As Applejack explained the dangers one may have to face when reaching the castle Darrus held an ever widening grin as he felt his wings start to stir as if wanting to take him into the air right then and there. He took note of all the, to him at least, exciting things prowling the darkness of the forest on the path towards the castle and it only caused his imagination to further hype up the place along with whatever may or may not have been left inside. If it was indeed dangerous to reach then it would have had even less visitors in the past, right? Which means higher chances of some cool stuff still jsut waiting to be picked up by some handsome pegasus looking to have some fun? It wasn't even that far of a trip on hoof if Applejack's estimate of somwhere between one to two hours was accurate.

"Mmmmmmmaybe," Darrus replied, his grin easily making it incredibly obvious which way he was leaning with the idea if AJ were to look back at him, "Would one, should they decided to go out there, be able to see the castle from over the trees or is it entirely covered? I'm assuming it isn't easy to spot if it's 'sorta' hidden. In fact, what's stopping a pegasus from just flying there to begin with? Other than making the entire trip incredibly boring and uneventful I mean. Seems my wings would eliminate several of the problems such as getting lost and needing to take the path to the castle at all. Is it just impossible to find from the air?" Darrus actually sounded hopeful at the thought as it would mean forcing one such as himself to actually go through the forest instead of over it, which would of course lead to a much more interesting trip.

All the while his hooves kept up their work in finishing Applejack's full back massage, Darrus smiling over how his idea of something embarrassing for AJ to do as the loser of their competition ended up with her seeming to enjoy it far more than him. Was fine by Darrus as he was happy to give the massage to the mare, the way she reacted to his hooves having been plenty fun for him.

Darrus's question could have easily come off as a silly one with how Applejack had so clearly been giving him the answer since he'd started, each moan and how easily she was moving to his massage keeping an amused smirk on his face as he continuously delivered pleasure with his hooves. He knew he was pretty decent with giving a massage, but he hadn't thought he'd been so good as to almost make a mare melt in his hooves. Maybe he was better than he first thought? Hmm... Darrus played with the idea of maybe applying to be a masseuse if ever he was looking for another job to make some quick bits. If he could recreate this kind of experience for other ponies as well he'd probably end up pretty well off, though he didn't dismiss the possibility of this just being unique to AJ as she may just not get massages very often with all of her farm work keeping her busy.

At her failing to recognize his joke for what it was, Darrus momentarily considered playfully pointing out how he actually did normally wear clothes, albeit just a simple cloak, but instead decided to focus on lowering his massage from the mare's shoulders to her upper back at her accepting of his offer to continue. At her rant Darrus would have just given a small shrug as whether or not she was a bearer of any of the elements made little difference to him right now as he just continued to listen for any talk of older and less well known adventures she may have been a part of.

"Real mare of action, ain't ya?" Darrus spoke in response to how she'd saved the town from stampedes in the past. He perked his ear in interest, just as Applejack probably predicted he would, when she began to talk about a castle in the Everfree supposedly haunted by some left behind magic of that Nightmare Moon pony. Darrus hadn't actually known about there being a castle out in the Everfree, his knowledge of the forest not being very in depth, and this talk of AJ and her friend Rainbow having hung around it in a test of courage was quite amusing to him.

"Castle in the Everfree..." Darrus echoed, interest evident in his voice as his hooves started to work a little lower from AJ's upper back.

"Oh, this? I just picked up a few things here and there," he went on to answer her question, being kind of vague but not really having any other way he could explain it as he lacked having taken any lessons or proper classes, "I've given a few before and received my fair share, and I'm pretty quick learner so I just picked up on it." At her mention of being on the verge of going limp, Darrus grinned at his own apparent skill and her enjoyment of it.

"Well, we can't have you falling over. You should go ahead and lay down. Besides, would make this easier for me and better for you.

