Crusaders of Harmony: Tales of Pure Heart

Pure Heart, all her priestesses and her followers were all reunited in the main room. They were doing their weekly sermon as it was Wednesday, and Pure Heart always did sermons on Wednesday, the reason nopony ever understood.

"My sisters, remember to never hate anypony or creature, no matter where their origin comes from. We are all sons and daughters of Harmony, and as such, we all have our stories, from the biggest dragon to the smallest of flies. Judge a pony for their actions, not their story, as some may search for forgiveness from actions of their past, some may be blamed wrongly." Pure Heart said while reading her book, Studies of Harmony, which served as education literature, even if it wasn't finished.

The nuns, monks and priestesses silently listened to their head priest, all in their seats and in praying positions; others simply looked at Pure Heart, and the priestesses made sure all was in order, especially Priestess Canvas, as she was the strictest of them all.

"Now, please, I would like our newest member to walk up front. Everypony please say hello to Lilac Breeze." Pure Heart said, signaling at the mare up front.

Lilac Breeze, now in initiate robes having left her old church clothes, was clapped and welcomed while Pure Heart signaled her to stand up and walk to the stand. And even though she felt nervous, she eventually stood up and walked next to Pure Heart.

"Please, dear, present yourself." Pure Heart said calmly.

Lilac Breeze took a deep breath and looked at the group of followers; it could be a hundred for all she knows. "Hello everypony, I'm Lilac Breeze, and I joined after escaping the Church of Celestia."

That made some followers gasp and widen their eyes, but still, they stood in silence. Pure Heart smiled and signaled her to continue.

"I came here because of the horrible treatment of the church. The teachings and the ponies in charge were simply horrible; I couldn't follow them." She took a moment to sniff as she was filled with sadness and memories. "My brother was a victim of the church when he defended me, and nopony ever remembered him, despise being loyal to the church."

The followers looked at Lilac Breeze with sadness, and a small group were very touched by her words, putting hooves on their chests.

"I would search for vengeance... but I know it is not the way; Mother Pure Heart taught me so. I now only search for peace, to live a real life, and finally be with real good ponies. I hope you all can accept me." Lilac Breeze finished with a melancholic glare on the ground.

But instead of hate, glares or whispers, she was showered with claps of hooves, greetings and cheers for her bravery. She was filled with a sentiment she couldn't even describe: Joy. A few of the followers walked to her and hugged her tightly, telling her they were also from the church and that they would help her in everything.

But the happiness ended when the nun from the entrance, the mare who always stood, entered in a hurry. "The church! The church is coming!"

Everypony stopped and looked at the mare. Pure Heat looked at her with a serious glare. "How many?"

"It's Cross Heart and a large group. I activated the magic barrier."

Pure Heart nodded and turned to her priestesses. "Start defensive measures!"

The priestesses started mobilizing the followers. The initiates were put in the back of the temple, as they weren't trained. The monks and Nuns opened the armories and armed themselves with all kinds of weapons, from blades to hammers, bows, crossbows, spears and maces. The priestesses grabbed their combat gears and prepared themselves; as the most powerful of the Crusaders, they were to make an example.

The Crusaders mobilized, and here is where their name would come to meaning.

Outside, Cross Heart arrived in her carriage while her followers were outside walking. She was with her usual scowled, angry face, and her robes more showoff as ever, with a long dark cape added to her black priest robes.

"My priest, we arrived." Said the voice of a follower outside as the door opened.

Cross Heart stood up and walked out, the dark robes waving around her and her gold diadem shining on the light on her head. She walked to the temple in the middle of the forest, the walls high and the temple higher, that tower reaching above the trees.

Cross Heart walked between her followers, all sorted like an army in two rectangle formations. Once she got closer, she then saw a dim blue light on the way and stopped. She raised her hoof and poked the barrier, reacting to her touch with a small wave across all the bubble barrier.

Just in time, above the walls appeared little Bliss and Joy, with their childish voices. "Hewoo!~"

Cross Heart looked up in annoyance. "Let us pass."

Bliss and Joy looked between them before turning to the high priest. "We can't!"

