The one called Twilight took a breath before starting off with her first question. She seemed flushed with a mixture of emotions, excitement, curiosity, fear, and something between giddy and anguished. Shiera couldn't tell which.

"So.....Where are you from?" Twilight asked, making board with paper float next to her using magic from her horn. A Writing quill also appeared, but she didn't see her summon any ink. But that didn't seem to matter. Strange.

Shiera steadied herself for a moment, "I hail from the former Shu Empire, now called the An Empire, since my...." Shiera winced a bit, Many painful memories resurfaced themselves for a bit before she pushed the back.

"Since your what?" She asked, but Shiera didn't bother answering, not wanting to revisit those memories at the moment.
"Now, Where is this 'An Empire', and how come i have never heard of it before?"

Shiera paused, "How could you not have heard of the An Empire, it's the second largest Kingdom in all the land!"

Twilight frowned, "I've seen the Crystal Empire, but never this 'An Empire' you speak of..."

"Crystal what? Never heard of it." Shiera replied.

She watched as Twilight scribbled something down on her notes, and then turned as the pink one....Pinkie Pie, was it? Yeah, she began to speak. "You've never been to the Crystal Empire? It's simply amaaazing! There's lots of crystals, and a giant floating heart, and this reaaaally evil unicorn that tried to take over and---"

"Pinkie, i think that's enough for now, i still have more questions i want ask her..." interrupted Twilight.

"Aww, and i was just getting to the good part....okay...." Pinkie Pie replied, drooping her ears for a moment in sadness before spontaneously perking up again.

"Now for my next--" Twilight began

"No!" Shiera interjected.

"Wait, what? But i haven't--"

"I have my own questions to ask, And i want answers just as much as you do. We will take turns, is this not a fair solution?"

Twilight seemed taken aback by that for a moment, before giving a nervous laugh and finally a smile. "You're right, You must be just as confused as any of us....go ahead, ask away!"

Shiera took a deep breath, this was a question she'd been needing to get off of her chest for while now....."What weird hellspawn afterlife is this? What kind of afterlife needs a hospital? And why is everything a talking horse-er, pony thing?"

Nothing in any religious book she read ever mentioned a realm of talking, rainbow colored pony hellspawn. She was pretty sure she'd remember reading something as ridiculous as that....

All of the ponies seemed taken aback by Shiera's question, "Hellspawn? What is that? Afterlife? Wait, you think this is the afterlife? Don't be silly, you are alive and well in Equestria," replied Nurse RedHeart. Shiera frowned. "No this most assuredly must be the afterlife," she protested, "Even if it's nothing like the books say..."

Twilight gave a confused look before shaking her head, "No, i assure you, everypony here is alive and well, we saved you from the Everfree Forest...You were injured from your fall, but you are very much---"

"No." It was a simple word, but she spoke it with such conviction that there was a momentary pause in the conversation. Shiera's face was that of dead seriousness. If she still had fists, she would have clenched them.

"I am dead. I died."

"Why aren't you listening to me, you aren't dead! We saved you in the Everfree--" Twilight tried to explain, but Shiera cut her off.

"No. I remember it clearly. I fought in the battle Leng Wu, and i died. I died, bleeding in my crying husband's...." Shiera began to shake, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I died, and now i am here, so there is no way that this isn't the afterlife!" A sudden sharp pain flared in her head and she cried out. It felt like she was forgetting something....falling....but...but....whatever it was, it just wasn't there.

The whole room was silent for a long moment as Shiera cried, the memories of her husband and friends, and the betrayal, and finally, her death flooding through her mind once more.

Fluttershy was the first to recover, and she calmly walked over to Shiera and gave her a hug. Shiera stiffened a bit, but didn't stop her.

"I-It's okay....Everything's going to be okay...I don't know what happened, but i can assure you, you are alive and well, we all are." She grabbed Shiera's hoof and pressed it against her chest. "See?"

Shiera was confused for a moment until she felt it. A beat. A pulse. Then another. And another. Shiera then put a hoof on her own chest, and sure enough, she could feel it beat.

"I-I-I don't understand! I...W-What?" Instead of relieve, panic began to swell within Shiera, "What is going on? I'm alive again? How? Where is this?! What is this?! Why am i like this?! Why am i here?!" At that moment, her calm soldier mask failed her. She began to freak out, almost knocking the bed over again, scooting away from the other ponies in the room, not hearing their words even as they tried to calm her. It wasn't until there was another prick of a needle did she finally slow down and collapsed into an empty sleep.

Fluttershy began to cry, "I-I'm so sorry! I was only trying to help...." Nurse RedHeart gave Fluttershy a comforting pat on the back. "It's okay, you didn't do anything wrong. Things are just...." She paused for a moment, trying to find the right word, "....complicated....at the moment."

"Complicated? Don't you mean crazy?! She was bonkers! Spouting out nonsense about something called an 'An Empire' and saying crazy things like she died---"

"I don't know, Pinkie, i think she was telling the truth," interrupted Twilight.

"Huh?! You really believe all that crazy stuff, Twilight?"

Twilight frowned, "I don't understand it myself, but....she was crying Pinkie....and it's clear she didn't know anything about our world either...She is probably just afraid and in a new place that she doesn't understand. I would be traumatize too if i woke up in a world i hadn't seen before..."

"Wait, you believe her to be from another world?" this time it was Doctor Horse who had chimed in. Twilight frowned, then nodded. "I don't know for sure, but i think so. It's the only thing that makes sense so far, at least from what we've learned from her so far...." she bit her lip. "The question still remains of how she got here, and what happened to her....and there are still so many questions i have for her."

"I don't think she's currently in any state to be answering questions, especially since it will take a while before the sedative wears off again..." replied Doctor Horse.

Twilight nodded, thoughts still lingering on her tongue. "I....I need to talk to Princess Celestia about this....she needs to know, and maybe she'll know how to help her!"

And without another word, Twilight dashed off to go find Spike. She would need to write a letter, and quickly...

Author's Note

Sorry that you guys had to wait so long. like i said before, i have a wacky schedule. I will post when i can and won't when i can't....

And if you are wondering, yes, Shiera's memories of what happened in the Void, or even going to the Void in the first place have faded away. What is causing this and why will be revealed sometime in the future! You'll have to keep reading to find out! XP