//------------------------------//
// Haunting Memories 
// Story: The Heart Of Ice That Burned 
// by TheEquestrianWing 
//------------------------------//

Comet Frost did regard himself as much of a storyteller. Not that he did not have a vivid imagination. He simply preferred listening over speaking. Aside from that, he had never been especially interested in fairy tales or other works of fictions. He preferred to talk about real things that had taken place in real life. For that reason, he felt he would not have any circumstantial problem discussing his backstory with Princess Cadence.

However, he was a little uncertain about how to start, as he had never discussed his foalhood with another pony. He was hoping to start out soft and gradually transition into the darker parts. Comet Frost rubbed his chin and muttered quietly "Now, where should I begin?"

"The very beginning, of course," Princess Cadence wittily replied.

"Of course," the aqua stallion commented, scoffing lightly.

The pink Alicorn suggested "Start by telling me about your early years."

"Very well," he coincided, "I was born to a middle-class family in Fillydelphia. My father was an insurance sales representative, and my mother was an attorney. I was the eldest child. My brother was born when I was two, and my sister was born when I was four. But you probably already know about them."

"Actually, I do," Cadence informed him, "I read your personnel profile the day you transferred here. It contained a list of your immediate family."

"I figured as much," Comet Frost remarked, "There was once a time when I deeply cared for every pony on that list, and they cared for me in return. Nowadays, they're about as close to me as the people I protect you from."

"How did that happen?" Princess Cadence asked in perplexity.

"It was the result of a long and complex chain of events," Comet Frost elucidated. He looked off to the side and paused for a moment. Then he stated "It all started when I was a colt. Back then, I was a much different pony. I was never as outgoing or as popular as I am now. During elementary and middle school, I was something of an outcast to my fellow students."

"Why is that?" Cadence enquired.

"The main reason was this," Comet Frost enlightened her, gesturing to his eyes, "Where I come from, people are fond of pointing out the flaws of other people. Most of the time, they do it for fun or to promote their self-esteem. Foals tend to be the most relentless and unsympathetic. So as you can imagine, having mismatched irises made me an easy target as an object of ridicule. From my first day of school onward, my peers would routinely pester me about them."

Cadence seemed somewhat concerned by the implications of that last statement. She queried "Were any of things they did particularly hurtful?"

"Oh my, yes," Comet Frost candidly admitted, "I was a lot more sensitive back then, and much more insecure. My classmates could be rather creative with their insults. For instance, several suggested painting over one of my pupils so it would match the other, and one of them actually tried to do it. If our art teacher hadn't been so attentive, he probably would have succeeded. But that was one of the least harmful pranks my classmates pulled. More often than not, by the end of the day, I would be reduced to tears."

Cadence frowned in sadness and stated assuredly "Oh, I'm… I'm so sorry to hear that, Comet. I had no idea your foalhood was so difficult."

"I appreciate that, Your Highness," Comet Frost told her.

"Cadence," she corrected him.

He chuckled and nodded his head lightly "Right, Cadence. Thank you for saying that. But you don't need to feel sorry for me. I'm considerably more assertive and spirited now than when I was a foal. These days, I don't let insults, accusations, taunts, or anything of the sort bother me. I don't take that nonsense from anypony. Except Commander Plainview and your husband, that is. But that's different."

"I should say so," Cadence concurred, "My husband would never mistreat people like that. Aside from that, there is no excuse for how you were bullied. It's absolutely appalling that you were harassed simply because your eyes are not the same color. Your peers should have known that that was out of your control."

"I understand what you're saying," Comet Frost disclosed, "Back then, I couldn't comprehend why everypony saw the need to badger me for something I couldn't help. I mean, it was not my own fault that I was born with a red eye and a blue eye. I tried to explain that to my classmates, but my attempt to reason with them was wasted."

"Didn't any of your teachers try to intervene?" Cadence conjectured.

