More world-building, which as you know is also JG canon!Bereft of Starlight, Night Glider and even Lyra, Sunset was a very lonely little filly when she moved into the School for Gifted Unicorns. Lonely, but also unusually powerful in the ways of magic. When she had her big entrance exam (equivalent to the one in which Twilight hatched Spike), Sunset did no less that tear open a portal to the Umbrum, accidentally extricating one of its denizens. The creature was promptly subdued and captured, but our clever girl Sunset was able to free and hide the little Umbrum until the pair could figure out a way to return it to its home.Despite the fact that she may look frightening to ponies and humans, Ira is a sensitive and sweet-natured baby who pines away for her home and her mother. Until that time she is happy to accept the surrogate kinship that Sunset provides, and Sunset in turn is delighted to have a real friend again. Clearly, Sunset began her tendency to buddy up with monstrously exotic beings quite early in life! It's almost as if friendship is magic or something.mlp:fim = Hasbro/Faust