Shadow glided towards the row of tents set up in the street. He dropped out of the sky and didn’t miss a stride as he immediately moved into a walk like it was nothing. The two light troopers in front of him where impressed, but nervous.

“Command Sergeant Major, we have been expecting you,” One said saluting.

Shadow saluted back a little late. He was not expecting to be saluted. The ACUs were relaxed when it came to that policy.

“Is there a place I can quickly change into my dress uniform?”

“Of course,” He replied. “Step into the tent behind us and close the flaps. We will stand guard and tie them open later.”

Shadow stepped in and changed. Before leaving he gave himself a pep talk.

I may not think I really deserve this rank, but I have it and I need to act accordingly as best as I can. The team said I can easily put a colonel in place with this rank. I must have confidence. Strong, quiet confidence.

Shadow stepped back out. “I assume you have a quartermaster or supplies tent? I wish to put my bags someplace safe while I am here for the rest of the day.”

They led him to a tent that was set up as a private room.

“He will not mind you storing them here temporarily,” They told Shadow.

Shadow trusted them and neatly put them away.

“Catch me up on the situation,” Shadow ordered.

“We will take you to the dig site. We do not know much. They tried to use us to help dig, but the pegasi here were adamant about doing the work themselves. That is all we know.”

Shadow recognized the farm as they came upon it. He was led around to the back where quite a few ponies were around a large rectangular hole. Four were in Enclave uniforms, they other six were wearing cloaks.

“Sir,” One of the troopers announced. “The Command Sergeant Major is here.”

“It is just past noon,” He said turning around.

“I fly fast Sir,” Shadow replied focusing on the hole. “But catch me up quickly.”

“We are at eight feet,” one of the Enclave scientist said. “You can see that the block of ice goes all the way down. We have not found the bottom yet, and were waiting for your arrival for ideas.”

Shadow hopped down like it was half the distance it was. He poked the ice his his hoof and then he dug out some of the cloud around the different area, each time feeling it in his hooves.

Shadow looked at the ground. It was hard. He tested how much it was packed down by vaulting off the side onto the edge and flipping backwards to drop down with real intent. It gave him a good jolt. It should not have.

“This is not packed cloud,” Shadow stated. “The sides indicate that there is no problem with water retention and show homage to proper irrigation. I wager that further down is more ice from what I felt when I landed.”

Shadow vault back up to land with the farmers and speak directly to them. “Take it all the way down, with a science team charting it every two feet.”

They nodded. It was the Enclave commander who spoke up.

“All the way down?” He asked pissed off.

Shadow turned to him. “To the safe digging distance,” Shadow clarified. “18 feet and no where close to getting through. We rarely, if ever have to dig down that far. I do not actually know who determined the 18 foot rule. I have never had to dig more than four. We just grew up with it.”

The farmers spoke up. They were going to gather the community first for a meeting.

“I did not do a proper introduction,” Shadow said hopping to the other side.

“I am General Celsius,” He said extending his hoof.

“General,” Shadow said shocked as he shook his hoof. “Forgive my poor manors. I had no idea you intended to come.”

“No harm done,” He replied. “This is really important business and I was not intending to at the beginning. Your name tag says ‘Filly Fooler’?”

“Oh,” Shadow chuckled. “I guess you have not heard about that story. Immortalized at Fort Wind for the best nickname and the most prestigious, especially with its comeback. A play off my size that flipped around as I excelled. I obviously still could pass as a mare. I had it on for a community thing and they loved it. I forgot to remove it.”

They both chuckled.

“Well Command Sergeant Major,” The General began. “I called your Major who gave clearance to stay another day.”

“Wonderful,” Shadow smiled. “I will need to confirm that with him.”

“My tent is private enough for the call,” He replied.

“You only have a few tents here,” Shadow commented. “Where are the others?”

“Sergeant Sky Breaker is good at his job,” He stated. “The farms are putting up one or two in spare rooms. We are paying 25 bits a night, and the troops are eating our food. So far, all has been going well.”

“Marvelous,” Shadow praised. “Successfully boarding them will certainly improve relations and build up the farm’s cash, which means stronger farms and better yields.”

They were at the tent where Shadow had been told to store his gear. Shadow dialed the number.

“Hello?”

“Major, this is Shadow Flare.”

“You got there early,” He replied before Shadow could continue. “Good. And you are clear to stay for another day. Your first mission has changed. You are to head to the same location and work to solve this problem from beneath these clouds. We have some new developments to discuss and go over when you arrive back.”

