The Fourth Wall: an Introduction
Six students of various races sit at their desks in an otherwise empty classroom. Gallus looks up at the clock above the blackboard, noting the time of three-o’clock. “So where is she?”
Yona turns to Gallus. “Where who?”
“Where who what?” Sandbar follows.
“Ooo, is this some new word game? OK, my turn: Where who what which?”
Gallus puts a claw to his forehead and groans upon hearing Silverstream’s follow-up. “Where is Professor Pinkie Pie?” he clarifies. “She said she had a special friendship lesson for us.”
“Speaking of ‘us’, where’s everyone else?” Smolder asks.
Ocellus turns to Sandbar. “Is there some sort of pony holiday or observance that we’re not aware of?”
“Nothing I’m aware of,” Sandbar replies … as Pinkie Pie pronks her way into the room.
“Hi, everycreature,” Pinkie cheerfully announces. “Looks like you’re all here, so we can begin immediately.” She notices Ocellus raising a foreleg; “Oh, got a question already? Little miss mind reader here, amiright?”
“What? No, just … uh … you said we’re all here, but there’s only the six of us.”
“Yeah,” Smolder adds, “and I don’t have you for class at the same time as the others. What gives?”
“This is a special lesson, just for the six of you,” Pinkie states.
“Why just us?” Gallus asks. “Is it because we’re the only non-ponies in the school?” His comment draws a confused look from Sandbar.
“Well that is part of it,” Pinkie admits, “but only a teensy part. Now then … I want every creature to look at the front of the room. What do you see?”
“A desk?” Gallus states drolly.
“No, silly, behind the desk. C’mon, what do you see?”
The students look around the area behind Pinkie.
Smolder offers a response. “A blackboard? Some chalk? Uh … the clock above the blackboard?”
“Oh, are we playing I Spy! I love playing games!”
“Love the enthusiasm, Silverstream,” Pinkie cheerfully admits. “Okie-dokie, now turn to your left and tell me what you see.”
The students turn as instructed. “OOO, I see bright blue skies, and a big yellow sun, OH, and that’s the fountain down below!!! Wait, all those things are outside the room … I SEE THE WINDOWS!!! Oh, and I see curtains, too! Well? Amiclose, amiclose? Warm? Cold?”
“I don’t think the professor is playing I Spy,” Sandbar informs Silverstream. “... uh, we’re not playing I Spy, are we, professor?”
“Nope, but that’s a super-great idea for tomorrow! OK everyone, now turn to the right and tell me what you see?”
The students oblige. “Well,” Ocellus begins, “I see a bookshelf containing seventeen tomes, a couple empty desks and chairs stacked against the wall, a map of Equestria and its surrounding lands, uh … the doorway …”
“Great job, Ocellus! Now, this is the big one … everyone turn to the back of the room and tell me what you see.”
One final time, the students turn to face …
…
“Yona see nothing.”
“Gallus agrees with Yona,” Gallus adds. “All I see is a bare wall.”
“Exactly,” Pinkie triumphantly concludes.
The students turn to Pinkie, then turn back to the wall. “Now Yona confused.”
“You see,” Pinkie starts as she pronks her way past the students toward the bare wall, “the first thing I asked you to look at was a wall. The second thing I asked you to look at was another wall.”
“With windows!”
“Wonderful observation, Silverstream! And the third thing I asked you to look at was—”
“A third wall?” Gallus asks dryly.
“Yeppers! Wall, wall, wall … three walls. But that brings us to this, the focus on our special lesson … the fourth wall!”
Pinkie slaps the bare wall with a hoof, while the students look to each other with confused looks before turning back to face Pinkie.
“So what?” Smolder bluntly asks. “the room has four walls. Every room has four walls.”
“And why is it empty?” Ocellus adds. “Shouldn’t there be something there? Like, another blackboard, or a bulletin board?”
Pinkie laughs. “Silly, they couldn’t see anything posted on that wall.”
