Author's Notes:

NOTE: UNFINISHED CROSSOVER

This features Fallen_Stargazer's character Connor from Of Fairies and Felines.
This was a crossover that was meant to take place after the Island arc. It was meant to show Crystal and Connor fighting off the Phantom guild and Crystal learning Iron Scales thanks to Connor and Sombra's magic that was embedded in the Crystal Derrick had absorbed. Sombra's magic is so dark, powerful and random, that it let Crystal attain one defensive ability from any type of magic she chose. I was going to limit her to using crystal magic and fire magic offensively/defensively, and Iron Scales and Ice Shield defensively.

Far off in the distance, trees falling over, mechanical clanking sounds and giant footsteps could be heard. Every time a tree fell, dirt got blown up before quickly settling. Crystal looked at the giant machine in the distance with a fair amount of disbelief. She couldn’t believe that the Phantom Lord guild would uproot themselves and walk all the way to Ponyville from the other side of the Everfree. She wore a bright and slightly larger than normal orange shirt in place of her usual red one, her white baggy pants tied off mid-calf and black sandals as she still hadn’t retrieved her clothes from Draigo.

“Please tell me I’m not the only one seeing this,” Crystal asked Gajeel, who just sighed and shook his head.

“You’re not the only one.” Gajeel said, crossing his arms and looking at the machine from the window of the guild. The entirety of Fairy Tail was holed up in what was left of the guild after the Elemental Four attack with most of Ponyville’s residents having fled to Canterlot when it happened. The only residents remaining were Rainbow, Fluttershy, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie and Rarity but even they don’t think they stand a chance against Phantom Lord’s mobile guild. Twilight had sent Spike to Canterlot along with the others as she didn’t want to see him hurt.

Crystal sighed, took a long look at the machine that was slowly making its way towards Ponyville and then walked outside to have a walk around. She felt something hit her head and rubbed the sore spot while picking the item up. She looked it over and found it to be a dragon’s claw with a cat’s eye marble stuck in it connected to a loop of iron chain. As she looked, a message played out, causing her to wince at the voices.

”I am Connor Fortino.”
“And I am Scratch the Exceed.”
“Should you ever find yourselves in need of an ally on the field of battle,”
“Or a friend to aid you in times of necessity.”
“Simply wear this pendant and tap the eye twice. We shall be there to give you the strength of iron.”

“Another Displaced?” Crystal asked the pendant and looked out over to the machine between the buildings while rubbing her slightly distended stomach for a bit. “I think some help would be nice when that thing gets to Ponyville,” she added and put the necklace on, then tapped the eye in the middle of the dragon’s claw twice as per the message’s instructions.

As she tapped the pendant, the cat’s eye would flash, a pinprick of light appearing in the slitted pupil before it shot out a beam of light in the form of a dragon’s maw. Once the light had cleared, she would see an almost spot on duplicate of Gajeel, though he lacked the piercings and his hair wasn’t as long, more shoulder length spiky than the full waist length. The other notable feature was that floating next to him was a small feline with white angelic wings. He looked around before seeing Crystal. “Well at least I wasn’t asleep like with Jacob when this happened.” He chuckled.

The feline nodded. “Indeed, though the salmon was nice to wake up to.” The cat spoke. “So you would be our summoner this time?” At this Crystal gave a nod, her eyes still wide from the Gajeel look-a-like.

Crystal then flicked between the summoned duo and the guild hall behind her, trying to process why there was an almost Gajeel look-alike. “I was talking with you only seconds ago!” Crystal cried, not really noticing the slight differences he appeared to have. When she looked him over and fingered the pendant that summoned him, she then realised what she said and promptly apologised. “Sorry! You look just like someone here minus the piercings and shorter hair. I don’t really recognise the flying cat though. Manners are a good thing to have, so my name’s Crystal. What’s yours?” Crystal rambled as she continuously twirled a lock of her salmon-pink hair around a finger in embarrassment and offered her other hand to the look-alike.

The man gave a chuckle and shook her hand. “Connor. Connor Fortino. And this is my buddy Scratch. And while flying cat is funny and accurate, he’s what's known as an Exceed.” Connor then blinked as he noticed the guild building before looking at Crystal. “So I know in some worlds Fairy Tail was a show, guessing you got Displaced while dressed as Natsu?” He said, looking around at his surroundings.

Scratch was about to say something before they were interrupted by the loud thuds of the tower that was slowly making it's way towards their location. “While I enjoy a nice conversation, it seems we were summoned for a more pressing matter.”

