Sliding around a corner as he ran, Derrick saw one of Twilight’s friends from earlier. It looked like one of the pink-haired ones. Running towards them, he skidded to a stop as he found her blowing some weird two-tubed horn. “What are you doing?” He asked her. The girl stopped her blowing at the question. She lowered it and looked at him, blinking a couple of times.

“Blowing this flugelhorn. What are you doing?” She asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

“I am trying to see if I can help with anything. Do you need any help?” He asked and glanced at her clothes. He found that she was wearing a double-layered pink sweater with a group of three balloons emblazoned across the chest area. As for her legs, she wore a pair of snow jeans and some fur-lined boots which seemed strange, considering he thought that they some weird horse/person combination if their muzzles, manes and tails were anything to go by.

“You know, I do need help with getting a jester costume together. Think you can help with that?” She asked, smiling and tilting her head to the side slightly. She lowered the horn to her side, knowing that he would grab it again.

“A jester costume? Really?” Derrick asked with a raised eyebrow. “I’m not any good with needle and thread but I’ll see what I can come up with.” He sighed, seeing her nod enthusiastically. He pinched his nose and exhaled slowly. “You want me to make you a jester costume. That should be fine. The only thing is that I need your measurements.” Derrick confirmed; blushing as he said the last part.

“Certainly!” The girl said happily and whispered the required measurements in Derrick’s ear. He blushed when she mentioned her chest size but other than that, the measurements seemed good to him. Coughing as she finished, Derrick went to turn but remembered something.

“What’s your name?” Derrick asked.

“Pinkie Pie! Good luck with the costume!” She said and went back to blowing the flugelhorn. “WAIT!” Pinkie shouted at him as he turned. Derrick turned back and tilted his head.

“What?” He asked.

“What’s the matter with your hand?” Pinkie asked, pointing to the crystal that was now a little past his elbow. Holding it by his side, Derrick looked at it, then back at Pinkie.

"It’s complicated.” He said and ignoring any other the questions she may have had, Derrick started to walk away. Scratching his head, he left the girl to her bad musical skills and went off to find a tailor or something. After having walked around for a good couple of hours, he finally found a seemingly empty material booth.

Soon as he walked up though, a sickly looking, white-skinned female popped up out of the booth. She was wearing a white dress with blue diamonds in groups of three. The diamonds created a pattern that went all around her dress, creating a kaleidoscope effect as her dress shined in the sun. Putting his crystallised hand above his forehead, Derrick squinted and looked at the purple, coiffed hair of the woman as the light from the dressed bounced onto his crystal and scattered the beams in all directions.

“Hi. Is there any chance you can turn your dress off? It’s giving me a headache.” Derrick said as he tried to squint through the rays of light.

“Oh hello there, darling. I’m sorry I can’t help you at the moment, I’m trying to help put the Crystal Fair in order so if you don’t mind, I really need to get back to work.” The woman said in a haughty manner.

“No, no. I need help in putting together a jester costume for someone named Pinkie Pie.” Derrick said with a strained smile.

“Oh? Pinkie? She asked you to put a costume together?” Rarity said with a hint of jealousy in her voice. Derrick picked it up and tried to figure out if he could phrase his next sentence another way.

“She did. She told me what materials she wanted and what her measurements were even though I said I was no good with thread and needle.” Derrick said as he finally let his arm relax, feeling it drop like a cannonball and banging into his side. He winced at that but the seamstress didn’t seem to notice.

“Well if that’s the case, then why don’t you let me take over the job and you can go somewhere else?” She asked hopefully.

He put his crystal-free hand up to sign for her to stop. “Hang on a sec. What’s your name?”

“Rarity.” Rarity said with a small smile.

“Rarity. Nice to meet you. I’m Derrick. Princess Cadence asked me to help with the Crystal Fair in anyway I can, and if helping Pinkie make a costume is helping, then I don’t see why you should take over the job.” Derrick said with a hard glare.

“Well, um, oh. If Princess Cadence sent you to help, then by all means, take whichever materials you need.” She said with a quick laugh, and then letting Derrick take whichever materials he needed.

“Thank you.” Derrick said politely and took his handful of materials to a nearby bench. Feeling around his clothes, he realised he didn’t have any needle and thread. “Uhm, not sure if you’ll give me it, but I need thread and needle.” Derrick said with a sheepish smile. He saw Rarity give a huff and levitated a spool of black thread and a very pointy needle over to him, making sure to jab him in the palm of his hand as he grabbed the items.

