Caryn(Starfire)'s Ride to the Main Goblin Camp

The complex bit used by the goblins prevented Caryn and Mora(Bluebell) from forming words and eliminated meaningful speech, or so the goblins believed. The two ponies had been trained to utter nothing but horse noises which the goblins had learned from the humans, since the horses became all but extinct during the plague years. The punishment for attempting to speak to each other was harsh, so the former women quickly learned to adapt their new vocalizations to a crude communication which they would seek to develop into a ponygirl language over time. The goblins chatted back and forth to kill time and enjoy the morning ride in the crisp clear air as they rose out of the lowlands and into the foothills of the great coastal mountain range. They laughed with each other over how the mindless neighing and whinnying of the two mares almost sounded like a language once in a while.

Starfire was more recently captured than Bluebell and she tried to convey resistance as an important part of their captivity, but it wasn't easy, since Bluebell had days more exposure to the pheromones and addictive enzymes contained in their potions, their feed, and the very air around the goblins. Starfire tried various means of passive and active resistance. She would try to slow down gradually or drift slowly to the side when the trail was open and wide. More aggressively, she would loudly snort and blow when Sigurd tried to rest, or deliberately stumble hard, forcing Sigurd to catch himself to prevent a fall. All of this was keeping Sigurd on edge, preventing any chance of a relaxing journey and leaving him cursing this dimwitted mare that might be more use pulling a plow or wagon than training for war. Bluebell on the other hand, was willing to try slowing down once in a while, but she would not deliberately upset her master and so responded instantly to any correction that Tork gave her. Even this worked out well for Caryn, because the two goblins got quarrelsome with each other fairly often, and Caryn believed it was over Sigurd's inept control of his mount.

What Caryn failed to comprehend was that goblins had been using a wide variety of techniques to subdue and captivate many different creatures for millennia. They had no reason whatsoever to fear that Caryn would not be broken. The only fear they ever had, was that in breaking a new slave, they might damage her psyche to the point that she would be unable to serve them well. Caryn failed to realize that Starfire was already becoming what the goblins sought, and that Bluebell was going to take her to the height of acceptance of her new role in life.