The Oracle of Mind. What did it mean to be the Oracle of Mind? That was my only question to my father the day I discovered my talent. His only answer was that it meant I and my bloodline were destined for greater things than he could have hoped. To everypony else, as I would learn soon enough, it meant I was the most feared mare in all Negra Beliza. After passing my trial and being awarded my title, I was put under rigorous training by the mare who had previously held the position. Through her, I learned what Oracles were and what their place in our society was. There were many different types of Oracles, such as the Celestial Oracle, capable of predicting certain events using the positioning of the stars in the sky, and whose disciples were named astronomers, after the first Oracle of this type, Astrora. Then there was the Oracle of Seasons, capable of predicting weather patterns and climate changes even the pegasi could not forsee. There were many others besides the fact such as the Oracles of Ages, Power, Courage, Wisdom and the like, but I don't have the time to list what they did, and honestly I never took the time to learn what they all did anyway. What's important here is what I did.
With my magic, I could hear things, Starswirl. Things a pony isn't supposed to hear. Sacred things, that none but their owner should have access to. Thoughts, Starswirl. I could hear thoughts. The ability was altogether frightening at first, and sometimes still is. For there are very few things more scary than the truth, my dearest. And when you can peer into thoughts of others, you here seldom anything else. As an Oracle, I had the ability to take these thoughts, however disjointed they may have been, and pool the emotions and beliefs pooled within them to foresee events as they would occur, should these emotions continue to fester. And as I traveled through my city, listening to the thoughts of those around me, I saw nothing but a future of bitterness and hatred, filled with fire and flame and battlefields turned into mass graveyards. These images disturbed me, but something else caught my attention as I beheld them. A faint emotion lingering on the edge of everyponies minds. That emotion was fear. They feared me. And I knew exactly why (I could see their thoughts after all.) I was daughter to a ruthless lord, who without a word could have every one of them executed, though perhaps not en masse. They were afraid of the things I might tell my father, and deep in their hearts, I could feel just how much they loathed me. But I did not mind. For it meant that my father's rule was one based in fear, not respect. And I'm sure you know how the old saying goes: "He who builds up a throne of blades cannot sit upon it."
Many years passed and I was made to use my powers to sniff out any who might oppose my father. I always pretended not to find anything, as it would have meant condemning the whole city. And my father was satisfied. Many assumed I could not find anything because my powers as an Oracle were in fact fraudulent. But there were a select few who knew what I was doing. And they appreciated me for it. One of these few was my teacher, the Oracle before me. As she was also an Oracle of Mind, she could also see the dream I held deep in my heart. The world I yearned to see. She knew Negra Beliza was no city for me. And so she and I devised a plan of escape.