The Pamper Express

The Pamper Express

Chapter 5: Forgotten Truth

A gentle haze coated Starlight's mind like a blanket. Thoughts were difficult to come by, and even when they did, it was incredibly difficult for Starlight to register them before they slipped back into the warm hazy abyss. She tried to think, to remember where she had been and what she had been doing.

Starlight's face scrunched up as she dug deep inside her subconscious in an attempt to coax the elusive thoughts from their hiding place. It took a few seconds but eventually, a few trickled forth. An image of a purple-haired girl outside a train, the gentle crinkling of a light blue diaper next to her, and a blue unicorn babbling happily in a colorful hallway.

Suddenly a spiral vortex of images and memories burst forth and began to swirl about the infinite white void of Starlight's mind. She saw a myriad of different people, places, and events. A nursery, a babbling Princess, A plate full of slop. Starlight tried to snatch the memories up and hold onto them. She needed them! She needed to understand them, to understand herself! Alas, it was not to be.

Each image traveled by at such speed it passed in a blur and was lost. Starlight growled in frustration as every single memory faded from her mind and was quickly forgotten. The vortex of images faded to nothing and soon Starlight's mind was a white void once again.

A brief moment passed before an explosion of color

All at once the fog lifted and a torrent of memories flooded into Starlight's mind.

She had been in Pamperville! That's right, She had taken the Pamper Express there with Trixie and Twilight. They had been eating lunch in the Little Eatery before she had been taken by the Care Givers for refusing to eat her Nom Noms. Starlight groaned softly as she slowly opened her eyes.

The site she was met with was not what she had expected to see. She was sitting in a chair in a dimly lit room. A single flickering lamp hung from the ceiling. It creaked softly with every sway and stretch of the rope holding it in place. The distinct sound of water dripping echoed through the room, and the distant clanking of metal and the hum of machinery echoed through the walls

The room was a far cry from the sort of environments she was used to. Gone were the colorfully painted walls and decorations of the Pamperlot Nursery or the sprawling fairgrounds of Pamperville, instead, the walls were coated in rust and showed clear signs of age.

Dirt and cobwebs had found their way into every crevice of the room. There were visible scratches and clots of dirt everywhere. On the floor, on the walls, and even on the ceiling. Starlight's gaze eventually wandered down to herself and her current predicament.

She was sitting in a rusty metal chair. Her arms had been stabbed to the arms of the chair by pink leather straps and she could feel/see that her pink diaper was still wrapped snuggly around her waist.

"W-whush, where amsh Is?" Starlight asked aloud. Her soft question echoed about the metal walls of the room seeking an answer no one would give. After a few seconds of internal confusion and a subtle build-up of fear in her chest. Starlight attempted to wiggle free from the chair.

"Hnnng! Comes onssh! Lemme, out!" Starlight whined. The leather straps were tightly secured around her arms and stubbornly refused to release her. It was while she struggled to free herself that a door swung open to her right and two Care Givers stepped in.

Starlight froze in place. What were they doing here? Were they going to take her back to Pamperville? Where was Trixie and Twilight? What was this place? Were they going to do something to her?!

"Yes yes I know the speech is tomorrow but I already told her the difficulties we're experiencing keeping her under and now this Little one is back for the seventh time!" A soft but frustrated voice said from behind the door as the pitter-patter of footsteps reached Starlight's ears.

Starlight tensed up as the footsteps grew closer and a nagging voice in the back of her head told her she recognized that voice but the name eluded her. Eventually, a yellow pegasus girl with bright pink hair and glasses marched through the door. A white lab coat was draped over her top half while slim yoga pants coated her lower regions.

The girl stormed across the room and stopped in front of a rusty metal table in the corner covered in blueprints, bolts, and papers. Starlight couldn't help but stare as the faintest edge of a memory wormed its way to the front of her mind.

"Buhhhh Wha? Issshhh Youus?" Starlight babbled confused as she stared intently at the yellow pegasus. Why did she look so familiar?

All at once, a chorus of images assaulted Starlight's mind. She saw a cottage on a hill, A soft yellow curtain, three pink butterflies, a being of wonky proportions, and a smiling face. Starlight's eyes widened in shock as an image of the main hall of the castle of friendship formed in her mind and she saw all of her friends.

Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, AJ, Trixie, Rarity, Spike, and a yellow pegasus sitting around a crystal table. That was her! Fluttershy! Yes, that was her name. She remembered! But this wasn't the Fluttershy Starlight was used to. The Fluttershy Starlight remembered was soft, and timid, but kind and strong when she needed to be.

The girl that stood before her now was sharp, wound up, and seemingly harsh. She radiated an aura of a mother bear who fiercely wanted to protect her cubs. It was the kind of parental supervision that screamed 'You don't want to mess with me'. But what had happened? Why did Fluttershy look and feel so different from how Starlight remembered her?

