//------------------------------//
// Origins 
// Story: Chips Brothers' Archive 
// by JavaChips 
//------------------------------//

It was a cold, mid winter day in Fillydelphia, the sun looming over the frozen roads and sidewalks. An icy wind was blowing it's way through town. A sign reading “CHIPS” was struggling to fight against the wind as it rocked back and forth on it's hinges. Inside, Sound Chips was in his personal workshop, hard at work on one of his personal projects. He had a large, cathedral style floor radio he was restoring from scratch. As he pulled his head out of the radio's internal systems, he heard a knock come from the door. Setting down his screwdriver, he walked over to the door. Opening it, he saw a young Java sitting there, he had dragged his radio from his room downstairs to his father's workshop. “Dad, my radio broke.” he told him.
Sound smiled as he picked up the radio, carrying it over to the work bench. Java followed behind, hopping up on the table to watch his father as he examined the inside. “Alright, well it looks like the sound board is past it's lifetime.” he told his son. “The left speaker's blown out and the battery is gonna need to be replaced. It'd be cheaper to buy a new one at this point.”
Java sat, contemplating the information. “So, when are you gonna get it?” he asked.
Sound thought for a moment about what to tell him, when a smile went across his face. “I have a better idea.” he said, making his way across the room to a storeroom.
Java sat on the table, staring at the door until his father came back out, carrying an old radio. “This,” he told him, setting it down on the table, “Is called a universal radio, or an AC/DC radio. Someone brought it to me to donate for parts. It's all still there, it just needs to be put together. If you can fix it Java, you can have it.”
Java walked around it, examining it. It had certainly been through quite a bit. The paint had peeled off in multiple places, and it looked like it had taken a fall at one point. Sound took off the back panel to show him the inside. It was hard to tell without a discerning eye, but all the pieces were certainly there, and in pieces. Java looked a little warily at the radio, unsure that it could even be repaired. “How do I fix it?” he asked.
Sound was a bit surprised as Java asked, expecting him to give up immediately. He walked over to a book shelf and looked through the books, bringing over a book on radios. He searched through the book and found the model, bookmarking it. As Java looked over the pages on the radio, Sound brought over a stool for him to sit on, and some basic tools. “I'll be over there if you need me.” he told Java, returning to his own project.
Java loomed over the book, doing his best to understand the instructions. While his head was back inside the Cathedral model, he heard a clang of metal hitting the floor. Taking his head out, he saw that Java was okay, hopping off the stool to pick up the screwdriver he dropped. He watched for a second to see what had happened. Java hopped up on the stool, balancing out the wobbling as he picked up the screwdriver in his mouth again. He held it awkwardly, trying to keep it steady as he screwed in the first panel. Once again, he dropped it, going down to pick it up. Sound smirked and walked over, picking it up first. “Like this.” he told him, demonstrating. “bite down softly at the dip in the handle, and twist it carefully with your tongue.”
He wiped it off with a nearby rag, setting it down for Java to try. Sound watched for a while as his son got the hang of it, making sure he was doing it properly. It took until dinner, but Java managed to get the first piece into place. He smiled as he looked it over, happy to have it in place. “I did it!” he said excitedly.
Sound nodded, smiling proudly. The two turned as they heard the door open. Cadence stepped in, a sleeping Micro curled up on her back. “Dinner's ready.” she told them.
“Mom!” Java said, pointing at the radio. “Look, I fixed it!”
Cadence stepped over, looking inside. “Well, you haven't fixed it yet.” Sound corrected, patting Java on the back. “But it's a good start.”
Cadence nodded, smiling. “That's right, it's a very good start, now go get ready for dinner.”
Java hopped carefully off the stool, trotting out of the room. Cadence watched until he was out of sight, then turned to Sound. “So what got him so interested in radios?” she asked.
Sound smiled as he led her out of the room. “His broke.” he told her simply. “So I got him another one.”
Cadence smiled, kissing his cheek softly. “That was sweet of you.”
vvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Sound woke up the following day as he usually did, and made his way downstairs for a cup of coffee. As he passed by the door to his workshop, he heard some banging inside. Opening the door slowly, he was surprised to see it was Java, wide awake, working on the radio. He smiled, watching for a moment as Java swapped his attention from the book's diagrams to the corresponding pieces in the radio. “Hey, you're up pretty early.” he said, stepping in. “How long have you been up?”
“Not long.” Java lied, breaking his bluff with a deep yawn.
Sound smirked and took a look inside. All in all, it was good progress, most of the pieces were mounted in place. “It's good work.” Sound told him, smiling. “Now get to bed, you can keep working when the sun comes up.”
Java sighed, hopping off the stool and dragging his hooves to the bedroom. Sound took another look at it, an impressed smile on his face.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvv
“Really? Up that early?” Cadence asked, surprised. “Our Java?”
