The Magazine, Epilogue 2: The Furlough

 Cream has her rule ("a spanking at school means a spanking at home!") but she takes one look at Button's fiery backside after his paddling from Harshwhinny and gives him a reprieve until Sunday. When the day arrives, he glumly gets over his mom's knee, but can tell she's going easy on him; clearly she felt the prior punishment was enough and this is just a pro forma reminder. Still sharp enough to sting and bring tears to the corners of his eyes, but that's all. She even leaves him a jar of cold cream for afterwards.