...First time somebody hasn't kicked me for over processing but then I haven't heard from Slobodan yet!
Hehe.
While you were "struggling" with pastels, I was struggling with the definition of "pastel." My first recourse is a dictionary, and it says something like "soft and delicate." Hmmm, sort of a Disney princess then? Now, if we look at your version of "pastel," and want to stay with Hollywood metaphors, it looks to me more like "Dark Knight Meets Disney Princess."
If I remember correctly my art classes, pastels are achieved by adding white color to pinks, oranges, reds, blues, etc. No wonder Wikipedia uses the following to describe them: "milky", "washed out", "desaturated", "lacking strong chromatic content". Someone in your art class must have pulled a prank on you and replaced your white tube with a black one
But, semantics (and joking) aside, you are free to see the world anyway you want. If you see it that dark and moody, so be it. As I argued before, not every shadow needs (or deserves) to be open. I can certainly live with (and enjoy) your OP palette if that reflects your mood and intention. I might equally like it a bit brighter as well; it would just deliver a slightly different message. On the other hand, the dark palette could be totally natural as well, ie, early mornings, well before sunrise, can be really, really dark and opaque.
As for the square, it would be my favorite as well. Not only because I have a sweet (read: Hasselblad) spot for square, but because it gets rid of a single annoying nitpick I have for the OP version: there is a thin, white, distracting line on the right (a dirt road?). The square composition, as others already mentioned, is also using fewer and simpler elements to deliver the same message. The inclusion of more gentle shadings in the upper sky helps as well (with my apologies to your wife).
The attraction (some) people have to the square is more than just a personal preference. Square format lends itself to certain compositions better than other formats. It projects balance, harmony, symmetry, etc. For instance, it is the only format where placing a horizon in the middle works. It allows the eye to explore the image in a circular motion, thus staying longer within the frame. The more elongated format is, the more eye has to wander left to right, risking to leave the image when too far to the right. Panoramas are notoriously difficult to compose.
There you have it, my $0.02.