When Rarity came to again, she found herself lying on a bench with a pillow under her head. There was a mug of water next to her and maybe a blanket over her body. She was still in shackles and she was still in her cell though, and Twilight lay next to her, waiting.
When she lifted her head, Twilight immediately sprung to her hooves.
“Rareza! What is this? The guard said you have been arrested! For conspiracy! What the hay is going on?”
Rarity was still a little too groggy to answer, and Twilight seemed to take her silence completely the wrong way.
“Have I misjudged you? Am I that bad judge of character? But I really felt a connection between us, did I not? there WAS something! I SWEAR there was something! I…”
Rarity was so thirsty, her throat was burning. She lifted the mug and emptied it. She almost threw up but she forced it to stay down.

It’s not water you need now…

“SHUT UP!”

“I beg your pardon?”

Rarity blinked, her head ached and she had trouble keeping her eyes open. She tried to speak and managed to squeak out
“Twilight… you need to leave… You… You can’t stay.”
“I am not going anywhere until I get answers!”
Rarity had to exert herself to the utmost to get a reply over her lips. Sweet Faust, her inside was burning. And her mind was getting foggy.
“I can’t… Not… Not now. Please Twilight. You have to go. It’s not safe for you here…”
“Is there a conspiracy? Have you been lying to me? ANSWER ME!”
“TWILIGHT! FOR THE LOVE OF FRIENDSHIP, JUST GO AWAY!!!”
With the last of her power, Rarity screamed from the top of her lungs, and then it all turned to black again. In the back of her mind, she could hear a low snicker.
To bad, dear. My turn.

*

Sunset arrived at the palace, and immediately asked for Twilight. No one had seen her, and in panic she ran through the palace, desperately searching for some information about her whereabouts.

No one seemed to know anything, not where blueprint was, not where Twilight was, barely where the bathroom was, Sunset assumed. She did meet Parsnips, who didn’t have an idea wither (That was probably what he said anyway) but that he would go looking. She sighed, and kept galloping. Finally she ran straight into a cohort of her royal guards, and once they had excused themselves from standing in the royal way and she had between gritted teeth told them there is no problem, at ease gentlecolts, then she finally got her answer.
“Your highness! We are pleased to inform you that the contessa has been arrested and placed in the dungeon.”
The guard had probably hoped for a “good job!” or a pat on his back, but the reaction from Sunset was full-panic. If no one knew where Twilight was, there was but one answer, if the contessa was in the dungeon…

There is never eerie music playing in the background when you need it, and today it was definitely needed. As Sunset entered the dungeon she found five guards laying on the floor. Dead? Unconscious? She did not know, they all lay brick still on the ground. A bit further down the corridor she found her trusted Blueprint in a similar state. His feathers were ruffled, and it seemed like he had tried to do something against his attacker. No blood… hopefully. Was this Rarity? Or the ghost of Rarity? Or… something else? The more bodies she found, it seemed like “Something else” was the right answer. She ran further down the dungeon trail and everything was silent around her. But as she reached the very end she noticed a cell door ajar, she increased her speed… and came to a full stop. In the cell was the contezza (or Rarity?), but also not. There were tufts of hair on her ears, her mane was almost floating, her eyes were bright red and her opened maw disclosed a row of sharp teeth. But the most devastating sight was the one she noticed at first. The unconscious body of Princess Twilight Sparkle floating in the air by the Contessas/Rarity’s/WHATEVER THIS WAS’s magic.

The …vampire…turned her head towards her, gave her the official Canterlot Greeting and smiled warmly.

“Good evening, your highness. Indeed, a most welcome surprise. I was planning on having royalty for dinner, but both the princess of the moon and the sun? I say, that is indeed a real honor!”

Sunset had stopped thinking the second the beast began to speak. All left in her mind was the primal need to save her friend and hurt whatever it was that hurt Twilight. Her eyes began to glow white. She fired up her horn, flared up her wings and with a roar, she jumped it..

*

“Rareza?”

“Rareza?”

“...Rarity?”

“...Twilight? ….TWILIGHT! YOU…You called me…Rar…”

“I’d better. You are Rarity, are you not?”

