They have a lightrail without rails

Doubt it. “Everyone” knows the movie was changed along the way from the one concept where the magic had not disappeared, but with open hostility between the pony tribes, to the last concept without active magic and isolation between the pony tribes. But the discovery of the airship station in Zephyr Heights was a great shock that revealed that all three places in the movie may have existed during Twilight Sparkle’s reign - and that the breakup is not that old. The machinery and interior of the airship station show that at least 100 years had passed, 200 years at most.

The technological level is not realistic without a large population, Maretime Bay has a lot of modern technology including synthetic materials, computer, robotics and sensor technology as well as modern building materials. This is unrealistic in a small and isolated state, a large population, extensive trade, extensive transportation and state organization are necessary to have the same technology as ourselves. Not a single country today can produce a mobile phone all by itself.

It would be natural if Maretime Bay is a medium-sized town that served as a resort for the wealthy of the pony state that could be “Maretonia” (BaltiMARE, MAREtime Bay). This means that Baltimare still exists further away along the coast to the west.

@Background Pony #C9D3
Maybe something apocalyptic happened that is tied to why the races started hating/fearing each other again. Something crazy must have happened to go from peace with several races to pre-hearths-warming in just a few hundred years. Whatever that event was, it could have lead to several large numbers getting destroyed or scattered. Really excited/hoping the show shows or gives us hints as to what the heck happened.

That’s what Maretime Bay should have looked like if it were more than a resort, and if it was the earth ponies’ most important city. We can only hope that the TV series will show it much bigger than in the movie, especially if it is a capital of a “pony state”. If there is a capital in the country where the earth ponies live, Maretime Bay is far too small without self-sufficiency. This Maretime Bay is far more realistic, probably having a population of tens of thousands rather than a few thousand as it looked in the movie. Zephyr Heights probably housed hundreds of thousands of ponies.

If Maretime Bay is not the capital of the “pony state”, there must be other, much larger cities with Baltimare as the best candidate, as according to the G4 map this is not far from Maretime Bay.