Sound nodded, smiling. “I couldn't believe it either, but he was just sitting there working on the radio. He's got all the pieces in place now.”
“All the pieces in place?” she asked a bit worriedly. “so he's going to be moving onto the wires soon?”
He nodded again, sipping his coffee. “I'll be there the whole time, he'll be fine.”
As they talked, Java made his way back downstairs, rubbing his tired eyes. Sound got up and walked over to the young colt, smiling. “Morning Java, ready to get back to work?”
Java smiled and shook off the sleep, raising his head up. “Yeah, let's go.”
Sound chuckled as he watched Java dash toward the workshop. He stepped in behind the energetic colt, watching as Java looked confused at the wires inside. “These pictures are in black and white.” Java told him. “How do I know which wire goes where?”
“It's simple,” Sound explained, walking up to the table and pointing out the wires. “Every radio and speaker is built with the same wiring system for easy repair. The wires go, in order from top to bottom, red, blue, green, then yellow. Just take the wires one at a time and coil it around the conductor.”
Java took a minute to look over the wires inside and organize them before taking the red wire and beginning to hook it up. As he was working, he jolted his head back, covering his mouth. Sound looked at him with a bit of concern. “Shocked your tongue?”
Java nodded, keeping his mouth covered. Sound carefully moved his hooves away, looking at his tongue. “Well it looks alright.” he told him. “This time let's turn off the battery pack before we connect the wires.”
Sound reached his hoof in and flipped a small switch, stepping back to let Java get back to work. Once the wires were all in place, he switched the battery pack back on, smiling at the hard work in front of him. “Okay, it's all done inside, now what?”
Sound stepped away from the table and into the supply closet, bringing out sand paper, a can of beige paint, and a brush. “Now we fix up the outside.” he told his young son.
Java nodded, picking up the sand paper as he got started. Sound smiled and left him to it, getting back to his own project. The two worked through the day, keeping to their own projects, until it came to be late in the day. Java wiped the sweat from his brow as he looked at the finished product in front of him. The paint wasn't exactly even, but it looked good. Plugging it in nearby, he tuned it to his favorite radio station and got ready to turn it on. Sound looked over, watching intently as Java turned the power dial. When he did, he heard the clear sounds of the Beach Colts blasting out of the radio's speakers. Sound smiled as his son's face lit up with pride over the finished product. He walked over to inspect it as Java bobbed his head to the rhythm. “Nice job Java, I'm proud of you.”
Cadence walked in, smiling as she heard the radio blaring. “Well, looks like you're finished.”
Java nodded, smiling. “I did it all myself.”
“I can see that.” Cadence said, smiling at the two. “How about we take a picture of it?”
Java nodded, pointing over to the camera. Sound set up the tripod while Cadence got the camera and set it in place. Cadence looked over to Sound and shrugged him to get in the frame with Java and the radio. With a nod, he did just that, standing on one side of the radio. Java stood up on his stool, wobbling a bit as he smiled, the radio still playing between them. With a flash, Cadence took the picture. The flash surprised the young colt, causing him to wobble and tip over the stool, falling toward the floor.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Java awoke as his did too often, with a loud thud on the floor as he rolled out of bed. With a groan, he stood up, rubbing his head as his radio alarm went off, the Beach Colts blaring on his favorite station. With a deep yawn, he stood up and shuffled his legs across the floor toward the stairs. Micro was waiting for him in the kitchen, enjoying a bowl of cereal. “Morning.” he said, taking another mouthful. “There's a pot of coffee on the counter for you.”
Java nodded, making his way over. “Thanks.”
Picking up the mug, he took a careful sip, but ended up spitting out the hot drink into the sink, hanging his tongue out of his mouth. Micro couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. “Burnt your tongue?” he asked.
Java nodded, sliding his tongue back into his mouth. “Yeah, it's not the worst thing that's happened to my tongue though. So what's the plan for today?”
Micro took his empty bowl and set it into the sink, smiling. “I was gonna grab a milkshake with Shimmer over at Sugarcube Corner. You?”
Java took another sip, ready for the hot drink this time. “I've got some work I need to do, I'll probably be in the shop most of the day.”
“Sounds like a boring day.” Micro said. “Do you want some help?”
“No,” Java said, shaking his head, “Go ahead and have some fun, I'm sure I'll get out for a little bit today.”
Micro nodded, waving goodbye as he left out the door. Once Java got breakfast out of the way, he made his way into the workshop. At the back of the workshop were projects that ponies brought in to be fixed. He looked over the lines of projects, and his eye was caught by an AC/DC radio Vinyl Scratch had brought him. Picking it up, he set it down on the work bench, opening the back to examine it. It was a simple fix, the wires had come undone. Reaching in, he switched off the battery pack, organizing the wires. “Red, blue, green, then yellow.” he recited with a smile, getting started on his work.