I'm not feeling good, not one bit. I feel like such a fool, I'm heartbroken, and so confused and don't even know what the fuck I want in life and it's all my fault. Poor Cheerilee, wasting her time with a degenerate like me. I really liked her a lot, not just as a piece of ass but as the lovely, wonderful, amazing mare she is. She will find a guy who makes her very happy one day and that guy won't be me.

After being awake all night, I reluctantly decided to take the day off from work with some encouragement from Cadence. I didn't need to tell her that I needed a friend to comfort me through the shitty day this was turning out to be, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't like cuddling with her. She keeps telling me Shining Armor has no problem with it so I'm not arguing with her about it anymore.

I was able to catch up on sleep and ended up getting my solid three hours I need to get me back into the swing of things at work. After a few more days, I was able to take my mind off Cheerilee and discuss with Cadence ways that I can de-stress. She and I went shopping and picked up some bath bombs, a bunch of incense, all kinds of tea, and other nice stress relieving stuff.

Once I had some alone time after a shift at my store, I drew myself a nice bubble bath, plopped a bath bomb in there, and laid myself in the tub with a cold cloth over my forehead. With a smoldering cigar and a cup of green tea by my side, I did my absolute best to relax. At first it worked until I realized that I wasn't alone. To my surprise and the elevation of my heart rate, a long, pink horn jutted out from the mountain of bubbles and nearly expedited my next trip to the toilet.

"Gah!" I yelped as my pink Princess friend rose out of the depths of my bathtub. "Cadence, what the fuck are you doing in here!?"

"The same thing you're doing!" She retorted, seeming to not understand why I was uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Caddy, please calm down before you have another heart attack."

"This is getting too damn weird, Cadence!"

I then got up to my hooves and proceeded to attempt to jump out of the tub until her aura caught me and dragged me back in. She wasn't pulling any punches.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Cadence asked.

"For real, Cadence, I can't have us both in the tub at the same time." I retorted. "One of us has to get out."

"Says the guy who wrote a story about my husband blowing other guys."

"Huh?!"

"What?"

"I'm not even done with that one yet!"

"Look, Caddy, we've been sleeping in the same bed, and this kind of intimacy with close friends can be good for you!"

"I mean, I'd be lying if I said cuddling didn't make me feel better."

"Okay, look, I'll let go of you. I'm not going to force you to do something that makes you uncomfortable. You're free to either leave the room or ask me to leave it."

She had me there. It really felt nice to hug and cuddle with a friend, even ones I don't plan on having sex with. I'm not hurting Shining Armor by doing this so I guess I'd be a fool to push her away. I mean, we're just taking a bath together, we're naked all the time, only difference is that we're in water. After pausing for thought for a moment, I sunk myself back into the tub with a sigh of defeat. I could hear Cadence give a sigh of relief as well. She only wants to help, the least I can do is let her.

Having agreed to allow Cadence to stay in the tub with me, we could both finally relax and Celestia knows that we both deserve it. Well, she does anyway. As we both lay right next to each other in the nice warm water, we just let ourselves drift off into dream land, occasionally taking turns sharing our thoughts.

"Caddy?" Cadence quietly asked.

"Hm?" I asked, just as softly.

"When are you going to work on that other story?"

"Which one?"

"The one about Shining Armor getting his ass plugged."

"As soon as Ben moves into his new house and gets settled."

"Who the hell is Ben?"

"That big, fat, hairless primate counterpart of mine."

"Leave me out of this!" A male voice identical to mine shouted from outside.

"Ah. Oh, by the way."

"Hm?"

"I set you up on another date."

Again, Cadence is very well meaning and simply trying to help me but I think it's just too damn soon. Fuck it, can't be helped now, she already set it up. Upon hearing the news, I paused for a moment to give some thought as to just how I would thank her for her efforts.

"You suck." I said.

"I'm warning you, I'm good at it." Cadence replied.

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Fine. When do I have to see this girl?"

"Tomorrow at six. It's just a friendly meetup, she knows you just broke up with Cheerilee. You two will just hang out and try to make friends, and whatever happens happens. Nothing says it has to be romantic.

