he might have a bright idea.
Right after he had just another one of these things.