Okay, here's the story. Turns out girls nowadays have to go out and search for their own Prince Charming. But that also means that the days of being a helpless damsel in distress are over. So you better think twice before messing with my friends! Or else, In the Name of the Moon, I'll punish you!
Usagi Tsukino
(CWi Episode: "Dreams Take Flight")
Chibi-Usa dreams of meeting a pegasus in a crystal forest. After waking up, she joins Usagi and the Sailor Guardians at a park to view a total solar eclipse. While everyone is distracted during totality, a circus tent appears in downtown Tokyo. Inside the tent, an old woman calls forth the Amazon Trio, and tasks them with finding the pegasus who is hiding in someone's beautiful dreams. One of the trio—Tiger's Eye—targets Unazuki for her dreams of finding true love. He lures her to a remote spot before pinning her and extracting her Dream Mirror to see if the pegasus is hiding there. Usagi and Chibi-Usa show up in time to transform but are no match for Tiger's Eye's lemures. Even Tuxedo Mask is useless in this fight. It's only when the pegasus appears upon hearing Chibi Moon's plea for help that Both Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon are powered up enough to defeat the lemures and save Unazuki.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Anatomy of the Soul: In the Sailor Moon universe, a person's dream can appear as a floating pink mirror. One can look inside and see the person's dreams, though doing so can cause them tremendous pain.
- Bad Guy Bar: The Amazon Trio have a personal bar where they can drink and look at photos of potential targets.
- Big Damn Heroes: With Moon, Chibi Moon, and Tuxedo Mask restrained by the bad guys, Pegasus shows up to save the day.
- Book Ends: The episode ends with Chibi-usa remembering Pegasus' ominous warning of not telling anyone about their first meeting.
- Circus of Fear: The main villains of the season are the Dead Moon Circus. A troupe of otherworldly beings who dress like deranged circus performers and plan to conquer Earth.
- Crazy-Prepared: Even though Unazuki doesn't hold Pegasus in her dreams, Tiger's Eye is under orders to kill her so Pegasus doesn't try to seek refuge with her.
- Creepy Doll: Tiger's Eye summons his Automaton Lemures, Karakuriko, to fend of the Sailor Guardians while he magically assaults Unazuki. She has the ability to break apart her body parts to restrain the Guardians or poke them with sharp things.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: While discussing about the upcoming eclipse, Usagi jokes about the supernatural rising up to terrorize the waking world. Which ends up happening in the form of the Dead Moon Circus.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Tiger's Eye method of targeting Unazuki plays out like a case of sexual assault. First he lures the girl into a secluded area, restrains her so she can't escape (using a giant red body board), and then shoves his head into her Dream Mirror while she screams and begs him to stop.
- Dream Sequence: Befitting the season's theme, the episode starts with Chibi-usa dreaming about a weird horse in a crystal forest.
- Dub Name Change: The Dead Moon Circus is called the "Dark Moon Circus" in the Cloverway dub.
- Evil Old Folks: The ringleader of the Dead Moon Circus is an old woman named Madame Zirconia who directs the Amazon Trio in capturing Pegasus.
- Evil Plan: Zirconia explains to the Amazon Trio that their job is to find and capture Pegasus who is hiding in the dreams of a given person. Once captured, they will exploit his powers to usher a new era of circus supremacy.
- From the Mouths of Babes: After Chibi-usa gives a passionate speech about women needing to go out and find their own Prince Charming, Usagi accuses her of reading through Ikuko's women's magazines again.
- Humans Are Bastards: The residents of the Dead Moon Circus mock humanity for not realizing their tent has landed in the city, calling them selfish creatures who couldn't be bothered to care if the world itself was destroyed around them because they're so wrapped up in their own problems.Giant Mask Lemures: They're the kind of people who only care about what's happening in their own little lives.Conjoined Twin Lemures: So then-!Tiny Upside-Down Lemures: Even if the whole world collapses at their feet-!Lemures Balancing The Upside-Down One On Her Head: Even if a tent appears suddenly in the middle of their city-!Fat Woman Lemures: The people around here would never notice at all!
- I'm Standing Right Here: Unazuki teases Chibi-usa about her thinking about a boy and playfully warns her about not doing anything that her mom and dad wouldn't approve of. She says this while Usagi and Mamoru look on with concern for her.
- Instant Costume Change: In her dream, Chibi-usa goes from her pajamas into her Small Lady form.
- Invisible to Normals: The denizens of the Dead Moon laugh at how the humans are unable to detect their presence. Though Usagi does see their tent before running off to join her friends.
- Kryptonite Factor: Zirconia explains to the Trio that Pegasus cannot exist because he lacks a physical body and would painfully die if he stayed out for too long. To avoid this, he has to take shelter in someone's beautiful dreams.
- Monster of the Week: The new monsters for the season are called Lemures. They're summoned from the shadows of the Amazon Trio and have a quirky circus theme to them.
- Next Tier Power-Up: With a flick of his horn, Pegasus grants Moon and Chibi-Moon their super forms along with a new finishing move to destroy the Lemures.
- Noodle Incident: After Chibi-Usa's surprisingly thoughtful speech about finding love, Usagi bluntly asks if she was reading age inappropriate material again.Usagi: You've been reading Mama's mature novels without her permission again haven't you.
- Quirky Mini Boss Squad: The Amazon Trio consists of flamboyant men who hunt innocent people in the hopes of finding Pegasus.
- She's a Man in Japan: To get around Fish Eye's attraction to men and interest in crossdressing, the Cloverway dub rewrote him as a girl. And interestingly enough, they made Madame Zirconia into an old man.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Karakuriko has various similarities with Nephrite's Model Youma, Jumou.
- Total Eclipse of the Plot: Because of a solar eclipse occurring in the Juuban district, the Dead Moon Circus is able to escape it's otherworldly prison and plant itself in the waking world completely undetected.
- Whip of Dominance: Tiger's Eye uses a whip to forcibly trap Unazuki, summon Karakuriko, and later to defeat Tuxedo Mask.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Rei and the cats have this reaction after hearing how Usagi genuinely believed that ghosts and werewolves come out in a full moon (not an eclipse).
