The Fourth Wall for Dummies
"What are you reading, Twilight?"
"A book about the different novel genres and all the tools that can be employed when writing."
"Ooooh, you want to start writing?"
"I would like to. But on this chapter, I'm already a bit stuck..."
"On what?"
"The 4th wall... I don't really get what it is."
"Oh, but that's really simple! I can explain it to you if you want!"
"Really, Pinkie? You know about that?"
"Of course! But first, we need to add a bit of narration."
Twilight frowned, not really catching what the pink one was implying. However, out of curiosity, she closed the book she was handling by magic, and put it on a shelf of the golden oak library.
"What do you mean?" She asked while Pinkie appeared to do nothing, except laughing.
"There, it's a quick one made as an example, but it should be enough." Answered Pinkie.
"But what?"
The unicorn laughed a bit. She knew Pinkie was kind of weird and could not always follow her, but the situation intrigued her, while still being funny for some inexplicable reason.
"The 4th wall, Twilight," expertly explained the party pony, "Is what separates the person looking at you, or reading you, from the story itself. It's a border that allows to keep some kind of logic within the story. Personally, I love it!
"Hmmm," said Twilight, interested, "carry on?"
"For example, for a first-person narrative story, if the narrator was to speak to the reader, that wouldn't really be surprising. It would be harmless 4th-wall breaking."
"So, the 4th wall is broken when you directly speak to the readers themselves?"
"It depends. Overall, it's when you remind the public that they're watching a story. Just like that."
Pinkie then proceeded to turn to and waved at you with a smile, while Twilight was wondering why she was greeting her shelf.
"Hum... I don't think I'm following you..."
The pink one faced her friend again with a big smile, nodding.
"If you didn't understand, just rewind the explanation."
"Rewind the..." repeated Twilight, looking for a hidden sense behind those mysterious words. "That doesn't mean anything!"
"It does!" laughed Pinkie. "Use the scrollbar or the scroll wheel to-"
"Nonononono," interrupted Twilight who was starting to get confused by all of this. "Reformulate, please."
"It's easy, when all your characters stay in their story, without getting out of it, you aren't breaking the fourth wall. As soon as one breaks this rule - whether by knowing something they shouldn't, being anachronistic or by saying something that doesn't make any sense in context, but does for the reader as a reference or similar- then you're breaking the fourth wall."
Twilight frowned, thoughtful.
"For example,"continued Pinkie. "You can notice that I now write fourth, not 4th."
One of the unicorn's eyebrows suddenly went up, contrasting with the second, still furrowed, giving her a face that made the pink one giggle.
"You don't look like you understand."
"Let's say that..." doubted Twilight, who was starting to get a headache. "I think I understand your explanations, but the examples are getting me quite lost..."
"You want me to take another one? I have lots of them!"
"Go for it..." she said, a bit skeptical.
"Imagine that you're reading a comic."
"Yes...?"
"Then, a character suddenly gets out of a box and takes a walk in the white part of the page. Without any reason. There. You got it?
"I think..."
Nevertheless, Twilight didn't understood the link between the previous examples that Pinkie had given. Well, she was Pinkie Pie, after all.
"Exactly!" hopped the pink one.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's me, duh!"
Twilight gave up on trying to understand. She was already having a hard time with Pinkie's explanations to-
"Oh? You didn't get it? Oops, sorry, I cut off the narration."
It's okay, Pinkie. Except that Twilight was understanding the words of the pink one less and less, and her face couldn't stop changing expressions, without knowing which one to take, clearly.
"Let me make a attempt," asked the scholar.
"Be my guest, they're begging for it!"
"Who's- Forget it! So, for example, if in chapter five of a story, a character says something like Oh, but that's exactly like in the chapter before! then..."
"He just broke the fourth wall, you understood!" rejoiced Pinkie, happy to have been helpful to her friend.
"I sea..."
The pinkie one giggled, with an inelegant snore.
"You put an a instead of ane in I see."
"It's just a mis-"
Twilight stopped, her mouth stirring some gibberish as she was trying to find an explanation.
"Pinkie, you can't hear the difference, how do you know I made a mistake?"
She calmed her laugh, negligently swaying her hoof.
"Oh, Twilight, you still have so much to learn about the fourth wall! For example, do you know why it's called that?"
"Well..." thought the unicorn. "If we take your example with a comic, we can consider that the box itself is a wall, can't we?"
"Exactly! In fact, it comes from theater. The fourth wall is the stage, and behind is the audience. Originally, it was broken when an actor directly addressed the audience."
"Okay..."
"You're using a lot of ellipses Twilight, you're still not getting it?"
"I do, I do. I'm just thinking, that's it."
"Oh, sorry, it's not easy to tell the difference. If only the narration was doing its job properly!"
Sorry, Pinkie. I just thought that this story was getting to its end.
"Duuh, try to keep up!"
Meanwhile, Twilight was keeping her surprised face, asking herself what kind of flour Pinkie had used in her cupcakes this morning.
"Normal flour, why?"
"H-How do you-!?" suddenly panicked the unicorn. "Can you read minds!?"
"Of course no, silly, I'm just reading. But since the narration seems to have had enough with this story, I'm going to leave you Twilight."
Twilight looked at her friend going out of the library, with the mouth slightly open in total bewilderment.
"Your work is done narration, it's over."