The chasm had disappeared while they were walking and was now simply a river. They were well away from the road in a lightly forested area. Haven was glad to get away from the road. The search party her mother must have organized would have a more challenging time finding her here.
She looked at the pony at her side as she walked. "Thanks for coming. You didn't have to do this."
Argyle shook his head. "It's okay. I'm not in a hurry to return home. I'd love to call out Phyllis in front of the whole town, but sadly, I think they'd all take her side."
Her eyes went downcast. "How did things get this way? Why do we hate each other so much?"
"You and I don't hate each other, so there's hope," Argyle replied. "The others… I don't know. I know that after the wars, there has been so much fear back home. I try to speak up against it, but almost nopony listens."
She raised an eyebrow. "Almost nopony? Is there somepony?"
He chuckled. "My wife. At least, she believes that things used to be better. I think she is still pretty afraid of the pegasi and unicorns of the present. She humors me and never tries to stop me from reminding ponies about the past."
"Why wasn't she out here with you instead of Phyllis?" Haven asked.
He shook his head again. "When we were foals, she was always so sick. She couldn't do a lot of activity outside because it was too much for her heart and lungs. That's how we bonded. I was the outsider who spent his time in the library by choice, and she was the outsider who spent her time in the library because she didn't have a choice. We didn't have much for friends, but we had each other. However, Starry is still frail, not suited for treks out into the wilderness. She still encourages me to go because she knows it's important to me."
Haven paused. "Will she be worried when Phyllis returns and you don't?"
He stopped. "She might, a little, but then again, she probably expected Phyllis to head back first. What will worry her is whatever wild tales that Phyllis starts spinning about you. Starry is supportive of me but not completely above believing Phyllis's propaganda."
"You can head back," Haven suggested.
He looked back over his shoulder then motioned he wanted to continue. "This trip shouldn't take too long. The other crossing should be coming up soon if I remember my dad's geography lessons right. It's just a shallow part of the river. It isn't suitable for vehicles, but it should be fine for two ponies crossing on hoof. An extra day before my return won't worry her too much, and I need time to cool down before I see Phyllis again."
"Despicable mare," Haven muttered as they began walking again.
Argyle nodded. "What she did was despicable, but it is important to remind ourselves that she is a pony who is afraid. That doesn't make what she did okay, not at all, but it is important to remember what she did is a symptom of a bigger problem, one she isn't responsible for causing. I have to remind myself of that every day with the ponies back home. Otherwise, it would become easy to get angry with them."
Haven laid an ear back. "You're too good, Argyle."
Unfortunately, everything Argyle said only made Haven feel more hopeless about mending bonds with the earth ponies, and Phyllis's actions made her wary of any interaction with an earth pony other than Argyle. Tensions needed to thaw, and it might take generations for that to happen. In the meantime, the earth ponies were potentially dangerous due to the lengths they would go to keep other ponies away. It was best for pegasi and unicorns to keep their distance. Otherwise, somepony might get hurt. They'd already soundly defeated both unicorns and pegasi before when they weren't prepped to defend themselves, there was no telling what they could do now.
The unicorns were the best bet fir the time being. There hadn't been any fighting between the pegasi and the unicorns, and them seeing a pegasus and an earth pony reaching out to them might make them believe they could get along. Though, she was still a little wary. By Phyllis's account, they had tried to conquer the earth ponies, and there was the threat of them attempting mind control.
Argyle came to a stop and pointed. "Here we are, Brightwater Crossing."
It wasn't anything dramatic. The water here was clear and shallow, low enough that she could easily see the riverbed. It also was running much slower here. There were plenty of rocks jutting out of the river that would make trying to pull a wagon through this section near impossible, but a pony could easily wade through the water and reach the other side within a minute without hurrying. She wasn't thrilled about getting her hooves wet and soggy, but if this was the only way across now that the bridge was gone, she didn't have much choice.
Argyle started to cross without any further announcement. She took a deep breath and dipped her hoof in the water, immediately jerking it back while flapping her wings in fright as a fish swam by her hoof.
"It's safe, don't worry," Argyle assured her. He was already halfway across.
She grimaced and stuck her hoof back in, fully this time, but jerked it out again. The water was cold!
The stallion turned and looked at her. "I could tell by your well-tended hooves and feathers that you're not used to the outdoors. The water isn't going to get any cleaner or warmer, and the fish and waterbugs aren't going to go away. Hurry across and try not to think about it."
She hadn't been thinking about waterbugs or mud before he said that, but now she was. This was going to make her filthy. She stomped her hoof, angry at herself for showing how overly pampered she was. The royal guard was expected to put up with these things without complaint; Argyle was doing it without complaint. She might be a royal, and most royals might not be expected ever to do something like this, but she was a royal on a mission, and she wasn't going to let the great outdoors get the better of her!
