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// The Elemental Theory 
// Story: Ink Blot's Unassorted Encyclopedia of Absolutely Everything 
// by Nevlamas 
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The nation of Equestria has often been named both the cultural and geographical centre of the world. This elitist attitude has, above all, been pursued by unicorn scholars in the early days – scholars who had made the very centre of Equestria their homes. Quick to forget that they too hailed from the south-western grasslands and not from the country they glorified so readily, they swiftly tailored themselves a metaphysical world order known as the Elemental Theory. While most parts of this pseudoscientific concoction have thankfully long been abandoned, there are a few aspects that remain accepted by sound science still today. They influence the perception of the “Elemental Species” quite heavily, so the author considers it unavoidable to elaborate on the theory that brought them up.

At its heart, the theory states that there are three different groups of elements that make up the entire world, ranked into an order of power and significance. The first and least are the natural elements, the four basic components that form the inanimate world: earth, water, air and fire. As the Canterlot scholars considered Equestria the centre of the world and thus the perfect combination of the four, it seemed only reasonable to them to assign a specific element to each of the cardinal directions: air to the windswept mountains of Griffonia to the east, fire to the magma-ridden wastelands of the south, earth to the endless Sun’s Eye Desert to the west and water to the Crystal Mountains and the frozen north.

Deriving from those are the five vital elements, the components of living, breathing bodies and lesser, animal life: earth to bone, water to blood, air to breath, fire to flesh and all of them united to mind. The theory associates the inhabitants of each of Equestria’s neighbouring nations to the vital element connected to the natural one of the land itself – for instance, the dragons in the southern badlands are considered elementals of fire and flesh. Naturally, they would reserve what they considered the highest vital element – mind – for themselves and their allies at the centre of the world. 

The highest class of elements, of course, are the Elements of Harmony. The theory states that the natural order of the world would not have allowed any other species to discover the Elements, since only the people of Equestria are born of pure mind and thus capable of transcending bodily life to a higher level of existence – spiritual and eventually magical life, magic being the purest element of them all. It should be no surprise that the ancient unicorns were so eager to declare the arcane the highest of all arts, magic the highest of all principles. It took centuries of the alicorns’ careful tutelage to turn them away from their arrogance. Yet it must be stressed: while mostly used as a justification of unicorn supremacy in the past, the elemental theory is too significant not to be mentioned before elaborating on the other species, to which the author will proceed herewith. 

As a final note, I am not going to write the article about Sea Ponies you asked for so don’t wait for it. This is an encyclopedia of the real world, not of myths and folklore. If you still feel the urge to have them mentioned, tell my editors to do just that: have them note that water and blood – according to the Elemental Theory – are bound to the Sea Ponies living in the Sea of Song to the north or something, I don’t really care for it, but if you insist on ruining a work of science with such silly fairy tales, I cannot stop you. You have been warned.
-Ink Blot