"Yes, but they didn't have much luck," Comet Frost responded, "I went to a very large school with a relatively small staff. The zero-tolerance policy wasn't enforced very strongly there. It was surprisingly easy to break the rules and get away with it. And, of course, I wasn't the only one with problems. The teachers couldn't afford to give me special treatment when they had hundreds of other fillies and colts to supervise and educate."

"That does make some sense," Cadence perceived, "But what about your parents? Didn't they do anything?"

"They never even knew," Comet Frost bluntly remarked.

Cadence was surprised to hear this response. She raised an eyebrow and said in bewilderment "They didn't?"

"No, they were essentially in the dark," he confirmed, "But not for the reason you may think. It wasn't as though my parents didn't care about my emotional well-being or that my teachers weren't concerned. This time, it was my doing. I kept my classmates' abuse towards me a secret from my mother and father. I went to great length to ensure that they never found out."

This time, Cadence was stunned and a little confused. She muttered "What would have possibly motivated you to do that?"

"I didn't want them to worry," he told her simply.

"They were your parents," she pointed out, "It was their job to worry,"

"I know, but there's more to it than that," Comet Frost explicated, "Despite the relentless maltreatment I received at school, I managed to put up with it. You see, regardless of how bad things got, there was still something that got me through the day. That was the thought in the back of my mind that once the final bell rang, I would be going home to my parents and siblings, who loved and accepted me as the pony I was, mismatched eyes and all."

"Well, that's certainly wonderful, Comet," Cadence remarked, "But it still doesn't explain why you didn't talk to your parents about your troubles at school."

"I had a simple reason," he illuminated, "Simple yet methodical. My house was the only place where I felt totally safe and secure. I feared that if I let my parents know about the bullying, they would do whatever they deemed necessary to get it to stop. Who knows what would have happened then? I probably would have been labeled a coward by my classmates for 'running home crying to mommy and daddy.' I also may have gathered more unwanted attention, and my parents might have become overprotective of me. Essentially, I didn't tell them about my school problems because I didn't want to risk bringing those problems to my home. If that were to happen, I would lose the one place where I felt totally at peace."

Cadence understood this reasoning completely, and she was even a little impressed by it. She tilted her head towards the aqua stallion and observed "That's some very practical thinking for a colt."

"I get what you mean," Comet Frost brusquely remarked, "When your parents are a lawyer and an insurance salesperson, it's easy to develop a more dogmatic and realistic view of life at any earlier age. That's what happened to me. In addition to that, I also matured faster than my entire class. Both physically and mentally."

"What about emotionally?" Cadence queried.

"Yes, emotionally, too," Comet Frost affirmed, "By the time I was ten years old, I was able to ignore my classmates' derisive behavior. However, that's not to say I was completely unaffected by it. Overtime, because of my peers' rudeness, I became more spiteful and resentful towards other people. I deliberately avoided social interaction and conversation every chance I got. You could say that my persona had become ice cold."

"As cold as your name?" Cadence wryly theorized.

Comet Frost scoffed and cheekily professed "Actually, that's a fairly accurate assessment. During middle school, I was about as icy as winter. In fact, I'm not certain if I got my cutie mark because of my withdrawn demeanor, or because of my proficiency with weather spells."

"I'd pick the latter," the pink Alicorn declared, "I've never heard of a pony whose special talent was being a pessimist."

"That's a good point," Comet Frost stated, "After all, if I really did get my cutie mark for being a nihilist, it probably would have manifested itself in a symbol other than a snowflake. Aside from that, the circumstances under which I gained my cutie mark suggest that it was my magic that helped me gain it and not my character."

"How so?" Cadence asked him in intrigue.

"Well, I got my cutie mark in the summer, during the vacation," Comet Frost informed her, "Naturally, none of my classmates were around to aggravate me, so I had no reason to feel cynical. However, it was an abnormally hot summer that year. Like record-breaking or something. Even with air-conditioning, the heat was nearly unbearable. So I practiced my chilling spells so that my family and I could cope with the high temperature. One morning, I tried covering our backyard with snow. I concentrated a little too hard and I ended up covering our entire neighborhood by mistake. The snow didn't melt for four days, but nopony complained. To them, it was like getting a drink of cold water after traversing through an arid desert. Best of all, after that day, there was one less blank flank at my house."

