It moved forward slowly, frequently looking at the nurse for reassurance. Finally, it was right up against his leg, and it reached out a hoof and touched him, jerking back almost as quickly as it had made contact. Dale fought back an urge to reach down and ruff its mane. He was sure that the rest of the ponies in the room were watching his every move quite intently; perhaps this was a sort of trial run for tomorrow, or perhaps the nurse just wanted to give her child a first look at one of the monsters in the hospital. He was probably a safer choice than Kate—they had every reason to be confident he wouldn’t do anything crazy.