//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 - Follow Your Nose 
// Story: GermBusters 2: Operation Quinty 
// by Lukington17 
//------------------------------//

"AAAACHOOO!"

"Gosh Quinty, are you alright?" Sunshine asked kindly, putting a hoof over his shoulder.   Poor Quinty hadn't stopped sneezing for a couple minutes at the picnic, and all the gang were concerned.

"I'm fine, really" Quinty rubbed his sore nose.  "It's just a cold, I get it all the time cos of allergies and stuff."

The gang looked at one another, and then at Cutea, who sniffed quietly.   "You don't suppose," Atrimy whispered to Electric, "that when we made Cutea sneeze out all those pollen germs...they ended up going into Quint instead?"

His friend stroked his light beard gently, "Hmm, I guess some types of bacteria always seek the nearest host.  Could they have been like that?"  He turned to Quinty.  "Hey bro, do you want us to go and have a look?  We've got a feeling we caused this and since we helped Cutea, we can help you!"

Quinty shook his head calmly, "You don't have to do that, this is just a cold.  My body will get rid of it naturally."   The others shrugged, and after he seemed to subdue his sneezing they returned to finishing their picnic.   As the sun finally set, and darkness fell upon Cutea's garden, she went around lighting the encircling lanterns, and the gang began to leave.   The Germbusters crew hugged each other fondly as they prepared to head home.   Seraphine headed off first, heading to a concert nearby with some visiting friends of hers, and then Quinty waved goodbye promising he'd get a good night's rest to recover.   With him gone, Electric grabbed the others quickly.

"Guys, we have to help him." He said.

"But Electric, he said it's fine, we don't need to," replied Eminence.

"Noooo way, I totally have an adrenalin rush now, let's go!" Blaze chirped up.

"Yes, the momentum is with us!  We can smash those bastards in there, we've kicked their asses already before!"

At this point Cutea nudged her coltfriend.  "I want to come this time.  You guys had all the fun in here last time" she gestured to her belly, "but this time I'm gonna be kicking germ butt too."  Electric smiled enthusiastically and gave an assuring wink before addressing the others: Flushie, Chris, Eminence, Blaze, Atrimy and Divinity.

"Right guys, if we're gonna take these guys on, we have to gear up.  Obviously we have our weapons from before, but I had an idea.  Chris, brother, remember the cabinet in the barracks?"

His brother gasped in realisation and then laughed.  "Oh no haha, we can't raid that."

"Sure we can, I'll be back in 5 minutes."  Electric shot off upwards to the evening sky, and Chris turned to the others to explain that during the duo's time in the Equestrian Air Force cadets they'd managed to hold onto a key to one of the weapons arsenal cabinets.    The others laughed and rolled their eyes, and sure enough Electric came crashing back down with a huge bag full of firearms:  

Atrimy now spoke up to propose a plan of action: "So we fly in through his nose, speak to any Micronauts we see, locate the pollen germs and destroy them in hellfire!" 

"Without destroying Quinty, of course" Divinity muttered among the laddish cheers.

With everypony equipped, the gang looked at each other and put their hooves in the middle for a cheesy 'go team' and then set about shrinking themselves once more.     Down to the size of tiny miniscule organisms, Cutea was amazed by the world around them.   She huffed at Electric when she noticed a used soda can lurking in the immense blades of grass around them.   The pegasi offered a lift to others and they set off out the garden towards Quinty's house.