Cross Heart scrunched her eyes in annoyance. "Put this barrier down this instant, you insolent fools! It is I, Cross Heart, who is speaking to you!"

The fillies chuckled slightly, so she didn't hear them. "Who?!" They chuckle behind their hooves.

Cross Heart growled and grumbled and reached to her necklace gem and slammed it on the barrier, and almost instantly it shattered and seemed to be absorbed by the gem.

Bliss and Joy yelped in surprise and jumped down behind the wall, where all the crusaders were hiding and armed behind the gates. "They broke the barrier!"

Pure Heart looked up in annoyance. "It will take a more direct approach, it seems."

Cross Heart walked forward with her followers and with annoyance, but then Pure Heart appeared over the wall. "Hold On!"

Cross Heart stopped, and so did her followers. "You! You have something that belongs to me!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about! Leave now, Cross Heart! This is a breach of our deal to not attack each other's churches!"

"You insolent! Give me back, my follower, Veil Whisper!"

Pure Heart looked at her in annoyance and clenched her jaws. "I know no one with that name!"

"You think you can lie to my methods?!" Cross Heart put out a device like a compass that beeped every second. "This is connected to every mark of control my deepest followers have in them! This one is Veil Whisper's and has signaled to here! So give her back!"

Pure Heart looked at Cross Heart with anger and disgust. "She deserted! She is now part of the crusaders! She passed all my initiation tests and is now one of us! You control her no more! She doesn't even use that name!"

"Is that so?! Because as long as that mark is in her body, law says she is of my property! Now give it back!"

"Or what?! You will attack us?! You know you cannot win against us! Its blood spilled in vain!" Pure Heart said with her eyes glowing white from her power.

Some of Cross Heart's followers seemed to get nervous when seeing Pure Heart's eyes, as they all well knew her power was terrible. But Cross Heart was unfazed.

"Us? Oh no, I will bring this to Equestrian authorities! The royal guard will come here! And if you fight them off, the princesses will come too! You want to become the number one enemy of Equestria?!"

Pure Heart deeply thought in her mind, trying to find a solution to this. She would never let Cross Heart get Lilac Breeze back, not in a thousand years. But she needed to get over this law thing before she broke politics. Pure Heart hated politics for these reasons.

Then, a familiar voice sounded at the back of her head. "Do the logical thing."

Pure Heart thought and then sent a mental message to Priestess Nurse Shine. "Shine, go to Lilac Breeze and find a mark or anything in her body, in or out. Quickly!"

Nurse Shine, who was between the troops, nodded and ran back into the temple.

Pure Heart turned to Cross Heart. "You want to bring the royal guard? Go on, then; I'll be waiting." She said, squinting her eyes defiantly.

Nurse Shine ran into the room where the initiates were hidden. "Lilac! We need you!"

The initiate pegasus mare stepped out of the group. "What is happening, Priestess Nurse Shine?"

"The church has come for you! They found you with some kind of radar. Something about a mark."

Lilac Breeze's eyes widened, and her iris shrunken to small points. "Oh no. It can't be. I forgot."

Nurse Shine grabbed her by the shoulders. "We need to remove that mark! Where is it?!"

Lilac Breeze started tearing up. "No please. Not again. It hurt so much."

Nurse Shine looked at her confused. "What do you mean?"

Pure Heart stood there on the wall, still exchanging glares with Cross Heart. "Why do you still do this? Wasn't all this year's any different?! Why can't you just stop being a pain to everypony?!"

Cross Heart looked up at her, annoyed. "I do what I must to maintain my power and my religion on top! Any sacrifice is meaningless to us!"

"Why is she so important?! Surely you have hundreds who can replace her!"

"No, insolent child. She is irreplaceable! She has something important to me! Something I can't lose."

Then, the mind link with Nurse Shine activated again. Pure Heart, we have a problem.

Inside the Temple.

"It's in her womb."

"What?!" Pure Heart said in the mind link.

"It's a magic rune carved in her womb. I found a scar hidden with illusory magic across her lower belly. I can feel the magic inside."

"Sick bastard. Can you remove it?"

