[Canterlot]Like a Fish Out of Water[Open]

[Gerrard]

"Mmm, fake plastic decorations, yummy," Gerrard replied with a laugh, gently patting the snow lander on the head. "Ponies are very keen on making please aesthetics. They want it to look nice and do so by adding extraneous things to their work. Stuff like that," Gerrard explained with a laugh as they stood in the towering building.

The griffon smirked, hearing the caribou whisper that ponies were weird. Gerrard understood them enough, probably agreeing a bit with the ponies around that Snowdrift was the weird one. "Why do you think ponies are weird? Just because they read silly books? Their desire to eat fake foliage?" the hybrid announced loudly enough to get the attention of the ponies around him, the flyer loving to make awkward moments.

Numerous ponies had gathered around the pair, grumbling lightly as it seemed that Snowdrift had insulted them and their honor. "Your the weird one, your horns are all weird shaped," one commented in an insulted manner, staring at Snowdrift with critical eyes.

"Snowdrift, it actually isn't that hard to read. Each symbol makes a sound, and when these symbols are linked up in certain ways, they make a word. For example, these three symbols form the word bat. Buh-ah-tuh, bat. That word means bat," Gerrard explained to the caribou patiently, the griffons word's seeming to anger the crowd around them.

"What? Why are you here if you can't even read? Even a foal knows how to read a little bit," one growled, getting up in the face of Snowdrift as he found a reserve of bravery. Gerrard raised his brow, watching patiently to see how Snowdrift would respond to.

[TheCustodian]

~What?~

After listening to Gerrards explanation (And still not really getting it) the caribou finally noticed how the ponies around him and how they all seemed to be angry at something. Perring down at the pony in front of him the caribou couldnt help but smirk somewhat. If he was trying to be intimidating he certainly was not doing a good job of it.

"Im here because i was curious as to what a library was and my companion here decided to show me around." he replied bluntly while gesturing to Gerrard. The comment about his antlers however...

"I don't have horns... They are antlers. And while they may be strange by your standards ill have you know my rack is quite impressive to those within my tribe" he replied calmly trying not to sound condescending or rude. it was a matter of pride for the caribou. BAck home ones antlers tended to denote ones importance and position. For Snowdrift to have such large antlers at this age was surprising and many had expected great things of him... If he hadnt been so prone to wandering.

"By my standards the tiny nubs you call horns are something one would find on a calf."

[Gerrard]

Gerrard smirked and slipped out of sight of the angry crowd, the aloof griffon having a few more tricks to play on the grass eaters around him. The aggressive unicorn blushed bright red when his small horn was called out, his secret revealed to everyone around him. It was true, Snowdrift did have a rather large rack, especially compared to most unicorns in canterlot. The griffon chuckled and used this as his opportunity to finish off the uppity unicorn.

"Someone failed his advanced biology 234 class. What a disgrace to Canterlot, who let this hapless unicorn into our midsts? He is making us all look bad, get him!" Gerrard growled in a less threatening voice as he tried to whip the crowd into a frenzy. The ponies were stunned for a moment at the comment before looking at the blushing unicorn. "Oh yeah, they did talk about Carib's in biology, this guy is an imposter, get him!" another student announced, trying to hide his own lack of knowledge as he shifted the blame to the easy scapegoat. The instigating unicorn's eyes widened before he was chased out of the library by a frenzied crowd of know nothing students.

Snowdrift was left alone in the library as the crowd tried to persecute their own ignorance, the griffon nowhere to be seen. Gerrard waited a few moments, to hear if the probably confused caribou had anything to say. Right before anything meaningful could be said, the griffon pushed his talon through one of the book shelves to 'snatch' the caribou from behind, the griffon letting out a playful snarl as he tried to scare his friend, the griffon laughing soon afterwards before pulling his talon out of the book shelf.

[TheCustodian]

Ok...

What...

Just...

Happened?

Snowdrift stood there in complete confusion as the mass of ponies rampaged away leaving much of the library empty. Events had moved so fast, one minute the students had been angry with him, the next they were chasing one of thier own over a small misunderstanding..

"I don... WHOA" the sentence never finished as the caribou was yanked by Gerrard into a bookshelf. Flailing his hooves in worry he eventually calmed down seeing that he was in no real danger and it was all just a prank... Frowning at the laughing griffon Snowdrift bent over picking up the book he had dropped and replaced it on the shelf

"Oh ha ha..." he muttered with a bit of annoyance but remembered what he had been thinking about before the prank.

"Can you explain to me what just happened?" it certainly did not help the caribou to see ponies as anything less than weird.. If anything they seemed even weirder now.

[Gerrard]

Gerrard looked back at Snowdrift, the caribou clearly oblivious to the way things worked in Canterlot. The griffon chuckled lightly and decided to tell him what happened. "Oh, it is actually really simple. Ponies in canterlot like to think they are better than everyone else. They believe that being born into wealth makes them better as people in some way. As such, they like to believe it, and anyone who would make them look bad is treated poorly. I exposed the ignorance of one, and rather than being introspective and realizing they didn't know something, they simply scapegoated him and chased him off. Their pride blinds them to reality I suppose," the griffon explained, laughing lightly as he found the ponies intriguing.

