It's a hilariously overused trope, the Seventh of Element of Harmony. That, and there's almost no way it can work canonically, with the Tree of Harmony and all.

. . . so, how'd you guys get around, lampshade, or mock that inconvenient fact? Those of you that had a Seventh Element of Harmony in your stories, that is.

As for me, in my story Tainted Reflection, I had a Pinkie Pie clone who develops enough of a personality to climb out of the mirror pool when she's zapped back there at the end of Too Many Pinkie Pies. She eventually ends up working as a cook at the Griffon Embassy in Canterlot, trying to avoid being noticed by the Equestrians and ignoring the fact that she, as a spell, is slowly unraveling. Longish story short, the Elements are needed and they can't use them because my clone's basically a shard of Pinkie's soul, and she eventually helps them wield the Elements again in a long, convoluted scene.

TL:DR, a Pinkie Pie clone shares the Element of Laughter.

So, I'm eager to hear how you guys went about it? Did you go full-out crazy with the Element of Patriotism, or did you try to keep it somehow canonical like me?

THE ELEMENT OF PATRIOTISM IS A LEGIT ELEMENT OF HARMONY, SUCKA! WHEN TIMES ARE DARK AND THE FUTURE DIM, PATRIOTISM SHALL SHINE THE LIGHT OF FREEDOM ON OUR HEROES AND GIVE THEM THE POWER TO SAVE THE DAY! NOT WITH RAINBOWS, BUT WITH MOTHERFUCKING RED, WHITE, AND BLUUUUUUUUUE!

(But seriously, I was thinking if Laughter can be an Element of all things, so can Patriotism )

The six already shown elements form the (singular) Element of Harmony, whose main purpose is basically to lock up things that are too powerful to remain free (or release them early). There is a higher triad of elements that consist of the elements of Harmony, Inspiration (or Creation), and one still unnamed.

I didn't finish in time for the deadline (or at all), but here's how I would have done it:

The Seventh Element itself isn't, strictly speaking, an element at all. Alex is sent on a journey to fetch a magical artifact that he's told is the Seventh Element that only he can wield, but that artifact is something completely unrelated to the Elements.

But he does learn things about friendship, and he acquires what might be called the zeroth element: Humility. Without Humility, he cannot improve as a person, and Alex...needs improvement. (He's an insufferable pretentious douche.) On his quest, he recognizes that he isn't much to write home about, but that he can improve. Twilight could have just taken the macguffin herself, no problem, but she wanted to teach Alex about friendship, as befits her duty.

He's not going to be firing any friendship lasers, of course. But he is brought through the fire and refined, and isn't improving oneself and others the meaning of life?

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I like to think of the elements as having many names; when Celestia went through Twilight's friends at the end of season three, she said:

Since you've come to Ponyville, you've displayed the charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism, and of course, the leadership of a true princess.

Clearly the same elements, but with a bit different verbiage, and I think they reflect their virtues a bit more closely.

But the Element of Patriotism is amusing. The Element of Adultery even more so.