Roger hated that Rarity had asked such a question. He had to come up with a quick excuse on why he wore the sunglasses. He knew the reason why, but it reminds him of the pain that his past contains. Some time later on a normal evening when he and Rarity were closing up the shop for the night. Roger was counting the till while Rarity was putting away fabrics and dresses and whatnot in the back. While Roger worked he sang a little tune. Rarity in the back heard his singing. As she listened, she could hear that Roger had a very nice singing voice. She could not make out what song she was singing, so she assumed it was something in German. Soon, she found herself abandoning her work and standing at the entrance to the back room watching Roger dreamily. As Rarity watched Roger she saw what she thought were tears on dropping from his face. She could not see his face as his back was turned to her at the moment. Then Roger started crying and that was when Rarity went over to comfort him.

“Roger, are you ok?” she asked.

“I can never go back.” he answered.

“Never go back? What do you mean?” she inquired. Wondering what the meant.

“Home. I can never go back.” He answered. “I can never go back to Deutschland.”

“Why? She asked.

“I can’t go back because they view me as a traitor.”

“Oh Roger you’re not a traitor you are one of the most loyal ponies I have ever met.”

“I’ll tell you why. It’s a long story. It was almost 15 years ago. I lived in a small village in Preußenland. Near the border with these Griffin tribes. I lived there with my wife we had only been married a few months when it happened.”

“What happened?” she asked.

“She was taken from me. You see Deutschland is bordered by Griffins to the East and the West. The West is more organized they are the Kingdom of Griffonia. The east is much less organized they live separately in tribes. Well in the 1860s one of the more powerful Griffin tribes started conquering the smaller ones. By 1866 they had united all the tribes. Then they set their sights on Preußenland. In 1866 the Griffins declared war on Preußenland. The day war was declared many of the smaller villages were unaware that the kingdom was at war. I was walking home from the town market when I heard it. A sound I will never forget. It haunts me to this day. A terrible screeching from the skies, thousands of Griffins descending, bombs attached to their wings. And one of them was directly over my home with my wife inside. I rushed to hopefully help her get out, but I was too late. The explosion threw me back several feet. And where my home once stood was now a pile of rubble with my wife somewhere inside of the pile.” He was starting to cry again.

“Oh Roger that’s horrible” Rarity said.

“It wasn’t the end though. I was a reserve in the Prussian Army. I had to spend a few weeks recovering before I was sent to the front lines. The war lasted two years and we had won, but there was little joy in my heart. I returned to the village where I had lived with my wife, but being there only reminded me of her and it was painful. Then I tried to move back to Konigsberg, the city where I was born and my parents lived. I didn’t fare much better there. Finally I decided I would move. I moved to the Kingdom of Griffonia far away from anything that could remind me of my wife. While there I started a business with a good friend of mine named Hans. He was my brother in-law when I was married and we both fought in the Griffin war of 66-68. Our business produced and sold firearms. It did pretty well. I thought everything was going to be fine. Until 1870.

“What happened in 1870?” Rarity asked.

“The Kingdom of Griffonia declared war on Preußenland. Now you can imagine the predicament I was in. Of course I supported Prussia, but I was living in Griffonia. I was conscripted into the Griffin Army against my will, I had no say in the matter. Once I was in the Army I came up with a plan, in order to support Prussia and not seem like I was deserting the Army. I bounced.”

“Bounced? What does that mean?” She asked.

“Here’s what I did, I would periodically switch sides and be back with the Griffin Army before anyone could file a desertion report. It was very risky and I knew the consequences if I got caught, but I did it. I was sure I had my tracks covered well. After the war I went back to the city I was living in. Griffonia had been defeated, and rather swiftly the war lasted nine months and Deutschland was finally united under one banner and one Kaiser. However, I was in for a surprise when I got home. I had been discovered, and now I was being hunted by my old commanding officer Commander Haig of the Griffin Army. I had been charged with desertion of the Griffin Army. Now in Griffin culture desertion is a very high crime. It is seen as treason before the King and the punishment for treason is death. Fortunately my friend Hans warned me in advance, and I was able to escape. I ran, ran to Equestria. I hoped that I had covered my tracks well enough this time that Commander Haig would never be able to track me down. I moved to Manehattan, but found that big city life just wasn’t really for me. I tried to move to Canterlot, but a city full of unicorns is not very open to hiring an immigrant earth pony. Finally I decided to move to Ponyville and that’s how I wound up here, I am very grateful for the job you have given me Rarity. You don’t realize how much of a help it is to get a job that easily given how my past has been.

“Roger that is a sad story, I hope that, that Commander Haig never catches you. I can assure you that you will be safe here in Ponyville. We are not exactly well known.”

“Thank you Rarity.”

Author's Note

This is the song that Roger sings:

I hope you are enjoying the story so far more will be coming soon.