"I can. But it won't be pretty." Nurse Shine turned to Lilac Breeze, who was tearing up, looking at her scar in fear.

"Please, no." Lilac Breeze said with fear.

Nurse Shine kneeled in front of her. "Lilac, please. We need to take it out. We can sleep you before-"

"No!" She said it in panic. "You can't sleep me. The rune was made to turn invisible when I sleep. That way... you can only take it off while I am awake... and make it painful."

Nurse Shine looked at her in horror, but still shook her head to calm herself. "We need to take it out. Otherwise, the princesses will take you away."

"No please!" Lilac Breeze said in panic, covering her scar.

"Lilac, look at me." Nurse Shine said, grabbing her face. "I want this as little as you do. But this is your life we are speaking about. It is a painful sacrifice you will have to take, but it's a step forward. We all have to make a sacrifice in our lives. They are painful, but pain is temporary."

Lilac Breeze shook in fear and tears up. "I can't... it hurt so much the first time. This wasn't made for me; who am I kidding! I can't escape the church! No one like me can!"

Nurse Shine saw her panic decreasing in madness. "Pure Heart. I will need some more time."

Pure Heart grumbled hearing the message and looked down, seeing the royal guards had already arrived from Canterlot. They were quick, as the temple was close to the capital city.

"Pure Heart! By order of the princesses, let the high priestess return her follower, as dictated in the royal law of The Church of Celestia!" Said the captain of the royal guard.

Pure Heart had no idea what to do. She needed more time, so she did the most logical plan she always did in this kind of situation. Be an idiot.

"Huh? Sorry?" Pure Heart said asking silly.

"That you must let us in to retrieve the deserter!" The royal guard said again, angry.

"Um, sorry, I can't hear you!" Pure Heart said loudly and winked at her followers behind the wall, who looked at her with concern and shook their heads, not really trusting in their leader.

"What are you talking about?! Let us in this instant!" The captain guard said angrier.

"Sorry! I can't hear you! There is a barrier in the way!"

"What?! There is no barrier!"

"Yes, there is!" Pure Heart turned to the gate's nun. "Fix it fast!" She hushes.

"I'm trying." The nun said, trying to reactivate the gem of the barrier device.

"Enough, Miss Pure Heart! We are entering!" The royal guards started moving to the gate.

"Hey! Wait!" Pure Hear jumped in front of the gate. "You shall not pass without first answering my riddle!"

The guards looked at her confused. "Riddle?"

"What... What does a house wear?! Hah! You couldn't possibly kno-!"

"Ad-dress." Said a random guard.

Pure Heart looked at them in confusion at how fast they got it. "Um... NO! It is not-"

"Enough!" The guard walked past her and tried to open the gate, and it's obviously closed.

Pure Heart then suddenly flew over the wall without any wings, which confused the royal guard. "What the-"

Pure Heart landed on the grass. "Prepare phase two of the defense!"

Back in the temple, Nurse Shine continued her talking with Lilac Breeze. "Look, I know it scares you. I can't even begin to comprehend how this scares you or even how it hurts. I don't want to do it, but you must trust me."

Still, Lilac Breeze was still shaken by the fear and aversion to the idea. "Please.... I can't... I can't trust you."

Nurse Shine was both losing time and her patient. She needed a way to extract the rune and convince Lilac to do it. Then, a memory of an experience of hers; the time when she had to pass this very test. "If you can't trust me... trust in Harmony."

Lilac stopped shaking and turned to the priestess in confusion. "Harmony?"

"I know it sounds rare and almost crazy, but I assure you, this is the test Harmony has for you; to show your true devotion to achieve her."

Lilac looked down in fear. "You must be lying, like the church, like everypony else... you just want to hurt me."

Nurse Shine looked at her sympathetic. "I know it's weird... but it's true. It happened to me too. When I started with the crusaders, I was as hesitant and doubtful as you. But I assure you, Harmony is real, and it won't let you die here."

Lilac looked at her a bit more reassured, but still doubtful. "What was your test?"

