FimFiction Link - Short ID: 398894/some-other-ponys-destiny
Published: Jan '18
The first half of this shortfic lays out a bunch of headcanons about how Equestria deals with its overabundance of magic, as well as stifling the problematic formation of cults in a place literally ruled by a goddess.
The next half is about what the title implies, manipulation of destiny. In MLP, cutie mark magic. The slow-reveal for how and why this sort of royal secret service are trying to manipulate cutie marks was done very nicely, as well as the effect of their methods. It seems like it would fit very nicely as a way for nearly-ideal Equestria to collect and save ponies from being wasted, unable to fulfill their destiny and simultaneously channel their potential to better Equestria under the crown (or in this case, Peytral).
The link to ITCON is that it is the backstory for Faded Palimpsest, a mostly irrelevant character but incidentally puts the timing decades before NMM's return.