//------------------------------// // What the Hippogriff Saw // Story: Today's Lesson: the Fourth Wall // by Coyotek4 //------------------------------// 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!”