"So... this castle in the Everfree..." he continued, making it evident that he didn't know about such a thing until now as he either kept up with his current attempt to massage her back should she remain sitting or managing to apply more pressure for a deeper massage should she decide to lie down, "was what Granny saying true? Did you or Rainbow manage to catch any sight of this 'Pony of Shadows'? Or did it turn out to just be a spooky story and it was really the creepy atmosphere that caused the two of you to decide on a tie?"

Darus had approved of the increased pressure behind the massage, this being evident by his slight widening of his smile and second sigh given just before AJ began to respond to his questions. The mention of their being more than just apples being grown around the farm and how other Apple family members tended to the other produce earned only a slight shrug from Darrus. Chances were indeed high that if said corn, grapes and what have you were present on the farm that Darrus would have seen it at some point, but since his work revolved around the apple orchard AJ cared for Darrus paid little mind to the rest as it wasn't his responsibility and they didn't seem to have as many fancy and or famous products being made out of them. He did recall spotting the occasional pony working on other parts of the farm though, however as he too at the time was working and AJ never seemed to say anything objecting towards their presence Darrus had always just left them to their work figuring that if he were to eventually meet them proper that it would most likely happen after hours or something along those lines. This led Darrus to only give a small shake of his head as AJ mentioned them to indicate that he hadn't yet had the pleasure.

Moving on, Darrus sounded a low hum and gave a short nod of his head when AJ spoke the correct name for the jam that sent them down this branch of the conversation, the ring of Zap Apple Jam clicking in his mind as it cleared up his memory of what the ponies he'd heard talking about it were saying... which would actually cause him some confusion during the ensuing explanation.

His interest over this new thing doubled when it was revealed to him that the apples needed to make the jam originated from the Everfree, then tripled when apparently Granny Smith had gone out to the Forest herself to pick the apples that were later used to plant them onto the farm, at first causing Darrus to imagine the elderly pony venturing out into the forest and going through who knows what kind of obstacles to harvest these fancy apples and bring them back home. The amusing mental image was dropped when AJ went on to explain how quickly the apple trees grew, this earning a slightly skeptical raising of Darrus's eyebrow at the mare.

Instantly? Did she... need to at least add water? Well, if she said so...

The skepticism only grew when AJ began to list off the many signs that heralded the coming of these zap apples, the first of which sounding more like a superstitious belief slash coincidence to Darrus - a second amusing mental image of Granny Smith managing to work its way into the pegasus's mind also - while the second sign started off sounding normal but soon escalated to incredible again. Leaves growing? Darrus could buy that. A strong wind? Easy to believe. A mass of dark clouds coming over the orchard? Uh... sure? The trees start to glow while blue sparks-

Darrus furrowed his brow. AJ was the Element of Honesty, right? This meant she never ever lied - or so Darrus felt safe to assume - and in fact hated lying if Applebloom was to be believed, but did that pure honesty extend to telling small white lies for the sole purpose of messing with somepony for fun? Like, for a prank? Darrus was starting to think there was a bit of breathing room when it came to that rule, especially when she began to explain the third sign as at that point it was sounding like she was just making stuff up.

A murder of crows flying in an apple shaped pattern while sparking glowy glowy flowers sprout on the trees? Right...

And then there's a meteor shower. Because space. Darrus was beginning to wonder if she was going to toss in a solar eclipse too while she was at it.

Finishing up with the events that lead to actually being able to harvest the apples... she sounded like she was actually being serious... and Applejack was the Bearer of Honesty, so...

Nah. No way. I mean, come on that many crazy things couldn't seriously happen just as signs of a special type of apple nearing its ideal harvesting time. no, she was most likely just screwing with him... Maybe... Still weird how a couple of things she'd mentioned had actually been what he'd heard those ponies in town talking about, but maybe its just a local story or something that all the ponies living here knew... Yeah...

