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// The Griffon Who Was Death 
// Story: Tales from the Rift 
// by Fonzie 
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It was a dark and stormy night on the streets of Manehattan, which is kind of fitting for an execution. For in one of the state prisons one of the prisoners was being dragged to his fatal end in the chair, all the while shouting and kicking and screaming, but to no avail, when he saw the chair he desperately shouted, "Wait a minute! Just...wait a minute! He's gonna call! The governor's gonna call! He's gonna get me to stay! Yes, he will! No, no! The governor's gonna call! He's got to! He's got to!"

Watching the scene unfold was a griffon named Edgar, he just shook his head, and once the preparations are made, he threw the switch, and watched as the unlucky guy litterally got the shock of his life, until he stopped moving and his head slowly looked down at the ground, afterwards, he walked away, a smile forming on his face.

As the days went by, Edgar soon became popular amongst every creature, specifically the prisons outside of the city limits, whenever he was off duty, he'd be at that prison as a guest of honor, there he witnessed the other types of executions that prison used. Hanging, firing squad, gas chamber, guillotine, you name it, he would watch with satisfaction that the condemned was getting it, of course, he would sometimes be one to perform the execution, since it was his job, and he loved everything about it.

But of course, all good things must come to an end...

"What do you mean there isn't any executions today?!"

"I'm sorry, but there doesn't seem to be any scheduled for today, every creature seems to be behaving themselves more often lately." The commissioner said, "I hope you're not worried."

"I'm not worried, there's always tomorrow."

But Edgar slowly became worried, for the death sentence seems to be carried out less and less so with each passing day. Until his popularity with the other prisons died away, so he spent his time in his home whenever there wasn't anything, thought to himself, "well, it could be worse."

It got worse...

"and in other news, the mayor of Manehattan has made the decision to ban the death penalty in the city, claiming it was 'immoral and inhumane', of course this brought a serious amount of controversy, as protests consisting of  families of deceased murder victims started to form across the area, claiming 'we must fight death with death', there will be more on this story as it develops, but for now let's go to our weather pony Ollie for tomorrow's weather.

"IT'S GOING TO RAIN!!!

"Thanks Ollie."

Edgar paced the entire length of his apartment, after the ban, he lost his job, so now he just paces while losing his mind.

"this is a test. Yeah, that's what it is, a test. They want to see if I can last, if I fail, they'll take my job away. Well I won't have it, I'm an executioner,  and as such, I'll do what I have to do."

And so, because he was desperate, Edgar began to attend the trials in order to know his victims, the first was a pony accused of killing his brother over the family fortune.

"And so, we find the defendant, mister Cosby... not guilty of murder in the first degree."

After the trial Cosby, unaware of a griffon watching him, made his way to a large mansion with a metal gate out in front, which he began to climb... only to feel a huge jolt of electricity surge through his body, and then dropped to the ground.

Edgar smiled at this Justice, it wasn't the same as the chair, but it had to do, he removed the wires connected to the gate, and went back to his apartment to wait for the next trial.

"And so, because of a lack of evidence, and because I just want to go home and watch "Mad About You", I find the "Sons Of Sombra" gang not guilty."

A short while later, Edgar followed the S.O.S gang at a safe distance to their destination, just as he did before with Cosby, finally arriving at a little house, where a little pool party was taking place, consisting of only the gang and some mares that appeared to be from the streets.

Silently, he watched the whole scene, until one of the members noticed the peeping tom, "Hey spoilsport! What're doing there by the fence."

"None of your business." He snapped back.

"Well I'm the host here got it. Now you can either get out of clothes and into the pool or get out of here. We don't want any spoilsports here, we're here to have a swinging time!" Every pony was cheering at this, mostly because they just wanted to party.

"Oh yeah, well swing on this." Edgar took a space heater that happened to be near him, and chucked it into the pool, and the party was quickly cut short, permanently.

As the days went by, Edgar continued to do his extracurricular activities, there was mr. Spacey, accused of murdering 3 employees at his office building, he got quite a shock when a wire fell onto a puddle he just happened to step into.

There was also mrs. Borden, she was held responsible for murdering her father and stepmother, she was silenced by electrified water when she took a shower. All the while Edgar's sanity became more and more lost, and the reports of the deaths became more and more frequent.

