There Is No End Of Me

Star Waltz comes out the other side of the portal. He looks around. He's in his basement, but there's none of his lap equipment. He looks back at the portal he came in from and it was gone. He couldn't think of a explanation why he's home. Suddenly, an explosion rocked the ground. He can hear screaming. He galloped up the stairs to the ground floor. He came up to the front door and looked out. He may as well stepped into Tartarus. He saw all of Mustangia ablaze. The sunless sky was dark red through the black smoke. Ponies were running around screaming. When he tried to get their attention, they galloped past completely oblivious to him. He heard somepony call out for help from behind him. He turned around to see the most soul crushing thing he ever had the mispleasure to see.

There was a family of three huddled up against the side of a house and a figure was about to strike them down. The figure looked like Princess Celestia, but it couldn't be, right? The protector of all of Equestria, getting ready to strike a helpless, innocent family was too unreal to him. He yelled at the figure, begging it to stop, but it ignored him and began to charge up its horn with magical energy. Star Waltz lost any care for himself. If he's gonna die, he gonna die helping somepony. He composed himself and shot a magic beam at it. The figure was unfazed by the attack and it turned to him. He braced himself as the figure unleashed its powerful blast. He shut his eyes and waited... waited... waited. He didn't feel anything. Nothing at all. Except for the sudden softness beneath his hoofs.

He opened his eyes and he was not in the same place he was. Looking around, he thought he was in Cloudsdale. However, looking around a little more showed that wasn't the case. After all, he was standing on the clouds without a spell. The clouds felt different as well. Unlike the powdery clouds he had touched before, these were like mist. Steam without the heat. All the light in this place seemed to come from the clouds that made everything. He sensed an undefined amount of energy emitting from all around. He didn't feel anything else. Not even the slightest discomfort. It was blissful, peaceful even. Before he could call out for anything to hear him, a white substance flowed out from the clouds. The substance formed in front of him. The form it took was undefinable. It matched the description he heard of to describe The Tantabus, but is completely solid white. It appears like that it was glowing, but the lack of shadows made it seem just a bright white.

"Impressive" Star Waltz heard in his mind in his own voice. The voice was emotionless and spoke very firmly and clearly.

"H-hello?" he said to the being.

"I'm rather impressed you passed the way you did." it said back to him.

"Passed?"

"The test."

"Test?"

"You want something from me. I needed to know that you're worth the attention. You passed."

"You mean, none of that was real?"

"It is as real as it needed to be. You showed that when put to the test, you would try to help another even at the highest cost."

"Oh, thanks."

"Your thanks is not required. You still want something from me."

"Oh, well, yes I w-"

"I'm not one for bargaining. If you want immortality from me, you will need to dedicate yourself to me."

"How did you know that's what I seek?"

"I am omniscient. I knew everything about you, Star Waltz, the moment you came in my realm."

"And what do you mean, 'dedicate myself to you?'"

"You would need to be in my service if you want something so powerful."

"And what does that entail?"

"It entails a great many things. The best I can have you do is to be a guardian. The only problem is, I am not sure what kind of guardian you can be."

"What kind of things are worthy to be guarded?"

"Things that an intelligent species and a society needs to thrive as that is what my interests are."

"Why is it your interest?"

"I serve as the balance for the world. I'm neither benevolent nor malevolent. A society supports my existence. The guardians keep the elements that keeps a society alive on my behalf."

"Well, I'm good with science, how about the guardian of knowledge?"

"I have a guardian of knowledge already and you do not compare to him. For you to become a guardian you will need to 'think outside the box' as the saying goes."

"What about something from my world? Why not the guardian of my world?"

"A good decision. I expect a level of intelligence from my followers. Your society is a self sustaining one, but it needs to thrive. I see you can protect your world even at the cost of yourself. I approve."

The being moved to side to reveal a marble column that comes to his eye level and is rooted into the cloud ground. He trotted up to it. It had a bowel carved into the center of the column like a bird bath, but much deeper. Two metal handles stuck outside the sides of the top of the column. The bowel is filled with water.

"When you are ready, put both your hooves on the handles. Just a word of warning, this is irreversible and might be rather painful to start."

Star Waltz got on his rear hooves and put his forehooves on the handles. Suddenly, the metal became liquid and formed around his hooves and rooted them in place. Then, several tentacle like appendages made of the same substance that the being is formed from came from the bowel and warped around the back of his head. They pulled his head into the water in bowel and held him there, beneath the surface of the water.