Alexandrite & Geode

Name: Alexandrite
Race: Crystal Pony
Gender: Male
Cutiemark: An open-faced geode
Special Talent: Crystallographer [Alexandrite can study crystals and gems to identify their properties without needing tools. And due to Geode's influence on his body, he can also eat them.]
Trained Talent: Crystal Reform [From both Alexandrite's own knowledge on crystals and Geode's makeup, Alexandrite can change his body's properties to alter his abilities. Recovering Memory now rerolls the spells from Spell Emulator instead of its normal effect. Additionally, Alexandrite and Geode are attached and cannot be separated.]
Class: Spellwright (Smith/Mage)
Skills: Crystal Emotions, Recovering Memory, Spell Emulator [Magic Bolt, Heal], Mech Minion [Geode, see below]
H/W: 5/5
Inventory: Crystal Amulet [Catalyst], Saddlebags, Notebook, Pen, Small bag filled with an assortment of common gemstones, 80 bits, Health Potion [Via Distill Life]
Appearance: Alexandrite is a 33 year old crystal pony. His coat used to be white, however due to Geode's attachement its become more
	translucent, and became prism-like. His coat shifts in color depending on light and angle, though the color shifts tend to stay
	around cool hues such as blues, purples, and darker greens. His mane stays one color (#55A8BB), but does look slightly more
	crystallized like the rest of his body. Geode grows off his back, fused to his body with no difference between skin and crystal.
Character Info:
	Alexandrite had a fascination with crystals since a young age, seeing everything in the Empire made from them in some form. In his elementary history lessons, his interest was peaked further when learning of the Crystal Heart of the past. The recession of magic also affecting the Heart, an object that acted on its own, raised questions on if that affected other objects, particularly crystals. This curiosity soon came to fruition in his cutie mark, a geode on his flank after constant examination of crystals. This gave him the push to focus his studies to see what links lied between crystal and magic, as well as the Heart's condition due to the recession.
	After many years, a Ph.D in crystallography, Alexandrite joined the bright minds of the Empire. To pursue the questions from his foalhood, he became a field researcher to collect samples and catalog findings on any crystals, new or old. The drive to find the magic connection waned over the years, the lack of any found connections over both his own time and past studies along with some jests from his colleagues, leading it to fall when compared to the excitement of new, traditional discoveries. Eventually, he would revive that pursuit from his youth.
	Years later into his career, an avalanche opened up a new cave in the surrounding tundra around the Crystal Empire. With new undiscovered territory, Alexandrite enthusiastically volunteered to be the one to explore this cave, no one disputed. Supplies prepared to venture into the tundra, and a possibly unstable area given the recent avalanche, he left the Empire to explore. The cave was only a few hours away, and was larger than he expected. However, despite the size it was fairly barren, barely any gems in sight. Part of him felt he should turn back for backup with how deep he was descending, but just as the thought passed Alexandrite saw the jackpot.
	Vision gazing down below a distant ridge, a large mass of shimmering lights. Crystals, glowing and lighting up the cave almost like a signal. Alexandrite quickly made his way down the short cliff-face to inspect this discovery. The crystal's didn't resemble anything he recognize, and flip through the field catalog verified the trip as worth it. A brand new type of crystal, sitting right in front of his face, hidden under the ice and snow all this time. Alexandrite was barely able to hold his excitement as he readied to extract a sample, but was quickly ended as a rumbling sounded through the cave. A flash of worry trembled down his spine, assumptions of another avalanche happening overhead followed and were quickly made worse as the ground burst open just behind the crystal patch. A Brrowing Worm launches from the ground, burrowing into the rock overhead and quickly fading from sight. After a few seconds of being frozen, Alexandrite quickly regains his composure and rushes to grab a sample. Those worms love to burrow through rock, and if its right at this patch there is a very high risk of it destroying the entire cache. His hooves shaking from the pressure as he tries to extract a crystal, that risk became an inevitability. A rumble soon becomes the ground shaking, the worm bursting through the rock again a distance away. Even with its distance, the rock's stability was worn enough as is, the ceiling breaking apart, and the last thing Alexandrite sees as he looks up in panic is rocky rain.
	His eyes creak open an unknown tome later, his entire body sore and head ringing. He lies there as he tries to remember what happened, slowly recalling the falling rocks. He tries to push himself to stand, only managing to lift up with one lg for a second before it gives out under him. The ground gives a sickly sound as he falls. Turning his eye, he sees the red stained rock he's lying in, a thickened pool of blood under him. His body tenses, the amount shaking him to his core, never having been close to even risk ever before in his career. His mind goes into panic mode, giving him just enough adrenaline to stand and distance himself from the blood. Eyes darting around the cavern, he notices a lack of the glow he saw earlier. The crystals, no sign of them, having been crushed by the cave-in. This disappointment barely registers, the only thing pushing him is to get out before he ends up even worse. With some struggle, he manages to push his body to climb back out of the cave and into the tundra. He tries to make the journey home, but his vision again soon fades only a few yards through the snow.
	Alexandrite awakens later, face down on his stomach in a hospital bed, his body feeling better but still very fatigued. His eyes slowly go around the room, some his colleagues slumbering on chairs and the floor around the room. A few hours later, after they wake up and the doctors check his condition, he's informed of how he ended up here. After two days with no sign of him, they went out to check, fearing the worst. They found him face down in the snow, slowly being buried under it only a few steps from the cave. If it wasn't for the red hoof-prints, or his entire right side being blood-stained, they wouldn't have seen him. The more shocking news to him though, was what he managed to bring back. Bringing in a mirror, he saw why he was face down on the bed instead of lying normally. On his back was a large crystal growth, similar to the ones he found. There was no scars, no cut lines or any distinguishing marks between him and the crystal, only a faint line where fur turned to rock. They never saw anything like it, both the crystal itself and his current condition. Informing them on his expedition into the cave, he urged them to go back to the lab and prepare to study the crystal once he was healthy enough to leave.
	After many tests, they still barely had any knowledge on the crystal. It matched no known types, and with its attachment to Alexandrite they couldn't remove any portion of it to keep a sample for future comparison. With the only known location of a cache destroyed, they couldn't examine that area to try and determine where it is likely to form either. The studies weren't entirely fruitless however. The crystal bonded not just to Alexandrite's body, but to his internals as well. Blood vessels and some nerves, it essentially was a part of him, and he was a part of it. And with this connection, Alexandrite noted some odd feelings coming from it, mild thoughts and suggestions, as if it was sentient. Further scans showed that it was, and explained the attachment. Both it and Alexandrite were severely injured in the cave-in, so the remaining intact crystal attached itself to him to keep itself alive, and him as well by proxy. This also explained his multiple day fatigue after the incident, it was feeding off his body. After he was back in care and treated, this was later found to be that it shared whatever nutrients he consumed, the fatigue only coming from the lack of incoming substance to now feed two instead of a parasitic relationship.
	The biggest discovery though, that rekindled Alexandrite's passion was that the crystal primarily fed off magic. During the studies, the crystal seemed to urge him closer to any magic used, either in the lab or when he was going about his daily life. Even when passing the Crystal Heart, it would try to nudge him closer. This was a breakthrough for him, a possible connection between objects and magic, even if that object might be a living creature to some degree. And just feeding off magic wasn't the only connection, the crystal had magical properties of its own. Scans showed it capable of using spells, and provocation proved it true when defending itself. With their shared body, this magical prowess soon spread to Alexandrite, once acquiring a catalyst to channel the power he could casts spells nearly as well as a unicorn. Being able to cast spells wasn't the only change brought about. Alexandrite become more crystalline as the days passed, his default state now sitting halfway between full crystallization and un-crystallized pony state. His appetite change slightly too, a craving for gems came along with his digestive track changing to accommodate them, attributed to the crystal altering his body slightly to handle its own personal nutrition.
	All of this was a breakthrough for the rest of the department as well, a whole slew of newly discovered theories and possible specimens. Despite how terrible his last expedition went, Alexandrite wanted to venture out, to see if there was more of this crystal somewhere else. This suggestion was met with open hooves, however it could not possibly be funded given the lack of leads or any information on the crystal aside from what they could learn from the one on his back. Still wanting answers, to both his own questions he's asked over the years and to the new ones coming from his new companion, he decided to go on anyways and figure out funding himself.
	Saving up a small amount of money, Alexandrite took off on his research trip, bidding farewell to his friends and colleagues in the Empire to travel Equestria, or even the world to figure out the secrets to this crystal. As he rode the train out of the Empire, he gave a name to the crystal, his new companion and friend, given they were travelling together now. Calling the crystal Geode, they set off together to find more of Geode's kind, taking whatever leads and jobs that would keep them searching and funded.

