Darrus looked back to Tingle, expression one of uncertainty and suspicion over another possible screw up, but soon returned a smile to Applejack, "Any path is the adventurous path if I'm on it!" he claimed, putting his hoof currently holding the flashlight to his chest and looking sure of how what he'd said was a fact, "be it claustrophobic passages, well traveled roads leading anywhere or quiet paths through a park, once these handsome hooves of mine grace them with a clip and a clop they become worthy of epic poems suited for retelling across the world!
"Anyway, if we are going to just ride this out the rest of the way then we'll need to put some more space between me and you two. With just one light, I'll have to pretty much sniff the ground all the way forward since I doubt you'd be able to pull off too many feats of agility with... this load getting in your way," Darrus gave Tingle a sideways look as he turned himself back around to walk forward once more, "so a few extra paces should work."
"Pfft. Don't you worry, Honesty," Tingle spoke up, his earlier having been pushed against the wall by AJ evidently having done little to discourage him from what he'd been doing as he merely continued, "anything happens, I'll be there to save you, injury or no."
"He can act as a meat shield at least," Darrus said half to himself, his dislike of the stallion having, to no real surprise, only escalated substantially with every passing moment he'd been forced to deal with him.
"Your stalker is a jerk." Tingle informed the mare bhind him just before Darrus tried his best not to practice his apple tree bucking and instead ask him a question.
"So what triggers these traps? The last one doesn't seem to have anything all that noticeable. Least not from a glance, and things went too fast for me to recall if I hit anything."
"Tripwires," Tingle replied, glancing at his bandages and sighing, "tripwires and junk like that. Probably pressure plates or proximity triggers if it's going by magic."
"Probably? You're going off of probablys? Don't you even remember from the last time you came through here?"
"... I wasn't in the lead. Someone else dealt with the traps and crap, duh."
Shaking his head, Darrus figured he'd just have to be careful and began to walk forward once more, his flashlight scanning the floor, walls and even ceiling as he looked for anything that might set some other death trap off. Thankfully, things went pretty uneventful as they walked along for the most part, Tingle's occasional complaints that they needed to stop so he could rest for a second or two not helping though, and it looked like it was going to end with everypony escaping into the clear. That was till they neared the end, according to Tingle.
"Woah..." Darrus said, holding a hoof up to signal for AJ and Tingle to stop where they were for the moment as his flashlight showed him something odd. Lowering his head to get a better look at the ground where his hoof had just about been ready to settle his weight, he noticed a slightly off colored section of the floor which, through angling his light, also appeared to be raised just a hair more than the surrounding rock.
"... So, what's the purpose of this passage even supposed to be if it's trapped?" Darrus wondered aloud as he examined the trigger and measured how far he'd need to step to avoid it, double checking for secondary ones as well while he was at it since that would make for a poor surprise, "Supposed to be some kind of escape route? I mean, this is the Princesses old castle, yeah? Would Celestia even be able to fit in here with how tall she is and stuff? And why trap something you'd need to use to flee through?"
"... Maybe she was shorter back then. Can we go now? Stopping to ponder irrelevant questions is such a wonderful way to spend our time."
Ignoring the other stallion with a flick of his ears, Darrus took a wide step forward and was careful to make sure his back hooves did the same as he navigated over the plate.
"AJ, there's a pressure plate right where I am right now," he warned his marefriend, taking a some steps back to allow both she and Tingle some room to cross while keeping his light fixed onto the issue so they could see, "Dunno how well you can see it with Tinkle in the way, but it's a discolored section of the floor thats raised a bit right at the center of the light. Not too hard to step over if you're careful."
"No sweat!" Tingle claimed, "Though I'll need your hooves on me to help me make it over," he told Applejack.
"Alternatively, we can toss him onto the plate just to satisfy our curiosity on what this one will do." Darrus suggested, Tingle giving him a cross look as he stepped forward to deal with the trap. Nearing it, he paused and gave it a look, then glanced around at the walls and the ceiling before settling his gaze back down onto the pressure pad. Glancing back at AJ, he took another step forward.
"So- agh!" he suddenly cried, appearing to stumble forward where one of his hooves slammed directly onto the pressure plate, his then seeming to lose strength in his legs even further as he dropped down onto the ground, this being where he stayed as several spikes in the walls triggered and shot outwards.
There were three in total, spaced in a way intended to prevent easy escape as the first came out no problem above Tingle who'd hit the ground beyond the plate, it striking outwards just too late to catch him and driving itself into the wall opposite it's starting point. The other two though, one coming out directly above the plate and the other aimed for AJ behind it, thankfully seemed slower on the draw as, while they too were triggered right away they only came out an inch or so. However, the sound of something grinding within the walls, and the fact that they were shuttering constantly and violently, showed they were only temporarily stuck, giving only a moment at best to react.
Darrus, obviously having seen Tingle trigger the trap and witnessed the spike that came as a result, had instantly and instinctively felt his wings snap open to attempt a speedy assistance of the much more important pony behind the one now laying on the ground, but, due to the cramped conditions of the passage, only succeeded in slamming his wings into the walls and causing his first step forward to be uneven. Darrus did however somehow manage to keep the light level enough for AJ to have a clear view of the danger with Tingle out of the way.