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We see pictures of the sun (now almost totally eclipsed) and Mamoru still lying in bed as Sailor Moon does a brief voice-over. In the Dead Moon Circus tent, Sailor Chibi-Moon is pounding frantically on her side of the mirror as the Senshi try to find a way to free her. Sailor Moon backs up, then charges at the mirror shoulder-first, but it disappears before she reaches it and she crashes to the ground. Meanwhile, the Quartet has vanished, and, after another triumphant little speech (gloating that the Golden Crystal is finally theirs), Zirconia follows--taking the mirror, as well.
[OP--"Moonlight Densetsu"]
[title screen]
The five Senshi are wandering around what appears to be a maze of some kind, in search of Chibi-Moon. Sailor Mercury, who has her visor down, types on her computer and indicates a direction, and they all set out that way.
The mirror reappears in Neherenia's chamber and releases Chibi-Moon, who stumbles and falls to the ground. The Holy Grail appears and floats down into her hands, and she realizes that she can use it to contact the Pegasus. As she tries to do so, the Grail glows, and an answering glow comes from somewhere overhead.
Chibi-Moon looks up and stares in shock at the trapped Helios, letting the Grail fall (although it vanishes before it hits the ground). She recognizes him as the boy who kissed her in the dream (from ep. 158), and whispers his name. She smiles and starts toward him, saying that they've finally met and now she can rescue him, but she's stopped by the sound of laughter from behind her, and turns to see Neherenia.
Suddenly, streams of web come out of nowhere to wrap around Chibi-Moon's wrists, waist, and ankles, trapping her in place. Neherenia smiles in satisfaction, but Chibi-Moon defiantly says she has no right to keep Helios prisoner. Neherenia says Chibi-Moon, never having been banished into darkness, has no idea what she's talking about, and proceeds to tell her own "how I became a villain" story (with plenty of appropriate visual aids).
In the time of the Silver Millennium, when Queen Serenity reigned over the Moon Kingdom, Neherenia was also a queen, and she wanted to rule instead of Serenity. Somehow, she found out about a crystal with such power that she could use it to take over the Moon--the Golden Crystal, which was hidden on Earth and guarded by Helios.
The view shifts to some kind of beautiful, Greek-style temple in a forest, with Helios (in human form, and without the horn on his forehead) standing in the middle. Flashback to the confrontation between him and Neherenia over the Golden Crystal, which hangs in the air between them. Neherenia offers to let him rule the world with her if he will give her the Crystal, but Helios responds that the Crystal can only be possessed by someone with good dreams and a pure heart, which Neherenia doesn't have.
Neherenia was punished for rebelling against Serenity by being banished to the darkness of the Dead Moon. We see a picture of the eclipse from ep. 128; from the dark shape covering the sun, a series of weird figures--the Dead Moon Circus--fly toward Earth. Neherenia says that her warriors used the last eclipse to invade Earth and search for the Golden Crystal, the only thing that could free their queen.
Neherenia finishes her story, and Chibi-Moon makes another defiant speech, to which Neherenia responds by smiling and causing electricity to flow down the webs holding the girl, causing her to cry out in pain. Neherenia stops the torture after a few moments and Chibi-Moon hangs limp, apparently unconscious.
Neherenia calls for Zirconia, who appears on the other side of Neherenia's mirror, listens as Neherenia orders her to destroy the other Senshi, and bows in acknowledgment.
In their own room, the members of the Amazoness Quartet sit around and talk; they're bored. Pallapalla says she wants to ride the Pegasus. Vesves draws their attention to a telescope of some kind, made by attaching her magic pool ball to the top of a tube with lenses at either end. Looking into the red ball, they see the imprisoned Helios and Chibi-Moon.
Pallapalla turns her blue ball into a life-size Chibi-Moon doll. Junjun peers through a small dimensional portal to Neherenia's room which Cerecere conjures up, and surveys the situation on the other side. A few moments later, while Neherenia has her back turned, Junjun uses her ball to free Chibi-Moon, pull her through the small portal, and replace her with the doll.
[commercial break]
Over the city, the last little sliver of the sun is disappearing. Inside the tent, the Senshi continue their search. Sailor Moon pauses to look in a mirror off to one side until one of the others calls to her from up ahead, causing her to hurry to catch up. As she leaves the mirror, her reflection remains, and its eyes follow her, narrowing maliciously.
Zirconia is in a room full of lit candles and mirrors. [Note: This is a rather long Zirconia scene, so it's as good a time as any to finally pick a gender-exclusive pronoun. I'm going with "she"--until I see positive proof to the contrary--because that's what Zirconia seems like to me. Also, the following scene is one of my favorites from SS, which is why I'm going into such an absurd amount of detail with it. :)] Zirconia holds a small mirror in her hands, and energy of some kind leaps upward from it. She sees an image of Sailor Moon, who has somehow become separated from the others.
