Dead Moon Circus

The group presents itself as a circus, its great tent rolling into the human world under cover of a solar eclipse and pitching camp in Juban. Command runs on a strict ladder. Queen Nehelenia gives orders from within her mirror, the withered Zirconia relays them and assigns targets, and the fieldwork passes first to the Amazon Trio and later to the acrobatic Amazoness Quartet. Beneath them all march the Lemures, the show's rank-and-file monsters. In the manga and Crystal, the pair Xenotime and Zeolite round out the roster.

Every part of the circus exists to feed Nehelenia's vanity and her dread of growing old. The organization survives by tearing the dream mirrors out of its victims, since those stolen dreams are what preserve the queen's youth and beauty. Its overriding goal is to seize the Golden Crystal and the guardian Pegasus, the keys that would break Nehelenia's mirror prison and let her reign over the Earth. Fear, cruelty, and endless deception define how the outfit operates.

The circus began as a quiet kingdom ruled by Nehelenia. Worshipped from childhood, she grew up lonely, and her ancient mirror taught her to love only herself. When it showed her a future as a wrinkled old woman, her terror gave rise to Zirconia. Together they freed the queen's fears from the glass, harvested the dream mirrors of her own people to turn them into Lemures, and used those dreams to hold aging at bay. Craving more, Nehelenia looked to other worlds. She tried to claim the Golden Crystal of Elysion but was driven off by its golden fire, then assaulted the Moon Kingdom and was locked inside her mirror by Queen Serenity and the Silver Crystal.

From that prison she dispatched the circus to capture Helios, guardian of Elysion, whose Golden Crystal could set her loose. Helios slipped away by hiding his spirit in the dreams of Chibiusa, drawing the circus to Earth to find his chosen host. Along the way Nehelenia recruited four forest girls with the Amazon Stones, forming the Amazoness Quartet, while Zirconia reshaped a tiger, a hawk, and a fish into the human Amazon Trio.

During the SuperS campaign the Amazon Trio searched the dream mirrors of assorted victims, each fixated on a different kind of person, and kept guessing wrong before Sailor Moon's Moon Gorgeous Meditation destroyed their summoned Lemures. Fish Eye finally recognized Chibiusa as Pegasus's holder, and Zirconia revealed the Trio's true animal natures. Shaken, they turned against the circus when Mr. Magic Pierrot was sent to kill them, and Tiger's Eye and Fish Eye gave their lives to mend Usagi's shattered mirror before Pegasus revived them for Elysion. The Amazoness Quartet then took up the hunt for the Golden Mirror, only to have a change of heart and smash their Amazon Stones. When Nehelenia at last obtained the Golden Crystal and escaped, the Quartet swapped it for a pineapple, and Super Sailor Chibi Moon's Moon Crisis Power tore the circus apart. Nehelenia fled to reseal herself in her mirror as her beauty faded.

She resurfaced in the Sailor Stars season when Sailor Galaxia cracked her seal to awaken Sailor Saturn, feeding the queen a mirror of hatred that let her control people and spawn the Mirror Paredri. Nehelenia trapped the Guardians one by one, but once Sailor Moon reached the ruined palace, Usagi's compassion moved the queen to relent. Their combined power flowed through the Eternal Tiare to reincarnate Nehelenia, shattering the mirror for good, restoring her kingdom, and returning her to childhood with an open heart.