The Ace of Aces

by AzureAceStarburst

Rating: everyone
Tags: Comedy, Slice of Life
Length: 5075

Azure Ace Starburst is awesome. She built the best Casino in Las Haygas, she rose to power and became the town's leader in all but name, and she has two amazing foals. These foals need a tutor, and Ace knows the perfect pony for the job.

Azure Ace Starburst is awesome. She built the best Casino in Las Haygas, she rose to power and became the town's leader in all but name, and she has two amazing foals. These foals need a tutor, and Ace knows the perfect pony for the job: One she met once and never spoke to again, but just happened to become the most magically powerful being in the multiverse.

Look out, Ponyville. The Aces are coming to town.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-08-24 19:40:01 UTC

The Ace of Aces

A purple door creaked open, and a sea-blue Pegasus peeked into the opulent and extravagant private dressing room, shielding his eyes from the sudden glare of gold and gems. "You're up in 15 minutes." The stagehoof pony stated, and then he saw who he was talking to.

"Sweet." The dark-blue Unicorn that sat at a mechanism that was two part makeup-mirror and three parts a shrine to herself said offhoofedly, ignoring her mirrors and reading a large book with a purple cover instead. Her long, wavy, unkempt dark-orange mane and tail contrasted with her dark blue Unicorn body, and her hooves beneath the bend were coated in long lighter-blue hairs softer than most feathers, indicative of her Greatestershire heritage and very pleasing to the eye, even if unshorn fetlocks were still considered obscene in some parts of the world. An Ace of Diamonds playing card rested in her mane where some would place a flower. Her focused dark-purple eyes seemed to smirk down the book, beckoning forth its knowledge into her body. She rarely ever brushed her mane, she looked as if she'd just had a very wild night of partying, and the Stagehoof couldn't help wondering why only this pony had showed up, when he'd been told that his Casino had hired the Full Aces Orchestra.

"Where's the rest of your orchestra?" He asked nervously, glancing around again. A very large pile of instruments lay in one corner, presumably the instruments her orchestra had planned to use.

The blue Unicorn looked up from her books in surprise, looked back at him, and grinned upon seeing him. "You're new here, aren't you?" She asked knowingly.

"Yeah, I just started this week." He explained, unsure of why she had asked this.

"Aaand where am I, again?" She asked casually.

"You're in Las Pegasus, in the Aces High Casino, the best one in the land, Miss..."

"Azure Ace Starburst." Ace said, her grin returning.

He paled, and stepped back. "Uh... Why do you have the same name as my boss?" He asked nervously.

"Because I am her." Ace said, grinning. "I own this Casino, I own you, and I'm awesome."

"O-of course, ma'am." He said nervously, beginning to sweat. What was she doing here?! He'd never seen her in person before, and what kind of ultra-rich pony did her own shows at a Casino?

Ace giggled. "Calm down, son. And don't call me Ma'am, that makes me sound like an old lady. Or worse, a Wonderbolt. Call me... Ultimate Azure Ace Starburst, The Ace of Aces, Mistress of Magic, Greatest and Smartest and Cutest pony in all the Seventy-Seven Greater Realms."

"Okay, uh... Will do, Ultimate Azure Ace Starburst, The Ace of Aces, Mistress of Magic, Greatest and Smartest and Cutest pony in all the Seventy-Seven Greater Realms." He said, embarassed.

Ace laughed. "Oh, oh wow, oh buckin' moonrocks, you actually said that!"

Still laughing, she reached into her wild mane with a hoof and pulled out a poker chip with a dotted orange edge, displaying a small caricature of Ace's grinning face, the number '1,000' engraved on the lower half of the image, a specific spell infused into the clay that made them impossible to forge. She casually tossed the coin to him, like it was a single bit, and he dived to catch it as if it was made of gold. "Here, buy yourself something nice." She said, amused.

With tears welling in his eyes, he looked up at her as though she were a merciful and generous angel of radiant beauty. "Th-thank you." He said.

Ace blinked twice, surprised by his reaction. "Uh... no problem. Anyway, don't worry about the show, it'll be fine. Trust me."

Azure Ace Starburst went back to her book and continued reading, her horn glowing as she rapidly flipped through the pages, speed-reading the book. The book was rather interesting, a heavily advanced - and supposedly cursed - tome on magic, the eldritch shapes on its covers hidden for the sake of others by the purple book sleeve she'd placed on it. Sometimes, she was glad that she was completely immune to dark magic and corruptive influences, even if some ponies said it was because she was too corrupt for any corruptive magic to cause any noticeable effects.