"Well, there you go," Cadence remarked, smiling brightly, "It was your magic that earned you your cutie mark after all."

"Indeed," Comet Frost coincided, "It also earned me a lot of friends and respect."

"It did?" said Cadence.

"Ho, yeah," Comet Frost buoyantly affirmed, "Fillydelphia's a large city, but word travels around it quickly. During that scorching hot summer, everypony was desperate to find a way to cool down. So when they heard about a young colt in town who had the ability to produce a minor blizzard in his suburb, my neighborhood soon became a lot more crowded."

Cadence laughed at this statement. Then she asked "How did that work out? Were you able to give the entire city a break from the heat?"

"Just about," Comet Frost replied, "I've always believed in helping my fellow pony, so I was willing to use my ability to help the town cool down. I even shared my ability with my fellow students when they came by. They were extremely grateful for that. So grateful that almost none of them ever teased me again."

"That's good to know," Cadence commented, "Did there ever come a time when nopony at all bothered you?"

"Actually, there was such a time," Comet Frost informed her. He paused for a moment, and then he looked the princess in the eye and told her "But it wasn't under very favorable circumstances."

"What do you mean?" Cadence queried worriedly.

Comet Frost did not answer straightaway. He spent a minute debating over whether or not he should actually continue. He was worried that if he went on, he would start to greatly disturb Princess Cadence. However, at this point, she seemed captivated by his story, and her eyes beckoned him to keep telling it. Ultimately, he let out a deep sigh and said "This is where the story starts to get really dismal."

"More dismal than being tormented by your peers every day for the most of the first nine years of your life?" Cadence hypothesized.

"Far more dismal, Your Highness," he unhappily confirmed.

"Well, go ahead and continue," Cadence calmly proposed, "I'm certain I can handle it. And remember, it's Cadence."

"Sorry," he told her sincerely. There was a brief pause as Comet Frost prepared to continue with his story. He wanted to describe it accurately without making it too graphic. After a bit, he turned to Cadence and began with "Two years after I got my cutie mark, Fillydelphia was struck by… another dramatic increase in temperature. But this one took place during the academic year, and it was not caused by a natural heat wave. In fact, the only place that was effected was my school. You see, one morning, the roof of the main building… well, it spontaneously combusted."

Cadence was alarmed by this revelation. "There was a fire at your school?"

"Yes, but nopony knows how it started," Comet Frost informed her, "Maybe a chemical experiment went wrong, maybe there was a natural gas leak, maybe somepony was recklessly playing with matches, maybe a flame spell got out of control. For all we know, it might have even been the work of an arsonist."

"That's dreadful," Cadence commented, "Arson itself is reprehensible enough, but the thought of setting fire to a school… why kind of monster would do such a thing?"

"The kind I pray neither of us will ever meet," Comet Frost thought aloud, "At any rate, after the fire started, it did not take long for the faculty to take action. While the blaze was spreading quickly, they were able to evacuate most of the classrooms. Thanks to our monthly fire drills, nopony panicked. Once we were outside, the dean and the principal took roll. While they did that, most of us gathered with friends or family. So naturally, the first two people I sought out were my brother and sister. However, I quickly discovered that they weren't with their classes or their own friends. By then, the dean and the principal realized that several members from the younger grades were unaccounted for. Both my siblings were two of them."

Cadence's breath seemed to go away at that. Sensing the princess's discomfort, Comet Frost asked her in concern "Do you wish for me to stop?"

"No, go on," she urged him, "What happened?"

"The dean and the principal announced to the student body that several of our fellow students were still inside the burning building," Comet Frost recounted, "They were hoping to keep us calm, but that bit of news had the exact opposite effect. It sent almost everypony into a panic. Everypony except me. The nearest fire station was at least ten minutes away, but I wasn't willing to wait that long. So I… I went back inside on my own."