“Yup, I was. Got the mark to prove it too but I used my scarf as a token so I can’t really show you the scarf.” Crystal answered and looked at the slowly moving building, along with Connor. “That has been moving this way for the past few hours. It’s only just gotten halfway through the Everfree by the looks of it. You got Displaced as Gajeel and … I’m really sorry, I don’t know who Scratch looks like if he was Displaced as well.” Crystal apologised and laid a hand against her head. “I figured I could take it on with the help of the guild for when it actually arrives but with you here to help, things can go much smoother.”

Connor gave a nod. “Well, not so much Displaced as him, as I am actually his great-grandson. Him and a handful of Fairy Tail members ended up on Earth from Fiore after a magical incident.” He said. “As for Scratch, he’s not so much as another Displaced as he is a…..how did you describe it again?”

Scratch floated over and landed on Crystal’s head. “A magical construct created from both the magical energies that transported you as well as a portion of your own mind. In simpler terms I’m his conscience personified.”

“You are his great-grandson!?” Crystal asked while her mouth fell open. “That’s really unexpected,” she blinked, looked him over again and despite the uncanny resemblance to her own Gajeel, there wasn’t really anything that screamed ‘grandson of a legendary dragon slayer’. She then looked up to the sky in an effort to see Scratch on her head. “You’re just a magical being created from his mind? Wouldn’t that make you an imaginary friend?”

Scratch and Connor both looked at each other before Connor gave a laugh. “Interesting way to put it, but no, he’s full flesh and blood. Eats, sleeps, and has emotions just like a normal sentient being. As for it being unexpected.” He gave a grin, his teeth sharpening as his skin quickly became coated in iron scales, his fingertips lengthening into pointed claws. “That enough proof for ya?” He said with a laugh.

“I, uhh, yeah. Proof enough.” Crystal blinked, looking a bit frightened of his new look before quickly getting used to it. “I just thought you were Displaced from a comic con or something of the sort because that seems to be the norm,” she scratched her head and breathed out. “Within the few months that I’ve been here, I picked up a couple of tricks that the Natsu from the show wouldn’t be able to do,” she said as she coated her right hand in a layer of black crystal.

Connor blinked and jumped a bit at the sudden black crystal. “Woah, reminds me of the crystals that Sombra used.” He said, his scales returning to skin as his claws and teeth dulled once again. He then thought for a bit and looked at the guild building in the distance. “And yeah, I’ve met a few other displaced, some from conventions, others just unlucky to buy something from a shop or street vendor. Hey, guessing since you said you were just talking to me a few minutes ago, that means that the fairy tail members are in this universe too right?”

“That’s because it basically is. I grabbed a cut-off of his horn when I first arrived and then this grew over my body.” Crystal answered and broke off the crystal on her hand into tiny bits and pieces. “The magic that was left in the cut-off must have embedded a bit of itself in me because I can do a bit of Ice-Make as well. I’ll show you what I mean if we get into a fight. As for the guild members, they’re all hiding out in the guild hall behind me. We’re biding our time and waiting to see what that moving guild is going to do when it gets here. Just don’t mention you’re Gajeel’s grandson. That would probably freak them out,” she further explained, jabbed a thumb at the three-storey building behind her, turned and beckoned for him to follow.

He snapped his fingers. “Darn, well guess that plan can wait for another time then.” Scratch simply rolled his eyes. “Anyways, that’s phantom lord’s guild right? Scratch, what do you have on it?”

Scratch looked at the moving fortress. “From the memories that were given to me, we need to take out that pillar on the fortress. Phantom Lord’s mobile guild has a massive lacrima cannon built into it.”

“So not only do they plan to wreck the guild and anyone in it, but a cannon that size would probably decimate the surrounding village and landscape.” Connor said with a growl. “Crystal, you have our help. No one harms my friends and family.” he said, tossing aside the shawl he was wearing, revealing the fairy tail mark on his right shoulder.

“That’s a cannon?” Crystal asked, stopping in her tracks and putting a hand over her eyes to see if she can see it more clearly. “It doesn’t look much like a cannon. Just a white building with legs.” she looked over to him when he said he would help and grinned at the mark. “Glad you’re helping, it’s not like I summoned you with that intention or anything. You want to meet your family and say you’re not their grandson?” she asked, pulling up her right sleeve to reveal her own red fairy tail mark.

Connor gave a chuckle. “We can leave out the grandson part. They know about the Displaced right? We can just tell them I got Gajeel’s powers.” He said, still keeping his eyes on the Phantom Lord guild as it slowly moved closer.

“Yeah, they know about Displaced. They also know that they were a show back on my Earth so they probably won’t be as freaked if they learn that a version of themselves got magicked to your Earth. This Displaced stuff is doing my head in, let’s just go into the guild.” Crystal said, holding a hand on her forehead in an effort to stop an oncoming migraine and lead both Connor and Scratch to the guild.