Nurse Shine looked down in melancholy and sighs. "My desire was to save ponies. I became a real nurse to heal and save lives... but one day I had to face my worst fear, something I couldn't accept... I had to leave someone die."

Lilac took this in curiosity and looked up at Nurse Shine. "Who was it?"

Nurse Shine sat next to her against the wall, looking up with a sad smile. "It was my mother."

Lilac's eyebrows went up and turned to the priest. Staying silent, expecting her to continue the story.

"When I had been in the Crusaders for 2 years, when I was a mere nun, I was given the opportunity, to try to heal my mother. I have seen Pure Heart cure ponies before from all kinds of illnesses, so I wanted to try with her. She had scoliosis and was close to total failure; she couldn't move, walk, or even talk. So I took her here for Pure Heart to heal her." Nurse Shine took a moment to take a shaky breath. "But when I looked into her eyes, hoping for my mom to live a full life... she told me no."

Lilac's eyes widened as she turned to Nurse Shine, seeing the sadness in her eyes. "No? Why?"

Nurse Shine sighed. "Pure Heart said she couldn't heal her, as her destiny already marked. 'She was close to going with Harmony,' she said. 'You cannot force her to live,' she said. I got furious, more angry I have ever been. I was so angry, so powerless, I could only think of attacking Pure Heart right there."

Lilac looked at her in shock. "Attack Pure Heart? I always heard she was a monster of combat and power, almost invincible."

"You haven't heard wrong. She started using her priestly power, and stared, shoving me around. Against walls, against floor, squeezed and slammed. I was powerless then, but I kept standing up. My body hurt like hell, but I still continued, refusing to let my mother die like that. I fought with strength, strength I didn't even know I had. But Pure Heart wasn't angry; she was pitying me, concerned and sad for me, despise attacking her, despise all the swears, the threats I screamed at her... she simply didn't crush me."

Lilac started imagining that scene in her head, finding it quite dramatic. "And what happened in the end?"

"Well... something I would have never foreseen. Once I was at the brink of death; I didn't have more blood to bleed or strength left; my mother, out of nowhere, stood up." Nurse Shine looked forward as if she were seeing that scene once again. "It was impossible, yet there she was, standing and walking at me, as if something gave her the strength to do so. She couldn't talk because of the illness having blocked all vocal functions. So she simply went to me and wrapped my body around her. And even if she couldn't speak, she could still smile at me proudly."

Lilac looked at her with a shine in her eyes, not really understanding how something like that was possible.

"I understood. Harmony gave her the last of her strength to hug me one last time, all the energy she had left. And after that, she fell, dead on my hooves. I couldn't believe it, anything of what was happening; my anger and fury were then exchanged by a sharp pain, one I have never felt in my life. I was broken, depressed and hurt in all ways; the feelings in my heart were beyond any of the physical pain I had."

Lilac looked at her, now with sadness and even a small tear in her eye.

"But then, Pure Heart came to me and put a hoof on my shoulder." Nurse Shine said while doing the same with Lilac. "She looked at me, not angry nor sad, but with a smile. She wasn't happy about my loss, nothing like that. She looked down at me and said, 'Loss is the greatest of masters, and pain is the best of partners in our lives. The more we lose and suffer, the stronger we become, if we are capable of overcoming it, of course.'"

Lilac heard that and felt much more relaxed, and then looked at Nurse Shine with a neutral face.

"I know you are afraid, angry and confused. I know you don't want the pain. But think of the benefit: Your Freedom. Isn't that what you wanted?" Nurse Shine said with a smile.

Overcome by this new teaching, even if she in the deep felt still scared, slowly a feeling of bravery came over her, and she nodded her head. "Ok... I'll do it. I won't let Cross Heart win; not anymore! Furthermore, I prefer to suffer a bit if that can give me my liberation and break my chains!" Lilac Breeze said with new determination.

Nurse Shine smiled and then grabbed her scalpel and turned to the other initiates. "Hold her still, please."

Outside the temple, the priestesses and nuns were having a fight with the royal guard, but not any kind of fight. It was the most random fight Cross Heart ever saw. The nuns and priestesses made the royal guards deviate from their objective with all kinds of games. Rope jump, conga, rock paper scissors (with the literal objects, as they don't have hands.), catch, put the tail on the pony, arm wrestling, I spy, and so on, all to make them lose time.