Her comment raises further concerns among the students regarding their professor’s mind. Sandbar raises a foreleg. “Uh … who’s ‘they’?”
“Why the ones watching us, of course!” Pinkie responds naturally. Among the students, concern turns to discomfort.
“Wait,” Smolder starts, “someone’s observing us?”
“Yona not like being watched. Yona enjoy privacy.”
Gallus shakes his head. “Hold on! Professor, you’re saying someone’s watching us right now?”
“Yep.”
“And, they’re on the other side of that wall?”
“Yep again!”
“May I? …”
“Go ahead!”
Gallus gets up and walks towards the wall. He places his claws against the wall and feels around. He gives the wall several knocks. “It’s just a wall, right?”
“But not just any wall,” Pinkie corrects. “It’s the fourth wall.”
“But professor,” Ocellus asks, “isn’t there another classroom next to this room? Do you mean someone’s in there, able to look through this wall to see us?”
“That is a super-rational explanation! But fourth walls don’t work like that.”
Sandbar cocks his head. “Then … how do they work?”
“They allow others to watch us as we carry on with our entertaining lives. That’s basically it, really. Hey, quick lesson!” Pinkie cheerfully asserts.
Smolder raises a claw. “Wait, I’m still confused. What ‘others’? Who’s watching us?”
“Your audience, of course!”
“What audience?”
“The one watching you, of course!” Pinkie cyclically replies, causing Smolder to copy Gallus’s previous facepalming.
“I think what Smolder means,” Ocellus adds, “is that we’re still unclear as to the makeup of this ‘audience’ you’re referring it.”
“They could be wearing all kinds of make-up … or none at all. Maybe some are just born with it!” Pinkie slyly replies.
A strange sensation overcomes Silverstream. “Maybe it’s …”, she begins before catching herself mid-sentence as the sensation passes. “Wait, why did I just say that?”
Pinkie gasps. “You are sooo close!” she exclaims.
“I am? Wow! … Wait, close to what?”
“To breaking through!”
“Breaking? I don’t want to break anything! That would be vandalism!”
“That’s super; no one likes senseless destruction,” Pinkie states. “But I’m talking about breaking the fourth wall, and you almost did it in your first lesson! I’m so proud of you!”
Sandbar comments: “Uhhh … Silverstream never left her desk. How could she have come close to breaking the wall?”
“Oh it’s not about physical breaking,” Pinkie explains. “It’s a metaphorical breaking.”
“But to what end?” Ocellus asks.
“To let the audience know that you know about the audience.”
Pinkie notes the continued confused expressions on her class’s faces. “Hey, let me give you all a demonstration of what I mean.” She turns to the bare wall and …
Hey everyone! Hope you’re having a super-terrific day today! Are we entertaining you with this discussion? Got any questions? Don’t hesitate to ask!
…
Gallus glances at the bare wall, then turns back to face Pinkie. “Who are you talking to?”
“The audience.”
Gallus turns back to the wall. “This is just a wall, right?” He again knocks on the façade. “It’s not a sentient wall, is it?”
“Of course not, silly … walls aren’t sentient!”
“All right then … I’m going back to my seat now,” Gallus says as he slinks back to his desk.
“Yona still confused.”
Pinkie focuses on the young yak. “It’s a very advanced concept; even my friends have trouble grasping the concept.”
“Wait … aren’t other professors pink pony professor’s friends?”
“Uh huh!”
“So other professors also confused by this ‘fourth wall’?”
“Mmm-hmmm!”
Yona breathes a sigh of relief. “Yona feel better knowing others confused too.”
“So professor,” Ocellus starts, “if this is such an advanced concept, why are you teaching this to us?”
“Because you’re all stars now, of course!” Pinkie’s declaration draws more confused stares from the class.
“Waitaminute,” Gallus responds. “we are stars?”
“I’m a STAR???” Silverstream gushes.
“Of course! Haven’t you seen how everything revolves around the six of you?”