The two followed behind her, looking at the world around them. “Lotta similarities here. Oh, just curious, is your world inhabited by bipedal or quadrupedal ponies?” Connor said, looking around as they got closer to the slightly damaged guild building.

“Bipedal. Definitely bipedal.” Crystal answered with conviction. “None of them are here though besides the Element Bearers, and even they don’t think they stand a chance against the massive lacrima cannon,” she added and opened the buckled in door to the guild with a heave.

Connor nodded. “Same in my universe.” He said, helping her push in the door. When he saw the insides of the guild he gritted his teeth, seeing the damage that was still being cleaned up from whatever happened with the previous assault. “Damn, they did a number on this place.”

“Yeah … we still need to clean up but with that thing looming towards us, it’s slowed down by a fair bit.” Crystal said softly and picked up a few broken chairs and put them on a pile resting by the door.

“Heya, Crystal? Who’s this?” A blue-haired, dull orange sundress wearing girl asked, pointing to Connor when Crystal made her way back to him.

“Levy, this is ...” Crystal trailed off as a grin took over her features. “This is a second Gajeel.”

At this Connor nearly fell over. “Oi oi….” He said, standing back up straight before looking over at the girl. Though when he did, whatever he was about to say was stuck in his throat. “D-Did you say...Levy?” He said, looking at Crystal.

“Yeah, I did. Why you ask?” Crystal asked tilting her head to the side inquisitively.

He pulled her aside quick and whispered. “So I know I said I was Gajeel’s great-grandson in my world, but I may have forgotten to mention who my great-grandmother was.” he said, glancing back at Levy, seeing the slightly confused look on the blue haired mage’s face.

“Levy?” Crystal asked in hushed whisper, looking back at her, smiling after studying her features for a bit and then turned back to Connor. She looked up at his face and noticed a slight resemblance to Levy with the eyes. “That’s … um … wow. I’m, uhh, I’ll just go clean up a bit more.” she said hurriedly, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment before moving away.

“Is something the matter?” Levy asked the second Gajeel as she watched Crystal walk away in embarrassment.

Connor just stood up and chuckled. “Uhhh, yeah everything’s fine. Just something I remembered I needed to tell Crystal.” He then shook his head. “And she’s just being a goof. The name’s Connor, and while I look a lot like Gajeel, I’m not him.” he chuckled.

“Oh, that’s good to hear. My name’s Levy. Are you one of those Displaced that Crystal sometimes mentions?” she asked, offering a hand out to him. As she smiled at him, she closed her eyes and tilted her head.

He nodded. “Yeah. And my buddy Scratch is….” He looked around, not seeing the exceed anywhere near before spotting him helping clean up. “There he is.” he said, pointing at the flying feline.

“A flying cat? Haven’t seen one of those around before.” Levy commented, scratching the back of her head and watched him with interest. “Are those wings magic? They don’t look like they’re a part of him.”

He nodded and called Scratch over. “Scratch is an exceed. Basically magical felines.”

Scratch nodded. “The wings are a magic called Aera. For myself they are a flight based magic, but they have a secondary ability of minor gravity manipulation.” He said, floating over and lifting her a little over a foot off the ground, showing almost no strain whatsoever lifting a girl easily 6-7 times his size.

“Oh, wow. I haven’t seen magic like that before.” Levy breathed and giggled a bit when she was lifted up. When she was put back down, she smiled at Scratch. “I don’t think exceed are a part of this Equestria. But if they’re like you, Scratch, then they wouldn’t be so bad. Is there a particular reason why Crystal summoned you two then?” Levy asked, calming down a bit from the weightlessness and a bit of a frown tugging at the side of her lips as she suspected a couple of reasons as to why she did.

Connor looked at her and rubbed the back of his head. “Not gonna sugar coat it. I’m more than likely here because of that behemoth heading towards us. See, Scratch isn’t just a normal exceed, he also has the knowledge of events that were experienced by the Fairy Tail guild from my original world. And from what he’s told us, that thing is on it’s way right now to try and raze this place to the ground and dance on the ashes.”

Scratch nodded. “We wish it could have been under more relaxed circumstances, but rarely does fate take requests.” He said, floating over to a boarded up window, peeking out. “And judging by it’s pace and our current location, I’d say there’s approximately twenty minutes until it reaches the outer edge of the Everfree”

Connor gave a sigh. “Well, once this is over and those Phantom lord pains have been sent packing, we can have a celebration, and I can tell you guys a few of the misadventures of my family and their friends before they ended up on Earth.” He said, not realizing he had just let slip that he was a descendant of someone from Fairy Tail.

