Rose's hide twitched in equine reflex at the reference, causing the budding red rose on bronze heater shield that graced each of her haunches to ripple nervously. At her first sight of it in the Everfree, during the flight from Twilight's tower, the mark had seemed nothing more than a simple rebus. After working to help so many distraught guardsponies—and others—in the wake of the infantry battle at the junction town and while billeted in the crystal tower, it seemed somehow inevitable. "May I ask what task, Ma'am?" A hint of desperation crept into the question. "My orders were . . . unusually unclear about that. Well, about almost everything, including how long the assignment would last."