@Background Pony #0AC2  
Seems likely, since people will pretty much interpret ANYTHING as shipping fuel lol. The only one I was familiar with was “Spike at Your Service” and I completely forgot about that moment from “A Dog and Pony Show”. Good to know, thanks!

@Summer Cascades  

And I have two possible answers for you. First, if you want to go all the way back to season one’s “A Dog and Pony Show”, Spike has a moment where he is dreaming about saving Rarity from the Diamond Dogs, and gets a little too involved in his fantasy near Applejack.  
 
 
 
And sometimes, that’s all it takes to put the idea in people’s heads. And if enough of them like it, well… there you go.
 
The second option option I think you could go with is from season three’s “Spike At Your Service”, where Spike is saved from a timberwolf by Applejack, decides he owes her a life debt, and sets out to help her out in a myriad of ways. One of which is demonstrating his skills at backscratching.  

 
At least that would be my guess for impetus on a lot of them. There are undoubtedly others, but those are the two big ones I’m familiar with.

Not hating or anything, just curious, how did the AppleSpike ship start?  
I don’t really have a solid clue, so if someone could tell me, I’ll be happy to hear it

The only one of these I ship is Cheesepie.

i love it