There's one week to go until the second Hearth's Warming Eve since Rainbow claimed her Element, and that week finds her in Ponyville. Where everypony is playing the same old holiday standards, over and over: gramophones in every store, carolers on every street, without mercy. Where the sheer pointless din of it all can grind against a pony's nerves after a while, at least if that pony is bright enough to recognize how meaningless all those sounds are. Ponyville just before the holiday, in a gentle snowfall, with music all around.

It's the last place in the world Rainbow wants to be.

(Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page, FIMFiction group, and a newborn character page: new members and trope edits are welcome. This story can be read as a standalone, and no knowledge of the others is required.)

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