"Starlight, Starlight, Starlight," the pegasus girl mumbled quietly to herself as she read one of the papers that had been scattered about the metal desk.

As the memories faded to the back of Starlight's mind, she began to wonder if this was Fluttershy. It certainly looked like her, and even sounded like her, but it was wrong. Her gentle demeanor had been replaced by an almost sickly sweet aura. There was a level of sharpness to her caring voice and a slight hint of unhinged in her movements.

"Ah yes! Starlight." Fluttershy spat with venom in her tone. She twitched and slowly turned to face Starlight as she leaned against the table and pulled a different piece of paper off of the table.

"This is your seventh time here with us this year according to our records." The yellow pegasus said with an air of disinterest. "It seems you need another reset of your Care Program and-" Fluttershy sighed as she stopped talking.

She threw the paper from her hand and allowed it to gently soar into the air like a leaf as it gently floated down toward the ground. She turned her attention to the Care Givers who Starlight now realized were still present in the room.

"Is there anything new I need to know about this subject?" Fluttershy asked sharply as she flashed the two Care Givers a patient smile. One of the Care Givers nodded and stepped forward.

"This arrived from the palace this morning." It presented a small piece of pink paper to Fluttershy

"Ah, why thank you!" Fluttershy said with a twitch as she reached out and grabbed the paper. She read quietly to herself and Starlight could swear the yellow pegasus started to smile. "Oh, I see!" She said with an air of genuine excitement.

"Finally~," She said happily as she looked up at Starlight. "I've been asking her about this for months now!" The yellow pegasus said exasperated. She giggled as her wings twitched. "It's good to see she's finally listened to me!" Fluttershy once again tossed the paper aside and gently clapped her hands together. "Care Givers, please escort our friend here to section L1." Fluttershy said softly.

The response was immediate. One of the Care Givers rushed over and immediately untied the restraints holding Starlight down while the other wrapped their strong arms around Starlight's midsection. Starlight let out a bewildered, "Whaaa?" as she was lifted out of the chair and slung over the Care Givers shoulder.

"Don't you worry Starlight," Fluttershy said with a melodic giggle. "We're going to fix you~"

Starlight babbled in confusion but was too shocked to resist the Care Givers as she was carried out of the room and into the darkness of the hallway.

Starlight panted and groaned as she stared at the floor. The soft whistling of her Care Giver echoed about the dark metal hallway. The melody of the whistling was song-like and sweet. It whispered into her mind with a comforting voice and made her body go limp.

This was wrong. A simple melody shouldn't have this much of an effect on her. She was a big girl, she didn't need to be lulled to sleep and she shouldn't be controlled like this! Alas, she couldn't resist. A sudden beam of light cut through the darkness as Starlight heard the screech of a rusty metal hinge opening.

Starlight groaned as she was carried into a large rectangular room and a torrent of bright white and pink lights assaulted her eyes. The blooming effect of it was so great that for a second Starlight thought she'd been placed before the sun. Everything glowed a sharp bright hue as her eyes adjusted.

A series of rectangular LED lights hung from the ceiling. Several rows of lights were mounted to the sides of the walls and a low droning tone rumbled through the room. The room was as sterile as sterile could get. Not a single speck of dust or hint of dirt was present, a far cry from the room she'd just been in where rust was the new moss.

Starlight's nose scrunched up in confusion as an odd smell assaulted her nostrils. It wasn't dirty or bad per se, but it was unnatural and chemical in nature. No room was meant to be this clean. It was as Starlight's eyes finally adjusted to the lighting that she realized they weren't alone.

Rows of large metal chairs lined the room. Each on had a long arched back like a recliner chair that faced a large bright screen or series of LED lights that blasted whoever was seated in them with an image or combination of colors Starlights mind couldn't understand. Almost every single chair was occupied by someone.

They all had the same empty look in their eyes that Starlight had observed with all of the passengers outside of the train station and a few of them had the same spiral in their eyes that Trixie had had in the hallway at the Pamperlot Nursery.

"W-wha... Ish dis?" Starlight asked horrified. Her mind reeled as a torrent of memories began to assault her mind and the haze returned in full force. She saw a schoolhouse, a trio of three girls running into a clubhouse, A large barn with three apples on the front, and a vibrant blue sky.

A blue unicorn girl with a magician's hat of stars and a dashing cape. A series of fireworks light up the sky above a castle of suns. A castle of gems and a map of friendship. There was a small purple and green dragon, and a pink lady in a crown wearing a devilish smile.