“...No point in lying, I suppose… Yes. I am Rarity Belle-Sparkle. Well, I suppose you knew that.”
“...Yeah.”
“...So… The cat is out of the bag I suppose”
“Some of it. I know who you are now. But not everything.”
“How do you know? And where are we? This…. Is this….Carousel Botique?”
“I think we are in the dreamscape. This is your dream. Or safe place I suppose. There is some kind of storm outside.”
“...The thunder is awful. And the wind… Howling? Huh. Almost like…”
“Mhm.”
“But… dreamscape? Why are you here then?”
“I AM the princess of the night. It’s kinda my job.”
“Oh. Oh yes. Yes of course.”
“Rarity… Can you please explain to me what the actual freak is going on? I…You know what, stand next to that divan. Good. Now.”
“OUCH What was that for?”
“YOU HAVE BEEN DEAD FOR 263 YEARS, SIX MONTHS, THREE DAYS AND ONE HOUR AND ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU ARE BACK? YOUNG AND… WITH BLACK HAIR? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? I THOUGHT I LOST YOU! I THOUGHT I...I...”
“Let me breathe!”
“THIS IS THE DREAMSCAPE! I CAN KILL YOU AND YOU WON’T FEEL A THING! NOW LIE DOWN ON THE DIVAN AND GIVE ME ANSWERS!”
“...Very well… Around 260 years ago there was a very old, very in love and very scared uni…OUCH! TWILIGHT!”
“I DON’T CARE! TALK, AND BE BRIEF! AND GET ME ICECREAM!”
“Oh, so you have time for THAT!”
“I can eat while you talk. Oooh, pistachio! ALRIGHT: NOW TALK!”

*

The vampire (Sunset had decided there was no point to call this thing anything else) had dogged her attack with some ease, but even with all it’s supernatural strength, it had some trouble matching an alicorn. The first thing Sunset had done was to rip Twilight out of the vampire's aura and seal her off in a force field. Then the fight began for real.
They began to circle the cell, looking for weak spots or an opening. The vampire snarled and bared it’s teeth. Sunset hissed back and flared up her wings even more. That made the vampire flinch just a little, and Sunset did not hesitate.
A flare of magic shot out from her horn, while she reared up on her hindlegs and slammed her foorhovves in the floor. The room, and almost the entire castle, shook from the impact. The vampire was pushed back, and even fell over to one side, and Sunset fired her magic into the beasts belly. There was smoke and a smell of burnt fur… But through the smoke the vampire re-appeared. Even if it’s mane and fur got a bit burnt, there didn’t seem to be any real damage. Sunset grunted, and prepared for another attack, when the vampire suddenly came flying towards her, maw wide open to draw blood. With a loud crash they crashed together and suddenly Sunset found herself on the floor, pinned down in a strength she had not faced before. This being was Power. Almost alicorn level. She tried her best to get out but the grip was like made of steel. The worst thing was the eyes, Sunset had trouble concentrating. She had read about vampires using charms and she made a mental note to have Blueprint add a whole section to the Encyclopedia Equestria about vampires once she got away from this. She shook her head. NO! She HAD to sta FOCUSED!!! She tried to conjure another forcefield for herself, to keep her neck out of reach for the vampire but it was hopeless. But for a moment, the vampire stopped.

Afterwards Sunset reflected that at its core, the vampire WAS Rarity, and how it just couldn’t work around that. Because it looked at her now and with a slightly teasing tone it said:

“You look delicious…”

“Thank you! My wife says the same!” For a moment the vampire had turned the charm off, and that was enough to make sunset throw it off her, and slam it into the dungeon wall. Again, no real damage on the vampire (save for a crack in the stones.) Now it was Sunset’s turn to pin the vampire to the wall, and in it’s turned, it tossed and snarled in her magical grip to get loose but hell hath no fury like an alicorn scorned. She enclosed the whole of the vampire's body in her forcefield rendering it unable to move.

“I just need to focus a little and I will crush your body like an insect…”

“My my, such a brute. Tsk tsk tsk… That is not very becoming of the princess of the sun. What would your mother say?”

Sunset slapped the vampire over the maw.

“I am not my mother.”

“I can feel that… Indeed you are not, She-Demon!”
But if the vampire had hoped to get under Sunset's skin, it had miscalculated.
“I am the princess and the ruler of Equestria, one half of the diarchy, and the protector of my land and everyone who lives in it. I will do exactly what is necessary to keep my people safe.”

“Not a really good job you did, considering you never found me.”

“Nobodys perfect.” There was a coldness in Sunset's voice that made the vampire freeze. Indeed, the plan had not been especially refined. The hunger had been so strong that it couldn’t help itself. It had taken control, grabbed the princess and rendered the guards harmless with a single powerful gesture. But now it couldn’t help but notice how the plan had a few flaws. Feed on the princess. Alright. Then what? It knew that even with the blood and some of the power of Princess Twilight consumed, Princess Sunset was a whole different matter.

But with both of them consumed…

The vampire closed its eyes and tried to think. Not one of those ridiculous childish plans from before. No, reach deep. Down in the hosts mind, down in the well of gossip… What was Princess Sunset's biggest weakness?

