//------------------------------//
// Part II 
// Story: Creation of a Mediaverse 
// by SFyr 
//------------------------------//

	Victory Hall was awash with the buzz of idle conversation and gossip just before class. A panting Buffy was attempting to push through the crowd, frantically scanning the door numbers for B207, her third and final class of the day. Twice, she had gotten lost today on the way to class, and she only barely managed better this time. Around the bend she went, almost smacking into a stallion who grumbled sourly at her as she passed.
"Sorry!" Buffy cried out, before huffing. "Jeez, where the heck is this room?!"
Soon, she had hit the stairwell at the end of the hallway. Turning around frantically, she scanned the doors once more, however the magic number '207' failed to appear. A tap on her shoulder almost caused her to jump half a body length in the air. Turning around, she was muzzle to muzzle with her friend.
"Viola!" She grinned before giving her friend a quick hug around the shoulders. "Am I glad to see you! You wouldn't believe how badly confusing they made this place!"
Viola covered her mouth with her hoof before laughing quietly. "Dear, I watched you walk by our room. I followed you to make sure you didn't miss class."
"Oh. Oh! Ohmygosh, are we gonna be l-late?!"
Viola simply shook her head with a smile, before leading her towards class. Soon, the pair came to a wide set of double doors, the number '207' adorning the top of the doorframe. The door was currently being held open by an older stallion with a graying mane, who they both gave a polite nod to as they entered. They stepped into what almost looked to be laid out like an amphitheater, only with desks instead of seats. Each row of desks was curved around the recessed stage on the bottom, where a large blackboard and pedestal rested. Currently, the stage was vacant, beyond two mares laying over the edge chatting loudly. Most of the seats had already been claimed by earlier ponies, however near the wall not far from the doors, the ponies had staggered themselves rather thin.
Viola made for the center row, near the wall, before claiming her seat and opening her saddlebags to pull out her notebook. Buffy followed her example, sitting snugly beside her with a grin.
"This is so... new! I wonder what the teacher will be like! Do you think that stallion at the door was him? Pixel Wavelength, right?"
"We still have a few minutes before class starts, so we'll have to wait and see," Viola said while daintily setting out her pencils to the immediate right of her notebook. "I do admit, it is rather peculiar for our instructor to have not arrived yet."
"Viola! Buffy!" Both turned their heads to see Viridian standing nearby, flanked by an unfamiliar orange stallion. "It's good to see you!"
"Viridian! I didn't know you have class with us." Buffy beamed as the pair took the last two empty seats next to her, the stallion taking the seat on the aisle. "Oh! Who's your friend?"
"Nova Blast, at your service." the stallion said with a soft nod. "It is a pleasure to meet the both of you. I do quite hope you are enjoying our lovely campus?"
“Totally!” Buffy exclaimed. “I can’t believe how huge this place is! And everyone is just so friendly here!”
“FEMU does have a way of attracting some pleasant sorts, for sure,” Nova said with a smile. “Viridian and I were talking about getting dinner after class, would you like to join us?”
"I-it would be our pleasure." Viola said quietly, her eyes darting away.
A moment of awkward silence passed before a loud bang resounded from the door being slammed open. Through strode a panting white unicorn, a large stack of paper on her back. Her wavy cyan hair curled around her shoulders, a few errant strands sticking to her face. The whole class room watched her as she quickly trotted down the stairs and to the podium. With a small sheepish smile, she shoved the stack underneath it, before taking a deep breath and wiping the hanging locks of hair away from her eyes. Looking much more calm now, she smiled warmly and began to speak in a soft, clear voice.
"Hello, and welcome to Emergent Technology and the Computer Revolution. If you are in the wrong room, or your schedule does not list TECH1506 as your 2pm class, then please exit the room through the back and locate your proper class at this time."
The sound of a few ponies getting up broke the following silence.
"Now then,” she said with a less professional tone, “my name is Pixel Wavelength, and I will be your instructor for this class. In short, we will be covering the emergence of a new technological invention, and perhaps the dawn of the age. We will be studying the origin, mechanics, and future use of what's being termed computational technology, or machines meant for processing data rather than simplifying or enhancing a mechanical process."
The stack of papers from earlier floated out from underneath the desk in a soft, calming cradle of light. The sheet then split itself into smaller groups, before being passed to the aisle seats of each section. A moment later, a hoofful of paper landed in front of Buffy. With a nudge from Viridian, she took one and passed the rest down to Viola. Buffy quietly studied the simple sheet, looking at what was very clearly a syllabus. She frowned deeply at the alien terminology splattered all over it.
"It all may sound complicated to some of you now, but it’s all simpler than it sounds, and infinitely more interesting. We will start with the technology in direct tangent to the rise of personal computational devices..."




The whole of class was a battle to maintain her attention. Too often Buffy found herself doodling instead of trying to work through the miasma of words and unfamiliar concepts being thrown at her. With class only minutes from ending however, she tried to once again pull herself into focusing. 
"...However, that is actually the foundation of the future this technology will potentially open up," Pixel said with a soft smile that radiated warmth. "Communication."
Buffy's ears perked. Her attention was finally being successfully pulled away from the mire of confusion and focusing on speaking mare below.
"In this world, there is little as important to a community as communication. Friendship, cooperation, and harmony are all values we hold above all others, and communication is the glue that holds it all together. Our ability to exchange thoughts, memories, and knowledge lets us move forward and discover more than our ancestors previously have. If you look around you, you will see a community of different talents, different minds, and different experiences. Each is important, and each has something to contribute."
Buffy nodded absently, focusing on nothing but what she was hearing. Finally, she was hearing something that wasn’t an explanation of a technology she didn’t understand, or dull exposition on electricity and magnetism.
"I hope in time all of you will begin to see how wonderful this new technology can be," Pixel said with a hopeful smile. “Many are hopeful about this technology as a means of quickly sharing information, but I also feel there is a lot it can do to further the bonds that unite ponykind. We simply need to find out how to best step forward, and utilize the tools technology gives us.”