“Figured as much. The last time Crystal summoned someone, he got turned into a she and then got pregnant. Hopefully things end happily this time. You helping us defeat Phantom Lord will be a good thing.” Levy sighed, not really noticing his slip up. She frowned and looked like she was going to say something before being called over by another guild member. “We can talk more after the attack,” she said with a wave.

Crystal paused from her cleaning and looked out the boarded windows and frowned at how close the moving behemoth of a fortress was. “Did that thing just begin to walk faster? I could have sworn it would take another few hours to reach here,” she asked Scratch and looked at him sternly.

Scratch looked at the structure. “It’s possible they have different speeds, or perhaps it was warming up and is now going a fully revved up speed. I estimate around twenty to thirty minutes before it arrives at the edge of the forest. If we are to do anything, it has to be soon.” he said, looking at Connor.

The Gajeel look-alike however was still somewhat stunned over the knowledge that Crystal used to be a he, and that she, was pregnant. “Note to self, when concerning the Displaced, don’t expect any form of sanity,” he muttered before Scratch flew over and slapped the back of his head. “Right, sorry. Impending attack. What’s the plan?”?”

Crystal looked over and saw him standing still for a few seconds after noticing that Levy had finished speaking. She went to wave a hand in front of his face to see if he was still working but stopped when he suddenly spoke.

“The plan? The plan was to see what that walking fortress was going to do. After that, it depended on what it actually did.” Crystal blinked, wondering why he was unresponsive for a few seconds. “You okay, though? You looked like you were half dead for a few seconds,” Crystal asked in concern.

Connor nodded. “Just a bit of brain short circuiting due to multiverse and Displaced stuff.” He said with a chuckle. “Though I don’t think that is such a great plan. What if they do have that giant cannon and it can fire as soon as it gets close enough? We need to be proactive, not reactive in this case.” He looked around, wondering if the guild master was around or if he was elsewhere.

“What did … nevermind. You can tell me after. So if they do have that giant cannon, we need to be proactive you said? That would mean we need to go down to the basement.” Crystal said after shaking her head. She looked at some of the guild members that were on top and figured they could try and clean the rest of the floor up by themselves. “Basement’s this way. Hopefully the others won’t get a heartattack when they see you,” Crystal said with apprehension and lead them to the stairs that lead to the basement.

He nodded and Scratch resumed helping others clean up, shifting into his more humanoid form, scaring a few of the newer guild members when he lifted up a large broken piece of table. He followed behind her, thinking for a bit. “Well it will be interesting if Gajeel is there. Though I’ll try not to call him grandpa when I see him.” he laughed a little.

“You managed to not call Levy, grandma so there may be hope for you yet.” Crystal laughed and poked her tongue at him playfully. When she saw Scratch become more humanoid, she just groaned and walked down the stairs to the basement. “Gajeel is probably down here anyway along with the rest of the guild,” Crystal told him and as they entered the underground room, the quiet chatter almost instantly stopped when they saw who Crystal was with.

He nodded and watched as pretty much all of the guild members and ponies looked at him. He thought for a split second and waved. “How’s it going folks. I’m Connor, a Displaced like Crystal.” He then saw Gajeel among the group and waved at him, emphasizing his motions to look like a dork and break the tension. “Hi Grampa!”

“Scratch that hope. You’re devoid of it.” Crystal whispered to him in a deadpan.”:All hope for Fairy Tail is lost,” she added, leaning against the wall and banged the side of her head against it. Ignoring the pair for now, the group, as one, turned their heads to Gajeel when Connor spoke to him. Gajeel had a look of disbelief, astonishment and horror all rolled into one.

Connor rolled his eyes. “What? They looked like they were just about to prepare to just curl up and take whatever Phantom Lord is about to bring. Figured I’d break the tension with all the grace of a rocket powered wrecking ball.” He chuckled. “Besides, I was probably gonna either let it out at some random point, or say something just as I get sent home so it was a last minute thing.” He then looked at Gajeel. “And no need to be so horrified, you don’t have any unknown children around the world somewhere. Like I said, I’m a Displaced like Crystal. It just happened to be that my great-grandfather was Gajeel after him and a group from Fairy Tail ended up in my world after-” He stopped himself by shifting his hand to iron scales and smacking himself across the face. “Sorry, was trapped as a statue for about 1500 years, and about 300 of which I was conscious, I had Discord as the only one to talk to. His crazy tends to be infections at times.”