Name: Geode
Race: Unidentified Living Crystal
Gender: None
Class: Mech Minion
Skills: Spell Emulator [Magic Bolt, Heal], Animal Husbandry x3 [Crystal Absorption, Magic Leech, Adaptability]
H/W: 5/5
Inventory: None
Appearance: Geode is a large crystalline geode, sharing similar color and the prism-effect as Alexandrite.
Character Info:
	Geode, named as such by Alexandrite, is a living crystal that was part of a larger cluster growing in an unnamed and unmarked cave underground in the frozen tundra around the Crystal Empire. The breed of crystal it is a part of has a particular feature of feeding off magic. After the recession of magic in Equestria, the cluster shrank considerably, but still managed to find some sustenance from the Crystal Heart, being just close enough to the Crystal Empire to leech off it. This cluster also adapted to consume other gemstones, both for nutrients and to provide more room for itself.
	Over time, both from Brrowing Worms and its depletion of gems from the rock through its cave, they gave way and collapsed. This event would lead to both ts demise and a possible salvation. A white crystal pony curiously came into the cave, finding the cluster. In its excitement, it was caught up in a cave-in caused from further worm tunneling. Most of the cluster was shattered in the falling rubble, and so was the pony's back, torn apart. One large section of the cluster, sensing remaining in this cave would lead to destruction, slowly made its way to the unconscious pony. With the large wound on the pony's back and the majority of the cluster destroyed, they would both die separately. Bonding itself to the pony via the wound, it could save itself, keeping the pony alive and eventually out of the cave once he woke. Closing the wound shut but fusing its crystal to his flesh, sealing and reattaching broken nerves, arteries, and other organs but growing and mimicking their components, the crystal settled into its new life, its new fleshy cluster.
	The pony eventually woke up, and was found by more, and soon restored to proper health. In the empire it found plenty of magic to sustain itself, and slowly modified the pony to be more suiting for itself. It found the fascination of the ponies in coats strange, but it did pick up on one vibe: Searching for more of it. A possibility, more of it existing elsewhere. It made a good choice in this pony as a host.
	Soon the pony left the others, leaving the empire full of magic and crystal. The pony named it as they left, calling it a friend.

"Geode"
"..."
"It has a nice ring to it."