"And in other news, another victim has been claimed in the series of electric deaths that has plagued the city for weeks, a bum that was nearby claims to have witnessed the crime."

"Yeah, so this guy was just walking along all innocent like, you know, next thing I know, he's being shocked by this bug zapper thing that fell and hit this puddle, and boom he's dead."

"Anyway, all citizens are advised to take precautions to avoid being a victim themselves, there will be more on this story as it develops, let's check in with Ollie and the storm that's currently making its way up the coast. What's happening Ollie?"

"IT'S RAINING SIDEWAYS!"

"Sounds rough Ollie, do you have an umbrella?"

"HAD ONE!!"

"Where is it?"

INSIDE OUT TWO MILES AWAY!!!"

"Is there anything we can do for you?"

"BRING ME SOME PIZZA!!!!"

"What kind?"

"PEPPERONI!!!!!"

"Alright we'll get on that."

Shining armor turned off the TV, not wanting to hear anything about the deaths, ever since he and Flash were assigned to investigate on behalf of the princesses, they've heard nothing but discussions about them. He walked into one of the offices where flash and a detective named Drebin were sitting at a desk.

"I just don't understand it." He said to the other two, "There have several deaths in the past few days, and the only connection they have is that they were tried and set free at their trials."

Drebin shook his head sadly, "It's ironic isn't it, they were free from being sent to the chair, but fate decided to take them anyway."

"I don't think these were accidents." Flash said, "I took a look at the wire that killed Spacey, it looked as if it was cut, it could be possible that there's a murderer on the loose."

"Well there's only one way to find out." Drebin said, looking at both flash and shining, "you boys keep an eye on mr. Bates, if you're right about your murderer theory, there's no doubt they'll strike again."

Later that night, Bates, obviously declared not guilty, walked down the park path with the two guards following close behind, Shining's nerves were already splitting under the strain, knowing that any moment someone or something was going to bring an end to Bates' life.

Unbeknownst to the trio, a certain griffon was watching and waiting for Bates to cross his path, right next to him was the park's fountain, which had electric wires running into it.

Once Bates was near, Edgar slowly but surely made his way to the unsuspecting pony... That was when a sudden lightning storm illuminated the park for a brief moment, but in that moment of light, the ponies saw the outline of him leering at his victim.

"HEY"

Edgar was nearly tackled by flash, who had nearly landed in the fountain, but he hit his head on the concrete, leaving him dazed. This gave him a chance to make a break for it... But he found that he couldn't move, before he could say anything, he was suddenly turned around and saw the other guard had trapped him in a blue aura, and he had a stern look on his face, "you're under arrest for murdering several innocent civilians as well as breaking the city's ban on the death penalty, anything you say now can and will be used against you in court."

"and in other news, the police and royal guard have finally solved the case of the electric deaths, apparently the culprit was the state prison executioner Edgar Gacy who claimed that he was, and I quote "only doing his job", the mayor, seeing what has resulted from his decision, has decided to take executive action, we don't know the details yet, but until then, here's tomorrow's weather with our weather pony Ollie. 

"IT'S GONNA BE HOT!"

"Thank you Ollie... that dude needs to stop shouting."

"CLIMATE CHANGE!!"

"OLLIE CUT THAT OUT."

Drebin turned off the TV and turned to face the griffon handcuffed to the desk, well Edgar, I've got good news for you, the mayor has decided to reinstate the death penalty." A wide smile appeared on his face, "And guess who's the first to be executed."

At first Edgar was relieved when he heard about the reinstating, but the way he said that last sentence confused him, but when two guards arrived to escort him to the prison, his eyes widened, for he finally figured out who was first in today's executions.

And so, in a twist of fate Edgar was being dragged to his fatal end in the chair, all the while shouting and kicking and screaming, but to no avail, when he saw the chair he desperately shouted, "Wait a minute! Just...wait a minute! He's gonna call! The governor's gonna call! He's gonna get me to stay! Yes, he will! No, no! The governor's gonna call! He's got to! He's got to!"

Just like last time, the guards were unfazed, especially when he was strapped to the chair, "please, I was just doing my job." He said pathetically.

The last thing he saw, was the new executioner pulling the switch.