Applejack wasn't all that surprised to hear that Darrus had no idea about the castle in the Everfree. There were many ponies who had no idea it was out there; she just kind of assumed Darrus did because he was so adventurous. She was even less surprised to hear that he hadn't heard that Discord was the cause of the Everfree in the first place, causing her to grin a little bit at his questions until she eventually just nodded in confirmation when he said it was probably safe to assume everything there was his fault.

Then her ears perked yet again when he started asking about the castle proper, sounding more and more like he was considering the idea of taking a trip out there himself to go and see it. "It's a lot more hazardous than it sounds," AJ corrected after he mentioned not thinking it must be a very dangerous trip. "There's all sortsa spooky an' dangerous things out there... Manticores, cockatrices, hydras, poison joke, timber wolves, sheer cliff faces... An' that's just what Ah've seen an' heard of so far. Besides, that's even assumin' ya don't get lost out there. Seems like every time Ah go in it's changed from the last time Ah went in.

"As fer how long it usually takes ta get there? Ah'd reckon it's an hour or two, without gettin' lost. An' it's... sorta hidden? But kinda not. Ah dunno, s'a lil' hard to explain. Why're you askin'? You sound like yer startin' ta play with the idea o' headin' out there."