When Axel showed up, we thought his size, his strength, his speed, all made him the perfect horse...
—Rapunzel
A new horse, Axel, arrives at Corona palace and turns into Maximus's rival, outshining Maximus at everything while undermining him. Soon everyone seems to like Axel more. Maximus suspects something's off about Axel but isn't believed... Also, an old enemy of Rapunzel returns.
This episode provides examples of:
- Always Someone Better: Axel is better than Maximus at everything and gets rewarded as such. Except, as Rapunzel eventually points out, he doesn't have a heart, so he's not worthy to be the Royal Guard's mascot.
- The Bus Came Back: Lady Caine returns, with Axel trying to free her.
- Engineered Heroics: Axel capturing his partner was staged to help his infiltration of the guards.
- Eviler than Thou: In a surprising twist, Axel, a horse, proves to be this to Lady Caine, betraying her just as she did to her minion and in a more potentially lethal way.
- Idiot Ball: A random black horse trots into town and suddenly everyone is taken with him. While this in and of itself does not necessarily unsuspend disbelief, the fact that this random horse is entrusted with a mission that Max - a horse with years of loyal service and an impressive track record compared to the kingdom's comparatively incompetent law-enforcement - was supposed to do it makes it less believable. The real clincher that the Idiot Ball has been bouncing around the kingdom is when Max catches Axel red-hoovedly smuggling money and both the Captain and Rapunzel believe that he was "taking initiative" and preparing for the mission and get angry with Max for creating a mess for Axel. Granted, Rapunzel does seem to find the sudden shift in Max's behavior cause for investigation, but this does not change the fact that Axel had got as far as he did.
- It Only Works Once: When Maximus and Axel must cross a bridge as part of a race, Axel pushes Maximus out of the way. During the climax, Axel tries the trick again but Maximus manages to turn the tables on him.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Mere moments after throwing Duane, her own accomplice, off their escape cart, Lady Caine is herself abandoned by Axel in favor of saving his own skin.
- Never Recycle Your Schemes: Averted, the main idea of the breakout (purposeful capture combined with an infiltrator) is the same as Lady Caine's plan to gain entry to the castle in the premiere movie.
- Pajama-Clad Hero: Max wakes up Rapunzel and the Captain in the middle of the night when he suspects Axel is up to no good, leading to us seeing Rapunzel in a nightgown and the Captain... in his jammies.
- Portmanteau: In Maximus's nightmare, Axel is renamed "Maxelmus", a combination of both their names, to show how Maximus fears Axel will overtake his life.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: When Rapunzel snaps at Maximus in his nightmare, she emphasizes each word like this: "Worst. Horse. EVER!"
- Save the Villain: Lady Caine and her cohorts end up needing to be saved when they start turning on each other. First Caine throws a fellow thief off the wagon, who is saved by Rapunzel, then Axel untethers the wagon so it goes careening toward a tree and Maximus saves Lady Caine, who is on top of it, before it hits.
- Shown Their Work: When Maximus enters the horse stables at night, about half of the horses are seen sleeping lying on the ground. This is Truth in Television, as horses in real life can sleep both standing up and lying down.
- There Can Only Be One: Maximus feels there can only be one mascot for the Royal Guard, and he is the true mascot.
- Worst. Whatever. Ever!: Played for drama in Maximus's nightmare when Rapunzel, after him failing in everything, calls him "Worst. Horse. Ever."