“Yes Sir!” Shadow answered.

“I know I do not need to tell you how important it is to solve this issue for a multitude of reason. It is now imperative we leave as fast as possible.”

“We will have this taken care of quickly,” Shadow affirmed.

“Get to it,” The Major ordered and hung up the phone.

Shadow stepped out to join the General.

“That was fast,” Shadow stated.

“He is not messing around,” General Celsius replied. “We can not afford to.”

They headed over to the meeting that was gathering at the front of the house. Shadow pulled the General in to stand with the others.

“Sky!” Shadow exclaimed when he saw him.

“Shadow!” Sky said coming around to the front to greet him. “You got here earlier than expected. “I can see you really deserve those silver wings and the few ribbons you have. I am glad I got to see you before things get really crazy for you.”

“The same,” Shadow replied. “But I have heard only good things about the events happening here. Soldiers being put up like friends is a great achievement. Amazing for the farms as well. They may need all the bits they can get.”

“Yes, it is,” Sky nodded. “Are you sure you want General Celsius here?”

“Absolutely,” Shadow smiled. “If this is going to really work, we need him here as part of the community and solving this problem as one of them.”

Shadow turned to the ponies gathered.

“It is wonderful to see you all,” Shadow began. “Despite the reasons we have to be here, it is still good to meet fellow farmers. I am Command Sergeant Major of Reconnaissance, Shadow Flare.”

Shadow pulled out his Homestead book to start his introduction. “I am from the west side of our district and from the Turnip Homestead. Quite a few years back now, before I was born, my father, Lance, and his best friend, Black, left their homes to travel south to help with a disease striking carrot farms.”

“When I said ice, they looked at each other with dread. The ice was there at the heart of the disease. I do not know exactly how things turned out, but they told me it was worse than a disease striking a farm or single crop. Lots of farms lost their entire fields and plenty of ponies in the area got sick as well. They even said there were deaths.”

Shadow took a deep breath before continuing. “I may be in an Enclave uniform, but I grew up working hard every day to do our duty to the Pegasus Race, to feed them. And I enjoyed my duty. I joined up for the time being because I felt Equestria was calling me to protect my community as a soldier, so we continue as we always have.”

“I know your fear, your pain, and I feel it too. I will be straight with you. As much as it pains me, enough died back then to possible justify the evacuation of these farms. Even one preventable death is unacceptable.”

Shadow let them talk back and forth for a little bit before taking back control. He had to focus on giving them the straight facts.

“I say that as a farmer who cares, not because of the uniform I am wearing. I called my superiors to get the Enclave out here because I care. I do not want my fellow farmers to suffer and die. The Enclave has the resources to make sure you are safe and healthy, and give saving your farms a better go than you could alone.”

“You will return if you have to leave. And you only have this small amount of troops because I made sure of it. That has been going well from what I am hearing. Beneficial for both sides. Working together as one, to make sure you can live your lives and do the duty I know you all love to do, no matter which side.”

“I may be small, and unable to pull, but I can not be moved either and can trudge on and carry very heavy weights. Well past the skills of the fancy, weak city ponies. I grew up like you did and learned the life lessons you learned. And I love working the fields and I will return to working the fields once I am done serving. On my leave the past few days, I was working in the fields besides my family. It was enjoyable and relaxing.”

“I am here as a fellow farmer, helping out a farm in trouble. All of your farms. My father and his best friend just went to a core farm to help with irrigation techniques they had forgotten before they all lost their crops. I learned the importance of helping other farmers no matter where, from them. No matter the size of the farm, since the core farms are not more than half our size.”

A pony spoke up. “That was your father they wanted to brand as a traitor?”

Shadow smiled. “It was, and I ripped their argument to shreds over the phone. I also made sure a judge was on standby to keep them safe because the bastards have tried to do the same thing to me, twice! Their ignorance is a problem, so now is the time to teach them so they do not remain ignorant.”

Challenge laid down, Shadow turned it over to them.

“Are the rumors true about ponies rioting about lack of food?” He was asked.

“Sort of,” Shadow nodded. “Peaceful for the most part. Driven by fear of helpless ponies who do not understand the complicated food distribution system or farming. The Enclave is not near starvation. But where did you hear that?”

“It has been passed along from community to community coming east.”

