"Twilight, honey, don't you recognize me?" Asked Applejack, trying to prove me wrong.

"Umm… I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I have never seen you in my entire life." Answered Twilight, looking so confused that if I didn't know she was her, I would have mistook her for somepony else.

"See, I told you, she can't remember anything." I said, proving my point.

"You poor thing!" Murmured Rarity, squeezing Twilight in her hooves as if she would never see her again.

"Umm… Twilight. Do you, umm… by any chance, umm… remember me?" Asked Spike, his energetic green eyes meeting Twilight's dull, gray eyes, as if he were about to cry.

"No, I-I don't seem to remember anything." She said, with no emotion in her voice, as if she was just a machine, with no feelings, no emotions… no soul.

Then it all made sense. No… soul...

"Steelwing, come with me." I said, trotting over towards the history section of the library. When we got there, I instantly turned towards a section titled "Ancient Equestria", looked under the F column, and pulled out a freakishly large, dark-orange or light brown, beat up book entitled 'Forgotten Kingdoms of Pre-Equestrian Times'.

"Yes! They have it." I exclaimed in victory. "Umm… Steelwing, I'm gonna need your help carrying this book, its kinda he-heavy." I said, struggling to carry the gigantic brown book. He instantly leaped over to assist me. We then brought the book over to where the rest were. If only this book wasn't so heavy, I thought to myself while a streak of sweat tickled down the center of my face, making its way right between my eyes. We then put the book down on the table very carefully, but Steelwing sneezed, loosing grip of the book, causing it to fall, and with a loud thud, crush my right front hoof.

"Ahghghgg!" I screamed in pain as I tried to lift the book from my poor little hoof, who was already tired from all that running away from monsters and tackling runaway unicorns.

"Im so sorry!" said Steelwing, but by the way he was giggling, I could tell that he wasn't.

"It's all g-good." I said, a tear sliding down from my left eye. Then without hesitation, I flipped through the hefty pages of the giant book, gently rubbing my hoof in misery, until I finally found the page I was looking for.

"The Shadow Clan?" asked Stratosphere, reading the inscription that stood out in big, bold letters.

"I have a feeling that this is the cause of all the terrible things that have been happening. It all made since after Spike asked Twilight if she remembered him. Listen up everypony," I said, turning my attention towards the big book, "what I am about to say will clear all existing doubts of this strange situation. It says here that ten thousand years ago, when the kingdom of Equestria was nonexistent, the world was controlled by three clans. There was the Earth Clan, protectors of land, the Sky Clan, conquerors of the heights, and lastly, the Water Clan, guardians of the seas. One day, a small group of shadows started rising to power. Over time, the dark group began to expand, becoming more and more powerful, and eventually, under the rule of a Shadow Princess, they started taking over the other clans. These groups of evil conquerors called themselves the fourth clan, but are often referred to as the Shadow Clan. They were highly powerful, and their harsh and cruel techniques were exceedingly successful in the conquering of other clans. They soon took over a large piece of land, covering the entire span of modern Equestria. Their rule over this land was dark and depressing, mostly because of the fact that in every place the Shadow Clan conquered, its inhabitants were forced to work for the princess. But wait, that's not even the worst part, it says here that if somepony decided to not do his job or if one was no longer useful, its soul was removed and given to the princess as a source of power."

"Are you suggesting that Twilight's strange behavior is caused by this old mare's tale of a magical shadow clan that gobbles up souls? You have to be kidding me." Said Steelwing in disbelief.

"Well, all the evidence is pointing towards this 'Shadow Clan' Crimson was telling us about. The monsters that chased us seem awfully similar to those in that legend." Said Aquamarine, who hasn't said a thing all day until just now.

"Sadly, I think she's right. If there is any sort of evil force trying to keep us from finding the Dragon Knight, it seems a little too much like the Shadow Clan this legend speaks of." I said with a hint of desperation on my tone.

"If Twilight lost her soul, how is she still alive?" asked Sparks.

"Because her soul hasn't been consumed yet." I said, reading the book. "It says here that after a pony's soul has been extracted from his or her body, it was then stored in a so-called 'Cauldron of Judgment', where it would sit until the princess is ready to devour it."

"That doesn't answer my question." Said Sparks, rolling her eyes. If only my sister was less insisting. I exhaled, skimming through the pages of the book, looking for a logical explanation to all of this.

"Aha! It then says later on that when the ponies were stripped away from their souls, the remaining soul-less bodies were then used as mindless slaves." I said, a little disturbed.

"Excuse me, but did you just call me a mindless slave?!" said Twilight, clearly insulted.

"No, I mean yes, I mean… you're misunderstanding, I didn't mean to-" I paused for a second. "You know what, forget it, we have no time to waste, and arguing is getting us nowhere close to getting your soul back."

"And how do we do that?" Asked Rainbow Dash. Great, I thought to myself, the one time somepony asks me a question that I don't know the answer to just so happens to be the way to save another pony's life. I then turned to my best and greatest friend, the one I know won't let me down… books. I scrolled through the pages until I found something that looked like it might help, but sadly, I was a bit too late…