He then noticed a few people staring at his hand, shocked that he had just used the same magic as Gajeel. “Oh, and I also got my great-grandfather’s Iron Dragon slaying magic.” He said, shifting his hand back to normal.

Gajeel coated his hand in iron scales as well and narrowed his eyes at Connor. “You’re a Displaced?” he asked, leaning away from the makeshift bar and stalked towards him, acting like he was about to hit him.

Connor blinked, noticing the iron coating Gajeel’s arm. He watched the Iron Dragon Slayer, keeping his gaze focused. “Yep. Granted I didn’t buy a prop from some guy at a convention. My Displacement was a bit more due to some magic backlash due to me inheriting the dragon slaying magic.” He tilted his body a bit, shifting his weight to his back leg, just in case Gajeel went to actually swing at him. Crystal sidled away from them both and ended up near Twilight and the other Element Bearers.

Gajeel cracked his knuckles, even through the thick coating of iron, and stopped walking when he was a few steps in front of Connor. He let the poor boy sweat for a few more seconds before suddenly smiling, showing his fangs, and giving a hearty laugh. “Did you think I was going to hit you?” he asked, patting Connor on the back hard after losing the iron scales.

Connor gave a sigh. “Part of me did yeah.” He chuckled. “Granted you would have probably ended up on the floor, but still, I’d rather save the brawling between guild mates for when we celebrate kicking Phantom’s ass.” He smirked. “Now then, how about we work on doing what Fairy Tail is known for, and go wreck their shit.” He said, slamming his fist into his hand. The guild cheered at Connor’s little speech and began talking again with more fervor than before.

“I honestly thought that he would hit him but, at least we have another Dragon Slayer to help.” Twilight said, smiling at Connor before turning to Crystal. “How you doing though?”

“I’m fine. Just trying to keep it together before the Phantom Lord guild get here.” Crystal said nervously, the tension she was feeling leaked onto her face as she walked over to Connor.

“At least you made the guild happier, Connor.” Crystal said with a soft smile, most of the tension she was feeling being focused around her eyes.

“Master, is it alright if a Displaced Dragon Slayer helps?” Twilight asked Makarov, turning to him after Crystal had left, entirely unsure as to what Fairy Tail’s rules were concerning Displaced, or even if there was any.

“The more, the merrier. We need all the help we can get!” Makarov answered Twilight and raised his voice and frothy mug so that Connor could hear over the din the guild was making.

“Master Makarov is on your side too. Isn’t that great?” Crystal asked and leaned against the wall near Connor, grinning up at the taller man and giving him a thumbs up. She then scratched the back of her head and looked at him seriously. “Quick question though. What did Levy say to you that made you unresponsive for a few seconds?”

Connor chuckled and nodded. “Hey, different dimension or not, Fairy Tail is my family. I won’t hesitate to help them out. Heck, I'm trying to get the guild set up in my own universe.” he then blinked and looked at her. “Oh, about how you used to be a he and then got pregnant after being genderswapped. Just a brief shock of surprise really.” he smiled and looked over at Twilight, Makarov, and the others. “Alright, so according to my friend Scratch’s knowledge...actually I'll let him explain.” He paused for a moment before Scratch, once again in his smaller form, flew down the stairs and landed on the table.

Seeing the small flying feline was a shock to some of the ponies and mages present, but a somewhat greater shock was how suddenly Fluttershy was on him, inspecting and fawning over him. Connor and a few others couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

“That would be take a while to sink in, yeah.” Crystal said, and crossed her arms, slightly annoyed at Levy for revealing her state of welfare. “I can protect myself, so don’t go thinking I won’t be able to handle a fight just because I’m pregnant,” she grumbled but then giggled at how Fluttershy fawned over Scratch though. “Forgot to mention, Fluttershy really likes animals so the explanation may take a bit.”

“You’re so cute~” Fluttershy cooed as she crouched in front of the table and patted the top of Scratch’s head. She wore a soft green dress that stopped just short of her knees, which was trimmed with white and had a group of three pink butterflies embroidered on the left shoulder. The pink mane that usually covers her face was now tucked behind an ear so she could fully see the magical creature in front of her. “What’s your name? If you don’t have one, then how about I call you Fluffy?” Fluttershy asked sweetly. Crystal let out a tiny laugh at what Fluttershy said but managed to keep quiet enough so only Connor could hear.

Connor himself was struggling to restrain his laughter as Fluttershy coddled his partner. He was almost able to calm down but completely lost it at ‘Fluffy’. He was practically on the ground, rolling with laughter at the exceed’s current situation.

Scratch gave a groan. “Miss Fluttershy, could you please let me go.” he said, surprising a few of the group that he could speak.

