Ponies love their princess. She represents all things moral and upright. She is teacher of the renowned Twilight Sparkle. She is a figure looked up to, someone every pony hopes to be like. Now, set all that aside in your mind for just a little while. Let's go back to the very beginning, before Luna was sealed in the moon even. Think of Celestia as a younger pony, not quite a filly, but not quite a mare either. Think of her just starting out as a princess. Why do you have to do this? You will see in a moment.
Our story begins here, with a young pony named Forever and Always. She is a beautiful white Pegasus, with large magnificent wings. Her feathers are pink tipped with red, something rare and exotic. Her mane and tail are long and straight, and are red and pink streaked. She has luminous powder blue eyes, eyes so bright it's as if they could light up a room. Her cutie mark is a pink bow and arrow, surrounded by three small hearts. What does Forever and Always have to do with Celestia's past? Well, she was the princess' best friend.
Celestia, being older than Luna, was the first princess to learn of the Elements of Harmony at the beginning of her reign. There were seven elements. Wait, that doesn't sound right to you, does it? I make no mistake there were seven elements. They were honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty, magic and love. If there were seven elements, then what happened to love? Why was there not a Mane Seven instead of a Mane Six? And that is what this story is to tell. This is the story of the forgotten element. In order to understand it, we have to start at the beginning of Celestia's reign as princess, and taint her image just a bit…