A little Christmas present for all of my readers, and a thank you to everyone who has followed and supported The Drake Chronicles from the beginning. This story is about Drake and Budder the ponies, but the events in this little one shot are not fictional at all. Don't ask. Here's the story. Merry Christmas.

I thought I was doing quite a good job. After only about an hour or so of work, I had already built a nice little house out of rock. I had two good-sized rooms, a small storage room into which I had already placed a chest containing my extra tools, some food and other items, and I had a bed in one of the rooms. I had built the roof of the house out of wood I had gathered from several trees I had cut down, and it was starting to get dark. I had worked nearly all day on gathering the material I needed for my house, and I knew Budder would be proud of me for my first attempt at this endeavor. I walked outside, into the inky blackness, and turned my attention to putting a door on the front of the abode. I hung the door, and stood there a moment, admiring my work.

"Tstsssssssssss..." A strange sound came from somewhere. I turned around to find myself face-to-face with a demonic-looking monster, a green thing with a creepy frown on its square head.

"BUB!" My sister called. BOOM. The explosion killed me, and destroyed a good chunk of the front of the house, as well as making a sizable hole in the ground. I stared at the wreck a moment.

"What...the...HELL?!" I complained, dropping the controller onto the floor of Budder's room in frustration.

"Those are creepers, Drake." My teenage sister said matter-of-factly. "They blow you up."

"I see that." I deadpanned. "Ughhh..." Budder giggled at my consternation.

"You just have to rebuild it." She said as I respawned in the game.

"What...where am I?" I asked in confusion.

"You hadn't slept in your bed yet, so you respawned where you did when the game started." She answered, habitually throwing a lock of messy dark blonde mane out of her face.

"Figures." I huffed, and made my character, a brown earth pony in a blue shirt, move in the direction I thought my house was in.

"No, you're going the wrong way!" Budder advised.

"Nuh...I thought it was this way..." I said.

"No, go left!" She called out.

"Who's the tracker..."

"Left!" She yelled. I gave in and moved left. I hadn't gone more than a few steps when I heard a spring-like sound, and my character jumped back.

"Skeleton! Run!" Budder cried out. I hit the run button, and sure enough found myself jogging past a skeleton pony holding a bow. Ahead was a green pony, and as I got nearer, he made a growling sound.

"Zombie! Run from that too!"

"Oh shit, I hate zombies!" I instinctively called out. "Wait! Can't I fight these things?!"

"You ain't good enough yet!" My sister argued. "It's night and you're gonna diiiieeee!"

"Like hell!" I exclaimed. "I gotta get back to my house!"

"Go that way." Budder stated. "No...that way!"

"Saying 'THAT WAY' does not help!" I chided. "Be more specific!" My ludicrously-square stallion finally made it back to the remains of the house I had built for him, complete with the gaping creeper hole. "Okay, now's I gotta fix this mess..." I muttered, and accessed my inventory, I selected blocks of cobblestone and blocks of dirt. I started patching the hole in my wall, and filling in the crater in front of what used to be my doorway.

"KSHHHH!" The sound made my physically jump. I spun around to see an enormous spider coming at me.

"Oh Luna!" I screamed, and I quickly switched to my wooden sword and had at him. Getting hit only twice, I slew the giant arachnid, who disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"HA!" I laughed triumphantly, returning to my work on the house. "Bet that's your favorite monster on here, huh?" I said evilly.

"Shup." My sister stated coldly. I almost had it finished, when I heard the chilling groan of a zombie close by. The next thing I knew, my character got hit, and with a fearful yelp, I ran into the house through the three block wide gap still left in the wall. Switching again to the wooden sword, I turned as the putrid green zombie pony slowly entered my home, emitting its trademark growl. I backed up into the room, letting him get closer and closer until he was in range of my sword. Then I hacked and slashed until he fell.

"Once again...I hate zombies." I said. I walked to the gap in the wall to finish my repairs, and ran smack into another creeper. I hit it with my sword, which broke, the weapon failing me when I needed it most. It hissed, then began to flash rapidly with a steady 'ssssssssss'. I froze, and felt a knot forming in my stomach, knowing what was coming. BOOM.

I had died...again. And my house was ruined...again. I was livid. I sat the controller down on the floor, and stared at the screen a moment. Then, in a moment of blind fury and utter disillusionment, I stole a line from our friend Shadow.

"FOR FUCK'S SAKE!"

This game was making me crazy. Really. I'd only been playing for over an hour, and I already felt like I was losing my mind. I was yelling at a video game, and freaking out over blocky, pixelated zombies. I was insane. Truly insane, I realized that now, and it was all Budder's fault.