“Oh, sorry.” Fluttershy said quickly, taking her hand away and placing it behind her back. “I’m sorry if I offended you,” she said softly, a bit of a pout on her face but otherwise, didn’t make any more moves to cuddle him.

Connor slowly recovered and leaned against the wall as Scratch cleared his throat. “No offense taken.” he said, looking at the assembled ponies and mages. “Now, about why Connor called me down here.” He was stopped by Twilight.

“But I didn’t hear him call out for you or anything. One moment he is just standing there, then the next you fly down.” The lavender unicorn stated.

Scratch nodded. “Connor and I share a mental link, since I was created partially from his own consciousness. It allows us to communicate telepathically, and as of yet, we haven’t found a distance limit.” He said, earning a few looks of interest. “Now then, about Phantom Lord. On their base is a large lacrima powered cannon known as the Convergent Cannon Jupiter. It uses incredible energy to fire a beam strong enough to wipe out a mountain. It’s known charge time is between fifteen and twenty minutes, meaning it’s possible they have it charged and ready for when they get in range.”

Connor then took over. “Meaning any mage who has the highest defensive capabilities should be getting to the upper level of the guild hall to ready their abilities as soon as possible.” He said, his voice losing the jovial, teasing tone before, his posture shifting to that of someone who was trained for combat and assault. Some of the mages nodded at him, taking note of his tone and immediately went up the stairs to get to the upper level as quickly as possible.

“That’s a fair few mages. That would mean the ones who have the more powerful magic attack the cannon?” Crystal asked, all mirth gone from her eyes as she realised the gravity of the situation. She saw Twilight head up as well and went over and grabbed her shoulder. “Why are you going up there?”

“I’m a unicorn. I can do magic and cast shields. Big shields. I was thinking I could cast a big and strong enough shield to combat the Convergent Cannon Jupiter, even if it’s for a few seconds.” Twilight explained, gently took Crystal’s hand off her shoulder and continued on her way up. Crystal huffed and turned back to the group.

“That means the ones whose magic focus more on attack will need to help us in destroying the Convergent Cannon,” Crystal said in a loud voice, making sure that they could all hear her.

Connor nodded and looked at Crystal. “Lighten up a little with Twilight. Her brother is the captain of the guard in Canterlot and one of the strongest shield casters in pretty much any universe I’ve seen.” He then looked at the group. “Fair warning, there’s going to be some pretty tough mages guarding the cannon and it’s power source. If you don’t think you can handle the possibility of taking an enemy’s life if they give you no quarter, then stay back and help try and protect the guild from anything else they try to throw at it.”

“He’s also the prince of the Crystal Empire. What’s your point?” Crystal muttered, rubbed her eyes, and looked at the group. “Which one of you is willing to stay behind and protect the guild if you can’t handle going up against the cannon?” Erza, Gray, Loke and Cana put their hands up to show that they were staying behind. The only ones that were left seemed undecided. Elfman, Gajeel and the remaining Element Bearers. “I don’t see why you five aren’t staying behind like Twilight,” Crystal commented, raising a brow at them and crossing her arms over her chest.

“We don’t want to sit around and twiddle our thumbs while we wait for them to arrive. We want to get straight to the action.” Rainbow explained.

“Um, I’d like to stay behind, if that’s okay.” Fluttershy whispered, putting her hand up to join the other four.

“You got all this, Connor?”

Connor gave a nod. “Yep. Though just remember, if things get way too hectic or your own lives are at risk, do not hesitate to high tail it out of there. A guild we can always rebuild, lives of friends and family are impossible to replace.” He said, cracking his knuckles. “Now then, there’s going to be some turbulence when we get up there.” He said, feeling the loud thumping, signaling the moving guild had gotten a bit closer. “And I’d say that they are about to knock on our door any moment.” he said, nodding at Scratch. “Well then boys and girls. It’s time to knock some heads and show them what they get for messing with Fairy Tail.” Everyone nodded at this and ran up the basement stairs towards the ground floor. Crystal went up to join them but stopped when she noticed Makarov wasn’t joining in.

“I thought you would be all for this, Master.” Crystal said to him curiously.

“Phantom Lord will pay for what they did. I’m all for this, don’t get me wrong, but I’m still recovering from what Aria did to me. Both of you go on ahead and make sure Phantom Lord know what it means to be part of Fairy Tail.” Makarov grunted, stood up on the bar and gave Connor and Crystal a big smile, raised his hand up and pointed two fingers to the ceiling, with his hand turned inwards. “Make sure you both give them hell.”

Connor smiled and felt the guild master’s passion for his family and his guild. He returned the smile with a sharp toothed grin. “Count on it.” he said, heading out the door to go kick some phantom ass. Scratch nodded as well, flying off and shifting into his muscular form, his hand gripping his blade as he flew out to join the fray.

