Retirement
Admiral Biscuit
The day before his retirement, Whirlwind emptied his office, packing everything he felt like keeping in a duffel bag—the very same duffel bag he had been issued on his first day of boot camp. He took it back to his barracks, then he packed his few personal belongings inside.
The next morning at muster, he informed the Wonderbolts that Spitfire was to be his successor, thanked them all for their service, and gave her a sharp salute before he flew off, his duffel bag in tow.
After that, he faded completely from public view. A few enterprising newsponies tried to track him down, but they all failed. He gave no speeches, wrote no memoir, opened no flight training school: it was as if the sky had simply swallowed him up.
* * *
None of them had been clever enough to look in the right place.
The day of his retirement, Whirlwind had flown to Canterlot, and had spent the night at a hotel. There, he dyed his mane and tail. Like a good soldier, when he checked out, all traces that he'd ever occupied the room were gone. He boarded a train to Dodge Junction, and never looked back.
Once he got there, he bought a huge plot of land on the outside of town, and mail-ordered every book he could find about farming, then he sent a telegram and a money order to his marefriend. A week later, she and her foals joined him on his nascent farm.
From that point forth, he devoted every ounce of his being to his new family and farm. Never once did he mention his time in the Royal Guard, nor that he was once commander of the Wonderbolts; that detail was even glossed over in his obituary: Whirlwind spent ten years in the Royal Guard and twenty-five years in the Wonderbolts, retiring to pursue his lifelong dream of being a farmer.
6578475
NTSB REPORT INCOMING!
6578529 ' Have you read 'Scootaloo flys a Huey' ? (work with Helicopters /NTSB/FAA/PT 133 etc. ) nice accident report. . .
( think Pinkies toy has issues?)
img12.deviantart.net/be40/i/2014/341/3/2/splat_by_hillbe-d891l5r.jpg
And then he meets this very shy stallion with a habit of wearing womens' clothes . . .
No, in all seriousness, I'm sorry for the loss. It's always heartbreaking when one of the regulars disapppears from your life.
Awe, how sweet!
6578563
Is that a real story? Because if it is, I'd totally read it.
6578705
At least it wasn't a surprise. The last time he came in, he told me he didn't have much time left, but it's still sad. I really liked the guy. Saved the little red straws that came with spraycans for him, because he was always complaining about how the guys on the farm always lost them, and every time he came in, I'd give him a fresh handful of straws.
6579193
There was a Polish general that stayed in Britain after the Second World War ended, and worked in a factory until he died of old age. None of his friends knew he was a veteran (let alone a general) until a bunch of soldiers from Poland showed up at the funeral to pay their respects.
6877939
That's awesome!
I was waiting for him to end up being someone's dad, but I see what you were going for.
9279100
That I suppose was one way to go, but not where I was aimed.
This is a mighty sweet gesture for a departed friend. Bless ya.
11247763
He was a cool dude. Complained one time about his farmhands always losing the little red straws that come with WD-40 and so I started keeping all the ones we had (they come with brake clean, too, and we use a case or two of the stuff each week) and giving them to him every time he came in.