Upgrading on my system, I see a similar sequence:
(Reading database ... ^M(Reading database ... 5%^M(Reading database ... 10%^M(Reading database ... 15%^M(Reading database ... 20%^M(Reading database ... 25%^M(Reading database ... 30%^M(Reading database ... 35%^M(Reading database ... 40%^M
Preparing to replace module-init-tools 3.11.1-2ubuntu1 (using .../module-init-tools_3.16-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb) ...^M
Unpacking replacement module-init-tools ...^M
Preparing to replace initramfs-tools 0.92bubuntu78 (using .../initramfs-tools_0.99ubuntu10_all.deb) ...^M
Unpacking replacement initramfs-tools ...^M
dpkg: considering deconfiguration of upstart, which would be broken by installation of friendly-recovery ...^M
dpkg: yes, will deconfigure upstart (broken by friendly-recovery).^M
Preparing to replace friendly-recovery 0.2.10 (using .../friendly-recovery_0.2.24_all.deb) ...^M
De-configuring upstart ...^M
Unpacking replacement friendly-recovery ...^M
Preparing to replace upstart 0.6.5-8 (using .../upstart_1.4-0ubuntu8_amd64.deb) ...^M
Unpacking replacement upstart ...^M
Processing triggers for ureadahead ...^M
Processing triggers for man-db ...^M
Setting up libnih1 (1.0.3-4ubuntu9) ...^M
Setting up libnih-dbus1 (1.0.3-4ubuntu9) ...^M
Setting up libudev0 (175-0ubuntu5) ...^M
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...^M
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place^M
(Reading database ... ^M(Reading database ... 5%^M(Reading database ... 10%^M(Reading database ... 15%^M(Reading database ... 20%^M(Reading database ... 25%^M(Reading database ... 30%^M(Reading database ... 35%^M(Reading database ... 40%^M
Preparing to replace ifupdown 0.6.8ubuntu29.2 (using .../ifupdown_0.7~beta2ubuntu6_amd64.deb) ...^M
Transitioning /etc/network/if-up.d/upstart to be a conffile ...^M
Transitioning /etc/init/network-interface.conf to be a conffile ...^M
Transitioning /etc/init/networking.conf to be a conffile ...^M
Transitioning /etc/init/network-interface-security.conf to be a conffile ...^M
Unpacking replacement ifupdown ...^M
Preparing to replace initscripts 2.87dsf-4ubuntu17.5 (using .../initscripts_2.88dsf-13.10ubuntu10_amd64.deb) ...^M
Removing unmodified and obsolete conffile /etc/default/tmpfs ...^M
Unpacking replacement initscripts ...^M
Preparing to replace mountall 2.15.3 (using .../mountall_2.34_amd64.deb) ...^M
Moving obsolete conffile /etc/init/mounted-varrun.conf out of the way...^M
Unpacking replacement mountall ...^M
Processing triggers for ureadahead ...^M
Processing triggers for man-db ...^M
Setting up initramfs-tools-bin (0.99ubuntu10) ...^M
Setting up upstart (1.4-0ubuntu8) ...^M
Installing new version of config file /etc/init/tty3.conf ...^M
Installing new version of config file /etc/init/tty6.conf ...^M
Installing new version of config file /etc/init/tty1.conf ...^M
Installing new version of config file /etc/init/rc-sysinit.conf ...^M
Installing new version of config file /etc/init/rc.conf ...^M
Installing new version of config file /etc/init/rcS.conf ...^M
Installing new version of config file /etc/init/tty2.conf ...^M
Installing new version of config file /etc/init/tty4.conf ...^M
Installing new version of config file /etc/init/tty5.conf ...^M
Installing new version of config file /etc/init/upstart-udev-bridge.conf ...^M
Setting up friendly-recovery (0.2.24) ...^M
Generating grub.cfg ...^M
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-100-rhel6openvz^M
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-100-rhel6openvz^M
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-38-generic^M
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-38-generic^M
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-37-generic^M
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-37-generic^M
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin^M
done^M
Setting up module-init-tools (3.16-1ubuntu2) ...^M