She was right. Though I'm still aching over Cheerilee, all I gotta do is hang out with somepony, it's not like I have to get romantically involved and ruin my life again. Just a couple of ponies hanging out, becoming friends. What could it hurt. Who knows? Maybe I'll actually get along with this girl. Maybe I'll actually start to feel better and gain a new friend.

Cadence and I finished our bath, had dinner and after her convincing me to stop drinking after twelve beers, we went to bed early to get ready for the next day. Wow, bed at three in the morning? That's early for me. The next morning, we ended up waking up at eight which meant I got five whole hours of sleep! I've never felt so well rested! Cadence convinced me to do it which was a reminder that she really does have my best interests at heart.

There was just one catch that I know Bothered Cadence immensely though. I was to meet this girl at one of the local bars. Sounds like my kinda girl! Well, weather I like the location or not, I could see it in Cadence's eyes that she was worried. She and I both know I have a problem with booze and the least I could do is promise her that I won't overdo it when she asks me to and I know she will.

"Caddy?" Cadence asked as I opened the door to head out.

Here it is.

"Yeah, Cadence?" I asked as I turned my head around.

"You know Twilight, Shining, and I care about you so much, right?"

"I'll only have a couple, Cadence. Don't worry, I won't drink myself stupid like I have been."

"That's all I could ask for."

With a nice, warm hug, she sent me on my way and I made my way to the hottest spot in town where I would meet up with a new friend and have a drink or two. No more than five. Cadence Described this girl to me and gave me her name and vice versa, so if I didn't end up finding her, she would me.

It's a Friday night, so the crowd is pretty thick right now which makes me a bit anxious. Remember, I have an anxiety disorder, so it hasn't always been easy for me, but you know what does make it easier? You should know me by now. As soon as I found an unoccupied bar stool, I plopped my ass down on it and waved the bartender over.

"Hey, what can I getcha, Caddy?" The bartender, Frosty Mugs asked.

"Lemme have a gwinnet stout. A nice tall one."

"Coming right up."

Frosty knew me by name and since I'm there way too often than I should be, how could he not? Well, as I waited for my drink to be slid over to me, I received a light tap on my shoulder. I was preparing for just about anything when that happens. Whether it was from a customer of mine who felt the price of something they bought from me was too high and they're waiting until now to bitch about it or one of my employees simply asking me to hang out, I need to treat it like a threat until I found out for sure.

Getting ready to give the side of my head a thump to pop out a weapon I hide inside my ear, I quickly and cautiously turned around to see that it was neither, which once again put me at ease. Instead it was just exactly the pony I came here to see. She was even cuter up close. Her coat was a very light violet, a bit lighter than Twilight's, and her mane was a deep, dark red, like some of the finest wines I've had the pleasure of shortening my life span on. Her cutie mark was a vine of grapes with a lone strawberry sitting next to it and her eyes were of burgundy or maroon. Fuck it, I can't tell the difference between the two, I'm almost legally blind.

"Hey." She said, casually. "You must be Caddy, right?"

"Yeah." I confirmed. "Berry Punch?"

"That's me."

She then took a seat at the empty stool next to me and we proceeded to bump hooves, as customary for when meeting new ponies.

"Buy ya a drink?" I offered.

"Nah, I'll buy my own." She waved off with a smile. "I heard you really like to drink though, am I right?"

"I've been known to put 'em away, hon. Make no mistake about that."

"Wellllll, do you like to drink...competitively?"

Cadence, I'm so sorry but this girl has me written all over her! She's mine!

"I hope you know what you're getting yourself into, sweetheart." I said with a smirk before downing the black beer that was slid in front of me. I then slammed the empty mug down and waved Frosty over for another one. Berry Punch seemed impressed.

"Let's go then." Berry Punch said, returning the same smirk I gave her.

Author's Note

A big thanks to chief maximus for so graciously allowing me to use the name "Frosty Mugs", a character from his story "A Pony Walks Into a Bar"! Feel free to check out this story and his other amazing work and maybe thank him with a follow as well!