Fables 6

"Road Trip" is the sixth story in Fables, with a cover date of December, 2002. It was published on October 9, 2002.

Overview
 "Road Trip" is Part One of Animal Farm'', which involves an uprising at the Farm. In this chapter, Snow White and Rose Red travel to the Farm and become suspicious that something is wrong.''

Plot
Jack and Rose are starting the community service that they were sentenced to in the previous issue. Jack is assigned to assist Flycatcher with his janitorial duties at The Woodland. Rose is being assigned to work at the Farm. Snow is driving Rose and Colin to the Farm so she can do her semi-annual inspection and have an opportunity to talk with Rose.

They see signs of suspicious activity during the trip. They find spent ammunition on the road; the Farm appears deserted when they arrive; the Farm's residents are holding a meeting, which they break off as soon as the visitors arrive, and the Farm's leader, Weyland Smith, has disappeared.

Back at the Woodlands, Boy Blue is at work. A line of people want him to help them with the problems Snow usually handles. Blue says he can't help them and they should wait until Snow returns for routine problems or go see Bigby with any emergencies. Blue also finds out that Bufkin and the Forsworn Knight have gotten drunk in his office.

Dun, one of the three little pigs, is now acting as the community's leader. He tells Snow and Rose that Weyland resigned and left. Dun says that the non-human Fables resent their confinement on the Farm and want to lead a return to the Homelands where they can live openly. Dun realizes Snow is suspicious but feels his claims that he has done nothing more than talking will delay her response.

After Snow and Rose leave, Dun questions Colin. It's revealed he hadn't gone to the Woodland just to enjoy city life as he claimed. He was supposed to get the key to the Woodland Business Office and make contact with people who would help the uprising. Colin admits that he failed in his mission.

As Snow and Rose are settling in for the night, Snow attempts to talk to Rose about the bad feelings that exist between them. Rose makes it clear she doesn't want to discuss this. Snow then looks out the window and sees that Colin has been killed and his head has been impaled on a pole for public display.

Credits

 * Bigby Wolf
 * Snow White
 * Jack Horner
 * Trusty John
 * Flycatcher
 * Beauty
 * Beast
 * Boy Blue
 * Bufkin
 * Forsworn Knight
 * Rose Red
 * Colin
 * Cinderella
 * Pinocchio
 * Dun
 * Posey
 * Chicken Little
 * Puss in Boots
 * Br'er Rabbit
 * Br'er Gator
 * Walrus
 * King Noble
 * Papa Bear
 * Hare
 * Tortoise
 * Brock Blueheart
 * Reynard the Fox
 * Cheshire Cat
 * Dickory
 * Sunflower
 * Toad
 * Thumbelina
 * Leland
 * Prescott
 * Thaddeus

Locations

 * New York City
 * The Woodlands
 * The Farm
 * The Foyer
 * The Business Office
 * The Barn
 * The Three Little Pigs' house
 * The VIP guest room

Deaths

 * Colin

Trivia

 * First appearance of Dun.
 * First appearance of Posey.
 * First appearance of Chicken Little.
 * First appearance of Puss in Boots.
 * First appearance of Br'er Rabbit.
 * First appearance of Br'er Gator.
 * First appearance of Walrus.
 * First appearance of King Noble.
 * First appearance of Papa Bear.
 * First appearance of Hare.
 * First appearance of Tortoise.
 * First appearance of Brock Blueheart.
 * First appearance of Reynard the Fox.
 * First appearance of Cheshire Cat.
 * First appearance of Dickory.
 * First appearance of Sunflower.
 * First appearance of Toad.
 * First appearance of Thumbelina.
 * First appearance of Leland.
 * First appearance of Prescott.
 * First appearance of Thaddeus.
 * Last appearance of Colin. (Alive)
 * We see three books Grimble keeps behind his desk in the foyer: a New York phone directory, Troll Bridge by Neil Gaiman, and Shreck!.  As far as I can tell, Gaiman has never written a book titled Troll Bridge and this doesn't appear to be a reference to any specific one of his actual works although Terry Pratchett, Gaimen's co-author of Good Omens has written a short story with that title. Shreck! presumably is a reference to the book by William Steig (which is the basis of the movie series) but both the book and movie spell the character's name as Shrek.
 * The meeting in the barn is our first sight of many of the non-human Fables. There's a large crowd and most of them are not named. One interesting note is that there are two flying monkeys present. This highlights the question of why Bufkin is allowed to live in the city when he is not a human fable.