The aqua stallion expected Cadence to be surprised or startled by this explanation. Instead, she seemed strangely awestruck by it. She grinned and declared "That was admirable of you, Comet."

"Really?" he said in surprise.

"Of course," she affirmed, "I don't have any siblings of my own, but if I was in your position, I would have done the same thing."

"Any caring person would," Comet Frost asserted, "As I was saying, it only took me five minutes to find my brother and sister. They and about a dozen other foals were trapped inside a room that was directly beneath the fire. Part of the ceiling had collapsed in front of the door, and the windows were bolted shut. There was no way out. It was up to me to get them out of there."

"So what did you do?" she questioned in fascination.

"After another minute or two of searching, I managed to find a stairwell that went up through the ceiling," Comet Frost expounded, "I used it to access the roof. From there, I made my way to the very heart of the fire. Then I conjured up the most potent blizzard charm I knew and cast it on the blazing building. Within seconds, the entire inferno was reduced to a massive pile of slush."

Cadence whistled in amazement and perceived "That's incredible, Comet. But what about your brother and sister and the other foals? Were they alright?"

"Yeah, and I was just in time," Comet Frost answered her, "If I had waited another twenty seconds, the roof would have caved in on them. As soon as the flames were out, I went back down to the ground floor and made my way to the room where the foals were trapped in. I managed to force the door open and liberate them. To my relief, nopony died that day. My siblings and the other fillies and colts appeared to be totally unharmed."

The wording of that last statement caught Cadence's attention. She raised an eyebrow and inquired "What do you mean 'appeared to be?'"

"I'll get into that in a bit," Comet Frost assured her, "Before I do, you should know that that day was the day when my reputation at school was permanently changed. Initially, the dean still wanted to discipline me for violating the proper safety protocol and endangering my own life, but his idea was quickly shot down by the principal and the rest of the faculty. Not to mention the parents of the other foals I saved. They couldn't care less about how many rules I broke. They were just grateful that I rescued all those children. I was recognized as a type of hero to the school, and nopony ever gave me trouble there ever again."

"That's wonderful," Cadence declared merrily, smilling again, "You must have been proud, Comet. Putting out a fire and rescuing dozens of young foals singlehoofedly is quite an accomplishment for a grown stallion. For a twelve-year-old colt to do the same thing is nothing short of a wonder."

"I'm inclined to agree, Cadence," Comet Frost stated, "The affection and appreciation I received for my actions seemed limitless. I no longer had any enemies or rivals; everypony wanted to be my friend or acquaintance. For the first time ever, I felt just as comfortable at school as I did when I was at my house. That feeling stayed with me for quite a while. But it wasn't long before it started to fade."

"Did your classmates start bullying you again?" Cadence presumed anxiously.

"No," Comet Frost straightforwardly responded, "I never had any more troubles at school. My last social problem took place days before the fire. Unfortunately, a couple weeks after it, I had my first domestic problems."

Cadence seemed a little disconcerted by this. All the same, she was just as curious as ever to hear more. She leaned closer to the aqua stallion and bade him "Go on."

"You may recall earlier, I mentioned that the foals I rescued appeared to be alright," Comet Frost explained, "Now would be the appropriate time for me to specify what I meant. You see, the damage inflicted to the school itself was minimal. Certain parts of the roof needed to be rebuilt and resurfaced, and they had to close down a section of the building temporarily. There was nothing that couldn't be repaired, though. One might say the same thing about the foals I saved. Because of their prolonged exposure to smoke, almost all of them had come down with a violent cough. Most of them were able to get better with the help of medicine, visits to the doctor, and bed rest. So at first glance, there appeared to be no long-term effects. But first glances can be very wrong. My brother and sister were not so lucky. While the other foals improved overtime, my siblings just got worse."

"I assume they contracted something more than a cough?" Cadence hypothesized.

"Correct," Comet Frost affirmed, "When my siblings didn't get better, my parents took them to see a pulmonary specialist. The specialist discovered that both of them had developed a respiratory ailment known as emphysema."

