Delinne
Oh, it felt good. This all felt so good. I was in a whole new world that felt so different but looked exactly the same. With a mischievous smile, I take a deep breath and cough as the all too fresh air reach my lungs.
The air was horrible though.
This world was so... Boringly amazing. I didn't know how to describe it. I look around with my blue gaze, snorting loudly. Home was much better, but I must've come here for a reason. With high knees I walk proudly over the meadow, crossing it to reach the river. There was hate within me, hate that burned with passion and made me shiver of delight. I loved this hate, this burning feeling in my cold heart. It felt amazing to be me.
Amazing to be little cold-hearted racist me.

I yawn as I reach the water, slightly tired already of this world, and lower my muzzle to the water. I gaze upon my reflection and smile even wider. I was beautiful with my gorgeous markings, my blue eyes that sparkled in the moonlight. And the scar. Oh, where should I start about the scar?
To give it justice in words, I would say that I adored it. It represented my pride to fight, my love to gore and violence.
With another bored yawn I raise my head and look around. Empty. Where was everyone anyways? I needed people around me. They needed to come here now.
For me, it was uncomfortable to be alone - but at the same time I hated others. Or, I loved unicorns. Unicorns were the only ones I actually tolerated, since those disgusting airheads and hornless dared to walk on this earth.
My body shivered at the thought of those nasty things with wings and I snorted. If a pegasus or an equine even dared to come near me, I would rip their heads off instantly. Or maybe torture them first?

The thought of ripping feathers off a pegasus' wing one by one was tempting and I almost drooled, but I had to keep myself together.

Couldn't anyone come here to the Meadow and visit me?

The Doppleganger

The murmur of the wind pulled him south, like nothing but flotsam upon the waves. While autumn had already begun to sink its claws into the north, summer lingered in the south; the cold atmosphere of the Steppe faded into something pleasant at the Meadow, a rise in temperature, yet the nights here were darker because the sun sunk deeper. It was strange — oughtn't the dark be chillier? And yet it was nothing but enjoyable against his skin, a near-perfect balance. Stars wheeled overhead and Mauja continued south under their glow, standing out like a beacon against the muted backdrop of gray and green. He was used to it. He knew that it had always been so, and always would be. It was what happened when you forsake the land of your birth for something else, and ended up in realms where your color was unnatural. He should consider the Basin a welcome blessing, but he didn't. It was a place to stay, but not his home.

A tired sigh escaped his dark nostrils, head lowering a fraction to brush against the long, swaying blades. The wind kept playing, capering around him, toying with his long mane and tail and pushing scents to and fro. Deer, horse, strangers and predators. They had all crossed here, some old, some new, and none his goal. He sought nothing but to move, exist, breathe a little easier and stare at the stars in the dark sky. The nights in the north were too bright and too short for it.

Some part of him wanted to stay alert, scan the surroundings and read the sign.. to detect life, and avoid it. Another part of him didn't care; so what if he passed two yards from someone? What did it matter? You hardly stopped to greet every stranger you passed in your travels, and him passing like a moon-wraith would hardly be out of the ordinary. And thus, Mauja did not alter his path, despite the fact that his nose told him someone was nearby. After all, it didn't matter, and the tinkle of the river intrigued him, enticed him, drew him closer. The sound of it clucking and murmuring was soothing, and one ear swept forward to listen to it before falling back again. His path altered subtly, his senses having pinpointed the river; frosted hooves parted the drying grasses with ease, and he found himself upon the rocky bank of it. Starlight shimmered upon the water's surface, and his gaze fell to it, before the darkness in the corner of his eye drew his attention.

So the stranger had been this close to his goal, after all. Pale blue eyes, washed out to silver in the night, rose to see who it was, gauge its mood, assess the dangers — and widened with recognition. "Delinne?" Her name was out of his mouth before he knew it, and in the next moment a slight frown creased his features. It was Delinne, down to the scar, but why hadn't he recognized her scent? Why did he still not recognize it? Why wasn't she in the Basin, with Destry and Druid?

Delinne
The stars were shining bright and shimmered above me, giving the dark canvas some light. This meadow was - somewhat - beautiful, even though it wasn't even close to the beauty of the meadow at home.
Beauty was when the ground was ash and dirt, remains of what used to be a meadow of disgustingly colorful flowers. Beauty was when it was wrong - or right in my perspective. Everything was wrong here. And ugly. And absolutely "wonderful". I sighed loudly and was just about to lower my head to the water again when I heard my name.
"Delinne?" I turned my head and looked at the stallion. I recognized him from my world, but he didn't have the same scent like the stallion I knew. He was white with black spots, and both his mane and tail were white and flowy.
They were twins. They must have the same name too.