Shadow was shocked. It took him a moment to find his voice. “I did not know that my letter to my community got spread this far. That was only sent a few months back. I have personally seen and been forced to help stand by in case things got out of control.”

“They did not, however, I am also no longer forced to perform those duties. I sympathize too much with them, despite wanting only peace and order. I am too close to the issue. And I have proven to be more of a problem than help. The conflict of interest could prove deadly if they forced me to continue.”

“Few ponies leave their farms to join up. Fewer still will be unfit to help keep the peace at these demonstrations. The core farmers give all their food and are in the same distribution system. Teaching those ponies not to be afraid is difficult because the city makes it incredibly easy to lose your voice. I hate cities. They are more trouble than they are worth.”

They laughed at his admittance.

“We need help,” Another spoke up. “But we don’t want them to force us into anything.”

“They wont,” Shadow stated with confidence. “I learned of a question with no answer from the war, which they have been unable to stamp out. It is fillies and colts keeping it alive in their big, organized schools. They can’t take away our stories. Rainbow Dash is too awesome to be removed. Her taking out that pirate ship is too awesome.”

He got chuckles from using her catch phrase.

“I have a question,” General Celsius spoke up. “The core farms, as you call them, turn in all but a small bit of their food and use the same distribution system as any other Pegasus. But I know you do not. How are you taxed and by what standards?”

Shadow looked at the crowd. He was challenging them to answer.

“Sixty percent,” Somepony answered. “We have a lot bigger farms for a lot of reasons, but it is necessary for our survival. We trade others to get a variety of food and we sell the last chunk for bits to cover cost of new equipment and other supplies. We live comfortably and do not fear starvation. It gets close of course, but we live well.”

“Very impressive,” General Celsius marveled. “There is absolutely no reason to mess with that. Any of it. We may be ignorant about farming in many ways, but I know you are honest, good working ponies who strive to look out for the Pegasus Race in any way possible.”

“We both need each other,” He continued. “You need us to help you figure this out and potentially survive, and we need you to survive and do what you love to do. Without trusting each other, we will fail. Together, we can succeed.”

“We will listen to you and be directed by you. I want you to teach us so we understand. But, if it comes to the point that we must pull you out for your safety, you need to trust us. We will take care of you. And not because of what you can do, but what you have done.”

Shadow took the opportunity to make a change. “I know that you all have farms to care for, even with this matter at hand. Lead and guide, but let the soldiers do the heavy lifting and digging. If this is solved soon, you will need to have been keeping up your farms.”

They grumbled back and forth but caved. The elders would help and guide, so each farm would continue on as normal as possible. A difficult task at such an uncertain time along with the ice in the fields.

General Celsius and Shadow met up while the others finished organizing. Sky Breaker joined them.

“Unorthodox, but effective,” General Celsius praised.

“I spoke the truth,” Shadow stated. “Who and what I am can not change no matter what I wear. And it doesn’t effect my duty and loyalty, for that has always been, and always will be, the same. But on the subject, you used pony, not Pegasus. Believe in the change and see them all as the same as you see every other Pegasus, and success will not be far behind.”

Sky Breaker chuckled. “Still Shadow, you are unorthodox. I adapted, but you forced them to adapt.”

They all laughed and met up with the others at the hole. It was a tense afternoon as they patiently watched and waited as they dug down deeper. The soldiers were not as proficient as the farmers at digging, but they worked well. Keeping a clean cut hole was the hardest part.

Ten feet found nothing and twelve feet proved worthless other than a good stopping point.

Shadow prepared to join the General in a dinner of field rations, but the others would not have it. All three of them were invited for dinner by an Elder. It was not only a good meal, but they got to know General Celsius at a more personal level.

Shadow was put up as a friend at another house while the General went back to his tent. They served him breakfast and then Shadow departed to the hole, leaving them to their farm work.

“How goes things?” Shadow asked when he arrived.

The General just looked at him concerned. A science team was surveying fourteen feet.

“Sir,” He said from the bottom of the hole. “We are picking up trace radiation. We recommend we stop digging.”

“Take it down two more feet,” Shadow ordered. “It could be a band in the clouds or purely random. There is a lot more clouds beneath you.”

General Celsius said nothing and they got back to digging.

“Same,” the scientist reported at sixteen feet. “We really should stop digging.”

Shadow dropped into the hole.

“It still is a deep thud,” He commented. “We have a long ways to go before we break through. Let me see the equipment.”

“This isn’t the simple equipment you were taught in Basic,” He warned.

