"Come on, Hitch, keep up!" Zipp did a loop in the air, giving time for her ground-bound companions to catch up. She was, granted, ahead of all of them, but Hitch always had the best reactions to being teased.
He didn't disappoint - Hitch shot Zipp a look of irate contempt as he galloped alongside Sunny and Izzy.
Playfully, Pipp floated past her sister's face, giving her a little feather-tap on the nose. "We'll get there when we get there, Zipp! Don't be rude."
"Yeah!" Izzy's words were interspersed with gasping breaths as she struggled to not fall behind. Long, gangly legs gave little advantage against earth pony stamina, but she was bolstered by unrestrained cheer and boundless energy. "But we really wanna get there! You don't get falling stars landing in your backyard every day! The sooner we get there the sooner we can see how neat it is!"
They chattered happily as they raced across the green fields outside Maritime Bay. For once, they were charging towards a plume of smoke that they didn't cause - but they still raced. It was like a magnet: the fascinating unknown, pulling them to it with a siren's song of mystery. A star falling from the sky and landing so close by? Somepony needed to investigate.
And it had to be them. It had to be the ponies who had reopened the world and pulled the rest of Equestria out of their sheltered lives. The ones who had restored friendship and magic. Who else could it have been?
So they raced, full of curiosity, joy, and laughter.
Until they finally crested the hill and could see where the star had come down.
They had been expecting an impact crater - it was a star after all, and any fall from so high was bound to have a lot of force. But yet it hadn't. The grass around was wind-blown and scorched but the land itself was intact. And the star wasn't what they had expected, either. It was no glowing mote of light but instead an oblong silver blob around the size of a trolley car. Steam rose as it cooled in the early autumn air.
At the top of the hill, the ponies froze and stared.
"Whoa." Zipp - so taken aback she actually landed - stared at the strange object. "What is that?"
Hitch took a single careful step forward. The object didn't react. "It doesn't seem dangerous. But we should still be careful. It–"
"Oh. My. Hoofness! Pipsqueaks, are you seeing this?!" He was interrupted by Pipp swinging her phone around to get all of them in a shot with the object. "We're finally where the star fell out of the sky earlier, and it's am~azing! It's so sleek! So bright!" She spun around in the air, fluffy wings flapping. Then suddenly, she was up in Sunny's face. "Oh! We have to get closer! Come on!" And she swooped down the hill in a glide.
"Pipp, wait!" Zipp was airborne a moment later, taking off after her sister.
Hitch groaned and rolled his eyes before taking off down the hill as well.
At the top, Izzy was just about to leap into action when she paused and looked back. "...Sunny?"
Sunny was biting her lip, staring intently at the object.
"Sunny?" The second time was more insistent.
"What? Oh!" The earth pony startled. "Sorry, Izzy. It's just that there's something really familiar about that thing. I can't quite place it but it's like I've seen it before."
The unicorn looked back and forth between her friend and the object several times before shrugging. "Okay! But you should probably look at it closer. Maybe then you'll recognize it!"
She bounced happily down the slope. Sunny held for a few moments more, considering the object and her memories before joining the others.
As they approached the fallen star, smaller details resolved themselves: visible seams along the silvered surface; angles and joints that were obviously of artificial make; flat surfaces that might have been windows were they not completely dark; and most importantly, a small set of steps that had lowered out of the side.
Seeing those steps triggered something, bringing the ponies to a near halt. Hitch's calls for caution finally caught up and they went from a curious rush to a careful creep. Steps usually meant door which usually meant occupants.
"Girls," Hitch ventured, "I'm not sure that's a star. Stars don't usually have ponies in them."
Before any of them could disagree, there was a loud hiss and one of the seams split. The prediction of a door came true as the 'star' opened up. And Hitch's words were true as well, as five ponies emerged. Quite old, but still recognizable as ponies.
Very recognizable. Sunny gasped - and her golden wings and horn spontaneously manifested.
Five looked at five.
One hesitantly stepped forward from each.
The orange mare looked over the orange mare.
And the farmer kneeled before the alicorn.
"Princess," Applejack spoke with a breathless smile. "We've come home."