"Mauja, it's you." Mauja wasn't my leader in the other world; At least he shouldn't be. He was too soft for leadership. Mauja the BleedingHeart... Even his legend title was disgustingly soft.
I raised my head and walked closer to the white unicorn. He seemed to recognize me, even though I knew that we had never met before. The Mauja from this world. This universe.
I gave the stallion a smile, a smile not suited for a mare to give her leader. He was quite handsome still, maybe even more handsome than the BleedingHeart?
"Tell me, Mauja, what are you doing out here in the night?" I despised him deep down in my heart, but he was still the most handsome stallion I'd seen so far. And I felt like having some fun.

"You look handsome tonight, sweetheart." I whispered, not having to speak loud since we were now only inches from each other's bodies.
I could now tell by the scent that this was definitely not the BleedingHeart, because this Mauja's scent was awful. It was a scent too strong for me, too much aroma at once. I snorted and looked into the stallion's eyes.
"But I just have one question... Why do you smell so weird?" The smell disgusted me so much.
I observed him with my blue eyes and smiled even wider. He may smell horrible, but he was still handsome like hell.


The Doppleganger

It seemed she hadn't been entirely alert either. Only at the sound of his voice did she look up, her dark locks falling around her face. The unease he felt at the difference in her scent didn't lift; her gaze seemed different, too. It was the same blue he knew, but it was the way she looked at him.. and he was uncomfortably reminded of Leyra; the mare had left under quite harsh circumstances and returned as someone else.. but Delinne? She'd been in the Basin the whole time. Whatever transformation Leyra had gone through, surely Dell hadn't done undergone something similar? Was Leyra even herself? Mauja felt his heart pound in his chest, a thousand questions springing to life, a thousand worries, but he had no answers, and the black mare in front of him — he was not sure if it was right to call her Delinne, even though she'd reacted to the name — spoke his name.. and he despaired, feeling as if the last candle of hope had been mercilessly snuffed out. If she knew his name.. spoke it so familiarly.. the possibility that it was just a stranger looking like her seemed almost nonexistent.

He felt his heart, his mind, his eyes, close off. Cold seeped into his body, settled like a frosted shield around his soul; his head came up a notch, white hair falling listlessly from his neck, and the blue of his irises seemed to harden. Unyielding, his gaze refused to give his secrets away. It was as if someone had sucked the life and warmth out of him, leaving a statue of cold, smooth marble in its place. If not for the wind tugging gently at his long hair, and the faint rise and fall of his sides, he truly would've seemed something of stone.

He definitely didn't know this mare. He didn't like the way she smiled at him, the way she approached, like a snake coming in to bite its cornered prey; was her mere aura poisonous? Would he wither and die when she came closer, shy away, like from fire? The sway of her gait had him wanting to take a step back and pull his head away, but he forced his frosted hooves to not even shift, and merely followed her with wary, frozen eyes. He would not run (something he really ought to learn to do), because.. what if. What if it was Delinne, under some spell? What if she was having a psychosis? What if she had been a monster all along? He couldn't ignore the fact that he knew her body by sight so well, and that it was her, down to the smallest detail. It made him want to scream and rip her skin apart, see if they had the same heart, but how could he know? How could he figure out?

Cold and haughty he stood, her black body near enough that he could feel the faint warmth coming off her; her voice was a hushed whisper, and only with great effort did he stop himself from shivering. What the hell was going on? It was not at all flattering to have this monstrosity call him handsome, and his teeth remained so firmly locked together he wasn't sure he would be able to say a single thing. He didn't want to, either. He just wanted to.. to.. well, what? Run home to the Basin and see if Delinne was still there?

Was hallucinating better than her being the mad one?

But then, Tvíburi — for he certainly did not want to associate all of this with Delinne-the-gentle — snorted, and some of the spell was broken. But she kept smiling, that predator's smile, and he had the sudden urge to kick her to wipe it off her face. To see a stranger smile at him that way with Delinne's face...

"I smell weird because I am weird, hálfviti." The words were past his tense jaws before he had fully thought it through, and once it caught up with him what he'd said, he wondered if he was losing it, too. "You're not Delinne. You can't be." His voice was rougher than it should be, like the jagged edges of a mountain, and he stared at her with cold eyes. If she'd just disappear.. like a shadow melting away in the moonlight...

Delinne
Mauja definitely seemed more thoughtful than his twin was.

I observed him closely during my.. How should I say it? Exploration? He was tense and I saw in his eyes that he did not trust me, but that he at the same time fought against himself somehow. Did he believe I was someone else?
A low giggle - deep in tone but still girly - escaped my lips and I took a step closer to him, letting my soft muzzle caress his neck. Oh, god, it would be a miracle if I survived this horrible smell.
But, I kept the thought to myself and giggled again, same low voice. He stopped shivering - something I hadn't noticed that he had. Was he possibly afraid? No... Not this Mauja.
The other Mauja, maybe. But not this one.