“And since then, I have been put on a recon team and thoroughly trained in these and more,” Shadow replied firmly.

Shadow was given the equipment and ran his own tests.

“The ice is melting,” Shadow commented.

“It is exposed to warm air,” The scientist stated with an edge. “What do you expect?”

“Take a sample. From the tip, the middle and the bottom,” Shadow ordered. “Let each melt and track emissions.”

“Use the heater,” General Celsius ordered. “Lets speed that up.”

Shadow stayed in the hole. It wasn’t long before they came back with high levels of radiation being emitted. Shadow jumped out.

“We are sitting in a minefield of radiation,” Shadow said stating the obvious to everypony. They were all concerned.

“We need to expand the hole and then get me the center coordinates,” Shadow continued. “It is time to tackle this from below.”

“Then why expand it?” General Celsius asked.

“Because I am going see if we can pop up,” Shadow replied. “And we need to see the layers.”

“Up from below?” A farmer asked. “That is really dangerous, right?”

“Yes,” Shadow nodded. “And that is why its the team I’m over doing it. We are well trained though. This is the type of things were are supposed to be doing. I have no fear about it, and neither should you.”

“However, it may not be any more danger than what we are already standing on. If it is more dangerous, you will not have to worry. We will not expose you to more that what is already here and we can take care of you medically. And I mean we will take care of you very, very well.”

Shadow took a deep breath before giving them the painful orders. “Prepare, and only prepare, to evacuate. The science team and soldiers can stay longer since it is their duty. But we can not risk your lives. If it comes to it, the crop is already lost. There is no point in losing your lives.”

Shadow smiled at them to calm them down. “I think we can come up with an answer. But we need to know more and my team has a top notch scientist. I have learned a lot from him, but he needs to see this for himself. He will know better than I what to do. It won’t take us long to be here, well below us. No more than a week.”

Shadow turned to the General. “I need to leave now. Can I use your tent to change into a flight suit?”

“Yes, of course,” He replied. “Meanwhile, I will move in two more units to be here and ready to assist in evacuations, if it comes to that. Including sky chariots. I would rather not leave these ponies here longer than I have to when I can have aid here, now. The units are already at Cherry Town, waiting.”

“Do it,” Shadow nodded. He looked at the others. “Remember, trust goes both ways. Prepare the hole so it interferes with your farms as little as possible. I will be right back to do a final check and make my own coordinates check. Two makes for better accuracy than one. Especially since we are going below.”

Shadow came back a few minutes later, ready to fly. He ran his coordinate check and was spot on by the other check. Shadow reassured them all that it was precautionary preparation only. He launched straight up and was gone.

Shadow set a very fast pace. It was still before lunch and he wanted to get in tonight. It would be late, but he would get a few hours sleep before reporting in.

He cruised into a proper landed before midnight. He was well ahead of his own expected time of arrival, but he was really feeling it. His own room was again, too quiet, but he was exhausted and ponies were counting on him to make a quick turn around.

Shadow awoke late at 0830, grabbed a quick breakfast and reported into a stunned Major.

“You certainly outdid yourself,” Major Winters Breath said as they went to Room 4, their wing’s large, multipurpose room.

“We have some new developments,” Silent said right away. “First off, Slice’s request was granted so we have a whole new barrel to pair up with the 5.56 chamber modifier. I wish I had known about the request.”

“Not as good as replacing both action and barrel,” Slice cut in. “But we can add good accuracy back when it comes to that round.”

Silent rolled with it and regained his command. “Yes. Well besides that, Storm worked out a hoof held laser cutting tool for small things. And here is the manifest for the first supply drop to happen once we assemble a base of operations. And the next two.”

“These will cover everything,” Shadow nodded when he finished reading them. “A lot to haul if we have to go a bit of a distance, but worth it.”

“We know,” Silent replied. “That is why it is in three segments. But now, to the matter in front of us. What can you report about the ice problems?”

“Radioactive ice is being pushed up from the lower base clouds. It has done it once before. Left unchecked, it will melt, releasing that radiation and kill the crops, cause sickness and even death. Both sides have been working well together. Preparations are being made to evacuate if we can not stop it.”

Nor asked for more details and Shadow relayed all he knew and saw.

“Are we clear to leave tomorrow morning?” Nor asked.

“Yes,” Major Winters Breath said. “So long as Lieutenant Silent Wind finds it acceptable.”

