The third child of four currently born to the noble House d'Écarlate, Couronne has always been the odd duck of her family. Being the daughter of a powerful Diviner and a less-powerful Enchanter, everyone expected her to take to magic as her siblings did. She, however, was much more interested in stories of adventure and battle than spellbooks and tended to sneak away, via charm or a silver tongue, from her studies to go play or run about the town of Port Cheval, where her family resides. As the second daughter of Rose d'Écarlate, the Baroness Licou, she does not stand to inherit the title. She still benefited from a noble education, but her lack of magical talent was looked upon as shaming her family; she faced constant criticism and pressure to become a "proper unicorn" from them. In her thirteenth year, she eventually abandoned her studies entirely to spend more time with the House armsmaster, a Nocturnus pegasus called Greylight. From him, she learned to fight as best suited her stature, with swiftness, deceit and stealth.

Wild and arrogant, she began challenging others in Port Cheval to mock duels, swiftly earning a reputation as a sneaky, underhanded fighter who drank like a stallion and still won more than she lost. However, after severely humiliating the son of a notable merchant, her mother publicly arranged to have her daughter wed to a minor noble when she attained nineteen years of age. This incensed Couronne, and she swore that she would earn her family's respect on her own, rather than being a nuisance to be bargained away. On the day of her nineteenth birthday she snuck out of her room and into her mother's study and stole one of House d'Écarlate's valued artifacts, an ancient map that was often rumored to hold the location of the Platinum Crown of Princess Platinum, daughter of the ancient unicorn king, from whom the d'Écarlate line claims direct descent.

With a haphazard collection of weapons, gear, and a pittance of the wealth to which she was accustomed, she stowed away on a merchant vessel heading to the Equestrian mainland. She vowed not to return without her prize in her grasp, and with it, the respect of her family.