"Ace, you're up." The Stagehoof said as he came into her room again.

"It's been fifteen minutes?" She asked, surprised.

"Yes." He said flatly. He then started to get nervous. "Where's the rest of your orchestra?!"

"Right here." Ace said confidently, her horn glowing as she picked up the pile of instruments, making them hover weightlessly behind her like a floating Ponegyptian pyramid. She walked towards the door, the mass of instruments floating behind her. The stagehoof moved out of the way, Ace walked out of her room, and a lot of the instruments hit the doorway and started to spin in her grip, not that she seemed to notice or care as she walked through the halls.

After she'd made her way to the door leading to the stage, she smiled at the stagehoof. "Thanks." She said, smiling at him. "Come see me after the show, ok? I need your help with the instruments."

"Uh... ok." He said.

Ace confidently strode onto the stage, her instrument pile floating behind her. She walked over to the Conductor's seat, sat upon it, and used her magic to place every instrument in its place. Notably, there wasn't a single Wind instrument in the entire ensemble, and it had an extra String section to compensate.

Ace glanced back, and saw a full house. Every seat in the audience was filled, and only a few of them seemed to know what was going on.

The first song was one of her favourites. It was a song she'd composed herself, and one of the first songs she'd composed. It was titled 'Ace of Awesomeness', and every time somebody asked about it, she bragged that she wrote it when she was just a filly.

A single Metal guitar began to play itself, its pick making quick plucks as it played the main melody of the song.

The Metal guitar repeated itself, as some other guitars joined in with the same melody.

Repeating again, the Strings sections joined in. Then, all four of the pianos started playing, more keys than anypony's hooves could ever hit without magical assistance suddenly pressing down.

The song became chaotic and intense, as if Ace was challenging herself to see how extreme she could make this song while still keeping it vaguely recognizable to what it was once called, if only as a gigantic good-natured flank-shaking taunt to whoever originally made this song and never even dreamed of taking things this far.

Those watching the show, including the now slack-jawed Stagehoof, couldn't believe their eyes. One Unicorn, a single mare, was playing a song this complex on all of these instruments at once. More than a few Unicorns in the audience cast a scanning spell, to check if this messy-maned pony with unshorn fetlocks could possibly be doing all of this- And they found that, yes, the magical signatures were all the same, and this one pony really was doing all of this. This one pony was Azure Ace Starburst.

The song became even more intense, and finally finished.

The Full Aces Orchestra received a standing ovation once again, though it was hard to tell whether they were impressed by her magical ability, or glad her epic and strangely-pleasant ear-assault of a song was finally over.

Ace turned, bowed to the audience until the applause died down, and turned back to her orchestra. She prepared herself, and began playing another song.

The songs Ace described as 'Ace' filled most of her One-Mare Orchestra's playlist, and this next song was no different. "I'd like to dedicate this next one to my sofa." She said, to the confusion of her new fans.

First, some deep, low piano chords. The crowd's anticipation grew with each note. Then, the Orchestra practically exploded into what she would later describe as a 'head-explodingly epic and face-meltingly awesome overload of sweet, sweet awesomeness'.

She couldn't remember the lyrics, so she didn't bother with singing. Besides, she thought, it would only get in the way of her Orchestra.

The song's repetitive structure and ever-increasing number of extra parts she'd added on made certain that when it eventually ended, everypony clapped.

The Stagehoof, still looking at Ace, noticed her eyes unfocus as her concentration drifted away again. "Is she even paying attention?!" He wondered aloud, barely able to hear himself over the music.

As the song became more intense by the second, Azure Ace Starburst briefly wondered what kind of hat she'd get next. Hats were awesome. Maybe an awesome one, with spikes and multiple colours. One that would also cover her horn, so she could use magic in public without people noticing. That would be cool, except for the fact that she was proud of being a Shire Unicorn, and every foal she'd ever have would also be a powerful Unicorn, or a horned part-unicorn capable of using magic. She was the heir to the Starburst family and founder of the Ace family, and when her horrible, evil, old-fashioned parents finally died of old age, she wouldn't just be in the top ten, she'd be the richest being in the multiverse.

Then again, she also wanted to become that BEFORE her parents died, so she could say she got to that point herself. After all, she got everywhere else herself.

'Oh yeah, the music. Forgot about that.' She thought, remembering where she was. She'd still been playing her music, even as her mind drifted away, and she remembered that she was nearing the end of her song.