Silent nodded. “Final orders. We leave at 0800. Be assembled Room 2 at 0700 for final run through of pre-primary mission and then about our transition back to the primary mission.”

Shadow sat in his room after dinner. What he was taking was easily packed. They had recon flight suits to wear under their armor, which like the armor, held no Enclave symbols. They where navy blue like their power armor and with their recon symbol on their flanks and where there rank would go on their sleeves. Shadow had three chevrons above and three blow the symbol, just like the official rank insignia for Command Sergeant Major. All of them had the proper chevrons for their rank.

His armor was on it’s stand. Along with the spare flight suits, Shadow packed his picture book and his Homestead book. The armor had small slots in between them and their guns where they could safely keep things. A nice adjustment Slice made once he found out Shadow was planning on taking them with him.

His seeds would join them, but the dried rosemary and their tea balls would go in the saddle bags that were designed to sit on the outside of the gun and another set on the flank. They we going to have to carry a lot of food and some extra ammo with them to start.

Shadow looked at the Homestead copy Money Bags gave him. He opened it up into the center where they had charted the meeting. He used the following pages to draw out their team’s symbol and then write a message to Cardinal Spitfire.

Shadow had never really opened up his full feelings to her. They never exactly had the time. He opened up about his love for her, including all the little things about her that he adored, his everlasting devotion, proper foundations so you would not fall, and his dreams about the two of them.

Shadow made sure he added the words Lance told him. All of the advice he gave about love. He also told her about the real Rainbow Dash cave and wanting to take her there as soon as he could.

She would be the pony that got his stuff if he died. It was a safe way to leave a message. Nopony else would look into the book to find it. A letter would be easy to find and open if they tried to screen what he left for secrets. She would get the hint.

The plan was simple. Drop down, fly to the coordinates and let Nor do his thing with the weather in the area. Then they would be heading to their target destination, Foal Mountain Range, ignoring the other places that might make good locations for their base of operations.

Shadow stood at the hatch and looked down. He was first to drop in. He took a deep breath and just let himself fall in like he did with the twister. The others followed in an orderly fashion. They all fell further down than Shadow did because of the weight.

“It isn’t because I am stronger or have more endurance,” Shadow said back when Slice complained about Shadow not dropping. “It is because I know how to use my wings differently from ACS.”

Shadow took point and Silent slid into the navigator position. Gone were the nice white, puffy clouds above. The bottom layer was gray and it felt damp. The light filtered through it all, somehow. Its was muted though, and there would not be any stars to look up to. Only the disgusting clouds. There also would not be any sunrises or sunsets to grace the land. It was truly forsaken.

“I do not know if it looks good or bad below us,” Slice stated after a while.

“Below us used to be farmland,” Silent said. “It has been two hundred years. The growth of the forest looks pretty good. Nor?”

“All of it seems to be tough and harsh, but alive well enough,” Nor answered. “But nothing hit in this area. It will probably look worse the closer we get to Canterlot and Fillydelphia. A lot worse.”

It took them two days to make it. Their saddlebags were heavy, but worse, their maps were inaccurate. The scaling was not uniformed. Canterlot and the center would be hours, while the fringes like in the north had no scale and could take days, maybe even weeks.

“Lets prepare camp for the night,” Silent said. “We can start fresh in the morning.”

It was very open with little natural barriers. They did their best to set up a defensive camp. Thunder, Slice and Storm took watch. Shadow and Nor needed a full night’s rest. It was odd sleeping in their armor. They didn’t dare take it off. It was comfortable, enough.

“A lot more light filters through than I expected,” Nor said in the morning. “Almost as if the sun can not be held back.”

“Before the war, Unicorn magic raised and lowered it,” Shadow stated. “So there is a good chance it can not be blocked. But lets go see what is happening above us.”

They took off and flew straight up.

“I have no radiation readings here,” Nor reported. “It is cold, but not cold enough to freeze water.”

Shadow was already digging. “Mine is reading trace emissions in the clouds like there was up top.”

“How are you doing that?” Nor asked as Shadow disappeared.

“I dug a shelf to stand on,” Shadow chuckled.

Nor did the same and they began to excavate up. Ten feet up they struck ice.

“It is below freezing,” Nor commented.

“But not above or below,” Shadow added.

They looked at each other for a few minutes thinking.

We have to get through,” Shadow finally said. “Rocket time.”

