My Headcanon of Equestria

FiM leaves much unknown about Equestria, giving fanfic writers considerable freedom to form their own ideas- as they've done in great variety. Naturally, I have my own headcanon. Note that I don't require a story to fit in lock-step with it; in many cases I prefer a story opposes it in one way or another. Having such diverse interpretations of Equestria leads to diversity in the stories. With all that said, here is my own headcanon of Equestria in bullet-point format:

- Ponies are monogamous and the gender ratio is divided evenly. The show is either inaccurate or misleading in its depiction of said ratio.

- Earth ponies do not face discrimination. In the early days of Equestria such racist beliefs were stamped down on hard and have not been prevalent since. Even Canterlot's "high society," as snooty as they are, would be appalled to hear racist remarks.

- While not completely free from imbalances in the rights and privileges of the genders, Equestrian society could scarcely be called matriarchal.

- Homo and bisexuality exist in ponies with about as much frequency as they do in humans. Ponies who are attracted to the same sex might be confronted with teasing in the form of "gay jokes"- as such relations are regarded as slightly deviant- but serious discrimination is either a thing of the past, or not something which ever existed.

- Ponies have never heard of humans, not even in myth.

- Other realities are the stuff of magical fiction. They may exist and ponies may one day discover them but at present such a thing is beyond their reach.

- Changelings were unheard of before the Wedding and have not been seen since.

- Ponies do not speak English. FiM is an adaption for an English speaking audience and thus cannot be taken as a hundred percent accurate to their world.

- Meat eating is accepted as a biological necessity for certain non-pony species (namely griffins). Though it may make ponies uncomfortable (if not nauseous), it is nothing out of the ordinary.

- Permanently changing one's species is a feat beyond pony-kind. Any claims of such a thing happening will be met the extreme and deserved skepticism. Twilight's spell to turn all of them into breezies would have worn off if she has not ended it prematurely.

- Ponies do not undergo estrus, instead mating year-round as humans do.

- Equestrian ponies are anatomically similar to real ponies, including being the same in size. (Of particular note, their eyes are also of normal size, rather than huge as depicted in the show.) Some differences include having far greater range of motion when it comes to their forelegs and differently shaped muzzles depending on gender.

- "Wingboners" do not exist.

- Ponies cannot grasp things with their hooves.

That's all I can think of for the moment.

Note: This post treats Equestria Girls and the comics as non-canonical, though not out of any disrespect for either.