"Emphysema?" Cadence repeated in surprise.

"It's a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," Comet Frost exemplified, "It damages the air sacs in the lungs, causing the victim to become progressively more short of breath."

"I know what it is, Comet," she disclosed, "But I'm very surprised that your brother and sister came down with it. Emphysema is fairly common in teenagers and adults, but it's rare for a foal to contract it."

"True, but that didn't stop both my siblings from acquiring it," Comet Frost recalled, "To make matters worse, my brother and sister's symptoms were quite advanced by the time they were diagnosed. By this point, there wasn't any medicine or healing magic that could fix them up. The specialist told us that the only option available was lung surgery."

Once more, Cadence seemed rather surprised. She said in astonishment "They were doing that badly?"

"Yes," Comet Frost affirmed, "And it didn't help that lung surgery is hardly inexpensive. My parents had more than enough money to pay for one operation. But they couldn't afford two. However, they were not about to let either of my siblings die. So they called in favors, took out a loan from the bank, and pulled all the strings they could to accumulate the necessary funds. I even got a part-time job to help them out."

"That's commendable of you," Cadence commented, "Out of curiosity, what did you do?"

"I worked at an air-conditioning company," Comet Frost enlightened her, "I used my aptitude with weather spells to decrease the lowest setting of the machines by an additional ten degrees. It greatly increased sales, and it maximized customer feedback."

"But was it enough to get the money your parents needed?" Cadence asked hopefully.

"No, it wasn't," he grimly informed her, "So my father resorted to more… extreme means to pay my siblings' hospital bills."

"Extreme in what capacity?" Cadence inquired.

"I don't know what he did exactly, but there were a lot of signs that suggested it was dirty work," Comet Frost recounted, "For starters, he began coming home later and later. His office generally closed at eight o'clock, but he seldom came home earlier than ten o'clock. I was typically asleep by the time he returned. On the rare occasion when I saw him at night, I noticed he was behaving very strangely. He was always perspiring, exhausted, and shaken. One night, he even came home with blood on his hooves."

"Blood?" Cadence whispered in shock.

"That's correct," Comet Frost asserted, "That's not even the most unsettling part. The most unsettling part is that the blood wasn't his own."

"Then whose was it?" said Cadence.

"According to him, it was the blood of 'some damn imbecile who pissed him off,'" Comet Frost replied, "Pardon my language, but those were his exact words. Soon after that, we had the money needed to pay for an operation for both my brother and my sister. The surgery was carried out without any complications. Once it was over, both of my siblings were breathing normally again. Unfortunately, even after that, my father didn't stop working. He said that he planned to hold on to his 'second job.'"

"Did he give a reason why?" Cadence queried.

"No, but he was adamant about keeping it," Comet Frost recalled, "He tried to convince me and my mother that everything was alright, and he asked us not to worry about him. My mother agreed to look the other way, primarily because my father was still bringing home more money at the end of the day. But the extra money wasn't enough to sway my mind. I was determined to find out what exactly my father was getting himself into. Of course, that was no easy task. He was very good at keeping secrets and covering his tracks."

Comet Frost paused for a moment here, and then he cheekily declared "Thus began my very short-lived career as a private investigator."

Cadence scoffed at that and remarked "Really? You tried your hoof at detective work?"

"Yes, but I was an amateur, at best," Comet Frost apprised her, "I stuck my muzzle in a lot of places. Most of them got me nowhere. Still, I was able to get a bit of useful information twice. The first time, I swung by my father's office and asked some of his coworkers if they had seen him exhibit any suspicious behavior recently. Most of them were unable or unwilling to tell me anything, but his supervisor mentioned that a couple weeks prior, a group of stallions in business suits had visited him. They were only there for five minutes, and only one of them spoke to my father. However, what he did was rather noteworthy. He gave my father two briefcases and told him something. The supervisor did not remember what exactly the business stallion had told my father, but it was something along the lines of 'The first case contains your payment for your last assignment. The second case contains a list of your next assignment. As before, it is a list of problems that I need to be rid of. Once they have been dealt with, you will receive your next payment.'"