Darrus then became certain that he wouldn't be able to help not chuckling the next time he saw Granny Smith after picturing her doing all of these extra things for the zap apples that AJ was listing off, the most interesting of which being the bucket bunny alphabet combo that caused Darrus to give AJ a questioning look after she'd followed it up with claiming to know just how ridiculous this all sounded, him wondering if she was indeed hearing the same things he was, He dropped this when she began to talk about how big of an event this jam was and how profitable it is for them every year, the mention of whoever that Rich pony was not meaning anything to Darrus as he didn't recognize the name but the fact that somepony wealthy  went out of their way to secure themselves a large quantity of this jam sure did catch his interest.

Hmm...

When AJ finally paused her very interesting yet hard to believe explanation to ask why Darrus had brought up this topic in the first place, he looked back at the mare, again appearing skeptical for a few moments as he narrowed his eyes.

".. Really?" He asked simply, not sounding the least bit sarcastic as he was just asking for confirmation that she hadn't been pulling his leg this whole time, not that he'd complain much mind but... never mind.

"Well, I brought up the jam because those ponies I mentioned hearing about it from had been discussing a couple of the things you just talked about," he turned his head back forward, him flexing his wings to get a feel for how well AJ had done in massaging them and smiling at how much better they felt as he believed her to be a natural, not perfect mind but much better in his opinion than most who would try it for the first time, "and I thought once I'd mentioned it to you that we would both have a chuckle over it before having you tell me that it's just a special flavor of jam you make around here that just had some added spice to it or something. But now... uh...

"Really?" Darrus asked again, once more turning his head to face AJ though this time he looked more surprised than skeptical, "... Huh... What comes first? Cider Season or these Zap Apples?"

Giving his wings one more flex, Darrus gave yet another happy sigh at the improvement over his aches before spreading his smile into a teasing grin and turning his body to face AJ fully.

"Also, I think I can start returning the favor of that massage now, if you'd let me."

Figured I'd try to give him a voice.

Decided on Jason Marsden, heard here voicing the bad guy(Major spoilers for a game no one cares about, by the way) and starts talking at around the one minute mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opYeD9k8Czk

Clip chosen because that game has a knife fight with a velociraptor in it.

Also, for funsies, I figure this is the kind of thing that is probably playing in his head most of the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blx7u7PVbZI

A little bit of a lead was better than none as Darrus put his effort into holding AJ's hoof where it was, muscles in his leg bulging from the strain as he kept his grip firm and grit his teeth, a few small beads of sweat beginning to form on his brow from all the work he'd been putting his body through that night. Darrus's plan now was to keep AJ's hoof there for as long as he could, using his strength more to hold things even in this advantageous position instead of gain more ground and force AJ to hopefully expend extra energy in trying to make up for what she'd lost before trying to go further. Whether several seconds passed with them at a stalemate or AJ managed to return their hooves to their starting position, Darrus would again try to act by giving another burst of his energy in an attempt to gain a greater foothold in this competition, the stallion either pushing or pressing down on the mare's hoof with a grunt wherever it was at the time and leaning his head along with it as if that would somehow help. His wings involuntarily spread out from his torso to serve no purpose during the exercise, one extending a bit outwards parallel the side of the crate promising victory as if reaching while the other remained almost folded to his side though looser.

Well, at least she hadn't seemed to notice his splash into the mud, Darrus slowing his run down to more of a jog as he reached the barn himself since AJ had clearly won and he no longer needed to rush as well as needed to let his legs have some semblance of a break. Nearing the mare, he breathed heavily as he sat down, him swallowing to try and help his dry throat before raising a hoof up to his chest with some exaggeration.

"Clearly, my wings being stuck to my sides caused me to suffer greater wind drag than you," he claimed between gasps and with a smile as she pat his shoulder, obviously joking as he made up a bogus excuse for why she was able to beat him and wiped some mud from his brow, "you by nature were born with a sleeker design better suited for ground travel, and clearly began with an unfair advantage. But I still must congratulate you as it is not every day somepony proves themselves faster than me."