--

Much later.

"That was awesome!" The stagehoof squealed once Ace re-entered her pritave changing room and found him waiting for her.

"Yeah." Ace said, acting cool and casual, hiding her love of music. "Hey... What's your name?"

"Orca Wail." He told her. "And that was amazing! How can you be so good, without Music being your Cutie Mark?"

"When I was a little filly, I knew this early bloomer who played some kind of giant trumpet, and got her Cutie Mark before everyone else."

"A Tuba?" He guessed.

"No, she was a Pegasus. I practiced hard to get better than her, but somehow I couldn't. I could play the same music, but it sounded better

coming from her. And she never got tired of rubbing this in my face, the stupid fat birdbrain. So, in full view of all her friends, and my

teacher, and everypony else in the room, I picked up a whole orchestra's worth of instruments at once and played them all. At the same time. That shut her up."

"Is that how you got your Cutie Mark?"

"No, I got that when I challenged my entire Magic Duel club to a 1 vs 30 match and won." Ace laughed.

He laughed, too.

"I'm laughing because kicking their flanks while making them look like amateurs was funny, not because I'm foaling you. I'm not." Ace stated.

"...Oh." He said. "So... what is your Cutie Mark? Can I see?" He asked eagerly.

"Don't you have work to do?" Ace asked.

"Not really. We're really overstaffed over here." He admitted. "I know you're gonna add fourty more floors in a few days, but until then, we're overstaffed."

"Awright then... Watch closely." She said, turning around and showing him her flanks. The symbol was a purple heart symbol with the long, thin, pointed base connecting to the intersection in the middle of a big purple 8 on its side. On the center of that big heart, like an embedded gem, there was a smaller orange diamond with a smaller blue spade symbol upon that. Finally, there was an orange clubs sign beneath this combined symbol, connected to the spade's base.

"Woah..." He said. "What does it mean?"

"I am Ace. The Ace of Aces." Ace stated, smiling as she turned around. "It doesn't give me instant mastery over everything, that'd be super boring. What it does give me is an increased rate of learning, muscle gain, power gain, and skill gain. I am the Ace, the greatest of all, and this mark makes it easier for me to become that. If I'm working out or studying alone, I'm doing great, but if I'm working out or studying with a rival, then my mark gives me a boost so that I can beat them and become better than them. All I have to do is designate someone my rival, and my body gains strength and power at a faster rate until I surpass that someone. Doesn't matter who it is, as long as I've met them. Only real downside is that it doesn't magically, instantly make me one standard deviation better than everything ever, and I have to work at it to become the best. Sometimes, this means spending several hours a day practicing, and sometimes, this means working out so much, I can barely move the next day. But that's alright. I'll do whatever it takes to become the greatest. This mark just makes that easier, letting me bypass my body's limits and surpass whatever I set my mind to."

"Oh." He said, looking back at his Cutie Mark, which was a set of three tuna fish. He felt inadequate, and it was clear on his face and in his voice. "I'm... a good swimmer. My mark makes me a... a really good swimmer, and I can... I can swim fast. My talent is swimming."

"Hey." Ace said, putting her hoof on his chin and making him look up into her eyes, radiating motherly warmth that made all his nervousness and tension slip away. "It's alright. Not everypony has an epic destiny, and not everypony needs one, either. Your Cutie Mark is, and should be, unique to you. It represents more than what you're good at, it represents who you are. It's a part of you. It doesn't matter if somepony else's is cooler or more useful, because yours is YOURS, and it has a deep meaning to you. Got it?"

"Got it." Orca nodded, understanding.

"So, you're a swimmer?" Ace asked, letting go and releasing the effect.

"Yeah, but I'm also a musician. My parents wanted me to drop the music thing and just become a champion swimmer. I'm not doing that. I'm going to keep this job until I can get myself on that stage, and I'll be a rockstar, with dolphins jumping into the air around me while I play."

"Awesome." Ace said. "Follow your dreams, kid. Now, go away, I want to read."

"Uh... Yes, Ultimate Ace." Orca said, leaving.

Ace returned to her book, taking the darkest and most powerful secrets of the universe into her mind, letting them add to her magical power and strength in battle.

