LOVE & LUCKY (Episode)

is the 51st episode of the Fairy Tail anime. It first aired on October 25, 2010.

Lucy Heartfilia confronts her father, who had been stalking her. He tells her how he has lost everything and is now going to work in Acalypha Town. Lucy doesn't care, but when she overhears Macao Conbolt and Wakaba Mine talking about how the guild in Alcalypha has been taken over by some Dark Mages, she heads there to save her father.

Synopsis
A mysterious man appears in Magnolia at twilight.

Lucy, Natsu, and Happy are at the guild. Lucy is frustrated because she cannot pay her rent again, but Natsu is hung up on the fact that Virgo isn’t there to help him dig up the album. Natsu has a quick change of heart, and is ready to go on a job, a reaction that makes Lucy cry from joy. A man appears hiding behind the wall, and Lucy gets the feeling she is being watched. Natsu and Happy quickly attribute this to her being overly self conscious.

On her way home, Lucy gets again the feeling she is being watched. This time it’s not just a feeling: she is being followed by a caped man. She tries to run for it, but the man catches up to her and reveals he is none other than her father. In an ironic twist of fate, he tells her that he has lost everything, and the man who he used to be is now no more. Lucy’s only concern is her mother’s grave, but her father took care of that. He moved it to another location, one he discloses to Lucy. The events seem so impossible to him that he believes it is all laughable.

Lucy impatiently asks why he is in town, to which he replies that he came to see his daughter. He also states that he is going to start from the beginning, so he ask Lucy for 100,000 to go to Alcalypha so he can work in a merchant guild there. When Lucy answers she doesn’t have that kind of money, he snaps, and shouts at her to give him the money. Lucy then reminds him of the time she returned home, and told him she has nothing to do with his wealth and fortune. She advises him to do the same, and orders him to leave, heartbroken.

Lucy gets to her apartment and in front of her home, she finds Happy and Natsu waiting. They assure her she is not being followed, but another figure moves in the background. Natsu attacks it, only to find that it's just Gray, who came after Lucy, worried of her well-being. Happy makes some comments about Gray's perversity, and is sent flying by him. Gray and Natsu start bickering and fighting, which makes Lucy feel at home.

The next day, Team Natsu is ready to undertake a mission with a big reward. Lucy however, overhears of the recent events in Acalypha and demands that Macao and Wakaba tell her where Acalypha is located. She hurries there, worried about her father. She finds Acalypha's LOVE & LUCKY Merchant Guild is being held hostage by the Dark Guild Naked Mummy. Lucy is unable to enter the location, so she summons Virgo, who directs her inside. Virgo is worried about the fact that Mages are inside, but Lucy decides she can handle them.

What Naked Mummy is doing is a robbery, but one of the thieves gets impatient and tries to shoot one of the hostages, but Taurus and Lucy intervenes. Lucy attacks using Cancer and Sagittarius, and giving the final blow with Lucy Kick. Cancer then releases all of the hostages.

Lucy looks for her father, but he is nowhere to be found; she looks inside and outside, but he is not there. After some moments he arrives, and tells Lucy that he was traveling by foot, so he couldn’t have made it there in time. He inquires why she is there, and she responds that she came for him. Mr. Heartfilia learns of her daughter’s love, and thanks her, but Lucy asks him not to get the feeling she forgave him. He apologizes for the night before, and also tells her of her name’s origin.

He tells Lucy it was there where he met her mother, and Lucy, playfully scolds him for picking a name on a whim. Her father concurs and states that he came to see just Lucy, not Lucky Lucy of the Heartfilias. Her team arrives, and congratulates her on her achievement, as she bids farewell to her father. He, too, tells his wife in heaven he was a fool.

At the headquarters of the Naked Mummy Guild, the guy from before is being punished for his failure. Two odd figures appear, Gato and Zato, who appear concerned with paying their debt to the Oración Seis.

On top of a mountain, a mysterious figure with a snake appears, saying - "I can hear it, the sound of an era changing, sound of something beginning,the breaking of light".

Fights

 * Lucy Heartfilia vs. Naked Mummy

Magic used

 * Summoned the Maiden, Virgo
 * Summoned the Golden Bull, Taurus
 * Summoned the Giant Crab, Cancer
 * Summoned the Archer, Sagittarius
 * Summoned the Maiden, Virgo
 * Summoned the Golden Bull, Taurus
 * Summoned the Giant Crab, Cancer
 * Summoned the Archer, Sagittarius

Spells used

 * Toy Bullets
 * Toy Bullets

Abilities used

 * Enhanced Strength
 * Swordsmanship
 * Archery
 * Lucy Kick
 * Enhanced Hearing

Weapons used

 * Scissors
 * Longbow and Arrows

Items used

 * Gate of the Maiden Key
 * Gate of the Golden Bull Key
 * Gate of the Giant Crab Key
 * Gate of the Archer Key

Manga & Anime Differences

 * The conversation between Mirajane and Gray is omitted in the manga.
 * Plue disappearing was omitted in the manga.
 * The flashbacks of Jude were slightly extended in the anime.
 * In the anime, Lucy runs away from Jude. In the manga, Lucy just falls to her knees as Jude leaves.
 * The scenes of Gray being the "stalker" is omitted in the manga.
 * In the anime, Lucy leaves Natsu, Gray and Erza without saying a word, however in the manga, she does talk to them before leaving.
 * The scene with Lucy trying to pass the guards outside LOVE & LUCKY was omitted in the manga.
 * Lucy seeing the ants in the ground was omitted in the manga.
 * Virgo digging the hole into LOVE & LUCKY differs slightly in both media:
 * Manga: Virgo appears having already made the hole into LOVE & LUCKY.
 * Anime: Lucy summons Virgo and asks her to make the hole into LOVE & LUCKY.
 * One of the Naked Mummy Mages firing the bullets differs slightly in both medias. In the manga they are just round bullets, in the anime, the bullets have faces on each of them.
 * Cobra's first appearance differs in both media:
 * Manga: Cobra is seen in a castle-like structure.
 * Anime: Cobra is seen on top of a high pillar with thunder in the background.