It all began with a collective dream. Or perhaps it was a collective memory. It's uncertain exactly which one it was, but it's known for certain that it began on that spring day when Usagi and her friends went to see the flower viewing on the hillside, the same day the huge circus tent descended from the heavens and not a single person noticed. Perhaps it had a cloaking device that kept it out of the sight of those who hadn't come into contact with magic. Perhaps it was biding its time, having focused its mission after the last time it had arrived on the Earth. Ultimately, it was only the second or third weirdest thing Usagi saw that day.
After getting crepes with her friends, washing them down with some melon soda, she crashed on her bed and fell asleep almost immediately. Rei did another round of meditation, confirming that no strange premonitions were happening. Minako and Ami stayed up until the late hours of the night, singing and studying, respectively. Makoto finished preparing her lunch for the next day, and also drifted off to sleep.
There was an image in their minds of a strange fog rolling in, a pink fog that smelled faintly of the deepest, most ancient magic. Usagi was the most familiar with it. When her Super transformation faded after utilizing the Holy Grail, this was often the scent that remained. Paying no mind to Chibi-Usa up in the attic, her mind faded into a dream more vivid than any she had before.
What Usagi had been through with Pharaoh 90 was a void of cold, sightless emptiness. This void was like floating in a stream of warm light. Still, upon dreaming, Usagi felt for a moment like she was nowhere.
Usagi was in a room. The furniture was much fancier than hers usually was. The room, or perhaps the entire building, looked like it was covered in marble. Usagi tumbled out of bed, thankful that there was carpet beneath her. The room was faintly lit, though it may have seemed dimmer because of the bright, glowing light coming from the nearby crystalline pond.
The tired girl looked around for a mirror. Her body felt lighter. Her dreams usually filled her with a floating sensation, but the comfortable softness of her pajamas was no longer upon her body. A mirror was in the corner of the room. She saw a photograph reflected in the bedside table. It looked like Serenity and Endymion. She had no idea if this was Silver Millenium or Crystal Tokyo. Both of them were her. The idea that her time as Usagi Tsukino, ordinary schoolgirl was a temporal blip, an anomaly, in her history was something she had yet to wrap her head around.
"Mamo," Usagi called out. "Mamo, where are you?"
Usagi saw her confused expression in the mirror. She had been tired when she passed out, but her mirror self looked wide awake. Her gaze panned further down, and she realized she was naked.
"Mamo! That's not funny!" Usagi shouted. "Give me back my clothes!"
Usagi opened the closet, the chest of drawers, everything that could hold something. They were all completely empty. Her voice echoed off the walls. This room was barren, and there was nobody here to respond. Without even a shred of clothing on her, Usagi left Serenity's room and walked down the hall into the palace.
She kept waiting for one of the doors to creak open, perhaps for one of Serenity's servants to come to her side with a silky dress and a mug of warm tea. The doors alternated between swinging on their hinges and remaining firmly locked, yet nobody answered. Her footsteps were louder, and she could hear her heavy breathing and the beating of her own heart as she walked down the hallway. The underside of her feet felt every groove in the tiles. She felt as though she knew the layout of this place.
Usagi reached the lobby, and was paralyzed by that sense of deja vu. She turned her eyes upward towards the ceiling, catching a brighter glimpse of the moonlight.
A statue of a pegasus was in the main lobby of the palace. She flashed back to Chibi-Usa and the flower viewing earlier. It had only been a few hours ago, but at this moment, it felt like another lifetime. Everyone had been talking about pegasi lately. The creature had a majesty about him. Usagi looked up at the horn of the statue. A layer of dust had fallen away, revealing a faint golden sheen. The horn was pointing in the direction of the forest, the same place she had seen through the window.
Taking it as a sign, Usagi exited the palace and ran down the stairs into the world outside.
The sun was nowhere to be seen in the sky, and the world was barren and white. Yet the crystals weren't ice, and the air wasn't cold. There was an unsettling warmth to the atmosphere. Usagi removed her hands from her chest and walked freely. The path towards the forest was covered in crystals. If she followed them towards the light, she may get some answers.
It was a long time before Ami noticed anything different. After taking a long bath, she often lounged around her bedroom wearing nothing but her towel, letting that slip off as her mind became engrossed in her books. That's why it took her a long time to notice that she was standing around naked in a dimly lit library. Rows and rows of books lined the shelves, many with titles written in languages she had never seen.
The windows of the library were open, letting the light of the full moon shine in. Even this late at night, the books were still legible, their black ink shining in the rainbow colors under the moonlight. She found identical copies of a book in Japanese and the mysterious language, and began decoding it to pass the time, desperately trying to take her mind off the lonliness of the vast, empty library. She'd always enjoyed her solitude, but with no one else around, the smallness of being Ami enclosed around her.
