The Factions of Equestria

Luke suddenly felt very ill. Maybe it was his body's attempt to hide the extreme sadness he was feeling, or maybe it was a result from the sudden change in emotion he was feeling. Luke's legs started to feel like jelly, and he began having a hard time standing.

"You okay, Luke?" Michael asked.

"Nngh...I....I don't feel so well..." Luke responded weakly.

"Come on, lemme get you back to your room."

Michael supports Luke as he stumbles to his room, and tears start to fill his eyes.

"Dude, what is the matter with you? You were so happy." Michael asked.

"..." Luke was silent.

"Come on, man. You can tell me. I ain't no snitch."

"Promise not to tell anyone?"

"I promise."

"Pinkie Pie promise?"

Michael sighs, "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"Okay..." Luke hesitates, "I have had a SERIOUS crush on Twilight...like, for a long time..."

"Luke! That's violating rule nine! And ten!"

"I know...but I can't help it! I always liked her in my world, and when I came here, I thought I had a chance with her! And now, that chance is fucked! Fucked, I tell you! FUCKED!"

"Shh. Calm down, Luke. Calm down. I understand, but you gotta get over it. I mean, there's nothing you can do now." Michael puts a hand on Luke's shoulder.

"How come he gets to have a relationship with a pony, and we don't?"

"Two reasons. One, he's the boss...and two, Twilight's the only pony this group is in contact with."

"..."

"I'm sorry, man."

Jack enters the room suddenly.

"Luke! Michael! Why did you leave the formation?" Jack asked.

"Sorry, Jack! Luke here started feeling ill. He almost passed out." Michael responded.

"Oh...okay. Well...I hope you get better, Luke. I'll see you later. Michael, come on."

"Yes sir!"

Jack and Michael exit the room, leaving Luke alone with his thoughts. He sat there, on his bed, staring at the wooden floor. He began thinking about the situation, he knew that Twilight was already with someone, and that someone was the leader of the organization he had to work for. Suddenly, Luke did something that he didn't do in a long time...the only thing he COULD do: he began to silently cry. While he knew that crying wasn't a tough thing to do, he also knew that it wasn't healthy to hold in these emotions. They felt like caged beasts, just waiting to be released. After about fifteen minutes of nonstop tears, he suddenly stopped. He rubbed his eyes, and looked in the mirror. On the other side, he saw a red-eyed, pale-faced, crybaby. He got a feeling of sudden rage, and punched the man in the mirror...breaking him into pieces.

Luke no longer felt sadness, or...any emotion. In fact, the only emotion he COULD feel...was rage. Deep, boiling, steaming rage. He felt as if Jack had taken away something from him, he felt a hatred towards Jack. However, he knew that he couldn't do anything about it without consequences. Luke had to find something to do to take his mind off the situation. He suddenly took off his vest, set his guns on his bed, and began to do push-ups. He had so much rage-fueled adrenaline in him, and he had to get rid of it somehow. He did about fifteen push-ups before he started doing sit-ups. He felt the energy going away, and the calm feeling that was coming across him was blissful. He continued exercising until he finally collapsed onto his bed from exhaustion. He laid there in bed for hours, just staring emotionless at the ceiling until it became dark out.

Luna had raised the moon, and nighttime had come to Equestria again. Luke exited his living quarters and examined the courtyard. The buildings had some of their lights on, and the guards patrolled their spots. Luke re-entered his room and got his gear before heading out. The night was surprisingly bright for a night, and the stars complimented the moon, which shined like a pearl. Luke's stargazing was stopped by another constable.

"Hey!" He yelled.

"It's me, it's me!" Luke responded.

"Oh...sorry, Luke. You know how it gets here. You can never be too prepared for a possible attack."

"I understand."

"So, where are you heading?"

"I'm heading to the shooting range/armory. I wanna sharpen my skills."

"Oh, sure. Just be careful, waking Randy up. He sleeps on the job sometimes, and almost shot some poor guy when he woke him up."

"Thank you."

Luke continued and entered the three-story building. It was made of stone, and his footsteps echoed as he walked up the stairs. When he reached the second floor, he saw a guy sleeping in a chair behind a window. Behind the window with him, was an assortment of pistols and shotguns. Luke walked up to the desk, and carefully knocked on the glass. When he did, the chubby man behind the counter woke up.

"Aah! Who's there?!" He yelled, pointing a pistol at Luke from behind the glass.

"Woah, woah! It's me, Luke! Relax!" Luke said, raising his hands.

"Oh...sorry, Luke. It's just...you're kinda new here, and I didn't expect to see your face."

"It's alright. Apology accepted."

"What do you need, Luke?"

"I need some .45 pistol rounds, and some twelve gauge shotgun rounds."

"Sure. For the shotgun, do you want birdshot, buckshot, or slugs?"

"Twelve of each. I wanna do some experimenting."

"Sure thing."

Randy gives Luke the appropriate ammunition and Luke heads to the firing range. The firing range was simple: There was a long line of tables with a place to store your ammunition, and across the room, were test dummies made of wood and straw that were shaped like humans. Luke had never fired a gun before, but something inside him told him that he had to. He unholstered his pistol, pulled back the hammer, and fired at the dummy. The sound hurt his ears slightly, but at that point, he didn't even care. He examined the shot: he hit the dummy in the leg, and he was aiming for the head. Wow, that is emberassing. Luke scoffed at his crappy aim and focused on his next shot. He took aim, a deep breath, and fired. The shot hit the wall just inches away from the head. Getting better. Luke took aim at the head of the dummy, concentrated on the head, and fired. In an instant, the bullet made contact with the cranium, and bits of hay flew from the hole it made.

Luke spent the next few hours testing the shotgun ammunition. He didn't like the birdshot at all. He liked the buckshot better, but his favorite was the shotgun slug. He watched in amusement as the dummy got turned into a mass of wood chips and hay. All that was still intact of the dummy was the head. Luke loaded in a slug, took aim, and saw the ball of hay explode before his eyes. He grinned and felt satisfaction, he was relieved of his stress...for the moment.

"Take that, hay." Luke said as he ejected the empty shell from the shotgun, and listened to it clink against the ground.