Bound

by Mirror Shard


Bound

You wake up hooves shackled to a wall in a small square room made of cobblestone with torches mounted on the four corners of the room with a staircase in the wall where your facing. Not knowing where in Equestria you are, fear takes over as you try to break the bindings with no avail. The shackles represent your sins of the past bearing on your soul. You call for help and no pony answers. Thoughts of sorrow and despair fill your mind. You feel no pony cares for you anymore. You feel worthless with a broken heart, empty spirit, and no hope. You feel as though society has taken you and thrown you away. You feel no pony has forgiven you. You feel no pony could love you if they tried. You feel as if you were despised by many. You feel alone. You need somepony.

You notice two small holes on the right wall and two on the left. Could these be relevant to your escape? You have been there for ages. You wonder of a way out of this lonely place of damnation and a way back to the beautiful land of Equestria. Suddenly, you hear something trotting down the old, cobblestone stairs. You feel a worried excitement rush through your sin-scarred body as fear also sets in as you don't know who might show their face. You hope of freedom and you dread to be acquainted to a sinister creature. A strange pony appeared clothed in rags. He gazes at you with care and affection like no pony has ever done as he laid down a cloth sack and unraveled it to reveal four beautiful keys each representing a holy attribute.

"The Key of Truth," the traveler names as he places the golden key in one of the keyholes. "All words must be spoken in truth, not lies and deception.", he says as he turns the key. You hear a mechanism behind the wall trigger and you feel your rusty shackles loosen.

"The Key of Purity," the pony names as he places a pure bejeweled key in another keyhole. "All words and actions must be used with purity and of a sound mind.", he says as he turns the key. You once again hear the mechanism trigger. You are starting to understand the meaning behind all this.

"The Key of Kindness," names the traveler as he places the silver, engraved key in the next keyhole. "All words and actions should be mended in kindness, not hate or dismay.", He states in a weaker tone of voice, coughing. You start to worry about this strange visitor. He now seemed to breathe heavily for sufficient air every few moments. You worry of his physical health and ask if he was alright but no word left his mouth.

"The Key of Faith," He named the key between breaths as places the last perfected, silver key into the last keyhole. He is too weak to utter the description of the key as he was almost at the point of death. Could this be the final moment of his life? You're still not free of your rusty, shackles.

He reaches to his bosom as you see a key's handle protrude from his chest where his heart was located. You watch as he pulls the key out of his ribs. As blood ran down his punctured chest he uttered the final description in between coughs and painful breaths. "The Key of Forgiveness," He named the key as he reached above my head to reveal the final keyhole I didn't notice before. He placed the final pure white, bloodstained key into the final keyhole. He turned it slowly as he uttered his final words. "You are forgiven." his body falls to the floor as a tear runs down his face. He is surely dead at this point. Your shackles break from their rusty hinges and you fall on his body weeping over the stranger who saved you. He gave his very life for your worthless freedom. Your life's not over yet. After weeping over your savior you stumble into a stand and limp to the stairs. You look back once to the corpse of your savior. A final tear is shed and trickles down your cheek. Once you reached the top of the stairs you see a door with a sign reading "Salvation." As you open the door it reveals a light of freedom. You step outside and breathe the fresh, living air of Equestria. You wipe the tears of sorrow from your eyes. Your eyes adjust to the light. Your finally free!

There was something strange about that already unusual pony. He gave his very life for you. Who could love you more than that?
You thought you were despised by everypony, but that was not true, he died for you! How could you be worthless? You seem to have been worth everything to him. You feel grateful for somepony cared enough to die for your meaningless freedom. Who could care for you more than that? Your empty spirit becomes a grateful spirit, your hope is replenished, your anger is an extinguished flame, your lies are no more, and your mind is filled with pure thoughts. Your past desires of physical items are transformed into thoughts of much more meaning. Your future actions are to act as the stranger did, with love and sacrifice. You were a new being.

After all this time all you needed was a savior to forgive you of your past and future sins. You are not alone. You are not hated or despised. You are not thrown away. Your rage was exchanged for kindness. Your thoughts were changed into holy thoughts. Your as free as free can be. You were not worthless for you were worth everything to him, your savior.

As you looked around outside you heard a door slam behind you. You looked back to find the "Salvation" door closed and locked. A thought hit you like it was injected into your soul. Who shut the door?