Crusaders of Harmony: Tales of Pure Heart

Pure Heart, Priestess Canvas and Flash Spark were on the training grounds with Lilac Breeze, a week later from her liberation from the church. She was now in nun robes; she just added the headwear of her choice, hers being a hair comb with white cloth decoration, having gone up in rank as she has worked hard and has experienced enough trauma to be given a fast rank up. Now she would need to learn to fight and combat technique.

"Wait." Lilac Breeze said, holding the wooden stick on her hooves. "Why do we need to fight? Aren't we nuns and all good and peaceful?"

Pure Heart chuckled. "To other ponies we are. But we don't fight against ponies... normally."

Priestess Canvas walked in with her serious face. "As followers of Harmony, we are to fight forces beyond your comprehension. Monsters, Beasts, Ghosts, Demons, all of that kind."

"Demons?" Lilac Breeze said surprised and scared. "As in... Tartarus demons?"

"Of course not!~" Flash Spark said stepping in and putting her hoof around Lilac Breeze. "These are from Hell. It's like Tartarus but way cooler.~" She said, smirking.

Lilac Breeze was now in shock and feeling fear. "And if I don't want to?"

"The demons will sense harmony in you. You are already an objective for them. We don't do this because we want to. It's for your safety." Priestess Canvas said coldly and unsympathetic.

Lilac Breeze was now shaking in fear, imagining creatures of horror wanting to eat her, skin her alive or rip her apart like a broken toy.

Pure Heart stepped in and stood in front of Lilac Breeze. "Hey, don't let these two mess with you. It is not as horrible as it sounds! We will train you and give you cool powers to fight!" She said, putting her hoof around her.

"Cool powers? Like the ones the priestesses use? Wait, right! How the hell do you have those powers?! Priestess Flash Spark uses rays-"

"And Fire!" Flash Spark said, igniting her hoof out of nowhere in a bright orange fire.

Lilac Breeze winked, surprised that just occurred out of nowhere. "Right. Rays and Fire-"

"It's actually Fire and Lightning-"

"Ya, ya! I got it! And Priestess Canvas has dark magic or something?" Lilac Breeze said, pointing at the bald mare.

"Actually, my power is that I have proficiency in all kinds of magic, due to my biology as unicorn and due to that I was indeed a student from Celestia's School for gifted unicorns, but I was kicked out for indeed doing dark magic, and my passion was to study all kind of magic and powers in this world, specialy those related to rituals and alternatives to normal magic." Priestess Canvas said in her normal monotonous voice.

"Right. And why dark magic?"

"Because... it's bewitching." Priestess Canvas said with some lick on her tone.

Lilac Breeze looked at her confused; she had never heard that word before, but Flash Spark moved in to clarify. "She means it's cool~."

"R-Right... and you?" Lilac Breeze asked Pure Heart.

"I actually have a powerful one. I have many abilities, like using magic without a horn, sensing souls, and I can calm ponies with a mere touch." She said touching Lilac Breeze with her hoof and a full-on feeling of calmness overpowers her and relaxes. "But my main power of combat is Telekinesis."

"Telekinesis?" Lilac said, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't that controlling things with your mi-woooaaahhh!" Lilac Breeze screamed, surprised, as she was suddenly lifted in the air by an invisible force and put upside down. "Hey!"

Pure Heart and Flash Spark chuckled, while Priestess Canvas simply put her lips upwards a bit in an attempt of a smirk. Pure Heart slowly lets her down softly.

Once in the ground, she shook the feeling away and started wondering. "Wait, it means I will have these powers too?" Lilac said slightly excited.

"Oh no. Um, these powers are only achieved when you become priest. And for that, you will need a lot of years of training, study and experience. Only a few have these kinds of power. And before you ask, no, we don't have a choice in what our powers will be, but they normally fit us well." Pure Heart explained in a teacher tone, like tutoring her, which was exactly what she was doing.

"So, what do I have?" She asked, wondering about her weapons.

"That stick. And be thankful we give you something." Priestess Canvas said coldly.

"And what am I supposed to do with a stick?" Lilac said with the long, thick wooden stick on her hooves.

Flash Spark then grabbed another stick and bonked Lilac on the head, making her yowl in pain.

"OW! What was that for?!" Lilac said, rubbing her head.

"So you start remembering, an attack could come from anywhere, anytime, by anyone!" Flash Spark said with a smile and her sunglasses.

"That doesn't make any sen- Ow!" Lilac Breeze is hit in the head again now by a random nun.