“Ouch.” Derrick muttered and sat down to work, shaking his hand to get rid of the pain. Managing to balance the needle between the crystal and the table, he threaded the needle and picked it up before it fell to the ground. Silently putting the needle through the first couple of coloured patches, he looped it by going under and over. When he got to the end of a seam, he pulled it tight, burnt the freed end of by lighting a small fire with his finger and fed more thread before starting the process over again.

Soon enough, he got about half the costume done, making sure to keep muttering the measurements under his breath all the while to keep them fresh in his mind. After a few hours of gruelling, non-stop work, he got the costume done. Wiping a bit of sweat off his brow, Derrick stood up and walked over to Rarity, showing her his work.

“Well?” Derrick asked, keeping his face neutral.

Rarity pulled a face and leaned back a bit. “Well it definitely screams ‘Pinkie’. I’m sure she will enjoy it.” Rarity said, turning a bit green at the shoddy stitchwork.

“That’s good to hear.” Derrick said and nodded, carefully folding it up and walked back to where he thought he remembered Pinkie’s location was. As he did, he automatically swing his arms, unknowingly showing the crystal one off. Rarity saw it and wondered how it had gotten like that.

“Excuse me! Derrick?” She called out. Derrick glanced her way and shuffled around, automatically keeping his arm from sight.

“What is it?” He asked with a groan.

“What’s the matter with your arm? It’s unusual to see something like that.” Rarity answered, pointing to the aforementioned arm.

“None of your business.” Derrick responded and set a fast pace as he made a beeline for Pinkie’s last known location.

Still finding Pinkie blowing on her flugelhorn, Derrick strolled up and presented her with her costume. “Here you are. One jester costume as ordered.” Derrick said with a grin.

“It’s perfect!” Pinkie said in glee, clapping her hands together. “I’ll try it right now!” Pinkie said in delight and ran off somewhere to change into her costume. While she was doing that, Derrick placed his hand on his other one and tried to forcefully break it again. “Karyu no Akugeki*.” Derrick whispered, feeling his energy pool at the palm of his hand. Releasing it, he forcefully pushed into the crystal but it didn’t even make a crack.

Sighing in anger, he moved to a nearby wall and managed to place the crystallised arm flat on the wall. “Karyu no Enchu!**” He shouted at his hand, feeling the flames burst out from his elbow but seeing no reaction from the crystal on the outside. He felt the crystal pushing forward and eventually making a hole in the wall but there was still no crack in it. “What’s this crystal made of!? Tadanite? Adamantium? What!?” Derrick shouted desperately at his hand. Pulling his arm out of the wall, he found the crystal had gone halfway up his bicep, stopping just short of the tattoo. He was too busy studying his arm to see a terrified child hiding in the corner of the room he had punched a hole into.

“This is a bit tight in the chest but that’s fine.” Pinkie mumbled as she tried to adjust the costume to make it fit more comfortably. The mishmash of colours in the different patches suited her personality perfectly. She would have to apply the eye make-up later. Feeling that it fit rather comfortably, she looked out the mouth of the alley at a shout. Seeing Derrick force his black arm into a wall, she ran out and tried to get him to stop. “Why did you punch a hole in the wall?” She asked as she placed her hands on her hips.

“Because I can’t get this stupid crystal to stop growing!” Derrick shouted at her.

“Growing?” Pinkie asked. She looked closely at his arm and found that it certainly was growing but it seemed to be going at a snail’s pace. “Have you told the Princess?” She asked, placing a hand under her chin, making it look like she was thinking some deep thoughts.

“Yes. They said to help you guys with the Crystal Fair while they tried to find out why this even happened in the first place.” He said angrily, although he had gone from shouting to speaking rather loudly.

“Hmmm. We need to get you to Twilight.” Pinkie said and grabbing the crystal, she pulled him along. “She should be at the library.” Pinkie said as they ran. Derrick looked down and found that she had no shoes on.

“How big is the library?” He asked as his arm slipped out of her grasp. He immediately began running himself to stay side by side with her.

“BIG.” Pinkie said and meant it. “Think about the biggest library you’ve seen and then times that by a bagillion. That’s how big it is.” Pinkie continued and turned the corner, forcing the Dragon Slayer to slide around by hooking his palm around a pole and spinning around it.