"Don't mind them, nothing you can really say will change their logic or thinking. There something in particular you want to read? I know you can't really read, so it sorta is hard to figure out what to do," Gerrard commented, crossing his arms as he sat on his haunches.

[TheCustodian]

Snowdrift shook his head at Gerrards explanation. How could they all live like that? Acting to one another like predators? Honestly the griffon seemed to be one of the friendliest creatures in this city... Which was saying quite a bit considering the caribou still couldn't bring himself to trust him completely.

"It all seems... Stupid really..." he muttered with a sigh before returning his attention to the books "THere must be thousands of these books here... Where does one start?" well probably at reading. Snowdrift would need to figure that out before he could even attempt to digest the information contained here "And I can take these books away from here?" he added hopefully. While the building interior was nice he still like to stay outdoors under an open sky...

[Gerrard]

Gerrard leaned in close to the caribou, the griffon smirking as he decided to speak. "It's a vicious cycle really. Everyone acting dumb to prove who is the smartest. It is rather convoluted, I know," he admitted, the griffon wearing a clearly fake somber expression on his maw as he looked at the ground.

When the caribou spoke about the books around them, Gerrard chuckled lightly, the griffon finding his comment about the quantity amusing. "Hmm, I would say the number is closer to a million, more than any one ungulate could ever read in all their life. Normally, we start by reading things we are interested in. Perhaps, snow, caribou, or even mares," he chuckled, the griffon leading him through the enormous library, probably the largest one in Equestria. "But in your special case, that isn't really possible now is it? The library is usualy intended for students, but as you might imagine, some have their own offspring that need some learning of their own. This is where you come in," Gerrard commented, the griffon holding back a laugh as they reached the modest preschool section of the library. Murals of young foals and tiny aninals lined the walls as much smaller book shelves filled the much brighter colored room.

"Uh, this is where the young are taught to read when school is out. This would be a good spot to start," he explained, gesturing for Snowdrift to follow him inside the almost insulting simple section of the library. Before anything could be looked at though, a small herd of curious foals charged the griffon and his caribou friend. "Oooooo, what are you two? You're funny looking! Your horns are weird. You dont have hooves!" the crowd commented in a flurry of curious questions before their supervisor could corall them back into order. Gerrard smirked and turned to Snowdrift, the griffon liking children in small enough quanties at least.

[TheCustodian]

A million books? And each holding information about this land, its people, and culture... While Snowdrift was not a fan of how the ponies stored their information he couldn't fault them for having so much of it. Idl the caribou wondered if it would be possible to ever read them all? Probably not but that didn't mean he couldn't try! Despite his high hopes though Snodrift knew he still needed to figure out how to read...

As the pair approached the group of young ponies Snowdrift couldn't help but smile a bit as they began to bombard him and Gerrard with questions. The caribou had always liked calves, and it seemed that pony children were no different. Curious, loud, and full of energy. That said he was amused to see they were quite tiny compared to caribou calves, then again Snowdrift himself was larger than regular ponies.

"Yes my horns are odd, they are called antlers actually" he calmly told one of the children with a hint of amusement in his voice. Turning his attention to their supervisor he nodded in greeting "Hello, sorry that me and my companion and disturbing you" he said slightly apologetic.. He didnt mention why he was here, it didnt seem important but Snowdrift did not feel that embarrassed to be learning to read. He was a stranger to these lands, he knew this wouldnt be his first awkward experience. "So where should we start Gerrard?"

[Gerrard]

Gerrard smiled, the young children too confused to understand that he was a griffon, a hybrid creature that was completely unrelated to ponies. "I'm a griffon, we live in the neighboring country. I am actually a former student from this university. Maybe I can supervise you some day," he explained with a grin, glancing over to Snowdrift. Gerrard leaned forward, playfully whispering to the children in a voice that everyone could hear. "My friend here, Snowy, doesn't know how to read, so I gotta give him some pointers. Not everyone got to go to school when they were your age," he explained to kids, get a few jeers and cheers from them as they were amazed someone actually never went to school.

"It's not his fault though, everyone is different and shouldn't be held to the same strict standard. I will fix this injustice on my honor as a griffon!" Gerrard announced strongly, puffing his powerful chest out as a mixture of hoof clapping and laughter filled the preschool section of the library. Gerrard lead Snowdrift to a book case and carefully clawed through it, his keen eyes spotting the book he was looking for. It was made of durable materials and had insanely large print, the symbols on it printed. "A. Book. for Children., ABC's and the alphabet." Gerrard read the book title to Snowdrift in a patient manner, seemingly getting over the fact that the full grown male had no idea how to read. "The key to reading, is understanding the distinct differences that each symbol has. Each symbol makes a distinct sound, and when these letters and sounds are put together, they make a word. CAT for example, is the combination of three specific sounds. KAH-AH-TUH" he pronounced, the griffon starting a long process to teach his friend some basics of reading.