Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-6175354-20130910120555/@comment-5655661-20130910195550

ChocolatEyes613 wrote: There is a much more reasonable explanation for him being left behind, in the Enchanted Forest. Eric could have been on his ship, within the perimeters of Cora's shield, when the Dark Curse struck. That's a great theory. There is also another possibility - Ariel is actually in Enchanted Forest while Prince Eric is in Neverland. They said we would meet her in Neverland but they didn't say WHEN. So maybe we will see her only in Neverland's flashbacks - they fell in love with each other in Neverland, she went to the Enchanted Forest to make a deal with Regina/Rumple and was somehow left there while Eric was still in Neverland. In "Ariel" we only meet present day Eric while we learn about Ariel's whereabouts in the end of the episode.

Still, your theory sounds like a better and less complicated version so I guess writers will go with it.