"That's some very vivid paraphrasing," Cadence perceived, "But what type of 'problems' did this stallion expect your father to handle?"

"I found out when I got home that night," Comet Frost expounded, "My mother was busy tending to my siblings, and my father was elsewhere. So I snuck into his study and searched for his briefcases. I found both of them hidden in the back of a cabinet. The first one was full of money. I don't know how much money, but it had to be more than both my parents' annual salaries put together. The other briefcase just had a bunch of photographs of certain mares and stallions who lived in Fillydelphia. Some of the photographs had a huge red X drawn over them. One of them was a teacher of mine."

"So that business stallion's problems were all other ponies?" Cadence presumed in perplexity.

"Yeah," Comet Frost affirmed, "And it did not take me long to learn how my father 'dealt with them' for him. Around this time, a lot of unsettling articles started appearing in the newspapers. These articles were about ponies in Fillydelphia who had been beaten, killed, or gone missing. All of these articles included a picture of the victim. Many of them were strangely familiar to me. Before long, I recognized them as some of the ponies in the photographs from my father's briefcase."

At that, the color seemed to drain from Cadence's face. After a tense interval of silence, she muttered uneasily "You're not saying that your father had something to do with all those mishaps, are you?"

"As much as I didn't want to believe it, I couldn't ignore the possibility that he was somehow responsible," Comet Frost disclosed, "When I thought about it, it all made sense. The time away from home, the sudden change in his personality, the suitcase, the blood… everything pointed to the suggestion that he was bringing harm to other people. But I still had enough respect for my father that I did not to write him off like that straightaway. So for a while, I tried pretending that I never looked in that briefcase of his. I chose to remain ignorant for a couple months. Then…"

He paused once more, and he gazed off to the side, as if he was contemplating how to continue. After a short interval of quietness, Cadence presumed "Did something happen?"

"Yes, something atrocious," Comet Frost disclosed, "A moment ago, I mentioned that one of my teachers was amongst the people in that briefcase. This particularly teacher was my magic professor. I had known him since my first day of middle school, and he was both a mentor and a friend to me. He believed I had potential to become a master of weather spells, and he offered to help me hone my skills. Since I quit my part-time job, I was able to see him after school for private tutoring. I saw him almost every day for an entire year. However, one day, he said he would be unable to see me after classes ended. He told me that he had scheduled a meeting with my father. Apparently, my father wanted to speak with him to see if I could actually pursue a career in weather spells. So I agreed to skip our lessons for one day. That was probably the biggest mistake I ever made."

"What do you mean?" Cadence queried nervously.

"My magic professor was found dead the following day," Comet Frost grimly revealed, "It was the first thing I read in the newspaper. The coroners' report indicated that he died at approximately 3:45 the previous afternoon. That was the exact same time his meeting with my father took place."

Cadence gasped at this and she mumbled "Oh my…"

"My reaction exactly," said Comet Frost bitterly, "My parents hadn't left for work yet. My father was in his study at this time. After I learned about what happened to my magic professor, I stormed upstairs and burst into the room without knocking. There I found my father at his desk. He had his briefcase open on the surface, and he was in the midst of drawing a red X over the picture of my magic professor. It was at that very moment that I finally realized that my father was a murderer."

Cadence did not know what to say to that. Comet Frost could tell she was disturbed, but she was even more enthralled than ever. He sighed and continued with "What happened next is something I wish I could forget, but the memory of it is imbedded into my mind the way my cutie mark is imbedded into my flank. As you can imagine, I confronted my father once I discovered his dark secret. I yelled at him furiously and cursed him for bringing harm to my magic professor and the countless other innocent people in that briefcase. He tried to justify his actions by claiming that none of his victims were innocent and that they had all done something to warrant their fates. In turn, I demanded to know what my magic professor had done. He told me that it was none of my business, and that I had no right to judge him for putting those people in the ground. I countered by saying that I had every right, that I was ashamed to call him my father, and that he had committed unspeakable, unforgivable atrocities. What he said in response… it chilled my blood."

