The Factions of Equestria

The following day...

The courtyard had been cleared for the occasion. There were multiple activities awaiting the twenty five constables and the few citizens who wanted a try. While most of the constables were chatting amongst themselves, eager to possibly win a chance to explore outside, Luke was staring blankly...his arms crossed. Luke's foot tapped idly as he waited in line for the tournament to start.

"Luke!" Michael said, approaching Luke.

"Huh..." Luke grunted in response.

"You excited?"

"Meh..."

"Look, I know you've been upset about the Twilight thing for a while now...but you've gotta get used to it. You just may have to face the fact that Twilight is in love with someone already."

"...my brain accepts that...but my heart does not..."

"Alright, but...try to take it easy...okay, bro?"

"Yeah."

"Hey. I'm here to help ya, okay?"

"I gotcha, man."

Michael got back in line, and let Luke get back to his thoughts. Luke was on the verge of tears again, but he stopped himself. Oh, no you don't. You are NOT gonna start crying again. Real men don't cry. Suck it up, and move on with your life. Just accept the fact that she's with someone else. No, I cannot. I can't pretend to not be bothered by this. And Jack...that fucking HYPOCRYTE. Telling us we can't date ponies while he's dating Twilight. Makes me soooo mad-

"We now present, the Princess of Friendship!" A royal guard yelled as they made way for Twilight to come in.

Crap...mumble about Jack later. For now, focus on the tournament...

Jack went down to Twilight and kissed her cheek, much to Luke's disgust. After that, they went and sat in two fancy chairs at the end of the courtyard. When they got comfy, Jack pulled up a cone and began speaking into it.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Mares and gentlestallions! Welcome to the first tryouts for the PAP clan's offensive and expansion forces! We are looking for the best our people can offer, and in order to see who they are...we must put them through a test! We are going to start with a strength test, where each participant must do twenty push-ups, twenty squats, and thirty jumping jacks! Heh...no pun intended." He started.

Oh, fuck off. Luke thought, angrily. Smug dickhead...

"The second test will involve our contestants running through an obstacle course. This includes jumping, climbing, and did I mention running?"

Yeah, you did. Douche.

"And finally, our contestants will then prove their marksmanship skills! They will have to use their primary and secondary weapons to take out the hay mannequins at the end. The best fifteen will win!"

The citizens cheered. The constables were all flexing, saluting, and waving...all except Luke. Twilight looked at the group of contestants and waved at them. When Luke saw this, his attitude changed from exasperated to slightly loopy. Just seeing Twilight wave to him made his heart throb. Jack began counting down from ten, and Luke got ready to sprint to the exercising station. You know what? Fuck Jack. This is about proving myself worthy for the outside world. Twilight came to see us compete! Well, I'll give her a show she'll NEVER forget!

"GO!" Jack yelled.

In an instant, Luke went full sprint...

And tripped.

A series of laughs from the crowd was enough to make him get right back up and run again. He had no time to feel embarrassed, he had to continue. After about ten seconds of sprinting, the men and women reached the exercising station. Luke immediately got down and did his twenty push-ups. While some struggled, Luke did them rather quickly. The audience almost immediately stopped laughing and began cheering. Jack watched with a smile, watching Luke smugly as he completed his push-ups and squats like they were nothing. Luke then did his jumping jacks, which were absolutely no trouble for him.

After that, Luke...along with about eleven other contestants sprinted to the obstacle course. Along the way, there were hurdles that they had to jump over. Luke had never done them before, but he knew he had to try. He watched as the people in front of him either jumped over the hurdles...or tripped on them. There were three ahead of him. He jumped over the first one, then continued to sprint. He jumped over the second one, and continued to sprint. A single drop of sweat rolled down his forehead, but he was not tired. He couldn't be tired. Not yet. The third hurdle was approaching...FAST. Luke jumped, and made it. The crowd erupted with ear-piercing cheers. Some of the citizens started chanting, "Luke! Luke! Luke!"

This got the attention of Twilight Sparkle. She looked at the man in the lead who was sprinting to the marksmanship test, leaving the tripping contestants behind in the dust.

Twilight leaned over to her boyfriend, "Who's the guy in the lead?"

"That's Luke." Jack responded, smirking.

"My gosh, he's fast!"

"I know...he trains every day..."

Luke reached to the shooting test, with only Michael next to him. They looked at each other.

"Let the best man win." Michael said.

Luke nodded and drew out his sidearm. He aimed at the head, took a deep breath, and fired. Headshot. Michael did the same. By the time they did this, most of the contestants reached the range and began firing...and missing. The area was loud, the popping of gunshots impossible to escape. Luke picked up a pump shotgun and noticed a sticky note. It read, "Birdshot, Buckshot, and Slug". He aimed the birdshot at the chest, and fired. The shot peppered the torso, doing a lot of external damage to the hay dummy. Luke ejected the empty shell and aimed the buckshot at the torso. He fired and hit it in the chest again, weakening the torso. Luke ejected the shell onto the table and took aim. Time to finish this with a bang. Luke concentrated his sights on the head. Taking a deep breath, he squeezed the trigger. In an instant, the head exploded...and the dummy fell on the ground.

The crowd EXPLODED into cheers. Luke ejected the shell and kicked it into the sky. He raised both his hands into the air and took in all the cheers. Yes, he was showing off a little...but he was enjoying himself. After about three minutes, fourteen more people passed the test and Jack blew an air horn. Everyone stopped. Jack got up from his seat and called the winners to him.

"Everybody! I present you, the winners!" Jack said, standing in his seat.

Luke was sooo close to the lavender alicorn that he admired. She was congratulating them all for their efforts...and then she called for Luke. Luke got butterflies in his stomach as he approached her, and when he arrived, he almost let out a fangirl squeal.

"That was amazing!" Twilight said in her seat, "How could you do that without breaking a sweat?"

"W-well...heh...I-I practice a-a lot." Luke managed to stutter. Smooth, Luke. Reeeeal smooth.

"And that is why he is NOT going to be an expansion troop." Jack said, sternly.

The crowd gasped, and Twilight did a double take.

"Why not? He arrived in first place!" Twilight said.

"He is not going to be an expansion troop," Jack started, "Because as your commander, I am officially making Luke here...our executive officer!"

"Huh?!" Luke said as he too, did a double take.

The crowd cheered and yelled so loud, it could've shattered the stained glass windows all the way in Canterlot. Luke was having a hard time comprehending what he was just told.

"W-what?" Luke asked again, still struggling to understand.

"You see, the executive is just under the commander. I am your commander. You are now the executive. That means you are second in command, and will have almost as much power as me! And to top that off, you will be given a better housing unit! We will discuss your job later." Jack exclaimed.

For the first time in a long time, Luke smiled. He felt genuinely happy. And with Twilight congratulating him, he felt even more confident in himself than ever.