"Well, that was lame." A small blue filly with a shorter orange mane and purple eyes said as she got out from her wardrobe, her brother getting out beside her a moment later. She could have been a younger clone of Ace, except for how the 'feathers' on her hooves were purple, rather than a lighter blue, and she lacked an ace card in her mane or a Cutie Mark. Her brother's body was very different, his coat a bright orange, like his mother's mane, with a ruffled golden mane of spikes that bore small purple highlights that matched his mother's eye colour. His eyes were an azure blue, like his sister's coat, and he wore his ever-present gold swordbelt around his body, the buckle on his underside, its purple scabbard attached to its side. Within this scabbard lay Supernova, his sword, a purple-hilted gold-edged azure Quantium Adamantite-Orichalcum-Cobalt-alloy blade with a diamond-shaped orange spiked tip and serrated edges on the left and right side that could make short work of pretty much anything, and the pony wearing it couldn't even sleep if he didn't have it with him or near him at all times. Some day, she'd help him get over that.

"Sapphire? Solaris? What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be upstairs, with your Tutors!" Ace demanded.

"Moooom!" Sapphire laughed. "My tutor quit! Besides, I already know everything she was trying to teach me." She grinned.

"And the red one refused to teach me advanced enchanting, saying I was too young and it wasn't very good!" Solaris pouted. "Enchanting is too a powerful spell school."

"Also, our tutors ran off in tears again... I think I broke their brains." Sapphire admitted.

Azure sighed. "Great, that's ANOTHER set you've gotten rid of. I can't keep buying new ones every few days!"

"Sure you can, Mom!" The filly laughed. "You're the Manager of The Aces Theatre! And the entire Casino, too! And a bunch of other stuff! We're rich!"

"I'M rich. I made all my own money, so can you. I don't want either of you to become one of those losers that just coast on the money of their parents. I'll help you with some startup funds, which is more than my parents ever gave me, and you'll be able to access your full inheritance when you become good enough, but that's as far as I'm willing to go. Though if the circumstances and world changes to make that an impossibility, I'll understand." Azure Ace Starburst said firmly. "And besides, that's not what I meant!"

"I know, I know. But all the tutors you hire for us are SO DUMB!" Sapphire complained. "I'm further ahead than most of them ever will be!"

"Me too!" Solaris chirped.

"I know." Azure sighed, and then she smiled. "Even the greatest of ponies from Celestia's school that became tutors, instead of something more challenging, aren't as good as you. You're both geniuses, just like your Mommy."

"Yep!" They both said, rushing over for a hug. The three stayed together for a moment in a warm, loving embrace.

"Alright, you win." Ace said quietly, and they cheered. "I'll go and get you both the greatest tutor of all time, ever... IF you both promise not to scare this one off, or make her cry, or break her brain, or anything like that, okay?"

"I swear it, upon my honour!" Solaris enthused.

"I'll try!" Sapphire chirped happily.

"Sapphire... Do the Solemn Starburst Swear." Ace said.

Sapphire gasped quietly, and Solaris loudly gasped like a horrified fish. "But mom, you despise the Solemn Starburst Swear!"

"I know! This is seriously serious enough to necessitate the serious solemn recital of the Solemn Starburst Swear!"

"Sunspots." Sapphire swore quietly, surprised.

Ace blinked in surprise. "...Who do I have to hurt?" Ace asked coldly, horn flaring up as fourty long, thin blades of raw magic appeared in the air around her.

Saphire sighed. "Mom, a few bad words don't mean anything. They're stupid, they're lame, and it's stupid that some ponies freak out over them. And I heard them from the foals at Magic Club."

"Grr... I'll talk to the workers at that place later. Still, don't say any bad words around other ponies, okay? Some might think I taught you those words, because they're stupid." Ace said, causing her kids to giggle. "That goes for both of you, okay?"

"Okay, mom." Sapphire said happily.

"Got it." Solaris nodded.

"Now, the Solemn Starburst Swear." Ace said, lowering her head to point it at Sapphire, who crossed her mom's horn with her own.

"I solemnly swear the Solemn Starburst Swear, upon my pride and honour as the 54th head of the Starburst family." Sapphire said, their horns lighting up and forming a bond between the two. She was the head of the Starburst family, and her Ace's son was going to be the 2nd head of the Ace family some day.

The lights of their horns dimmed and faded, and they raised their heads.

"Very good." Ace said, smirking as everypony present burst into blue flames. "That actually felt real."

"Dang it!" Sapphire yelled, dismissing her illusion spell and revealing that she was actually several feet away, and Ace was not actually on fire.

"You're getting really good with those, y'know?" Ace said proudly, petting her foal on the head.

"Not good enough to fool you." She grumbled.

