Soren, Spike, and the girls soon arrived at Vinyl & Octavia's house. Soren knocked on the door, and a few seconds later, Vinyl opened it.
"Soren?!" Vinyl gasped. "You're back!" The DJ proceeded to hug her friend. "How ya been, buddy?"
"F-Fine...You're kind of...crushing me...a bit," Soren strained. Vinyl let go of her hug and patted Soren's back.
"All in a days work. So what bring you here? Looking for Octavia?"
"Actually I was looking for both of you. Is my sister home?" Soren noticed that Vinyl looked a little sad now.
"Yeah...she's home. Come on in." The group of friends crowded inside the musicians' home while Vinyl began explaining. "For the past few days, Octavia missed you, Soren, but she was mostly worried. Ever since the fire near town, Tavi started to fear the worst had happened to you. It got to the point where she would listen to your Canterlot concert when she felt really sad. I tried to tell her you had to be fine, but she remained worried."
Soren instantly felt bad. 'How could I put my own sister through that?' Hearing music coming from upstairs, Soren ran up the staircase and into Vinyl's studio. It was there that he saw Octavia sitting on a couch situated against a wall, eyes closed as she listened to a familiar voice. The classy mare opened her eyes at the intrusion, and soon her eyes widened when she saw Soren standing there. She immediately got off of the couch, ran over to Soren, and hugged him.
"I'm so sorry, Octavia," Soren apologized as he hugged his sister. "I never should have made you worry so much." Soren felt Octavia shake her head.
"I'm just happy that you're back," she said, tearing up. "But you do have a lot of explaining to do."
"Of course. Let's go downstairs." The siblings soon left the studio and walked downstairs. Their friends were sitting and waiting for them on the two living room couches. As soon as Soren and Octavia descended the stairs, Vinyl asked the question everyone was wondering.
"Now would you mind explaining what happened to you?"
"It would probably be better if we gathered all of our friends before doing that," Soren replied. Everyone agreed, so they all left the house to do find Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy.
-------------
It took all of thirty minutes for Soren, Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, Spike, Vinyl, and Octavia to find their three friends and for all of them to gather at Club Vinyl. The time for truth was now. They all sat down and Soren began to explain the long story of what happened to him in the past week. It took awhile to explain everything, but his friends were polite and silent through the entire story.
"I have a favor to ask of you," Soren said looking at Vinyl after finishing the story. She asked what, so Soren continued. "I want to sing for everyone in Ponyville since i haven't done that in a long time. I was wondering if you and Octavia want to help me."
"Yes!" Vinyl exclaimed. "Pinkie Pie, go get the decorations, but ease up on the bright colors, ok?" Pinkie's smile was so big it almost didn't fit on her face. The pink party pony instantly shot out of the door, leaving a small smoke trail behind her.
"I'll never figure out how she does that," Twilight commented. She then looked at Soren. "The rest of us will spread the word around town, unless you need us to do something else." Soren shook his head, so Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack left the club to do their part.
Now it was only Soren, Octavia, and Vinyl left at the club. Soren decided to walk over to the DJ stand. Once he stood at the station, Soren noticed Vinyl was smiling at him. Making eye contact, Vinyl Scratch spoke to Soren, all while keeping her grin.
"So~?" she asked.
"So what?" replied a confused Soren.
"A little bookworm told me that there might be something going on between you and Rainbow Dash. I can see that it's true because of the way she looks at you."
"Vinyl!" Octavia exclaimed. "That's none of your business-"
"Relax, Octavia," Soren interrupted while laughing. "Vinyl, to satisfy your curiosity: No, Dash and I aren't dating...but I would be lying if I said I haven't thought about it at this point."
"I thought you were in a relationship with Her Highness," Octavia said. Soren looked down and paused for awhile.
"...I was." Octavia gasped.
"Woah...what happened?" Vinyl asked in all seriousness.
"She had her memories erased as a result of saving me!" Soren exploded. "...It's my fault..."
"Soren..." Octavia said while walking up to him. Once she reached him, Octavia hugged Soren again. "Princess Luna wanted to save you. She knew what she was doing, and she did it because she loved you. She would rather forget you than let you die, can't you see that?"
"I guess you're right." Soren wiped away a tear. "But it still hurts."
"As it should. This happened at the Battle, correct?" Soren nodded. "Then it wasn't that long ago. Don't fight the pain; it will only make things worse. You will feel better days from now, Soren. I can guarantee it. All of your friends are here to help you."
Wiping away more tears, Soren slowly backed away from his sister. "Let's just drop the subject for now. We have a party to throw."