Sandbar counters: “That’s a little strong to say, isn’t it?”
“Really? Who went on that field trip with AJ and Rainbow? Who was accused of sabotaging Hearthswarming? Who participated in that play for Princess Celestia? Who got taught a friendship lesson by the Tree of Harmony?”
“You know about that???”
“Know about what? The point is, all the notable events that take place happen because of you! And that’s why I want you to at least be introduced to the concept of the fourth wall.”
“This is because we’re not ponies, isn’t it,” Smolder responds, irritation in her voice. Again, Sandbar reacts with a confused look.
“It’s because you’re interesting,” Pinkie states. “And only the truly interesting need to be concerned with the fourth wall; the audience won’t stick around for just run-of-the-mill characters.”
“Right,” Gallus adds sarcastically, “we’re just the six most interesting characters in the world.” His comment triggers another, stronger sensation in his hippogriff friend.
“I don’t always drink cider, but when I do, it’s Apple Family cider … Why did I say that???” Silverstream states in surprise.
“YOU’RE GETTING IT!!!” Pinkie exclaims. She bounds over to Silverstream and gives her a big hug as the others look on.
“Yona never felt more confused.” The yak’s comment draws nods of agreement from the others as Pinkie releases her grip on the hippogriff and pronks back to the doorway.
“OK, this was a super-awesome lesson, but I got a meeting with the other professors now so I have to trot. Just remember: all of Equestria’s a stage, and we are merely players.”
“Wait!” Sandbar calls out. “What do we do now?”
“Well it’s only three-o’clock; why not take some time to address your audience? Answer some questions. Make new friends.”
“With who?” Gallus asks to no avail as Pinkie bounds out the door. The griffin rolls his eyes and turns back to the others. “Well that was pointless,” he declares.
Smolder flies over to the back wall and raps on it several times with her claw. “This is just a regular wall, right?”
“Of course it is,” Gallus replies. “our laughter professor’s probably been inhaling cleaning fumes from the ovens again.”
“I dunno,” Sandbar says, “Professor Pinkie Pie seemed real sure about that wall.”
“And she did make some solid points about the events in our lives,” Ocellus adds. “Maybe there is more to this place than just the physical manifestations of—”
“THERE’S NO ONE WATCHING US!!! … Sorry, didn’t mean to snap at everyone,” Gallus quickly adds. “But come on, do you really think there’s some ‘audience’ behind that wall who’s more interested in us just sitting in a room talking to each other than their own lives?”
Ocellus turns to Silverstream. “The professor seemed to believe you were making more progress than the rest of us.”
“Yeah,” Yona adds, “what you think?”
“I don’t know,” the hippogriff admits. “I just had an urge to say weird offhoof comments a couple times. It just felt, you know, natural to do that.”
“You feeling anything now?” Smolder asks. Silverstream shakes her head.
“Maybe if you touched the wall, it would trigger another reaction,” Ocellus posits. “Are you up for trying?”
“I … I guess I can try.” Silverstream cautiously flutters over to the back wall, inspecting it from corner to corner as the others gather round her. She reaches her forehoof out and touches the wall … and instinctively retracts as her eyes widen, her body stiffening as in a trance.
“Whoooooooaaaaaaa …”
Gallus waves a wing in front of her vision, getting no reaction from the hippogriff.
“What do you see?” …
Silverstream blinks several times as she refocuses her mind. She looks around at her friends and familiar classroom environment … and presses both her forehooves and her beak back against the wall, again stiffening her body as her eyes widen.
“Silverstream!” Sandbar calls out. “Can you hear us?”
“WHOOOA … this is incredible!”
The others gaze in awe at their friend, seemingly in a trance and staring at a bare wall. “You sure you OK? Yona concerned about hippogriff statue friend.”
“I’m fine Yona; I’m just taking all this in!”
Gallus glances back to the wall. “All what in?”
“You really gotta see this!”
“Well I would take it in if I could take it in,” he grouses. “I guess we can’t all be master students of the insane.”
