Natsu and the Dragon Egg!

is the 20th episode of the Fairy Tail anime. It first aired on March 1, 2010.

After Natsu and Happy have a fight, Lucy meets with Mirajane and finds a picture of the Fairy Tail guild members from 6 years ago. Mirajane tells Lucy the story of that picture, but leaves Lucy wondering who Lisanna is.

Synopsis
Natsu and Happy take Lucy fishing in order to help clear her head so she can continue writing her novel. She questions the motive for fishing as Natsu winds up catching a big fish. He then uses his flames to grill it and eat it, much to Happy's frustration. Happy demanded the fish to be eaten raw, and after Natsu tells him to catch his own fish, he runs away heartbroken. Lucy tells Natsu that he should apologize to Happy and tells him to stop with the tough guy act, or else no girl will like him. Natsu gets angry and tells her to mind her own business and walks away.

Lucy then finds Mirajane in the Fairy Tail Archives and volunteers to help her organize things. Lucy is up on a ladder and accidentally falls, causing some books and things to fall as well. Whilst cleaning up her mess, she finds a picture of Fairy Tail from 6 years earlier. Mirajane points out several Fairy Tail members in the picture, such as Gray, Erza, Cana, Macao, Wakaba, Elfman, Lisanna, Laxus and herself. She explains that Gray and Natsu fought constantly back then and even at that time and Erza would stop them from fighting. In stark contrast, Mirajane was totally different back then: she was a tough girl who constantly fought with Erza, much to Lucy’s disbelief. When Lucy asks how Natsu and Happy met, Mirajane explains the events surrounding the birth of Happy.

One day, Natsu was in the East Forest, punching a picture of Gray and Erza on a tree when suddenly an egg fell out of the tree and hit him. It had strange markings on it which made Natsu think that it was a dragon egg. He took it back to Fairy Tail, wanting to hatch it. The Master told Natsu that no magic could do that and that he would have to raise the egg with warmth in order to get it to hatch, while Erza thought that it would be a good experience for Natsu, as all he really knew was how to destroy things. Lisanna asked Natsu if she could also help him hatch the egg, with Natsu accepting her help and Lisanna using her Magic to transform into a giant bird so she could keep the egg warm. Elfman felt depressed since he couldn't do a full transformation like his sisters could, regretting that he also lost his parakeet. While in the South Gate Park, the egg started to move and jump to Natsu. Lisanna said that the egg wanted Natsu to keep it warm and together the two built a secret base in order to watch over the egg and keep it safe. They took the egg into the shelter and Lisanna commented that they were like a family, with Natsu being the dad, her being the mom, and the egg being the baby.

Meanwhile, Wakaba and Macao were talking about Natsu and Lisanna and how they had gotten close when Mirajane busted the table that they were sitting at, mad that Natsu and Lisanna were getting close. Natsu took Lisanna to where he first found the egg, but they were ambushed by a Gorian. Natsu gave the egg to Lisanna and told her that he would protect them. He fought the monster until he defeated it with a head-butt. Lisanna was thrilled that Natsu won, but said that he looked like a wreck. It began to rain, so Natsu and Lisanna headed back to their shelter. After some small talk about Lisanna and her family, Lisanna asked Natsu if she could be his bride in the future, which made Natsu blush, but she then told him that she was just joking. They fell asleep that night and a shadow approached.

When morning came, Natsu and Lisanna woke up to find the egg missing. They went to the guild, where Natsu accused everyone of stealing his egg. Everyone denied it and tensions started to rise, when Elfman appeared with the egg and told Natsu that he saw that the egg had gotten cold that night and that he took it to keep it warm. Just when he handed it to Natsu, the egg cracked and hatched to show a small blue winged cat. Lisanna noticed that everyone was taken in by the little kitty and that they were happy, so Natsu decided that he would name the cat Happy. In the moment, Reedus drew them, but instead of drawing a flying cat he drew a flying dragon to please Natsu's wishes.

Back in the present, Natsu brings a lot of big fish to Happy; Happy starts to cry and they make up. In the guild, Makarov comes and asks for Mirajane’s help and Lucy looks at the picture again, wondering who Lisanna is and what happened to her.

Fights

 * Natsu Dragneel vs. Gorian (started and concluded)

Magic used

 * Animal Soul (アニマル·ソウル Animaru Sōru)
 * Animal Soul (アニマル·ソウル Animaru Sōru)
 * Animal Soul (アニマル·ソウル Animaru Sōru)
 * Animal Soul (アニマル·ソウル Animaru Sōru)

Spells Used

 * Animal Soul: Bird
 * Animal Soul: Rabbit

Abilities used

 * Hand to Hand Combat

Manga & Anime Differences

 * Many of the characters clothing differs between the anime and the manga, including Lucy, Mirajane, Erza, Laxus, Natsu and Lisanna's.
 * The fight between a younger Mirajane and Erza was extended in the anime.
 * Lisanna's Animal Soul: Bird spell appears different between the two media.
 * Natsu and Lisanna's hideout has a different appearance between the anime and the manga.
 * The anime extended the scene in which Mirajane and Lucy are cleaning out the archives room, with Lucy complaining to Mirajane about Natsu's earlier behaviour.
 * The anime added many scenes that were not present in the manga at all, some of which were:
 * Natsu, Happy and Lucy fishing by a lake, with Natsu catching a huge fish and not cooking it the way Happy wants. Happy then vows their friendship is over and runs away, with Lucy accidentally bringing up a soft topic with Natsu afterwards.
 * Natsu and Gray fighting all over the guild and Erza breaking up their fights.
 * Natsu taking out his anger on a tree in the forest and finding Happy's egg.
 * Lucy interrupting Mirajane a number of times during the telling of the story to give her opinion on certain events.
 * Elfman being depressed that his parakeet has left him, with him finding another -which he believes to be the same bird- at the end of the story.
 * Natsu and Lisanna raising the egg and building their hideout.
 * Natsu fighting a Gorian that tries to take their egg.
 * Lucy looking over the picture and trying to figure out who every person in the picture is.
 * Natsu catching a heap of fish and going to apologize to Happy.