"Pay attention, newbie!" The nun giggled before returning to her training.

Pure Heart chuckled behind her hoof before speaking. "Yeah, it's not easy to be a nun in the Crusaders. I mean, we don't have the name because it's cool-"

"Which it is!~" Flash Spark said, interrupting.

"But because we are an organization of protectors. I mean, we told you when we started, remember?"

"Yeah, but I thought you simply 'fought' in a metaphorical way against the desires of ponies or their sins." Lilac Breeze said, hissing in pain.

"We do." Then Canvas hit her side with another stick. "But that alone would be boring."

"And so, you need to learn not only to fight, but also to start your advanced studies with this." Pure Heart said while showing her a book with the title 'Study of Harmony, by Pure Heart'.

"Isn't that the book you haven't finished?" Lilac Breeze said, confused.

"Yes. But I have been working on it over 100 years! It has much weigh-"

"Wait, wait, 100 years?" Lilac Breeze said, confused, before another random nun hit her with a stick again on her other side.

"Ok, maybe 150 years, but I don't like to brag-"

"But.... How old are you?! Was this started by your grandpa or grandmother?!" Lilac said, rubbing her side.

"No, I did. I started, over 200 years old."

Lilac Breeze was in shock, and her right eyelid trembled in confusion. "HOW?!"

"That is study for another day. Now, prepare for your training!" Pure Heart declared before she herself tried to hit her with a long stick.

But in her last momentary reaction, Lilac Breeze rose her stick to block it, closing her eyes and expecting a blow, but she felt the hit on her own stick, meaning she blocked it successfully.

"Good! You are learning!~"

Lilac Breeze was put through an extensive training, one she didn't expect a nun or even anything but a soldier would have. From mere physical conditioning, running, push-ups and sit-ups to even parkour.

"Huff! Ugh! I haven't done exercise ever in my life!" Lilac Breeze said, running around the temple yard, sweating and breathing heavily, wearing the training attire, which was a tighter and more elastic version of the nun robes, with Flash Spark running next to her with no problem at all.

"What? Doing exercise is the best! You unleash your energy and get a good physique! How didn't the church train you?" Flash Spark said while hopping in the air, keeping speed with her.

"They say self-improvement for egoist reasons is sin; only it's ok when it is for the greater good. That's why hobbies are prohibited; they distract us from our duties." Lilac Breeze said while panting.

Flash Spark looks at her surprised and pushes up her sunglasses to show her teal-colored eyes. "What in Harmony's name?! That church is really a cult! Personally, I would break Cross Heart's face if she ever even thought of making me stop!" She was annoyed by that information, and her eyes turned yellow and she quickly put her sunglasses back.

Lilac Breeze had to stop and walked as she was already tired. Flash Spark stopped and ran back to her. "Hey! I didn't tell you to stop!"

Lilac Breeze took quick, big breaths. "Please! Just give me a break!"

"Oh no, you won't!" Flash Spark blew her whistle. Priestess Canvas, who was meditating next to the field, used her purple magic and invoked a purplish transparent pack of Timberwolves to start chasing Lilac Breeze.

"WHAT?!" Lilac said in shock.

"And believe me, they can hurt you!" Flash Spark said, winking at her, putting her sunglasses on, and starting to run.

Lilac Breeze started running behind her in panic as the pack went after her.

The slightly scratched and wounded Lilac Breeze was now in her Harmony studies, a copy of the book in front of her, while Pure Heart lectured her.

"The reason of our religion and our studies is to reach closer to Harmony and be able to be one with her, both in life and the afterlife, so our souls can reunite with her once more. As she is our creator, and we are her creations, we do her bidding but also our own independence-"

But she was interrupted by Lilac raising her hoof.

"Yes newbie?"

"So, Harmony is the goddess of life?" Lilac asked confused.

"Um, no, not exactly. She is more than a goddess; she is a being that has the job of maintaining stability and control over our world. That includes living beings, but it doesn't mean she did it all."

"So there are other gods who do her job or something?"

"Well, em, that is a bit advanced, but in short, yes." Pure Heart said a bit uncomfortable. "So, as I was saying-"

"So, Celestia may be one of these gods?" Lilac said in curiosity.

Pure Heart's eye trembled a bit, but she took a deep breath. "That is for later studies. Now if we could continue-"

"So Celestia is the goddess of sun-?"