The chair, the desk, all of them felt a magnitude larger than usual. The back of the library faded into darkness as the moonlight momentarily faded behind a passing cloud. Ami was surrounded by books, filled with things she had yet to learn, but the weight of that knowledge was overbearing. Why study at all if there was nobody in this world to teach it to?
"The Ancient History of the Moon Kingdom?" Ami said, reading the title of one of the books. "The only thing on the moon is a few shuttles and flags and…this all seems awfully familiar."
She stood up and looked out the window. A lake was within walking distance. One of the few things that remained on the barren ground. Whatever had happened to this place had left the books intact. Ami saw a light on the lake.
Ami turned around and faced the library. She scanned the bookshelves one more time, and found one on the psychology of dreams. Ami took it off the bookshelf and clutched it to her chest. The dusty, leather-bound left a fine layer of dust on her body. Ami wiped herself down, from her chest to her navel, and exited the library's doors. They creaked open with a loud noise, and slammed behind her as she slowly walked down the steps.
Ami opened the book to the first chapter, reading it as she walked through the crater-strewn path.
"Whoever's there must be able to tell me something," Ami thought.
The Hino family shrine went back generations. There were no records of when it was built, but the spot had long been a source of spiritual power. Rei's work and home were both there, so it was comforting to her when she found herself meditating in the sacred room of a very similar shrine in what she quickly realized was the dream world. She didn't recognize the energy that was projecting out past the shrine, and immediately put herself on guard.
Rising from her meditating position, Rei looked down at her chest and saw that no clothing, not even her socks, remained on her body. She had long pondered why turning into Sailor Mars necessitated removing her clothes. The purification and rebirth of the body was probably a factor, but if so, what had led to this? Had someone interrupted her in the middle of a transformation?
"Evil Spirits, Begone!" Rei shouted, tossing a talisman into the distance. The strip of paper fizzled out into a pile of ashes. If there were evil spirits here, they were either nonexistent or had already consumed the land. One talisman would hardly be enough.
Rei exited the sacred room and stepped outside. The wind blew past her, whistling through the trees. She heard the sound of wings flapping in the distance. She channeled her spiritual energy and tried to call upon Phobos and Deimos, but neither of them responded. Despite the desolate gray landscape, there had to be something else alive in this place.
"If this is a dream, I should be able to control it to some extent," Rei thought. "Even if I can't change the future, I can at least change what parts of it I'm seeing. Unless…this isn't the future at all."
A small flame burned in the palm of her hand, materializing a stack of talismans. Rei gripped them tightly. She had nowhere else to put them, and if there was life out here, it probably wasn't friendly. One of them burned away in her hands as she activated a barrier, the faint red aura of flame encircling her body with every step.
The tension in her chest and waist faded. At least this warmth was familiar. She breathed a momentary sigh before approaching whatever danger waited in the forest.
Makoto found herself inside of a giant crater in the middle of the park. She looked down and immediately noticed her lack of clothes, and tensed up in embarrassment. Thinking she was too tall, too big, had always weighed on her mind, but it was difficult to conceal it now. She turned around nervously, wondering if any creeps were leering at her butt on the opposite side of the tree.
A minute or so passed, and Minako realized that there was nobody here but her. The clock in the middle of the park wasn't making a sound. It hadn't moved since she got here. Makoto wondered what was keeping the streetlights in the park on.
She pushed away the debris and the rubble surrounding the craters. Whatever had been through here was strong. Makoto approached one of the trees. Some greenery remained on the branches. One of the few bits of life she had encountered she since'd arrived here. Makoto bent down and looked at the scenery once more.
"This reminds me of that time with him," Makoto said. "I was just as nervous then, too."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw what looked like a human silhouette in the distance. Makoto covered her breasts with one hand and held out the other, concentrating as hard as she could. The power of Jupiter within her started creating tiny sparks between her fingers. One snap and they could turn into a bolt of lightning aimed directly at the target.
The silhouette did nothing, and kept walking. Makoto looked beyond the horizon. There was a full moon tonight, and while it was dotted with craters, most of the path through the park was clear. Makoto carefully stepped down the path, avoiding any pitfalls that might take the shadowed figure out of her sight.
"This doesn't make any sense," Makoto thought. "Everything here feels so real. The last thing I remember doing was falling asleep. If this is a dream, I don't think it's my dream. Someone else's must have overlapped with ours by mistake."
Makoto approached a glade with a shimmering lake. The trees circled around her, until the moon looked like it was hovering directly overhead.
"Show yourself!" Makoto called. Her voice echoed, and nobody responded.
Minako was in the middle of a large ballroom. Faded instruments lined the stage, and the light shone in through the cracked windows. There was nobody here. No dancers. No parents. No Artemis. Upon realizing the last one, Minako let out a cheer of delight. She looked inside a crystal mirror along the wall, and took in the sight of herself. All of her clothes had been removed at some point.
