Wander is a cream-coloured Earth Pony with a neatly-combed orange mane. His cutie mark is a map and compass, marking him as a cartographer by trade who seeks to chart as much of the wild geography of Equestria as possible. The more dangerous the area he explores, the more he can sell those maps for later, so he can often be found in the blank parts of the atlas only described as "Here Be Dragons". As such, he carries equipment to defend himself but would prefer to avoid conflict if possible.
He returns to civilisation to sell his maps either directly to paying customers or to publishers, and is currently engaged in a bitter race with his rival explorer (and as Wander suspects: game hunter) Wicker to have the most featured articles in Equestrian Geographic. Any interesting locations or histories that might gain them an edge in that race are gold dust to him and Wicker both.
Wander writes and receives letters via his mailbox in the Equestrian Geographic offices. He keeps his parents and younger siblings up-to-date on his exploits from their wheat farm in the plains, and especially looks forward to letters from his brother Flute, who recently joined the police force as a junior detective.
Personality-wise, Wander has he patient soul of a grandfather in a spry earth pony's body. He loves tradition and truly wishes he could have been born in the age of the Elements of Harmony when legends were made. His ultimate triumph would be to find the Citadel of the Crescent Moon, which was lost in an earthquake more than a thousand years ago and is reputed to contain a full history of the rise and fall of Nightmare Moon.
More recently, Wander has found that the world is a much darker place than he read about in his history books, and hopes to make a difference through his cultural articles in Equestrian Geographic.