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// Nitrogen 
// Story: Periodic Ponies 
// by Indigo Steel 
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Applejack bit into an apple, savoring it's wonderful sweet flavor. Sweet Apple Acres had recently been producing larger and more numerous apples than ever, ironically due to a certain breed of animal that she once thought could only be destructive pests.

Despite being an experienced farmer in a long line of experienced farmers, there were still new things to learn. She knew that fertilizer contained, among other things, nitrogen, an element which helped plants to grow greener and fuller. Such things were common horticultural knowledge. What she DIDN'T know, however, was that nitrogen could be found in abundance from an unlikely source.

Applejack, upon checking the area of her orchard reserved for the vampire fruit bats that once plagued her, discovered quickly that not only had new saplings grown from the spread of seeds that Fluttershy predicted, but all the trees in general were healthier and produced more fruit than ever before! When she and Fluttershy investigated, the answer became apparent quickly. 

Naturally, like any other animal, bats will ultimately defecate sometime after consumption. This defecation would occur mostly around the trees. Weather did the rest, with wind and rain spreading and breaking down the feces and causing it to seep into the ground. The tree would take in the vital nutrients afterwards, the result being the healthy specimens Applejack observed.

So it was, Applejack would learn to safely gather (as bat guano was a source of disease as well, if one was not careful) and utilize one of the best natural fertilizers around, and Sweet Apple Acres was that much better for it.