The Quakers took the lead against the run of play and then were chasing the game when the visitors came back with two goals during a strong second-half fightback.
The early moments of the game were dominated by the struggling visitors who twice went close to opening the scoring.
After only four minutes Neil Ashton fired high over the crossbar after being set up by Izak Reid.
Three minutes later Terry Dunfield looked certain to score until a brave block by Darlington keeper David Stockdale denied the Macclesfield man.
So it was against the run of play when the hosts took the lead in the tenth minute with their first attack. Top scorer Tommy Wright ghosted in to head in his 11th goal of the season when connecting with a Clark Keltie corner.
Darlington had claims for a penalty in the 14th minute when Wright was brought down in the area by Ryan Cresswell. However, the referee waved play on and a minute later Gregg Blundell fired home but play was stopped due to a foul by Wright on Town keeper Jonny Brain.
Former Aston Villa winger Julian Joachim was causing all sorts of problems for the Macclesfield defence and in the 24th minute he set up Blundell who volleyed onto the top of the net.
In the 36th minute Michael Symes was left unmarked at the far post and should have scored for the visitors but somehow fired wide.
Five minutes before the break Martin Gritton saw his shot from inside the area go out for a throw in to the home side.
Gritton was to have the last laugh though and on the hour he raced clear when appearing to be in an offside position.
He kept running and calmly fired the equaliser into the far corner of the net.
The visitors increased their lead four minutes later when Cresswell rose highest inside the area before heading in from close range.
Darlington had to dig deep to get back into the game and a long throw from Paul Mayo, in the 72nd minute, was met by the head of Darlington captain Alan White whose effort appeared to hit Cresswell before landing in the back of the net.