Crystal nodded and went to join Connor and Scratch after giving Makarov a thumbs up. When she did, the Jupiter Cannon was a lot closer than before, having stopped just on the border of the Everfree Forest. It was crouched and the white pillar on top of it was opened up.

“That cannot be good.” Crystal murmured, watching the magical energy swirl around the hole and then unleash a giant beam of white light towards the guild. Everyone that thought they were in the path of it scrambled to get out of the way while most of the defensive mages stood their ground and immediately cast various spells of protection around the guild. Most notable of these was a gigantic purple, shimmering shield that was tinged with blue.

Erza ran out to the borders of Ponyville, stopping in the exact place she thought the beam would hit. While she ran, her body glowed and she changed into a navy blue and white armor, covered in spikes. The helmet she now wore consisted of an open face plate with dark blue spikes covering her ears and the top of her head, all of them facing forwards. The most notable thing of the armor was the two massive shields adorning her forearms. When she stopped in front of the beam, she placed them both together, creating a shield barrier larger than Twilight’s own.

The beam hit, making Erza slide back a dozen or so feet. She grunted with the effort of holding her two shields together. She felt and saw them crack and break before eventually breaking entirely just as the beam petered out into nothingness and lost all of its power.

“That … wow.” Crystal breathed, her eyes opened wide in shock and awe at the sight. “That packs quite a punch.”

Connor nodded and looked at the mages and ponies that were with them. “Aright you lot, we've got a twenty minute window to get to that cannon and destroy its power source. Not sure if we can block out a second blast so let's get this show on the road.” he said, his magic circle appearing over his legs, turning them into iron poles before he used them to catapult himself towards the giant cannon.

Most of the mages stayed behind while Gray, Gajeel and Rainbow followed Connor as best they could. Crystal sighed and prayed that her flying trick still worked. Focusing her power in her legs, she took a running leap, and once in the air, made fire flow out of her feet, propelling her towards the cannon. When she got there, she slowed down and leaned against Connor to catch her breath as the others made it to them.

“I … wonder how … big the … lacrima ... is …” Crystal panted, leaning away from Connor and bending over on the stationary cannon to try and slow her breathing while watching the other three began to explore the fortress at a decent pace. “We should … stick together …” Crystal wheezed.

Connor looked at the imposing fortress, his eyes focused on the cannon. “The main lacrima will be about the size of a decent boulder. Probably about double if not triple Reedus’ size.” He said, likening to the ballooned out artist mage of the guild. He then looked at the exhausted fire dragon slayer. “We’ll stick together at first, but knowing Phantom Lord, we may have to split up should we encounter one of the Element Four.”

“Well won’t that be great?” Crystal seethed, standing up properly and letting out a breath.

“Wait, so we stick together until we come upon an Element 4? Is that how it works?” Rainbow asked as she shook her head in confusion.

“We have to defeat the cannon. That’s our top priority. If we encounter the Element 4, then the one most suited to taking them out is the one that stays behind to fight them.” Crystal explained and pointed to the fortress, having gotten her breath back. “We don’t have a lot of time so we need to take this lacrima out as fast and efficiently as possible,” she added as she lead the group towards the fortress. As the six of them went through the doors, the Dragon Slayers stopped in their tracks as a weird smell permeated their senses.’

“What is that?” Crystal asked, covering her nose at the smell of the saltwater.

“Smells like the ocean.” Gajeel commented, looking around the wide hall they found themselves in.

“One things for sure, this place is huge.” Rainbow whistled, jumping up and flying about the corridor until a blast of water hit her, bringing her back down to the ground in a sopping mess. “Blegh! What was that!?” Rainbow shouted, lying on her side as coughed up some water.

“That … would be me, prismatic wench.” A voice called out as a body of water formed into the vague shape of a female. The water soon solidified into a slender woman wearing a dark blue full length jacket, a fur lined shawl, and a tall hat. Her large curled light blue hair bounced a little as she became solid. “Drip drip drop, Juvia of the Element four is impressed you all managed to get into the guild and stop Jupiter, but do not underestimate Phantom Lord’s mages.”

When the woman solidified, Connor blinked and opened a nearby window to look at the sudden weather change. “Yep, raining.” He cracked his neck and formed his scales, blocking a second blast of water blast that was heading for Rainbow. “Man, glad I don't have to worry about rusting.” he said then helped the pegasus stand. “Rainbow, you and Scratch fly out that window I opened. If I’m right, the lacrimas should be located at the base of the cannon.