Aha… so simple… Well, that can be arranged…

*

“Alright. So. You were scared to leave me alone, so you bought a wicked-looking elixir from a shady pony, you drank it and became a vampire, AND the host of a demon?”
“...When you put it like that, it sounds so silly…”
“...Rarity…”
“...For all it is worth… I am so sorry, Twilight. I… I loved you so much. I… Still love you so much. I couldn’t bear spending years in the shadowlands without you, I couldn't leave you! I… I just couldn’t.”
“Rarity! I would…. I would have…”
“Darling, you ARE an alicorn. Even YOU don’t know if you live forever or just very very long. And if Luna couldn’t visit the Shadowlands, neither could you.”
“...”
“I am right, and you know it. I agree darl…Twilight. It was a really really stupid idea. But I… I couldn’t. I couldn't. Even now I can’t.”
“You can say darling, Rarity.”
“...Can I?”
“Rarity. I love you. As much as the moon and sun and half of my books.”
“Only half? Hmmm. There has been an alicorn love-deflation…”
“Rarity!”
“Sorry darling. Force of habit. Oh? Hugging are we?”
“...Oh Sweet faust how I missed you. So much. All of this, the sassiness… the pizzass…You.”
“...Oh.”
“Rarirty, I am angry with you. And this is such a mess I have no idea how we will get out of it. But I can’t lie. I have been missing you so much for all these years, I am so glad you are back, I will cover you in one thousand kisses once this is over.”
“Can’t we start now? Didn’t you say that time passes differently in the dreamscape?”
“Sunset will never forgive me if I spent the time she was fighting *you* making out with you in the dreamscape.”
“Sunset...Oh god she will kill me.”
“She might, if we don’t get out.”
“I meant when we got out.”
“I won’t let her. If someone is going to kill you, it’s me.”
“...Thanks I suppose.”
“I AM angry.”
“...I am really really sorry?”
“Rarity…”
“OW! TWILIGHT! Oh… No, this is not you… Oh… Oh me…”
“What is… A stake?”
“Yes. Through the heart. Seems… Seems like our time is running out a little…darling?”

*

The fight was brutal, and neither of the two seemd like they would stop before one of them was dead. The vampire… well, it was probable that killing ponies was it’s ultimate goal. Concearning Sunset, she was not always as cold-blooded as she gave appearance of, but she had always been more rational than Twilight, and in this situation she shoved her doubts aside until later. Even if this thing was looking like Rarity, 200 years can do a lot of things with a pony, and it didn’t seem to be much of the original pony left, save for the way it talked. No, if she had to kill it, she would. After all, to her, Rarity had been dead for 300 years. This was probably just a brief intermission. She prepared herself to squeeze this thing into jelly when the vampire spoke.

“You know this will take a while, don’t you? I am quite strong, darling.”
“DON’T CALL ME DARLING! That privilege is NOT yours.
I believe it was mone once.
“Not yours, you are not her. And this can take forever for all that I care. I have time, and I got you where I want you.”
“That you do. But what about your friend? Princess Twilight?”
“I will take care of her. She’s probably fine.”
“Ah. Well, I suppose… After all, I can’t answer how long it will take for you to kill me. But I DO know how long it takes for a pony to bleed to death…”
THAT hit. Sunset blinked.
“What. Do. You. Mean?”
“Ah well… no one is here… but you. And I did manage to wound her a little. Juuust a little nibble but even a small wound, you know? Yes dear… I did get a taste of her blood. Her sweet sweet magical blood… tangy, but a little sweet, with a touch of carrot.”
“Carrot?”
“Oh yes. Really nice.Sure, it’s not the biggest of wounds but… It does bleed. With time… I mean, who knows how long she will be out?”

Come on…. take the bait… go on… GOTCHA!
For a second Sunset looked away to glance at Twilight. That was enough for the vampire to grab a stone in its magic and hurl it at Sunset's head with force.
There was as thud, the magic dissolved, and Sunset hit the floor.

The vampire snarled. “Tsk tsk tsk… When will you ponies learn… if you are going to kill someone, just do it! Don’t talk! Just like those fools in manehattan… ‘We have you now, you devilish fiend’. Just DO IT and gloat afterwAAAAH!”

The stake appeared without warning. The pain was immense and the vampire sank to the floor, barely managing to move it’s head to it’s attacker.

“Aye, Lass! Appears like oi arrived in a neck of thyme and even better dat oi didn’t run once oi saw poor Blueprint! Back in old ireband we know how to deal with de fae, and it seems like de old tricks still werks. And as yer said, luv. attack first, gloat later.”
With that, Parsnips turned around and checked the pulse of Prinsess Twilight. There seemed to be none. Then he noticed the small pools of blood spread over the cell. Immideately his hayrish confidence ran off him and he screamed in panic
“CAPTAIN! PRINCESSES DOWN! GET THEM TO THE MEDICAL WING NOW!!!”

Author's Note

Oh god! An update? How? When? Who?
Well... I got inspiration, simple as that. Also, you haven't forgotten about Parsnips? It's been a few years but he is still around.

Looks like the end is getting near... But when that comes, I have no idea...