"Ok, that's it!" Pure Heart used her power to shut her snout and put a chain around it tightly. "I know I said having doubts is important, but right now we are in class! And so, you sit and listen!" Pure Heart said she was losing her patience.

Lilac Breeze looked at her in fear and surprise, having never seen Pure Heart like that. She whined like a dog and put puppy eyes as a sign of sorry.

Pure Heart slowly calmed down and sighed, undoing the bindings from her snout. "Sorry, Lilac, it is just you are being awfully stubborn."

"Ok. I'm sorry, Pure Heart; I'm just a bit curious. It's all new to me."

"I know, I know. But maybe listen to my full talk and ask later. It's a bit of an educational tip, ok? Don't take it as I am angry or annoyed."

"Ok, miss Pure Heart!" Lilac said with a smile.

"Ok... so, as I was saying-"

"But is Harmony really a female?"

Instantly, she was tackled into the ground and beaten with Pure Heart's telekinesis.

Lilac Breeze, now hurt and with various bruises all over her fur, was now walking to her last training off of the day, that being battle training and combat technique. She was told she would train with ponies of her level and capacity and a master who would correct her.

She arrived in the training room, all with a tatami floor over it. In the center was the master, or mistress in this case, Priestess Silent Whisper, seated in the middle of the room, her porcelain mask still in her face as always.

"Hello Lilac. Enter. Your training is to begin now." Silent Whisper said softly from behind her mask.

Lilac entered limping and walks to the priest. "Hey, could I simply take this training off? I am really, really beaten up." Lilac Breeze pleaded while whining in pain.

But Silent Whisper simply grabbed two combat sticks and tossed one to her hooves. "You are to train with your new partners, and be sure, they are more dangerous than they look."

Soon, a pair of small fillies entered the room with their own smaller combat sticks. The two fillies entered with a smile and hopped to Lilac Breeze.

"Hi Miss Lily!~"

"So good you are here with us!~"

Bliss and Joy said, standing on the tatami, the twin fillies were standing across the room with the kimonos on.

"Wait, you two?" Lilac Breeze said, confused. "But you are too young and small!"

"Hey! Don't underestimate us! We have been training a good year in here!" Bliss said offended.

"But I thought training was for nuns and priests only!" Lilac Breeze said, rubbing her head in deep thought.

"Ya! But we have been here long enough, and Pure Heart allowed us to start earlier! And normally we aid the newbies." Joy said in her cheerful and childish voice.

"Ugh! You must be joking. I won't fight against fillies!" Lilac said, turning to Silent Whisper.

"You will, unless you want to fight me instead." Silent Whisper said, annoyed and holding her stick firmly. "The difference is that I could kill you in training by a slip-up." She said, changing her tone to a more harsh and deeper, despise still being soft.

Lilac Breeze gulped in fear and sighed. She stood on her rear hooves to hold the stick. "Ok, I'll go easy on you, girls. I promise I won't be harsh-"

Then, both Bliss and Joy started using their sticks at full speed and strength. Joy hit her legs, and Bliss smacked her head repeatedly, soon joined by Joy and being smacked twice a time.

"Ow, Ow, OW! Girls, stop!" Lilac said, covering her head with her hooves.

"Sorry miss! Pure Heart said we should go hard on you!" Bliss said, moving her sick fast to beat her.

"We are paid with more play time and less work!" Joy said moving her stick faster.

"Ow! Damn it!" Lilac Breeze said as her already existing wounds were beaten again.

Priestess Nurse Shine tended Lilac Breeze's wounds, using her magic and medical supplies to do it. Lilac Breeze was laid on the bed covered in bandages, smelling the various creams and lotions she was covered with.

"So, I see your day went well!" Nurse Shine said, looking at her.

Lilac Breeze had a tired and hurt face; her eyes slightly moved to look at the priest. "I hate you all so much now. How is this supposed to be a normal day?" She said it almost in a whisper.

"Oh, don't be a crybaby.~ You will get over it eventually! Every nun starts like you. Some even ended worse than you." Nurse Shine said, grabbing her snout and shaking it as if she were a foal.

"Why can't you heal me with your priestly power? You did it when you opened my belly last time." Lilac Breeze pleads from the bed.

"Oh, silly Lilac.~ That was a case of life and death, an experience no pony should live. I used my powers so you could live. But now, you don't require it, as pain is part of the training. I am not a healing machine who can heal everypony for anything; it is simply not natural, and that goes against our religion." Nurse Shine explained, walking around to other patients in others beds.

