> The Way Back Home
>  by JulietTara
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Waking up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Darkness. That's the first thing I remembered. I tried to open my eyes but I had almost no energy left. What happened?

'She's waking up! Get princess Twilight!'

That's the first thing I heard. Who was she? Where were I?

When I finally got to open my eyes, the first thing I saw was a white mare with light-pink hair. I looked around. That wasn't home. 
In shock I tried to stand up and run away, but that didn't work out as good as I thought. I barely stood on my feet when I feel on one side again.
'Now easy there! You aren't supposed to stand up!'

'It's OK, miss Redheart. I'll take it from here.' When I looked to the door, from where thatvoice came from, Isaw a tall pruple mare with wings AND a horn.
'Of course, your highness. The white pony quickly bowed and walked out of the room.

'And now to you...' I heard the purple one say. I jumped on the bed again and sat down on it as far away from her as possible.
'Don't be scared.. I won't hurt you. My name's Twilight Sparkle. I'm one of the princesses of this land. You were washed up on one of our beaches yesterday, when some ponies found you..You didn't wake up since. Could you explain what happened?'

'I..I dont remember..' I answered shyly and quietly. My father always told me, not to talk to strangers and who knows what they already did to me when I was unconscious.

'Well, could you tell me your name?'

'I..I'm Serena..'

'What a beautyful name..' Twilight said with a little smile. After some seconds she continued.

'So.. when you were found, there was a little crown with shells next to you. There must have been a protection spell on it, as nopony was able to get near it. Do you know what it is?'

My whole body shook as I heard what she just said. Disbelieving I turned my head to a mirror on one side of the room. I was completly shocked.

'WHERE IS IT!? WHAT DID YOU DO TO IT!?' I screamed- almost crying.

Twilight- now a little bit shocked to- slowly answered. 'uh.. princess Celestia and Princess Luna managed to bring it into another room, trying to figure out what it is.'

'Bring me to it. And fast- before something happens to it.'

Twilight nodded and run of. I followed her. After almost a minute I was completly outpowered. I didn't know if it was, because I was unconscious for about a day now, or because of the fact that I wasn't used to those hooves. I guessed Twilight realised that, as she slowed down a bit.

After some minutes of running she finally opened a door to a room. In the middle of it there were two alicorns. A tall white one with multi-coloured mane and a blue one.

'Princess Celestia-' That were the only words Twilight got to say after I finally came to the room.

'STOP! Don't touch it! It's really important to me' I cried out as I ran up to the little crown, which was put on a little podium.

The princesses steped back as the crown began to levitate on my head. In that moment, my little, wavy strand on my fronthead began to take a darker colour again and almost transparent wings showed up on my back.

All the other ponies in the room stared at me as I began to sink in fear.

The first one who got his breath again was princess Celestia.

'Tell me.. how did you do that?' She stared at me in curiosity.

'I- uh..' I stepped back a little untill I found an answer. 'It's my crown...'
'So you are a princess? I didn't know there is another one in equestria.' Finally Luna stepped forward with a confused look on her face.
'I..I'm not from equestria'

It was at that time Twilight stepped forward to face me. 'Well, where DO you come from? I would like to hear everything you know! I'm sure there is no book about a land outside of equestria!'

'I- uh.. come from atlantica. I'm the princess of the sea-ponies.'

For some minutes nopony said anything. Were they that shocked that I am from a land with sea-ponies?
> Explaining
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally I got to convince them to believe me. Even thought I still think they don't fully trust me.

'Well.. if atlantica really is that far away from any islands.. how did you end up at equestria?' Twilight still couldn't believe what I was saying. I could hear the disbelieve in her voice.

'I can't remember.. I was outside- collecting some shells and then something hid me really hard and after that I can't remeber anything but darkness. I guess someone knocked me out and brought me here..'

'But who would do that to a princess? Do you have enemies?'
'I don't even have contact to my best friends since almost a year anymore..'
I think that line shocked Twilight really much after she stared at me with big eyes forever.

'You don't have contact to your best friends?'
'No.'
'Why?'
'Since my coronation I don't have time for that anymore. And Mum forbade it since they are distracting me from my royal work. I always dreamed of finally being crowned.. but now, it's a nightmare.' I said as I looked away- out of the window.

Celestia slowly came up from me of behind and put her hoof on my shoulder. 'It's OK. We are going to help you get home and maybe we can talk to your parents also.' 
'Yeah, good luck with that.'

The door opened and Luna came in again- as she left some hours ago. 'Sister it's late. You all should go to bed now. I am watching over equestria now.'
'She's right. Twilight please show Serena her new room now. It's the one on the left in front of the library, not far away from your old room. You also can stay here over the night, Twilight. I will send a letter to your friends. They will arrive here tomorrow afternoon. Maybe they can help us too.'
'Yes, Celestia. Come with me Serena.'

The walk to our chambers was mostly quiet. When we were standing outside of my room Twilight began to speak again.
'So.. I would like to know more about you sea-ponies.. Could you teach me some things about you tomorrow? I could begin to write a new book then.'

