Just a short little side story which has no real relevance to the overall plot of the main story.
Usually my job as a guard doesn't entail me to become a lab rat for an unknown potion. Unfortunately, Princess Twilight can be VERY persuasive when she wants to be, especially when my imminent future could easily be decided on whether or not I've annoyed her recently.
"Alright then! Now that you know what you need to do, let's begin!" chirped Princess Twilight, from my point of view it was easy to see that the princess was absolutely ecstatic, I myself am feeling a building sense of dread as the princess starts guiding me into a clean white room where the experiment was supposed to take place.
Maybe I should start running now? I heard the moon was nice this time of year.
To my disappointment, the door silently closed behind me. The lab was very well maintained and so there was no chance for any ominous creaking or other noises that would fit the mood. In front of me on a stool was a small flask with some weird looking purple liquid in it, the whole mixture didn't seem dangerous but then again even a bear could look cuddly before it mauls you to death.
"Well, here goes nothing" I sigh, I can just see the princess in my peripheral who was mashed up against the window with wide expectant eyes while a quill and parchment floated beside her, surprisingly Discord was also standing beside her with a bemused expression at both my predicament and the princess's antics. The scene would have been funny had I not been engulfed with an increasing sense of doom.
Grabbing the flask, I slowly brought it up to my lips and prepared myself for the worst. Inhaling slightly I managed to catch the familiar small scent of sugar intermixed with various other very herbal smells, mainly grass surprisingly enough. Summoning forth the last of my courage I quickly squeezed my eyes shut and tipped the contents of the flask into my awaiting mouth.
It tasted a bit like a mixture of cough syrup and wine actually, I was expecting a more vegetable juice flavor but the entirety of the taste made it seem more like a luxury drink which only the high class would appreciate. The potion didn't seem to be having any immediate effects but then again, the Princess did say it would take a little while for the potion to start working... or something like that, what did she say exactly?
"You have to consciously recall a certain event of your past, or you have to start thinking in a way which is different from your current perspective before the potion's effects will be able to show"
The guardsmen stood, awkwardly holding the flask as he wondered what exactly the potion was supposed to do to him. Shock suddenly courses through him as he begins hearing a voice inside his own head. It seems as if the voice was narrating his thoughts in an odd, detached kind of way. Panic suddenly sets in as the guard was unable to orientate his thoughts properly, the sudden inability of coordination causes him to stumble as his eyes start to spin.
Through the window which served as a viewing portal for anypony outside the room the sound of a quill furiously scratching its way across a piece of parchment could be heard. The Princess was observing the reactions of the guard as the potion took effect while trying to take as many notes as possible. Suddenly laughter broke out from the creature beside her as he saw the guard stumbling around the enclosed room. The draconequus suddenly asked, "Twilight, what in the world have you done to that poor stallion?" he giggled, his voice was full of mirth.
The guard jolted up in surprise, he wondered how he had heard all the things outside of the room he was confined into which had been previously soundproof prior to him drinking the potion. He could also 'see' the Princess and Discord standing in the viewing room but couldn't seem to 'read' their thoughts like how he could read the thoughts of the guard in the test room.
Suddenly Discord picked up the reference book which Princess Twilight had made the potion from. "So this is where you got the potion from? Ah, Zecora of course! She was always always fun to prank what with slipping a few ingredients into her potions when she wasn't looking. Absolutely harmless of course" Said Discord as he idly looked through the books contents.
"So this unnamed potion over here? Ah yes the title has been somewhat smudged out and it is rather vague on what it does..." mused the draconequus. The guard had given up moving at this point, staying perfectly still and regarding his mysterious new ability to hear through walls.
"Let's see here: 'From this potion you shall see, what it feels like to view from three', all rather cryptic isn't it?" Discord said. The Princess turned to face him since her test subject had stopped doing anything interesting, "I already told you, I was given this book by Zecora before she moved back to Zebrica but I still can't figure out what half these potions do! What is with these Zebra's and rhyming!" She shouted, frustration evident in her voice.
"Well, we may as well ask poor Blunt there shouldn't we? It looks like nothing physically has changed about him but who knows, it may have been just an exotic drink of some kind" drawled the Draconequus. The guard sat there, hoping that they had a way to reverse the potion's effects, maybe then he'd tell them what drinking the potion had done to him.
The guard groaned as one last thought passed through his head: The moon was definitely better than this.