Why are Plants Green?

Pinkie Pie stared at the apple trees on her friend Applejack’s farm. She’d always known that the leaves were green, but Pinkie never really wanted to understand it. Well not until today. An idea streaked across her unusual mind. “Ooohhh Applejack”, squealed the crazy Earth pony, “do you know why trees are green? I’ve always thought they dyed themselves green, or maybe they…”. Applejack interrupted the rambling pony. “Ah don’t know Pinkie, it never really bothered me”, calmly said Applejack in her distinct Southern accent. Pinkie Pie’s bouncy, hot pink hair deflated slightly. Applejack sighed, Couldn’t she get some peace and quiet for one day? “Come on Pinkie,” beckoned the orange farm pony, “let’s find the answer to y’er question.”

As the pair trotted through Ponyville, Pinkie Pie took the opportunity to stop and examine every single tree they came across. “I wonder what your secret is?”, Pinkie thought out loud, looking at a small Oak sapling near the local park. Applejack groaned. This was the tenth time in the last ten minutes that the pink party pony stopped at a tree. “Pinkie!”. Pinkie Pie’s head suddenly sprang up. She cocked her head, waiting for Applejack to continue. “If ya keep pokin’ y’er head inta every tree, we’ll never make it ta the Library.”. With that, Pinkie proceeded to do her signature bounce-hop-walk-thing behind Applejack. It took them about 15 minutes to arrive at The Golden Oaks Library.

Twilight was interrupted from reading her book, Harry Trotter and the Fillyosopher’s Stone, when she heard a knock on the library’s front door. She quickly placed her bookmark in her book and trotted over the door. When Twilight Sparkle opened the door, she saw two of her best friends, Pinkie and Applejack. Twilight welcomed the earth ponies in and shut the door behind them using her magic. “What can I help you with?’, asked Twilight. Applejack opened her mouth to speak, but the words never got a chance to come out. “Me and Applejack wanted to know why leaves are so green, so we rushed over here because we thought you would know. I mean studying is your thing and all. I’ve always wanted to know that. Oh, I’ve also wanted to know how much wood could a wood chuck if a wood chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood. That’s fun to say. So do you know?”, Pinkie Pie ranted, all in one breath. Twilight, being used to Pinkie’s Pinkieness, led the pink monstrosity and farm pony into the book part of her house/library.

The librarian/ Princess Celestia’s personal protégé headed over to the non-fiction section of the library. “Let’s see”, muttered Twilight as the unicorn began scanning for a plant related book,”Apples, Apple Farming, and Appletrees, no, The Apple Guide, no. Ah, here it is An Average Pony’s Guide to Botany.” Twilight removed the book using her purple magic and placed it on the ground. She opened the book to the table of contents and spotted “Green Colouring”. Twilight turned to page 58 beckoned her friends over. The unicorn began to read the chapter:

“Plants are well known for their green coloured leaves and stems, they get this colouring from a process known as photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process in which plants use light from the sun into chemical energy used for the autotroph’s functions. The prefix ‘photo’ means light and the suffix ‘synthesis’ means putting together. This process occurs when light reaches the plant’s chloroplasts and the chlorophyll located inside chloroplasts absorb red and blue light rays. The chlorophyll, however, don’t easily absorb the green and yellow light, so the light is instead reflected, giving off the distinct green colour. The sunlight enters the chlorophyll by passing through a pore known as the stoma. This organelle will open and close to let the light pass through. Next, the plants gain a molecule of water lost from the colour absorption and the water molecule will combine with carbon dioxide, the sunlight, and oxygen. This will yield an amino acid called glucose, also known as sugar. A chemical equation representing this would be 6 CO2 + 12 H2O + photons → C6H12O6 + 6 O2 + 6 H2O. The raw materials in this equation produce a chemical reaction.”

“Do you understand it now?’, Twilight asked as she looked over her shoulder. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were sitting there with their mouths’ hanging open and a confused look on their faces. Applejack spoke up. “Not really sugarcube, that photosyn-stuff is mighty confusin’. Do ya mind explain’ this ta us?”. Twilight nodded.

“Well first, the sunlight shines onto the leaves and reaches the chloroplasts. Then, the chloroplasts will use the water collected by the roots and the water and sunlight will mix with some oxygen and carbon dioxide from the air. This makes some sugary stuff that the plants use for energy.”, explained Twilight. “Do you have any other questions?”, she added.  “Ooh, ooh, ooh!”, squealed Pinkie as she bounced up and down. Twilight sighed. “Yes Pinkie?”. “So your saying that because Princess Celestia raises the sun every day, she makes plants green?”.

“Yes, without her we wouldn’t have any plants at all.” Pinkie Pie gasped. “But if Princess Celestia makes plants green, what does Princess Luna do?”. Twilight chuckled. “Luna still does lots of things, like balancing Equestria’s tides and keeping us in rotation. Oh, and I think I might have book on it!”. Applejack sighed. Today is gonna be a long day.

        The End.

*In case you were wondering as to why I wrote a fanfic about photosynthesis, it was a school project. My science teacher wanted us to "creatively" explain photosynthesis. She suggested that we make a song, model, skit, or story to do this. I was they only one in all of her classes to write a story. Also, this is my first "complete" fanfiction. Please leave a comment telling me what I need to improve on. Complements and criticism are wanted.*