Nor answered by dropping out of the clouds. Shadow tucked his wings in, fell and sent a rocket into the ice. They were rewarded by a sprinkling of ice fragments. There were no clouds below the impact site. They had to dig up and set themselves on the ice shelf.

“Work up,” Nor ordered Shadow. “I will work sideways.

Shadow continued up another ten feet. Another ten feet passed just after lunch time. Only a hoofful few feet more and his head popped out of the clouds in the hole that was dug. Shadow pulled his helmet off.

“We are thrilled that was you,” General Celsius said coming over. “The whole place shook.”

Shadow nodded his head thinking.

“What is the current temperature?” He finally asked.

“Interesting,” Shadow replied when they gave it to him.

Nor’s helmeted head popped up by the ice block. He kept it on. Only Shadow could show his face since they already knew it and his job.

“We have a situation near camp,” He said. “We are needed below.”

Shadow put his helmet on and they dove down to the ground together. The rest of the team came out of the trees, far away from the camp. Shadow and Nor took their saddlebags and looked at Silent.

“We were attacked,” Thunder answered. “I think the explosion triggered their awareness. Savage beasts standing on two legs came out of the ground.”

“I must be the Diamond Dogs,” Nor said. “I want to see. They were enslaved in the war by Earth Ponies and how they evolved...”

Nor dove and Shadow followed.

“No sign of them,” Nor said a while later as he touched down.

“And explosion alerted them,” Shadow stated. He popped up his grenade launcher and lobbed one. They saw the ground ahead of them open up and the creatures look towards the explosion. It didn’t take long before they were spotted.”

“The Diamond Dogs appear to be still very sentient,” Nor stated.

“What do you expect ponies? That we are stupid?”

“Just new to the area,” Shadow replied holding his ground as they advanced.

“New to here? We no longer call ourselves Diamond Dogs. We are finally feared. You ponies know us as Hell Hounds. You enslaved us. We kill you.”

Shadow nodded at Nor who took off running. Two chased after Nor and the other three converged on Shadow, forcing him to finally dive out of the way. Two went under ground and the third jumped on Shadow.

Shadow dove again. It took him too long to get up for his liking. His saddlebags were heavy. He launched straight up as the ground beneath him disappeared. They missed his legs and he was out of their howling grasp. Shadow saw Nor meeting up with the others.

“They do not like ponies,” Shadow commented joining them. “And they have the skills to back up their hatred. They are called Hell Hounds now.”

“They dig under and pop out of nowhere,” Nor added.

“How are we going to make camp?” Slice asked.

No place was safe now that they knew they were there.

“They are a long ways east from Splendid valley,” Nor stated. “Which is not good. Where else have they wandered to?”

“We can’t worry about that yet,” Silent said. “Camp?”

“Shit,” Shadow swore. “Up?”

“We just came down,” Silent stated. “We are not supposed to go up!”

“We can’t hover here for days,” Nor replied. “Ignoring Shadow.”

They chuckled and Silent caved. They had no option. They rested on the ice shelf while Shadow slipped up.

“Is everything okay?” He was asked by a farmer as soon as his helmet was off. There was no avoiding them.

“Considering it is the wasteland,” Shadow hesitated. “Yes? We deployed special for here, so we are not as prepared as we would like.”

“You can’t land, can you?” General Celsius asked outright.

“We can,” Shadow hesitated. “And spent the night below. But… sufficient to say no. We can no longer land below again. Not until…”

Nor popped up in the same place again. “Thun… you know who, wants to carpet bomb the area. We need to get him up, now!”

Shadow rolled his eyes and hopped onto the clouds where they dragged Thunder above and made sure he kept his mouth shut. The rest of them went to the tents. None were to take off their helmet except for Shadow. Their identities had to be kept secret.

“The good news is that the clouds are very thick and healthy,” Nor announced. “Over 30 feet thick before we get to the bottom of this pit. Bad news, there is an ice shelf.”

“An ice shelf? In the clouds?” One of the science team’s lieutenants asked. “That is impossible.”

“I would show you, but you don’t want to go below,” Nor stated. “You do not even want to poke your head in the hole. We will stay above for a bit, for a reason.”

“What could have caused this?” General Celsius asked.

“General, I think this is a case of winterization due to the spells. When they fell and created the wasteland below, they probably made so much stuff happen, that things like ash and dust blocked incoming heat from the sun and supercooled off below for a while. And they don’t get the best stuff through the clouds. They get plenty, but not at all like above. Combining that with the northern mountains near us, the clouds most likely soaked up enough water to freeze large shelves in the area.”

