In the current mess that today's physics has entangled itself one should be careful in using clichГ©s and words that either have no meaning or are internally contradictory or inconsistent.
For instance, what is a light clock?
According to Special relativity, time does not flow for a light particle. The equation that governs this is t'= t в€љ1 - v2/c2
where t is time for a clock at rest, t' is the time for a moving clock and v is the velocity at which it is moving. If a clock moves at light speed c, time passage is zero. Can something for which time does not flow be used as a clock?
We know that light has frequency, defined as cycles per second. Yet Special relativitists (not Einstein) want us to accept the non-passage of time.
When you say: "... I'm just saying it takes time for light to travel a distance. (...) If the distance is smaller then it wouldn't take as long, in foundational reality"
In which other type of reality does light travel a much smaller distance in a longer time? Or a much longer distance in a shorter time? Is there any?
Take note that the use of the word constancy refers not to the actual velocity but the relative/ resultant velocity. Speed of sound is also constant in air of given temperature. But when B moves toward an incoming wave using your A-B source and receptor for analogy, the arrival time is different than if B were to remain stationary. For sound this is accepted. For light, it is not and this is what the "constant"refers to and it arose from the Michelson-Morley experiment where movement of B had no effect on light.
Akinbo