One hoof went in the water, then another. She could feel the mud coating her hooves, and she winced.
"See, it's not that—" Argyle began.
She started flapping her wings while practically galloping across the riverbed. "It's cold and wet and disgusting, and I don't like this!"
Upon reaching the other side, she frantically began wiping her voices and fetlocks off on the grass. This only seemed to get them even muddier, which only served to make her wipe all the more forcefully.
Argyle finished crossing. "For a sheltered pony, you sure can move when you want to. It might be better to try rinsing your hooves off in the river rather than grinding more mud on them."
She glared at him. "I'm not putting my hooves back in that disgusting water!"
He raised an eyebrow at her. "You do realize you'll have to cross here again when we return, right?"
Her ears wilted as she looked back at the river, and she whimpered. Hooffeathers! Why did Phyllis have to destroy that perfectly dull but also perfectly dry and not covered in mud bridge? Maybe she could find a friendly unicorn who would levitate her back across.
She went over to the water and put one hoof in, swished it around to dislodge the mud, before moving on to the next. The temperature wasn't so bad now that her hooves were all sopping wet. It took a few minutes to get where she felt passably clean.
While she was doing that, Argyle pulled his notebook out as well as a compass and began looking around. She noted for the first time that the symbol on his notebook was Twilight Sparkle's.
"Where did you get that notebook?" she asked. "It looks professionally made, but I doubt anypony would know that mark."
He closed the notebook and gently ran a hoof over the cover. "Time capsule. There was one buried outside the lighthouse. My father and I dug it up when I was a foal. There was this, a few other journals like it, some with notes, some blank, along with some other memorabilia of the Guardians of Friendship. I think they left blank notebooks for us to record our own experiences to put back into the capsule."
"Guardians of Friendship?" she inquired as she walked over beside him.
Argyle smiled. "That's what we called Twilight and her friends, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy."
"They didn't do a great job of guarding it," Haven muttered.
"Everypony gets old and passes away," Argyle replied sadly. "I think a long time had passed after they were gone before things went the way they did. They left us reminders if we know where to look. There used to be a big village somewhere between the river and Bridlewood, at least according to some old maps. Maybe we can find another time capsule there."
She wasn't particularly interested in digging up relics. For one, digging was inherently dirty. Secondly, old relics wouldn't make everypony get along. At best, it might help prove that they used to get along. That was important, because it proved it was possible, but she'd rather prove it was possible by doing it. The fact she and Argyle were getting along should be proof enough. His old things and stories were interesting, but they weren't what she was out here for.
Looking back at the other bank of the river, she saw the impression in the dirt left by her hooves. It was most obvious there, but she didn't doubt there were plenty of others going back along the way. The royal guard would find them, and they would track her down. She needed to keep moving if she was going to see the unicorns before her mother's guards found her.
"Bridlewood is the goal; just remember that," she reminded Argyle. "We can stop and check if you see anything obvious, but I'd rather not sit in one place for too long."
He looked at her and frowned. "Are you in some sort of trouble?"
Her eyes went wide, and she shook her head rapidly. "No! Why would you think that?"
"You seem anxious to keep moving, and now you are spending time looking back. It's like you are trying to stay ahead of somepony," Argyle said slowly.
She didn't want to lie, but couldn't tell the whole truth. Her head hung as she explained. "The royal guard from Zephyr Heights is probably tracking me. My mother will be desperate to have me brought back home."
He looked across the river. "And they aren't able to see through these trees and need to be on the ground to follow your tracks."
Well, that was technically true, leaving out the fact they couldn't fly at all. That was another thing she didn't dare reveal. "Yeah, that's right."
He turned his gaze to her. "Are you sure you don't want to just go home? I don't want you to get in any trouble."
Haven laughed. "Oh! I am already going to be in trouble. I can't imagine being in more trouble than I already am. I need to try to talk to the unicorns. Otherwise, this would have been for nothing."
Argyle looked a little hurt. "You met me; that should count for something."
Her face softened, and she reached a wing out to touch him, and she was glad when he didn't flinch from it. "That does count for something, but you aren't representative of your tribe. According to you, I should expect that most earth ponies are more like Phyllis."
He sighed. "I can't contest that."
She nodded. "And while you're great in yourself. I want to try to reach out to a full tribe. I need to hope the unicorns will be more open than the earth ponies, and I would love to have you there with me when I meet them.m, to prove that the old days can come again."
He nodded and stood up. "I'll get you to Bridlewood, but you need to promise to return home after you've met the unicorns."
She felt relieved. "I promise."