Animation Tutorial - Night Mare Moon's Mane

Download the SVG and open it in a web browser to see the animation.
Alternatively, see the slightly larger gif.

Keep in mind that this gif is only watered-down preview.

Inpired by *spiritto's animation - I basically wanted to know if I can make this in SVG. And to know how, since *spiritto won't reveal her secrets.
So I reveal mine and give this out under Creative Commons!

The tutorial is in the form of explanation of the different pieces of the code, so download it and edit it to read it!
Okay, maybe it is not that detailed, but should shed some light on the matter.

The animation has Easter eggs! Look for them!

Any input is appreciated, as always.

Time taken:
The raw vector - 1 hour
Screwing around - 4 hours
The animation - 1 hour
Commenting - 30 minutes