Whilst Aloe and Lotus fulfill a valuable purpose in Ponyville by running the La-ti-Da Spa, none ever think about the stresses involved in their job. Like dealing with the endless need to stay ahead of the latest Thing. Or when chickadees take up nest in their dryer's vents and keep them up all night with incessant noise.
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Tropes Include:
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Lotus' opinion of Aloe. That Lotus is only seven and a half minutes older than her doesn't matter. At one point she briefly contemplates asking Celestia if she could send Aloe to the Moon for ten minutes of peace and quiet. The feeling seems to be mutual, since Aloe makes the same wish near the end of the story.
- Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: At the end when the birds finally leave, Lotus realizes she can't fall asleep because she's gotten too used to the noises they make.
- The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Aloe and Lotus' talent for alleviating stress is completely ineffective at relieving their own stress. They can't alleviate each other's stress either. Because they are siblings, they are more likely to stress each other out.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Lotus develops these thanks to the birds depriving her of sleep. She tries to cover it up with makeup, but Rarity notices.
- From Bad to Worse: Just when the twins are prepared to wait out the birds' stay, they hear peeping noises. The presence of newborn chicks means the birds' departure will be delayed for weeks.
- Hand Wave: The fact that Aloe and Lotus could get somepony else to move the chickadees is brought up and shot down after Fluttershy's refusal to do so, justifying what would otherwise seem to be an Just Eat Gilligan by way of Slave to PR.
- Mythology Gag: This story's central dilemma is facilitated by Fluttershy having Skewed Priorities due to being a variant of the Naïve Animal Lover, as seen in the canon episode "Bats!"
- Naïve Animal Lover: Fluttershy is so enamored with the nesting chickadees that she completely fails to understand why the spa ponies may not want the noisy, messy things living in one of the crevices of her house.
- Skewed Priorities: When the Spa Sisters directly tell Fluttershy that they expected her to move the chickadees, the baffled pegasus simply points out that they have a nest that suits their needs perfectly right where they are.
- Slave to PR: Invoked; Aloe and Lotus discuss having an exterminator come and remove the chickadees, one way or another, before shooting the idea down: inevitably, Fluttershy would find out, and she would be hugely upset. That would be bad enough PR for the spa, but upsetting Fluttershy would also upset Rarity — not only even worse negative PR, but Rarity is practically an assistant manager for the spa. They probably wouldn't survive if Rarity decided to boycott them out of solidarity with Fluttershy.
- Vetinari Job Security: Rarity has so much of a role in helping the spa run successfully that Aloe admits to herself she's almost reached the point that she might as well just pay Rarity as an employee. This is why she can't take the risk of alienating Rarity by upsetting Fluttershy, especially given Rarity has so much influence amongst the rest of Ponyville's social scene.