"I smell weird because I am weird, hálfviti." What the fuck did hálfviti mean? I stopped, took a step back from the stallion and glared at him. Did he make fun of me somehow with his foreign words? Or was that another word for beauty?
I would understand him for the last one because come on... I'm freaking beautiful. How could anyone resist my black mysterious beauty, my blue gaze and the pretty scar upon my hide?
The stallion's teeth were close together and he was so tense. Did I make him uncomfortable? Good. His next few words did not confuse me at all, and I smiled at the statement. I wasn't Delinne. I laughed.
I laughed out loud right in his face. How did he even dare state that I wasn't Delinne? That was my name, the name I had been born with.
"How can you say that I'm not Delinne? That was after all the name my mother gave me." My disgusting mother who had even dared to leave my wonderful father behind. He had done nothing but good to her, and she had just left us.
That bitch.

"Mauja, Mauja, Mauja... Can't you see that it is me? Do you not recognize my beautiful appearance, or my wonderful voice? I recognize you, my King." I almost hissed the last word, smirking at him. This would probably burn. He seemed so confused, so why not make it worse?
I loved this. It felt absolutely wonderful to turn someone else's world upside down.
And I didn't regret a thing.
The moon had appeared on the dark vault above us, shining down upon us both. Mauja shone, his coat reflected the light of the moon so perfectly. And it burned my eyes. It was too bright. Too much. But I had to pretend not to be affected, so I kept my eyes like if there was nothing wrong at all.

I didn't want my King to be suspicious to his dear Delinne now, didn't I?

The Doppleganger

She leaned in, closer; he wanted for time to stop, for the moment to freeze before the phantom touched his white skin. His heart almost stopped beating in denial, and he wished her muzzle would just pass through his neck, proclaim her nothing but the product of a twisted mind — but neither thing happened. Instead, the second was far too short, and then her soft nose brushed against his neck. He steeled his nerves, and again managed to stop a shiver from running down his spine, remaining perfectly motionless, a statue carved of marble and moonlight. Cold, cold, cold, if only his skin was the sharp edge ice and would cut her muzzle.. but, of course not, and at his spat-out answer she took a step back.

He felt like he could breathe again, like the dark waters in his lungs cleared, but he did not let his relief show. With cold, almost accusing eyes, did he return her glare, blinking solemnly every once in a while as the moon slowly climbed the horizon. Each breath was calm, precise, followed by another one, and somehow he'd calmed his heart to a steady rhythm. Cold, he thought to himself, feeling the familiar numbness settle in his veins. Glacial. Detached. His mind was somewhere else, disconnected from his body, perfect in its crystal clarity, yet his frosted eyes kept blinking, his sides rising and falling, but he was not a part of it. Not even an ear twitched as she laughed in his face, his breathing never losing its steadfast rhythm. She could laugh all she wanted — he wasn't about to twitch.

"How can you say that I'm not Delinne? That was after all the name my mother gave me." Perhaps your mother was a liar, and a thief, he thought coldly, watching Tvíburi's smirk. The curl of her lips was infuriating, but more so because he knew her face. And so, the moon came across the horizon, bathing them all in light. How many times hadn't he seen the play of it, the gleam along the lightning stripes? But even as she claimed to be Delinne, called him King, his heart rebelled; it couldn't be. But how could he know? How could he prove it? Could he just turn his back and walk away, and let her gape as he disappeared in the night?

"I don't recognize your scent," he said coldly, and in a world where smell mattered so much, it was no small thing. Again, he blinked, ignoring the bright light reflecting off the water's surface, before his eyes narrowed and flashed dangerously. "Begone, norn, and seek not to twist the minds of any others with you trickery, lest my horn find your heart while you sleep."

Delinne
"I don't recognize your scent."
I sighed annoyed and rolled my blue eyes. He just wouldn't give up and accept who I was. Staring into his icy eyes, I laid back my ears against my black and white neck and smiled at him. A wicked smile that would give even the largest creature a cold shiver along it's spine. Mauja narrowed his eyes at me and spoke words I could not care less about.
"Begone, norn, and seek not to twist the minds of any others with you trickery, lest my horn find your heart while you sleep."

Was he from the stone age or something? I snorted in his face and smiled even wider.
"Boo-hoo, you can't recognize my scent. BOO-FREAKING-HOO!" I almost spat the words in his face, hissing whenever I had the chance. With each word I also walked closer, trying to make me look bigger than I was. The wind came all of a sudden, taking a grip of my mane and tail and dragging it from side to side. I stand on my spot, staring at the white stallion before me.
"And you think that I would follow your orders? Are you freaking stupid or something?"
He did not have the rights to call me off. At all.
My horn almost touched his now and I would not back down from a fight if it happened here and now. I never backed down.
My blue gaze narrowed just like his had, and I made myself even bigger. Stupid little colt.
"You're not a real King, Mauja. You have never been one. You're weak." The hate shone in my eyes like the moon shone upon the sky in this moment, and I could feel it burn within my heart and soul.

"Everybody knows that you only follow mares around and impregnates every single one."

That was a lie, but what the fuck. It was about time to have extra fun and this would certainly piss him off if he really was the opposite of the Mauja I knew.

The Doppleganger