These were Starlight's friends, she knew these people. She had lived with them in Ponyville, had talked with them, gotten to know them, loved them. And now here they were, trapped in a prison of lights, sound, and screens. Strapped into chairs by pink straps drooling their lives away.

Who would do this? How had this happened? How had none of them seen this coming? Who were their Care Givers? Where was their princess? Their protectors and their leaders? What happened to the castle of friendship? Millions of questions bounced around inside Starlight's head.

Just beside her, A dark velvet girl with pink hair and green eyes sat slumped in her chair. Starlight was fairly certain the girl's name was Cheerilee. The girl stared blankly up at the television hanging in front of her. Drool poured from her mouth and the occasional twitch/moan was the only indication she was even alive. What had they done to her?

As the ~~monster~~ Care Giver carried her through the Celestia-forsaken room, A soft pulsing pain began to form in Starlight's head. She could feel the familiar haze beginning to press against her mind. It was trying to make her forget like so many others. But this time, Starlight fought back.

She needed to remember this, to hold onto what she had seen so that she could warn the others, and perhaps free them from this prison! Every chair she was carried past, Starlight made a point to remember and rediscover the names of every single one of her trapped friends.

Cloud Chaser, Flitter, Blossomfourth, Mrs. Harshwhinny, Moon Dancer, Sassy Saddles, she passed by them all. Each one more mindless than the last, slumped over, babbling, gurgling, drooling, and crinkling in a diaper none of them should have needed. Why were they showing her all this? More importantly, what were they about to do to her?

As Starlight and the Care Giver approached the end of the long room and the end of the rows of chairs, the faint humming of electricity reached Starlight's ears. The Care Giver carried Starlight to yet another rusty metal door at the end of the room and after fiddling with the handle for a few seconds swung it open.

The electrical hum that had once been faint practically assaulted Starlight's ears the second the door was opened. As the duo stepped through the door Starlight was met with a much smaller square-shaped room. The walls were coated in computers, buttons, and lights detailing all levels of information Starlight couldn't decipher.

The room was much darker than the previous room, gone were the bright screens and LEDS lights instead replaced by a few lightbulbs dangling from the ceiling. Sitting below them barely illuminated by the lights was a singular large metal chair. Starlight could just barely make out the silhouette of someone sitting in it.

"Will she be ready in time for tomorrow?" Starlight's Care Giver asked aloud. The audible question caused Starlight to jump in place.

"I believe so." Another Care Giver that Starlight hadn't realized was also in the room responded as it stepped out of the shadows. A soft groan from the silhouette in the chair made Starlight tense up in unease.

"Excellent! I'll inform Her Majesty right after I finish up with this one." Her Care Giver said as it patted Starlight's pampered rump eliciting a soft grunt of anger from Starlight. "Tsk tsk tsk," The Care Giver admonished in response to Starlight's protest, "Can you believe this is her seventh time with us? Ridiculous!"

"Really? Her seventh time?" The other responded with a tone of exasperation.

"Honestly, it's high time Her Majesty approved Mrs. Fluttershy's request, and luckily for us." It said as it adjusted Starlight's position on its shoulder. "She did so today."

"Oh, that's excellent!" The other Care Giver responded with a tone that implied relief. "She has been a massive headache for several months now."

"Tell me about it. I'm the one that keeps getting assigned to her!"

The other Care Giver laughed. "Unlucky that's what I say." Starlight's Care Giver snorted in response.

"Anyway, I better finish up with Celly here before her big speech tomorrow, if we're lucky this will be the last time we need to perform this little procedure." The other Care Giver said enthusiastically as it walked over to the wall and pulled a large metal lever.

A horrible crackling/sizzling noise rang out as the sound of electricity rushing through wires screeched through the room. The lights and computers on the walls flickered wildly as Starlight felt her ears slam down against her head from the sheer volume. She watched in terror as the silhouette in the chair twitched and spasmed violently.

Bolts of pink and white energy surged forth from the spasming form as a high-pitched siren tone bounced about the room. Starlight clawed violently at her Care Giver as pure panic overcame her. She needed to get out of here, to escape this nightmare and not be subjected to whatever horrible procedures were being performed here.

Alas, she was easily overpowered and her Care Giver held her firmly in place.

After a few grueling minutes. The horrible screeching and sizzling came to an end. A soft layer of smoke filled the room as the lights stopped flickering and the computers returned to their previous state of simply displaying information. The figure in the chair had long since gone limp.

"Now she's ready." The Care Giver said with a sickly sweet tone as it marched over to the other side of the room and flicked a small switch.

Light immediately flooded the room and Starlight's eyes were once again assaulted bright white light. It took a section for Starlight's eyes to adjust, but once they did the silhouette in the chair was revealed. Starlight's eyes widened in shock as she realized who it was.

