""It'd"?" one of the armed ponies echoed back to Applejack while Tingle seemed to flinch from it, "Ah... so it had been then. Good. We we're hoping you'd still be a round so we could talk to you about them... "monsters" hanging around the forest. So good that you made it back in one piece." The pony leaned his head back towards another to share some secretive and short conversation while the one who had been doing most of the work kept trying to place where he'd seen Applejack from.
Darrus in the mean time cut off his hover so as to land right next to the mare, him soon declaring that her desire to finally go home was a "sweet idea" then reveling in his own lame - what some would call - joke now that the prospect of leaving the forest behind was becoming more and more of a reality and was doing wonders for his current mood.
"Whoa, hold on a minute!" the, Darrus assumed, leader of the group called out just as Tingle clung to Darrus' leg like a foal, Darrus' mood being ruined a touch soon after when his small kicky motions did little to break the other stallion's grip.
"I think I got it now! I knew I saw you from somewhere before. You're one of them special ponies, ain't ya? Part of that little group or club or whatever that does stuff for the throne, right? What was your name... Don't tell me, I know I can remember if you give me a sec... Appledjam?"
"Applejack," one of the others corrected, him soon being given a small shove of his shoulder in response.
"I said not to tell me! But, yeah, that. What's a pony like you doing wandering around out here before finding and helping the likes of him?" he further questioned with a nod towards the stallion that just. Wouldn't. Get! OFF!
"Get off'a me!" Darrus demanded with frustration, flapping his wings in an attempt to escape Tingle's grasp and finally managing to shake him loose once he happened to agitate Tingle's wounds, eliciting a gasp and groan.
"Seems kind of dangerous. Something going on? Either way, it seems to me like you could probably use an escort back out with all the wildlife running around here, don't you agree? Don't you guys think so?" this time he directed his question towards the rest of his group, nodding all the while until the rest eventually mimicked the gesture and agreed.
"Oh yeah, you don't want to get caught out here this time of year," one spoke up.
"Seriously, somepony like you? Would be a real shame if something happened what with all your connections and responsibilities and junk," another contributed.
"Right, right, real nasty out here these last couple weeks. I'm surprised you got here without a scratch what with him bleeding like that and all," the ringleader took over once again, "so, how about you let us escort you out? We can leave somepony here to watch our mutual friend then do our duty of returning just a little bit of the favor owed to you by us all?"