Sailor Mars, who is also suddenly alone, turns away from another mirror as she hears something behind her, but there's nothing there. "Sailor Moon?" she asks, hesitantly.
Mercury walks down an aisle of mirrors, calling for the others; she turns her back on one mirror, and her reflection looks over its shoulder at her, smiling evilly.
Venus, in the center of a group of mirrors, sees one mirror rattle (as if moved by something) and freezes, blinking uncertainly.
Elsewhere, Jupiter hears a voice call her and looks around for its source. She peers at her reflection in one mirror, and is shocked when it smiles and speaks to her. The reflection's eyes begin to glow, and Jupiter slowly relaxes as it talks.
The reflection tells her to look at her life--she's become a warrior, instead of the regular, happy girl she always wanted to be. There's a quick flashback: Mako, in her school uniform, watches sadly as a young man walks off with a girl in a fancy pink dress. Suddenly, the reflection is wearing the same pink dress; it holds out a hand to Jupiter and smiles, inviting her to step into the swirling gray vortex on the other side of the mirror, and telling her that it isn't too late to give up her Senshi life and make all her dreams come true.
Mercury looks into one mirror, but faces two reflections of herself; one is standing behind the other, arms around the second as though to hold it in place. The first reflection talks about Ami's dreams, and asks her if she's forgotten about them. Mercury has a sad, resigned look on her face as she says, "Watashi no yume..." vVenus stands with one hand on a mirror as her reflection talks to her, telling her that she never really got any acknowledgment for her fight for justice, and that she should give up the fight and go back to her own forgotten dreams. Elsewhere, Mars appears mesmerized as she listens to half a dozen reflections from a circle of mirrors.
Sailor Moon is still walking alone. She thinks she hears laughter behind her, turns to see her reflection in a row of mirrors, and panics a bit when the reflections don't move with her, almost backing into another mirror. The reflection behind her speaks soothingly, trying to convince her to give up her duty as a warrior, but we see that Zirconia, in the candle-lit room on the mirror's opposite side, is the one putting words in its mouth. Sailor Moon is standing almost close enough to the mirror for her to touch; as the reflection's white-gloved fingers pass through the glass, they become the gray, wrinkled fingers of Zirconia, reaching for Sailor Moon's neck.
Suddenly, as Mamoru experiences another attack of pain, Sailor Moon whispers his name and steps forward, away from the mirror. The false reflection asks what's wrong, and Sailor Moon turns toward it, saying that, since she and Mamoru have shared so much with each other, she can feel his pain: "Don't you feel it?... How can you say you're me if you can't feel it? You aren't me!" The other Senshi seem to hear this (progressively more angry) speech, since they snap out of their stupors.
Sailor Moon shatters the mirror in front of her with Moon Tiara Action. Venus and Mercury join in with their attacks, and in a moment the only mirror left in the place is the one behind which Zirconia, stripped of her disguise, now stands. The Senshi stand together, facing her.
The image in the mirror changes to show the Amazoness Quartet's chamber, with the Pegasus standing and Chibi-Moon on the floor, unconscious. The Amazons try to jump onto the Pegasus' back to ride him, but he merely fades out for a moment and they fall to the floor instead.
Pallapalla uses her ball to create an energy bridle on the Pegasus, who begins to neigh in alarm. The four again try to mount him--the Golden Crystal in his horn has caught their attention, and they now want it, too--but the Crystal drives them back with an energy pulse. Something seems to go wrong with this, however, and fire from the Crystal surrounds the Pegasus. His loud neighs awaken Sailor Chibi-Moon, who gets up and rushes to help him.
After getting a brief explanation from the Quartet, Chibi-Moon runs into the fire, reaches the Pegasus, and, with an obviously great effort, breaks the energy bridle. The flames vanish, and the Amazons stare open-mouthed at Chibi-Moon's decision to risk her own life to help the Pegasus. On the other side of the mirror, the Senshi smile.
Zirconia's voice sounds through the room, causing the Quartet to lower their heads fearfully. Four mirrors appear and trap them, and another set of webs snare Chibi-Moon, again zapping her with electricity. Sailor Moon screams her name, trying in vain to penetrate the mirror.
The Golden Mirror appears long enough for the Pegasus to fly back into it, then vanishes again into the unconscious Chibi-Moon. As the Senshi watch angrily, Chibi-Moon appears right in front of them, then the mirror cracks and her image is gone. Sailor Moon whispers, "Chibi-Moon..."
The Amazons are floating in some kind of inter-dimensional nothingness, half-in and half-out of their mirrors. They realize that they're being punished for disobeying Neherenia, but, being children, are (overly) optimistic about the possibility of forgiveness. (Junjun is pensive, still puzzling over Chibi-Moon's behavior.)
Chibi-Moon is back in Neherenia's chamber. Outside, the sun finally disappears completely.
[ED--"'Rashiku' Ikimasho"]
Copyright ©1998-2000 Stephen Congly
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