There, slumped in the chair sat Princess Celestia. The princess's golden crown was nowhere to be found her frazzled rainbow hair flowed gently in a wind that didn't exist. Drool cascaded down her chest and dripped onto the floor. Starlight recognized the now familiar spiral pattern in the princess's eyes.

A large fluffy white and golden diaper was positioned neatly between the princess's legs. A large elaborate stitching of her cutie mark was displayed upon the crotch area making sure to remind everyone who rose and set the sun. The phrase 'Princess Dum Dum' was printed along the bottom of the crotch area in tiny golden font.

Upon further inspection, Starlight released there was a large forest of pink and blue wires scattered about the floor around the princess's chair. Celestia's body was coated from head to toe with small electrodes. The wires rose from the ground and connected to a thin metal pin on the small devices before flowing down to the floor and disappearing into an even larger amazon of wires and circuits.

The electrodes were positioned all over the princess's body, however, a particularly large cluster was stationed squarely on her forehead. Starlight watched the Care Giver lazily wander over to Celestia and begin to undo the straps holding the former ruler in place.

The disgraced princess made no movements to resist or fight back at all. her body was completely limp and almost lifeless. Starlight was certain that whatever horrid procedure the Care Givers had bestowed upon the former sun goddess had eradicated any thoughts that might've remained in Celestia's head.

The two Care Givers stood in silence for a bit admiring their work before Starlight's Care Giver gave a soft cough and re-adjusted Starlight's position on its shoulder, "Well, I best finish up with this one." It gave Starlight's pampered butt a firm pat. Starlight growled in protest.

"Alright! I'll get Celly here all dressed up properly for her big day tomorrow~" The other replied with a joyful tone.

"Have fun!" Starlight's Care Giver replied.

Starlight felt panic begin to set in once more as the Care Giver carried her to the edge of the square room and came to a stop in front of a tall rusty door. Was she going to end up like Princess Celestia? Was she going to forget all of her friends again? What would happen to all of them if no one was left to remember how it used to be?

"Alright, here we are." The Care Giver said as it reached into its pocket and pulled out a large keychain featuring a large set of differently colored keys. It began fiddling with the chain searching for one key in particular. "Doooh, I always forget where I put that one!" It mumbled annoyed. It shook the chain in frustration causing a soft jingling sound to ring out.

Seeing that her Care Giver was distracted and feeling its grip loosen on her slightly, Starlight took her chance. "I dun wunna gos!" Starlight screeched as she kicked her legs in the air and began to throw a temper tantrum right on the Care Givers shoulder.

"Gah! What the?! Hey!" The Care Giver yelped in surprise as it stumbled in place. Starlight slammed her hands against the Care Givers body with all her might in a desperate attempt to free herself from its grasp. For a second it appeared to be working. She felt the Care Givers grip loosen just a tad.

Grunting in effort she clawed at the Care Givers upper back and attempted to pull herself up and over its shoulder.

"Bad Girl! Bad Girl!" The Care Giver barked utterly exasperated. Why couldn't someone else handle this brat?

Starlight flailed her limbs wildly as her fussy assault continued. This was her chance! She'd caught her captor off guard and she had the element of surprise. Starlight felt a fierce passion well up deep inside her. A passion to fight for her freedom, escape her captors, and save her friends!

A plan began to form in Starlight's mind. She would escape this strange rusty prison, return to Pamperville, and find Twilight and Trixie. She would help them remember who they were and inform them of the state of Princess Celestia. Once she had her friends back on her side they would hunt down the rest of their friends and return to Pamperlot in force!

They would find whoever had done this to them, the person who had turned them into mindless drooling messes of their former selves, and forced them into diapers. The one who had created the Care Givers that constantly fed them slop, and forced them to obey. Yes, she could see it all now. Justice and freedom for her friends were just within her grasp!

What a shame it was then, that Starlight's efforts and plan were completely undermined by a simple five-letter word ushered by her Care Giver.

"Sleep."

All at once Starlight's mind and mental planning ground to a halt. her body instantly went limp as her thoughts were absorbed by the word, by the strict command of her Care Giver. The command bounced around inside Starlight's head creating a tempest of echoing voices and mantras that told her to relax. To obey, and forget.

Starlight's eyes glazed over as the memories of her friends, the knowledge she'd gained, and the horrors she'd experienced all vanished in the blink of an eye. She couldn't move, she couldn't think, she couldn't disobey. Starlight felt a gentle stream of drool leak out of her mouth and roll down her chin as her mind sank into a vortex of obedience.

Starlight could hear the muffled voice of her Care Giver mutter something incoherent followed by the creaking of an old rusty door opening. The Care Give had found the key. Starlight's eyes rolled back in her head as she was carried limply through the doorway and into the darkness.