The Golden Crystal Appears: Nehelenia's Magic

With the Amazoness Quartet locked away for trying to take Pegasus, Nehelenia orders Zirconia to finish both them and the guardians while she deals with Chibi Moon herself. Threatening to shatter the Golden Dream Mirror and destroy Chibiusa's dreams, she forces Pegasus out of it, and rather than let those dreams die, he rejoins his body as Helios and yields the Golden Crystal she craves.

While Nehelenia torments Helios and Chibi Moon for the crystal, the other guardians face Zirconia, who splits into copies to bewilder them. Mercury spots the true Zirconia with help from Zircon and breaks the illusion using Mercury Aqua Rhapsody. Cornered, Zirconia drags the Quartet from their prison and siphons their power, trapping them, but the guardians urge the four to smash the orbs that grant their strength and endless youth. Convinced they can dream new dreams as they grow older, the Quartet shatter the orbs and free themselves, and the outnumbered Zirconia retreats. Nehelenia at last claims the Golden Crystal, dismisses Zirconia, who vanishes as a mere reflection of her, and emerges from her mirror to darken the Earth as Dead Moon Circus tents descend on Tokyo.

In the manga the Golden Crystal lay sealed within Mamoru's body as Endymion's own counterpart to Serenity's Silver Crystal, and the Amazoness Quartet never destroyed their stones, being freed later by Neo-Queen Serenity's healing. The episode holds the final appearances of Zirconia, Zircon, and the Amazon Stones in the original anime, and introduces both the Golden Crystal and the realm of Elysion. It aired in Japan on February 17, 1996.