>>120415275This seems like a very crucial point: Rapunzel starts off the show knowing fuck all about social classes. To her, her friends are her friends, whether they're former thieves, societal outcasts, direct underlings, or eccentric mad scientists. She doesn't see class, but that's largely because she was in a position to not have to.
Rapunzel became friends with Cass and Varian. Cass and Varian thought they were becoming friends with The Princess. Whether they did it consciously or not, both of them started to see their friendship as a chance to prove themselves worthy of a higher status. To Rapunzel though, the idea that they weren't already on equal footing hadn't even occurred to her. It was only after Raps started coming into her role as princess more that Cass and Varian became disillusioned.
Sure Varian, Rapunzel would drop everything to help you with the black rocks, but The Princess can't, because she has a greater responsibility to the kingdom as a whole. Sure Cassandra, Rapunzel would trust your judgement in most situations, but The Princess has a bunch of destiny bullshit to fulfill, and right now you don't fit into it.
It wasn't that the nature of their relationships changed, it was that the nature of Rapunzel's role changed, and their relationships didn't figure into that role the way they thought it would.