"So?" Ace asked. "I'm The Ace of Aces. If I could be beaten or tricked by a simple illusion, I would not be The Ace of Aces. Now, are you serious about not hurting your newest tutor?"

"Yes, mom." Sapphire sighed.

"Great! Because there's one really, really good one I know from back when I was a filly. She's smart, she's the smartest pony I've ever met. ...Almost as smart as me!" Ace declared.

Saphire and Solaris giggled, knowing that was just her mother's adorable ego talking. Still, to actually compare the tutor to herself like that... she had to be a good one! Saphire and Solaris grinned excitedly.

"In fact... How about..." Ace said, drawing it out as long as she could, watching Saphire and Solaris's grin grow wider and wider. "The Personal Student of Princess Celestia herself... The one... The only... Twilight Sparkle!"

Saphire's grin suddenly became fake, while Solaris reared up and cheered. "...Who?" She asked.

"The little sister of Shining Armour, Captain of the Royal Guard." Ace explained, assuming she'd know who that was. A stallion that cute, appearing on all the recruitment posters and advertisements in magazines... everyone had to know who he was.

"Who is that?" Saphire asked, losing the fake grin and looking adorably confused.

"The blue-maned white stallion from the Royal Guard recruitment posters and ads." Azure Ace Starburst explained.

"Never seen them. So... Twibright what?" Saphire reminded.

"Twilight Sparkle! She has her own library!" Azure said with a fake grin, getting desperate.

"So? Musty Tome has a library." Sapphire said, unimpressed.

"Musty Tome bought a library, and charges admission fees. And she doesn't really own it the way Twilight does. Musty has ponies look after it and keep it running for her. She pays well, but she's totally cheating."

"Not like you, Mommy!" Solaris said, knowing exactly what to say. "You own and manage The Aces Theatre and the High Aces Casino, and you built it, AND you're the reason it's so awesome!"

"Suckup." Sapphire sneered. Solaris bit her ear, and she angrily started slapping him with her tail while their horns fired lasers at each other.

Ace grabbed the two with her magic and pushed them apart, her tail extending and splitting in two to flick both their horns, cancelling their magic.

"Now, as we were saying... I am awesome, aren't I?" Ace said with a grin. She knew her son was just stroking her ego, but it still felt nice.

"Yeah!" Solaris chirped. "So... who's Twilight?"

"...She has a pet dragon." Azure said flatly.

"AWESOME!" Sapphire squeaked, then she blushed and cleared her throat while Solaris laughed. "I mean, Awesome!" She repeated in a lower and raspier tone. "I like her already!"

"Sure! She and I go way back..."

MANY YEARS AGO

CANTERLOT,

TUESDAY, 3:14 PM

A younger, lanky, tall filly version of Azure Starburst galloped down the beautiful Canterlot streets, her long orange mane tied into a loose ponytail, two saddlebags on her back and a sewn-shut mailbag stuffed full of papers flapping in the breeze, her teeth biting down on the bag's strap. She charged down the streets as if there was a horde of Timberwolves after her, attracting the attention of the older adult ponies. "I'm late!" She declared, and everyone just rolled their eyes as if this was usual. She wasn't actually late, she just liked running.

She rounded a corner, and crashed into somepony. Judging from the high-pitched scream, it was female.

"Hey, watch where you're-" Azure began angrily, then noticed who she was talking to. "Wooooaaaah, you're cute."

A super:tiny and adorable purple Unicorn with deep purple eyes looked at Azure uncertainly. "Uh... thanks?" She said, as if she wasn't sure what to say. "Also, you crashed into-"

"You're adorable! Hey, I'm going to a party tonight, once I'm done with all this homework." Azure said, looking back at her sewn-up mailbag full of papers. She could un-sew (de-sew?) it later. She then hopefully looked at the purple Unicorn. "Want to come with me? By the way, I'm Azure Starburst, 53rd head of the Starburst family."

My name is Twilight Sparkle." said Twilight Sparkle. "Also, Um... No thanks, I-" The lavender Unicorn began.

"Come on!" Azure said as her horn started glowing with a warm ocean-blue light, she opened her right saddlebag, she got out a lemon and a hooffull on coffee beans, levitated them to her mouth and started eating the Coffee Beans. "It'll be awesome!  gonna be there!"

"A-Are you eating coffee beans? And lemons?" The purple Unicorn asked awkwardly, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah!" Azure squeaked adorably, then blushed. "I mean- Yeah!" She repeated, her voice lower and raspier. "The Coffee Beans keep me awake, and the Lemon takes away the taste of the Coffee Beans. Sleep is for filthy casuals." She bit into the lemon, and began chewing it with a closed mouth. She smiled and her whole face screwed up as the intense sourness overwhelmed her mouth. "I love lemons!" She cheered.