“That is … big.” Derrick gulped. Seeing that she had stopped, Derrick tried to stop but instead, flailed his legs as he tripped and fell on his back. Groaning in pain, he stayed down a few moments, trying to get his breath back. Turning his head, he saw Pinkie lean down and offer him a hand up. Taking it, she pulled him up quickly and held his shoulders as he steadied himself. “Thanks.” Derrick said and stomped up the stairs to what he assumed was the library.

“Wrong one. It’s behind you.” Pinkie said with a giggle and bounded up the set of steps on the other side of the street. Exhaling, he climbed down and headed into the library. He whistled as he looked around at all the books.

“That is a lot of books.” He said in awe.

“Of course they are, Captain Obvious.Twilight is trying to figure out the Crystal anthem so that we can all learn it in time for the fair tomorrow.” Pinkie explained, hiding a smile behind her hand at Derrick’s glare. “Where did those flames come from anyway?” Pinkie asked casually as she hopped down the stairs. Derrick followed at a slower pace as he examined the books.

“No idea, to be perfectly honest. I guess you could say I make them.” He said absently.

“Make them? Without any magic?” Pinkie asked as she jumped past the second floor landing and landed neatly on the steps to the lower floor.

“No, it is magic. I say a spell and it conjures up a few flames. It helps that I can create them at will, even if my magic drains a bit.” He explained as he jogged down the steps to catch up to the overly-exuberant girl.

“So you can create these flames with magic?” Pinkie asked, clasping her hands behind her as she stopped on the bottom floor of the building.

“I guess. There’s no knowing about it as magic is extremely hard to explain.” Derrick said as he unsuccessfully crossed his arms over his chest. Pinkie simply shrugged, her answers having been sated for now. She lead Derrick throughout the numerous bookshelves and as he glimpsed through one, he swore he saw a blue-haired girl in a sun yellow dress speed reading a book.

“Here’s Twilight!” Pinkie said grandly as she showed her friend off.

“You!” Both Derrick and Twilight shouted at the same time, pointing fingers at one another.

“You jumped off the balcony!” Twilight shouted at him, a very surprised look on her face at seeing him alive. “That must have been at least five stories high! How did you survive it?” Twilight asked him, adjusting the light pink glasses on her face.

“How can I say this? I appear to have the durability of a dragon.” Derrick suggested, hoping he didn’t sound like a madman to these girls.

“OF COURSE!” Pinkie shouted, causing one of the people behind a bookcase to shush her. Ignoring them, Pinkie put her finger up in the air. “That explains the flames!” She said to the both of them.

“Yeah, well, that still doesn’t explain this!” Derrick retorted, showing her his arm which was now completely covered in crystal. It appeared to have stopped at his neck, not wishing to advance any further for now.

“You certainly didn’t have that the last time we saw you. How did it happen?” Twilight asked in concern, her questions about him having draconic properties shelved away in her mind for now.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Derrick said through gritted teeth.

“Why not?” Twilight pressed.

“Because I don’t!” Derrick shouted, his body bursting into flames at the anger directed to the crystal covering his entire right arm.

Both Pinkie and Twilight backed away quickly to stop themselves from getting burnt by the sheer amount of heat he was giving off, let alone the fire itself.

“Derrick, calm down!” Twilight said, covering her eyes at the brightness of the flames.

“No. I need to get this crystal off and everything I’ve tried to do to get it off hasn’t been able to help.” Derrick said coldly. Both girls could hear how much hurt and anger were in his voice. Both of their eyes widened though when the word ‘WATER***’ popped up behind Derrick. It transformed into a ball of light and flew towards him. When it touched his flames, it immediately turned to water, simultaneously drenching him and dousing his flames.

“Wh-who did that?” Twilight asked in shock. She ran behind Derrick but couldn’t see anybody. “There’s nobody here.” Twilight said in confusion.

“There she is!” Pinkie said triumphantly and ran after a blue-haired girl in a sun yellow dress.

Author's Notes:

*Karyu no Akugeki is Japanese for Fire Dragon's Grip Strike. More info here:
http://fairytail.wikia.com/wiki/Fire_Dragon%27s_Grip_Strike
**Karyu no Enchu is Japanese for Fire Dragon's Flame Elbow. More info can be found here:
http://fairytail.wikia.com/wiki/Fire_Dragon%27s_Flame_Elbow
*** The water spell that was used can be found here if you need more info:
http://fairytail.wikia.com/wiki/Solid_Script:_Water