“Easy there, Gallus,” Sandbar states in a soothing tone before addressing Silverstream. “So what do you see?”
“I’m looking through a window, and I see a bunch of screens, like, a lot of screens, like I’m watching a bunch of movies all at the same time, and some of them have aliens in them!”
The others let out a collective gasp.
“ALIENS???” Ocellus states with trepidation. “As in, alien invasion aliens? Do we need to warn everyone?”
Gallus snorts derisively. “Oh sure, alert all of Equestria that we’re under attack from aliens that exist in projector screens and live within the bare walls in our classrooms,” he says as he pounds the back wall with a closed claw, causing Ocellus to sport an irritated glance in his direction.
“Hey!” Sandbar chides his griffin friend.
“Sorry, sorry,” Gallus responds. “Just, don’t mind me right now.”
Sandbar turns his attention back to Silverstream. “These aliens you see; how many are there?”
“They seem to pop in and out of view, so like, right now I see seven but … wait, now I see nine, ooo now there’s only six. They just keep appearing and disappearing and reappearing and re-disappearing and—”
“Can you describe what they look like?” Ocellus interrupts.
“Oh, yeah, they all have heads.”
“That helps,” Smolder replies sardonically.
“No, I mean I only see heads in the screens. They have eyes and ears and manes and mouths … their eyes are so tiny, how can they see anything out of them?”
“So, they’re not ponies?” Sandbar asks. “Or dragons, or anything like that?”
“No, I’ve never seen anything like these creatures.”
“Are they communicating with each other in some way?” Ocellus asks.
“Yeah, and it sounds like they all speak our language.” The comment draws murmurs from the others.
“So, I guess the known universe speaks Ponish,” Gallus dryly comments.
“Well … we all understand each other just fine,” Ocellus counters. “Maybe Ponish is a universal language.”
“Can you make out what any of them are saying?” Smolder asks.
“All these creatures are chattering at once; I can’t make much out. Sorry.”
“You’re doing great,” Sandbar reassures.
“Wait,” Yona ponders. “How come pink professor pony able to see aliens without touching wall?” Her query causes a brief silence for contemplation.
“She’s probably been doing this for so long, she’s developed a sixth sense about it,” Ocellus offers as an explanation.
“Makes as much sense as anything I can think of,” Smolder admits.
“NONE OF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE!” Gallus exclaims in frustration as he turns back to the wall and gropes around. Sandbar walks up to him and places a foreleg upon the griffin’s back; Gallus flinches and pulls away, then sighs as his expression softens. “I’m … I’m sorry, everyone. It’s just frustrating to be left in the dark about something like this.”
“Hey,” Ocellus replies, “it’s OK to be frustrated. I’ve gone through all our textbooks and I’ve never come across anything about this ‘fourth wall’. I’d like to know more, too. I’m sure all of us would. But maybe this is a case where we have to accept the limitations of pure knowledge.”
“I suppose,” Gallus admits. “I guess envy is part of a griffin’s inherent nature; sharing of any kind, knowledge or otherwise, doesn’t come easy to us.”
“That’s why we’re at this school, right?” Sandbar comments.
“That why Yona here,” the yak adds as she trots over to Gallus and embraces him, causing him to smile. Sandbar and Ocellus join in on the embrace, as Smolder hovers over the scene and rolls her eyes.
“Uh, guys?” Silversteam interrupts. “One of these aliens has a question for Professor Pinkie Pie. What do I say?”
Everyone quickly turns to the fixated hippogriff. “What kind of question?” Smolder asks.
“They’re asking how the fourth wall exists outside of buildings. I don’t even know how it exists inside of buildings!”
“Maybe we should get Professor Pinkie Pie and ask her,” Sandbar suggests.
“I don’t think there’s time; these aliens keep popping in and out of screens.”
“Maybe just say what pink pony professor would say,” Yona offers.
“What would she say?”