"Hah! Checkmate!" Pure Heart said putting the piece in a D8, causing the loss of the Royal Guard Captain.

The captain was at a loss, looking at the chest table, and in anger, threw it away.

Cross Heart has had enough and used her horn to envelope all the nuns and priestesses and slam them against the ground. All the nuns groaned and yelled as they were pushed against the grass; not even Canvas could break from her magic. "Guards! Enter immediately right now!"

The guards, when seeing this, started standing up and going to the entrance of the temple.

"Hey! No! You cheater!" Pure Heart used her power to break off the magic and moved at inhumane speed in front of the guards. "You cannot enter without a royal order from the princesses! I don't like politics, but I signed a paper once that said that this temple is protected by the law."

The guards looked at her in confusion. "Why didn't you say so at the beginning!?" The captain said in fury.

"To make you lose time! Now shoo! And don't return until you have said permit!" Pure Heart said, waving her hoof. Then she used her power, her eyes turning white, to free all her followers from Cross Heart's magic.

But, the gates opened, and Nurse Shine and a limping Lilac Breeze came out. They walked in between the guards and towards Cross Heart.

Cross Heart smiled widely and evilly. "Ah! Veil Whisper! Finally, you returned! Enough of this nonsense! You will be happily received back for all your brothers and sisters-"

But Cross Heart dropped a piece of pink flesh on her hooves, one that had a rune burnt into it. Upon seeing it, Cross Heart was shocked and almost terrified, looking at Lilac Breeze to see a new scar on her belly, made after the surgery, as Nurse Shine accelerated the regeneration with her priestly power.

"No... Impossible. Impossible!" Cross Heart walked to Lilac Breeze and faces her inches apart. "How could you take that off?! The pain should have been terrible and agonizing! You aren't that strong! You are a weak and pitiful mare! YOU-"

But then, Lilac Breeze slapped really hard across Cross Heart's face, making everypony widen their eyes in shock and surprise. Flash Spark even whistled happily.

Cross Heart herself slowly turned to Lilac, and her face contorted to one of Fury and Madness. "You INSOLENT, BASTARD CUNT!" She charged her horn and shot at Lilac, only for Priestess Canvas to teleport and protect her with her own purple magic shield.

Soon, all of Pure Heart's priestesses appeared in the way to face Cross Heart. "Your follower is fully free. Leave now. There is nothing for you left here." Priestess Canvas said seriously as Flash Spark next to her charged her electricity.

Cross Heart stepped back and looked at them all in fury. "You all will pay. All of you, Heretics! Good for nothing! You all will pay, with your blood and those close to you! You will regret the day you all dared to face me and stop me from my goals!" She then looked directly at Pure Heart. "And you, daughter of the devil himself, you will see how I destroy your religion, piece by piece, until there is nothing left to reconstruct! You should have died back then and saved us the time and problems!"

And like that, she turned and walked to her carriage, and so did her followers. She entered the wagon and was pulled as the Church of Celestia walked away. The royal guard, seeing their mission was a failure, shrugged their shoulders and left to go back to Canterlot.

Lilac Breeze looked back at the nuns and monks, priestesses and her friends. She was then wrapped in small hugs by Golly and Joy and patted on the back by Nurse Shine.

Pure Heart walked forward with a smile. "It seems you changed the turn of battle. Great job, Lilac Breeze. Surely we all learned something from all this, right?" She said, looking around.

The crusaders looked at her in deep thought until Flash Spark spoke. "Yeah!~ You are a terrible strategist!"

The nuns and monks started chuckling, and soon they laughed at Pure Heart for all the weird things she did to defend them all.

Pure Heart looks around in confusion. "Hey! I am not that bad! Nurse Shine, my plan was perfect, right?!" She said it in shock.

Nurse Shine and Lilac Breeze looked between them, smiling, and started laughing and joining the others. Pure Heart looked at them all and groaned. "Oh, fuck you all! I am going to meditate! Go back to work!"