------------
The party was amazing! For once, even Octavia was glad the party lasted for so long. Soren sang at least 15 songs, 3 of which were with Twilight. His throat was a little sore but he didn't care; he was having too much fun. After everypony left Club Vinyl, Octavia walked over to Soren and congratulated him on a wonderful performance. She gave him a hug and walked over to their friends, who began to clean up the building. Soren decided to help as well. After they finished cleaning up most of the place, Vinyl told everyone that she'll take care of the rest tomorrow.
The group of friends stood around each other before Soren cut the silence by commenting that he was tired. Everypony felt the same; it was a crazy and exhausting party, but it was still very fun. Soren then mentioned that he could finally have a normal night's sleep. Everyone all laughed and parted ways after that.
-------------
Soren was having a peaceful sleep, but a random dream soon found its way into his mind. Opening his eyes, Soren looked at the environment surrounding him. It was a field, and Ponyville was also nearby. Although it was interesting to be in a familiar environment for once, something else intrigued Soren. He heard a voice near him, shouting at him to get up. Unconsciously obeying, Soren stood up and looked around once again. His eyes widened when he saw who ordered him to stand. It was the Doctor...except something was off. The Doctor's coat was grey and his mane black. His eyes were also an ice-cold blue.
"Do not fret, Soren," the physically discorded Doctor said. "This is just a lucid dream."
"A what dream?" Soren asked. "I've only had starsight dreams so far."
"Lucid dreams aren't that special; they just allow the dreamer to feel everything in the dream."
"Sounds special to me, but why am I seeing you of all ponies? Why the discorded you?" The Doctor laughed.
"I'm not the discorded Doctor... technically anyway. I'm his conscience. And you...you represent your own conscience. I can explain further if you like."
"Go ahead, enlighten me."
"Our consciences represent our inner emotions and personalities. Deep inside, the Doctor is still his discorded self. His normal personality just shoved it away into his subconscious. Your conscience is doubtful and questioning. You used to have such confidence in the real world, but now you hide your doubts, your worries, your fears."
"Is there anyway I can remove the discorded part of the Doctor?"
"What fun is there in telling you exactly what you can do? I'll tell you in the form in a riddle: When a new relation is formed, a life or two must be taken." Before Soren could ask anything else, the dream started to fade from him.
When he woke up, Soren instructed himself to not focus on the dream right now. 'For once in a long while, i have freedom,' Soren thought. 'I have a break, and most importantly, I have a free mind.'
--------------
When morning came, Soren decided to try to hang out with Rainbow Dash today. He wanted to fly with her, race with her, or do any sort of activity they usually do together. He got to her cloud house and asked her if she was busy today.
"I actually have to help Applejack with some farm work," the rainbow pegasus explained.
"Alright, then I may as well go to the library. When you're done, want to meet me there?" Rainbow agreed, so Soren flew off towards the library. He soon realized that he actually had something to do there anyway.
Soren landed at the doorstep within a few minutes and knocked on the door. Twilight was happy that Soren decided to drop by, but her smile faded slightly when Soren asked her about lucid dreams. The unicorn thought for awhile before instructing Soren to find the same book they used to read about Starsight. Soren found the book and brought it to the table in the center of the room. The two of them found an excerpt on lucid dreams and began reading.
Lucid dreams...the one place a pony can create any world they wish and live it like it was real. To most, lucid dreaming is impossible, but to the others, it is a phenomenon that brings them joy.
Lucid dreaming is when a pony realizes they are dreaming and then begins to control their dream. Lucid dreaming has been known to connect to starsight, but not the other way around, for some reason. When a pony enters a lucid dream, their body almost always reflect their conscience...
Before Twilight continued, she stared straight at Soren. "Did you have one of these last night?" she asked. Soren nodded.
"I thought it was going to be starsight at first, but the Doctor called it a lucid dream."
"The Doctor was there?"
"Well, not him exactly. More like a representation of his conscience. He was discorded."
"What?! So deep down, the Doctor is-"
"Discorded, yes. Apparently his discorded half was simply moved to his subconscious, at least that's what he said."
"This is bad, really bad. I thought he was back to normal."
"Calm down, Twilight. If this is indeed a problem, we will help him. Let's just see what happens, alright?"
"Alright, but now I have to investigate this further."
"If you have to. You don't mind if I leave eventually, do you? Rainbow Dash and I are going to hang out today."
"No, I don't mind. I think I'll be pretty~ occupied today."
"Don't strain yourself. I don't know how long Rainbow will take to get here, so how about we just talk the day away?" Twilight agreed so the two friends sat in the lobby of the library and did exactly what Soren suggested. Rainbow Dash showed up one hour later, then her and Soren left the library to spend their own time together.