“You’re the one looking at a blank wall,” Smolder states. “You’re best qualified to respond.”
“She did use the term ‘metaphorical’,” Ocellus points out.
“That’s great … what does that mean, again?”
Gallus answers: “It means it’s not an actual, physical wall. It’s more symbolic than anything else.”
“OK then …”
Uh … hi there? So, when … when you walk around, anything around you can be a fourth wall, like a tree, or a large rock, or even the ground, but I guess in that case you wouldn’t get a very good look at anything except the sky, but the sky is a beautiful thing to look at, with all the puffy white clouds and big yellow sun, but don’t stare at the sun or you could really hurt yourself.
…
Slowly, Silverstream backs away from the wall. She quickly inspects her surroundings and turns to her friends. “How did that sound to you guys?”
“That was inspired,” Gallus states as he pats Silverstream on the shoulder with his wing.
“Thanks Gallus,” Silverstream replies. “By the way, there’s a picture of you in there.”
“WHAAAT???”
“Yeah, off to the side of the window. I saw a picture of you and Professor Pinkie Pie … at least, I think that was Professor Pinkie Pie; she looked weird, like some crudely-made artwork.”
“Why is my picture showing up inside the fourth wall?” Gallus asks, irritation returning to his tone.
“I dunno.”
“You see anything else in there?” Sandbar asks.
“Just some sort of score; maybe for a game of buckball. I saw a pair of claws, or something like claws anyway, one pointing up and one pointing down, and it looked like up was winning 28 to 2.”
“Sounds like a low-scoring affair,” Gallus comments … before shaking his head.
“Buckball scores never go past 5,” Smolder counters. “28 sounds pretty high to me.”
“Yeah, it does,” Gallus agrees, feeling slightly disoriented. “Not sure why I said that.”
Yona approaches Silverstream. “So, you still feeling OK?”
“Yeah, I feel fine, but that was just too incredible an experience. I can’t wait to tell everyone back home what I learned today!”
Ocellus interrupts her friend. “Maybe it’s best not to spread the word about what you saw. I mean, it looks like you experienced something that creature-kind was never meant to see; maybe it’s best to keep this to ourselves.”
“Besides, who’d believe you?” Smolder adds. “If I tried to explain some alternate dimension with projector-screen aliens to the other dragons, they’d think I went insane.”
Silverstream sadly nods in agreement with the others. “Okay … at least I have you to share this with,” she comments in a more upbeat manner.
“Yona wonder how pink professor pony not go mad from knowledge of fourth wall.”
“Well like Ocellus said,” Sandbar replies, “she’s been keeping this knowledge for a long time. Maybe that’s why she wanted to share with us … to pass that knowledge along and ease the burden on herself.”
“Speaking of ‘burden’,” Smolder states, “we still got assignments to finish. Wanna hit the library and knock the work out?”
“You don’t have to twist my wings,” Ocellus gleefully concedes.
“Yeah, that was fun but I think I need to return to normalcy.” Silverstream replies. Smolder rolls her eyes at the thought but shrugs it off.
Gallus balks. “You guys go on ahead; I’ll catch up in a few minutes.”
“Griffin feeling OK?” Yona asks.
“Yeah, I just need a minute of alone time … it’s a griffin thing. I promise I’ll be there soon.”
The others bid Gallus well before filing out of the room. The griffin paces around a bit as he talks to no one in particular.
“It’s not a big deal, Gallus. It doesn’t matter that there’s a picture of you in some alternate dimension where aliens are studying your every mood. It doesn’t matter that one of your friends is able to see said dimension when she didn’t even break the fourth wall but just rattled off some stupid parody of an advertising slogan …”
A feeling of clarity overcomes the griffin, who blinks a couple times before turning to the clock on the wall, noting the time of three-o’clock. He turns back and approaches the wall. He presses a claw to the wall as a tingling sensation comes over him. He presses both claws and his beak to the wall.
“Whoa, this is incredible … HEY, I don’t look like that at all!”