Lilac Breeze groaned and looked at the side, but her neck popped a bit, making her groan. Nurse Shine walked to her to put her neck straight. "Don't do that."

"I just feel angry." Lilac Breeze admitted, tired.

"Angry? Angry off what?" Nurse Shine said curiously with an eyebrow raised.

"Of everything. My life, my decisions, my weakness... me in general. I am useless, I was told in the church, and as much as I wanted to not believe it and worked so hard to not be a weight... I failed. I was not born to be great. I am... a looser." But then she is smacked in the face by Nurse Shine's hoof, making a loud clop that runs across the face. "OW! What the buck?!"

"Don't ever say any of that again!" Nurse Shine said angry, pointing at her. "You are not useless! You are learning, a mere novice in all of this! Failing is almost obligatory for you! Better said, if I never saw you fail, I would say you are doing it wrong!"

"But I can't fail in everything! I can't feel better with me if I do everything wrong! I am weak!" Lilac Breeze said back in anger too.

"Of course you are weak! You think everypony who is strong started strong?! I was just a nurse, and it didn't matter how much I tried; I never became a doctor, yet now I am the one and only nurse of the Crusaders, with the power of healing almost anything! I was never any good in sports or exercise, yet I did what you did, and worse, much worse! I have fought, bled, been broken and almost died many times! Yet I am not perfect! You see me whining!? I was weak at the beginning, but did I give up?! No! Neither of them did!" Nurse Shine pointed at the other nuns of the medical wing, who looked at Lilac Breeze with pity of receiving such scolding, while others looked comfortable she was being taught like this… "So neither should you! Anything that the cursed church taught you is wrong! You are much better than you think."

Lilac Breeze looked at Nurse Shine with surprise and a bit of shame; she laid back and sighs, relaxing her muscles at last. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be sorry; be better. That is the way to go." Nurse Shine said. "You will be healed in a day, and I hope I see you training again after that." She said before turning to other patients.

Lilac Breeze lay there, in silence and deep thought, looking at the ceiling and having nothing else to do but meditate, like Pure Heart had taught her.

Days later.

Lilac Breeze was in the combat room, training alone with the combat stick. Her body was bruised and wounded again, but after having healed, the training was not less severe. But after her thoughts, after meditating that day in the medical wing, she had a clear mindset. She wasn't going to be weak. That meant doing extra training.

Lilac Breeze dropped her stick as it slipped away because of the blood on her hooves. She pants and looks down at the stick and tries to grab it, but it slips from her hooves because of the blood. She cursed and fell to her knees.

Soon, Pure Heart appeared and walked to her stick. Grabs it and gives it to Lilac Breeze. "You are going a bit over the limit, aren't you?" Pure Heart said with a smile.

Lilac Breeze panted and took the stick into her bloody hooves and held herself against it. "Sorry, I made a mess." She said, looking at her blood that dripped in the tatami.

"Don't worry. As long as it is because you are working hard." Pure Heart said, looking at her with a smile, but then changed to a concerned face. "Still, I can sense you are worried."

Lilac Breeze was no stranger to Pure Heart reading her mind, or her feelings; after all, it was known she never had a limit to entering ponies' private minds. "I am not worried; I'm just-" She cut herself to think on her words before letting out a sigh. "Mother Pure Heart, am I really that valuable? I mean, the priestess, the nuns, the monks. They all seem so special, with great stories, lives, and experiences... I am nothing compared to them. I am just... a joke." Lilac Breeze said, looking down.

Pure Heart looked at her with a small motherly smile. "Ah, that. Yeah, you are not the first one to feel like that. I guess your past as part of the church is making you doubt, isn't it?" She said it with a friendly tone.

"No, I know the church doesn't define me. I mean, I am nothing special. I am not good at anything besides following orders. And even that, I have doubts about myself. I don't want to fail; I am an adult, I have 27 years, and I am acting like I am 5, and the others make me feel like I am not doing enough." Lilac Breeze looked around the empty training room, the light of the sunset entering through the windows. "Why did you let me in?"

Pure Heart sighed and walked to the side to grab a combat stick. "I'll answer you, after a quick fight~" She said with a smile and spun it quickly on her hooves as she stands on her rear legs, her tunic waving with the air.

Lilac Breeze looked at Pure Heart in shock and quickly tried to grab her own stick. "Fight?! But I-I don't even know-"

But she was cut by a swing of Pure Heart's stick that she blocks with the stick, but it's sent backwards. Pure Heart smiled and charged to continue to swing simple and basic attacks. Lilac Breeze tried to block her however she could, swinging her stick wildly to try to block her.

