//------------------------------//
// El Capitulo Dieciséis 
// Story: Meet me in Maretonia 
// by Paradise Oasis 
//------------------------------//

As the prince trotted down the stairs and into the tunnels beneath the castle, he was surprised by how quiet the dungeons were. There was no sound of prisoners,  or of guards down here. And all of the cells down there were empty, and there was no pony or griffin around anywhere in sight. He had never seen it so quiet in these chambers, and it unnerved Sunny Salsa to no end. 

"Just... stay calm, Sunny. No reason to freak out." The prince thought to himself, staring through the rows of bars at the abandoned cells. "The griffins must have had the prisoners and guards moved elsewhere for the duration of the ceremony. No reason to-" 

Just then, Sunny heard the sound of hooves trotting down the stairs behind him. Terrified about what had foll wed him down from the rooms above, the prince kept back through the dimly-lit dungeon toward the stairs, and saw the shadowy figure of a pony gazing around the room. Not knowing if the new arrival was working with the griffins or not, Sunny decided to jump the stranger before he could make any sudden moves. 

"Hold it right there!" The prince yelled, jumping out of the shadows. 

"Ahhhhhh!" The stranger yelled in surprised, nearly jumping out of his skin. 

"Ahhhhhh!" The prince yelled back, just as scared as the pony he had surprised. 

Both frightened stallions ran in opposite directions, galloping towards opposite sides of the room, and both smacking their faces into opposite walls. 

"Ow!" 

"Ow!"

The two ponies rubbed their heads with their hooves, then looked over, and both finally recognized the other.  

"Fresco, is that you?!" The prince asked in shock, not believing who he was seeing. "What the heck are you doing down here? I thought you went with Fiesta!"

"Yeah, well... she thought you could use my help more than she could, in case you ran into trouble." Fresco muttered to himself, looking away. "Anyway, had any luck in locating the duke yet?" 

"No I haven't I'm afraid." Sunny replied with a sigh. "I think they moved him and the other prisoners somewhere else, Bifido must've realized we might try a rescue."

"But where could the griffins have taken him?" Fresco asked in confusion. "Where else in the capital is more secure than the royal dungeons?"

"Well, the other prisoners were probably taken over to  Cerradura Hierro  penitentiary, on the other side of the capital." Sunny salsa suddenly turned as pale as a ghost. "But mi Padre, there is only one place they could've taken him that would be more secure than here..."

The prince trailed off, and then trotted over to press his hoof against a carving of the Maretonian royal crest upon the wall, which cased a secret panel in the dungeon wall to suddenly slide open. The two stallion trotted over, and  Fresco saw a set of steps leading even father down into the darkness. The prince lit a torch and removed it from the wall, then motioned for the other stallion to follow him down the dark stairs.

The two stallions found themselves trotting through a long serious of tunnels, with what humans would describe as Mayan and Aztec-looking carvings and paintings along  the walls. Fresco shivered as he saw a repeated pattern of jade pony skulls, that almost seemed to glow in the darkness.

"Ummmm, Sunny? Where exactly are we going?" Fresco asked nervously. "This place is really giving me the creeps."

"These are the Guanajuato catacombs, the final resting place for the ponies of the Maretonian royal family." The prince replied grimly. "The tunnels were hollowed out back in the days of the old Miratnian empire, and Coltapec Castle was built over the tombs after the founding of Maretonia." He stared back at the other stallion, his face reflecting in the torchlight. "These momias- these mummies- of my ancestors lie in these catacombs, going all the way back to the Qwetzeketl empress, so we must be respectful as we pass through."

"Sure, got it." Fresco replied nervously. Trotting along after the prince, the stallion had to stop himself from screaming in terror as they past by the dried out, mummified remains of several former dukes and duchesses, emperors and empresses. The mummies were each set in small niches in the walls, each body adorned with the gold and jewels they had worn in life. Frisco was trying to hide his fear and disgust, when he thought he saw one of the mummies move in the torchlight. "Ummm, Sunny? Aren't there any fears in Maretonian culture about mummies and the undead coming back to haunt the living? Don't Maretonians fear the dead?"

"Huh? Oh, you're scared of the mummies, hm?"  Sunny Salsa laughed nervously. "Don't Worry, these mummies won't attack you. Normally, we Maretonians don't fear the dead. The dead ones are our ancestors, as long  as we remember them they continue to return to the world of the living. But if we forgot them, they disappear into the afterlife, forever."

"Whoa, that's a creepy way of looking at the afterlife." Fresco added, as they continued along the pathway. "Hey, look at this mummy, up here!" 

The two stallions trotted over towards the final mummy in the row, which was all wrapped up in bandages. Unlike the other bodies that lined the catacombs, this one seemed far fresher and less dried out than the others.

"Wow, this one seems so lifelike, I'd swear he was still alive!" Fresco commented, looking the body over. But as he stared at the mummy's face, he noticed breath still moving in and out of his mouth. "Great Celestia, I don't believe it! THIS ONE IS STILL ALIVE!"

The two stallions pulled the bandages off of the mummy's face, and the prince was horrified at finding out who the living mummy was. 

"Madre de Yeguas! Fresco, it's my father!" Sunny Salsa cried out, as he and Fresco tore the bandages off the still-living duke. "Bifido must have had him buried alive, so nobody would discover the switch until it was too late!" 

"Sunny... the griffins... mirror duplicate... replaced me... taking over... have to... stop them...."

"Don't worry, padre, we'll get you back top the surface." The prince reassured his father. "Fiesta Flair is stalling Bifido and the other griffons for time. We'll get you back to the surface, and stop them from taking over!"

"Sorry, Sunny... you and the duke aren't going anywhere." Fresco replied, pulling out a knife, and stepping in front of the two royal stallions. "You were never supposed to find your father still alive, so now I'm goign to have to do away with the both of you."

"Fresco... you're betraying us?" The duke asked, coming back to his senses. "B-but I invited you here, welcomed you into my kingdom as a guest..."

"Oh, I'm not the real Fresco." The stallion replied, lifting the knife to the duke's throat. "The real Fresco is back up with Fiesta Flair, facing Bififo right now."

"You're another mirror duplicate, just like the one of Watercolor that attacked mi mama." Sunny snarled, stepping in front the still-groggy duke to protect him. "How could I have been so gullible to believe you were the real Fresco?" 

"There is no way you two are getting out of here alive, we mirror copies are far stronger than a regular pony." The Fresco imposter raised his dagger. "With the duke so weak right now, there is no way the two of you can overpower me!"

Sunny Salsa looked terrified for a moment, before the look on his face suddenly  turned into a dark smile. 

"Oh, I don't think we stand a chance against you." The prince laughed. "But I think they are going to rip you apart, amigo."

The Fresco imposter turned around... only to find all of the mummies in the catacombs suddenly rising from their crypts.  The growling and snarling unread royal mares and stallions raised their dried out, rotting hooves... and began crawling their way towards the mirror duplicate.

"No, wait... this can't be happening!" The Fresco imposter cried out in terror. "Sunny... you said the mummies were your ancestors, and they weren't a threat to anybody!" 

"No, I said we didn't fear the dead, because the dead are our ancestors." The prince smiled, as the mummies ripped the duplicate to shreds. "Those who threaten the dead pony's still-living families have EVERYTHING to fear from them!"