'Sure..' I answered with a little smile as i walked into my room and went to bed.
> Teaching
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I woke up it was about 9 am.
I stood up and walked slowly and walked to the dining room.

When I arrived I already was greeted by the princesses. After I ate everything on my plate (Even thought I didn't know food like 'hay' and 'apples' until now- it was pretty good) I saw that princess Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again as she realised, that her book next to her vibrated.
After she wrote something in there she started talking. 'Serena? Could you follow me in the garden? I need to talk to you for a second.'

'Sure..'

After some minutes of quiet walking Twilight opened a door to a wonderful garden with many flowers, trees and some animals in it. Even a little lake was there- which by the way- I really needed to remind me of home.

I instinctively went to the little lake and sat down in front of it. Twilight then placed herself next to me.

'So.. care to teach me something about sea- ponies now?'

I sighted. 'I don't know, if I'm allowed to tell a normal pony about that, but.. whatever..' I kept my eyes on the water.

'..We all live together in a really big land called atlantica, as you already know. We have 4 types of sea- ponies.. just like you normal ponies.'
I kept talking as Twilight put out that book from earlier again and began writing.

'We have royals, mermaids, nixxes and sirens.' I heard that Twilight sighted at the word 'sirens'. I gave her a asking look but as she didn't say anything, I continued.

'Every type of sea- pony has another talent. We don't exactly get cutiemarks like you. We get searas. Those are marks only sea- ponies get. We are born with it. It proves to which type be belong. Mermaids are conected to water very much. They can control it in any way they want. But if they aren't around water for a time, they are completly defenseless. Nixxes on the other hand have thise connection to animals and plants. Without it- they wouldn't have a chance in a fight. Those two types have a connection with something. But sirens are completly different.'

I stopped as I saw that Twilight now only stared at the book, with her writing- feather in the grip of her magic. I guess she noticed that I stared at her as she blinked some times and continued writing. I- again- turned to the water.

'They don't get a seara. For that they have their heartstone. They also have a unique and beautyful look. Sirens get their power from charming ponies with their wonderful voice. But to gain that power they have to- ' 

'feed of negativ energy.' Twilight finished. I turned to her as she put the book down. How would she know that? 'Or good one. Sirens can 
choose if they want to be good or bad.' I think Twilight didn't know THAT yet, because she gave me a shocked look. 

'How would you know about sirens?' I gave her a curious look.

'I already had to deal with 3 sirens.. in another world.' Now it was my turn to give Twilight that look of shock. Was she talking about.. THEM?

'It was some weeks ago. My friend in that other world called me to help her fight them. I don't know if I can even remind their names.. '

'Adagio, Aria and Sonata.. My father always talked about getting them back to atlantica as they would never survive out there alone without the swarm.'

Twilight now had wide eyes. 'Maybe you really can take them with you home.. when we find out where atlantica is there wouldn't be a problem to get them from the other world.'

'Mhm..'

'You.. still haven't told me about royals.'

'Right.. We royals are like a fusion of all the types.. We have a wonderful voice and can transform to a siren at any time and we have a deep connection to water, plants and animals..'

'Okay.. so if you excuse me for a moment. I have to speak to the princesses about those three sirens'

'Alright.. ' 

Twilight walked to the door that leads into the castle and opened it. As she was gone I slowly walked on the water. I walked over it like it was ice. It felt so good to be around my element again. I layed down on the water and began to sing.

Here I am
living a dream that i can't hold
Here I am 
on my own..

> The lost princess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The king was standing in front of a window and the queen was sitting in her throne as a little servant reached the room.

'King! We found a letter in the princess' room! 

He turned to the servant and took a small yellow letter out of his hand.

We have your daughter and if you don't want anything to happen to her, you better do what is asked.
We know all your tricks, so don't even try something.
We will give you your princess back, if you bring us 3 heartstones.
They must be full of power already.
Meet us at the southern beach of equestria, otherwise a tragic.. accident will happen to your sweet, little princess.

The king was shaking. What should he do? He couldn't just give away 3 heartstones. They were hard to get and he would hate letting them get into the wrong hands. But he also didn't want anything to happen to his precious child. She was only 15 years old- she wouldn't even know what was happening to her.

Now also the queen was standing in front of the servant.
The king came to speak again.
'It's on. We will leave for equrestria first thing in the morning. I knew you couldn't trust those ponies. We will start war instantly.'

'But sweetheart..' Now the queen began speaking. 'What are you going to do?'

'Getting our daughter back. Whatever it takes.'

'But king. We don't exactly know where she is.'

'As I know my daughter it won't take her long untill she sings for the first time. We will be able to find her with that. Captain Tornado. You should know best that sirens are able to hear her royal voice, whereever she is. Whe should write a letter to the ones, who have my daughter, immediately. May the war begin.'

'But who has our daughter?'

The king now looked back on the letter- reading the last few words of the letter.