In a bad movement, Pure Heart broke through her defense and smacked the tip of the stick on her belly like a spear, leaving her without breath and falling to the ground. "Hoofwork, hoofwork! Focus on how you balance your weight!" She pulled Lilac up to her rear hooves. "Again!"

Lilac Barely had time to react when Pure Heart kept slowly swinging her combat stick towards her, and she blocked it with whatever position she could put the stick on her hooves. After a few swings, Pure Heart made a swing on Lilac's side that collided due to a wrong defensive blockade with her stick.

Lilac Breeze fell to her side, grabbing her attacked part and groaning in pain. She has never been hit this hard, at least not in something that wasn't a punishment or torture. "Stand Up." Pure Heart said pulling her up. "Is this really all you can do?"

Lilac Breeze stepped back from her and grabbed her combat stick. "Yes, please, I can't do this anymore!"

But still, Pure Heart continued swinging, this time too fast that she hit her several times in her belly, face and back, sending her to the ground again. "Come on! You didn't want my reason why you're still here?! You want to know if you are really useless?!"

Lilac Breeze was beaten, and she coughed up blood, which dripped from her lips while she was with her eyes half closed in pain and by losing consciousness.

Pure Heart lifted her up, and she stumbles on her hooves. "Is this really all you can fight for the knowledge you seek?"

Lilac Breeze stood barely on her hooves, trembling and dripping blood from her mouth.

"So... is this what your brother died for? Pathetic." Pure Heart said boldly.

Hearing those words, Lilac Breeze looked up at Pure Hear in shock, not really believing she just said that. "W-What?"

"You heard me. Did your brother really die for this? He must be rolling on his grave, really disappointed and feeling ashamed he died for you. Ashamed of surely calling you his sister."

Lilac Breeze looked at her, and a sensation of fury filled her veins and body, as if her body heated up in fire. "Don't you dare speak of my brother like that... or I swear to Celestia-"

"What? What will you do? Cry out how useless you are? Maybe you should have been killed by your brother instead. Surely he was a harder worker than you."

Then, Lilac Breeze shook in anger, tears of fury coming out of her eyes, grabbed the combat stick, and starts going ballistic. All her pain and soreness gone as she started swinging the stick at full speed, attacking Pure Heart with the fury of the humiliation and disrespect she just received.

Pure Heart smiled and started blocking her attacks with incredible precision, but she was now fully defensive, letting Lilac Breeze do her flurry of attacks as long as she could hold. Lilac Breeze continues swinging, moving the stick like a bat, each strike sounding like a loud whip hitting Pure Heart's defense. Her flurry goes for minutes and minutes on end, moving all around the training room and screaming unintelligibly curses and threats to the high priest. She continues on and on until both sticks break in half, and by the inertia, Lilac Breeze falls forward on the tatami on her hooves and knees; her body trembled and shook as she sobs and cries.

Pure Heart looked down on her with a smile still in her face. Lilac Breeze looks up at Pure Heart's face with even more anger. "You are enjoying this, don't you?!" She said it loudly.

"No. Actually, I am surprised. Your will is stronger than I thought. And you have your feelings in the right place, your brother; you loved him very much, and I am sure he did so. Sorry for what I said; I knew I did a good choice letting you in." Pure Heart said before turning to walk away.

Lilac Breeze pulled herself on her front hooves to scream at Pure Heart. "Why did you let me in?! To humiliate me?!" She said, thinking all this was just a long, cruel joke because she was from the church.

But Pure Heart stopped and turned to her now with a serious face. "Because you wanted to join. You don't need anything special to become a Crusader... but I knew you had something special, something more than most followers. You will go far; even if you don't believe it."

Then her eyes turned pure white, and Lilac Breeze feels herself being pulled up to her hooves, and her wounds on her hooves and face slowly close and heal, and her blood is reabsorbed in her body. Lilac Breeze looked at Pure Heart in shock.

"But I do." Is the last Pure Heart said before leaving the room.

Lilac Breeze was confused for many reasons. First her words, on how she was indeed special, but even then that wasn't the reason she was accepted, making her wonder what she saw in her. Also, discovering Pure Heart has more powers than she firstly said so. And lastly, that voice... she never heard that voice, but it was like she heard it before, maybe in another life. Or is it just coincidence?

In any way, she dropped on the ground tired.