"Oh. Nevermind, I sleep in the nude anyway," Minako said. "Look at me, world! World class beauty, Minako Aino is here! Who wants some of this?"
Minako jumped on the stage and struck a series of lewd poses, waving her butt and pushing the sides of her arms into her chest. This was liberating, a chance to let the world see her beauty. At least in theory. Frustrated, Minako started furiously clapping. The sound reached the end of the hall and echoed back at her, growing dimmer as they faded into the stone.
"There's no point to this," Minako said. "I may as well be singing in the shower."
She looked towards the horizon. Something was shining in the middle of the forest. Minako knew that she was the one in the group who was on Usagi's wavelength. If anyone understood where Usagi was right now, it was her. Usagi would want to keep her friend safe, and was likely moving towards that light to investigate. If Minako did the same, she'd find her friends. Minako pushed through the doors of the ballroom and charged towards the park outside. She saw faint human silhouettes in the distance. There was people there. She spread her arms wide and ran through the streets of the deserted town.
"Look at me, I'm Lady Godiva!" Minako shouted.
If she was Lady Godiva, the one thing she was missing was a horse. In fact, the horse was unnecessary, it would only draw attention away from her stunning, lovely beauty. In the back of her mind, she knew that what she was really seeking was to be noticed. Plus, the thought of dancing in the woods like a bunch of fairies sounded appealing. It had always been a fantasy of hers, and this was a chance to act it out.
That's what dreams were for, after all.
The Inner Guardians all met on the same lake, in the middle of the same forest. They exchanged similar, confused glances at each others' bodies. It was nothing they hadn't seen before, but the strangeness of the scenario made everyone acutely aware of everyone else's nudity.
"When did we all become exhibitionists?" Usagi said aloud.
"It's not like I had a choice," said Makoto.
"This is for…spiritual purity," said Rei.
"That's not really important right now," said Ami.
"I always have been," said Minako, striking a pose that emphasized her body.
"Good evening, fair maidens," said a voice from the distant woods. A white horse with a golden horn and a wide breadth to his wings walked forward. Though his mouth never moved, he was speaking like a human. Walking beside him was Chibi-Usa. Compared to the Inner Guardians, her expression had a certain confidence to it, as though she had met this horse before.
"Who are you?" asked Usagi.
"My name is not important," said the horse. "You are in my kingdom, but I feel this is not the right time to divulge further information."
"Actually," Ami said, "I've been doing some research, and this is the Kingdom of Elysi-"
"I know, I know!" said Minako, interrupting Ami. "You must be a premonition of a scout. We can call ourselves Peach Hips, because we all have such cute butts." She slapped Rei and Makoto's cheeks at the same time, leaving a light red mark.
"Minako!" the two of them said in unison, turning towards her. "Now's not the time!"
"I feel like Mamoru would know something about this," said Usagi.
"Are you really sure you want to present yourself to Mamoru in your birthday suit?" Rei said.
"It's stranger that there's a talking horse. Chibi-Usa, when did you meet this creature?" asked Ami.
"He's not a creature, he's my friend," said Chibi-Usa. "We've talked before."
"The reason I have called you all to this forest is to prepare your bodies for a new power," said the horse. "Your transformation pens alone are not sufficient. You must be blessed by the power of the Golden Crystal and the full moonlight. Only when this is done will you be ready."
"Are we sure nobody will see us out here?" Makoto said.
"Trust me," said the horse. The image of a young man momentarily appeared where he was standing, before fading back into the equine form. Usagi blinked, thinking it all may have been a hallucination. "Now, form a circle and join hands."
Usagi, Chibi-Usa, Rei, Minako, Makoto and Ami joined hands and stood around the horse. Warmth flowed between their bodies. Their skin, shimmering with a nervous sweat, now shone with a mysterious, faintly magical light. The darkened forest lit up in a rainbow of colors, and the lake reflected the stars. Usagi briefly looked down. It was as though they were standing on the edge of space itself.
"Moon Crisis, Make Up."
The group said those words in unison. Whoever's dream they were in must have been thinking them. The horse launched himself out of their circle and towards the moon. Seconds after he took flight, Usagi felt her body growing lighter. The ground was looking smaller, and she could see the lit forest below. As she flew towards the moon, her magical girl clothes formed onto her body in an instant. Looking behind her, the same was happening with her friends.
The sounds of familiar melody played in the distance. Though she was still far away, the sparkling skyline of Silver Millennium was nearly visible from this height. Usagi glanced behind her to see if her friends had somehow gotten the hang of flying.
She was alone in the sky, and gravity's pull had returned to her body. Usagi began to fall.
One by one, across the city, the Inner Guardians woke up. Only Chibi-Usa, in her attic, was not confused by what had just gone on. A premonition of the past and the immediate future had visited them all that night. Across Juban, the faint mist of the fog remained, drifting across town towards those who slumbered.
Towards those who dreamed of a place called Elysion.