The sound of ice tearing in two came from below and soon after, a faint sound as they crashed below.

“It worked,” Nor stated. “I need to check on something.”

He popped back down and soon popped back up.

“The clouds held,” He said to Shadow. “They let the ice past and reformed as solid as ever.”

Nor bucked the ice block. It shook and then disappeared, taking almost half the farm with it.

“Well that was unexpected,” He said looking at the pit he had created. “Good foundation on the house though.”

Shadow walked up to him and looked at the pit. There was some evidence of their crops jumbled up on the top. Nothing could be recovered.

“Sir?” He said.

“Yes?”

“They just lost more than their crops. They lost well prepared cloud soil and are left with a giant pit. They can’t plant in this pit for multiple reasons. Apparently the ice has been pushing up the clouds and they have been shaving it off as normal adjustments without noticing.”

“How long till this can be recovered?” Nor gulped.

Shadow thought for a minute. “Fresh clouds, they could probably get them prepared in time before the freeze. Planting will be a huge deal, two or three times harder than before. And it will be low yields for years.”

“Well shit,” Nor said shaking his head. “We need to drop the rest of the ice. No choice there. Which means farmland will get torn up. I do not know how far south it goes. But the further south, the less there should be.”

“Do you have a suggestion?” General Celsius asked.

“Yes General,” Nor said facing him. “Strategic placement of small holes bored out to heat the ice. Slowly working the way west. It should melt the ice shelf and not allow it to refreeze, giving below irradiated rain. Better down than up. Fast enough to halt problems, slow enough to allow the farmers time to recover. Skipping winter of course. I assume more clouds will shift and fall like this did.”

General Celsius looked at the two of them thinking. “Command Sergeant Major. What do you think?”

Shadow took a deep breath. “It has to happen. It is a solid plan and probably the only one that will work. But the Weather Factory can help by mixing up batches of clouds decently prepared for soil use. A lot will still have to happen, but it is better than plain old clouds.”

“How should they be prepared?” He followed up.

Shadow had to think. He was deployed. His family could handle being taken away again, but that was putting a whole lot on their shoulders and beginning to show preferential treatment, especially if it was just them. And they were only a small fraction of the farming community. They needed more help and more minds thinking.

Shadow smiled as he figured it out. “Gather the five northern Homesteads. Cherry, Turnip, Wingspan, New Beginnings, and Raspberry. As well as their subsidiary Homesteads. That will equal about ten, maybe eleven farms, and probably some very close farms to each Homestead. Together they will be able to help you best prepare the new cloud soil and the area as a whole.”

“Together, they can help keep the peace as the ice is removed due to the respect given for their homestead status. Prepare to have low to no yields in the area as it happens. They will bounce back fast thought. Probably doubling certain yields with no problems below.”

“Thank you,” The General replied. “I can at least send advanced survey teams ahead to get a strong look at below with probes.”

“Make sure they speak with the farmers and let them chose where to probe. It is their land and you could easily mess crops up. Do not fear about keeping this quiet with the farmers, because in a week, all of the farmers in the district will know.”

Shadow walked over to a wall and dug out clouds to cover the two holes.

“We will spend the night before descending to continue surveying from below,” Shadow declared. “At least the ice didn’t leave huge holes in the clouds and the base clouds are already reforming and sealing back up. Still, everypony in the area needs to be cleansed. Everypony. We can not risk them raw exposure to anything we might have allowed up. And probably begin protective treatments.”

“Cleansed?” A farmer asked.

Sky Breaker spoke up. “The Enclave has medicine that will help your bodies kill anything the team might have brought up or that the ice and clouds allowed up. And some that will help shield your bodies from the poisons the ice is releasing.”

“And new safe digging regulations,” Shadow added. “Ten feet.”

Shadow and Nor joined the others in a tent that had been set up for them. They were under guard with a wide perimeter.

“Good call on cleaning everypegasus,” Silent smiled. “Tactful and keeping the danger level high. It counters the fact that we came up from below. Sanctioned or not.”

Shadow just nodded.

“I didn’t expect to take one day,” Nor stated.

“Thankfully it did,” Silent replied. “We can not afford to stay above more than one night. It will be back to the mission and avoiding those beasts at 0500. We need to leave without being seen. Or at least as little as possible.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 33 - Wonderbolt Estimated time remaining: 12 Hours, 4 Minutes