One more competition. Darrus hummed as he looked at his surroundings for inspiration.

"What if..." he began, scratching his chin thoughtfully as he tried to brainstorm ideas, "We both chopped wood? Maybe we could each have our own pile of logs and whoever finishes first wins. Or..." Darrus continued still looking around and spotting a basket that normally served to carry apples, "we could juggle some apples, I do believe apples are plentiful in this neck of Equestria so there should be no shortage of em to use. Whoever can manage the highest number is declared winner. Course we could balance a bucket of water on our heads and see who could stand on a narrow beam for longer without either falling or spilling. Or we could just go with a simple hoof wrastlin' match." he offered, Darrus then pausing to hear either AJ's opinion or her own ideas for what they could do.

AJ's tease was enough to stir Darrus's competitive spirit as he grinned and managed to get a small boost in speed to catch up. When faced with the group in their way, Darrus again felt the instinct to simply fly over them but was forced to suppress the urge with a brief roll of his eyes and small "uuugh" as he stuck to the decided rules. Instead following AJ's lead, the pegasus was up and over the crates immediately after she was, him being darn near right next to her when she called out the upcoming turn.

Darrus, managing to keep himself equal in terms of speed with AJ for the time being, flashed her a cocky grin as they neared the turn, his more agile pegasus body allowing him to make it more sharply than AJ and allowing him to snatch away the lead for himself as he pulled a bit ahead.

"Oh nooooo!" he called back to the mare in a playfully mocking tone in reference to her having lost her lead on him, "Like lightning! I warned ya! Call it off now and I'll show mercy!" he offered before looking back in front of him and noticing a mess in the road. Apparently, some ponies had been busy trimming a number of trees along the main road, and they must have friggin taken their time in having gotten around to this as not only were they only now finishing up by picking up their mess at this late hour, but the size of the branches they cut down weren't no twigs. Large and generally scattered all over the road, the branches in the path of the racing ponies demanded some hoofwork and agility to get past if they didn't want to slow down, and since Darrus had finally taken the lead slowing down was the last thing on his mind.

He swerved past the first couple, speeding past one of the ponies working to gather everything up and get it out of the way so closely that he nearly knocked him over. After that he hopped over a particularly large branch that was half as tall as he was then was forced to slow down a bit to deftly step through a mess of smaller sticks to avoid stepping and possibly slipping on one or getting his hoof caught and face planting. Clear of the hazards he went back into his top speed, ignoring the shouts from the work ponies behind him as he went.

Darrus waited to hear AJ's answer, ears swiveling to zero in on her as he eagerly awaited her response, though he was trying to play it off as he usually was. This weak facade crumbled a bit when he heard her say yes to his desire to take her out on a date, the stallion dropping it in order to perform a small and restrained hoof pump in celebration as well as say "Yessssss" quietly under his breath before looking back up at AJ with a slightly exaggerated raising of his eyebrow when she mentioned her own conditions.

The first one was no issue, if she wanted to help pick up the mess then he wasn't gonna stop her, but the second condition caused Darrus to look away for a brief moment, him rubbing a hoof on the back of his neck and avoiding eye contact with the farm pony for a couple seconds then sniffing and shrugging it off with a simple, "Sure. No problem."

The remark about preserving his pride snapped him back to his usual self however as he chuckled at the idea and took off into a light hover so as to pick out the bits of glass that had gotten stuck in the branches first and prevent them from possibly falling on them from above.

"I admire your imagination, AJ," said Darrus while he pulled a small garbage bag hed gotten from Lamplight for this clean up from is saddle bags and started searching for glass, "but let's save the fairy tales for your sister and her friends. For you see, I am lightning both in the air and on the ground, so my pride wasn't in any danger to begin with. I could have probably been able to run to the farm, tag the barn and make it all the way back here before you could even make it out of earshot of this here tree." He boasted with a grin as he dropped another piece of glass into the bag and scanned for more.