Scratch looked at Connor, getting the instruction before diving out the window, shifting to his smaller form to cut through the rain easier.

Rainbow looked at the window after thanking him and nodded. She jumped out the window and flared her wings, following Scratch towards the base of the cannon, using her own brand of air magic to make sure she didn’t get wet along the way.

“Not this woman again,” Gray groaned and took a defensive stance, readying himself for an attack. “You three go on ahead. I can take care of Juvia easily,” Gray informed them, not taking his eyes off the water-woman for a second. He watched her hand slice through the air, creating a wall of water that went straight for him. Gray gritted his teeth and slipped to the side, watching the wall of water barely miss and head straight for the wall behind him. “What did I say to you three? I got this! Go!” Gray shouted at them when he noticed that they hadn’t moved.

“Come on. We need to get to the cannon and I doubt we’d be able to fly the rest of the way up.” Crystal said and proceeded to run with the others further into the fortress at Gray’s command.

Connor nodded and just as he was about to run past Gray he remembered something. “when you win, make sure it’s outside.” He said, patting the ice mage on the shoulder before rushing off with the others.

“If you say so.” Gray said, dodging another water blast and managing to hit Juvia with an ice hammer, the attack almost effortlessly passing through her water body.

After running through seemingly endless corridors, the three of them were stopped by a man wearing an orange kimono and had black and white colours for his hair. A strip of black paint adorned the skin under his eyes and across the bridge of his nose and on his waist, he wore a belted katana.

“Hey! It’s fire guy! I'll handle Totomaru while the both of you continue on.” Crystal told them and taking in a few breaths while without waiting for an answer, ran ahead and socked him in the face with a crystalline punch. Totomaru dodged it and knocked Crystal to the floor by a fire punch to the gut. She cried out from the sudden spike of pain, wrapped her arms around her stomach, and rolled to the side when Totomaru went to stomp on her. She smacked her back against the wall and stood up slowly, using it to brace herself.

“Blue fire!” Totomaru shouted as he gestured with his hands and a stream of blue flames shot towards Crystal. They covered her as she coughed up a bit of blood, and slowly but steadily breathed the flames in.

“Tasted a bit like ice-cream.” Crystal commented, wiping her mouth free of blood. “Apparently you didn’t learn from our last encounter,” she told him, standing up fully against the wall were a silhouette of her remained from the mass of flames that had assaulted her. She gathered flames in one of her fists and then promptly punched herself in the face.

Totomaru grinned as he forced Crystal to punch herself a few more times by controlling the fire she had conjured up. He stopped the punching and flashed to her side, crossing the width of the hall in less than a second.

“You didn’t learn either. I am the master of fire. All. Flames. Bow. Before. Me!” Totomaru punctuated each word with a punch of blue-coloured fire to her head, leaving Crystal dazed and confused for a few long moments.

When she snapped out of it, she dodged a kick, grinning a bit sadistically as the kick continued straight into the wall where Totomaru stood stock-still as the pain traveled through his body.

“You sure I didn’t learn?” Crystal asked with a grin, covering her body in her customary black crystal armor, focusing most of it around the bulge of her belly. “Come on, Totty. You can do better than bash me in the face,” she taunted, punching both her fists together as she got into another fighting stance. She grinned to herself when she noticed him flare up at the nickname she gave him.

“Eat rainbow fire, you bitch!” Totomaru hollered, shooting a rotating ball of different coloured flames out of his hands. As it sailed towards the crystal-covered mage, it grew about five different legs, making it look like a miniature spinning, colourful galaxy, before exploding upon impact with a sudden wall of ice.

“Ice-Make. Didn’t ... think it would ... come in ... handy in ... a firefight.” Crystal muttered, wiping the sweat off her forehead as she twirled and kicked the ice wall with what strength she had left. Thanks to the fire that had boosted her kick, the ice shield rammed into Totomaru before he even had a chance to blink, slamming him into the wall behind him and into the next room. Crystal walked over to the hole at a sedated pace and peered in, observing the damage she had caused.

“You learned some new tricks …” Totomaru coughed, holding his side as he carefully stood up. Glaring at her, he twirled a couple of fingers and made a pitiful fireball before promptly falling back down to the floor.

“That trick saved me. Didn’t think I would thank Sombra for saving my life.” Crystal murmured before leaving the hole and slowly but surely made her to the top of the tower where the lacrima cannon was. When she came upon some fighting sounds along the way, Crystal looked into a room and watched Connor and Gajeel fight Sol and Aria for a bit before wrapping her arms around her stomach and winced when a bit of pain spiked through her abdomen. She then moaned out in pain and collapsed in front of the doorway.