"What did he say?" Cadence asked him restlessly

"He claimed that it was my fault that he took up this second job in the first place," Comet Frost enlightened her, "Initially, I was confused and I had no idea what he meant, but he was quick to clarify that point. He told me that the reason he first got this second job was that we needed the money for my siblings' operations. He argued that if they had died in that fire, they never would have needed that money to begin with. However, since I was the one who saved them, he debated that I was responsible for their debt with the hospital. In other words… he blamed me for the fates of all those people in his briefcase."

Cadence gasped in shock at that. She uttered softly "He… actually said that?"

Comet Frost solemnly nodded his head and remarked "When he said that, something awoke inside me. I happened to look in the mirror on the wall, and I saw that my left eye had become red like my right eye. That was the first sign that I was losing control. My blood became as cold as ice, and I could feel the anger boiling in his veins. It was as though a demon was consuming me. I felt nothing but pure, unadulterated rage. All I wanted was to put my father in pain, and that is precisely what I did. I seized my father by the throat and started attacking him. He barely had time to react. I struck him over and over again. When I was done beating him, his face and chest were covered in blood. But I wasn't finished with him yet. Before he had a chance to recover, I conjured up an iceberg spell and cast it on my father. As a result, he was trapped in a block of solid ice."

Cadence had already been shocked no fewer than half a dozen times, but this part of Comet Frost's explanation left her absolutely speechless.

"If you're wondering, I didn't kill him," Comet Frost assured her, "He was simply in suspended animation. However, my mother and my siblings came into the room a couple minutes later, and they did not react well at all. I tried to explain that my father was a contract killer and that he had dozens of deaths on his conscience, but they wouldn't even do me the courtesy of listening. My brother and sister looked at me as though they were afraid of me, and my mother acted as though she was going to disown me. She pretty much did; she slapped me in the face and demanded that I leave the house. I agreed without offering any resistance. Within an hour, I was packed up and I moved out of there. Then I left Fillydelphia. I've never set hoof in that city since then."

Cadence nodded in acknowledgment of all this information. Then she asked "So, how'd you come to join the Royal Guard?"

"After I left home, I went to Canterlot to look for a job where my magic could be useful," Comet Frost answered, "The capital city wasn't big on manufacturing air-conditioning, so I decided to join the Royal Guard. They seemed to be the next best choice, as well as the most logical one. You could call it my way of atoning for my father's sins."

"That's a noble way of looking at it," Cadence commented, "Do you think it was the right call to enlist in the Royal Guard?"

"Oh, absolutely," Comet Frost told her, "I've never regretted my decision. Not for a second. It's given me a feeling of importance and usefulness. Plus, my fellow officers have been like another family to me."

"That's good to hear," stated Cadence, "But have you heard anything from your real family? Do you know what became of your parents and siblings?"

"I assumed they were able to thaw out my father," Comet Frost speculated, "However, I've lost all hope of ever seeing or talking to them again. I don't really care if I do, either. They turned their backs on me, so I've turned my back on them in return. I just hope that my father will ultimately be brought to justice for what he's done."

Princess Cadence lightly smiled and placed her hoof on Comet Frost's shoulder. Then she told him assertively "Well, look on the bright side. After going through so much and struggling for so long, you've made it this far. You're a commander in the Equestrian Royal Guard. Even if he doesn't pay for his crimes, your father can't touch you now. Nopony can touch you."

"Except you," Comet Frost slyly pointed out, gesturing to her hoof on his shoulder.

Cadence chuckled again and stated "Right, except me. So remember, Comet; if you ever need somepony to talk to, or somepony to speak your mind to, or somepony to discuss your troubles with, I'm willing to listen."

"Thank you, Cadence," Comet Frost uttered gratefully, "I really appreciate that. I really do."

"It's my pleasure," was all the pink Alicorn said in response.