"I... uh... I'd rather not... I have to study, and-"

"I don't need to study, I already know all of the subject material!" Azure gloated.

"How can you already know all that?!" Twilight asked skeptically.

"I read." Azure shrugged casually. Ponies liked casual ponies, her mom said so. "Besides, I don't sleep much, because of stuff, so I might as well do something with my time!"

"But... A growing filly needs their sleep!" Twilight protested.

"AND, they need pleasant social interaction to reinforce the proper development of a healthy and sound mind!" Ace said intelligently, and then remembered she was in public, and had to act in accordance with the 'Cool fun-loving average but lucky pony' that ponies liked, and didn't hate. "I mean... Come and party with me! It'll be awesome! Besides, does a pony my size need sleep? The fillies my age are all "How's the weather up there?" "Can I ride you?" "What spell did you use to get that big?" "Was your mother a Giraffe?" "Please stop burning me!". It's really annoying. Anyway, party?"

"I-I can't, I-" Twilight began.

Azure darted forwards, her nose touching Twilight's, hey half-lidded eyes staring into Twilight's wide, shocked eyes, just like her parents taught her. None could resist the patented Starburst charm. Azure's voice now a low purr, she said, "Well, if you really want me to sleep so much, perhaps you and I could-"

Twilight ran away, because she'd once read one of mom's books that went like this and she really didn't want to end up like that mare from that book.

"So is that a maybe?" Azure called out to the fleeing purple Unicorn, who rounded a corner and was gone. Wow, she was faster than she looked.

Azure grinned, because her parents said this was a really good sign, even if they wouldn't say why. "Oh yeah, she wants me."

She tried not to think about how she was left alone, and she ate another lemon.

"I LOVE LEMONS!" She yelled, tossing another lemon into her mouth and biting down, smiling as her face scrunched up again.

"Yeah, Twilight and I were the best of friends growing up." Azure lied with a smile on her face. "She was always studying and sleeping face-first in books, and I was always partying and sleeping in- NEW TUTOR! Your new tutor is gonna be Twilight Sparkle, and it's gonna be awesome!" Azure declared. "And Twilight's got a pet Dragon!"

"Woohoo! Twilight's got a Dragon! I've never met a real Dragon!" Saphire said excitedly with a grin on her face.

And with any luck, you never will, Azure thought with a shudder, trying not to remember the last time she'd gone into the Dragon Badlands alone. The screams... if it wasn't so awesome, it would still haunt her. She hid her pain for the sake of her foals, and smiled. "In fact, I can take you there now!"

Azure's horn started to glow with a pleasant flame-blue light, enveloping both herself and her offspring. "Unicorn magic, whoooooaaaaahhhh!!!" She shouted as she sat down, closed her eyes, grabbed her foals close, and held on tight.

Azure Ace Starburst only wanted to go to Ponyville for a short while, she'd come back for their clothes and supplies later.

The teleportation spell Ace was using could only take the user to locations they had already been, or could clearly picture in their minds.

Azure Starburst had never been to Ponyville.

However, she had been to Canterlot. And last time she looked at a map, she saw that Ponyville wasn't too far away.

She pictured Canterlot, the familiar castle and surrounding town built into the side of a mountain. She pictured all the streets, the houses, her house. She mentally placed a large blue diamond in front of her house. Not Starburst Manor, the apartment she got, just before she left and went on her training trip across the world. That was her, that was where she wanted to be, that was where she would end up if she cast the spell and teleported now.

She remembered the map of Equestria she'd memorised as a filly, and how far away from Canterlot Ponyville was according to that map.

She mentally summoned an infinitely long off-yellow ruler, and aimed it towards where she assumed Ponyville was. She, as a blue diamond, moved along that Ruler, away from Canterlot and into the grey void of uncertainty that surrounded it. Every few hundred yards, a black mark would appear on the ruler, which she counted carefully.

THERE. She thought, mentally affixing the spell and her magic signature to where she calculated Ponyville would be if the map she'd read was correct. If it wasn't, well, things could get messy. Fortunately, since her teleport spell placed her at a higher priority than other things, teleporting into a wall would mean destroying the wall and appearing in a crater of rubble.

The three vanished together in a flash of blue light.

Look out, Ponyville.

The Aces are coming to town.