'Princess Celestia and princess Luna.' He said as another servant came into the room and started writing every word his king told him and send the letter off.
> Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

3 sea- ponies were sitting on a table in front of a little house. A thin, darkblue mare with blonde, slightly curled hair and light blue eyes; a orange mare with thick and curled, red hair and dark green eyes; and a dark purple, littler mare with black- light purple, straight hair and silver eyes.

They were staring at a picture, which was laying on the middle of the table. You could see a beautyful sea- pony- princess with light pink coat and light green, slightly curled hair and golden eyes. In the middle of her hair there was a little curled hair- strand in a darker green. On her little head there was a crown out of shells. Carefully placed- it always looked perfect.

The dark pruple one started talking first.
'Do you guys think she ran away? I guess there would be some reasons after the coronation. Mystra? Are you okay?'

Now the darkblue one came to word.

'Hm? Oh.. no.. everythings fine... I was just thinking.. about.. you know.. But I don't think she ran away either, Shelly. Because if she did- where would she go? She doesn't have anyone but her family.'

'..Loko? What do you think? ... Loko?'

'We should go find her. Maybe something bad happened to her.' The orange one stared down into a book.

'But how? Who knows where she is. Maybe she is on land.. Maybe someone took her from us.'

'Well.. I guess, if she would be singing I could track her down through my heartstone.' Shelly said.

'It's worth a try.. let's meet here again in one hour. Grab some things from home. We have to leave as soon as possible.'

The others agreed and everyone went her way.


> Searching
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The three little sea- ponies met again in the middle of the city.
'Hey guys! Did you hear the news? Serena is kidnapped!', Loko said.
Mystra came up from behind her: 'Yeah but.. I can't really believe that. Why would ponies want to start such an unnecessary war? It doesn't make any sence, Loko.'

'Whatever it is- we have to find her and bring her back! Where is Shelly?'

'I think she wanted to grab her heartstone from her place. You know she hates wearing it.'

'Yeah.. oh hey! There she is!'

'Hey Shelly! Do you have everything you need to find Serena?'

'Yeah I'm ready. Let's go.'





'Hey Serena, my friends came earlier. They are here now. Do you wanna meet them?' I heard Twilight say, as she came back out of the castle.

'Yeah, sure.'

I went with her and I heard loud talking coming from the throneroom. The guards, which where standing in front of the throneroom, opened up the door for us. I were greeted by five ponies and the princesses.

'Hey you must be Serena! Uuuh I'm so happy to meet you! My name's Pinkie Pie! Oh my gosh, I already heard soo much about you! Can't wait to get to know you better! What cake would you prefer on your 'Welcome- Party'!? I would love to make a chocolatecake, but if you don't like chocolatecake I can make another one. Do sea- ponies even eat cake? I can make something different if you wa-' Finally the pink pony was stopped by another mare. She was orange. She reminded me alot of one of my friends. ... ex- friends.

'Pinkie you can plan that later. My name's Applejack and those are: Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy.' She said gesturing towards the other ponies.

I gave them a little smile before princess Celestia began speaking.

'Princess Serena, Twilight told me that you would like to take the sirens from the other world with you, when you're going home. Is that true?'

'Uh.. yeah sure. I-If it's possible.'

'We would have to contact Sunset Shimmer. Maybe they can find and convince them to go back to your land.'

'Yeah would be great..'

'But first: Come sit with us and have lunch.'

'Okay.'

I sat down to the others as some servant ponies brought food and drinks. It was alot different as the food at home just like the breakfast, butit tasted really good. I became pretty thirsty so i levitated a bit of water to my mouth. They all seemed pretty surprised that I could do that, without being a unicorn. Everyone but Twilight. She just seemed amazed. Twilight explained everything to the others and then the others- of course- had many questions for me.

'Since when were your able to do that?' Rarity asked me.

'Since I was born I guess. Every Mermaid can do that without training it even once.'

'How often do you train those powers?' Princess Luna wondered.

'About once a week? With my private teacher. Sea- ponies aren't allowed to use their powers in public since the dazzlings were banished. We were scared normal ponies could see that there are more of us out there and banish us too.'

'Woah.. you have such powers but aren't allowed to use it? Must be hard.' Rainbow must have thought about never being able to fly anymore, I guess. She was staring at her empty plate for a minute.

'Well.. here you are free to use your powers wherever you want, as long it doesn't harm anypony.'

At that sentence i grinned so widely, my face hurt.

I started singing.

A kingdom of isolation
and it looks like I'm the queen.
The wind is howling like this swirling storm of inside.
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I've tried.

I stomped with my hooves and levitated every waterdrop aboth the glasses.
I started grinning again as everyone seemed impressed by that.
I continued singing and as I sang I started feed of good energy of my new friends.
I walked out of the room with everyone following. Soon I'm standing in the middle of that city with everyone watching me. Seconds after they heard my siren voice everyone became happy and smiled at me.
I grew some sea- grass and levitated water everywhere, I even froze a little fountain in the center of the city.

As I stopped singing I brought back every waterdrop in its former state and un- grew the grass again. Ponies laughed and stomped with their hooves. I felt really welcome here. I liked it here. I wanted to stay here.





'Guys! I can hear her singing! Follow me!'